I'm going to do this bike up.
Then I'm going to ride it at sportives next year, with the sole aim of beating a rider on an expensive bike up a steep climb.
Make sure it isn't you 🙂
Stay tuned for the restoration…
The Gauntlet
Tue, Nov 01, 2011 12:57
Help us to bring you the best cycling content
If you’ve enjoyed this article, then please consider subscribing to road.cc from as little as £1.99. Our mission is to bring you all the news that’s relevant to you as a cyclist, independent reviews, impartial buying advice and more. Your subscription will help us to do more.
Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He’s won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.
18 Comments
Read more...
Read more...
Read more...
More Opinion
Latest Comments
imajez 57 minutes ago
Not talking about just bikes shops, but any business that cannot afford to pay its staff a living wage, is not a viable business. Big companies whose staff have to claim benefits despite working full time are exploitative. And yet it's 'benefit scroungers' that get attacked and demonised by the press, not the extremely wealthy, tax dodging companies not paying their staff properly. Oh, like large say newspapers businesses.. Smaller businesses like your LBS, are like poor Vs rich folk, their existence costs them more than big businesses it does due to economies of scale etc, just like rich folk can afford to buy better quality suff that lasts longer or stockpile food when it's on offer whilst poor people have to scrape by.
Chris RideFar 3 hours ago
The problems mentioned in this article are far more wide-ranging than simply affecting the viability of hiring Saturday lads/lasses. Fixing bikes or selling bikes now requires so much more skill and knowledge than it did 10-20 years ago, but the pay is still rubbish, partly because public perception is that the job is easy and is just a hobby. Therefore people with the ability to be good at the job are not encouraged to stick around and they look elsewhere for a career that can earn a decent wage. I don't enjoy the fact that half the bikes that I work on have almost-unique parts that requires odd techniques, tools, or parts to repair and I first have to research what I need for many of them (despite having 20 years of experience). I'm now getting so much work that I could consider hiring someone else, but it would be impossible to find a skilled person who would work for the wage I can offer and it would take far too much of my time to train someone to a level where they can do more than the simplest 10% of the jobs that come in (whereas 10-20 years ago, after a small amount of training they probably could have done 30+% of the jobs). The complexity and uniqueness of modern bikes is apparently necessary to sell them, but soon there are going to be no mechanics left who will work for the wages that people are prepared to pay. At some point, people are going to have to admit that bike mechanics and salespeople are highly skilled and knowledgeable and should be reimbursed accordingly. Or, everyone can just order bikes online and watch YouTube repair videos and end up with a bike that barely works and isn't safe; but that's fine because they're just simple kids' toys, right?
mattw 6 hours ago
I think the author is trying too hard to "both sides" this one. The basic error is Gove's - he was wandering across a pedestrian crossing on red for him with his head in a cup of coffee, and started well after it was on red. The Highway Code says "should not cross" in these circumstances. He then tried to excuse this by red herrings. Conservatives, including Gove, are supposed to have taking personal responsibility for their actions as a core value. Perhaps having the crooked coward Boris Johnson and Fruit Loop Liz as elected leaders demonstrates that this is merely historical. Gove is permitting a culture war being fought in the pages of his magazine; that is a war where Conservatives are demonising cycling because they hope it will save the rump Conservative Party. One example was their sudden reversal of support for the Welsh 20mph default limit. Should noodles have reacted less sharply - perhaps. A chat with Michael Gove to stop him wandering around the streets like a lobotomised koala may have been beneficial.
Rendel Harris 8 hours ago
@mdavidford Funny, as soon as I saw your comment on the ticker on another article I knew to whom you must be replying.
Backladder 8 hours ago
@mctrials23 People have been suffering for years because they have been unlucky enough to have been hired by bad people, or had the bad luck to become ill. This is just bringing the system more into balance. I don't have a problem with encouraging people to start businesses but I don't agree with doing it by letting them exploit the poor and the desperate, if they need encouragement then offer state benefits for small businesses and use the claims process to make sure that they are doing everything they should to run the business properly including paying and training their employees. If they just want to get rich quick by exploiting others then they should be in the USA.
mdavidford 8 hours ago
One may wonder why you've brought up DEI when it has nothing at all to do with anything in what Lappartient said. Or why you care about the state of the women's sport if you're so down on diversity, equity and inclusion. 🤷♂️
Rendel Harris 8 hours ago
Not quite the first time, I rode over it back in the late twentyteens, just happened to see it was jammed nose-to-tail so thought it would be fun to filter along...turned out there was an overturned lorry at the eastern end blocking all carriageways. I honestly didn't know cycling was banned (the signs aren't very prominent), just assumed nobody rode on it because it would be suicidal in normal circumstances. Fortunately the weary copper at the other end who saw me just cut off my apologies and said, "Fuck off over there [a gap in the barrier to a slip road] and don't do it again."
