Road Cycling

Soldato
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18 Oct 2002
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Notts
I know the generally accepted rule is that tread is pointless on road bike tyres as they are too narrow to aquaplane. Unless you ride at 130 mph of course :p

Is this still the case when you throw in the mud and fallen leaves of country lanes? I tend to ride the quietest roads possible but the downside of these is that the tractors drag mud onto the roads, it gets compacted into the tarmac and then when it rains becomes super slippy. Same with the leaves, there is enough traffic to mulch them but not enough to clear them. For these conditions I'm under the assumption you want some kind of tread to introduce a leading edge to grip into the surface, the same reason that winter car tyres have sipes cut into them. Am I right and if so what is the best compromise on a winter road bike that sees mainly pretty cruddy lanes? My first thought is some small block CX tyres but I'm open to ideas :) Puncture protection is a must as a puncture in freezing conditions makes Rob an unhappy chappy :p

What tyre size will your frame permit? I'd recommend GP 4 seasons too, you can get them in 28 and 32mm (as well as 23 and 25mm, but the larger sizes will be better for winter riding). If you're riding really muddy stuff, then it might be worth looking at CX tyres, but these tend to be 32mm+, and your frame may not accept them.

What tyres do you run at the minute? What size/pressure?
 
Soldato
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25 Sep 2006
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14,349
Yea Schwalbe One, been on there 12 months and this is the closest ive come to a puncture, they have started to square off ever so slightly now tho so was thinking of swapping over to some Duranos for the winter. Then use the One’s for another summer and bin them.

I really liked them for the season I used them. I used Vittoria Corsa G+ now, because gumwalls and the difference in RR is negligible or about the same from memory. GP4ksii on the TT, again similar RR but they feel much gripper/stickier not that either the Schwalbe or Vitorria aren't.
 
Soldato
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GP4000S II I'd recommend to anyone. Very fast, light, robust, grippy. Not used them in winter, but I'd imagine they could be up to it. Not the cheapest of course, but they are definitely worth it.
 
Caporegime
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On the hoods
I took my elder daughter out for a bike ride this afternoon. Just 6 miles. Mostly off-road, and quite muddy in places, but quite a bit on the roads as well. She did pretty well with it. She struggled a bit on the "hills" but she pushed on.

My elemnt bolt locked up 4 miles in and stopped responding. I had to give it a hard reset. First time I've seen it do that. Bit odd.
 
Man of Honour
OP
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Manchester
I took my elder daughter out for a bike ride this afternoon. Just 6 miles. Mostly off-road, and quite muddy in places, but quite a bit on the roads as well. She did pretty well with it. She struggled a bit on the "hills" but she pushed on.

My elemnt bolt locked up 4 miles in and stopped responding. I had to give it a hard reset. First time I've seen it do that. Bit odd.

Sacrilege. #elemntsneverdie
 
Soldato
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Norwich
What tyre size will your frame permit? I'd recommend GP 4 seasons too, you can get them in 28 and 32mm (as well as 23 and 25mm, but the larger sizes will be better for winter riding). If you're riding really muddy stuff, then it might be worth looking at CX tyres, but these tend to be 32mm+, and your frame may not accept them.

What tyres do you run at the minute? What size/pressure?
CX tyres aren't a problem as my winter bike is a Raleigh Mustang which I think takes up to 45mm although I'd like to keep below 40mm. I currently have these which the bike came with https://www.merlincycles.com/schwal...7y6wK52gDZ95-oNp4W-NlZ6pT21Mw1MhoComUQAvD_BwE Running them at 50 PSI rear, 40 PSI front.
 
Soldato
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Notts
CX tyres aren't a problem as my winter bike is a Raleigh Mustang which I think takes up to 45mm although I'd like to keep below 40mm. I currently have these which the bike came with https://www.merlincycles.com/schwal...7y6wK52gDZ95-oNp4W-NlZ6pT21Mw1MhoComUQAvD_BwE Running them at 50 PSI rear, 40 PSI front.

That's great that you've got lots of clearance. Yeah, CX Comps are pretty weedy- my Dad had them on his hybrid and said there wasn't a great deal of grip on muddy surfaces. They're part of Schwalbe's budget range I'd say, so the compound won't be as sticky.

Schwalbe X-One all around look good for your needs, widest you can get them in is a 35mm, which would probably be spot on. Grippy, but still pretty quick on road.

