Road Cycling

Status
Not open for further replies.
Associate
Joined
19 Mar 2005
Posts
569
Pricing up all my gear set/etc stuff and annoyingly CRC and Wiggle are out of stock of Ultegra cranksets in the sizes I want :/ I wonder if moving to 170mm crank length would be really bad or not... From what I've read probably not but I'm still a bit unsure.

If you like to spin (fast cadence) then go for the 170s, I was in a similar situation when looking for a crankset for my new bike but I was looking for a rotor 3df crankset. Could only find 170s when I first looked so went for that, but as I got all the other parts I found a 172.5mm available so bought that and sold the 170mm. 172.5mm is probably correct for me and I already like cycling with a high cadence 95rpm+ avg so dread to think what I'd be spinning with smaller crank arms so think I made the right choice.

I'm 6ft 1" with a 32" inside leg if that helps with sizing.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
8,420
Location
Hereford
Yes you need to have some basemaps installed, good guide here: http://ridewithgps.com/help/edge-810.

You need to be aware though that there have been numerous complaints about the 810's turn by turn guidance. Started a long while ago: https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?142292-Turn-By-Turn-Routing-Problems-On-Garmin-Edge-810 but you can see current activity and things don't seem to have improved.

Thanks for that mate, got it sorted on fri/sat morning (once I'd scratched around for my smaller microSD cards, still can't find an 8gb I'm sure I have several of so settled for a 16gb... Bit of overkill! :D:rolleyes:

Went out for a ride to try it out and was quite impressed with it for 3/4 of the ride (more below).

Given how time crunched i am this year compared to last, decided to start doing some commuting as a means of getting some miles in.

Commuting is an 'easy' way of racking up the miles - you just have to be prepared to compromise on speed (traffic/rucksack) as well as the weather (if you're a fair weather cyclist!)... The main 'shock' will be a number of gear aspects: using day-to-day/cheap clothing; wearing out & replacing said clothing; clothing for every weather and even carrying clothing for changeable weather. There's nothing worse than leaving home in the cold and only having thermals for the ride home in the warm or leaving home in the dry and commuting home in torrential rain with no jacket/waterproofs. :D

Great ride this morning (early!!) with Vonhelmet.
<snip>
Super ride von, up for doing that again in hopefully warmer conditions! 80km and 1200m of climbing.

Sounds like you guys had a great ride and sounds like a good route :)

Stunning if slightly chilly day today, so lots of best bikes on show.

Good crowd out for the bunch ride:
https://app.strava.com/activities/271617645

Made it a bit further before i got dropped this week. Off the back on the run in to Lesmahagow. Felt reasonably good though.

Damn fast ride there mate, average over 20mph until Lesmahagow! :o:eek:

The screws on the front rings, spray some WD40 on them and it will fix it. Had the same thing happen to me a few times.

Defo front rings are the first thing to check - I found one of mine was slightly loose, but wasn't the main click I had which was coming from my spokes! :rolleyes:

Sportive complete, by far the hardest ride I've done to date.

Congrats and glad you enjoyed it!

Still not decided on the bike to replace the road bike, since the LBS suggested a cyclocross "adventure " bike.

defy 0 or the TCX SLR 1 which wasnt in stock today :(

They may have gone the 'adventure' or 'gravel' bike route for mudguard mounts as the Giant road bikes really struggle for clearance (I'm a Defy 1 owner).

First club ride today for me, went with the advice of their website and did a Medium-Short ride, which was 33miles with a target pace of 13-15mph average.
I think I am fitter than I thought from lack of cycling, and will probably try the faster group or a longer ride next week. Good ride though, if a bit slow.

