Road Cycling

I really can't stand cycling clothing! the sizes are ALL OVER THE PLACE.

Bought a dhb jacket, XL seems to fit fine but a bit tight around arms/chest as per the usual but does the job no problems.

Bought some b-twin baselayers, all good in size Large, tight-ish around arms etc but good fit where it needs to be.

come last weekend bought some more b-twin baselayers in different pattern/thickness and same size LARGE.. come to try it at home and hey ho can't fit in them at all, chest tight, neck tight, arms tight.. :|

cba
 
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'Cold' again this morning! So I drove... :eek:
Berger said:
Well isn't riding in the UK interesting! :eek:
Took 5 minutes to get used to being on a bike again not on the trainer, felt super twitchy front end like something wasn't tight, and the back end felt draggy like a brake was stuck on (I'm still not convinced it wasn't/isn't!).

Bike lanes, forget it.

Spend all your time looking ahead for sunken road furniture and wet metal grids of death!

Then whenever I came to a wet corner greater than 90 degrees or a roundabout I rode round it like a 90 year old on a mobility scooter. I didn't want to lean the bike over at all or get out the saddle in the corner for fear of the bike just going from under me with no warning, or ending up on a ***** bit of broken tarmac that would bounce the bike all over the place then hit the deck.

Not to mention mini roundabouts, everyone is an idiot who has to give way to each other until we all stop. Then everyone tries to go at once.

Aside from that, there was never a flat bit of ground for more than 500m, so by the time you get into a rhythm you have to change it. Ended up doing 255 billion watts and only averaging 31.5kmh.

Rant over :mad::mad::mad:
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Lol, bet you thought we were just wining poms before! Can't imagine how much of a shock the weather change has been for you - start/early OZ summer to start of the UK winter! Things are also colder than we're usually used to this time of year...!

Twitchy front/draggy rear, did you rebuild/strip your bike or just reassemble? If you've used a different track pump (likely) then front tyre pressure could be different to what you're used to? Rear being 'draggy' could just be the cold conditions, slower riding with all of the additional clothing could be contributing. Or could just be you're slower on UK roads!? ;)

UK road furniture and surfaces are terrible, really recommend some grippier/wider tyres! Also just wait until you experience more of the 'quality' road users and their 'friendly cycling advice'! ;)
WuMyster said:
Well I made the right call. After about a 2 hour journey to Cambridge, the 56cm is far too small. Just looking at it was a giveaway. 58cm delivering tomorrow.
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Glad you made the trip and quickly got an answer! Goodluck with the 58cm.
Vonhelmet said:
Anyone know of any decent cross/winter/gravel/adventure/branding-for-wide-tyres-mudguards-and-discs frames? I'm planning to build up a bike next year with discs and sram rival for winter and crap weather duty. My trusty carerra tdf will then be relegated to my parents house for when I'm visiting.
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Kinesis Disc 4S/Ti. Think the 4S can even take rim brakes (so you could use existing levers) and then switch in future to discs. Helps spread the cost!

PX London Road (if you're looking at SRAM), unsure if they just do a frame though. Mango Point AR were always a frame I liked the look of and very budget friendly pricing. Not many of them around either so wouldn't be as obviously 'cheap' as the PX branding. There's several steel disc frames from Pinnacle (Arkrose) but they're not exactly 'cheap'. The appeal of the steel Croix is very hard to beat though, I think it's a much nicer, classic looking frame than many of the others. Saw one online in a british racing kinda green with tan walled tyres *drool*.

You may find more deals on CX orientated frames in Feb/March kinda time, rather than now...
MM-Seat said:
Can anyone recommend me tyres and mudguards for a Giant Defy 1. Apparently it can take 28c tyres but, not sure if this is true when you have mudguards on?
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Which year? I've got a Defy 1 2015 and tried most mudguard options.

  • Giant older 'fenders' - noisy, too much flex so lots of clattering, alu parts corroded very quickly so looked messy even when clean. Clearance issues.
  • Giant newer Speedshields - less noise and flex, PVC style matt look guards were smart but stay mounting grub screws in the plastic guard 'holders' were poorly designed so they would never stay in position meaning lots of rubbing. Clearance issues.
  • Crud Roadracer mk2's - cheap & cheerful, okay for 1 season but easily broken, spare parts available but expensive for extras which you know are going to break/wear out in a couple of months. Not much coverage. Mk3's (current) are more expensive but no idea how much better.
  • SKS Raceblades - Limited coverage, ugly looking guards and a pain to get the fit right with the rubber bands leading to lots of tyre banging and noise.
  • SKS Raceblade Long - The best mudguards for tight clearances ever. I had the V1's and the only major gripe I had was fixed in the V2's (the guard clip's would wear through on the tyre on the V1's). Removable, makes things quick & easy for any issues. When commuting I would clip & unclip all through the summer for weekend/social riding and have them refitted for the week. I cut the stays on mine so I could screw the mounts onto the frame mount points as I found the QR mounts fiddly and a pain (leading to readjusting every time you change the wheel). I did find my rear wheel alignment poor with the QR fittings (it would move if not done extra tight).

