both ;)

road in the early AM, go and do 20-30 miles on some porridge oats and strong coffee, 20-30 miles does not sound like much, but its climbing and descending, so a great work out combined with great descents.

get home, take the MTB out for 10-15 miles of singletrack on some oat bars, and more strong coffee

makes Sunday midday feel very grand, in comparison

running this pump on my road bike:

pump tires up to reasonable pressure to get home, after getting a flat

obviously takes more effort to take up to 110-120psi riding pressure than a track pump, but that’s not the point of a pump for emergencies ;)

Specialized Mini-Wedgie on my road bike

can fit: road tube, 2 x tire levers, Park AWS-10 multi tool, mobile phone (Nokia 100), change (couple of £1 coins) and house keys in there..no problem! Have my pump mounted on the downtube, along with water bottle / cage

Very Nice!

I had one last year which I got from Evans, had an ongoing issue with the way the BB shell had been machined (0.2mm out on driveside) which caused premature bearing wear and constant clicking noises under power

Specialized UK took care of me very well once the cause of the problem came to light (a few months of trial and error on my part, to track down the cause)

they could not get the aluminium “Evo” frame as a warranty replacement, so offered me the lovely carbon fibre “Expert” frame as a free upgrade under warranty :)

which means I now have a Stumpy carbon fibre Evo ;)

@tenfoot

I can understand her logic

Mrs Esher Shore has several nice bikes, but does not ride them, and prefers to go swimming at her local swimming baths, as its 5 minutes from her work place, and she can get a better work out in 1 hour than riding her bikes

personally? I love riding my bikes, but when limited on time or if the weather is terrible, I will go running. I can get a really good work out running in 45 minutes – 1 hour, that will take hours on the bikes, and also with the discomfort of getting cold and wet / dirty on the bikes (especially on the MTB) with all the hassles of cleaning the bikes, and having to undertake more regular maintenance on the bikes

running seems very simple in comparison ;)

quite noticeable difference in weight and stiffness, if you care about that kind of thing

got sora in 1 x 10 on my commuting bike

got tiagra in 2 x 10 on my road bike

the sora are not true “Hollowtech” cranks in that they do not have the forged hollow 2-piece construction used on tiagra and above.

The Sora are just a single lump of forged alloy with the rear of the arms scopped out

the Tiagra are proper Hollowtech with the hollow arms which reduces weight and improves crank stiffness

whether that is worth the money? for a commuting bike perhaps not? for a sports bike then yes?

no idea about statistics, but from my own point of view, we have been selling stack loads of women’s bikes during 2013, lots of women very serious about their cycling? a good number have mentioned the London Olympics (seeing the inspirational women’s road and track races!) and Tour, plus a general upwards movement / interest in womens cycling

even in January we had 10-12 carbon fibre women’s road bikes going out every week.

we sell way more proper road bikes than women’s (or men’s) hybrids / recreational city bikes

the brand we sell (Specialized) has invested big $$$ in their women’s range of bikes and equipment, we get a good number of women using the BG Fitting service (probably 30% of the total customers using that service) and we never patronize women or treat them any differently to any of our customers

we also get a lot of women who have had terrible service from other bike stores (chains and independants) and comment afterward, they are refreshed to get good honest, expert advice; especially for taller women who often need to be properly fitted to a men’s road bike

a properly fitted bike that meets their needs can be the difference between investing time, money and energy into a sport, and giving up :(

@Greybeard

the problem I see in London, UK is that large numbers (the majority) of cyclists and pedestrians are actually causing the problem that creates a “road traffic collision” (RTC), rather than any negligence on the motorists’ part.

I stop at every red traffic light during my commute, typically 3/4 of the cyclists around me will blatantly jump the light or veer off to the side and ride up onto, and across the pavement to jump the light.

every day, I see instances that make my blood boil, when a stupid cyclist jumps the lights, cycles through the red (traffic) light, almost runs down several pedestrians crossing on a green (pedestrian) light, and then cycles off down the street.

