The official cycling thread

[Spyglass]

I saw Conor Dunne retired a couple of weeks ago and last night was thinking he would be great on the likes of GCN. Low and behold they announce him today as a presenter. Good luck to the guy

Hope everyone's cycling year has gotten off to a good start. Just had 2 punctures on my ride home from work, ready to pack it in.

My cycling hasn't extended beyond Zwift yet this year.

I managed to take two weeks off over the Christmas/New Year period, we had great weather so I managed to ride 755 miles in total, half of which was on my Christmas present below

Just waiting for the power meter to arrive, hopefully in time for my club training camp in just over a weeks time.

755 miles on that? What’s that, 12-14 hours of riding over 2 weeks?

Approx. half/half on my Cervelo R5 and the new Venge. Looking at my Training Peaks account it was a total 37.5 hours over the two week period (12 hours would have be an average of 60 mph ), longest ride on the Venge was 94.5 miles, stiffer than the R5 but doesn't beat you up.

[DOB]

(12 hours would have be an average of 60 mph ),

Seriously though, looks fast as fcuk and fun as hell. How is it downhill?

[dinsdale]

(12 hours would have be an average of 60 mph ),

Seriously though, looks fast as fcuk and fun as hell. How is it downhill?

It has disc brakes so I assume 'very fast'

[rustycruiser]

Nice Bike! You doing crank based power meter or pedals? I am sure you know about the shitshow that is right side Ultegra 8000/Dura Ace 9100 power meters. No one can make them read correctly due to the crank arm design. Ended up going with Favero Assioma Duo pedals and have no regrets.

I am trying to N+1 it this winter. I was leaning toward a disc brake Canyon Ultimate with Di2 Ultegra. Problem is Canyon never has any stock, and keep pushing out the dates further and further. At this stage, I might only be able to get the bike halfway though summer here in July or August. The other alternative would be a similar spec SL6 Tarmac Pro. Just need to try to get the price down to somewhat similar to the Canyon.

[rustycruiser]

Oh yeah, throw some Dura Ace brake rotors on it in place of the the Ultegra. They are black, would fit your murdered out black on black on black look

[Spyglass]

(12 hours would have be an average of 60 mph ),

Seriously though, looks fast as fcuk and fun as hell. How is it downhill?

Sorry, a bit slow yesterday....I live in Houston so the biggest downhill so far is a highway overpass

Going to a training camp in the Texas Hill County next weekend, that will have a few 40 mph descents but nothing long and really fast like Colorado, that will have to wait for the Iron Horse race on Memorial weekend

[Spyglass]

(12 hours would have be an average of 60 mph ),

Seriously though, looks fast as fcuk and fun as hell. How is it downhill?

It has disc brakes so I assume 'very fast'

I like the discs, much better feel than pads on carbon rims and infinitely better in the wet

[dinsdale]

(12 hours would have be an average of 60 mph ),

Seriously though, looks fast as fcuk and fun as hell. How is it downhill?

It has disc brakes so I assume 'very fast'

I like the discs, much better feel than pads on carbon rims and infinitely better in the wet

I will never buy a modern bike without discs again.

[Spyglass]

Nice Bike! You doing crank based power meter or pedals? I am sure you know about the shitshow that is right side Ultegra 8000/Dura Ace 9100 power meters. No one can make them read correctly due to the crank arm design. Ended up going with Favero Assioma Duo pedals and have no regrets.

I am trying to N+1 it this winter. I was leaning toward a disc brake Canyon Ultimate with Di2 Ultegra. Problem is Canyon never has any stock, and keep pushing out the dates further and further. At this stage, I might only be able to get the bike halfway though summer here in July or August. The other alternative would be a similar spec SL6 Tarmac Pro. Just need to try to get the price down to somewhat similar to the Canyon.

