The older mountain bike thread but now a road bike review update

Anybody start throwing rubber off a tire?

I looked down today and had a ribbon flinging off the front tire, just left of center. As soon as I noticed it, I was mesmerized watching it whip around every revolution.

Ten, maybe 20 revolutions later, it was gone. I put another seven miles on finishing my ride and inspected it, but didn’t find any significant gouges in the tire.

I’ve got a new set of Conti 5000s on the way as a preventive measure, but this is the first time I’ve ever encountered this phenomenon. The current rubber is whatever Willier shipped as OEM and has about 1000mi on it.
 
It sounds like you threw a cord, but that shouldn't happen with only a thousand miles on it. It also might possibly be their type of wear indicator.
 
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Of course this has to happen 10 miles from home… the splines in the crank were sheared off.
 
I had my first major wreck on Friday. Nothing broken but I can make a rib "click". 4 ibuprofen every 8 hours along with icing ribs and shoulder all weekend. Completely sucks.
 
TCABM said:
Holy….Ultegra, too. Pushing watts or mfg defect.
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Watts? I wish. The BSD said he's seen it before, and that it doesn't happen often but it does happen. The design of the clamping system can allow itself to work loose over time. There is a new crank spline piece on order. I do still have the Tarmac as a backup.
 
Mahneuvers said:
I had my first major wreck on Friday. Nothing broken but I can make a rib "click". 4 ibuprofen every 8 hours along with icing ribs and shoulder all weekend. Completely sucks.
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Lay off the ibuprofen. You don't want to end up like me and get a PE attack and lose your medical and go on blood thinners.
 
Sac Arrow said:
Lay off the ibuprofen. You don't want to end up like me and get a PE attack and lose your medical and go on blood thinners.
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Wow. Sorry to hear that.

I'm following Urgent Care doctor instructions. She was worried about swelling and my giving myself pneumonia from not inhaling deeply enough because of rib pain.
 
Mahneuvers said:
Wow. Sorry to hear that.

I'm following Urgent Care doctor instructions. She was worried about swelling and my giving myself pneumonia from not inhaling deeply enough because of rib pain.
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Read up on that stuff. It is a prescription drug in most other countries and it has a bad side. It is a strong coagulant and has caused fatal heart attacks, strokes and PE’s
 
Whelp, did 23 on the Tarmac today. The Cervelo is soooooooo much nicer to ride.
 
As an update, apparently the crank arm suffered damage so a new one is on order. Still. So it looks like I am in to at least sometime next week for getting it back.

I did tweak the adjustments on my Tarmac. I shoved the seat forward, and tilted the bars up so now it feels a lot closer to how the Cervelo feels, e.g. I'm not reaching as bad. That improved things a lot. It surprises me how long I rode it (approaching 35K) with such a bad fit. I did get a major tune, with new cables, brake pads, and bar wrap when I got the "new" (crappy beater Mavic rims) put on it. But, it's functional. And it is riding nice. It's just geared too low for serious hills so I keep it on the flat.
 
Yes it is. The Tarmac is much more valuable as a bike as it is for whatever money I could get selling it. 2012 carbon technology and components aren't commanding much of a price. Yet it's still a damn solid ride.

Well I got my Cervelo back. And I even had the wherewithal to ask the BSD if they had any of the little rubber grommets for the recessed brake bleed screws. He scrounged and found one. Yay.
 
Sorry to hear about the crash. It definitely happens.

As for aero, and triathlon specifically it really depends on how fast you are going. Unless you are doing 23+ I wouldn't worry about it too much. Get whichever one makes you feel cool. You'll get a huge benefit on your ability to run with a TT specific bike, once you're back at it. It's worth mentioning that you can rent wheels; a disk on the back for a flat course can be amazing.
Mahneuvers said:
Does anybody have an aero helmet recommendation? I have two upcoming triathlons and I understand a helmet is high bang for the buck.
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Hengelo said:
...Unless you are doing 23+ I wouldn't worry about it too much....
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Agreed. My 1st race was yesterday and I skipped the aero helmet just for this reason...I'm not fast enough for it to make a difference. Standing climbs are too painful on the ribs so I was fortunate it was a flat course. My next race is in two weeks and it's fortunately also a flat course. It's going to be a miserable day as I didn't have much left in the tank yesterday and the next race is 2X the distance :(
 
If these are your first races I wouldn’t bother with anything “aero” for now. Practice your transitions and train hard. You can worry about speed next year after you have some solid training in you.
 
Hengelo said:
If these are your first races I wouldn’t bother with anything “aero” for now. Practice your transitions and train hard. You can worry about speed next year after you have some solid training in you.
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I started racing 11 years ago. Depite my wreck, yesterday was my best showing for a complete race (where swim wasn't canceled). I acknowledge training is still where the most gains are to be made, but, I have the cash now to spend on equipment. Yesterday was the first Ironman race in 13 where I rode a tri bike!
 
Wheels are the best bang for the buck - no question. Good tires help as well. Helmet can help, but head position is critical to it working well. For TT/Triathlon, aero position on the bike is big. Being able to make power and hold your best position.
 
I’ve heard one pound on the wheels equals six pounds on the frame from one of my cycling, non engineering dorm mates in engineering school. These days, I think that is an underestimation.
 
Angular momentum. A heavier wheel stores more energy, therefore requires more energy to spin up to speed.

So, getting lighter wheels/tires is a double win. Lower bike weight and lower angular momentum.
 
All that only really matters when accelerating or climbing. Aero wheels are the big win. I have a set of training wheels and racing wheels that are roughly the same weight. Only difference is profile. The race wheels are 55mm deep. I run about 1 - 2 mph faster at the same watts.
Light is good too, all things equal.
 
It's really a pretty complicated question, depending on what kind of riding you are doing. There is a reason disk wheels are heavy, and others are light.

I've had plenty of top 10's in competitive Triathlons, and some nice podiums in road and cross. If you have the cash, hire a real live coach (pm me if you need a name). The aero stuff looks cool but until you are ready to spend money on wind tunnel time my advice is to train and eat better.
 
Hengelo said:
...I've had plenty of top 10's in competitive Triathlons...
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Wow! Middle of my age group is usually where I am. In the Saturday race, my daughter and her fiance both qualified for the Ironman World Championship. I'm headed to Marbella Spain next November to cheer them on!
 
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Qualifying for Ironman Worlds is no joke. Very impressive.
Mahneuvers said:
Wow! Middle of my age group is usually where I am. In the Saturday race, my daughter and her fiance both qualified for the Ironman World Championship. I'm headed to Marbella Spain next November to cheer them on!
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Another stupid tubeless question: What stops the sealant from sealing the valves? Since replacing a broken valve, when I unscrew and depress the valve, I don't get much/any air and pumping is very difficult.
 
It is possible to get sealant into the valve but under normal operation unless air is coming out the valve while you ride, it should not get sealant in it. It's BS that they charge $12 per valve, but that's 1/10th of a Standard Bike Unit of currency...

Personally I'd be happy to go back to tubes and rim brakes.
 
You should be able to replace the valve core. Pull out the old core, clean out the valve stem (I ream it out with a thin hex wrench or straightened paper clip), then put in the new core. If you can remember to store the bike with the core between 4 and 8 o'clock, it can help keep sealant from clogging up the core. Cores are much cheaper than stems, especially if you remember to take them out of old tubes before throwing them away.
 
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