Silly commuting racing

Sea_Green_Incorruptible

Personally, I'm a little bit tempted by this one, if only so I can feel like Octave Lapize when I'm suffering over the Tourmalet (Nine Tree Hill):
http://www.pashley.co.uk/products/guvnor.html

What do you reckon its FCN would be? Granted it's a Pashley, but you have to admit it's a tasty looking ride...

victor ludorum

Sea_Green_Incorruptible wrote:

Personally, I'm a little bit tempted by this one, if only so I can feel like Octave Lapize when I'm suffering over the Tourmalet (Nine Tree Hill):
http://www.pashley.co.uk/products/guvnor.html

What do you reckon its FCN would be? Granted it's a Pashley, but you have to admit it's a tasty looking ride...

It has a certain retro charm, in a 'Please God, don't make me ride it' kind of way.

However, you obviously like it... do you own a boxed set of Brideshead Revisited DVDs by any chance?

When no-one is looking, I bet you wear string-backed track mitts.

victor ludorum

I seem to remember that Bristol is fairly hilly in places, I wouldn't want to haul one of those bad boys up too much of a slope.

I mean, don't get me wrong, a friend of mine owns a couple of Pashleys and loves them to pieces (but she is a bit, well 'Rah, Jolly Hockey Sticks!')

Pashley makes some charming bikes. Should I ever be in the market for a bike made of scaffolding with wheels hewn from granite, Pashley will be the first place I look. But until then...

Sea_Green_Incorruptible

'fairly hilly in places' Your're not wrong there! I have a 20% hill each way on my daily commute. Sometimes this feels like a good thing. Most of the time it does not. Either way, they're always good spots to bag a scalp or two...

Having said that, surely having to haul yourself around the city's challenging topography on what's basically a poser's butchers' bike can only be 'character building' and good for the thighs.

victor ludorum

Sea_Green_Incorruptible wrote:

Having said that, surely having to haul yourself around the city's challenging topography on what's basically a poser's butchers' bike can only be 'character building' and good for the thighs.

But I've just gotten my character built the way I like it...

Sea_Green_Incorruptible

And your thighs?

2wheelzgood

Are you getting at this?
riding a heavy bike on one gear is not my iea of fun. Then again whodathunk that riding anything on one gear would increase the cycling fun quota! madness!
Hoy 04 (he's bigger now :shock: )

What a bulge.. on the legs of Hoy (centre)

victor ludorum

Sea_Green_Incorruptible wrote:

And your thighs?

Fetches tape measure... a circumference of 61cm at the widest point. 42cm around the calf and 35cm at the knee joint (measurements taken while relaxed, I reckon it would be more if I had just climed off my bike.)

For comparison's sake, Chris Hoy's in the lower picture has a thigh circumference around 66cm. (Don't ask about my sources...)

jedster

Hoy's thighs have got to be more than 66cm, surely. Mine are 58 and they look NOTHING like that. Those two other blokes on the podium must look at his legs and think "sod this, he's playing another game entirely).

2wheelzgood

It wasn't meant to be an open invite to post your measurements!

Well Okay I am 55cm.. either I'm not an strong as I imagined or you guys have flabby arses (I'm not toned like Will Smith that's for sure)

I'm going with me being strong.. unlucky lardies!

I bet Greg 66 is a whippet with thin pins.. you know the deceptively strong ones.. all stamina, no punch!

Dunston_checks_in

I can't believe that we - grown men - are sat in front of our computers at work measuring our thighs.

Mine are 62 at the top by the way.

And I do have a big fat arse (a vision in lycra my wife always says).

victor ludorum

As of Mar, 2006 his thigh circumference was 66cm
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/chris-hoy-it-is-one-thing-to-win-gold-469852.html

I suppose he might have grown considerably since (the top picture is the 2004 Olympics) and the lower picture is presumably this year's WCs and there seems to be a difference there, so maybe 66cm is a midpoint.

I would like to make it clear that I do not have the thigh circumferences of leading British cyclists committed to memory (although (gruff, manly voice), for Victoria Pendleton I make an exception... ) but when I saw that picture of Hoy, my immediate response was 'bloody hell!' and google is a great and powerful tool.

2wheelzgood

mm victor.. must finsh work now

greg66_tri_v2.0

2wheelzgood wrote:

I bet Greg 66 is a whippet with thin pins.. you know the deceptively strong ones.. all stamina, no punch!

Curiously, they look divinely proportioned in clothes (which they make look good) but formidable and apt to induce bladder-loosening fear when in lycra. :twisted:

Mostly they are useful because they are long. They're just under 49% of my height. Whippet-like they are not, I assure you.

