The Fretboard Cycling Club

Jaycee

I got a set of 50mm carbons on my Propel, for me made a big difference. I first noticed when going uphill as I was able to "accelerate" compared to the alu' the respnse was immediate and didn't seem to absorb any of the energy I was puuting in.

If I had a non aero bike I would have gone for 40mm but I think the 50's suited the bike more.

@gubble have a look at igsports head sets good battery life and does most thing a garmin will do. I used Garmin for years but the Igpsport cover everything I need

elstoof

I run a mix of shallow box rims, 35mm and 50mm rims, deeper rims do make a difference you’ll feel even at lower speeds - 20kmh into a 20kmh headwind provides the same drag as riding at 40. Deeper rims are also inherently stiffer which makes them feel more responsive than shallow rims, at the expense of a slightly more “plush” ride feel

littlegreenman

On the head unit question, I use 2 for different circumstances.

Hammerhead Karoo 2 for days when I want all the data, brilliant maps and GPS, redirect is great (basically can download the entire planet), upcoming hills feature and a nice colour screen but lower battery life.

Wahoo Elmnt Bolt for all day rides. Much better battery life. The GPS is good but redirect is a bit pants, just tells you to rejoin without much help on how to.  Monochrome screen. Nice form factor though and an aero mount! 

For my RideLondon I'll have the Hammerhead on my stem, but will have the trusty Bolt in my jersey pocket to make damn sure I get the whole ride recorded. If it ain't on Strava, haha! Could be up to an 8 hour ride and I don't trust the K2 battery for that length ride.

Both work seamlessly with my Garmin Varia Radar and Lezyne rear light..

MagicPigDetective

Thanks for the wheelset wisdom. I’m still undecided! 

MagicPigDetective

After much deliberation I've purchased a set of Hunt 40 Carbons. They are ridiculously light.... hopefully will have installed them tubeless with Conti GP5000 30mm by the weekend, which is promising finer weather. Annoyingly I've had to order a tool to remove and install the disk brakes, so will need to wait for it to arrive. 

pt22

MagicPigDetective said:

After much deliberation I've purchased a set of Hunt 40 Carbons. They are ridiculously light.... hopefully will have installed them tubeless with Conti GP5000 30mm by the weekend, which is promising finer weather. Annoyingly I've had to order a tool to remove and install the disk brakes, so will need to wait for it to arrive. 

Nice I hope you enjoy them, and I wish you easy tubeless mounting with no faff. My LightBicycle wheels and Conti's were a breeze, but I'm currently struggling with my wife's bike and her tubeless Challenge tires on older Fulcrum6 rims. I cant quite get the beads to seat, so she's still on tubes and had a slow leak last weekend which I was thankfully able to patch and boot. Im at the point where I think I need to bring them to a bike shop with their compressor (and skillset) to mount. 

Oh, and buying tools is half the fun! I can now successfully fix & maintain just about anything on a modern bicycle, and I was able to build up my wife's bike from the bare frameset. 

MagicPigDetective

.. pt22 said:

MagicPigDetective said:

After much deliberation I've purchased a set of Hunt 40 Carbons. They are ridiculously light.... hopefully will have installed them tubeless with Conti GP5000 30mm by the weekend, which is promising finer weather. Annoyingly I've had to order a tool to remove and install the disk brakes, so will need to wait for it to arrive. 

Nice I hope you enjoy them, and I wish you easy tubeless mounting with no faff. My LightBicycle wheels and Conti's were a breeze, but I'm currently struggling with my wife's bike and her tubeless Challenge tires on older Fulcrum6 rims. I cant quite get the beads to seat, so she's still on tubes and had a slow leak last weekend which I was thankfully able to patch and boot. Im at the point where I think I need to bring them to a bike shop with their compressor (and skillset) to mount. 

Oh, and buying tools is half the fun! I can now successfully fix & maintain just about anything on a modern bicycle, and I was able to build up my wife's bike from the bare frameset. 

Thanks.. this will be my first attempt at mounting a tubeless tyre.. just hope I can do it with my track pump 

gubble

Hi there - me again with another question (sorry).

Currently using Shimano SPD SL Pedals and Cleats - i struggle a fair bit unclipping and worry if i have to do it in an emergency or if i stall climbing a difficult hill then I'll end up hitting the deck.

Cleats are fair new and the pedal is turned down to it's loosest setting. I've been ctycling with them on and off for around four years and so far only had two very minor unclipping incidents.

Sometimes i can unclip no problems instantly other times i have to give it a few attempts - so i'm guessing it's my technique rather than an equipment issue.  I'm trying to keep the pedal at the bottom of the crank and shifting my ankle out away from the bike.

I'm starting to worry about but would like to keep using clipless pedals because of the obvious advantages.

Would changing over to the other type of SPD pedals be easier to get out of ?

Thank you for any advice in advance

benecol

Hmmm - I'm maybe not the best one to offer advice here, as even at my fighting weight, I'm something of a shire horse cyclist, but in my experience of SPDs (SPDs [still use these on gravel] >  SPD-SLs > Looks > Speedplays), SPDs are the easiest to clip in and out of and the most forgiving. Sounds like a technique thing like you've said. Try squirting a little dry lube (not wet) into the pedal, see if that eases it up that little more you need!

pt22

gubble said:

Hi there - me again with another question (sorry).

Currently using Shimano SPD SL Pedals and Cleats - i struggle a fair bit unclipping and worry if i have to do it in an emergency or if i stall climbing a difficult hill then I'll end up hitting the deck.

Cleats are fair new and the pedal is turned down to it's loosest setting. I've been ctycling with them on and off for around four years and so far only had two very minor unclipping incidents.

Sometimes i can unclip no problems instantly other times i have to give it a few attempts - so i'm guessing it's my technique rather than an equipment issue.  I'm trying to keep the pedal at the bottom of the crank and shifting my ankle out away from the bike.

I'm starting to worry about but would like to keep using clipless pedals because of the obvious advantages.

Would changing over to the other type of SPD pedals be easier to get out of ?

Thank you for any advice in advance

4 years and only two incidents seems pretty good to me! 

My only thought would be why are you unclipping at the bottom of the pedal stroke? Was that recommended by someone? I find I can get better leverage unclipping closer to the top of the pedal stroke. I also unclip towards the frame with my heel, but that's just how my body naturally prefers it and it causes marks on the inside heel of my shoes so I'm not recommending it, its just how it works best for me. 

No I have not found that SPD are any easier to clip out of, just easier to clip in. 

EDIT - also I'm using the Look Keo system. Not because of any implied benefit over Shimano, it just ended up that way. 

Jaycee

@gubble Sounds like technique, I assume you are using yellow cleats? I like a bit of tension on my pedals not to much though so I can put a little pressure on the cleat just before un-clipping (preparation is the key here)

I found having to much slack on the pedal and I had to twist my foot too far before it unclipped.

I would do a bit of testing,  someone holding the bike or leaning up against a wall and find a tension that suits you.  I have been using cleats for decades and still get the occaisional slow motion fall

drofluf

MagicPigDetective said:

.. pt22 said:

MagicPigDetective said:

After much deliberation I've purchased a set of Hunt 40 Carbons. They are ridiculously light.... hopefully will have installed them tubeless with Conti GP5000 30mm by the weekend, which is promising finer weather. Annoyingly I've had to order a tool to remove and install the disk brakes, so will need to wait for it to arrive. 

Nice I hope you enjoy them, and I wish you easy tubeless mounting with no faff. My LightBicycle wheels and Conti's were a breeze, but I'm currently struggling with my wife's bike and her tubeless Challenge tires on older Fulcrum6 rims. I cant quite get the beads to seat, so she's still on tubes and had a slow leak last weekend which I was thankfully able to patch and boot. Im at the point where I think I need to bring them to a bike shop with their compressor (and skillset) to mount. 

Oh, and buying tools is half the fun! I can now successfully fix & maintain just about anything on a modern bicycle, and I was able to build up my wife's bike from the bare frameset. 

Thanks.. this will be my first attempt at mounting a tubeless tyre.. just hope I can do it with my track pump 

Good luck. If you need a little extra oomph and don’t have a compressor you can build a ghetto one from a 3l coke bottle

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/ghetto-tubeless-inflator-total-cost-9p/

I’d recommend wrapping it in a blanket in the event of accidental over inflation but it really works. 

gubble

Jaycee said:

@gubble Sounds like technique, I assume you are using yellow cleats? I like a bit of tension on my pedals not to much though so I can put a little pressure on the cleat just before un-clipping (preparation is the key here)

I found having to much slack on the pedal and I had to twist my foot too far before it unclipped.

I would do a bit of testing,  someone holding the bike or leaning up against a wall and find a tension that suits you.  I have been using cleats for decades and still get the occaisional slow motion fall

that's interesting about having too much slack..... I shall have a play around with the tension on the pedals with the bike on the turbo trainer and see how i get on.

I am using yellow cleats yes

thanks to everyone who's been helping me with this - getting back properly into cycling after a couple of years break has been amazing. went out and did 48km after work last night with my wife around the new forest last night which was really enjoayble.

elstoof

I always unclip the foot at the top of the crank, all my weight on the foot that stays clipped in so I’m only applying sideways pressure instead of fighting friction too. I use Looks, but shouldn’t be any difference

drofluf

@gubble I think I also unclip at the top of the stroke or as the pedal is coming up. But I've used SPD's for so long now it's ingrained in muscle memory.

But as you have a turbo  that's an ideal place to practice. Spend a few minutes every day/session clipping and unclipping with both feet and  it will soon become second nature. When on the road think ahead to where you're stopping and unclip in good time, you can still pedal with the middle of your foot on the pedal if you need to.

punchesjudy

Talking of all this clipping in and out stuff, has anyone tried the Adidas Velosamba shoe? Mainly for more casual commutes in normal everyday clothes and not look a tit with jeans and proper cycling shoes. 

thermionic

punchesjudy said:

Talking of all this clipping in and out stuff, has anyone tried the Adidas Velosamba shoe? Mainly for more casual commutes in normal everyday clothes and not look a tit with jeans and proper cycling shoes. 

I have a pair, couldn’t resist when they came out. They have pretty stiff soles so they feel like proper cycling shoes with SPD pedals. The downside is that you feel that stiffness when walking. It depends on your cycling/walking ratio - ideal for popping to the shops, but I wouldn’t want to wear them round the office all day. These things are always a compromise though - I had a similar pair of Shimano shoes (obviously not as cool!) in the 90s that felt the same.

pt22

punchesjudy said:

Talking of all this clipping in and out stuff, has anyone tried the Adidas Velosamba shoe? Mainly for more casual commutes in normal everyday clothes and not look a tit with jeans and proper cycling shoes. 

For my old commuter I used the Shimano combination flat/spd pedals. It allowed me to use clipless shoes or flats depending on the ride. I'd probably recommend that over specialty hybrid shoes. 

Shimano PD-EH500 SPD Pedals

punchesjudy

Cheers @thermionic they wouldn’t get used to walk any distance at all really. Just from the bike to the coffee shop/pub garden sorta thing. Wouldn’t use them on a daily basis so sounds like they’d be fine. 

@pt22 Yeah I have dmr spd/flat pedals atm which I’m using but I do prefer being clipped in now. I guess old age happened cos I was always about flats when I was younger ha. 

Jaycee

gubble said:

......... went out and did 48km after work last night with my wife around the new forest last night which was really enjoayble.

That must be so nice.