I want to buy a road bike

[Toro Toro]

I want to buy a road bike

I'm signed up for it, currently waiting on various neighbours and friends from home to run the proposals past their WAGs.

[Hot Orange]

I want to buy a road bike

Gosh, I got properly wet this morning. It was great.

[VTTBoscombe]

I want to buy a road bike

Well dice is thrown, Mégève here I come.

[VTTBoscombe]

I want to buy a road bike

Hot Orange wrote: Gosh, I got properly wet this morning. It was great.

Its thick fog here in the morning - I hate that, and wet leaves, not keen on that either - but no rain , I like that.

[Felicity, I guess so]

I want to buy a road bike

Ms Felicity has finally acquired a road bike from the wonderful people at Recyke y'Bike. She is petite, so it's taken a long time, lots of ebay watching on my part etc. - there seem to be lots of tall women out there, selling their bikes.

A Specialized Dolce Elite 46cm. Can't work out the year, the colour claims to be 'Cobalt' and it has Tiagra/105 mix components, 18-speed, carbon forks and stays.

Can't find any pics that look like it, nor did they/have we identified the year.

Shame it arrives in the dreichest part of the year, but perhaps I'll get her out on it some bright and crisp weekend before the year's out.

[Kevin S]

I want to buy a road bike

My boy is getting his first pedal bike for his fifth birthday very soon, and he's going to get the Team Sky edition Frog 48 bike:


It does come in plain colours too, but in the end we ruled them all out in the following way:

Purple - he didn't want it
Polka dot - he said it was a girl's bike
Pink - ditto
Orange - his favourite colour! We made sure he didn't see any of those. Reason being we want something that we can hand down to little sis' in a few years and orange just wouldn't work
Red - boring, as it's the same as his balance bike

For some bizarre reason they don't do plain blue or green, either of which would have been fine.

So, he's getting the Team Sky. Which I'm quite pleased about, because it'll mean he'll get even more excited about the bike racing coming on the telly next year. He's already asked me when it'll be back on, in fact. There's plenty of time for him to sort out allegiances when he's older.

[Kevin S]

I want to buy a road bike

Meanwhile I've given up Strava-ing my rides to the station and back for the winter. This wind we've had round here is hellish and pretty demoralising, so I'd rather not know my times...

[Toro Toro]

I want to buy a road bike

Awesome!

(about the bike, obvs, not about the weather and times...)

[San Bernardhinault]

I want to buy a road bike

This has to be one of the most baffling articles I've read recently.

It starts of by telling us that it's safer to ride a bit faster, be less wobbly, be more confident, hold your line, ride like you're a normal road user.

It then tells us that cyclists are arseholes for riding faster and more confidently and should plod along slowly and wobbly, like they do in Amsterdam. (While conveniently forgetting that in Amsterdam there's a whole load of good infrastructure for riding in a slow, wobbly manner; and that pedestrians in the Netherlands are generally more aware of cyclists than the pedestrians in London).

[matt j]

I want to buy a road bike

Missed Kev's excellent parenting skills a few posts back. Well done.

[Kevin S]

I want to buy a road bike

Mumpo wrote: Oh yeah, the other thing I wanted to mention. Where can I get a good plain short-sleeved cycling jersey? Wiggle and the LBS are good for Altura, Endura and all the other big brands, Specialized etc, but I want something understated and a bit more classy. In black or white, ideally with red trim.

Long time passed since this post Mumpo but I wanted an excuse to mention that there are some good sale prices on clothing at the moment.

Including, for example, some Castelli loveliness at Wheelies, like this, with £30 off.

[Kevin S]

I want to buy a road bike

matt j wrote: Missed Kev's excellent parenting skills a few posts back. Well done.

Ah, thanks matt! Now I actually need to take him out on it - hopefully this weekend. Haven't put the pedals on it yet as he is still keen to use it as a scooting/balance bike for now, but the addition of brakes (and proper V-brakes at that) is pretty crucial now he has a taste for freewheeling down slopes.

The assembly requirements were straightforward until we got to the mudguards, which required deflating the tyres, bending the metal fixing brackets so that they didn't just gouge off the frame's paintwork (though, pleasingly, touch up paint comes with it), ignoring the washer, and using two pairs of hands - one to hold the frame and push the bolt as far through as it could be forced, the other to turn the nut on and hope that this time it bloody well bites on the thread.

We decided it was worth spending a bit more and getting a decent aluminium frame. It's so much lighter than other kids' bikes that it's bound to be nicer to ride. And it shouldn't rust, which will make it possible to hand it down to his sister.

