Entries Tagged 'bikes' ↓
November 4th, 2011 — bikes, tyres
These are some of the best quality tubulars for road racing and time trialling. I recommend getting best possible tubulars you can afford. There’s no point in getting cheap tubulars more likely to puncture. For most time trials on UK roads, I want a reliably puncture resistant tyre. I usually go for Continental competition and Corsa EVO CS. These offer good combination of light weight, low rolling resistance and good puncture resistance.
For the hill climbs, I researched some super-light track tubs. You are much more likely to puncture with track tubs, but for hill climbs, the short distance and altitude gain make it worthwhile. For hill climbs, I like a Vittoria Chrono Time trial (165 grams) I also like the look of the Veloflex Record.
Continental Competition 22 – 280 grams – £61 wiggle – 5 layers of puncture protection, grippy tyre. Handmade in Germany. Won three Paris Roubaix. Very tough tyre. Long lasting excellent grip. I’ve used these for two seasons. Offer very good performance. Very good puncture resistance and hard wearing. Seem to be quite resistant to cuts and nicks. Slightly on heavy side compared to some rivals, but 280 grams is still lightweight and good for tough terrains.
Continental Competition 19 – 239 grams
Bontrager XXX lite only 255 grams for 700*23 | £69.99 Evans Cycles
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October 22nd, 2011 — bikes
For my new Trek Madone 6.9 I wanted a pretty good lock. Obviously I’m not leaving it in the centre of town. Only inside the house. But, even inside the house, insurance requires it to be locked and prevent opportunist theft.
The Kryptonite New York Lock, offers exceptional strength without being too expensive (£74.99 is a lot but there are locks which can cost twice as much). I also like the new version of the key and key hole, it feels more solid and less fragile than older versions. It is made of double re-inforced steel and a double deadbolt locking mechanism. There is no weak spot in the lock. The best thing about the lock is that it will withstand the ordinary cutting tools a thief may be carried around.
It is called the New York lock for good reason. Locals in New York say you really need a lock with this kind of strength if you are going to be locking your bike in Manhatten. Magazine reviews by road cc said the lock withstood an attempt to break with big bolt clippers, hammer and chisel. That’s good enough for me.
Disadvantages of Kryptonite New York Lock
The main disadvantage of the Kryptonite New York lock is its weight. To carry around on the bike is to add an extra 2KG, not something you want to fit in your rucksack. Also the attachment to fit lock to frame is a little fiddly for those with a road bike
Would I buy It?
Yes, I have bought it to lock a bike I keep at home. I don’t use it on my commuting bike, as I prefer to ride a cheap bike into town. But, if I ever get a top of the range single speed, I would consider buying this for that, though I might prefer to get a slightly lighter one.
Value for Money?
For £80 it is hard to beat in terms of thief resistance. Bike shops often recommend spending 10% of the value of a bike in the lock so this is good for bikes upto £1,000. But, to be honest for bike costing more than £1,000 it’s hard to improve on this lock too much.
I won’t be carrying the Kryptonite lock around, but I am using it for inside garage.
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September 3rd, 2011 — bikes
A good starter all rounder bike can be bought for under £800. This will be a good bike for the odd short cycle sportive / charity ride, commuting into town or riding along the tow path to the country pub. If you are a non-competitive cyclist and are looking for a good one size fits all, these are a few of the alternatives.
Trek FX 7.5
At around £625, this is one of the cheapest bikes to offer a lightweight aluminium frame with carbon fork. It weighs around 10Kg making it pretty light. Though it does mean you may be wanting to put on extras like mudguards and panniers for any heavy shopping. For those in any hilly areas, the Shimano Doere DX groupset has a full range of 24 gears – more than enough for the average UK terrain. The bike is comfortable to ride with flat handlebars. It’s also one of the more stiff and strong bikes in this niche, making for a good and fast ride. It’s fairly hard to fault this Trek, they are able to combine their mass production and deep investment in bike technology to bring out a good value bike which fills a range of niche. Looks understated. Not flashy or overly cool. Good for those who don’t want to pose on the bike.
Available from Trek Dealers such as Evans Cycles. Not available online.
Specialised Sirrus Comp
RRP at £899, but, you may pick up discounted for under £800. This comes with some excellent componetary. Carbon Fork and carbon seatstays offers light weight, damping of bumps in road and aresponsive front end. Shimano 105 groupset enables a very smooth gearing change. Even the tyres are some of the best on the market. With all condition Armadillo tyres *28 offering very strong puncture protection. In fact it is hard to work out how Specialised are able to put so much stuff on for well under £1000. If you don’t fancy a drop handlebars, but, still want a pretty nifty and fast hybrid bike, this is great value. Hard to knock. Specialized hybrids at Evans
Cube Nature
The Cube Nature is a less well known brand name than the first two. But, here the German based manufacturer offers an allrounder more geared towards the off-road mountain bike feel. It comes with good solid, MTB type tyres – Schwalbe CX Comp, Schwalbe Impac AV17. With hydraulic disc brakes it offers better braking on tough terrain. THe groupset is Shimano Deore, and the frame is a lightweight High-density 6061 aluminium. However, at 12Kg it is a couple of KG heavier than the Specialized and Trek models. The Cube Nature, is a better choice, for the average rider who wants to spend more time on muddy canal paths – or if you prefer the feel of good solid MTB tyres with extra strong braking power.
