Road Cycling

[Roady]

Yup, in fact that is why I started using it to get my old routes off Garmin Connect on to the Wahoo with TBT.

Hmmm... just read Jobe's comment. Maybe that is just via the app as I certainly got TBT on my Wahoo from the GC route I uploaded to it.

Ahhh quality, love it when fiddling between platforms/formats you get the results you want (hate totally locked down systems!).

Maybe in time Komoot will be integrated into Wahoo's firmware so it sync's without needing the app (like rwgps).

Could someone recommend a decent front facing camera to pair with my Fly6? Purely for safety, not bothered about watching back otherwise.

Nearly head on’d by a Range Rover yesterday and I’ve had enough.

I'd say a first-gen Virb is a pretty good bet. I used mine for a good few years and found it pretty handy. Battery life it just about manages 2h45m which covers most of my rides in one battery. I've got a YI 4k now too but I'm not getting on quite so well with that (though video quality is better).

Other option is probably a fly12? I've seen them pop up for £115 or so.

Have to say I'm continually impressed by my VIRB v1.

Got it on a IWOOT deal back in December 2014 and used it on 90% of my rides (at least!) since then, tallying up all my Strava ride times that, take off 15% and can safely say my VIRB has done nearly 900 hours of recording and is still going strong, in reality it's probably closer to 1000 as I used it for a couple of weeks of snowboarding (4-6 hours a day) which isn't on Strava.

Hate to say it, but I only paid £72 for the VIRB back in 2014 too! Was a mega deal at the time, they never dropped that low before being replaced...!

I commute with a Fly12 Gen 1. Quality is decent enough with good battery life and built-in light. I suppose it's a bit bulky and heavy but it doesn't slow me down. I've already used footage to report a driver to the Met for jumping a red.

Here's some example footage although Youtube seems to have lost some of the quality from the original.

Love the lorry draft! He didn't like you doing it much though did he lol

Run my VIRB on ECO mode and get around 16 hours of recording on a 32gig card, battery life at around 3.5-4 hours. Did run 4 batteries (carry a spare with me on long rides) but lost 1 and another stopped charging, really should get another but struggled to find one last time and wasn't cheap...

I generally find ECO is enough, during the bad weather and darkness it's tricky to pick out numberplates but even in HD mode you get the same problem (glare, distortion, debris & water on lens). I'll take the speed, storage and battery life of 720p any day! Can do nearly a week of commuting without a charge/battery change.

 

[Shamrock]

Love the lorry draft! He didn't like you doing it much though did he lol

To be fair, I was probably in his blind spot the entire time.

What tubeless tyres are people here running? I'm still not convinced it's worth the faff over normal tyres and tubes! I don't get punctures that frequently and tubeless sounds like a faff if your sealant doesn't do it's job?

 

[One More Solo]

I'm on Schwalbe Ones. I can't fault the tyres themselves but the Lifeline sealant I originally had in them is pretty crap and wouldn't seal a pretty small cut. The Hutchinson stuff is much better since replacing it and I also recommend picking up a pack of "worms" for emergency repair: https://www.googleadservices.com/pa...hUKEwjuy5Pt1uncAhULb1AKHWmfBKAQ9aACCD4&adurl=

 

[Trox]

I'm using Schwalbe Pro Ones with Stan's Sealant, had them on for a month so far. Enjoying the lower tyre pressures

I still carry a spare tube and a pump just in case.

 

[Roady]

The Pro One was the route I was looking towards, CRC and Mantel seemed to be the best prices. I changed my mind for the summer (went with 28mm gp4ksii) but really need to sort something for the winter. Annoying they don't come in 30mm, so think I settled on the G-One Speed. Although it looks overkill with all the grips according to most reviews they don't make them any slower/higher resistance...

What tubeless kits did you guys use?

Gutted: https://road.cc/content/news/246601...ance-record-then-breaks-his-collarbone-thanks
Impressive ride though, at least he smashed it so good excuse for a long recovery lol

 

[#Chri5#]

Hutchinson Fusion 5 11Storm gets some positive comments eg

https://road.cc/content/review/230757-hutchinson-fusion-5-elevenstorm-tubeless-performance-road-tyre

 

[xdcx]

I'm riding my mates bike at the moment with some Easton wheels that HAD tubeless Schwalbe Pro One's on..... Last weekend saw them enter the bin (only good place for them) and has allowed me to put some proper tyres and tubes on.
Tubeless ***** and not worth the drama so I am now loving life with some Conti tubes and Vittoria Crosa G's on the Easton's which roll so much better and provide no downsides/negatives at all to the junk that went in the bin. What's the point?

