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I’ve got a B17 on my tourer
I’ve got a B17 on my tourer and a Cambium C17 on my road bike
Both I can ride in normal clothes for 10 miles with minimum discomfort. Can ride all day in bibs on them.
I broke my B17 in after less than 100 miles but I do ride it offroad a lot and I’m a heavy rider. It’s massively comfy but I’m not keen on the bulk or the squeaking so wouldn’t have one on a road bike (I like my road bike to be absolutely silent).
C17 is showing a fair bit of wear on the nose just behind where the hard nose piece ends, but it’s not affecting the comfort or safety of the saddle. It’s pretty common for these saddles that they end up looking a little tatty, particularly if you’re riding in normal seamed shorts/trousers. Overall very happy with it to the point I forget I’m sitting on it. Will definitely have another one when it finally wears out.
Just one thing with the Cambiums – check the amount of clearance you have with the sides of your seat post. I narrowed down to a C15 thinking I wanted something sportier and my seat post cut the saddle wing where my massively powerful thighs (yeah, right) compressed it agains the side of the seat post clamp. Gutted doesn’t cover it – £90 down the tubes and Brooks don’t sell replacement tops. It’s particularly a problem if you ride with the saddle all the way back. Probably won’t be an issue on the C17 but do check clearance when you fit it (compress the saddle with the heel of your hand between the rails (where your sit bones will be) and check it splays out clear of the seat clamp edge.
Endurance road bike with disc
Endurance road bike with disc brakes would be my choice, that way you have greater flexibility over tyre choice. Make the bike adaptable if your riding changes – e.g fit bigger treaded tyres if you do start doing more gravel. Endurance road with discs will definitely cope with dry rough stuff. I ride chalk paths on standard road tyres and it’s OK for a short distance as long as it’s dry.
Something like a Specialized Diverge, Giant Contend, or Trek Checkpoint would be a good option. Have a look at Decathlon too (not sure if their stores are open yet?)
Go for SPD (MTB style pedals)
Go for SPD (MTB style pedals)
There are plenty of road-look shoes for SPD, you don’t have to wear something heavy with a load of tread.
I’ve ridden either flats or SPDs for 7 years in all weathers and they’re very low maintenance and the shoes are easy to walk in if you have to.
Shimano do easy clip (low tension) pedals called Click’r which are a good way to get used to clipping in/out. Most of the Shimano pedals will have a tension adjusting screw to adjust the amount of force you need to use to pull your foot out. Good for gaining confidence.
Personally I prefer a hybrid pedal on my road bike – clip one side, flat the other. I’ve got these – https://www.cyclist.co.uk/reviews/5800/shimano-deore-xt-pd-t8000-pedal-review and they’re lovely. Nice wide platform on the SPD side, and really good engagement with the pins on the flat side. Look good too for a pedal with reflectors.
I’m loathe to tempt fate but in all my years riding SPDs I’ve never had a clipping out failure. Get the multi-release version of the cleats from Shimano whilst you’re learning – that way you can pull out of the pedal vertically as well as by rotating.
A Specialized 54 is not
A Specialized 54 is not necessarily the same as a Genesis 54 but yes, I’d say you’d need something that’s nominally a 54, or listed as a medium. It depends on your proportions a bit too – if you’ve got relatively long legs and shorter arms, or poor flexibility then maybe even a 52 would make sense. Have a look at the Reach figures in the bike geo table if they manufacturer lists it (most do now) – it looks like the reach on your Volant is 387mm, the Allez Elite 54 is 380mm. Only 7mm difference, but that is enough to make a difference to comfort.
Have you tried a shorter stem for your existing bike? Are you going to be able to chuck your leg over the Spesh? Personally I wouldn’t be spending out on a new bike until I’ve had a chance to do a proper test ride.
Going for a smaller overall frame will also take the sting out of the road because you’ll be running more exposed seatpost and that may help with comfort.
Condor Fratello
Condor Fratello
I would usually also recommend a Fairlight (I have a Faran, the Secan fits your use case) but the Secan is over budget and there’s a long waiting list
My neighbour has a Fratello, it’s a lovely thing, well built and a proven design – https://www.condorcycles.com/collections/audax-commute-touring-bikes/products/condor-fratello-disc-frameset
Back when the 500SE came out
Back when the 500SE came out B’Twin’s sizing was a little odd – their 60cm frame was more like a standard 57, and they also specced quite racy stems. I normally ride a 56/57 with a 100mm stem and found I had to switch from the 110mm my Triban 3 came with to get comfortable.
As others have said, 10mm difference on stem length is noticeable. I had a basic bike fit done due to having some lower back pain on longer rides and the fitter specced a longer stem which sorted it out. Somewhat counter-intuitive but it worked and at least it’s easy/cheap/quick to swap stems
If you’ve got a turbo trainer or someone to hold the bike steady a good rule of thumb is to sit in the saddle with cranks and quarter to three and lean forward. The position you can support with just your lower back/core muscles is the right one, and then it’s a case of placing the bars/hoods at the point where your arms aren’t locked rigid.
Before you make changes to your position measure everything so you can get back to where you were if you go wrong. Given you’re playing with saddle fore/aft and stem length measuring from the tip of the saddle to the split between the stem and the faceplate is a good one to do. You mention you feel like you’re too far forward, that might be a saddle angle thing and easy to experiment with if you have a micro-adjust seatpost. If you make a change make sure you ride it a couple of times before deciding if it’s better or worse, and try to only change one parameter at a time.
