Oi! Simon M

[Richard Bates]

How's the new roadbike going?

--
usenet01@artybee.net Personal Site: www.artybee.net (same
crap, different layout) Sutton Brass :
www.suttonbrass.org.uk

[Simon Mason]

"Richard Bates" <usenet01@artybee.net> wrote in message
news:kamr60ptefi1jr7268d3st5k81gmkucu1m@4ax.com...
> How's the new roadbike going?

Not bad at all. At first I had a fair bit of trouble with
my hands, what with the seat post being quite high relative
to the bars, but I've got used to it now. Saddle is
uncomfortable, but I'm loathe to ditch it as it is a nice
Italian stitched leather job with Fondriest logo sewn in.

Took it for two 30 mile rides a few days ago and had a
great time (apart from saddle). I feel as though I was
meant to be a roadie, both my uncle and granddad were road
racers in the 1950's so maybe it's in my genes. It's like a
fish must feel like in a fast running river compared to a
fairground plastic bag:-)

One other thing is that it only has a double chainring and
I encountered some very mild hills which made me think that
if I "struggled" with these, what chance would I have in
the NY Moors or Pennines. I'll do some stories in the
summer and put them here.
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/page473.htm

--
Simon Mason Anlaby East Yorkshire. 53°44'N 0°26'W
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net (http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/)

[Jon Senior]

"Simon Mason" <simon@simonmason.karoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:j_ycnQtxp8KgFvPdSa8jmw@karoo.co.uk...
> One other thing is that it only has a double chainring
> and I encountered some very mild hills which made me
> think that if I "struggled" with these, what chance would
> I have in the NY Moors or Pennines. I'll do some stories
> in the summer and put them here.
> http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/page473.htm

Put some lead in a drinks bottle and ride your mild hills a
few times with that. Remove and tackle big ones... I found
that tackling hills with a triple just made me more inclined
<he he> to drop through the gears.

Glad to hear that you're getting on with it. I've tried a
small amount of off-roading, and I've riden tourers and
heavier-weight racers, but nothing compares to the thrill
of head-down, flat-out acceleration on a light-weight
racer. Mmmmmmm.

Straw poll for the drop-bar brigade. My old bike had 38cm
wide bars, my Giant came with 44cm. Is there anyone else who
has riden older (narrower) bikes who prefered the narrow
bars or am I just weird. I could certainly tuck in better on
the decents on the narrow bars!

Jon

[Velvet]

Jon Senior wrote:
> "Simon Mason" <simon@simonmason.karoo.co.uk> wrote in
> message news:j_ycnQtxp8KgFvPdSa8jmw@karoo.co.uk...
>
>> One other thing is that it only has a double chainring
>> and I encountered some very mild hills which made me
>> think that if I "struggled" with these, what chance would
>> I have in the NY Moors or Pennines. I'll do some stories
>> in the summer and put them here.
>> http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/page473.htm
>
>
> Put some lead in a drinks bottle and ride your mild hills
> a few times with that. Remove and tackle big ones... I
> found that tackling hills with a triple just made me more
> inclined <he he> to drop through the gears.
>
> Glad to hear that you're getting on with it. I've tried a
> small amount of off-roading, and I've riden tourers and
> heavier-weight racers, but nothing compares to the thrill
> of head-down, flat-out acceleration on a light-weight
> racer. Mmmmmmm.
>
> Straw poll for the drop-bar brigade. My old bike had 38cm
> wide bars, my Giant came with 44cm. Is there anyone else
> who has riden older (narrower) bikes who prefered the
> narrow bars or am I just weird. I could certainly tuck in
> better on the decents on the narrow bars!
>
> Jon
>
>

Dunno really, but my bike came with wide (bloke-sized) bars
and I didn't like them at all. Lovely narrow ones that're on
there now are much nicer (and mean less stretching for me,
though a little more twitchy initially).

Velvet

[Sam]

Simon - I have tried to email you recently, with no success.
(My address is as listed, replacing scott with sam.)

