cycling Archives - Page 16 of 23

New generations of cyclists

March 17, 2015 by tejvan

Axel Merckx, being the son of the legendary Eddy Merckx, always had a very good chance of making it in the world of cycling. But, there aren’t too many cyclists who can say their father won Milan San Remo (7 times) whilst also owning his own company of bicycle manufacturers.

My own parents are not overwhelmed with a sporting background; I’m not sure who I got my hill climbing genes from. But my father was involved in helping get some new bicycles for Otley Cycle Club from Chevin Cycles.

From Otley Lions website

Otley Cycle club, established in 1927, has over 450 members of which 180 are under 16. Otley Cycle Club are planning to widen their range of cycling activity and to encourage more local youngsters into cycle sport. To further Otley Cycle Club’s investment in youth they were hoping to develop their capacity in cyclo-cross racing. This is a rapidly expanding sport with events taking place in fields, school playing fields and local parks, again it requires a specialist bike. The youth section is looking to have a fleet of four cyclo-cross bikes for under 16 year olds.

These will be hired to club members to encourage them to participate in this exciting off road sport. This loan system saves parents having to fork out for a new bike for this special activity.

The Otley Lions your ‘local service’ and fund raising organisation which has been working with the Otley & District community and Sainsbury’s to help local charities and good causes. As part of the Lions commitment to youth and organisations that help youngsters Otley Lions have funded the purchase of 4 cyclo-cross bikes for Otley Cycle club. These bikes will be used by 6-14 year olds. “This is really excellent news and on behalf of the club I would like to thank the Lions for their generous approach to this. I am sure it will be an excellent opportunity for the club to develop Cyclo-Cross and support the enthusiasm of the young riders who are keen to become involved in this sport” said Gareth Frith of Oltey Cycling Club

Trek 7.1 FX Review

January 7, 2017March 7, 2015 by tejvan

Trek 7.1 FX is one of Trek’s best selling models. For £350- £375, you get a lot of features for your money which will appeal to a broad spectrum of commuting cyclists.

It’s not surprising why it is so popular. For most commuters and newbie cyclists sticking to roads, this bike does pretty much everything you need. It is reliable, solid and gives a good riding experience without any expensive extravagances.

It comes with 21 gears, and a very low ratio for getting up steep hills. Some may find the top gear of 48*14 a little on the slow side. You have to maintain a pretty high cadence to get over 25mph.

But, I doubt most people buying this will be worried at a lack of high end speed. If you are, you’re probably buying the wrong bike, and should look at a cheap road bike.

On the downside, the bike is a little heavy and rigid. If you’re riding over rough terrain like a canal path, your hands will certainly start to feel the vibrations on these minimal handlebar grips Despite the 35″ tyres, even riding around Leeds city centre I thought it a little tough.

If you can upgrade to the next FX model like the Trek 7.2 Fx – you get a lighter weight frame and more cushioning in the handlebars.

As I am used to riding stiff road bikes, this rigidity isn’t a big disadvantage to me, but, if real comfort is important, you may want to look at other hybrid bikes with suspension and a more forgiving set up.

On the plus side of comfort, I thought the Bontrager SSR saddle was excellent. Lovely shape and padding make it really quite comfortable.
Gears within easy reach.

The gears are easy to use. Not instantaneous, but good enough given it is based on the lower end of the Shimano scale. You need to think ahead to get a burst of speed from lights, but, I was quite happy with the Shimano gears clicking away.

The brakes are Tektro lever pull – quite a common option for this type of hybrid bike. They offer reasonable, if unspectacular performance. Again an upgrade to disc brakes offers a significant improvement.

Handling

Pretty good. The set up is closer to road bike than mountain bike. Though the position can be adjusted with the riser bar. It felt nimble enough riding around town. Again solid and reliable rather than cutting edge.

Commuting

Comes with mudguard and pannier holes, that you can add onto if you want. For overall commuting, the Trek 7.1 FX is a good all rounder. Fast enough to outperform thicker mountain bike style bikes, but with a greater stability to more aggressive road bikes.

Puncture Protection

Bontrager tyres. Uncertain of how these compare over time. There are better puncture resistance tyres on the market, which can always be added to.

Overall,

This best-selling hybrid bike is popular with good reason. Trek know what a typical hybrid bike buyer is looking for. It gives very solid performance, though as someone who has ridden many different bikes, it does leave you dreaming of upgrading to get better features.

Sizing.

