Recent comments

Good question dave, ideally I'd like a wheelset which has a better aero performance and which is lighter, but it all comes down to budget. The aero component is more for road racing, whereas the etape is probably more likely to be a one-off. Besides, I'm pretty sure I'll be running a compact or a triple.

Cheers for the link cactuscat, I've requested a quote, be interesting to see what I could lace my own up for.

ain't doing you no good. and it's cheaper from homebase

Since the Étape involves mainly climbing, I'd go with a lightweight set of wheels any day. Even with my 13st bouncing around on them (my Xero XCR-1s do bend a bit when I'm out of the saddle), I reckon that's more beneficial that heavier, but more aerodynamic wheels.

I'm a bit of a convert to handbuilts, and have a friend who has started his own wheelbuilding business. I shall be running a pair of his wheels (nothing fancy: open pros on 105 hubs) during the Tour of Flanders sportive. That's if they survive the winter commuting....

With £600 you could get something pretty damned light and handbuilt from the likes of Pete Matthews or Paul Hewitt.

not sure -  none of the deep section wheels we've had in this post so far are available as a rim only as far as i know, although with a bit of cajoling you might be able to get them as 'spares'. If you can find them, and you build them up with good spokes, there's no reason why they shouldn't be comparable, but again i'm not sure you'd save much money.

on the question of the etape: do you stand to gain more with a heavier aero wheel, or with a lighter standard wheel? i don't know the definitive answer, just askin'...

She'll be a nice quiet ride then.

How far will you go first time?

Although I am, I think, just being paranoid.

I use the same saddle (Selle Italia Octavia) on all bikes because I found it to be comfortable and thought "if it works for one, it'll work for all".

I had a moment of fear the other day when riding on the track using a hire bike. The drop from saddle height to bars is greater than on either of my road bikes and I was suffering on the saddle fitted to that bike (like I'd never sire an heir sort of suffering). It got me thinking about whether my usual saddle would be comfortable or if I'd have to go down the experimenting route.

Interesting thoughts. Thanks, chaps.

They're all different. I've got a lightweight(ish) and fairly minimal Genetic one on my road bike, an all-purpose Specialized BG on the urban bike and a Charge Spoon on the mountain bike. I've never really had a problem with saddles though, so I've never found the 'perfect' saddle for me.

You do have different needs on different bikes though, especially on the mtb. For the track you're not going to be changing your position much during a session so if the saddle you use is comfy for your road bike, I can't see why it'd be a big problem on the track.

I'm not bothered about cycling being the new golf either - imagine if there were as many velodromes and dedicated cycle routes as there are golf courses.

How marvellous the world would be if that were true.... But it's easy for me to say that - I live in Manchester, with the St Andrews of velodromes but a 20 minute ride from home.

Yeah, I agree with jimmy's sentiment: I ride with people who wear all sorts of kit. Some go like the clappers, others go faster.... All of them leave me, in my Assos shorts, dying in their wake.

Now, where did I put those new golf clubs?

Which suggests there's either one on the site already (which I've therefore fundamentally failed to find), or you're going to make one (which would be ace!).

Yeah, I like the cut of some Rapha stuff, although one of the reasons is that a lot of it does lend itself to being worn off the bike.

Either way, I thought Jimmy's point was that you shouldn't take any notice of other people trying to tell you what 'real' riders wear - wear what works for you.

(I find a nice light blue and black plaid works best for me)

I'm not bothered about cycling being the new golf either - imagine if there were as many velodromes and dedicated cycle routes as there are golf courses.

Can I come out of the closet and admit that I think the cut and style of Rapha is great?

Oh, and I'm not bothered about cycling being the new golf - it is, at the moment, but something else will take its place. In the meantime, let's celebrate more people riding bikes, and hopefully some of them looking good while they're at it!