The bike I had stolen yesterday was a Carrera Zelos which I was satisfied with. I only use it to commute from my house in Eltham to my workplace in Lewisham. Had it for 2 years and used almost everyday, a few weekend trips too. Did over 3000km on it.
The Carrera is advertised as large frame, I have asked for clarity on the exact frame. The Viking is also advertised as large frame. I think both are 53cm if large?
I honestly am a novice when it comes to bikes. I don't really know what a groupset is. So any advice/direction is greatly appreciated.
Edit: Sorry, forgot to mention they are listed on Facebook Marketplace.
Buy my reckoning a 53cm frame would be a Medium , but i'm no expert and would bow to someone like Leroy on here. I've got a 54cm frame and i'm only 5' 9.
Groupset is the chainrings, cranks, cassette and chain - basically all the bits that make the bike move.
For Shimano, you definitely want to stay away from Claris - anything with Tiagra, 105 is fine - however, at that price point, you're probably stuck with Sora at best, which is in between Claris and Tiagra. The problem with thd cheaper groupsets is that they wear out and are made of cheaper alloys so performance degrades very quickly.
To be honest, frame wise it generally doesn't matter much cos you're not looking at high end Alu, carbon or titanium at that money, and any frame will do provided it's intact
Groupset is the chainrings, cranks, cassette and chain - basically all the bits that make the bike move.
For Shimano, you definitely want to stay away from Claris - anything with Tiagra, 105 is fine - however, at that price point, you're probably stuck with Sora at best, which is in between Claris and Tiagra. The problem with thd cheaper groupsets is that they wear out and are made of cheaper alloys so performance degrades very quickly.
To be honest, frame wise it generally doesn't matter much cos you're not looking at high end Alu, carbon or titanium at that money, and any frame will do provided it's intact
Thanks a lot, Leroy. That's really helpful.
Pretty sure the old one I had was a Shimano Tourney, may be wrong.
Definitely better than you'll get on a Carrera or Viking at that price point. Obviously being secondhand it's buyer beware to a certain extent.
Last bike I bought second hand was a Specialized Allez around a decade ago and that was a fantastic bike, until my garage got broken into and it got nicked. Whilst my current bike is better in every way, I still miss that bike, something about the frame geometry just made it feel "right"
I googled and found this. 19-21inch. 21inch is 53cm?
That's more old school mtb frames, not road frames. You'll be either 56-58 on a road bike. Check a bike size out in say Evans. The bigger bike shops allow you to test some bikes on the road. Best not to be too stretched on a bike.
So I ended up going with the Kryptonite New York Lock. seems sturdy enough, a lot better than the one I had previously, probably explains why it got stolen in the first place.
I am looking to replace the brake lever hoods. Just took a trip to The Cyclery in Lewisham (they did some stuff to my old bike, would thoroughly recommend). They told me the hoods I need to buy (as they don't stock them) are Microshift Hood Covers.
The only ones I have found are on decathlon and theyre sadly out of stock. There are so many others out there but I'm not sure if they'd fit or not. I'm really a total noob on this.
Can somebody point me in the right direction? i.e. show me the ones I need to buy, and I'll buy them?
Not sure if the make of bike makes a difference, but it's a Btwin Triban 300.
One morning last week my back tyre was completely deflated. Not used for maybe 4 or 5 days. Pumped it back up and it seemed to hold the pressure. Could see sealant over the sides of the tyre and rim. Obviously I need to top up the sealant. Went to bike shop today where I bought bike to establish what sealant they used and the guy said probably Stans but he had none and suggested the only sealant he had which was finish line. He poo poo’ed suggestion you should not mix different types of sealant. Got home after spending £15 on 8oz bottle of finish line and whilst looking for videos on how to top up sealant stumbled across video comparing performance of 6 different sealants, including the finish line product, and discovered that not only was the finish line sealant the worst performing but it was different to all other sealants in that it is the only one not lactate? based. So, taking it back tomorrow.
My question is how often do you top up your sealant and how much do you put in when you top up? How do you know how much to top up unless you take tyre off?
