Cycling UK Forum

Hi,

The TDF's main problem is rather high gearing, with a 52/42 front chain wheel, 12-26 rear.
This is cheaper and a better choice :
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/r ... -54cm#tab2
Hard to better on the value stakes.

rgds, sreten.

FWIW they aren't bikes I'd use for commuting, but YMMV.
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/h ... -bike#tab2
Is more the sort of thing I'd use, it has decent sized puncture resistant good tyres fitted.
great value : http://www.decathlon.co.uk/mens-nework- ... 22609.html

A good (lightweight) no suspension used MTB can make a great commuter
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/tyre ... t=pricelow
fitted with road tyres, rear rack, mudguards, lights and a decent saddle.

Hi,

If the stock tyres are poor replace them, life is too short
to waste considerable time wearing out poor tyres, or
poor brake pads on the front, where the only thing they
have is they last ages, but in all respects are very poor.

rgds, sreten.

Better tyres and pads are simply better in every respect.

If its a Pursuit DBR I'd fit 28mm/32mm Michelin City for commuting :
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mich ... -prod26232
I use the 32mm reflex version on a very similar bike to the Pursuit
DBR, on the front, Schwalbe 30mm Speed Cruiser on the rear.

Hi,

Whilst there are exceptions (like duff tyres) that make sense there are simple facts.

With decent tyres if you swap tyres front to back to even out wear :

Your front is more likely to fail, its much older for its life, having been
on the back, compared to a tyre that has always been on the front.

Grip in adverse conditions in now better on the back than the front,
general concencus is the change will make you more likely to lose
the front if your into pushing hard, and that is not good.

As ever YMMV, and I agree with St. SB, and completely disagree
that there is anything wrong with the "accepted wisdom" other
than of course you can do what you like and many people do.

Many people always replace both tyres and inevitably think
the best plan is to rotate the tyres to even out the wear,
probably is in most cases if you always replace both tyres.

If you don't rotate, replace the rear, then both, etc.

rgds, sreten.

Hi,

If you change to new components you always replace the chain.
You will prematurely wear new components with an old chain.

rgds, sreten.

Even if its the right chain and its not seen a lot of wear,
you should rotate it with an initially new chain IMO.

Hi,

Buying a Triban 3, a great budget bike, and then upgrading all the bits
so you can shoe in a really good frame, is a futile exercise is long term
expenditure, and a shedload of swapping, building and bits not fitting.

Reduce the the T3 to a (winter) training bike and buy another bike.
(High quality and used I presume.)

If your not yet ready for a really nice racing bike tweak the T3
a little and buy some really nice racing tyres you can can use
on any bike and use them for racing only, not training.

With a training bike and a racing bike you may or may not get on with
a spare set of wheels, intermediate quality*, if that is the longer term
plan, short term, get them, fit the racing tyres on them for the T3.
Note they are not you final wheels, just value intermediates.

rgds, sreten.

* allows the best bike to be a summer trainer, or easily
swap wheels/tyres on the T3 for the training conditions.

OnYourRight wrote:It seems pointless to start a new thread to ask for your interpretation of this:



That’s a Michelin Pro4 Grip tyre. In case it’s unclear in the photo, it says this:

<<REAR<>FRONT>>

I find it a bit ambiguous. What do you think it means? There was no guidance on the packaging or paperwork.

Hi,

Its not ambiguous, preferred tyre rotation going
forward, on the front and rear, doesn't need to
to stated both sides of the tyre, DS on the
front and non NDS for that side of the tyre.

The other side would say <<FRONT<>REAR>>.

If anything its to do with the rolling resistance and or the
braking perfomance of such a road tyre to make any sense.

On the flat the rear is pushing the bike along whilst the front is doing
little, under hard braking the front does most of the work, the rear
little, and the forces are in the opposite direction.

There may be some bias in the tread or in the carcass pattern, or both.

rgds, sreten.

