Road Cycling

Soldato
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Roady.

Knowing what we know now, the UCI changing rules on frames from Jan 1. You wouldn’t buy a new one now when it’s sure to be outdated shortly!
 
Soldato
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You can't :( You generally try and make it look as difficult as you can hopefully putting off the chancers and amateurs, but at the end of the day, if someone well equipped decides they want your bike, they will have it within a couple of minutes at most.
That was my point.
We can protect against the average undesirable with boot cutters or a hacksaw, but to stop someone with a grinder isn't really viable with just a portable lock.
 
Soldato
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@Roady ah yeah I get out just two or three times a week, not cold morning commutes. I generally run quite hot anyway.
Same, but then as my commute is so short I've got into the habit of overdressing for it... So I still do that to some extent when riding other times. I've become quite adept at carrying things in weird and wonderful ways. Also at tapering my efforts so I don't overheat when I can't carry everything in my pockets! ;)

I needed a new headset for my Allez Sprint. Turns out Specialized made a proprietary headset bearing for these that's available for £60... Ouch!
So I bought one, knocked mine out, and offered up the new. The new bottom bearing was bigger than the one I knocked out. I rang the concept store in Nottingham, they said there's different sized bearings depending on the size of frame! Geez... Anyway, long and short of it, they had one in stock but he said they aren't available to order from Specialized any more, so look after it!
So if anyone has any tips for keeping the h/s clean and dry in bad weather LMK. I was hoping the ass saver front mudguard would fit but unfortunately not.
Spesh are quite bad about doing this. To be honest the whole damn industry is bad about doing it! There's just so little standardisation on most of the big brands. Now you have your spare, grab the numbers from it while you can read it, then do some searching around for them. It's highly likely the bearing is a 45 degree 1/4" lower 1/8" lower and it's just the part number of specialized which is hard to track down... Else just measure it! Crane creek headset finder will usually give you different measurements that what Specialized list it as (if you can even find them listing it). It's showing as offline for me at the moment but it was there a few weeks ago...

Ordered a pair of Scribe 365s for the in-laws bike, 1st ride out and he managed to smash the rim. Claims to have not even noticed hitting anything noteworthy! Only spotted the damage as his tyre went flat :eek: Spoke with Alan at Scribe and he was brilliant, no quibble replacement sent out! We even offered to pay but he stands by his brand.

After a summer of chasing the cat 1s in our 20 or so mile chain gang (here if you're curious) I'm kind of at a loss as to how to catch up with them. My KOMs are only as they're too pro to use Strava... But week in week out I just seemed top get slower and/or pop sooner. They're wise, they know when recover and when to push. I'm an idiot :D
Good to hear of some good CS stories, especially Scribe.

Good riding too, speedy but kinda average speeds for a quick chaingang (looking at that parcours) so those guys are not quite the WT pro's like they're telling you!

Here for an example is a local previously E123 guy on my local chaingang who only really 'made it' nationally and then not very far as wasn't a crit rider (with other local hitters who are more CAT 2/3): https://www.strava.com/activities/3829320122/analysis/3105/7217 ;)

Some structured training and/or a basic coach kinda work would get you competitive at those speeds, if that's what you're after. If you're just doing the same thing - chasing wheels, yet getting slower/popping sooner then you're just not recovering enough between rides to build the form/strength/fitness. Keeping riding is one thing to keep pushing yourself, but if you're not recovering enough you just end up digging yourself in a hole! :o

in response to roady it will be a bike worth about 500 pounds and i dont know 50 pounds on a good lock ?
I like the Kryptonite series, I've had an Evolution series 2 (died after many years of water ingress from being locked up outside) and now using the Kryptonite mini 7. The design is a little tweaked so water doesn't get in it as easily, so it should last longer. Mine's 3 years old now and I'd expect/hope the same or more from it. They come with a looped cable you could put through your wheels. It's 'only' silver rated, but there's obviously gold rated ones very similar.

i thought looping it through the frame would be best

do people steal just the wheels ?
Yes. I've heard of frames being smashed for people to steal groupsets. Cutting/breaking a carbon frame for a £1000+ groupset is much easier/quicker and quieter than cutting a lock.

