Forum Replies Created
-
Replies
-
WTB thick slick
WTB thick slickIt’s pretty much the only
It’s pretty much the only respite for me at the moment. I genuinely don’t know how I’d cope without it. I’ve been riding since 2013, originally commuting to work but for the last two years I’ve been full-time working from home, and that coupled with the school run has meant saddle time has dropped away.
That all changed with lockdown. New routine, encouragement from the missus to get out first thing (like 6am first thing). Coupled with the good weather I’ve never been fitter, if my Strava times are anything to go by. Dropped two notches on my belt. What’s undoubtedly helped is that I’m not away for work or popping out for coffee/cake/cheeky Maccys on the school run. A decent breakfast first thing also helps (I always ride fasted, and as we keep chickens have a couple of eggs when I get home).
I’m only doing 60 miles a week, which is less than when I was commuting, but it’s at a faster pace – helped by the fact that I’m not riding stop-start in town no doubt. As always, much sharper after a ride and so I can afford the time away from work because I’m more productive when I start. Win-win-win in my books. The only cloud is the return of the wankpanzer and silver van man.
Yep, it’s an offence (RTA ’88
Yep, it’s an offence (RTA ’88), punishable as a fixed penalty.
If in doubt, stop, so I don’t
If in doubt, stop, so I don’t see you did anything wrong.
As to why the riders stopped, it’s because all horses are different, sometimes from one hour to the next, and as a rider you get to understand their body language and mood. I cycle a lot around your neck of the woods and there are loads of stables around with everyone from experienced riders to tourists out for a ride. As a cyclist coming up behind I slow right down and say hello from way back. Gives the rider time to get the horse under her and under control. Experienced riders will be very clear about what they want you to do – on an offroad descent yesterday an oncoming rider asked me to stop completely because it was a bit narrow and her horse needed plenty of room. Others might just need you to go past at normal cycling speed nice and wide. And as with all groups, some are just arseholes who think they own the road – I’ve had horse riders refuse to single out on forest roads and force me to pull in and stop even though I’m cycling at walking pace
I’ve had a few horse riding lessons alongside my son and believe me, it’s a pretty intimidating place to be, and seriously hard work. It’s a bloody long way down from a horse big enough to carry an adult male. You have to be so careful with your inputs even on a horse that’s relatively docile and used to lots of different riders. They’re well-trained prey animals after all and it doesn’t take much to spook one.
From chatting to riders at stables we have a lot in common – it’s drivers that are the main source of concern. Over here in the New Forest it’s mainly locals rather than tourists that are threats to horses and riders. Tourists are too busy enjoying the novelty of seeing real live animals roaming free. Some riders have had bad experiences with cyclists and there was one fatality some years back attributed to a mountain biker on a track where cycling wasn’t permitted. But overall when I’ve chatted to people at the stables the agenda is the same – do I wear hi vis, what position should I take on the roads, why do some drivers overtake on blind bends. Experienced horse riders are like experienced road cyclists – they understand the risks and know how to ride defensively, know where the high risk routes are, and resign themselves to the fact that at some point on a ride some idiot is going to endanger their life or that of their horse.
When I’m driving I’ve always tried to coast past on minimal throttle and keep noise to a minimum. Horses will plod along quite happily if nothing changes, it’s sudden changes that can spook them. I’d imagine a sports exhaust is never going to be quiet, no matter how carefully you manage the clutch and revs.
Boardman has a better overall
Boardman has a better overall spec than the Allez and will be less of a shock to the system coming from the mountain bike world. More relaxed riding position and disc brakes (albeit cable operated, which might catch you out if you’ve got hydros on your current bike)
If you’ve got a good local
If you’ve got a good local bike shop that does Cyclescheme, have a chat with them about options for faster delivery. I’m sure mine is not the only one that’ll let you take a new bike on a credit card authorisation in lieu of the voucher arriving. Do the transaction the day after your credit card statement date and the refund will be back on the card before your next statement. That Merida would be a good option, I’ve had Merida bikes in the past and would still have but for the fact they sponsor the Bahrain cycling team.
The Allez Elite is a proper
The Allez Elite is a proper “fast” road bike, will be fun to ride and is a good option if you’re also expecting to get bitten by the bug and start riding at weekends.The Triban is a workhorse, pretty much the perfect commuter. It will get the job done and has space for mudguards and rack mounts which might be important if you end up commuting in the autumn. I ran an earlier model as a commuter for years – Decathlon make good bikes and they’re a good basis for upgrading if you want to. It won’t be as fun to ride but to be honest if you’ve not ridden much in 20 years you’ll be blown away by almost any modern bike. Shifting, comfort, and braking have all improved massively over that time.
