@bigdaddy

Good looking bike. Hope things are well…been a while since the Freeborn/Esher days? Cheers. Rob C

New bike does not feel new for very long if properly used in anger. Wear and tear is offset by constant maintenance, and replacement of worn parts (chain,cassette, brake blocks) before they damage other components.

Happy trails!

@DanW

I should have pointed out that the fit I described was specific to the Docklands store. It’s what we call an ‘enhanced Powerfit’ in that we have brought our own elements to the system specifically foot correction (which benefits 80% of the population) and pelvic stability through saddle selection and setup

Other stores will follow a stock Powerfit protocol which is based around the Wattbike and uses an App on the I-Pad, with measurements then transferred to the client’s bike. The stock protocol does not deal with foot correction, which as any good fitter knows, is the basic building block of a good bike fit – it will also ask a fitter to “average” length leg for saddle height which is not ideal (rather than dealing with functional or physical leg length discrepancy during the foot correction element).

Giant manufacture the Wattbike in Taiwan for the Wattbike company, and their Powerfit was a development of this partnership. There are limitations, and its still in its infancy as a system, hence some stores enhancing the fit with other elements and using a different protocol.

If you study other systems like Retul and BG Fit, they have years of development and large amounts of $$$ invested to get where they are today.

Retul is particularly interesting in that Specialized purchased a majority shareholding and have integrated some of the tool set into BG Fit. Retul is a protocol but many fitters use the motion capture system as a digital toolset / tape measure in conjunction with their own experience and a modified protocol.

@DanW

there are issues with the Wattbike in terms of Q-Factor, replicating reach/stack and accuracy of X-Y measurements. I believe there is an X-Y tool with laser measurement coming at some point in the future.

We do all our ‘Powerfit’ OTB (on the client bike) with foot correction using Shimano custom footbeds (arch support) and BikeFit wedges for varus/valgus correction and BikeFit leg length correction shims if required. Cleat setup using ‘new neutral’ protocol for road cycling and forward protocol for triathlon and time trial. We spend a lot of time getting feet properly sorted before anything else.

Saddle selection is done using Pro’s saddle sizing system combined with rider feedback and flexibility assessment. We use laser projection grid with fluorescent dots, a good eye combined with basic tools like goniometer/plumbline for reference and smartphone camera very useful for checking position/capturing video for analysis.

Protocol is a modification of several existing systems including BG FIT. It’s what we call a good biomechanical bike fit with an emphasis on treating every rider as an individual rather than trying to ‘average’ every client.

I’ve used hope for years but got a little fed up with bearing quickly going rough, free hub quickly chewed by cassette and dirt getting into freehub, broken axle, broken pawl springs, plus hubs always felt draggy. I’m all for supporting British manufacturing and hope’s customer support second to none.

Had DT 350’s a year, no fuss, bearings silky smooth, popped freehub apart and as new no dirt ingress. Very impressed.no issues with pickup.

the longer the reach, the more leverage as the master cylinder piston has more movement

have you tried setting reach to maximum and then adjusting the lateral position of the brake lever on the bars to see if you can reach the lever blade comfortably?

going from Avid Elixir to Shimano SLX was a bit odd until I realised to take the brake levers as far inboard as possible to allow a proper one finger purchase on the lever

@iainc: do whatever is comfortable for your best riding position

can’t see it being secure on the rims, or retaining any pressure

had compact, much prefer mid size, especially the larger inner ring allowing a higher cadence combined with slightly taller gears

Shimano make brilliant wheels for sensible money. Their budget stuff (R501 and RS10) are a good starting point.

