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I’m personally torn for this season as to which way to go… 28mm for the corners (primiarly racing crits), or 25mm for the pure speed. It’s certainly not a given that 28mm is faster in all situations, but for most applications wider provides a better compromise.
Have you considered a hybrid mix? I’ve been forced to because my road bike can’t take more than 25 mm on the front but can (just) take a 28 mm on the rear. Since I put a 28 mm on the rear it definitely feels more surefooted when cornering and I believe (though this is solely my subjective impression) that the better grip allows me to accelerate faster and my Garmin data seems to show (I say seems because I haven’t done any experiments with exactly the same set up in exactly the same conditions) a small gain of around half a kilometre per hour at 250W. It’s very definitely more comfortable as well.
I run a 25mm (real world 26.5) front and 28mm (real world 30) rear and love it.
Prior to that I ran 23mm front (real world 26.5) and 25mm rear (real world 30mm) and people would turn their noses up at my lack of progressive thinking and old school ways.
They’ve used DTSwiss
They’ve used DTSwiss previously.. but effectivly they will be propriatary Giant hubs.. you should be able to get them fixed at your nearest dealer.
However it’s not a great wheel and I doubt it’d be finacially worth it.. I’d take a look on fleabay for other rear wheels.
Another vote for Ted Lasso
Another vote for Ted Lasso over here.. I’m no football fan but this is ‘TV Gold’ and has had me in piles of laughter and tears of sadness over the two seasons.
I’d have a defy in a
I’d have a defy in a heartbeat, never hear anything bad about them and a very popular bike near me. The wheels are probbaly overkill for what you want.. but I say if you can afford it, go for it, you’ll be getting a great bike which you’ll enjoy riding.
And to be justify it further.. you might get a slightly better deal on another bike.. but if you know this is in great condition, for the sake of a hundred or maybe two hundred quid is it really worth the risk in buying an ‘unknown’ condition bike from the interwebs. You could end up having to replace £100 or £200 worth of bits and the hassle that comes with.
What an interesting article,
What an interesting article, ‘normativity’ – every day is a school day.
Martin73, in what could be described as his magnum opus, sticking up for car drivers again and finding his own way to troll an article which isn’t even on this site.. As well as totally misinterpreting/misdirecting the analogy used in a weak attempt to dupe us into talking about car ownership, which was comparing ‘smoking’ to ‘car fumes’ and use, not car ownership and the rights thereof.
Well.. I’m not quite sure
Well.. I’m not quite sure what to think of this.. I kind of love it in a weird ‘not quite sure why it’s so ridiculous’ way..
https://www.birminghamworld.uk/news/birmingham-bollards-bizarre-northfield-longbridge-3974421
…but hey.. councils innit bab!
My first ride back from a
My first ride back from a pretty bad broken elbow which had seen me in hospital and off the bike for months, we headed to climb Edgehill, it’s a bit of a killer with it’s inconsistent gradient which hits 12% a couple of times up the twisting sub-1km climb.
Anyway.. it was descending Edgehill that day which I’ll never forget. It sweeps left which you can get round without scrubbing speed, then a hard right where most would brake in advance of the final fast left, then it’s flat out ‘don’t have gears made for this’ speed.. However, in my case that day, at the ‘scrub some speed’ corner, my front brake didn’t bite at all and as the bike was newly repaired/replaced, the rear rim brake couldn’t have been set up quite right, so at ??odd mph going down a 12% hill the rear brake wasn’t doing much at all to slow me down.. anyway I got round that first corner okay but was still gaining speed and had the final corner to negotiate… I remember the terror of realisation turning into the terror of the upcoming corner and the dwindling choices available to me.. so I screamed my way around the left hand corner while drifting wide into the oncoming traffic lane and even skimmed/rode onto/up the roadside grass banked verge..
Thank goodness for no traffic in the opposite direction, thank goodness I didn’t drift further up the banked verge. My mate of course was completely oblivious to my screams, as with all the confidence in the world he’d shot off in front at the top. I on the other hand have had this seared into my brain ever since and to this day (years later) do not naturally decend very well.
P.S I just checked and the ‘fastest I’ve ever gone down a 1.08km Edgehill segment according to Strava was 50seconds averaging at 77.8km/h with a max speed of 86.8km/h ..I’m not saying I went down there at that speed on the unforgettable day above, but you can see why it put the willies up me!
