FNRttC to Brighton 13th May 2011

[TimO]

Whilst not being mad enough to do the ride on a tiny purple horror, I'm trying to decide whether to do it on the Kaffenback with lots of gears (although after a weekend in Wales, not as low geared as I thought!), or on Red with not quite such an easy gear ratio.

I probably need to check exactly how different the gears are between the two, since Red is significantly lighter, which will also help on Ditchling (none of the other "hills" worry me).

 

[StuAff]

Is Red fitted with a compact chainset giving you 34 x 25 lowest gear of around 36"? No worries.

+1. It is, and 34x25 proved sufficient for me last year.

 

[iLB]

How small is that gear going to be? Beware Stu's kind offer it will reduce the gear further.

Will you be sticking with the flat pedals? Have you ridden flaties at all recently? The action of keeping your feet on them makes the shins ache in my experience.

i don't know exactly, it's borrowed from a teenager (sh*t i'm not a teenager anymore) that lives next to me, and it will have 20" wheels thinking about it

sadly his one isn't actually adorned with purple rims

i might put my mtb spd pedals on, a la bmx racer

 

[iLB]

Read the numbers on the tyres 406 x 50 maybe and count the teeth front and rear, so we can tell you quite how much you are going to suffer.

my guess is lots, but it's my neighbour down saarf so i won't see it again until next Friday afternoon, might buy some new brake blocks in the mean time just in case his are shot

i think reps of the beacon and cycling back are out, i'll even catch a train to victoria

 

[rich p]

Having tossed it off the end of the pier

I did when I was young but I prefer to do it in the shower nowadays.

 

[TimO]

Is Red fitted with a compact chainset giving you 34 x 25 lowest gear of around 36"? No worries.

+1. It is, and 34x25 proved sufficient for me last year.

You've got a better memory than me!

I just dug out the chainring and cassette sizes, and the Kaffenback ranges from 34.4" to 114.3", whilst Red goes from 35.9" to 119.9".

So, that makes Red very slightly harder work on the uphill (and a little bit faster downhill / on the flat), but barely enough to notice, but the weight should make a lot more difference!

Assuming the weather is fine and dry, it'll be Red.

 

[dellzeqq]

+1. It is, and 34x25 proved sufficient for me last year.

34x25! Good grief, what is wrong with the youth of today!

 

[StuAff]

34x25! Good grief, what is wrong with the youth of today!

Says the man who despite his dodgy knee insists on having a standard chainset and tiny little close-ratio cassette....
Perhaps the youth just have a bit more sense!!

 

[frank9755]

Is Red fitted with a compact chainset giving you 34 x 25 lowest gear of around 36"? No worries.

34x25! Good grief, what is wrong with the youth of today!

Did you mean Adrian...?

 

[zigzag]

my guess is lots, but it's my neighbour down saarf so i won't see it again until next Friday afternoon, might buy some new brake blocks in the mean time just in case his are shot

i think reps of the beacon and cycling back are out, i'll even catch a train to victoria

you'll be fine on bmx, i've seen quite a few bmx's on london-brighton charity rides. i was toying with the idea of bringing my saddleless bso to fnrttc ride, but later thought it would be disrespectful towards other riders.

 

[StuAff]

I'm frail enough already. I've never had knee problems, don't intend to start. I know at least a few guys who have done the Marmotte (multiple times in some cases) and such like, they all went for compact chainsets rather than standard....

 

[Aperitif]

I'm frail enough already. I've never had knee problems, don't intend to start. I know at least a few guys who have done the Marmotte (multiple times in some cases) and such like, they all went for compact chainsets rather than standard....

The Marmotte - you either love it or hate it.

 

[Sittingduck]

I did when I was young but I prefer to do it in the shower nowadays.

 

[StuAff]

The Marmotte - you either love it or hate it.

 

[mistral]

Small World ... I employed a new chap in IT support, nothing odd in that. Gilberto Z started this week, turns out he joined us on last October's Whitstable run.

Hello DesO who I spotted and Topcat1 who spotted me in and around Richmond Park on my commute this week