First Road Bike

Sewinman

So after slogging around Richmond Park and being scalped by a snail, I decided to get a road bike. I bought a cheapo Trek 1.2. I know its cr*p, but to me it feels like the fastest bike on earth! I may upgrade it next spring when the weather improves.

Anyway, wanted to ask a few questions.

Should I use it to commute on, or will this ruin it?

Also the brakes seem awful compared to my hybrid, should I take it back and ask them to fix or is it normal?

Finally, where would people suggest I get some cheap cycling clothing?

Many thanks for any advice, all gratefully received.

linsen

You can often pick up cheap cycle clothing in Lidl or Aldi

I commute on a very classy road bike (more by accident than design - I got it cheap), and it hasn't been ruined yet. You see loads of people out on them. If your commute is longer than say 4 miles or so it will save you a lot of time and effort to be on a faster bike. I have three bikes and I wouldn't do my 12 mile ride to work on either of the others!

Eat My Dust

I use a full carbon road bike for commuting 12 months of the year. I know other people wouldn't do this, but I just buy a new bike every time I wear one out!!!!

Coriander

I don't want to hijack Sewinman's thread but he's raised a point similar to a thread I was about to start.

Now that I'm off my medication I have promised myself a road bike when I lose the weight the medication put on me. But it occured to me this morning that I have no idea what the difference between my current Tricross Sport and a road bike would be.

Anyone able to enlighten me...?

always_tyred

Its worth ensuring that the braks are correctly set up in the frist instance so that you have a reference point.

However, one of the joys of being a roadie is learning how to deal with the stopping distance of the Exxon Valdez.

The only way to avoid wearing out the parts of any bike is not to use it. The sealing arrangements of road bike bearings (for example the hubs and headsets) tend to be less effective (and lighter) than their mtb equivalents. However in my experience its not night and day and slightly more frequent maintenance should suffice. Other than that, a road bike is a mountain bike with skinny tyres - the materials are the same, the drive train is about the same, etc.

Clever Pun

Coriander wrote:

I don't want to hijack Sewinman's thread but he's raised a point similar to a thread I was about to start.

Now that I'm off my medication I have promised myself a road bike when I lose the weight the medication put on me. But it occured to me this morning that I have no idea what the difference between my current Tricross Sport and a road bike would be.

Anyone able to enlighten me...?

brakes, geometry, gearing and weight I suspect. get slicks to go faster

OP you can ride all year round no problems, when it gets all wet and cr@ppy look after the componentry clean and lube and it should be ok... worst case it you might have to replace bits but on a cheap bike it doesn't matter

with the brakes are the shoes new? try tightening the wire?

cjcp

Sewinman - nothing at all wrong with commuting on it. Did your hybrid have disc brakes? They're more powerful. If not, check whether the release lever on the brakes is up or down. This allows you to adjust how close the brake pads are to the wheel rim. If that doesn't work and there's no great contact between the pads and the rim, you may need to pull the cable through a fraction.

Cori - the road bike will probably be lighter and come with narrower wheels and tyres. It will also have caliper brakes. I think the geometry would also be different, so you'd need to be measured/fitted for the road bike. I think CX bikes generally have shorter top tubes so you're more upright. I don't own a CX bike though, so someone please jump in if I'm talking utter tosh.

Eat My Dust - out of interest, at what point do you wear a carbon bike out? I used mine to commute last year, but I am answerable to the good lady so would be interested to know what arguments I should raise if I want a new bike?

Littigator

Welcome to the roadie club. The brakes won't be as good as the blocks are much smaller and the pulling power of the mechanism is not as strong as on other mechs e/g cantilever.

You can help by ensuring your blocks are adjusted nice and close to the rims and also buy good quality blocks...I like Aztecs, they mid range price and nice and grippy.

On the clothing, I bought some Aldi stuff recently and although it's not the highest quality it's pretty good for the price.

Coriander - where to begin. Lighweight, faster acceleration, nippier to manouvre, less rolling resistance. Is that a good start?

Eat My Dust

cjcp wrote:

Eat My Dust - out of interest, at what point do you wear a carbon bike out?

lol, when I get bored of it!

MRS EMD's train ticket costs about £2500 a year, so she can't really say anyhting when I want to buy a new bike!

always_tyred

Littigator wrote:

You can help by ensuring your blocks are adjusted nice and close to the rims and also buy good quality blocks...I like Aztecs, they mid range price and nice and grippy.

Not sure about that - I have read that most hamateurs have the blocks too close and that the pros open the brakes a little to get the best leverage. As I understood the article, the power of your grip increases the closer your fingers are to your palm (corresponding to the lever being closer to the bars) and that road levers were geared to take advantage of this (and canted out to avoid collision with the curve of the drops).

