[Other Sport] Cycling geeks

[Stat Brother]

My Holdsworth run around has just had a series of spokes go in the rear wheel (about 6 or 7 in a couple of days!). Aaron at Aaron's Bike Shop off Farm Road in Brighton quite likes the wheels and hubs and is going to replace all the spokes and true the wheel for £20, which I'm more than happy with.

Thing is the wheel is 26" and needs a 32mm tyre so my options are limited. Chatting with Aaron who restores a lot of bikes he reckoned he'd stick with the wheels as they go with the bike which isn't in great condition (bit of rust, dent in the top tube, seat post has been damaged by someone).

My thoughts are, do I go with that advice, or get splash out on say a set of Mavic Aksium One Clincher Wheelset (£144 for a set) so that I can start interchanging my tyres and tubes from the Bianchi? I then feel the Holdsworth will become much more of a training bike as well as my general run around / Amex commuter!

The Holdsworth has a Shimano 600 rear mech that could handle a 7 speed cassette (currently 5), but I guess what I need to find out is what the rear frame spacing can take in that regard. It's not going to be as easy as just being the Mavic's a cassette and off I go.

So I guess that would be getting on a £170 odd spend in the end. The other thought is get the wheel done, sell the Holdsworth and look for a similar vintage bike that has 700 wheels in the first place.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

IL might be able to pick you up a decent set of hardly used Reynolds carbon wheels some time soon.

 

[Stat Brother]

In all seriousness [MENTION=16159]Bold Seagull[/MENTION]

I'd keep the Holdsworth as cheap as possible.
But in the meantime I'd definitely keep an eye out on Ebay Gumtree etc for a compatible training bike to go along side your Bianchi.

Obviously another option is for your current Bianchi to face relegation and picking up something super sexy in the Autumn sales.


Either way I find having my bikes similar does extend the life of components.
New goes on to the carbon, what was looking tired is fine on the hack, what was on the hack goes in the bin.
On more than one occasion I've been all ready to go only to find a puncture, a 30 second wheel swap later and I'm out of the door.

I also have a bigger cassette on my hack, so if I'm doing a stupidly hilly ride, I also have to option to swap rear wheels to help getting my arse up the climbs.

 

[Motogull]

Right. A long way out I have to stop with a traditional rear puncture. 2 punctures at opposite ends. No problem I have 2 spares as ususal. Neither spare work with the pump, or someone else's so it looked like valve issues. By now patience lost. Last resort would have been to patch up the original but the tyre is a bit risky and what are the chances of both repairs holding out. Not a terrible walk to the nearest station, but just missed the hourly service by 3 minutes or so. Track pump no better at home, so decision to replace the lot. Still have the 'old' front tube, but 2 new tubes in the box, 2 new gators and a new tube in the rear. From now on any punctured tubes get binned not repaired.

 

[Bold Seagull]

In all seriousness [MENTION=16159]Bold Seagull[/MENTION]

I'd keep the Holdsworth as cheap as possible.
But in the meantime I'd definitely keep an eye out on Ebay Gumtree etc for a compatible training bike to go along side your Bianchi.

Obviously another option is for your current Bianchi to face relegation and picking up something super sexy in the Autumn sales.


Either way I find having my bikes similar does extend the life of components.
New goes on to the carbon, what was looking tired is fine on the hack, what was on the hack goes in the bin.
On more than one occasion I've been all ready to go only to find a puncture, a 30 second wheel swap later and I'm out of the door.

I also have a bigger cassette on my hack, so if I'm doing a stupidly hilly ride, I also have to option to swap rear wheels to help getting my arse up the climbs.

Any reasonable advice is always going to be; buy another bike. How short sighted of me!

Point taken though about spares, kind of why I wouldn't be averse to getting a set of Mavics knowing I'll get use out of them over the years.

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

Secondly, I've just quantified my 2015 through my cycling (more = good, less = bad).
Having looked up my Strava stats, which I'm happy enough with, I'm now wondering where everybody else is at.


2773.7 miles
159.1 hours.
Climbing 126,677ft

Basically a [MENTION=23986]Glanders[/MENTION] day out.

How about these stats!

 

[Stat Brother]

How about these stats!

Who's are they?

They climbed Everest 11 times and tapped 10,000 miles onto a round the world trip.

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

Who's are they?

