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nortonpdj wrote:
You’d just need to do the right lever (assuming you’re in the UK) and cassette. So c. £150 for an extra cog and slightly more faff in setting them up. Front rings and mechs don’t particularly care how many cogs are out back.Just wondering why you say “assuming you’re in the UK”?
Because it was late and I’d had a long day and confused myself thinking about Euro brake setup 🙂
You’d just need to do the
You’d just need to do the right lever (assuming you’re in the UK) and cassette. So c. £150 for an extra cog and slightly more faff in setting them up. Front rings and mechs don’t particularly care how many cogs are out back.
Looking at the spec you’re
Looking at the spec you’re adequately geared, just make sure your pads are in good nick for the descents, may be worthwhile getting a brake service from your LBS.
Agree that best upgrade would be wheels and no harm in sticking some racier/lighter rubber on those. Maybe use it as an opportunity to go tubeless too. It’s surprising easy to find half a kilo in savings from tyres and tubes, let alone looking at rims.
It depends on how important
It depends on how important the off tarmac stuff is. You need decent clearance even for dry mud and the Grade is far more versatile than the Boardman. Boardman has racier handling which you don’t want offroad where slacker head angle and longer wheelbase adds stability. I commuted last year on a bike with 32mm GravelKing SK tyres and they weren’t significantly slower than 25mm GP 4Seasons – to the point I did Ride London on them. Quiet, fast rolling, planted handling, and they soaked up the bumps really well. Thing is you can always adapt a bike like the Grade for fast road use if you want (lighter wheels, slam the stem, skinnier tyres) but you can’t go the end other way quite so easily, mainly because of clearance and geometry.Prendas – most of their
Prendas – most of their Santini jerseys go up to 8X which is a 52″ chest. Epic customer service too.
Or Fat Lad at the Back.
I love how “Chinese” is so
I love how “Chinese” is so often used as a pejorative meaning cheap, low quality, dangerous. I’m old enough to remember the same thing being applied to anything Japanese and here we are running around on bikes made in Taiwan with groups and wheelsets designed in Japan costing over £10k. Same applies to people who wouldn’t look twice at a phone from Huwaei or one of the other Chinese manufacturers, despite the fact that all iPhones are built there.
Being a big lad I’m not sure I’d risk a set of carbon fibre rims even if they were from a name brand but if I was a 65kg whippet I wouldn’t hesitate to buy Chinese.
Thanks for all the kind comments and stories. Much appreciated.Yes, ideally would’ve chosen a different chainset. Maybe time will let the Campagnolo chainset become easier on the eyes.
Agreed – I’d love to see Campy/Shimano do a modern retro polished chainset, they just suit certain bikes/paintjobs better than the matt black we put up with now.
I’m using 105 5800 crankset with RS685 shifters, works just fine. Also currently using a 105 5800 cassette with 6800 drive train, no issues.As far as I can work out, all the Shimano 11speed stuff is cross-compatible for the equivalent levels i.e. 5800, 6800, 9000. Not so sure about the new R8000 R9100 and 5801 stuff though.
Yep, all cross-compatible plus Tiagra 4700 10-speed levers and mechs also now have the same pull ratio as the 11-speed groups (which means you can use them with 5700 & 6700 if you wish).
I ran a 5800 cassette and
I ran a 5800 cassette and crankset with 6800 (Di2 version), worked absolutely fine with just a small weight penalty. If the bike is going to see winter miles you’ll save money on chain/cassette/cranks going 5800.
Praxis & FSA have options too, but they’re more expensive than 5800. They both also sell super-compacts (46-30) designed for the gravel market.
If you really want to save pennies you can also go with Tiagra 4700 or 105 5700 – but both carry a bigger weight penalty.
Oh and there’s also the non-series Shimano RS500 cranks available in 46-36 which are non-hollowtech but will work with the BB just fine. Personally I prefer the looks of these to the 5800/4700 cranks, more traditional-looking.
So, plenty of choice – I’d go with 5800 and that’s what I run on both of my bikes with Tiagra 4700 levers/derailleurs. Shifting is great and easy to set up.
Proper lovely. I got the
Proper lovely. I got the cycling bug from my Dad, unfortunately he’s no longer able to ride but he would have loved something like this. Spent some quality time with him back in the summer putting together my new Fairlight Faran, he was delighted to hear Reynolds were still going strong and we got talking about the race bikes he’d ridden in the ’50s (was a decent county-level TTer in his day and would think nothing of doing Southampton-Brighton-Southampton in a day). Turns out that he was as much of a gadget hound as I am, high end cameras, ham radio, bikes, etc. And to think he gave me loads of hassle for the amount I spend on that sort of stuff 😀
I’d ignore matching Froome’s
I’d ignore matching Froome’s spec and go with something more durable and easier to maintain, namely SRAM Red eTap with hydraulic discs. Less cabling plus reliable braking that doesn’t knacker your expensive carbon rims. 52T big ring, 32 ring on the cassette.
Panaracer GravelKing SK –
Panaracer GravelKing SK – plenty fast enough on hard pack with reasonable puncture protection. Loads of grip in light mud – you can feel a noticeable drag from the tyre as you hit anything squelchy. Love mine, they’re perfect for my mixed commute. There’s a review on this site – £30 each from Wiggle, Sigmasport often have them cheaper on eBay.
[quote=kil0ran]So this happened at same spot this morning, shows the risk posed by road layout combined with cockwomble drivers https://youtu.be/QhqYI4dmk0k%5B/quote%5Dhe didn’t make contact with you, that’s loads of room. I’ve had 2 bikes broken on that stretch by actual contact from drivers sending me into the kerb / onto the path, in 5 years. One stopped, one didn’t. The road is very badly designed there, and a lot of drivers seem either thick or blind.
It wasn’t me cycling fortunately but I agree, more could be done with the road design to prevent the conflict occuring.
Narrowing the exit of the roundabout would help but it would increase congestion by blocking the roundabout so it’ll never happen. In rush hour there’s usually two lines of cars filtering down to one as drivers try and queue jump from the toll booths. Nothing will be done because its “only” one fatality – the junction is supposed to be upgraded for cyclists as part of the 2020 vision but they’ve been saying that for years.
So this happened at same spot
So this happened at same spot this morning, shows the risk posed by road layout combined with cockwomble drivers https://youtu.be/QhqYI4dmk0kYes, but it’s wheel specific.
Yes, but it’s wheel specific. I know Hunt and Kinesis can supply different end caps.
My recommendation would be to buy either 15mm or 12mm thru axle wheels as 15-12 just requires a sleeve, and 15-9QR an axle. That way you’ve got completely future-proofed adaptable wheels. Sleeves and axles are cheap, £10-20 each