 

[Lethal`]

Have to say I'm continually impressed by my VIRB v1.

Got it on a IWOOT deal back in December 2014 and used it on 90% of my rides (at least!) since then, tallying up all my Strava ride times that, take off 15% and can safely say my VIRB has done nearly 900 hours of recording and is still going strong, in reality it's probably closer to 1000 as I used it for a couple of weeks of snowboarding (4-6 hours a day) which isn't on Strava.

Hate to say it, but I only paid £72 for the VIRB back in 2014 too! Was a mega deal at the time, they never dropped that low before being replaced...!

I picked mine up for £70 from SportPursuit so equally impressed for the price. Though the rubber cover that covers the charging ports has now started to split and is on the verge of breaking off completely. It's held down by some tiny screws so I wonder if it's possible to get a spare one.

 

[Shamrock]

What's the point?

For me there's the promise of a puncture-free life but from all I've read it sounds like fantasy.

I'm building a new do-it-all winter bike/commuter so have to deal with glass-strewn London high streets and potholed UK roads.

 

[xdcx]

For me there's the promise of a puncture-free life but from all I've read it sounds like fantasy.

I'm building a new do-it-all winter bike/commuter so have to deal with glass-strewn London high streets and potholed UK roads.

I would have to agree on it being a fantasy unfortunately The roads I am cycling on are horrific, 40 miles each day of back roads/single track that have been left to ruin for decades. With regards to the P word I have not suffered any on any of the tyres I run, other than my 2 weeks of running those tubeless things, which was nothing but drama.

I've seen others online get sucked in by the marketing of it and the promises of it and do nothing but complain. If it's not about the P's, it is about them losing pressure randomly or struggling to get them to seal or moaning about fixing one at side of the road. I honestly think it is a bandwagon worth avoiding.

 

[Thomas. PLease.]

I tried tubeless on the TT and road bike albeit with super thin tyres. One race I had a hole seal which was great. Another it didn't seal at all and just spat sealant everywhere. Also my sealant ended up drying up in the tyre.

Personally I don't think it's worth the bother. If you do get a hole that won't seal, putting a tube in is very messy. Tyres are often a lot tighter on the rims, and sometimes getting them to seat properly without a track pump is also a pain and not worth the bother of a decent set of clincher tyres and latex tubes.

 

[SoliD]

I don't see the point for the road, but they are fantastic when you're offroading and trying to get those pressures lower. For the amount of punctures you get on the road I don't see the point

 

[Roady]

Tubeless ***** and not worth the drama

What drama did you have? Losing pressures, or punctures?

I picked mine up for £70 from SportPursuit so equally impressed for the price. Though the rubber cover that covers the charging ports has now started to split and is on the verge of breaking off completely. It's held down by some tiny screws so I wonder if it's possible to get a spare one.

Searching for VIRB parts/accessories doesn't really lead anywhere, nor does looking for an old/faulty one and buy it for the port - there's only 1 on ebay and it's almost as much as we paid new! Gaffer tape? Mine will have the same fault eventually, it spends it's life inverted on a combo mount.

For me there's the promise of a puncture-free life but from all I've read it sounds like fantasy.

One of the contactors at work has a daughter who rides semi-pro, he was explaining how someone on her team got her some 'solid' rubber tyres for a city commuter and she was impressed as regularly rode through the centre of Rome and Barcelona previously always getting punctures. He said they where heavier but not as heavy as he'd expected.

I tried tubeless on the TT and road bike albeit with super thin tyres. One race I had a hole seal which was great. Another it didn't seal at all and just spat sealant everywhere. Also my sealant ended up drying up in the tyre.

Personally I don't think it's worth the bother. If you do get a hole that won't seal, putting a tube in is very messy. Tyres are often a lot tighter on the rims, and sometimes getting them to seat properly without a track pump is also a pain and not worth the bother of a decent set of clincher tyres and latex tubes.

Maybe that's the thing, tubeless on fairly narrow and therefore higher pressure tyres might not be the ideal combination for it? Any pressure loss %'s are obviously going to be higher with the smaller volume and higher pressure. For me I want it for running lower pressures on much wider tyres with higher volumes - 30/32mm at probably around 40-60PSI. Running my GP4ksii much lower than 60psi I'm having to top them up far more regularly than running at 70PSI. As if the tyres are 'burping' air out around the rim?! I've taken to running 70/80 F/R but would like to go lower again.

