Show us your.......newbie progress! [4 Sep 2012 - 4 Oct 2014]

[RWright]

That's rather nice. You seem to be very good at searching out great bargains. Quite fancy a Synapse myself!

I never notice you riding the carbon fiber bike you have.....they won't melt, at least mine hasn't yet.

 

[Mo1959]

I never notice you riding the carbon fiber bike you have.....they won't melt, at least mine hasn't yet.

Lol. To be honest, it's as much habit grabbing the Forme as anything else. I have always been fractionally disappointed in how little difference there is in speed/effort with the carbon compared with the aluminium too (take note Nigel. Lol) One thing I do like is that it seems to dampen out road vibrations a bit better.

 

[RWright]

Lol. To be honest, it's as much habit grabbing the Forme as anything else. I have always been fractionally disappointed in how little difference there is in speed/effort with the carbon compared with the aluminium too (take note Nigel. Lol) One thing I do like is that it seems to dampen out road vibrations a bit better.

I think they dampen the vibrations a little better too. I have done a lot to my Trek 2.3 and have it very close to feeling like a CF bike, as far as vibration damping. I even have it just about as comfortable to ride. The big thing I like about the Synapse is it is very stable, it doesn't handle quite as well as the Trek because of the frame geometry, more specifically I think it is the angle of the rake on the front end. The Trek is almost effortless to maneuver, you just about think where you want it to go and it goes but the Synapse is a lot less effort to just cruse around on, very stable in a straight line, the Trek you have to concentrate just a little more to keep it going straight. Picky I guess but they are both fun, Synapse just a little easier on me over longer distances.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Lol. To be honest, it's as much habit grabbing the Forme as anything else. I have always been fractionally disappointed in how little difference there is in speed/effort with the carbon compared with the aluminium too (take note Nigel. Lol) One thing I do like is that it seems to dampen out road vibrations a bit better.

I am not thinking of the difference between two light weight bikes, one of Planet-X's Aluminium ones comes in at 8.8Kg's with Tiagra I think it is, but that between that weight and mine at 12.5Kg's but that is with a rack and mudguards on, it's just slowing me on ascents these days, and tiring on longer distances, don't get me wrong I love my Viking it must be pretty unique these days, Viking did do a 105 kitted bike a year or two back, (saw one one Rutland's site for £429 I think it was) with carbon forks. They have also done some carbon bikes.

 

[Stonechat]

Lol. To be honest, it's as much habit grabbing the Forme as anything else. I have always been fractionally disappointed in how little difference there is in speed/effort with the carbon compared with the aluminium too (take note Nigel. Lol) One thing I do like is that it seems to dampen out road vibrations a bit better.

Is it not lighter? Thought the light weight was one of the key things
Took me a while to get used to the road bike, though was better on hills from the outset. Much lighter than the hybrid

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Today I learned that if you are removing the speed link from your chain to let you give all the drive chain a good clean the link will fly apart unless you are careful and have a thingy to take the strain off the chain. (I now have a thingy made out of an old spoke)

I also learned that you will only be able to find one half of the link until you have, searched high and low, given up, gone to the LBS, bought a new link, fitted it, cleared up, put everything away, at which point you will find the other half under one of the maintenance stand's feet.

I find it easier if you unseat the chain from chainrings at the front (have it on the smallest sprocket at the rear as well), and have the link on the bottom... chain slack takes the tension away and life is soooo much easier. Same applies when it comes to refitting it.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Today I learned that if you are removing the speed link from your chain to let you give all the drive chain a good clean the link will fly apart unless you are careful and have a thingy to take the strain off the chain. (I now have a thingy made out of an old spoke)

I also learned that you will only be able to find one half of the link until you have, searched high and low, given up, gone to the LBS, bought a new link, fitted it, cleared up, put everything away, at which point you will find the other half under one of the maintenance stand's feet.

The rest of the world knows that's the first place to look....

 

[SpokeyDokey]

It started raining here yesterday afternoon and was the same all day today. Rather than go for a ride in the rain, like I should have, I did what any hard core cyclist would do, well maybe not all of them, but I read the bicycle ads. Unfortunately for my checking account I found a deal I couldn't pass up.
Say hello to N+1. I haven't named it yet but it is a very fresh Cannondale Synapse Carbon 3. I already have one just like it in a different color but this one is a 54, my current one is 56. I just felt like I maybe could use the next size smaller than the one I have, so I went for it, it even came with a nice looking set of GP 4000s tires on it. I got it at a price so low I can flip it and do well if I decide to. Now to start putting some more miles on these things.