Hope that helps! Bear in mind that whatever guard you fit will require lots of 'fettling' and continuous minor adjustments throughout it's lifecycle. There is no be all & end all easy 'fit & forget' mudguard and certainly not for the Giant Defy! Clearances are too tight on the Defy, so even with the frame mount points you will struggle to fit 99% of 'fixed' guards :)

I was able to run 25mm's under guards, never tried bigger but clearances were too close, 2-3mm max! Continental GP 4 Seasons 25mm fitted better than Mitchelin Pro 4 Endurance 25mm under guards and gave more grip.
 
Lethal` said:
Oh it's definitely too big yep. Small would work I think. I'm 5'8.5" but not really small build... :p

I figured the Propel was worth a demo while it was available. Could have demoed the TCR Disc as well but I figured the TCR geo is kinda similar to the Agree I have. I think if I'm to get anything propel-like I might as well go the full way and get a TT bike... :)

Surprised 40cm is lowest handlebar size as I'm not particularly narrow shouldered. Perhaps Bike Radar's spec of mine is wrong as I didn't actually measure. Giant apparently had 42cm but that could be wrong too.
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Yeah, wouldn't see the point in a side step bike wise Agree to TCR etc.
The Agree is a decent frame. There is a bloke selling one locally that's the year before my 2015 Agree frame and has Ulteg 6800 on it... I am tempted to buy it and have a summer and winter Agree :) It's a 2014 Agree Race frame with stock everything (Fulcrum 7's, Ulteg 6800 etc) reckon it would have been £1400 in late 2013 and he is wanting £775 on Gumtree for it now. Anyone reckon that is over priced? I'd not be spending more than £500 on that second hand to be honest, but he's reduced from £820 to £775, doubt he's going to take £250 off his price for it. Been for sale since start of October, so surely he see's he's priced it way too high as you can buy a brand new carbon frame with Ulteg from PX for about £200 more these days.

Looking at TT frames? (is it a TT you are after? Or an aero road frame?).

I replaced my Cube bars, which is a 56cm frame, they were 44cm I think as standard and downsized to 42cm Fizik bars which are narrow. The only size below that was 40cm. So that's why I say very narrow your bars must be but I will wager that different brands have different daft ways of measuring and reporting sizing on these sorts of things!
 
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More than 50% of the original value on a (could be well) used bike that's (possibly over) 3 years old sounds very over priced.
 
Roady said:
Which year? I've got a Defy 1 2015 and tried most mudguard options.

  • Giant older 'fenders' - noisy, too much flex so lots of clattering, alu parts corroded very quickly so looked messy even when clean. Clearance issues.
  • Giant newer Speedshields - less noise and flex, PVC style matt look guards were smart but stay mounting grub screws in the plastic guard 'holders' were poorly designed so they would never stay in position meaning lots of rubbing. Clearance issues.
  • Crud Roadracer mk2's - cheap & cheerful, okay for 1 season but easily broken, spare parts available but expensive for extras which you know are going to break/wear out in a couple of months. Not much coverage. Mk3's (current) are more expensive but no idea how much better.
  • SKS Raceblades - Limited coverage, ugly looking guards and a pain to get the fit right with the rubber bands leading to lots of tyre banging and noise.
  • SKS Raceblade Long - The best mudguards for tight clearances ever. I had the V1's and the only major gripe I had was fixed in the V2's (the guard clip's would wear through on the tyre on the V1's). Removable, makes things quick & easy for any issues. When commuting I would clip & unclip all through the summer for weekend/social riding and have them refitted for the week. I cut the stays on mine so I could screw the mounts onto the frame mount points as I found the QR mounts fiddly and a pain (leading to readjusting every time you change the wheel). I did find my rear wheel alignment poor with the QR fittings (it would move if not done extra tight).

