Thanks!

Sesshoumaru

Just wanted to say thanks for all the help and advise! I got my bicycle today and while not having done my 23KM commute yet, I did take it to my local Tesco this evening to pick up some stuff instead of taking the car. It's a wet and miserable day, but I had a big smile on my face



The basic model I know! But for a complete newbie like me it feels light and fast. In fact my wife was so surprised that I had come back so fast from Tesco. She was asking me had I just gone across the road to the petrol station

Anyway thanks again for the help and advise given!

Bambaata

happy cycling

lukester

Ha, nice one, and nice bike Where did you buy it?

Sesshoumaru

lukester wrote: »

Ha, nice one, and nice bike Where did you buy it?

Thanks! A bicycle shop out in Finglas had one, last one in stock of that model.

lukester

Sesshoumaru wrote: »

Thanks! A bicycle shop out in Finglas had one, last one in stock of that model.

What model is it exactly? See it's one of the Defy range...

Thomas_S_Hunterson

You'll get chain-lube on your sofa propping it up like that.

Sesshoumaru

lukester wrote: »

What model is it exactly? See it's one of the Defy range...

Giant Defy 4

blorg

Nice one, good to see you went for the drops You can stick a rack on the back of that bike if you want to carry luggage or pannier bags, it has the mounting points. Leave it off for spins though.

fenris

Very nice!

Give it a week and you will be ordering bits and pieces from all over d'internet!

penexpers

And get a better lock. Cable locks are really not that great.

lukester

So Sesshoumaru, have bike, will travel. You coming along for the W200 tomorrow then?

Sesshoumaru

fenris wrote: »

Very nice!

Give it a week and you will be ordering bits and pieces from all over d'internet!

Is it possible to get brake levers that are on the dropped section and top section of the handlebars? <-- Sorry for poor use of cycling terminology, hopefully you'll understand what I mean

Sesshoumaru

lukester wrote: »

So Sesshoumaru, have bike, will travel. You coming along for the W200 tomorrow then?

What is the W200?

Lumen

Yay, drops!

Sesshoumaru, welcome to the dark side. That's a lovely bike.

Lesson 2: always photograph your bike with the chainrings facing towards the camera, the pretty side. To do otherwise is a "driveside fail".

Happy cycling

edit: although with that lock I'd want to make sure the bike was insured

lukester

Sesshoumaru wrote: »

What is the W200?

Sorry, jargon there.

It's a cycling event lots of us are doing tomorrow:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055492073

http://wicklow200.ie/

Oh, and +1 on the lock, if you're going to be locking it on the street at all.

Raam

Sesshoumaru wrote: »

Is it possible to get brake levers that are on the dropped section and top section of the handlebars? <-- Sorry for poor use of cycling terminology, hopefully you'll understand what I mean

It's possible, but try get used to what you have first. You'll see that they are more than adequate. My dad's bike has the levers you are asking about. They just get in the way to be honest.

Lumen

Raam wrote: »

It's possible, but try get used to what you have first. You'll see that they are more than adequate. My dad's bike has the levers you are asking about. They just get in the way to be honest.

They're called "auxiliary brake levers". I have them on my cross commuter and find them quite handy, e.g. if stopped at lights on a hill, you can sit back with a toe down and one hand on the brakes.

Cheap as chips, e.g 10 or 20 quid, most bike shops have them.

I'd try and get used to the drops first though, or else you'll be using the auxiliaries as a crutch, so to speak.

(sorry, this reply looks like it's to you Raam, which it obviously isn't)

lukester

Raam wrote: »

It's possible, but try get used to what you have first. You'll see that they are more than adequate. My dad's bike has the levers you are asking about. They just get in the way to be honest.

Agree- once you get used to riding with your hands on top of the brake hoods you'll see you don't need top levers.

Proven yesterday when a geezer walked out in front of me without looking- you get used to covering the brakes around town, access and stopping is just as easy.

Sesshoumaru

What I noticed was I preferred to sit up a bit when giving hand signals, then I found I didn't have my other hand on the brake when I wanted to slow down But I'll wait and see if I get used to them first.