I have no shame in admitting I will have “strong words” with this idiot when I pass them shortly after they have RLJ

with the pedestrians, its usually an ignorance of the world around them, for whatever reason (newspaper, smart phone, sandwich), stepping into the road without looking for oncoming traffic – a big problem for these pedestrians is that they use their ears to gauge traffic, and cyclists are near silent until ringing their bell or shouting to warn the pedestrian, which is usually too late to avoid a collision :(

snapped the remote (Caught the trigger on my shorts whilst standing) on my Reverb last year whilst riding to train station to catch train for riding. rode home, swapped Reverb for Thomson fixed post. hated that ride as I instantly missed the dropper post on steep descents.

next day, I rang SRAM Tech / Fishers, admitted my fault. They replaced FOC and back with me by end of week.

@jambon

unfortunately, our cities and towns are full of “Geniuses” using their ‘twit-boxes’ (smart phones) to tweet, access bookface and navigate their mapping software to find the nearest Starbucks!

way too busy with the virtual world, not to realise their physical body is walking through the real world, where it can easily end up under the wheels of a passing motor vehicle or bicycle, due to their lack of attention

my current commute is only 3 miles each way from NW to Central London, I am amazed every day that more pedestrians and cyclists do not become participants for the ‘Darwin Awards’ due to the sheer stupidity I see every commute, from cyclist jumping traffic lights, pedestrians stepping into the road without looking

please, someone lend me a helmet camera for 2 weeks, it would make awesome television…

@crazy-legs

^^ agreed

a big problem for a busy workshop, is that…its busy!

we have customers booked into our workshop at least 1 week in advance even in the off-season, and potentially 2-3 weeks in advance during the peak season

that also includes customers buying new bikes, or having custom builds, which always take priority over bike repairs..

as I mentioned in my previous post, we will always try to accommodate “on the spot repairs” but when busy its often not possible, we don’t have a spare mechanic with a spare workstand and spare toolkit just hanging about for those instances

customers who have booked in advance always get priority, as the aspect to taking “on the spot repairs”, is that we then bump the pre-booked customers down the timetable to the point where we don’t get their repairs finished on the day when expected, which means apologies, loss of goodwill and offer compensation like reduced price servicing or vouchers to spend in the shop

the other aspect to “on the spot repairs” (excepting a puncture, which can happen anytime) is that its often for customers who have neglected their bike to the point where it eventually fails, causing the situation the OP mentioned.

And with those bikes, its rarely just the BB issue the OP mentioned, but a host of other neglect-related issues that a competent Cytech / C&G professional mechanic will not let “out” of their workshop due to concerns about liability! That BB fitment can turn into 1-2 hours of messing about

on Thursday morning at 8.40am in Covent Garden, 100 metres from my work place

40-something women got out of passenger side of Addison Lee taxi-van without looking out for oncoming traffic, causing motorcyclist to hit the edge of the van door and get catapaulted into the kerb, smashing his helmet, it honestly looked like a Hollywood film stunt!

we assisted the motorcyclist (stopped him getting up and kept him calm), called for Police and Ambulance. thankfully concussion and bruising but nothing more serious

numerous witnesses telling Police she did not look before opening door into traffic.

the women was insisting she had done nothing wrong and “did not see him” – yes, because you were so busy going to your fashion meeting you were not paying attention

she spent the 25 minutes the Police were there, telling everyone listening she would be late to her fashion meeting

she became very hostile to me (a cyclist who had witnessed the incident from 20 metres behind the vehicles) because I was telling the Police what I had seen, rather than offer sympathy to her because she was “in shock” and “late for her meeting”

I had sympathy for the guy on the motorbike who was going to hospital in an ambulance, and the security guard who helped me park the motorbike in a courtyard, and the Police Officer who was a motorcyclist himself and had recently been through a similar scenario…

we keep it really simple, and its exactly the same for everyone

no one borrows any tools from our workshop, even the shop staff

it’s been this way in the last 6 shops I have worked in (independants and chain stores)

others have explained why mechanics do not lend tools, in addition our liability insurers are very strict about this issue, due to previous payouts to customers who have maimed themselves using lent tools :(

of course we would always try to accomodate a customer IF times permits

but, we’d never drop everything in the middle of a pre-paid £6,500 custom build where the customer is collecting that evening

