Show us your.......newbie progress! [4 Sep 2012 - 4 Oct 2014]

[Mo1959]

@madferret Was it Halfords set the bike up? My first suspicion would be that they hadn't secured the chain properly in the first place. I don't think it should come undone on it's own as it really needs the two ends pushed towards each other which is the opposite of what your pedalling action would cause.

I would take it to Anglesey and enjoy it.......nice bike and gets good reviews.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@madferret, when this group was set up by @Typhon (James, we still haven't heard from you unless I missed something) we were all pretty newbies,
Chain if it just came apart it should be ok, but I dont understand why, its never happen to me though I have had a link come apart once or twice, morally though always have a chain tool with you, you can shorten a chain a couple of links as a get you home measure (i.e. take out the broken link).
Glad your recovered from your off.

 

[Nomadski]

Had my bike in for its pre RL service. Had it booked in on the Gold ticket (£120) which was a full disassemble reassemble. Spoke to the guy about a few things creak related on the bike before I left them to it.

To their credit I was surprised when they rang and said they had finished but hadn't done the full Gold service as the bike looked fine, and was relatively new. And so had checked the bike over and done the more basic bike service.

Changing gear certainly feels smoother, the creak from the front has gone (headset had a dodgy bearing) and the derailleurs and cable shave been sorted now.

He did say my chain will need replacing soon and they usually do the chain and cassette at the same time which I wasnt sure about so I decided to leave that for now. Is it normal to replace both? I thought people just got new chains and that was it. Plus they were quoting me £50 for a KMC chain! Sit on that for a bit I think.

Oh and when I went out the other day in the thunderstorm, I have managed to get water in the chamber around the Praxis Works BB I had installed, causing a little creaking from there again.

Is it normal to have a cm or so of rain gather in the bottom bracket, or around the crank spindle?

Anyway, still cost £99, and I got a tool for taking the spindle off myself

http://app.strava.com/activities/70918156#achievements

 

[Mo1959]

@Nomadski I think if your bike is quite new you should get away with just the chain this time and maybe change both next. I know that's what I got with my Forme...........and they fitted a 10 speed Wipperman chain and it was only £30 so £50 sounds a bit excessive.

 

[SWSteve]

@madferret I can tell you first hand, I'm a newbie, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way. I found it hard when looking at some of the progress people were making and comparing myself to that when I first got the bike, now I look at what I'm doing and think "That's great; you've made huge steps here, here and here, but what shall we look at now". I bought my bike in February, and in no way did I think I would be where I am now and as a result I'm setting myself some targets for next year that will take a lot of work, but I hope I can achieve them.
My first cycle home from work that I have recorded on mycycling log shows me completing it at 13mph and that was a real struggle, now I'm doing it at 15/16 without really pushing hard (on the days I do push I seem to get between 17-19 depending on traffic) this has made the exact same journey home 15 mins quicker.

The developments will come, and you will see them, but it just takes time so don't think you aren't getting anywhere because you will be, you just might not see it yet.

 

[SWSteve]

Look at what I did today

On the comments I look like a bit of a bell, but I promise you I am ecstatic with this. I set myself a target of 1:10 and thought "you'll never do it, but give it a shot" WELL I ALMOST BLOOMING DID!!!!

http://app.strava.com/activities/70929277

 

[RWright]

He did say my chain will need replacing soon and they usually do the chain and cassette at the same time which I wasnt sure about so I decided to leave that for now. Is it normal to replace both? I thought people just got new chains and that was it. Plus they were quoting me £50 for a KMC chain! Sit on that for a bit I think.

Oh and when I went out the other day in the thunderstorm, I have managed to get water in the chamber around the Praxis Works BB I had installed, causing a little creaking from there again.

Is it normal to have a cm or so of rain gather in the bottom bracket, or around the crank spindle?