Trek bikes come in a variety of sizing so will fit most riders. There is also a women’s version with step through frame.

Who Would This Bike suit?

It would suit someone on a very strict budget of keeping the price down to below £350. If you’re the kind of bike rider looking for something special and a bit of zip, you will have to save more money. But, if you want a solid hybrid bike with minimum of fuss, then you can’t go too wrong with the Trek 7.1 FX.

Note: it wouldn’t be a great buy for any substantial off-road riding because the rigidity make for an unforgiving ride.

Trek 7.1 FX 2015 at Evans Cycles
Trek Hybrid Bikes at Evans Cycles
Trek 7.1 FX at Trek.com

Trek FX 7.1 2015 model

Frame: FX Alpha Silver Aluminium, DuoTrap S compatible, rack and mudguard mounts
Fork: High-tensile steel w/lowrider mounts, CLIX dropouts
Front Derailleur: Shimano Tourney
Rear Derailleur: Shimano Acera M360
Number of Gears: 21
Shifters: Shimano Altus EF51, 8 speed
Chainset: Shimano M131
Chainrings: 48/38/28T
Bottom Bracket: Sealed cartridge
Cassette: SunRace Freewheel 14-34, 7 speed
Chain: KMC Z51
Pedals: Wellgo nylon platform
Brakeset: Tektro alloy linear-pull brakes, Shimano Altus levers
Handlebars: Bontrager Riser, steel, 30mm rise
Stem: Bontrager Approved, 25.4mm, 25 degree, quill
Grips: Bontrager Satellite
Rims: Bontrager AT-550 36-hole
Hubs Formula FM21 alloy
Tyres, 700×35c
Saddle: Bontrager SSR
Seatpost:Bontrager SSR, 27.2mm, 12mm offset

Related pages

Trek 7.1 FX 2015 – £375 at Evans Cycles
Best Hybrid Bikes

Wrynose Pass

March 2, 2019February 17, 2015 by tejvan

Wrynose Pass is one of the most spectacular climbs in England. In terms of difficulty, it is slightly overshadowed by its more boisterous neighbour – Hardknott Pass. But, from the East, it’s difficulty should never be under-estimated. I speak from personal experience, once dragging the bike up into a headwind and over-geared (39*25) – the 20% plus gradient never seemed to ease all the way to the top. (Such an incident inspired a recent post – about walking up hills.)

If you get chance to look back from where you came, it’s one of the most memorable views you will get from a road in England. Whilst climbing you probably won’t get chance to appreciate, so it’s worth coming down Wrynose Pass too. It’s a great natural amphitheatre.

I’ve been up Wrynose pass on a couple of occasions, whilst visiting the Lake District. Often it involves going up Hardknott Pass as well.

Time Trial Skinsuits

November 1, 2016February 16, 2015 by tejvan

It is estimated a close fitting skinsuit can save 3.2% of your total energy. [1] This equates to 29 seconds in a 40 km time Trial. Therefore a close fitting skinsuit represent a cost effective way to improve aerodynamics and save valuable seconds.

A time trial skinsuit will definitely be more aerodynamic. However, there can be a significant difference between a cheap time trial skinsuit that ends up being loose fitting and a custom built skinsuit which is absolutely skin tight.

hoy-bos-johnthescone — It may not look much difference. But, you can see more wrinkles in the Dutch skinsuit left. Chris Hoy’s British Cycling skinsuit is as good as it gets. Or is that due to Chris Hoy’s enormous muscles stretching the lyrca? Photo John the Scone

British Cycling went to extraordinary lengths to gain marginal gains through producing the best possible skinsuit. In Michael Hutchinson’s book ‘Faster’ he made the observation that the best skinsuit could give more aerodynamic advantage than upgrading to a better time trial bike. The UCI actually banned some British Cycling skinsuit because they were considered too fast. (they are somewhere in a cupboard in Manchester velodrome)

A key element in getting a time trial skinsuit, is not just the make, but also one that fits.

A good time trial suit will be uncomfortable when you’re standing up. It should feel like your shoulders are being pulled down. A time trial skin suit only works when in the time trial position.

In recent years, more of the top time triallist have been wearing custom skinsuits. Loose fitting club skinsuits seem to be on the way out for top cyclists. Which is a shame because it’s another thing which makes sport more expensive and I like seeing club kits rather than generic brands. But, if you’re competing for medals you don’t want to be throwing away seconds on flappy skinsuits.