Here's a group test of children's bikes in the Graun, which gives an idea of the different priorities the children and their parents might have in buying a bike :-)

[Felicity, I guess so]

I want to buy a road bike

Speaking of getting loved ones out on new bikes...

Ms F's road bike has brakes (Shim 105s) that she finds so stiff/hard to reach & pull that she got finger ache very early on the short 10k tester we did on Boxing Day. She also got freaked out by the idea of having to brake, such that she walked down the 1st half-decent hill we came to.

I, probably patronisingly, suggested it was just a confidence/getting used to it thing, but when she tried mine (on the Orbea Orca, also Shimano, Tiagra) she found them much easier to reach/manipulate.

Is this a 'very tight, new brakes set up by bike shop' thing? Are they adjustable, both in terms of stiffness to pull and how far 'away' on the tops they are? Are 105s known for this? Does she have freakishly small hands? Would smaller bars/drops do the trick?

1st step is to go back to the 2nd hand dealers and ask them to adjust, I guess, but I wondered of anyone had thoughts on the issue? (maybe to prevent me looking daft asking those Qs in the shop!)

[San Bernardhinault]

I want to buy a road bike

I'd think stiffness was a function of newness - bike shops set up pads to be very close to the rims. But that should make it faster and easier to brake and much less work on the hands. Just worrying about skidding and going over the handlebars.

Try letting just a little slack into the cables? Otherwise, wait for other people who are wiser about these things than me.

[Mumpo]

I want to buy a road bike

Leggings are for wimps. Leggings are for wimps. Leggings are for wimps.

Silicon base layer, yes. Windproof, chillproof thermal jacket, yes. Neoprene gloves, of course. Three pairs of socks (soon to be upgraded to extreme weather overshoes), definitely.

But not leggings.

Leggings are for wimps.

[Mumpo]

I want to buy a road bike

Just starting to get some sensation back into my legs

[San Bernardhinault]

I want to buy a road bike

I've never worn leggings. Who would wear leggings? Only if it's below freezing would leggings begin to become acceptable.

[andrew7610]

I want to buy a road bike

I have a pair of thermal bib-tights - are these what you mean by leggings? They're full-length leg, and cover half way up the chest and most of my back, and are sensational when the weather is cold enough.

Although they're made by Nike, and have US Postal branding, so they're in a suitcase in the loft and will remain so whilst I now have some thermal 3/4's instead which are great when I need frozen but bright red shins/calves in the winter.

[Mumpo]

I want to buy a road bike

They're a pair of regular multi-sport base-layer leggings. Nice and comfy and very warm. I was coming at this more from a toughen the f*** up point of view. It's only been 5 or 6 degrees here lately and already most riders have got their legs covered.

[meregreen]

I want to buy a road bike

I've been wearing leggings type things for weeks now and it's not even cold in London. They're kind of full length bibs but without the bib bit, so they're probably leggings. I was told you should cover up your knees when it gets below 10 degrees or so - to avoid potential joint problems. Also, I can't bear the cold.

Went out with a friend on Sunday for the first proper ride in a couple of months. Was going well - despite the rain - until we came to a minor lake that had formed across the road. No way of walking around it so we decided to take our chances and ride through it and hope there were no potholes. I freewheeled for a while but the bike came to a halt which forced me to pedal but that meant both feet plunging into the icy depths and water pouring into my feet. The last 20 miles my feet were as cold as they have ever beenb. I genuinely thought I might have frostbite.

[MsD]

I want to buy a road bike

Just wear leggings, FFS.

[San Bernardhinault]

I want to buy a road bike

I'll admit that I come from a slightly skewed viewpoint - my recent Saturday rides start off with a fast downhill into a canyon at 7am, just after sunrise. Cold air drops into the canyons and lingers, and often there's a fairly deep frost until the sun hits it. But after 10 or 15 minutes, we're out of the canyon and into the sun on a 2 mile gentle climb. By the top of that it's often already 15C or warmer. So I really don't want to ride in anything I can't remove quickly. Which means I ride in a normal bib and shirt, but have arm warmers, and some full finger gloves which I swap for normal ones.

That said, my legs have never felt cold riding. My feet have been frozen to shit for hours and I've had to manipulate them blood back into them; my fingers have been so cold, even in real gloves, that it's a battle to brake or change gears. My ears have felt as if someone tapped them, they'd just shatter. But the legs? I've never felt that they're in need of extra warmth.

[Toro Toro]

I want to buy a road bike

Keep your knees warm, for the love of God, or you'll grind them to bits.

