Road Cycling

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https://www.strava.com/activities/378051882

Just a short ride last night, as the dark nights are setting in, and we had a mechanical with someone who tagged along.

Starting to attack short climbs now, but I find I'm blowing really hard when I get to the top. The longer less steep climbs are the ones that kill me though. I can't keep up with the group on these. Need to work on my power and keeping it up.
 
Discs - are they any good on road bikes now or do they just add weight to the rotational mass and are counter-productive?

Also carbon or light aluminium?

I'll need a new bike once I can ride and actually sit on one when this claim is settled.

Local Giant dealer is Cannondale as well now.
 
helpimcrap said:
Discs - are they any good on road bikes now or do they just add weight to the rotational mass and are counter-productive?

Also carbon or light aluminium?

I'll need a new bike once I can ride and actually sit on one when this claim is settled.

Local Giant dealer is Cannondale as well now.
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You're going to get very polarised views here. I love discs to the point of not being willing to buy a bike without them. Others hate them.

They do improve braking, especially in the wet. They do add some weight though and you'll probably have to spend more for a similar level of components on a disc-equipped bike. The rotational weight thing doesn't matter that much as the rotor is very near the centre of the wheel.

I think most of the negative points you'll hear (which I don't agree with) are along the lines of the braking benefits not being substantial enough to offset the weight penalties and that they ruin the aesthetics of the bike. Both of those are things you should probably decide yourself on by having a look at disc-equipped bikes.

edit: Also, carbon all the way.
 
I don't think most amateurs really care about the weight or the aerodynamics or aesthetics of brakes, it's more the difficulty with maintenance. And the fact that most of us are on limited budgets, and for every disk brake bike under say £1500 you can get a calliper bike with much better specs elsewhere. It's personal preference for sure, you'll probably need to test ride quite a few before you can really decide how important they are for you.

I have seem a few bikes with direct mount brakes though, glad they're spreading. Could be a good middle ground.
 
PermaBanned said:
I don't think most amateurs really care about the weight or the aerodynamics or aesthetics of brakes, it's more the difficulty with maintenance. And the fact that most of us are on limited budgets, and for every disk brake bike under say £1500 you can get a calliper bike with much better specs elsewhere. It's personal preference for sure, you'll probably need to test ride quite a few before you can really decide how important they are for you.

I have seem a few bikes with direct mount brakes though, glad they're spreading. Could be a good middle ground.
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My next bike in a few years will definitely have hydraulic discs. I'm from an MTB background and the caliper brakes on road bikes are appalling in the wet. If I was buying a bike tomorrow though then I'm not so sure I'd go for discs. There's going to be some kind of bedding in period before everyone agrees on a standard for them and for manufacturers to come up with new rim designs that take full advantage of not needing a braking surface.
 
Any Manchester folk fancy riding out to see stage 2 of the Tour of Britain on Monday 7th? The route goes round in a big circle essentially, so on the route I've plotted I reckon you would have time to get from the climb on the Nick O' Pendle to the climb on Bleara Moor and then to the finish line in Colne. There'd be time for lunch between the two climbs if we could find somewhere suitable.

It's about an 86 mile round trip from my house just South of Bolton.

Let me know if you fancy it...
 
Vonhelmet said:
Any Manchester folk fancy riding out to see stage 2 of the Tour of Britain on Monday 7th? The route goes round in a big circle essentially, so on the route I've plotted I reckon you would have time to get from the climb on the Nick O' Pendle to the climb on Bleara Moor and then to the finish line in Colne. There'd be time for lunch between the two climbs if we could find somewhere suitable.

It's about an 86 mile round trip from my house just South of Bolton.

Let me know if you fancy it...
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I wish I could but I'm covering tons of cack in work at the moment :(
 
uv said:
In what way do you think a disc brake is more difficult to maintain?
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Oh come on, you can't argue that they're not more difficult to maintain than dual pivot callipers. I'm sure they're easy enough once you've done it a few times, but they are a lot more involved, a lot more mechanically complex and a lot easier to completely screw up.
 
PermaBanned said:
Oh come on, you can't argue that they're not more difficult to maintain than dual pivot callipers. I'm sure they're easy enough once you've done it a few times, but they are a lot more involved, a lot more mechanically complex and a lot easier to completely screw up.
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They're really not any more complex to maintain. Hydraulics, yeah (even then, a skill learned very quickly and there's a lot less dealing with pad wear adjustments).
 
