Bicyclist thread

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Rich B
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Bicyclist thread

Post by Rich B »

All things bike related!

I’ve only ridden twice this year due to many factors (well weather and a baby), so I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for a while. Off to Bike Park Wales on Sunday where they’ve just opened a load of new trails. The last time I went there I had a 9 inch dildo taped to my helmet and fairy wings (my stag do) so this time I thought I’d splurge out on some new stuff so I’ll look good (even though my riding will be shit!)

Fox Proframe helmet
Fox Main goggles (well I couldn’t possibly use my gloss black Oakleys with a Matt black helmet!)
GoPro session 5 (bargain £129 from Argos!)

Image

Impressed so far with how ventilated the lid is for a full face - bloody light too. As for the GoPro, it’s a lifetime ahead of my old Hero - loads easier to use.

Anyone else off anywhere good or got any new kit?
DaveE
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by DaveE »

I bought a packet of Leeches the other day

does that count? ;)
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dinny_g
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by dinny_g »

Apart from a decent service late last year, I haven't spend a penny on bike gear in ages.

As an aside, this article in the Guardian appealed to the bike geek in me...

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... ed-cycling
JLv3.0 wrote: Thu Jun 21, 2018 4:26 pm I say this rarely Dave, but listen to Dinny because he's right.
Rich B wrote: Thu Jun 02, 2022 1:57 pm but Dinny was right…
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mik
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by mik »

I read an old review of my road bike (2013 Moser Speed - nothing fancy) and it mentioned how thin the oem bar tape was. I always wear gloves, but often get tingly-hands due to the vibration. The review said "buy this bike, but put better bar tape on".

So that what i did. Gel stuff. Great upgrade 😎
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ZedLeg
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by ZedLeg »

I've not ridden much for the last year.

Treated myself to a new Santa Cruz Chameleon at the end of last year, my first proper MTB was a 98 Chameleon and I've always had a soft spot for them. Wasting it's potential hacking around town on it just now. I take it down sets of stairs if no one's looking though :lol:.

Thinking of getting rid of my old Orange 322 this year and getting something a bit more general use. I never do the type of riding that it's really built for anymore.
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Rich B
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by Rich B »

Deraillieurs just seem so ridiculous in this day and age. The idea of just yanking a chain to the side to drag it onto another cog just seems so old fashioned and imprecise. Amazing that it is still the most practical solution!

I love Santa Cruz bikes - I thought long and hard about getting a Nomad, but I just couldn’t see past the YT Capra Carbon for the same spec and about £2k less.
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NotoriousREV
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by NotoriousREV »

My eldest's school bus takes him past a Santa Cruz dealer every day, he says it's like torture. I bought him a 2017 Cube Acid in Blue/Orange for Christmas which he's enjoyed round Llandegla a few times but I'm not spending a few grand on him, he's only 13.
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ZedLeg
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by ZedLeg »

Aye, I built my first over about a year of working weekends and holidays. Bought the frame & forks then stripped stuff off of my old bitsa to get it rolling and collected the nice new bits when I had the money. Probably ended up being well into four figures even doing it that way.

I've been hiding the receipts for the stuff I bought for my new one :lol:.
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simon_g
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by simon_g »

Rich B wrote: Thu Jun 07, 2018 12:10 pm Deraillieurs just seem so ridiculous in this day and age. The idea of just yanking a chain to the side to drag it onto another cog just seems so old fashioned and imprecise. Amazing that it is still the most practical solution!
I picked up an old Charge Mixer 8 with an Alfine hub as my "nipping into town" bike. Works nicely but a bit heavy to use on a MTB. Been watching what Pinion are up to with their gearboxes, that seems like a really neat way to keep mass central and low and seal all the bits away.

Only MTB currently is the Cannondale Trigger I've had for a couple of years - also limited by kids so mostly just get to BPW (and usually a morning at Cwmcarn) a couple of times a year but trying to get out with the local club for weekly night rides too.
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Rich B
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by Rich B »

Yeah, night rides are great fun - we used to do them every Thursday. I definitely need to get back into that.
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JLv3.0
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by JLv3.0 »

Bike lighting is phenomenal nowadays. I had, on the recommendation of Mr Ferret, an Exposure on the mountain bike a few years back. Great device and still going strong. Cost a fortune, mind.

I've got two 860 lumens on the road bike - it's like daylight. I could really see that gazelle wipe me the fuck out back in 2016!