That's the sort of group ride I need around here! The others all seem to be 16mph+! :eek::o

The group ride for saturday (link to a guy who rode it) I actually skipped as I had commuted all week and didn't think my legs were up for it... I'm glad I did as the average speed again was high! Had such a lazy day watching all the rugby (fantastic!) I really had a rest day instead! :D

As the group ride was in a similar area as many of their other rides I decided to head there myself on sunday. I did a similar reverse route to test out my 810's navigation and get to know some of the roads/area. My average speed was a much more reasonable 15.5mph as I took my time and enjoyed myself in the sunshine! Cold breeze to start with but fantastic sun for the end 1/4 :D

Quite impressed by the 810 turn by turn navigation (lets not forget I was very disappointed by it before without maps loaded) but it has it's own 'quirks'. It got me 'lost' at one point (crossroads in Sutton - every route I took it said 'off course') and resorted to riding back the route I had come rather than tackling a busy A road and cycling through the city to get back home. Fantastic ride, further and longer than I had intended but really made me think I could do some of these 40+ mile sportives if I wanted... :D:cool:

My longest route to date, longest solo ride by far!
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
8,420
Location
Hereford
brother bought some of the dhb active baselayers.. in small! thing is, he's tall.. so they obviously show his belly button lol.. fit ok on the top tho.. he gave those to me!

Wiggle... Free returns...? :p

Yeah, the DHB stuff seems to be made for shorter people.

Probably why I find the sizing spot on for me (except arms are always too long and legs can be slightly)! :D

I'm 5'8" with a 31" inside leg.

a tandem? wow..

A tandem with discs, great idea really! Love the fact someones got fancy wheels on it yet that terrible colour scheme! :rolleyes:
 
Man of Honour
Joined
16 May 2005
Posts
31,299
Location
Manchester
If you like to spin (fast cadence) then go for the 170s, I was in a similar situation when looking for a crankset for my new bike but I was looking for a rotor 3df crankset. Could only find 170s when I first looked so went for that, but as I got all the other parts I found a 172.5mm available so bought that and sold the 170mm. 172.5mm is probably correct for me and I already like cycling with a high cadence 95rpm+ avg so dread to think what I'd be spinning with smaller crank arms so think I made the right choice.

I'm 6ft 1" with a 32" inside leg if that helps with sizing.

Interesting, thanks. We're pretty similar sizes I think.

I spin at 95-105 a lot of the time on my 172.5mm cranks but my Strava average tends towards the lower 90s due to spin up time/etc. I'll probably read up on it a bit further though it would make things a lot simpler if I could just place all the order in one go from CRC.
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Apr 2004
Posts
4,793
Location
London
I dunno what it is with me and chains. After installing a new one on my nice bike last week I thought I was over chain problems, but I've just gone to install a new one to my commuter and am having a mare.

I sized the new chain by pushing out a link, but now I can't fit the KMC missing link pin into the old plate! I don't know if it became damaged when I removed the old pin but it doesn't seem right at all, they normally slot in fine and you would think if anything the hole in the old plate would become stretched out rather than making it impossible to fit the link into :( Has anyone come across this before? Think I might have to send the chain back!
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
8,420
Location
Hereford
Thanks for reminding me why I don't bother with this section much any more.

come in with a harmless post and get someone being a dick

Yes it's a tandeom WOW sorry for thinking ones with drop bars etc weren't common

Racing tandems must be common in London :rolleyes:

First I've seen! Thinking about it, it's a quite strange wheelset to see on a tandem as they're generally built for comfort/distance not speed! Would hate to know what pressures they run tyres at or the number of buckles they have to deal with!

I dunno what it is with me and chains. After installing a new one on my nice bike last week I thought I was over chain problems, but I've just gone to install a new one to my commuter and am having a mare.

I sized the new chain by pushing out a link, but now I can't fit the KMC missing link pin into the old plate! I don't know if it became damaged when I removed the old pin but it doesn't seem right at all, they normally slot in fine and you would think if anything the hole in the old plate would become stretched out rather than making it impossible to fit the link into :( Has anyone come across this before? Think I might have to send the chain back!

