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Merida Cyclocross 500 (or 300
Merida Cyclocross 500 (or 300)
Kinesis Crosslight (they turn up on eBay a lot)
Genesis Croix de Fer or CdA
PlanetX Kaffenback or London Road
Do you want disc brakes? If not, go to Decathlon and look at the Triban 100.
Possibly some of the Cannondale or Giant bikes but check they’ll take racks/guards as not all do.
There’s no Shimano logo, but otherwise they look identical.Looks like there’s either a swap to the set of Veloce that I’ve got on the singlespeed, or some shiny new Athena.
Cheers for that.
If you put campag brakes on with Shimano shifters they may work well but you won’t have a QR for removing the wheel (they’re on the lever).
Good point and bugger! Shimano it’ll be then.
Go with 105s, unless you need long drop. Usually available used for around £30 on eBay, or £60 new.
Thanks guys. My commuter does extra duty as a tagalong mule, and when you’re hauling an 8yo around being clipped in isn’t the best option.I also take an 8 year old on a tagalong. I’d hate to honk us up hills without being clipped in.
Maybe it’s because I’ve had clips on all my bikes for the past tweny years. Frankly, I’d probably fall off if I jumped on a bike without clips. Of course, you need to choose a cleat system that you can walk on securely.
Most of our riding is on the flat, but yes I’m a bit concerned about this, I’ve been riding clipped for years. Issue is getting unclipped quickly enough if we need to stop, or if my son leans the wrong way, have had a couple of moments already where I’ve almost not got out in time.
Thanks guys. My commuter does extra duty as a tagalong mule, and when you’re hauling an 8yo around being clipped in isn’t the best option. Will take a look at the DMRs because its going to get an awful lot of wet/muddy use this winter, and that’s not counting the corrosive properties of cow/horse/pig excrement we ride through in the New Forest 🙂Interested to know – do the flats work well even if you’re riding in SPD shoes? Mine are M088s so have got a decent tread on them. Just wondering if there will be enough shoe in contact with the pedal?
Oooh, they do V12s in orange, sold…
Thanks guys. My commuter does
Thanks guys. My commuter does extra duty as a tagalong mule, and when you’re hauling an 8yo around being clipped in isn’t the best option. Will take a look at the DMRs because its going to get an awful lot of wet/muddy use this winter, and that’s not counting the corrosive properties of cow/horse/pig excrement we ride through in the New Forest 🙂
Interested to know – do the flats work well even if you’re riding in SPD shoes? Mine are M088s so have got a decent tread on them. Just wondering if there will be enough shoe in contact with the pedal?
People do it all the time on a small scale:Cash or barter for services (e.g. I fix neighbour’s computer, he fettles my bike)
Paying cash, not declaring the profits and avoiding VAT if regisered are evasion.
Doing something in exchange for another service if neither of you run a business e.g. fixing bikes/computers, whether it is VAT registered or not , isn’t either.
Importing stuff from abroad and hoping it will avoid import duty/VAT (much, much harder these days)That is tax evasion
Buy a bike on C2W and never use it to cycle to work (I know people who’ve bought kids bikes on Cyclescheme…)That is tax evasion
Don’t declare profits from eBay sales (also rare now that the fees are so high)etc.
That is tax evasion.
all this is a speck of cosmic dust compared to the galaxy-sized avoidance schemes the ultra-rich use, but if we all did it it would soon mount up.You clearly don’t now the difference between evasion and avoidance.
Though neither do some of these people in the schemes, and some caught up in the past haven’t been rich it is due to the fact they are temporary workers who have had to work through agencies.
Anyway evasion, like in the examples you gave above, is about breaking the law. Avoidence is doing something the law hasn’t stated is illegal.
One reason people get away with large scale tax avoidance is due to the size of the UK tax code. Other countries have smaller tax codes which make it very clear what you can and can’t do.
My point is that most people I know will have done one or more of these things. Same as most people speed, download illegal content online, and so on. Its a national pastime. We’re a nation of lawbreakers because the risk of being caught is so small.
Its no different in the corporate world, other than that the numbers are much, much bigger.
People do it all the time on
People do it all the time on a small scale:
Cash or barter for services (e.g. I fix neighbour’s computer, he fettles my bike)
Importing stuff from abroad and hoping it will avoid import duty/VAT (much, much harder these days)
Buy a bike on C2W and never use it to cycle to work (I know people who’ve bought kids bikes on Cyclescheme…)
Don’t declare profits from eBay sales (also rare now that the fees are so high)
etc.
all this is a speck of cosmic dust compared to the galaxy-sized avoidance schemes the ultra-rich use, but if we all did it it would soon mount up.