Yes I read about the issues with the inaccuracy of PM's mounted on the drive side of Shimano 8000 and 9100 crank arms so I decided to go with the Quarq Dfour91 that is designed for the 8000/9100 chainrings. I've had a Quarq on my Cervelo for the last 6 years and I've had good experience, so decided to stick with them, plus I got a great deal. I looked at the Favero Assioma, good reviews but didn't want to switch my bikes over to Look pedals.

I considered the Canyon Aeroad, good value, but they will be replacing it soon and it doesn't ride as well as the Venge. Plus the Venge looks badass

Just get the Tarmac, I still have my 2009, which is permanently strapped to my turbo trainer these day. They're great bikes, my mate just got an S-Works and it's very nice to ride

[Spyglass]

(12 hours would have be an average of 60 mph ),

Seriously though, looks fast as fcuk and fun as hell. How is it downhill?

It has disc brakes so I assume 'very fast'

I like the discs, much better feel than pads on carbon rims and infinitely better in the wet

I will never buy a modern bike without discs again.

[rustycruiser]

Nice Bike! You doing crank based power meter or pedals? I am sure you know about the shitshow that is right side Ultegra 8000/Dura Ace 9100 power meters. No one can make them read correctly due to the crank arm design. Ended up going with Favero Assioma Duo pedals and have no regrets.

I am trying to N+1 it this winter. I was leaning toward a disc brake Canyon Ultimate with Di2 Ultegra. Problem is Canyon never has any stock, and keep pushing out the dates further and further. At this stage, I might only be able to get the bike halfway though summer here in July or August. The other alternative would be a similar spec SL6 Tarmac Pro. Just need to try to get the price down to somewhat similar to the Canyon.

Yes I read about the issues with the inaccuracy of PM's mounted on the drive side of Shimano 8000 and 9100 crank arms so I decided to go with the Quarq Dfour91 that is designed for the 8000/9100 chainrings. I've had a Quarq on my Cervelo for the last 6 years and I've had good experience, so decided to stick with them, plus I got a great deal. I looked at the Favero Assioma, good reviews but didn't want to switch my bikes over to Look pedals.

I considered the Canyon Aeroad, good value, but they will be replacing it soon and it doesn't ride as well as the Venge. Plus the Venge looks badass

Just get the Tarmac, I still have my 2009, which is permanently strapped to my turbo trainer these day. They're great bikes, my mate just got an S-Works and it's very nice to ride

My SIL bought an Aeroad just before the 70.3 Worlds in Nice last year to use there rather than her Shiv due to the amount of climbing on the bike course. I have ridden it a little, and it is a little too stretched out for my old ass. The Ultimate and Tarmac are pretty much identical stack/reach and most of the other geometry too. I think the Tarmac is how I have to go, Canyon USA just shits the bed with their available stock, and will lose a sale. I saw pics of the new Aeroad from when MVDP had it in England. Integrated cockpit seemed to be the biggest change, along with seatpost. Have fun on the Venge. I got a few miles in outside over xmas, but its back to Zwift probably till early April for me.

[rustycruiser]

Speaking of Zwift, has anybody ever organized a PR groupride? That might be fun, but difficult depending on all the bordie time zones to sync

[dinsdale]

Speaking of Zwift, has anybody ever organized a PR groupride? That might be fun, but difficult depending on all the bordie time zones to sync

I could be up for that.

[duke]

Speaking of Zwift, has anybody ever organized a PR groupride? That might be fun, but difficult depending on all the bordie time zones to sync

I could be up for that.

I'm up for that, I'll be the one wheezing along at the back.

[blindcider]

Seriously though, looks fast as fcuk and fun as hell. How is it downhill?

It has disc brakes so I assume 'very fast'

I like the discs, much better feel than pads on carbon rims and infinitely better in the wet

I will never buy a modern bike without discs again.

Hydraulic Disc Brakes are superior in almost every single way for any non-pro cyclist. Biggest downside is the honking under load when anything is on either surface.

