Pedal Power Thread

I'm not going to put a number on 'em, but there's a few of the "stable" here...

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got a set of mavic crosstrails a couple of weeks ago and fitted my semi-slicks to them tubeless. they went on very easy. Changed to some new offroad tyres tonight - conti mountain king II protection. almost give myself an asthma attack trying to seat the bead on the rim. front went on almost as easy as the WTB semi slicks but the rear was murder. eventually got it seated after 30mins of soapy water and frantic pumping.
 
I changed the cassette and it looks like its fixed the chain slip problem.
Went for a smaller cassette, 11-25, as I spend most of my ride in the higher gears.
I still want to change the chain rings from my triple, 30-39-50, to the compact, 39-52, so I can do a few TT runs, nothing too serious.
Does anyone know how complicated a job it is, i'm guessing I have to change the derailer and levers. Can I leave the rear derailer alone?
If its a load of faff I might just leave it as it is and wait till i'm ready to get a new bike!
I'm already looking at carbon fibre!
 
You might need shorter chain ring bolts. If you're just chaining the rings that is. The front mech may need moving up a touch to clear the larger ring.

But just adjust the top limit screw on the front mech so you don't go off the end and just use shifter positions 1 and 2.

Rear mech shouldn't need anything.
 
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Depending what make/model of shifters and derailleur you have, it shouldn't be too much of a headache. It's pretty common to use triple shifters on double cranks. You'll only have to mess with the front derailleur. The back operates independently of the front and shouldn't need adjusting if it's set up well already.
 
TriggerHappy said:
Depending what make/model of shifters and derailleur you have, it shouldn't be too much of a headache. It's pretty common to use triple shifters on double cranks. You'll only have to mess with the front derailleur. The back operates independently of the front and shouldn't need adjusting if it's set up well already.
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Indeed. I use 3speed shifters and a derailleur on the front but only using a two ring set up on my freeride bike. I haven't bothered messing about with the front derailleur to cancel out the missing third ring, I just don't shift onto it lol. I've gotten used to it now but before I upgraded my 32t ring to a 38t I went to change onto the missing 42t ring and the chain came off. All sorted now though and still using the same 3speed shifters and deraileur. Also got a chain guide on the bottom for dual ring setups.
 
neil_g said:
2 seconds to wind in the high limit screw lol
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2seconds I could be sat doing nothing:beer:lol used to it now. I'm the sort of person that if I start fiddling I find extra things to fiddle with then end up breaking something that didn't need fiddled with in the first place.
 
POAH said:
got a set of mavic crosstrails a couple of weeks ago and fitted my semi-slicks to them tubeless. they went on very easy. Changed to some new offroad tyres tonight - conti mountain king II protection. almost give myself an asthma attack trying to seat the bead on the rim. front went on almost as easy as the WTB semi slicks but the rear was murder. eventually got it seated after 30mins of soapy water and frantic pumping.
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When I was struggling to get my studded tyres on I brought them out of the garage and did it in front of the fire - warming them up made it soooo much easier.
 
Has any once else spotted the new 'training' tab on Strava? I really like the way it displays all your rides, nice and easy to find the info you want (distance, time, speed etc). :woot:
 
TopBanana said:
When I was struggling to get my studded tyres on I brought them out of the garage and did it in front of the fire - warming them up made it soooo much easier.
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its down to the protection sidewall - had a few kinks in it that's all. I did it in my kitchen
 
after my incident with the bus few weeks ago, and emailing bus company along with chairman of my council, today I got reply from bus company and I think I am happy with it.

here it is :

I am writing in response to the complaint you made about a driver on route 177.

I was concerned to learn of the incident you described as drivers should be extra careful when near cyclists. In view of your comments CCTV has been checked and the driver involved has been interviewed by his garage manager and the matter has been discussed with him. As a result appropriate action has been taken with regard to this occasion and to ensure that our expectations are met in future. I regret that I cannot be specific about the action taken against the individual in this case as this would be a breach of our agreements on staff confidentiality. A range of sanctions is, however, available depending on the driver’s previous record. I would add that all our drivers are regularly monitored covertly by our own training staff, TfL’s Mystery Shoppers and staff from AA Drivetech and their reports are kept on the driver’s personal record, as are complaints such as yours. Naturally any adverse reports are acted upon swiftly.