I got to test my Shimano shoe
I got to test my Shimano shoe covers this evening in torrential rain with a lot of surface water. Actively sought out the puddles I knew that weren’t concealing a pothole.
Result: warm, dry feet at ride end, just the rest of me absolutely sopping wet. Impressed and I saved £80 over buying the MW5s.
New Forest, but originally
New Forest, but originally from Southampton. Where I grew up there were two river valleys within a mile so (for the south of england) two steep climbs to go anywhere. One of them resulted in epic road rash when I bailed due to my Grifter front wheel working loose. Genuinely epic bruising and grazing, we’re talking pro level scrapes down the hole of my left side, and a haematoma on my hip from the bar end digging in to my thigh.
Now live near Blissford Hill which has a very short 25% section. Also have Piper’s Wait which is also short but with increasing gradient, nasty surface, and a banked hairpin at the top. Offroad there are good gravel climbs around too. Head further west and its not far to Shaftesbury with Zig Zag Hill (more hairpins!) and of course Golden Hill from the Hovis ad.
Shimano MW5 or MW7 (7 is
Shimano MW5 or MW7 (7 is Goretex, 5 is the Shimano equivalent).
Speed laces plus velcro closure, fully sealed so should do the trick.
It was either these or overshoes for me, in the end I went the overshoe route and saved £80.
As with all Shimano shoes if you’re ordering online go up a size. If you’re near a Decathlon they usually have them in stock if you want to try them on.
105 5800 calipers are a big
105 5800 calipers are a big upgrade over Tiagra, and relatively cheap. Generally considered to be as good as Ultegra but cheaper/heavier. If you’re buying from scratch by all means go with Ultegra as there’s not a huge price difference.
Certainly no issues here this morning when I needed to do two full on emergency stops due to SMIDSYs. Hauled me up sufficiently from 30mph to the point I locked and snaked the rear wheel. Should add that I’m not exactly lightweight at 18st either.
My setup: Tiagra 4700 levers, 105 5800 calipers, standard Shimano Ultegra/Dura-Ace pads. Bare cable runs with just the barrel adjuster at the caliper to take out the slack.
Things to check:
1. Wind in both barrel adjusters
2. Loosen cable
3. Check all cable stops have the right ferrules – check the Shimano dealer manual
4. Lube cable
5. Centre calipers – there’s a small grub screw for this on the 105 level calipers
6. Reinstall cable – put slight pressure on cable from lever to ensure it is seated properly and pull as tight as you can. Should be possible just using your hands but you can get a cable puller if needed.
7. Nip up barrel adjusters to take out any slack and balance the required lever force. I run my rear brake softer than the front.
One of my bikes has discs, the other rims. Kind of preferring the rim brakes, particularly after surprising myself this morning with their stopping power.
I wear silk liners under
I wear silk liners under neoprene outers for commutes up to an hour in the winter. Silk liners are cheap (a fiver from Decathlon I think), washable, and quick to to dry so I have a couple of pairs on rotation. Certainly cuts down on the unpleasant clamminess you get with neoprene.
If you can buy the hydraulic STI levers, they should work fine with your brake calipers as is. I believe the relevant part number is the ST-RS405 – it’s basically the ST-RS505 STI lever with one detent removed in the rear gear shifting mechanism. That will work fine with your Tiagra 4700 mechsThis. Shouldn’t need anything else. Take the opportunity to replace your shifter cables and you’re good to go.
You’d probably miss hydraulics if you drop down to mechanical and as you also need the STIs you’d just as well go with hydro. The alternative is going to be more expensive – £100 used for the mechanical levers plus around £125 for a set of hybrid cable-actuated hydros like the Juin Tech R1s
Oh, one more thing – you’ll maybe need a bleed kit because you’ll be opening the system to do the swap.
Current generation Tiagra
Current generation Tiagra 4700 has a different pull ratio to 4600 and earlier (its now the same as the 11-speed groups) so you need to know what generation your derailleurs are.I ran two wheelsets last
I ran two wheelsets last winter. Both had cassettes installed (same ratios and manufacturer) and I used the same chain. The whole drivetrain was new components at the start so the only item that wore at a different rate was the cassette. Didn’t have any issues with shifting performance when swapping to my wet weather wheels from my best wheels. Probably 80/20 usage between the two wheelsets over the winter. Depending on tolerances you might need a small tweak on the rear mech barrel adjuster to sort out indexing but I never did. Obviously important to get the wheel centred in the dropouts – mine was a disc braked bike with a QR at the rear rather than thru-axle but I didn’t have any issues.
I think if you abuse your chain, or the cassettes don’t match in terms of spec of age you’ll get issues, but these are overstated in real world use.