Even in road racing, skinsuits are becoming more popular as riders try to get all aerodynamic advantages. British Cycling are pioneers in this field. Nicole Cooke’s Olympic gold in 2008 were with a skinsuit. Also the British mens road team of 2011 where Mark Cavendish became World Champion played close attention to aerodynamics.

Cycling v Running

February 10, 2015 by tejvan

During my teenage years I was a ‘runner’. I would like to claim this was due to a tremendous enthusiasm for running. But my main motivation was to get out of playing rugby. At Bradford Grammar – it was either cross country or rugby union. (football was not played.) I actually like watching rugby, but when you have a frame more suited to cycling uphill, rugby is not so much fun to play. Anyway I became a member of the school cross country team run by two teachers who were super-enthusiastic about cross country; (an enthusiasm which was rarely shared by anyone else), but nevertheless it meant that Bradford Grammar was invariably the best in the north of England at cross country.

Our training strategy was what you could easily call ‘Old School’ – make people run a lot and you would get good results. There was no scientific approach, just try to get us to train on Tues, Wed, Thurs and race on Sat. I never excelled at cross country. I can’t really remember, but I was generally good ‘pack fodder’ As the teenage years wore on, running around muddy fields became less appealing, and I started to look for a way out. I distinctly remember coming last in a particular race – which became a good excuse to slip away from the cross country scene. It was an interesting experience coming last. I have come last in a cycling time trial. It was a 25 mile TT organised by Bicester. I got lost on a roundabout and turned a 25 mile TT into a 34 mile TT. so I officially came last.

At the time, I felt I didn’t have good enough genes to ever become a good runner, so I left my running ambitions on the muddy cross country fields.

Several year later, I temporarily got back into running. But it lead to quite a bad knee injury which lasted for quite a few years. When the knee finally cleared up, I was cycling and I’ve never really run since. In fact I’ve developed an aversion to running. Even, running for the train can leave me with delayed muscle fatigue the next day. I know you should be able to combine running and cycling (as triathletes display with great aclarity) but it doesn’t appeal.

Cycling v Running

Injury

Many people say running is harder on the knees, due to the great impact. Many people switch to cycling after being frustrated with some running injury. Running has a higher impact on joints and a greater tendency to cause injury. Apart from swimming, cycling is often the one form of exercise people can still manage when they are carrying injury niggles.

Cycling can still cause knee and other knee injury problems. (especially, if you have wrong saddle height, bike position). But, overall, it is easier on the knees. Less impact on the joints.

Steve Abraham and record monthly mileage

February 7, 2015 by tejvan

I somehow managed to cycle 1200 miles in January. I don’t ever remember doing a long ride – but a lot of 60 mile rides seem to add up. It’s a personal record for January and nearly an all time monthly record ever. So, secretly, I’m feeling pretty pleased with myself. Winter miles in the bank is always a good thing for a long distance cyclist.

But, there’s always someone better than you, and in terms of January monthly mileage, Steven Abraham isn’t so much as a little bit better, but in another league of his own. Steve has managed well over 5,000 miles for January and is currently averaging 185 miles a day, roughly at an average speed of 16mph. Riding from 5.30am to 6-7pm later in the day, Abraham is managing 13 hour days on freezing British roads. When the temperature gets down to -8 degrees, my philosophy is to do an hour on the rollers. Steve Abraham will be riding along, frozen water bottles and all. A Tweet from Steve’s site says succinctly:

“Down to minus 8 this morning. Turning at Cirencester Ice finally starting to melt at midday both bottles still frozen,”

How often to change the chain / cassette on a bike?

February 12, 2020February 2, 2015 by tejvan

Different methods for knowing when you need to change the chain, cassette and chainring on your bike.

Changing Chain

A worn chain gives risk of lost power transfer and also wearing your rear cassette more quickly. With a commuting bike I don’t worry so much. I usually just ‘ride it into the ground’ i.e. ride until the chain starts slipping. But, for racing bikes with more expensive cassettes and groupsets, it is worth checking and changing the chain more frequently. Optimal changes of chain can:

Save money (in particular prolong life of cassettes)
Protect power transfer of drivetrain – lose less power to stretched chains and bigger gaps in cassette teeth.

How to check whether chain needs changing.

