If you think you had a brown trouser moment feel for this guy:

As we’re on the subject of bars, anyone got any suggestions for a cheap comfortable pair of drop bars? Not into road riding in a massive way it’s just training and getting to work for me, but riding on the hoods of the narrow compact bars I’ve got at the moment don’t seem to fit my hands at all and I get bad palm and wrist pain after a few miles.

I think I need a set of bars that are maybe a bit wider as these are narrower than my shoulder width, and with more of a comfortable ‘flat’ before they start to dip down for the drops? As they are now the hoods aren’t a comfortable place to rest my hands as there doesn’t seem to be enough space to fit my whole hand in comfortably. Bit of a vague description I know but if anyone’s got any recommendations that’d be good!

Yup, 32t front ring and 11-32 on the back lets me winch up even super steep technical sections without feeling like I’m pushing too big a gear. You only need to go 1×10 if you’re fashion conscious or have the legs of a small girl. And if you haven’t got the legs then you’ll get them quickly! 🙂

Lose weight from the wheels first, less rotational mass and unsprung weight will have a noticeable difference on the downs as well as the ups so you get twice the benefits for your money. As said single ply tyres, lighter tubes, a lighter wheelset if you think you can get away with it. If you’ve got a cheap heavy cassette on replace that as £ for £ that will save you the most weight in one of the worst places without too much expenditure.

Crown race should be solid with no movement on the steerer. I’ve got a handy bit of scaffold tube with the right inside diameter I use for fitting mine, they need a good knock downwards to get them seated all the way round, you definitely don’t want it loose at all! That might be a good place to start?

Beefy single crown fork, air shock with some kind of lockout and a dropper post is all you need. And some bigger legs maybe. It’ll go anywhere then, I used to ride trail centres, DH and XC on my Stinky with triple clamp forks back in the day and while it has less rear travel than a Scalp it probably wasn’t that far off in the weight department, so it can be done.

Sports armband strapped around the stem. Make sure it’s not sticking out anywhere where it’ll get knocked in a crash and maybe consider fitting a heavy duty protective case first. Also has the benefit of acting as a cycle computer if you run Strava or similar.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GREEN-SPORTS-STRAP-ARMBAND-FOR-NUMEROUS-MOBILE-PHONES-EASY-FIT-ACTIVE-/400416229008?pt=UK_MobilePhones_MobilePhonesCasesPouches&var=&hash=item5d3aaac690

A cheap example, but available in all sorts of sizes 🙂

Get a KS Dropzone from Bike-discount.de for £105.

http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/k1170/a50886/dropzone-%F8-309-mm-x-385-mm.html

Pretty happy with mine, I slunk in there yesterday evening as my local one quite often puts their deals out the night before. £4.99 for a solidly built metal track pump with a gauge is a bargain by anyone’s standards. Also bought a roadie top and a couple of other bits.

They’ve also got bike workstands in there that aren’t on the leaflet for (I think) £29.99. If I wasn’t so skint I had to be going into Lidl in the first place I might’ve picked one of them up too!

Black and white are both safe bets, they go with any colour scheme so are guaranteed to sell, whereas bright colours run the risk of leaving distys/shops stuck with old stock at the end of the year as nobody has had the right scheme in the area. Just a guess.

Did it a couple of weeks ago, bland slightly uphill gradient seemingly for the whole trail, a few short descents but nowhere near enough to justify the endless slogging along needed. The cobblestone like surface everywhere saps your speed and motivation even on the flat and slightly downhill bits, and only serves to wear your soul down to breaking point.

And as said, gritty sandy gloop then dries rock hard on your bike if not shifted straight away, mine had set like cement and took me half an hour of chipping bits off that my pressure washer wouldn’t shift as a penalty for not washing my bike quick enough.

Can’t beat the Shimano Flight Deck IME, one came on a second hand road bike I bought and after a bit of setting up it’s awesome! Gives you plenty of features to play around with on those boring straights, and the gear indicator is handy too.