Hi,

The Triban 3 is a great bike and nothing should need upgrading or
replacing after 500 miles. Yes, the way to step up from the Triban 3
is to sell it and buy a better all round bike, not chuck parts at it.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/reviews/ ... n-3-299-99
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/group-te ... -for-20908

TBH once your past a certain age or weight the T3 is all the bike
you really need unless you are a very serious cyclist, and 500
miles is not remotely serious, to be considering another bike.

Fix or get your rear hub fixed. Learn how to check and tweak
spoke tensions to improve the feel of your wheels. Ride it .....

rgds, sreten.

Hi,

CO2 is not smaller than N2 or O2 and won't go down faster than air.

At -42C @ 1atm it doesn't just liquify it goes directly
to a solid, hence you get dry ice, CO2 sublimates.

CO2 needs less pressure than N2 or O2 to be stored in a non
gas phase and therefore its enclosures are the cheapest
of the three, and why its the most prevalent.

rgds, sreten.

foxyrider wrote:Had a bike with self centering headset - it was very worn, the races would allow
normal steering but tracked to straight pretty much however you moved the bike!

Solution - new headset.

Hi,

Not a chance if you tilt the front up that will be ever true.

As far as I'm concerned it can't realistically self centre
because there is no realistic mechanism for it to do that.

rgds, sreten.

Hi,

62 mph : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tFpNsZXWgc

Fastest I can find is :
"Saxo Bank’s JJ Haedo hit 117 kph – that’s 72.7 mph!" Giro de Italia

rgds, sreten.

Hi,

If it ain't broke don't fix it. The bigger the wheel the more they make sense.



Same as chains, only one major improvement in 100 years, only applicable to bicycles.

rgds, sreten.

Hi,

FWIW for my bike if i just lift the front wheel off the ground a bit (by the top tube),
the front is very unstable, it heads off left or right, in no uncertain manner.

I don't have a stand, but if I balance the sloping top tube moreorless level with
both wheels off the ground the front is much more stable and self centres
to a point depending on how well I'm holding the thing up vertically.

Bikes and bits vary, YMMV, hope this helps.

rgds, sreten.

LollyKat wrote:

sreten wrote:Hmmmm.....

Pointless trying to explain stuff to someone in love with their own opinions...

I expect the someone feels the same way!

Hi,

I'm trying to represent a concensus of generally accepted opinion that I go
along with, not this is the way I've decided it is, I research / read a lot.

I'm only being a stickler because it boils down to a general safety issue.
Brucey says you want your best tyre on the back, generally you don't.

He can say he doesn't agree, but its much tougher to argue well that is right.

rgds, sreten.

I'm not going down the road of arguing the pedantic details of what I'm
trying to say, especially deliberate misinterpretations of the general
gist of my meaning to "score points" in some form of self justification.

Brucey wrote:I know perfectly well what received wisdom says, but that is all it is, it doesn't mean it is right, or appropriate in every instance.
cheers

Hi,

And it doesn't mean it is wrong, (being all it is), or appropriate in every instance.

SB is admirably terse on the point. Succinctly if you run the same tyres and replace
the rear the front goes on the back, new on the front, if that what you always done.
If you do that and need to replace the front due to damage, you simply replace it.

rgds, sreten.

FWIW SB advises you can have different width tyres, fatter at the back, thinner at
the front with more similar pressures, the same width tyres with the front at lower
pressure, or a thinner rear and a fatter front, with even lower pressure at the front.
SB indicates his preference is a fatter front for more suspension due to his hand issues.

Hmmmm.....

Pointless trying to explain stuff to someone in love with their own opinions, no matter how poorly
thought through and poorly argued, and then claiming real life backs it up, so it must be true, yawn ....

Sheldon Brown on the subject : http://sheldonbrown.com/tire-rotation.html

rgds, sreten.

There are cases when it might make sense to not do it, front to back, but they don't change the cases it does.
Similarly cases when back to front might make sense, doesn't change the cases that is makes no long term sense.