New to cycling

[Sprint]

once you clip in(cleats) ,you wont be able to use anything else.

huge benafits, just dont try to show off and stand still with them like me lol

[Sprint]

Originally Posted by blueoval

I have have the cleats and i don the lycra and i am not ashamed to say it. I consider myself a cyclist so i want to wear what a cyclist does. The cleats help in both up and down strokes when for me allows me to use more than one muscle group for better efficiency. The lycra is there to help aerodynamics, moisture management, saddle comfort, and comfort in general. Id rather be comfortable than self conscious.

Lycra can also be good for being seen by drivers as well it gives me a mental edge, no one in full cycling gears wants to be seen throwing up on the side of the road lol.

my club jersey has added 5rwkw just through pride.

[blueoval]

Originally Posted by Sprint

Lycra can also be good for being seen by drivers as well it gives me a mental edge, no one in full cycling gears wants to be seen throwing up on the side of the road lol.

my club jersey has added 5rwkw just through pride.

I forgot about the 'be seen' approach on the road too. Thanks for that point.

I definitely gained another 50w through the pedals with my club jersey and knicks too.

[Captain Stubing]

I managed to find a way around the Lycra thing - I checked the label and found my knicks were made of Spandex

I need a brighter jersey for better visibility though.

[blueoval]

Originally Posted by swanny

I managed to find a way around the Lycra thing - I checked the label and found my knicks were made of Spandex

I need a brighter jersey for better visibility though.

hahaha. nice one. Believe it or not, but Lycra is a brand name of material, Spandex is the descriptive name of the material commonly known as lycra. The yanks call it spandex, we call it lycra. Go figure.

Bright jerseys ftw. I got a few myself, all in the name of visibility.

[LG17]

I've got a few shirts - all bright green

[Streets]

Well on my fourth ride on my brand new mountain bike I got punctured by this:





Yes that's a prickle

1) The hole in the tyre is tiny, is this the kind of thing I can fix with a puncture repair kit?

2) What the hell kind of mountain bike gets a flat from a ******* prickle?????

[blueoval]

Originally Posted by Streets

Well on my fourth ride on my brand new mountain bike I got punctured by this:


image


Yes that's a prickle

1) The hole in the tyre is tiny, is this the kind of thing I can fix with a puncture repair kit?

2) What the hell kind of mountain bike gets a flat from a ******* prickle?????

yes that is fixable with a puncture repair kit. Pretty simple to mend.

What tires you running on your MTB? were they stock tires from the shop or did you upgrade?

[Streets]

Just got back from the bike shop, I picked up a puncture kit for next time and they chucked on a new tube for me.

They're just the standard tyres. When they were out I might go for something a bit thicker.

It was a pretty fierce looking prickle I guess, some weird mutant thing. At least now I have a puncture kit for next time!

[LG17]

Do you use the heavy duty "puncture proof" tubes?

[blueoval]

when u can afford to, purchase some kevlar line tires. These will help reduce the chance of a prickle puncture immensely. That and some thicker tubes.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/mtb/tyres/?s...tant+tires&o=8

[Hell Cat]

we had this arrive in to stock today.

c59 colnago, campagnolo Eps, hydraulic brakes. one of only two in Australia so far.

looking at around $16000.
I only built it up this arvo & a lady saw it this arvo & put a deposit down on it... she's getting it for her husbands birthday.

[Hell Cat]

not my cup of tea but it's kinda cool.

[ratter]

is this a road bike or cyclecross?, very nice anyway

[TZENU]

MMMM C59 goodness... I love these frames!

[prydey]

ok, more advice time for a noob

i've clocked up close to 1000km on my bike and its started to make a few noises. mainly creaking in the seatpost and handlebars and a click every revolution of the pedals in the chainring area. hard to pinpoint.

anyway, i went to the local bikeshop which has a good rep last thursday to book it in but he was booked up so i said i'd come back this week. in the meantime, i discovered saturday that the tyres on my car were in need of replacing due to severe scrubbing on the inside of both left tyres which i hadn't noticed. it also went in for its 90k service this morning, which i also didn't realise was a 'b' service. long story short, the service cost and tyre cost has put a massive dent in my funds (have holiday accom payment coming out this week also) so the bike will have to wait.

