@davidtaylforth

foot correction does not “mask anything”, but actually forms the foundation of good bike fitting practise as numerous studies show 95% of riders will benefit from mid foot and rear foot correction.

Without correction, riders compensate, which tends to cause asymmetry as all our patterns of compensation work by simply increasing our inherent tendency to favour one side of the body to the other, often leading to pain and injury as well as poor performance.

You can actually provide correction in 2-bolt SPD systems as cleats with varus tilt built in are commercially available (I should point out that any forefoot correction is actually indirectly providing rear foot correction, very few riders present with forefoot varus).

For flat pedals, I ride Giro Jacket flat pedal shoes fitted with Shimano custom footbeds with modified arch support and Bikefit wedging initially ITS for forefoot and now heel wedging.

To qualify my statements, I have over 200 successful fits on clients including Ironman triathletes, National time trialists and recreational road cyclists (the most challenging group!) with Red Level II professional certification from Bikefit, Giant Powerfit and several years of using BG Fit.

I was lucky enough to train with one of the best in the world, who is currently responsible for a World Tour Pro Team

A long term nagging issue that I’ve never got sorted – there’s obviously something ‘odd’ about my right side. I have a some strangeness in the way my knee moves when pedalling with it swinging in towards the top tube. I get some tingling and knee pain but nothing that stops me riding.

This sounds like a bike fitting issue; can often be caused by incorrect cleat rotation, saddle shape relative to your needs (causing your pelvis to twist), saddle height and fore/aft, leg length discrepancy, or the knee just simply swinging in/out by mid foot collapse when loaded?

I’d suggest finding an experienced bike fitter who understands proper foot correction – ideally someone trained as a “Bikefit Pro” as the basis of the entire system is focused on foot correction before moving upwards

The majority of cycling foot beds on the market (whether stock or aftermarket including the BG Fit ones) do not offer anything like enough “arch” support (plantar fascia) and its not available far enough forward for most people.

A good fitter can apply a foot bed system like G8 Pro Series 2620, which will be modified over time as your body adjusts and you plantar fascia strengthens (its very weak in many cyclists)

these are excellent (actually classed as Type II protective equipment) in heavy vegetation, I use them for trail building and riding

widely used by military and great for riding in heavily overgrown trails

easily bought from any bike shop in the UK that has Madison account (i.e. all of them..)

Had Giro jackets 2 weeks, just come off 5-10 shoes

stock footbed was very poor (no arch support) swapped out with shimano custom footbeds and Bikefit varus ITS wedges, big improvement in foot support

grip wise feel very good (on Specialized Bennies with some pins removed), but allow that slight foot rotation adjustment that is often impossible on 5-10 without lifting foot up

Good feel on pedals too.

Aluminium alloy frame in the UK is difficult

years ago I had a bike company and we tried for 2 years to get prototypes and production in the UK, tried dozens of companies without good results.

this was back when there were more companies manufacturing in the UK.

we ended up making the prototypes ourselves (access to engineering workshops with machine shop, Tig welding and heat treating) from locally sourced Alcan HE30 (6082 T-6), fantastic fun and great results

Production was done in Australia, of all places!

Giant road bike (mid to upper end) come with tubeless wheels/tires/strips and valves fitted. We just add stans sealant (badged as Giant and supplied with bikes) and inflate when the bike is built/pdi for a customer

you don’t want to install sealant and leave a bike on a shop floor for 3 months, or worse install in the Taiwanese factory and then have it sitting in a box for 8 months

used to wear a lot of Shift and Fox MX back in the freeride days

was always wearing body armour, so found them a good fit,but perhaps a little generous for normal riding without armour

many of my Shift riding tops were heavily ventilated with mesh panels, etc.

found Prizm trail actually fantastic for all year commuting on the road

chromatic is very good, but lens is crazy expensive and quite easily scratched compared to even iridium

Typical 3 hour road ride can see 16,000 revolutions of 1 pedal.

Imagine picking up a bag off the floor, 16,000 times. But you are twisted each time. It would get sore real quick.

