How was your cycle commute?

[Ted Striker]

Absurd and pricey.....IMO i'd say it adds £1500 to the shop price of most bikes!

It's not the week (for me) to argue the case for it(!), though I think it's awesome. It's added £300ish to 2 of my builds with it though I'd never look back. I've got cabled bikes (modern/indexed, old/friction and mtb) though I'm always mucking them up. I entirely appreciate with a rudimentary level of bike mechanic knowledge I wouldn't have the problems I do, but (battery aside) one-less-thing-to-worry-about matters a lot to me.

 

[Utopia]

It's not the week (for me) to argue the case for it(!), though I think it's awesome. It's added £300ish to 2 of my builds with it though I'd never look back. I've got cabled bikes (modern/indexed, old/friction and mtb) though I'm always mucking them up. I entirely appreciate with a rudimentary level of bike mechanic knowledge I wouldn't have the problems I do, but (battery aside) one-less-thing-to-worry-about matters a lot to me.

Fair enough, personally i've never felt the need, mechanical gears have never let me down, I say that but in the first RideLondon my front derailleur decided to have a wobble so I had to shift from the big to little cog with my right heel....which worked remarkably well!

Bradley's not a fan of electric shifters either, remember his very graceful hissy fit when they failed at the Giro 2013?

 

[ChrisFilter]

I'm going to move components from frame to frame soon. My assumption is that having done this I'll be a pro mechanic but I suspect it'll just result in a load of swearing and the need to take a bunch of bits into an actual mechanics.

 

[Dogsauce]

This might be the year I get my Raleigh Record back up and running properly. Trouble is I'm stubbornly wanting to retain the original gold-coloured hardware, and that's probably what's wrong with it (gears jump all over the place). The hubs are also pretty worn, but they're some sort of failed experimental Maillard hubs that you can't get replacements for, and it took me long enough to find a thin enough axle to replace the bent original one so it'd taste of defeat just to replace the wheels outright (probably the sensible option). I guess I could just retain the original wheels (with oddball concave rims - the opposite of aero) to stick back on if there's ever some sort of occasion where showing off a not very classic mid-range 80s consumer racing bike with worn decals is called for.

It's slower than my shitty Falcon tourer anyway (although can whip away quite quickly at the lights due to low weight), so I'm not sure what the point is.

 

[Biddlybee]

Is it metal, Biddlybee? Mine is.

Shiny metal.

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

I'm going to move components from frame to frame soon. My assumption is that having done this I'll be a pro mechanic but I suspect it'll just result in a load of swearing and the need to take a bunch of bits into an actual mechanics.

Knowledge wise everything you need is on sheldon brown. That site took me from novice to capable (but no ace mechanic). There is a right of passage buying a groupset and fitting it on a frame.

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

The hubs are also pretty worn, but they're some sort of failed experimental Maillard hubs that you can't get replacements for, and it took me long enough to find a thin enough axle to replace the bent original one so it'd taste of defeat just to replace the wheels outright (probably the sensible option).
.

Malliard heliomatic? 'Kin PITA, bike mechanics will walk past you and pretend you're not there. And Weinman concaves, very . I bought some new old wheels with a screw on block and zenith large flange hubs, look and perform like modern wheels but look old (helps that they were built by harry rowland).

 

[Winot]

It is actually comical how consistent the crapness of service is with them. It would enrage me more if it I didn't find it humourously baffling. I'm surprised they're still going now the rest of the industry has cottoned on to their Cycle2work schemes etc where they used to have a bit of a monopoly.

Thing is, Evans used to be good when they just had the mothership on The Cut. I guess they've over-extended themselves.

 

[Ted Striker]

Thing is, Evans used to be good when they just had the mothership on The Cut. I guess they've over-extended themselves.

Yup...Reading between the lines, they pay (and otherwise motivate) their staff very little (relying on "hey work in a bike shop, what fun" goodwill), and I guess relying on the cycle-to-work thing and other cycle hybrid newbies never drying up.

 

[Orang Utan]

I got my bike at The Cut and found them courteous, professional and knowledgeable. They spent a lot of time making sure that I had the right size bike and insisted I try a few instead of me buying the first bike Iiked.

