Cycling chat

[big jim]

3 hours ago, jcredfer said:

Hi Jim,

Do your Continentals have recommended pressures written on them?

 

I'm much shorter than you are, so the pressures I have would be much lower than for you, but as a comparison, I set the pressures to the ones on the tyre sides {50psi} and it was just like you described and on the rougher potholes around here, very nearly lost the grip on the handlebar.  I let the rear down by 5psi and the front by 10psi, it doesn't sound like much, but the ride was transformed, still firm but no longer a beating.  It may be worth you easing a bit of pressure at a time until you're more comfortable with them.

 

i think it’s 40 to 120 psi, I went out today with 75psi in them, seemed comfy enough at the start but very firm but by the end of the ride they started to feel a bit ‘loose’ on the grooved tarmac of silloth prom so they maybe have lost some pressure, not checked, it was certainly a mixed surface ride with lots of potholes and joints between concrete slabs in places which really shook my bones! 
 

Be interesting to see how the Cube on it’s 25 slicks compares, or indeed if I put the 25 marathons on that how it compares as I’ll no doubt end up bringing that bike up here too at some point in the summer 
 

 

Edited May 1, 2022 by big jim

[Nearholmer]

I reckon tyre “fatness” and pressure are much, much more about comfort than grip when on a hard/firm surface, the bit in contact with the surface most of the time being tiny even on wide tyres, although that changes a lot once the surface isn’t hard/firm, but they are also about fatigue, in that being vibro-massaged continuously is tiring, and science proves that it causes the body to absorb energy in a way that slows one down too.

 

Because I usually go on and off road multiple times even in a short ride, and go over some right rough and very soft (sand) ground, I’ve not gone below 32mm in recent years, and have now gravitated to 37-40mm. The net affect of possibly a slightly greater rolling resistance on the fatter tyres on hard surfaces is easily compensated by the reduced vibration fatigue.

 

Road only, I’d probably go 32-35mm fairly firm pressure, but not rock hard given how potholed most roads seem to be.

 

 

Edited May 1, 2022 by Nearholmer

[Butler Henderson]

Front tyres should be slightly less inflated than rears. There is a bike tyre pressure app in Play Store, and presumably also available for iPhones. It asks for your weight, that of the bike (Google a bike review), wheel and tyre sizes. Suggests 67 psi front and 72 psi rear for my road bike. Too pumped up fronts can cause excess vibration leading to numb fingers/hands.

Edited May 2, 2022 by Butler Henderson

[jcredfer]

1 hour ago, Butler Henderson said:

Front tyres should be slightly less inflated than rears. There is a bike tyre pressure app in Play Store, and presumably also available for iPhones. It asks for your weight, that of the bike (Google a bike review), wheel and tyre sizes. Suggests 67 psi front and 72 psi rear for my road bike. Too pumped up fronts can cause excess vibration leading to numb fingers/hands.

 

Interesting website, I will go and have a play.

 

50 psi on my front continentals vibrated so violently going down a hill, I had to brake quite hard to avoid the handlebars being hammered out of my grip.  That's one of the better roads around here and 30 mph is not the best time to hurl yourself at the scenery.     

 

[big jim]

2 hours ago, Butler Henderson said:

Front tyres should be slightly less inflated than rears. There is a bike tyre pressure app in Play Store, and presumably also available for iPhones. It asks for your weight, that of the bike (Google a bike review), wheel and tyre sizes. Suggests 67 psi front and 72 psi rear for my road bike. Too pumped up fronts can cause excess vibration leading to numb fingers/hands.

I was getting numb fingers at certain points yesterday especially on the really rough concrete sections of the prom

 

just had a look at one of those apps and it tells me to inflate to the below pressures based on the total 267lb weight of me and the bike 

 

 

seems an awful lot in the rear? 

[Nearholmer]

Seems an awful lot in the front too.

 

Maybe I’m just attuned to the lower pressures that go with fatter tyres.

 

I tried a few of the online calculators, and they came out close to what I’ve arrived at by trial and error, both for traditional touring tyres and for tubeless, the latter being lower.

[malcolmt]

Wow!  Those pressures would blow your tire off the rim.  There is a very good tire pressure calculator at www.silca.cc along with excellent explanations of the engineering behind tire pressure recommendations.  I just discovered I’ve been overinflating for the last 50 years or so.  I use 700C by 25C to 28C tires on most of my bikes which I’ve been pumping up to about 90 psi.  According to the calculator, I should be using 70-80 psi. Something to experiment with on my rides this week. 
 

