The official cycling thread

[blindcider]

https://cyclingtips.com/2010/04/biggest ... equipment/

3. Shoe Covers will cost you no more than $50 and could save you half a minute in 40kms. Shoe covers smooth turbulent air over the straps and buckles of the shoes.

Are these guys for real? Maybe at the very highest levels but for the average cyclist that is laughable

It does say right there in the article;

A couple notes:
– These numbers are calculated for a rider over 40kms at a time of 48minutes. Faster than most of us could go!

So yeah, as you slow down, the amount of time something like shoe covers can save you will also go down, but still even for someone who can do that 40km in 1hr (which is a not unreasonable target for a decently athletic cyclist with a good kit budget) you're looking at saving a good few seconds. And the point is surely that the shoe covers are a better bang-for-buck investment than even things that most would consider low-hanging-fruit like aero wheels or helmet. This line at the end tells you all you need to know about who this article is aimed at;

Most of you probably already have a set of deep dish aero wheels for racing anyway. A rear disc wheel is one of the last items you should spend lots of money on if you’re looking for big savings. However, if you want to look cool this should be the first item on your list

It's also a 10-year old article.

Rear disc wheel is the epitome of marginal gains. its at the back in turbulent air already so its actually causing very little drag. The biggest benefit in racing is that people can hear you catching them due to the epic sound a disc makes. Once you have your position aero/power/comfort compromise nailed then kit is the next priority. Cam Wurf says that if he had a £1000 to spend on his bike he would spend £800 on a skinsuit and aerohelmet.

Relative gains for average cyclists are often greater than for a good cyclist but due to the smaller numbers aren't as noticeable and there are usually lower hanging fruit that would make more difference anyway if they were so inclined like clothing and bike maintenance.

My bike riding has gone to shit over the last 18months and is probably gone from my strongest tri-discipline to my weakest

[DOB]

Absolutely. But like I said, that article is basically aimed at lads who are probably pretty fit already, and looking for an edge at their local 10/25 TT. The lads you ride with would probably beat the hour for a 25, and they might even do it on a road bike; the article is aimed at people who are that fit and fitter, trying to add an extra 0.25 km/h here or there.

I don’t think overshoes will make any difference to “pretty fit” guys at their local 10/25 TT. It’s a load of bollox.

you are so wrong.

I cycle with a group of extremely fit lads some of whom were high level sportsmen and one thing I have learned is that the gear makes fudge all difference - the best guys will hose you on a €1000 bike or a €6000 bike

I go riding with Conor Dunne and true he would hose you on any bike.

But if I ride a ten mile tt on my road bike vs my TT bike with a skinsuit aero lid and shaved legs at the same wattage there is a significant time difference.

I know this because I have done it many many times. Most time trial enthusiasts will perform tests of new equipment by riding fixed distance at a set wattage and calculating the difference a bit of kit makes. Hence why in the UK TTers are known as "testers". overshoes and skinsuit are probably the best value aero gainz you can get for the money.

It’s like you’re replying to a different post. I not disagreeing with anything you’ve posted there.

Yes you are. The whole reason for this exchange is that you disagree that overshoes make a significant difference in a Time Trial, and Jim's just said they're the best value you can get.

Now, they might not make a highly significant difference, but even a difference of 10 seconds for 40km would definitely matter to somebody who posts a time of 1h 00m 07s.

[Duff Paddy]

Skinsuit and overshoes together... maybe...

[Whatever]

I have to vent. I have had 5 fcuking flat tyres in 5 fcuking days, 3 on 1 bike and 2 on the other. I am so pissed, and I am out of spare tyre tubes. One bike seems to have absorbed a staple, but the other doesn't seem to have any foreign objects which means it had 3 different punctures in 3 different places. Ironically I was cycling to the bicycle shop to get some new spare tubes when the last puncture occurred, but I didn't even get close enough to walk it there. Ugh, have to make a special trip.

[dinsdale]

I have to vent. I have had 5 fcuking flat tyres in 5 fcuking days, 3 on 1 bike and 2 on the other. I am so pissed, and I am out of spare tyre tubes. One bike seems to have absorbed a staple, but the other doesn't seem to have any foreign objects which means it had 3 different punctures in 3 different places. Ironically I was cycling to the bicycle shop to get some new spare tubes when the last puncture occurred, but I didn't even get close enough to walk it there. Ugh, have to make a special trip.

I normally take that as a sign that the tyres are getting worn out. I now use Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres on a couple of my bikes and haven't had any punctures since.

I tend to save up punctured inner tubes and repair them all at once.

[Whatever]

I have to vent. I have had 5 fcuking flat tyres in 5 fcuking days, 3 on 1 bike and 2 on the other. I am so pissed, and I am out of spare tyre tubes. One bike seems to have absorbed a staple, but the other doesn't seem to have any foreign objects which means it had 3 different punctures in 3 different places. Ironically I was cycling to the bicycle shop to get some new spare tubes when the last puncture occurred, but I didn't even get close enough to walk it there. Ugh, have to make a special trip.