Hope that helps! Bear in mind that whatever guard you fit will require lots of 'fettling' and continuous minor adjustments throughout it's lifecycle. There is no be all & end all easy 'fit & forget' mudguard and certainly not for the Giant Defy! Clearances are too tight on the Defy, so even with the frame mount points you will struggle to fit 99% of 'fixed' guards :)

I was able to run 25mm's under guards, never tried bigger but clearances were too close, 2-3mm max! Continental GP 4 Seasons 25mm fitted better than Mitchelin Pro 4 Endurance 25mm under guards and gave more grip.
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Same year actually, the Black and BLue one. I initially had a Defy 3 2014 but, was warranty replaced to the Defy 1 2015 which is a much better colour imo.

Thanks for the list and tyre recommendatations most helpful!
 
My other half has an Avail 5 and the Raceblade Long V2's with Schwalbe Marathon Smartguard 25mm tyres, clearances are very similar to Continental 25mm's (4 Seasons & GP 4000 SII's) on my Defy 1, so Schwalbe Durano or One may fit well too.

Although the Marathon being a rigid tyre (with a wire bead) they are utterly brutal to get on the rims and absolutely horrible to do anything with, wouldn't recommend them except maybe on wider rims (than 17mm internal width). They weigh a ton too!
 
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SoliD said:
I'd go kinesis, my friends one is a real class piece of work. Not sure what model you'd be looking at tho. His is the athein race, it rides very well. I keep looking at the cross light but will wait until next year.
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The Crosslight 5T is £500, so not miles more than the Croix de Fer. It is about half the weight, though!
 
Roady said:
Kinesis Disc 4S/Ti. Think the 4S can even take rim brakes (so you could use existing levers) and then switch in future to discs. Helps spread the cost!

PX London Road (if you're looking at SRAM), unsure if they just do a frame though. Mango Point AR were always a frame I liked the look of and very budget friendly pricing. Not many of them around either so wouldn't be as obviously 'cheap' as the PX branding. There's several steel disc frames from Pinnacle (Arkrose) but they're not exactly 'cheap'. The appeal of the steel Croix is very hard to beat though, I think it's a much nicer, classic looking frame than many of the others. Saw one online in a british racing kinda green with tan walled tyres *drool*.

You may find more deals on CX orientated frames in Feb/March kinda time, rather than now...
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Kinesis 4S looks more like a regular road bike than CX, so not quite right for what I'm after, though the 5T is a possibility.

The London Road is dead cheap - just £191 at the moment for the frameset. That's a possibility. I hadn't thought of Mango - the Point AR looks amazing, and the frameset is only £269. I think if I decide to go for aluminium that would be a front runner.
 
This is only very loosely bike related but I have no lighting and no windows etc in my garage so it's blacker than a black cat when I go in on an evening to tinker with the mini bike fleet.

Is there such a thing as a battery power LED strip light(s) that I could stick to the ceiling? Maybe with movement sensors too? All I can see is those dumb ass ones that look like little cctv cameras - no good for the ceiling and just generally pig ugly with what seems to be a pretty narrow beam.
 
merlin said:
This is only very loosely bike related but I have no lighting and no windows etc in my garage so it's blacker than a black cat when I go in on an evening to tinker with the mini bike fleet.

Is there such a thing as a battery power LED strip light(s) that I could stick to the ceiling? Maybe with movement sensors too? All I can see is those dumb ass ones that look like little cctv cameras - no good for the ceiling and just generally pig ugly with what seems to be a pretty narrow beam.
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lidl actually have a lot for sale.. or did last weekend :) I've got a couple that activate as soon as you walk in next to them and stay alight for 30seconds or so unless there's movement.

they also seem to be able to detect the fact that it is dark and don't turn on in day light.
 
Hmm, I think tbh I probably need around 1,000 lumens, and even that might not be enough, also was hoping for something nice and flush (ish) against the ceiling. Half thinking just to bite the bullet and get an electrician around to run a supply into the garage to get a proper LED strip light + pir, just completely fed up having to take a torch into the garage to do anything.
 
Just arrange all your bicycle lights around the garage on strobe flash and have a rave.

(I hate cyclists that use only a strobing front at night!:mad:)
 
merlin said:
This is only very loosely bike related but I have no lighting and no windows etc in my garage so it's blacker than a black cat when I go in on an evening to tinker with the mini bike fleet.

Is there such a thing as a battery power LED strip light(s) that I could stick to the ceiling? Maybe with movement sensors too? All I can see is those dumb ass ones that look like little cctv cameras - no good for the ceiling and just generally pig ugly with what seems to be a pretty narrow beam.
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You should be able to get something like this no problem.

We used to use LED strip lights in the back of 4wd vehicles with a canopy fitted, powered by 12v.


Found myself in a bike shop again today looking at a Focus cross bike. Not cheap mind!
 
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