Road Cycling

SDK^ said:
I'm going on holiday tomorrow and wanted to take my Allez with me to stay cycling fit. I've paid £100 to hire a bike box and £50 luggage fee for the flight.
Today I go to pack the bike in the box and the seat post is 'welded' into the frame. I've spent the last hour using GT85, boiling water and a hammer to loosen it but it's not budging :mad::mad::mad::mad:

Any more tips anyone has please?

I have 2 other bikes I could use but they have discs brakes and the box only supports standard Thru-axles.
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get the bike upside down, and find a way to work some fat coke into the seat tube, either the bottle cage holes or the BB. It's remarkable what that stuff can chew through
 
UTmaniac said:
https://www.aldi.co.uk/c/specialbuys/dates/2017-05-21?sort=popular&q=:popular:transactionalStatus:transactional:transactionalStatus:nontransactional:Event:Cycling&page=0 from Sunday 21st.

Thinking of maybe grabbing a pair of the bibshorts, although I've never worn bibs in my life. What's their advantage over the padded liner that came with my Funkier and Endura baggies I bought this year?
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The pad stays in the correct position as the strap keep it in the same position. I also find them much more comfortable.
 
UTmaniac said:
https://www.aldi.co.uk/c/specialbuys/dates/2017-05-21?sort=popular&q=:popular:transactionalStatus:transactional:transactionalStatus:nontransactional:Event:Cycling&page=0 from Sunday 21st.

Thinking of maybe grabbing a pair of the bibshorts, although I've never worn bibs in my life. What's their advantage over the padded liner that came with my Funkier and Endura baggies I bought this year?
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For £13 they're pretty hard to beat but don't let them influence you on bibshorts - there are better budget offerings (but most will be more than twice the price).

randomshenans said:
chiwawa under my arm
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Is that what we're calling it this week? :D

Saytan said:
it also reduces the risk of your riding mates calling you "Britney" for the rest of time after your shorts and top "gap" at the back.
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Some coffee just came out my nose! Will have that tune stuck in my head all afternoon now... ffs

Sun is glorious here this afternoon. Forecast torrential rain nowhere to be seen - I think we've sneaked between the two weather fronts moving east. Bet it changes in around 2 hours time for the commute home...! :rolleyes:

I think I'm in love with the Canyon Aeroad CF SLX Disc 8.0. It's totally over my budget at least for the next couple of years. That's why I'm half looking for an aero frame to reduce my leadtimes by spreading my budget required... Maybe if I can get more pictures of the Cervelo S3 Disc I might consider that as an option. Didn't like the colour options when I last looked (yet I love the straight S3). I wasn't sold on discs for an aero bike as it really limits the options, but I think if I'm spending ~£2k+ on a build then I would.
 
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Building up from a frameset is nearly always more expensive than buying a complete bike unless you're being super savvy and using new/used/already got bits

might be worth a look to see if any of your favourite choices have 0% deals going?
 
Saytan said:
Building up from a frameset is nearly always more expensive than buying a complete bike unless you're being super savvy and using new/used/already got bits

might be worth a look to see if any of your favourite choices have 0% deals going?
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I took it more that he would buy a frame and then slowly build it up.
 
Never bought anything on credit and I'm not about to start! ;)

Truth is I've got more than enough savings to buy what I'm looking at but with a baby due very soon I can't justify spending a lump of it. Spreading the costs (even if they're marginally higher) I can slightly more justify.

I have parts - shifters & chainset, cassettes & rim wheels so it'll be a bit of a project. I should probably just start with building a non-SCS wheelset for my Diverge, also selling some of the rim wheels I have... Maybe even selling the Defy. Could justify a complete bike even more then! :D
 
Had my first ride in the pouring rain yesterday. Started off just spitting but waited until I got far enough in to the ride to start hammering down. Got home and quickly bought some overshoes, drenched socks are gross :p
 
Roady said:
Never bought anything on credit and I'm not about to start! ;)

Truth is I've got more than enough savings to buy what I'm looking at but with a baby due very soon I can't justify spending a lump of it. Spreading the costs (even if they're marginally higher) I can slightly more justify.