 

[Lethal`]

Searching for VIRB parts/accessories doesn't really lead anywhere, nor does looking for an old/faulty one and buy it for the port - there's only 1 on ebay and it's almost as much as we paid new! Gaffer tape? Mine will have the same fault eventually, it spends it's life inverted on a combo mount.

Maybe gaffer tape though it would be a bit annoying to replace it every time I want to charge the thing up.

 

[Liefrich]

I’ve never been that bothered about tubeless but I've been running Giant’s Gavia Race 1 tubeless tyres on my new TCR for the past 3 months (circa 1000 miles) and have been generally impressed. I’ve not had any punctures that I have noticed (or that the sealant hasn’t sorted out) and I haven’t had any significant issues with loss of pressure.

I would caveat my favourable impression by saying that the tyres themselves are not the best and given the decent weather they’ve hardly been thoroughly tested. I am also worried about what happens in the event the sealant fails. I have purchased some worms, but god knows how I will actually get on by the roadside. As such, when the winter rolls in I will be swapping the carbon wheelset out for my Fulcrums and go back to the Michelin Pro 4 Endurance tyres.

However, next spring I will probably invest in IRC Roadlites tubeless(which are highly recommended) for the summer wheels and see how I get on.

 

[Thomas. PLease.]

What drama did you have? Losing pressures, or punctures?

Searching for VIRB parts/accessories doesn't really lead anywhere, nor does looking for an old/faulty one and buy it for the port - there's only 1 on ebay and it's almost as much as we paid new! Gaffer tape? Mine will have the same fault eventually, it spends it's life inverted on a combo mount.

One of the contactors at work has a daughter who rides semi-pro, he was explaining how someone on her team got her some 'solid' rubber tyres for a city commuter and she was impressed as regularly rode through the centre of Rome and Barcelona previously always getting punctures. He said they where heavier but not as heavy as he'd expected.

Maybe that's the thing, tubeless on fairly narrow and therefore higher pressure tyres might not be the ideal combination for it? Any pressure loss %'s are obviously going to be higher with the smaller volume and higher pressure. For me I want it for running lower pressures on much wider tyres with higher volumes - 30/32mm at probably around 40-60PSI. Running my GP4ksii much lower than 60psi I'm having to top them up far more regularly than running at 70PSI. As if the tyres are 'burping' air out around the rim?! I've taken to running 70/80 F/R but would like to go lower again.

Might have more luck with a dedicated tubeless tyres? I didn't even think it was possible to run GP4Ks tubeless

 

[touch]

In my experience (from MTB, not road bikes), tubeless isn't really that much hassle. Tyres are generally tighter on the rim so it's more difficult getting them on and off but i've never had any major problems getting them to seal - even with just a standard track pump. A properly sealed tyre wont lose any pressure at all. I have a spare front wheel set up tubeless which has been sitting in the shed doing nothing for about 2 years and still has a reasonable pressure in it. Try that with a normal inner tube and it'll be flat in a couple of months. I've had plenty of punctures that the sealant couldn't fix and had to stick a tube in - it's just as easy as putting a new tube in a normal tyre but messier because the sealant goes everywhere.

I love tubeless on my MTBs and CX bike - lets me run low pressures without any risk of pinching. I dont really see the point for road bikes so much.

 

[lordrobs]

I was doing a bit of bike fettling tonight and spotted a split in my rear sidewall It doesn't look too deep but there are cords split and showing



You can also see the pink rubber layer although this doesn't really show in the photo. Is this ready for the bin or am I worrying over nothing?

I'm probably being over cautious as my last Pro4 Endurance split right across the tread and left me stranded.

 

[Jimbeam3678]

I'd be replacing that, those things are the only 2 things which keep you on the road

 

[lordrobs]

I'd be replacing that, those things are the only 2 things which keep you on the road

Yeah, it looks worse that photo suggests and once the cords are sliced I guess it is just a matter of time before it splits.

What do people recommend for harsh country lanes these days? I'd want to stay 28mm and I'd like something with similar puncture protection to my Pro 4E's (or better). I'm thinking Schwalbe One maybe? Or try the new Michellin Power Endurance?