Sorry for a slight off-topic, but can anyone recommend somewhere to sell a decent MTB and a nice road bike, please?
Sadly, I don't have this anymore, but enjoy lots of weekends at Afan Argoed and on the Skyline Trail. I had a big off one on the Skyline, fortunately my landing was cushion by thick mud so nothing more serious than a few cuts and bruises. But ill health put paid to my cycling days, but I did love my Marin.
Bikeradar pinkbike and singletrackworld
Here's my new bike. I had a Planet X carbon bike, but the frame cracked*, so I got one of these Canyon Ultimate CF SLX's from the outlet, and swapped the SRAM Force kit onto it. 7.1kg all in, and overall cost is fairly reasonable. The frame is astonishingly stiff compared to the Planet X pro carbon frame which has corresponded to around 2mph faster on the flat. I've been very surprised. The Campagnolo Zondas are probably the weak point, but I really like the look, and if I got rid of them I couldn't wear my Campy cardigan any more.
Now, my friend and I both have Canyons, which is a bit embarrassing when we're pootling round and round Regent's Park (if anyone sees this bike there, say hi).
Sorry for the very big, non-drive side, cranks at the wrong angle, valves in the wrong place photo!
p.s. I do have a pair of brand new Mavic Ksyrium Elites with Continental Supersports which came on the Canyon that I need rid of if anyone is interested (managed to get rid of all the 105 kit, I think) - these are better (lighter and stronger) than the Zondas by all accounts, but I'm not going to swap.
* that cracked last month (I guess they will replace it, but this was the perfect opportunity to buy the bike I should have bought in the first place) - and this past week my aluminium hybrid commuter was behaving very oddly, and on inspection I find that the down tube has pretty much snapped in two! Lifetime warranty on that, which is nice, but means I'm not on the bike going to work for a few weeks...
Remember these from late 70's early 80's?
Was going to ride a classic race on it where you need a pre 1984 bike but focussing on other stuff so its up for sale if anyone did want some classic original spec steel!
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Sweet baby Jesus,how tall are you?
Is that a Raleigh Record Ace? Used to lust after those
What was the race? L'eroica looks a good crack
Cheers,Mick
Im 6ft its only a 58cm frame with a short stem fits fine, its a Raleigh Record Sprint with Campagnolo before they cheapened them down.
Seat and stem are up from being cleaned out and regreased etc
Very impressed with it so far apart from the saddle, but that's easily fixed. Although I do a fair bit of off-road stuff it doesn't really warrant a mountain bike anymore so I'm going to see if one bike can do it all. Never managed it with watches but I'm hopeful!
The Kona was far too big, proving that you really need to get with a bike and not trust online sizing guides.
Happy with this tricked up little thing, which replaced it.
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Off-road I'm using 12-25 and on road 11-28. Sometimes I think I could do with the 28 off-road too but I'll see how it goes. Pedals are Shimano A520 which have an external cage and help spread the weight a little. I find I get hot spots on the balls of my feet with the M540.
I had been using road cleats and shoes but I can't be bothered swapping them over to go off-road so I'll hopefully the A520 will be OK on longer rides.
It seems to be a good choice so far. I tend to ride the bike with a little more mechanical sympathy than I did with the MTB but I'm quicker by 5mins (in 50mins) on my usual mixed route on the crosser. It's put a bit of a challenge back in to my riding which I'm enjoying.
Last edited by benny.c; 25th September 2013 at 23:00.
Been on here for ages and only just discovered this forum. Must get some photos up , but in the mean time
Mountain bikes
1992 orange clockwork 15 " frame trainer with a massive seatpost
1992 Orange Presige 17" single speeder 32 front 16 rear , bugger all use for roads or hills , but really scares the sh....out of canal walkers
Big step now 2007 Giant anthem Xt
Road 2001 Giant TCR Ultegra
Recent
just done CTC Way of the roses in July and a Sika (works ride) 100 miler 7300 ft climbing in 6 hrs , so not bad for an old un.
