Cycling UK Forum

THEY"RE NOT BUFFALO!

; - )

Jonathan

And you can't wash your hands in a buffalo

Thanks for that, Ive clicked for the stock notification.
As it happens, I rang my LBS (from where I got my me 45E RC3 shoes) - they said that their importer, Madison, only imports the wide fit for lower models. So they could get an XC3 in 45E but not the XC5. Annoying.

Yes Shimano do a wide fitting for many of their shoes. The problem is finding anybody that sells them.
I eventually tracked a pair of RC3 in 45E size earlier this year.
I'm now trying to find someone who has the XC502 in 45E size.

I only sell when the fees are on offer - usually 80% reduction.
Recently sold some bike bits for £86.55 (inc P&P) and got charged 3.9%. But it wouldn't have got sold without Ebay.

Thanks everyone.
I've got it sorted now.
Adjusting the preload certainly makes a difference .

Solved: my cap tool is plastic so I heated up an hex bit and melted a hex hole into the face. so now I can attach my wrench which reads down to 1nm

This is my first bike with a Hollowtech 2 crank.
Shimano quote a torque range of 0.7 to 1.5Nm for preloading the Hollowtech 2 crank via the cap tool.
How do you actually measure that preload ? The tool itself (TL-FC16) has nowhere to attach a small torque wrench.
So how do people do it ? Do you just have to guess?

I believe the crank preload of my new bike was set too high at manufacture. I noticed it span poorly when I took the chain off for cleaning. The crank spins much better now that Ive reduced the preload.

Chainring looks Ok. What about the chain? Check it for wear and replace if stretched.

Meta analysis - unless the signal to noise is high then little is gained from these sorts of studies.
Are there are enough cyclists with equipoise for a prospective randomised controlled trial ? Not easy to blind it though.

We try and fight the pressure to buy everything on-line.
We still buy 100% of groceries from our local Aldi, Co-Op or local butcher (only occasionally buy supermarket meat) . We grow a lot of our own fruit and veg too.

But bikes parts are 100% on-line. My LBS has very little stock and seems to survive through selling new bikes and servicing. Clothes and shoes are a nightmare - you have to order 2 or 3 sizes and send back the ones that don't fit - which may be all of them !

But its not just cycling; beekeeping is the same with local suppliers moving to on-line only. Sadly, no more browsing around looking at beekeeping paraphernalia and chatting about the latest bee diseases or other hot topics.
Of course, just with cycling, you often buy a bit more than you need just to get the "free delivery".

Quite a lot of new cases at the moment.
Im 63 and have had all my vaccines.
I caught Covid from my sister last week.
It felt like a bad cold; nothing too bad in retrospect. Initially had sore throat for 2 days, then aching eyes and mild myalgia, mild headache, mild pyrexia. By day 4 those had all gone apart from a persistent dry cough and wheeze on exercise. Had 3 sleepless night due to coughing with resultant sore intercostals and tiredness. Was still positive on day 5. Now day 7 and feel 95% back to normal apart from an occasional runny nose, sneeze and cough. I will retest tomorrow. Aiming to be on the bike again at the weekend.
Several friends, inc my sister have recently had very similar Covid symptoms and duration.
Very different from what many people have experienced.

Oh, I dunno. The maintenance job I hate most is running new cable housing and cable under the bar tape every so often, then all the faff of adjusting the gears. It reminds me of adjusting the rocker arms on our old Citroën Dyane: the workshop manual read "it is not entirely necessary to remove the wings but it makes the job a lot easier". If I could get away with just running an electric cable once then a happy man would I be.

You do have a point.
---o0o---

Returning to the aero seatsaddlepostpin like a sinner to its vomit, the acme of superfluity has to be one of those idiotic things on an electric bike. But they exist.
[/quote]

In truth buying a bike without riding it can be fraught with problems as is taking the advice from some LBS staff, unfortunately.
I've learnt a lot since buying my LARGE (55cm) Boardman Carbon road bike in 2013 having been told it looked "just right" by Halfords staff.
I'm 178cm (5'10").
Over the years I tried various changes to the saddle and stem and despite these alterations, shoulder pain gradually became worse on longer rides over 30 miles.
I recently bought a new bike and the manufacturer website suggested I required a 56cm bike, but only just.
I tried a 54cm bike in the shop and it was obvious that the 56cm was too big. It felt so much nicer than my old bike. Its amazing how just a few cm can make such a difference. I can now do 50+ miles with no shoulder pain.

Also I was advised that if you are between sizes then go for the smaller. Several forums have confirmed this too.

They are currently repeating "The World at War" which is both poignant and very topical right now.
The narration by Sir Lawrence Olivier adds a huge amount of gravitas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_at_War

Has anyone put forward Di2 etc. If not, I will.
Probably these least cost effective upgrade there is IMO. It doesn't actually offer very much ; no increased speed, no increased comfort and no reduced weight.
Yes, its a nice techy thing to have and it might reduce hassle for some people. But overall its terrible value for money.