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The response on this page has
The response on this page has been quite opposite to my experience on the roads. Most people I’ve encoutnered don’t mind it, so most riders act as if it’s not an issue. In fact, some of us even feel flattered to be drafted, no matter who happens to find their way onto our back wheels. Once, I was about to embark on hill repeats, when an eighty-something-year-old grabbed onto my wheel while I was warming up. I took pains to give him an even tempo all the way up a climb, and cheered him on upon cresting the hill. His smile was more than enough of a reward. If I feel someone is too close to my wheel, I will usually say as much. I have never gotten an ill-tempered reply to such a request.
This haphazard approach can take its toll on the painfully shy and the misanthropes, but as many have written there are many ways they can express their displeasure if simply stating it is far too arduous an undertaking. But my apologies to those who think their sub-textual recriminations are being left deliberately unheeded. I, and I’m sure the rest of us, really mean no harm.
I’d would really recommend
I would really recommend that you sort out what you’re doing with your bars first. I’m the same height with slightly shorter legs. My road bike is a 56 cm frame with an 120mm stem, my MTB is a 64cm frame with an 80mm stem (and I’d go a bit shorter if I was even sporadically riding more technical terrain). So you’re going to get a funky handling bike if you’re going to try to switch between flats and drops.
FWIW: many old MTBs have
FWIW: many old MTBs have internal rim width / external tyre width ratios of over 3:1. I still run the stock 19mm rims on with the stock 2.2″ (56mm) tyres (so Trek sees no issue with it) on my ’15 MTB. ~5,000 up-and-down mostly road miles later: no issues bar broken spokes. I run even worse light bulbs on my commuter at 50PSI (with an > 100kg load) and no issues so far. But YMMV.
Both C and D seem to make for
Both C and D seem to make for pretty decent all around bikes and pretty good climbing bikes, with C being a good comfort option with the Di2 and the easily adjustable geometry and D potentially quicker in the flats with the aerocockpit and the shallow-depth carbon wheels (as long as the aerocockpit geometry is pretty close to what you need).
As no one seems to have mentioned this, I think the timetrialling bit may be relevant. If it’s something you might be actually interested in I’d definitely go with C, which is pretty much just as good a climbing bike as D and would probably make a decent TT rig with an easily removable cheap clip on bars / shorter stem combo (instead of an expensive and impracticable new cockpit and intractable cabling nightmare on D), and a eventually a pretty good one with a some Di2 TT switches and maybe even some proper deep section wheels that you can also use in flatter outings.
I had plenty of practice with
I had plenty of practice with platform on one side and SPDs in the other on my MTB. I always unclipped to the platforms: intially upon any sort of chance of a stop, then progressively cutting it closer to the dismount. By the time I got a road bike it wasn’t an issue. I still try to unclip early and freewheel or soft pedal with my midfoot on the unclipped shoe the last few revs before a stop. Hasn’t really worn out my outsole, and in any case I’d much rather scuff my sole than my face, but YMMV.
Still I had one topple where I leaned to the “wrong” side and barely managed to kick out my foot just enough to jam it out of the pedal and hit the back wheel of the rider next to me. I was alert enough to grab her dutch bike by the seatpost in order to hold her upright. She had no idea what she had witnessed and tut-tutted at me to watch out for other riders, as if I was trying out a reckless new dismount style. Fortunately, in hindsight, the lights changed and she rode on just as I was about to explain myself.
CXR94Di2, a long hill of 16 %
CXR94Di2, “a long hill of 16 % at 90 rpm” in zone 2? At 100kg on a 32-28 that’s somewhere around 585W. If that’s 70% of your FTP then a little training on the boards and you could be breezing past Wiggo’s hour on a Boris Bike. So I’m guessing that’s not that long of a hill and you’re actually going well past Zone 2 bar the HR lag.
Look, I advocate spinning as much as anyone, and I agree with your general sentiment. But IMHO if you keep it above 70rpm, even if only just, on the hardest stretches of your local roads, then you should be fine. It’s when you see new riders grind up at 40rpm on 7% gradients where I take some issue (mainly with the shops that push those sales). But I’d wager even Nairo Quintana avoids 15% gradients on his Zone 2 rides. At least when he goes out on his road bike.
The bottom bracket, headset
The bottom bracket, headset and caliper all at the same time seems excessive. But it sounds like you are not very thorough with your everyday maintenance (neither am I, TBH) and go out even in crap weather (that’s where I draw the line) so it could happen, I guess. Everything else seems fairly standard.