They climbed Everest 11 times and tapped 10,000 miles onto a round the world trip.

It's Kurt Searvogel who's attempting the annual mileage record. Steve Abraham is about 7,000k behind after the ankle fracture but still has more hours in the saddle!

 

[Motogull]

Is it time for a new strava groovy gang?

The excellent logo/pic is meaningless if [MENTION=2878]Woodchip[/MENTION] has binned us off?

Also, if it requires permission to join, it will help SB wondering who the funk some of us are.

Obviously, nothing will happen but I mention it for shits and giggles.

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

Is it time for a new strava groovy gang?

The excellent logo/pic is meaningless if [MENTION=2878]Woodchip[/MENTION] has binned us off?

Also, if it requires permission to join, it will help SB wondering who the funk some of us are.

Obviously, nothing will happen but I mention it for shits and giggles.

The 1901 of NSC geeks Strava?!

 

[Stat Brother]

I'm completely irrationally titsy about not knowing who all but 10 or so riders are, in our 41 member club.

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

I'm completely irrationally titsy about not knowing who all but 10 or so riders are, in our 41 member club.

I'm Glanders and so's my wife! [emoji1]

 

[JoePrecious]

Living on the edge of London, I'd forgotten how nice it was to ride in Sussex! Managed to get out around the Ashdown Forest this morning and it was the nicest ride I've had in a long time.

I can't believe how much better the road services are - even the bad bits are okay, but most of the surfaces are really good. My tyres actually seemed to make a different noise for most of the ride! Definitely need to make an effort to get down here more often.

 

[Motogull]

Living on the edge of London, I'd forgotten how nice it was to ride in Sussex! Managed to get out around the Ashdown Forest this morning and it was the nicest ride I've had in a long time.

I'm pretty familiar with the eastern half of that ride. I love the Kings Standing area.

 

[JoePrecious]

I'm pretty familiar with the eastern half of that ride. I love the Kings Standing area.

Yep - went past the Police place at Kingstanding and then up and round to Withyham and Hartfield. Couldn't believe how often you got a stunning view off to one side or even both!

 

[Stat Brother]

Living on the edge of London, I'd forgotten how nice it was to ride in Sussex! Managed to get out around the Ashdown Forest this morning and it was the nicest ride I've had in a long time.

I can't believe how much better the road services are - even the bad bits are okay, but most of the surfaces are really good. My tyres actually seemed to make a different noise for most of the ride! Definitely need to make an effort to get down here more often.

I've just begun to remind myself of Ashdown Forest, having previously done a few Sportives in that area, way back in the day.
Beyond the two 'signature' climbs, Cobb Lane & The Wall (Kidd's Hill) I really enjoyed the right turn before Ardingly up to West Hoathley.

The major black spot for me, in Greater Sussex, is getting to Lindfield without schlepping along the A272.
So far I've got to Twineham before making that right turn.
I think I can get to Ansty, but there's not a lot of fun between Ansty and Lindfield.

 

[Stat Brother]

Seeing [MENTION=17085]armchairclubber[/MENTION]'s elevation gained on the leader board does rather put our cycling into perspective.

 

[Motogull]

Seeing [MENTION=17085]armchairclubber[/MENTION]'s elevation gained on the leader board does rather put our cycling into perspective.

Yup. Cuss word inducing stuff.

 

[Indurain's Lungs]

Nat champs were interesting. Sky allowed to attack each other and cav looking super strong. Any other type of finish and he'd have won.

 

[JoePrecious]

I've just begun to remind myself of Ashdown Forest, having previously done a few Sportives in that area, way back in the day.
Beyond the two 'signature' climbs, Cobb Lane & The Wall (Kidd's Hill) I really enjoyed the right turn before Ardingly up to West Hoathley.

The major black spot for me, in Greater Sussex, is getting to Lindfield without schlepping along the A272.
So far I've got to Twineham before making that right turn.
I think I can get to Ansty, but there's not a lot of fun between Ansty and Lindfield.

I purposely avoided Cobb Lane but still managed 700m of climbing on a 52km ride which I was pleased with as it's more than I've done for a while.

 

[Motogull]

Nat champs were interesting. Sky allowed to attack each other and cav looking super strong. Any other type of finish and he'd have won.

Lizzie in a different postcode.



Shame Cav couldn't get it but hey ho.