Road Bike for a small lady

[Plax]

We only did a short test ride, but her first impressions were how much more responsive it was compared to her old ATB. One thing she does miss is the gear lever indicators though, often ladies rely on those to know which gear they should and shouldn’t use.

With upmarket drop bar shifters though there are no such indicators, many do indeed struggle for a while but with patience they get there in the end. I note that often men and women seem to learn this in a much different way, where as many men relate to how the chain moves up and down the cassette and what they therefore need to do to trim the front mech’, ladies often seem to learn this in a more mathematical way, certain gear numbers can only be used with certain chain ring numbers, as such they can find it more difficult when changing from a bike with gear indicators to one without.

Paul_Smith
www.bikeplus.co.ukhttp://www.bikeplus.co.uk

I just make it up as I go along. I do like the gear indicators on my hybrid. On the Galaxy, obviously there aren't any. So I tend to use whatever feels right at the time. I'll mainly stick to using all the gears on the middle chain ring. In the largest chain ring I'll use the first three or four of the hightest gears, and on the smallest chain ring use the first three or four lowest gears. No idea what this equates to, it's just what I feel comfortable doing without indicators.

Glad the bike was a hit - it was a cracking episode of Dr Who btw. It had TWO David Tennant's AND John Barrowman .

 

[Cathryn]

John Barrowman...such a waste for womankind ;(

 

[Nick1979]

Thanks Paul for your explanations on the Record Red lever (well no it's not SRAM!). So is the front lever not indexed at all? So does it mean you don't have any click on the lever and just need to push it until the chainring change? How does it work with the small thingy to switch to the small cr?

 

[Paul_Smith SRCC]

Thanks Paul for your explanations on the Record Red lever (well no it's not SRAM!). So is the front lever not indexed at all? So does it mean you don't have any click on the lever and just need to push it until the chainring change? How does it work with the small thingy to switch to the small cr?

Yes not indexed at all although the lever has in effect several notches, one notch at a time moves mech enough for trimming then you push through 3-4 notches to change rings, this is how Ergo power worked until recently so in effect 'Record Red' is not new, it is the indexed versions that are.

Paul_Smith
www.bikeplus.co.uk

 

[trio25]

What a lovely looking bike. I'd L anyone who gave me a bike like that!

 

[Nick1979]

Yes not indexed at all although the lever has in effect several notches, one notch at a time moves mech enough for trimming then you push through 3-4 notches to change rings, this is how Ergo power worked until recently so in effect 'Record Red' is not new, it is the indexed versions that are.

OK but it sounds like how my Veloce lever works (just had it last week, still struggle a bit to smoothly switch to the big ring), it has a few notches for trimming and I have to push the lever all the way (and keep it there for a second or two) for the ring to change. So is mine (Veloce 2008 I think) indexed?

 

[Paul_Smith SRCC]

OK but it sounds like how my Veloce lever works (just had it last week, still struggle a bit to smoothly switch to the big ring), it has a few notches for trimming and I have to push the lever all the way (and keep it there for a second or two) for the ring to change. So is mine (Veloce 2008 I think) indexed?

The indexed front Veloce shifter will state QS on the lever

The older versions didn't

Paul_Smith
www.bikeplus.co.uk

 

[Paul_Smith SRCC]

...after that ride she agreed that she would like to join me riding from Bordeaux to Barcelona, I may have not highlighted the part about the Pyrenees being in between the two when trying to convince her to go mind you, so decided to treat her to a bike..,

Well she got over the Pyrenees OK on it; full write up here

Paul_Smith