eat at least an hour before, maybe add fruit like a banana to the Weetabix, you shouldn’t need anything during

wasn’t me, i have football studs in my Northwave boots

get the longer ones if you can

could you use a Shimano Dual-Control lever for the front mech and a normal RH shifter mounted on the left for the rear?

stumpy01 – Member
I’m surprised that these aren’t used more on the road, when on a long ride and wanting to carry a bit more than just the essentials.

One of the potential main drawbacks I see is that the waist band might constantly dig in, which is one of the things that stopping me from trying it.

this

that and the fact that road jerseys have pockets with enough room to put everything in you’d need for a ride
if you absolutely definitely were determined to use a bum-bag it would strap directly over the top of the pockets and only work if they were empty, so you’re not going to able to carry anything extra over just pockets

which is why people didn’t do it before The Rules were invented

i’m roughly the same dimensions as you and i’d plump for the 57

the 54 would be too short for me, but that’s just me, you may prefer different

that bar-tape needs re-doing :)

yep, brilliant in a quiet and slightly surreal way

one of those comedies that was hidden away and never shown again

i need to watch the ping-pong one again now

the average price of a bike is £233

Sidi and Duegi did cyclo-cross shoes about 25 years ago, do keep up

mountainbikers used to use them as dedicated MTB shoes weren’t available, because people didn’t think you needed them

oh

“So while the stats may not bear out the great north-south divide in cycling…”

let’s not let the facts get in the way of a good* story

*quick

i hate big watches, i wear a Flik Flak

it tells the time like any other watch but it confuses people, i call it a light weight climber’s watch, it confuses them more

why would he?

is that David Bowie’s lawyer on the phone?

i’ve been running 1×9 shimano with a 10spd chain and thick/thin ring, had no problems until i dropped the chain 5 times in a particularly claggy race, always on the inside, buying a chain catcher now

dunmail – Member
I was told (but can’t verify it’s true) that you shouldn’t use whole ratios for singlespeed as they cause wear at the same point on the rear tyre. So 32:15 or 32:17 for example.

this is not true

you will have created a Hybrid, which aren’t ‘rubbish’ to ride the road on per se, but nowhere near a road bike

send it back to Exposure, they’re really good on stuff like this, even if it’s out of warranty

bikeneil – Member
I’ve seen on some road bikes a second Seatclamp that goes round the seat post to allow you to put the Seatpost back in at exactly the same height.

where have you seen this?
like many others i use electrical tape, i wash my bike (with the seatpost in), it’s never come off

take everything, arm-warmers, knee-warmers and a decent rain jacket, maybe a buff, the mountain attracts it’s own weather that’s alarmingly unpredictable

i’ve been at the bottom too hot in shorts and short sleeves, got to the top in a hail storm worrying about getting back down alive, really

many others have had similar experiences, not that it’s like that every time but you need to be prepared

you could hack it off but it would probably change the feel of the back end for the worse and compromise the structural integrity of the frame

you’ll be able to do *all* climbs seated on 32:19 ;-)

adsh – Member
There are 2 things that I wonder about.

First is stress on my knees and second is fitness

don’t worry about either of these and go ride your bike

the whole SS/knees thing is a myth, and there are thousands of different pedalling states in between spinning out, grunting and walking

road cable, the one with the pear shaped nipple on the end

many cable sets have mtb barrel ends one end and road pear-shaped ones the other, you snip off the end you don’t need

kcr – Member

The only question I had about the Pro6 was the higher cross bottom bracket. Can anyone comment on how it handles, compared to a conventional road bottom bracket drop (6cm vs 7cm). Is there any practical difference?

no

the Pro6 is lighter and racier and while it does have mudguard/rack mounts is more of a cyclo-cross bike for racing, the CdF has rack and mudguard mounts too but is more of an all-day over-everything trundler than a race bike

the Pro6 is more me, it might not be more you

it’s taken you nearly 20 years to figure this out?

adsh – Member
Didn’t that Kinesis get a review from Birkradar that talked about harshness and twitchiness?

depends which paragraph you read ;-)

“Its low, aggressive position and fast handling certainly kept us on our toes”

“the Pro 6’s newly relaxed head angle and tapered carbon steerer tube were immensely stable”

“it felt faster-handling and twitchier than expected”

ignore any set-up advice here and go see a sports physio that knows about bikes

did they both want a bike that could tackle shitty roads and fit mudguards and travel long distances like a touring bike but bought a ‘cross bike instead because they’re trendier and look racey, but found it a bit harsh and a handful and realised that they needed a comfy touring bike after all, which they finally bought and found to be perfect for the job in hand?

agree with some of the sentiments above, rode my race CX as a road bike for a winter with no problems, the higher bottom-bracket made it feel a bit tippy in some corners, but that’s about it

if both people are never comfortable on it that’s down to it being a poor fit for both of them rather than it being the wrong style bike, a bike needs to fit you whether you’re riding it for an hour round a field or five round the roads

you’re wrong

you’re confusing power with control and modulation in all conditions

i’ve run a freewheel on a fixed hub on singlespeed CX bike for several years, it gets a bit of mashing, it’s been fine

Goldtec do a SS/Fixed hub with replaceable axles so you can fit it to any spaced frame, you can screw a freewheel onto the fixed thread, as you can any fixed hub

just turn up and sign on

most ‘cross races are like that, for all ages

i’ve used a Shimano QR and a DMR tug-nut (driveside only) with no problems

used a wingnut on the tug-nut bolt to adjust the tension quickly and easily, minimal faffage

travo just cheered my day up no end

thick/thin chainrings have been A Thing in mountainbiking for a while now since wide ranging cassettes mean you can get a decent gear spread allowing you to ditch spare chainrings

combined with a highly-sprung clutch rear mech they mean you don’t need any guides or catchers to keep the chain on

this has moved over to CX (see the SRAM CX1) with a collection of thick/thin CX ready rings available from different manufacturers

been running a ROTOR wonky thick/thin ring on a baggy old 9spd system and since i’ve started using a 10spd chain on it it’s worked well, although at last week’s incredibly muddy race it dropped the chain several times thanks to the overloading of mud on the ring and in the mech making the chain all baggy

have you considered a thick/thin chainring?

i had a *very* scary speed wobble going down an Alp, in between knitting buttons i pressed my knee into the top-tube like i’d read and it disappeared and i started to breath again

you met some people, that’s what you did wrong