now to the advice part. could i have some recommendations on what i could do myself to try to resolve the creaking issues. i put the bike together myself (seat, handlebars, front wheel etc so nothing major) but i didn't use any sort of paste or anything. the seat post is alloy, not carbon but should i have still used some kind of paste? same with handlebars. i'm thinking if i undo the bolts and re tighten them to spec, adding some lube, then it might go some way to eliminating the noise?? also, the clicking noise in the pedal/crank/chainring area, i guess i'll just check the tightness of the bolts in the area etc. the noise is weird and i can get it to stop by moving my shoes around a bit, so it could even be a cleat or something, although it normally clicks on the downstroke of the right pedal (seems to be coming from that side).

anyway, just after some home servicing tips until the funds recover enough to get it looked at professionally. there's nothing really wrong with any adjustments as thats all working sweet, its just the noises i'd prefer not to be there.

also, i oiled the chain with a wax type lube when i bought it. the rear cluster has accumulated a reasonable amount of debris. can i clean it all up with a degreaser? or something like wd40?

thanks guys.

[blueoval]

have a look on youtube for some hints Rob. Just use it as a guide though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL8__uSFpqg

For the seat post and handle bars, you could possible try some silicone spray and the tighten it to manufacturers specs? (might want to look that up)

With crank tightening I tend to get the pro's to check stuff like that out. They have the right tools and knowledge to sort that stuff out.

Cleaning with WD40 is a hotly debated topic. Some despise it and recommend not to use it, others who are seasoned riders use it weekly and swear by it. I have heard some just use WD40 to clean the chain only as it works well as a general degreaser.

I personally use Bowdens Own Auto Body Wash which I also use for my car. Suds up the bike, use a sponge and cloth to lightly remove grit, grime and dirt, then use standard hose water pressure to wash clean. I do that a couple of times and the bike comes up clean. You can either clean your chain on or off the bike. I tend to wipe it down with a cloth to remove the grit. Then let it dry and apply your favorite chain lube. Personally for me I use White Lightning which lubricates and cleans the chain as ride. My mate uses Rock & Roll, and others use other stuff. Just apply it, let it dry for 15mins and wipe excess off and its done.

But prior to relubing the chain, make sure the rear derailleur and jockey wheel is clean a free of grime and dirt or you'll just be dirtying up your chain again.

[prydey]

thanks shav. i might leave the more thorough stuff to the pro's. just have to wait a bit longer.

i narrowed down the creaky seat to the actual seat to seat post join, not the seat post into post tube, so just squirted around the clamp with some silicon spray.

i'll do the same with the handlebars. i've removed them, the bolts are greased, so i'll just give the area a clean and put it back together.

i did some research on the 'clicking' noise and it seems its common for pedals to click, so i removed them, cleaned them up and put them back on.

i'll be on the pushy to work and back this week (night shift-will try for 4 out of 4 nights) so will see how it goes.

[blueoval]

Originally Posted by prydey

thanks shav. i might leave the more thorough stuff to the pro's. just have to wait a bit longer.

i narrowed down the creaky seat to the actual seat to seat post join, not the seat post into post tube, so just squirted around the clamp with some silicon spray.

i'll do the same with the handlebars. i've removed them, the bolts are greased, so i'll just give the area a clean and put it back together.

i did some research on the 'clicking' noise and it seems its common for pedals to click, so i removed them, cleaned them up and put them back on.

i'll be on the pushy to work and back this week (night shift-will try for 4 out of 4 nights) so will see how it goes.

no worries mate, sounds good. Sometimes the pedals do squeak a bit. A general clean and slight adjustment usually fixes that. Just doing what you described should help. Do you have a pocket multi function tool for your bike? Great to have to minor adjustments to the allen key bolts.

[prydey]

well, early days, but the creaks seem to be gone. i wonder how long it will last though.

wasn't aware i could adjust the pedals at all. the click isn't there all the time either so hard to pinpoint. will see how it goes.

[blueoval]

Originally Posted by prydey

well, early days, but the creaks seem to be gone. i wonder how long it will last though.

wasn't aware i could adjust the pedals at all. the click isn't there all the time either so hard to pinpoint. will see how it goes.

well if you have SL road pedals then yes they should all be adjustable to allow for easier or harder foot removal from the pedal. An allen key can alter this. The clicking could be anything from a tiny bit of grit just in the bearing area where the grease is just touching as you spin the pedals, to the bearings themselves wearing in. But if you have sorted it out its probably pretty simple fix.

But yeah get yaself a multi tool. Pretty cheap to buy even in an LBS. I paid $25 for a stainless steel Lezyne tool to throw in my saddle bag. Even cheaper online. Had to use mine a number of times to make minor adjustments or help out a friend who didnt have one that needed to tighten up his bars or saddle.