[Pete Biggs]

Jon Senior wrote:
> Straw poll for the drop-bar brigade. My old bike had 38cm
> wide bars, my Giant came with 44cm. Is there anyone else
> who has riden older (narrower) bikes who prefered the
> narrow bars or am I just weird. I could certainly tuck in
> better on the decents on the narrow bars!

I used 38cm bars for years. I'm never going back to them
after using wider ones. Cornering and standing-up riding
feels far more secure and efficient to me now with 42 and
44cm (c-c) bars. However, the narrower 42cm bars I use on my
tourer do feel more relaxed when pottering along on the
hoods. 2cm difference is noticeable. I agree about the
aerodynamics, though.

~PB

[Maf]

Pete Biggs wrote:
> Jon Senior wrote:
>
>>Straw poll for the drop-bar brigade. My old bike had 38cm
>>wide bars, my Giant came with 44cm. Is there anyone else
>>who has riden older (narrower) bikes who prefered the
>>narrow bars or am I just weird. I could certainly tuck in
>>better on the decents on the narrow bars!
>
>
> I used 38cm bars for years. I'm never going back to them
> after using wider ones. Cornering and standing-up riding
> feels far more secure and efficient to me now with 42 and
> 44cm (c-c) bars. However, the narrower 42cm bars I use on
> my tourer do feel more relaxed when pottering along on the
> hoods. 2cm difference is noticeable. I agree about the
> aerodynamics, though.
>
> ~PB
>
>
Narrower bars are much easier for cycling in traffic though.
I can get through gaps that MTBs can only look at. m

[Simon Mason]

"Sam" <scott@bikereader.com> wrote in message
news:4c8efff8.0404132239.5f6dcba0@posting.google.com...
> Simon - I have tried to email you recently, with no
> success. (My address is as listed, replacing scott
> with sam.)

Well Scott, it's still active judging by the 100's of
spam messages I get a day. Try my works one at
masons@bp.com instead.

Simon M.

[McBain_v1]

Originally posted by Jon Senior
[BPut some lead in a drinks bottle and ride your mild hills a
few times with that. Remove and tackle big ones... I found
that tackling hills with a triple just made me more inclined
<he he> to drop through the gears.

Glad to hear that you're getting on with it. I've tried a
small amount of off-roading, and I've riden tourers and
heavier-weight racers, but nothing compares to the thrill
of head-down, flat-out acceleration on a light-weight
racer. Mmmmmmm.

Straw poll for the drop-bar brigade. My old bike had 38cm
wide bars, my Giant came with 44cm. Is there anyone else who
has riden older (narrower) bikes who prefered the narrow
bars or am I just weird. I could certainly tuck in better on
the decents on the narrow bars!

Jon [/B]

I changed out my narrow bars for wider ones. I find that the narrow bars - although allowing a tigher tuck position - "closed in" my chest a bit and didn't allow me to suck in the lung-fulls of air I need when powering along a flat. Aesthetically however, the narrow bars make your bike lookmore like a racing bike ;)

What's the ratio on Simon's front chainrings? I'm guessing it's 53/42? If so, then swap the smaller chainring for a 39t and that should improve hill climbing ability :)

[James Hodson]

On Thu, 15 Apr 2004 10:31:28 GMT, McBain_v1
<usenet-forum@cyclingforums.com> wrote:

>I changed out my narrow bars for wider ones. I find that
>the narrow bars
>- although allowing a tigher tuck position - "closed in" my
> chest a bit and didn't allow me to suck in the lung-fulls
> of air I need when powering along a flat. Aesthetically
> however, the narrow bars make your bike lookmore like a
> racing bike ;)

Hi McBain

This reminded me of the day I first rode my road bike.
Having rode only rigid pseudo-MTBs for about a decade I
found the narrower bars on the new bike incredibly twitchy.
Luckily, there was a route home from the LBS that didn't
require me to ride on the reasonably busy road I would
normally have taken.

Nevertheless, it took me several miles to become comfortable
with the more direct handling.

James