Road Cycling

Roady said:
Just grab a 32T cassette to swap on when you're hitting hills, there's no point going lower chainrings if you're already running 50/34! Big track guy like you should be using 53/39 anyhow! ;)

I run a 32T year round as I'm on 52/36 with lots of rolling terrain and I like hills. I'd probably swap to a 28T if I ever sort some aero wheels for chainganging and such. I have a 'spare' 28T on my turbo and it's not really needed.
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I think that's my conclusion - except I seem to recall I accidentally mixed up the 32T and 28T cassettes the once (when I had the Giant and the Trek bikes at the same time) and the Trek wouldn't change gear - it took me a while to figure out the RD on the Trek was short cage and couldn't cope with the dinner plates 32T. So I might actually only be able to get up to 30T on the back with the short cage. Oh god I'm going to be pushing it up Saintbury again first week of March aren't I? :o :(
 
SoliD said:
32 should work with a short cage just fine with a slight tweaking of the derraileur angle.
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I'm sure you're right SoliD but I think in an ideal world I'd like to be able to swap rear wheels (I have two sets) with zero faff regards the RD. With a 32T I'm into faffing and I don't like faffing, thinking 30T would go straight on no messing about, and be just enough to help me with not only this one climb but anything else similar that is long and steep. Short steep climbs I can do with the 28T, but really only if they are short.
 
UTmaniac said:
I chose to buy a Direto over a Flux because there are still plenty of reports coming in of issues with the Flux, which Tacx claimed to sort out a while after their release, but there are still buyers having problems.<snip>
Edit: Just found the Halfords Neo deal from Xmas, it was good if you have that budget, £950 before BC discount... So might be worth waiting for, if you have patience https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/tacx-neo-smart-turbo-trainer-950-halfords-2865394
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Good info and links thanks, great deal on the Flux from cyclerepublic too! So think that's the route I'll go, see if I can get somewhere to pricematch so I can use some other discount codes too. Can't remember if I've renewed my BC membership! :o

Patience? When it comes to new cycling kit? What a bizarre concept! ;)

One More Solo said:
@Roady definitely sounds like the go ahead to buy a Neo, do it! :)

The only "problem" with the Neo is it's so quiet and smooth that it really shows up any gaps in your bike maintenance. :p Turns out my NDS crank arm was borked and it was making a weird noise on every pedal rotation. It took me ages to narrow that down.
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Haha maintenance on the turbo bike is few and far between. You mean just putting some more air in the tyre when it slips a bit much yeah? ;)

To be fair I did put a new chain on it when I put the new 28T cassette and 52/36 shimano 105 crankset on it back in 2016. Think I've lubed it once or twice since lol

merlin said:
So I might actually only be able to get up to 30T on the back with the short cage. Oh god I'm going to be pushing it up Saintbury again first week of March aren't I? :o :(
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Buy a medium cage or leave an extra link in next time you change your chain. Might mean you can't use 50*11 without some chain slap but I'd take that over not being able to use 34*32! ;)

I picked up a medium cage Ultegra not long ago for £22-ish. Cassette is about the same, so less than £50 to save your knees. Either that or start training some low cadence high power drills! Which would be good practice for track anyway?! :)

EDIT: Zwift CVR Zone E bracket C week 4 race report: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/posts/31546440 (6th place!) :D
 
Roady said:
I picked up a medium cage Ultegra not long ago for £22-ish. Cassette is about the same, so less than £50 to save your knees. Either that or start training some low cadence high power drills! Which would be good practice for track anyway?! :)
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Ironically low cadence high power training starts next Tuesday at the club - I was half thinking of skipping it because I freaking hate pushing gears.

I sit on top of gears - I don't push.

Time for me to MTFU? :D
 
Afraid so! Don't be too daunted - you won't get better at doing it without practising!

I've heard standing starts hurt far more... ;)
 
UTmaniac said:
I chose to buy a Direto over a Flux because there are still plenty of reports coming in of issues with the Flux, which Tacx claimed to sort out a while after their release, but there are still buyers having problems.

On https://www.facebook.com/groups/1380212845399014/about/ (Direto group), there are a few owners that have had the belt slip off. Best price I can see is ~£625 from Athleteshop (used them last year for first time, no probs with fat bike tyre deal) but they don't expect stock until about this time next month, I got mine for £637 from Probikebit using a 15% code they sent me a week or so before Xmas.

