Pedal Power Thread

Strange, haven't changed any settings I'm aware of and used PM's just the other day for sale stuff
 
I've replied to your PM

Seems strange re it not allowing me to start a PM with you - have you blocked me :p:D @TheBigYin - Mark any thoughts?
 
Buck said:
I've replied to your PM

Seems strange re it not allowing me to start a PM with you - have you blocked me :p:D @TheBigYin - Mark any thoughts?
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I try not to think after 10pm, it gives me nosebleeds...

I can't see anything that should stop it, other than what you said about you being on ignore....
 
Right road guys, i'm considering some nice summer wheels and putting my Bontrager Race wheels to the side as winter wheels

so far it's a toss up between Mavic's Kysirium SLE wheels (they come with Mavic's own tyres) and Shimano's Dura Ace 900 C24 with Conti GP4000 tyres. Both are a similar weight but very different in terms of looks.

Anyone got experience of Mavic's exilath rim coating in the wet? It's the black rim thats just edging the cost up a tad over the Dura Ace set
 
No experience of either wheel set but the cyclists I know lean towards or do have the mavic's and rave about them
 
I'd be more concerned with the bearings in the wheel, than the rim-treatments tbh. Personally I like Shimano wheels, because they have normal, proper, cup-and-cone bearings that are serviceable. Whereas the Mavic's are cartridge bearings (and, from my only experience of Mavics they had a very fussy pre-load adjustment - slightly off and you could mung a set of bearings in a month - I killed the first set from the factory in under 500 miles as mistakenly I'd thought that they would be correctly adjusted from new...) Come to think of it, I also destroyed the freehub on the mavics in fairly short order (then was off the road for 2 months before I could get a replacement because they were OOS everywhere - not something you'd get with shimano) as well - but that may well have been mostly due to being a bit heavier than I am now.

Frankly, either set of wheels would be great - I've a mate who swears my his Ksyriums but I start getting the shakes at the prospect of spending a grand on a pair of hoops these days - was different 25-30 years ago when I was racing, but these days I'd sooner have a £400 pair of wheels and a fortnight in the sun in winter riding the bike somewhere...
 
The rim treatment is of interest in wet and gritty conditions, my Bonty rims are already marking up a little and after so many years of riding on hydraulic discs rim brakes are still a little bit :eek: when wet.

I've never had a problem with cartridge bearings on wheels, admittedly never had mavic hubs before either.

Both sets of wheels are well below the grand and thats before discounts are applied too :D , but granted still not a cheap purchase to lose around a pound in weight.
 
ah, but I bet the cartridge bearings were in Hope MTB hubs... I've never had problems with those either... French Cheese Bearings-not so much. And if you do need spares from Hope, they'll generally have them in stock and in the post in a day or so.
 
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Aye, the mtb currently has Hope hubs, but countless spesh wheel sets before that when I raced mtb had cartridge brgs :D
 
bastic said:
Have joined TP club on strava :)
I can see that there is one more Londoner to me and Jim.
Who's Alastair ? :)
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That's me :wave:

Stopped cycling on doctors orders last year, started up again 2 weeks ago but was on holiday last week. Just commuting for now so should be back on the bike tomorrow. :)
 
akr said:
That's me :wave:

Stopped cycling on doctors orders last year, started up again 2 weeks ago but was on holiday last week. Just commuting for now so should be back on the bike tomorrow. :)
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Good :)
We could meet for some London/ and out of cycling :)
 
I've just joined the Strava group too :)
At the moment my only cycling is commuting though.
 
I have the Krysium Elites- I think a couple of models down from the SLs. About 450 quid. I've been using them for the past 4 years with no issues whatsoever. Awesome wheels.
 
I went to look at the Cube Pelotons on Saturday and was suffering from bike-lust by the time I came out. I had a bike fitting and also went for a test ride. JE James Cycles in Rotherham and Sheffield were my nearest stockists and a big (y) as they were really helpful (bought from them before for exactly this reason.)

I am now off to view the Cube Peloton Pro that I mentioned later this week - had lots of conversations with the seller - all looks good with good provenance and fingers crossed it works out.

