Out of the Boat and Onto the Road

shane r

I've been an avid canoeist and kayaker for many years. I had a job as a teacher and as part of this role I coached a pretty successful paddling team for 10 years. Recently I changed jobs and with this I lost my connection to paddlesport.

A few of my pals took up cycling last year as we're all around 40. Recently I decided to join them-and already love it. So hassle-free compared to paddling. I can step out of my front door and hop onto my bike-and I'm off! I haven't owned a road bike since I was a kid (had MTBs most of my life). My first event will be the Oxford Classic in May.

I wanted a bike that was modern, light but had some of the old school features I was used to back in the day. Anyway, I have slowly upgraded/customized my bike-mavic wheelset w/upgraded cassette, SPD pedals, ITM carbon bars and stem, Selle Italia Titanium Flite seat etc. The frame was an unbranded alloy unit that I purchased new. I loved it because it has old school style shifters on the down tube-but still has modern hooded brake levers-perfect for me.

paulbox

Are you a LA fan by any chance...

Bike looks pretty cool, but why would you want those "old school" shifters?

shane r

Just seems very natural to me I guess.

The LS livery came as a kit

nochekmate

Are you saving the spare front brake cable length to build up another bike?

Give it a cut!

Re: modern shifters - you don't know what you are missing!

shane r

I hang my lunch off of that!

andrewjoseph

I've got downtube shifters on my touring bike, I had two sets of shimano tiagra shifters break on my boardman, didn't want that to happen when touring!

c0ugars

I find the yellow bar tape to be a bit much personally, but i use to have downtube shifters they were okay but i was glad to see the back off them when i changed frame.

shane r

I just put that yellow tape on! Lol, It was black before. After only a few rides my gloves have taken the mind-melting glow off though so it's not as offensive.

However, my new Selle Italia seat is also yellow.

Legshaver

Don't worry about the yellow bar tape, it looks fine - as does the rest of the bike.

One thing that you might notice since changing from black tape is that overtaking drivers generally give you much more space. It's probably due the the optical illusion that your bike looks wider from behind. Well that's the theory, and was certainly what I felt when I had yellow taped bars.

sagalout

I like it

You should go for yellow tyres for maximum tartyness though!

dabber

shane r wrote:

So hassle-free compared to paddling. I can step out of my front door and hop onto my bike-and I'm off!

I understand this point very well... as an ex-paddler (sprint and marathon) the hassle of getting on the river for early morning training, back again in the evening took up a lot of energy. Just going outside the front door for a ride is a lot simpler.

shane r

sagalout wrote:

I like it

You should go for yellow tyres for maximum tartyness though!

Funny you should say that, I have some Schwalbe Ultremos on order- in yellow, lol.

shane r

Dabber wrote:

shane r wrote:

So hassle-free compared to paddling. I can step out of my front door and hop onto my bike-and I'm off!

I understand this point very well... as an ex-paddler (sprint and marathon) the hassle of getting on the river for early morning training, back again in the evening took up a lot of energy. Just going outside the front door for a ride is a lot simpler.

Sprint and marathon man myself. The river isn't even that far but cycling is instant!