I normally take that as a sign that the tyres are getting worn out. I now use Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres on a couple of my bikes and haven't had any punctures since.

I tend to save up punctured inner tubes and repair them all at once.

Yeah, I had thought I should get a new outer for one of the bikes and was going to bring the whole wheel in to my guy who is quite the savant. I've just been replacing punctured tubes with new ones, but if it carries on like this it would be more economical to get a repair kit.

What about these self-sealing tubes, anyone using those?

And has anyone had 5 flats in 5 successive days or is that a record? 2020 what a bastard.

[DOB]

5 in 5 days is definitely high, and having it on 2 different bikes is unlucky.

The obvious check is to make sure you’re pumping to the right pressure.

3 in 3 places on the one wheel is most likely a tire issue. Check your treads, if they’re worn, replace. Unless the tire is new enough that you can reasonably take it to the shop to ask for your money back, you are probably as well off just getting a new one anyway.

Patch kits are great, but make sure your patch is on securely and can hold air before you bring it as a spare on a ride. I recently had a flat on a ride, and then my spare had a leaky patch. Ride ruined. I had to tie a knot in the tube, squeeze that back into the tire, and then limp as far as the LBS with my tire going “wump-wump-wump” the whole way. Except when I went faster and it went “wumpwumpwump.”

[Jim Lahey]

Lads, recommend me a new bike for around £2k, or recommend what I should be looking out for in terms of spec. My old bike is getting on a bit and is hooked up to Zwift so I don’t want to be chopping and changing it all the time if I fancy getting out on the road.

I’m 99-101kgs. Have a good mix of hills and flats nearby. FTP is 301 on Zwift so I can generate a bit of power. Eventually I’d be looking at doing races/triathlons again so I’d like something that would serve me well at those types of events as well your normal local segment hunting on Strava.

[dinsdale]

I have to vent. I have had 5 fcuking flat tyres in 5 fcuking days, 3 on 1 bike and 2 on the other. I am so pissed, and I am out of spare tyre tubes. One bike seems to have absorbed a staple, but the other doesn't seem to have any foreign objects which means it had 3 different punctures in 3 different places. Ironically I was cycling to the bicycle shop to get some new spare tubes when the last puncture occurred, but I didn't even get close enough to walk it there. Ugh, have to make a special trip.

I normally take that as a sign that the tyres are getting worn out. I now use Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres on a couple of my bikes and haven't had any punctures since.

I tend to save up punctured inner tubes and repair them all at once.

Yeah, I had thought I should get a new outer for one of the bikes and was going to bring the whole wheel in to my guy who is quite the savant. I've just been replacing punctured tubes with new ones, but if it carries on like this it would be more economical to get a repair kit.

What about these self-sealing tubes, anyone using those?

And has anyone had 5 flats in 5 successive days or is that a record? 2020 what a bastard.

I've managed 4 in one ride - I switched to the Schwalbe tyres when I got to the bike shop at the end of the ride.

Repairing inner tubes is easy but it's annoying to have to do it at the side of the road. I'll normally repair a tube up to 3 times before binning it. I haven't used self sealing tubes.

[ukjim]

Lads, recommend me a new bike for around £2k, or recommend what I should be looking out for in terms of spec. My old bike is getting on a bit and is hooked up to Zwift so I don’t want to be chopping and changing it all the time if I fancy getting out on the road.

I’m 99-101kgs. Have a good mix of hills and flats nearby. FTP is 301 on Zwift so I can generate a bit of power. Eventually I’d be looking at doing races/triathlons again so I’d like something that would serve me well at those types of events as well your normal local segment hunting on Strava.

Are you going to ride all year round?

just on road or bridleways as well?

If you are going to race on it I would recommend something affordable and replaceable.

https://bowman-cycles.com/

do some reasonable frames that could be built up with 105 level components.

Cannondale Caad 13 would be good as well

https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Cannon ... -2020/MUSA

[DOB]

For GBP£2k, I’d think he’d be looking at Ultegra level at least? Unless the frame and wheels are super fancy?

The CAAD13 is by all accounts a fantastic bike. I love my CAAD10. But all brands have a bike at that kind of level, so test ride a few and see what suits you.

[blindcider]

For GBP£2k, I’d think he’d be looking at Ultegra level at least? Unless the frame and wheels are super fancy?

The CAAD13 is by all accounts a fantastic bike. I love my CAAD10. But all brands have a bike at that kind of level, so test ride a few and see what suits you.

Giant Propel would be my choice at that budget point. Upgradeable but fast out of the box.

[DOB]

For GBP£2k, I’d think he’d be looking at Ultegra level at least? Unless the frame and wheels are super fancy?

The CAAD13 is by all accounts a fantastic bike. I love my CAAD10. But all brands have a bike at that kind of level, so test ride a few and see what suits you.

Giant Propel would be my choice at that budget point. Upgradeable but fast out of the box.

Well yeah, you could get a Propel, or a Madone, or an Aeroad, Orca, SystemSix etc. It’s pretty much the price zone where across the board you start to get race-ready frames with recreational-level bits n pieces hung on them. Any of those bikes will go like the clappers. Get the disc version and you’ll probably also have the option to put some knobby tires on and ride some gravel. Upgrade as necessary/desired.

