Road Cycling

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Hey guys, After a bit of advice if I may. I am looking to upgrade my current bike (2007 Specialized Allez Sport), and I have a £1k budget. I have been specifically looking at the Planet X RT-80 Shimano 105 which seems to tick all the right boxes, but should I be looking elsewhere? It seems amazing value for a full carbon 105 setup, but I am relatively new to all this so thought I'd ask you all!

Thanks in advance.

http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXSL...273102241&mc_cid=94439ef3c6&mc_eid=fc432f52c6

£899 ultegra 6800 + full carbon, fulcrum wheels.
 
You can buy a bike for 1/10th of the price, wheels for 1/10th of the price, a watch for 1/10th of the price - it's your money, as long as you feel good and are happy then there's no wrong answer* :D

* I have no Rapha bottles, but I am a Rapha clothing whore :D

True...but arguably Rapha clothing offers benefits over some cheaper options...I'm not so sure about the bottles :p
 
Similar area Benny, amazing weather, had a head wind on the way back, stupidly I only took one bottle. Run out of water about 35 miles!

I planned to be passing my door around 32 miles in so collected a fresh bottle as I did :)

I was quite concerned about cramp again as it's struck me a few times recently but think I've pinpointed how to manage it (as it's not bikefit related, rather sodium balance). Previously I've had arm & leg warmers on which I think also contribute.

In addition to monitoring diet a little more cloesely than I already do... today I ditched the cycling cap under the helmet (lets be honest it offers zero shade!) so my head can actually cool under my lid and will continue to make sure I'm cooled sufficiently rather than taking focusing on taking on fluid & replacing salts. Attack the cause so to speak. Managed todays ride without a wink despite the heat and drinking a little less than usual.

I actually saw someone wearing bib tights and arm warmers today, 26 degrees! :eek:
 
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Just signed up with uv to Ride24 Newcastle to London :eek:

We'll have done an unsupported 300 miler a couple of months before but it's still a little daunting.

Keep an eye out for charity donation spam :p
 
I planned to be passing my door around 32 miles in so collected a fresh bottle as I did :)

I was quite concerned about cramp again as it's struck me a few times recently but think I've pinpointed how to manage it (as it's not bikefit related, rather sodium balance). Previously I've had arm & leg warmers on which I think also contribute.

In addition to monitoring diet a little more cloesely than I already do... today I ditched the cycling cap under the helmet (lets be honest it offers zero shade!) so my head can actually cool under my lid and will continue to make sure I'm cooled sufficiently rather than taking focusing on taking on fluid & replacing salts. Attack the cause so to speak. Managed todays ride without a wink despite the heat and drinking a little less than usual.

I actually saw someone wearing bib tights and arm warmers today, 26 degrees! :eek:

Have you tried Zero or Nuun tabs in your bidon?
 
Well, that sucked.

Somewhere between...

a) Lack of sleep
b) A cold
c) Lots of wind (the weather, not me)
d) Lack of hill practise this year

...I ended up having to get off the bike on a horrible cat 4. I'd nearly made it to the top, when just before the final bend I lost traction at the back on the terrible road surface and came close to banging my chin on my stem, such was my position at the time, at which point I lost all rhythm not to mention my nerve. I had to get off and I nearly hurled, which is a pretty rare thing. Hey ho. That climb will have to go back on the list of things I need to do this year, and I'll see whether I can actually pull it off next time.

On the plus side, I took advantage of the ludicrous wind to claim a PR on a segment in the right direction.
 
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Just signed up with uv to Ride24 Newcastle to London :eek:

We'll have done an unsupported 300 miler a couple of months before but it's still a little daunting.

Keep an eye out for charity donation spam :p

Be careful on that one as if I remember correctly that goes down the A19 which is a very busy road and to be quite honest is pretty irresponsible.

Edit just checked Thrisk to York on the A19 utterly retarded
 
Be careful on that one as if I remember correctly that goes down the A19 which is a very busy road and to be quite honest is pretty irresponsible.

Edit just checked Thrisk to York on the A19 utterly retarded

Can't say I'm a huge fan of hideous A roads so that's a bit disappointing but we do plan to stick with the (lead, ideally) pace group so I'm hoping the sheer number of people will keep us relatively safe :s
 
I was only joking but... er.. I thought you got cold easily. Maybe I'm thinking of someone else :confused: (almost certainly am, sorry)

HHa I have raynauds so my hands and. Feet are almost always cold so you're sort of right! :-P laying in bed now probably 20c in my room and still cold feet. However most of winter I only need shorts Base Layer merino jersey and arm/leg warmers for my body to stay warm.
 
I actually saw someone wearing bib tights and arm warmers today, 26 degrees! :eek:

Just this morning I passed somebody who was in full length bib tights and what looked like a winter jacket. I was just in shorts and shortsleeve jersey. Too warm! Oh well, at least its cooling down later in the week! :cool:
 
Just this morning I passed somebody who was in full length bib tights and what looked like a winter jacket. I was just in shorts and shortsleeve jersey. Too warm! Oh well, at least its cooling down later in the week! :cool:

A housemate went out in full winter clothing on a hybrid bimble - jacket, tights, winter jacket and even a balaclava. I had to ask why... "So that I sweat more" :confused:
 
Yep, shorts, short sleeve jersey, no overshoes, no buff... What a difference a week or two can make!

