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The Cycling Chat Thread

The fastest speed I’ve managed on a bike (since the days of analogue speedos at least) was on my big vintage 25kg pashley, hit 45.6 going down a straight dual carriageway hill in Cornwall. Haven’t gone close to that on my road bike, not very confident on descents generally!

I’ve also overtaken road bikes going uphill on it, plenty on the BHF London-Brighton night ride where people with fancy bikes bought through the bike to work scheme had taken them out of the garage for the second time ever. My mate I rode that with had done it before and said you could tell when a hill was round the corner due to the characteristic ‘clacking’ sound of people unclipping to walk up.
 
Fell off my bike on the way home from work :facepalm: relatively low speed, tramlined myself on a path edge because I was concentrating on a dog and binned the bike. More or less landed on my feet and thought I'd got away with wounded pride but I seem to have pulled something in my knee because I'm now hobbling around wincing.
 
beesonthewhatnow said:
Nice, what’s the frame/rest of it?
Click to expand...
He did tell me the name of the framebuilder but I instantly forgot. It was a small English custom steel place. He bought it in about 2004 as a single speed jump bike (it's got an eccentric BB) and the fork is a new Surly one, I think he had done the respray himself. The wheels are 26" with XT centrelock hubs, the bars are On-One Jones bar copies, and he'd bought a new SLX 11 speed drivetrain and brakes and a new Hope headset. It was a fun build. He's only about the same height as me so it being 'old fashioned 26"' is not a problem :D
 
beesonthewhatnow said:
New bike arrived this morning, yay.

The good:

It's incredibly pretty. The pictures online really don't do the paint justice - the red is a lovely deep metallic, and what I thought was black is actually a dark metallic grey. Looks fantastic, and the tan sidewall tyres really look the part as well.
Quality of the frame is excellent - lovely Reynolds 725 tubing, the welds ae very neat indeed.
Came with a free little multitool and pedal spanner, along with a box of various other bits and bobs like helitape and rubber chain stay protectors, as well as two little pots of touch up paint. Small details but nice to have.
Included saddle seems pretty decent

The bad:

The stock bar tape is horrible cheap crap, that will be coming off as soon as possible.
The "gravel" handlebars have a very od drop that might take a bit of getting used to.
The setup out the box from Wiggle is utterly disgraceful. The rear mech cable has been cut too long so it clips the spokes on the rear wheel, and hasn't got a ferrule on the end so it's already fraying. Indexing was all over the place. The front mech however simply won't shift at all, it looks like the cable tension is none existent. Literally unridable.


So, an afternoon downloading the installation manual for a GRX front derailleur awaits :rolleyes:

I JUST WANT TO RIDE IT NOW DAMNIT :mad: :D
Click to expand...

Nice that they provided touch up paint - I need some for my bike but none provided:mad:

Do I approach the supplier of my bike or the manufacturer for the correct paint match?
 
First proper “give it the beans” ride round Sutton Park on my gravel bike today. OMG, it’s such a fun thing to ride. Had lots of entertainment leaving people riding MTB’s in my dust on the climbs.

They came past me on the downhill bits, obviously, but you get more points from your legs than you do gravity ;) :p

However, I’m now coming to grips with the reality of having to clean a bike covered in mud whilst living in a second floor flat...
 
beesonthewhatnow said:
No, although I can see it looks like that from that angle. They’re a shallow drop with a bit of an outward flare. They’re a bit odd at first but i think will make more sense on a steep loose gravel descent, the sort of thing it’s built for. Will try and get a pic...

Pic:

View attachment 220263
Click to expand...

Does anyone really ride a gravel bike on the drops anyway? Should just end at the hoods..?
 
beesonthewhatnow said:
Yes, I did properly for the first time today and it "clicked". As on the road, if you're descending you should be on the drops. Way more control.
Click to expand...

Having had a cyclo-cross bike for over ten years I have to say that I rode on the drops only once on a savage downhill and it wasn’t enjoyable. Certainly no control. Perhaps different riding styles, or different expectations of what you should be blatting down?
 
Bahnhof Strasse said:
Having had a cyclo-cross bike for over ten years I have to say that I rode on the drops only once on a savage downhill and it wasn’t enjoyable. Certainly no control. Perhaps different riding styles, or different expectations of what you should be blatting down?
Click to expand...
I just find being on the drops has two advantages - it gets my weight lower over the front wheel and helps with grip, plus if its bumpy your hands are kinda "hooked" in the drops and you have more control over the direction you're going in.
 
beesonthewhatnow said:
I just find being on the drops has two advantages - it gets my weight lower over the front wheel and helps with grip, plus if its bumpy your hands are kinda "hooked" in the drops and you have more control over the direction you're going in.
Click to expand...

I really not any expert, but when I hurtle down rough tracks, if my face were within six inches of the stem I reckon my teeth would have an excuse for looking as ropey as they do...
 
Use your drops
Similar to riding the road, it’s typically easiest to descend in the drops on a 'cross bike. “I feel like I have better control of the bike,” says Nash. “You can actually get a little bit of rest, too,” she adds. “If you’re on the top of the hoods, you really have to hold on to the handlebars.” The drops offer more control and a more relaxed hand position for descending.
Click to expand...
www.bicycling.com

Crush Every Cyclocross Descent

Cyclocross Champion Katerina Nash gives us her top tips to help you crush every descent
www.bicycling.com www.bicycling.com
:)
 
beesonthewhatnow said:
www.bicycling.com

Crush Every Cyclocross Descent

Cyclocross Champion Katerina Nash gives us her top tips to help you crush every descent
www.bicycling.com www.bicycling.com
:)
Click to expand...