I'll throw that to the floor (centurion).

lost_in_thought

Always Tyred wrote:

Littigator wrote:

You can help by ensuring your blocks are adjusted nice and close to the rims and also buy good quality blocks...I like Aztecs, they mid range price and nice and grippy.

Not sure about that - I have read that most hamateurs have the blocks too close and that the pros open the brakes a little to get the best leverage. As I understood the article, the power of your grip increases the closer your fingers are to your palm (corresponding to the lever being closer to the bars) and that road levers were geared to take advantage of this (and canted out to avoid collision with the curve of the drops).

I'll throw that to the floor (centurion).

For what it's worth, my bike book says that the pads on a side pull brake should sit about 2-3mm from the wheel.

And the new brakes I've fitted are a LOT more stoppy than the factory fit ones. Might be worth changing them - I actually found it really easy to do!

Littigator

Always Tyred wrote:

Littigator wrote:

You can help by ensuring your blocks are adjusted nice and close to the rims and also buy good quality blocks...I like Aztecs, they mid range price and nice and grippy.

Not sure about that - I have read that most hamateurs have the blocks too close and that the pros open the brakes a little to get the best leverage. As I understood the article, the power of your grip increases the closer your fingers are to your palm (corresponding to the lever being closer to the bars) and that road levers were geared to take advantage of this (and canted out to avoid collision with the curve of the drops).

I'll throw that to the floor (centurion).

My bike was built by my brother in law who rides for a pro team. He set the brakes as he sets his, but I guess distance between pad and rim can be a matter of choice. The closer it is the quicker you react and brake when necessary I would think.

il_principe

Sewinman wrote:

So after slogging around Richmond Park and being scalped by a snail, I decided to get a road bike. I bought a cheapo Trek 1.2. I know its cr*p, but to me it feels like the fastest bike on earth! I may upgrade it next spring when the weather improves.

Anyway, wanted to ask a few questions.

Should I use it to commute on, or will this ruin it?

Also the brakes seem awful compared to my hybrid, should I take it back and ask them to fix or is it normal?

Finally, where would people suggest I get some cheap cycling clothing?

Many thanks for any advice, all gratefully received.

Welcome to the club! Try Wiggle's DHB range for good quality cheap kit.

Change the brake blocks, as others have said Aztec are good, Swissstop are better.

Commute on the bike, just keep it cleaned and lubed. Perhaps avoid using it when the roads are gritted.

Enjoy.

sc999cs

Sewinman wrote:

I bought a cheapo Trek 1.2. I know its cr*p,

Sorry have to disagree - all road bikes are cool. Your Trek 1.2 may not be as technologically advanced as a pro's road bike but it will still out perform a similar priced MTB or hybrid (rider allowing). Road bikes may not be the most practical bikes but they're not designed to be! You've bought a good machine, don't knock it.

Sewinman

Thanks for all the great advice! Really appreciated.

Re - my brakes. They are pretty good when i pull them when on the drop handlebars, but when my hands are on top I can't get enough leverage to pull hard. The guy in the shop did say that road bikes brakes are not as good, but I will have a good look at them and upgrade when they wear a bit.

I also have noitced that i am not as good a rider as I thought - road bikes are much more 'interesting' in traffic than my old hybrid.

sc999cs - don't get me wrong - I love my new bike and i agree - its blinking fast!

p.s. I am really excited that i managed to use the word 'leverage' in its correct context, rather than as a verb like my irritating boss does.

biondino

Eat My Dust wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Eat My Dust - out of interest, at what point do you wear a carbon bike out?

lol, when I get bored of it!

MRS EMD's train ticket costs about £2500 a year, so she can't really say anyhting when I want to buy a new bike!

And I'm sure she gets just as much pleasure out of it!

Also, once you've finished with your carbon bikes, can you let us know which local dump you use - or do you give the obsolete bikes to your servants as a Christmas bonus?

lost_in_thought

Sewinman wrote:

Thanks for all the great advice! Really appreciated.

Re - my brakes. They are pretty good when i pull them when on the drop handlebars, but when my hands are on top I can't get enough leverage to pull hard. The guy in the shop did say that road bikes brakes are not as good, but I will have a good look at them and upgrade when they wear a bit.

I found that with the leverage at first, but it seems to have become easier lately, I don't know why, maybe too much tension inthe brake cables, maybe I've built up the muscles in my hands a bit more, maybe I needed to wear them in...

I did nearly shoot over the handlebars this morning braking hard with my new blocks and pads... :shock:

Sewinman

lost_in_thought wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

Thanks for all the great advice! Really appreciated.

Re - my brakes. They are pretty good when i pull them when on the drop handlebars, but when my hands are on top I can't get enough leverage to pull hard. The guy in the shop did say that road bikes brakes are not as good, but I will have a good look at them and upgrade when they wear a bit.