Bad bike setups can quickly cause physical damage which can take considerable time to recover from even with good rehab.

I’ve experimented with heel wedging and took it one insert too far to examine the impact. During the etap London, after 100 km stopped in considerable pain, removed 1 wedge from each heel and pain disappeared within a few KM. It’s that subtle.

For the op, get fitted properly to your bike by someone who knows what they are doing. It makes a huge difference. Make sure they really understand feet and the critical foot/pedal interface, before you get anywhere near the saddle!

last year we did a bike fitting seminar for top private physio’s working in the big banks in London

the overriding take away, was that the physio would be constantly busy dealing with the after-effects of poor bike fit / no bike fit = clients presenting every Monday with the same problem

have you looked at your position on your bike?

You mentioned in the original post it was a new bike. Different saddle position (if not adjusted) or different saddle can cause havoc

5800 RRP £59.99

6800 RRP £95.99

Had it on Friday in London NW whilst riding home

Cycle lane blocked by a big delivery van (Camden Council built a loading bay in the cycle lane!)

so I ride on the highway next to it. its a speed controlled area with 20mph speed limit, I’m bang on 20mph.

A car comes up fast behind, beeping horn, revving engine until I “get out of the way” which meant her trying to overtake dangerously between me and a traffic island, misses my right arm by a foot, I shout “give me some space here”.

She then screeches to a halt (in the road), gets out, horrible aggressive woman screaming, splitting, swearing “I’m gonna get my man merc you!” effting cyclist c**t,….etc.

I amazed how angry she is…

3 young children in the back of her car. She then drives off through the red light, nearly hitting another car. 2 witness come up to me, they’ve seen it all, want the Police?

I thank them but tell them not to bother as it happens all the time

So have had a giant store bike fit now.

What system did they use?

Powerfit, or something else?

Each Giant store is a privately owned franchise, so “fitting” methods vary across the 26 or so brand stores in the UK.

some use ‘powerfit’, others ‘retul’ and so on…might be worth going back and asking the store to recheck, or finding a good bike fitter with experience

I’ve recently had Police tell me to get “off the road” and onto the cycle lane next to it (CS3) and try to tell me I have no legal right to use the highway :(

I had a PCSO wind down the window on his Police van alongside me at 45km/h on a fast dual A road and tell me to “get off the road” and onto the cycle lane next to it :(

also had this from motorists more and more frequently in London, telling me to get off the road and onto cycle lanes….

Running 1×11 (XT) last bike 2×10 (XT).

New bike (29’er HT) came with 30t front (?) Switched to 34t which is largest you can get from Shimano. Feels undergeared on flat at times, you tend to ride in same 1-2 cogs at rear promoting wear.

Might switch to 2×11? The rear cassette though has very usable range with well balanced cog sizing giving good cadence across gears

about time..

I ran workshops in 2 Specialized Concept stores and am “familiar” with press-fit problems, to say the least ;)

I also owned 4 tarmacs (3 with press fit) and 4 stumpjumper (all with press fit), cannot say much good about the BB30/PF30/OSBB press-fit experience from a personal level

seems to be luck of the draw with many press fit frames, whether tolerances were in range or hopelessly out, and out of range cannot always be solved with Praxxis and fibre grip :(

I’ve been given a few pieces of Rapha (bibs, winter jacket, knee warmers, gloves) over the past year as gifts when its been on sale, and its actually very good. I split the stitching on my recently new Merino leg warmers, admitted it was my fault (clumsy hands) they gave me new ones free.

I’ve worked in shops where we sold a lot of rapha, but not to “cake stop” customers but proper riders putting in lots of winter miles and long distance commuting all year round

I don’t ride much with others, so don’t care what others do or wear, as long as its not causing negativity in cycling to detriment of others. hating on brands is pointless.

