Clothing, computers, new bike.

Hi,

I was wondering if I could have a bit of advice from you guys who have done this all before.

I am just about to purchase a new road bike, mainly it will be used for fitness, group rides and maybe a few races. Also some commuting. My question is regarding the extras I will need to buy with the bike itself.

Obviously a helmet. Is it generally the more expencive the better? or are there requirements specific to road biking etc?

Lycra? Bike pants, gloves etc? What is neccessary and what is not? I would be interested in getting a cycling computer, are there some features I should definitely have or not have etc?

Pump, repair kit?

Shoes will be sorted out, the shop I'm buying it from is giving me a pair of free 150 dollar pair of shoes - stiffer and lighter the better generally?

Anything I'm forgetting?

Are sunglasses neccessary?




I have alot of questions and no answers,

any help would me most appreciated.


Cheers,
James.

 

If you will be using the bike for recreational use a Hybrid is a good choice. Gives you a more relaxed posture with the added advantage of 700 wheels.

Obviously a helmet. - Buy the best you can afford, ensure that it is rated by a testing organisation

Lycra? - definitely and well padded with a good quality cycling shirt and maybe a bandana SHirts and bandanas are normally made f a material that wicks moisture (sweat) efficiently.

gloves - definitely - they are not to be stylish - when you fall they protect your hands - difficult to hold the TV remote with no skin on your palms!!!!!!! Some form of ID strap or bracelet is also handy.

A good pump able to handle pressures of 120 psi (8.5 Bar)
Tubby bag with the following - tyre levers, spare tube, glueless patches, combination tool.

Cycling computer - many makes available but I use distance, average speed, speed, elapsed time, above below average arrows (Cateye feature) Total distance.

Water bottles, water bottle cages.

Ensure that you get pedals as well for the shoes you are buying.

Sunglasses a must. A bug hit at speed can take out your eye. Interchangeble lenses a plus point

Hope this helps and most important get those wheels spinning!!!!!

Big H

 

Thanks for the help. Much appreciated.

I don't think I'll go a hybrid, because I'll be aiming to improve my fitness, from fairly fit to really fit. I want to be able to push myself, and travel long distances and times on it.

 

If you're not a cyclist, take it easy at first. There are a few anatomical adaptations to go through.

You can put yourself through months of suffering by starting with too aggressive a position, especially of you buy a proper road bike, wheel it out of the shop, and try to ride it. Get fitted for reach by someone who seems to know what they're talking about (you can't do this yourself), then start with your bars at least as high as your saddle, if not higher, and move them down over a period of months or years.

If the stem they give you won't do this, get one with an angle so that you can reverse it and raise the bars. It takes exactly 4 minutes to change a stem.

Don't put up with an uncomfortable wrist position on the drops (lower hand position, behind the brake levers) either. Rotate the bars fore and aft until it's comfortable, or change the bars. This needs to be an extremely comfortable position or you will tend not to use the drops at all... especially if your bars are too low... so your reach will be too long, your shoulders sore, the webs of your thumbs will crease and hurt like hell... and you will be rubbish.

Something else I would have done straight away, if I'd known what I know now, is get a cadence sensor. You'll need a computer that supports it... this limits your choice of computer. Unless you're the next Lance Armstrong, you will be surprised, when you start out, how slowly you are pedalling compared to what you're told is a good cadence.

Clear skies and tailwinds....

 

I haven't actually answered the question, have I?

I guess I'm saying you shouldn't notice the equipment, and that goes for clothes too.

Loose clothes, and natural fibres, are right out. Natural fibres retain sweat, and loose clothes not only bunch, they can get hooked on the saddle when you stand up.

I endorse what big_h said about glasses. I've been hit just below the eye by a bee and it felt like an air rifle pellet. Normal glasses are rubbish, get wraparounds.

There are limits that should never be crossed, even in the name of speed or safety. Orange lycra is generally considered to be beyond those limits.

All the other stuff is details. Carry a puncture kit, but choose good tyres and you will rarely get punctures.

For commuting, or any serious night road riding, get serious lights front and back. My experience is that other people will tend not to notice you if you and your bike are in a state of Zen union.

Amen

 

That's a good question. I'm sure most decent bike helmets conform to all the necessary safety regulations (may as well check though, AFAIK some countries/certification bodies have more stringent regulations than others.)

This brings up a question that I was just about to write a separate forum topic for: what is the benefits of say, an AU$250 Met Stradivarius or such, compared to say a half decent AU$100 helmet?

I am inclined to think it'd be weight and airflow ? Do they feel that much more comfortable?

Lycra -- yeah, mainly for the badded underside which makes riding a lot more comfortable, especially for long distances. If you don't like the idea of getting suited up in skin-tight gear, you can get shorts with the seamless padding sewn into them.

Gloves, for sure. I had a pair of full-hand gloves but found it a little difficult to operate the shifter and brake levers with them. I since bought some 'half-length' gloves that leave the fingertips exposed, and find them a lot more convenient, while still protecting the palms if I happen to fall.

If you want a basic cycle computer, one of the standard type ones will be fine. Something with speed, average speed, time, stopwatch, tripmeter and odometer would be great. I had a Cateye Velo 2 on my old bike which I found to be a good, solid unit. One feature that was VERY handy is that it auto stops and starts the stopwatch when you stop and go again.

Unless you're a neatness freak, I wouldn't bother with a wireless cyclecomputer, especially if you live in an area with trams or ride near train tracks/high voltage power lines etc.

If you want something a little more feature packed, maybe get one with cadence, or (IMO far more useful) heart rate. Things start to get expensive at around this level, though

Keep both with you, definitely (unless you want to walk/taxi when you inevitably get a flat or problem.) I have a Zefal hpX hand pump which attaches itself to the frame, and is excellent.