[ratter]

Well it was good that a few followers stuck by Lance, even though it appeared to be a fruitless cause but it appears he has finally admitted to drug use

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/mo...-1226553992130

[blueoval]

Originally Posted by ratter

Well it was good that a few followers stuck by Lance, even though it appeared to be a fruitless cause but it appears he has finally admitted to drug use

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/mo...-1226553992130

He should have admitted to it in the first place than having to deal with the aftermath now.

[LANKY 1]

Finally found time to go for another bike ride since before christmas. thought it may have been a struggle but not too bad, although most squeeks and groans were from my bike haha. Found out something weird though. cos I was riding at sunset, I had my light on flashing, it seemed to interfere with my bike computer, showed I was doing 6kmh, took me a while to suss out why it wasn't reading properly. when the light was on (not flashing) it showed speed as 0. so need to re arrange my handle bars to separate the 2 devices. (as they are pretty much on top of each other

Really cool sunset at Henly beach-glenelg last night, No wind, Ocean was super flat, sunset was amazing to ride with.

[LG17]

Armstrong pfff!
No time for drug cheats :(


Anyhow, I'm getting towards my end of January goal.
I'm managing to ride an hour each morning - not a great distance (19-21km) but a high cadence so I'm working fairly hard.

[ratter]

how high a cadence?

[blueoval]

Originally Posted by LANKY 1

Finally found time to go for another bike ride since before christmas. thought it may have been a struggle but not too bad, although most squeeks and groans were from my bike haha. Found out something weird though. cos I was riding at sunset, I had my light on flashing, it seemed to interfere with my bike computer, showed I was doing 6kmh, took me a while to suss out why it wasn't reading properly. when the light was on (not flashing) it showed speed as 0. so need to re arrange my handle bars to separate the 2 devices. (as they are pretty much on top of each other

Really cool sunset at Henly beach-glenelg last night, No wind, Ocean was super flat, sunset was amazing to ride with.

You should come out one day with us Dan. We sometimes do Norton Summit if your keen.

[TZENU]

Well I finally sold the Helium to a fellow BNA member and two weeks later the fuel tank in the XY started to leak, so the money was invested in sorting out that and a few other problems (before taking it to the Kustom Nats), so have to start again for the new frame unfortunately

Good to see more and more FF members getting into cycling (would be cool to organise a custom FF jersey so we can all wear on the big rides!)...

I'll put me hand up as a "former" Armstrong believer. I suppose when you have invested so much time and money into mimicing someone you idolise it hurts to hear him say that he cheated, especially when you truly believed he was innocent. Afterall, what he accomplished is what motivated alot of people to get into cycling (Just had to look at beach road after he won his fifth Tour de France in 2003; Treks and US Postal jersey's everywhere), myself included. Having said that I won't be ripping down my memorabilla, instead it will serve as a reminder of how one cheat succeeded amongst a peleton full of cheats!

[prydey]

Originally Posted by TZENU

I'll put me hand up as a "former" Armstrong believer. I suppose when you have invested so much time and money into mimicing someone you idolise it hurts to hear him say that he cheated, especially when you truly believed he was innocent. Afterall, what he accomplished is what motivated alot of people to get into cycling (Just had to look at beach road after he won his fifth Tour de France in 2003; Treks and US Postal jersey's everywhere), myself included. Having said that I won't be ripping down my memorabilla, instead it will serve as a reminder of how one cheat succeeded amongst a peleton full of cheats!

i need to hear the words come from his mouth, not speculation in a newspaper as to what was allegedly said.

i would rather he just kept his silence....

[prydey]

moving right along...

my ride to work last night, and home this morning was creak free... woohoo, a minor win. it was 'click' free too so hopefully it lasts. was nice riding a nice quiet bike.

i got sucked into a bit of a trap too. riding solo to work (or anywhere) you go along at your own pace, particularly when going to work as i have a 9 hour shift ahead of me. turns out, regardless of the situation, i have a competitive streak in me... got passed early on by another rider, who seemed to streak away, but then i noticed he wasn't really gapping me so i decided to catch up and pass him again.... its slightly demoralising when you think you've gapped them and then you hear them right on your wheel also about the time that i realised i'd gone out fairly hard. d'oh. had to coast in to work after that so that i wasn't knackered before i even started my shift.

being a slow learner, the same thing happened on the way home. cruising on the flat this time, i got a red light and as it went green another cyclist flew past. of course i had to get up to speed as quick as i could and try to hang with him...

i guess i'm just used to riding on my own and going at my own pace, esp to and from work.