Weekend Social Rides

itboffin

Back from this afternoons little ride, very strong headwinds again today but at last no rain I did have a small technical



Clearly i'm laying down some awesome power nothing to do with using a cheap link

Most importantly I managed to pick up a tailwind allowing me a very comfortable 38mph on the flat on my tourer 8).

linsen

vey nice too

I visited the otter and owl centre

Weekend social non-riding

Bassjunkieuk

Maybe that ti chain isn't such a bad idea eh ITB?!?!?

As for the bike powered beer bus I think that's awesome! Scalping the duck bus would be the nuts, something easy to achieve with the cream of the London SCRer's at the pedals - heck I think we could even get a speeding ticket down Millbank with that :-D

Quick question, is it normal for cables to creak at the point they go into the holders on the frame? The creaking noise from the front of my bike has got progressively worse over this week and I just put it down to getting some crud and water in during last weekends lashing rain. Whilst trying to narrow the noise down on one of the quiet roads the other night I grabbed the cables that run in below the headtube to go down the underside of the downtube and noise stopped! This also tied in with the fact that the noise got worse if I pedalled (presumably putting more force on the frame flexed it a bit as the cables run under BB) Sprayed some WD40 into the area last night and it seems fine at the moment! Will be really happy if it's worked as I can then return to quiet riding :-)

itboffin

WD40 will flush out your cable outers if you do it straight after the ride, GT85 will lube them. I have no doubt your cables got a good soaking of muck mine did, I'm not that bothered as I have a set of Dura Ace in standby.

Next time i'm going for fully sealed cables.

jonginge

linsen wrote:

Unfair!

Strangely it was one of the rides I have been on where no-one got hurt

We just all FELT like we might expire........

Erm, just saw this. I sprained (broke it, If I'm honest) my wrist on HOTA and didn't ride the commute for a couple of weeks. Still gives the occasional twinge...

...anyhoo.
Just got back from a couple of hours in the park. Glorious day. Forget FWC*, it was FWEAHD** out there. Very busy, but still enjoyable.

@ITB Great chain pic. You don't see that very often. The other day someone posted a youtube of David Millar flinging his bike away after the same thing (both sides, though) happened near the end of a Giro stage. You are halfway to being a pro

*Fair Weather Cyclists not anything Whitton related
** Fair Weather Everyone And His Dog

linsen

Well I just went on my first club run with "Sotonia CC"

What a nice bunch. Glorious weather, lovely traffic-free roads and a good pace.

I'll do that again......

Rich158

Just got back from the Burgess Hill Spring Classic, 70 hilly miles in glorious sunshine

I think we picked up several of the hills you guys suffered on the HOTA, Kidds Hill, Groombridge Hill and a very nasty 20% or so buggger that nearly had me walking :shock: Chapeau to you guys for doing them in such awfull weather.

Still 4:09 for 70 hilly miles, the suns out, and England are beating France

goddamn right it's a beautiful day

jonginge

Rich158 wrote:

Just got back from the Burgess Hill Spring Classic, 70 hilly miles in glorious sunshine

I think we picked up several of the hills you guys suffered on the HOTA, Kidds Hill, Groombridge Hill and a very nasty 20% or so buggger that nearly had me walking :shock: Chapeau to you guys for doing them in such awfull weather.

Still 4:09 for 70 hilly miles, the suns out, and England are beating France

goddamn right it's a beautiful day

Chapeau right back atcha. Nice bit of the world down there, you probably saw more of it than we did, though

Very tempted to go out again and brave the hordes but enjoy that flaming ball in the sky...

itboffin

JonGinge wrote:

linsen wrote:

Unfair!

Strangely it was one of the rides I have been on where no-one got hurt

We just all FELT like we might expire........

Erm, just saw this. I sprained (broke it, If I'm honest) my wrist on HOTA and didn't ride the commute for a couple of weeks. Still gives the occasional twinge...

...anyhoo.
Just got back from a couple of hours in the park. Glorious day. Forget FWC*, it was FWEAHD** out there. Very busy, but still enjoyable.

@ITB Great chain pic. You don't see that very often. The other day someone posted a youtube of David Millar flinging his bike away after the same thing (both sides, though) happened near the end of a Giro stage. You are halfway to being a pro

*Fair Weather Cyclists not anything Whitton related
** Fair Weather Everyone And His Dog

Why thank you kind sir, I put in a rather pleasing 42 miles today and no need for cap or jacket, pure bliss of natural sunshine and awesome bursts of speed

175 miles this week

linsen

175 miles this week?