Weird, there's not different KMC quicklinks are there? Only real non-QL experience I've had was removing jammed pins on a KMC and had the problem you describe... Took me an age to get 1 of them back in straight with my flimsy/cheap chain tool! :o


Crazy, so they cycle down motorways in Russia?! (hint to anyone else: skip to 3/4 the way through)

More people need to wear bibs so there are less tubby midriffs and arse cracks on display!

Agreed, I went past 2 guys on the weekend and both shouldn't have been wearing lycra! One was even wearing what I would call poolwear-old-man-speedo's!
 
Last edited:
Man of Honour
Man of Honour
Joined
3 May 2004
Posts
17,682
Location
Kapitalist Republik of Surrey
Edit: I think I've fixed it. I'd only used a puny short Allen key for the crank/bb bolts, and it seems they were quite loose, as was readily apparent when I borrowed my neighbour's much chunkier Allen key! Hopefully that's that sorted.
That's quite normal. I think you picked a 1/8 track chainset didn't you, which is square taper? They often bed in on the taper and you re-tighten them. It's better than really whacking it up ridiculously tight first time, anyway.

brother bought some of the dhb active baselayers.. in small! thing is, he's tall.. so they obviously show his belly button lol.. fit ok on the top tho.. he gave those to me!

though "Hey I dont mind tighter fit" mhm.. its VERY tight.. to a point where I find it hard to move! boo..
Who wears a small in dhb? :eek: I've got large in all their stuff and I'm quite a skinny build at 5'10. The bib tights come up a bit uncomfortably tight across the top of the chest for me and are too short in the body. I find it pulls my balls into my groin too much! Nice kit but, having used it all winter, the sizing isn't quite right for me. I might try Castelli in 5XL or whatever LOLsize normal adults need in Castelli kit :p
 
Man of Honour
Joined
16 May 2005
Posts
31,299
Location
Manchester
That's quite normal. I think you picked a 1/8 track chainset didn't you, which is square taper? They often bed in on the taper and you re-tighten them. It's better than really whacking it up ridiculously tight first time, anyway.


Who wears a small in dhb? :eek: I've got large in all their stuff and I'm quite a skinny build at 5'10. The bib tights come up a bit uncomfortably tight across the top of the chest for me and are too short in the body. I find it pulls my balls into my groin too much! Nice kit but, having used it all winter, the sizing isn't quite right for me. I might try Castelli in 5XL or whatever LOLsize normal adults need in Castelli kit :p

At 6'1'' and thinnish (about 81kg) lots of small size DHB stuff would fit me fine if it weren't seemingly made for people 5' or below. Their slightly higher-end stuff tends to be a little less ridiculously short.

I think the problem is as with lots of clothes outside the cycling world - larger mostly means more stomach space rather than for someone with wider shoulders, taller, etc.
 
Caporegime
Joined
28 Jun 2005
Posts
48,104
Location
On the hoods
That's quite normal. I think you picked a 1/8 track chainset didn't you, which is square taper? They often bed in on the taper and you re-tighten them. It's better than really whacking it up ridiculously tight first time, anyway.

Yep, square taper 1/8" chainset. Hopefully I've fixed it now. It goes to show how much force you must push through your feet that you can barely move the cranks with your hands, but once you start pedalling people on the side of the road are looking to see what all the clanking is about :p

I can't say I'm terribly keen on square taper as an interface. Unfortunately, the only other choice I know of is Dura Ace cranks with an Octalink BB but they're like £250 with no chainrings looooool
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Apr 2004
Posts
4,793
Location
London
Who wears a small in dhb? :eek: I've got large in all their stuff and I'm quite a skinny build at 5'10. The bib tights come up a bit uncomfortably tight across the top of the chest for me and are too short in the body. I find it pulls my balls into my groin too much! Nice kit but, having used it all winter, the sizing isn't quite right for me. I might try Castelli in 5XL or whatever LOLsize normal adults need in Castelli kit :p

I'm a small and 5' 10!

Figured my chain issue, I was being derp
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom