Another nod for prime armour here. Far better than any £15 tyre has any right to be. Last well too.
Road Cycling
- Thread starter FrenchTart
- Start date
Think @SoliD is running them too.
I've been meaning to give them a try. How soft is the compound and how weighty do they feel compared to 25mm 4Seas? Shame they only come up to 28mm.
I may try the Essential Armour, which might be more suited for a winter commuter (due to the extra tread) as they have a 32mm option.
Yup. The amount of positive chatter about 1x road (the 3T Strada being the main one), makes me think it won't be long until Shimano follow suit.
they don't feel especially good in the hand... kind of plasticky, and you have to trim hairs off them like it's the nineties. Reasonably light, but I don't worry about that too much for the tank-like kinesis. Almost sent mine back without fitting them, but my existing tyres were toast so I though why not.
mine replaced a GP4season on the front and I've felt no meaningful drop in grip
Good info & feedback. You nearly returned due to the hairs or due to the feel?
Totally unrelated, looked at the data from my race saturday morning where I felt slow and really struggled on my new Tacx Flux. I know I've lost a little power (it's more accurate!) and I figured I was just fatigued still recovering from the end of illness. HR data says otherwise, I nailed it and utterly abused myself. Just didn't race very clever!
Totally unrelated, looked at the data from my race saturday morning where I felt slow and really struggled on my new Tacx Flux. I know I've lost a little power (it's more accurate!) and I figured I was just fatigued still recovering from the end of illness. HR data says otherwise, I nailed it and utterly abused myself. Just didn't race very clever!
I think we've touched upon Tacx Vortex power figures before Roady - I saw what I thought was around 7% or so drop in my power figures.
Like you I can't say I care - i just want consistency. I only run one bike so I do now have the benefit of getting power figures from only one source, irrespective of indoor or outdoor.
Like you I can't say I care - i just want consistency. I only run one bike so I do now have the benefit of getting power figures from only one source, irrespective of indoor or outdoor.
the two combined to make them feel a bit cheap and nasty. They've worn really well and seem very resistant to cutting up, and I commute through the drinking districts of the city so I pick up LOTS of glass
Yep, I have the prime armour in 25s and got some prime race in 28s which i've been using since just after christmas with no bother so far, both highly recommended for the price and winter riding. I use GP4000s on the summer bike so don't really like to skimp and these tyres certainly aren't skimping, plenty of grip in wet and horrible conditions and so far relatively puncture proof..
Thank you gentlemen, that's decision made for me! All we need is a glowing review from FT and we can award them with our 'OCUK Tyre of the Winter GOLD' award.
Agreed, consistency is key. Unfortunately Zwift is wholly reliable on the power figure (to calculate w/kg) so any drop really hits home when racing!
It's going to take some getting used to as I'd 'progressed' (with my FTP increase from 260ish to 290ish on the Vortex) to being able to dictate parts of cat B races, buzzing the front, breaking away and chasing people down. I now can't as easily as I'd say my FTP is back down to probably 260-270W. The power curve of the Flux is much steeper than the Vortex, I can't rev it up spinning out gears for big jumps/kicks along with the resistance delay being lower, so much harder to attack over the top of climbs than before. I'm going to see if dropping the 'trainer difficulty' slider down from 100% to 75/80% for a little respite until I get used to it!
I seem to recall I did a Zwift FTP at around 250/255w using the Tacx in-built power meter (It was genuinely all out - I was on hands and knees afterwards) I don't think I've actually got round to re-doing it using my 4iiii but I would estimate myself at around 230 ftp, ish.
That resistance/difficulty setting is there to solve problems like this - it's not cheating so if I was you I'd be setting it to whatever suited the legs best.
Gut feeling is that I took around about 7% drop. Before fitting my 4iiii I was mid B everywhere, or maybe top third of B, now I'm generally in the bottom third of B.
Funny thing is - I'm actually using getting myself back up to 3.4w/kilo as a training target - I was there but only because of the Vortex over reading, I dropped to 3.2w/kilo and I'm now inching my way back up - I think my last effort came in at 3.25w/kilo, I'm going to be soooo chuffed if I can get myself back up to 3.4w/kilo - you should do the same - take the power trimming as a target - your target is to close that gap back down, it'd be an amazing achievement!