Particularly suitable in UK conditions and means wheel rims could potentially last forever - When commuting on rim brakes I was replacing wheels every 18-24 months due to the crap rubbing on the brake tracks and lets face it when you are commuting every day in the dark wet winter its too much hassle to clean rims and pads after every ride.

Getting a hankering after an Aerobike or a new Tribike and convert my Felt B16 into a road config. The aero choice is so difficult between propel, aeroad, madone, Venge, teammachine etc etc as they are all beautiful machines. Same for the Tri bikes with the IA, Timemachine, speedmax and E117 all appealing. Too much choice and difficult to justify for reasons other than 'because'

[Spyglass]

Speaking of Zwift, has anybody ever organized a PR groupride? That might be fun, but difficult depending on all the bordie time zones to sync

There's a PR club on Strava, you could organize a group ride through that

[Spyglass]

(12 hours would have be an average of 60 mph ),

Seriously though, looks fast as fcuk and fun as hell. How is it downhill?

Sorry, a bit slow yesterday....I live in Houston so the biggest downhill so far is a highway overpass

Going to a training camp in the Texas Hill County next weekend, that will have a few 40 mph descents but nothing long and really fast like Colorado, that will have to wait for the Iron Horse race on Memorial weekend

Venge update. Just got back from three days riding, very stable at 44mph on bumpy minor road descents and comfortable for a century with 4,500ft of climbing on mostly poor quality back roads. Very pleased with my purchase

[LandOTurk]

https://www.bbc.com/sport/cycling/51727405

[MungoMan]

The twins have outgrown the Burley trailer, so we picked up one of these used;



Added monkey bars on the back, and.... I was able to pick the kids up from school today

Appalling thing to say about one’s own progeny!

Don’t come whining to the bored if sometime real soon now they fling their own faeces at you.

[Pat the Ex Mat]

Treated myself to a set of Ortlieb Back Rollers for when I can cycle into the office again.

[DOB]

Appalling thing to say about one’s own progeny!

Don’t come whining to the bored if sometime real soon now they fling their own faeces at you.

Well that started years ago.

And Monkey Bars is a product name, anyway.

[ukjim]

Motivation is a real struggle now the season has been cancelled.

Trying out various online training apps.

[Leffe]

We're still allowed to bike, so I was out on single track today. Starting to feel some power so it'll be a shame if they put an end to it.

I saw 2 blokes, with 3 young kids. The blokes had stopped and waiting for hte kids to go the wrong way around a section of the course. So gasping for air at 180bpm, I was lowly going up a climb and was shoulder to shoulder with 3 kids.
I pullled off and told the "adults" what I thought of their parenting, they may not have been spoken to like before, but I've had enough of idiots right now. We're allow out to ride so long as everyone follows some simple f**king rues.

[Seez]

Motivation is a real struggle now the season has been cancelled.

Trying out various online training apps.

Trainerroad and netflix/prime is my choice, used TR since beta test phase. I was a beta tester for Zwift too but prefer TR, what’s the Sufferfest app like?

How big is that screen?!

[dinsdale]

Treated myself to a set of Ortlieb Back Rollers for when I can cycle into the office again.

Good choice.

Mine - purchased in 2003 to cycle round New Zealand are still in very good condition. I use them a couple of times a year for cycling holidays.

[ukjim]

Motivation is a real struggle now the season has been cancelled.

Trying out various online training apps.

Trainerroad and netflix/prime is my choice, used TR since beta test phase. I was a beta tester for Zwift too but prefer TR, what’s the Sufferfest app like?

How big is that screen?!

I have used TR in the past I quite like it but the Sufferfest seems good. it has a nice balance of visuals and music to help motivate. there seems to be less in terms of the training programme side of it compared to TR. I will try Zwift next then Rouvey.

its a projector so about 130"

[Nieghorn]

If anyone ever needed a reason or evidence to tell friend/loved one NOT to get an entry-level bike, here's my story...

