Road Cycling

Can't speak for your wheelset but in terms of setting up tubeless, it's easy. Easy enough that if I can do it without any issues, anyone can.

I used Stans sealant last time. This time I'm using the Silca sealant. Both my Schwalbe Pro Ones and Continential GP5000s both installed easily with a track pump.
 
fez said:
The frame saga continues...

I cut the ISP to the right height on the new frame and now the topper doesn't fit very well. It was a decent fit before I made the cut and now its sloppy. The cut I made was excellent and after sanding is perfectly flat. Flatter than the top of the uncut ISP. The issue also isn't with it rocking which might have suggest a wonky cut.

You would think this would be one of the few areas on the bike they would take masses of care with because its the single most likely point of failure and warranty. Going to call up the dealer today and see what they say. If they say just tighten it and ride it I will but I want it on record so that if/when it damages the ISP from movement I have proof I told them about it and it wasn't "user error".

I just want my fancy bike back!
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Define 'sloppy'... Angle of the top is different to the factory supplied so the ISM sits different? I always thought they where kinda 'suspended' over the end of the cut tube slightly anyway...?

Looks like the 'kit' for it comes with a couple of 'spacers' which go on top of the cut tube, possible to play around with 1 of those (so you're not mucking around chopping bits off your perfect cut!). 1 of them looks like 5mm or less, so start there even if it screws your saddle height slightly...!? Or some kinda foam/softer insert to dampen the 'join' in the interface between the parts so it's less sloppy? Firm enough to hold, not hard enough to damage the carbon...?

Giant Propel ISP Seat Clamp, G3SD02-301

Giant Propel ISP Seat Clamp, G3SD02-301, FREE UK Delivery, Price: £104.99. Giant Propel ISP Seat Clamp, G3SD02-301
www.reveloutdoors.co.uk www.reveloutdoors.co.uk

there's so many different ones though... No idea if they all come with spacers - but I imagine the LBS have spares - or even people online as once you've cut & fitted don't really need the extras...

Martynt74 said:
Few questions for everyone.

1 - How do i know if my rim tape is tubeless compatible? I'm fairly sure they were sold as such, but unsure if i need to do anything. I've had another puncture and it's annoyed me enough to want to make the switch. Is there a Go to Sealant?
2 - It seems like it's easy enough a process. Is it worth experimenting on a spare wheelset first?
3 - I currently have TPU tubes. In the instructions they point out that overinflating during the initial installation will ruin the tube and cause issues when later inflating fully due to the tube stretching. I've got a repair kit, but surely having finished an install and inflated to ~80psi, that's going to have taken them beyond the initial stretch point and mean re-fitting is going to cause problems. Given the price i never usually bother with repairing but was curious in this instance.
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The rim tape will normally have it written on it if it's Tubeless compatible - usually wheels labelled 'tubeless compatible' will have compatible tape on from the outset... But you'll need to check the details of the wheelset from the manufacturer, or the tape itself to be sure.

Experimenting is 1 thing, but so much of it is the specific combination of tyre and rim... A different rim or tyre might be completely different. Not all are created equal! The more modern the rim the more 'lucky' you're likely to be with your combination (really more likely they confirm to the ETRO standards - my older Zipp 30 Course (2015) are really tight to fit/awkward - the Fulcrum Racing 7's (2017) even worse! Newer wheels - Zipp 303 S, Zipp FC 404 & DT470 all loads easier to mount - some tyres can mount with just my thumbs)!

As for Sealant choice - I started on Stans, actually really liked it. After a year or two and refitting tyres & fighting with the 'bogies' left behind tried some Muc-Off as could get it next day and now prefer that. Much less bogies. Might not seal quite as perfect as Stans a bit more premium & gloopy, but far easier to replace than it, so easier to fit/refit tyres with. Smells nice(!) and shines white so easy to see if you have a leak somewhere, think it's even UV reactive. Can get a 1L bottle of it for £20-25 from lots of places - including Amazon Prime for next day when you have an emergency. Seems to last longer than Stans in the wheel too. Seems to live longer in the bottle when sealed, which is good when you have 1L of the stuff and you're only using 150-200ml a time.

