Thread to tell everyone what bike gear you've just bought !

daniel_b

These caught my eye, so have ordered 3, plus a Tubolito repair kit - cheapest place was the entertainingly named Lordgun bicycles, even factoring in £7 postage, still some £15 cheaper than the next best option in the uk.

Destined for my Addict that will be on a massive weight loss program over the next 12 months.

I run latex tubes on my Foil, which are great, but the continual loss of air does get marginally annoying - reviews of these would suggest they lose even less than butyl tubes.

https://road.cc/content/review/pirelli-p-zero-smartube-286887



My only sadness is that all of the glorious yellow will be hidden from sight

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Just looked them up and seen Merlin do them for £23 each https://www.merlincycles.com/pirelli-p-zero-smart-inner-tube-700c-251957.html , get two and add something else to get over £75 and then use a £5 loyalty voucher discount (sadly no Topcashback any more).

They've gone up another squid to £39.50, but given how GP5000s in 32mm flavour are tricky to source and so much more expensive than they used to be before the pandemic, I keep looking at the 30mm https://www.merlincycles.com/vittoria-corsa-g20-folding-road-tyre-142938.html and wondering how they compare.

daniel_b

Yep, tweeks had them for £23.33, but with 6.6% cashback, but Lordgun have them for about £17 each, and as I bought 3, plus the patch kit, the savings grew and made it worthwhile.

Delivery takes longer, but I am in no hurry.

I have some 28mm GP5000s sat in a cupboard ready for the Addict, and now these tubes to go with them, but yes agreed the price and availability of tyres is making buying 'race' tyres a tough one to justify.

I had a barely used 5000 die recently due to a slash in the sidewall, not an easy one to swallow.

Those tyres look to have stunning reviews, not a fan of the tanwall ones, but they have black ones available too I see.

I have considered the Pirelli PZero tyres several times, but can never somehow justify them over the GP5000s, a smidge heavier, and reviews are more mixed than the Conti.
Plus I know that in general, on the roads near where I live the 5000s seem to mostly survive pretty well, the tyre slash to the best of my knowledge occurred on the IOW.
In contrast some Michelin pro race 3s and 4s (remember them) used to cut up incredibly easily.

mrb123

There is a knock off version of these tubes on Ali Express called Ride Now that are a fraction of the price of the recognised brands.

There are a few review videos floating around on YouTube about them.

I've no personal experience of them but may be worth investigating.

daniel_b

mrb123 said:

There is a knock off version of these tubes on Ali Express called Ride Now that are a fraction of the price of the recognised brands.

There are a few review videos floating around on YouTube about them.

I've no personal experience of them but may be worth investigating.

They do look interesting, and are about 60% of the cost I would say:
https://aliexpress.com/item/1005003905037315.html

EDIT: Looking again, there are some VERY cheap suppliers!

EG 10 tubes with a repair kit for £70!

Confusingly those ones say they do not have a removable core, where as the review I saw said they did have removable cores, so possibly a knock off of a replica.

Tashman

https://freewheel.co.uk/madison-sportive-men-s-short-sleeve-jersey-varmcl20s13
One of these Madison Jerseys in the Red/Orange. Seems pretty good value at £16

mrb123

Pair of Tune rim brake hubs - price from Bike24 was very competitive and they are UK VAT registered so no nasty charges at this end.

Rims going to be Light Bicycle AR series - 46mm deep at the front and 56mm rear. Grooved graphene brake track and their rather sexy hexacomb finish.

daniel_b

mrb123 said:

Pair of Tune rim brake hubs - price from Bike24 was very competitive and they are UK VAT registered so no nasty charges at this end.

Rims going to be Light Bicycle AR series - 46mm deep at the front and 56mm rear. Grooved graphene brake track and their rather sexy hexacomb finish.

Any pics and links?
Are you building them yourself?

Be interested to hear what you make of the hubs, I have a pair on a set of spokesman wheels I have yet to fit.

I'm sorely tempted to order 10 of those Ride Now tubes - they do add vat, but there are some codes kicking about, so 10 with a repair kit would appear to be £75 delivered.
They would not work with my Foil which is slightly annoying, if I could get an 85mm one that would do for the front but not the rear, but ordering single or small amounts seems to bump the price up a fair bit.

mrb123

daniel_b said:

mrb123 said:

Pair of Tune rim brake hubs - price from Bike24 was very competitive and they are UK VAT registered so no nasty charges at this end.