[Duff Paddy]

With bike to work you could get the Giant TCR Advanced Pro 3 Disc. It’s a serious bike but with 105 group set, which you could upgrade big time over the years if you wanted.

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/ie/bikes ... d-pro-disc

[redderneck]

Couple of lads in work agitating for the bike to work scheme to include stationary kit like fancy direct drive turbos /high end indoor bikes etc; what with working from home.

They were told to feck off but they're resilient feckers...

[johnstrac]

Couple of lads in work agitating for the bike to work scheme to include stationary kit like fancy direct drive turbos /high end indoor bikes etc; what with working from home.

They were told to feck off but they're resilient feckers...

The whole Zwift type thing is fooling indoor biking animals that they're proper cyclists, let's see them in a cross wind !

[Duff Paddy]

Couple of lads in work agitating for the bike to work scheme to include stationary kit like fancy direct drive turbos /high end indoor bikes etc; what with working from home.

They were told to feck off but they're resilient feckers...

It already does if you have a bike shop that can do you a nicely customised invoice surely?

[DOB]

Couple of lads in work agitating for the bike to work scheme to include stationary kit like fancy direct drive turbos /high end indoor bikes etc; what with working from home.

They were told to feck off but they're resilient feckers...

It already does if you have a bike shop that can do you a nicely customised invoice surely?

Opening themselves up to some trouble around tax time then, wouldn’t they?

What does the scheme max out at? Surely it’s a case of the cash you save on the bike covering the cost of a fancier direct drive smart trainer or something. Unless you’re putting a pretty bog-standard bike on the trainer itself (in which case, why even bother spending on a new bike).

I don’t see the advantage to the buyer here, unless they’re going out of their way to show that the scheme can be played.

[Duff Paddy]

Opening themselves up to some trouble around tax time then, wouldn’t they?

How do you figure that? There’s two ways the bike to work scheme can work - some companies buy the bike directly, get the bike shop to issue an invoice and then the company does a payment order and cuts a cheque.

[DOB]

Opening themselves up to some trouble around tax time then, wouldn’t they?

How do you figure that? There’s two ways the bike to work scheme can work - some companies buy the bike directly, get the bike shop to issue an invoice and then the company does a payment order and cuts a cheque.

I know nothing about how the scheme is run, paid for, organized etc, but a bike shop doing a “nicely customized invoice” to claim stationary training equipment as commuting expenses would surely run the risk of being accused of tax evasion on some level. Obviously the scale of it would be very minor, and unlikely to trigger a Dail Tribunal to investigate or anything, but an auditor finding it might choose to go through everything very thoroughly.

On the “possible gain/worth the effort/worth the risk” crime-motivation-triangle that I’ve just invented in my head for this purpose, not knowing if it is or isn’t a thing, this seems to score very low on #1 and #3, even though it does score positively on #2.

[Duff Paddy]

They’d probably get away with it by just putting the brand name down on the invoice. I know a guy who claims to have bought just wheels on the bike to work so who knows?

[Whatever]

I have to vent. I have had 5 fcuking flat tyres in 5 fcuking days, 3 on 1 bike and 2 on the other. I am so pissed, and I am out of spare tyre tubes. One bike seems to have absorbed a staple, but the other doesn't seem to have any foreign objects which means it had 3 different punctures in 3 different places. Ironically I was cycling to the bicycle shop to get some new spare tubes when the last puncture occurred, but I didn't even get close enough to walk it there. Ugh, have to make a special trip.

I normally take that as a sign that the tyres are getting worn out. I now use Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres on a couple of my bikes and haven't had any punctures since.

I tend to save up punctured inner tubes and repair them all at once.

Yeah, I had thought I should get a new outer for one of the bikes and was going to bring the whole wheel in to my guy who is quite the savant. I've just been replacing punctured tubes with new ones, but if it carries on like this it would be more economical to get a repair kit.

What about these self-sealing tubes, anyone using those?

And has anyone had 5 flats in 5 successive days or is that a record? 2020 what a bastard.

I've managed 4 in one ride - I switched to the Schwalbe tyres when I got to the bike shop at the end of the ride.

Repairing inner tubes is easy but it's annoying to have to do it at the side of the road. I'll normally repair a tube up to 3 times before binning it. I haven't used self sealing tubes.

4 flats in 1 ride, ouch.

Anyway if it helps anyone, instead of buying another tyre, I bought a tyre liner - here: http://mrtuffy.com/
...and no flats since. Think this is a good option.

For my other bike, I bought a self-sealing tube, here https://shop.slime.com/collections/self ... ycle-tubes
...also no flat yet, but it would seem that you can only pump it once, so not such a good option.

[Seez]

I had three flats in the first Ride London. On the last one, with a couple of miles left, nobody I was riding with had a spare tube with a long enough valve so I had to keep stopping to pump it up every few hundred metres. Had to ride slowly round the final corner onto the mall and someone patronised me about keeping going and doing really well etc