Cycling UK Forum

I bought a 2011 Roubaix Comp with a triple a few months ago
It is very good at soaking up bumps and road noise
I have replaced the factory wheels on it with my own and fitted crud roadracer mudguards
The steering is quite slow it is very stable, I see this as a good thing
Despite the way it absorbs bumps the BB is still pretty stiff and it has good accelleration

Ask MickF for directions from Penzance to Exeter, there are some good routes for the LeJoG based on the old A30

Crossing Devon is always nasty, after Exeter you could do something like B3181 to Willand, cut across to just N of Ilminster then it's fairly flat for a bit, head for Castle Cary.

Then you continue east, but that's the limit of where I've ridden around. Maybe go N of Salisbury and then take the South Downs Way all the way from Winchester to Eastborne? That's just a wild suggestion

Sensible stuff above on moisture control, using cream and cleanliness

I'd add weight distribution. If your bars are too high or there is some other reason that there is too much weight on your backside then this can contribute to discomfort.
Weight should be spread out between feet, saddle and bars to avoid a problem with any one contact point

Hi,
I have just got a new Audax bike for PBP/qualifiers. It is actually a Specialized Roubaix with different wheels/seatpost. But when I was considering which bike to get and looking at frame geometries etc I did find a couple of other options you might find of interest.

The Ridley Aeron TR frame is available for under 300 and has braze ons for mudguards etc Don't think it takes long drop brakes though, so won't do 28mm+guards
Tifosi CK7 is available fully built in your price range, it will take 28mm+ guards

It's quite difficult finding something nice that will take 28mm+guards at this price point. In the "under 2000" bracket there are many of the UK custom steel makers, the carbon Hewitt Alpine and some low end Ti frames like the Van Nicolas

VanDriver wrote:When you can get a front-and-rear pair of very bright LED lights for £2, are the much higher-priced ones really worth it?

One thing noone has mentioned is build quality and reliability
I alway have a good quality light as my main light and the back up light

Cheaper lights do have a habit of falling to bits or letting water leak in. Ok, all lights do this but it's slightly more likely with the £2 light. I got a bunch of really cheap rear lights once. Went for a 20 mile ride on Exmoor and the one I'd fitted immediately shook to bits, spilling batteries. It was still daylight so no harm done, but the lesson was learnt

jawaka wrote:I set off yesterday on my new Marathon Winter tyres, in a about 4-5 inches of snow; first ungritted road had car tracks of compacted snow which was able to come away in plaques: the tyres slid more than I expected !

What did you expect? A miracle? The Winter Marathons grip on hard packed snow or black ice. They cope well with partly cleared roads with loose shallow ( 2cm ) snow. If the snow is deeper than a few cm and/or broken into chunks it's too much for them. They don't convert your bike into a all terrain vehicle.
Cornering on hard packed snow and black ice is very doable

On broken compacted snow, which is like chunks of ice the bike is thrown off track. On loose deeper snow it acts like deep sand and it is difficult to keep momentum

On slightly softer snow running at a lower pressure helps but of course this makes progress on better bits of road slower

I've been using Marathon Winter tyres since the start of December for a 50km round trip commute. A large portion is on lanes that are ungritted. The tyres are great and make the difference between riding and not riding. But my time for the total trip has increased by approx 20 minutes. Even with the tyres I still have to be very careful. If I got to the bottom of a large hill at speed and suddenly the road became rutted and the ruts had deep snow in them, game over. At a slow speed though plenty of time to see whats going on and get off and push if necessary.

Some comments on my patch on "Day 11"

The Sustrans bike paths to the SE of Bridgwater are fairly awful with poor surfacing and hazards like bollards. Could be ok if you just want to go slow. A route for big tyres. I would guess that it pretty much all like this all the way to Taunton. I tend to avoid it!

When you get to the RBT E of Wellington use the 2nd exit sp Exeter if you want a quicker road. The one through the town has several traffic lights.

