New Bike First Ride

[Deleted member 1258]

Had a run out to Middleton Hall this afternoon on my new kilmeston, 44 miles, and it was blowing a hoolie with intermittent heavy showers. I was very impressed with the Verenti, it rolled along nicely, climbed well, the double tap gear change didn't take long to get used to and changed quick and accurate, except a couple of times when I forgot and tried to change like I was still on the seven year old sora I'd been using. Wasn't impressed with the brakes but they got better as the ride went on so it looks like they just need to bed in. I need to change a couple of thing to get the set up just right, I was surprised at how high the front is, I'll have to lower the handlebars a couple of spacers, I also need a touch of height on the saddle. My question is what's the thinking behind this fifty/thirty four on the front? Its too large a gap, after having it on the turbo while I set it up I changed it for a thirty eight, but even that felt too low. The other question is why can't you get a forty two ring for these? I recon a fifty/forty two with the twelve/twenty seven cassette on this would suit me very nicely. Any way I had a good ride this afternoon, I'm a happy bunny and very impressed with my new purchase.
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[downfader]

I have to say they look like loverly bikes! I am quite jealous!

50/34t is pretty standard now. My first hybrid had it and I've seen it in a lot of bike specs from the likes of Kona, Giant etc. I suppose its Shimano's do-all. I know what you mean though, it is a bit of a jump and takes getting used to, though I always found it handy on the sudden incline of hills around here.

My next bike will be 54/39t with 12-25 as I'm stronger thesedays. I have the Jake with triple for when I'm not as strong

So is that headset/stem/bar arrangement more like an Audax then? What saddle did they provide or did you spec it yourself?

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I have to say they look like loverly bikes! I am quite jealous!
50/34t is pretty standard now. My first hybrid had it and I've seen it in a lot of bike specs from the likes of Kona, Giant etc. I suppose its Shimano's do-all. I know what you mean though, it is a bit of a jump and takes getting used to, though I always found it handy on the sudden incline of hills around here.
My next bike will be 54/39t with 12-25 as I'm stronger thesedays. I have the Jake with triple for when I'm not as strong
So is that headset/stem/bar arrangement more like an Audax then? What saddle did they provide or did you spec it yourself?

They call it sportive geometry, its a compact type frame but the angle on the top tube is steeper than either of the two compact frames that I have had in the past. Its a 53 frame and I normally ride 54 but now I have it I suspect I could have gone down a little more, but the next size down is a 50 and that would have been too small. The saddle is Verenti's own make, it seems OK, but my arse hasn't made friends with it yet. The trouble with the 50/34 is if I ride with the club as soon as I hit the 34 to climb a hill I'm straight out the back. Being a mature rider I now find 50 is about as high as I go.

 

[MacB]

very nice looking bike by the way

re the 50/34, looking at the results with a 12-27 cassette, if gives a range of 48.7 to 109.5 gear inches in the big ring and 33.1 to 74.5 in the small. If you chop off the poor chainline(2 gears on each) then it's 62.6 to 109.5 and 33.1 to 63.8. So it actually gives you 15 sequential gears from 33.1 to 109.5, I'd have thought that works quite well. But I can appreciate that a chainring move will probably need a rear shift to compensate. This would be most noticeable if trying to stay with a group. By the look of it you'd need to drop down a ring at the front and up 4 cogs at the back in one go.

I prefer the idea of a super compact as per Sheldon Brown where you're effectively trying to do nearly all your riding in the big ring. It should be set to give maxium access to the cassette and the best spread of gears for an individuals riding. Then the small ring is as small as you can get away with and is only ever employed on stupidly steep stuff or really long climbs, ie hardly ever. You can normally go for a closer ratio cassette as well, for example you could cover most of your riding needs with a 46t ring and 11-25 cassette, giving you 48.4 to 109.9. This is pretty much identical to your current 50t range, then have an inner 30t which would give you a lower bottom end as well.

Sadly that sort of thing doesn't come as standard.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Thanks for that lot macb, saved me a lot of brain work, I hadn't sat down to work it out yet. I think it was just the difference from the close ratio I am used to to the wider ratio of the Kilmeston that came as a shock to the legs this afternoon, I've been on 8 speed 44/39 and 13-25 at the back for the last few years. Before that I spent a lot of time on 6 speed 50/42 with a 13-24 at the back, used to ride most of the time on the 42, found that gave me a fair pace on the flat and I could climb well on it. Riding the Kilmeston this afternoon had me thinking about the potential of combining a 42 with the Kilmeston 12-27 cassette to give me more options. But I have no plans yet to start doing a lot of messing about with gearing.

 

[MacB]

interesting - a 42/26, doable via Spa Cyles ST55 chainset and an 11-23 cassette would give you 48 to 100 gear inches, all reachable from the 42t and then some super lows for tough stuff.

