Gone and bought a carbon bike!

[Deleted member 24574]

I think the road buzz thing is a bit of a retro snob standard comment. My steel is a softer ride than my modern bikes but that does not make the modern bike uncomfortable. I'd say in comfort terms the difference is minimal.

If I had to ride 100 miles I'd choose modern.

The biggest difference as stated is the gearing and quality of shift.

 

[Old Ned]

And as you and 'OLD NED' say compact gearing really is great...

Oh no I didn't! I haven't got a compact, I've got a mansize 53/39 :xmas-cool:

On the other hand, my winter bike has 50/39/24. Only to assist me in getting through the winter snow and blizzards of course.

It's a long walk to the shed at this time of the year........................ :roll:

 

[David B]

I think the road buzz thing is a bit of a retro snob standard comment.

I've done 100+ miles in a single day on a carbon bike with no major discomfort apart from a bit at the usual, erm, "contact points"*, although it was an older glued & lugged type with thick-walled tubing (Look KG231). Only reason I got rid of that bike was that the handling was a bit too twitchy for my tastes.

David

*Yeah, all right then, I had a sore bum.

 

[David B]

I can't believe nowadays the size of gears we used to ride around with. You were a wimp if you sported a 24 tooth sprocket in those days! I remember Pete Jacques (the track sprinter) riding our end of season 'Last of the Summer Wine' ride on 52/42 and a straight through block. The route went to Holmfirth via back roads (hills), over Holme Moss (BIG hill), Buxton and then Snake Pass (another BIG hill), over The Strines (including Hewden Bank, a HUGE hill) and back to Wakefield via another lot of back roads (ie - more hills). I was walking up Hewden Bank and he was riding - I was catching him up!

Only ridden Holme Moss once, think I was on 42-21 or something like that; it was a baking hot Bank Holiday. Had to stop about 3 times on the way up. Fell asleep as soon as I got home.

David

 

[pigman]

Few things ...

Ned, its Ewden Bank, not Hewden. Known locally as "Deliverance" but no one knows why. The direction towards Langsett is a monster ; the direction towards Sheffield is not too bad. Boonen crashed descending here towards sheffield in the 2006 TOB. It was raining and he wasn't expecting a hairpin half way down.

Holme Moss - the bit before the actual "Moss" going through Holme village is the worst bit, about 1 in 6. Having done that, you are then not in the right frame for the long climb to the summit.
If you watched countryfile last Sunday, you will have seen a few of the lads from our club ride Holme Moss with Ellie.

Stage 2 of the Tour will take both these hills in. We rode both yorkshire stages of the tour in September as part of the club's charity effort and St 2 is a tough one.

The best thing about my carbon bike is you press down on the pedals and it moves forward. Worst are the carbon bottle cages which hold rather than grip bottles and make a racket over bumpy ground.

 

[47p2]

I've given up on carbon bottle cages

 

[Old Ned]

Few things ...

Ned, its Ewden Bank, not Hewden. Known locally as "Deliverance" but no one knows why. The direction towards Langsett is a monster ; the direction towards Sheffield is not too bad. Boonen crashed descending here towards sheffield in the 2006 TOB. It was raining and he wasn't expecting a hairpin half way down.

Holme Moss - the bit before the actual "Moss" going through Holme village is the worst bit, about 1 in 6. Having done that, you are then not in the right frame for the long climb to the summit.
If you watched countryfile last Sunday, you will have seen a few of the lads from our club ride Holme Moss with Ellie.

Stage 2 of the Tour will take both these hills in. We rode both yorkshire stages of the tour in September as part of the club's charity effort and St 2 is a tough one.

The best thing about my carbon bike is you press down on the pedals and it moves forward. Worst are the carbon bottle cages which hold rather than grip bottles and make a racket over bumpy ground.

I put th' 'H' in as I were tryin' ter be posh tha' knows. :roll: :xmas-wink:

Can't wait ter see th'airpin next yere in't tour. By 'eck, it'll be grand. :xmas-big-grin:

 

[finbarred]

So the carbon bikes give road buzz, is a myth purpetuated by retro snobs. Funny how some people really don't want to try different things. I much prefer to say that I tried a carbon bike so that I know what they really are like....and if I don't like the ride the I can comment with some knowlwdge.

I love the look of late 80's to mid 90's steel bikes and they seem to ride great with late 90's running gear, but lets see how the Boardman goes. One thing I am not so keen about is the ease that one can damage a carbon bike with excessive torqueing up of fasteners, I thing I will have to buy a small torque wrench.

Has anybody coming from a steel bike background found anything maintenance wise I should be aware of?

 

[Old Ned]

One thing I am not so keen about is the ease that one can damage a carbon bike with excessive torqueing up of fasteners, I thing I will have to buy a small torque wrench.

I bought one when I got my carbon bike, that was September 2012.

So far, it's never been out of its box.

Take as much information out of that statement as you wish :?

 

[roadking]

I've been looking at Mario Cipollini's range, I like his ethos, the RB800 looks to be the one for me -

http://www.mcipollini.com/en/collezione ... rb800-2012

Undecided on how much to spend at the moment.

Rk.