Hi all, sorry if this is a bit remedial compared to some of the chat on this page, but help would be appreciated. I've just started riding to work, it's only about 15 mins but saving me some walking time. So far so good, but it will be getting cold and dark soon so I think I'll need some kit, in particular a jacket and lights. The ride is mainly off road but that doesn't mean I want to take any chances especially as the cycle paths aren't all that well lit, so thinking hi Viz. Am I better off cycling in my superdry jacket and getting a bib, or is it worth getting a dedicated jacket? Guess I'll need to err on the warmer side, as currently I'm fine in my shirt sleeves but not for long. Also, any thoughts on lights? Like I say, it's only a short bumble along, and some recreational rides with my young kids I ever get round to doing, thanks!
Full gloves are a necessity for winter. You might only need them for a month, but if it's the odd cold winter we get you could need them for months. I use quite thin ones but do have proper winter gloves somewhere for really bad weather.
Lights are a must. Maybe two on the back. You can get a back red LED one quite cheap for £10- £20. Front light I usually go with cateye, just check battery life as you don't want to be charging every night. At the moment I use a Cateye Ampp800, about £40 on eBay atm. Offroad especially you really need a decent front light: just remember it'll blind the few oncoming walkers you come across, so angle it slightly down when approaching if safe for you to do so.
For commuting 15 minutes a luminous bib is fine. From experience commuting cycle jackets are nowhere near waterproof enough. But I don't want to use my decent waterproof cycle jackets for a commute as their 'technical' covering doesn't cope with a rucksack and will fatigue quickly, leading to the waterproofing failing. If you're comfortable with your Superdry just get a luminous bib. On the few occasions I get soaked through I have a change of clothes. I'm probably going to invest in waterproof over trousers this year. Having said that last winter, which blessed rain akmost every week, I only needed a full change of clothes a few times: I do use a pair of crap cycle trousers to ride in, rather than my work trousers.
Full gloves are a necessity for winter. You might only need them for a month, but if it's the odd cold winter we get you could need them for months. I use quite thin ones but do have proper winter gloves somewhere for really bad weather.
Lights are a must. Maybe two on the back. You can get a back red LED one quite cheap for £10- £20. Front light I usually go with cateye, just check battery life as you don't want to be charging every night. At the moment I use a Cateye Ampp800, about £40 on eBay atm. Offroad especially you really need a decent front light: just remember it'll blind the few oncoming walkers you come across, so angle it slightly down when approaching if safe for you to do so.
For commuting 15 minutes a luminous bib is fine. From experience commuting cycle jackets are nowhere near waterproof enough. But I don't want to use my decent waterproof cycle jackets for a commute as their 'technical' covering doesn't cope with a rucksack and will fatigue quickly, leading to the waterproofing failing. If you're comfortable with your Superdry just get a luminous bib. On the few occasions I get soaked through I have a change of clothes. I'm probably going to invest in waterproof over trousers this year. Having said that last winter, which blessed rain akmost every week, I only needed a full change of clothes a few times: I do use a pair of crap cycle trousers to ride in, rather than my work trousers.