One possibly bad thing I've noticed is that the front wheel seems to have a very slight wobble. I couldn't notice it while riding, but before I went to Tesco I was practicing taking off the front wheel and putting it back on. When I put it back on and spun it, it does seem to wobble slightly. So I took it off again and put it back on to double check. Still a slight wobble there. Is that normal? I seem to remember it was possible to repair a wheel with this type of defect?

On the lock: Yeah I knew it was crap. But my thinking at the time was that it would suffice for the bicycle parking area in my office (quite secure). That because it was fairly light and had a handy clip it would be good for that task. But of course if I was thinking a little clearer I would have remembered that I don't carry my heavy duty chain and lock around for my motorcycle, I leave it in work chained to one of the ground anchors they put in for us. I could probably just have used that lock. No matter anyway I'll get a decent lock asap, I'll need it for locking it up in various places. I was thinking an ABUS lock would do nicely.

blorg

I have auxilliary brake levers on my commuter. It came with them, I intended to take them off but to be honest I ended up liking them a lot for use around town in traffic. They don't really get in the way at all (I thought they would before I started to use the bike.)

Tawfee

Sesshoumaru wrote: »

One possibly bad thing I've noticed is that the front wheel seems to have a very slight wobble. I couldn't notice it while riding, but before I went to Tesco I was practicing taking off the front wheel and putting it back on. When I put it back on and spun it, it does seem to wobble slightly. So I took it off again and put it back on to double check. Still a slight wobble there. Is that normal? I seem to remember it was possible to repair a wheel with this type of defect?

Should be just a matter of re-tensioning the spokes. if it's a decent bike shop you bought it in, they should do this for you along with any other bedding in adjustments that need to be made (i.e. gears & brakes) after a few weeks' cycling.

Acoustic

Oisin im glad i could help with the price of the bike

hope you enjoy

re the lock , if they want your bike , they will have it regardless of the lock

its just a matter of , if they want it enough or if its too much hassel

Sesshoumaru

Tawfee wrote: »

Should be just a matter of re-tensioning the spokes. if it's a decent bike shop you bought it in, they should do this for you along with any other bedding in adjustments that need to be made (i.e. gears & brakes) after a few weeks' cycling.

Yes they said they would give me a free service after 3 or 4 weeks. Just wasn't sure if a slight wobble in the wheel was something they could sort out!

Acoustic wrote:

Oisin im glad i could help with the price of the bike

hope you enjoy

re the lock , if they want your bike , they will have it regardless of the lock

its just a matter of , if they want it enough or if its too much hassel

Happy with the bike and service Thanks! I will buy a better lock, but the one I have now will do for in the office. We have a fairly secure bicycle rack.

But more important than that.... I went for another spin yesterday to the next town over and back..... That standard saddle is a killer!!!

Jawgap

Nice bike - hope you have lots of happy spins on it!

Have you tried the commute yet?

Sesshoumaru

Jawgap wrote: »

Nice bike - hope you have lots of happy spins on it!

Have you tried the commute yet?

Not yet, I'm not ready yet! Furthest I've gone is Celbridge to Maynooth and back again yesterday. I'm planning on doing the same on a different route this evening after work. I'd like to reach a minimum level of fitness before I tackle the commute.

Acoustic

Sesshoumaru wrote: »

Yes they said they would give me a free service after 3 or 4 weeks. Just wasn't sure if a slight wobble in the wheel was something they could sort out!



Happy with the bike and service Thanks! I will buy a better lock, but the one I have now will do for in the office. We have a fairly secure bicycle rack.

But more important than that.... I went for another spin yesterday to the next town over and back..... That standard saddle is a killer!!!

takes a bit of getting used to alright , but eases off after a few spins

should have got the clock , so u can see how much ur doing each spin

tomasrojo

Raam wrote: »

It's possible, but try get used to what you have first. You'll see that they are more than adequate. My dad's bike has the levers you are asking about. They just get in the way to be honest.

Sheldon Brown calls them Extension Levers, and points out drawbacks:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_e-f.html

There's a link there to Interrrupter Brake Levers which look as if they provide more robust braking.

I had extension levers years ago on an old Raleigh "racer" (not a good road bike like the original poster's). They definitely didn't provide as good braking as the standard brakes on the drops.

Richard Ballantine goes so far as to recommend that the best thing to do if you have extension levers is to get a hacksaw and cut them off so you are never tempted to use them. I never found them that dangerous, but I never did any fast cycling.