or get drawn into the other problem, where the BB fitment suddenly develops into a range of other issues (front derailleur / chain / loose swingarm pivot, missing spokes, etc.) that need sorting before the bike is safe and ready to leave the workshop

do not buy, unless visiting in person

give any potential purchase, a very close visual inspection, and also check with alignment tools (fore/aft and dropouts). if you lack these tools / skills, have the buyer meet you at a bike shop and pay the mechanic to do this for you ;)

pay close attention to any metallic elements in the CF frame(BB shell, pivot points, dropouts, brake mounts, etc.) as these can often corrode (galvanic corrosion) and cause the CF to crack, you often see older frames with cracking around these items

if this is all good, should not be a problem, at least it won’t have fatigued unlike used aluminium alloy frames

not a training ride (I am not in training for anything) but just riding

regularly go out and do a 20 mile ride on my road bike before (takes around 1 hour) including as many hill climbs and fast hill descents as I can pack into the time / distance)

great fun. if the weather is terrible, I will go out and run 3-4 miles before coming home, getting ready to then ride to work on my short commute

get an Ultegra front mech

much more resistant to wet weather / corrosion, without the expense of going to Dura-Ace, which shares the same technology in the coating used on the pivots

the thing that really baffles me is that more people don’t get killed on the roads, regularly..

I was talking to a guy at work about this today (I work in a bike shop in Central London)

thankfully, my commute is only 3 miles each way to work

despite this short commute from NW to WC2 London, I see every single day, absolutely shocking instances of stupid action from other cyclists, pedestrians (stepping off pavement into road whilst talking on mobile phone, browsing internet on smart phone, etc.) and motorists (this includes drivers in private motor vehicles, as well as bus drivers, taxi drivers and utility drivers i.e. refuse collection) and motorists using smart phones for navigation or answering phone calls or texts?

I always stop at red traffic lights; I like maintaining the quality of my track stands and also the aerobic buzz of sprinting to the next lights and then stopping at the next light, then to track stand and sprint again. I am rarely going faster than 25-30mph on my sprint between these lights as its a short distance.

Every day? I see stupid cyclists jumping red lights, constantly. I see stupid cyclists riding the wrong way up one-way streets into oncoming motor vehicle and cyclist traffic. I see stupid cyclists riding on the pavement coming into conflict with pedestrians (I was run over last year by a cyclist on a pavement). I see stupid cyclists riding at night on the road, in black clothing, with no lights.

I also see many stupid motorists jumping lights, sitting in the ASL box, ignoring other road users “right of way” and ignoring the traffic signs specifically ‘give way’ or ‘stop’ at junctions, often when combined with “segregated” cycle lanes

how more people don’t get killed every day in London, is truly a mystery? Can anyone offer an answer to this question…

here’s a business idea for anyone keen on Brompton

aftermarket Brompton replacement parts manufactured in CNC machined aluminium alloy and carbon fibre

I am specifically thinking of the gear shifter, chain tensioner and other proprietary parts

I understand why they are made from plastics, but they feel so cheap…

some quality wheels would also be a great upgrade

I remember a store manager at Evans with a black painted, tricked out Brompton running custom Profile BMX hubs laced to 16″ BMX rims

for my own bikes? always Shimano SP-41 outer and any quality inner gear cables, cut and fitted correctly

for my customer’s bikes? its currently Clarkes or CBB outer, because the bigger chain stores have realised how much money they can save by not providing their workshops with quality cabling for customers

its not unknown to cause ongoing havoc with 10 speed and especially 11 speed transmission :(

not really surprised? It’s SRAM after all

took 2 brand new rear mechs (X-7 and X-9) out of boxes, to bolt onto customer bikes last week, both so sloppy in the main pivot (the bolt that attaches the derailleur to the derailleur hanger on the frame) that we had to send both back for warranty

not the first, or second time, this has happened, seen it many times on new bikes built (PDI) from boxes with SRAM mechs, often on the 10 speed bikes where they won’t hold gear due to the sloppy pivot

P-Handles every time for me :)

@thisisnotaspoon

“And can we avoid the (IMO) untrue generalisation that 29ers are better at tamer courses.”