Bike shop fitted Vittoria 'ammonia free' in my new wheels as I had them fit the Vittoria inserts and they didn't want something to react with them. Reading about the Mucoff it's ammonia free so should be fine too. will likely test it before I chuck a bunch in the wheel and melt my £50 pool noodles!

Would expect the TPU over inflation is about the tube outside of the wheel/tyre as mentioned. Never used them myself as didn't see the point & expense!
 
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The wheels are Ican, same Chinese brand as my frame, doesn't look like they do them anymore, but here's an old page from them. Relatively new and using the wider rim standard so i imagine they're probably fine.

Tyres are Panaracer Gravelkings. They're relatively easy to mount, and like you can usually mount with thumbs only.

Might switch my cassette/rotors to my old wheelset with the tubes/tyres and then i'm not rushed with getting them working tubeless and rushing it to ensure the bikes available. That probably makes most sense. Although also tempted to grab some new wider tyres to enable some comfort on more uneven sections.
 
Martynt74 said:
I think just for a cycling holiday. Recall him mentioning it earlier in the thread.
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Ah right. We were staying with a friend who moved out there a few years ago. He's retired but helps out a guy at Escapar holidays who operate from there.

I don't have experience of other places but what we did was great. Some long steady climbs, two absolute monsters of climbs, plenty of long sweepy descents. Really good mix of terrains that should be fine for all abilities.

There were a couple of "mechanicals" during the week which were taken to the LBS in Ontinyent to fix. Ridiculously cheap for first class service and helpful.
 
dod said:
Just back from a weeks riding in Spain with 7 mates, 660km in 6 days, highlight being the Contador Challenge. 147km with about 2500m of climbing.

We were based in a town called Ontinyent which is about an hour west of Valencia. It's a real joy to cycle there. Superb roads, patient drivers, and (apart from the first two days when we had a LOT of rain) great conditions. Everything seems to be on a hill but we're already making plans to go back, can't wait.
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Sounds great. I had a week is Spain last month, just in a Villa, no cycling. We weren't that far away, near Benissa and Moraira. When driving around you notice the different attitude the drivers have toward cyclists. Much more respectful to them and even if in a hurry they realise that waiting until after the next bend to pass them won't add 3 hours to their journey :rolleyes: . Drivers give a lot more room and have way more tolerance, actually a little too much being honest as there were times I was getting impatient about their over patience to pass!
 
I've found that Spain is generally like that. In Girona I've had cars on a roundabout giveaway to us coming onto the roundabout.

My list at the moment -

Denia
Malaga
Ontinyent

I have a Malaga trip booked for this time next year. I think my local club's next summer trip will be to Denia next year, so Ontinyent might be a Jan/Feb trip to celebrate my birthday.
 
I was thinking you could probably get to Ontinyent easy enough from Denia, but it's around 80km so would be a fairly long day, and then also likely to be missing some decent roads around.

@Vandle You're the second person now from your end i've chatted to in Spain. Our previous landlord was from Perth (i think), and he's got a holiday home further south where i live. It always baffled me as it was such a long journey and i struggled to understand the motivation for coming all this way, given the abundance of nice destinations closer to home. Although perhaps it's more common than i had thought. My parents live in Moraira, i imagine it was horrifically busy in August. I try and avoid it in that month :p
 
Martynt74 said:
I was thinking you could probably get to Ontinyent easy enough from Denia, but it's around 80km so would be a fairly long day, and then also likely to be missing some decent roads around.