Cube Nature – City and Hybrid Bikes available from Chain Reaction Cycles
Focus Corrente Courier
The Focus Corrente Courier is a solid commuting bike which has all round versatility. It comes with standard road tyres 700*30 so is fairly good on the flat. It still combines some MTB features with powerful hydraulic brakes. It weighs in at 11Kg. Alloy frame and Alloy Fork. Groupset is a mixture of Shimano Tiagra with 105 rear derailluer.
Focus Hybrids at Wiggle
Giant Seek
It looks a little intimidating in its all charcoal make-up. But, like most Giant bikes offers very good spec components for the price. With disc brakes, Shimano Deore groupset and an Aluminimum Alux frame and fork. It is more towards the MTB range of hybrid bikes. The Maxxis Detonator 700x32mm tyres will get you through most stuff.
Also worth considering the Giant Escape models, which have same frameset, but slightly cheaper components. These can be bought for less than £500. (see: Commuting bikes under £500
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August 12th, 2011 — bikes
If you hate the prospect of getting a puncture on your daily commute, you could consider either – a slime green inner tube, or a Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyre with an almost impregnable layer of puncture resistant gel.
schwalbe Marathon Plus
The Schwalbe Marathon plus is designed around the new SmartGuard layer, an extra inner layer made from a flexible, special rubber which offers particular resistance to shards of glass, thorns and flints. At the centre of the trye, even a drawing pin won’t penetrate it.
The downside is that the tyre weighs a whopping 900grams. If you have two of these, it could nearly add an extra 1.5 Kg to your bike. Just to put it in perspective, the average commuting bike may weigh 15Kg.
With the weight and increased rolling resistence, you won’t be shooting up hills or accelerating from traffic lights. But, it’s not the end of the world, and you are very unlikely to be sheepishly phoning your boss to say ‘sorry another puncture, I’ll be late’
You take your pick, but, for a few seconds extra on your daily commute, I think many would prefer the peace of mind which comes from knowing you don’t have to hear that dreaded hissing sound 3 miles from home.
Like many puncture resistant tyres, it can be a real pain to get on, especially at your first attempt. You will probably have to resort to tyre leavers, strong hands and a little patience. But, once on, you are unlikley to be taking them on or off. A TPI of 67.
At £25 pretty good value for what you get.
Alternatives
Armadillo – similar price and much better rolling resistent, though they do have an increased chance of puncture, despite a really hard rubber.
Vittoria Randonneur – cheaper than the Schwalbe at £13, these are half the weight, but, come with a good dual puncture protection layer.
If you’re a gambling man, the above two may give you an average of one puncture every one to two years. But, if that is still one puncture too many go for the Schwalbe.
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July 6th, 2011 — bikes
The Dawes discovery is a good value entry level hybrid bike. Starting from under £250, it offers a basic hybrid bike suitable for light touring on the road and some off road riding.
The bike frame is a Dawes Discovery alloy frame. The forks are steel, with any optional upgrade of increased fork suspension. The alloy frame provides a good ride for comfort and touring. It is strong and rigid, yet is more forgiving than an aluminium based frame. People buying a dawes discovery, will not be using it for racing but recreational riding, so the combination of comfort and durability is important.
The bike comes with Shimano 21 speed which gives a huge range of speed for even the hilliest of terrains.The shifters are on the flat handlebars, (there are no drop handlebars like on a road bike) The wheels are Alloy with CNC sidewall Rims. They are sized 700, the same as a road bike, but a wider giving greater stability and ability to go off road.
It is not a serious off-road bike, but, useful for those farm tracks which might link together two remote roads, enabling you to avoid a major road or see some part of the scenery you might not otherwise see.
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May 28th, 2011 — bikes
The Focus Cayo offers excellent value to both the new cyclist and the keen club cyclist. The Focus Cayo 105, offers a really excellent groupset on a carbon fibre frame. Making it very light weight and high performance for the price. It has specifications that could easily be on a bike twice its price.
The Carbon fibre frame is made of Unidirectional Mitsubishi carbon. It has between 4 and 7 layers to give a good combination of low weight and strength. As you would expect with a carbon fibre frame and fork, it gives a good smooth, neutral ride; absorbing shocks giving a feeling of rider control.
It looks pretty good thanks to a nice carbon weave finish on the frame; the only drawback is perhaps the rather invasive logos which are perhaps bigger than necessary, especially on the top tube.