Many consumers shop on weight, but its misleading as some light wheels feel poor to ride when pushing hard, especially climbing steeps or descending on brakes. I’d always take a 70 grammes heavier wheel that responds well to input, than a lighter wheel that feels flexible

going up in price, Shimano RS81 are very hard to beat, especially the C24 for general road riding and racing, just over £300 for a pair if you look around

Giant have done some good wheels too, they used to be DT Swiss made with 240 internals in the rear, this has changed for 2016 with only the top models using ratchet drive (DT) the cheaper wheels using Formula guts

It’s not a bad fork but the turnkey damper and rebound damper are crude and quickly lose control on rough ground. The TK damper does not offer midstroke compression damping /suppoet but has a lockout switch.

If the silver model has the steel stanchions I don’t believe you can upgrade the dampers, the gold model with aluminium stanchions easily accepts Reba parts – I got a Recon gold TK on my new 29’er, I got a motion control DNA damper and rapid recovery rebound damper. Night and day improvement

@molgrips

this is a typical CS3 cycling experience. riding at a reasonable pace in bright daylight, ambulance pulls out across the cycle lane without looking causing cyclists to nearly crash in said ambulance – maybe he was touting for business?

another typical experience – vehicles illegally parked on CS3

and this lovely Veolia garbage truck using CS3 to collect dustbins.

the driver directly caused a young women on a bike to crash, then told other cyclists helping her up to “F*ck off” then became very aggressive, before getting back in and continuing to drive along CS3 stoping periodically. Police were called, driver arrested

its a common problem, and not solved by setting lock ring to torque, or using anti-seize, grease or nothing

and an aluminium alloy freehub is a very inexpensive way of making a wheelset weight competitive

the best solution with aluminium alloy freehubs was American classic with their steel leading edge strip, but they have this patented

I regularly had this problem with my Hope Hoops road wheels, using Ultegra cassettes. The normal issue is the cassette gouging the body and getting stuck when you want to remove it for cleaning. The longer term issue was creaking under load, and noisy gears as the shifting patterns (which Shimano spent years working on) become out of sync due to cogs being out of alignment.

Hope were great and replaced the aluminium body FOC twice. On the third time they gave me their steel body – 150 grammes heavier than the aluminium, actually very noticeable on a light weight road bike

My current road wheels (Shimano RS81 C24) are just over 1500 grammes but use a steel body which is impressive. Dura Ace have a titanium alloy body to shave more weight without compromising durability.

they are excellent

we had a problem with finding a suitable courier to handle shocks due to royal mail’s ‘restrictions’ and TF took care of the entire pick up and delivery with no fuss

What’s that old saying?

“If its too good to be true, it probably is!”

The last carbon fibre road bar I purchased (S-Works) cost £160 from a retailer, I have no doubts about its integrity, and at least have someone to bring a legal action against if it did fail and cause serious injury

@lunge

solid advice

some nice open tubulars from Vittoria, Veloflex or Challenge paired with latex tubes gives a simply sublime ride quality with many puncture free km’s

vulcanised tires with butyl tubes feel wooden in comparison

@trailrat

I had a similar experience on CS3 super highway in London a few weeks back during evening commute.

work colleague and I riding along Cable Street parallel with CS3. Coppers were stopping traffic at a junction. We were both lit up with flashing bright lights. We slowed right down, and I rode slowly around them about 8 feet from nearest Policeman.

He says “Oi, green hat come here” (I was wearing a bright green Giro MTB helmet).

I go over and he basically told me I should be using the cycle path (CS3) instead of the road. I asked him to inform me of the law about this and he could not.

I told him the cycle path was unsafe as a few 100m back we nearly had a collision with a motorist who turned across CS3 with no warning, and then nearly a head on with a cyclist riding with no lights on the wrong side of the path, which is why we moved onto the road itself.

I asked him whey they were not stopping cyclists with no lights riding past them, or motorists failing to indicate or give priority to cycle path users at clearly marked junctions

He could not accept this, and kept telling me I had no right to be on the road when a cycle path was provided

I actually quoted the highway code to him that I am entitled to use the highway when any cycle path is unsafe, and that I also have a “right of way” to use a bicycle on the highway. He could not accept this, kept arguing with me and calling me “Geez…”.