Roady.

Knowing what we know now, the UCI changing rules on frames from Jan 1. You wouldn’t buy a new one now when it’s sure to be outdated shortly!
Yeah but lets be honest, just how much are the UCI going to change. Probably sod all! At least not real world things which effect us mere mortals buying habits... I don't see them changing rules for suddenly all the 2020/21 UCI approved frames to be 'useless' and need replacing...
 
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Soldato
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It would be a tad of an understatement to say I like my new wheels! :D

Feel amazing, and the noise! Only been out on them once, hoping to have a quick blast later today before winter kicks in even more.



PfK4eBi.jpg

I'm terrified of getting a puncture though as they are a faff to sort out. From isn't so bad, just a normal valve extender there. Rear is a PITA as you need a 90 degree adapter, which is a real faff to keep pressure on as you pump up, and that's with a track pump at home! I dread to think what it's like out in the sticks with CO2 or a hand pump.
 
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Tubeless. @Saytan or anyone else... My 'new' wheels - Fulcrum Racing 7 DB are 19mm ID and the Fulcrum instructions say to use 23mm tape. Sure enough I'm finding it damn hard to track down in that specific size. Bought this and seller is out of stock.

I've used 25mm Tesa before on my 21mm ID Zipps and it's just too wide for these. But prior to that I incorrectly bought 21mm tape and was able to tape my Zipps well enough to ride them for a good few months, so think I'll use that for now. Any reason you can think why not?

Came across Gorilla tubeless tape again and was nearly tempted if it was the right size. Tesa seems to be getting harder to get hold of as a brand, any others you'd recommend without going premium branded/overpriced like the Stans (which always seems to be out of stock in various places? Prime seem to do some now. Thinking about that, I do need some more sealant. Will be trying something other than Stans this time as it's silly money. Around 20-30% more than when I last bought some! :o

@Shadowness they look fast and amazing like that in the sun! So does the whole bike, looks great! :cool:
 
Soldato
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! ;)

Spesh are quite bad about doing this. To be honest the whole damn industry is bad about doing it! There's just so little standardisation on most of the big brands. Now you have your spare, grab the numbers from it while you can read it, then do some searching around for them. It's highly likely the bearing is a 45 degree 1/4" lower 1/8" lower and it's just the part number of specialized which is hard to track down... Else just measure it! Crane creek headset finder will usually give you different measurements that what Specialized list it as (if you can even find them listing it). It's showing as offline for me at the moment but it was there a few weeks ago...

Good to hear of some good CS stories, especially Scribe.

Good riding too, speedy but kinda average speeds for a quick chaingang (looking at that parcours) so those guys are not quite the WT pro's like they're telling you!

Here for an example is a local previously E123 guy on my local chaingang who only really 'made it' nationally and then not very far as wasn't a crit rider (with other local hitters who are more CAT 2/3): https://www.strava.com/activities/3829320122/analysis/3105/7217 ;)

Some structured training and/or a basic coach kinda work would get you competitive at those speeds, if that's what you're after. If you're just doing the same thing - chasing wheels, yet getting slower/popping sooner then you're just not recovering enough between rides to build the form/strength/fitness. Keeping riding is one thing to keep pushing yourself, but if you're not recovering enough you just end up digging yourself in a hole! :o

The new Specialized headset has no numbers on it. I took the measurements but I got nothing off Google... I must find a solution though otherwise the frame is scrap in a few years!

That chain gang ride, I got dropped halfway round. The top guys are doing 26mph average I think although there was talk that they hit 45 minutes dead. Which I believe is closer to 27mph. My best was 24mph when I managed to hold onto the group during a slower week. Otherwise, I'm down to about 22mph.

