Road Cycling

You'll be going well to get a pinch at that psi unless you're about 300kg! :D

85-87 psi front, 92 rear for my 25s, unless I'm TTing in which case I'll chuck them up to 105-110 on the front although rear I try to get up to 140 although it's only 21mm. Different pressures for different conditions. Try to get bit lower if it's wet.
I've had pinches at a little under 90psi on 25mm around here so don't like to take many chances! :eek:

Interested to hear how you are getting your measurements so accurate, also what track/floor pump you have!?

Same applies to others as I need to replace my ageing Serfas FP-55. The wobbly plastic base, uncomfortable handle and crappy head engagement have really driven me mad for too long! The head is so rubbish it moves around when clamped on, adding bends into the presta valve ends, which makes their engagement with the pump poor and it comes off... Not a brand I would recommend. I've been looking at the Joe Blow Sport II as all reviews of it are glowing, along with a good wiggle deal on them currently...

Helped by the fact it's yellow of course...! I'm a bit of a fashion disaster of greeny yellow bike, fluo yellow shoes & bag cover with a yellow drink bottle today. Watch out ladies! :cool:

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See... I don't know which I prefer.

Have you used both? I'd only experienced my 500 and my colleagues 520 and I'm much happier with the Elemnt but neither are bad bits of kit and both have their issues/teething problems.

Handsome picture of my Elemnt battling the elements last weekend ;)

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Is it worth getting something other than using my iPhone for Strava? I'd have it with me anyway.

Depends if you want HR, Speed, Cadence, Power data? I don't know if the Strava app has functionality to record these via Bluetooth/ANT yet?

I used my phone for a short while but back then the App did kill battery pretty quickly so longer rides become an issue unless you have a portable USB charger should you need to make an emergency phone call. Not ideal though.

Sold my 500 bundle for £100 the other month so I'd probably look to pick up something similar.
 
I've only used the 520, which I own, and borrowed a 1000 for a play with the mapping on it, which I really liked. I'm one of those people who's never (well, maybe once) had an issue with their garmin unit. One time, I think it was only once it decided to shut down when it was on about 38% battery, just turned itself off mid-ride. For about 4 years until then it'd never skipped a beat. Except recently since I changed my phone it doesn't always connect via BT until I power cycle garmin/BT off/on the garmin or the phone.

I use it for everything other than power meter at the moment and that's only because I don't own one. There are a hell of a lot of roads around here that I don't know, but should do because they're awesome, I'm discovering. I hate main roads in comparison... I just like exploring new places then trying to figure out where I actually am - usually it's nowhere near where I thought I was... which is kinda why I like the idea of the 820 being able to navigate me back to a course, rather than just telling me I'm off it.

I guess the Element having maps would help to some degree.. my 520 has no maps, and you can just load in a breadcrumb type course, and if I don't stick to it it gets upset with me. Usually I end up having a route in mind, then deviating from it because somewhere looked interesting / I changed my mind about where I wanted to go / felt better/worse than I was expecting to.
 
Is it worth getting something other than using my iPhone for Strava? I'd have it with me anyway.
I used an iphone4S for a while, then progressed to a Samsung S5. Used Strava with both (with HRM). When Strava dragged their heels about implementing sensors I moved to using 'IPBike' to record everything (HRM & Cadence & Speed) to sync to Strava. Worked well (& development was great, but had a little too many options so wasn't that easy to use for navigation). I also found that handlebar mounts were stupid expensive and with my new S5 I didn't fancy it's chances strapped to my bars for too long, so I started looking at Garmins as a replacement.

Settled on the 810 and I've used it a lot over the last 2.5 years. Mine has always been flaky with BT sync to Garmin Connect on my S5, now I'm commuting/riding 4 times a day I would say it 'plays up' at least 6 times a week requiring a soft-reset on the Garmin and a power cycle before it completes an upload/works. I've wiped and reset both devices and can live with it, but still very disappointed over a £200+ unit being so poor. The last 6 months I have lost 3 rides due to my 810 corrupting/crashing/losing rides. That has annoyed me more as there's NO symptoms on the unit itself until afterwards.

It's the reliability which is making me look at the Wahoo unit, nothing else, not features, maps or anything. I know I can probably sell my 810 for £100-£150 which for a 2-3 year old unit isn't a bad return. My HRM is a Wahoo unit (TICKR) and has been faultless for 3+ years. I have more trust and faith in Wahoo than Garmin.

Which unit Garmin or Wahoo is thought to have the best mapping software?
Mapping on the ELEMNT is new, I'm not sure how good it is.

Mapping on Garmin has been around much longer, my 810 is good, but utterly depends on the maps you have. I'm using the free OSM ones and have also used free talkytoasty maps. The 1000 and newer units are meant to be even better (but I've had no issues with the 810's Navigation, it's 'got me home' from the wilderness multiple times and I find it easy to follow).
 
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Just remember that's my experiences with 1 unit. I'm hyper critical of technology, equally it hasn't been bad/annoying enough for me to warranty my unit the whole time.
 
Just remember that's my experiences with 1 unit. I'm hyper critical of technology, equally it hasn't been bad/annoying enough for me to warranty my unit the whole time.