Then I'll have to get my backside in gear and get out even more! :)
 
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bastic said:
Good :)
We could meet for some London/ and out of cycling :)
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Thanks for the offer Lukas :), sadly I'm pretty much on commuting only for now, but we'll see how we go in a few months time. I would like maybe next year to try the Dunwich Dynamo but I'll need to get a lot fitter and see if my knees can handle it before then.
 
Anyone in the hallowed lands of TP doing the Cavendish rise above sportive ride in August?
 
On a brighter note, I did a round trip of 250 miles and have come home with a lovely new (to me) bike :D

Cube Peloton Pro with full 105 gear and chain set. Less than 300 miles in the saddle and the 105 has only got c.60 miles use in a recent charity ride. As near mint as you can imagine. Biggest mark is where the Garmin sensor was secured on the chain stay!

@stupar - thanks for the advice and feedback on the Cubes
@TheBigYin - Mark , thanks for your advice and yes, the tyres still have the bobbly bits on (y) :)

He left the SPD-SL peddles on but as I only have SPDs at the moment, I will need to swap the peddles over from my MTB so I can have a little run out on Thursday night.

Off to order some inner tubes and have a look at a new pump. CO2 canisters I wonder?
 
I carry 2 co2 canisters with a regulator valve and a leyzne pump in my seat bag. I had an "experience" with the co2 regulator valve which knocked my confidence in them....so bought the pump as a back up
 
digitalfailure said:
I carry 2 co2 canisters with a regulator valve and a leyzne pump in my seat bag. I had an "experience" with the co2 regulator valve which knocked my confidence in them....so bought the pump as a back up
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Thanks Brian - the guy I bought the bike off recommended the Lezyne pump as well - I have their lights already and pleased with the quality - will take a look at a couple of web sites re the CO2 - never used it before so need to read up on them.
 
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700c 23/25 with 48mm valves will be fine for most wheels. If you have deep dish aero wheels you may need 60mm valves.
 
If you insist on going to Evans, then the 23/25 presta valve ones in the link would be okay - as to length of valve stem, I tend to always get the 60mm ones rather than the shorter one - it's maybe an extra 2g of metal, but it means it'll work on any depth of rims (my CaadX has deeper section rims than either set of wheels on the Dolan). ETA: the Fulcrum 7's should be fine with the 48's - they're not that deep (I had the Fulcrum 5's a couple of years ago and they were BOMB PROOF)

I must say though, I generally buy either Continental or Schwalbe branded tubes, for the simple reason that the valve cores in their presta valves are exchangeable - some of the cheaper own-brand ones aren't. Especially with mini-pumps, its easy to slightly bend the little metal widget that projects out of the valve, and leave the tube useless... Also, exchangeable valve cores allow you to add a little drop of liquid latex sealant to the tube - works much the same as the slime stuff does without quite the weight penalty. It doesn't always seal punctures obviously - with 110psi in the tyre, sometimes it merely turns a blow out into a gentle flat - but that can be the difference between getting around the corner or going under a bus...

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/continental-race-28-tube/rp-prod18908
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/schwalbe-road-tube/rp-prod26727
 
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TheBigYin said:
If you insist on going to Evans, then the 23/25 presta valve ones in the link would be okay - as to length of valve stem, I tend to always get the 60mm ones rather than the shorter one - it's maybe an extra 2g of metal, but it means it'll work on any depth of rims (my CaadX has deeper section rims than either set of wheels on the Dolan). ETA: the Fulcrum 7's should be fine with the 48's - they're not that deep (I had the Fulcrum 5's a couple of years ago and they were BOMB PROOF)

I must say though, I generally buy either Continental or Schwalbe branded tubes, for the simple reason that the valve cores in their presta valves are exchangeable - some of the cheaper own-brand ones aren't. Especially with mini-pumps, its easy to slightly bend the little metal widget that projects out of the valve, and leave the tube useless... Also, exchangeable valve cores allow you to add a little drop of liquid latex sealant to the tube - works much the same as the slime stuff does without quite the weight penalty. It doesn't always seal punctures obviously - with 110psi in the tyre, sometimes it merely turns a blow out into a gentle flat - but that can be the difference between getting around the corner or going under a bus...

