The only spare pedals I had when I bought the Roux were some extremely cheap platforms that I think I got from ebay. As well as being big and heavy, the bearings in these pedals have gone very notchy and graunchy so they have to go to the great recycling bin in the sky.
Both my Dave Yates and the Whyte have Shimano Saint pedals but I thought these were a bit heavy and chunky for a road bike. After a bit of research, I decided on V12 Mag's by DMR Bikes. They're 150g a pair lighter than the Saints and have buttery smooth bearings so I'm very pleased so far.
I'm just really not looking to the first time my foot slips off one and the cranks spin round and smashes it into my shin...
A quick trip up to Ribble Cycles this morning and the bike has new wheels - Mavic Aksium S wheels to be exact. Unlike conventional wheels, they have 20 spokes each rather than 32 and each spoke is flattened so it slices through the air. To make them even stiffer and more aerodynamic, the front wheel and the non-drive side of the rear wheel are radially laced. Every cycling expert on the entire internet says a wheel upgrade is the best first upgrade to make on a bike. With a wheel, you're expending energy to turn the wheel and energy to move it along in space so in effect you get double the weight saving over a heavier wheel.
Overall the wheels should be faster and more efficient to ride and at less that £200 I reckon they make a great first upgrade for a budget bike, too.
I'm going for a ride later so the Garmin will reveal the truth...
Update: These wheels are amazing! The first 3.7 miles of my local 18 route is slightly uphill all the way and I tend to average about 15-16 miles per hour. This afternoon I was somewhat surprised to see it was 18 miles an hour! The downside is that they are a lot stiffer and more jarring than normal 3-cross wheels but it's a fair trade-off for the extra speed I reckon.
One of the things I don't like on my Roux road bike is the quick releases, they're chunky and heavy and not particularly good looking. A quick Google later and despairing of finding reasonably priced titanium road skewers I discovered Planet X. Made of carbon fibre and aluminium with titanium shafts they're extremely light and beautifully made - a big WIN!
Here's the front one...
...and the rear one
I have to say I'm very pleased and they're definitely a lot lighter than the ones the bike came with, definitely recommended.
3rd July: Had the day off work today but we had a family night out for a curry last night with rather a lot of lager so not feeling up to anything huge today. In the end I decided to do the local 18 with Alec's hill chucked in at the end then back through the village.
The weather was overcast and fairly windy but nice and warm so a quite pleasant 19.7 to start July off.
5th July: It's time to reveal my dirty little secret... I already own a road bike! Nearly a year ago, when I hadn't been back on my bike long, I bought a bike through the cycle to work scheme. The bike is a Roux Menthe and is what's called an Audax style bike ie a road bike with slightly relaxed angles designed for all day riding.
The gears were incredibly badly setup when I picked it up and it seemed to resist shifting properly whatever I did so I did a couple of 20 milers on it and it's leaned against the radiator in the living room ever since. Given that I'm vaguely thinking of buying a road bike, I thought I'd sort out the Roux and have another go. I fitted a new PC-971 last night and got the gears working this morning and I've just been out and done the route above again for 19.7. To be honest, I really enjoyed it! The carbon fork and cromoly frame really absorb road buzz and shocks and it's definitely no light weight but the skinny tyres definitely make it feel faster on inclines than the Whyte or the Dave Yates.
6th July: Took the Roux out again today and did the Alec's hill route but instead of heading back down from Crank, I carried on and came back via Crawford.
Yesterdays ride and todays were both a bit dodgy in a sense as I was out without any spare tubes in my kit although I do have a repair kit... From experience though, when skinny tyres at 100 psi let go they don't just go down, they explode off the rim leaving two tattered ends on the inner tube. I guess I was lucky though and I have a couple of Conti tubes on their way from Amazon. Anyhow, it's another 23.4 miles in the bag.
8th July: Just got back from Merlin Cycles with some new tyres for the Roux - Conti Grandprix GT. They were, like the Conti MTB tyres, a pig to get on and required metal tyre levers and a lot of swearing! The final tally was two destroyed inner tubes but 3rd time evidently is lucky - why are Conti tyres so bloody tight? If I get a puncture on a ride, I've got very little chance of successfully repairing the wheel!
I chose Grand Prix GT because they have the extra wide PolyX anti puncture strip inside and are made from Conti's latest uber-rubber which they call Black Chili. It's supposed to have lower rolling resistance, better grip and better wear than standard compounds. I guess time will tell!
