Cycling UK Forum

Draper wrote:Finally managed to locate a left crank for my Indy 500, (see page 123) at Halfords of all places. This summer's few rides on the old bike have got me hooked again and I decided I would manage with the Indy for a few more months and then get myself a hybrid as I really feel too old for a fast road bike these days. And as most of my rides have been on cycle paths and off road the old Indy really isn't great with loose surfaces and potholes. I hoped a 'sporty' hybrid would be a more secure and relaxing experience to pootle about a few quiet country lanes and tracks (and not require the purchase of too much lycra at my age).

So I had a look round Halfords at a couple of mid-priced bikes, £600 - £1000 range, was impressed with the Boardman ones but couldn't believe the weight! My 33 year old Indy weighs in at a shade over 7.2 kilos, even some of the road bikes in Halfords weigh more than that and the hybrids weigh nearly twice as much! For example the Boardman Performance Race bike hybrid weighs 14kg and the Boardman Road Comp 2014 bike (£700) weighs in at nearly 10kg! What's going on?? I suppose the extra weight of the hybrids is to be expected, but I cannot fathom why a 33 year old bike (which was not particularly expensive) should weigh quite a bit less than a modern good quality road bike. And I always thought the Indy was heavy!

Can anybody enlighten me please? Before I go and spend my hard earned cash! I haven't really ridden a decent modern bike so I'm just hoping that despite the extra weight I will enjoy riding it just as much as my old Indy. I always thought that the lighter the bike, the easier the ride. Does the fact that modern bikes have a million gears really make up for that?

Whippet wrote:Well, that went as well as can be expected....

Didn't come last, in fact there was a whole 2 people slower than me. Strong headwind out meant my heart rate quickly climbed to the wrong side of 180 and pretty much stayed there for the whole race except the last few miles where I squeezed a few more bpm's out of it. Time was 30:51, I knew I was going to be relatively slow. My winter training will be a bit more time trial based and I'm hopeful of getting under 28:00 next year. This will put me amongst some reasonable clubmen with proper TT bikes which I hope will prove a point about the sheer wonderfulness of Viscounts. As for the bike itself, after the initial shock of effort had worn off it felt superb - efficient and very comfortable. Got a few minor positional tweeks to do and the friction bit of the gear levers don't seem to be doing the job as well as they could, but nothing major. Also, Busaste has hatched an evil plan that will give me a few more seconds, I'm sure he'll post pictures when it's sorted in a few months.

Nice to know that Viscounts are still racing! There were some good riders there. The bloke who won is current UK Masters track pursuit champion and got bronze in the European masters pursuit championship a few weeks ago.

Here's the result, I'm Kevin Hurley

http://www.newburyrc.co.uk/prod/php/get ... =getresult

And here's a graph of me inducing heart failure:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/3776 ... I.facebook

Should be a few pictures soon.

Sooper8 wrote:Anybody else drooling over the GP on eBay.com, thats been hiding in the Mojave desert since '76?
Either that or someone has had the keys to the time machine again.
WARNING! -DO NOT go over to Ebay.com if you have a spare couple of hundred £'s and want a GP. You could get in to something...
Even so, the exchange rate is ok at the moment and it could probably be haggled down...?

Draper wrote:Thanks, what I don't understand is how the pedal sheared off in the first place, it wasn't seized up or anything and I had oiled the bearings a few weeks before. The bike wasn't kept lying on its side so no pressure on the pedal either. Must have been metal fatigue I suppose, although I expect the combination of steel threads on the pedal and the softer metal of the alloy crank arm is going to lead to disaster eventually?

Whippet wrote:http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewitem?sbk=1&nav=SEARCH&itemId=151115751634

Anyone else think that this could be a steal if the price stays at £60. I presume the vintage campag stuff will have good resale value.

Sooper8 wrote:RE: the Deore -It wasn't riden much at all and was stored very well. It's like it just came out of the time machine.
When I said in the above post that it was pretty much original condition, I actually should have said that apart from the lack of toe straps and addition of the mirror, it is exactly as it was when it left the shop

Bendo, there's a story about the bottle....

I knew it was cracked/split all the way round at the bottom and unusable/unfixable, when I bought it with the bike.
I left it in for that first ride and to take photos'.

I was trying to take it out last night to use as a 'prop' to photograph my other bikes with it.

To cut a long story short, it was stuck in the holder and I gave it a little too much force and it basically exploded into dozens of bits- sharp pointy fragments everywhere.

But, part of the fun for me is hunting down parts and looking for stuff.

I took it out twice yesterday and just about to get her out of the shed now for an hour or so's ride.