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"Bike Porn"-your rides and how/where you use them

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Six year old cyclist.
 
Bloody hell Tom That's Brave.

Not as brave as it looks.

The traffic was trickling forward at about 5mph, and I instructed Ben not to undertake and to stay in the middle of the traffic lane where he could be seen. I stayed directly behind, again in the middle of the lane.

Here’s the Strava screen shot of our ride: 42.195 Km

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The school’s PTA is running a cycling competition, who can tot up the most miles in a week. Despite having 67Km disqualified last week for cheating we still won with a winning total of 38Km. And it looks like we’ll win again this week with 140Km. And Ben at 6 is up against 11 year olds!
 
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Not as brave as it looks.

The traffic was trickling forward at about 5mph, and I instructed Ben not to undertake and to stay in the middle of the traffic lane where he could be seen. I stayed directly behind, again in the middle of the lane.

Here’s the Strava screen shot of our ride: 42.195 Km

411d92bfa5a91ded0f794db3c3d52e6b.jpg


The school’s PTA is running a cycling competition, who can tot up the most miles in a week. Despite having 67Km disqualified last week for cheating we still won with a winning total of 38Km. And it looks like we’ll win again this week with 140Km. And Ben at 6 is up against 11 year olds!
Who was cheating and how, any chickens involved? :thumb Get him on some of the Cornish hills around here, that'll help get his stamina up.

Well done Ben.
 
Lockdown to Barcelona city limits still gives plenty of room to play. This one is my 40 year old Gaselle Dutch racing bike with upright handle bars fitted. 1700C27E-079C-4C3D-B79C-8A551E855F61.jpeg
 
Who was cheating and how, any chickens involved? :thumb Get him on some of the Cornish hills around here, that'll help get his stamina up.

Well done Ben.

Originally the PTA said all active travel counts: walking, cycling, scooting, pogo stick, etc. So we clocked up miles on our tandem. They then changed the rules to say all unassisted active travel and applied the new rule retrospectively, accusing us of cheating and disqualifying Ben and Jack of 67Km cycled on our tandem.

The punchline is that my boys still clocked up a winning 38Km on their solo bikes.
 
Ok. Bit of advice or opinions.
I’ve got a great all rounder in my Sonder Camino from Alpkit. Love it. I take it everywhere and it goes anywhere. After selling my Giant Anthem mtb and my GT Grade carbon gravel in the first lockdown I have put the money into a new “bike” pot. I’m looking at a Trek Domane SL5.
I want a road bike that’s as comfortable as possible. Max ride length will be 80-100 miles.
Any recommendations?
 
Ok. Bit of advice or opinions.
I’ve got a great all rounder in my Sonder Camino from Alpkit. Love it. I take it everywhere and it goes anywhere. After selling my Giant Anthem mtb and my GT Grade carbon gravel in the first lockdown I have put the money into a new “bike” pot. I’m looking at a Trek Domane SL5.
I want a road bike that’s as comfortable as possible. Max ride length will be 80-100 miles.
Any recommendations?


My Local Bike Mechanic puts Trek at the top of his list for quality/value for money. For me, I have had a Cannondale Super six evo for a number of years and it's a lovely, comfortable ride whilst still having a good turn of speed!
 
Re: Bike Porn " members rides "

The story behind the Inbred goes like this.

Birthday weekend. Lots of beer. Not much sleep.
Monday morning commute. Hungover and tired.
Jump.
Land in Watford General Hospital.
Forks knackered and being from that odd era around '96 maybe, had 1" steerer, so hard to replace.
Bought cheap frame and v-brake compatible forks.

RIP Orange P7. 1996-2010. Miss you!

