First road bike; TriandRun

furrag

My 18 speed TriandRun. I picked it up second hand, so its a few years old. It fell into my budget though having seen one in London, which I fell in love with.



Basic specs:
Frame: Pro-Lite alloy 7005 tubing
Pro-lite carbon forks
Pro-lite bars, stem, saddle and seatpost
Sigma headset
Tektro R350 brakes
Shimano Sora integrated brake levers/shifters, derailleurs,
Look Keo easy pedals
Mavic Aksium wheels with Michelin Pro3 race service course tyres.

I'm not too keen on the brakes, especially in the rain, on steep hills, or stopping in an emergency, so I may look to upgrade them or get some Kool Stop pads.

Anonymous

Kool Stop salmons would do the job nicely...

softlad

Kool Stops will improve the braking 100% - but unfortunately the brakes will still be rubbish..

I have the same calipers on my winter bike and they're going in the bin soon....

carbonfiend

my first road bike was Greg Bryce who owns T&R old winter training bike it was a steel cougar with all manner of bits on it. These bikes have been around a good few yrs but have stood the test of time pretty well.

furrag

Cheers for the recommendation on the pad front; if you were to upgrade the brakes though, what would you go for?

rake

ultegra would be good. another good upgrade would probably be a hollowtec chainset. good first bike.

seanoconn

Like the look of the tri&run bikes. The wimbledon branch near me seem pretty well stocked and will price match wiggle, CRC etc if ask. +1 for salmon koolstps.

furrag

I'm going to start upgrading, and would like some recommendations.

Can you get the Kool Stop Salmons for the Tektro dual-pivot calipers? I can't find them anywhere online except possibly here, and they're out of stock! If I see marked improvements, I'll temporarily hold out and upgrade elsewhere with the Ultegra brakes coming later.

Why a hollowtech chainset? I've had a look and they're quite expensive! Is it really necessary? If anything, I'd probably get a second hand pair, but am unsure as to bottom bracket sizing and fitting etc.

I also find that I can't reach the brakes comfortable when on the drops, and I think this needs to be addressed fairly soon. How can I rectify this?

furrag

Been doing a little research and found the below for my Sora's. The only problem is that as I purchased the bike second hand, so I don't have the spacers the illustration refers to. I've looked online, and it seems they are not sold individually. Does anyone know where I can find them?

seanoconn

Wiggle have the salmon koolstops in stock. You need the dura ace/ultegra/105 cartridges for tektros.

rake

it looks like rotating the levers down a bit on the bars might help. they look too high to me. as they move down on the curve the bottoms of the brake levers will move in a bit.

furrag

Bought the salmons and some muc-off too last night - once it arrives I'll have to figure out how to get the pads off. I'm unsure if they are shoes with removable cartridges.

As for rotating the levers, urgh! I've had a look and I know if I undo that tape, it won't be going back on correctly.

I weighed the bike, and it came in at 10kg (22lbs).

I had a look at my cassette and front rings too;
53, 39
12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 25

Here's my gearing according to Sheldon Harris' site [not that it means anything to me!]:

For 700 X 23 / 23-622 tire with 172.5 mm cranks
With 9-speed 12-13-14-15-17-19-21-23-25 Cassette

 53    39
8.5	6.3
7.9	5.8
7.3	5.4
6.8	5.0
6.0	4.4
5.4	4.0
4.9	3.6
4.5	3.3
4.1	3.0

lewishamilton

I got the same bike from the Chigwell store a few months ago...

Have to agree though, brakes are 'interesting'.
I was looking at a quick/cheap fix, to improve the brakes but don't know much about anything.

I noticed you were talking about the Kool Stop brakes, but which ones do you get because on Wiggle they have 'canti' 'threaded' 'cartridges' and I have no idea which ones to buy that are compatible with Tektro brakes...

Any help/pointers would be appreciated...

Cheers lads

furrag

I think this is the '06 or '07 model. It's been discontinued from their store, though is still sold at their events for about £700 I'm told.

I got these cartridges, but as aforementioned I'm unsure if they're the right ones for the Tektro R350. I think the Tektro pads are a complete bolt and pad, rather than shoes for replaceable cartridges, as I can't seem to get the pad off. It doesn't help when there's no documentation online either for the Tektro brakes.

lewishamilton

I'm pretty sure its the same as mine.
I got it in December and was the last one they had.

Mines got Sora groupset, pro-lite components, pro-lite como wheels and Tektro R350 brakes.

So I was looking at the brakes and it doesn't look like cartridges will work, I think we need to buy pads which have a bolt and stuff built-in (like you said) but with that being said do we need the Kool Stop Eagle II pads?!

