Okay so I bought the unit from CEX for £137.50 expecting just the unit and charger with European maps.

Pleasantly surprised today; turns out its the HC version which includes the unit, charger and brand new heart rate monitor, cadence/speed sensor and mounts turned up – in fact it doesn’t have any signs on the bottom of ever being used!! It’s flat as a pancake but it turns on which was my next concern. It isn’t registered with Mio (which is what you have to do to get the unit to sync). This suggests someone bought it, played around with it, stuck it in the box and then took it to CEX?!

Obligatory picture:

Setting it up it already seems much faster than the 305, which was my only gripe with it. Just about to start the long process of updating.

Very happy so far!

fifeandy – Member
This will make you feel much better then – you didn’t go quite as far, but you are faster than a pro!
https://www.strava.com/activities/612883518

Christ look at his heart rate!

529w of power at 139bpm :P

If I was to keep my HR below 140bpm I’d be doing precisely 5mph….

I think if you swapped to 25/28mm slicks while the weather is okay you’d be pleasantly surprised.

I’m now in the camp of it’s the engine more than the bike, based of my personal experience of comparing my Alu road bike with my chinese carbon “gravel bike” on slicks – the times are near enough identical.

It has taken me almost two years to increase my 50 mile (non stop) average by 4mph on a fairly flat route.

Keep it up and most importantly enjoy!

P.s. is using auto pause when stationary (non of that below 5mph nonsense) at traffic lights/while taking pictures classed as cheating?

Ah, if you want to see the pinnacle of “roadieness” you should visit Regent’s Park and/or Richmond Park – the capital of Rapha manliness.

This: http://thedailymile.co.uk/

Doesn’t require a large playground, any specialist equipment or much time out of the day.

I setup my first road bike a couple of years blindly, and adjusted things as necessary over the course of a year until it was perfect.

As I use the same saddles on all my bikes, on road/gravel/adventure bikes 2&3; I used the measurements off the first road bike to setup the new ones. Normally I don’t have to adjust anything from there onwards, but did drop the seat a couple of mm to compensate for longer crank arms on one of them.

The only guide I’ve ever used was when setting up the missus’ road bike, this was a very good (imo): http://wheel-easy.org.uk/uploads/documents/RIDING%20%20POSITION.docx

Cheers for the responses guys – very useful!

The 505 is being delivered tomorrow. :lol:

burt – Member
Battery is awful,I have to take a battery extender on a day long ride. GPS under the slightest tree cover is awful.segments don’t log, probably because of the shoddy GPS. Tried to use it several times but end up going back to my garmin.

Cheers!

vincienup – Member
As a left field and traditional STW ‘recommend what you own’ answer, unless you want Bluetooth, cadence, live stages and the virtual partner suffer fest, how about the Edge Touring? I’m very happy with mine, it does exactly what I wanted. Usefully cheaper than 800 series for the same device with stripped out firmware. In my mind the 800 series are specced as Road/Tri training aids with some maps and navigation, while the touring has the same chassis with a lot of the training features gone but enhanced navigation and routing… and can be found new upward of about £130 usually

I’ve already got cadence/speed sensors fitted on my bikes, plus a couple of HR monitors (one bluetooth one ant+) – it would be a shame not to utilise them. Plus it’s quite nice data to have as I’m able to track improvements, all be it marginal gains. It does look to be a nice device though!

Commuting with this:

I feel* has really helped my cycling. My commute is only 7 miles on flat roads each way, all be it in central London, but I was getting a scratchy throat. Got given a respro and it feels like you’re being strangled, riding at pace takes effort and it doesn’t take much to get jelly legs.

Take the mask off and I’m a much stronger cyclist that I used to be*.

*I have no scientific evidence of this.

burt – Member
I’ve got both, Garmin wins hands down.

How so?

Yeah fully loaded with Western europe maps as standard.

I think the Mio has a very similar screen size to the edge 1000:

Cheers andysmiff1!

ChunkyMTB

nathb
Guess where?

Strava Central?[/quote]

Yep, with all the other weekend warriors.. Can’t wait to get my nav back! :|

Excuse the mud, I went through some puddles earlier :lol:

Hopefully that’s how it is supposed to be fitted?!

Guess where? :roll:

DHB Slice? http://www.wiggle.co.uk/dhb-slice-30l-rucksack/

It’s a great bag.

I’ve recently downsized to the 15l version as I’m not carrying as much most days: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/dhb-slice-15l-rucksack/

I can add them without removing the mech though, right? :cry:

Oops I’ve found out.

I’ll be adding it later! :roll:

If it helps; I’m 6ft with 34″ inside leg and the 55cm was the best fit.

If you’re local and feeling cheeky: http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-cr3-cx/

Chinese? :roll:

http://www.flyxii.com/en/products/flx-fr-602.html

Using the above as a road/commuter with drop bars. The steering is lazy but it’s so comfortable and so fast. Pretty lightweight too, mines 8.85kg with 105 and heavy Fulcrum Racing Sport DB wheels.

Loving the cable tension guide, works perfectly, so glad I didn’t have to fit a inline barrel adjuster!
Stupid question;
What are the little silver things?!