^^ that about it really. for all the jokes I’ve had about “nice hybrid” I am actually going faster on my 29er on all terrain than I ever went on my 26″ bikes, I was very skeptical about the abilities of 29er until I actually bought one, and was then very surprised

you are not going to get a good 29’er for £1000 on the C2W scheme, it will be a lower quality bike with cheaper transmission, heavy wheels and budget fork, probably 28-30lbs

for £1000 you could get a very reasonable CX bike, the money is not being wasted on a suspension fork, but the budget is going into raising the quality of the overall bike :)

I commute on my road bike (with Shimano 105 SPD-SL road pedals / Specialized Sport BG road shoes)

and also commute on my hybrid (with Shimano 520 SPD and Shimano MTB shoes)

no difference at traffic lights as I trackstand on both bikes

only real difference for commuting is ability to walk properly in the mountain bike SPDs if I get the rare puncture, or need to walk with my bike for any reason (like road works requiring a walk 200M down the pavement with the bike)

for riding itself? the road SPD-SL is a much more efficient platform when really putting the power down, the MTB pedal system actually feels very unstable in comparison

some confusion here? Wheelies involve pedalling, Manuals don’t.

I’ve been riding BMX and Mountain Bikes since 1981 and the 2 tricks are very different, regardless of the type of bike. its not about whether you are sitting down or not?

you can wheelie on a BMX : on which you can’t sit down on unless you are a midget, because it has a 12″ seat tube, 1″ of seat post extension and a hard plastic seat, this does not stop you pedalling…

you can manual on a BMX: its a back wheel roll with no pedalling or brake involved, you are not applying power to the drivetrain

different tricks!!

-wheelie is combination of pedalling, and rolling using weight shifting to maintain the balance point

-manual ROLL is never pedalling once you enter the manual, but simply rolling using weight shifting to maintain the balance point

there is no pedalling during a manual roll, otherwise its not a manual ROLL but a wheelie. The rolling is the hint really, and the key to a good manual. too much rear brake is cheating when your balance fails, and will often stop a manual because you will loose too much speed.

here is a hop to manual roll:

manuals are one of the most fun tricks on a BMX when you have the skill and experience to take a manual roll around the landscape of an entire skatepark without stalling, needing to pedal or brake

if you really want to know about manual rolls check out Mike Aitken’s section in the older “Etnies. Grounded” bmx film

@MoreCashThanDash

Shimano R500 is perfect for your needs, RRP is only £69.99

its the “go to” choice for any abusive / heavier rider wanting a tough rear wheel, or for mechanics working in busy shops with customers wanting a bombproof replacement wheel for their broken OE wheelset on a road bike used for commuting

I have put 3 onto customers bikes just today..

the good news is that it will take hard abuse, will last a long time if serviced once in a while (grease bearings), and madison sell a replacement freehub body at a reasonable price

@tinybits

its very simple (sales of goods act)

within 6 months of purchase, a customer with goods that develop a fault (not wear and tear) should be offered a replacement or refund as it is assumed that the goods were not fit for purpose, with the retailer then having to take their loss up with the distributor.

this second part is irrelevant to the customer, their contract is with the retailer they purchased the goods from. a risk any retailer takes when signing a contract to retail goods from a distributor is that the distributor will back up the goods delivered with a reliable warranty service.

after 6 months of ownership, the customer has to then prove that the goods were not originally fit for purpose, and allow the retailer to send the goods to their distributor or manufacturer for inspection

obviously you need to return the goods by post to CRC for “inspection” but they have a warranty department that can inspect the goods and make a judgement. Allow 1 week for this process. Any more than this is stalling on their part.

a big problem for companies like CRC is that they are often purchasing goods through grey import channels at lower cost, and may not have anyone to actually send the good “back to”.

this is part of the risk they assume when buying goods cheaper direct from off-shore factories or sales agents dumping OE stock into the aftermarket

any shops or companies claiming that they need to “send goods to the manufacturer” for inspection inside of the initial 6 month period, need to educate themselves on retail law in the EU:- its basically a cost-saving blag relying on uneducated customers caving in, when the law is very clear on who is responsible (the retailer)

incidentally, I recently learned the warranty period in the EU is actually 2 years on goods sold, and this supercedes the UK “sales of goods act”.