Mind boggle when those supposed to be upholding the law have no clue?

I’ve asked police before about the ASL law when witnessing traffic offences right next to them at traffic lights during the “operation safeway” events in London and I’ve never had the correct answer from any of them…

@fizik

I’ve been installing tubeless setups for 10+ years for myself and too many customers to mention

electrical tape is great to actually make the rim bed airtight, but it will quickly deform under inflation (into the spoke holes), and allow sealant to leak into the rim bed.

This is why I then install a good tubeless tape like Roval on top of the electrical tape. All the Giant MTB’s and many of the road bikes will come with a similar width blue tubeless tape. Stan’s tape is simply rebadged 3M adhesive tape.

I will degrease the rim with Isopropyl alcohol before installing electrical tape, and do the same before putting tubeless tape on top of electrical tape.

The trick with the valve is to put a tiny hole in your layers of tape using a small spike, when you insert the value it then expands the hole and won’t allow a leak between the tape/valve

just go tubeless

wrap those rims in electrical tape, put some tubeless tape on top, punch a teeny hole and insert tubeless valves. Get some decent Specialized 2-bliss tires (I found my Schwalbe tires dire with sealant) and chuck a couple of cups of Stan’s sealant in there before inflating

I’ve put the same setup on my Giant XTC Advanced 29’er and no issues since instalation

follow the example of the awesome drivers at Addison Lee

http://road.cc/content/news/178014-new-take-%E2%80%98helmet-cam%E2%80%99-%E2%80%93-cyclist-says-he-has-picture-addison-lee-driver

For a bike shop doing reasonable levels of trade with the big brands, its typically 35%

But, when you look at the difference between gross profit margin and net profit margin, you suddenly realize there is not money in selling bike

Gross profit margin = (revenue – cost of goods) / revenue

Net profit margin = (revenue – cost of goods – operating expenses – other expenses – interest – taxes) / revenue

for tax-relief cycle to work schemes:

cyclescheme take 10%

Halfords scheme takes 15%

as the old saying goes..”If you want to play, you gotta pay”.

Evans have fantastic deals from time to time on clearance stock – I got my Cannondale with 40% off retail price

And they often have great deals on brands they either own or have exclusive distribution rights for in the UK like Jamis, BMC, etc.

Like Paul’s and Rutland, they will scoop up job lots of new/old stock from distributors and then offer it heavily discounted whilst still making a workable margin

In our shop we are about to have all our remaining 2015 sale bikes collected (we have stock rotation with our distributor), they will pop up discounted further on the usual websites very soon 😉

20″ no doubt…nothing else like it

here’s my Super Six Evo enjoying the fine English weather

I grew up near Milton Keynes and cycled all over Buckinghamshire for many years, I’m well aware of the ‘redways’ in MK but rarely saw anyone using them.

I’m also aware of bike paths in Cramlington from 5 years living in Newcastle, we rode all over the N-East on our mountain bikes being poor students with no cars.

Car dependency is engrained in our culture – do others remember growing up and friends ditching their bicycle to get their first car, a part of “growing up” with adults owning / driving cars and kids on bicycles?

its probably going to take a massive increase in fuel pricing / congestion charging / environmental concerns something to get people out of cars and onto HPVs.

even then just a shift from combustion engine to electric vehicle?

ASTM F1952 is the DH specific helmet standard and a safer bet than bog standard CE certification

I have a Giro Remedy that was one of the first to meet this standard, I don’t have much call to use it any more but its there in case a trip arises

my previous lid was a KBC Super Moto lid that met ACU Gold (motorbike) as I was throwing myself on my bike off the tops of quarries very regularly and reasoned that more protection was probably a good idea

I have my first Cannondale – a Super Six Evo road bike – and very nice it is too

I have little faith in any kind of warranty being honoured if needed, bearing in mind Cannondale UK’s reputation, and the retailer being Evans, but it was only £1000 on sale so I’m not too bothered!

the new Cannondale gravel bike with the lefty looks awesome, i don’t need one, but would like one 🙂

I’ve got an Easton EC70 on my hardtail in 30.9mm and its a world of difference to the stock aluminium alloy seatpost

When I got my first road bike a few years back I just put on a spare Thomson Elite in 27.2mm but quickly realised how harsh it was and bought a full carbon post (another Easton)

its always worth using carbon fibre grip paste, no reason no to..

