Forum Replies Created
-
Replies
-
Don’t let cable discs put you
Don’t let cable discs put you off a good used bike that’s right in other respects. They’re not nearly as terrible as some say. Even if you agree with all the gloom merchants, almost the worst case given is that they are a bit heavier than rim brakes, take more maintenance than other types and are not as nice feel as hydraulics. But for your use case, dirty weather and dirty roads, probably on wide tyres, the lack of rim wear is a good idea. And if you’re buying used, availability is key – if the bike fits your purpose and you, and is available locally, imo that trumps religious beliefs on brake technology. It’s not as if cable disc brakes will have no consumables available next week or something.I’ve not used a modern dynamo, but usb rechargeable lights are very good now. I was impressed with a £15 one from Amazon and then utterly astounded by the Cateye Volt 1700 I got from Santa. I do, however, carry 2 rear lights as my rechargeable one gives little warning of going out. Little ones can be very effective attached to the helmet.
Good luck and hope you enjoy your return as much as I have… A year in, I’m still feeling very glad to have restarted and wondering why I wasted so much time off the bike.
Yep, stack and reach, and a
Yep, stack and reach, and a rough way to see how racy the position is is to divide the stack by the reach. The lower the number, the more stretched out you’ll be, and from that base line you can use stem spacers and seat fore and aft adjustment to fine-tune, or indeed different stem lengths but then you have to add money unless you have access to an impressive spares box.
Whilst you can use this technique to get the same each time as per matthewn5, I have recently used it to get something deliberately different, starting from what I had and knowing which direction I wanted to go in.
It’s not perfect – lots of people will tell you it’s more complicated than that and I guess they are right, but for comparative purposes it’s pretty useful.
One other suggestion: if you find geometry you like in a shop but you don’t care for the components, frame material, or the price, stack and reach can help you find something similar to put onto your shortlist.
Great, thanks for all that
Great, thanks for all that detail, much appreciated.iandusud wrote:
Ive had a Galibier Tourmalet jacket for two years and it hasnt let me down, it isnt cheap at £60 but bough it on a recommendation and it is worth it. Look to Altura NightVision for bottoms and Endura’s mt500 are the only overshoes on the market as far as Im concerned.+1 for the Galibier Tourmalet and I would add that it’s a bargain. The best bit of cycling kit I’ve ever bought, and I’ve got kit that is over 30 years old. Follow the link and read the reviews and buy one.
https://galibier.cc/product/tourmalet/
Their sizing is acurate. I’m 6’1′ and slim build and on their advice bought a size M, even though I was worried about arm length. It is spot on.
Another satisfied Galibier Tourmalet wearer though I have found that when it’s really, really lashing and bouncing off the road for an hour, mine does get defeated. But this is extreme, and I think I may have washed it too often. A can of proofing spray is going on in the autumn. Have little to compare with on breathability, there are no miracles and I’ll always take it off soon when the rain stops. Good windbreaker and does work with just a base layer in autumn temperatures, but then you have no pockets as the jacket itself has only a zip allowing access to where your jersey pockets ought to be. A simple pocket for a phone, card and key would be an improvement.
It does pack into a pocket but other jackets go far smaller. I guess that’s the price you pay for it being a bit more substantial than a standard hard shell.
I’m 6’2″ and 12st 7 lb and the XXL I got when a bit fatter is probably a size too big now. Would buy again.
+1 for Lanzarote and
+1 for Lanzarote and Revolution in Puerto del Carmen who are very good people indeed. I quite liked the Planet X Pro Carbon but missed the 32t sprocket I have at home (28 on the hire bike) and 25 mm tyres at 110 psi are a bit lively for my old bones even on the mostly decent roads.Downside is the wind, which is a given every day and will be northerly. We started every ride with about 300m climbing into a headwind, and if riding a loop there will be some cross wind miles. This will feel severe by UK standards. That said, we only felt unsafe once and walked a few hundred metres.
Bueno Bikes do very good guided rides and can be booked through Revolution.
Pilot Pete wrote:
And once you’ve drunk the water your bike will be light once more!I’m loving that analogy!
PP
And even nicer, the water you have consumed will mostly have been sweated and exhaled, so that extra 750g is mostly gone if you finish with an empty bottle, a little thirsty and the sweat mostly evaporated. Hence the overall weight of you and bike is less than at the start of the ride, and for zero cost. Beat that, weight weenies.
I added my weight to my
I added my weight to my comment because I’m a total sheep and it had already been mentioned by the OP. But I do think that torque is relevant to the wear rate, and as a medium to large person* I’ll need to put more force through the chain for longer up the climbs. Somewhere along the line there is surely a compromise between torque and cadence that is minimal for wear but no idea at what point. Gut feeling is that cadence will be a lot higher than anyone actually pedals.* I do not for a moment mean to imply that I communicate with the spirit world for a single heavy individual. Just in case anyone misread that.
I think you are right about
I think you are right about the consumable nature of this but I’d be tempted to run the chain until the tool drops (if that isn’t too much of a Carry On idea).I’m a little heavier than you, a little less diligent on cleaning than I ought to be and running 11 speed, and changed the chain when it got noisy as per BigTallPaul above.
At this point the tool was embarrassingly keen to show that the chain was very stretched, but the new one has made everything totally peachy.
Wet lube in use – a very old bottle of Finish Line Cross Country having finally offered its last drops, I have refilled with Asda 10w40 and will see what happens…