I know that hill.. are you
I know that hill.. are you local to Leam/Warwick?
If a cyclist wants to do
If a cyclist wants to do their own maintenence, then frankly I’d say yes.. bike maintenece is getting more complex. But that’s where your choice and voice as a customer comes in, you pays your money…
A few years ago, replacing a gear/brake cable, brake pads or an innertube was easy, required not much more than pliers, a screwdriver and a couple of levers.
Now, personally I don’t think about doing my hydralic brakes myself, gear control is battery operated and any issues there are again a job for the LBS, tubeless tyres were a steep learning curve when they came out but besides topping up a couple of times a year reward me with fewer problems thantubes. Things are defo more complex.. (and also more expensive) … but is all this ‘new stuff’ better that’s the real question… to which I’d probably say on balance, yes. I can now stop better in the wet, have less roadside faff with tyres and bikes look better (subjective) without cables running all over them.
Saying all of that.. I still want a ‘simple’ bike for nipping into town on which doesn’t cost me much time, effort or money to maintain..
Its a fair critism of tubeless that its a lottery of variable factors. Its magic once you get it settled.Tubeless bad experience = this is all you need to know.
A rear wheel slip and then a
A rear wheel slip and then a front wheel skid out on patches of gravel, both on hairpins whilst going down the Galibier.. that sort of killed my mood and put a stop to any previous enthusiasm I had for a speedy decent.
I’m not sure it’s as scary as the flash of a badger run across your path and miss your front wheel by inches whilst bollocking along at full pelt in the pitch dark.. that sort of stopped me going full pelt in the dark and made me buy a massive lumens front light.
Tour of Cambridgeshire a few years ago, my second or third time of doing it, always a bit ‘crashy’ for sure as it’s full of choppers, but I won’t forget the fellow next to me/on my wheel who simply disapeared from my peripheral view with the most horrendous carbon mashing sound as two thirds of a huge group about three miles from the start just dissapeared, a look behind and the road was blocked by a massive pile up, that was pretty scary knowing if I’d have been one bike back it could have been a different story.
All heart in mouth moments for sure.
I’m late to this party.. just
I’m late to this party.. just wanted to chime in with a crazy thought that.. if a DM champion toad like Hitchens can put this viewpoint out into the gammonfest of the DailyHeil.. then.. maybe.. just maybe.. we’re seeing the start of cultural sea change?
Hey.. I’m an optimist.. it’s just a thought.
Sorry to hear you’ve had a
Sorry to hear you’ve had a bad experience Adrians.
Just to add some balance to this, I’ve had three Giant bikes and am lucky enough to have a local Giant dealer near me. The service and support they have provided me has, many times, far exceeded my expectations. Honestly they have gone far out of their way to make my bike right or me happy on a number of occasions, including replacement parts and servicing.
Things won’t always be perfect when buying a new bike but I’d recommend a Giant bike to anyone.
Yes I still use ‘dumb rollers
Yes I still use ‘dumb rollers’ for training with, you get a number of benefits which you don’t get with a turbo.
However..saying that this is the first winter season in a very long time where I’m ‘not’ running the clubs weekly roller training sessions as members just prefer to sit at home on zwift, it’s a sign of the times and I can’t see an appitite or room for them moving forward.
Also.. the commonwealth games are in the process of giving away rollers used in the games to anyone who wants a set.. so probably not a great time to be selling them tbf.
FWIW, I’m also getting my zwift set up in place for winter this week, much as I loathe it.
Shifting sands of delivery
Shifting sands of delivery dates..I’d say you’re within your rights to get your money back (depending on how bespoke it is).. although the bespoke part has proved irrelevant to the delays.
As you’ve paid via paypal you’ll have ‘extra protection’ for a limited time at least, paypal are very good at getting your money back.
would say first thing is to explore the options with the UK shop, how they dealt with you at that point would influence ‘my’ thoughts on what to do next.
Also a point, it’s heading into winter now, so a delay to Feb ‘might’ not have that much real worl impact on you (depending on how you wanted to ride this bike).
Conti tyres have been in short supply all year, but £120 in consumable tyres is not a reasonable response to why a £000’s bike is delayed. They ‘could’ discount the order by £120 as it’s their supply problem and you can source your own tyres.