• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Bicycle age

T

teepo

Member
Psychotext said:
Nothing to stop you smushing him up the climbs though (nothing says you can't add more power for that power to weight ratio).

I'm definitely built like a climber (about 15lbs lighter than you at the same height)... but thanks to the weights I can sprint too.
Click to expand...

according to veloviewer, i'm in the 95th percentile for a lot of the tougher climbs in the dc area -- which isn't saying much -- so i must be doing something right.

however i never mash up mountains since i rather enjoy the climb and i tend to ride for at least 40 miles whenever i make the trek out to where they are. the idea of being bonked an hour away from home by car is somewhat nerving.
 
M

Mascot

Member
frontieruk said:
Crack and hookers? That's what you MTB'ers do when not putting your bodies on the line right?
Click to expand...

Crack is soooo 1990s. We shredders have moved on to methadone now, or as we like to call it, I Can't believe It's Not Heroin.

:p

Crack and hookers sounds good but I was bingeing Stranger Things and kept just-one-more-episoding it. It's probably more addictive that crack.

Heading off to Swinley Forest this weekend for a couple of days of biking. Anyone here been? It looks bloody good.

Epic TV: Swinley Forest Is the MTB Capital of Southern England | United Kingdom of Dirt, Ep. 1
 
M

Mascot

Member
OK, I'm in the market for a new mechanic's stand as my wall-mounted one is in full-time use as a hanging device. Any recommendations for freestanding ones based on personal experience? I know the Lidl and Aldi ones are decent for occasional use at around £30 each on the blue moons when they are in stock. I don't really want to spend £90+ on something more suited to full-time workshop use.

Amazon has stands that look nigh-on identical to the Lidl/Aldi ones for similar money, eg.

this one and this one both with pretty good reviews.

81zxhYbVkFL._SL1500_.jpg
Click to expand...

812G7dOtlBL._SL1500_.jpg
Click to expand...

I think ideally I'd have one with flat legs for easier close-up access, but either of these could be OK.

Thoughts, considerations, recommendations, warnings?
 
D

danowat

Banned
Mine is a Lidl (or Aldi, I never know which one I am in) one, and (pretty much) identical to the second picture.

It does everything I need, can't think of anything much to say about it, it works, it doesn't fall over, it folds up (fairly) flat.
 
P

Psychotext

Member
Don't buy the first one, I left a review for it... it basically doesn't have the clamping strength to hold even my XC MTB, let alone a proper full suss. Complete waste of time.
 
S

-SG

Member
Any notable differences (besides weight) between the 105 5800 and Ultegra 6800 shifters? A co-worker of mine is selling a pair for pretty cheap, but I'm thinking it might be money better spent elsewhere.
 
D

danowat

Banned
-SG said:
Any notable differences (besides weight) between the 105 5800 and Ultegra 6800 shifters? A co-worker of mine is selling a pair for pretty cheap, but I'm thinking it might be money better spent elsewhere.
Click to expand...

Mainly kudos ;)

IMO, anything over 105 is a waste of money IMO
 
S

-SG

Member
TarpitCarnivore said:
What's cheap? And do you absolutely need new shifters?
Click to expand...

$150 CAD. And no, I do not even come close to needing new shifters :). But that's not to say I'm opposed to upgrading for cheap and selling my current set. I don't think it's worth it just for the marginal upgrade in bling factor though.
 
S

Schadenfreude

Member
So Bike-GAF, I just joined you yesterday. Bought myself a bike but one of the tubes in the back wheel is busted. I went to the store and bought a replacement tube and some tools. Still need to buy the bike pump before even attempting to replace it but i'm scared as shit. How easy is it to fuck up the replacement process? I've been looking stuff up online about it and honestly i feel a bit overwhelmed. Help me, BikeGAF, you're my only hope.
 
P

Psychotext

Member
At worst you might pinch the tube and end up having to patch it.

There are about a million videos on youtube on changing a tube, so pick your favourite and follow the steps.

Is not like when I was a kid and we had to work out how to undo the wheel with spanners then take the tyre off with spoons (inevitably trapping skin in the process). :)
 
D

Darth Pinche

Member
Don't forget to find the cause of the flat. Once you get the tire and tube off, gently feel the inside of he tire to see if there is a thorn or something poking through.
 
S

Schadenfreude

Member
Psychotext said:
At worst you might pinch the tube and end up having to patch it.

There are about a million videos on youtube on changing a tube, so pick your favourite and follow the steps.

Is not like when I was a kid and we had to work out how to undo the wheel with spanners then take the tyre off with spoons (inevitably trapping skin in the process). :)
Click to expand...

