First Bike. First Ride.

Nuggs

Hi Gang

Thanks for all your help over the past few months. I finally took the plunge and got myself a Spesh Roubaix Elite from In-Gear in Uckfield.

The bike looks the business, and the service I received from the shop was second-to-none. Fantastic experience!

Anyway, woke up early this morning, sun was shining, so I took her out for my first ride in about 15 years.

Here are the good things and bad things I discovered:

GOOD THINGS
Bike felt fantastic - comfortable and responsive. Seriously well set up for me.
Roads were quiet and the sun was out 8)
I actually quite like wearing Lycra :shock:
It felt great having got some good exercise in.

BAD THINGS
Half way around my circuit, I tried changing to the big cog on the front, the chain slipped and fell off, scratching up the crank :x
Having managed to get the chain back on, it now won't shift to the smaller front cog and it makes a terrible racket on the big cog :x

All in all though, I'm sure it can be fixed easily. And it's just so good to have such a lovely bike to enjoy the Spring weather on!

magicroundabout

Have you got a triple chain ring. That is, do you have three big cogs at the front?

Sounds like your front derailleur isn't set up right and needs to be lowered towards the smaller cogs. Find the tensioner screw for it and loosen it. See if that helps.

MR

PostieJohn

As a fellow Sussex man, also from the better half, where were you out and about?

Glad you enjoyed your ride.

Nuggs

magicroundabout wrote:

Have you got a triple chain ring. That is, do you have three big cogs at the front?

Sounds like your front derailleur isn't set up right and needs to be lowered towards the smaller cogs. Find the tensioner screw for it and loosen it. See if that helps.

MR

No it's a double. The front dérailleur is massively over to the right so deffo needs adjusting. I won't be out on it in the week, so I'll just get the shop to sort it on Saturday (and show me how to do it myself). Not sure what happened as it was shifting as sweet as a nut in the shop :?

PostieJohn: I did a 20 minute circuit through Haywards Heath and Cuckfield. Something nice and easy for my first ride! Loved it (except for the chain falling off-gears not working thing)!

I forgot one other thing that should have been on the 'bad things' list: every time I looked over my right shoulder, the bike drifted to the right :shock:. Oh, and it took me a while to get clipped back in. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it all before long!

Gary D

Nuggs,
It sounds to me like the top limit screw wasn't set properly. That is surely the responsiblity of the shop?
I would try and get them to replace the crank.

Gary.

giant_man

You should take it back to the shop and get them to set it up properly which is what they should have done in the first place.

Nuggs

Gary D wrote:

Nuggs,
It sounds to me like the top limit screw wasn't set properly. That is surely the responsiblity of the shop?
I would try and get them to replace the crank.

Gary.

Giant ManCP wrote:

You should take it back to the shop and get them to set it up properly which is what they should have done in the first place.

Oh yes - it will be going back to the shop!

PostieJohn

Nuggs wrote:

PostieJohn: I did a 20 minute circuit through Haywards Heath and Cuckfield. Something nice and easy for my first ride! Loved it (except for the chain falling off-gears not working thing)!

Excellent, I guessed you would be that way, you'll soon be up the Beacon, like it's merely a speed hump .
I'll keep my eye out for a shiney new Roubaix when I've got some more miles, back in my legs.

HungryCol

Nuggs wrote:

I forgot one other thing that should have been on the 'bad things' list: every time I looked over my right shoulder, the bike drifted to the right :shock:.

With your left hand holding the top left of the handlebars put your right hand on your right lap and look over your shoulder to your right. More stability that way and you're less likely to veer. When cycling in a group and you need to look behind for longer than a glance you could put your hand on the cyclists shoulder beside you, with their permission of course. Having said this you would need be a confident (and competent) cyclist to not have two hands on your bars at all times in a group. I'm still a bit sketchy when picking up my drinking bottle in the middle of a group when you're 10cms from the wheel in front at 23mph :shock:

Nuggs

HungryCol wrote:

I'm still a bit sketchy when picking up my drinking bottle in the middle of a group when you're 10cms from the wheel in front at 23mph :shock:

I was a bit sketchy about picking up my bottle while going down a wide, quiet road at 5mph!

Thanks for the 'hand on the lap' tip!

Nuggs

PostieJohn wrote:

Nuggs wrote:

PostieJohn: I did a 20 minute circuit through Haywards Heath and Cuckfield. Something nice and easy for my first ride! Loved it (except for the chain falling off-gears not working thing)!

Excellent, I guessed you would be that way, you'll soon be up the Beacon, like it's merely a speed hump .
I'll keep my eye out for a shiney new Roubaix when I've got some more miles, back in my legs.

Yup - the Beacon's definitely a target. It would have to be a very early morning ride though to avoid the traffic. I've seen the way my wife drives up it :shock:

Where abouts are you based?

PostieJohn

I'm along the coast, Littlehampton way, so often frequent the Downs around Arundel, Goodwood, Petworth, Midhurst.
But I do occasionally take on the Beacon if I head off Henfield way