silly season

porlyworly

Off this morning on way to work, diesel on road coming up to a corner that I always have to brake hard before anyway, new I had no chance and unclipped before the inevitable so could have been worse - got off lightly with cuts & bruises & whiplashesque stiff neck and shoulders.

Thankfully only 2 miles into commute so sorted the bike out and limped home, patched up then transferred lights over to the new cross bike (with knobblies) and went again. Must sort guards out for the cx! Any recommendations? (must be able to take 35c Schwalbe Marathon ice spikers!)

asprilla

Ow. Hope your neck is ok and sorts its self out quickly.

MrSweary

Asprilla wrote:

Il Principe wrote:

iPete wrote:

Currently running an old Ultegra brake and Koolstop pads on my fixed, will there be any benefit to going for 6800 or even dura-ace if the pads aren't biting or are there better pads for cold wet days?

Are you keeping your rims clean and pads nicely aligned? I hear the new 6800 brakes are excellent.

I swear by Swisstop Green pads btw.

6800 rim brakes are the shizzle. I run mine with Swiss stop blues. Very stoppy.

6800 rim brakes are very good. Must try Swiss stop blues - tried the greens and they were rubbish compared to the Koolstops salmons. IMVHO.

rubertoe

i nearly got squished this morning by a WVM turning left, without indicating into a road that he was not allowed to turn left into - FFS, if it wasnt for evasive action it would of been very hurty.

It was the junction on the corner of A400 and Shaftsbury Avenue. DH.

veronese68

Glad it was only nearly Rubertoe, glad it wasn't worse and heal fast Porly.

Initialised

PorlyWorly wrote:

Off this morning on way to work, diesel on road coming up to a corner that I always have to brake hard before anyway, new I had no chance and unclipped before the inevitable so could have been worse - got off lightly with cuts & bruises & whiplashesque stiff neck and shoulders.

Thankfully only 2 miles into commute so sorted the bike out and limped home, patched up then transferred lights over to the new cross bike (with knobblies) and went again. Must sort guards out for the cx! Any recommendations? (must be able to take 35c Schwalbe Marathon ice spikers!)

When riding in snow with guards on I found the guards filled up with snow. (SKS Velo 65 Mountain, 26"x1.9 Snow Studs). So for actual snow use you are probably better off with a post mount guard or a Full Windsor.

I had a fall like yours back in 2011, oil/diesel on the road, fractured my humerus, got back on and rode to work, the bike was fine. That was the day I learned that studded tyres don't help on oil. Heal up fast and get yourself checked out professionally in case there's a deeper problem.

porlyworly

Thanks guys, still sore but feeling a lot better, hopefully won't wake up stiff as a board tomorrow morning (ooh err).

Plan is to use the CX through winter as it brakes so much better than the 105 calipers on the Equilibrium in the wet. Have a couple of sets of wheels for it so will leave the Kenda knobblies on and stick 32c Marathons on the other for normal commuting duties. If the next ice age does eventually set in (as promised daily by the Daily Mail) then will swap in the ice spikers and remove the guards (should be easy as no brake calipers in the way as per the Equilibrium).

SKS have been fine on my Equilibrium and can see there are a few options for wider tyres - Chromoplastics, Bluemels, "budget commuter". Will probably just go for the Chromoplastics again unless anyone can advise anything better?

Initialised

Disc brakes make mudguard choice frustrating, brakes cabling can get in the way for clip on guards (e.g. race blades), the caliper can get in the way of the stays and the lack of a rim caliper means gaps or nowhere to hang it from (Crud Road Racers). Go with whatever fits easiest and gives good coverage. Blummels look versatile enough.

For those BB5s you should lube the threads on the in-board (static) side of each caliper with copper grease to reduce corrosion from the galvanic mix of brake dust, water, salt and general crud which will eventually cause the caliper to seize up. Mine lasted around 8000 miles, I never lubed them and it was a great excuse to splash out on hydraulic brakes but sooner than I'd have liked and I was planning to move them to a different bike.

asprilla

PorlyWorly wrote:

Thanks guys, still sore but feeling a lot better, hopefully won't wake up stiff as a board tomorrow morning (ooh err).

Plan is to use the CX through winter as it brakes so much better than the 105 calipers on the Equilibrium in the wet. Have a couple of sets of wheels for it so will leave the Kenda knobblies on and stick 32c Marathons on the other for normal commuting duties. If the next ice age does eventually set in (as promised daily by the Daily Mail) then will swap in the ice spikers and remove the guards (should be easy as no brake calipers in the way as per the Equilibrium).

SKS have been fine on my Equilibrium and can see there are a few options for wider tyres - Chromoplastics, Bluemels, "budget commuter". Will probably just go for the Chromoplastics again unless anyone can advise anything better?

Marathons aren't great in poor conditions. The hard rubber compound means they don't grip well I. The cold and wet.

roger_merriman

Asprilla wrote:

PorlyWorly wrote:

Thanks guys, still sore but feeling a lot better, hopefully won't wake up stiff as a board tomorrow morning (ooh err).

Plan is to use the CX through winter as it brakes so much better than the 105 calipers on the Equilibrium in the wet. Have a couple of sets of wheels for it so will leave the Kenda knobblies on and stick 32c Marathons on the other for normal commuting duties. If the next ice age does eventually set in (as promised daily by the Daily Mail) then will swap in the ice spikers and remove the guards (should be easy as no brake calipers in the way as per the Equilibrium).

SKS have been fine on my Equilibrium and can see there are a few options for wider tyres - Chromoplastics, Bluemels, "budget commuter". Will probably just go for the Chromoplastics again unless anyone can advise anything better?

Marathons aren't great in poor conditions. The hard rubber compound means they don't grip well I. The cold and wet.

My wife's hybrid has Marathon pluses and like you say they don't grip that well. Not helped by the fact that some of her routes are covered in wet leaves etc.

porlyworly

Back to the drawing board!

timothyw

And a bump on this thread.... I was ridiculously lucky not to get taken out last night, a classic SMIDSY, driver pulled out from side road across my lane, I was coming down the hill at speed and didn't have time to stop.

Fortunately the driver either finally spotted me or heard my increasingly loud shouts and actually put the brakes on, and I somehow managed to whip the bike around the front of the car.

Ride safe people, and remember, they probably are going to do the thing that might kill you.