Just been out and done 19.2 miles on the new tyres and I'm very impressed so far. Compared to the cheapy Chinese tyres that were on the bike, the rolling resistance is noticeably lower which is always a good thing!
10th July: Did a version of Alec's hill tonight for 19.7. Very hot and sunny but still loving the Grand Prix tyres - they are SO smooth!
13th July: Just got in from a brill ride with James. We loved the last ride up near Blackpool so we tried one generated by Map my Ride's 'Route genius' feature. It was fantastic but, true to form, there were a couple of weird bits. At one point we were directed into the garden of an agricultural college and ended up going along this path through a wood that came out onto a gravelled road about half a mile long - interesting on 700c x 25 tyres!
I definitely need to get up to speed with these skinny tyres though. When I arrived at the car park at Kirkham, I found that rear tyre had somehow blown itself of the rim wrecking the inner tube in the process. I only had one spare so it was another ride with no spares... Strangely though, I was able to get the tyre back on just using my thumbs so maybe folding tyre beads do stretch a bit once they've been on a while?
Here's a random pic of our bikes outside Londis in Stake Pool where we stopped for a 'lots of mini cheddars' break. A great ride with another 37.9 miles in the bag.
14th July: Did the local 18 on the Roux tonight ending up at my dad's house for 18.0 miles exactly. It was extremely warm but with a strong head wind for about two thirds of the ride so I was very pleased to average 17.4 miles an hour.
16th July: Did the local 18 but back via Crawford like I did on the 6th but with the new Aksium wheels fitted. I averaged 17.6 miles per hour instead of 16.1 - an increase of 1.5 miles per hour which was awesome and another 23.3 miles for July.
As a slight aside, I managed to time this ride perfectly and ended up cycling through torrential rain. The roads must've been greasy because it hasn't rained for so long but I didn't have a single squirrelly moment on the Grand Prix tyres - I guess the black chili compound works as claimed!
18th July: Just done the local 18 in one hour dead for an average of 17.9 mph. A great average but I nearly suffered death by sweating when I got back! 17.9 more miles in the bag.
22nd July: Did the Alec's hill route this evening but starting and finishing at my folks house for a decent 19.5 miles. It was a nice ride but absolutely roasting again!
25th July: Did the local 18 in 59 minutes, my best ever time. I hope this hot weather breaks soon though, I'm getting bored of being a dripping mess when I get in. Anyhow, that's more 17.9 miles.
26th July: I needed some new pedals for the Roux as the cheap ebay ones on it are getting seriously graunchy so I cycled up to Leisure Lakes in Tarleton and bought some DMR V12 Mag pedals. Very hot ride but another 32.6 miles.
27th July: Did a massive 2.6 miles around the village today! I needed this rather short ride to get my Map my Ride 250 mile badge.
This was quite a fun idea, the aim being to do as much mileage as possible in the 22 days of the TdF and virtual badges were awarded for 100, 250, 500, half a tour and the full tour. I hit 100 quite easily so decided to go for the 250 which explains my higher than average mileage this month.
Finally: I've got a bad dose of the 'can't be arseds' tonight so as a penance I decided to give the Roux a much needed clean: a full deep clean for the chain, a good t-shirting for the cassette, the drive side crank and rings off for a thorough clean and a de-crudding of the jockey wheels so at least I've achieved something this evening! The final total for the month is a very good 271.4.
1st June: I was a bit stuck for inspiration this weekend so James and I decided to revisit the ride we did on the 22nd of March, the one that starts in Whalley heads out into around the forest of Bowland and then back in through Clitheroe.
The weather was hot and hazy which proved ideal for the first run out with my new, and first, Camelbak. They are a great way of making sure you stay hydrated on long rides in hot weather but I'm sure it was part of the reason I was dying for a pee by the time I got back to the car - you can't have everything I suppose! One thing that surprised us was how damned hilly this ride was, we both suspect that the memory of how cold and freezing we were last time we did it had somehow over ridden the hillyness of the ride in our minds... Still, a good 30.3 miles to start the month.
4th June: Did the new Alec's hill route tonight for another 16.3.
This is the route, it climbs about 140 feet over a fairly short hill near the end that really gets the heart racing!
6th June: Did the above route again but came in around the back of the village so I could stop for a kebab. Another 17.8 for May.
8th June: Very warm today and James is stuck at a family christening so I did the above route again, but without the kebab, for another 17.8.
