What are some of your unpopular cycling related opinions?

daragh_

Have we done one of these threads yet? Anyone want to go first.

RobertFoster

Sock length doesn't matter.

Johnny Jukebox

I hate being called a cyclist.

Plastik

I don't like Alaphilippe.

And I don't know why, probably because of Rob Hatch.

cletus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117915723#Comment_117915723

This is one of mine. Closely followed by you don't have to shave your legs.

Chips Lovell

Outside of time trials, equipment makes shag all difference. You'll get the same result on bog standard aluminium frame with allow wheels and 105 as you will on a €10,000 superbike.

Also, disc brakes and tan sidewalls need to be killed with fire.

marvin80

Disc brakes are overkill on a road bike. Purely a money spinner with no benefit to road cyclists.

MediaMan

It's not all about how fast you can get up a hill

Tubeless for road is good

Squidgy Black

A couple hundred quid for a bike fit is worth a lot more than a new set of carbon wheels.

ednwireland

i love disc brakes ,actually I love hydraulic brakes in general but not wearing out rims is a massive bonus.

i cant see the point of tubeless (having just taken one off an mtb and it must have had half a kg of water in it)

I was curious tubeless on a road tyre, if you have to plug it is there not a risk it will get pushed out due to the higher pressures they are run at? Like cars and mtbs would only be around 30 psi or so but road tyres would be multiples of that.

Tombo2001

Carrying two bike locks is not worth the hassle. Just insure the bike instead.

DeepBlue

Taking it handy is more enjoyable and fun than going fasshhhhtttt!!!

fat bloke

Triathletes.

Tombo2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117916138#Comment_117916138

Can I add

Its better to invest in comfort than speed.....

(Why does it matter if you are going at 34k per hour or 37k per hour).

comete

Most people don’t need a power meter

Raam

Running is harder than cycling.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117917240#Comment_117917240

That's just a fact and and not just the effort, my knees and Achilles tendons will attest to that. Some injuries and frankly stupidity in not looking after myself mean I couldn't run to warm myself these days. You need to rest on a bike? Stop peddling and you'll still move most of the time.

Can't recall where I read this and maybe I'm not actually recalling it correctly, something along the lines of you need to cover 3 times the distance of a run on the bike to get close to the same effort?

DonegalBay

Said this during the Tour and got plenty of flak for it so definitely belongs here.

Sprinters are grossly over-rated and get a disproportionate number of chances to win races, overinflating their real abilities.

Sprint stages in Grand Tours are boring and worthless and if I was running the UCI, they would be eliminated or kept to a minimum, maybe 1/2 per Grand Tour, 1 in the first week and the final stage perhaps. Would also probably help cut down on crashes as well.

Wheelsucking your way to the final 500m is not particularly amazing or noteworthy, considering everyone in a given race can pretty much do that. I do have respect for the likes of Sagan, Boonen, Zabel or sprinters pre-Cipollini era who didn't have dedicated sprint trains and could actually race a bit, but Cipollini, Cavendish etc, uhhh awful. Still irks me that such limited pros were World Champion, especially when it was 95% down to their respective teams.

Have barely watched a sprint stage since the mid 90s. Sprinters, go and race against the real sprinters on the track.

sy_flembeck

'They all think they're in the Tour de France'

Tell me how

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117917453#Comment_117917453

Hmmm. I would possibly argue that the GT contenders have a 'non-skill based' advantage merely because of their physique meaning achieving winning levels of power to weight ratings are possible for them while they aren't for most. Some of the more skillful riders could never realistically target GT's for this reason.

So maybe my unpopular opinion would be that a strong palmares including classics victories is more deserving of respect than a couple of GT podiums. The length of the GT's obviously play a significant part rather than any individual stage but who is a more skillful or impressive rider? Peter Sagan or Chris Froome?

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117917240#Comment_117917240

In the moment sure, but it would be rare for me to go for a 7 hour run :)

I think a decent climb is harder than run. Flat cycling is very much easier than running. I found the Etape far harder than the marathon.

Wildly Boaring

Taking it handy on descents is actually fine.

Your bike can be worth less than your car.

Wildly Boaring

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117917240#Comment_117917240

How is that unpopular?

Running is the devil.

gn3dr

Dropped seat stays on new bikes are sh1t looking and the myth that they are for comfort is also bs. Just buy a TCR or other sloping top tubed frame to have a bit of seat post flex.

Also disc brakes on road bikes are just marketing and not needed. How much descending for long periods in wet weather are people actually doing....

