Newbie thread and looking for a favour maybe.........

gabgab

Hi everyone,

I have a trek 7.2 commuter bike I think it is called. I have done a afiar bit of mileage on it since I got it maybe 300 or so, the problem is that I am doing a triathalon in a few weeks with a friend foer charity, he showed me the bike he has and the tires are half the width of mine, I took it for a quick spin and it feels a lot lot quicker.......

Does anyone know a bike shop that trades in bikes? Or has a decent stock of second hand racers,

Also do the clip on shoes, excuse my ignorance, make much of a difference after the, I presume, settling in phase,

As my friend put it forgetting and falling over at a set of lights

Civilian_Target

If you just put narrower, slick tyres on your current bike it should make a lot of difference. Most hybrids will go down to 28" tyres with ease, possibly narrower.

Similarly, you could get special clip in shoes, but you can get clipless catches for pedals. They make a difference because you can apply some power on the upstroke, but obviously, you have to get use to doing that. But you can get semi-circular plastic "footwells" that clip onto the front of your pedals and do a lot of the same thing without requiring special shoes or pedals, again, a cheap and easy fix that will improve things without messing up your commute.

Personally, I don't use them, I find them annoying because if you start and they flick upside-down, they scrape the ground.

gabgab

Cheers for the advice Civilian Target,

I will look into getting the much narrower slicks then, any idea of cost for these no? Its probably the best idea, then I can train on the bigger ones, then a few days beforehand get my slicks on and be quicker but the whole time training on the big ones.......... SWEET

Ciaran500

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=12607

Something like that would be perfect, only €17 a tyre but you will need new tubes aswell. Although you could probably go thinner than 1.25.

blorg

You are probably looking at €30/tyre fitted for decent ones. You'll probably need new tubes also (€5 each.) If you went for something like 700x28c Specialized Armadillos they are bomb-proof and you may not want to switch back to your current tyres.

"Clipless" pedals and shoes do make a big difference but will cost around €50 for the pedals and another €75-100 for shoes. Toe clips (and straps) are almost as good and a big difference from plain pedals. These will cost in the region of €10, so definately get them.

Another good investment are bar ends (fit on the end of your handlebars) which are very good for climbing and an alternative hand position. These cost in the region of €15-20.

Good luck with the race.

blorg

Ciaran500 wrote:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=12607

Something like that would be perfect, only €17 a tyre but you will need new tubes aswell. Although you could probably go thinner than 1.25.

That's a MTB tyre (26") - you need a 700c road tyre for a Trek 7200. Chainreaction are a good shop though, have bought a fair amount from them and it's free postage on everything.

gabgab

Thanks a million lads,

I am looking for somewhere to fit the stuff too cos I am useless, I cant get the front wheel off it has an allen key on one side of the slot and nothing on the other......

I am going to drop down to Hollingsworth and see what sorta trade in he will offer me, but I will probably just stick with getting the narrower tyres,

Thanks a million for all the advice lads,

"If you went for something like 700x28c Specialized Armadillos they are bomb-proof and you may not want to switch back to your current tyres"

Are these puncture proof?? The last thing I need is a poxy puncture on the day and stranded in the middle of nowhere :mad: :mad:

blorg

Yes, Specialized Armadillos are extremely puncture proof. Hollingsworth do them for around €30/tyre. I have been getting circa 10,000km between punctures.

My point is if you get these there is no particular reason to swap back to your original tyres, unless possibly if you wanted to do light off-road cycling.

cunnins4

as the lads said the slicks are the way to go. I was in the exact same situation this time last year for the dublin tri and i put a set of 26x1.25 tyres on my mountain bike and found them a lot faster. I also put staps on the pedals-they do, as civilian target said, drag on the ground when you're just getting going, but nothing worth worrying about. The whole "forget about them at a set of traffic lights" thing happened me, i hurt myself and i NEVER forgot about them again. They became like second nature and sometimes i'd have to look down to check i had my foot in, so i personally would recommend them. Mind you, since changing over to clipless pedals i'm loving them even more-they were an expensive investment though so stick with the cheaper straps for the time being.

Oh, and about using fat tyres until a few days before...the only thing i'd say is i found the slicks quite terrifying on bends etc... the first couple of days because i always thought the bike was gonna skid off the road, so you may want to get some practice in on them to gain confidence with them in bends.

All the best with your race man. It's good craic!

blorg

cunnins4 wrote:

Oh, and about using fat tyres until a few days before...the only thing i'd say is i found the slicks quite terrifying on bends etc... the first couple of days because i always thought the bike was gonna skid off the road, so you may want to get some practice in on them to gain confidence with them in bends.

That's a good point. It's never a good idea to change something radical very soon before race day.

Civilian_Target

blorg wrote:

Another good investment are bar ends (fit on the end of your handlebars) which are very good for climbing and an alternative hand position. These cost in the region of €15-20.

Good point, I have them too. They're totally useless in terms of actually doing anything other than adding weight but they make a really night psychological crutch when you're trying hard to climb that hill because they're in a more natural gripping position (and they're made of cold hard steel instead of soft woosey rubber!)

gabgab

Cheers lads, I reckon your all spot on with the info

I did an experiment today out training, got a mate who is on a racer with the slick efforts, we both got to the same pace then just stopped pedaling..... It was ridiculous the difference it made,

I was tempted to punch him cos it would of been funny but he was just getting used to the racer, and shoes etc so I decided against it,

He is going to see if he can source racer for me..... How much difference would the bike make, if I have the slick tyres, in terms of a 20k cycle and two guys of equal fitness, how much quicker would the racer guy be??

cunnins4

gabgab, as i said earlier, i did my first tri on a mountain bike. I've done all my training so far this summer on the mountain bike too, but last week i got my first road bike-it seems to me anyway that you use slightly different muscles in your legs on the road bike and also the riding position is difficult to get used to. So if your friend is going to get you a roadie, i'd say you'd want to get most of your training done on that because if you just use it on the day, you'd probably be fecked. Sure it took me about half an hour to figure out how to change the gears!!!

gabgab

Cheers man, your definitely right.

blorg

A proper road bike should be significantly faster; apart from the likes of the tyres and transmission the position is much more aerodynamic. If you are lucky you may be able to pick up an entry-level one second-hand for around €300-400. Just make sure it is the right size for you!

blorg

For example here are two possibilities from Buy & Sell:

Large frame Giant OCR 4 for sale. Perfect condition, excellent commuter bike or road racer for the weekend rider. Leinster Dublin 15 €270 086-8474252

Gents racer lightweight Cannondale 28in, new fork dublin area. No txt Leinster Dublin 9 €350 085-7313656

gabgab

Hey Blorg thanks a million for the help,

I am 6 foot 2 so what sorta size should I be looking at?

Thanks,

blorg

It does depend on the brand but I would imagine 60, maybe 58. I'm 6 foot and I ride 58.

Best thing to do is test ride.