Education We Like to Ride Bicycles

Bit tired. Me and my mate missed the train to go ride a MTB loop in the Chilterns so got carried with the local bridleway bashing\exploring and racked up 73miles mostly offroad, my longest MTB ride for sure and bumped up the weekly mileage on the new MTB to 170miles. Pretty chuffed with that effort . Monday will be a rest day and I think I owe myself cake.

Got it a bit mucky today.

 

Reading this thread for the past few weeks/months and watching the Giro for the past few days is tempting me to get into this sport for an occasional change from running. Let's face it, you can't lose; there's good exercise, gear porn and nice scenery involved

 

Fun, fitness, transport, getting out in the countryside and buying new shiny bits. Give it a go, can't beat the buzz of a good ride .

Just give it a bit of time, start small and build up the miles/time, get your riding position right for comfort, confidence in bike handling will come with time too. Your running fitness should transfer but you will still need to get used to riding.

 

Be careful, if you think PCs are expensive wait till you've dropped eight hundred quid on a suspension fork.

Spending too much time fiddling with GPU settings never broke my ankle either XD

On the other hand, static is less of an issue.

 

I present to you, the first use of BallSackCan v1.0:



Oh, I also fell off.. it's was funny.

 

What running fitness?!

Yeah this summer might see me back on two wheels for the first time in years! There's a really good cycle shop in town which is owned and run by a former boss of mine, so I might be able to get a good deal on a road bike if I go in that direction. I have a big heavy MTB at the moment, but it's not comfortable to ride so I never do.

 

A good bike will make a world of difference.

Unless you're planning on going up market I would consider a Specialized Allez for an entry level road bike. Drop handle bars will be a little bit strange if you're not used to them but will soon pay dividends.

I have the Sport and my brother has the base model and both of us really enjoy it, and can really rocket about on it. If you're going to get one, I'd get the base, sport or the comp/race. (Sport has Sora parts, comp/race has 105), personally I wouldn't be interested in the Elite (with Tiagra)

They still have a few '13 models kicking around with a bit of discount on them.

 

looks like some nice trails round there.

I still need to get myself a new bike but got other stuff to deal with first.

 

Very nice Mars, though i'm not convinced by bollock cams location though.

Also i've just seen your PM. GRRRR

 

I too am unsold on the bollock cam location. I like it as a novelty, but in general the legs are getting in the way too much.

The cycling itself looks like great fun.

 

Every hobby is expensive I've found lol, I have enough money put into hobbies to put another deposit down on a house.

6 bikes, Quiver of kites & boards, Boxes of climbing rope & gear, I don't want to mention camera & Lighting equipment.

If it puts a smile on your face though its all worth it .

 

Hmm new bike or not. I'm currently riding a 2007 Yeti ASR, even by today standards it's a very light bike. It used to be a case of buy a new frame and move the majority of your parts over but with 650b and 29in wheels plus different type of headset (I forget what the standards called but the lower bearings are wider in diameter to the top) that won't allow you to move your current 1 1/8 forks over. I may have to plump for a complete bike.

 

Tapered.

Apparently the whole 650b thing is 80% hype. As in 20 80 principle, will make a difference, but at a large cost.

 

I'm sure you can buy a crown race that will adapt a 1 1/8" fork to fit a 1.5" tapered headtube. Off the top of my head I don't know who makes one, but I was given one with the headset which came with the Giant XTC frame I bought.

Edit. I think this is it. Sure it only works with sealed bearings with a 45degree chamfer inside though. http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/nukeproof-reducer-crown-race/rp-prod92344

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Hope Pick N Mix headsets are good for that. Got a tapered headset for my On-One 456 and bought the 1-1/8 to 1.5 crown race. I can run my 1-1/8 straight steerer forks, or use the original crown race for tapered forks.



Unicorn like Lance said...

If I was going to have one bike it would be a cyclocross bike, more modern one with disc brakes and mounts for rack and mudguards. That way if your type of riding changes you can adapt it for anything. Happy to go offroad with fatter knobly tyres, commute on crappy roads with wide slicks and rack and mudguards. Or still go quick on proper road rides on narrow road slicks. My mate was running same cross bike as me (Cannondale CAADX Ultegra) but as his road bike, doing 20mph average speed rides and happily sticking with everyone else on road bikes (more difference in the rider than the bike IMO *so long as the bike isn't crap*). They are designed to take a bit more abuse, the riding position is less aggressive, slightly longer wheelbase and slacker fork angle so more stable and predictable, as well as a bit more comfort... Which is ideal for someone not used to road bikes and drop bars. You could always add cross top brake levers (fit on the straight part of the bars). If you are going to be riding on the road it's worth getting used to drop bars, a lot more comfort when you get used to them.

 

BollockCam was merely a test to see what it looked like really, the helmet mounted cams never seem to give a sense of speed, I may well try fork mounted though, see how that fares. Failing that, I'll find somewhere on the frame to put it.

 

I was thinking I quite liked seeing the handle bars move. Could you get it a little more towards your chest? I suppose that gets dangerous. It's just the knees that cause the issue.

Its awesome how creative you and others are with go pros.

Did anyone else see the Belkin footage from the tour of California? Handle bar and forward can from the start, wheel change and breakaway.

 

I could buy a chest mount, only issue I have with that is that everything becomes shakey, ideally I want something static in shot. I might move it further forward on the top tube and see what that looks like, might get less leg, but then it may well be in the way of my legs when leaning the bike.

M'eh, I'll have a play.

 

That's pretty much the thought process I had when thinking about it. I'm not a fan of the chest mount on bikes.

I didn't want to say too much about putting it on the top bar having read an article about the fact that the most common form of cycling injury that gets people into hospital is a nad shot on the stem, so adding another stem could cause trouble. Basically be careful, you might want to take a little mars-bar-man (Fun size?) out on the trails one day.

 

If your using the Gopro3, can't you shoot in 1080p and then use anti shake software to crop out a 720p chunk out of the middle (have only done a smidgin of video editing), can't beat 1 on the head & 1 on the bars though if you do go that route.