Best Neo price seems to be £999 now, including Amazon, you could get it tomorrow on Prime. Halfords had a nice price before Xmas, but it was beyond my budget, so I didn't pay much attention (was it ~£900 including BC discount? Not showing at all online currently).
Edit: https://www.cyclerepublic.com/accessories/turbo-trainers/tacx-neo-smart-turbo-trainer.html doesn't look bad if you can take 10% off that £1125 price in-store with BC discount (never shopped there), if the free Tacx tablet holder is of use to you.
Edit: Just found the Halfords Neo deal from Xmas, it was good if you have that budget, £950 before BC discount... So might be worth waiting for, if you have patience https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/tacx-neo-smart-turbo-trainer-950-halfords-2865394
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I was one of the lucky ones that got in on the Halfords + BC Neo deal at £855, it was expensive but well worth it to me as I love Zwifting :)
 
merlin said:
I think that's my conclusion - except I seem to recall I accidentally mixed up the 32T and 28T cassettes the once (when I had the Giant and the Trek bikes at the same time) and the Trek wouldn't change gear - it took me a while to figure out the RD on the Trek was short cage and couldn't cope with the dinner plates 32T. So I might actually only be able to get up to 30T on the back with the short cage. Oh god I'm going to be pushing it up Saintbury again first week of March aren't I? :o :(
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Ok so seems like I've got a challenge on my hands - there doesn't seem to be an 11-30T cassette option, it's 28T or 32T.

Bugger.
 
merlin said:
Ok so seems like I've got a challenge on my hands - there doesn't seem to be an 11-30T cassette option, it's 28T or 32T.

Bugger.
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There is an Ultegra 6800 11-30, such as https://www.merlincycles.com/shimano-ultegra-cs-r8000-cassette-102871.html , but I cannot remember if 6800 is one of those "special" groupset components that can only be used with other 6800 bits.

You can get 105 11-32 cassettes for ~£30 and about the same for a medium cage 105 rear derailleur, you may find a good deal at Amazon today only to use the "BIGTHANKS" code for £10 off a £50+ order.
 
pumaz said:
I was one of the lucky ones that got in on the Halfords + BC Neo deal at £855, it was expensive but well worth it to me as I love Zwifting :)
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Yeah kinda kicking myself I missed it now as I had thought about it... Doh! How are you finding Zwift? Lots of Zwift talk over in the Trainer thread. ;)

merlin said:
Ok so seems like I've got a challenge on my hands - there doesn't seem to be an 11-30T cassette option, it's 28T or 32T.
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I think DA & Ultegra there is, but not 105. Some of the lower groupsets have 30T as their biggest cog rather than a 32T, but not the 11-speed ones.

merlin said:
Does anyone know if the Ultegra cassette will be ok with 105 5800 stuff?!
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Fine. Quite a few racers/pro's use 105 cassettes with Ultegra for training as the only difference between them is weight. They're the same materials, although I did hear they changed something with R8000 at least with the smaller cogs?

http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/p...vs-ultegra-6800-series-key-differences-334205 - nothing mentioned here about cassette difference (other than the R8000 RD accepting a 34T), so I could be wrong.
 
Roady said:
Fine. Quite a few racers/pro's use 105 cassettes with Ultegra for training as the only difference between them is weight. They're the same materials, although I did hear they changed something with R8000 at least with the smaller cogs?
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Extra snake oil I imagine. I did hear that several of the big pro teams on Shimano use ultegra cassettes as part of their bid to get over 6.8kg
 
That feel when the first outdoor ride in 4 months is potentially looming for this Sunday (12 degrees)... If it rains AM instead of PM on Saturday I might even make it a double :eek:
 
Roady said:
I think DA & Ultegra there is, but not 105. Some of the lower groupsets have 30T as their biggest cog rather than a 32T, but not the 11-speed ones.

Fine. Quite a few racers/pro's use 105 cassettes with Ultegra for training as the only difference between them is weight. They're the same materials, although I did hear they changed something with R8000 at least with the smaller cogs?

http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/p...vs-ultegra-6800-series-key-differences-334205 - nothing mentioned here about cassette difference (other than the R8000 RD accepting a 34T), so I could be wrong.
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I'm getting nowhere with this - my short cage RD apparently tops out at 28T. 32T doesn't work I know that for a fact, 30T might/might not - touch n go and according to Shimano "not recommended".

FFS!
 
I've used a 32 on a 105 and ultegra (mechanical and di2) short cage before - no issues. big cages look dump, unless they contain 17t jockey wheels.
 
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