Where you leave the A38 north of Wellington, Somerset at Peamoor X your route goes Appledore. Go the other way via Culmstock and Uffculme to Willand it is a much better road

If you want to take Micks suggestion of using "Robs Passage" then at Willand go to Halberton then Tiverton. In Tiverton get on the A396 sp Bickley. The turn off to Thorverton at the Ruffwell Inn pub is the start of the easier route to Crediton. It won't seem that easy but hey! you are in Devon.

Slowroad wrote:I've been looking at buying a lock from the CTC shop but it doesn't seem to stock the size I want. The ones on Wiggle seem to have 10% discounted anyway, so there's only 2% difference from being a CTC member

Yes, it is the case that the maximum discount available as a CTC member is 12% on the "list price"
But most prices are already discounted by a percentage already, typically 10% as you point out.

p_pitstop wrote:My partner has a new job but its 20 miles away which is a bit of a trek for cycle commuting. Years ago he commuted a similar distance and cycled once a week but despite his job being mainly office based he never managed twice a week as it was too tiring.

So I guess he will do this once a week or less

Any suggestions/comments ? Or is it just a ploy to buy another bike and get home later than me so I have to cook ?

yes it is a ploy for n+1. You don't need a special bike for trip you are only doing erratically

I used 28mm Gatorskins for a couple of years and 28mm 4 Seasons for a couple of years. I don't use them now, either type

The Gatorskins are good for 5,000km+ and then the carcass appears through the casing and they puncture easily. They are fast but not very grippy. They aren't heavy like a Schwalbe Marathon but they aren't light either.
I did have one pair of 25mm Gatorskins but the grip of them was terrible

The 4 Seasons are fast, light, grippy and wonderful. Until you've done 2,500km. Then they puncture far too often, every few hundred km in my experience with a few pairs of them.

If money is no object and you don't mind spending £25 per tyre every 2,500km then the GP4 Seasons are the tyre for you. If you want a reliable, fast tyre with less than stella grip the Gatorskin is the one

I think you can understand why I don't use either now

MikeL wrote:Any cycle-computer enthusiasts with year round data here? Do people see a seasonal swing?

Funnily enough I am getting times of about 2 hours 30 minutes now in the winter instead of of 2 hours exactly in the summer

I put this down to riding my steel bike with 35mm Winter Marathons instead of an Alu Orbea racing bike, but the BMJ says that can't be right- so it must be the weather

I bought a cheap Ti frame to ride PBP on in 2007

The ride quality is much better than steel or Aluminium for long distance road riding.
I know it is difficult to tell but it is my impression from lots of miles on a Ti bike that the frame material does soak up some road noise in a way that other materials don't

It is a key issue to get the warrantee issue sorted out though. Airborne ceased trading because of excessive warantee claims. So did the little company I got my from, Setavento. I wouldn't buy a rebadged titanium frame made "somewhere in China" from anyone without an essential accessory made from a different material. A cast iron gaurantee.

My Ti bike died ( see my blog for pictures etc ) and Setavento had ceased trading

So that bike is now pretty much a dead loss for long distance riding now, although it will make a comeback as a pub bike once I get it welded up.

CREPELLO wrote:The link goes to your blog but 'error 404' is displayed.

fixed the link above, sorry about that

I have a generator running a B&M IQ Fly light for my 15 mile journey via lanes

Mrs Vorsprung has just switched jobs and is now able to cycle to work. It's about 5 miles also much of it in the real dark. Rather than a Magicshine I got her a battery powered B&M Ixon. B&M stuff usually has great build quality, and although the total lumens of the light is lower than a Magicshine the beam is specifically designed to work on the road so I would guess in practice it is no better or worse. I got the Ixon for approx 60 Euros from a german online shop

The Specialized Roubaix was developed to be a comfortable but fast long distance road bike. It is intended for going a hundred miles or more at a brisk pace, it isn't a tourer for dawdling on. It's named after a race so for audax it needs some changes. I've removed the standard issue wheels and replaced them, fitted lights and mudguards. Full details and pictures On my audaxing blog