Long Distance Equipment Advice

Blazkowicz

Hello everyone

I've been cycling for almost 2 years now. I'm fairly casual in that I mostly do road riding on my mountain bike and I don't have any special clothing or equipment. Even so, I managed to rack up 2000 miles in 2016 which I was pretty happy with. However recent circumstances make me feel I need to upgrade a few things. My brother unexpectedly passed away last month and so I am planning to do a 100 mile charity ride in December. The furthest I have cycled in one day previously is 40 miles.

The top item that seems to be recommended for such long rides is padded cycle shorts, which I'm definitely keen for as after cycling 30-40 miles in the past things do tend to get uncomfortable. After an evening of researching a good pair of long distance shorts I set my eyes on the Castelli Endurance X2 Bibshorts which go for £75. However when I checked availability they seemed to only be in stock everywhere in Small. In just the few days since then even those have gone out of stock.

So what I'd really like help with is choosing a solid pair of cycle shorts that are well padded and intended for endurance cycling. I'd like something that will be hard-wearing and reasonably priced. £75 is probably maximum. £50 is perhaps a more realistic target.

Another thing that I saw come up several times for endurance rides is clip in pedals. I haven't looked into this fully yet, but it seems like this will cost £100+ for cleats and the pedals. Would this be a good investment and make a noticeable difference?

Anything else I should think about getting?

And perhaps this is a discussion for another time, but these charity rides will be a long-term thing and I'm sure the distances will get bigger and bigger as the years go by, so ultimately I suppose I will need to buy a road bike. Is there a good entry level road bike that doesn't cost a fortune (perhaps <£300) or do you have to pay much more to really get an advantage?

Any help with the above would be so appreciated. So many guides and reviews out there seem to exist for the more pro/enthusiast cyclist, I'm just looking for the more moderate, affordable equipment that gets the job done.

Thank you

the_cyclist_of_catan

Blazkowicz wrote:

So what I'd really like help with is choosing a solid pair of cycle shorts that are well padded and intended for endurance cycling. I'd like something that will be hard-wearing and reasonably priced. £75 is probably maximum. £50 is perhaps a more realistic target.

Don't know whether it's down to my choice of saddle (Brooks B17, of course) or whether I'm just lucky, but I can do a hundred in bog-standard Wiggle own brand DHB shorts.

Another thing that I saw come up several times for endurance rides is clip in pedals. I haven't looked into this fully yet, but it seems like this will cost £100+ for cleats and the pedals. Would this be a good investment and make a noticeable difference?

Plus shoes. I like using them - feet always in the right place - but there might be better ways to spend the money.

Anything else I should think about getting?

Gloves? I've had two offs that would have shredded my palm but for the mitts.

And perhaps this is a discussion for another time, but these charity rides will be a long-term thing and I'm sure the distances will get bigger and bigger as the years go by, so ultimately I suppose I will need to buy a road bike. Is there a good entry level road bike that doesn't cost a fortune (perhaps <£300) or do you have to pay much more to really get an advantage?

I use mine five times a week, so spent a fortune on it. But I gather that Decathlon's BTwin bikes are good value for money. But the biggest difference made to my long-distance rides was a professional bike fit. Not cheap, but £150 is a small price to pay to be as comfortable at the end of a century as at the start.

cougie

I agree on the btwin bikes. They've always got good reviews.

You don't need clipless pedals. It's a big chunk of money and I'd spend that on the bike.

Check out dhb or planet X for shorts. I think it's more getting used to the miles rather than magic shorts that make everything ok.

There's no magic in 100 miles. It's just longer than your 40miles. You can build up pretty rapidly. Pace yourself. Eat and drink on the move. Sorted.

chippyk

Speaking of B’Twin I have some of their cheap Look compatible pedals for when I travel and hire a bike, if I forget them I’m not too bothered they’re so cheap. I think they are less than £20 including cleats. Can I honestly tell the difference to my Look pedals? Probably not.

milemuncher1

I find Pearl Izumi and Altura kit is very comfy on long rides. Get some decent chamois cream as well, it’s a god send on a long ride.

https://www.scotbycycles.co.uk/398/prod ... gJwDPD_BwE

This is great stuff. Find a saddle that fits your sit bones properly. This is really quite individual to you, a lot of shops will let you try a few shapes / sizes / profiles out, if they are any good. My personal preference is to have a slightly padded / gel saddle, on my longest rides ( which are frequently over 150 miles). Whether you go for cleats / pedals, or not, is again an individual choice, I prefer SPD-SL pedals and Shimano 6 degree float ( yellow cleats ) for long rides, and 2 degree float ( blue ) for shorter sprinty type rides. The shoe choice is important too. If the soles and shoe material are too stiff, you can end up with cramp in your feet, which tends to be a bit more of an issue on a longer ride. What you wear on your hands, what bar tape you use can also dictate how comfortable your ride will be. I tend to favour a 3mm thick tape, like this http://www.wiggle.co.uk/fizik-performan ... ebar-tape/ You also may want to look at your choice of gearing. I tend to gear the bikes I use on long rides, to try and optimise the speed, whilst keeping the Cadence steady, and low enough to keep my heart rate in a low zone ( typically a Zone 2 effort for as long as possible). On a longer ride I’ll make sure I have 2 bottle cages, to reduce the amount of faffing about with refilling a single Bidon too often.

As for bike choice, I’ve used my trusty Triban 520 from Decathlon, on multi day challenge rides. It’s as cheap as chips, and worked well on 2 consecutive hilly 100 mile days, earlier this year. If you can stretch your budget, the Triban 540 is even better, with nicer wheels, and groupset.