JeffyB said:
I got off alright, just bruising on my right hand and some road rash on my shin. Bike was checked over by an engineer, mechanically sound but scuffed my Sram red shifters, rear derailleur, saddle, clothing and helmet :mad:

Police were sitting at the zebra crossing less than 10m away and took all the details, hopefully he'll just pay for the damaged parts and not need any legal action.
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Glad to hear, be careful with the hand as stressing injuries like that (by riding) can really hamper their recovery. Fingers crossed you get at least something back for the damage to equipment!

rossk26 said:
Starting to attack short climbs now, but I find I'm blowing really hard when I get to the top. The longer less steep climbs are the ones that kill me though. I can't keep up with the group on these. Need to work on my power and keeping it up.
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Intervals will really help with the stamina getting up gradual climbs, that with sweetspot/cadence work (to maintain your sweetspot while sat maintaining speed rather than pushing hard/standing and struggling to recover). Cadence, cadence, cadence! ;)

FishFluff said:
If I was buying a bike tomorrow though then I'm not so sure I'd go for discs. There's going to be some kind of bedding in period before everyone agrees on a standard for them and for manufacturers to come up with new rim designs that take full advantage of not needing a braking surface.
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Have to totally agree. I think much of it boils down to the setup you're after and your budget, if you really have the former nailed down and the latter is fairly high and variable then there is little reason NOT to go for discs. But until standards are settled and prices drop they're really only going to be 'within reach' of those with higher budgets.

What I mean by that is there's not much point spending £2000 on a 105 setup with cable discs if a Ultegra setup with rim brakes on the same frame is less money, the better groupset will benefit the rider more. But for someone looking at an Ultegra Di2 setup without a limited budget there's not much point in NOT looking at a HY-RD's or better... :cool:
 
JeffyB said:
I got off alright, just bruising on my right hand and some road rash on my shin. Bike was checked over by an engineer, mechanically sound but scuffed my Sram red shifters, rear derailleur, saddle, clothing and helmet :mad:

Police were sitting at the zebra crossing less than 10m away and took all the details, hopefully he'll just pay for the damaged parts and not need any legal action.
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Bit of a general question but is there any legal obligation to pay out for third party damages in a case like this? I mean, you don't need third party insurance to walk down the street where as you do in a car. I guess if the answer is no then it is the hassle of the small claims court. Hopefully they'll do the decent thing though.
 
PermaBanned said:
I don't think most amateurs really care about the weight or the aerodynamics or aesthetics of brakes, it's more the difficulty with maintenance.
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None of these things are what i really care about. The thing i care about most is how well my brakes stop me - that's why I'm looking forward to disc brakes becoming the norm.
 
Roady said:
Not to sound mean but at least the guy/kid looked to be 'hurt-but-ok'. Doubt he'll cross the road without looking again! I have no sympathy for pedestrians who do this!
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I once hit a teenager who rode his bike off the pavement and right into my path. I screamed blue murder at him and he looked sore and sheepish. I rode off once I figured he wasn't about to die. Hopefully he learnt a lesson from the experience.
 
lordrobs said:
Bit of a general question but is there any legal obligation to pay out for third party damages in a case like this? I mean, you don't need third party insurance to walk down the street where as you do in a car. I guess if the answer is no then it is the hassle of the small claims court. Hopefully they'll do the decent thing though.
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Tort of negligence. You can sue him for that.
 
Apologies for begging message....

This bank holiday weekend I'm planning to cycle from Norwich to London and then the return journey on Monday. My primary motivation is that I enjoy cycling and that it would be a nice personal achievement to tick off, as well as getting to escape London and catch up with some friends and my family.

Speaking to a friend about my plans he referred to it as, "mental", and "crazy", which got me thinking about the stigma / taboo of mental health.

At the fringe I went to a performance, fake it til you make it, on the subject of clinical depression in men which happens to be the biggest killer of men under 50. If you're interested, there is a good article here :

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/15/suicide-silence-depressed-men

Cutting the begging email short, the performance really moved me and an issue that will affect us all in some way or another. To that end I'm trying to raise a few quid for a wonderful charity CALM (campaign against living miserably). My target is £239, a £ for each mile I'll be aiming to ride this weekend. If anyone would like to sponsor me on my mental challenge I'd be very grateful.

justgiving : https://www.justgiving.com/London-Norwich-London/

Stephen
 
FrenchTart said:
You're going to get very polarised views here. I love discs to the point of not being willing to buy a bike without them. Others hate them.

They do improve braking, especially in the wet. They do add some weight though and you'll probably have to spend more for a similar level of components on a disc-equipped bike. The rotational weight thing doesn't matter that much as the rotor is very near the centre of the wheel.

I think most of the negative points you'll hear (which I don't agree with) are along the lines of the braking benefits not being substantial enough to offset the weight penalties and that they ruin the aesthetics of the bike. Both of those are things you should probably decide yourself on by having a look at disc-equipped bikes.

edit: Also, carbon all the way.
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I'm sort of half way house on this, I do love my disc brakes coming from MTB, so much so I took an age to decide on a CX bike and eventually went for one with Hydraulic Discs, which are absolutely fantastic and easily the measure of my MTB brakes, which they should be. I can see the benefits, such as not having to replace the rims, and the enhanced braking power, which is fantastic!

BUT, if I was getting a bike for mainly summer use, I would still get non discs, as the benefits the discs bring don't outweight the downsides imo.

I would also never buy cable discs either.
 
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