Education We Like to Ride Bicycles

My aforementioned Reno used to have its' 700Cx19's @140psi for commuting, IIRC...

Erratum
Just 'searched' and the rims of my wheels are CXP30's

 

https://i.imgur.com/3cjSC3F.jpg

This...?

 

No mate this one

 

Had a rim failure this morning, nothing major I got on the bike rolled down the road an heard a clickign nose, turned out the be a crack in the rim around a spoke.

So. New wheels, would silver wheels be to much on a titanium bike? Rough idea from a random image I found on the interweb

 

I know that image isn't your bike, but the three different metallic shades (wheels, frame, crankset) just don't work there at all. It would probably work fine with a black crankset though.

 

Also, I'm getting sick of punctures I've had three in the last fortnight! The first one was particularly annoying as even though I carry two spare inners, both were duds and I ended up having to push the bike a couple of miles home - and it was caused by a pinch flat after hitting a particularly pointy stone in the road. Friday's was a beauty, though - caused by a mussel shell of all things!

I'm currently running Conti GP 4 Seasons tyres but someone at work was recommending that I switch to Gatorskins. I've been researching and it looks like there's actually not much at all in it between the two in terms of puncture resistance. Any thoughts?

 

I run a black crankset thankfully



Tyre wise, I've ran Michelin Pro4 Endurance with no issues, well one puncture which was a chunk of glass.

 

Get something Kevlar lined. Schwalbe do one IIRC.

 

Road bike saddles!!!!

Anyone recommend and sensible priced , comfy saddle for a slim bloke?? I have a Selle Italia X1 at the moment and im not getting on with it.

 

In my experience, saddles are very personal choices - one man's dream saddle is another man's torture device. Not very helpful in terms of answering your question, I'm afraid

 

What @bawjaws says is spot-on but, I used to use one of these: https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/SASMROLLS/san-marco-rolls-saddle and the "Titanio" version for time trialling. Unfortunately not quite the inexpensive seats they used to be but, never skimp on the saddle.

 

No true but totally understand what your saying. After 40 or so miles the one i have , i start getting a numb arse. I just need something that i can get on with and fits right i guess

 

At £35 its certainly not expensive!! I read up on them.

 

Is there anything less fun than trying to remove a seized bottom bracket? Always a bit stressful when you're putting your full bodyweight on a wrench!

 

@Spanky - this may sound like n00b advice, but might it be worth taking your bike to a larger specialist dealer to see if there's anything that can be done by way of customising the setup, to make sure that you aren't compromised anatomically?
I remember - back in the day (80's/90's) - you could get measured for custom frame sizing; a jig was used to take measurements & they were faxed away to get the 'perfect frame measuerments'... just wish I could remember who it was that ran the service.
If your seat tube is even a ¼" off, you could be getting enough circulation impedence to cause numbness...

 

Seized; how? Too long since it was maintained...? If it's galvanic corrosion (different metals), it may be a scrapper...

That said, I dunno how often you're supposed to totally dismantle/re-assemble them, these days.

 

I looked at wrong price, d'oh!

 

All sorted now, was just extremely stubbornly stuck. In fairness to it, it did manage just over 3 years and nearly 10,000 miles in all weathers without needing any maintenance, so I can forgive it for being a bit of a pain to remove.

 

Bike is defiantly sized right. Was a mini bit too big ... like mini! Reduced the stem by 20mm which tbf made a real impact. I get sore on other bikes aswell , done a lot of holidays cycling around the world and after a couple days i suffer. Just ready to purchase another saddle to see if it helps.

 

And... new BB installed successfully. Although it was a bit of a saga...

Ordered a replacement BB yesterday from Wiggle, paid £5 for next day delivery. DPD guy turns up this afternoon and hands over the parcel, everyone's happy. Until two minutes later when I opened it and discovered that despite it being addressed to me, it a) was most definitely not a BB, b) was actually from Amazon and not Wiggle and c) was obviously not anything I'd ordered. Closer inspection of the package revealed an Amazon shipping label underneath my label, so it looks like some poor sod has ordered something from Amazon for Sunday delivery, DPD have make a horse's arse of it and neither of us have got what we wanted

Of course, the driver was long gone by the point I realised, and DPD seem to make contacting them as difficult as possible. Obviously there's no chance of rectifying this today, so I was forced to scour the internet to see if any of my friendly local retailers had a square taper 68 x 110 English thread BB in stock. Fortunately, Decathlon did, although it was twice the price of Wiggle (albeit only a third more once that £5 next-day delivery charge was factored in). Quick scoot down the road and back, and about ten minutes and a cup of tea after that, BB installed and cranks back on. Even managed to avoid the rookie error of not putting the cranks back on at 180° to each other

Now fully expect to get the runaround from both Wiggle and DPD as each tries to pass the buck to one another! But the most important thing is that the bike is back in service and available for tomorrow's commute. Let's hope the cranks are on tight enough and they don't pop off at an inopportune moment