But yeah, I hate that duty of care all or nothing spiel. I’d find someone else if it’s not too inconvinient. Also, the worth your time bit is particularly important. I don’t do anything myself unless either I feel like fiddling around or it’s dead simple (though things become a lot simpler over time after several bouts of fiddling around).
A Gold standard U lock / D lock is an absolute must, lock frame (and a wheel if lock is large enough) to a solid fixture and secure other wheel with a security cable attached to the main lock.A gold standard chain is just as good. As in, it is also not in any way going to ensure the safety of an Ultimate SLX around any Uni’s environs.
It is faint hope, but every once in a while the police find will catch someone with a few stolen bikes. I hope that happens here.
Violin players don’t put themselves in debt for a Stradivarius simply because it’s old.Violins seem to be a “better” example. But that also seems to be more about looking for a specific sound than an altogether “better” one.
And I certainly don’t find any fault in paying for a specific sound or look or feel. I think “ride quality” and “fit” are more than just geometry and compliance (though those seem to be a good starting point). So I think I’m in the consensus in both saying that while he is unlikely to find Mason to be the best value-for-money proposition given his specific situation, the OP should try to ride a Mason and find out for himself.
This is like asking a disparate group of guitar players whether a vintage Les Paul is “significantly better” than an inexpensive copy. Some will think not, others will say it’s apparent but not worth the money and a few will insist that, not only is there a significant difference, but that they’ll willingly spend a big wodge of money to be able to use it.The original question was whether they were significantly better, not significantly more desirable.I know a few musicians and sound techs, and I’ve never heard someone insist that any vintage electric guitar was significantly better than a modern copy (I’ve heard some griping about materials on newer lower-end guitars, though). More desirable, sure. But I remember a couple of conversations about it being mostly a along the lines of “this guy brough this really cool vintage guitar that was a PITA to set up” and even “we ended up not using it”.
For my money MadCarew in his usual rambling way made several good points, as did Scrapples, Swiss, and Graham. I’d personally go probably go with the BMC if it agreed with me. But why not check out the Mason in person if you’re really tickled about it.
It’s a braze-on FD, so height
It’s a braze-on FD, so height might be an issue, and chain drop thus a concern. I’d ask the bike shop for their take. If you’re keeping the old set I’d definitely try for the 46, seems a little more worthwhile. 46-11 is still a bigger gear than an old school 52-13.
Mock me if you must, but I
Mock me if you must, but I have T700s on my road bike and they work just as well as the M530s on my MTB. They also have a little more platform, enough that they’re rideable without cleats if necessary. Also, I’ve never had any slippage issues on my M530s with flat shoes on the road.
I may get excommunicated for
I may get excommunicated for this, but if you live somewhere with absolute crap roads, and you’re not ready for a cross/gravel bike yet, it’s a great idea. It’s my current shop bike setup. Get some Schwalbe Marathon City Tyres, or something of the sort. Wouldn’t go any smaller than 1.5″ (I do 1.75″), or else the geometry is going to start to get funky (also, if you’re a bigger guy, then past that the ideal pressure might start to push the rim maximums, FWIW).
PS: Just to clarify, I’m talking about swapping tyres as in the description, NOT wheels as in the topic title. As in, using MTB slicks.
One foot forward makes it
One foot forward makes it easier to start up again if you’re standing over the top tupe, it’s a smoother motion back onto the saddle. It also increases your odds of inadvertently scraping your calf against your pedal if you move about before re-mounting. So, as ever, YMMV.
If you want to lose weight, the trick is to burn as many calories as you can in a sustainable way… i.e. training as hard as you can, for as long as you can, as often as you can.It’s the most fun way to go about it, as well.
Truth is, your body will work better fueled. You can not argue that a starved body will outperform a fueled one.Sure, but the OP isn’t talking about replacing rides, or fasted training as the cornerstone of a proper training plan, but about how to fuel up for an early morning ride. It seems that the big thing that you can quickly digest in time to have an impact on your training is sugar. But, assuming you’re not skipping meals, you should have more than enough glucose stored in your muscles to get you through even moderately intense rides. And your body won’t be warmed up enough for a maximal effort at that point anyway. What I was getting at, if anything, is that if you’re riding early, and it doesn’t impact your enjoyment of riding (or you just want to try something different, which I think can also be useful), riding fasted doesn’t seem to hurt (at least not in my particular case). In fact, from the research, it looks like at the margins it could actually help. Not that I’m too fussed about it personally, as I’m just looking at trying to get as many rides in as I can. But YMMV, as ever.