@Vandle You're the second person now from your end i've chatted to in Spain. Our previous landlord was from Perth (i think), and he's got a holiday home further south where i live. It always baffled me as it was such a long journey and i struggled to understand the motivation for coming all this way, given the abundance of nice destinations closer to home. Although perhaps it's more common than i had thought. My parents live in Moraira, i imagine it was horrifically busy in August. I try and avoid it in that month :p
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I was visiting my parents in England. Climbed a few mountains in the Alps beforehand then we all got the Alicante express from Newcastle for about what it costs to buy a crate of beer here :D
We were actually in Javea (although the English spelling of the word had been graffitied out on EVERY road sign). Just looked it up and it's further than I thought from Moraira.
 
Vandle said:
I was visiting my parents in England. Climbed a few mountains in the Alps beforehand then we all got the Alicante express from Newcastle for about what it costs to buy a crate of beer here :D
We were actually in Javea (although the English spelling of the word had been graffitied out on EVERY road sign). Just looked it up and it's further than I thought from Moraira.
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Ah, that makes sense.

I actually prefer Javea to Moraira (not that i'd tell my parents that! People in Moraira seem very insistant it's the greatest place alive), just feels a nicer vibe.
 
Stayed on the coast near Murcia/Cartagena quite a while ago (5? 6? years ago before all the flooding and landslides they had in 2019), seemed an amazing place to ride a bike. Not far from Sierra Nevada or Javea/Calpe.

An ex-colleague of my other half had a holiday apartment there, always vowed to go back as was so quiet and seeing La Manga out in the sea then figuring out Mar Menor was a massive lagoon, pretty spectacular. Their properly was slightly damaged in the flooding and they stopped letting it out while they sorted it. We had even discussed going over to stay for a few weeks and doing a bunch of painting/decorating for them while we where there but never happened.
 
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Roady said:
Define 'sloppy'... Angle of the top is different to the factory supplied so the ISM sits different? I always thought they where kinda 'suspended' over the end of the cut tube slightly anyway...?

Looks like the 'kit' for it comes with a couple of 'spacers' which go on top of the cut tube, possible to play around with 1 of those (so you're not mucking around chopping bits off your perfect cut!). 1 of them looks like 5mm or less, so start there even if it screws your saddle height slightly...!? Or some kinda foam/softer insert to dampen the 'join' in the interface between the parts so it's less sloppy? Firm enough to hold, not hard enough to damage the carbon...?

Giant Propel ISP Seat Clamp, G3SD02-301

Giant Propel ISP Seat Clamp, G3SD02-301, FREE UK Delivery, Price: £104.99. Giant Propel ISP Seat Clamp, G3SD02-301
www.reveloutdoors.co.uk www.reveloutdoors.co.uk

there's so many different ones though... No idea if they all come with spacers - but I imagine the LBS have spares - or even people online as once you've cut & fitted don't really need the extras...
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The angle at the top wasn't the issue it was the size of the sleeve vs the seatmast. They sit on the top of the seatmast so the load falls straight down from the topper onto the top of the carbon. The bolt to attach the topper is just to keep it from moving. It probably takes a tiny bit of the load but the majority is a vertical load.

In the end I took the saddle off the topper to take it into the dealer and when I put it on the seatmast it seemed less loose a fit. I did think that was just because wiggling it with the saddle attached gives me more leverage but I thought **** it, why not check and possibly avoid another silly long wait for Giant to faff with the frame. I attached the topper to the seatmast and tightened the attachment bolt and then fitted the saddle and it did seem better. Not perfect but better. I stuck some frame protection tape around the top of the seatmast to pad it out a little and I think its a good enough fit. I will do some rides and check for damage.

So...bike is built up but obviously the weather has been absolutely awful ever since. I think its genuinely been raining more of the time than not and a lot of it has been torrential. Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow morning. All built with bottle cages etc it comes in at just over 7kg on my £3 luggage scales. Not too bad considering the wheels I have aren't super lightweight.
 