Please accept our apologies for any upset caused.
 
andy700 said:
You definitely have the bug Mark. I like the red retro road bike - what is it?
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The red one is actually a bit of a rarity - it's a Dawes frame, 531db throughout - from so far back in the day they still had a custom shop... It was built as a "clubman racer" so you could put guards on it for the winter clubruns, but yet it was (at least when new) fast enough to race on. By the time I got my hands on it it was at least 10 years old and maybe I'm the 4th owner - the BB threads are stuffed (someone tried to put a italian threaded BB in there and knackered them) so it's got one of those FAG sealed "renovation" square taper bb's - the ones with a sealed unit that is held in with lockrings either side of the bb and doesn't depend on BB threading at all.

It's a lovely comfortable ride, but at the moment it's on "extended loan" to a mate, with different wheels (strangely, he didn't fancy riding with Tubulars! at £20 a puncture :lol:)
 
TopBanana said:
Has any once else spotted the new 'training' tab on Strava? I really like the way it displays all your rides, nice and easy to find the info you want (distance, time, speed etc). :woot:
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I was really, really hoping for more than that when it appeared. Preferably some form of pre-defining my rides in some form of schedule - setting distance/power zone goals for the rides, then automatically comparing the synched rides to the pre-defined training plan. Sadly, that tab isn't "Training" its just "look what you did..."
 
TopBanana said:
When I was struggling to get my studded tyres on I brought them out of the garage and did it in front of the fire - warming them up made it soooo much easier.
Click to expand...

Getting Conti Gatorskins onto my old Fulcrum 5 Wheels used to be terrible - eventually had to leave the tyres in a bucket of hot (as in half full from the hot-tap, the rest from the kettle!) soapy water for 10 minutes - and still needed a "tyre jack" to get them on for the first time. After they'd been fitted for a few thousand km's they became possible to refit with bare hands (just barely) but it's a good job they didn't puncture before that, as I'd have hated trying to fix 'em at the roadside.
 
So, should I get a HRM and cadence monitor just for the hell of it? I don't train as such but having the data is nice and geeky!
 
TheBigYin said:
Getting Conti Gatorskins onto my old Fulcrum 5 Wheels used to be terrible - eventually had to leave the tyres in a bucket of hot (as in half full from the hot-tap, the rest from the kettle!) soapy water for 10 minutes - and still needed a "tyre jack" to get them on for the first time. After they'd been fitted for a few thousand km's they became possible to refit with bare hands (just barely) but it's a good job they didn't puncture before that, as I'd have hated trying to fix 'em at the roadside.
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I was thinking just yesterday that I'm not sure what I would do if I had a puncture as I probably couldn't get the tyres on/off :eek:
Luckily they're Schwalbe Marathon Winters and therefore prett indestructible (well I assume so by the fact they weigh 8kg each :LOL:)
 
menthel said:
Yep!


I have an edge 800, didn't think I would want to geek out about my cadence and HR etc! ;)
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I bought a cheap second hand heart rate monitor a while back. I only used it a few times but it helped me understand what each heart-rate training zone felt like, then I didn't feel the need to use it any more as I don't do proper training.
Having said that I like the way Strava logs everything, so having HR and cadence logged would be geeky cool :cool:
 
TopBanana said:
I bought a cheap second hand heart rate monitor a while back. I only used it a few times but it helped me understand what each heart-rate training zone felt like, then I didn't feel the need to use it any more as I don't do proper training.
Having said that I like the way Strava logs everything, so having HR and cadence logged would be geeky cool :cool:
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I guess this is part of my reasoning. I just don't have much of a clue where I am at what feels like maximum effort. My hill climbing is poor but my speed on the flat is quite fast and on a flat road I can easily push 50/12 as long as there isn't a headwind. On my commute I often find myself in the high gears and very relaxed.

I think Ijust want to know more about what my body is doing whilst I am cycling. It might be my medical background!
 
I wouldn't be without the GSC-10 and the HR strap (try and get the second generation soft strap if you can... this one ) but then again I AM completely geeky about stuff like this (to the extent i've got the Stages Powermeter as well)
 
TheBigYin said:
I wouldn't be without the GSC-10 and the HR strap (try and get the second generation soft strap if you can... this one ) but then again I AM completely geeky about stuff like this (to the extent i've got the Stages Powermeter as well)
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That was the one I looked at. Amazon have good prices for them both. The power meters are a bi pricey (and confusing!) for me at present.
 