When you lot are measuring, do you comb a parting in your leg hair for the tape measure?

2wheelzgood

guilty as charged. I have no idea why smooth like a baby's bottom legs are better than hairy as yer Grandad's nostrils. But you are a funny man..albeit trying hard to have ladylegs.

Save for girlfriends and on babies' bottoms! jA jungle in Grandad's nose is ALWAYS bad.

Have a good ride and weekend. I'm recovering (recharging after grabbing those extra gear inches) so that I feel unashamed when I comment on the speed of the grasstrackers I'm off to watch on Monday. Not that you'll catch me on road tyres on a grass banking but at least they are playing a madmad's take on the game.

the_hundredth_idiot

My morning commute was an interesting one.

To start was the much-loved female, hybrid-riding cyclist of the pert variety (unfortunately sans lycra). So overtake, wait at red lights, hybrid rider comes ambling past (quick look either way) and she's off. Lights turn green, I (slowly, obviously) catch up and overtake. Repeat approximately 6 times.

But (arguably) more interesting was the roadie on a carbon Cube who threw a (probably unintentional) gauntlet to the floor as he casually sneered past. I cranked it up and hung on for dear life up a reasonably steep but thankfully not too long hill. And then kept behind him on a flat section.

At the next set of red lights, we both pulled up at the cyclists bit at the front alongside a Witcomb fixie so tarty the only thing missing was a dollop of cream on the top tube. Even jashburnam might do a double take - proper fixie, no brakes, shiny bare drop handlebars. Out of respect for our pecking orders, we pulled away from those lights with Lord Witcomb in pole, followed by Mr Cube with the peasant on the cheap Spesh MTB bringing up the rear.

We all turned into the long straight downhill stetch that is Camberwell Grove. At which point Lord Witcomb is going so slow that both I and Mr Cube are hanging on to our front brakes. I wait for Mr Cube to overtake to continue my education in why I need a road bike but, no, he just sits on the tail of Lord Witcomb.

So I do what I have to - I overtake them both. Freewheeling, by the way, so I don't feel in my soul that it counts as scalps.

Presumably Lord Witcomb was so slow because he has to control his speed quite carefully on a no-brakes fixie when going down a steep hill (which does put me off the hard-core fixie option). But why was Mr Cube doing the same? I suspect it was so he could spend a bit longer ogling the Witcomb. Hopefully I'll see Lord Witcomb again so I can show my appreciation of such a beautiful but seemingly impractical machine.

victor ludorum

2wheelzgood wrote:

either I'm not an strong as I imagined or you guys have flabby arses (I'm not toned like Will Smith that's for sure)

I'm going with me being strong.. unlucky lardies!

'Fraid not, I just tend to put on muscle mass. Cycling and running are my main forms of exercise, but I've taken up swimming and a bit of weight training to try and bulk up my upper body because the imbalance makes me look a little strange... :oops:

Greg T

Shall we just gloss over the unedifying spectacle of grown men sending each other their quad measurements over the internet? (62 - yes 62 - Power packed cm of grind muscle)....

I may have done something rash over the weekend.......

I may now possess a singlie.... 2nd hand Kona Paddy Wagon.....

I was considering an old Italian frame and building it from scratch but decided that I'd see if I liked the dark side first...

Bigger 44 chain ring on order......

Thinking about some cow horn bars........

I seem to have become a tart..

greg66_tri_v2.0

Greg T wrote:

I seem to have become a tart..

Oh my oh my, yes indeed.

Fixed or with a freewheel? Or reversible?

44 on the front, but what on the back?

And most importantly of all, with this, and your cap, and your Oakleys, where does your FCN fall...

Greg T

Greg66 wrote:

And most importantly of all, with this, and your cap, and your Oakleys, where does your FCN fall...

Yes.....

It's currently 42 16. The dude I got it off took the fixed cog off the back so until I get it fixed next weekend it's freewheel only.

At the current gearing it feels OK for 22mph or so but anything higher than that would be a struggle.

I've tried to use online gearing calculators (looking for 28mph at about 90-95rpm) but I'm dense and just couldn't understand all the questions...

Is there a simple calculator anywhere....

As for my FCNing I'm somewhat torn......

Given that it's freewheel, more brakes than cogs, I don't know I'm doing and everything - I'd say I'm starting at 5 - a big faux singlie.....

If I get my mojo right (and that bigger ring singing) I could be quids in.......