DePurpereWolf

How are those tyres holding up Sesshoumora?
That would be my bigegst fear of commuting to my work on a road racer. Not just the potential puncture on stones and curbs, but also less control on slippery stones and manhole covers.

Raam

DePurpereWolf wrote: »

That would be my bigegst fear of commuting to my work on a road racer. Not just the potential puncture on stones and curbs, but also less control on slippery stones and manhole covers.

I've been doing it for years with no problem.

Ryaner

I've been doing it on my racer too, with pannier racks and all. Have had some issues with the wheels although I'd guess that my 110kg weight when I started commuting at xmas was partly to blame.

Jawgap

DePurpereWolf wrote: »

How are those tyres holding up Sesshoumora?
That would be my bigegst fear of commuting to my work on a road racer. Not just the potential puncture on stones and curbs, but also less control on slippery stones and manhole covers.

No problems for me so far - although that now means I'll probably suffer a double puncture this evening on the way home.

Less punctures than on the hybrid and that used to skate around on wet manhole covers and rain-soaked road pain as well.

On the two occasions I came off in the last few years - once was ice, another was diesel (both times on a hybrid) - I reckon in those situations you're going down whatever you're cycling.

blorg

tomasrojo wrote: »

Sheldon Brown calls them Extension Levers, and points out drawbacks:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_e-f.html

There's a link there to Interrrupter Brake Levers which look as if they provide more robust braking.

I had extension levers years ago on an old Raleigh "racer" (not a good road bike like the original poster's). They definitely didn't provide as good braking as the standard brakes on the drops.

Richard Ballantine goes so far as to recommend that the best thing to do if you have extension levers is to get a hacksaw and cut them off so you are never tempted to use them. I never found them that dangerous, but I never did any fast cycling.

It's what Sheldon calls interrupter levers that I have, Lumen has and indeed that Raam's dad has (Raam's dad has a moden Focus tourer/commuter.) These are the extra levers that you would be getting on any modern bike, and indeed what Sesshoumaru would have to get for his- you can't fit suicide levers to a STI lever.

Sheldon Brown wrote:

In the early 21st century, an greatly improved system of "interrupter brake levers " appeared, with all of the advantages and none of the drawbacks of the older extension levers.

DePurpereWolf

I'm still scared sh!tless about the thin wheels. Maybe I watched too much tour de france. People slipping on the paint on the road.

lukester

DePurpereWolf wrote: »

I'm still scared sh!tless about the thin wheels. Maybe I watched too much tour de france. People slipping on the paint on the road.

That's much more to do with racing elbow to elbow in a tight bunch than riding on skinny wheels. If the TdF was run on hybrids (that would be quite a sight) you'd see the same amount of crashing.

tomasrojo

blorg wrote: »

It's what Sheldon calls interrupter levers that I have, Lumen has and indeed that Raam's dad has (Raam's dad has a moden Focus tourer/commuter.) These are the extra levers that you would be getting on any modern bike, and indeed what Sesshoumaru would have to get for his- you can't fit suicide levers to a STI lever.

It did seem strange to me that very experienced cyclists would be using suicide levers from the 70s! That's cleared that up!

Sesshoumaru

DePurpereWolf wrote: »

How are those tyres holding up Sesshoumora?
That would be my bigegst fear of commuting to my work on a road racer. Not just the potential puncture on stones and curbs, but also less control on slippery stones and manhole covers.

Bumpy! The pressure is quite high in them as well and with the bike having a rigid frame everything is transmitted from the road to my body! I'm not too worried about slipping on manhole covers in the dry, might be a bit hairy in the wet though.

Raam

Sesshoumaru wrote: »

I'm not too worried about slipping on manhole covers in the dry, might be a bit hairy in the wet though.

It's fine riding over them in a straight line. If turning, avoid, even in the dry... just in case.

kennyb3

Sesshoumaru wrote: »

Bumpy! The pressure is quite high in them as well and with the bike having a rigid frame everything is transmitted from the road to my body! I'm not too worried about slipping on manhole covers in the dry, might be a bit hairy in the wet though.

get good cycling shorts and it will cut down the vibrations. i have the same bike, cycled without the shorts for a week and dont know myself since i got them!!