I have recently used this successfully for electrical goods bought from Argos that failed after 13 months, despite them trying to fob me off with “12 month warranty”. It was only when I showed them the link to the EU laws on my smartphone that their manager started taking my complaint seriously.

All I can say is good luck!

Couple years back, riding to work early Sunday morning in surbiton, surrey. Came to a junction bottom of high street, hit a 6″ deep tear in road, thrown over bars into road.

Thankfully no cars coming . Defect had been reported on line, but council claimed no record of defects. Tore saddle/grips, shorts and top; blood and skin left on road, sore for a week with whiplash.

Sought legal help from specialist service.council gave them run around for months. Nothing was resolved. Other cyclists hurt on same junction after my accident. 5 months later they fixed the problem….

thanks to everyone who has given their input to this thread

something I am concerned about (as a professional bike mechanic working in a store dealing almost exclusively with high end road bikes)

is that carbon fibre finishing kit (bars, stems, seatposts, saddles) requires careful fitting (inspection of other finishing kit i.e. sharp edges), fibre grip compound where appropriate, use of torque wrenches)

I have lost count of the number of instances where a rider has bought a component on-line, fitted it themselves using allen key multi tool, and then brought it into the store with damage issues normally relating to poor fitment

a big problem with carbon fibre is the lack of elasticity when fitting, unlike aluminium alloy which gives ‘feedback’ when increasing bolt torque; carbon does not give this feedback, it will suddenly “pop” when over tightened with wallet-emptying results :(

can think of a specific example where a customer bought a £100 CF seatpost, swore blind he had used a torque wrench, then admitted he had used a multi-tool, broke the seatpost and we did him a deal under “goodwill” on the 2nd seatpost and also sold him a torque wrench at a reduced price

the same is true of crashes, you are not sure what damage you have actually done to a carbon fibre component?

I have first hand seen riders have a ‘bar digging’ crash both on MTB and Road bikes, and then weeks later suffer when the handlebar has failed without notice.

in comparison riders with scratched and even dented aluminium alloy bars riding for some years with few issues (although personally I would recommend changing even an uncrashed aluminium alloy bar every 18-24 months for safety reasons i.e. fatigue)

have also dealt with a number of riders with expensive CF cranks that have suddenly failed, sometimes causing lacerating injuries or crashes (standing up powering, then crank shears), rarely seen aluminium alloy crank arm “fail” usually thread issues with pedal bosses or loose axle / bb fitment

in the off-season we can actually send a frame to McClaren and pay to use their NDT facilities to examine a CF frame for crash damage. hard to do when they are on-season building cars and don’t have time for push bikes!

@njee20

thanks for your input

of course Dura Ace is BETTER! (I’d love Dura Ace if I had endless cash to spend!

just like I would rather buy an Nvidia GeForce Titan graphics card (£900)for my gaming PC; rather than the ASUS Nvidia GeForce GTX 670 OC card (£320) I recently bought!

to answer the OP ‘mtbtomo’ who said: “Would I notice a difference with 105, or do you need to go up to Ultegra or even Dura Ace gear shifters?”

he is not going to notice any real difference between Ultegra and Dura Ace gear shifters. that is what he asked about…

definite difference between 105 and Ultegra STI shifter (I own 105 and wish I had bought Ultegra)

difference between Ultegra and Dura Ace STI shifter? not worth considering all other thing being equal?

spend the money on the derailleurs and brakes, you will notice a difference in degradation over a UK winter between 105 brakes / mechs and ultegra brakes / mechs

its weight savings really? at a big expense..

Personally I would save carbon fibre for frame and fork on a road bike

and keep the aluminium alloy for the bar, stem, seatpost, rims and cranks, but what do I know?

Its f*cking rad

talking to mate tonight who rides a 26″ Enduro, he actually said he’d buy that 29er Enduro which I thought I’d never hear from him

myself?

riding a 29’er Stumpy, no complaints from me, loving that bike and going faster than any 26″ bike I have owned in 26 years of riding the 26″ wheel size!

How does the first paragraph qualify you as an authority on the second?

