The Cycling Thread

Well, quick update! Was looking again while in work and saw the Halfords bike sale finished Sunday and they were taking another 10% off. Cue the fastest C2W application ever and I ordered the Boardman 650b MTB.

Pick it up tomorrow, will take a couple of pics. Just so you can see how it looks in my lounge rather than the better pics from the website

[carelesschucca]

Fancy doing a bike share. You can use mine for road stuff and I'll use the Boardman for off road.

Yeah we could do a bike swap sometime, be like timeshare!

[carelesschucca]

Well, I've now done 50 miles in 6 rides (I was away to York for 3 days) but today I did 22.5 miles (says Mapmyfitness) along the local canal towpath to the Falkirk Wheel in 1hr 35mins. TBH, I had intended to go up Tak-Ma-Doon Road, but only got about 3/4 of a mile up it before I wimped out and decided to go for a flat route along to The Falkirk Wheel.

The main thing for me is I'm really enjoying it, yes my legs are a little sore right now, but I feel great.

BIG THANKS to Richard (Maviczap) for the advice you've been giving

[maviczap]

That's good Dean, its great i can help folk out, that's why cyclists are mostly a nice bunch of folk, theres a few twonks about.

[maviczap]

Originally Posted by pookie

The disc brakes are good and extra width tyres ok for trails so maybe in between. More road than offroad.. dont get me started on gravel bikes

Did someone say 'Gravel Bike'

IMAG0212 by maviczap, on Flickr

Here's mine, which was built up using an old MTB frame I had bought, but never used. The only brand new parts were the forks & wheels.

Everything else was 2nd hand off Ebay or Bike Radar, or from the parts bin

The 700c rear wheel has plenty of clearance, even though the frame was bought years ago, it had disc tabs already.

I rode it on & off road, more so than my MTB

[carelesschucca]

That looks nice, can you deliver it to Kilsyth, Scotlandshire please.

[maviczap]

Sure can

[pookie]

very nice .. do i really need a road bike with disc brakes? . oh yes please.
Having ridden though the local ghetto in the middle of the night, it has reignited my desire for more trail riding.
A fast ride being chased by the local scrotes does add a tinge of excitement.

A few months ago I got a 2014 model Bianchi Impulso. It's at the lower end of their road range with an 6061 frame and partial Ultegra group set which because of the clearance price I didn't feel bad about making it the full Ultegra groupset with brakes and cranks from the UK. Wheels are Ultegra 6800 with Conti GP4000S2s and 50g tubes (they roll much nicer and are tougher than the OE Hutchinsons) after the front wheel was damaged by a flat during my first 70kph decent. The original RS10 rear is used on the trainer. I also picked up an Edge 500 kit with HRM/Sp/Cad sensors for $200 (GBP120-ish).

This is the 2015 model. Mine's silver and the group differs slightly from the 2014.
http://www.bianchi.com/au/bikes/bike...DMaster=195572

It's not the lightest or best bike around and I'm not a gear snob but I do like something decent.
For me it is about staying fit and weekend social rides which sometimes get competitive enough for me to wonder where the line is now. I manage to get out on the road 3 or 4 times a week (an hour on the trainer on the days I don't) and have a 15km climb in my 70km route which I get over okay now that I am finding my road legs again.

I'm not into lycra, signage or walking around with my toes in the air when I get off the bike either. Mountain shorts and a tee plus a mid-range pair of Shimano mountain shoes does the job. Phone and plastic goes under the seat.

This my first road bike in a long time and have only ridden mountain bikes (because of where I lived which also took me away from racing) since the mid 90s and I'm really enjoying riding on the road again.