Road Cycling Essentials

daveski · 23 May 2013 at 09:47

We were ok on the small bumps we went up last night, both sat down. I can imagine both of us standing up will go horribly wrong, it was bad enough when both of us looked behind at the same time. Thankfully the route isn't that hilly.

Definitely need to match cadence. I'm the stronger cyclist out of the two of us and I could feel more resistance on the pedals.

Think we're planning on another ride next week then we have to work out how we're getting it to the start point of the ride. Could end up being 120 miles rather than 100...

platypus · 23 May 2013 at 09:54

What's another 20?

daveski · 23 May 2013 at 10:42

More pain!

[Damien] · 23 May 2013 at 12:00

I need to stop losing weight and/or start bulking up my upper body more. I had a look in the mirror this morning and if I tense them my thighs are wider than my shoulders. I look like a bloody weeble.

Vonhelmet · 23 May 2013 at 12:41

Just done my stint on the wattbike at work. Didn't get any fancy details or anything out of it, because with it being a relay distance race it's just one off, one on as fast as you can. I had half an hour, which was longer than planned because we'd had a dropout on our team. The other team were only doing 20 minutes shifts. I managed 18.9k in that time. Best distance and speed so far - most of those doing 20 minutes were only managing about 12k. So, pretty good going. We'll just have to see whether any serious folk turn up in the afternoon...

willems · 23 May 2013 at 12:42

Berger said:
Tandems are crazy.

What happens on hills if one person wants to stand and the other sit?

Do you need to cadence match each other or one person ends up doing the bulk of the work?

its like fixed gear in a way. you pedal at the same cadence (or at least the one i rode)

rogan · 23 May 2013 at 12:57

^ theres a brakeless track tandem (so you have to pedal in sync and you cant stop pedalling) on lfgss that gets ridden around London, absolutely mental..

hilariously awesome when they fly past

Lead_Head · 23 May 2013 at 12:58

InQ said:
I'd go the Archetype route, maybe check out:- http://www.wheelsmith.co.uk/news/63-wheelsmith-race23

Although he seems to be flat out and low on stock....

Loving those wheels.

Lead_Head · 23 May 2013 at 13:03

daveski said:
Had a practice ride on the tandem last night http://app.strava.com/activities/55723728

Started out without adjusting the seat and we were very slow, soon as we stopped to adjust and got a bit more used to it we were flying.

Less nervous about doing 100 miles on it now.

You certainly looked like you were having fun when you went sailing past us! haha.

Vonhelmet · 23 May 2013 at 13:12

willems said:
its like fixed gear in a way. you pedal at the same cadence (or at least the one i rode)

I believe you can get some with a freewheel in the cranks, so that you can pedal at different rates, though not sure quite how that would work.

InQ · 23 May 2013 at 13:38

Berger said:
Now I would ideally like to build myself a new bike at some point this year, and would like to use Ultegra 11 speed when it is released. Only the Dura Aces have 11 speed hubs, but does anyone know if the new Ultegra 11 speed will be backwards compatible with the older Dura Ace. I would expect so, but don't want to find out otherwise, details may not even have been released yet...

I have the Dura Ace 9000 C24's, only using a 10 speed 105 cassette at the moment but they arent going to release Ultegra 11 speed and not have it fit the 11 speed DA stuff and vice versa!
The new SRAM 11 speed stuff when released i'm 99% sure will also fit.

One More Solo · 23 May 2013 at 13:48

Just bought a spoke key to have a bash at truing my old Fulcrums as they've developed a decent lateral wobble. Thought it'd be a good first step towards actually building my own set of wheels if all goes well!

PermaChanged · 23 May 2013 at 13:56

It's how I started and ended up building my own

Started with a truing, then a spoke replacement, then a full build.

[Damien] · 23 May 2013 at 14:00

I don't have a good track record with wheel truing. I bought a stand and everything but all I seem to do is turn slightly bucked wheels into temperamental time bombs. After cracking two rims in half going over potholes (way too high spoke tension obviously) I gave up.

Jonny69 · 23 May 2013 at 17:05

Yeah, no need for a stand for truing. Just turn the bike upside down and use the brake block and your thumb as a guide. The difficult bit is really remembering which way to turn the spoke nipple, because it's the opposite way to the way you think, and which side of the wheel to tighten. You'll make a mess of it the first time, but it becomes pretty second nature after a while

I think I've built 5 sets of wheels now :eek:

One More Solo · 23 May 2013 at 17:12

Jonny69 said:
Yeah, no need for a stand for truing. Just turn the bike upside down and use the brake block and your thumb as a guide. The difficult bit is really remembering which way to turn the spoke nipple, because it's the opposite way to the way you think, and which side of the wheel to tighten. You'll make a mess of it the first time, but it becomes pretty second nature after a while

I think I've built 5 sets of wheels now

Yeah I was going to use the bike as a guide for now - a stand and all that malarkey would be nice but that will come if I a) enjoy it and b) am competent at it!

One More Solo · 23 May 2013 at 20:06

Met a guy on the ride into work today with a Scott Foil in full Orica-GreenEdge livery with Di2 and Dura Ace C50 wheels - absolutely stunning bike! Don't even want to think what it cost.

oli collett · 23 May 2013 at 20:47

One More Solo said:
Met a guy on the ride into work today with a Scott Foil in full Orica-GreenEdge livery with Di2 and Dura Ace C50 wheels - absolutely stunning bike! Don't even want to think what it cost.

I hope he was fast!

Just been to the gym and weighed myself - 67kg. I've lost nearly 10kg since Christmas without really trying! Just got a new castelli jersey through the post in medium and err.. it's not exactly snug. I'm starting to look like a bloomin mountain climber :eek:

One More Solo · 23 May 2013 at 21:00

oli collett said:
I hope he was fast!

Just been to the gym and weighed myself - 67kg. I've lost nearly 10kg since Christmas without really trying! Just got a new castelli jersey through the post in medium and err.. it's not exactly snug. I'm starting to look like a bloomin mountain climber

Good effort! All that weight loss will be well needed for this:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/bakewell-loop-2# (2nd Peaks loop)

And yeah, the guy was fast. Wouldn't have caught him without the lights!*

*I was tired and on a heavier bike and had a backpack which compromised my aerodynamics obviously.

syke · 23 May 2013 at 21:24

Hi guys, I was going to buy my first road bike at the end of the month (Specialized Allez), but have been offered a 2010 Fuji Team Carbon for £600 - is this a good deal? It is the below bike;

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/fuji/team-pro-special-edition-2010-road-bike-ec023560#features

Reason for going with the Allez is hopefully although its more entry, if I get into it I don't mind replacing the whole bike sooner than I would if I spend more. Would be buying ~£200 of extras anyway!

There's a near new Allez Sport for £625-50 as well that I am considering, but wanted to get a few thoughts on the Fuji before making my mind up!

Road Cycling Essentials

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