The "what bike bits have you just bought" thread
Discussion
Snap! Also been shopping for new clothing... 
Went down the ebay route because I was specifically looking for white/black/blue - I got Jerseys with three rear pockets including a zipped centre phone pocket for £18, bib shorts for about £30 and from my LBS, leg warmers for cool spring mornings/warm evenings.
Still Fat... by Ben Magee Creative Arts, on Flickr
Still got 7kgs to lose to reach my targets but fairly happy with my progress from 92.1kgs/44" waist and chest (July last year) to my current 77kgs/39" waist and chest! My moobs almost look like pecs now! ha ha
Have to say, the leg warmers are a bit kinky! Superb piss taking ammo for the missus!
Also picked up a little torque wrench in a box with sockets for £58 and some new water bottles with cages on offer from Chainreactions - the water bottles are so much better than the cheap tat I've been sucking on, they should make hydration on the move actually feasible now!
20150409_074913 by Ben Magee Creative Arts, on Flickr
Went down the ebay route because I was specifically looking for white/black/blue - I got Jerseys with three rear pockets including a zipped centre phone pocket for £18, bib shorts for about £30 and from my LBS, leg warmers for cool spring mornings/warm evenings.
Still Fat... by Ben Magee Creative Arts, on FlickrStill got 7kgs to lose to reach my targets but fairly happy with my progress from 92.1kgs/44" waist and chest (July last year) to my current 77kgs/39" waist and chest! My moobs almost look like pecs now! ha ha
Have to say, the leg warmers are a bit kinky! Superb piss taking ammo for the missus!
Also picked up a little torque wrench in a box with sockets for £58 and some new water bottles with cages on offer from Chainreactions - the water bottles are so much better than the cheap tat I've been sucking on, they should make hydration on the move actually feasible now!
20150409_074913 by Ben Magee Creative Arts, on Flickrpablo said:
GarryDK said:
some new bar tape
The 80s called, they want their bar tape back 
...after it had been on there more than 18 years! It was very brittle when it came off, disintegrating as I unwrapped it. I swapped it for some white tape salvaged from another bike. That blue/yellow splatter pattern tape was fitted from new, and the bike was bought in 1997.
bakerstreet said:
Been sitting on the train with my full length Altura bib shorts. Its not a great look and full lycra isn't really needed for my 8 miles a dday through central London, so I have been on the hunt for some MTB shorts with liner and pockets. Didn't want to pay alot as it all comes off the money I have saved cycling instead of using the tube.
My default choice for any clothing is Wiggle's DHB, but I didn't really like any of their shorts as they used buttons for adjusting the waist. Altura shorts used velcro, which looked much better. However, the ones I liked were £56!! I was going to give up and buy some on Ebay, but then a pair of ex display altura shorts came up on Evans for £26, which is a bargain
Never really used Evans since I started road biking back in 2010, but I now work at Bank and the London Bridge branch is only a 5 minute walk from my office, so its fairly convenient and I don't have to wait 3 days (ish) for a Wiggle delivery
Not the flashiest shorts in the world, but I'm only using them for commuting, so its all good
Got the New Forest Sportive on Sunday and maybe another in May, so no more purchases for a while.
Well, I tried these shorts on in the shop and they certainly didn't feel like £56 shorts. They actually felt more like £10 holiday shorts from Tesco. Handed them back and asked for a refund. They were a bit reluctant. My default choice for any clothing is Wiggle's DHB, but I didn't really like any of their shorts as they used buttons for adjusting the waist. Altura shorts used velcro, which looked much better. However, the ones I liked were £56!! I was going to give up and buy some on Ebay, but then a pair of ex display altura shorts came up on Evans for £26, which is a bargain
Never really used Evans since I started road biking back in 2010, but I now work at Bank and the London Bridge branch is only a 5 minute walk from my office, so its fairly convenient and I don't have to wait 3 days (ish) for a Wiggle delivery
Not the flashiest shorts in the world, but I'm only using them for commuting, so its all good
Got the New Forest Sportive on Sunday and maybe another in May, so no more purchases for a while.
Ended up spending nore on Endura MTB shorts that had much better pockets and the liner short was more secure too. Also managed to get it the same day from the Evans branch in Fenchurch street
Hopefully, this will be all the commuting kit I need for a while.
