Road Cycling

@Von Have fun riding in Wirral, I spent my teen years around Heswall, would love to ride the Wirral Way again. Nice hills around Heswall, Thursaston and West Kirby, albeit nothing cat4 or worse.

My Wazoo is a right Frankenbike today, fat rear wheel 4" Jumbo Jim and 29er front wheel with 28mm Grand Sport Race... Discovered this morning I at commute time that I punctured the rear road tube when having a mare fitting the skinny tyres!
 
Vonhelmet said:
Boo, my glasses broke on my ride home this evening. I felt something sharp on the side of my head and found the arm had broken and was digging into my head. I've got a spare pair to make do with for now, but has anyone got any recommendations in the £40-50 price range?
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Do you even cafe bodge bro? :p

Hinge pin fell out of my F-oakleys the other weekend :o cling film I used to wrap spare hydro tabs in.

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Chaps, would you say this cassette is worn enough to replace?



I replaced my chain last night, and on today's ride it was skipping all over the place with this cassette. It's done just under 4000 miles.

But I went to my LBS and got a new one fitted, and it's exactly the same! I thought it was out of index, but it's fine on my bike stand.

I've fiddled with the indexing some more, so tomorrow's ride will tell if it's that. Not sure what else it can be.....
 
51 Miles done today in and around the New Forest near Southampton. Before I moved down here people were telling me the roads were terrible around here for cycling. Fareham aren't the best no, but 20 minutes away I could easily plan a 100 mile route around the new Forest and the roads are brilliant. So smooth and generally, quiet vehicle-wise; Just need to watch out for the horses/cows :D Think my tyre pressures were ever so slightly down from what they should be, but this is the first ride of this length i've done on my own. May have to invest in a handlebar mount for my phone for the Strava route, rather than have to reach to rear pocket to grab it :(

Anyway, a nice ride and so happy about the quality of roads :D Shame i got sweat on my car seats though :(
 
Anyone done the Magnificat before? Just wondering how it works in terms of parking. Is there plenty of parking available at the racecourse or is it a case of turning up really early to get one?
 
Shadowness said:
Chaps, would you say this cassette is worn enough to replace?



I replaced my chain last night, and on today's ride it was skipping all over the place with this cassette. It's done just under 4000 miles.

But I went to my LBS and got a new one fitted, and it's exactly the same! I thought it was out of index, but it's fine on my bike stand.

I've fiddled with the indexing some more, so tomorrow's ride will tell if it's that. Not sure what else it can be.....
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It looks well used, how are the chainrings? Does it do it on both?
 
It's nearly impossible to inspect cassette wear visually. If a new chain is skipping on an old cassette that's a sure sign that it's worn though. I'm not sure why it would still be skipping if you've got a new cassette though, could you describe the issue a bit more? Does it happen more in certain gears? When you're putting a lot of pressure on the pedals? Or when you're changing gear?
 
3,300 miles out of my 105 chain (since Feb) and it's showing 1mm of stretch. Park Tools chain checker suggests to replace at 0.75. In Germany the week after next so thinking rather than packing a spare I'll just fit it next week.

Haven't noticed any issues shifting or any skipping. What do others here wait for, problems shifting or go by the marker?

Equally I've not replaced my outters in almost 7,000 miles but put new inners on back in April, 2,200 miles ago, again no issues.
 
Probikekit have a 20% promo for 4iii power meters, makes the 105 left crank £300.

Wahoo have a £50 cashback promo on the Elemnt (not Bolt) bundles, with Wiggle's discount promo it means the standard package could end up being £175, or the sensor bundle £225 max.

I wish money wasn't so tight, both are pretty nice deals in their own right, but then I wish I could get a decent mobile like the Lenovo P2! I probably shouldn't do either, but damn it's tempting to buy one or the other...
 
If you let a chain wear too much it's much more likely that it'll take the cassette within it, which is more costly and a bit of a pain to keep replacing in the long run.
 
Got my first road bike yesterday, bought a Cube Attain Pro from a local store. Took it for a quick 10 mile spin and pretty impressed with it.

I've been riding a hybrid for the last year on and off road and I was surprised how quickly I got used to the drop handlebars and looking forward to doing some more road focused riding.

Pretty impressed with wiggle too, ordered some bottle cages and some MTB SPD pedals to go on this bike yesterday afternoon and they were at my local news agents for collection at lunch time.

I do have a couple of observations:
The rim breaks seem pretty poor coming from the hydraulic disks on my hybrid, I'm sure they will get a bit better once the pads and rims bed in a bit but the disks are far superior. Hopefully they will trickle down to cheaper road bikes in the future or I will need to spend a lot more on the next upgrade...

I need to practice getting out the saddle a lot more, I don't feel totally in control of the bike. I'm much more stable on wide flat bars.
 
Nice one. You tend to get used to normal riding on drop bars fairly quickly, but for things like sprinting it will take a bit of time in the saddle for you to really feel confident. Out of the saddle climbing is a lot about form as well. Difference between disc and rim brakes is not surprising, but rim brakes are usually perfectly usable as long as you know what to expect when you pull the lever. If you continue to have issues with the performance, some higher end brake pads like swiss/kool stops or dura ace could be worth considering.
 
UTmaniac said:
@Von Have fun riding in Wirral, I spent my teen years around Heswall, would love to ride the Wirral Way again. Nice hills around Heswall, Thursaston and West Kirby, albeit nothing cat4 or worse.
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Yeah, I lived here from 8 years old until after uni. I used to ride the Wirral way from heswall to
West Kirby all the time. I got out for a 4 mile run this evening and should get about 35 miles in on the bike tomorrow.

Given that the highest elevation on the Wirral is only 300ft or so it's not a wonder there's no decent climbs! I think there's one cat 4 on Strava but it's a really silly route, from right by the Dee estuary in Heswall (Park West, I think) up to somewhere near telegraph road.
 
Had my first road bike (Felt F95) for a short while and been out and done some decent solo rides, but did my first proper ride (group / distance / elevation) today and it ruined me :/

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Anyone got any feedback on the Elemnt vs 520?

Currently using my trusty 500 however due to a move I'm after something with decent European mapping capabilities.

I'm not overly fussed about huge amounts of data, clear and accurate mapping is a priority.
 
No idea on the 520. I've been given incorrect instructions by my Elemnt on a few occasions. Seems to happen when following number cycle routes. Will say follow route 46 or what ever and you actually need to take a turn to continue on route 46.

This might just be a problem with the base maps, I've not tried any different ones yet.
 
Hi guys bit of real world advice please, i'm after a priority purchase list of sorts for an absolute beginner.

Decided to jump in and start cycling, mostly as a way of getting fit and keeping in touch with mates who also ride and have zero interest in doing anything non-bike related! On research I've bought a Allez e5 sport 2017.

I've got £200 of budget left over to buy other bits of gear, the problem is that my mates have all been cycling for years and insist that I need thousands of pounds worth of kit before even setting off.

Necessary to buy - Pedals, Helmet, pump and tools

What would be the next priorities to buy? Clothing? Footwear? Eyewear (i'm blind without spectacles)? Computer?
 
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