Since most of your commute is off road, you'll need good front lights (you always need good rear lights - the cheap ones are useless). I'd advise getting two of each - for the rear, something like the lezyne strip drive 300 (about 35 quid) and a cheaper cateye (about 20). Good idea to clip the cateye to the back of your helmet. Neither of these will protect against a driver on their phone, but will get enough attention from otherwise distracted drivers, who are your main problem on the road sections. For the front, unfortunately you'll need to spend good money. Again Lezyne are great value (although Moon and Strada also make great lights) the macro 1500xl is a really good choice - it's bright enough to light up almost everything on a trail, even a shitty one with tree roots etc, and has numerous settings for really high visibility right down to lower levels and flash mode for riding on roads with street lights. Supplement this with a cheaper front light that flashes but doesn't need to be bright (again, Lezyne have a strip drive for the front that does a good job). Conscious this sounds like an advert for Lezyne - it's not, but because I use them and like them, at least you're getting an honest review 😊
Hi vis is useless. Sorry - it's a lie that the Elf un Safety people put about to shift the blame on being hit from behind or drivers turning across you onto the cyclist. If it actually worked, all cars would be painted bright fluorescent yellow or orange. What you need is some reflectivity, and especially reflectivity in moving parts (eg: your legs). As with the flashing rear light, this will do enough to grab the attention of daydreaming drivers. Castelli do a brilliant winter jacket with reflective substance across the back, shoulders and arms - honestly, with a car light shining on it, it lights up like a Christmas tree. It also has the added bonus of not making you look like you work on the p-way for network rail (apologies if you do, indeed, woron on the p-way for network rail 😁). More importantly, get yourself either some bibtights with reflective strops down the back near the ankles, reflective overshoes (added bonus of helping keep your feet dry in the wet) or even some wally clips (reflective ankle bands)
Thanks folks! When I say off road, it's a cycle path with fairly shitty street lighting, so a decent front light sounds important. Might also get some reflective strips for my work bag. I've seen people with the one light solid, one light flashing so will look into this
Leroy's advice is certainly more experienced than mine. As a caveat I'd say cheap rear lights don't necessarily mean crap. Over the last two winters I've bought a couple of reduced rear lights by Lezyene and Lifeline, rechargeable lithium, for between £10 to £20. Both I think are excellent.
Reflective overshoes are excellent advice, something I'd not thought of and have now rectified!
Hi all, sorry if this is a bit remedial compared to some of the chat on this page, but help would be appreciated. I've just started riding to work, it's only about 15 mins but saving me some walking time. So far so good, but it will be getting cold and dark soon so I think I'll need some kit, in particular a jacket and lights. The ride is mainly off road but that doesn't mean I want to take any chances especially as the cycle paths aren't all that well lit, so thinking hi Viz. Am I better off cycling in my superdry jacket and getting a bib, or is it worth getting a dedicated jacket? Guess I'll need to err on the warmer side, as currently I'm fine in my shirt sleeves but not for long. Also, any thoughts on lights? Like I say, it's only a short bumble along, and some recreational rides with my young kids I ever get round to doing, thanks!
Panniers would be a must for me. Hate cycling with a rucksack on.
I agree about the high vis vs reflective point. Was taught on my cycle responder course a few years back that the key is creating a reflective shape that looks like a human on a bike. So the kit we wore was black but had strips of reflective material to help create that shape. Think most of our stuff was endura kit.
Finished day 1 of my first ever Bike Packing trip today. Eltham to Cambridge, just short of 70 miles. Doing it on my full on road bike. Unfortunately my route took me along circa 25 miles of dirt and gravel alongside various canals. Back is feeling that now. The added weight on the bike makes it pretty tough going.
Hunstanton via Kings Lynn tomorrow and then finishing up at Cromer on Thursday.
Finished day 1 of my first ever Bike Packing trip today. Eltham to Cambridge, just short of 70 miles. Doing it on my full on road bike. Unfortunately my route took me along circa 25 miles of dirt and gravel alongside various canals. Back is feeling that now. The added weight on the bike makes it pretty tough going.
Hunstanton via Kings Lynn tomorrow and then finishing up at Cromer on Thursday.
How did you plan it? One of the biggest shortcomings of route planners is the lack of ability of them to discern between 'roads' and 'busy roads'. If they had that option, I'm sure people would use the 'keep on roads' option more - because the 'cycling' option invariably involves shitty bike paths, gravel and shared use tracks - totally unsuitable for a road bike 😞
Finished day 1 of my first ever Bike Packing trip today. Eltham to Cambridge, just short of 70 miles. Doing it on my full on road bike. Unfortunately my route took me along circa 25 miles of dirt and gravel alongside various canals. Back is feeling that now. The added weight on the bike makes it pretty tough going.
Hunstanton via Kings Lynn tomorrow and then finishing up at Cromer on Thursday.