F**k me this is hard work when you know little about bikes!

rollingthunder

"F**k me this is hard work when you know little about bikes!"

...it's hard work but flippin' enjoyable whether you know a little or a lot!

lewishamilton

touché

rollingthunder

Lewis..

what i meant to say was that none of us know as much as we like to think, and it's pretty hard work for us all!

furrag

Indeed. Seanoconn for instance is not the messiah; he's a very naughty boy! 8) The Kool Stop salmon's won't fit the Tektro pads as they're not cartridge based.

What I may do is buy these OBE carbon dura-ace/Ultegra compatible shoes. I'll slip out the pads and put my salmon's in, and the hook the hole thing up to my Tektro's, assuming they fit! If they don't, it's one more reason to buy the Ultegra brakes!

seanoconn

Furrag wrote:

Indeed. Seanoconn for instance is not the messiah; he's a very naughty boy! 8) The Kool Stop salmon's won't fit the Tektro pads as they're not cartridge based.

What I may do is buy these OBE carbon dura-ace/Ultegra compatible shoes. I'll slip out the pads and put my salmon's in, and the hook the hole thing up to my Tektro's, assuming they fit! If they don't, it's one more reason to buy the Ultegra brakes!

Sorry you've had problems Furrag but the tektro R350 brakes are cartridge based.

http://www.tektro.com/02products/09sb.php

There should be a little allen key bolt on the casing that holds the pad, just undo it and slide out. If not, i could do with a spare pair of koolstops!

furrag

I saw that link too earlier this evening, and I don't have the P453 cartridges (which you weren't to know!). My shoe is silver, and the pad itself is very different with two vertical slits for the wet, and one horizontal striation through the middle. Further to that, the pad is also dark green, black, and dark red.

It looks like the cartridge could be slid out, but it wouldn't budge which is a pain in the arse. I'll get some photos tomorrow, and as aforementioned invest in some ultegra compatible shoes to hold the salmons and hope they fit the Tektro's.

seanoconn

As the bike is second hand, its possible the brake shoes have been altered. Does this mean i'm still the messiah

lewishamilton

OK so I'm seriously puzzled atm.

My brakes are identical to these http://www.tektro.com/02products/images/pro/R350.gif

So I unscrewed the bolt and took the pad off and the pad itself has a built in bolt which cant be removed. So does this mean I can switch with a replacement cartridge, or do these Kool Stop cartridges not have the necessary fittings?

Thanks for your help lads[/img]

rake

ok. the tektro on my bike are a copy of shimano holders. if you have cartridge type pads (where the rubber pads slides out from the backing holder) there should be a small grub screw holding the rubber in the rails of the holder. remove the screw and the pad will slide out with some effort. if there is no screw then you dont have cartridge type pads. in which case you can buy the pads with the holders as well (shimano dura type). look at the different types here. they even list tektro holders which are the same fitting as the shimano dura ace. so either will do.
http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/brakeshoes.html

seanoconn

lewishamilton wrote:

OK so I'm seriously puzzled atm.

My brakes are identical to these http://www.tektro.com/02products/images/pro/R350.gif

So I unscrewed the bolt and took the pad off and the pad itself has a built in bolt which cant be removed. So does this mean I can switch with a replacement cartridge, or do these Kool Stop cartridges not have the necessary fittings?

Thanks for your help lads[/img]

I'm not having much luck on this thread but i'll have a go if you like. If the brakes pictured are cartridge based as tektro state, you undo the large bolt holding the brake shoe to the frame of the brake, once off, the shoe should have a tiny allen key bolt on one side, loosen this and slide out the pad ( rubber bit.) If you have got the cartridge out then koolstop cartridges should fit. The rubber pad itself having a built in bolt sounds strange. Good luck.

furrag

The Kool stop cartridges arrived today. My brake shoes are certainly a fixed unit, so I'll have to buy ones which accept cartridges.

So I can get two new brake shoes for £7, or I can get a second hand pair of Ultegra's (6600) for £45, or 105's (5600) for £30, both of which come with 4 brake shoes...

lewishamilton

Nightmare.

Let us know what you decide to do, as I will probably follow in your footsteps if it results in better braking.

furrag

Take a photo of your brake pads, upload it and PM me. As I bought mine second hand, the previous owner certainly changed his pads. It could be that yours accepts cartridges.

An exciting update; I bought a brand new rear Shimano Ultegra 6600 brake caliper (with shoes and cartridges) for £15! 8) Given they go for £40-50 for the pair second hand, it's an absolute bargain, and I can stick my Kool Stops in there too. When I have an opportunity to pick up a cheap Ultegra front brake I'll get some more Kool stops.