Rims going to be Light Bicycle AR series - 46mm deep at the front and 56mm rear. Grooved graphene brake track and their rather sexy hexacomb finish.

Any pics and links?
Are you building them yourself?

Be interested to hear what you make of the hubs, I have a pair on a set of spokesman wheels I have yet to fit.

I'm sorely tempted to order 10 of those Ride Now tubes - they do add vat, but there are some codes kicking about, so 10 with a repair kit would appear to be £75 delivered.
They would not work with my Foil which is slightly annoying, if I could get an 85mm one that would do for the front but not the rear, but ordering single or small amounts seems to bump the price up a fair bit.

LBS will be doing the build. Was originally going to order a complete wheelset from LB/Farsports (also looked at the Elite Drives) but wasn't completely happy with the hub choices they had within my budget.

Hubs are the Tune Mig/Mag
https://tune.de/en/299/mag-rear-hub
Bike 24 had them at a substantial discount for some of the colours which included what I wanted.

Rims are these...
https://www.lightbicycle.com/Road-bicycle-rims-28mm-wide-56mm-deep-aero-clincher-versatile-road-rim-brake-available.html
There's a pic of the hexacomb finish if you scroll down. LB also supplying CX-RAYS (CX Sprints for rear drive side).

Let us know if you get those tubes - possibly a risk too far for me with rim brake carbon wheels but reckon I'd definitely take a punt for a disc braked bike.

mrb123

Pair of Sportful Fiandre bibs, £34.50 with free postage from the excellent Saddleback sale that I mentioned in the bargains thread.

daniel_b

Castelli speedsuit thingy - Keller Sports (Highly recommended, and no extra charges for shipping to the UK) had a great deal on, an extra discount, and I'm a member currently.


Thinking I can use it when I finally get my TT bike built, and also on the aero bike.

Plus one of these, for ~£75 which I could not resist at that price, have the yellow one and it's a stunning piece of kit.


I also have my Addict Gravel at home now, complete with a suitable crankset, so should put some pics of that up at some point.

And less interestingly, a spare rear hanger for the Addict RC, and a seatpost clamp assembly to keep in stock for it as well.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

https://www.merlincycles.com/shimano-xt-sm-rt86-ice-tec-6-bolt-rotor-56040.html for ~£25 (still is that price at time of posting).

daniel_b

daniel_b said:

Castelli speedsuit thingy - Keller Sports (Highly recommended, and no extra charges for shipping to the UK) had a great deal on, an extra discount, and I'm a member currently.


Thinking I can use it when I finally get my TT bike built, and also on the aero bike.

Well this arrived today.

I always wear small Castelli shorts, and either small or xs jerseys, I have a long inseam, and relatively short torso.

Managed to get the short part on with no issues, felt less snug than the Pro race aero 4 shorts I bought recently, and sat nicely, but I genuinely could not get the top part on, and even with help, it felt like it would rip something, so will have to return it.

I could order a medium, but from the fit on the shorts I just know it would be too baggy, probably top and bottom, which defeats the object entirely.

If you can fit into I'd say it's a fine buy for the £140 it cost me, top notch quality material used.

As an aside, if I want to take part in some TTs next year, I happen to have some ex pro Mitchelton Scott kit, including an all in one speedsuit, but with the zip at the front.
Am I allowed to take part wearing that, or are there rules that say you can only wear team kit if you ride for that team?

daniel_b

Have taken a gamble on a pair of these cargo short style things - have a set of the amfib bibtights which are awesome so hoping these are good.

If you google them, the reviews are raving, and that's at £220 - here they are a vastly reduced £88 which I thought was pretty reasonable.

https://freewheel.co.uk/pearl-izumi-men-s-expedition-pro-bib-short-vars107

Additionally they have a next tier down model for a bit under £50:
https://freewheel.co.uk/pearl-izumi-men-s-expedition-bib-short-varq101

me-109

If it's an open TT then club or plain kit only.

daniel_b

daniel_b said:

Have taken a gamble on a pair of these cargo short style things - have a set of the amfib bibtights which are awesome so hoping these are good.

If you google them, the reviews are raving, and that's at £220 - here they are a vastly reduced £88 which I thought was pretty reasonable.

https://freewheel.co.uk/pearl-izumi-men-s-expedition-pro-bib-short-vars107

Additionally they have a next tier down model for a bit under £50:
https://freewheel.co.uk/pearl-izumi-men-s-expedition-bib-short-varq101

Those PI cargo shorts turned up yesterday, and the quality of the pad, and material is clear to see, a proper bargain at £88.