Vandle said:
Weather is picking right up here now as we have firmly exited winter. We have signed up to do the Tour De Cure discovery ride, 150kmish per day x 3 days in November in aid of raising funds for cancer research via a bloke my Mrs works with. Started the serious training now and did 80km loop with the group on Saturday. It's a very mixed group, some being cancer survivors and some actually actively undergoing treatment, who astonish me. As a result its a bit of a mixed group of abilities so we kind of break into 3 during the longer rides with frequent stops to let the others catch up. They put me at the front for most of the day and guess I'll be there for the tour proper. Hit my max 5 minute power so training is working (although could also be the new bike!)

Interesting when reading about frame replacement above. One of the lads in the group rides (or did) a Canyon Aeroad. He took it over to New Zealand 2 weeks ago in a bike case and somehow the chain stay got damage / broken in transit - likely a baggage handler issue. He contacted Canyon and they are replacing the frame under warranty which is great of them, oddly though they have requested that he cut the top tube and show them evidence of it which I thought was a bit weird. Anyway, he got the angle grinder out. This is a screen shot from the video in the group chat :D

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Fairly standard practise to ensure the frame isn't ridden again and therefore they're not liable for future failures.

One More Solo said:
I think I posted on here a bit ago about AXS vs Di2. Having had the worst experience ever trying to fit new pads to a set of AXS callipers (****ers would not stop rubbing after trying *everything*), I am firmly now in camp Di2. I've sold it all off and moved to 105 Di2. I had the brakes bled and fully functional within 30 mins. It's a much nicer and so much easier job.
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I've gone the other way with the bikes gone with everything in my stable now AXS, my Boardman had a sticky piston and took a while to get it freed up, but eventually did and now pads have been perfect ever since. I'm still not sure on the brakes, definitely a bit more dead in them, especially compared to my GRX Di2 shifters, but shifting has been fine, the hoods aren't quite as comfortable though.
 
Weather was beautiful yesterday but man was it cold. 5 degrees when I started out. I always forget how awful my nose is in the winter. Gets blocked as soon as it gets below about 10 degrees. Need to try and figure out if there is anything I can do about it because it makes hills pretty miserable.

New bike was great. Think I am going to buy a bike box alan easy fit and just take the fancy bike to Mallorca with me. The faff with the other option just isn't worth it with the limited time I have these days. I was going to stick the bike box on the roof to get it to and from the airport this side. Anyone have any experience with doing that? It won't go inside because there will be 4 of us in the car along with suitcases.
 
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I cycled for about 6½ yesterday and about 5½ hours in my Shokz OpenRun Pro headphones ran out of juice. I've had them last longer, so I wonder if they just didn't charge too well, even though I disconnected and connected them a couple of times as I know they're not so reliable with their proprietary magnetic charging cable. Either way, it got me thinking of the new OpenRun Pro 2's that came out last month and how I remembered seeing they advertised increased battery life. Hovering on the 'Buy' I headed off to watch some reviews... but returned instantly to click 'Buy' when I saw they charged with USB-C :cool:

dQslA8m.jpeg


I didn't pick them up until after today's ride, so don't know how they compare while riding yet, but they do sound very good in my living room with their new combined speaker and vibration tech.
 
Nice. My Openrun Pro's had an issue after two months, and in the interim the 2's were released. Was tempted to just get cash back and then re-purchase the 2's. Although i'd got mine in the sale for £130 and the new ones were £200, so ultimately i decided it was too much of a cost increase for me.

The new vibration tech sounds interesting, and i get the impression they'll perform better in the wind too which was the main reason i wanted them.
 
Got out yesterday for around 45km, managed to not die too much on any hills, and whilst nothing was too strenuous, there's a few sections where it's undulating and i've tired towards the end of rides on that route where i felt kind of stronger, so that felt optimistic.

Around 4 weeks to go, so aiming for an 80km ride this weekend and trying to keep consistency with 3-5 rides a week, which isn't something i've done for a while.
 
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