I have parts - shifters & chainset, cassettes & rim wheels so it'll be a bit of a project. I should probably just start with building a non-SCS wheelset for my Diverge, also selling some of the rim wheels I have... Maybe even selling the Defy. Could justify a complete bike even more then! :D
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When the baby comes it'll mark a new era of:

a) no money
b) no time

Also your wife will start to get a lot of headaches. :p
 
Yeah so that's why I need an aero bike - it'll allow me to get to/from work quicker so I can work longer hours to get more money in? :D
 
Might try a set of those bibs, just to see what they are like, unless there are significantly better ones for less than ~£25 out there.

Sometimes I drive myself insane regarding cycling...

Did a quick 10-mile blast earlier on the fatbike, as weather forecast predicted rain was due, but was dry. Got to ~1500 and it was still dry, started getting silly idea of doing the same route on the road bike, but again rain was forecast to start imminently. But here I am, looking out of the window every few minutes, I've not gone for the second ride yet (which I could easily have finished by now) and rain still hasn't come!

Yet I still think that as soon as I head off for the ~30min blast, the heavens will open. If only I wasn't so bothered about getting the new road bike wet without having Cube's special Attain mudguards!
 
Perfect weather here all day, yet forecast was for rain to come at ~2pm & finish at 9pm. Dark clouds just came over from the south-west but it's still bright so I might actually make it home in the dry... Maybe! :o
 
Roady said:
Top cap isn't meant to carry the tension, the stem bolts are. You use the top cap to add preload tension to the bearings (6nM should be enough - there's a 'trick' of applying the front brake and pushing the bars to determine the tension is enough), before tightening the stem bolts to hold the steerer, then loosen off the top cap. Leaving the top cap too tight will impact the steering (you'll feel it 'snag') as the bearings are under too much pressure.

Although worth mentioning: more often than not my headset 'clicks' have come from the stem/bar interface, not the stem. Use carbon grip paste, even on alu to alu interface.
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Nice one Roady, I'll take the whole lot off, clean it up and reassemble. I haven't got any carbon paste but I wonder if some copper grease would do the trick?

EDIT - OK so I just had a look and under the headset bearing cover is full of grease. A little tell tale of grease has also been seeping out from under the headset bearing cover for a while which I've ignored and just wiped away periodically :o Is this normal or is it fudged?
 
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Saytan said:
if the cones have brinnelling (pitting where the balls run) it's only a matter of time, and it'll be difficult to adjust the hub properly, it'll always be slightly loose or slightly rough
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Ok, so no one online is going to have stock until the end of the month so I went to my lbs and got some there. They're not a perfect match - the cone bit is a bit longer, so that makes things a touch wider across the hub, so I've had to "persuade" the rear stays a bit to get things in. It's a steel frame, so I'm not too worried on that front, right? The track nuts also now don't sit as far on the axle thread. Am I going to die? If it's a bit sketchy then I'll order some from sjs when they're back in stock, or perhaps just get some track nuts that don't have a huge integrated spinning washer.

Thinking about it, is will throw the chain line off a little bit, so I'll have to find some way around that. Argh, dammit.
 
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Vonhelmet said:
Ok, so no one online is going to have stock until the end of the month so I went to my lbs and got some there. They're not a perfect match - the cone bit is a bit longer, so that makes things a touch wider across the hub, so I've had to "persuade" the rear stays a bit to get things in. It's a steel frame, so I'm not too worried on that front, right? The track nuts also now don't sit as far on the axle thread. Am I going to die? If it's a bit sketchy then I'll order some from sjs when they're back in stock, or perhaps just get some track nuts that don't have a huge integrated spinning washer.

Thinking about it, is will throw the chain line off a little bit, so I'll have to find some way around that. Argh, dammit.
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basic steels can be "sprung" a few mm no problem

as long as the axle is fully inserted into the nut I don't see that part as a major issue...

if both new cones are the same then the relationship between the freewheel and the frame's centre line should be unaltered, and so chainline will be ok
 
Ok, sounds like I'm ok then. I may just get some thinner nuts for peace of mind, then, so I can see some clear protruding from the nut.

Only 95p per cone at the lbs, bargain.
 
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