Margin on that XT mech for a bricks and mortar retailer buying aftermarket Shimano from the distributor and selling at RRP in UK is just over 40%

BUT, that’s 40% margin before any “costs” (rent/rates/payroll/utilities/back office/etc.) of operating the shop are applied to the calculation

give a small discount, and apply those operating costs, that small profit can quickly disappear or become negative, especially if any warranty is required, or a deal on “free fitting” which is a workshop cost

if would help if the Shimano distributor was holding reasonable stock levels of common parts

-waiting 7 weeks for a 52T Ultregra 6800 chainring?

-waiting until 25th July for XT 11-46 11 speed cassette?

Can get these next day from any online retailer (as our customers often have to, we cannot get the stock!)

too many examples recently of big price increases (trade and retail) and dramatically slimmed stock holding, no wonder many LBS struggle = :(

my previous job saw me riding to work 40km each way, 5 days a week. Trains too unreliable.

I got great at riding that distance fast, but that was it.

Lost sprinting and climbing ability, and did not want to touch a bike on off days. I also started to look very very lean, like I’d had all the body fat sucked off me.

After a year I’d had enough of the distance, and found a job closer to home.

Now its only 15km each way, 5 days a week, which is fine. Enjoying riding again on days off, or before/after work.

we build plenty of Defy with Di2, I have a bucket full of the seat post battery adapters.

got given some S-Works carbon MTB bars from a customer at a Concept Store

would not have paid the £200, but they felt great. Slight softness on rough ground.

on my 29’er (Giant XTC Advanced 2017) I use a Zipp SC +/-25 stem run in the minus position, and 3T 740mm flat bars to get the saddle/bar drop right

bars look weird but work great

had 2 x 10 on my last bike – Shimano XT

got 1 x 11 on my new bike – shimano SLX

it took a new chainring (34t) to get the gearing right, the 30t the bike came with was going nowhere fast

don’t have the range of 2 x 10 or SRAM 11 speed, but it works well and the cadence change between gears feels great

might get 2 x 11 if needs must…

the frightening thing about the mob mentality in London is how quickly they have cottoned onto idea of the “cycle lane” and will harass cyclists who legally choose to use the road.

I’ve had it 3 times in one day, being told “get off the road” by ignorant motorists.

These cycle lanes often don’t meet the national standards for width, or offer any physical protection, and often have extra hazards, or have an inherently dangerous design at junctions, and in London are full of half-wheeling strava racers trying to overtake in dangerous situations

The highway code is very clear about not using cycle lanes if you feel they are dangerous.

Price increases have become very real in the past month or so

I order workshop service parts from Madison on a daily basis, often reordering the same items.

the increases have been shocking on Shimano

I have customers regularly declining comprehensive service jobs (i.e. rear wheel, transmission parts) on sub £1000 bikes and dumping the bikes for new models as the cost of service parts is becoming very high

Ultegra 6800 52t chain ring – now retails at £119.99

M7000 SLX disc brake (no rotor or adapter) – now retails at £94.99

watch out if buying an existing design (shell) that the manufacturer has retrofitted MIPS into – it reduces circumference by 3cm

I am medium in Giro helmets, at the top of the range (58cm) and cannot wear a Savant MIPS in medium (the large is too sloppy), whereas my normal Savant medium fits fine

my Chronicle MIPS is an awesome fit, easily the best open face I’ve had yet

have a road bike (Giant TCR SL) and 29’er (Giant XTC), both are tools for the job

road bike getting to work (30km round trip) and Sunday’s out with the missus

mtb for escaping into the woods when the mood takes

working as a bike mechanic, you never see bikes the same way again

with my own bikes its the constant war against entropy / wear, its just more servicing work I have to get through in my own time, set against all the servicing work I get paid to do professionally

we use 3-15nm with 1/4″ drive and 10-60nm with 3/8th drive in workshops

@DezB

Unfortunately we’ve seen it on the hydro road calipers, deore and sub-deore hydro calipers

I’ve just built a 2017 bike for store display, and the rear caliper has leaked all over the rotor

can expect £16-18K as mechanic, £18-22 as senior mechanic, £22K+ for management role.

