Ah I’m after a coloured one sorry John.

Big ask but could somebody that knows about these things have a look at both frames, I ride a 54 CAAD8 with 120mm stem run – and a fair bit of seat post. I’m thinking 52 CC will be bob on.

Cross Check Geo

Caad8 Geo

Big big thanks in advanced

I’m just over 5ft 10, do you think 52 would be better for me as I want it to feel a little more “racey”

Fantastic help from everybody, thank you. A shop local to me has built up bikes in but can only get the black framesets unfortunatly. I will give CTBM a call and possibly make a trip to see.
Agree on everything being a compromise as its a do it all but thats just the way things are really, happy to put up with if because of the all round ability.
Again thanks all for your help.

Thats great thanks, I’ve sent him an email

The Nature Boy that Triton have is a 58cm, it would be too big at 5ft 11.
Looking at the chart I would be a size L Pompino.
What about a cross-check or Straggler, would these be okay to race? I understand they weigh about as much as the moon though.

Whoa some brilliant looking bikes and great tips on gearing here.
I’m so keen for the All City frame set but it is too much money realistically, any other suggestions other than on one?

Pompetamine is out of stock in my size (5ft 11) so maybe I go for the Pompino?
Size M?

You want a quality alu frame, but with respect, you already have one

It’s a good point!
Agree on the group set upgrade, the weight and lack of 2 extra gears is something I’d like to change. A new frame would obviously be lovely but is expensive for marginal if any gains if what you are saying is correct, and as much as I’d like to say it isn’t is probably is!

Re building agree it will most likely to be more expensive but I would like a bike that is tailored to me and fits perfectly.

As far as I can tell the S Works and cheaper frames are the same, other than the S Works has ceramic BB included and seat post and fork from the Tarmac.

The stem on my current bike has been changed and think it’s 120mm running inverted and slammed. The upgraded wheels are Campag Zonda’s which have totally changed the feel of the bike and I can honestly say they a notably quicker. I went for lighter rather than deeper but feel deeper rims would be an advantage on a new build.

Re racing on the drops, it depends on where I am, generally in TT’s always on the drops unless going uphill.

Mine stopped working a little while back. I’d had it for around 6 months, tried everything you suggested to fix the problem with no luck.
Called Garmin and they immediately offered to send a replacement which arrived 3 days after the phone call was made.

I think Di2 package would be a little overkill for me but it’s a nice looking bike and great you can spec it how you’d like pretty much.

Any word or racing on a compact rather than 46/36 as I think that gearing would really limit me when using it on road.
So far I think the Vapour is winning the fight.

Neither of those points really fuss me. Think im going to “push the button” when I get in from work!

Thank you all for the advice.
How would these compare to the Fulcrum Racing Quattro wheels? The Quattros are heaver but are deeper, what are the benefits of one over the other?
Thank you :-)

Zondas look they are winning this far, nobody have any input on the AR24’s? Any thing else about in the same price range?

Good luck with that one Dave.
Broke mine around ten years ago and was too impatient to rest it until it was fully mended, fast forward to now and my wrist is a total mess. Operation next year to remove bone growth from where it shouldn’t be and attempt to re graft the scaphoid which is now a 50/50, failing that they are going to remove the bone totally and pin the rest together. My wrist clicks, locks and is fairly painful.

It’s a shite thing to happen to you but really important that you allow it to heal popularly.

Wow all brilliant advice, thanks all, I feel a little more relaxed now.
The crit is on an old airfield so I think the pace will be more constant.
Any tips on training and nutrition leading up to the race?

Hi there, I really don’t like using footpaths so have made a route which is about 50 miles from Watlington to Wiggington and back.
It uses as much of the Ridgeway as possible but links on the Icknield way and some of the Chilterns Way roads.
Thanks for the help all

Yes this is what I was thinking, I just wanted to know how people were finding linking up the sections that are permissible to ride. I’m just going to draw a route on bike hike and see how I get on.

I have Sora on my CAAD8 and hate it, its the 2012 with the silly thumb shifters.
I plan on running the group set into the ground then switching to 105. As mentioned above 105 seems to be a fantastic base and the price over Tiagra seems to be justified.
105 is going 11 speed so you can get some great deals now, see the post with the CRC discount codes, I think it would bring the full group set down to around 285.

I am Ann Robinson.

He didn’t crash, he is mid-way through a front flip, he landed it and was stoked and said ganarr and stuff.

Somebody should message him and ask “does da bike com with round wheels becus the straight ones wont work propaly wil they”

Guys, it has a Shallow Slant Parallelogram, how could you not want one!?