If you wanted even more off road capability, they do a "Bite" version of the X-One, which really looks like a slimmed down XC or even Trail tyre!

I always rate Continental, so check out some of their CX tyres too. Don't be fazed by price, it's one area where you shouldn't skimp.
 
Soldato
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22 May 2003
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10,855
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Wigan
Supercaz is the best bar tape I've ever used. Comfy, grippy and easy to wipe clean.

Thirded. Mine looks like new after a year and a half. Maybe 5000km use.

My lizard skins stuff became more compacted and then started to wear out where your hands were. The supercaz looks like new and the bar ends are awesome.

Did 100k today. Some days your the hammer, but today I was the nail. No riding really for 3 weeks... I was OK for 75km then hit the wall, bit of a bonk and bit of lack of fitness, 95k I was cooked. Crawling up the hill to home, unable to do more than 220-240w. Oh well, gotta restart somewhere!
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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8,420
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Hereford
I see Halfords do a carrera bike for £190 and then I’ll have to buy a trainer too.

Any better deals to be had? I aim to use it for 1 hour before work and after, I can service it myself etc but with it staying in the garden then it won’t need tyres etc.

Road bike or mountain bike?
Buying second hand will get you a better deal. But of course you can also get stung!

Although nothing wrong with some of the Carrera range, I cut my teeth on a Virtuoso, you have to know what you're buying. I was lucky and had a 2012 version so the groupset was mostly all series Shimano but I know the following years they swapped out many of the groupset for non-series and cheaper/unbranded parts. As you're buying it for turbo work then weight doesn't matter, so buy aluminium. Spend the money on the groupset.

If you're looking at turbo work are you also looking at things like Zwift & Trainerroad to focus your training/keep you occupied? If so you'll need a smart (FE-C) trainer. I mention this as one of the hardest thing on a turbo trainer is keeping focused and distracted. It's a very monotonous activity and without specific goals/targets (And enough distraction) the majority of people struggle. The 'indoor cycling' market is huge these days with many trainers and even complete bikes dedicated to giving you the best experience possible on several different software driven training platforms. Zwift and Trainerroad are probably the biggest but there are many others like The Sufferfest, Peloton, BCool, RoadGrandTours to name a few... All of these require a monthly subscription so that's another cost to bear in mind.

Recently lost my btwin helmet lol, which was fairly comfortable of 3 years, looking for a new one, preferred blue, anyone have good links or places to get one that's affordable?
Good price on the Purple & Blue Giro Foray at the moment. DHB options around the same price. Depends what you mean by 'affordable'. Lots of choice around the £50-60 range.

I’ve seen some trainers that just raise the wheel? I understand there won’t be much if any resistance so maybe those aren’t any good.
They do more than raise a wheel, there's a roller which the rear wheel rolls against adding resistance. You can get manual control ('dumb trainers') which have various ways of controlling the resistance, fluid being better 'feel' than magnetic with generally a better 'power curve'. Upwards from that are the 'smart' trainers which are able to control resistance for you, those with FE-C able to be controlled by software on a PC/ipad.

What tyre size will your frame permit? I'd recommend GP 4 seasons too, you can get them in 28 and 32mm
Where are you seeing them larger than 28mm? The only time I saw them & tried to order I could never get them.

My elemnt bolt locked up 4 miles in and stopped responding. I had to give it a hard reset. First time I've seen it do that. Bit odd.
BT enabled on phone & following a route? Mine will do this if I have BT on and have sent the route from my handset and then left BT enabled. I don't sync with the app on my handset very frequently so when I do it has 20/30 or more rides to sync & upload which takes a while. When it's doing this the ELEMNT will act as if it's 'frozen' and my handset will prompt that the ELEMNT app is not responding and needs closing (I choose to 'wait'). I'm not sure if this is related to my ELEMNT freezes/restarts but easily work around it by having BT disabled most of the time on my handset and not having the app running when I do enable it for other reasons.

Pretty rare! Don't think I've ever had to. Few bugs with the recent firmware and companion app so possibly related, when did you last update?
Not sure about you guys but with my ELEMNT linked to home & work wifi networks I never get prompted for updates, it just does them itself! :cool:

Rode with @Lethal` yesterday.

I think he's hiding a motor in his frame, effortlessly fast!:D
He's a machine if his Strava rides are anything to go by! Good work sticking with him & congrats on the awesome pain face! :D
 
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