Malcolm T

Calgary, Canada

[big jim]

The two apps I downloaded both gave around the same figures both of which seem ridiculously high given 75 psi yesterday was firm!

 

I must be inputting something wrong surely
 

 

 

 

[jcredfer]

I agree with both you and Malcomt, those pressures would burst tyres and even if contained, would be like riding rocks. Btw, there should be a max pressure marked on the tyres.

 

[big jim]

2 minutes ago, jcredfer said:

I agree with both you and Malcomt, those pressures would burst tyres and even if contained, would be like riding rocks. Btw, there should be a max pressure marked on the tyres.

 

just had a look at the 28x110 marathons and it says 80-110 psi, so even at the 75 I ran yesterday it was too low 

[jcredfer]

2 minutes ago, big jim said:

just had a look at the 28x110 marathons and it says 80-110 psi, so even at the 75 I ran yesterday it was too low 

 

Looks like a case for more trouser padding...    🤔

 

[Classsix T]

If my teeth are falling out, I don't need an app to tell me the tyre pressure might be "suboptimal".

 

C6T.

[njee20]

Yeah 140+ psi is ridiculous. We used to run 100psi in the tyres in the road bikes on the shop floor, and that was the stock recommendation 15 years ago when everything had 23c tyres.

 

I suspect it’s because you’re a bit an outlier on weight (no offence), so the algorithm falls down a bit. 

[big jim]

6 hours ago, jcredfer said:

 

Looks like a case for more trouser padding...    🤔

 

got some padded pants already, don’t know how I managed without them! 

[woodenhead]

11 minutes ago, big jim said:

got some padded pants already, don’t know how I managed without them! 

Welcome to the world of bony ar$es, you've met another milestone in your journey.  😃

[Bernard Lamb]

6 hours ago, woodenhead said:

Welcome to the world of bony ar$es, you've met another milestone in your journey.  😃

......... and as you get older the amount of flesh in that area seems to get less. It also tends to move around to the front and a bit higher up.😀

Bernard

[big jim]

My new trainee is also a road cyclist like the last one and has recommended getting some gel pads for fitting under the bar tape on the road bike, as it happens I’ve got some replacement tape to go on the cube and was going to do it this week anyway, anyone else used it or have opinions on it?

As for the 300 mile challenge I’m now about 63 miles in following a quick trundle into long Eaton from East Midlands gateway while my train was loaded, 3 more later to get home too  

 

[njee20]

Definitely personal. I like a nice thin cork bar tape with nothing underneath (and I don't wear gloves); other people like big thick bar tape with gel pads underneath. It will significantly increase the diameter of the bars, which may not be desirable.

[big jim]

Both road bikes appear to have quite thick bar tape on them already, just fancy freshening them up a bit, especially the cube as I dint know the history of that I got quite dirty hands after my ride the other night! 

 

The other reason is I want to see if I can free a touch more brake pipe from below the existing tape so I can play about with the riser as I can’t get it to raise any more as the pipe is tight under the tape, if not it’s going to need a new slightly longer pipe fitting 

[Butler Henderson]

Thicker bar tape can help to resolve numbness occurring, one option is to double wrap.

[Nickey Line]

8 hours ago, big jim said:

anyone else used it or have opinions on it?

 

Vital for comfort as far as I'm concerned. Spa Cycles do some good pads.

https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m9b0s126p2329/SPA-CYCLES-Bar-Gel

 

[big jim]

I got some cheap handlebar tape with added gel wrap today and had a go at rewrapping the handlebars, as I don’t want to replace the brake pipe (yet) I’ve routed that outside of the tape from the horn but kept the gear cable underneath the tape, will have to see how it goes

 

even got a matching garmin holder and silicone cover!

 

 

i put it back together but managed to damage the top stem bolt so I’m going to have to replace that too, I fitted the riser stem and wasn’t happy with how it was sitting as the fork seemed a bit loose so I unscrewed it to check the top bearing and it pulled the centre piece of the quite complex looking top stem out, there is no way of getting the bolt from the other threaded bit without possibly damaging the thread so I’ll have to try and get a new one tomorrow (and possibly a new riser stem if the bolt won’t come out)

 

[njee20]

That chunky silver bit is the expander plug from the fork. It should have a separate Allen bolt in it for a 6 or 8mm Allen key. Tightening it expands it inside the steerer tube and allows the stem to then preload the bearings.

 

Weird arrangement on the stem with the captive bolt, presumably you can only access that at certain angles?