I did this for a number of
I did this for a number of years. 6 miles is nothing and all I would prioritise would be mudguards. If your bike can take them, fit proper metal/thermoplastic full length ones. If clearances are tight look at PDW full metal fenders. Try to stay away from clip ons, they’re a faff to fit and don’t stay put.
It’s a shame you have to carry your laptop, any possiblity of work changing that policy to enable active travel? It was one of the first things we lobbied for at my previous employer and we quickly got a concession when someone had an off and trashed a couple of grands worth of Macbook Pro. In the end they decided to supply cycle commuters with an old laptop from IT out-of-warranty stock that was sufficient for web browsing/MS Office/Email.
If you have to lug a laptop then a rolltop rucksack with a padded laptop sleeve is the way to go. Pop the laptop in a ziplock bag to be doubly sure it’s waterproof. The downside of this is that you’ll be proper sweaty even if you’re taking it easy. Panniers/rack is a far better solution
The hardest thing you might find is getting motivated because it will be the same old route every day. If it’s urban then there won’t even be Strava times to chase because other factors (traffic lights, peds, traffic) will have the biggest impacts on your times. I ended up varying my start point by driving part of the way (I lived 22 miles from work). That gave me 15/10/5 mile commutes based on mood, weather, available time, etc. If that’s not an option then see if you can plan some longer routes for when the mood takes you.
Planning is important. Do you have somewhere to store clothes at work? If so, packing cubes are your friend. Take a week’s worth of shirts in on Monday, bring the dirty ones home each night.
Top tip – if you’ve got lockers store a spare pair of cycling shoes and socks at work, if you get soaked on the way in it’s horrible pulling on wet shoes to ride home, particularly in the winter. If you’re riding in your best road shoes toe covers are a good idea too.
Are the brakes cable operated
Are the brakes cable operated or hydraulic? That’s the key question here.
Do bear in mind though that bike geometry is kind of specific to whether its flat barred or drop-barred. You might also need to change the stem length to make it feel right.
Quite the opposite for me –
Quite the opposite for me – biggest month ever in April, and topped that in May. It’s been glorious around here up to the last week when the idiots have started to reappear. I’ve had a couple of blazing rows with drivers during that time including one WVM who deliberately close passed me despite the fact we were on a very wide A road with a 40 limit. And all because I’d dared take primary around a parked car.
But, overall, I’m fitter than I’ve ever been, my bike is in better fettle than it’s ever been, and I can’t wait for the rest of the summer. I think it’s helping that I tend to head out around 6.30/7.30 before rush hour. I did that last Sunday too – it took almost 9 miles for the first car to pass me.
On the flip side I’ve driven a fair bit over lockdown because I’m delivering provisions to my partner’s Mum. By the afternoon the roads are carnage. Very short fuses abound. There’s a filter lane at the top of my road where generally people will let you filter (the road is only a 40 limit) but I’ve had two near misses where people haven’t dropped back. And I’m in a tank-built Volvo 940 that would only need to look at their car funny for it to fall apart.
Personally, I feel Tiagra is
Personally, I feel Tiagra is good enough these days, the only real difference is a few grams and one less gear. You’ll often find that they’re specced with a wide range cassette too (11-34) which will be sufficient for winching up pretty much anything.
Decathlon have this available in your size, very well specced for the money and will be perfect for what you want to use it for.
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-rc520-gravel-id_8504030.html
There’s a review of its sister bike here https://road.cc/content/review/252475-triban-rc-520-disc-road-bike
This whole hose thing is very
This whole hose thing is very confusing. Put me off doing a hydro upgrade for my (mostly) Tiagra level tourer as I couldn’t work out which levers worked with which post mount calipers and hose sets.
Generally you can always use
Generally you can always use a tube in a tubeless rim with a tubeless compatible tyre as sometimes you’ll have such a catastrophic failure that sealant won’t handle it and you’ll have to stick a tube in to get home.
I’m not sure because I can’t
I’m not sure because I can’t find them in the line-up/comptability charts here
Looking at the spec pages
https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/product/component/ultegra-6800/BR-RS805-R.html
https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/product/component/ultegra-r8000/BR-R8070-R.html
they do use a different hose kit so that might mean it will be a faff to fit. Need someone with more knowledge of that aspect to help with a bit more detail.
It might be because Shimano’s “RS” range are effectively “non-series” components designed to work with multiple groupset levels.
With that average speed I’d
With that average speed I’d say that any aero benefits will be minimal, unless you ride somewhere very hilly and that’s dropping your average. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t go carbon with a minimal aero section – 35/40mm would be the sweet spot probably. Are your bikes rim or disc brake? If disc then full carbon wheels would be a nice upgrade but I wouldn’t be spending more than £700/£800 on them. Unless you’re racing there are pretty minimal gains to be had from any wheelset, let alone mid-high range upgrades. These might be a good starting point, well reviewed here – https://road.cc/content/review/247978-just-riding-along-gecko-carbon-wheelset
