I’m 6’3″ getting on for 6’4″ and have a 60cm caad 12. I chose it based on the geometry chart and the fact I have a caad x which is a 61cm. The caad 12 feels a little more stretched as you’d expect but to size down it would have been like a clown bike. While the caad 12 is a relatively racey bike it is a far more relaxed position than the old Van nicholas chinook that it replaced. Like others have said it is a fairly classic style of frame rather than the compact modern ones so I’d be surprised if the 56 was a million miles off fitting you perfectly.

Hmmm, Thanks for the replies. I had thought about getting the sea sucker ones but the cost seems so steep for what it is.

Doordonot confirms my fears so I think I may investigate getting a tow bar fitted. I intend to have the car for the next 8 years so would probably be a sound investment.

Well having tightened up the rear skewer and greased the seatpost clamp I stomped up all the hills on a 20 mile blast today without a single hint of a creak. I’m assuming it must have been the rear wheel as the creak was happening while out of the saddle too. Thanks for the advice guys!

Bought online to get something available in my size otherwise I’d have bought from Edinburgh bikes cheaper. I’m pretty sure the mechanics who assemble the bikes are as capable as many others, it’s just one of those things and they’ve been fair about helping to sort out the problem.

Got a good response from bike24. They gave me some advice on what to do if I decided to buy the crank removal tool and also offered to pay 30 euros for a cannondale dealer to have a look at it so I reckon that’s pretty decent service.

I’ve tried the tips about tightening the skewer and greasing the seatpost clamp and after a quick spin the creak seemed to be gone but I’ve not pedalled with cleats yet to give it a proper try so will see what it’s like tomorrow.

Thanks for the reassurance. I’ll have a look into getting one of those tools but maybe bike24 will offer to send me one at a discounted rate. I’ll see what they say first.

I probably would take it back to the shop if it weren’t in Germany. I have emailed them to see what they advise.

I’ve removed a bb30 previously on my Caad X and bonded in an adapter and probably would have done the same here too but I think the extra width might mean shimano cranks are not compatible.

Yes it’s a great bike. So light and ultra smooth yet responsive. I was loving it until the creaking. I got the 2017 ultegra version to use the frame for my dura ace parts and carbon wheels so I’ll be selling the wheels and ultegra groupset. Due to the bba 30 bottom bracket I’m keeping the hollowgram cranks but this creaking is frustrating to say the least.

I think it stands for Aaaaarrrgghh

Just emailed them again and have said that I’ll be cancelling my order if it can’t be dispatched by the weekend. I don’t really like being so pushy but I just can’t understand what’s taking so long.

The force awakens

2017 Caad 12 with 105 groupset is something that has caught my eye at £1k recently but it depends on what sort of geometry your looking for and if you want discs.

In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey

Bioshock? Not sure of they do it for Ps4 but it is an awesome game with a really interesting story.

British cycling were excellent when I had a collision with another cyclist on an awful Edinburgh cycle route. Having agreed with the cyclist that it was no one’s fault other than the council for having created such a hazardous route, he then decided to sue me. British cycling lawyers were supportive and stood up against the dodgy claim all the while reassuring me there was nothing to worry about. I dread to think what might have happened had I not had that cover so it was 30 quid well spent.

Nope, next time you find someone cheating in a test (or race) or plagiarising just disqualify them from the test (or race), submission etc., tell them why they were wrong and hope that they understand and won’t do it again….Or you could whip up a frenzy around the whole school or college and get all of the students and their friends on the internet to ritually humiliate them causing a disproportionate amount of upset and animosity.

Young guy does something stupid, gets caught and tries to wriggle out of it before finally admitting his mistake. It’s hardly a new occurrence is it? I’ve no doubt he’ll learn from it and hope that he’s allowed to move on from it.

I’ve got a pair of carbon clinchers on my road bike direct from China via ebay. They were 250 quid a year ago. They’re as light as wheels 10 times the price.

Every time I ride i think they’re going to shatter into a thousand pieces. Not because they ride badly, in fact they’re as good as any other wheels I’ve had, the fear is purely down to reading scary stories on the internet. I’m 95kg so not too light and they’re still going strong with no hint of any weaknesses.

Can’t comment on disc wheels but the novatec hubs on mine are perfectly good if not the best in terms of weather sealing.

In fact…

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/192173566304

I used to have some zondas and have had expensive hand-built wheels as well as Chinese carbon wheels too.

