Pedal Power Thread

one thing I have noticed about pretty much all Continental tyres is that they seem to have a bit of a silicone residue on the surface which is presumably the mould release agent... I was recommended by a mate to actually wipe clean the tyres after fitting, but before riding, with strong white vinegar...

The vinegar trick is actually a good way of cleaning any soap/grease residue from the tyre that you may get on when cleaning/re-lubing the bike. In fact, if you watch the British Cycling mechanic (Ernie Feargrieve ??) roll out a bike on the Velodrome, one of the last things he'll do is wipe the tyres with a vinegar soaked cloth...
 
Well nearly had my first comedy fall in the SPDs. Filtering back around a car in stopped traffic, went to put my right foot down - doh - had a nice lean on someone's rear window. Managed to bounce myself back fully upright off the side of the car. Got a puzzled look from driver, an arms in the air, apologies from me, was pouring with rain so he didn't bother getting out to look at he car. We then stayed next to each other for the longest traffic light in the history of the world.
 
Ended up with the schwalbe durano pluses. And some tubes. And some overshoes. Really good price from high on bikes.
 
Cycled back at 10pm today, much nicer than heading into work at 1pm today.

Trying to get my commute down to 30 minutes, can't seem to crack it yet, 31.5 minutes is my best so far - too many pesky red lights!

Cycled a fair bit of the road back with another late night commuter, when we got near Peckham Rye, he asked if was doing the hill to which I replied yes, headed off, realised he was no longer following, realised it's not a hill to most probably, and realised the one he was doing. Felt sheepish...but will try and give that one a go in a few weeks, that one is tough (for an unfit novice such as myself)
 
danmon_81 said:
They are great...Nice bunch of people too (who ride themselves)!
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That is good to hear. They have some really great prices on certain things. The tyres were about £20 cheaper the pair than elsewhere. They also have good prices on moon lights. Not that I need a new set of lights!
 
What chain lube are you guys running? Any preference between dry or wet or do you alternate between types depending on conditions etc?

Andy
 
A question I was wondering just yesterday! I've always used a wet lube (currently a Halford's Bikehut type) as even in summer my commutes can regularly be wet (unfortunately!).
 
hopefully my rollers and cadence sensor will arrive tomorrow, been told the rollers will. amazon tracking is a POS for the sensor though..

slicks have arrived though, good old CRC.
 
My new tyres, tubes and overshoes should make an appearance today. Or if RM delivery whenever I can get to the PO!
 
AndyB1976 said:
What chain lube are you guys running? Any preference between dry or wet or do you alternate between types depending on conditions etc?

Andy
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I've been using Muc-Off wet Lub on winter...Dry lube on summer...

The dry lubes great, the missus loves it.....erm.....i mean it works great on my bike chain... :D:D
The wet lube can be difficult to wash off!

my mate swears by Rock and Roll Lube
 
Just been out and got myself some Muc Off dry lube, and I'm disgusted with myself that I also just paid £35 for a bottle cage......it is carbon fibre, but still...
 
Cheers Danmon and Nick...I ordered the wet lube that TheBigYin linked too. I am going to add a dry lube for when on the turbo (I'm sure there is a joke in there somewhere....)

Also ordered a spare rear mech hanger, seems to be recommended spare part to carry if intending to away from civilisation or if likely to fall off and bend or snap it (take note new clipless users lol).

I got lube, rear mech hanger, some sram power links and grease gun order between Chain Reaction and Evans so I'll leave some feedback here on service etc. Not used them before.

Anyone know where to get a 15G/2mm Black Spoke? Was truing the wheel earlier and noticed there was a slight kink in one.

Cheers:thumbs
 
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Chain Reaction do spokes, but usually in packs of 16 at a time (one side of a wheel :shrug:) iirc... otherwise, i'd say a good LBS...
 
neil_g said:
yup because of dishing one side are often different lengths :thumbs:
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;)I was actually aware of that neil - I learned how to build wheels at my saturday job as a 14y.o. and despite the intervening 35 years or so, I haven't completely lost all my faculties!

Yes, rear wheels often have different length spokes on the drive and non-drive sides, usually from the dishing of the wheel to allow for the cassette - though it also can be because of differing flange heights on the drive/nondrive side, differing spoke cross patterns (eg - crossed drive side and radial non-drive) or even because the wheelbuilder decided to do something silly and build snowflake wheels :lol:

my comment was more a whinge that CRC were being a bit of a pain or at least missing a trick only selling spokes in "half wheel" sets.
 
I was looking at Nibali's Corima Aero+ wheels yesterday. Absolutely love the look of them with just the 12 spokes!
 
I'm quite taken with those madfiber ones at the moment, but I'm far too much of a fatknacker to be thinking about string and glue wheels...

Scary thing is they've actually got no rider weight limit on them, but it's not so much about the strength, it's more about the justifying the gains from a posh pair of wheels when "the engine" of the bike's so crepe...

So - if anything I'm gonna spend the money on a powermeter and a little "expert time" from someone to write me a training plan...
 
