The cycling thread

[Cav]

Haha brilliant!

[D41]

Middle aged man in lycra??

When I am bumbling along enjoying the scenery and thinking about going down on Farah Forcet Majors they have this annoying habit of sprinting past you, then you can feel they are dying to look behind and see where you are.
I like to hold them around 10 metres then slowly reel them in and ride past them whistling while they have a heart attack on their 12 grand bike

You fantasize about Farrah Fawcett???

She died about ten years ago. Sicko.

[D6Nutz]

I

A Mammil sprinted past me about a mile into my ride then got stuck at the traffic lights couldnt get his foot out his cleat and fell off sideways,I laughed my fooking head off

Apart from the lycra and sprinting past other cyclists, this week probably be me very soon. Never ridden with cleats before, sure there will be at least one incident.

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[D41]

Practice on a soccer field or some other level grassy area. You're going to go over at some point, so it's best to make it as painless as possible.
You want to have one foot unlocked BEFORE you come to a stop...it's just like biking where you set-up before the turn....so just before the bike is at walking pace, or thereabouts.
There's a pretty steep learning curve that goes with learning clipless pedals, but once you have it down, you'll wonder what the fuss was about.
You'll also wonder why you didn't switch over to them years ago, they're that good.

Good luck.

[kiwikrasher]

You will forget and fall in your arse at some point. Just accept it and laugh it off when it happens. I don’t know anyone that’s used cleats and not forgotten at least once.

They make you more committed to a rock climb attempt as well

[D41]

...And, you get extra traction/power as you push down on one pedal, and pull up with the other.
You'll be a hill-climbing demon in no time.

IT'S INSANE!!!!

[Perkles]

SPD s are relatively easy to get out of

[kiwikrasher]

SPD s are relatively easy to get out of

When you remember ahead of time

I used SPD’s on my road bikes and MTB’s for years and still had the odd low speed tip off. Mainly on the MTB on technical trails though

[D41]

The funny part is when you end up upside-down, in a ditch, but still clipped-in.
Well... it's funny after-the-fact. It's pretty frickin' unfunny while you're laying there. Bleeding.

[Cav]

There's a circa 1990s Cologna on eBay at the minute... want to add one to the collection, Perkles?

[Perkles]

There's a circa 1990s Cologna on eBay at the minute... want to add one to the collection, Perkles?

I remember the Russian Olympic team riding hand me down Rosso red Colnagos from the pro teams, thats why ive always liked them
I think the old steel frames go for good money now

[Cav]

A few days left and it's over £300 I think

[Perkles]

ive owned a lot of nice bikes but one year i was sponsored by Merlin tItanium and it was a beautiful stunning bike

[D41]

Merlin are about as good as it gets when it comes to high-end frames..... and they're so minimalist. Perfect example of the whole less-is-more school of thought.

[Perkles]

Merlin are about as good as it gets when it comes to high-end frames..... and they're so minimalist. Perfect example of the whole less-is-more school of thought.

yes and did you know the best titanium welders are generally female ? Merlin had a lot of female welding staff zipping the frames up ,what I liked about that bike if you scratched it you just used a bit of wet scotchbrite and it looked like new

[D6Nutz]

Cheers for finding these Perkles, went for the same size as my running trainers and they fit perfectly. Awesome price too, £35 down from £105.

Just waiting for the peddles and cleats now.

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[Perkles]

bloody hell bargain they look really nice

OK for the cleats they have forward/rear and side adjustment

For the forward/rear adjustment set them up to be on the centre of the ball of your foot or just slightly back ,IE so the pedal axle is running on a centre line through the ball of your foot
For the side adjustment your ankle doesnt want to to be catching on the crank so I set mine towards the inside of your leg which pushes your ankle away form the crank

Generally if your saddle is to low you will get pain in the back of your knees and to high lower back pain,I iwill explain optimal hip angle when I can work how to explain it in writing clearly but get your cleats set up first and dont be scared to WD40 them so the come in and out easy

[D41]

Do they weld in backstitch or buttonhole??

Yes...someone told me about that many moons ago...and I think they were talking about Merlin, too. Or maybe LiteSpeed....but seeing as you mentioned it, it was probably Merlin.
I always fancied that Merlin cruiser frame, but in MTB trim. The geometry is all off though, IIRC. Be a great "sleeper" bike if you did it right.

[D6Nutz]

bloody hell bargain they look really nice

OK for the cleats they have forward/rear and side adjustment

For the forward/rear adjustment set them up to be on the centre of the ball of your foot or just slightly back ,IE so the pedal axle is running on a centre line through the ball of your foot
For the side adjustment your ankle doesnt want to to be catching on the crank so I set mine towards the inside of your leg which pushes your ankle away form the crank

Generally if your saddle is to low you will get pain in the back of your knees and to high lower back pain,I iwill explain optimal hip angle when I can work how to explain it in writing clearly but get your cleats set up first and dont be scared to WD40 them so the come in and out easy

I watched a good video that showed how to do a DIY bike fit. I think I've got a good starting point, initially the seat was to high and too far back and I did have lower back pain.

Another on Facebook gave a video for cleat setup so I'll watch that as well.

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[D41]

Hmmm. It seems Merlin are back making the cruiser-frame MTB again.
VERY limited run. $5000 a frame.
I'll pass.