I'm the same, I want stuff to just work and work well. My housemate has a Garmin that you wear on your wrist, he uses it when we go running and he has a few issue with it. I use my iPhone but it's a 6S Plus so a bit bulky to wear on your arm.
 
Local guy is doing 'Haute Route Pyrenees' stage race/sportive. Looks utterly brutal!

Day 1, 2, 3, 4.

3 days of 10,000+ ft of climbing and an ITT mountain stage so far! Ouch! :o
 
Last big ride we did gave identical results for two Garmin's and a Moto-G running the Strava app. Two iPhones running the Strava app gave a reading of 1.5 miles more and 1.1 miles less. That told me all I needed to know about using an iPhone for Strava :p Strava also sucked up 70% of the iPhone battery capacity while the Moto-G used less than half that.

When I get round to upgrading my Edge 200 I think I'll go to the Wahoo despite my current Garmin being excellent.
 
I've had pinches at a little under 90psi on 25mm around here so don't like to take many chances! :eek:

Interested to hear how you are getting your measurements so accurate, also what track/floor pump you have!?

Fair enough, forget you carry 3 metric tonnes of tools....
Depends on tyres too, weak sidewalls will lead to more pinches. Don't ever remember getting one on GP4000s/4seasons

Got some orange thing, can't remember the make, but got a good detailed gauge on it. Airsport or something. But I do need one that goes to slightly higher pressure.

Generally check pressures everytime I ride a TT, mainly because the rear has a latex tube which goes from 140-70 within about 5 hours, so always need to get it up to pressure for every race, which leads me to check pressures more regularly on others. I can usually tell if a tyre is more than 6-7psi out within yards of jumping on my bike (TT/Ridley) not so good on the CX bike yet.
 
I can usually tell if a tyre is more than 6-7psi out within yards of jumping on my bike
#sensitivebeans ;)

I ride with varying pressure depending on conditions/loadout and on so many different roads I can only really tell if it's 20-30psi out lol!

Lets go test the legs and sharpen up these tanlines... ;) :cool:
 
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Interesting that there is some Element love in here as I am another person trying to decide between one and 520/820...

I have a 500 at the moment and had a Bryton before that - I'm wary of the Element as I had a Bryton if that makes sense!

I assume I can use my garmin cadence and HR sensor with the elements so sell it to me, what makes it better than a 520 as reviews seem a bit thin n the ground at the moment - I'm really wishing DC Rainmaker would get his full review up!!

A big question I have is.. Does it need a phone with it to use or is it 100% self sufficient if I don't have my phone (unlikely) or there is no 3g etc - does it use any more phone battery than a 520/820 would??
 
Local guy is doing 'Haute Route Pyrenees' stage race/sportive. Looks utterly brutal!

Day 1, 2, 3, 4.

3 days of 10,000+ ft of climbing and an ITT mountain stage so far! Ouch! :o

I know some people who've done it before and to be honest I wouldn't recommend it. One story I heard from the 2012 edition was quite horrific (there's some info online if you want to read further) and I know someone who went on last year's and said some of the riding standards were extremely 'questionable'. I'm not really convinced by the idea of it either - if you're going to make it competitive and a race then there are consequences.

In addition, from what i've seen the route basically seems the same as the raid pyrenees/raid alpine.. which no end of people do supported with smaller numbers with support. The raid alpine i did the other week with Pyrenees Multisport was with a small group and a lot of fun - plus a lot better value IMO
 
I assume I can use my garmin cadence and HR sensor with the elements

Yes. and it's Elemnt ;) no third 'e' :p

so sell it to me, what makes it better than a 520 as reviews seem a bit thin n the ground at the moment - I'm really wishing DC Rainmaker would get his full review up!!

Search this thread as I and other have posted our experience with it :)

A big question I have is.. Does it need a phone with it to use or is it 100% self sufficient if I don't have my phone (unlikely) or there is no 3g etc - does it use any more phone battery than a 520/820 would??

As far as I know it does require pairing. You also set up & customise it via the App. Not sure if it works on the Android platform or not but IOS has no issues and is incredibly easy.

Can't comment on battery as it's not something I've observed.

Check the Elemnt Google Group as lots of Q&A's on there.

DCR has updated & done further reviews.
 
As far as I know it does require pairing.

You can't use it without your phone on you :confused: Deal breaker for me if that is the case :(

Nearly in to proper dark evening rides again :( Currently looking into a new front light, B + M Ixon IQ Premium is the current favourite.

EDIT - Scrap that, just found a whole host of negative reviews! Maybe I'll stick with the 10000000 Chinese lumen specials :p
 
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I got out for 20odd miles this evening, principally taking in my own little 10 mile pseudo-TT run that I put together. This is the first time I've got less than half an hour on it, so I'm well pleased with that - my previous best time was 30:51 and today I got 29:56. It's a bit of a cheat as I get a flying start at it, but even so. So yeah, not much to shout about in the realm of TTing, but I'm happy with it. Garmin Connect tells me I averaged 220W for my best 20 minutes of it, which is about 3.1W/Kg.
 
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