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Thread: Nobby newby biking questions

  1. #31
    Quote Originally Posted by Graham Breeze View Post
    I think chains are an engineering miracle. Obviously they stretch and I've just changed my SRAM on the ADV after 1400 miles but at £20 - who cares?, but more than once as I have been standing on the pedals inching up a 25% climb, forty miles from home I have prayed "chain, chain please don't let me down now!
    Mine did, on an earlier tourer (galaxy), absolutely knackered the day after Jura heaving it back over the climb out of Lochranza with full set of panniers. Fortunately I carry a chain tool and spare links.

  2. #32
    Moderator noel's Avatar
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    Next to all these thousands-of-miles-per-year proper cyclists, I'm very much an occasional cyclist. But we did snap a chain on the tandem last year. I guess there's more force going through it.

    Thankfully we were just setting off, so we turned back into the drive and went for a run instead.

  3. #33
    Quote Originally Posted by noel View Post
    Next to all these thousands-of-miles-per-year proper cyclists, I'm very much an occasional cyclist. But we did snap a chain on the tandem last year. I guess there's more force going through it.

    Thankfully we were just setting off, so we turned back into the drive and went for a run instead.
    Carrying the tandem? I'm impressed
    "...as dry as the Atacama desert".

  4. #34
    Member SCOOT's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Marco View Post
    Last autumn one of my mum's neighbours bought a well-equipped £2400 bike from the Lancashire company named after the river. Carbon frame, carbon wheel rims (but with calliper brakes), 105 equipment and a compact 50/34 chainset.

    As I have said, many times, it's very flat around here with the occasional short hill that rarely exceeds 1 in 10. It means for fit, and experienced, cyclists the 50 tooth chainring is all you need. For a newcomer, however, the hills are too steep for the big ring

    I saw his bike after he'd ridden it four times, and less than 100 miles, and there was a visible loss of metal from the outside of the front chainring, which was the result of the shearing action of the chain in the big chainring to biggest sprocket. Based on what I saw, if he continued riding the bike in this way he'd need a new front chainring after 500 miles. He told me that he didn't use the 34 chainring because it was too small. I did wonder why, when spending this amount of money, he didn't specify a 42 inner ring.
    Single chainrings are increasingly popular mainly on gravel and mountain bikes but it's creeping into road bikes aswell. Apparently studies have found that the wear is very minimal and manufacturers are starting to spec them. (anything new gets people spending money)
    Personally I think they look wrong with the huge cassette on the back.
    One step beyond.

  5. #35
    Moderator noel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Graham Breeze View Post
    Carrying the tandem? I'm impressed
    That's got me thinking: someone must've done the 3 peaks cyclocross on a tandem.

    There's a keen cyclist I know who tried to do it on a fixed gear bike a few years ago, but - topical to the thread - his chain snapped.

  6. #36
    Master PeteS's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SCOOT View Post
    Single chainrings are increasingly popular mainly on gravel and mountain bikes but it's creeping into road bikes aswell. Apparently studies have found that the wear is very minimal and manufacturers are starting to spec them. (anything new gets people spending money)
    Personally I think they look wrong with the huge cassette on the back.
    I agree and had thought similar with earlier posts. Surely some of the wear would be on the extremes of the cassette to the front derailleur? Without that, does more wear happen on the chainring? Either way, it's wear to the chain.
    I did look at putting a single chain ring on my 29er as I already have a dinner plate of a gear on the back. However I've max'd out the gears on a couple of times so dropping the large chain ring in favour of something in the middle is not going to work. And of course, it just looks wrong!

    Something new sells, yes but only to people with more money than sense.

  7. #37
    Admin brett's Avatar
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    I did the Polaris 2 day events (similar to KIMM) on a tandem a few times

    We did talk about doing the PPPCX.... but that was as far as it got

    I did fancy the PPPCX on a fixed


    Quote Originally Posted by noel View Post
    That's got me thinking: someone must've done the 3 peaks cyclocross on a tandem.

    There's a keen cyclist I know who tried to do it on a fixed gear bike a few years ago, but - topical to the thread - his chain snapped.

  8. #38
    Master Wheeze's Avatar
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    This single front ring and huge cassette combo seems to be de-rigeur on e-MTBs. Maybe this is where the trend is coming from?
    Simon Blease
    Monmouth

  9. #39
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    So continuing with my daft questions, and having now spent getting on for 500 miles 'gaining' experience on my new gravel bike, I'm now thinking of adding to my biking repertoire with an alternative, gnarlier wheel/tyre/rear cassette set up that I can pop on and off, depending on my intended route for the day. To be fair the bike is already pretty gnarly, but I like the idea of being able to mod/twat about with the bike at my whim.

    I appreciate that most of you guys are more geared up for pure road biking stuff but any steerage you can give me would be great either way. I don't want a mountain bike by the way (at least not yet anyway) but do like the idea of making my existing bike more flexible

    My new set up would be with 650b wheels (27.5 inch), wider tyres and maybe a lower set of of rear wheel cogs

    My bike frame is 'medium' and with the 700c wheels attached I'm just tall enough to fit comfortably and stand over the crossbar without knackering myself. I've got everything set up well and am really comfortable in the saddle. I am quite small though, at 5 ft 7, so I figure that the 650b wheels will seem a super fit for me, giving me small drop in height and making for a more compact unit. With their smaller circumference they'll also effectively act as a lower gearing I'd guess. I have quick release wheel fittings so I'll need to make sure the new wheels are compatible with this (and maybe need some kind of QR conversion kit?)

    My existing tyres are 40mm but, with the new wheel size, I'm thinking of some 42mm gravel bike tyres. I think the bike will have sufficient clearance for these (the spec says up to 50mm on the front and 44mm on the back) but I understand that tyres can come up wider than their spec so I may have to be careful with tyre choice

    I now understand a point that had originally appeared complete gobbledygook to me in that I can fit a new lower rear set of cogs to my new back wheel, using a CS-HG50-10 Shimano cassette, which gives me a 36-tooth sprocket - two extra sprockets than what I have at the minute I'm thinking/guessing which can only come in handy around here

    Having done a shed load of internet searching, I've found a possible set up of what might fit the bill:

    Shimano CS-HG50-10 11-36t cassette
    Fulcrum Rapid Red C24 gravel wheelset
    WTB Resolute TCS Light Fast tyres

    Tell me why I'm being stupid and what if anything I've missed

    Thanks
    Last edited by Fellbeast; 11-05-2021 at 11:46 AM.

  10. #40
    Master Wheeze's Avatar
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    You're at the top of a steep and slippery slope Stolly!
    Simon Blease
    Monmouth

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