I found that with the leverage at first, but it seems to have become easier lately, I don't know why, maybe too much tension inthe brake cables, maybe I've built up the muscles in my hands a bit more, maybe I needed to wear them in...

I did nearly shoot over the handlebars this morning braking hard with my new blocks and pads... :shock:

I shall work on strenghening my grip then!

Do you spend most of your time with hands on the horizontal bar, on the top of the drops ready to brake or on the drops?

always_tyred

On the hoods.

Useful to use the horizontal part to sit up a bit for climbing.

I could hacksaw off the drops and not notice.

ride_whenever

you could get some bullhorns and track levers, then you'#ll always be in the same position and have the good braking position too.

il_principe

ride_whenever wrote:

you could get some bullhorns and track levers, then you'#ll always be in the same position and have the good braking position too.

How's he gonna get STI to work with that setup?

I love drop bars anyway.

ride_whenever

I reckon you could get sti shifters (I apologise if there is already a shifter in STI) to work on bullhorns, okay the cable routing might be a bit funky, but with the wedge in that moves the lever position it should work fine.

lost_in_thought

Sewinman wrote:

I shall work on strenghening my grip then!

Do you spend most of your time with hands on the horizontal bar, on the top of the drops ready to brake or on the drops?

I probably just wore them in! I now spend most of my time on the hoods of the brakes, I was told by the boys at the beers that that's what I ought to do, and it is the way forward. Make sure your handlebars are tilted up enough for you to do that comfortably - mine weren't to start off with.

@jashburnham What's STI in this context?

always_tyred

ride_whenever wrote:

you could get some bullhorns and track levers, then you'#ll always be in the same position and have the good braking position too.

Track levers? You mean the ones for TT base bars? I don't ride in fixie territory and I'm never going back to downtube shifting!

I do consider it occasionally, actually. I might ebay some bars and see how I get on with the shifters underneath. I would be concerned that the downshift would be tricky (Shimano STI's).

il_principe

lost_in_thought wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

I shall work on strenghening my grip then!

Do you spend most of your time with hands on the horizontal bar, on the top of the drops ready to brake or on the drops?

I probably just wore them in! I now spend most of my time on the hoods of the brakes, I was told by the boys at the beers that that's what I ought to do, and it is the way forward. Make sure your handlebars are tilted up enough for you to do that comfortably - mine weren't to start off with.

@jashburnham What's STI in this context?

STI - Shimano total Integration. I'm assuming he's running Shimano given he has a Trek.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimano_Total_Integration

It's not some horrific bike related disease...

lost_in_thought

jashburnham wrote:

It's not some horrific bike related disease...

I thought there had to be some other explanation!

always_tyred

This is the sort of thing:



Just eyeballing it, seems that fingers would be much longer than the gap between the bars and the lever, so it might not be that comfortable showshifting. Maybe a different choice of bars - that just curve at the end - might be better.

I know some of the pros tried this for TT's a couple of years ago. It has that "if it was any good we'd all be doing it" feel about it though.

I emphasise that this is not my bike.

Clever Pun

Always Tyred wrote:

On the hoods.

Useful to use the horizontal part to sit up a bit for climbing.

I could hacksaw off the drops and not notice.

I've not tried that for climbing... might give it a punt

I use the drops for massive headwinds and balls out sprinting (about 10-20 seconds)

Sewinman

lost_in_thought wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

I shall work on strenghening my grip then!

Do you spend most of your time with hands on the horizontal bar, on the top of the drops ready to brake or on the drops?

I probably just wore them in! I now spend most of my time on the hoods of the brakes, I was told by the boys at the beers that that's what I ought to do, and it is the way forward. Make sure your handlebars are tilted up enough for you to do that comfortably - mine weren't to start off with.

@jashburnham What's STI in this context?

Seems I should attend beers for some more free advice!

giltkid

Track levers? You mean the ones for TT base bars? I don't ride in fixie territory and I'm never going back to downtube shifting!

I've heard that downtube shifters are coming back, some of the new Kona's have got 'em. A year from now all the trendies who converted old Reynolds frame bikes to SS will be trying to remember what they did with those so retro shifters......

lost_in_thought

giltkid wrote:

Track levers? You mean the ones for TT base bars? I don't ride in fixie territory and I'm never going back to downtube shifting!

I've heard that downtube shifters are coming back, some of the new Kona's have got 'em. A year from now all the trendies who converted old Reynolds frame bikes to SS will be trying to remember what they did with those so retro shifters......

I have downtube shifters on my sh*tty road bike, they are a right pain in the bum. Mind you, I'm sure new shifters will cost more than the bike did, so perhaps I'd be overcapitalising...