 

[ChrisFilter]

Knowledge wise everything you need is on sheldon brown. That site took me from novice to capable (but no ace mechanic). There is a right of passage buying a groupset and fitting it on a frame.

My spare bike, the red Giant I used to ride, is just too big for me so I'm going to buy a £60 SAB frame from PlanetX and move everything over.

I'll only ever use it for the turbo trainer and cycling in to the office, so cheap as possible is the way to go.

 

[Dogsauce]

Kinesis seems to be the 'cheap and cheerful' choice for people in the cycling club I know, a lot use their frames for winter bike builds. Cheap being a relative term, of course.

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

I was just thinking about £1500 electronic gruppos...you could buy a carbon summer bike *and* an alloy winter bike from Ribble for that money....or a steel Mercian with a low spec shim/campag gruppo.

 

[Ted Striker]

I got my bike at The Cut and found them courteous, professional and knowledgeable. They spent a lot of time making sure that I had the right size bike and insisted I try a few instead of me buying the first bike Iiked.

Yup, sounds like less demanding/knowledgeable low-hanging-fruit is their target customer. Doesn't explain why they'll leave their shops stupidly understaffed/trained/motivated (IM (and a lot of other peoples) E).

 

[Orang Utan]

Much better:

Thanks weepiper for the chainlock tip

 

[Orang Utan]

Yup, sounds like less demanding/knowledgeable low-hanging-fruit is their target customer. Doesn't explain why they'll leave their shops stupidly understaffed/trained/motivated (IM (and a lot of other peoples) E).

Are you calling me a low hanging fruit?
I would have used Brixton Cycles but I bought it through work and had to use Evans.

 

[Ted Striker]

I was just thinking about £1500 electronic gruppos...you could buy a carbon summer bike *and* an alloy winter bike from Ribble for that money....or a steel Mercian with a low spec shim/campag gruppo.

Don't know about the Mercian - you'll be lucky for 1500 (and have to wait a year!). Either way I'm not sure 2 bikes is still preferable to one that requires a fair bit less maintenance (and less pleasurable (IMO) to ride).

Ultegra is £650-900 depending on year and your ability to shop around, though Dura Ace is getting on for £1,800.

(I recently bought Dura Ace for my super bike that's currently being built )

 

[Ted Striker]

Are you calling me a low hanging fruit?

(Half) jokingly

I would have used Brixton Cycles but I bought it through work and had to use Evans.

Which is genuinely where they make their money. They stole a march on other retailers and their High Street presence and plethora of sub 1,000 aluminium (metal) bikes make them the first/only place people will go to.

I'm (hopefully) going to set up Cycle To Work for my current place. Apparently if you get a Consumer Credit license or summat you remove the £1,000 barrier D). Either way I'll do all I can to direct everyone to a different retailer!

 

[weepiper]

Yup...Reading between the lines, they pay (and otherwise motivate) their staff very little (relying on "hey work in a bike shop, what fun" goodwill), and I guess relying on the cycle-to-work thing and other cycle hybrid newbies never drying up.

Actually Evans are one of the highest payers in the industry. I think their main problem is they don't employ enough staff (as an example, there's a big Evans about a mile away from my shop of comparable square feet and my place employs more mechanics than their entire shop staff) and they're just not a very nice place to work from what I hear. Large faceless chain store.

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

Either way I'm not sure 2 bikes is still preferable to one that requires a fair bit less maintenance (and less pleasurable (IMO) to ride).

Once setup how does it need less maintenance than cabled mechs? Barring a 1/8th turn on a rear mech barrel adjuster every 2k miles mechanical gruppos never need anything. Those servos in Di2 don't shift on thin air, then need to be clean and lubricated (somehow). Pleasurable to ride maybe (if you like that slickness) but its very early days to call out cables in comparison to what is an immature technology.

It was supposed to use 802.11a wifi BTW, Di2 - then they tried bluetooth, then they decided to cable it up quite close to release, to make it more reliable...to me thats a bit of an engineering fudge, you have this whizbang electronic kit still connected via cables, just data not twisted metal.

 

[Ted Striker]

Actually Evans are one of the highest payers in the industry. I think their main problem is they don't employ enough staff (as an example, there's a big Evans about a mile away from my shop, and my place employs more mechanics than their entire shop staff) and they're just not a very nice place to work from what I hear. Large faceless chain store.

It just seems to be staffed by people that don't actually like bikes. Anywhere else and people will show an interest, share the passion for what is/can be, something really quite neat and beautiful.

 

[Ted Striker]

Once setup how does it need less maintenance than cabled mechs? Barring a 1/8th turn on a rear mech barrel adjuster every 2k miles mechanical gruppos never need anything. Those servos in Di2 don't shift on thin air, then need to be clean and lubricated (somehow). Pleasurable to ride maybe (if you like that slickness) but its very early days to call out cables in comparison to what is an immature technology.

It was supposed to use 802.11a wifi BTW, Di2 - then they tried bluetooth, then they decided to cable it up quite close to release, to make it more reliable...to me thats a bit of an engineering fudge, you have this whizbang electronic kit still connected via cables, just data not twisted metal.

I still find it preferable. I theory it's only a barrel turn, but in practice...


To be fair, I actually don't think I've had anything that wasn't: a bargain basement BSO/Alfine on a bar end indexed shifter (hello chain stretch!)/Friction shifting on a downtube (best of the bunch tbf, though tuning my radio when when I'm gasping up a hill is less than ideal). At risk of sounding like I'm just here to talk about My Great Bike Collection, my Look KG 196 is with the shop (not Evans ) ready to be put together with Campag Record (couldn't run Di2 through the frame!) so will give modern wired groups a fair crack/

Tbh I get Di2 is not a particular rational preference (and says more about my attitude to bike maintenance/knowledge). I just likes it and it works like I know it to.

 

[ChrisFilter]

What a climb that is. More of a Nazi salute than a road.

Did Chalkpit Lane on Sunday. It's the second kick that I always forget about. Grim. Even at 34/28.

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.2...ata=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sbI6NEau7zaJy6RrsuaFA2Q!2e0

its this off camber corner thats the killer.

 

[DownwardDog]

It was supposed to use 802.11a wifi BTW, Di2 - then they tried bluetooth, then they decided to cable it up quite close to release, to make it more reliable...to me thats a bit of an engineering fudge, you have this whizbang electronic kit still connected via cables, just data not twisted metal.

WiFi would be less convenient because then you'd have three (or four/five/six) separate batteries and things to charge and probably make the product too expensive to be commercially feasible - see Mavic Zap. Tiso make a Bluetooth controlled electronic shifting system but even that has centralised and wired power. Also, Shimano's add-on wireless gear for Di2 (D-Fly) retains the power cables.

The new Synchro Shift XTR Di2 gruppo looks interesting. There's only one shifter so you just shift up and down and the system manages the derailleurs. I might try it on my Disc Trucker.

 

[DownwardDog]

(couldn't run Di2 through the frame!) so will give modern wired groups a fair crack

You can Di2 anything with enough drill bits, dental tools, patience and, occasionally, compressed air.

 

[ChrisFilter]

Knowledge wise everything you need is on sheldon brown. That site took me from novice to capable (but no ace mechanic). There is a right of passage buying a groupset and fitting it on a frame.

Seems more complicated than I thought. Was hoping to use the forks off the Giant but sounds like you need a special tool to insert headsets into frames. Ooh er.

 

[Ted Striker]

You can Di2 anything with enough drill bits, dental tools, patience and, occasionally, compressed air.

You can but not even I would ruin such a beautiful frame due to my shithouse fear of cables!

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

Seems more complicated than I thought. Was hoping to use the forks off the Giant but sounds like you need a special tool to insert headsets into frames. Ooh er.

The two headsets might not be compatible anyway - despite both being 1 1/8" and internal. I have the headset cup press tool, cup extractor and star nut tools if you want to borrow. Might as well spend £20 and get a new headset for the new frame...

 

[DownwardDog]

Seems more complicated than I thought. Was hoping to use the forks off the Giant but sounds like you need a special tool to insert headsets into frames. Ooh er.

Just use a length of threaded rod (M12-M20 is fine), two bolts and a handful of big washers. For at least the first ten years of my cycling career I hammered headsets in using a combination of youthful enthusiasm and a 12-o-clock,3-o-clock, 6-o-clock, 9-o-clock hammering pattern!