How did you plan it? One of the biggest shortcomings of route planners is the lack of ability of them to discern between 'roads' and 'busy roads'. If they had that option, I'm sure people would use the 'keep on roads' option more - because the 'cycling' option invariably involves shitty bike paths, gravel and shared use tracks - totally unsuitable for a road bike 😞
Ride with GPS. I usually sit and step by step it myself, but rushed this one last night as I forgot I cocked up the original route and it was trying to take me on the A10 and M11!
I have a gravel bike but with 28 tyres. There were two people with me on road bikes who were fine on the terrain
I have 28mm tyres, it's the carbon wheels I was more worried about. It would have gone on for longer than 20 odd miles, but I found a road and winged it for 10 miles!
Finished day 1 of my first ever Bike Packing trip today. Eltham to Cambridge, just short of 70 miles. Doing it on my full on road bike. Unfortunately my route took me along circa 25 miles of dirt and gravel alongside various canals. Back is feeling that now. The added weight on the bike makes it pretty tough going.
Hunstanton via Kings Lynn tomorrow and then finishing up at Cromer on Thursday.
How did you plan it? One of the biggest shortcomings of route planners is the lack of ability of them to discern between 'roads' and 'busy roads'. If they had that option, I'm sure people would use the 'keep on roads' option more - because the 'cycling' option invariably involves shitty bike paths, gravel and shared use tracks - totally unsuitable for a road bike 😞
Ride with GPS. I usually sit and step by step it myself, but rushed this one last night as I forgot I cocked up the original route and it was trying to take me on the A10 and M11!
LOL
TBH, Ridewithgps is what I use. Its less hit and miss than Strava, Mapmyride or komoot and sticking on roads but avoiding highways generally works well. I always have a quick look if I can, just in case I see an A road I'm. It familiar with, then switch to the satellite View in a couple of spots to see if magically turns into a bloody three lane de facto motorway (never forget the time I planned out Manchester to Milton Keynes for a base ride and ended up on the A5 near Tamworth... 😳😳😳)
Obviously, it's always a risk if you don't have the luxury of time to check though
Comments
Thanks for the responses guys.
The bike I had stolen yesterday was a Carrera Zelos which I was satisfied with. I only use it to commute from my house in Eltham to my workplace in Lewisham. Had it for 2 years and used almost everyday, a few weekend trips too. Did over 3000km on it.
The Carrera is advertised as large frame, I have asked for clarity on the exact frame. The Viking is also advertised as large frame. I think both are 53cm if large?
I honestly am a novice when it comes to bikes. I don't really know what a groupset is. So any advice/direction is greatly appreciated.
Edit: Sorry, forgot to mention they are listed on Facebook Marketplace.
I've got a 54cm frame and i'm only 5' 9.
Groupset is the chainrings, cranks, cassette and chain - basically all the bits that make the bike move.
For Shimano, you definitely want to stay away from Claris - anything with Tiagra, 105 is fine - however, at that price point, you're probably stuck with Sora at best, which is in between Claris and Tiagra. The problem with thd cheaper groupsets is that they wear out and are made of cheaper alloys so performance degrades very quickly.
To be honest, frame wise it generally doesn't matter much cos you're not looking at high end Alu, carbon or titanium at that money, and any frame will do provided it's intact
I googled and found this. 19-21inch. 21inch is 53cm?
Thanks a lot, Leroy. That's really helpful.
Pretty sure the old one I had was a Shimano Tourney, may be wrong.
do you think this bike has a better groupset than the others I have mentioned? Is a size 54 good for a 6’2” guy like me?
Last bike I bought second hand was a Specialized Allez around a decade ago and that was a fantastic bike, until my garage got broken into and it got nicked. Whilst my current bike is better in every way, I still miss that bike, something about the frame geometry just made it feel "right"
So I ended up going with the Kryptonite New York Lock. seems sturdy enough, a lot better than the one I had previously, probably explains why it got stolen in the first place.