Get a reasonable sized seat bag and get a spare tube, repair kit, at least three tyre levers (in case you break one), and maybe one of those little toolkit-in-a-swiss-army-knife type deals (I don't have one of these myself, but many people like to keep some tools around with them just in case.)

I got a seat bag that is fairly large, so that I could also store my keys, wallet, phone etc. in it as well.

Clipless pedals, though they take a day to get used to, are far better than normal 'platform' pedals.

re shoes, stiffer soles are better, though I've managed well enough with some low-ish end Shimano shoes with SPD clipless pedals.

LIGHTS .. white LED front and red LED rear at the very minimum. And get two bottle cages and bottles. You don't want to ever be dehydrated on the bike.

Yeah, you don't want anything to fly/be thrown into your eyes when you're going high speed downhill

Just like everything else, you can get "cheap and cheerful" ones, all the way to ones with adjustable air vents, replacable lenses, and made out of Unobtainium for that elusive 7 grams weight saving

 

If you are serious about training get a good heart rate monitor and a cycling computer with a cadence feature.

if you can afford it get a polar S710 or S720, big bucks but you will have heart rate with handy stuff like zones as well as cadence, speed, distance, altitude etc and the cool software which makes training diaries easy as pie

 

I also recently went through the whole process of getting the bike and accessories. I have done so with the aim on fitness and to get into racing. Just to give you a breakdown of what I purchased:

1) Bike tool for all those small adjustments and tightening everything again should they come loose
2) Bottle cages and 750 ml water bottles
3) Carry Bag
4) Clothing
5) Computer - Beta 2 (Avg Spd, Max Spd, Current Spd, Odometer, Tot Distance, Time Cycled (also stops when not pedalling), Scan - goes through all the screen every 6 seconds without having to do it manually.
6) Gloves
7) Helmet
8) Puncture Kit
9) Cleats and shoes
10) Tyre Lever (Don't take the tyre remover that works in a circle, it has a tendency to damage tyre walls)
11) 2 x extra tyre tubes
12) CO2 Canisters (I took this instead of hand pump, as I already have a foot pump. The canister comes in very handy during a race if you have to inflate something quickly for only a short while).
My bike came out with clipless pedals so you might need to look at that as well

I'm still on the lookout for a HR monitor, but I'm still deciding which one to take the A5 or M21?

Hope you enjoy.

 

RalleighOke,

When you list all the accessories like that, cycling looks so expensive, even after you've bought the bike!

re which heart monitor to get, I would definitely go for the M21. Maybe even spring for the M51, as it has the fitness test function and a better OwnZone system.

I don't trust the idea of CO2 canisters that much .. i figure if I'm unlucky enough to get a flat, that means I'm also going to have other bad things happen like having tyre levers snap, or I'll end up mis-firing the cartridges and have to start walking home

 

It does look expensive, fortunatly I can say that it wasn't. Isn't SA great! You can negotiate the price on anything today.

Thanks for the info on thr HRM Rek, I just couldn't make up my mind. According to the Polar Specs it seemed like the A5 had more functions, then again, the M21 had Coded heartrate.

Re the CO2...I feel the same way as you, but I was told ..no...I was bullied into taking them

At least I can say that I did not have to use it yet....touch wood!!

 

Hey RalleighOke

About the HRM - I know they're a lot more expensive but I'd go for one of the 'S' series Polars if I was you. I've got an S210 and find it invaluable with all the different workout sessions that can be programmed into it. I know I posted something somewhere in here about programming it.

Enjoy your Raleigh!!


By the way - Who bullied you into that CO2 thingy?????

 

Hi Moab_Rob,

I only wish I could get anyone of the "S" series HRM. Sadly I only have enough for the M21 max

Maybe I should wait for a while till I have more $.


Anyway, regarding the CO2...friends, family, dealers.....I suppose they are making sense in one way...I need to inflate my tyres to 9 bar (thinks it is 1.3 psi...not sure), and getting a hand pump to do that is next to impossible....unless you start bodybuilding....but then I will become to big for cycling

 

Hi RaleighOke

About hand pumps and stuff.
I got me one of those Topeak(I think) jobs that lives as a frame pump but has flip out bits to make it into a sort-of mini floorpump with a T-handle and this thing pumps up to way high pressures easily(takes a little time perhaps but gets there, used it on my road bike for a year). I'd just put some 2.1 Conti Town&Countries on my MTB(doing some base training on the road) and I only pumped them up to 45psi or so with my floor pump that evening. The next day went out for a ride neglecting to finish the pump to 65psi. About halfway, I'd had enough of the wallowy feeling from that 45psi backwheel and I zapped a 100 strokes into it with that pump of mine. Much better!!! When I got home I thought I'd better make sure the tyres were at 65psi and checked them with my gauged floor pump. The rear wheel was at +75 PSI !!!!!!!!

I'll check and let you know which pump it is!!!!!

 

Thanks Moab_Rob,

That will really be apreciated..

 

Hi RaleighOke

The pump is a 'Road Morph'. You can get it with or without gauge it seems. Link below:

http://www.datamex.co.uk/extrauk/products/topeak/road_morph.html

Try Linden Cycles and/or CycleLab.(Bought mine online through CL online shop)

Topeak also make a 'Mountain Morph' which seems very similar.

May the wind always be from behind!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Sorry about the late response...bit hectic last 3 days...thanks for the info Moab_Rob..I'm close to cyclelab so will pop in this weekend to have a look at it.

 

CO2 canisters work. Not only that, the rapid inflation seems to seat the tyre better. But don't touch the valve while you press the button, your finger will get frozen to it. :[email protected]