TheBigYin said:
I'm quite taken with those madfiber ones at the moment, but I'm far too much of a fatknacker to be thinking about string and glue wheels...
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You can buy them for me if you wish? I promise to send you regular photos of the places they travel to ;)
 
I got spokes from a chap on ebay, actually 3 sets after I realised I couldn't measure for toffee, for my dynamo wheel they've had 18mnths of abuse and are still going find despite edinburgh's cratered roads and my hack 'n slash approach to wheelbuilding. They're plain gauge and probably quite heavy but then so is my bike.
 
its no wonder independents are losing business to big hitters..

i order 3 things monday: tyres from CRC, cadence sensor from amazon and rollers from an independent.

tyres arrive yesterday via parcelforce after getting the normal despatch and tracking info.

cadence sensor arrives this morning via royal mail after getting normal despatch and tracking info.

apart from the auto "thanks for your order" email i had nothing from the independent. after several unanswered emails, finally called them yesterday.. "oh if it doesn't arrive today you'll get it tomorrow".

hasn't arrived. you'd think independents would have the better service due to wanting/needing the business over the large mail order companies..

:annoyed:
 
installed the wahoo blue sc this morning, really easy to do. fitment took a bit of wiggling but was straight forward. a little concerned about clearance on the HD's as its only about 3-4mm. but we'll see how it goes.

the wahoo utility app (optional) reports it working. REALLY annoyed at strava though, turns out although they state the blue sc is a compatible sensor and does show up in the sensor options with cadence rpm, they do not actually store the data or use the speed sensor at all. completely pointless and irritating considering this was the reason for buying the sensor.

going to try the wahoo app instead and manually update strava (maybe, if i dont delete it).


Wahoo Fitness Blue SC by neilgates, on Flickr


Wahoo Fitness Blue SC Testing by neilgates, on Flickr

edit:

the wahoo fitness app is pretty good. you can actually link it to strava too.


Wahoo Fitness App by neilgates, on Flickr
 
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Took the charge to the lbs and had 5cm taken off each end of the handlebars. Now 580mm. They only charged £8, so cheaper than buying a decent pipe cutter. And they seemed to enjoy doing it!
 
Please excuse the double post but I have been fettling around with my Charge and did my first commute in this morning with the new tyres etc. I noticed that compared to the bog standard tyres it came with (conti contacts with a lot of tread) that the duranos seemed to stick me to the road more. I had similar speeds but in lower gears and the cornering seemed much better.The change in feeling of the bike was pretty dramatic! Is that really because of the change in tyres?
 
The narrower handlebars will also contribute to a change in feeling when cornering I would have thought. But I have previously found a huge difference in confidence when changing tyres too.
 
Apart from a decent set of wheels, tyres are the most noticeable upgrade you will ever make to a bike, so yes, if they are inflated to the correct psi.
 
Thanks all. They were inflated up to 7 bar (in between the 6-8 recommended) as I didn't want to take it up to 8 as I am not the lightest in the world! The bars made it a little more twitchy to ride as well but made getting through the traffic a lot easier. Will take a little getting used to I guess!
 
You're seriously getting into this cycling malarkey aren't you!
 
TopBanana said:
You're seriously getting into this cycling malarkey aren't you!
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I quite like it! I just wish it was a little warmer- the stong, icy headwind was not fun this morning. At least it wasn't raining!

My friend has asked it I want to do the Dunwich Dynamo with him in July- sounds interesting and quite laid back but quite a distance! 200km is about x10 what I have ever cycled before! Mind you my mate knows what he is doing, having done LEJOG on a brompton. Actually that makes it sound like he doesn't know what he is doing! ;)

http://www.londonschoolofcycling.co.uk/content.php?id=18
 
menthel said:
Please excuse the double post but I have been fettling around with my Charge and did my first commute in this morning with the new tyres etc. I noticed that compared to the bog standard tyres it came with (conti contacts with a lot of tread) that the duranos seemed to stick me to the road more. I had similar speeds but in lower gears and the cornering seemed much better.The change in feeling of the bike was pretty dramatic! Is that really because of the change in tyres?
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Similar speeds but in lower gears...how does that work then? :P

Certainly the tyres can change the way a ride feels a low and as said your narrower handlebars will be very different also.

Generally the heavier you are the more pressure you'll want in the tyre. Don't be scared of hitting the upper limit of pressure if you want to. You'll get a harder ride but the tyre will roll faster and you'll reduce the risk of pinch-flats considerably, particularly if your a 'well set' rider :)
 
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TriggerHappy said:
Similar speeds but in lower gears...how does that work then? :P

Certainly the tyres can change the way a ride feels a low and as said your narrower handlebars will be very different also.

Generally the heavier you are the more pressure you'll want in the tyre. Don't be scared of hitting the upper limit of pressure if you want to. You'll get a harder ride but the tyre will roll faster and you'll reduce the risk of pinch-flats considerably, particularly if your a 'well set' rider :)
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Not a clue. Better grip leading to better power transference with less friction? The old tyres were not grippy and made me go round corners like a nervous nun on a boneshaker. I will see how the tyre pressures go the next few cycles and go from there I think.
 
menthel said:
Not a clue. Better grip leading to better power transference with less friction? The old tyres were not grippy and made me go round corners like a nervous nun on a boneshaker. I will see how the tyre pressures go the next few cycles and go from there I think.
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:D Sorry, it was a slightly tongue in cheek reply because using the same gear and turning pedals at the same cadence will result on the same speed regardless of tyre. Chances are that the reduced rolling resistance of the new tyre coupled with the increased confidence in corners allowed you to either ride a gear higher for the same exertion, and/or allowed you to carry more speed through corners because you weren't scared of losing grip.

I'm done being a pedant though, I promise! :lol:
 
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