Education We Like to Ride Bicycles

Lycra makes great sense until you crash, or it's gets ripped clean off in the brambles.

Lycra under baggies is best, there's no substitute for rip-stop material when your arse meets gravel.

 

That makes a lot of sense when you put it like that. Hadn't really thought about it that way before.

 

I did a weeks mountain biking there last year. Bothy Bikes is great but the shop at Laggan only had about 3 things in it and it was so dark you couldn't see anything. I would highly recommend the Speyside maps collection from Trailmaps. You can get them online before you go or from either Bothy bikes or Mikes bikes in Aviemore. Just outside of Aviemore is the Inshriach nursery and cake shop which probably sells the most amazing cakes in the world. It is definetly worth a visit! We ran out of time to do it but at £20 per person the Bike Cairngorm trip looked pretty good.

 

It's partly a fashion thing as well

 

Awesome, I love it. And I overtake people on carbon bikes so I'm not complaining

My next purchase will probably be a new saddle, I think I have a wide bum.

Eventually I might get some new wheels and tyres since the stock ones are quite heavy.

 

Thanks for that.

Bike Cairngorm certainly does look cool.

If there's snow, I'm hoping to do some snowboarding, which'll probably mean I won't be doing anything else after that as I won't be able to move,

 

I'm looking at building my own bike...Can anyone point me in the right direction where I can buy all my parts from please?

 

What type of bike are you wanting to build?

 

Your local bike shop, chainreaction, rose bikes, wiggle the list is fairly extensive. What do you want to build, how much do you want to spend, why not buy off the peg?

 

Road Bike, I'm not too sure of spending...But I have a limit of around £700?..

And I like just building things and using them, gives me that...Self satisfaction...

 

That's expensive way of doing things.

I know what you mean about building things, but I would seriously consider buying one, and having a good old fashioned tinker.

 

As the man says buy a whole one and fiddle, you'll never get a better price for the groupset etc than the big manufacturers. But if you do want to go down that road, I'd get a used road bike, if its been well used the drive train will be shot but probably usable so you can get on the road and rebuild to your hearts content.

 

If you can find a vintage steel frame bike in a classified ad you might be able to get a good price on a worn but otherwise good bike. Then you can do your tinkering replacing all the worn parts, refurbishing it, customising, upgrading it etc.

Then you'll have a nice bike that you rebuilt and customised yourself.

If you do this you will need various specialist tools (Chain tool, bottom bracket tool, cassette tool, chain whip, torque wrench, pedal tool, bike grease, headset setting tool, headset removing tool) along with the usual tools (allen keys, spanners, pliers, wire cutters, screw drivers). Admittedly you can set and remove headsets with a mallet and a metal tube if you're careful. Just don't tell Malvolio.

Of course if you want a performance machine you should just buy a bike. Specialized, Trek and Giant all do entry level road bikes. Personally I recommend Giant, a Defy 3 retails at £699. Also check out Specialized allez range.

Bonus of buying on is you can go to a shop have a look around and see what you like, get sized up etc. Most places will let you take one for a quick ride too so you can see how you like it. They also usually offer a couple of free services, guarantees etc.

 

Anyone doing the Southern rough ride this Sunday?

 

Thanks for the advice guys! That Defy looks pretty nice...Any other Road Bikes which I could look at?

 

Specialized Allez, like the Giant Defy, there are several build specifications ranging in price from £500 to £1000. You could buy second hand. The pre 2013 Allez had a carbon fork from the sport spec upwards. Now they all have an aluminum fork for 2013, which in my opinion is a shame

You could take a look at www.ribblecycles.co.uk. They're only online so you'd need to do some measuring up first which there is a guide for. You can't test ride the bike, which is not always a great thing. But the bike builder allows you to spec the bike you want and £1000 gets you entry to a full carbon frame. Though the carbon build won't be the same spec carbon as a £4000 carbon bike would be. Their Sportive Bianco has had some great reviews.

The Giant Defy is a very good bike for the money and worth a ride.

 

There was some issues with the Allez fork, a buddy of mine has been without a bike for nearly 5 months now waiting on the product recall to be sorted out...

 

No it's sold out Which is a shame as it's not far from me at all.

 

I have the 2013 sport in black and it has a carbon fork.

I've only really ridden in twice since I got it last month because a) rubbish weather and b) other commitments but I've really enjoyed it so far.

Also just from a vanity point, the matt black colour is beautiful, gets so many comments.

Regarding the issue on the forks: it seems to be the older models.

 

Ahhh, I'm just looking around now Thanks for the great advice guys!

Any tips on cycle clothing too?..

I have officially fell in love with this one.

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/bbd/r...art=BB13RIBSPORTIVE7046C&sub=conf_BBRA&bike=1