BB5’s PITA to setup.

BB7’s as good as cable brakes get. Very easy to setup and maintain and stop my road/cyclo bike just fine. Can be had from ebay brand new for £40ish for a road set.

Yeah I think I’ll go back to the bromley area, I just did a street view through the town centre – it’s a bit sparse!

That’ll explain why this is cheap then: http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/41066448#O6gxYVxfGesAM547.97

:lol:

Thanks again!

Any opinions on Swanley?

A nice house has come up there – appreciate its not Bromley but is close to greenness!

From my personal research;

Good:
Dengfu
Hongfu
Ican
Miracle
Flyxii
Velobuild

Bad:
Branded copies (talking about painted “Pinarello’s” etc). These are often produced by criminals using sweat shops and are usually built to a poor standard.

I recently bought a Flyxii FR-602. Built it as my commuter but it turns out that with slicks on its just as fast as my aluminium dedicated road bike – but much more comfortable. Great purchase!

This is mine:

It’s due to be fully 105’d at the weekend.

For a size guide I’m 6ft and ride a 55cm.

Not sure what the difference is between the 602 and 603, apart from price, the 603 was only available in 53cm when I was purchasing.

freeagent – Member

Beckenham generally nice though.
Looked at Farnborough/Crofton/Bromley Common yet??

No not yet, just the areas on the route I linked above (https://www.strava.com/activities/664702360).

I was running out of daylight/energy by the time I got to Bromley south.

Hopefully do a trip out there on Sunday.

I rode through bromley last night to look at a house we liked the look of. The area the house is in wasn’t for me.

This is the route I took (taking in the sights):
https://www.strava.com/activities/664702360

Feeling like I’ve got a much better feel for the area, will take a few more random trips down there. I like the look of Beckenham, not so much Downham. Without sounding snobby; it’s not Ealing, I’m going to have to get used to that. But like Ealing it’s quite drastic how a really nice row of houses can be next to a really not so nice set.

Thanks again for everyone’s input!

Actually this thread has just reminded me of an incident I had a couple of weeks ago;

My bag clipped a vans wing mirror as I was filtering through traffic. It was a company delivery van (food) driven by a woman. I stopped to sort it out and was chatting to her in the friendly manor at the side of the road filling in forms, laughing and talking together – in no way shape or form was I aggressive or even close to her.

Yet car after car with burly skinhead cockneys (aka black cabs) kept stopping and asking her if she was alright and needed assistance with me.

It is after all, them versus us right!? :roll:

I’ve confronted a couple of drivers before, one in a convertible who had no reason to do it other than block me. They just look dumb founded that a peasant on a bicycle has the audacity to comment on their driving.

I’ve decided life is too short to continue to confront them so I just sit in front of them, in between the box and where the pedestrian crossing is.

Yeah I left it queuing in between meetings today, took 2 hours.

I’ve just seen on stubhub that tickets for the same row on the same date are going for £1,000 each!! People are greedy…

I did wince at paying £280 for them!

I booked tickets today for July 17.

Surprised the missus with them earlier, she surprised me back saying we have a wedding that weekend.. What’s the bloody chances of that?!?!?! :cry:

Forgot to mention, 105 chainset for £47.51 anyone? http://www.probikekit.co.uk/bicycle-cranksets-and-chainrings/shimano-105-fc-5800-standard-bicycle-chainset-black/10971924.html

Edit: The new Sora groupset looks nice! 5900 to follow?!

@mrsmith

I heard, maybe incorrectly, that TFL is taking over Southern/Southeastern etc etc? As the current services are shocking.

nick1962 – Member
Yeah,look at this they’ve got a real cheek asking this for it when it needs the kitchen and bathroom updating Only 6 miles from Rochdale too.

Wow! Still not enough for me to move back north though. :lol:

benp1 – Member
In that case it’s a good job I’m reading what you’re saying and not listening, probably wouldn’t understand a word

Haha, I’m thankfully? accent free. This was beaten out of me as a small child. I can’t even do a fake northern accent!!

@mrsmith & jim – thanks, we were planning on being a bit cheeky with our offers anyway.

Thanks guys, got loads of bar tape!

I got £5.27 cashback too (if they pay it!)

That’s Shifters, Front Mech and cassette for £121.36! :-)

Just need to order a chain now.

I got the kit from here: https://www.probikekit.co.uk/ via topcashback using the code “mvc1stpbk” for 12% off up to £20.

We’ve found a house we really like the look of, it’s near Beckenhill station/golf course.

I’m going to cycle there tonight to snoop around. While I’m there I’m also going to check out a few the surrounding areas: Bromley North, Bromley South, Shortlands, Beckenhem Junction, Clock house, Kent house, lower Sydenham, Dulwich, Penge and then back into Ealing.

Thank you all for your input, it’s much appreciated!

Hopefully update this in a few months time with some good news!

105: Sold :P

Now to sell the Sora stuff to recoup before the missus notices :twisted:

Yeah I bought a 105 rear mech a few months ago when it was on offer from Merlin. Couldn’t get it to work with Sora shiters so it’s sat in the box ever since. :roll:

Are you wanting to purchase them too?