Giant toughroad slr 1 & 2

[Shanksy]

@Shansky - nice bike plus the coastal road down the island is lovely on a fine day (pretty awful on a not so fine day when it blows a bit). Some cars travel a bit rapidly down there. Some fine cycling territory around there and not too hilly compared to further North.

Coastal road up to ulverston does look a lovely route to cycle aside from traffic as you say, unfortunately there's no cycle lane or much of anywhere at the edge of the road that you can keep out of the way in.

 

[Shanksy]

Walney it's itself if fairly quiet traffic wise, checking on google maps a loop from the north to south and back again is around 15miles and probably ideal for the toughroad as there's the option to incorporate some gravel paths as well as Tarmac.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Walney it's itself if fairly quiet traffic wise, checking on google maps a loop from the north to south and back again is around 15miles and probably ideal for the toughroad as there's the option to incorporate some gravel paths as well as Tarmac.

The hills will soon be beckoning with that super low gearing!

 

[Shanksy]

The hills will soon be beckoning with that super low gearing!

You may well be right although for now and given the long lay-off from cycling I have had, flat routes will do me just fine. I'll get several 20 to 30 miles runs in to get me going properly and then think about hills

Have to admit though that when I started cycling in 2013 and did around 1,200 miles training for the Manchester to Blackpool charity ride, most of my training was done around hilly areas near home (Littleborough, Pennines)

What I did find is that even though I'm poor at hill climbing, probably because of my weight, when I finally got to a long flatter ride lik M2B all the hill work had built a lot of power into my legs, so irgo hill climbing is good!

 

[Shanksy]

Ok so I've got the bike and completed several rides now

Yes it's bang on, in fact it's better than expected and as others have said it's very quick for a hybrid. I did 25 mi,Es the other night and on the road it didn't feel much slower than my defy, sure it is but it felt really good TBH

I'm running it at full tyro pressure of 65psi so far and on gravel tracks it wasn't as soft as I'd expected but perhaps I need to drop the tyre pressure a bit for those kind of surfaces.

All in all though I'm happy, only downside is that the company I work for has list the contract which means my my time in Walney is limited now - and that's why I bought the bike !! Oh well

 

[Shanksy]

Doubtful the right person will see this post but worth a shot

Did 30miles tonight on the giant toughroad - Walney island, up the coastal road to ulverston and back.

On the way back my rear light failed and I didn't have a spare, not too long after it went another cyclist caught me up and offered to ride behind me back into town

So thanks pal whoever you are

 

[Diggs]

Just spotted yor thread, that looks like a lovely bike. In a similar vein I was lusting after a Marin Pine Mountain recently but just couldn't warrant it.
Hope you enjoy it!

 

[Shanksy]

Diggs

Have to be honest I got it mainly because of lust lol - of course I told myself it would suit the roads around Walney (I'm working here at the mo) better than my road bike, which is partly true albeit I've found a still like roads cause I like the fact they're quicker than gravel or dirt and therefore you cover more miles...

Toughroad is good, I need to ride my day again which I haven't for months, I do tend to think the toughroad is not as smooth as the defy

 

[Shanksy]

Perhaps that's an obvious statement as my defy is carbon? I've not ridden many bikes so not yet aware of what the difference is really, once I ride my defy again I'll be able to tell better