Makes sense, love the only picture in that article shows every single rider on the hoods though, (it’s just a stock pic).

I guess I’m thinking of more mountain bikey rough descents, the type of which I never even have considered on my old cyclocross bike, where you don’t relax on the bars so much, the whole thing is more of an upper body work-out and it’s good to hang over the back wheel.
 
Last edited:
After 30 years of not riding I've bought a bike! :hmm:

About five years ago an old back injury stopped me playing sports and in the intervening time I've become incredibly unfit. I'd been thinking on and off about buying a bike ever since and last year I had a health check which confirmed that I needed to do a lot more exercise. After the health check I started walking but during lockdown the walks have got longer. I've seen so many cyclists on the bridleways and unmade roads that it gave me the kick up the backside I needed to bite the bullet and buy one.

I've had the bike a couple of weeks now and I've enjoyed the experience so far but I'm very apprehensive about the traffic. The other problem for someone as unfit as me is that I live in the Surrey Hills so going anywhere involves some pretty steep inclines - I'm not enjoying them much at the moment! :D

I've been using MapMyWalk on my phone (which I think is exactly the same as MapMyRide) to monitor my (lack of) improvement but I'm not sure that the max speed aspect is accurate. Apparently I maxed out at 244 mph on my ride after work today! :D The graphical data seems to suggest a more pedestrian 18 mph though.

Anyone suggest a cheap, hopefully free, app which will allow me to compare my rides and map my routes.

Oh, I guess I should mention the bike, it's a Norco Fluid HT.
 
Leafster said:
After 30 years of not riding I've bought a bike! :hmm:

About five years ago an old back injury stopped me playing sports and in the intervening time I've become incredibly unfit. I'd been thinking on and off about buying a bike ever since and last year I had a health check which confirmed that I needed to do a lot more exercise. After the health check I started walking but during lockdown the walks have got longer. I've seen so many cyclists on the bridleways and unmade roads that it gave me the kick up the backside I needed to bite the bullet and buy one.

I've had the bike a couple of weeks now and I've enjoyed the experience so far but I'm very apprehensive about the traffic. The other problem for someone as unfit as me is that I live in the Surrey Hills so going anywhere involves some pretty steep inclines - I'm not enjoying them much at the moment! :D

I've been using MapMyWalk on my phone (which I think is exactly the same as MapMyRide) to monitor my (lack of) improvement but I'm not sure that the max speed aspect is accurate. Apparently I maxed out at 244 mph on my ride after work today! :D The graphical data seems to suggest a more pedestrian 18 mph though.

Anyone suggest a cheap, hopefully free, app which will allow me to compare my rides and map my routes.

Oh, I guess I should mention the bike, it's a Norco Fluid HT.
Click to expand...
Strava :)
 
Bahnhof Strasse said:
Just bought a Hiplok Gold. You can wear it as a belt so it’s very handy for carrying around, weighs 2.2kg so adds to your work out too...
Click to expand...
I used to wear a chain round my waist but somebody pointed out that was quite dangerous if i came off (they actually said "you'll shatter your fucking pelvis with that"). Stopped doing it.

They might have been exaggerating but after the bruise i had when i got knocked off once with a mobile in my pocket i can believe it.


Edit: haha, they actually market it as "wearable". No way would i want that anywhere near my hip bones. Hiplok GOLD Wearable Bicycle Chain Lock | Chain Reaction Cycles
 
Leafster said:
After 30 years of not riding I've bought a bike! :hmm:

About five years ago an old back injury stopped me playing sports and in the intervening time I've become incredibly unfit. I'd been thinking on and off about buying a bike ever since and last year I had a health check which confirmed that I needed to do a lot more exercise. After the health check I started walking but during lockdown the walks have got longer. I've seen so many cyclists on the bridleways and unmade roads that it gave me the kick up the backside I needed to bite the bullet and buy one.

I've had the bike a couple of weeks now and I've enjoyed the experience so far but I'm very apprehensive about the traffic. The other problem for someone as unfit as me is that I live in the Surrey Hills so going anywhere involves some pretty steep inclines - I'm not enjoying them much at the moment! :D

I've been using MapMyWalk on my phone (which I think is exactly the same as MapMyRide) to monitor my (lack of) improvement but I'm not sure that the max speed aspect is accurate. Apparently I maxed out at 244 mph on my ride after work today! :D The graphical data seems to suggest a more pedestrian 18 mph though.

Anyone suggest a cheap, hopefully free, app which will allow me to compare my rides and map my routes.

Oh, I guess I should mention the bike, it's a Norco Fluid HT.
Click to expand...


Nice bike!

The hills are fuckers, no shame in pushing the bike up. Round here much of the trails are sandy, which is doubly bad. In fact the part of the North Downs Way closest to me is steep as hell up out of town, then the steep decent is thick sand, so no reward for all the effort of getting to the top. Seriously considering an e-mtb, get more of the fun stuff with less of the tedious crap, still get a proper workout. Just the cost of the buggers...
 
tommers said:
I used to wear a chain round my waist but somebody pointed out that was quite dangerous if i came off (they actually said "you'll shatter your fucking pelvis with that"). Stopped doing it.

They might have been exaggerating but after the bruise i had when i got knocked off once with a mobile in my pocket i can believe it.


Edit: haha, they actually market it as "wearable". No way would i want that anywhere near my hip bones. Hiplok GOLD Wearable Bicycle Chain Lock | Chain Reaction Cycles
Click to expand...

Could be an issue, broke ribs snowboarding due to buckles on the trousers. But the lock sits round my gut rather than on hips, so will risk it...
 
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