I am super-stoked right now! I sold the Whyte a while ago having decided I'm now officially a 'roadie' and decided I needed a proper modern road bike. I wanted to go disc as I think they have multiple benefits; no rim wear to worry about and reliable braking whatever the weather so after a lot of research I decided on the Giant Defy Advanced 2.
Giant produce over 6 million bikes a year, publish all their frame stiffness comparison data and the Defy range has received rave reviews since it first appeared so I figured it was a pretty safe bet. The fact that the legendary vegan Youtube star, Durianrider, really rates Giant was a real cherry on the cake!
It has a full carbon frame and forks, a full 22 speed 105 groupset and TRP Spyre mechanical disc brakes, I've only ridden it the third of a mile back from my parents house as the wind's howling right now but I love it so far. The size is perfect and it's ridiculously stiff and efficient but very smooth at the same time.
The wind should have died down by tomorrow so I think I'll do the 25 miler on it. Can't wait!
7th January: Got out after work today and did the local 18. I carried on into the village for curry and chips so 19.2 miles to start 2015.
14th January: Had the day off work today but the weather's rubbish so I dragged myself out and did the local 22. It was cold and windy so not particularly pleasant but a (very) much needed 21.9 for January.
21st January: Had another Wednesday off work so I headed out to do the local 22. As it turned out, the weather was horrible, very rainy and windy, so I cut it short and did the old coach road for a measly 14.7 miles. I hate winter!
24th January: It was sunny with blue skies today so I headed out to do the local 22. I decided I needed the mileage so I did the 25 miler I did recently again.
It was sunny but very windy so not a perfect ride but reasonably enjoyable and another much needed 24.7 miles for January.
27th January: I headed out tonight to do the local 22 but the weather quickly decided it wanted to try snowing and the wind started yowling so I decided to cut short and do the old coach road again.
However, the weather brightened up a bit so I tacked Alec's hill onto the end of the ride (which was hard, I need to start hill training a bit more...) to finish with 16.3 miles.
Well, due to the constant howling wind and freezing conditions, January goes out with a whimper and a mere 96.8 miles on the clock. However, I've just bought a rather awesome new bike so catching up shouldn't be too much of a chore...
Into cars as well as bikes? Save a fortune on expensive alloy wheel cleaners, Muc-Off gets grimy brake residue off alloys just as well as it cleans your bike!
My wheels weren't too bad to start with this time but I've used it previously when the alloys were absolutely black and it gets the muck off absolutely effortlessly. Pretty impressive I'm sure you'll agree and no, I don't have any affiliation with Muc-Off at all.
I finally ordered the Shimano BR650 rear brake from Wiggle and fitted it on Friday so no more Tektros and matching brakes again!
As it happened, the Aztec road system pads on the front were practically worn out so I fitted the Swiss Stop green pads at the same time in the Shimano cartridges. I've not ridden them in wet yet but they're very good so far in the dry.
If you've read some of my other blog posts, you'll know I remove my chain and clean it in a bath of white spirit every hundred miles or so. This works well but does nothing to clean the cassette or chainrings of the greasy black muck that builds up due to using a wet style lube. I read about Muc-Off Drivetrain Cleaner recently and it sounds very impressive so I ordered a bottle to try.
My drivetrain was looking pretty gritty and grotty as I got in from a wet ride the other night and the chain was due a clean so I decided to test the new cleaner. I tried to spray just the chain but it comes out in a very fine mist which covered the cassette as well so I gave the chainrings a spray for complete coverage. I just back pedalled the chain for a couple of minutes and then kept back pedalling as I blasted the chain, cassette and rings with the hose.
The next morning, the chain, cassette and rings were all free of any signs of black gunge or grit. They weren't back to bare metal, everything appeared to be covered in a very fine grey film of oil, but considering I hadn't brushed or agitated any of the parts, I was hugely impressed. Cleaning chainrings can be a real chore but the black ridge of gunk had completely gone - very impressed!
9th Jan, 2015 update: I decided to give this a thorough test tonight after work as Awesom-O was looking a bit grubby. I dribbled it onto the chain as I back pedalled and kept turning the cranks as I used a tooth brush scrub the jockey wheels, chainrings, cassette cogs and chainstay and then blasted it off for ages with water, also backpedalling. I could see as i got him back on the wall hangers that the entire back rim, rim decals, seat- and chainstays and most of the seat tube were covered in a thin oily grey film that took ages to clean off with some IPA on workshop roll. So, not so impressed this time at all. I guess it would work ok in a chain cleaner but I just don't think it emulsifies the oil and grease well enough. It dissolves it enough to spray every where making a mess but not sufficiently that all the oil actually washes off and away.
