Cycling UK Forum

landsurfer wrote:"advice needed - upgrading to my first carbon road bike"

with respect

Don't ......

"if it's laminated, it will de-laminate, as sure as the sun rises" ... et al ....

I’ve got 2 full Carbon road bikes, and 2 ally alloy framed bikes with Carbon forks. I’ve suffered No de lamination on any of them.

E bikes aren’t for me, at the moment. I do think they are a fantastic idea. They give people who won’t or can’t ride a traditional bike, the opportunity to do so. That can’t be a bad thing.

https://www.tailfin.cc/products/t1-carb ... gK3FvD_BwE

These look good.

Mick F wrote:........... but why does carbon fibre only come in black?
I can understand the desire for lightness and stiffness, but why only in black for bikes?

Carbon fibre is used in many other sporting equipments, but it comes in a variety of colours.

Carbon fibre is Carbon. Which is black, because the molecules absorb all the wavelengths of the incident light, in the visible region of the E.M. spectrum. Any Carbon fibre that appears to be a colour other than black, is painted with a material that reflects some of the light, or the resin with which the weave is impregnated, is doing so.

Cunobelin wrote:

Marcus Aurelius wrote:Whenever I’m in a mission, I carry 2 or 3 power banks, and a usb lead for the Garmin. I’ll attach one to my phone, and keep the spares for whatever needs them most. I got a couple of lower power store ones, from Poundland, and a couple of more substantial ones from a gadget shop, and a Primark ( oddly ) they have saved my bacon on more than one occasions.

Beware of the leads with Garmin....

There are power and data leads, the live terminals deciding which it is

The former will power your Garmin with no problems, in fact they used to package the Power Monkey in some cases

However if you have a data lead, then the Garmin will think it is a computer and switch into "Storage" mode making it useless

I leave the data lead at home, it’s easy to tell which one that is, because the bit that goes into the USB port has Garmin stamped on it, and the bit that goes into the Garmin, has a dimple on each side. I just take a generic USB lead for the purposes of charging it ‘on the fly’.

Whenever I’m in a mission, I carry 2 or 3 power banks, and a usb lead for the Garmin. I’ll attach one to my phone, and keep the spares for whatever needs them most. I got a couple of lower power store ones, from Poundland, and a couple of more substantial ones from a gadget shop, and a Primark ( oddly ) they have saved my bacon on more than one occasions.

I’ve always clipped in / out primarily on the left. Usually because any raised surface ( kerbs etc) are on my left when stopping.

Vorpal wrote:

Brucey wrote:I must say that their popularity is a mystery to me. My personal experience of them has been somewhat underwhelming, to say the least.

cheers

I dont' know if you mean Continental in general, or just the Duraskins, but I have yet to find any other slick as GP 4 seasons that gets as good traction in rain, dirty roads, packed gravel tracks, etc.

I try other tyres now and again, and am never as happy with them.

I’ve replaced the knackered Continental with a Pirelli P Zero Velo, which is supposed to be aimed at the Gp4000SII, regarding performance. I gave it a good test on Sunday, it’s every bit as good as the GP4000sII, in terms of grip, drag, and traction, but it seems more resilient, as despite riding through some horrendous pointy / gravelly stuff, there was no obvious damage to the tyre, I’ve pretty much knackered a brand new GP4000sII before now, in similar conditions, on a similar ride. I was putting up with the Continental’s typical fragility, because of it’s performance, I’m having a big rethink now though.

Gattonero wrote:

Marcus Aurelius wrote:Continental tyre, throw away immediately.

Very useful comment!

Having used nearly 100 tyres myself, and fitted tens of thousands of that brand, I can surely say that they have a good quality. If we are to talk about inconsistency of their road tyres width, that is a different story.

I had ( yet another ) complete failure of a Continental tyre on a ride yesterday. It had covered less than 500 miles ( I reckon ). I rode through a puddle, with something sharp lurking in it. The puncture it caused was a pain, the damage to the tyre ( it was totalled) was ‘disproportionate’ to say the least, not an unusual thing in my experience. And they tend to be more pricey, than more resilient competitors tyres.

You can run wider tyres at lower pressures, without getting pinch flats. There’s a mathematical relationship, which I can’t remember off the top of my head, but lower pressures give better comfort, with an identical type of tyre.

The move to 11 speed, being the ‘gold standard’ did seem to bring the price of fatter chains down. That’s fine by me, all but one of my bikes are between 8 and 10 speed.

It’s a nigh on impossible question to answer really. Even if you get a full ultrasound done, on all bits of the bike, there could still be something that causes the frame / forks / other key components to fail. When they do go, it’s generally with not much warning, and it’s scary when something gives out. If in doubt, throw it out. I personally don’t mind taking the risk, thus far, it’s not had any consequences, I know an awful lot of people who really don’t fancy taking the risk though.

Continental tyre, throw away immediately.

If you’re used to riding, the physical aspect of the ride, won’t be an issue. Take enough food and drink with you, to prevent a bonk, and keep your efforts in or around ‘zone 2’ and you’ll be fine physically. The mental side of it will be the kicker if you’re not used to imperial ton rides. Make any route you use, interesting, and vary the scenery where possible. If you can find something historic, or interesting to you, as waypoints, it will help ‘compartmentalise’ the ride distance, into ‘bite size’ sections, and reduce the probable mental chew. Good luck with it.

I got wiped out by someone driving straight into me side on, a couple of years ago, The bike is a Carbon fibre Boardman, I still ride it, it’s fine.