Is that all?

itboffin

linsen wrote:

175 miles this week?

Is that all?

Yes this week, why think you could do better :P

boy on bike

On Saturday, neil² and I did the Epic Spring Challenge in sunny Worcestershire/Shropshire. Great ride - 48 miles most of which going up - or so it seemed. The highlight was Clee Hill - a bugg@r to get up, but a fantastic swoop down the other side! I hit 46 mph, which was a pb.

And after the ride, I spent a happy few hours salivating over all the bikes in Epic! It was nearly all I could do not to put down a deposit on an Orca...

linsen

itboffin wrote:

linsen wrote:

175 miles this week?

Is that all?

Yes this week, why think you could do better :P

yup 8)

itboffin

I'm having a well earned day off my knees insisted :?

I'm enjoying the sunshine and using the time to remove every nut bolt and screw from my bike, clean and re-grease.

Oooo shiny....

linsen

Hmm well I had a really good go at cleaning my bike today and I did find out to my surprise that the cassette and chain are silver :shock:

Considered taking more bits off to clean them but fear I would have had to post a pic on a thread entitled "now how do I put it back together?" :?

Bassjunkieuk

ITB - You REALLY have far to much free time and yes I am rather jealous!

Just wandered down to GB Cycles in Croydon to grab a puncture repair kit (but came out with a tube of vulcanizing rubber which is all I needed) and found the Prince in there shod with "Prince Special Edition" Conti tyres! They don't look like anything flash but the bike was £1,100 off.........still £4,400!

DonDaddyD

I saw a Prince in Edwards today...

Nice bikes but they're becoming a little like Porsche/Ferrari/Lambo/Aston Martin's everyone who wants a 'Super-cycle' gets one.... :roll: A little like the Cervelo Man as well as the Colnago and De Rosa Dudes...

Nah who am I kidding, if I had the money I'd sell my soul to be in that crowd!!!!

Bassjunkieuk

I dunno DDD, I think Princes can't really be likened to Ferrari's - I think their more like one of the smaller super car manufactures that you'd only know about if your a proper petrol head - something like Pagani or Koenigsegg. I think most people who own a Ferrari as a "super car" are more then likely the same one's that would head to Evans and pick out the most expensive bit of kit in their range!

I did also spot another thing of beauty, a full ti PlanetX sportive frame! Was hanging on the wall and the damn thing weighed nothing!

biondino

I dunno, BJ, I think DDD's spot on. Ferrari are great, but they're not unusual, and nor are Princes, really - it's a standard bike that is recognised as being of extremely high quality, status and price. Maybe Parlee or Crumpton, bespoke bikes of that type, fit the Pagani mould?

Bassjunkieuk

The way I was looking at it BD was that before I became rather interested in bikes I'd never heard of a Prince, let alone Pinarrello. My knowledge of bikes was pretty much limited to what I saw in Evans or Halfords.

Ever since I was young I'd always known that Ferrari are very nice cars. Therefore I assumed that most people that have little more then a passing interest in bikes probably wouldn't recognize a Prince as being any better then another bike whereas most people can tell that the person driving the Ferrari probably has a lot of money, as well as a mild case of SWS :-D

But yes I do agree that the more bespoke bikes probably fit the Pagani mould a bit better.

il_principe

biondino wrote:

I dunno, BJ, I think DDD's spot on. Ferrari are great, but they're not unusual, and nor are Princes, really - it's a standard bike that is recognised as being of extremely high quality, status and price. Maybe Parlee or Crumpton, bespoke bikes of that type, fit the Pagani mould?

I dunno, for a start Parlee and Crumpton are Yank bikes that lack the heritage of Pinarello. Casati or Viner are more like Pagani.

Having said that, I've only ever seen 7 other people on Princes, they’re not nearly as common as other high end bikes like the Tarmac SL2 or the Madone:

Dragon Ride x 2
Etape x 2
Richmond Park x 2
Lambeth - inexplicably being ridden by the most non cycling looking bloke ever (chubby white chav looking fella) , wearing jeans on a sat night in feb... If I hadn't been in the car (with the Prince in the boot) and heading for Sussex in a hurry, I would've said "hello" :shock:

Eau Rouge

The weather and a need to get the DIY done before the new bike arrives (hopefully bringing nice weather from Italy with it) mean I've been limited to little more than the commute since I started back cycling last autumn.
So while yesterdays 24 miles wasn't exactly vast, it was enough for me right now. I did convince the legs to go back up the hill to Farley Mount the second time rather than just heading for home, which was good.
The local landlord who ownes the fields alongside the hill has removed the hedges since I was last up it. In the spring sunshine this single track hill with no hedges had that "Spring Classic" feel about it, it was wonderful, even if I was only crawling along.