LBS will pay more (if they can) to attract good candidates, especially those leaving chain retailers where pay is often min wage or just above

I worked one of the best paid workshop roles in the UK (workshop manager, Sigma Sport) and it was more stressful than my time at Citibank, and 1/4 of the pay :(

I’ve been asked to look at mobile mechanics several times for employers, and we could not make the figures add up? Easy to run a zombie company…whilst working your ass off

Cytech is essential in the CV, but it won’t improve pay rates, just allow you to be considered for jobs. We won’t even interview people without Cytech (or C&G) because we need certified technicians for legal reasons, but don’t want to pay to put someone through.

We had a guy from a large chain retailer try out in the workshop recently, he had an-house training certification which was worthless, based on the poor quality of his bike building. He did not get the gig.

I’d recommend a skilled trade like plumbing, fibre installation, brick laying, great earning potential especially for time served freelancers

The brakes need repairs, they are Shimano Deores. I’m suffering from contaminated brakes, Apparently the Olive insert is leaking mineral oil all over the pads and discs. The mechanic says it needs a new olive insert, assume re-bleeding, a new rotor (as the contamination is so bad it’s beyond cleaning – apparently)

I smell mechanic B.S.

contaminated rotors? wipe clean with Isopropyl Alcohol £15 a litre from Maplin or RS

why is the olive leaking oil…is this a previous repair by the same guy?

Find a new mechanic (its worth paying proper labour rates at an established dealer, as they won’t take the piss like this guy)

Shimano R55C4 are fantastic in good weather with bags of stopping power

Wet weather? Too abrasive (will quickly destroy rims), switch to Swiss Stop blue – the stopping power isn’t there but they are kind on rims and work well enough in the wet

The SS giant in a previous post is again the same frameset. It uses a sliding dropout to support both wheel sizes and gears or SS. You can get the geared model in the UK, and SS easily :)

to see perhaps a stabilizing standard look at this 2017 trail bike from the World’s largest bike manufacturer: 27.5+ and 29’er compatible in one frame set.

They offer the 27.5+ models and 29’er models on same frame set with change of wheels/fork

they never made a “fat bike” as they don’t rush to market to satisfy niche trends

good mate of mine has a Masters degree in engineering and works for a living designing suspension kinematics and physical packaging for a bike “brand”, his bikes are well regarded.

very smart guy, but would not trust him to put a boxed bike together…and he is the first to admit that.

bike mechanics have been told since time began that a customer who is a “an engineer” knows better

“engineer”…LOL

I have managed stupidly busy workshops for Evans and Cycle Surgery stores in London, a Specialized Concept store and a Giant brand store, and have never had any “engineers” work me in those workshops?

we don’t employ engineers in bike shop workshops, we could not afford them, and well, they wouldn’t be actually much use for bicycle repair ;)

had my Chronicle MIPS for months – great helmet and plays nice with my Hope helmet mounted light

@andyl

I think from the 100+ RTC assessments I did last season, only 1 tried to go the carbon repair route with the motorists insurer insisting it was suitable…we put them onto the distributor’s warranty department. Customer got a new bike…

Raoul at Luescher Tekinik in Oz

this guy knows the score with carbon frame repair, and why it often should not be undertaken, especially without specialist equipment which includes NDT, specific abrasives and cleaning products

without access to the layup schedule and the same fibre and resin, you cannot do an effective repair without some question of compromise. Brands like Giant for example make their own cloth and resin in house and will not be selling any to repair shops.

if a carbon repair shop tells you it will be “stronger than new” that is a red flag – the repair should return the structure to near its original state otherwise you end up overloading other areas. I have had numerous official conversations on crash replacement / damage with many brands over the years, and none would publicly advise carbon repair.

I do about 4-5 RTC assessments per week in London at the moment. We’d never advise anyone to get the frame repaired, most insurers do not want the liability of paying for a carbon repair to then have a failure later on. Of course, carbon repair shops have insurance…

New frame. Or new bike – whichever is more affordable for the insurer