Cycling UK Forum

slowster wrote: ↑22 Jul 2021, 7:17pm What is the chainline of your chainset? That front derailleur is designed for a chainset with traditional road double chainline, i.e. 43.5mm.

Not sure exactly what you mean but the crankset is also a Tiagra one.

Jdsk wrote: ↑22 Jul 2021, 4:31pm How wide is the tyre?

Where do you ride the bike?

Jonathan

Hi Jonathan. The tyre fittted is 32c, and the frame is okay for up to 35c without mudguards. I ride mostly on tarmac with a small amount of gravel thrown in when needed. It's a technically a road bike but I do sometimes use it for light touring/bikepacking with a big saddlebag. I do lots of long (100km +) rides.

Hi all,

I noticed that the long cable arm on my Tiagra 4700 front derailluer is very close to fouling the rear tyre when in the large chainring. It works fine as is, but I'm concious that even a small wobble in the rear wheel could quickly destroy my tyre. See image which hopefully shows how close it is (apologies, not sure why the image is rotated incorrectly).

The bike was built up with a bit of a mix of components due to the shortages earlier this year. The levers are GRX 400 series, while the FD is this tiagra model on 50 & 34 tooth chainrings.

I'm looking for recommendations about how I might solve this problem, ideally without buying a new FD! Or am I over-thinking it?

Thanks

seph wrote:If you are thinking about going a bit further with you audax rides (and be careful here.. one minute you're wondering if you can ride a 300, the next minute you're lining up for Paris-Brest-Paris.. ) A dynamo hub would be worth considering. SP make the lightest, SON make the ''gold standard' and Shimano make lots!

300kms is my target for this year, I'm going to hold off a dyno hub until I've done at least one of those and see how I feel after that!

Campag wrote:Northumberland and the Scottish borders would be my choice. Main line train to Berwick or Carlisle, quiet roads, sometimes hilly but often gentle climbs and alternatives to avoid the hardest bits. And lovely scenery. Lots of history with some fantastic castles, abbeys and bridges (Berwick, Norham, St Mary's Loch, Melrose, Kelso, Moffat, Llanercost, etc ....).

I totally agree but most of us are from that part of the world, so it's probably the one bit of the country that all of us have already seen a lot of!

Usually every summer I would head to the continent for a week or so touring with friends. In 2020 we only managed to squeeze in a few days close to home, but this year are planning on doing another proper 4 or 5 day trip in England and/or Wales once lockdown lifts.

I'd love to hear about any recommendations people have for short multi-day tours in the UK. We need to start and finish in places with a train station and intend on staying at B&Bs etc rather than camping. I'd like to do a bit more of Wales so was thinking something like Oxford to Aberyswth via the Elan valley. Whatever we do can't be too hilly as there will be a couple in the group less fit than the others. We were thinking 75kms a day or so, and Sticking to quiet B and C roads is essential.

Thiking about it now it's crazy how little I've explored my own country by bike!

Thanks

Jupestar wrote: Which Gravel Kings?

Just the regular ones - I think these would be descibred as slick, but that's not what they're called on the website. I really like them!

https://panaracer.com/en/products/gravel_en/gravelking_en/gravelking-3/

freeflow wrote:IMHO the weight of Wheels is another aspect of cycling that is not well understood. Heavier wheels become problematical if you are in a situation where you are constantly required to do short sharp accelerations, e.g. cycle racing. If your riding style is more constant and does not need frequent rapid accelerations (e.g. Audax) then a heavier build is quite acceptable. If you have concerns that a Wheelset that is 500g heavier will grossly disadvantage you, particularly when climbing, then just empty your water bottles at the bottom of the hill.

Good point well made

Brucey wrote:what kind of riding do you do, how heavy/powerful are you, what tyres do you use, what brakes do you use, how 'heavy' are the current wheels, how much lighter do you want the new ones, do you care about 'aero', how long do you expect to keep them for....?

You won't be surprised to hear that no one manufacturer makes the best wheels for every purpose!

cheers

Type of riding:
Aiming for getting in some more 200km rides this year and possibly bagging my first 300km. Riding mostly on paved B and C roads, sometimes the odd track or trail to join up sections though.

