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Numpty IM Bike Thread
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Easy jet carried mine back from Nice last year
That was very "nice" of them!
(all the planes fly with lifevests that have co2 cartridges on anyway - so it shouldnt really be a risk anyway)
i did ask and they said yes, it wasn't that I didn't tell them
We were allowed 2 in each hold bag for Nice and Lanza and the nice people at Zurich let me take one in the cabin bag with me after I'd not spotted it in the bag when I packed.
I got pinged coming back from Nice as I had three in my saddle bag- two was the limit. Nothing from BA when I checked the bike in (but their policy has only recently been relaxed to allow CO2 in hold baggage
Morning everyone. Genuine tri numpty here. Have run seriously for years (marathons, ultras etc) to a pretty decent standard. Half decent swimmer and commute on a hybrid (Specialized Sirrus Sport). As such, quite fancy having a proper go at triathlons in coming years. Will obviously start with sprint/Olympic distance, but intention is definitely to go for half IM/IM as soon as I'm able.
Anyway, would welcome any sage advice on first steps from anyone here (ideally without having to trawl through all 600+ pages of the thread; I gave up at around 2006...). In particular, I'm keen to invest in a decent bike. Heading to Triathlon Zone shop in St Albans this afternoon (any good?) for a mooch, chat and perhaps a fitting, and have my eye on this PX beauty - http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXEX2FOR/planet-x-exocet-2-sram-force-22-time-trial-bike. That said, before I drop two grand on a shiny piece of carbon, it would be good to hear some honest thoughts on the bike, and the subject in general.
Thanks in advance, let the games begin...
Right a non mechanical issue, getting faster on the bike, started biking end of May for a 3 hour ride I currently tootle about at around 14-15 mph. How do I go about getting that number up? Given its 9 months to next year's half with consistent winter work what could.I be aiming at?
Hi TBN
Some questions...
Have you taken part in a tri yet and do you own a road bike?
The general recommendation is to sort yourself out with a road bike first and get used to that. Tri/TT bikes are great for racing on and whilst should be trained on, are not ideal for all training, especially group rides or pub visits. If you do not own a bike currently jumping straight in with a TT bike will be 'interesting'.
Whatever you do decide to buy get needs to fit well and I see you have already considered that.
My personal advice as a PX owner would be to buy a bike with the best frame you can get with the money and consider upgrading the rest of the parts as you expand in to the sport. The PX carbon cockpit is not particularly adjustable and quite weighty when compared to better aluminium options.
If I were to replace my TT bike it would not be with a PX one. Despite that my PX Stealth is a solid bike and does the job well. This year it is the rider letting it down.
I was in PX when a guy came in looking at the exocet - he was new to triathlon too and the sales guy sold him the stealth rather than the exocet.
With the grand saving you could buy a road bike and nice wheels.
Or do some speed work in the winter. Trainerroad on the turbo will see your speed soar.
Hi IC5, thanks for getting in touch.
In answer to your questions, no I haven't completed a tri as yet; and no, don't own a road bike just my hybrid for commuting/pub visits.
The fitting is obviously a must to get the right bike for me and my needs and something I'm doing shortly. I suppose a big question for me is whether I can get away with skipping from pootling about on my hybrid as I do today straight to the 'interesting' position of a TT bike, without the need for the cost, hassle and delay of a road bike in between. I fully expect riding a TT bike (or even a road bike for that matter) will be an alien experience for a while, but logically and financially think that learning, training and ultimately racing on a TT bike seems more sensible. Ha, or am I kidding myself?!
A better option would be to get a road bike with bars that you could use clip ons for - at least until you are used to the position.
I've seen plenty of flash TT style bikes with blokes not using the tri bars because they can't ride like that for any length of time. It won't make you fast unless you can ride it properly.
And what delay ? Get a road bike and get out and ride it now. You can get a TT bike next Spring ?
Its not about the bike - its the rider. An expensive bike with a weak rider will get passed by a cheaper bike with a better rider every time.
I think you probably could go straight to a TT position you'd just need to adjust gradually - train on it regularly (on the road or on a turbo) and gradually extend the time you spend in TT position.