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Ok. Bit of advice or opinions.
I’ve got a great all rounder in my Sonder Camino from Alpkit. Love it. I take it everywhere and it goes anywhere. After selling my Giant Anthem mtb and my GT Grade carbon gravel in the first lockdown I have put the money into a new “bike” pot. I’m looking at a Trek Domane SL5.
I want a road bike that’s as comfortable as possible. Max ride length will be 80-100 miles.
Any recommendations?
Yes,
 
Ok. Bit of advice or opinions.
I’ve got a great all rounder in my Sonder Camino from Alpkit. Love it. I take it everywhere and it goes anywhere. After selling my Giant Anthem mtb and my GT Grade carbon gravel in the first lockdown I have put the money into a new “bike” pot. I’m looking at a Trek Domane SL5.
I want a road bike that’s as comfortable as possible. Max ride length will be 80-100 miles.
Any recommendations?
I would have a look at all the usual suspects, Specialized Roubaix, Domane, Giant Defy, Cannondale Synapse, Canyon Endurace, all of these are comfort orientated road bikes. Then set your budget and work out which one has the best kit in the most important areas (wheels v groupset etc). There's been a real shortage of bikes this year after the rush in lockdown but 2021 models are now appearing.
 
Latest addition to the fleet is a Trek Fuel EX8 29er. This thing just rolls over stuff...PXL_20201026_164712892.jpg
 
I would have a look at all the usual suspects, Specialized Roubaix, Domane, Giant Defy, Cannondale Synapse, Canyon Endurace, all of these are comfort orientated road bikes. Then set your budget and work out which one has the best kit in the most important areas (wheels v groupset etc). There's been a real shortage of bikes this year after the rush in lockdown but 2021 models are now appearing.

To add to that, I would also look to electronic shifters - DI2 / eTAP. DI2 has been a good option on my Synapse Carbon.
 
To add to that, I would also look to electronic shifters - DI2 / eTAP. DI2 has been a good option on my Synapse Carbon.
Yes, fully agree with that I have DI2 on two bikes and it is fantastic. Feels like one missed change in 10k of riding!
 
To add to that, I would also look to electronic shifters - DI2 / eTAP. DI2 has been a good option on my Synapse Carbon.
Love my Specialized Roubaix, with a shock in the seat post and the headset. Can cream off the miles on that...
 
I would have to disagree sidepod! Us big guys do notice an difference.

Out of a group of mates I was the strongest on the mtb but it was finely balanced. Then one buddy bought an 29er and the other 3, including me, struggled to stay with him. It was like an shot of EPO, an secret e motor. Then another went with a 29er and he started setting the pace. The two started racing to maintain / dicates the pace and I was hanging on. I threw my chips in after an week or so and went with an 29er. Voila, the order was resumed, overnight, all in the space of a month. Now 3 guys on 29er and one left on a 26er and he did suffer.
 
Blimey!! Any old gits recall Honda’s flirtation with the 23” front back in the 80’s? Hmmm.
Just bought a 26” downhill beast. Fox 40 front so it should run 27.5. I’ll do some back to back testing......
 
Ok. Bit of advice or opinions.
I’ve got a great all rounder in my Sonder Camino from Alpkit. Love it. I take it everywhere and it goes anywhere. After selling my Giant Anthem mtb and my GT Grade carbon gravel in the first lockdown I have put the money into a new “bike” pot. I’m looking at a Trek Domane SL5.
I want a road bike that’s as comfortable as possible. Max ride length will be 80-100 miles.
Any recommendations?

+1 for the Domane.

My missus has had one for years (after breaking her madone in an OTB incident whilst riding in a club peloton) and she loves it. Trek provided the new frame at cost price, given that the madone frame cracked...not sure if other manufacturers do that?

The Isospeed really works as well. I have it on my Boone and it absolutely works.

For not a whole lot more money than the SL7, there is the émonda SLR7. For some reason, one of the paint jobs is £500 less than all the others. Whilst it is more road focussed, it is much lighter and you can still put 32 wide tyres on there for added comfort (officially takes up to 28’s, but 32 will fit fine).
 
I love this whole 27.5/29er mullet thing. Literally nobody could tell the difference if they didn’t know what they were riding!!
Sidepod, I'm moving from a ~10 year old Giant Anthem, with 26" wheels, a triple chainset and 80mm of fork and suspension travel and believe me this is a big change! I'm riding XC/trail stuff that I haven't before. The bike is really confidence inspiring. I admit if I'd moved to a 27.5" or rode one of those against the 29er the differences would be less marked.
 
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