Dura Ace is better, fact. You may not think the differences are worthwhile, but it is superior. The brakes are better, the shifting is better, it is lighter, and IME it also lasts longer than anything else.

@njee 20

my apologies for the delay in responding ;)

basically, our business at the concept store is building, servicing and custom building high end road bikes; we don’t see much under Shimano 105 or SRAM Apex in our store?

this includes talking to, and working with many customers doing 1000’s of miles on this kit

we have many customers flying in and out of London collecting production and custom built road bikes for their needs; as an example we have sold (globally) the highest number of Specialized S-Works McClaren Venge road bikes of any dealer

we have many amateur and semi-pro tri participants, roadies and sportive riders among our customers, giving lots of feedback to the store

as well as in the store, we all ride road bikes…lots of miles on different bikes with different kit, we get the chance to try out the different groupsets and see what really makes the difference

my statements were not unqualified by any means. Of course, DURA ACE is lovely kit with its weight savings, but ULTEGRA is the best value for money solution; unless you are racing than Dura Ace is somewhat overkill?

if you do your research carefully you will find a good number of PRO road teams using Ultegra cassettes rather than Dura Ace; because Ultegra is much more cost effective and the Ultegra cassette is actually harder wearing than the more expensive Dura Ace cassette with its 1/2 body titanium construction, same goes for chains

brakes? there really isn’t a noticeable difference apart from price. the rear brake on most road bikes just gets ruined by UK weather (and road salt) and I would be happier running Ultegra than Dura Ace for that reason

if hardtail then carbon fibre no doubt

I am currently the workshop manager of a high end store (concept store) specialising in road bikes

I would highly recommend Ultegra if you have the budget, with 105 following close behind. Dura Ace is simply not worth the money, its really just weight savings, bragging rights and 3 year warranty.

Ultegra is a fantastic groupset in terms of sheer performance and value for money, and in my opinion the best road Groupset Shimano currently make both in Di2 and mechanical formats

the big difference between 105 and Ultegra is found in the crankset (you get Hollowform chainring on Ultegra and Dura Ace) and brakes, the shifters and derailleurs, less so…

the difference between an Ultegra HT2 crankset and 105 / Tiagra HT2 crankset is night and day, I have ridden all 3 on the same frame platform.

Ultegra cranks have completely solid feeling when standing on the big ring with all your body weight, and also has a more secure up-shift from small to big ring

the brakes? Ultegra have better modulation, better pads (same compound as dura ace) and the pivots last longer in our wet climate

105 is a great groupset and a good step above Tiagra for serious riding, but Ultegra if wisely used in a mix with 105 or even Tiagra will give performance and durability benefits

double post, please ignore.

My Hope Vision 2 has been back to Hope 4 times now, all for problems relating to the connector between the lamp and the battery

basically, the connector is unreliable, and gives a faulty connection that makes the light difficult to charge

you think you have charged the battery, only to have it fail 20 minutes into a night ride (or even commute..)

Hope have been excellent on every occasion, (and replaced the battery FOC on the 3rd return) and I cannot fault their service. However, if it goes back for a 5th return I am thinking there is something flawed with their connector, I would probably sell the light cheap to cash convertors and put the money to a cheap MagicShine unit?

@The Doctor

typical comment from road customer “I have to clean my bike?”…

commuting home through central London this evening

saw plenty of “genius” riders without lights, wearing dark clothing, jumping traffic lights; some even riding the wrong way down a one-way street against the traffic flow, or riding on the pavement cutting up pedestrians

how more cyclist fatalities are not reported every day in London, is something I am still trying to fathom?

@The Doctor

could not agree more!

we get loads of road bikes into our workshop with worn out brake pads, filthy rims covered in road grime, corroded cables and the brakes have terrible adjustment, yet the customers are complaining “cannot stop!”

I run Dura-Ace pads on Ultegra caliper brakes, Mavic Open Pro rims, keep them clean (once a week using Iso Alcohol, grit paper and a stanley blade to pick out metal pieces) and well adjusted and never had any issues stopping even in the pissing rain going down a steep hill when a motorist has suddenly pulled out in front..

my other bike is a mountain bike with hydraulic disc brakes running 185mm rotors, in comparison