Backladder 9 hours ago
They're not slalom barriers, they're Sheffield stands for parking your bike.
mctrials23 9 hours ago
@momove I would think that spending time training someone up, putting the time and effort into that only to have most people move on relatively quickly isn't a great business model. I know there is the argument that "if your business has to take advantage of people to run then its not a viable business" but thats the reality of some of these shops. Up to a point, thats exactly what apprenticeships have always been. A business get cheap labour that might help them a bit and the apprentice learns something.
MaxiMinimalist 9 hours ago
One may wonder why bureaucrat Lappartient wants to reinvent the wheel with a massive injection of DEI and drastic reduction of money. Let the best cyclists win, period. Meanwhile, women's pro peloton needs means and support to attract new sponsors, increase TV coverage, improve salaries and prize money.
18 thoughts on “The Gauntlet”
Can you pubish your calendar
Can you pubish your calendar for 2012 please Dave, so I can avoid you at every opportunity 😀
I know you would beat my lardy arse up a hill, even if you were on a Raleigh folding shopper!
Are those 700c wheels Dave?
Are those 700c wheels Dave? If they’re 27″, that would be the most awkward part of the restoration. Unless you plan to keep them.
I thought you were already leaving expensive bikes in you wake on our Genesis Equilibrium.
they’re 700cs so shouldn’t be
they’re 700cs so shouldn’t be too bad. i might re-lace them cause the spokes are past their best. the rims and hubs are fine though.
the equilibrium is currently undergoing a transformation into a ‘proper’ audax bike. i did overtake a couple of cervelos on the bwlch last time i did the dragon on it. but it’ll be even more fun on this 🙂
perhaps i should get some retro kit too. or is that taking it too far?
Not much room for a motor in
Not much room for a motor in the bottom bracket dave 😀 Though like othello you’ll probably drop me no matter where 🙁 the retro kit will be a nice touch. Looking forward to following the restoration and bragging 😉
I count the number of carbon
I count the number of carbon bikes I pass on hills during sportives on my Brian Rourke steel frame and then see if I can pass the same amount on the descent as it just fires away downhill given its weight.
Ups and Downs.
Lets say bikes under £1000
Lets say bikes under £1000 don’t count as expensive.
Then, I don’t need to be ashamed when you beat me up the easiest of climbs on every sportive.
Seriously, like Othello, I too would like to know your sportive calendar for next year. Wanna see what the strongman of road.cc is riding 🙂
Nice that it has 700c wheels.
Nice that it has 700c wheels. Gives you so many more options, tyre choice etc…
Only other gotcha I can think of is the threaded headset. When I tried, most decent replacements (with cartridge bearings) had too big a stack height, which wouldn’t leave enough steerer to thread onto at the top. We had to settle for a cheap replacement.
What about cheap carbon
What about cheap carbon bikes? 😉
Quote:Wanna see what the
you’re confusing me with mat 🙂
Mostly I’m going for madones and cervelos, stuff like that. need to drop a few pounds though 🙂
Quote:I too would like to
Dunno for sure. but probs i’ll be at the Lionheart, FoD spring classic and the Dragon. Fred Whitton hopefully, but probably *not* on the BSA 🙂
I’d like to try some ones i’ve not done before too. who has recommendations?
@ Dave – Innishowen, Causeway
@ Dave – Innishowen, Causeway Challenge are two that spring to mind both over in Ireland. The causeway challenge has one climb that will make you weep!! At least I did!! Flat out in the Fens – yes it’s flat but when the temp hits the 30’s and you’re trying to maintain a decent cadance and there’s a brisk wind that always seems to be in your face, well ‘nough said 😉
Dave – Dartmoor Classic
Dave – Dartmoor Classic highly recommended. Any plans for a mayhem timed sportive this year?
yep Dartmoor Classic, easily
yep Dartmoor Classic, easily the best ive done in the last two years (and better than the Dragon i reckon)…mind you the FoD spring classic was tougher, even though it’s got less total meters in climbing the hills are unrelenting (all 18) and all short (ish) and steep-er.
Dunkery Dash audax could be a good ‘warm-up’. 😀
plenty of power climbs on the
plenty of power climbs on the Chiltern 100 – full of home counties carbon
The Dartmoor Classic is not
The Dartmoor Classic is not for the feint hearted have done it three times…only once on a carbon. I am happy to give you a prize from the top shelf if you can beat me up any of the hills next year!! But I do like your bike…makes me think I could dust off my rusty Raleigh and try for a gold medal on that B-) Note the big words with months to go…won’t be so cocky the night before :&
If you’re really serious
If you’re really serious about riding that thing, try L’eroica?
I used to turn out for some of our fast club rides on an old Gios Compact that weighed about 22lbs – ride was predominantly E, first and second cats and we’d go for a 90 mile thrash around the Surrey Hills. Always a degree of satisfaction getting to the top of those hills first.
Is that the VC Meudon monty
Is that the VC Meudon monty dog?
That’s me safe in the Hell of
That’s me safe in the Hell of Ashdown, then – mind, my Ribble doesn’t count as ‘expensive’ 😀