Nothing wrong with leggings/tights/knicks/kneewarmers in the slightest.

Felicity, I guess so wrote: Speaking of getting loved ones out on new bikes...

Ms F's road bike has brakes (Shim 105s) that she finds so stiff/hard to reach & pull that she got finger ache very early on the short 10k tester we did on Boxing Day. She also got freaked out by the idea of having to brake, such that she walked down the 1st half-decent hill we came to.

I, probably patronisingly, suggested it was just a confidence/getting used to it thing, but when she tried mine (on the Orbea Orca, also Shimano, Tiagra) she found them much easier to reach/manipulate.

Is this a 'very tight, new brakes set up by bike shop' thing? Are they adjustable, both in terms of stiffness to pull and how far 'away' on the tops they are? Are 105s known for this? Does she have freakishly small hands? Would smaller bars/drops do the trick?

1st step is to go back to the 2nd hand dealers and ask them to adjust, I guess, but I wondered of anyone had thoughts on the issue? (maybe to prevent me looking daft asking those Qs in the shop!)

So, I was going to post on this anonymously, but I can't get the alternative account approved. So I'll melt back into the night* after posting this.

It sounds like the problem is the size of Ms. F's hands. Smaller hands are actually the biggest women-specific bike-fit issue after saddles (which are personal anyway).

What will be happening is that at the point where power has to be put through the lever, they'll be too far from the bar to be comfortable for her fingers. The Tiagra is working better probably because the pads are further from the rims, so the levers are pulled further in before they engage and she has to apply force.

But that's a really bad solution; she loses power and modulation in her braking. In the wet it could get quite sketchy, in a way it really shouldn't with a 105 groupset (the top three Shimano gruppos have really excellent brakes in the current incarnation).

What you want is to get the levers closer to the bar. Women-specific bars might help, but there are easier ways. Some people but shims under the shifters to alter their angle to the bar, but Shimano also have a lever-stroke adjustment screw. If you search the Shimano site you should get the 105 manual which will tell you where it is; you can also on some models put wedges above the lever to alter the reach. You can then set up the pads close to the rims, while having the levers "pre-pulled" in.

Happy spinning.



*fantasy league

[Felicity, I guess so]

I want to buy a road bike

Hello Toro Toro
Thank you very much for your info about my problem with the brakes on my new bike. I will need some time to work it all out but that's fine as I am a bit of a fair-weather cyclist anyway.
Ms Felicity x

[Mumpo]

I want to buy a road bike

Upgraded some of my Sora components to Ultegra over the weekend.

OK, it was only a rear brake shoe set. So it was like buying a really expensive pair of bootlaces. But ULTEGRA, yeah?

Anyway. Ironically, given the recently announced sitcom revival, what can I do about cold feet? Or to be more specific, cold and wet feet? I bought a pair of Endura neoprene overshoes recently and wore them for the first time on Saturday for a ninety-minute ride in medium-heavy rain. Now I’ve read up plenty on overshoes and so didn’t expect my feet to stay bone dry, but by the time I got home they were soaking. Less than if I hadn’t worn the overshoes, but still. And not wet and warm, in the way your hands are if you wear neoprene gloves in wet conditions – wet and cold. I would say 75% of the water had got in through the sole, with another 25% (ballpark figure) seeping down the ankle. This was disappointing, as the point of the overshoes was to keep my feet tolerably warm on three or four hour rides.

I sought the advice of my friendly LBS. The chap there had a few suggestions. First, that I should consider investing thirty quid in a pair of Sealskinz water-resistant socks. He told me I could stand in a bucket of water wearing just these and my feel wouldn’t get wet. The only downside was that they weren’t breathable, so sweatiness could ensue. However I was prepared to overlook this drawback, as they seemed ideal otherwise. But thirty quid, on a pair of socks? I asked him if there was a more economical way to keep my feet dry.

His next suggestion was to gaffer tape up all the vents in my cycling shoes, which seemed sensible - so much so that I have invested in some industrial strength, waterproof duct tape and will deploy it in this manner before my next ride. His final idea seemed a little more unconventional. Many cyclists, he told me, after putting on their socks wrap their toes in tinfoil before putting on their shoes. I could see the possible merit of this but at the same time I wasn’t entirely sure he wasn’t trying to prank me.

So there we go, these are the options open to me. I will admit that the water-resistant socks are sorely tempting, even with the hefty price tag. Anybody worn a pair? Are they really a guarantee of warm and dry (though admittedly sweaty) feet?

Or should I just invest in some Bacofoil?