That's a nice looking bike!

I test rode a Carbon Synapse with Ultegra plastered all over it - one of a heap of bikes I tried.

It felt nice in terms of position but I still thought the ride was harsh. I am not dissing the bike or your choice here but just saying how it felt to me. Apart from riding road bikes back in the 70's I had been an MTB'er and used to a much plusher ride.

I came to the conclusion that bikes with skinny-minny tyres were not for me. And for me skinny is anything south of 30!

Have fun putting your usual high mileage on the beast!

 

[whoosh]

Some newbie progress updates
Started cycling last August with a Boardman Hybrid
Got A Planet X Pro Carbon in June
Now done 2269 miles (plus a few untracked) and lost about a stone in weight
Did a 36 mile Sportive in July came in the top third
Best days ride 56m
Best avg speed 14.5 mph
Been semi retired (61)
Monday I start my new job @ Merlin Archery North (Near Bishop Auckland) so I don't think the next year will be as good for cycling. Too far a n d roads too busy to cycle to work
Thanks to Sustrans and The Hub Stockton and all my new cycling buddies

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Didn't much like this mornings little jaunt out and strava did not show this as a p.b. http://app.strava.com/activities/174240140/segments/4064413659 there is a quicker time back in Sept 2012 but i flag that ride as the data was a little off, even the fastest riders don't manage 47mph

Nor did it show up as a 2nd best time. it does show on VV
These are the stats from there for each configuration I have had the bike 7/8sp 9sp and 10sp, if you can read it

 

[Nigelnaturist]

So according to that I set a p.b. less than every 5 miles

 

[Torvi]

I've came to conclusion that one should ride with its head not muscles. Im dropping out those 30~ish distances like ive done last week, instead i decided to train different way and it started with todays afterstorm time race.

I went on a hilly billy trip for 12,7 miles and decided to beat it in less than a hour, also after first two miles i decided to do something extreme for a beginner and made myself ride all those hills on outer gear. This was even harder than that 30 mile trip from last week i have to say, i had 6 breaks in total which one was to check my rear tire that seemed somewhat flat but it was right, guess it was just slipping on wet tarmac. But i still managed to beat my challenge in 55 minutes and 34 seconds! yay.

Road wasn't best there were loads of bumps and sharp turns (especially in rushden) and few times i was forced to drift downhill to not hit some sunday driver that wasnt decided where she wanted to go... All in all it was fun even tough on the end of my trip some bloke was messing with me and hitting all the big puddles in front of me so i couldnt avoid getting nice and wet on the end

Ive also managed to learn how to do something called pendulum climbing or power climb, it feels very fluent on 3rd gear on outer but on lower or higher gears i cant seem to find a proper balance.

I dunno why but sometimes when i have to shift down on hill i need to do a spin backwards to get used to lighter gear, my legs just cant switch to another tempo right away.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5505977 <- todays route.

Avg speed: 13.0 mph
Max speed: 32.4 mph
Total distance: 13.05 mile
Total time: 55min 34sec
Hill climb speed was ranging from 7,4mph (slowest) up to 12.3mph

That was hell of a ride

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@Torvi I tend to mix things up, some distance for endurance and some shorter ones at a higher pace, then I will do a flat ride again more an endurance, sometimes I will spin slowly up a hill sometimes (not often I don't like it) but more often at a higher cadence as I can do, depending on grade gears left I aim for about 85-90, sometime I just get out of the saddle and grind up, and sometime depending on length I will endeavour to sprint, it all depends how I feel, today I just hated the ride.

 

[Torvi]

@Nigelnaturist
in my area there seem to be no flats, maybe short ones that dosent escalate for more than a mile which is by all means nothing and they mostly lead to uphill uphill and more uphills so im pretty much limited and to be honest i dont like flats too much too, they just seem not good for me, i prefer climbing.
Anyway ive decided on my next trip idk if tomorrow or monday since tomorrow i do overtimes at work and i dont think ill be able to do sucha requiring trip.
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5512483

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@Torvi from what I remember of Wellingbrough its a little like here, though probably not as flat to the east of you as it is here.