I saw some silly attire yesterday as well - baking heat and I saw a guy in tights with s long sleeve jersey and a waterproof. He must have been sweltering!
 
Go big and get the Exposure Blaze. 48h burntime on the lowest pulse mode which is still blinding.

A mate had the tracer and it developed a fault where bumpy roads would make it turn off.
Best rear EVER! Mine is still going strong after most of the winter. Don't they have lifetime warranty on them? Mines only fault is occasionally the internals rotate around inside the shell (slightly) so the charging port doesn't quite line up (but easy to push back into place). I'd happily buy another for the £35-£45 you can find them for on deals.
I refuse to watch his videos any more as I don't want to support the guy.
Sometimes I find him funny, other times he talks so much garbage he infuriates me. 40 bananas a day. No wonder he looks and acts like a retarded monkey! Usually like his real world reviews of products as if there's anything annoying he'll certainly mention it.
The last stretch was tough as I was trying to make up lost time from the cars! Almost 2 miles at zone fiveish HR.
Awesome effort, kudos for getting into that hurt zone and being able to stay there!
Fitted a new Shimano chain today, managed to balls it up on two levels. Firstly I didn't pay attention to where I shortened it and ended up with two wide ends, I also made it a bit short. Had to use the snap off link to add an extra link and a half and then used a KMC quick link thing.<snip>
The freehub on my Khamsins rapidly went from silent to buzzy (over the course of about 20 miles) but I'm not sure if that is the grease just being distributed around or if I should be concerned?
Did the EXACT same thing on my current Shimano! Have been running it with 2 SRAM QL's and it's coped fine. Mines been at 0.75% for probably 200 miles as I decided to run it a little longer than I normally would before replacing. CN HG-701 SIL TEC - 1234.4 miles! Around the same mileage I was getting out of SRAM X1 11's at twice the price and 40% more mileage than the KMC's.

Khamsin freehub should be quite clicky so it's free'd itself up to get to that stage, just be wary when it stops clicking as it'll need a new spring.

Anyone know much about freehub springs? Are they quite generic, or specific to wheelsets/models? One on my mrs' Giant SR-2 wheelset has died and the engagement is quite iffy on it so need to service them and replace it.

Did a full service on mine over the weekend and noticed something a little concerning... Looks like my Arione has broken across the middle! Boo! :(
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Glad it was only a 'cheap' S/H one. Will be hunting around for another S/H (or an Antares) to replace it with, unless anyone knows any deals on new ones currently?

Went out with the Climb on Bikes guys on saturday, an easy ~40 miles to put me up to ~122 for the week. Couple of new guys along, a flat route and quite a varied group made it 80% a very VERY easy social ride. Around 14 riders and a slight wind - Perfect for the weather as would've melted without it! :cool:

Couple of us had a good blast back towards town after someone semi-launched off the front. I immediately jumped on his wheel and smashed him up the climb just shortly after, half sat up and heard Kevin's voice behind me telling me to go for it. Needing no more encouragement buried myself on the rest of the slight climb, Kevin and 1 other came cruising past afterwards but I just couldn't keep on their wheels, spent the next couple of miles trying to maintain pace and a couple of others caught up with me. Recovered slightly then smashed them on the next slight dig into Credenhill. We all stopped and had a good laugh for a few minutes while the rest of the group caught up with us for an easier jaunt back into town. :)
 
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Few pics of the new ride that came on Friday. Its a great bike and a big upgrade over my Chinese carbon bike.

I have to say Canyon were great from order to delivery. It was scheduled for the dates 9-13th May but it actually came early which was nice.

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I thought its a nice touch with the wording on the box

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The packaging was top notch, everything was held together with foam, bits of cardboard and velcro
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Factory spec, i already had a buyer for the wheels but wanted to get a pic:)
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Sprint shifters which i thought would just be a gimmick actually came in handy going down a decent yesterday in the drops.
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I put my climbing rims on because they used the same pads as the factory wheels and could be bothered to change the pads:)
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Yesterday i put my proper wheels on and now its in the final spec
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I managed to get around 80 miles in over the weekend, loved every second of it. Well sort of, the seat position is a bit off and gave me sore balls :D I tried to adjust it last night but it wont tilt, apparently this is a problem a few people have had. Another issue is after putting my rims on, they are a bit wider than the Mavics that came with it so i had to adjust the brakes, i cant get the pads to contact the rim at the same time, the right one always seems to come in first, ive not used direct mount brakes before so need to look into how they work. It was perfect weather over the weekend and gave me a good chance to try it out, overall impressions are than Canyon have made a great bike.

Ive got aches in different places today, hopefully its just a case of getting used to a new bike and using different muscles.
 
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