Weight & power
I'm not a powerful rider, I weigh about 75kg

Tyres and wheels
700c, centre lock discs with 160mm rotors, currently with 32mm Panaracer Gravelkings (using inner tubes)
Current wheelset is 2 kilos
New set - I'm thinking in the 1500g ball park, deep-ish rim (say 30mm or so), would like them to be comfy, reliable and last several years at least.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

Just canvassing opinions on a new wheelset, nothing too fancy, say maximum £500-ish budget to get something a bit lighter than a stock set for general road riding and endurance/audax type rides.

Clearly there are quite a few of these newer brands such as Hunt and Scribe that get rave reviews and are very keenly priced, though you do hear the occasional horror story. At the same time there are a number of good wheel builders e.g Ryan Builds Wheels, Sharp Wheels, Owen Wheels etc that can also build things to a tight budget - though perhaps not to the same price/weight ratios as the brands.

I'm interested to know your views on where best value lies, any major pros cons, good or bad experiences you've had etc. Have the newer brands knocked the builders out the park for more everyday uses? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Thanks all - can confirm WD-40 works a treat!

I find that new bikes can be covered basically unnecessary stickers, mostly safety warnings and such, that are difficult to remove. I've carefully peeled off a few of these but they have left a sticky residue behind, some on the (steel) frame and some on the (carbon) fork.

What is the best thing to use to remove this sticky residue without damaging the paint? I was thinking of trying meths or white spirit - warm water didn't seem very effective when I tried.

A quick google on this subject revealed lots of methods for removing decals which I am not sure is appropriate here.

Thanks

Brucey wrote:
Fancy new bike should come with a fancy new user manual which covers the points of interest.

cheers

It does, and the fork instructions do include spacings and torque, but it's quite technical and doesn't answer all of my questions unfortunately.

slowster wrote:Firstly, I suggest watching the videos below. As Raoul Luescher indicates, the type of bung you have is less than ideal and I would not use it in a carbon steerer.

Secondly, general guidance of many manufacturers is that the bung should be in the same plane as the stem, and so strengthen the steerer tube at that point and resist the potential for the stem clamping force to damage the steerer tube.

That is exactly the video that got me worried!

I suppose then given that where the bung sits in the steerer is dependent on the length of the steerer, it's therefore essential to have the steerer cut to the right length once I've found a comfortable position.

Hello you clever bunch.

I am the proud owner of a fancy new bike with lots of fancy things that I have no experience with - disc brakes, hydraulics, bits of carbon fibre etc. It's great but there are a couple of things in relation to the carbon fork and carbon steerer specifically that make me nervous.

The bike shop kindly left the maximum allowed length on the steerer so I could have a play around with adjusting the height that the stem is fixed at and get a good fit. I've lowered it slightly, just swapping the stem with the spacers below it and replacing the spacers on top, but have since been reading up on carbon steerers and thought I'd seek opinions on a few things. At this point in time the bike is only getting used on and indoor trainer due to weather + COVID restrictions.

1. When lowering the stem, is it necessary to also re-fit the compression plug? Does this depend on whether you have moved it by say 5mm-10mm compared to several cm?
2. When lowering the stem, should the top cap be tiightented before the stem bolts? And should the torque noted on the stem still be applied to a carbon steerer or are they meant for metal steerers? My stem says 5Nm, I went with 4Nm to be safe.
3. My bike has a "lightweight" compression plug similar to this whiskey parts one. I've now seen scare stories about these not being adequate. Should I replace with something more substantial?
4. Torque in general - how sensitive is this thing? My torque wrench is only accurate down to 2Nm, so I would have to adjust compression plug and top cap using a regular allen key and best guess.
5. My intention was to find a good fit on the trainer and then take the bike back to the shop to have the excess cut off the steerer and check that everything is set up and tightened properly. Given that I'm going to do this, am I just overthinking things and needlessley worrying?

As always, thoughts and comments welcome.