Specialized Purgatory on the front and Ground Control on the rear for my bike

bike came with Racing Ralphs, I am recovering from a cracked rib after finding the front tire to be completely useless at the sight of damp 🙁

tread patterns on road tires are for “marketing” i.e. to explain the ‘purpose’ of that tire to the consumer

you’ll see file patterns, sipes and some weird ‘alternate panel’ detailing on tires Continental 4 season

all of the grip comes from the quality of the rubber compound, with the suppleness of the casing combined with correct tire pressure, allowing the tire to readily deform as it encounters variations in the road surface

If you can live with external routing, Giant XTC Advanced 29’er and 27.5 are fantastic. You get a full Toray T700 frame for not much money.

Have a hunt around there are some 2015 out there at 40% off rrp!

Specialized Romin with carbon rails

@LoCo

agree, it works for convenience stores, but can’t see a buying group / co-operative working in the UK for LBS

different bike brands, different P&A brands, different customers doing different disciplines of riding

its certainly going to be an “interesting” year in 2016, many shop managers I regularly speak to in both LBS and chain stores, are keenly watching to see if there is the ‘usual’ pickup in sales coming out of Winter, or whether things have actually changed – what some retail analysts call the “new normal”

regarding the role of the distributor; they are in a hard place, they made considerable profits before the growth of internet retailing started to challenge the traditional supply chain model

I work in the bike trade and don’t bother buying any shimano goods from our store through our trade account, its always more expensive than buying from on-line retailers. I saved £98 by buying my Shimano road wheels from Wiggle than getting them from Madison at trade + vat.

Customers are not stupid, I’ve heard the phrase about the smartphone “free access to perfect information” (of course the internet has misinformation, but you get the idea). It’s not uncommon to see any customer pull out a smartphone and look for the best price when you give them even a discounted price in the hope of selling some stock.

When I speak to customers whilst quoting repairs I often hear the tap..tap of their keyboard in the background and they will question the prices we have given for components fitted to workshop jobs. If they want to supply the goods themselves of course I will fit them, we will charge them for our time and its the most profitable part of our business.

But why then hold anything but inexpensive service stock, for customers who don’t know enough to find an Acera mech cheaper on-line. I find customers owning bikes with 105, Ultegra, XT, Sram all know the prices and will shop on price when there is such a big discrepancy in price between what retailers can stomach and what the broken distribution model allows on-line retailers to offer.

a lean ‘just in time’ vertical distribution model is possibly the future, there are rumours circulating that Shimano may even distribute direct to retailers in the future cutting out current middlemen.

Carry Freedom are fantastic, their “lollipop” elastomer hitch is what makes it work so well

I took their stock trailer and modded it by extending the deck with aluminium alloy beam work and a new timber deck, plus side mudguard covers. ours takes 3 bikes with no effort, front wheels come off and go into wheel bags which are secured to each bike

latex tubes and Vittoria Corsa G+ (graphene) tires on my road bike

the Giant tires are actually pretty reasonable, but quality 320 tpi open tubulars (Vittoria, Veloflex, Challenge) with latex tubes are a different world to both stock tires and vulcanised aftermarket tires like Conti’s.

some odd “visitors” at Esher from time to time too, certainly helped put the shop and park on the map 😉

the legend that is Rob Warner

the “godfather” of freeride, Wade Simmons

Had a customer asking about this yesterday as we were looking at this bad boy

something with velcro straps perhaps? Nothing on the underside of the carbon crown to attach anything to, unlike a right side up fork with steerer tube exposed