Anyway, still cost £99, and I got a tool for taking the spindle off myself

http://app.strava.com/activities/70918156#achievements

I have wheels that I can interchange between two of my bikes. Blue bike's chain started slipping some on the big rear cogs. I did some adjusting with the cable but it came back. I put the wheel on the blue bike on the red bike and it didn't slip so I am going to stay with the cassette. I think like Mo said you can get more out of the cassette than one chain. I bought a chain wear tool for like 6 dollars or so. You can use a measuring tape but it can be sort of messy and time consuming. You don't need a fancy chain wear tool, just a cheap one should do ( I could probably make one if I took a little time to try) and it takes about 20 seconds (after you find the tool) to know if the chain is getting close to being worn or needs replaced. It is so simple even I can do it without much problem. I am glad I bought one.

I am not sure about the bottom bracket collecting water. I have never seen any in mine but I have never checked it right after riding in the rain. I use Hollowtech II bottom brackets on my drop bar bikes, so I am not sure if it is the same as yours. I would ask in know how section and see what they say there.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

@Nomadski re chain and cassette. If you don't changed the chain early enough then the chain will start to wear the teeth on the cassette and both will need changing. Get yourself a chain checker and make sure you change your chain before it is 100% worn and you shouldn't have to change the cassette everytime

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=87598

@RWright - fingers crossed you finish the power bar challenge.

 

[morrisman]

New best average speed of 15.6mph over a 17 mile round trip.Not too shabby for a fat, old bloke on a rather heavy hybrid

 

[MaxInc]

Some of you are far from newbies IMO, but glad to have you around for support/advice.

Sorry to read about your off, glad you're in one piece, skidding on gravel is everyone's nightmare. Not sure what a newbie would look like but all I can say is that I couldn't dare dreaming of riding your distances 3-4 months ago. I almost fainted after a 1mile trip to Asda and my goal was to be able to ride 10 miles without stopping, 3-4 times a week. If anything, it only gets to show how quickly the body adapts, I'm still amazed by that. Progress is inevitable as long as you keep pedalling. Keep up the good work!

@Nomadski Replacing a chain and / or cassette is easier than changing a tyre. You can get a Shimano 105 10 speed chain for less than £20 and a cassette tool + chain whip for £10. A 10 speed Tiagra cassette (the one the Synapses are shipped with) is also about £20. Water in the BB can't be a good thing for bearings and pretty sure it shouldn't be there. How did you notice it in the first place, were you able to take it out?

Ordered myself a new set of wheels, after much indecision and deliberation, I decided against a super expensive or lightweight set. I needed something durable to train with and there's still plenty of fat to burn before I consider any weight reduction on the bike. I settled on a pair of Fulcrum Racing 7s which I got for £120 delivered from Merlin Cycles. They are described as very smooth and virtually bomb proof by a lot of riders, some even use them off road. They seem solid and have a 2:1 pattern on the rear with double the number of spokes on the drive side (the ones that I kept busting on the RS10s).

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@MaxInc
I was trying to get the money together for them in April, but dropped on a pair of RS10's for less than £100, and I really needed to finish Aprils challenge, (unlike the tour challenge). I must have done 2,500 miles on them without any problems.

Well my first proper day out though the ride was split, I managed 15.93mph over 42 miles ( it would have been over 16 bar the 11-12mph headwinds on the way out) 1885ft of elevation (44.75ft/mile) and an avg gear" of 65.65" avg cad 81.
Best of all I set 20 new p.b's some of which I liked a lot .
http://app.strava.com/activities/70974833

 

[stevey]

Just in from a little ride prob gonna do a ride every other day this week as i am going to attempt my first 50 miler this w/end so taking it easy just turning over the legs.

http://app.strava.com/activities/70991775#

Good rides from all today as well

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@stevey
I wish you well with it Steve, its not so difficult, just pace yourself, if your forecast is like ours shouldn't be to bad a day for it though I would if it's possible do it as early as possible as its forecast rain showers (not a problem) but increasing s.w'lys

 

[Nigelnaturist]

I forgot to mention had a visit, and rear tyre was only about 70psi for more than 3/4 of the ride.

 

[stevey]

@stevey
I wish you well with it Steve, its not so difficult, just pace yourself, if your forecast is like ours shouldn't be to bad a day for it though I would if it's possible do it as early as possible as its forecast rain showers (not a problem) but increasing s.w'lys

Thanks @Nigelnaturist will def try and get out early as you suggest gonna try and do it on a sat morning after the w/end shop