I have trained to a reasonable level in triathlon. (2:30 for 90km bike/1:30 half marathon so well aware how overtraining can grind you down... I'm a long way from that stage right now :D

That said, you may well be on the money as I was just riding the CG in the summer and not really doing any active recovery or structured sessions. Just going out and getting my head kicked in repeatedly!

Thank you for your time :)
 
Soldato
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I needed a new headset for my Allez Sprint. Turns out Specialized made a proprietary headset bearing for these that's available for £60... Ouch!
So I bought one, knocked mine out, and offered up the new. The new bottom bearing was bigger than the one I knocked out. I rang the concept store in Nottingham, they said there's different sized bearings depending on the size of frame! Geez... Anyway, long and short of it, they had one in stock but he said they aren't available to order from Specialized any more, so look after it!
So if anyone has any tips for keeping the h/s clean and dry in bad weather LMK. I was hoping the ass saver front mudguard would fit but unfortunately not.

What sizes did you get off the bearings?

Loads of brands use different sizes for different sized frames. 1 1/4"(47mm IS47) on smaller bikes and 1 1/2"(52mm IS52) on larger bikes.

Specialized are one of the only brands that use 1 3/8"(49mm IS49).

https://www.airevelobearings.com/product/specialized-s-works-tarmac-headset-kit/
 
Soldato
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While we're on the subject of headset bearings... @Jonny ///M do you have/know of a good source for them? I got the bearing numbers from the sides of mine, then the IS numbers from the crane creek headset finder (do you know of another as that appears offline now?). But then I could never find a 'set' or both the individual bearings in stock from 1 place... :rolleyes:

https://www.fsaeasyheadset.com/ seems to work if you have the measurements. Old Crane creek stopped working a while ago and the updated one just times out now... So does this (which I think was just a forward to it anyway).

My 2016 Diverge bearings are marked as lower: '1 1/4" 46.8X7X45' and upper: '1 1/8" 45X45'

Which are fairly standard as far as I'm aware (certainly a 'tapered' headset is usually 1 1/4" lower and 1 1/8" upper, and the 45 degree slope is kinda standard). So I think the specific sizing is the 46.8X7 that I need to watch for,,,

Both bearings are also branded 'ECO' (unsure what that is) and made by 'TANGE SEIKI'. The upper even says 'CAMPY COMPATIBLE' (which is a Campagnolo standard, with the 45 degree angles on both bearings).
 
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Soldato
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Sounds like IS42 and IS47. Sometimes have to be creative with the bearing cap or use the old ones. That airevelo site is good or we get in headsets from mpart. Using enduro bearing I think.

Rsp from raleigh have IS47 too.
 
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I'm terrified of getting a puncture though as they are a faff to sort out. From isn't so bad, just a normal valve extender there. Rear is a PITA as you need a 90 degree adapter, which is a real faff to keep pressure on as you pump up, and that's with a track pump at home! I dread to think what it's like out in the sticks with CO2 or a hand pump.

This is the greatest sight at a TT in the car park.
Everyone asking for someone to help them pump up their tyre on their disc wheel and hold the adaptor.
Or having to do the awkward hold it on with one hand and try and get your tyre to over 100PSI with a single hand on the track pump.
Good times.
 
Soldato
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This is the greatest sight at a TT in the car park.
Everyone asking for someone to help them pump up their tyre on their disc wheel and hold the adaptor.
Or having to do the awkward hold it on with one hand and try and get your tyre to over 100PSI with a single hand on the track pump.
Good times.

Only an issue for the <80kg rider who lifts themselves up in the air instead of being able to push the pump handle down :p
 
Soldato
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This is the greatest sight at a TT in the car park.
Everyone asking for someone to help them pump up their tyre on their disc wheel and hold the adaptor.
Or having to do the awkward hold it on with one hand and try and get your tyre to over 100PSI with a single hand on the track pump.
Good times.

Haha this was literally in my home the other day as I tried to get to 80psi! :D
I'm glad it's not just me being a noob :p
 
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