Road Cycling

Maxeh · 28 Jun 2016 at 17:46

Gents just thinking out loud here...

Is there any reason I couldn't/shouldn't change the frame on my PX London Road to a more road suited frame and keep all my components?

Rather than forking out £1k+ on a new bike, seems a shame to then sell the PX.

Probably waffling on..(its been a long day).

Saytan · 28 Jun 2016 at 18:26

Maxeh said:
Gents just thinking out loud here...

Is there any reason I couldn't/shouldn't change the frame on my PX London Road to a more road suited frame and keep all my components?

Rather than forking out £1k+ on a new bike, seems a shame to then sell the PX.

Probably waffling on..(its been a long day).

There may be the odd part that doesn't fit, but most should bolt straight over

madindehead · 28 Jun 2016 at 19:11

The one thing that is worrying me about my new saddle height, is that I can't touch the ground whilst sitting on the saddle. That's a bit scary for me right now. Will need to always get off the saddle to touch the ground :eek:

Front chain ring is shifting better. A small plastic part that is meant to press against the cable has broken off, so not ideal. Apparently it's £1.99 but very hard to find :eek:

It works without it apparently, but the trimming is a bit off

BennyC · 28 Jun 2016 at 19:42

Maxeh said:
Gents just thinking out loud here...

Is there any reason I couldn't/shouldn't change the frame on my PX London Road to a more road suited frame and keep all my components?

Rather than forking out £1k+ on a new bike, seems a shame to then sell the PX.

Probably waffling on..(its been a long day).

I have a feeling I will be roped in to help with this

alexisonfire · 28 Jun 2016 at 19:44

Maxeh said:
Gents just thinking out loud here...

Is there any reason I couldn't/shouldn't change the frame on my PX London Road to a more road suited frame and keep all my components?

Rather than forking out £1k+ on a new bike, seems a shame to then sell the PX.

Probably waffling on..(its been a long day).

You'll need to take into consideration the loss of resale of the current bike if you went that route bare in mind, theres £300-£400 lost straight away. Unless you're going for a second hand frame (and even that would be arguable) i can see the cost difference being negligible, especially once you start taking into consideration stuff like wheels, rim brakes, inner/outer cables, bar tape, bearings, seals and a magnitude of other small possible purchases.

Vonhelmet · 28 Jun 2016 at 20:42

madindehead said:
The one thing that is worrying me about my new saddle height, is that I can't touch the ground whilst sitting on the saddle. That's a bit scary for me right now. Will need to always get off the saddle to touch the ground

I can't touch the ground from the saddle, not even close. If you could previously then I think your saddle was definitely a bit low.

Practise riding out of the saddle, coasting on just the pedals, slowing down and speeding up out of the saddle, riding as slowly as you can out of the saddle, coasting with just one foot clipped in out of the saddle... Anything to get you more confident not being sat down the whole time and used to moving at low speed out of the saddle. I'd say it's a question of getting confident balancing on just the pedals, or just one pedal.

Vonhelmet · 28 Jun 2016 at 20:46

Maxeh said:
Gents just thinking out loud here...

Is there any reason I couldn't/shouldn't change the frame on my PX London Road to a more road suited frame and keep all my components?

Rather than forking out £1k+ on a new bike, seems a shame to then sell the PX.

Probably waffling on..(its been a long day).

I looked at swapping my carrera tdf frame for something like a Dolan prefissio, but for the cost and hassle it didn't look to be worth. A London road frame is not going to fetch much second hand, and as said you'll have to buy some new bits like tape and cables and anything else that doesn't quite fit.

Is the London road that bad for the roads? I'd say you're best keeping it and saving up for a whole second bike, and saving the London road for winter/wet weather duty.

madindehead · 28 Jun 2016 at 20:48

Vonhelmet said:
I can't touch the ground from the saddle, not even close. If you could previously then I think your saddle was definitely a bit low.

Practise riding out of the saddle, coasting on just the pedals, slowing down and speeding up out of the saddle, riding as slowly as you can out of the saddle, coasting with just one foot clipped in out of the saddle... Anything to get you more confident not being sat down the whole time and used to moving at low speed out of the saddle. I'd say it's a question of getting confident balancing on just the pedals, or just one pedal.

Ace thanks

I'll practice as best I can

Haha yeah, it was 100% too low! I think we put it up by 2.5cm!

randomshenans · 28 Jun 2016 at 21:55

Vonhelmet said:
I can't touch the ground from the saddle, not even close. If you could previously then I think your saddle was definitely a bit low.

Practise riding out of the saddle, coasting on just the pedals, slowing down and speeding up out of the saddle, riding as slowly as you can out of the saddle, coasting with just one foot clipped in out of the saddle... Anything to get you more confident not being sat down the whole time and used to moving at low speed out of the saddle. I'd say it's a question of getting confident balancing on just the pedals, or just one pedal.