6th December: I finally got a ride with James today so we did one I drew in Map my Ride a couple of weeks ago. As I was planning it, it looked like mainly country lanes but it turned out to be a bit of everything really. It started off on quiet A roads but then there was some farm track, some proper country lanes and even a bit of a path where tractors enter and leave the fields - we were cycling through four inches of liquid mud at one stage. Awesome-O looked more like a cyclocross bike by the end of the ride and I'm sure half my front brake blocks have gone!
James was a bit hung-over so we did the ride at a comfortable, rather than fast, pace and it proved to be quite an enjoyable start to December and 32.5 miles in the bag.
9th December: Despite some fairly horrendous predictions on the BBC weather website, I decided to do the local 22 tonight. The weather was ok but by the seven mile mark the wind was getting up a bit and it was chucking it down so I decided to divert and do the Old Coach Road instead. Just as I was approaching the Old Coach road, I saw a road to the right I'd never been down before and decided to explore...
Anyhow, what followed was the usual few miles of really, really hoping I could manage to work out where I was before I eventually saw a sign for Knowsley Industrial Park. A couple of miles later I knew exactly where I was and happily carried on. By the time I was out the industrial park and heading down the Lancs I was feeling really good so I carried on and did the new section of bike path and came home via Billinge and Crank. An interesting ride and 25.1 more miles for December.
13th December: James isn't playing this weekend because he was too hung-over this morning and the weather looks really bad tomorrow. It was quite sunny so I dragged myself out and did the local 22. The weather was cold and windy at first but pleasant enough until it got really stormy and started chucking it down about four miles from home. At this point however the wind was behind me so still quite an enjoyable end to the ride and 21.9 more miles.
17th December: Managed to drag myself out and do the local 22 after work today. It was fairly warm at maybe 10 degrees but very blowy so a so-so kind of a ride. I carried on into the village on the way back to do a quick shop so 22.7 more miles for December.
20th December: Did the above 25 miler again tonight, I would have done it during the day but the wind was horrendous and I didn't want to risk getting blown under an HGV! The weather was ok but the ride wasn't without incident, I replaced the chain this morning because the old one had 1,200 odd miles on it and was looking rather tired and the new chain skipped slightly a few times so I've had to order a new cassette. Luckily, HG80 cassettes (which I think are MTB parts equivalent to 'SLX' level but 9 speed cassettes are interchangeable between Shimano/SRAM and MTB/road) are half price at Wiggle at the moment but still, it's an unwanted expense. Oh, and to top it off? I got a puncture just after riding through some slutchy mud - bum 'oles! Anyhow, 25.1 miles.
22nd December: The new cassette arrived from Wiggle so I fitted it and headed out for the local 22. I was hoping for rain so I could test the Swiss Stop brake pads but unfortunately (!) it was dry but very windy. Despite the wind it was one of those strangely enjoyable rides where I felt really good all the way around and I stopped in the village on the way back for chips with curry sauce another 22.6 miles for December.
25th December: Went out and did the local 22 today. It was cold and very windy so not the most enjoyable ride ever but another 22.0 for December. Somewhat annoyingly, I found a drawing pin in my front tyre when I got back so that's now 3 punctures in the Conti 4 seasons which are supposed to be epically puncture-proof - grrr.
29th December: I'm still short of miles for December so despite the sudden freeze I dragged myself out after work to do the local 18. The temperature was around freezing but I had my choob and some new Sealskinz wind-proof gloves so not too bad overall. I has one sketchy moment on the unlit section when I hit a section of frozen tractor tyre tracks I hadn't seen but by not grabbing the brakes and unseating slightly to absorb the bumps I didn't get launched so another 18.9 for the month!
31st December: Did the Old Coach Road in the cold and fog on new years eve for 14.8 and a monthly total of 205.6 miles.
Not being a huge fan of road bike rim brakes so far I decided to give them another chance. I've heard fantastic things about Shimano R650 calipers recently so I decided to upgrade my crappy Tektros.
At the time I ordered, Wiggle only had the front brakes in so I ordered one and decided to order the rear at a later date. One thing I noticed when taking the B650 out of the box was how typically Shimano-like it felt. Squeezing the pads together, the caliper was silky smooth and springy. In contrast, when I removed the Tektro it was weird, they obviously have a stronger spring than the Shimanos but the pads felt far less 'springy' when you squeezed then together - I guess the Shimano calipers have much better bearings and pivots in them.
Anyhow, I've just popped around to the 'rents to pick a package and the new front brake is really impressive. Perfect modulation but a huge increase in usable power. I just need to get my finger out and order a rear one now!