Darth Pinche said:
Don't forget to find the cause of the flat. Once you get the tire and tube off, gently feel the inside of he tire to see if there is a thorn or something poking through.
Click to expand...
Thanks guys! I'm gonna do that. Another question: when buying a tire pump, as long as the max PSI on the pump exceeds the one my tires can handle am I okay? Or can that be bad as well? Like the wheels i'm using only go from 50 to 75 PSI. If I get a bike pump that does 100 PSI will that be okay?
 
D

Darth Pinche

Member
Totally fine. You need a high pressure pump for a road race bike or something like that. Just for reference, the tires usually list the max pressure and is not what you would usually use. But I'm a kooky mountain biker who runs 22 psi on my monster truck tires.
 
D

danowat

Banned
Schadenfreude said:
Thanks guys! I'm gonna do that. Another question: when buying a tire pump, as long as the max PSI on the pump exceeds the one my tires can handle am I okay? Or can that be bad as well? Like the wheels i'm using only go from 50 to 75 PSI. If I get a bike pump that does 100 PSI will that be okay?
Click to expand...
Depends on the size of the tyre, thinner tyres generally take more pressure, some of my race tyres take over 200psi.

Also, don't fall into the trap that many people do of just pumping the tyre up to max pressure thinking it will make the bike quicker, this is just how much the tyre can stand, the pressure you need will depend on your weight and road conditions to much pressure can actually increase rolling resistance and make it slower, I rarely use more than 120psi in race tyres and rarely more than 100psi in road tyres.
 
C

chifanpoe

Member
Tire Pressure has so many factors. Type of tire, size of tire, inner rim width, rider weight, terrain you are riding on, and temperature outside. Then throw in tube or tubeless to the mix as well.

On my MTB I run 23psi up front and 26psi in the rear for rock/root areas and 30/32 for the fast hard stuff both tubeless. Road bike I am in the 88-103 depending on tires, tubed.

I weight about 163lbs, little more with gear on for reference.
 
S

-SG

Member
teepo said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqfKKV5eUIc

zwift added a london course
Click to expand...

Speaking of Zwift, maybe someone here could help me. I've never tried setting it up, but I have a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine with the inRide Power Meter thing as well as a Garmin Edge 520 with speed & cadence sensors. I'm told you can set it up either through inRide or through the Garmin + sensors, but is there any benefit to choosing one over the other? I have no idea how this shit works.
 
R

RSTEIN

Comics, serious business!
Encountered a new trail obstacle last night: Pokeman Go players. A trail I often take goes through a pretty big park here. Haven't ridden it since Go launched last week in Canada. There were--not exaggerating--500 to 1000 kids in the park. Couldn't take the trail, had to maneuver around them on the grass.
 
S

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
Orcas Island leanage above Deer Harbor. Morning got off to an inglorious start when a Billy goat rammed me and, clipped in, I smashed my elbow pretty hard at zero miles per hour.


NJMBH0i.jpg
 
M

Mascot

Member
RSTEIN said:
Encountered a new trail obstacle last night: Pokeman Go players. A trail I often take goes through a pretty big park here. Haven't ridden it since Go launched last week in Canada. There were--not exaggerating--500 to 1000 kids in the park. Couldn't take the trail, had to maneuver around them on the grass.
Click to expand...
Similar thing happened to me last week. Not seen any of them since. Maybe they are all at home, masturbating.
 
T

TarpitCarnivore

Member
-SG said:
Speaking of Zwift, maybe someone here could help me. I've never tried setting it up, but I have a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine with the inRide Power Meter thing as well as a Garmin Edge 520 with speed & cadence sensors. I'm told you can set it up either through inRide or through the Garmin + sensors, but is there any benefit to choosing one over the other? I have no idea how this shit works.
Click to expand...

inRide is supposedly more accurate power but I always had trouble getting it to work with TrainerRoad

I would try both and see how it goes
 
S

-SG

Member
TarpitCarnivore said:
inRide is supposedly more accurate power but I always had trouble getting it to work with TrainerRoad

I would try both and see how it goes
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what I've been reading since I asked the question. I'll give them both a shot and do a bit of a comparison. Luckily, summer is still here so I've got plenty more of prime weather before I have to break out my winter beater.
 
J

jakonovski

Member
Ok so my first ride with Ultegra. It's all super smooth, quite ridiculous really. Now I know how it's possible to one finger brake from the hoods. But I was having real trouble reconciling the lack of gear indicators.
 