Get the kit, do a max-test, find out your zones and ride to 'em. Not only will it help you improve your overall speed, it'll REALLY help with pacing on longer stuff like Audaxes etc., especially out-and-back ones where you ride into the wind for the first half and are worrying you'll kill yourself for the return leg.
 
TheBigYin said:
waiit tilll it's a proper winter, and you've got rime ice in it...
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Some years ago, when I was travelling to work by motorbike, I arrived and heaved the lid off. Wish I'd waited a minute or 2 - the ice had frozen my beard to the inside of the chin bar...

On a different subject though, does anyone have any suggestions/advice about cheapish folding bikes, ideally suitable for smoothish off road use as well as the black stuff - nothing extreme, just things like a canal towpath (pretty much flat and these days, possibly even tarmac - been a while since I've done the path.) Light is always good - might need to bag it to get it home - the final hill is a killer!
 
bastic said:
As a result appropriate action has been taken with regard to this occasion and to ensure that our expectations are met in future. I regret that I cannot be specific about the action taken against the individual in this case as this would be a breach of our agreements on staff confidentiality.
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a high five
 
TheBigYin said:
Get the kit, do a max-test, find out your zones and ride to 'em. Not only will it help you improve your overall speed, it'll REALLY help with pacing on longer stuff like Audaxes etc., especially out-and-back ones where you ride into the wind for the first half and are worrying you'll kill yourself for the return leg.
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neil_g said:
thats alright then, loads of addons for that :D i got the 800 pack with HRM and Cadence/speed sensor.
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This is going to end up with me spending money, isn't it?

Do you need a turbo trainer to do a max test or can you do it outside? I can't stand cycing indorrs (and don't have a turbo anyway!). I guess there are some wattbikes at the gym...
 
yeah, theyr'e a bit complex... the physio/trainer guy I go to uses one, and they're pretty fiendish things from a setup point of view, but it's possible to get not only your roadbike setup pretty much spot on (albeit with funny handlebars) but the power measurment side of things is fantastic and I love the pedalling analysis stuff - came in really handy when I was getting my knee sorted and so on...
 
Nod said:
Some years ago, when I was travelling to work by motorbike, I arrived and heaved the lid off. Wish I'd waited a minute or 2 - the ice had frozen my beard to the inside of the chin bar...
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i used to have an old gs1000, it has a flat seat and the tank gently slopes up from it,i didnt have a garage at the time and it was kept in the back anyway i was going to work one frosty morning and when i get there i discovered that one of my goolies had come out of the leathers and stuck to the frost on the tank ( id slid the bike down the road a couple of weeks before and ripped my leathers), i coudnt get off the bloody bike :help:i had to phone my mate to come out with some tepid water to help me defrost my crown jewels off the bike...dont tell anybody, obviously he told everybody and they all came out to watch :wave:.....i still get reminded of it to this day by a few of them :p
 
TheBigYin said:
The red one is actually a bit of a rarity - it's a Dawes frame, 531db throughout - from so far back in the day they still had a custom shop... It was built as a "clubman racer" so you could put guards on it for the winter clubruns, but yet it was (at least when new) fast enough to race on. By the time I got my hands on it it was at least 10 years old and maybe I'm the 4th owner - the BB threads are stuffed (someone tried to put a italian threaded BB in there and knackered them) so it's got one of those FAG sealed "renovation" square taper bb's - the ones with a sealed unit that is held in with lockrings either side of the bb and doesn't depend on BB threading at all.

It's a lovely comfortable ride, but at the moment it's on "extended loan" to a mate, with different wheels (strangely, he didn't fancy riding with Tubulars! at £20 a puncture :LOL:)
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My first bike was a Dawes (nothing special though), bought in 1977, it had a 20.5" frame - far too small for me! I kept it for about 5 years, using it for training, and strangely enough did try to fit an Italian BB to it (I bought a flash Ofmega chainset from a bike shop which was closing down for £20!), but stopped when it was obvious something was wrong. I then put a Campag BB in and all was good.
I still have an "old" frame which I use for turbo training - a Gazelle Champion du Monde, which I used for racing in the early nineties. It is 653 tubing, and has a number bracket braze on, because it was an ex pro road frame. I should really do it up again.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8526/8595862038_ffd6efd8b1_b.jpg

And my "good" bike

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8091/8595862276_03374d4a76_b.jpg
 
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