Road Cycling

Old fart that values comfort too much nowadays, just took delivery of my gp5000 all season 35c tyres :)

Tempted to run them tubeless for even more smoothness!
 
Last edited:
Ride this morning had epic wind chill! Strava says 6 degrees but feels like-3! Wind was 18.3mph.

Still 22 miles done and a few PBs (no doubt helped by the wind!).
 
Last edited:
Only one day in, but can confirm, Gran Canaria is pretty cool!

fP2P4OQ.jpg
 
Finally sorting out the winter bike after the drivetrain self destructed back in, erm, 2024! Brakes need bleeding as well, so I started on the front yesterday afternoon. Tubeless has obviously worked very well as the nut on the non-lever end of the QR skewer had seized and wouldn't loosen. I manged to get the wheel off the bike, then had to clamp the nut in a vice to unscrew it.

New QR skewers ordered this morning...
 
@AndyCr15 I keep meaning to ask you this. On the newer Aftershokz that you have, how do you find them in the wind? Mine are fine for music but in the wind it's a bit rubbish for podcasts. With the extra drivers do the new ones work better?
 
Last edited:
eh, I need longer rear brake calliper bolts for the new bike. I raided the local bike shop and picked out the 2 longest ones they had but they will only just grip the calliper so will have to order some in. But the point of this post, why can't car garages leave you with a warm fuzzy feeling inside that the good old local bike shop does?
 
I promise I won't post every day, but yesterday was a big day. Pico de las Nieves, 6,000ft / 2,200m... the biggest climb I've ever done, leading to the most elevation I've ever ridden in one day, over 8,000ft / 2,500m for the first time.

My face when the trees cleared, I looked back and saw how far above the clouds we were! (Riding from sea level)

fPDymSS.jpg


I feel shattered today, and I think we have another 6,000ft day ahead :eek: :cry:
 
Martynt74 said:
On the newer Aftershokz that you have, how do you find them in the wind?
Click to expand...
Sorry, just remembered to come back to this. Short answer, not great. Probably a tiny touch worse than the ones before. Because these ones aren't 100% conduction, they blend... I forget what it's called in a technical way, but small speakers, I guess that element is lost in the wind. Overall, they sound better, though. I often use these when watching TV. (Sound travels easily in our flats, and if I'm using my laptop, phone or reading while the TV is on, I don't want to use big bulky over-ear headphones)

The last two days have been easier in GC, but jeez... I feel knackered and today is set to be quite a big one... Much as a week away cycling in warm places is great in January, I'm probably more suited to long weekends, like I do with work.
 
Talk about suffering from success :p

Sounds like you're having a blast though - enjoy it! I'm stuck on the turbo and using my excel spreadsheet of picking parts for a build I'm likely months if not years from actually getting lol.
 
Last edited:
AndyCr15 said:
Sorry, just remembered to come back to this. Short answer, not great. Probably a tiny touch worse than the ones before. Because these ones aren't 100% conduction, they blend... I forget what it's called in a technical way, but small speakers, I guess that element is lost in the wind. Overall, they sound better, though. I often use these when watching TV. (Sound travels easily in our flats, and if I'm using my laptop, phone or reading while the TV is on, I don't want to use big bulky over-ear headphones)
Click to expand...

Cheers, sounds like it's not worth the switch for me. It's just annoying switching from podcast to music or having to pause on descents because i can't hear anything.
 
Junglist said:
Think you're doing it a bit of a disservice calling it a Chinese clone but I personally think it looks mega.
Click to expand...
Oh it does, just the dimensions/silhouette look very very similar to the SL8 - thick headtube being the main one! Who makes that brand? More and more hype around some of the 'chinese' manufacturers anyway, which is a good thing when they're innovating and really pushing quality - rather than being cheap knock offs!

Martynt74 said:
@AndyCr15 I keep meaning to ask you this. On the newer Aftershokz that you have, how do you find them in the wind? Mine are fine for music but in the wind it's a bit rubbish for podcasts. With the extra drivers do the new ones work better?
Click to expand...
Think Andy used to have some of those ear muffler things you put on helmet straps to help reduce road noise, or was that someone else? Could be worth a shout anyway.

There's lots of them but I just remember the name of these: https://www.cat-ears.com/

Trifid said:
eh, I need longer rear brake calliper bolts for the new bike. I raided the local bike shop and picked out the 2 longest ones they had but they will only just grip the calliper so will have to order some in. But the point of this post, why can't car garages leave you with a warm fuzzy feeling inside that the good old local bike shop does?
Click to expand...
What length do you need? Car garages cost a lot more and always try to sell you a new one... Also no free coffee! :D

AndyCr15 said:
I promise I won't post every day, but yesterday was a big day. Pico de las Nieves, 6,000ft / 2,200m... the biggest climb I've ever done, leading to the most elevation I've ever ridden in one day, over 8,000ft / 2,500m for the first time.
Click to expand...
Amazing trip mate and glad you've had it (mostly) clear & dry! Those internal mountains are amazing, such quiet roads too. We did GC around 15 years ago & had an all day 4x4 excursion into the internals and I remember the views being breathtaking!
 
Roady said:
Oh it does, just the dimensions/silhouette look very very similar to the SL8 - thick headtube being the main one! Who makes that brand? More and more hype around some of the 'chinese' manufacturers anyway, which is a good thing when they're innovating and really pushing quality - rather than being cheap knock offs!
Click to expand...

The one I've settled on is from the brand 'Evolve'. I was really interested when it was shown at a bike show last year and it's been on my mind ever since. I like how high quality this one is (along with others like Seka and the Quick Pro you mentioned... though I kinda dislike the name as petty as that is!) And they're not scared to release the whitepapers about their bikes either. Even the finishing kit is of high quality.


Hambini was impressed by the quality of the frame and looking over at forums, such was weightweenies it's obvious he didn't just get a Hambini special but the frames are of fantastic quality.

From my adding up, I can build up a bike with Ultegra, including 50mm wheels, power meter, pedals and out front mount for ~£6000 and it would weigh 6.4kg. I'll probably stick with my Zipps but even then, that's a bike with 60mm wheels for under 5k and still weighing about 6.7Kg.

That's midrange SL8 money. Could do a Dura Ace build for less than the 'Pro' SL8 which was looking to be about 6.2kg. It's just hard to ignore.


Name aside, I do like how GC Performance's Quick Pro came out
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom