Show your Bicycles.....

jimmyd

That Colnago is a thing of beauty! I'm currently toying with buying a Planet X aero bike for crit racing, or buying some super sexy (ie expensive) wheels for the track bike.

strtdv

I've been tempted to get a set of nice "all round" mid section carbon rims, Cosmic Pro Carbon SL or Reynolds Strike or similar, but I do sort of feel that while you can buy speed, spending less than that on a Garmin and a power meter would probably be better for my training in the long run..

Also I'm increasingly a convert to disc brakes and I suspect that the next "Sunday best" bike I buy if I ever change my Canyon will have discs, so getting a £1500 wheelset I won't be able to use on my next bike seems like a bad idea.

ThePrettyDamned

So, I'm quite excited at (hopefully) picking up my bike on Saturday afternoon. 

I will be sad if I don't end up liking it. And if that's the case, I'll be after recommendations. 

Question - got a 40mm rim. How narrow could the tyres go? I appreciate that narrow won't come into it  

Legionreturns

ThePrettyDamned said:

So, I'm quite excited at (hopefully) picking up my bike on Saturday afternoon. 

I will be sad if I don't end up liking it. And if that's the case, I'll be after recommendations. 

Question - got a 40mm rim. How narrow could the tyres go? I appreciate that narrow won't come into it  

Latest research says that super skinny tyres aren't more efficient than say 25s or 28s, and wider tyres are substantially more comfortable. I use 25s or 24s for road, 28s in winter. 

strtdv

I would have thought 1.75" is as narrow as you'd be able to go, certainly not the kind of tyre for doing road miles on.

Legionreturns

I've had regular 700c x 23s on my cx bike and it handled it no problem. A set of 25s would be absolutely fine. My CX tyres are only 35s and the tyre wall is not an issue unless you go down to simmering ridiculous like 18s. My wheels are alexrims CX wide track

ThePrettyDamned

Legionreturns said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

So, I'm quite excited at (hopefully) picking up my bike on Saturday afternoon. 

I will be sad if I don't end up liking it. And if that's the case, I'll be after recommendations. 

Question - got a 40mm rim. How narrow could the tyres go? I appreciate that narrow won't come into it  

Latest research says that super skinny tyres aren't more efficient than say 25s or 28s, and wider tyres are substantially more comfortable. I use 25s or 24s for road, 28s in winter. 

This bike comes with 2.9" schwalbe nobby nics and 27.5+ wheels with boost spacing. 

I'm not fussed on going super skinny or anything, just wondering what my options would be for a mtb versus something more like a gravel bike, which would also be perfectly suitable for me (though may not like the wet fens so much in winter). 

Legionreturns

Ah I see. In that case, I can recommend continental cyclocross speed tyres. They have light tread in the middle and nobbles on the corners. I've used them on gravel at Kielder and they cope brilliantly with tarmac too and are very quick. 

strtdv

If you've got a 27.5" plus bike narrow tyres defeats the point somewhat, they exist to take very wide tyres at very low pressures and should be run tubeless too to get the best out of them

ThePrettyDamned

strtdv said:

If you've got a 27.5" plus bike narrow tyres defeats the point somewhat, they exist to take very wide tyres at very low pressures and should be run tubeless too to get the best out of them

Aye, I'm not after anything narrow. But other than the boost spacing and a wide wheel it's an otherwise normal bike. 

I'm hoping to use it to trundle through the countryside and not really worry about where I'm going. It's loaded with mounts too, so lots of bikepacking opportunities. 

Perhaps a mountain bike isn't the right fit for me, but I think a cyclocross is too far the other way. The shop recommended I read around adventure/gravel bikes as they're more relaxed still than a cyclocross, but still able to take some rough ground. They're damn expensive though. 

And often have an insane number of gears for around here... I really don't want more than a 1x system if I can help it, they just need maintenance and don't work as well (in my price range). 

Whatever happened to getting a nice, lightweight, steel bike with 10 gears that can tour on road or off? 

strtdv

Look on Gumtree, you'd be surprised what you can find
My Saracen Hack sounds very much like what you're looking for, it can take 45c gravel tyres, disc brakes (sadly mechanical), much less aggressive than a cyclocross bike, and cost me £250.

Not a 1x, but can't complain for the price.

27.5" plus bikes can often fit 29"/700c wheels, so you could potentially stick 29" boost spaced wheels with narrow (35c) gravel tyres if you wanted.