I went back to potentially order a pair in black, but PI had disappeared from their website - dropped them a mail, to be told that they ceased to be a PI reseller from Tuesday AM

A massive shame, as they have historically had some mega PI bargains over the years.

photonic69

Got a Gore Phantom Infinium jacket for £80 from Wiggle. Bargain. Got one that's too big for me so getting the right size at the right price is great. Never seen them that cheap before. Been looking for 3 years.

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/gore-wear-phantom-gore-tex-infinium-jacket-blackred-2xl

mrb123

A package arrived from China today...

Light Bicycle AR series rims, 46mm front and 56mm rear. Grooved graphene brake surfaces and their "hexacomb" finish.

These will be getting built up next week by my LBS. CX Rays front and rear NDS, CX Sprint rear DS. 20/24 spokes. Hubs are some orange Tune Mig/Mag. Brass Sapim double square nipples.

To complete the set up I've got some KCNC ti skewers and Swissstop Black Prince pads. 25mm clincher GP5000s.

Quality and finish of the rims seems superb. Light Bicycle also a pleasure to deal with. They've supplied the spokes and nips so hopefully they've got the spoke length calculations right!

daniel_b

Those rims look lovely @mrb123

So having found out I do have a job (even managed to get the one I wanted - woohoo!) in the 'new' structure, I have gone and ordered the tailfin rack for the new bike - also went for the AP20 rackbag thing, it's pricey, but the reviews are excellent, and think it will be really useful for the commute as well as light touring, family rides - for the latter instead of having to take a pannier, anyone who rides with children will know how much food you have to take with you for a 20 mile ride, not to say a few layers of clothing as well.

I went for alloy over carbon as it's a chunk cheaper (I'm trying to look at it as if I have almost gotten the bag for free ), and not too much heavier, and also because it has the extra mounts on for bottle cages or some kind of luggage type affair should I want them - extra flexibility.

I'll need a pannier to accompany this for the commute, as I still have a laptop to take in.

I can't quite figure out if the bag can be easily removed from the rack (I have dropped them an e-mail to ask), would be nice if it could, but not a deal breaker if not - the rack itself should be removable in a handful of seconds.
Also ordered a bolt on thing to allow me to fit the varia on the rack, as with the bag on the seatpost option is gone.

wolfsbane2k

daniel_b said:

Also ordered a bolt on thing to allow me to fit the varia on the rack, as with the bag on the seatpost option is gone.

Which one did you go for? I'm looking at Varia mount options and want to have a second light at the back as well as a "backup" so have approached raceware for a quote for a custom order that supports both varia and the old "bag" mount style clips.

daniel_b

wolfsbane2k said:

daniel_b said:

Also ordered a bolt on thing to allow me to fit the varia on the rack, as with the bag on the seatpost option is gone.

Which one did you go for? I'm looking at Varia mount options and want to have a second light at the back as well as a "backup" so have approached raceware for a quote for a custom order that supports both varia and the old "bag" mount style clips.

Ah sorry, possibly poor explanation - it's a Tailfin specific brackety thing, to mimis the seatpost fitment:


Raceware are a good choice, Martyn is top drawer.

wolfsbane2k

A

daniel_b said:

wolfsbane2k said:

daniel_b said:

Also ordered a bolt on thing to allow me to fit the varia on the rack, as with the bag on the seatpost option is gone.

Which one did you go for? I'm looking at Varia mount options and want to have a second light at the back as well as a "backup" so have approached raceware for a quote for a custom order that supports both varia and the old "bag" mount style clips.

Ah sorry, possibly poor explanation - it's a Tailfin specific brackety thing, to mimis the seatpost fitment:


Raceware are a good choice, Martyn is top drawer.

Ah, that makes sense - a "seat post mimic", rather than a "traditional" pannier bracket adaptor and then varia adaptor for that.



Yeah, i've got a few of their "off the shelf" units, but not gone custom before. Can imagine that they'd end up selling a few of the adaptors i'm looking for - i want 5 to start with for my own fleet!

daniel_b

5 is a good number to be going on with!

What exactly will it do, and where will it fit / how will it attach?
Just thinking if it is something I would utilise, I could potentially jump on the custom order for a couple and bring the price down a touch.

I'm never massively happy with the stock garmin rubber band mount, I would prefer something far more solid, and one that I could just leave permanently on a couple of bikes ideally.

Do you have a tailfin yourself - if so, what do you make of it?