I am looking to replace the brake lever hoods. Just took a trip to The Cyclery in Lewisham (they did some stuff to my old bike, would thoroughly recommend). They told me the hoods I need to buy (as they don't stock them) are Microshift Hood Covers.
The only ones I have found are on decathlon and theyre sadly out of stock. There are so many others out there but I'm not sure if they'd fit or not. I'm really a total noob on this.
Can somebody point me in the right direction? i.e. show me the ones I need to buy, and I'll buy them?
Not sure if the make of bike makes a difference, but it's a Btwin Triban 300.
Thanks in advance.
One morning last week my back tyre was completely deflated. Not used for maybe 4 or 5 days. Pumped it back up and it seemed to hold the pressure. Could see sealant over the sides of the tyre and rim. Obviously I need to top up the sealant. Went to bike shop today where I bought bike to establish what sealant they used and the guy said probably Stans but he had none and suggested the only sealant he had which was finish line. He poo poo’ed suggestion you should not mix different types of sealant. Got home after spending £15 on 8oz bottle of finish line and whilst looking for videos on how to top up sealant stumbled across video comparing performance of 6 different sealants, including the finish line product, and discovered that not only was the finish line sealant the worst performing but it was different to all other sealants in that it is the only one not lactate? based. So, taking it back tomorrow.
My question is how often do you top up your sealant and how much do you put in when you top up? How do you know how much to top up unless you take tyre off?
And what sealants do people use/recommend?
🚵🏻🚴🏼
Lights are a must. Maybe two on the back. You can get a back red LED one quite cheap for £10- £20. Front light I usually go with cateye, just check battery life as you don't want to be charging every night. At the moment I use a Cateye Ampp800, about £40 on eBay atm. Offroad especially you really need a decent front light: just remember it'll blind the few oncoming walkers you come across, so angle it slightly down when approaching if safe for you to do so.
For commuting 15 minutes a luminous bib is fine. From experience commuting cycle jackets are nowhere near waterproof enough. But I don't want to use my decent waterproof cycle jackets for a commute as their 'technical' covering doesn't cope with a rucksack and will fatigue quickly, leading to the waterproofing failing. If you're comfortable with your Superdry just get a luminous bib. On the few occasions I get soaked through I have a change of clothes. I'm probably going to invest in waterproof over trousers this year. Having said that last winter, which blessed rain akmost every week, I only needed a full change of clothes a few times: I do use a pair of crap cycle trousers to ride in, rather than my work trousers.
Hi vis is useless. Sorry - it's a lie that the Elf un Safety people put about to shift the blame on being hit from behind or drivers turning across you onto the cyclist. If it actually worked, all cars would be painted bright fluorescent yellow or orange. What you need is some reflectivity, and especially reflectivity in moving parts (eg: your legs). As with the flashing rear light, this will do enough to grab the attention of daydreaming drivers. Castelli do a brilliant winter jacket with reflective substance across the back, shoulders and arms - honestly, with a car light shining on it, it lights up like a Christmas tree. It also has the added bonus of not making you look like you work on the p-way for network rail (apologies if you do, indeed, woron on the p-way for network rail 😁). More importantly, get yourself either some bibtights with reflective strops down the back near the ankles, reflective overshoes (added bonus of helping keep your feet dry in the wet) or even some wally clips (reflective ankle bands)
Reflective overshoes are excellent advice, something I'd not thought of and have now rectified!
Here is the route
https://www.komoot.com/tour/t253016027?ref=atd
I have a gravel bike but with 28 tyres. There were two people with me on road bikes who were fine on the terrain
TBH, Ridewithgps is what I use. Its less hit and miss than Strava, Mapmyride or komoot and sticking on roads but avoiding highways generally works well. I always have a quick look if I can, just in case I see an A road I'm. It familiar with, then switch to the satellite View in a couple of spots to see if magically turns into a bloody three lane de facto motorway (never forget the time I planned out Manchester to Milton Keynes for a base ride and ended up on the A5 near Tamworth... 😳😳😳)
Obviously, it's always a risk if you don't have the luxury of time to check though