Personally, I ride 1×10 so obviously 1×11 appeals to me, however justifying the cost is something I could not do yet. 2-3 years down the line when it has trickled down then yes I’d love an extra gear on the block and would upgrade.

I can’t imagine the triple chain set being very popular, double yes but I’m 1×10 now until I splash for the 11 block set up and will continue to run a single chainring then too.

I’m a gardener :roll:

Sorry just an update for Brant,
Yodel won’t release the package to the address I have provided them until they clear it with you guys at Planet X because of Data Protection, could you please look into this and possibly contact them so I’m not stuck in limbo please.

I just want to give some feedback on a order which is still in progress;

After sleeping on the Plant X bike bag deal and missing out I bit the bullet and paid full price as I’ve heard nothing but good about them.
Ordered on Wednesday evening with the hope of receiving it on Friday for the weekend there was an issue with my address caused by Planet X’s system.

The address that Yodel were provided has the building name and flat number missing so cue a 15 minute phone call on an 0844 line to the service department while they try to locate the package and amend the address details. To be fair to Yodel they were really helpful and I was speaking to a person within 3 minutes.

All of this would have been avoided if the customer service from planet x was better; as soon as I noticed details were missing (once I received the conformation email) I emailed the “CEO” with the hope that the address would be amended before despatch as well as phoning first thing on Thursday morning, pressing option 2 and being on hold for 10 minutes before having to leave for work so unfortunately didn’t speak to anybody. I have still not received any reply by email.

It’s not a catastrophe but has wasted a lot of my time unnecessarily because the correct information was provided twice. I’m stuck waiting for it to arrive at sometime today now.

Brant it might be worth looking into the ordering system to figure out why the address details were dropped in the first instance?

There’s a regular on my commute who tries to take a free tow off my wheel into a headwind that’s almost always there then peels off just before the road ends and sprints ahead of me to ‘win’.

Call the Strava police!
No big deal on the road as long as you keep in with other etiquette, namely announcing your presence and offering a turn. If I have a person on my wheel who does neither the hammer ever so gently and discreetly gets put on and they are soon off, its pretty disgraceful that some of you guys are admitting to snotting on and spitting on other riders.

Also, it would be helpful if somebody could post a couple of photos with a bike all packed up inside there.
I’m gutted I slept on the offer but really seems like the bag I’m looking for so close to or dinging anyway now.

If anybody hit the order button but have now changed there mind then I’d like to buy!

:-)
Okay I know what I will be doing on Saturday, again thank you for the advice.
I’m going to go for the Epic Bleed Kit, and plenty of tea.
Will report back once the operation is complete.

Also I will have a closer inspection of the bleed ports, I didn’t notice anything but didn’t really have a close look. The pads are pretty much brand new so I’m surprised they are contaminated, perhaps the braking force hasn’t been powerful to actually bed them in? Even so I will do as you suggested walla and see how it goes.

Fingers crossed!

Brilliant, thank you for that.

The bike is around a year old and I’ve not touched the brakes before really, what causes the need for them to be bled? Is it possible that a small amount of the oil has seeped out onto the rotor to cause the sound that goes with the lack of bite?

Where is the best place to get the stuff I’d need to do the job myself?

Brilliant, thanks guys!

Why no riding Bradley, are the kids keeping you busy? Let me know when the bike come back out again!
Crashtest Do you have any maps or GPX of the route the club did? Not to worry if not I’ll plot something similar and head out.
Thanks all for the recommendations

Exactly Johnny, I might try Christmas Common area, I have a route that a friend sent me a while back.
Jkomo welcome to join along with anybody else (somebody that knows where they are going perhaps?!)

Rule X : If you ride a SS CX bike you must have a beard.

I’d stick with compact chainrings and opt for 11-25.
To be honest if you like heading out for the hills I’d consider opting for a cassette with a little more range, perhaps something with a 26/27.
Climbs in the UK (or at least my area) tend to be short and sharp, nothing worse than hitting a sharp climb deep into a ride when your legs go tired and not being able to spin a decent cadence, it’s a recipe for knee pain.

I’ve not thought of a bike bag, good idea!

+1 for pretty much every other post, solid advice there.

You all really need to practice riding as a unit as much as possible. The strong riders need to understand that their roll is to be lead riders if they have agreed to riding in a “mixed ability group”, mature bike riders can handle this responsibility.
2 abreast is ideal but when the train is 8 long it can become problematic even for experienced groups. As mentioned above 2 groups with the stronger riders split between groups leading the less experienced, stopping regularly for food & hydration (3/4 times).

I used to commute to uni in London on an old 531 Peugeot, and had a hole appear in the top tube

I might get a t-shirt made

Congrats!
Why are you keeping it on the oven & kitchen work surface?