Cycling (non motorised bikes :-) Advice on kit

[fizzwheel]

Shop around when buying a bike, you can save big money by buying last years model etc etc.

I bought this a couple of months ago



Carbon Forks, and rear seat stays,
Alloy Frame
Full Shimano 105 groupset
20 speed

I got a bargain it was £849 instead of £1200 shop had bought a bulk load of frames and were doing a good deal on them

Can't resist putting in my 2 cents. Good for you for getting on the pedal bike. Nobody starts out being serious about cycling. But then you do a few 50k rides then a 100k then a 100 mi. Then you start seeing how fast you can do it, how steep a grade you can climb and how strong and fit you feel. Then you are serious.

In this part of California cycling is a religion. I commute 12 miles each way to work, 3 days a week and then do long rides (50-100 miles) on the weekend. In my experience the most important factor for a great ride is a good strong tailwind.

My longest ride has been a 200 miler, the Davis Double Century, that took me 20+ hours. The most important items of equipment on that ride were the saddle, a Brooks leather professional, and the shorts. The padded bib shorts are far superior for the reasons mentioned in other posts. The shape and quality of the chamois pad is important. Use petroleum jelly on the parts of your anatomy that are in contact with the saddle. The pros grease their chamois as well. The saddle needs to be narrow and fairly hard, if you haven't already figured that out.

I got the impression that you weren't impressed with the importance of a helmet.

(Lid - If I wanted to wear one I've got a Bell already (not as nice as that one). Probably bad form not to wear a lid but ho-hum. Like I say right now I'd just like to reduce the obsticles to riding and comfort is the biggy.)

Out here we regard helmetless riders as objects of ridicule and nobody rides a sanctioned ride without one. Especially not the pros. Head + pavement = helicopter to the hospital. I've seen a lot of crashes and the head almost always hits the ground.

Shoes and pedals really add to the pleasure and efficiency of cycling. Consider MTB pedals for the first go'round. That way when the 4 mile 8% grade you've been grinding up pitches up to 10 or 12% for the last 1/2 mile you can walk it to the top. I use them on my $2500 road bike for just that reason. And make sure you can unclip them quickly before you get on the bike for the first time or you'll come to a stop and not be able to get a foot down and end up with new scars. Actually just about everybody I ride with, myself included, has a story (usually embarassing) and a scar from the first (and usually the last) time they failed to unclip and fell over at zero mph.

And dude- never wear cotton! Especially when it's cold and wet (U.K.folks do get a lot of that, don't you?). An old wool sweater under your poly-whatever jersey will keep you warm on the coldest days. And you get humidity in the summer over there so cotton is really un-cool. On a long ride the only cotton I have is a bandana.

Good luck and have fun.

Oh yeah, if you are clocking miles you should get a of pairs of proper shorts and a jersey. I found a long sleeve one that zips all the way down, with a short sleeve under was agreeable for most rides.
For some reason I had a thing about Alexa gear. Not really sure why. It is all made of much the same stuff despite what the labels vigorously tell you.
I worked in a shop, so I basically just took the manky coloured stuff that no one wanted, when I wasnt wearing team gear.

I never actually bothered with a real chamois. I am sure they are lovely. I was doing about 80-120 miles a day, and working nights in a kitchen. I just couldn't be bothered looking after gear any more than stripping off and chucking it into the machine, into shower, shave legs, unconscious nap, work, sleep, bike, repeat.
I never had any problems with me ar5e though, so... I suppose if it had been an issue I might have changed my tune.

I suppose the stuff is expensive though. I mean... I seemed to just acquire things, and over time end up with a fair amount of kit. If you can cycle into work, and I do, then you can play with numbers and divide the cost of the commute into the bike stuff. Rationalise it that way.

Good luck. Watch out for those muppets on motorbikes though. Jaysus.

Update:
Bought myself some bib shorts, short finger gloves (with bit of padding) and a long sleeve base layer top thing. Didn't spend a lot but hope it's better than nothing. Stuff was at least reviewed as ok, if budget.
This all after doing the London-Brighton on Sunday (which I meant to buy it to use on) so I've not tested it yet. the L-B was interesting though, I did it pretty much non stop and it had a bugger of a climb near the end. Will be doing more rides I think, though not sure I'll do any training miles.