11th June: James and I both took today off and did an absolute corker I created last night in Map my Ride. It starts in my village, heads up to Leisure Lakes bikes in Tarleton (to drool over some full sussers) then heads across to Southport, down Marine Drive and back up into the town centre. We stopped at a cafe on the front where I had a huge chip barm and James had fish and chips and then back down the main Southport road, through Ormskirk and back to the village. As a slight aside, I felt awesome all the way back but James said he could feel his stomach. I think sticking with carb's and avoiding protein is the better bet when cycling long distances.
The weather was hot and sunny and I got to test out my new toy, a Garmin Edge Touring Plus so all round, a great ride! It was also our furthest ride so far at exactly 40.0 miles.
16th June: Bit of a disastrous ride yesterday but plenty of miles! James and I were doing a 35 miler I designed when we got seperated at around the half way point. We didn't think anything of it and carried on and after a while I noticed I'd passed the 35 mile mark and had no idea where I was in relation to the ride - the Garmin was no use if you go off course, the screen just turns black and displays 'off route' with no indication of how to get back on course. After I got to 39.5 miles and still no nearer to the end as far as I was aware, James called to say he was at the car so I told him which road I was on and he came to get me. At this point, we discovered you cannot fit two mountain bikes in a Volvo V70 saloon... Not to worry I thought, give me the postcode and I'll sat nav it back to the car which was about 3 miles away. I entered the postcode of where we'd parked the cars and 'No results found' from the Garmin! Oh well, address search it is I thought. I entered Aughton as the town and it asked me if I meant Aughton in Lancashire. I said yes and was somewhat surprised when it asked me which house number?! Seriously?! At this point I gave up and rang my dad who came and picked me up and dropped me at my car. This is the ride I actually did...
So, a review of the Garmin Edge Touring Plus so far? Utter shite. If I can't get it working properly soon, it's either going on eBay or into the 'Small electrical appliances' container at my local tip.
18th June: Did the Alec's hill route tonight for another 16.3. Very warm and sunny but quite windy all the way around.
29th June: Well, it finally arrived - my second 26.0 mile Great Manchester Cycle! James joined me this year for his first GMC and after predictions of rain earlier in the week, the weather was hot and sunny which was awesome.
We got seperated fairly quickly and James finished in 1h 22m and I beat last year's time by 10 minutes with 1h 24m so a couple of pretty respectable times and June goes out with 204.1 miles on the clock!
A few rides ago I noticed a strange problem with my front brake. At low and high speeds they were fine but at medium speeds, the pads were grabbing the discs causing the fork legs to judder back and forth disconcertingly when braking. I was pretty sure it wasn't contamination because I bought a spray bottle of IPA from ebay and clean the discs after every couple of rides. A quick Google found several references to an ebay seller called bikefridge who sells all sorts of pads at around £22 for 4 pairs. Considering Avid pads are about £15 a pair, I thought I'd give them a try.
I decided on the kevlar pads which sounded like a good all-round option and fitted two sets to the bike. I've done about 100 miles on these pads so far and I'm very impressed. They have a very similar feel to the Avid pads but absolutely no signs of the weird grabbing problem the Avids had.
At about £5.50 a pair, I'm very pleased with them so far.
First of all, chains don't 'stretch' at all, they wear. As the internal parts of the chain wear with use they cause each link to effectively loosen. If you add all this extra movement of the links together, the chain effectively becomes longer. This is bad because when a chain is new, the pitch between each link matches the pitch of the teeth on the chain rings and rear cogs and the pedalling load is spread evenly along all the teeth.
When the chain elongates, the chain is only effectively pulled by one tooth on the chain ring and only pulls on one tooth on the cassette. Because the ratio between the chain ring and rear cog varies depending on which gear combination you're in, this causes random teeth to wear out more than other teeth. The upshot is, you end up with dangerous chain slip that even a new chain won't fix.
It is widely said that the most wear you want to allow before replacing a chain is about 0.75%. The traditional way of measuring this used to be measuring the distance between 12 adjacent links with a ruler and bin the chain if it exceeded 12 1/16". Nowadays however it's far easier to buy a chain tool like the Park one shown in the pic and check your chain regularly.
I tend to get around 1,000 miles out of a SRAM PC971 the use of which I'd describe as road based but covered in mud occasionally but I've read of roadies who say they get 3 to 4,000 miles out of a chain.
I guess it all depends on the brand of chain, the preferred lube regime and the usage in the end!
