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Road bike advice (Read 18629 times)

webbo

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#25 Re: Road bike advice
September 22, 2014, 09:41:01 pm
If you are on spd's get a pair of mountain bike shoes. Shimano or sidis look for last years or the year before's that should be well discounted.

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#26 Re: Road bike advice
September 22, 2014, 10:42:14 pm

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#27 Re: Road bike advice
September 23, 2014, 02:50:43 pm
Many thanks for all the advice. UKb comes up trumps again!

I went for the boardman cx bike and it seems great. Think I will be glad of the disk breaks through winter.

How you getting on with it? I went for that model in the end recently too.

I can recommend getting the M530 pedals for it, they look better on it than the silver.

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#28 Re: Road bike advice
September 23, 2014, 04:42:08 pm
Really like it, although I have only had crap mountain bikes in the past so little to compare it to. Feels really fast to me though and gets me up the fairly steep hills I have on the commute.

I have the A530 pedals which have been good so far as I have just been using trainers until now. I have offroad SPD shoes which I think will be great once I take the leap to SPD's properly although I may well want to get the double sided ones eventually.

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#29 Re: Road bike advice
September 24, 2014, 08:53:03 am
Good to hear you're getting on with it too.

I also went from crap heavy mountain bikes to this. Massive difference in speed.

Did you have to do many adjustments after you bought yours?

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#30 Re: Road bike advice
September 24, 2014, 09:03:07 am
I haven't and it seems really comfortable, apart from the saddle but that's probably just because I hadn't been doing any cycling. I was actually impressed with the service in my local halfords, they were much better than the reports I had read (obviously varies store to store).


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#31 Re: Road bike advice
September 24, 2014, 09:09:07 am
Really interesting how CX bikes are becoming commuter bikes of choice.. I guess light, racing bike riding style, but stronger and disc brakes...

Saw one coming down the track from Garburn pass when bouldering at Kentmere on Sun... thought that was pretty impressive given the nature of the track!

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#32 Re: Road bike advice
September 24, 2014, 09:31:27 am
You only have to take a look at the Three Peaks cx to see what the bikes are capable of. The Whernside descent is bonkers :)

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#33 Re: Road bike advice
September 25, 2014, 10:24:53 am
I was actually impressed with the service in my local halfords,
Which halford. I have always been impressed with the staff at huddersfield.
Friendly knowledgeable, helpful and not pushy

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#34 Re: Road bike advice
September 25, 2014, 10:40:38 am
I was actually impressed with the service in my local halfords,
Which halford. I have always been impressed with the staff at huddersfield.
Friendly knowledgeable, helpful and not pushy

It was Huddersfield. Agreed

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#35 Re: Road bike advice
September 25, 2014, 11:38:32 am
That's good to hear, it could be just you're lucky with your local branch, hopefully with it's recent purchase of Boardman it's a sign that they are taking cycling more seriously and actively employing staff who are interested and knowledgeable about bikes. Fingers crossed.

SA Chris

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#36 Re: Road bike advice
September 25, 2014, 02:57:22 pm
If you ever consider buying replica kit, avoid the Columbian national one!


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#37 Re: Road bike advice
September 25, 2014, 03:21:35 pm
You only have to take a look at the Three Peaks cx to see what the bikes are capable of. The Whernside descent is bonkers :)

I ran most of it ( i am a big wuss!!) :-[

Borrowed a planet x (with hope disc brakes  ;D ) for this years three peaks - really like the fit and feel of it - though my mate has built it up with nice extras (carbon bars n stuff).  For commuting I would look for  a bike with mountings for mudguards and panniers - but that's cos I prefer to stick my laptop in a pannier bag (got a good one by vaude from my local edinburgh bike shop)

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#38 Re: Road bike advice
September 25, 2014, 03:42:32 pm
You might be buying some new carbon bars by the end of this years race then. 

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#39 Re: Road bike advice
September 25, 2014, 03:53:44 pm
You might be buying some new carbon bars by the end of this years race then.

Nah - i run round owt too bumpy! (Also haven't managed to break them riding off the back of win hill)

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#40 Re: Road bike advice
September 25, 2014, 04:56:10 pm
Nah - i run round owt too bumpy! (Also haven't managed to break them riding off the back of win hill)

Good effort, I'm having a year off to get over the fear! I had a couple of early crashes that knocked the stuffing a bit and ran more than usual. The PX look great, really like my SL roadie.

SA Chris

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#41 Re: Road bike advice
May 16, 2017, 03:19:22 pm
Fitting cassette to wheel - I've got the socket, but no torque wrench. How critical is it getting it torqued up right (40 nm) or is it ok if i just crank it up as hard as i can by hand with a socket wrench?

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#42 Re: Road bike advice
May 16, 2017, 03:41:28 pm
I've never ever used a torque wrench for fitting a cassette. I would just go for it - tight, but not trying to break the world record for the tightest thing.

(I'd worry more about torque with fragile things like stem bolts, etc.)

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#43 Re: Road bike advice
May 16, 2017, 03:43:43 pm
Don't worry about it - just slather the thread in grease and give it your all. I recon 40 nm is about as tight as you can get a cassette on by hand unless you're sticking a length of pipe on the end of your wrench.

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#44 Re: Road bike advice
May 16, 2017, 05:52:50 pm
It'll be fine, just do it up 'sort of tight' - I've never used a torque wrench either. I do however know a clown that cross threaded one late night, thinking he was cool doing IPA-maintenance

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#45 Re: Road bike advice
May 17, 2017, 01:58:34 pm
Never used a torque wrench on a cassette, I'd do it up as tight as you possibly can though otherwise you might find the cassette chewing through the freehub body.

The wheel builder I know told me this, and he fits a lot of cassettes!

SA Chris

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#46 Re: Road bike advice
May 17, 2017, 02:09:47 pm
Thanks guys. Cranked it on good n proper!

SA Chris

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#47 Re: Road bike advice
June 12, 2017, 06:13:26 pm
I'm after some road biking shoes to replace my pedals and mtb spd shoes which I still use on my roadbike, which are apparently  bad for your knees if you are doing long distances?

What are the weapons of choice for 50-100km rides?

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#48 Re: Road bike advice
June 12, 2017, 06:43:28 pm
Pedals - I prefer Speedplay. If you have knee issues, they offer a lot of adjustment, inc the amount and location of float. I used Look previously, and they were almost the exact opposite. Speedplay are not cheap though.

Shoes - The fancy ones have got obscenely expensive. I don't think there are many bad designs out there, so it's more a case of figuring out what fits you best. The ones with Boa laces donlast longer than Velcro ones - I have SWorks ones that are 6 years old - have replaced the laces a few times, and Velcro would've prob worn out by now.

Sure there are some bargain previous season shoes around on Wiggle / Chainreaction / Treadz, etc.

webbo

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#49 Re: Road bike advice
June 12, 2017, 07:57:18 pm
I've used Look pedals for years in combination with Sidi shoes. I don't think I've ever worn a pair of the shoes out, sent two pairs to the charity shop last week that were at least 15 years old.
You usually get deals on Look pedals from most on line shops. Sidi shoes are usually discounted on Bikechain cafe or sidi cafe.

 

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