Forum Replies Created
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Replies
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I recently got a disc braked
I recently got a disc braked cyclocross frame (very little difference between cyclocross, gravel and adventure as far as I can tell) for my commuter bike and I love it. Disc brakes and enough room for wide (32mm) tyres even with full mudguards fitted both make me more confident when riding in crap weather. I also have a pretty nice road bike for long rides (tend to do one or two 100 mile sportives a year) and if I had to choose one to get rid of it would be the road bike as I can always put skinnier tyres on my ‘cross bike if I wish.
That Norco looks like a good buy. I was also looking at the Pinncale Arkose 3 (2016 model) which has full hydraulic brakes, but that’s £1000 so maybe more than you wanted to spend unless you can get cycle to work scheme.
Advice on buying a bike as a tall guy who gets lower back issues – make sure you get a big enough frame. I have previously had shops trying to sell me frames that I felt were too small for me. They told me that you can just put the seatpost up a bit more. This is true but will mean that the handlebars are relatively lower so you’re more bent over – although you can do things to raise the bars up, those are steps you might want to do on a bigger frame anyway to lessen the angle your back is at. I am 6’6″ so a bit bigger than you so maybe most regular largest frames will be okay for you.
Having commuted on 23mms for
Having commuted on 23mms for years and only gone down once due to losing grip my advice would be to bank as little as possible, meaning you have to slow right down to take a corner.Got a pair of mavic aksion tyres on my best bike which have poor grip in the wet. Always got on well with schwalbe duranos. Letting a bit of pressure out can’t hurt.
Kinda related question seeing
Kinda related question seeing as we have some chemists on the topic, is cycle specific wet lube (~£8 for 100ml) is any better than a bottle of 3in1 (£2)?
Pauljamesbanks [at] gmail.com
Pauljamesbanks@gmail.comi’ve a 60cm kinesis crosslight 6 frame i could sell you ..You still have this frame for sale mate?
i’ve a 60cm kinesis crosslight 6 frame i could sell you ..Bit on the small side, but go on how much and where are you based?
Whether the build is better than buying a complete bike is really down to which you think will fit/suit you best, we can’t tell you which is best.Have you considered the Genesis CdA (size XL)? Giant don’t sell an XL sized ‘cross bike but do have XL sized Defy.
Yeah thought people would say that!
If anyone has any thoughts on the bikes I’ve listed would be grateful to hear them.
The Genesis looks good but again they only go up to 60cm. That said the stack looks pretty large so should be able to get a fairly upright position. Going to try and test a Croix de Fer at the weekend, although saying that I’m leaning towards building the Kinesis at the moment as it’s more fun that way.
Ta for comments.
Apologies to two who replied
Apologies to two who replied above, I wrote all the text in the summary box!
Not sure I’d spend £700
Not sure I’d spend £700 upgrading a bike just in case at the end of it all it didn’t really feel much different. I’ve never done such a thing so probably not that qualified to say. If you have space for another bike then you can get a Canyon Endurance with Ultegra and their flexi seatpost for £1050 plus about £40 P&P and Rose do similar deals I think. You would still need/want a fit and I don’t think there’s anyway to hook up with C2W scheme with Canyon. You can maybe get similar from Planet X.I bought a pair a few years
I bought a pair a few years back and only used them for the first time last month while I was hiking in Scotland – my boots were still wet owing to tramping through a peat bog for several hours a few days before, so I donned the waterproof socks over the top of a pair of normal cotton ones – kept the wetness from the boots out although my feet were pretty sweaty. It wasn’t raining at the time and I had trousers on anyway so not sure how effective they would be if you were wearing them with shorts and it was raining.Hand wash only which is a bit of a pain.
BW cycling in Bristol worked
BW cycling in Bristol worked great for me and my back problems. Heavily recommended on here and other forums and reasonably priced (<£100)Bought a bike from Canyon –
Bought a bike from Canyon – spent quite a bit of time looking at the geometry compared to my then current bike on which the frame had broken, hence the new bike. I wanted a more relaxed position so made sure the measurements were going to give me that, and then bought. You can return within a few weeks anyway if you’ve got it badly wrong.As far as test rides go taking a bike round the block isn’t going to tell you much about how it feels after 70 miles. Think I’ve read on here that Evans will let you take a bike for a weekend if you leave a hefty deposit, seems like a plan.
23mm folding raceguard in my
23mm folding raceguard in my caseI like duranos. Very rare
I like duranos. Very rare that I get a puncture even riding over the glass which seems to be a permanent fixture outside a pub I ride past twice a day. Also good grip in the rain, never feel them losing traction unlike the Mavic Axioms that came with my Canyon which are great in the dry but absolutely lethal in the rain – I had the 10 inch long bruise on my thigh to prove it last year. Tbh I am more bothered about grip in the wet than punctures, one is an inconvenience, one could lead to serious injury.Without checking the ladies’
Without checking the ladies’ range, I found that the German manufacturers (Rose, Canyon, Cube) make larger men’s frames than most other manufacturers.That said Canyon and Rose won’t be available on C2W so probably no use to you anyway.
