Numpty IM Bike Thread

I've gone over to 50/36 compact mainly for when I rode the Marmotte event in the Alps and the 36 was just that little bit more useful than a 39  - while the 50 big ring is still big enough paired with a 12 up cassette.   That said people that really hammer down 50mph descents would find a 53*11 useful - I tend to stop pedalling and start praying once I get to mid 40s.    

Because my compact is Campag Record and it replaced a Centaur double I've just left it on and use a 12-23 for racing/everyday riding and then stick a bigger cassette on if I'm going to the Alps or I suppose I'd do the same for the Lakes, Dales etc.

I've got a double on the winter bike though and it's fine in the Peak District - I think with 10 and 11 speed now you get such a range at the back that apart from real extreme climbs or descents a compact OR a double can give you all the range you need - certainly for the Outlaw you could probably do it on a single ring - maybe even a single gear !  

popsider wrote (see)

Next year I'm going to ride the Outlaw on a singlespeed.

TheEngineer wrote (see)

fat buddha wrote (see)

"Better to have the choice for going back up the other side..."

that's called a triple.......

 

Only if you're not ashamed of using the granny gear. Otherwise it's a poorly spread compromise between a double and a compact!

Rule 47

not ashamed to use granny - it often gets my bulk up a hill quicker than some fool grinding to a stuttering halt on a double...anyway - rules are there to be broken.....

whats with all the 23' tyres. my racer has 19's on it. i thought 23's were for cyclo-cross and mtb'rs?

so much of this bike stuff is effective at the 1% for athelets and effective on the bottom line for the vendor when the mislead masses get on board.

...if your already fast enough for a disc wheel - you have a sponsor ready to supply one free.....

I would suggest that this is the gearing for Outlaw - http://www.sram.com/sram/mountain/family/xx1

OK it's MTB specific but one ring up front and 11 at the back - get the ratios sorted and you'd just have one change to worry about.  or maybe a 3 speed Sturmey Archer??  I did the last 30 miles or so of Outlaw with 3 gears as my rear shifter stopped working - all I had was the front 3 rings to change with.  it didn't bother me that much as I still came in in 6hrs after a few stops to try to fix the problem.

SL - methinks you mean mm, not feet!  

19mm are usually tubs, 23mm are usually clinchers (extra width for the tubes I think)

CX and MTB tyres are usually clinchers and wider still - 32/35mm for CX and MTB gets measured in inches oddly - 1.9 is usually the thinnest but many run 2.1/2.3 these days

I started off with 19mm tubulars and a 53*42 7 speed and (I think )  a 13-19 straight through screw on block.   This wasn't 30 years ago either - more like 10 - the bike was older though - nice steel 24" Mercian in 531c  - it seemed fine at the time.   

Pops I've got a mid to late 80's Billy Whitcomb built Soens 531c frame that upto 2001 had taken me to a 22.29 10 and a 58.30ish 25 and doubled up for road racing by taking the clip on aero bars off!! It's a classic frame probably as your is and one day I'll take it off the turbo ( thats all it does now ) and have it sprayed up nice and get the chroming re-done and try and get it back into it's real era. Never gone wrong though.

popsider wrote (see)

I started off with 19mm tubulars and a 53*42 7 speed and (I think )  a 13-19 straight through screw on block.   This wasn't 30 years ago either - more like 10 - the bike was older though - nice steel 24" Mercian in 531c  - it seemed fine at the time.   

My road bike came with similar gearing on a 7 speed block. Only the frame is left now from the £65 ebay purchase.

IronCat5 in the Hat wrote (see)

My road bike came with similar gearing on a 7 speed block. Only the frame is left now from the £65 ebay purchase.

Did everything else break?

Thought I'd bring back this old thread rather than starting new one.