Back in the day it was BLT and Nightsun doing the do - nice but crazy money. I had RFD Starlites off a mate for 70 quid - plenty bright but rubbish runtime on halogens.
Last edited by JLv3.0 on Thu Jun 07, 2018 4:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Rich B
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by Rich B »

Yeah, I have a relatively new light that cost about £30 and a posh one that cost about £90 10 years ago. The cheap one is about 4x as bright!
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ste
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by ste »

Had a bit of a fleet swap-about over the spring, sold a few things and bought some new frames to build up.

I wanted a new 'winter' road bike, so sold my Trek 1.7 and bought a used Cannondale CAAD12 Disc in fluoro yellow. Unfortunately I wrote the frame off after just 1 ride. I ended up buying a brand new frame from Cannondale, in metallic sparkly purple and doing a new build with that. Pics don't do the colour justice, the paint is amazing in the metal. It's a pretty standard Ultegra build, has some really heavy duty (and quite heavy) CX wheels, 27mm pave tyres and a few nice bits and pieces like carbon look Keos, carbon Fizik etc. It's quite a heavy old girl though at 8.16kg, but with the discs etc it's a nice place to knock out winter miles.

Image

My 'best bike' was a '13 Cannondale Supersix Evo 'Red'...

Image

...I'd slowly upgraded it so that pretty much everything but the frame had been changed. I loved the colourscheme of the frame, it was a matt charcoal and black with some red highlights, but grew to not like the red parts. I considered getting it painted, but then thought it would be cheaper to just get a different frame. To that end i saw a Supersix Evo Black Inc.frame for sale. This is the flagship Cannondale roadbike frame made from nano-tech carbon. The frame is 706g, fork 285g so the whole frameset is <1kg @ 991g. To buy one, you need to buy the bike it's attached to which is >£10k. I made a very cheeky offer on an unmarked, boxed one with warranty card and had it accepted. I then built it up with the parts I'd fitted to my Supersix Evo and then sold that frame... for more than I'd bought the Black Inc for. :o

Build is mechanical SRAM Red, Enve 45 tubs with Continnetal Pros, Berk Lupina, Hollowgram, carbon Keo Blades with Ti axles, 3T Ltd bits and basically loads of detail scrutiny to trim grams here and there. UCI minimum weight for a pro bike is 6.8kg. This is 5.69kg.

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I must get a better photo, as that one's crap. It's quite difficult to photo a matt black thing though.

Had a mountain bike swap around and cull. At the moment I just have a hardtail; a 2017 Whyte 905 to be precise. It's pretty much as it left the factory and is great at doing what it does.

Image

...and that's it at the moment other than my BMX.
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JLv3.0
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by JLv3.0 »



Very good for not much cash. But it's probably moved on even since then.
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JLv3.0
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by JLv3.0 »

8 kgs isn't heavy Ste 😂
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mik
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by mik »

JLv3.0 wrote: Thu Jun 07, 2018 4:26 pm 8 kgs isn't heavy Ste 😂
That :D - just checked - mine is 9.4kg (spec on tinternet) but then it is a £500 bike with an alu frame and I am not trying to win any races on it.
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ste
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by ste »

The CAAD12 is also aluminium. The CAAD's whole raison d'etre is to be the best alu road bike. Loads of crit racers use CAAD10s and CAAD12s (usually, the lighter rim-brake ones though). Mine's the disc version, because winter bike, and disc road bikes are heavier. As I say, it's also got bulletproof CX wheels on it. It only really feels heavy because the other bike is so stupidly light.
simon_g
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by simon_g »

:lol: my "road bike" is a Cotic Escapade. Steel, Sora kit, cable discs, 37mm tyres. Pretty sure it was over 10kg when I got it and that was before I put proper mudguards on.

Exposure are ace. Treated myself to a Maxx-D back in the winter and it's still a novelty that I can run it plenty bright enough and get 6+ hours out of it. My ancient Joystick is still going strong as a helmet light.
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ste
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by ste »

+1 for Exposure. I use a Diablo on the road bike on a combined Garmin mount. Trek Flare rear (which is fantastic).

Image

Offroad i have some Chinese Crees that seem great, but tend to die at around 12 months. For the £20 they cost i can live with that though.
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ste
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Re: Bicyclist thread

Post by ste »

Buildthread for the Evo if anyone's interested: https://weightweenies.starbike.com/foru ... 0&t=125933

...and generally, if anyone wants a laugh have a look around the 'introduce yourself' forum on there. The people on that forum make my OCD and weighing stuff look like I'm the most slapdash, can't be arsed bastard on the planet. Some of the bikes on there too. :shock:
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