(or you could just stop eating - that's another solution)
That resistance/difficulty setting is there to solve problems like this - it's not cheating so if I was you I'd be setting it to whatever suited the legs best.
Gut feeling is that I took around about 7% drop. Before fitting my 4iiii I was mid B everywhere, or maybe top third of B, now I'm generally in the bottom third of B.
Funny thing is - I'm actually using getting myself back up to 3.4w/kilo as a training target - I was there but only because of the Vortex over reading, I dropped to 3.2w/kilo and I'm now inching my way back up - I think my last effort came in at 3.25w/kilo, I'm going to be soooo chuffed if I can get myself back up to 3.4w/kilo - you should do the same - take the power trimming as a target - your target is to close that gap back down, it'd be an amazing achievement!
(or you could just stop eating - that's another solution)
They'll be due for replacement by the time he gets homeYou'll probably have a puncture or crash on your first ride with them now.
Shaddap! I've been pretty damn good recently! 
To be fair I'm quite conscious of 'losing' my Wiggle Platinum discount in a few months time - as from around August onwards my cycling spending was really reigned in due to the baby arriving...
I've not eaten cake for weeks but the other half made flapjack today... Thankfully the majority of the Xmas biscuits/chocolate are now gone...
To be fair I'm quite conscious of 'losing' my Wiggle Platinum discount in a few months time - as from around August onwards my cycling spending was really reigned in due to the baby arriving...
Oh I will, another alternative is to maybe just keep my weight at 75kg on Zwift, rather than putting it up to where it measured this morning!you should do the same - take the power trimming as a target - your target is to close that gap back down, it'd be an amazing achievement!
(or you could just stop eating - that's another solution)
I've not eaten cake for weeks but the other half made flapjack today... Thankfully the majority of the Xmas biscuits/chocolate are now gone...
Easy fix: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/felt-f24x-2017/To be fair I'm quite conscious of 'losing' my Wiggle Platinum discount in a few months time - as from around August onwards my cycling spending was really reigned in due to the baby arriving...
Pffft. Get it right. I need a mid life crisis now I've got a child, amirite?
Soldato
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I'm sure he's enjoying himself but seems to be neglecting the specificity aspect of training - unless he rides around outside stood up all the time! You just have to accept on Zwift that as a lighter rider it sucks a bit in races but it's a training tool at the end of the day. I'd like to see more hilly/long races but most people just want to blast for 45 mins to an hour which is fair enough.
That RoadLink thing is quite nifty, would be good for bigger cassettes for the Lakes/Peaks or for longer rides in the proper mountains.
I'm trying to muster the motivation to cycle into work, it's just shy of 5 miles but very hilly, which puts me off. When the weather was good I used to cycle 8 miles each way which took me just shy of 40 minutes, so doing 5 should be easier.
I should be able to do it in 25 mins or so, which is much faster than the bus, it's just finding the motivation. Ideally i'd like to do it every day of the week so I need to try and build up to it.
I should be able to do it in 25 mins or so, which is much faster than the bus, it's just finding the motivation. Ideally i'd like to do it every day of the week so I need to try and build up to it.
Top tip, it doesn't matter whether you are walking, cycling or driving. Always look where you are going
Totally agree, but he's a prime example of what I'm seeing more and more on Zwift - he'd not ridden outside for months (since September I think!?) so his technique and riding is totally Zwift centric. I think that's why there's more and more people building 'rocker plates' for Zwift to improve the experience and immerse themselves further. More and more people just don't bother riding at all outside in the winter months any more. Zwift has become their winter riding, not just a way of 'filling in the gaps' between outside rides.
There's more and more call for longer races. I think KISS do a 100km one on a saturday morning. Most of the longer ones tend to be training rides at the moment. Once admins/leaders have more power over rides & riders I can see more variety happening. At the moment the whole setting up a ride is a lengthy process and large commitment, the admin side of it is awkward and impossible to learn before hand, then the leadership of it is very basic with very little control of the ride itself (other than typing on screen).
Building up is key, as is enjoying it, so wait for some better weather! This time of year it's more a test of endurance and willpower with the rubbish light, dirty roads, wet weather and bad driving. Most days there's very little to enjoy this time of year!
Face your fears!
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