Know enough not to get a department store bike, but wasn't sure if I wanted to get fully into MTB again so got the cheapest of a known mountain bike brand. Ended up having loads of fun the first summer/fall with it, went out a few times a week or short rides and a few long rides on rough snowmobile trails, through lots of mud, etc.

Over a year later and the chain's skipping, spokes keep breaking, etc. Take it in and after listening to all the options from a good local bike shop guy, decide let's upgrade and overhaul rather than replace with the basics.

I spent about $700 on the bike brand new. Just this week spent $500 on the new wheel and a complete drive train change!

My hybrid, on the other hand, is from a great Canadian company that puts the next level parts on their bikes per price point. I spent about a $1000 on that, and in five years have only replaced the rear wheel. Have put MANY more kms on it (not just road, but trails as well).

[dinsdale]

If anyone ever needed a reason or evidence to tell friend/loved one NOT to get an entry-level bike, here's my story...

Know enough not to get a department store bike, but wasn't sure if I wanted to get fully into MTB again so got the cheapest of a known mountain bike brand. Ended up having loads of fun the first summer/fall with it, went out a few times a week or short rides and a few long rides on rough snowmobile trails, through lots of mud, etc.

Over a year later and the chain's skipping, spokes keep breaking, etc. Take it in and after listening to all the options from a good local bike shop guy, decide let's upgrade and overhaul rather than replace with the basics.

I spent about $700 on the bike brand new. Just this week spent $500 on the new wheel and a complete drive train change!

My hybrid, on the other hand, is from a great Canadian company that puts the next level parts on their bikes per price point. I spent about a $1000 on that, and in five years have only replaced the rear wheel. Have put MANY more kms on it (not just road, but trails as well).

QFT.

Cheap bikes have cheap components that aren't up to the job of actual use. You don't need to go all that far up the range before the quality improves dramatically.

My pub bike was bought new in 1985 for £200 (about £600 today) I started cycling to work on it in 1993 and in the first couple of months all the cheap components broke and I replaced them with better ones. It has been used almost every day since and has had very few reliability issues.

As an example, Shimano Acera bottom brackets are cheap nasty crap. They are about £10. A Shimano UN-55 is almost indestructible. it's about £15.

[Nieghorn]

That was one of the things he noticed late in the re-build. Said the bottom bracket was a few mm too long and couldn't figure out why. Said for $20, I can add one that actually fits and should last an age.

It's a wonder they even make the crappy stuff. What department stores charge these days isn't that far off what the next level up costs, as you say.

[DOB]

For a bike that retails at under the very low price point that big box bikes aim for, every part is a potential saving. So the $5 difference between 2 BB models might be the difference between a bike getting under the $99 mark or not.

KevCentral is a great YouTube channel about getting the best bang-for-buck out of Big Box bikes. Those MTBs are usually packaged up under the assumption that the bike will rarely be ridden, let alone taken on some genuine trails.

[blindcider]

I bought a dirt cheap Voodoo bizango MTB (circa £500) 12 months ago and its been ace. hardtail with Sram 1x groupset and hydraulic disc brakes

I have done adventure several races on it and its been rock solid on cross country routes. I've not done any real technical/high impact MTBing and quite frankly I'm not skilled or brave enough to 'send it' anyways so the bike has been a really good purchase for me. My only quibble is I don't think that the Bottom bracket will last long under real load.

[Jim Lahey]

Lads, need some novice advice.

Was out on the bike yesterday for a short climb, bike felt fine.
Went out today, got about 200 yards before realising back tyre was flat. Pumped it up, no hissing or sign of puncture. Went out, 2km in realised it was semi flat. Went back home, changed inner tube, checked for anything nasty in the tyre, nothing.
Went out and did a short 22km with a steep climb, bike felt good. Got home and tyre was half flat again. Checked it an hour later and it was completely flat.

Is the tyre f**ked or am I pumping it up too hard or wtf is going on?
First time id changed an inner tube in 15 years earlier, definitely don’t miss it!