C

Christoff Yurievich

Member
Do you mean the thing that says "hey little boy, I know you have trouble counting so I'm going to let you know you're on 2 in the front and 5 in the back"? That thing?

I jest of course. But seriously, you won't miss it after a few days.

Been having really strong winds coming from the North all week so my ride home, which is mostly uphill anyway, has not been a joy at all, never-minding the ~30c heat.

Also a guy at work let me try his electric bike yesterday and now I want one for my commutes. I had that thing going 30mph without even trying and I could be home in 30 minutes instead of an hour.
danowat said:
Well that was a shock to the system! First race in over a year on no specific training, 10 miles in 25:37, getting on for 2-3mins slower than I should be!
Click to expand...

This has been nagging at me for a few days since I can't reply at work. I usually commute so I'm loaded with baggage most days and therefore not at peak. On top of that my summer's been busy with travel so I haven't had hardly and chances to go out and just ride. But reading that I was like, how fast is that? Well this Sunday I had to do a really fast ten miles (reasons forthcoming when I get the pics off my phone) and so I looked at the results:
10.8mi
41:31
271ft
Click to expand...
Almost twice as long as you. Holy hell. And this is you without training?
 
D

danowat

Banned
Christoff Yurievich said:
This has been nagging at me for a few days since I can't reply at work. I usually commute so I'm loaded with baggage most days and therefore not at peak. On top of that my summer's been busy with travel so I haven't had hardly and chances to go out and just ride. But reading that I was like, how fast is that? Well this Sunday I had to do a really fast ten miles (reasons forthcoming when I get the pics off my phone) and so I looked at the results:Almost twice as long as you. Holy hell. And this is you without training?
Click to expand...
Yeah, without any training at all, just pottling backwards and forwards to work.

To be fair, I was riding a TT bike, with disc wheel and trispoke front, with a skinsuit and TT helmet though.

For context, when trained my PB on that particular course is 22:57 (my all time PB is 21:34) with the same kit, so you can see the difference between trained and untrained, it's close to 60w difference which is huge.

Also to show I am not that quick, when I raced in the national 10 mile TT championships a few years ago, I did a short 23 min ride, Michael Hutchinson (ex pro, ex commonwealth games rider) did 19 mins!
 
D

danowat

Banned
4w/kg, not brilliant, hence why I TT!!!

w/cda is the key to TT, and weight doesn't really have much of an impact, even though I am 6ft 3, I can still get into a fairly aero position.
 
H

HTupolev

Member
danowat said:
I know of a guy who used to train with the brakes adjusted so they continually dragged on the rims.
Click to expand...
On cheap rims, I hope.

D:

Psychotext said:
Aero isn't something I do regularly unless I'm messing about on a descent. It's bad for my back. :p
Click to expand...
I've used the phantom aerobars on my hardtail before when it was on smooth pavement. Probably wouldn't be a good choice on the trail, though... it might be a bit difficult to not crash constantly.
 
M

Mascot

Member
Swinley Forest was a lot of fun today. Steep rollercoaster runs with deep berms, plenty of opportunity for air, great facilities. Weirdly, the blue runs seemed more technical than the reds. Faster too. Did 27 miles round there today, more to come tomorrow. My BB needs some serious attention though. It's rattling like a mofo and my grease and tools are at home.
 
J

JPKellams

Member
Metric century today with a 400m, 7% climb (the local regular climb) and a total ascent of 900m or so.

Good news: Tarmac shaved 2 minutes off my (horrible) PR.
Bad news: It was 35 degrees, sunny, with 80+% relative humidity. I wanted to die, then die again to make sure that I wouldn't have to suffer anymore. A guy with a 260w FTP rode tempo over the last 40km, which put me 215-220w right on the edge the whole way home.

Things got so bad that the 18 year old in our group of eight got dropped on the first climb, never recovered, got paced back over the last 30km and then had to wait in the shade at 10km to go for someone to go get a car to take him to a doctor for possible heat stroke.

Great training to be honest.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

AMD now gives 3 months of Xbox Game Pass for PC with Ryzen CPUs, Radeon cards
0
626
CyberPanda replied
Bloodsport is free to watch on Prime Video, but only for 4 more days.
2
50
4K
G-Bus replied
Cyberpunk Edgerunner Patch Now Live
2 3 4 5
241
25K
-Zelda- replied
  • Locked
Welcome to Your Bland New World of Consumer Capitalism
Opinion
25
7K
Mossybrew replied
  • Locked
Astronomy-age?
25
3K
Log4Girlz replied
Top Bottom