I'm the same, can't touch the ground at all. Just stand up, unclip one foot, come to stop, stand up. Don't fall over

oli collett · 28 Jun 2016 at 22:06

randomshenans said:
Weather was nice out yesterday. Little ride down by the canal.

Wtf.. How many km did that exalth coating last?!?!

madindehead · 28 Jun 2016 at 22:11

randomshenans said:
I'm the same, can't touch the ground at all. Just stand up, unclip one foot, come to stop, stand up. Don't fall over

Haha. Sounds simple enough. I'm sure I'm just over thinking it. Just going to be weird stopping at the few lights I have to stop at. Usually in Marlow.

Lethal` · 28 Jun 2016 at 23:08

Use a kerb then you can stay seated on the saddle. Better yet a conveniently placed railing / piece of street furniture to rest a hand on so you can stay clipped in

DaleTheWhale · 28 Jun 2016 at 23:24

Stupid question time from Dale.

Are there any decent tools to find hills/climbs nearby or is Strava Segment search as close as I'm going to get and search for CAT 4/CAT 3 climbs?

Lethal` · 28 Jun 2016 at 23:28

See what local cycling clubs do as their hilly rides. A lot seem to post them on their websites or find some of their rides on Strava.

DaleTheWhale · 29 Jun 2016 at 00:05

Lethal` said:
See what local cycling clubs do as their hilly rides. A lot seem to post them on their websites or find some of their rides on Strava.

Already snagged them and have a few I've done (Rose, Clents, etc.) but where we are they're all short and sharp, 1-2 minutes of 7-11% climbing, nothing really that sustains a normal gradient for 5 minutes plus.

I guess hill repeats isn't the worst, just would like to see how I fair on longer climbs, I can ask some of the route planners what they know of but I don't want to stray too far as I want to start riding when I get back from work @ 6PM.

Hmm.

madindehead · 29 Jun 2016 at 07:30

ThaReaperGuy said:
Stupid question time from Dale.

Are there any decent tools to find hills/climbs nearby or is Strava Segment search as close as I'm going to get and search for CAT 4/CAT 3 climbs?

I tend to look at routes in the "Find" section of RIDEWITHGPS. You can specify rides starting within a distance of your start area and min/max distance and elevation. It can be useful for finding new routes and climbs

Shamrock · 29 Jun 2016 at 07:42

ThaReaperGuy said:
where we are they're all short and sharp, 1-2 minutes of 7-11% climbing, nothing really that sustains a normal gradient for 5 minutes plus.

You are in the wrong country!

madindehead · 29 Jun 2016 at 08:34

Shamrock said:
You are in the wrong country!

Haha that too!

I think the closest you get to long climbs in the UK is Scotland. Certainly with that average gradient. Here is a fun one for you

https://www.strava.com/segments/5017538 (Although part of that is off-road from the looks of it!) This also looks a bit epic: https://www.strava.com/segments/9252073

xdcx · 29 Jun 2016 at 08:57

madindehead said:
Haha that too!

I think the closest you get to long climbs in the UK is Scotland. Certainly with that average gradient. Here is a fun one for you https://www.strava.com/segments/5017538 (Although part of that is off-road from the looks of it!) This also looks a bit epic: https://www.strava.com/segments/9252073

I can't go anywhere on my bike without doing a 5min+ climb. Who's up for swapsies?

Both those segments do go off road that you linked.
Bealach Na Ba is the best climb in the UK in terms of comparing it to the likes of a French alpine climb, it is a tough one! It is the only legit CAT1 on Strava (road wise) in the UK I think, but that's on the climb up from Applecross to the top, not the typical/famous way - https://www.strava.com/segments/1244832 - 11th place is futile! haha.

And here is the official 100 segment for the Cairngorm climb you linked to - https://www.strava.com/segments/6674377 - down to 4th boooo

SoliD · 29 Jun 2016 at 09:04

xdcx said:
I can't go anywhere on my bike without doing a 5min+ climb. Who's up for swapsies?

Both those segments do go off road that you linked.
Bealach Na Ba is the best climb in the UK in terms of comparing it to the likes of a French alpine climb, it is a tough one! It is the only legit CAT1 on Strava (road wise) in the UK I think, but that's on the climb up from Applecross to the top, not the typical/famous way - https://www.strava.com/segments/1244832 - 11th place is futile! haha.

And here is the official 100 segment for the Cairngorm climb you linked to - https://www.strava.com/segments/6674377 - down to 4th boooo

Cat 1 should only be determined by that which i ridden before it

Not this stupid Strava definition...

My Garmin is getting worse, keeps randomly losing gps signal mid ride, which resets the date/time and then picks it back up, meaning I have to fix about 50% of rides now. This morning it has somehow geo located to somewhere on the equator I can only assume as my ride was 26k miles long.... Great! Can't access it at work to see if it even attempted to save a ride and if so wtf happened.