1. Finger test

A simple test is to use your finger and try to lift the chain away from the chainring. If the chain can be pushed quite a bit away from the chainring (like above), this is a sign that the chain needs changing.
For this test, I put it biggest gear (biggest front chain ring, smallest rear cassette, e.g. 53*13)

If the chain is badly worn, you will probably need to change the cassette block at the same time. (and possibly front chain ring)

Time saved from weight loss on bike

January 27, 2015January 27, 2015 by tejvan

I was cycling into town yesterday to sell some books at Blackwells. I must have been carrying 15 kg in my panniers. Cycling felt very different. It was a real effort to accelerate away from the traffic lights! With an extra 15 kg, you start to notice inclines on the road, you had never noticed before.

When the hill climb seasons starts and I get out my racing wheels, you really notice the difference when you swap a training wheel (1.3kg) for a lightweight wheel and tub (0.5kg) There is a noticeable difference.

In the 2010 national hill climb championship I was 0.9 seconds behind finishing on the podium. This was an unfortunate experience as it has always justified to myself spending a lot of money on saving weight….

This is a look at how much time and effort we can save by losing weight from either ourselves or our bike. We all know that saving weight helps us to get up hills, but how much will we save, if we can shave off 1 kg from our bike (or lose 10 kg off our tummy) ?

As a very rough rule of thumb, I was told by hill climb experts that on an ascent of 100 meters, saving 1 kg would give you an extra 2 seconds.

Analytic cycling have this program to calculate approx time saved from losing weight.

I put in figures for the

Rake hill climb

length: 900 metres.
Height gain: 100 metres
Average gradient 11%
Weight of rider: 61 kg
power 500 watts
Time saved – 1.7 seconds
Rake hill climb

This seems about right from my own unscientific tests with different weights on the bike.

By, the way, in 2005 on the Rake, Ben Greenwood beat Jim Henderson by 0.3 seconds. In other words the winning margin was 0.3 seconds or 170 grams.

However, it depends which way you look at it. If you are a leisure rider. Is it worth spending an extra £2,000 to save 1.7 seconds on a climb like the Rake? If it takes you 4.40, does it matter if it takes you 4.42?

Tips for improving cycle fitness

November 22, 2015January 26, 2015 by tejvan

A few simple tips for more efficient cycle training.

If you are new to cycling or have a very basic level of fitness, the most important thing is to spend more time on the bike. When you are unfit – the good news is that whatever you do, you will see relatively large improvements in fitness. The ‘fitter’ you become, the relatively harder it is to eke out even more fitness gains.

The first tip is simply to cycle more.

1. Cycle more

If you want to do a 100 mile ride, you will need to find more time to cycle. You will want to be doing a few 2-3 hour rides at the very least. Preferably a few 3-4 hour rides to get used to long distances. You could do a 100 mile ride on the back of one hour training rides, but your legs will be sore the next day, and you will struggle towards the end.

The trick is often finding time to be able to cycle more. If you live a busy life, a good solution is commuting by bike. This may be the whole journey or even just part of it. If you have many family commitments, you could try and cycle out to some venue and meet your family there on bike. If you have a roof rack, you can easily bring back the bike on the car. I’m sure your family won’t mind you going to a posh restaurant, whilst you are dressed in lyrca.

2. The pyramid of training intensity

Something that has served me well for the past 20 years is paying a rough attention to this pyramid of training intensity.

This is my rough training pyramid – recovery rides come under base / endurance. The division between categories are not strict. An endurance ride may merge into a ‘sweet spot’ training. If you’re not doing hill climbs, you might want to not do any level 4 max intervals at all. The point is that generally you spend more time at a lower intensity.

Winter cycling clothes and accessories

November 22, 2015January 25, 2015 by tejvan

Recently a reader asked for any tips on good value winter cycle clothing. Over the years I’ve tested and used a huge variety of winter clothes – not always the best quality. These are some of the good options for staying relatively dry and warm in winter, without breaking the bank. I’ve never been inspired to spend a lot on winter clothing ( I waste my money on 70 gram saddles instead.) Though at this time of the year, I do often look rather wistfully at the well made winter jackets you can get these days.

Skull Cap

I’ve heard 50% of heat is lost through the head – I’m not sure if it’s this much. But, if it is less than 8 degrees I like to wear something under helmet, such as a thin skull cap to keep the heat in. I also like a skull cap that covers the ears. These can burn with cold otherwise. I have a Craft skull cap, which is very warm and breathable. (Craft at Wiggle) I also have a neoprene hat, but this had a tendency to be sweaty when not really cold. Some people tape up holes in their helmet – a cheap way of keeping more heat in.