Hello, everyone

[cadleigh]

Hi, all. I've wandered about the place reading the odd thread a few times, and thought I should join in.

I'm based in France and switched to road-riding late last summer. I'd been using an MTB before that, but got frustrated with the low gearing when I was on the road. I thought I'd give a road bike a go, and haven't gone back.

I picked up a steel-framed Lapierre, late 90s with Shimano 105 spec, for the massive sum of 70 euros late last summer. It fits me perfectly and suits me fine as a first road bike, although I know it's not exactly featherlight - about 10kg. There's no point in my getting weight obsessed anyway; I figure that if I was that bothered I'd be better served losing 5 kilos myself.

The guy who had it originally must have been poorly advised, or deluded - he was built like a former prop-forward with subsidence problems, and said he'd hardly used the bike. I believe him, because it's a 52-42 double at the front and 11-23 at the back which, with the hills around here, is a fairly ambitious setup for mortals.

Anyway, I've toyed with the idea of treating it as a project, gradually improving it. I could certainly do with some more options on the lower-gear front when I hit that 13% climb - casual onlookers would be forgiven for assuming I'd gone into super slo-mo - but I don't want to lose the 52x11 for the (rare) flat bits.

I suspect it's not worth the outlay, even if I could get the components to fit. I'm also thinking of converting the old rigid-framed MTB into a vague approximation of a 'cross bike for the winter, on a budget. But that's for another forum, I suspect.

Decisions, decisions. Anyway... hello.

 

[domtyler]

Hi Cadleigh, welcome to the forum Whereabouts in France are you and what do you do for a living over there?

 

[cadleigh]

Thanks. I'm in southern Burgundy. As to what I do for a living, that's a bit of a moot point...

 

[Crackle]

Greetings Cadleigh. I don't know that model of bike but a 52/42 11-23 in a hilly environment wouldn't suit me. I'd definetly change it, probably turn it into a compact, sort of 48/39 11-27 kind of range. Just do a search for Compacts to get a feel of what people use.

13% climbs, generally see me doing fish impressions in my 30x25 if it's of any length. Short ones I might just go for it in a bigger gear.

I like France. How long you been there?

 

[cadleigh]

Hi, Crackle. I'd thought of a compact - 50/34, maybe, and something along the lines of what you suggest at the back, as well - possibly even up to a 28. The trouble is I suspect there'd be so many things to change with it, I might be better off getting a newer bike, as the Columbus frame is one of the heavier tube sets anyway.

I've been here for three years. Life's a lot easier cycling on the roads than in England, at least out in the countryside. There's a general acceptance that you have equal rights to be out there; drivers slow behind you and wait to pass. Cars overtaking too close are much rarer (but, let's face it, there are impatient types everywhere and it does happen.) I've certainly never been shouted or klaxoned at.

The thing I found weird at first here, though, was the "have to have all the gear" mentality. You see little fat blokes in their sixties out pootling along on immaculate bikes, and every one of them will have this season's AG2R or CA kit stretched around their rotund forms. Charming in its way, but I'd feel a bit self-conscious, myself.

 

[Tynan]

yuk yuk, got a place near Limoges in the Dordogne, lots of rolling hills, some steep ones too and there's no end of cyclists, notably old ones, and as you say, always in tdf stylee full kit

 

[maurice]

Hi

Lovely place for cycling Burgundy, I cycled through there this summer.

Short blast down, climb up and repeat! Very rolling, and the heat in summer certainly makes full use of your bidons.

 

[cadleigh]

The flip side to the old fatties, of course, are the blokes in their late fifties to early sixties who've cycled all their lives and wear the same-sized trousers they did when they were 18. Teak coloured, skinny arms and legs like rawhide dog chews, cropped grey hair and gimlet eyes and an ancient team cap perched on the very top of their head. You can see when they look at you that you don't have sufficient kilometres under your belt to warrant a nod.

Short blast down, climb up and repeat! Very rolling, and the heat in summer certainly makes full use of your bidons.

Casse-pattes, they call them: leg-breakers. And the cold in winter means that the roads are so cracked in some places that you get an almost pavé-like experience. Whereabouts did you visit in Burgundy, maurice?

 

[Christopher]

+1 Cadleigh
The club local to my parents (Cycletourists Cadurciens) are like that but quite friendly. They have a lovely black and yellow kit, they look like wasps on bikes.

 

[ComedyPilot]

........Teak coloured, skinny arms and legs like rawhide dog chews, cropped grey hair and gimlet eyes............ You can see when they look at you that you don't have sufficient kilometres under your belt to warrant a nod.

What an accurate way of describing a career cyclist!

 

[yello]

Welcome cadleigh.

Can you take that 42 ring off and simply swap it for something smaller? I have a 36 tooth XT chainring you're welcome to, it's 5 bolt but I'm pretty sure the 105 bcd will be different.

I cycle with a local FFCT group and I have, achem, admired the legs of a few of the older blokes. You can tell they've been on bikes for generations.

It's been bleedy cold these last couple of mornings too; 6 and 7 degrees C. A bit of a shock and a reminder that winter's on it's way. The terrain around here is what they call "vallonné" and it don't half get nippy down in the dips!

 

[cadleigh]

Hey yello. Sorry for the delayed response; I've not been around for [checks date] ... blimey, several days.

The offer of the chainring is amazingly kind of you. Unfortunately, I don't know whether it would fit, either. I have a 105 inner and a Biopace outer
- which seems to help my (always dodgy) knees - and an eight-speed cassette, so the chain isn't one of those new fangled skinny ones.

It's been freezing here as well in the mornings. I went out with a friend earlier this week and we had to stop and put extra gear on before each descent. After I'd finished my 100km route my knees were aching with the cold. Serves me right for only wearing a cuissard.