Yeah the miles I've done so far have been entertaining!
Decent tyre width, thinking 37 ish would be ok. Mudguards would be nice but an ass saver might suffice.
No need for panniers, but comfort is required for the commuting and when the surface doesn't favour the Propel.
Mixture of cobbles, gravel and tow paths so far. Keeping the Propel when it's dry and I know the routes safe!
Do love the look of the steel bikes but is comfort compromised compared to the modern offerings?
Steel will flex and absorb more than alu, probably similar to carbon (and your Propel) but a more 'endurance' geometry carbon/steel bike will obviously be much more comfortable again than your Propel. As Von mentions, tyre volume will make the biggest difference! Lots of fat bikes/BMX/jump bikes/CX don't really have 'comfort' built into the frame materials, they solely rely on tyre volumes, preferring to keep frames stiff, strong and responsive. It's only DH/Trail bikes where we see suspension technology, with the road/gravel/trail more modern road orientated designs skipping full suspensions and having things like zertz/isospeed/countervail along with clearance for larger tyre volumes to give riders the comfort.
Come up with a short list of 'requirements', as quite quickly when looking at bikes you can include or exclude them from your 'list'. I did with my Diverge - having full guard mounts and clearance for 28mm tyres (minimum) along with some comfort features (coming from riding Alu I didn't realise how much would come from changing to carbon). I also didn't want to sacrifice too much speed but wanted discs, hydra if possible. Those coupled with a Spesh price drop pretty much decided it for me. Things like the Tarmac, Scultura, TCR, Whyte Sussex & Pinnacle Arkrose where easily removed quite early from my list. Then the price drop knocked out the Synapse & Domane as I could get the 2016 Diverge with hydraulics for a similar price.
Sorry, no, that's impossible, it's just crap weather.
Haha, yup, seasons can't 'swap'! Although it's not been too bad, we where actually spoilt with sunshine and long dry spells this year!
If anything we had a really early summer which although windy lasted a long time. We've then kinda slipped into a warm early autumn without much rainfall (although it's been humid) so it's felt like the end of summer rather than autumn. We've just been quite lucky that although windy much of the winds haven't brought much rain with them from the Atlantic (yet).
Stunning but a little pricey!
Genesis does seem the business.
Anyone owned either that or a Surly?
Think
@SoliD has/had a Genesis? Surly tend to be more touring orientated.
with no separate top group I did bert-stare a few of the riders that frequent the slower routes deciding to join us
ROFL, haven't heard it called that before, classic
Great rides both! Conditions where miserable!
merlin your riding has come on superbly, looking at the elevation profile and knowing what much of our midland roads are like you did well with your average! The end of the route does look very rolling & taxing so hardly surprising it felt tough!
Got a friend who did it (works at LBS) and he was slower than you both -
https://www.strava.com/activities/1166946039
The main cause is pushing yourself beyond your fitness.
Fatigue will tend to cramp me more than anything else, but I do find myself cramping easier/sooner without electrolyte in my drinks. I think my dislike of the taste of plain water doesn't help as I tend to sip rather than properly drink it, so I'm hydrating less.
It's England, not Spain or Oman. Core temperature and fluid loss isn't going to be an issue.
Obviously depends on the amount of sweat being produced by the individual!
Use the elevation screen view on your Garmin - gives you an idea of the length and steepness of the climbs
Length is useful for not getting caught out by false flats!
Although it can really damage your willpower...! Climbing 'The Tumble' a week ago I'd heard that after the two switchbacks on the lower slopes things 'eased up'. I was a long way past them and things still felt tough, switching to my elevation screen on my ELEMNT I could see the 'grade' still being measured over 10%. I'd gone quite hard around the switchbacks so had to ease up when the expected respite didn't arrive...
