Forum Replies Created
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Replies
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No interest in clubs,
No interest in clubs, inflexibility, too much time at coffee stops, hate being in big groups on busy roads when just 1 or 2 of us can be relatively easily passed, etc. etc.
But I also wonder if the improvement in GPS tech has slowed down club growth? I’ve moved to a new area and already have covered most of the (many) local back roads, in a variety of different length rides, all planned on my PC and downloaded to my Garmin. In years gone by might someone have had to join a local club to get the best knowledge of local roads?
I still use my local club mailing list as a sort of ‘pool’ of local riders to invite out on my weekend rides, in case there are others who can’t make the normal time and place. Rarely get any responses but when I do it’s nice to ride with someone like minded.
Hardest part for me is being
Hardest part for me is being able to ride as often as I want, as fast as I want, and as far as I want, without getting bloody injured!
Once you’re in you thirties is seems you need to keep your base mileage ticking over constantly otherwise your body just goes soft. Three months off for a collarbone to heal and now my knees can’t cope with more than 4 or 5 hours riding a week, most frustrating!
Excellent, this is all
Excellent, this is all justifying the choice I’d already (half) made
Interesting point about stiffness, one of the reasons I like Shimano hubs is that they (apparently) have the best geometry for stiffness, i.e. widest flange spacing. As it is, any brake rub will no doubt be the fault of my Rose frame which has chainstay mounted brakes, i.e. brakes as close to the BB as possible which amplifies any frame flex, d’oh!
Also interesting point about going full carbon, I’ve already convinced myself that I don’t need discs as I don’t do much ‘do-or-die’ braking on my normal rides, tend to ride to conditions, look ahead, pre-drag a bit if necessary. I suppose I could go full carbon and just get used to it, but if I can get an aluminium brake track on a Dura-Ace hub and a save weight over my current wheels, then why not?
Thanks all, idle curiousity satisfied, fancy wheel purchase now on list after 2nd winter bike purchase (one with gears this time…).
Palma – Calvia – Es Capdella
Palma – Calvia – Es Capdella – Galilea – Puigpunyent – Deia – Soller – Col de Soller – crazy 15km slightly downhill time-trial back to Palma.
Anything less would be a criminal missed opportunity!
Yeah, granted. Actually that
Yeah, granted. Actually that’s what got me thinking, the switch from summer bike to winter bike brought home to me how different a heavier bike feels, but after a couple of weeks just riding the heavier bike I no longer notice it, so presumably would very quickly get used to the extra weight of the deeper wheels and then reap the benefits!
Although… the 35mm deep Dura Ace wheels are lighter AND more aero than what I currently have, cake and eat it?
Yep, took a family holiday
Yep, took a family holiday out to Santa Ponza, hired from radinternational.deI took a helmet and shoes, didn’t seem worth risking something that didn’t fit or wasn’t comfortable.
They have a bit of an obsession with high pressures though, insisted on sending me out with 120psi in the tyres and wouldn’t lend me a pump to adjust it…
Thanks Dave, good reading.
Thanks Dave, good reading.Any idea why an aero wheel migh feel dead like Paul suggested? Because the rim is stiffer because of the deep section, or maybe because there is more weight located at the rim?
Quote:
But I tend to ride a bit slower in the wet anyway.Lol, I didn’t want to be the first to admit it but yeah, I save the heroics for dry days, doesn’t matter what brakes you have when you hit that wet drain cover or pile of leaves!
Rafa, you’re absolutely right
Rafa, you’re absolutely right about endurance bikes and discs, it’s the main reason I keep returning to this argument as it annoys me that as an inflexible desk jockey that aspires to ride big distances, the manufacturers have mostly decided that I *must* have discs.Nice, high end endurance road bikes do exist without discs, I got a Rose Xeon Team GF, triple butted aluminium and direct mount rim brakes. Trek do some (Domane and/or Emonda?) and even the new Specialized Allez
Discs can squeal for other
Discs can squeal for other reasons than contamination. I rode and raced disc brakes both XC and DH for 15 years, so I know how to set them up and avoid contamination.The only thing that could possibly be contaminating them is road spray, and if spray from the road can contaminate a road bike brake pad that quickly I’d suggest it’s a bit of a flawed system!