Once the new bike arrives and I get around to being able to do some decent distances, I'll come join you lot on one of these weekend rides if you don't mind.

DonDaddyD

OK. I was being harsh on the Prince... to drum up conversation.

The reason why I said Porsche/Ferrari/Aston martin as none of these make bad super cars they are just market leaders.

Bikes like Specialized / Trek / Cannondale / Giant TCR etc I would liken to Ford, BMW, Audi. Market leading car makers who have a Super car option (well not so much BMW but still).

Pinarello's are becoming increasingly more popular - they're in GB cycles (Croydon), DeVer and Edwards in Camberwell (who are shifting aluminium/carbon versions at around £1500-£1700). That's three of the biggest and most popular bike shops in South London, that means a lot of brothers will be riding a Pinarello in the next few years....

If I had to liken Pinarello to a car it would be like a Koenigsegg or along those lines. Something that is knonw but not often seen.

Christophe3967

DonDaddyD wrote:

OK. I was being harsh on the Prince... to drum up conversation.

The reason why I said Porsche/Ferrari/Aston martin as none of these make bad super cars they are just market leaders.

Bikes like Specialized / Trek / Cannondale / Giant TCR etc I would liken to Ford, BMW, Audi. Market leading car makers who have a Super car option (well not so much BMW but still).

Pinarello's are becoming increasingly more popular - they're in GB cycles (Croydon), DeVer and Edwards in Camberwell (who are shifting aluminium/carbon versions at around £1500-£1700). That's three of the biggest and most popular bike shops in South London, that means a lot of brothers will be riding a Pinarello in the next few years....

If I had to liken Pinarello to a car it would be like a Koenigsegg or along those lines. Something that is knonw but not often seen.

All the bike shops are going upmarket. Just back from Cyclesurgery where there's a full range of Assos in stock. :shock: WTF's going on?

Managed to sneak in a couple of laps of RP on Sat morning, and then suggested a family bike ride as it was such a sunny day. They managed a respectable 32 miles - not too bad for a 10 year old who's bike weighs twice as much as mine. And no arguments about bed time on Saturday night.

DonDaddyD

Christophe3967 wrote:

All the bike shops are going upmarket. Just back from Cyclesurgery where there's a full range of Assos in stock. :shock: WTF's going on?

Cycling purchases are usually impulse buys. If not, I find I tend to buy what the shop has as oppose to what I want because of the I want it now, ride it, play with it now nature of cycling.

With more expensive products people are likely to want to try it out/on before buying it, making it more beneficial to stock expensive items as oppse to cheaper items that online dealers can undercut.

It's getting nasty in the shops though, deals everywhere. Money off everything. The shimano price hike has made it harder for the customers and the shops are responding...

roger_merriman

impulse buys? maybe yours are but i very rarely do if i do tends to be a water bottle, etc, for any thing else i almost always muse over it, and then ask shop for it, or to fit it or what ever.

il_principe

DonDaddyD wrote:

Christophe3967 wrote:

It's getting nasty in the shops though, deals everywhere. Money off everything. The shimano price hike has made it harder for the customers and the shops are responding...

Another reason to go Campag then!

Bassjunkieuk

jashburnham wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

Christophe3967 wrote:

It's getting nasty in the shops though, deals everywhere. Money off everything. The shimano price hike has made it harder for the customers and the shops are responding...

Another reason to go Campag then!

You mean asides from the fact that they go up to 11, which is much better then 10 ;-)

On a serious note tho Super Record 11 looks much nicer then Dura-Ace 7900 imho....

il_principe

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

jashburnham wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

Christophe3967 wrote:

It's getting nasty in the shops though, deals everywhere. Money off everything. The shimano price hike has made it harder for the customers and the shops are responding...

Another reason to go Campag then!

You mean asides from the fact that they go up to 11, which is much better then 10 ;-)

On a serious note tho Super Record 11 looks much nicer then Dura-Ace 7900 imho....

Of course it does, Italian engineering innit!

Japanese:



Italian:

stuaff

itboffin wrote:

I'm having a well earned day off my knees insisted :?

I'm enjoying the sunshine and using the time to remove every nut bolt and screw from my bike, clean and re-grease.

ITB, are you advertising for cleaning jobs? The only time my two are that shiny are when they come back from a service (I am still learning The Way Of Degreasing, mind- though I doubt I'll ever get them as clean, I neither have or want the know-how to strip down a bike as you did). Very impressive work!