So I've entered Challange Henley and I don't have a bike. I've been to a couple of local bike shops and am now a little confusion. One shop put me on a trek 2.1 60cm frame another 58cm Specalized allez and the other M/L Giant Defy (but thought maybe a L might be ok too). I'm 185cm tall, inside leg 89cm and 182cm finger tip to finger tip. Are the sizes significantly different for different brands? Given the amount of adjustment on seat hight and postion and adjustments to stem and handle bars could 2 fitters offer 2 different sizes but achive the same postion/fit?

Once I understand which frame size I need my plan was to buy second hand at a defy 2 type price point I should be able to save £250-300 of which I then spend £100 to get a proper fitting. Does this make sense?

185cm is what, 6'1 ?    You are probably looking at an effective top tube length of maybe 57cm or a touch more - your proportions, flexibility, personal preferences will all play a part.      

Yes you can achieve effectively the same fit on different sized bikes - the contact points are bars, saddle, pedals and while the pedals are fixed (crank length apart) bars and saddle have scope for adjustment.   I don't see the point in going round bike shops to get an idea of the right size bike - you have probably got as accurate an estimate of the size you need off me as you'll get in your average bike shop.   

I've never bothered paying for a bike fit and certainly for a road bike I don't see the need - but if you are going to shell out £100 then do that before you buy the bike and it might save you money having to buy a new stem, seatpost etc to make a wrong sized bike fit.   Also some bikes may just not have a good geometry for you whatever you do to them.  Giant Defys have a fairly tall front end but not too excessive - so long as you don't want to go super low and aren't looking to fit tri bars in the future I'd have thought the large with maybe a 10-11cm stem is more likely than the M/L but as I say impossible to be sure without seeing you on it.

differnt brands will have slightly different sizing methods depending on the bike's geometries.  so a 60cm in one could mean a 58cm in another or a M/L in another - and at the end of the day, they're all approximate.  unless you have a custom made frame that's built to your dimensions, it has to be a compromise.  it does sound as if the bikes shops are offering you roughly similar frames for your build so fear not!

by playing around with things like stem length, saddle position, crank lengths, seatpost height, headset spacers you can get a fit that will be almost like a custom build. and your personal riding style will also vary those setups.  a bike fitting will be worth paying for to get the set up tuned once you've bought the bike and done some riding on it to give the fitter some feedback.

and it's worth getting the right fit as a bad fit will just cause problems.

so your last paragraph makes definite sense

Fat Buddha - Thanks for the feed back, I feel a bit more confident now to go and buy something. Everyone says fit is everything but as I haven't ridden a bike for than 10 miles in one go before I'm not sure how it should feel.

Is it right that having aerobars and a position better suited to running after the ride that you should go for the slightly smaller frame if you are in between 2 sizes?

Also are mud gaurds worth lifting for training? Do you get enough spray to warrant them?

If you plan on riding through the winter then mudguards are a godsend (other deities are available). Long rides with wet shorts are not fun. Guards can also protect the bike from road crap.

ST - don't overanalyze your bike position at this stage - just get a bike and get riding.  you'll get more benefit from that than worrying if your elbow and knee angles are right for running off the bike.   aerobars are good as they do bring time improvements but then do so many other things like deep rim wheels, being slim and light, having a cock helmet etc.

get the engine working and trained to be comfortable on a bike over a long distance before worrying about the cockpit position

and guards can be helpful as Cat5 says - but not absolutley essential (unless pack riding).  I rode all last winter without - but then I didn't often go out when it was shitty and stuck to the turbo or MTB

fat buddha wrote (see)

ST - don't overanalyze your bike position at this stage - just get a bike and get riding.  you'll get more benefit from that than worrying if your elbow and knee angles are right for running off the bike.   aerobars are good as they do bring time improvements but then do so many other things like deep rim wheels, being slim and light, having a cock helmet etc.

get the engine working and trained to be comfortable on a bike over a long distance before worrying about the cockpit position

and guards can be helpful as Cat5 says - but not absolutley essential (unless pack riding).  I rode all last winter without - but then I didn't often go out when it was shitty and stuck to the turbo or MTB

I've got a cock and a helmet... does that make me fast?

nope - it makes you a cock with a helmet