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/continental-race-28-tube/rp-prod18908
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/schwalbe-road-tube/rp-prod26727
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thanks Mark

Evans was purely a google search example! (I'm from Yorkshire - I buy wherever is cheapest ::D)

Thanks for the info. Those Schwalbe's at Chain Reaction look good value (y) - I'll take a look at the latex sealent too - good tip.

What's the difference between threaded and non-threaded CO2 canisters (apart form the bleeding obvious!) Is it just that there are two types of head unit available?


sorry for all the Qs!!
 
it's down to the head unit - most of them require threaded cartridges AFAIK - certainly the 3 i've got all do (I keep one in the saddlebag for the roadbike, one in a "bottle cage emergency pack" for the CaadX, and one in the camelback for the MTB - serious triplication of all the essentials, and probably overkill, but at least I KNOW that the tools/bits I need to fix the bike are with me, not 40 miles away at home, under the saddle of the other bike...)
 
TheBigYin said:
I must say though, I generally buy either Continental or Schwalbe branded tubes, for the simple reason that the valve cores in their presta valves are exchangeable - some of the cheaper own-brand ones aren't. Especially with mini-pumps, its easy to slightly bend the little metal widget that projects out of the valve, and leave the tube useless...
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Interestingly I avoid tubes with exchangable valves due to my experiences using them with a mini pump (screw on type). After spending a few minutes blowing up the tyre with numb fingers sometime in winter it's a tad annoying when you unscrew the pump and the valve comes away with it giving you a near instant deflation. I have since bought a valve fitting tool but I prefer to avoid them as it's one less thing to go wrong. I've never had any trouble with valves bending, well maybe one but it didn't stop it functioning.
 
MFlip said:
it's a tad annoying when you unscrew the pump
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ah, you see, I use "press on" head pumps rather than screw on ones... so you're more likely to bend the valve as you knock the pump off, but you'll never unscrew the valve...
 
Cheers also Mark for the tube recommendations. I need to get myself some spare tubes and they look just the ticket.
 
I spoke to my friend tonight about pumps/CO2 canisters

"What make do you recommend" said I

"Lezyne are excellent - I have a mini one - brilliant" said he

"I've heard those recommended - do you use CO2 canisters then"

"No, I have biceps" :D
 
These bad boys turned up in the post today [emoji3]

ImageUploadedByTalk Photography Forums1436462592.957012.jpg

Wish me luck for my first try out clipped in stylee.

Feeling nervous [emoji15]
 
Phil1974 said:
These bad boys turned up in the post today [emoji3]

View attachment 41442

Wish me luck for my first try out clipped in stylee.

Feeling nervous [emoji15]
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That was me a week ago. Certainly feels different (in a good way)

HintNo.1 practice clipping and unclipping whilst the bike is stationary and you are holding onto the wall/fence and approaching your first junction unclip early!
 
Nice shoes Phil - same as mine. Super comfy and easy to walk in.

As @Buck has said do some stationary practice first.
When I put the SPD pedals on my bike I adjusted the mechanism to its loosest setting so it was easy to get in and out of. Now that I am used to them and more confident not to mention worn in slightly I have tightened them up a few notches on each side.
 
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Lost my Virginity tonight..


..well my first ride on a road bike! Spent a bit of time trying to get it set up for me before I ventured off and tbh it felt pretty good. It felt as though my saddle was a little too far forward so am going to tweak that and see how I get on.

I rode the same route I ad done before on my MTB so that I could compare how it felt and also how I did on the times provided by Strava. I shaved 15 mins off the overall - 1:04 vs 1:22 :D

https://www.strava.com/activities/342523037
 
Buck said:
Lost my Virginity tonight..


..well my first ride on a road bike! Spent a bit of time trying to get it set up for me before I ventured off and tbh it felt pretty good. It felt as though my saddle was a little too far forward so am going to tweak that and see how I get on.

I rode the same route I ad done before on my MTB so that I could compare how it felt and also how I did on the times provided by Strava. I shaved 15 mins off the overall - 1:04 vs 1:22 :D

https://www.strava.com/activities/342523037
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Sounds like an almost perfect maiden voyage (y)
 
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