 

Shouldn’t be any new parts needed though, just needs putting back together. Only tighten the two bolts on the front of the stem once all the play is gone, from having nipped up that captive bolt.  
 

Good job on the bar taping too, in future start at the bottom and wrap towards the stem; you’ll get a smoother finish and your hands won’t keep trying to unwind it as you move down the bars.  

Edited May 3, 2022 by njee20

[big jim]

It’s not a captive bolt and If you look at the previous picture you can see a black plastic cap on the top of the stem which pulls off to reveal the tightening bolt which can be reached with an Allen key as normal

 

regards the tape, someone told me to start in the middle of the bars and work outward! 
 

Another concern I’ve got is the wheels have Allen bolts rather than skewers and the front one solid, can’t move it at all, the rear will undo fine, im hoping it’s not seized for some reason 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 3, 2022 by big jim

[leavesontheline]

25 minutes ago, big jim said:

It’s not a captive bolt, the grey piece outside of the silver bolt has pulled away from the bottom of the expander plug that was inside the stem (it’s upside down in the photo) and I can’t grip it to pull get the bolt out without damaging the thread so I need to replace the whole lot 

 

regards the tape, someone told me to start in the middle of the bars and work outward! 
 

Another concern I’ve got is the wheels have Allen bolts rather than skewers and the front one is solid, can move it at all, the rear will undo fine, im hoping it’s not seized for some reason 

 

On some fancy carbon bars you start on the 'tops' and work your way down to the 'drops' so as to get the tape finished neatly on the tops but as @njee20 has pointed out the most common method is to start on the drops and work your way up. Generally you wrap clockwise on the right side and anti clockwise on the left side, i.e. start to wrap from the inside to the outside. This ensures that you are always 'tightening' the tape when you push/pull on the bars and also the tape direction will change as you wrap around the shifters. The Park Tools website gives some very useful information (plus youtube videos) explaining the different methods and techniques. Having said all this, some people swear by the opposite method! I did it the 'wrong' way around once by accident and never had any real problems with it! I guess it depends how hard you are pulling on the bars! Taping bars is a bit of a black art. Some people won't touch it themselves. I don't mind doing it but it takes me a long time because I like to get all my wraps neatly spaced and make sure there is no bunching etc!

 

Regarding the seized axle bolt, is it just a long bolt replacing the skewer? I tend to use these for security reasons anyway, particularly on bikes I don't need to take the wheels off routinely. You might just have to soak it in releasing fluid for a bit, whilst avoiding contaminating the disc and pads of course. With the mixture of steel, aluminium and road salt, there is a recipe for some bad corrosion there! On the rear they usually get covered in oil a bit more, certainly on the drive side. I always apply a thin coating of grease to all wheel attachments (be they skewers, bolts or thru-axles) as this not only prevents corrosion/seizing but can also prevent some really annoying creaking you can sometimes get! 

 

7 hours ago, big jim said:

Both road bikes appear to have quite thick bar tape on them already, just fancy freshening them up a bit, especially the cube as I dint know the history of that I got quite dirty hands after my ride the other night! 

 

The other reason is I want to see if I can free a touch more brake pipe from below the existing tape so I can play about with the riser as I can’t get it to raise any more as the pipe is tight under the tape, if not it’s going to need a new slightly longer pipe fitting 

 

Your brake levers/shifters (sometimes called 'brifters', but I don't like that word) look like they are angled quite far forwards, i.e. in quite a 'racy' position. You could give yourself a bit more of an upright riding position 'on the hoods' (i.e. holding the 'brifter' rubber hoods) by loosening them and sliding them a little bit further up and back on the bars. Riding position is obviously a very personal thing though so it would be a case of trial and error, but by sliding them back you might also give yourself a bit more brake hose to play with and put it back under the tape. It looks like due to the amount you have raised the bars you will most probably need to replace the hoses at some point though. Shifter/lever position is always a compromise between comfort on the 'hoods' and being able to reach the brake levers when riding in the drops. I have small hands so this is always tricky and I usually adjust the lever 'reach' to its minimum setting.

 

You can also get some triangular section stick-on channels for hoses/cables to sit inside on the front or rear of round bars, that you then tape over. I once bought a Specialized bike that at the time I thought had some 'aero' bars as the 'tops' were quite ovalised and had quite a comfortable flat feel. It was only when I came to re-tape them that I found the bar shape was just due to these conduits. They are kind of like a stick-on leading/trailing edge into which the cables sit. Might just allow you to run a more relaxed brake hose around the front of the bars? The only trouble is, I can't remember the last time/place I actually saw them for sale!