Bugger, wish I’d spotted the halfords mount beforehand looks to be just as good as the hope one for less cash!

I thought of making one but found it easier to buy this.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mobile/MobileModels.aspx?ModelID=23533

Little bit of fiddling to set up, I needed to file a small groove for the cable of my lamp but it’s brilliant now it’s on, doesn’t move at all and is easy to swap between bikes!

Got my front brake through, as said my lever was the wrong way round but if you buy the pair you can swap them over! 🙂

Bought these cranks for the road bike in the price drop sale for £54.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=11789

I got mine in 170mm as well, now they’re back on in 165mm only at eighty quid! I’m no marketing expert so can anyone explain to me why having so many different sales and having the prices of everything up and down so much nets them more money in the long run? I think at the moment I’d be terrified to buy anything full price from there in case it’s in a subsequent sale!

Well I couldn’t contain myself yesterday and was worried they’d be out of stock, so bought the Ultegra chainset for the road bike at £54. Pleased I bought them yesterday and didn’t wait for the final price drop as they were out of stock in all sizes when I checked this morning!

I’m also seriously tempted by one of these as a first road bike and foray into road riding. Commuting on a MTB at the moment is fine, but whenever I get done by a roadie zipping along at twice my pace, uphill, I can’t help but wonder how much of it is my fitness and how much is the bike. Probably not the answer I’m hoping for, but it seems a good excuse to excercise n+1!

Had my dispatched email this morning too, I didn’t take the piss and just placed one order for pedals and a seat clamp, so all you guys who are waiting with baited breath don’t give up hope yet!

Came on the internet tonight fully prepared to pay £24.99 for a pair of SPD pedals, now I’ve got them and some Hope bling for £23, had an email through, whether it’s a full confirmation or not I don’t know but it’ll be interesting to see if it shows up!

Riding to work in the cold, dark and wet at 7.25am. Not motivated at all, but needs must! (Strava starts today :P)

Does the garmin edge come with a hrm then? Seeming like even more of a bargain now ive seen them at 170ish quid in a few places!

I’ve heard talks that they’re the same as a few other types, Ice Lift V8 and possibly the Forca range? I too have a 30.9 seatpost so I’m thinking of of getting one of these with a decent length shim.

Ive got a set of the shoes in the OPs link, mfs100 or something. Bought them in my local shop for £18.00, for that money you can’t go wrong. They fit well, they’re comfy, don’t look awful and they’re well ventilated, I combine them with Endura overshoes for the commute. I’ve only got them as a first spd shoe so if they last a year I’ll be well chuffed!

What’s the problem with wearing pants under them? I normally wear tight fitting boxers under mine, try to avoid baggy ones as they tend to scrunch up. Admittedly I’ve only recently started wearing Lycra having been a DH rider for many years! Maybe I’ll start to see a problem when I start putting more miles in.

Awesome, much appreciated guys, that seems to be enough of a real life review to convince me to order one ASAP!

I assume for a 30.9 seatpost I’d have to purchase the 27.2 model and a good quality seatpost shim? Don’t mind too much as with a 110mm drop it’s still the cheapest new post out there with half decent travel, plus I like the idea of being able to service it myself with a bit of head scratching.

Overboard roll top waterproof backpack, mine’s a 20l, fits everything you need in for the commute. Even floats while keep everything bone dry! (Tested in the bath :D) Got a zip pocket inside which is handy for keys/phone/wallet, loads of handy straps and buckles and stuff. Plus it’s available in bright colours for night riding. £35 – £40 from various online retailers, would choose mine over many more expensive bags TBH!

Can recommend my Gelert one as a cheap option, my 1.5 litre was £12 in a local outdoor shop but are similar money on Ebay, 2 litre one is a bit more at £16. Well made, sturdy zips and good straps and the bladder is good with a camelbak style bite valve and on/off lever.