Some riders are tolerant of key setup paramaters being in wide range, for me I find I’ve got a very narrow envelope of comfort. My approach without a bike fitter on hand would be to get my legs feeling right in terms of saddle height and fore/aft and then sort out the bars. Just note that it will be individual based on age, flexibility, body symmetry, and historical injuries. There are rules of thumb but they’re just that – they merely get you in the ballpark.
Small moves can make a huge difference. When I first started I was amazed how much faster I was after I’d put the saddle up no more than 10mm.
In my experience gear cables
In my experience gear cables are easier to do on brifters than brake cables, as long as your outers have been finished cleanly and it’s a brand new cable. Oddly enough I have bigger issues doing gear cables on the old style straight-through style where your outers aren’t under the bar tape.
Just use a brand new cable and follow Shimano’s instructions. Same goes for front mech, don’t be intimidated by it.
Can be a vicious circle if
Can be a vicious circle if you’re anxious about it Bigmarlow. I’ve had times where I’ve been convinced I’m having a heart attack or that there’s something wrong, and find that the anxiety increases the pain. This is just resting around the house. One time when I had it I went out on the bike and smashed a bunch of really hard climbs near me, didn’t die, pain had gone when I got home.
My Dad’s been on an
My Dad’s been on an equivalent to Lansoprazole for years, and has long-term heart issues. It’s effective at controlling stomach acid but needs to be done hand in hand with diet changes – smaller meals, more frequent eating if you need to get the cals in, eating easy to digest stuff. That’s the tough bit.
Have they ruled out costochondritis? That’s usually a central pain but is very much a continuous ache, which reflux isn’t.
That sounds very familiar to
That sounds very familiar to me. Short sharp typical English climbs – say 400 yards ranging from 5 to 10% – will easily get me up to high 170s and breathless. As long as it’s flat off the top I’ve recovered usually within a couple of minutes and no longer breathless.
At my best average speed for a 45 mile mixed ride would be around 17mph. I’m around 20st and 5’11”. For that sort of riding I’ll sit around 130/140bpm. Pretty much as soon as I start off from home, easy pedalling, I’ll be around 120bpm. Obviously I’m not built for climbing!
Due to a prevalence of heart conditions in my family I’ve been assessed several times over the years, usually with a stress test, ecg, and ultrasound. Never found anything untoward other than being overweight except that in a stress test my recovery is longer than it should be. One cardiologist said I had blacksmith/labourer genes, not designed to sit behind a desk all day 🙂
I’ve been switching between
I’ve been switching between longer flat rides and shorter hilly ones. I have four 10 – 20 mile routes on rotation and if I’m feeling good I can combine two routes for a longer ride, or all 4 for a cloverleaf. Helps with the desire to keep close to home in the current restrictions and lets me bail if I need to. Riding at least 5 times a week at the moment and noticing improvements on each ride, I’m getting back to how I was 3 years ago.
Any chest pain should be
Any chest pain should be investigated, particularly if it comes and goes with exertion. You should feel breathless but not tight-chested.
If your GP has checked you out recently then the best test is to see how long you take to recover (get your breathing back under control) after a short sharp climb. That’s basically what they’d do with a stress test in hospital.
As a chronically overweight and unfit MAMIL I average HR of 140bpm-ish on a typcial ride (10-15 miles), and peak in the high 170s. Resting HR is high 60s. After a hard short climb I can get my breath back reasonably quickly. For me my limiting performance factor is definitely breathing, rather than power or HR.
Tiagra is a good compromise
Tiagra is a good compromise and basis for future upgrades. Reliable, smooth shifting, decent brakes, good gear range options. Slightly cheaper replacement parts than 105 which is the next level oup. Sora is almost as good these days, just 9-speed rather than 10-speed gearing.
Claris 8-speed
Sora 9-speed
Tiagra 10-speed
105 11-speead
Ultegra 11-speed, lighter than 105
Dura-Ace 11-speed, lighter than Ultegra
Also check its not something
Also check its not something on your shoe doing the same. The front mech cable is a really, really common source of this noise.
For the chainring bolts you’ll probably also notice it once per revolution with maximum power/weight applied, which will be between 12 o’clock and 3 o’clock on the chainring when viewed from the right hand side of the bike.
Assuming it’s a Shimano chainset it’s easy to check and adjust, you don’t need to remove anything from the bike to do it. There’s 5 of them and they attach the inner chainring to the outer. Turn the bike upside down and you can get to them from the non-drive side, just rotate the cranks to get to each one. From memory they’re either T25 or T30 Torx head bolts. Likely to be shiny silver, easy to spot. They work loose surprisingly easily over time, so it’s something I check monthly on my bike. Just do them up as tight as you can.
Yes, but mostly with family
Yes, but mostly with family groups on country lanes. Also seeing a lot of family cyclists using the pavements rather than the roads despite there being naff all traffic around. I guess they’ll get more confident
As a driver I’d prefer they didn’t try to wave me past because I’m in a mahoosive Volvo 940 that doesn’t lend itself to (a) acceleration or (b) being thin
Something else I’ve noticed whilst riding is that you need to be careful when overtaking returning/new cyclists. I’m hardly the fittest or most committed rider but I’m noticeably faster than them. It’s almost like driving a car and needing to hang back to choose my moment to overtake, particularly on descents. They can be pretty unpredictable/wobbly and aren’t familiar with spoken warnings (e.g. passing right). Fortunately so little traffic around I can usually go beyonnd the white line to overtake whilst maintaining the required 2 metres.