I believe on that chainset - £20 by the way plus £10 for extra ring - you can have an outer of 40/42/44/46 and an inner from 24 to 36t. What can work probably just comes down to the FD and clearances, 44/28 with 11-23 might be a good mix.

If you rode a lot on 50/42 with 13-24 then your biggest gear would have been 101 gear inches. I must admit I spend most of my time on a 42t ring as well.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I have found somewhere that does a 42 that is suitable for my chainset, but they were out of stock. I did request an alert when they are back in stock, but forgot to bookmark it so will have to hunt for it again. Supposed to be an outer ring but I'm sure I can find a way to fit it as an inner.

 

[downfader]

Now you see.. the mathmatics side of gear ratios blows my tiny little mind! Kudos to you MacB!

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Now you see.. the mathmatics side of gear ratios blows my tiny little mind! Kudos to you MacB!

Working out gear ratios don't do my mind any good either, MacB must be a mathematician, I'd end up confused with books and tables everywhere.

 

[ray.m]

Very good looking bike and one that I was thinking about buying myself. I notice that the tyres are not the ones specified on the Veranti website. Are they now suppling the bike with bontrager tyres or did change them yourself? If they were supplied by the manufacturer could you let tell me the tyre model please.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Very good looking bike and one that I was thinking about buying myself. I notice that the tyres are not the ones specified on the Veranti website. Are they now suppling the bike with bontrager tyres or did change them yourself? If they were supplied by the manufacturer could you let tell me the tyre model please.

I changed the tyres as soon as I got the bike. They are 700cx25 Bontrager Race Lite Hardcases, brought from here http://www.allterraincycles.co.uk/product/119612.html I have them on all my bikes, their puncture resistance is excellent.

 

[ray.m]

I changed the tyres as soon as I got the bike. They are 700cx25 Bontrager Race Lite Hardcases, brought from here http://www.allterrai...uct/119612.html I have them on all my bikes, their puncture resistance is excellent.

Thanks for the link, I've bookmarked it. I went ahead and got myself a Kilmeston. Done about 100 miles now and very pleased with the bike, only problem being the brakes could be better, still hoping they'll wear in?? The frames are on the big side, I am between sizes L & XL and went for the L which turned out to be plenty big enough- I've put a 110 stem on and very comfortable. Double tap is a big improvement on my old 980 friction shifters!

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Its the height at the front that causes all the confusion, the angle on the top tube is very steep, I have now dropped the stem down so theres just one 10mm spacer underneath it, and raised the saddle a touch and its now about set up right for me. I've got a medium and I'm 5ft 6in and the medium is a smidge on the large size of right for me, but the small would have been to small. I've now done three rides on it totalling about 150 miles, the last one I had the 42 tooth inner ring on it, made the gearing better for me, I'm going to drop the outer to 48 shortly. I'm very impressed with it, the double tap is very good, the bike rolls along very easily, climbs well and handles well. I've also noticed that I'm a lot fresher after a long ride. My only gripe has been the weather so far, I've done three rides so far, on all three its been blowing a hoolie and on two of them I've got wet on the way back.

 

[HLaB]

Dave, the 50/34 is a standard compact unit with a 11-23 on the back its so you have a low gear/s for climbing As you say it can be too big a jump though; I prefer a 50/36 compact with a 12-25 cassette its a bit less of a jump but can get up the hills. I don't know if thats a Shimano/ Sram (50/34) v Campi thing the standard compacts I've seen on bikes equiped with either have been that way. My Kinesis though a standard double with Shimano has similar to the campi 38/52 12-25

PS the Verenti looks fab

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Dave, the 50/34 is a standard compact unit with a 11-23 on the back its so you have a low gear/s for climbing As you say it can be too big a jump though; I prefer a 50/36 compact with a 12-25 cassette its a bit less of a jump but can get up the hills. I don't know if thats a Shimano/ Sram (50/34) v Campi thing the standard compacts I've seen on bikes equiped with either have been that way. My Kinesis though a standard double with Shimano has similar to the campi 38/52 12-25

PS the Verenti looks fab

I know that 50/34 is fairly standard now, the Kilmeston has 12-27 on the back. Trouble is I cut my teeth on 52/42 with 5 speeds at the back, I rode fast club rides for years on 50/42 with 6 speeds on the back. These days I do most of my riding on fixed and the legs don't do big gears like they used to. 50/34 was to wide for me to be to be comfortable, and it could have caused problems if I started riding regularly with the group again. So I've fitted my favourite sized inner ring, and found I could exploit the bikes potential better. And as I'm not as comfortable on 50 as I used to be I am planning to bring that down a couple of teeth.