ok – what does choosing a cross bike do to the fit?

You’d choose a CX bike based on normal fitting process, not what your road bike is like. CX bikes have different geometry, they’re shorter in the top tube, more upright at the front, longer wheelbase, higher BB and slightly slacker angles. Most people use slightly wider bars on a CX than they would on a road bike as well.

I keep having an urge to try a road bike but I think I may end up building up a crosser instead.

But when I was looking at likely candidates the Genesis Equilibrium looks like a good option.

So I look at the price – £1300 – and then I look around the web and think that you should be able to build it up to a better spec for pretty much that, or only a little more.

The frame is something like £279 and the forks are £119. You can get a 105 group set for about £440 (£10 for a FR band).

Shimano Ultegra wheels for something like £240.

So that’s £1090 so far leaving £210 for the rest of the kit, which is tight maybe but you have much better wheels than the packaged bike and 105 brakes instead of the tektros everyone complains about.

Just thought I’d post that in case anyone else was thinking about that bike.

Not sure Ultegra wheels are strong enough – have some on my winter bike and they felx like ****.

Run 32 spokes laced 3 cross on my cross bike with mavic open pro rims.

Just bought my first road bike, what else I need to know?

Nothing just get out and ride. You’ll see some one one week, then the next and before you know it you’ll be riding all winter together. Next you’ll find a group you can latch onto and get some benifit from those Carlos fandango wheels and shoes you bought for Christmas. Twelve months from now you’ll be asking if you should get a Bronze, Silver or Gold licence.

Don’t get too hooked on top kit, my bestest bit of kit at the moment is some £69 wheels I bought while my good ones were in the menders, their frickin ace and haven’t been off the bike since..R-Meaty-beaty-big ‘n’ bouncy 500’s.

well they are probably better than the WH-RS10 that come with it – only talking road usage here.

SCIENCE 101: Big gear vs small gear.

SPEED_DIST by ben_oggles, on Flickr
Apart from the small dip at the start, (ie first pedal stroke) the acceleration achieved by mashing a high gear is better than starting in a low gear and shifting to said high gear.

All the riders you see in London are useless and not representative 😉

Does the knee pain ever go away?

You shouldn’t have knee pain. When people talk about ‘the pain’ of road cycling (or MTBing for that matter) they are talking about extreme exertion, aching leg muscles, burning lungs that kind of thing. Not niggling tendonitis, a sore neck or sharp pain in the palms 🙂

All the riders you see in London are useless and not representative

They must be – I won’t feel so bad for shouting at them in future when they block me in.

Plus you have to add to that chart the time they spend faffing around getting into their road pedal, whereas I clip into my eggbeaters immediately.

Seriously though how much float do those road pedals have compared to, say, eggbeaters?

turnerguy, buy the right tool for the job, if you want to ride on the road buy a road bike, if you want to ride cross buy a cross bike.

Don’t use eggbeaters, i have time which are similar and i would say my time rxs on the road bike have more float than the atacs. you don’t notice it though, it is just there.

Dunno about egg beaters but there are three cleat options with Look pedals giving different amounts of float. To be honest I do hate clipping into Look pedals but they are so much better when riding that I put up with it. I’m tempted to try Shimano, but that doesn’t look to be any better.

In response to the OP, just ride. Pockets in jerseys carry all you need. Always have a back up plan (dont get stuck 40 miles from home)
But mainly just have fun, road riding is just as much fun as mtb in a different way:)

Hi,

slight hijack –

Just about to get my first road bike in order to try and regain some fitness – how many miles do you have to put in a week to see any real rise in fitness? How many times should I aim to get out? At the moment I am averaging an off road ride about once a month and am struggling to make them last due to fitness levels!

Cheers,
Rich.

You shouldn’t have knee pain. When people talk about ‘the pain’ of road cycling (or MTBing for that matter) they are talking about extreme exertion, aching leg muscles, burning lungs that kind of thing. Not niggling tendonitis, a sore neck or sharp pain in the palms

Well I must have a setup problem still then I guess. I can’t actually tell whether it’s leg muscles but it seems too close to the sides of the knee and a different kind of pain to what achey leg muscles feel like. Never had it on my SS Langster with flat pedals.

Rich, start by doing a couple of hours steadily on sat/sun. Build it up gently and fitness/weightloss kicks in before you know it. Im currently riding about 8-12 hours a week on the road (collarbone injury stopping me off roading) It never gets easier but you find you art riding harder/farther and climbing faster then ever:)

Well I must have a setup problem still then I guess. I can’t actually tell whether it’s leg muscles but it seems too close to the sides of the knee and a different kind of pain to what achey leg muscles feel like. Never had it on my SS Langster with flat pedals

It could be an imbalance in the muscles around the knee – I get a pain to the top outside of the kneecap and that is what it is.

Stretch before riding – I find just sitting on my haunches good as it stretches loads of bits but it is not very technical.

Also avoid mashing on the pedals in favour of spinning, at least for a while. To monitor your spinning getting better unclip one foot and trying cycling smoothly with the other leg.

Ensure your pedals have a good amount of float, and if you are bandy your could consider whether you need them canted, like ski boots.

I have the contact number of an osteopath in London that my friend went to with hamstring problems after a year of seeing various physios and getting nowhere. The guy runs runs a lot and knows a lot about muscles and sorted him out. If you are near London and things don’t get any better contact me for his number and try him.

Rich – I’m not able to get out a massive amount, perhaps 2-3 hours a week on the road bike and a session or two on the turbo. I ride the mtb 2-4 hours a week.
But every little helps!

look at interval training…

plus check out if you have any stairs at work and do some reps of those (not on the bike…)