Ill post some pics when the weather improves.
Steve
At a risk of offending the purists, Aldi took delivery of cycling gear yesterday. For £28 i picked up a Winter Jacket , long thrmal tights, gloves and a compression base layer.
By comparison 1 pair of Sealskin socks just cost me £28
Quality looks Ok , branded Lycra, lets see how it fares through the mtb and winter training rides.
Last edited by higham5; 27th September 2013 at 18:01.
Picking up much specialised cross trail sports disc tomorrow... Will be come my regular commute (unless travelling)... Very happy
My first bike in 20 years... Used to be massively into MTB (Competed and everything) and it feels great to have two wheels coming back into my life now that I no longer have to commute to west London every week!
Here's my contribution.
Use it for my triathlons. Not been on a bike for about 30 years prior to this year. Hired a tri bike for the year from triuk, then they did a deal on this half way through so dived in.
Hardly an expert but there seems a big difference in this from the Giant I had previously, in a good way. Also took the time to have a fit which was well worth it.
Malc.
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^^^ what's the large 'speedfil' bottle? ^^
Just a drinks bottle. Has a tube that runs up the frame to the bars and can just grab a drink without too much messing about reaching down for a bottle. The mouth piece is poking above the bars on the pic.
Didnt think of the bed pan bit, although I'll need more tubing for that!!
Malc
Thats a nice bike Malc - I expect to see you posting pictures of your new Specialized Shiv about this time next year once the riding bug bites properly!
My original MTB shoes didn't have an especially stiff sole and I'm not light at 98kgs. The new MTB shoes have a carbon sole so hopefully that will spread the load and reduce the hot spot I used to get. It's also nice not to have to walk around like you're on ice like you do with the SPD-SL.
Dont!! Mate told me I'd get the bug and just laughed at him. Was in a bike shop last week and saw a Specialized tri bike on a raiser in the middle of the shop. Can't hide a new bike as easy as a new watch so had to pass but was seriously tempted.
As an aside, just looking at getting a cheapy mountain bike for the winter as an alternative to the turbo. Seen some in the likes of Halfords and Sports Direct for south of £100. Are these just going to fall apart or would they survive general messing about through the Winter?
Malc
Along with a mate of mine I went to the Cycle Show at the NEC last Friday. They had a demo track where you could ride from a wide selection of bikes including Trek, Bianchi, Condor, Cube, Rose, Giant, Fondriest & Pinarello. You needed to pre-book which my mate did, and he spent an hour having a go on as many different bikes as he could...he felt it would be his only chance to ride a £10k Dogma plus many others costing £5k or more.
Anyway, after his time was up we had a chat about what he felt was the best bike he'd ridden, and he raved about something neither of us had heard of before.... Airstreeem. So we headed off to their modest little stand, where we thought we'd be looking at something costing £4k or so, but no, the price of what he'd ridden and been blown away by was up at £2499. After a little haggling he'd secured a deal at £1950 if he bought it there and then, which he did. He's now had an e mail from the company based in Austria saying his bike is on it's way to him.
He wasn't the only one...In the hour we spent on the stand at least 3 other guys rocked up after riding one on the demo track, all wanting to place an order. Could be one to watch......... and just goes to prove that it's not the name on the downtube that you should always look at when buying.
http://www.airstreeem.com/en.html
It's this model, but in black & white:
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That look nice, will have a look at there website. Its always good to be able to test them out prior to buying. My local bike shop lets you, but only around the bloody car park!! not much use!!
we went last year to the Bike show and had a good test on some of the mountain bikes. I really liked the new 29er's, still (trying) to save for one but keep buying new watches.
nice day today, so rode to the coast on this,
Instead of going to the Woods on this,
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Mr Pink Got Some Custom Decals today!
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Still keeping the Singlespeed though!
Halfords knocking off 30% off Hope gear plus further 10% weekend special, means £110 lights are £73
Plus lots of brake bits