*I've just spotted a potential problem with the seatpost mimic bit - it's parallel with the ground, where as the stock mounts are designed to cancel out the angle of the seatpost - this means the light will end up pointing up into the air, and potentially the radar might be a bit less effective as well

wolfsbane2k

daniel_b said:

5 is a good number to be going on with!

What exactly will it do, and where will it fit / how will it attach?
Just thinking if it is something I would utilise, I could potentially jump on the custom order for a couple and bring the price down a touch.

I'm never massively happy with the stock garmin rubber band mount, I would prefer something far more solid, and one that I could just leave permanently on a couple of bikes ideally.

Do you have a tailfin yourself - if so, what do you make of it?

*I've just spotted a potential problem with the seatpost mimic bit - it's parallel with the ground, where as the stock mounts are designed to cancel out the angle of the seatpost - this means the light will end up pointing up into the air, and potentially the radar might be a bit less effective as well

No, don't have the tailfin myself, am too heavily embedded into the Topeak QuickTrak productline.

What i'm looking for is here

https://forum.bikeradar.com/discussion/13118786/dual-light-garmin-varia-rear-radar-pannier-rack-mounts-uk-sourced

daniel_b

Been looking for a semi decent deal on the Assioma duo pedals for a fair while now, and finally Sigma has the Duos down from 720 to 575, and going through TCB gives 4.2% cashback, which should bring it down to a smidge over £550, and given the weight of these things, and the reviews they get, I consider to be a very fair price.

pinno

That's a lot for a pair of pedals. Ouch. I'll stick with my Keo carbon's which I thought were pricey. May go to Time when they eventually wear out in 2037.

Re: Tyres, I use Vittoria Corsa 2.0's with Vittoria latex inner tubes and have used Vittoria's for some 8+ years and never looked back. The roads around here are terrible.
Michelin Pro 4's roll beautifully but are far to fickle and liable puncture often.

daniel_b

pinno said:

That's a lot for a pair of pedals. Ouch. I'll stick with my Keo carbon's which I thought were pricey. May go to Time when they eventually wear out in 2037.

Agreed, but they have a dual sided power meter woven into them as well!
Plus the replacement bearing kits are something like £35 for each side, not that I have seen much evidence of them wearing out as such.

I am a (long term) user of look also, and have some of those other keo carbon jobbies, with a titanium axle I think - that bike is having a 4iiiiii power crank fitted, one of the Halfords mega discounts in the summer, weighed in at under £200 iirc.

I too like the latex tubes, but the speed with which they lose air is a minor irritation, especially when on a bike that is not used that regularly, and not at all over the winter.

*Ordered those pedals at about 9pm last night, and they are being delivered tomorrow - Sigma's usual level of service.

MattFalle

This, brandnew for a snip for the mint stars n stripes Spinergy wheeled carbon Record shod CAAD 4. Mega chicken noodle soup.

Soooo freakin cool. I AM CIPO

daniel_b

MattFalle said:

This, brandnew for a snip for the mint stars n stripes Spinergy wheeled carbon Record shod CAAD 4. Mega chicken noodle soup.

Soooo freakin cool. I AM CIPO

That's stunning - can we ask how much for?

My bro has a CAAD3 that used to look exactly like this, wheels and all:


Sadly the frame cracked, and was replaced with another Caad 3 frame, but not the same special edition :-(
He's also ended up selling the spinergy wheels, and got good money for them, and just has some fulcrums on there, but it gets regular outings in the Alps in northern Italy.

I have ridden it a couple of times, and it's a lovely and lively ride - max tyre width is of course 23mm - at least at the back.

MattFalle

daniel_b said:

MattFalle said:

This, brandnew for a snip for the mint stars n stripes Spinergy wheeled carbon Record shod CAAD 4. Mega chicken noodle soup.

Soooo freakin cool. I AM CIPO

That's stunning - can we ask how much for?

My bro has a CAAD3 that used to look exactly like this, wheels and all:


Sadly the frame cracked, and was replaced with another Caad 3 frame, but not the same special edition :-(
He's also ended up selling the spinergy wheels, and got good money for them, and just has some fulcrums on there, but it gets regular outings in the Alps in northern Italy.

I have ridden it a couple of times, and it's a lovely and lively ride - max tyre width is of course 23mm - at least at the back.

thankyou!

of course: 50 Europes, boxed, brand new. it weighs more than the world but you know when you have omething that is so utterly cool it just mkes you laugh and smile?

yup, its that stem.

red n yellow Saeco is utterly, utterly, utterly cool - classic scheme. So so so cool. Hot n sour soup levels of cool.