My theory is that mine just don’t get used hard enough or often enough to heat up, so on wet rides I’m effectively braking on cold wet rotors.
Campag have attempted to address it with their new brakes, think the pads have some sort of anti-vibration backing or something.
The gravel/CX/used-to-be-a
The gravel/CX/used-to-be-a-MTB bike…
The road bike
The commuter
I pray to god that rim brakes
I pray to god that rim brakes never die, because then I’ll be forced to spend hundreds of pounds more on a heavier bike with brakes that squeal and howl in the wet and make every wet commute a humiliating, unpleasant ordeal.
I do believe that squeal/howl free disc brakes do exist, or at least those that aren’t quite as horrific as the ones I’ve experienced so far, but I’ve wasted far too much time and money trying different brakes/rotors/pads to no avail. Am currently on my fourth set of rotors (Shimano XT this time) and waiting to find the time and weather to take them to my nearest big hill in order to painstakingly bed them in as per all the guides you see online.
Meanwhile my commuter with TRP mini-V brakes and Swisstop BXP pads just keeps on trucking along. Sure they’re less powerful than good hydraulic disc brakes, but I only need that sort of power on my MTB or maybe CX bike, when I want to hammer into corners, brake late and hard, then roll through. My road bike is on Ultegra rim brakes with, guess what? Swisstop BXPs.
I had my latest follow up
I had my latest follow up last week, effectively @ 14 weeks.
I was feeling pretty good, the remaining symptoms of the break (a feeling of something loose at the back of the fracture and sharp pains occasionally radiating from the same location) had more or less gone, I think due to some simple theraband/0.5kg dumbell exercises I was doing.
The consultant came in (finally, a consultant! I’d been fobbed off with trainees the previous two occasions…) and stated quite bluntly that he saw no real healing at the fracture. He once again put surgery on the table but by this point I was anxious to AVOID surgery as am now back on the bike etc. He pointed out that surgery would involve another 4 weeks in a sling due to cutting through muscle etc.
He also admitted that the NHS is frankly poor at predicting who would heal properly and who wouldn’t, seems like 80% will heal fine and 20% won’t, I’m obviously in the 20%. I kind of wish we had identified this at the 4 week follow up as I could still have justified getting it plated then…
We left it at ‘see how it goes’. He said surgery would be justified by symptoms, i.e. if I was in pain etc. The absence of any healing on X-Ray didn’t mean much as it could be a fibrous non-union etc.
My next follow up (6 weeks time) is after my first CX race of the season, so that could (metaphorically, I hope) be make or break time!
Yeah, I’ve done my time with
Yeah, I’ve done my time with clip on guards, and whilst I’m happy to fiddle with rim brakes for the sake of quieter braking, I’m not happy constantly fiddling with clip on guards, go fixed from the word go!
Kinesis 4S covers pretty much all the bases above (except the upright riding position, it’s a bit racier than my usual bikes but nothing that can’t be sorted with an upright stem or even some riser drop bars like the Specialized Hovers). You can even pick a side in the rim vs disc debate as the 4S takes both
As lovely as an out-and-out
As lovely as an out-and-out race bike is, mine is now my least ridden bike (already on the turbo trainer for the winter) as they’re just not as practical as a gravel bike (or in my case a singlespeed Charge Plug which is effectively a gravel bike e.g. wider tyres, space for mudguards etc).
Also agree with kil0ran, space for wider tyres is great, I run 32s on my day-to-day/winter bike.
I’m in the minority it seems of people who expressly avoid discs, I just can’t hack the noise they seem to make in cold wet conditions (i.e. my commute for 6 months of the year…) so I prefer rim brakes, but then, I have the tools and knowledge to work on them and the experience to know how to ride safely in the wet with rim brakes (brake earlier…) Perhaps discs are a better choice if you’re not a happy mechanic!
I’d suggest a gravel bike, ideally on sale, and spend some decent money on mudguards (PDW are pricey but look great and are near silent) and also good clothing, although that’s a whole other thread!