[booji boy]

When I bought my mountain bike about 5 years, after a break from the sport of over 10 years, I knew as a minimum I wanted a Deore drive train.

Shimano Drivechains:
Altus - riding with the kids around the neighborhood
Acera - bike paths, easy trails
Alivio - entry level mountain bike trails
Deore - good performance and reliable enough for real mountain biking
SLX - perfect blend of quality, performance and reliability for 99% of weekend warriors
XT - XT and above is just getting lighter and smoother so if you're racing it might be important but not necessary for most of us.

I've had no reliability problems with my 'entry level' hardtail and the only upgrade was from the Suntour spring fork to a Rockshox Reba Air Sprung fork. That was a game changer and transformed the handling of the bike from decent to excellent.

I've since purchased a couple of higher specced full suspension mountain bikes and whilst they are both superb I haven't noticed much difference in terms of the performance of the components compared to my entry level hardtail. So I think others are correct that whilst the lowest grade components won't stand up to the rigour of normal use you don't need to buy top of the line components. Mid grade components are excellent and get the job done for the majority of us. The trickle down technology means that as the top stuff gets better and better the lower to mid range stuff improves to the point that it is as good as the top of the line stuff was about 5 years ago.

[blindcider]

Sounds like a faulty valve if you cant find a hole.

Edit: long given up on repairing tubes. Just check the tyre for sharps and stick a new one in

[booji boy]

Lads, need some novice advice.

Was out on the bike yesterday for a short climb, bike felt fine.
Went out today, got about 200 yards before realising back tyre was flat. Pumped it up, no hissing or sign of puncture. Went out, 2km in realised it was semi flat. Went back home, changed inner tube, checked for anything nasty in the tyre, nothing.
Went out and did a short 22km with a steep climb, bike felt good. Got home and tyre was half flat again. Checked it an hour later and it was completely flat.

Is the tyre f**ked or am I pumping it up too hard or wtf is going on?
First time id changed an inner tube in 15 years earlier, definitely don’t miss it!

Check the tyre again thoroughly. What about the rim? Do you have rim tape on it?

[booji boy]

Sounds like a faulty valve if you cant find a hole.

Edit: long given up on repairing tubes. Just check the tyre for sharps and stick a new one in

He changed inner tubes?

[Pat the Ex Mat]

Treated myself to a set of Ortlieb Back Rollers for when I can cycle into the office again.

Good choice.

Mine - purchased in 2003 to cycle round New Zealand are still in very good condition. I use them a couple of times a year for cycling holidays.

I was using some cheap Aldi ones for commuting for a year - then one clip broke off.

As I take my gear to work, the extra volume was worth it.

Matches my North Face Bag in Red also!

[Bullettyme]

Jim Lahey: I'd recommend having a feel on the inside of the tire and along the rims of the wheels. Might be something there. Also have a look on the outside of the tire, you might see a slit with glass etc in it, which gets pushed into the tube once you put some pressure on. Also make sure you've inflated to a decent pressure.

In cycling news the announcement of the soft lockdown on Friday has thrown a spanner in the old cycling works. Brief exercise no further than 2km from home. Weather has been amazing too. Probably have to get creative with a local loop.

[blindcider]

Sounds like a faulty valve if you cant find a hole.

Edit: long given up on repairing tubes. Just check the tyre for sharps and stick a new one in

He changed inner tubes?

Missed that point

Would recommend inflating the punctured tube and water dipping it for bubbles to help locate any issue then

[Jim Lahey]

Found the culprit!
The tiniest of metal shards coming through the outer tyre that caused a slow puncture on both tubes.
Only did a quick check yesterday when changing the tube as I was getting the devil stare from the missus for abandoning her with the two monsters.
I’ve changed tube again (will need to get a repair kit as both punctures are small and easily fixed) so hopefully when I get on it tomorrow I’ll be sorted