Oh yeah - long socks are for footballers 😁

monkeyslayer

Tho Everytime I brake on my carbon rims I wish I'd discs

I also think random wheel sucking strangers when I'm out on a solo ride are just weird, at least say hello first...

For all you disc haters even Ineos are moving to disc braked Pinarello bikes next year. Nothing to with Shimano's latest offerings of course 😁

magicbastarder

Expensive bike fits are a waste of time for most people unless you're strangely proportioned.

ARX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117917649#Comment_117917649

I found the simple life ain't so simple when I jumped out on that road.

Macy0161

Disc Brakes are the biggest divide of opinion amongst the cycling community, so hardly an "unpopular" opinion to diss them!

Running takes more of a toll on the body, but does that make it harder? Aerobically running isn't harder. I haven't really run regularly in a couple of years, but I can still knock out a decent 10km time based on my cycling fitness. When I was doing triathlon, I knocked out my 10km PR in a race having not ran for 2 months due to ITB, and only done the bike! When I focused on running for periods, fitness never carried from running to the bike as well.

I guess mine is that I actually like the Turbo, and it's not just for wet and/ or dark days when you can't get out. If you have the right set up.

ARX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117917672#Comment_117917672

Peak Torque has a video about that (dropped seat stays, not long socks): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_zPYkk_Fsk

ednwireland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117917672#Comment_117917672

i live in donegal........

i dont miss cleaning aluminium slurry off my wheels and frame

dropped seat stays and the new hope british cycling bike look crap

comete

Xc bikes are more versatile than gravel bikes

Finnrocco

Socks should be ankle length, and it should be a rule enforced strictly.

Absolutely hate those calf length yokes.

midonogh

In the future we will look back and consider the recent years to be a period where we produced ugly bikes: discs, dropped seat stays, aero frames, oversized box tubes and head tubes, curved forks, Di2 batteries.

All have sacrificed aesthetics for meaningless gains.

Think a 1980's Escort XR3, or Opel Corsa with post factory added flared wheel arches, power bulges and over sized rear spoiler. I will admit I thought they looked good at the time, but now look back and ask myself what were we thinking.

MayoSalmon

Cycling is not an interesting sport to watch

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117917672#Comment_117917672

Recently got a Trek Domane 2 because it was the best spec I could afford. Definitely the best bike I ever had but god do I hate how it looks compared to my "crappy" old Barracuda Tifosi.

I also hate all these black parts on a bike. I miss chrome handlebars and brake calipers

statto25

Long socks for life

secman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117920083#Comment_117920083

For varicose veins.....😉

Jeremy Sproket

Cyclists should pay road tax !! Ducks for cover

Jeremy Sproket

Cyclists should make no apologies for holding the lane or whatever it's called, even if it is on a wide stretch of open road. Anything to prevent close passes.

Cyclists are traffic too ....we don't "hold traffic up".

We need assumed liability laws here.

07Lapierre

Cyclists that push past me at traffic lights and proceed through the junction (when the lights are red) really piss me off!

gn3dr

2x10 speed is peak number of gears.

11 speed is annoying because it isn't an even number

12 speed is unnecessary

🙉

Darkglasses

There's too much attention to competitiveness in cycling, and the community is a bit too prone to being macho. We can be our own worst enemy a lot of the time.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117926931#Comment_117926931

but it is a prime number, which is cooler.

WOT

Battery powered lights are silly compared to fit and forget dynamo powered lights.

MyDarkArts

Sean Kelly should be forbidden from quoting unnamed sources when he's passing on accepted wisdom and cliché while doing commentary.

More of a commuting comment that a sports cycling comment but racers are crap bikes for commuting on. They are uncomfortable in a suit and your body position on them makes sudden stops more dangerous.

A Dutch style upright bike is just a completely better option and the Government should import them en masse and give them away for free....

Tombo2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117917240#Comment_117917240

Cant agree with this, having done lots of both.

In short, it all depends on how fast you are going.

Running a 5k in 15 minutes is not the same as running a 5k in 25 minutes is not the same as running a 5k in 35minutes.

What I would agree with though is that with running, its easier to put in a High Intensity work out. 8 x 200m sprints is hard to replicate on a bike. Maybe cycling up the hill in Howth at max speed possible would be close.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117926889#Comment_117926889

Or worse cyclists who repeatedly push past to stop ahead of you at a red and are going 5kph on some big lug of an old bike.

Most people don't need lycra to cycle.