The Zondas were every bit as good as any I’ve tried. Very stiff and light for the price. It’s hard to justify spending any more money because there would be very little gain per pound. I expect they would be a considerable improvement over your stock wheels.

On the other hand ebay is a good place to look for the ksyrium elites as there seem to be people selling them quite often. I’ve been tempted in the past purely for the aesthetics but was put off by bad reports on spoke replacement and cassette issues.

Thanks, I found it. A bit of a disappointment so let’s hope the weather is better in Fort William

Well, i swithered about it for so long that the potential car was sold before I had a chance to view it. It was 100 miles away which kind of put me off too. Have put a saved search on autotrader for an octavia scout or superb 4×4 to alert me of any closer to home.

The trusty Mk3 mondeo will keep chugging on for now.

That’s a good rule! :lol:

How much is an economical repair though? I feel like if I spent an average of 400 per year on it then it’d keep going forever.

All sounds very positive. The only thing that I need to do now is convince myself that I need to change cars now.

The mondeo still runs well although it wouldn’t start for a while the other day. It’s very shabby with rusted door sills and a torn carpet but that doesn’t mean that it won’t still get me from A to B perfectly well for the foreseeable future. However, this petrol scout does seem to fit the bill when thinking of my car for the next 8 years.

How do you decide when it’s time to change?

I’ve had to drive back for my sump guard a few times so a bit more ride height for forest and farm tracks would be useful.

I’m slightly worried about the 4 wheel drive aspect. Sounds expensive to fix if anything went wrong?

I’ve been cycling into Edinburgh and along Princes Street daily for the last year and think that at least one of those incidents must come down to the shocking design of the tram / Road layout. As shown in the links above there are instances where you are simply thrust into a dangerous situation without any warning or space and time to react.

The one at the east end of Princes Street is particularly bad because typically there is a double decker bus in front of you obscuring your view while a taxi harrasses you behind. In any other situation you’d be able to make allowances for this with your position on the road but here you are forced into a dangerous swerve across the tram tracks at a moment’s notice.

I hate the claim conscious society that we’ve become but in this case I’m sure that at least a few of these people will have genuinely come to harm because of this irresponsible design and if it has affected their livelihood perhaps they are justified in seeking recompense.

Yep, I’d say that’s pretty clean for a commuter. Mine would build up that grime after a week. Give it a rinse only when there’s so much caked up mud that it catches on the mudguards.

In terms of the frame, I would have thought it’d be cheap and easy to fix. I had a soul with similar problem fixed and it was good as new. You could treat it to a new paint job too and it’d be well under the cost of a new frame.

I have built a 3 storey office building out of shipping containers and can honestly say that I think they should be avoided. They’re not particularly easy to alter in any way and as previously said, the condensation is an issue.

They’re not that cheap or secure either so I’d just go for a nice shed if I were you.

There’s a review of budget hardtails in mbuk this month that has a boardman in it that they reckon is 1k worth of bike for just over 600 quid. Looked like a good deal.

Sorry to jump in on this but what about the sensitivity of the screen for sketching and note taking? I had a brief go in the shop and wasn’t sure but they may have had set it up wrongly?

Hmmm that’s kind of what I thought. It is 5800 that I have and it’s great to be fair. All the finishing kit I have is decent comfortable stuff and I’ve just recently bought some nice light Chinese carbon wheels. The groupset change is really just a finishing touch combined with wanting to reduce weight a bit.

That’s reassuring and the garage does have a lot of good reviews. Any other advice on haggling or just things I should check for?

I do 14 miles to and from Edinburgh each day.

At the moment the only problem I’m having with the British climate is that it’s so blooming windy but then i suspect I’ll soon have to add cold and wet to that. Having good or bad shower facilities at work can make or break any commute though. Fortunately mine are good.

Hmmm. Think I might just try some bb7s or trp spyres instead as it’s beginning to sound very expensive considering the bike is just my commuter.

Is there no way to adapt the flat mount calipers?

Super R-type?

Good ideas. I think I’ll probably go down the route of sticking it to a backing but may look into how much glass and beading would be to make my own frame.

I’ve bought a pair of these in UK size 10.5. They’re a little too small and I should have got a size up. If anyone would like to buy them or has some 11.5s that they’d like to swap then let me know. Cheers

The new 9100 Dura-ace has been revealed and it doesn’t look as good as the current range which is good news as I could be tempted by a cut price groupset. I think it’s gone too stylised and black which is not helped by the fact that it’s presented on a black Pinarello which doesn’t do anything for me either. Nice web presentation though.

http://duraace.com/global/en#intro