The wheelset is Fulcrum Racing 7 and the tyres are Continental Ultra Sport. These are absolutely fine, but, if you wanted to upgrade the bike later, this might be a good place to start. Continue reading →
March 14th, 2011 — bikes
The Ultimate guide to Bicycle maintenance is a new guide to the potentially tricky area of bike maintenance. It includes different types of bikes from mountain bikes to road bikes.
Overall it is fairly easy to read and the image captions are helpful in making practical sense of the descriptions.
It is helpful and will serve as a useful guide from relative beginners to more experienced cyclists.
One downside is ads for other magazines within the book. It does give the impression it is rather commercial enterprise. I can’t see it inspiring people to go out and buy men’s health anyway so I don’t know why they bothered recently.
Of course, for some things, even the best bike book struggle to convey, such as indexing gears. Why is it always so hard to know which is max and min for rear cassettes? You can’t beat learning from someone else. But, this will serve as a good reference to maintaining bikes.
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February 10th, 2011 — bikes, tyres
The Schwalbe Durano Tyre, claims to offer the best puncture proof protection of any tyre.
The tyre is based on a SmartGuard belt for extremely effective protection against penetration punctures. During winter training, I am always on the look out for the tyre which offers the best winter puncture protection. I have been quite happy with the performance of Armadillo Tyres They are pretty sturdy and offer great puncture protection.
If anything the Schwalbe Durano offer an even greater level of puncture protection. Their best feature is that they are very resistant to glass cuts, the kind of cut that you might get on a Continental Grand prix 4000 tyre.
Also they have a very deep puncture protection layer, which is thick enough to absorb a drawing pin. This is a real boon for avoiding many punctures such as rose thorns or sharp stones.
The tyre is made very well and lasts for a considerable time. I have had 3,000 miles out of a pair without getting a puncture.
The drawback is that as you might expect – they have a higher rolling resistance and feel somewhat slower. But, for a training tyre, that is a small price to pay for greater peace of mind. Also the depth of the puncture resistance means they are heavier than your average tyre. But, for a 25c tyre, they still come in at a respectable 380grams
Definitely recommended if you want to maximise your chances of avoiding punctures whilst cycling. They are not cheap at £30, but as for many high quality tyres, you get value for your money. They last well without attracting scratches and splits. You might even be able to manage 2-3000 miles without getting a puncture. You will get your money back on the cost of new inner tubes. Plus all the additional benefits of not having to walk your punctured bike to the nearest cycle shop.
If these were put on all new commuting bicycles, it would probably make cycling much more popular.
Buying online
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January 23rd, 2011 — bikes
Chris Boardman was not just a great cyclist (and of the greatest time triallist ever) he was also keenly involved in developing bike technology and pushing the boundaries of what was possible to do with a road bike.
The Team Carbon Chris Boardman
An excellent example of this was the Lotus Bike, which helped propel Chris to Olympic Gold in Barcelona 1994. At the time it was a revolutionary design, using a single carbon monocoque frame. It even had only one fork to make it more aerodynamic. The UCI later banned this kind of bike; but, Chris retained an interest in developing bike technology within the framework of UCI regulations. Chris currently has a consultancy job with British Cycling where he looks at ways to gain even the smallest of technological advantages. Chris extensively looks at aerodynamics from outside the cycling, for example the airline industry. It is this ‘thinking outside the box’ which helps find the smallest improvements.
Chris Boardman on Lotus Bike in 1994 Olympics
With his newly designed series of road bikes for the mass market, the Boardman range help to offer a really great value series of bikes. They are sold exclusively through Halford’s Bike Hut.
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January 11th, 2011 — bikes
Firstly, don’t use the popular and widely available WD-40. This is good at preventing rust in the house, but is not good for using on a bike chain.
GT-85
You will find GT-85 (wiggle.co.uk) in all bike shops and for good reason. It is excellent as a water displacer and thin lubricant. It is easy to spray on and will prevent rust. After a wet ride, I will give a good spray and spin the chain, allowing water to come off. GT-85 is quite economical, a large 400ml can last quite a long time.
However, during the winter, I like to also use an additional lube, which is a bit heavier. GT-85 doesn’t really leave much of a residue. For winter riding I use this Finish Line wet lube. (wiggle)
Also on my summer bike, I like to use a more upmarket chain lube.
Finish Line Dry Lubricant
For this I would use a Finish Line Dry lubricant. Teflon based, it gives a smooth ride with easy change of gears. The advantage of a dry lubricant is that it dries quickly and so doesn’t pick up so much dirt, which can wear your chain and require it to be cleaned more often. It is more expensive than the GT-85, but for what you get it is worth it, especially for your best bike. Over winter and in heavy rain, you may want something a bit more solid, which gives a thicker lubricant.
Sheldon Brown noted how working out the best way to lube a bike chain can be quite a contentious issue amongst cyclists. Each mechanic and cyclist will have is preferred method and lube. Of course there is no right answer, but these work for me.
One useful not, resist the temptation to over lube. Though in winter, err on the side of caution and spray more often to keep salt water off.
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