That said I would always have a road bike - part of the fun of cycling is riding with others and while you could do that on a hybrid you'd struggle to keep up with riders of a decent standard. I reckon riding with others is probably the easiest way of getting better too.
In short I agree with Cougie
My thoughts
A year after strating out and being to slow on the bike for irondistance, I went from my 1980 steel road bike to a new carbon road bike with clip on tri bars. This has suited me really well and allowed me to do both sportives (Ride London) and tris and I'm still improving speed on it. I do sometimes think I should have perhaps gone straight to a TT bike but then I would have had to take a different path to get to where I am now. Also now my road bike is setup as TT like as is possible it's a definite change in position that I don't think I could have held straight off. That said I do find myself looking at full TT bikes... But everyone I know who has one moans about comfort and even in my new TT position on my road bike I find it very comfortable even over the long distances. Also I've got fitter and my shape and muscles have changed, I now know for a TT bike I would go down a size from that of my road bike. Could I have done that straight off? I really don't know. Sorry more questions than answers there but something to think about.
As for speed, two things have helped, trainer road on the turbo that got me some extra speed and a lot more strength over winter and now I've just added an extra 3hr ride per week into my schedule plus my power sessions are back on trainer road, as well as my weekend long ride and my speed is going up again.
Evening all, thanks for the advice.
Went to the shop this afternoon and got a similar steer there as above. Guy seemed good and took time to listen and talk me through it all. He suggested a road bike rather than pure TT, but as a compromise, one with more of a TT profile than standard and then add decent tri-bars etc to tri-a-fy the thing.
He suggested either the PX RT-90 or the Kuota Kryon. Hadn't heard of the latter brand before but had a look and it certainly looks the business. Looked at a review which seemed pretty positive too. Anyone got a view on either of these?
Whatever fits best! But that Kuota is very nice; no competition!
Yes makes sense, if you only want one bike the reversible seatpost is a good idea.
Like IC5 says fit is key especially if you are going to use it with and without tri bars - a couple of things worth checking are can you get low enough at the front with tri bars on, do the handlebars take clip on tri bars and how quick is it to swop the post and saddle round as if it's too much of a faff how likely are you to actually do it before a training session ?
Another bike to consider is the Cube Aerium HPA Pro. It's a tri geomtry bike that is sold with drop bars and tri bars.
Clicky
Howdy, I have a pedal/cleat question for you
I used to use looks/road cleats on my bike many years ago, but after i had my back surgery, i found that I could feel it in my lower back when clipping in/out. (its quite a twisting movement) I then got Mr Frag to put SPD road cleats/pedals and I have ridden on these happily ever since. He recently mentioned that I should maybe swap back again and give it a go (as I'm now much stronger than I was post-op), but what I want to know is what is the benefit ? is it improved power or something ? I'm a believer in 'if it ain't broke don't fix it', so wondering if its worth doing ??
The look pedals probably give you a bigger platform - but in these days of carbon soled shoes I'm not even sure that's any advantage.
Spd is easier to walk and run in if you're doing tri.
cheers Cougs - I'll tell him to sod off then
stupid question alert
having been some what of a luddite in the past and having always carried a pump on the bike, I upgraded in the summer to a tiny little thing that you fit a gas canister to, well today I had to use it for the first time and I have to say how impressed I am but the question is how long should 1 gas canister last? I use, 2 use? mutliple uses?
About 1 tube. And when you get home let all the CO2 out and replace it with air from your track pump. The CO2 is more permeable than air and your tube will deflate overnight.
I can sometimes get 2 uses out of a single cartridge - but only if the punctures happen quite close together in time. I wouldn't want to rely on a second charge from the same cartridge in a race, so tend to carry 3 cartriges - 1 in the pump and 2 spares along with the innertubes and rest of the bits'n'bobs.
Pedal fell off on saturday, looks like the thread has been worn away, I installed them myself so I only have myself to blame
No I was at the end of my longer ride on Saturday morning about 7 miles from home (45 mile ride) and my foot was wobbling, I assumed the cleat was loose so I stopped and the pedal was almost off, I wedged it in with the hope that the pedalling would tighten it up again and I managed less than a mile when the pedal came completely off.