ThePrettyDamned

strtdv said:

Look on Gumtree, you'd be surprised what you can find
My Saracen Hack sounds very much like what you're looking for, it can take 45c gravel tyres, disc brakes (sadly mechanical), much less aggressive than a cyclocross bike, and cost me £250.

Not a 1x, but can't complain for the price.

27.5" plus bikes can often fit 29"/700c wheels, so you could potentially stick 29" boost spaced wheels with narrow (35c) gravel tyres if you wanted.

I've looked used, but there is not a huge amount around here that fits the bill - lots of full suspension mtb's and lots of road bikes and lots of town bikes, not much in the way of gravel bikes/touring. 

Which is really what I'm after - a 10 speed (or maybe more) tourer with mounts, space for a bigger tyre and tough enough to spend a day in the wild. I won't be doing trails or anything (well, I might want to at some point but it's not priority). 

This looks good. 

https://www.rutlandcycling.com/bikes/road-bikes/gt-grade-105-2017-adventure-road-bike-grey_378752

But is £300 over budget really.

There is this:

https://www.rutlandcycling.com/bikes/road-bikes/marin-four-corners-2017-steel-touring-road-bike-grey_375091

but there are loads of gears and they're the same level as I've had before - which were okay, but a bit unreliable (I had missed gears, lots of noise and quite a lot of chain-coming-off annoyances, hence my desire for simplicity) and annoying to maintain. Everything else is bob-on. I wonder how hard it would be to swap the gears out for a 1x11 or a 2x8 or similar?

Legionreturns

You could look at Kinesis, they do fantastic gravel bikes. Usually some of those about in the second hand market.

ThePrettyDamned

Legionreturns said:

You could look at Kinesis, they do fantastic gravel bikes. Usually some of those about in the second hand market.

Oh man, if this was more local...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kinesis-5T-Cyclocross-Bike-48cm-10-speed-Excellent-Condition-/232401093464?hash=item361c2f4358:g:MmEAAOSwf~9ZX-4i

No way I can go all that way!  

Still, I reckon the one I've opted to test will be a good fit. 

https://www.rutlandcycling.com/bikes/mountain-bikes/marin-pine-mountain-2017-27-5-plus-hardtail-mountain-bike-silver_372560?origin=pla&kwd=&currency=GBP&gclid=CLqDqPaj-dQCFcyRGwodDakC5A

My friend thinks I'd be better off with a gravel bike because it would be better on the road and I don't really need a hardcore mtb (which, to be fair, this isn't - no suspension, just big tyres and wide wheels) but if it really doesn't roll along very well (I'm going to try a couple of other bikes too, including a gravel bike) then I'd rather save my money. 

The shop has been *really* good to me, so I'd rather buy through them to be honest! If I don't, I'd definitely take a bike to them to be serviced/built if bought second hand or from a box-seller. I'll ask them today about that. But yeah, it's wonderful to have *such* a brilliant shop nearby that has properly passionate staff. Even the young 'kid' (probably 18 or so) was a credit to the store - keen to help, and when he didn't know the answer he would find out. 

If every guitar shop had a similar level of passion and enthusiasm from staff, I'd be broke!

Budgie

Just added a new seat to this. what a difference, it's far more comfortable now!

ThePrettyDamned

Budgie said:

Just added a new seat to this. what a difference, it's far more comfortable now!

Phwoar! That's a looker.

stimpsonslostson

My car died last week... We decided not to get a new one... Instead we bought this:


http://www.bikes2udirect.com/bikes_html/images/items/B3858.jpg


I had to ride 20miles solo to get it home (Gumtree purchase), it's good to ride. I intend to pimp it with new components as I go. Saddle first- too soft. 

On the plus side, I explored some lovely coastal bike lanes as I trundled through East Lothian. 

Koa

Fantastic, I've always fancied a go on a tandem and where better than East Lothian. Fantastic cycling county.

ThePrettyDamned

stimpsonslostson said:

My car died last week... We decided not to get a new one... Instead we bought this:


http://www.bikes2udirect.com/bikes_html/images/items/B3858.jpg


I had to ride 20miles solo to get it home (Gumtree purchase), it's good to ride. I intend to pimp it with new components as I go. Saddle first- too soft. 

On the plus side, I explored some lovely coastal bike lanes as I trundled through East Lothian. 

I have always wanted to try a tandem! There are some fab ones in Munich that are beer bars, too... 

capo4th

What saddle did you go for? @Budgie ;

I need a new more comfortable saddle for my Merida Big Nine.