Zwift, Tour of Watopia 2018

[<Tommy>]

I wore shorts last night, but had knee warmers on. Toe caps on the shoes and was cold. Mind you it was 4 Celsius by the time I got home.

Tomorrow it starts at 8 Celsius so knee warmers, arm warmers and gilet will be in use. I'm looking forward to next week, my Mallorca tan has all but faded. By tan I mean off white

I’m out for short spin tomorrow morning but defo wearing knee warmers. Next week the weather is looking very promising.

 

[Whorty]

Blimey these TOW stages come thick and fast don't they?! Stage 5 - Three Sisters, 30 miles, 3k feet of elevation - today and tomorrow. I'm wondering if I'll manage to finish all these as I won't have time tonight, and if the weather's nice on Saturday I'd rather get outside in the real world!

Can't do tonight as currently in hospital with HID who is, as I type, in surgery. Should be doing stage 5 tomorrow then hopefully go for a little spin Sunday on my SS woo hoo

 

[CXRAndy]

Stage 5 1.30:25.

Died a death in the volcano

 

[Breedon]

Deano you got the etap out the box yet mate? I’m setting mine up today and I’ve taken a couple of pics that might help you.

Yes all set up it's so crisp i just need to set up the FD just needs fine tuning

 

[Breedon]

Deano you got the etap out the box yet mate? I’m setting mine up today and I’ve taken a couple of pics that might help you.

Are you using the blips as well? They look tempting

 

[<Tommy>]

Yes all set up it's so crisp i just need to set up the FD just needs fine tuning

Excellent!

The front FD is a bit temperamental. It’s rock solid when you’ve got it right, it just takes a bit of trial and error to get it there (I’m trying to get my one just right but I got called down for supper.... . Two things that will help you mate.

1.

SRAM suggest that the highest teeth in the chainset should sit centre of the mark on the FD. I’d say it works smoother where I have it with the mark a touch above the teeth.

2. Sram say that you should allow .5mm gap between the big ring and the mech at the outer limit. It’s much better if you allow between 1.5 and 2mm. The mech needs to swing out a bit beyond the big ring, and then move back in, to run smoothly.

Are you using sram rings? I am on this bike. But on my tarmac I have praxis rings and they seem quieter. Might just need a bit more tuning though...

Are you using the blips as well? They look tempting

I’m not using blips at the moment. But I might get some for the summer. Defo agree they look tempting.

 

[<Tommy>]

Can't do tonight as currently in hospital with HID who is, as I type, in surgery. Should be doing stage 5 tomorrow then hopefully go for a little spin Sunday on my SS woo hoo

All the best mate!

 

[berty bassett]

thinking of doing stage 5 tomorrow at 10 if anyones about? then outside sunday
Whorty - hope it all goes well for your missus and you
all this talk of new gadgets has got me looking even harder now !
hopefully selling 2 so i can buy 1
narrowed it down to either focus paralane or the trek domane
not speed machines but they should be able to clank some miles out
if anyone has experience of these i am all ears

 

[Breedon]

Excellent!

The front FD is a bit temperamental. It’s rock solid when you’ve got it right, it just takes a bit of trial and error to get it there (I’m trying to get my one just right but I got called down for supper.... . Two things that will help you mate.

1.

View attachment 404115

SRAM suggest that the highest teeth in the chainset should sit centre of the mark on the FD. I’d say it works smoother where I have it with the mark a touch above the teeth.

2. Sram say that you should allow .5mm gap between the big ring and the mech at the outer limit. It’s much better if you allow between 1.5 and 2mm. The mech needs to swing out a bit beyond the big ring, and then move back in, to run smoothly.

Are you using sram rings? I am on this bike. But on my tarmac I have praxis rings and they seem quieter. Might just need a bit more tuning though...



I’m not using blips at the moment. But I might get some for the summer. Defo agree they look tempting.

Cheers Tom will have another go, since I've put the etap on im having trouble getting the crank right, too much tightening and you can hear and feel the crank grinding too loose and the crank has play there's no inbetween, ive had to put on a spacer as the crank arm hits the derailer or the grub screw when i had the old derailer on i had no problems it's driving me crackers.

 

[<Tommy>]

Cheers Tom will have another go, since I've put the etap on im having trouble getting the crank right, too much tightening and you can hear and feel the crank grinding too loose and the crank has play there's no inbetween, ive had to put on a spacer as the crank arm hits the derailer or the grub screw when i had the old derailer on i had no problems it's driving me crackers.

Dean tighten the crank as hard as you can. I think it’s supposed to be 30+ nm. But in real terms just put some proper force through the Allen key or preferably ratchet spanner. You shouldn’t need the spacer. And you can’t compromise the tightness of the crank for any reason. It could cause a nasty malfunction.

The grub screw thing is a known issue. And if you look on the inside of your crank arm I dare say you now have a small groove in it where the grub screw had gone through it. Bloody annoying. I had the same issue with the s works crank but not the Sram red one. If I’d of remembered this I would of mentioned it earlier.
It might also be that it’s because you don’t have the front mech set up right and you’ve tried to loosen the screw too much to compensate for this.

Like I say this is a known issue. You have two or three options.
1. You tell the shop you bought it from. Then they contact sram and they supply you with a shorter grub screw. They do this on request. Why the fu#k they don’t provide this from the get go is a complete joke. I bought my first etap pretty early doors. But I’d of thought they’d or sorted this by now... (It’s takes a few weeks for the shorter screw to arrive... like 3 weeks maybe....)
2. You take a hack saw to the grub screw. I did this with a pair of pliers to hold the screw firm and a junior hacksaw and took 2 me or so off. I have this technique sussed from cutting down bolts etc but it takes practice and you want to hold the screw really firm in the grips or you’ll risk damaging it. I can try take a photo of this if you like mate.
3. you source a grub screw that’s a shorter length. This is fine unless it’s the out limit grub screw as this is reverse threaded. And I’m not sure how easy that’s going to be to source.

 

[Breedon]

Cheers Tommy I've had another play with set up and it does seem a bit better now so cheers for that.

 

[Whorty]

HID home and feeling remarkably well considering. Hoping the pain killers last through the night so she gets a good sleep Off to bike shop in the morning to collect the SS. Probably do stage 5 of ToW at 4 tomorrow afternoon. Pb on 3 sisters is 1:41 so anything near that tomorrow and I'll be a happy chappy

 

[JLaw]

Stage 5 1.30:25.

Died a death in the volcano

It's a painful ride. I dropped back like ~90 places on the epic kom climb and slowly clawed back about 30 of them. Finished at 1:39 give or take.

I expect to rest tomorrow.

 

[Breedon]

HID home and feeling remarkably well considering. Hoping the pain killers last through the night so she gets a good sleep Off to bike shop in the morning to collect the SS. Probably do stage 5 of ToW at 4 tomorrow afternoon. Pb on 3 sisters is 1:41 so anything near that tomorrow and I'll be a happy chappy

Hope she has a good night's sleep carl wishing her well.
I might be doing stage 5 about 6 working tomorrow so gives me time to get ready

 

[Whorty]

Hope she has a good night's sleep carl wishing her well.
I might be doing stage 5 about 6 working tomorrow so gives me time to get ready

Cheers Dean. No point me trying to ride with you tomorrow, with all that climbing you'll be miles ahead