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First and foremost, enjoy it.
First and foremost, enjoy it. My first rides were similar distance and it takes a while for your muscles to adapt to the riding position on a road bike.
Small saddle height and tyre pressure adjustments can make a huge difference to your efficiency (and therefore speed) on the bike – you can end up going quicker for less effort.
Turns out it wasn’t a busted valve in the replacement tube, it just came pre-punctured from Continental 🙁Sodding great hole in the thing so the hand pump made no headway at all. Had a grumble at Wiggle about it so they’ve given me a voucher for some new ones. The 90p valve core tools seem to work ok as well.
One further question, is there a knack I’m missing for fitting new tyres onto rims for the first time? It took me over 30 minutes to manage to fit the new Gatorskin tyre I bought last night, I’ve always found that process awkward but that tyre was taking the biscuit.
Any hints?
Wired or folding?
Assuming new tyre is going on at home make sure its nice and warm – works particularly well for folders. Just hang it on the rad for ten minutes (preferably in the missus’ boudoir as no doubt she’ll love the stink of fresh German rubber 😉
Oh and if you have clearance,
Oh and if you have clearance, mount one of the lights under the stem? Or go dyno with a proper fork crown German light which will mean oncoming drivers will think you’re a motorcyclist
Front reflector isn’t a legal
Front reflector isn’t a legal requirement (rear one and pedal reflectors are)
if you want to keep it move it to the fork crown or fork leg
for a blinky light get a £2.99 one from Decathlon that runs on a button cell and mount to headtube or fork leg.
You aren’t going to get much cred from the Rapha crowd, but £650 gets you 105 and Aksiums at Decathlon:http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-540-road-bike-105-red-blue-id_8364452.html
Or if you’d like a slightly more understated version of the same bike:
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-540-road-bike-105-id_8350480.html
As to groupsets, yes you will notice the difference between 105 & Claris, but only if you ride a 105 bike 🙂
Its utterly reliable, very fast to shift and unbeatable for the money. The latest iteration of Tiagra is also good (but 10-speed only). Both will be mindblowingly good (as will Claris) compared to an old Peugeot with downtube non-indexed shifters.
As to 10/11 speed you are still paying a premium for 11-speed bits which you may not need – unless you live somewhere really hilly. For this reason a bike with Tiagra can be better value and cheaper to maintain (11-speed chains, cassettes, and wheels are 10-20% more expensive than 10-speed)
The only remedy for a sore arse is decent shorts – and if you don’t want to be out there in lycra get some undershorts with a good pad and wear baggies over the top.
Have you checked whether your employer does Cycle To Work? At least 25% off a new bike…
Cheers will check those out
Cheers will check those out
Have tried various knee warmers but just can’t get them to stay put. Stubby legs mean that full length tights (bibs or waist) just don’t fit 🙁
I ran a B’Twin Triban for 3 years as a winter commuter. Utterly reliable and did the job. Chains, freewheels, and cassettes are consumable items, particularly if you’re bashing around in winter on salty potholed roads so you should expect to replace them the same as you would tyres/exhaust on your car.The good thing about the Tribans is that the frame is a good basis for future upgrades. Cycling on a budget really means learning something about bike maintenance (plenty of free courses around) and once you’ve got the basics you can easily improve the kit on your bike by sniping around the sales and eBay bargains.
+1.
Learning some simple maintenance and adjustment skills is easy, satisfying and saves you a fortune in money and probably time.
Mine only goes to the LBS for wheel builds and headset bearings, and that’s only because with jsut the one bike I don’t think the investment in tools/time is worth it.
I ran a B’Twin Triban for 3
I ran a B’Twin Triban for 3 years as a winter commuter. Utterly reliable and did the job. Chains, freewheels, and cassettes are consumable items, particularly if you’re bashing around in winter on salty potholed roads so you should expect to replace them the same as you would tyres/exhaust on your car.
The good thing about the Tribans is that the frame is a good basis for future upgrades. Cycling on a budget really means learning something about bike maintenance (plenty of free courses around) and once you’ve got the basics you can easily improve the kit on your bike by sniping around the sales and eBay bargains.
Generally say hello to
Generally say hello to livestock here in the New Forest as arriving unannounced behind one of the ponies really isn’t advisable. Currently pannage season so the hogs are out on the Forest – had a group running alongside me last week (pigs are surprisingly fast runners once up to speed)
That will work fine, and yes
That will work fine, and yes I would imagine you’ll need to raise the front mech a tad which in turn will need a cable adjustment. Probably an hour’s work tops.
Are you after more top speed or lower gearing for climbs? If the latter you could always swap the inner chainring from 36 to 34, no mech adjustment would be required then.
I ended up settling for
I ended up settling for Skatorkins, the logic being that in 32mm a bigger contact patch might help wet weather performance. Go on the rims really, really easily.
I’d considered Schwalbe Marathons and Strada Bianches but was mainly put off by reports of them being a monumental PITA to install (weak hands due to RSI mean installation ease was important to me)
Possible Conti alternative is their premium touring tyre (Top Contact II). Handmade like the Four Seasons (and same structure), available in 32.
Been there, done this – I
Been there, done this – I upgraded my old B’Twin Triban 3 to a 105/Ultegra Di2 11-speed. Was good fun doing it, took me about a day of which a good couple of hours was spent swearing at the old square taper BB. Recently stripped it down to part it out and that took all of 20 mins.
Its a great way to learn bike maintenance and relatively straightforward as long as you take your time – 5800 is easy to set up (certainly easier to set up than a SRAM front mech) and you’ll have pro-quality tools available.
The reason I did this originally was that I was used to my Triban and found it more comfortable than a bunch of other bikes I’d tried – I didn’t want to go and spend a grand on C2W only to find my “dream” frame wasn’t comfy after 50+ miles.
In the Conti world the 4
In the Conti world the 4 Season goes up to 28, and you can get Gatorskins in 32. I run those for commuting on my CX bike – excellent puncture resistance and the extra volume will help deaden the impact of the road surface. Not particularly exciting to ride but look good. 4Seasons are a bit faster but not sure its worth paying the premium, and they’re not available in a 32.
I think if you have the money
I think if you have the money then the BBB hits the spot. I also considered the Kinesis bikes – 5T, 6 Pro, and Tripster ATR.
If you’re not going to run permanent guards then the latest version of the SKS Raceblades look to be the best option (there’s a review on this site).
XLS is quite an old frameset
XLS is quite an old frameset now, and was always considered to be the racier of their CX frames (the Dirty Disco was the more relaxed version). Pretty sure it doesn’t have mudguard mounts either.
I was very tempted by the BBB but ended up going with a Merida Cyclocross 500 as I needed to get the bike on CtW. There are a few places selling for around £750 – 105, carbon fork, 6066 frameset, thru-axle to front, internal routing, Spyre-C’s. Comes with 33mm rubber, with clearance for more (sans guards). Has standard mudguard eyelets at the rear and slightly less standard ones at the front (plug in halfway up fork, with an under-crown fixing). Paintjob is a bit marmite, but I like the pale blue and white.
