Urban75 Home About Offline BrixtonBuzz Contact

The Cycling Chat Thread

Evening bike fans.

I foolishly signed up for the London to Brighton 18 months ago that is now scarily close. (No I haven't done enough training but I have done some, I fully expect to walk up some hills).

Anyhoo, giving the bike a bit of tlc and looking at new tyres. Currently have 700x x 23 on there and have discovered there are 700c x 28 that are meant to be more comfortable. Considering the state of the roads in East London that sounds good to me.

Wiggle

Relaunching 2024
www.wiggle.co.uk www.wiggle.co.uk

Does anyone know if they will fit on my bike or if the larger tyre will be too close to the frame? It is a 200* Specialized Allez (flat cross bar). It looks oK to me but before dropping £60 on new tyres I'd like to check.

Thanks. :)

1630617353056.jpeg


1630617376940.jpeg
 
Last edited:
spitfire said:
Evening bike fans.

I foolishly signed up for the London to Brighton 18 months ago that is now scarily close. (No I haven't done enough training but I have done some, I fully expect to walk up some hills).

Anyhoo, giving the bike a bit of tlc and looking at new tyres. Currently have 700x x 23 on there and have discovered there are 700c x 28 that are meant to be more comfortable. Considering the state of the roads in East London that sounds good to me.

Wiggle

Relaunching 2024
www.wiggle.co.uk www.wiggle.co.uk

Does anyone know if they will fit on my bike or if the larger tyre will be too close to the frame? It is a 200* Specialized Allez (flat cross bar). It looks oK to me but before dropping £60 on new tyres I'd like to check.

Thanks. :)

View attachment 286417


View attachment 286418
Click to expand...
28s will not fit. You might get 25s in at a pinch but tbh the clearance is pretty close (it's mainly the rear brake that's your issue - the tyre isn't just wider, it's taller iyswim).
 
weepiper said:
28s will not fit. You might get 25s in at a pinch but tbh the clearance is pretty close (it's mainly the rear brake that's your issue - the tyre isn't just wider, it's taller iyswim).
Click to expand...

Thank you, I'll stick to the 23's then, I can't afford to be swapping them out if it doesn't fit.

:thumbs:
 
Christ I was cold on my evening ride tonight. Had to go back home and put a shirt on over my cycling top. I think it’s going to be lovely and warm next week but I do need to get some gear to make riding in cold weather not unpleasant - surely it’s possible?
 
OK, I'm looking for a bike for ska invita on ebay. Feel free to join in. Ladies sit up and beg, medium size for a person of 5'7", road and light gravel use in South London. So not too far from there, for collection purposes. £200 or maybe more if it's good. My first thought is to rule out the heavy fashionable vintagey ones, e.g. this Dutch bike Dutchie Chic 8 Speed Ladies Classic Retro Loop Basket Bike 19.5" Md Holland GC | eBay, because South London has hills, and heavy bikes with pull back bars are not nice to ride on muddy paths. So a modern hybrid with flat bars, although not pretty to look at, would be much better.
 
Last edited:
purves grundy said:
Christ I was cold on my evening ride tonight. Had to go back home and put a shirt on over my cycling top. I think it’s going to be lovely and warm next week but I do need to get some gear to make riding in cold weather not unpleasant - surely it’s possible?
Click to expand...
Depends what you want to spend really - either just wear lots of layers, or invest in a nice thermal base layer, merino cycling jersey, and a good winter jacket.
 
purves grundy said:
Christ I was cold on my evening ride tonight. Had to go back home and put a shirt on over my cycling top. I think it’s going to be lovely and warm next week but I do need to get some gear to make riding in cold weather not unpleasant - surely it’s possible?
Click to expand...

Cheapest upgrades; arm warmers, leg warmers (or just lycra leggings), ear warmers, overshoes, gloves. If you want to go cycle-specific the layering of core warming stuff can get a bit expensive... but it certainly exists. As bees says, thermal base, jersey (potentially long-sleeve), then jackets and rain capes, then the gilet (sleeveless jacket), which can be worn on top of any other layer (though usually over a jersey). The advantage of cycle stuff is that it's often designed to fit in a jersey back pocket, and is very layer-oriented (better fine-tuning of temperature).

