Ridgeback Solo -£399 at cycle surgery (just got one!)

[RedBike]

Sittingduck, the offer of the free sprockets is open to you too.

 

[MajorMantra]

Does the rear mudguard not have quick releases? If it doesn't, you should be able to get some. They are the things that SKS mudguards normally come with for the front (to prevent the mudguard locking the front wheel if it breaks) but you can put the on the back. I would have thought they'd allow enough movement to get the wheel out.

Matthew

 

[RedBike]

I didn't know about these quick releases. I think i've got SKS guards too!

My bike didn't come with the guards!

 

[MajorMantra]

They are these by the way:

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=693&src=froogle

Matthew

 

[Sittingduck]

Thanks for the info chaps - definitely food for thought and to be honest, if I wasn't waiting for a new Debit card to be delivered, (some swine cloned my old one) I would likely order a size 56. Have a concern over the 71" gear though, so would be looking to get a slightly larger fixed sprocket... my spider senses tell me one of redbikes sprockets would take it down a tad to 67.2, which is pretty much what I'd be looking to run... maybe a tad lower 65 or something (I'm a heffer uphill)

Cheers,
Will let you know if I decide to go for it!

 

[MajorMantra]

I would have thought a sub-70 inch gear would be awfully spinny for London. Or are there bigger hills than I think?

Matthew

 

[RedBike]

Thanks for the info chaps - definitely food for thought and to be honest, if I wasn't waiting for a new Debit card to be delivered, (some swine cloned my old one) I would likely order a size 56. Have a concern over the 71" gear though, so would be looking to get a slightly larger fixed sprocket... my spider senses tell me one of redbikes sprockets would take it down a tad to 67.2, which is pretty much what I'd be looking to run... maybe a tad lower 65 or something (I'm a heffer uphill)

Cheers,
Will let you know if I decide to go for it!

You'll probably want a bigger gear than you'd think. You need to remember there's no freewheeling (obviously) so you'll be spinning like the clappers when you come to go back down the hills.

I'm letting the 19t sprockets go because although they're an ideal ratio for me on the flat they're just too spinny on the downs / when the bike picks up speed.

It's hard to say what ratio you'll need until you've tried a few for yourself. Just changing from 18 to 17t or 19t at the back makes a wopping BIG difference to the way the bike feels.

 

[Joe24]

-1 on Redbikes advice.
I started with 65" and this will get you fit. Its what pretty much all of the people that rode fixed in the club rode. Somewhere around 65", but they were all on the same gear.
Riding this in the club ment that you had to spin, which gave you good leg speed, and got you fit. It got me fit! I was pretty supple then aswell, could easily get up to 200rpm going down a hill!
I went from that to 72", which i could feel the difference straight away. Legs were going slower, had to put more power in going up hills, but i lost some suppleness!!!! Which i really didnt like.
I went down a hill where i could do 38mph on the 65", and did 37mph down it on the 72"
I did get my suppleness back though. Can now do 200rpm downhill on it, and have beaten sme geard bikes downhills
Made my legs bigger aswell

So, basicly, dont just think that because you have a small gear you wont be fast!
I could still chaingang and keep up(about 28mph was the limit though) on the 65" fixed, and going downhills i could keep up except on the long ones in the group.

 

[MajorMantra]

You may be right from a fitness point of view Joe, but I very briefly tried a 66" gear in hilly Edinburgh and found the spinniness quite annoying. My Pompino now has 73" and the Genesis (currently in bits) is at 70", both of which feel about right.

Anyway, I've got the geared road bike for spinning on.

Matthew

 

[Joe24]

You may be right from a fitness point of view Joe, but I very briefly tried a 66" gear in hilly Edinburgh and found the spinniness quite annoying. My Pompino now has 73" and the Genesis (currently in bits) is at 70", both of which feel about right.

Anyway, I've got the geared road bike for spinning on.

Matthew

The reason i changed to bigger is that i wanted to be able to keep up on long downhills, and when the whole group sped up,i could keep up.
Did keep me very fit though.
Dont think im much less fit now though mind, i am much stronger though.

 

[RedBike]

-1 on Redbikes advice.
I started with 65" and this will get you fit. Its what pretty much all of the people that rode fixed in the club rode. Somewhere around 65", but they were all on the same gear.
Riding this in the club ment that you had to spin, which gave you good leg speed, and got you fit. It got me fit! I was pretty supple then aswell, could easily get up to 200rpm going down a hill!
I went from that to 72", which i could feel the difference straight away. Legs were going slower, had to put more power in going up hills, but i lost some suppleness!!!! Which i really didnt like.
I went down a hill where i could do 38mph on the 65", and did 37mph down it on the 72"
I did get my suppleness back though. Can now do 200rpm downhill on it, and have beaten sme geard bikes downhills
Made my legs bigger aswell

So, basicly, dont just think that because you have a small gear you wont be fast!
I could still chaingang and keep up(about 28mph was the limit though) on the 65" fixed, and going downhills i could keep up except on the long ones in the group.

lol Joe.
I suspect your right, if you can spin at 200rpm that is!. Sadly my poor legs start to feel mighty uncomfortable with anything over 120 and feel like they're about to be ripped off at 150rpm.

For now I will stick with my 74" (I think) gear, 48x18, and just keep practacing spinning on the hills. At the moment I i'm doing about 18mph at 90rpm / 20mph at 100rpm. If I was pedalling significantly quicker I would find it very uncomfortable to maintain these sorts of speeds for any length of time.

 

[Joe24]

lol Joe.
I suspect your right, if you can spin at 200rpm that is!. Sadly my poor legs start to feel mighty uncomfortable with anything over 120 and feel like they're about to be ripped off at 150rpm.

For now I will stick with my 74" (I think) gear, 48x18, and just keep practacing spinning on the hills. At the moment I i'm doing about 18mph at 90rpm / 20mph at 100rpm. If I was pedalling significantly quicker I would find it very uncomfortable to maintain these sorts of speeds for any length of time.

You got a 72" gear, if you have 700c wheels. Same gear as what i have.
41.7mph(i think, might be abit higher) is 200rpm on that.

 

[RedBike]

42mph Ekkk!,

I think 35mph is the quickest i've been; and that was only very briefly before having to pull on the anchors and drop back down to about 25/27

 

[Joe24]

42mph Ekkk!,

I think 35mph is the quickest i've been; and that was only very briefly before having to pull on the anchors and drop back down to about 25/27

Should of kept going
33mph in a few sprints on the flat for me.

As soon as you get your legs in the right place, i find that your legs just spin.
If i have been leg braking at the start of the hill, its harder to get your legs spinning fast enough.