47p2 said:
Chain holder
Yep - I'd heard about them years ago, but never seen one in use.My bike is about 33 years old and has the correct drop-outs for this, so I thought I'd add another bit of period-correct gadgetry!
The C-shaped bit sits like a dummy sprocket, bolted to the drop-out.
A spring loaded lever on a cam allows the friction gear lever to travel further than normal so that you can access the 'extra' sprocket when you need to stop and take a wheel out. (puncture etc)
This gadget keeps the tension on the chain so that you don't have to mess about with the chain, dropping it off the chainrings etc. Cool or what?!
BlueNGT said:
90mm Deda Zero100 Stem – Much better fit for me than the outgoing ITM 110mm and it is 90g lighter.
New Deda Zero100 seat post – didn’t like the old Planet X one and this one is 150g lighter.
New Bar Tape – some good old fashioned Cinelli Gel Cork, very comfortable.
Waiting on a new Carbon bottle cage.
Then best of all, some Vittoria Open Corsa CX III 25c tyre's.....what a difference to 23c. Had my doubts but they're superb!!
The old Giant feels like a new bike and most of the above were picked up in the Easter sales
Before and after shots with all parts fittedNew Deda Zero100 seat post – didn’t like the old Planet X one and this one is 150g lighter.
New Bar Tape – some good old fashioned Cinelli Gel Cork, very comfortable.
Waiting on a new Carbon bottle cage.
Then best of all, some Vittoria Open Corsa CX III 25c tyre's.....what a difference to 23c. Had my doubts but they're superb!!
The old Giant feels like a new bike and most of the above were picked up in the Easter sales
Before
After
TonyHetherington said:
After 2 x carbon bottle cages, probably from one of the ebay people...anyone have recommendations?
seems foolish to pay £35 from evans vs £10 from china
Wouldn't bother with carbon , I wanted some then realised there is little point so got a plastic Elite cage of a UK EBay seller for a fiver . Not really sure what carbon would add over pladtic seems foolish to pay £35 from evans vs £10 from china
Was tempted by Chinese parts put the delivery times put me off
It looks carbony 
I've spent a fortune on bottle cages over the years, very few ever work as they should, but my favourite are Look cages closely followed by Stainless Steel wire cages. Last weekend I decided to try and readjust some of my surplus carbon and plastic cages I have kicking about the garage so the carbon ones went into an oven at 85 degrees for 10-15 minutes then brought out and forced into a mug so that when they were cooled they would be reshaped. The plastic cages were carefully warmed with a heat gun and again placed into the mug. The cages are certainly a lot tighter than they were, whether or not they stay like that I'm not sure but it's worth trying
You need to ensure the mug is narrow enough to be a tight fit so that the cage is compressed as much as possible
Apologies for the bare-bum mug shot
Before I reshaped this cage I could manage to slip my fat finger through the space without touching the cage. No chance now
You need to ensure the mug is narrow enough to be a tight fit so that the cage is compressed as much as possible
Apologies for the bare-bum mug shot
Before I reshaped this cage I could manage to slip my fat finger through the space without touching the cage. No chance now
I saw that Sky had used skateboard style grip tape on their bottle cages for Flanders last weekend and I assume they will do the same for Roubaix. They use alu cages to which are easier to bend to fit tighter. It will wear out the bottles quicker but thats a small price to pay to stop them bouncing out on the cobbles when the team car is miles away...
TwistingMyMelon said:
Wouldn't bother with carbon , I wanted some then realised there is little point so got a plastic Elite cage of a UK EBay seller for a fiver . Not really sure what carbon would add over pladtic
Was tempted by Chinese parts put the delivery times put me off
Well the are much lighter for a start. I bought two at £7 each. They are 8g each compared to 38g for the Elite custom race cages.Was tempted by Chinese parts put the delivery times put me off
Delivery time is actually quite reasonable. I think most of my carbon stuff from Thailand comes within two weeks.
However, I have recently tried out the carbon cages and they weren't any good at actually holding a bottle tight enough, so mine were rattling around a bit. I use podium bottles, so other bottles may work better.
Also the finish was pretty poor. Over spray and poor graphics. Anyway, I bought the cages as an experiment and its only cost me £14. Ive bought three handle bars, a seat post and a few other bits and I've been perfectly satisfied with every part.
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