The cheapest things I mentioned (arm warmers etc) you can find stuff that does the job on riverine commerce sites... Overshoes can get expensive, but I have some cheap ones from Planet X that work fine (out of stock mind), and given that they are on your feet, dropping £60+ on them seems a bit daft. Gloves also can get expensive, but are kind of essential either way. Foot warming is definitely better dealt with using covers than socks, as thick socks will change shoe fit and can cause injury, particularly if circulation is poor due to cold.

Personally have yet to fully embrace cycle clothing, have some old commuter stuff I use. T-shirt, Lightish thermal, Gore-tex commuter jacket for coldest days. Under armour leggings over bib shorts, with MTB shorts on top of that. Optional leg warmers and arm warmers, headbandy fleecy thing that covers ears. But I end up carrying a small backpack... At some point I'll probably move to cycle stuff to keep things minimal. But I am not ready for external lyrca just yet.
 
ska invita what's the use? Is it largely flat? That Carrera isn't actually a sit up and beg bike, more of a step-through hybrid. Which has some advantages if hills are involved, because it has plenty of gears.

e2a: though yeah, as someone said, those handlebars look quite fucked.
 
Bahnhof Strasse said:
I walked up it twice as a teen :)


From the top all the way to Brighton you'll hardly need to touch your pedals :thumbs:
Click to expand...

That’s more like it. I have mountain bike clip ins so they’re easier to walk in than racer shoes. I also have mountain bike gears fitted but won’t have the leg power or stamina for the big hill. I’m not approaching it as a race and will be taking my time. I don’t want to be “that heart attack guy”.
 
spitfire said:
That’s more like it. I have mountain bike clip ins so they’re easier to walk in than racer shoes. I also have mountain bike gears fitted but won’t have the leg power or stamina for the big hill. I’m not approaching it as a race and will be taking my time. I don’t want to be “that heart attack guy”.
Click to expand...

You probably can do more on the bike than you think. Key is to get used to cycling very slowly, and not do big standing efforts. Slow and steady all the way. I have no idea whether there's science behind it, but I definitely find it feels better to stay on rather than walk. If it starts coming through too much on the knees, that's my sign to get off.
 
Cid said:
You probably can do more on the bike than you think. Key is to get used to cycling very slowly, and not do big standing efforts. Slow and steady all the way. I have no idea whether there's science behind it, but I definitely find it feels better to stay on rather than walk. If it starts coming through too much on the knees, that's my sign to get off.
Click to expand...

I'll try that next time I'm at the velopark. Been jumping on the pedals to get up the inclines but they are quite short so it makes it easy to give it some beans and then rest.
 
spitfire said:
I'll try that next time I'm at the velopark. Been jumping on the pedals to get up the inclines but they are quite short so it makes it easy to give it some beans and then rest.
Click to expand...

Yes, this is a great way to burn yourself out early... :D
 
Try doing everything at roughly the same effort... Standing up more for a change of position, or toward the end of a climb. The key to longer rides is going mostly at endurance pace, which means not elevating your heart rate too much. Big efforts will both elevate your heart rate, and burn through muscle glycogen. The former will burn you out generally, the latter will empty your legs and leave you a quivering mess.
 
One of the oddly tough things about cycling in the UK... Lot of rolling terrain, so people can have a tendency to go 'ah, I'll just shoot up here', then there's only 20 seconds of downhill, then a false flat, then another little lump, and on it goes until your legs are jelly.
 
Great advice thanks Cid, I've always been a "fast" cyclist but nowadays my body can't cash the cheques my brain writes so I'll have to make an effort to rein it in.
 
What I've been doing recently on my rides (I would hesitate to call it training but every pedal counts) is to find out what my limits are. So giving it some and seeing how long I can go. I fully intend to take it easy and make it to the end, hopefully now I will know what I can and can't do.
 
It's definitely a good idea to do that in training rides... it's interval training basically. But over longer rides it becomes much more about exactly how much you have in the tank, and how you can best eke it out/top it up. I mean London to Brighton doesn't look that bad - I get almost as much uphill in just 40km (and er... can't do much more than that) - but it's relative, and that's the principle. Steady pacing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

PR1Berske
Railway adjacent chat thread.
Replies
5
Views
462
PR1Berske
PR1Berske
Fez909
Cycling the C2C - logistics help
Replies
17
Views
631
Fez909
Fez909
TopCat
Brompton folding cycles
2 3
Replies
74
Views
2K
TopCat
TopCat
TopCat
Ceramic coatings for new cycle
Replies
3
Views
335
TopCat
TopCat
Maggot
Apps for cyclists
Replies
6
Views
470
Winot
Winot
Back
Top Bottom