2wheelzgood

continuing the OT trend "Is there a simple calculator anywhere.... "
Yes Sheldon Brown's http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/
or the ultra cool- made by a tarty fixed rider obviously: rabbit http://software.bareknucklebrigade.com/ ... pplet.html

about 70 inches.. I'm not sure how effective 2 front teeth will be on flat rounds.. might not feel it that much. 2 rears on mine has been great so far. You'll feel it fixed though I reckon. Maybe keep the fixed side 1t bigger?? I speak having not ridden fixed on the road, only track (once) 82inch gear!

Greg T

2wheelzgood wrote:

I'm not sure how effective 2 front teeth will be on flat rounds.. might not feel it that much. 2 rears on mine has been great so far. You'll feel it fixed though I reckon.

Hmmmmm.......

This black magic is all new to me, I'm wide eyed and naive, I could get taken advantage of..

Cheers for the calc - I'm going to jump up to 48 and Devil take the hindmost........

JB - you spin a 48 - is that a dummy and are you trying to kill me?

xio

48's fine - my flyer is running a very standard 48/18 and is fine for any hill I've ridden. Though I wouldn't describe it as confortable going up Hihgate West hill...

greg66_tri_v2.0

Greg T wrote:

I've tried to use online gearing calculators (looking for 28mph at about 90-95rpm) but I'm dense and just couldn't understand all the questions...

Assuming (a) 25mm tyres and (b) 172.5mm cranks, 44x12 will give you 27.4 mph at 95 rpm (which seems a low to me, but there you are).

By way of comparison, 44.x12 in gear inches is somewhere between 53x15 and 53x14. I spend most of my time in 53x16, and I wouldn't care to step that up a gear or too for all-day everyday riding.

I might suggest starting off with 44x14, avoid hills, and pedal faster if you want to hit 28...

Greg T

There's a lot of maths involved here....

It concerns me that I'm discussing algebra with guys on the tinternet. My inner Viking is sharpening his axe and wondering why he let the inner Accountant drive.

The Viking says I should get a galvanised dustbin lid, bite some teeth in it, bolt it on and get massive.

The Accountant says I'm not massive and should start off with a small saucer and work my way up.

48 - 16 it is......

48 on order.

I'm back on the bike tomorrow - at last I can predate hairy roadies with a relatively clean conscience.......

And my legs whirring into a blur at 20 mph......

el_presidente

xio wrote:

48's fine - my flyer is running a very standard 48/18 and is fine for any hill I've ridden. Though I wouldn't describe it as confortable going up Hihgate West hill...

I run 48*17 & have taken it up Highgate Hill. Personal view but I think for any given ratio bigger rings & sprockets are better as the chain has more teeth to engage thus less wear

jedster

Personal view but I think for any given ratio bigger rings & sprockets are better as the chain has more teeth to engage thus less wear

You are perfectly correct from a practical point of view. Of course that is completely irrelevant as the tartometer rates smaller rings and sprockets more hihly and this is takes precedent for fixies.

cakewalk

Greg T wrote:

Guys!

This has been discussed elsewhere - the first rule of Secret Commute Bike Race Club is that you don't talk about it! Well OK then.

This is the food chain......

Scooters
Single speed fixed hub
Single Speed
Roadies
Roadies with hairy legs
"Fast Hybrids"
MTBs on Skinnies
MTBs on Nobbies
Bromptons / collapsing bikes
MTB full sus on Nobbies
Shoppers
Shoppers wicker baskets
Electric bikes

Dropping / Pulling anyone higher in the food chain makes you stronger and more attractive to burds. Getting dropped / trying to keep up with anyone lower means your soul hires a kudos remover to lower your self worth.

This is the way it is brothers.

Don't try and deny it.

I may only be going 3 miles to the station - however I've only been taken a handful of times in two years and I'm on a Brompton. Birmingham commuters try harder!

Greg T

jedster wrote:

Of course that is completely irrelevant as the tartometer rates smaller rings and sprockets more hihly and this is takes precedent for fixies.

This is entirely true.....

Given that I only have minor tart status (no tats, no ankle bracelet, no hoopy earings) I can survive on a big cog at the back....

When I feel the quickening and fancy a pop at rue tart singlie status I'll need:

A classic frame
Shaved head
Teeeny weeeeny cog on the back
Mahoosive ring - er -
fewer brakes than wheels (those ickle brakes mounted close to the stem....)
Perhaps (cough splutter) white rims and hubs SLUT.
Brooks Swift saddle

Until that time I'll be running a flag of convienience as a 5 and basically wearing a Harry Potter cloak of invisibility........

secretsam

Have brought the Sirrus into London, thereby lowering my FCN number, and increasing potential for scoring scalps

"Speedy" touring 531 thing now lives in sunny Bucks :roll: