The "what bike bits have you just bought" thread
Discussion
The water argument seems flawed to me. If you didn't need water, or didn't need X amount on any given day - then its valid.
But you do need water, and you don't need a cage to weigh twice as much as it could.
A far better argument is that, for the level we all ride at, it makes absolutely naff all difference to our Sunday rides or sportives, but we like to play with weight anyway.
But you do need water, and you don't need a cage to weigh twice as much as it could.
A far better argument is that, for the level we all ride at, it makes absolutely naff all difference to our Sunday rides or sportives, but we like to play with weight anyway.
yonex said:
It never ceases to amaze me how obsessed people are with tiny amounts of weight!
A preoccupation with reducing rotational weight I can understand, wheels, cranks etc, but most of us could save £hundred's by just having a good poo before getting on the bike (or if you are REALLY committed to weight reduction stop drinking booze and cut shi7 out of your diet).I read an article in Cyclist Magazine (I think), where the whole weight saving myth on things like bottle carriers, seat rails, cable housing, bars etc was blown out of the water. Extensive and expensive independent testing proved aero components and weight reduction of rotational parts make the biggest impact on a bikes performance (on the assumption that the rider is in peak condition).
Why is so much made of reducing weight on 'consumer' components like bottle cages? Simple, the majority of weekend warriors can't justify blowing £2k on a lightweight/aero wheelset, but they can kid themselves that by spending £80 on a bottle carrier that is 20 gms lighter than a plastic one it will turn them into a local Strava legend! The product designers are not the ones pushing weight saving on inert objects attached to your bike, the marketing men are!!!!
Oh indeed...I'm not ashamed to admit, it's because its shiny and carbon and will, to my eyes, look better
I stress I was considering ~£10 per cage, not the £30-40 from normal places in UK. that truly would be a foolish thing (for my ability!)
Interesting pablo's post about sky using metal
I stress I was considering ~£10 per cage, not the £30-40 from normal places in UK. that truly would be a foolish thing (for my ability!)
Interesting pablo's post about sky using metal
Erm. Confession time. I have some mega-expensive Bontrager carbon fibre cages on my new bike. It would have cost £68 for two of them, but I had 16 bonus "Podium Points" to spend, and was struggling to use them up, so I added them to my pile of goodies. They look fab, and really match the bike well. If, however, I'd have needed to part with cash for bottle cages, I'd have gone for the Elite Custom Race cages again, which are no more than a tenner a pop, even in a bricks'n'mortar shop.
£6.99
£34.19
Go figure...
£6.99
£34.19
Go figure...
king game!I bought a couple of carbon Lifeline brand cages from Wiggle recently, they work really well and weren't too expensive. The main reason I bought them is actually that the plastic Elite ones brush my leg on the seat tube mount, so I wanted the narrowest cage possible. That, and they're carbon so look cool.
Ponk said:
It's just human nature, we like shiny things!
That's basically it and I'm not scared of admitting it. Some people come on here and expect their new shiny ultegra shifters to instantly make them faster. I know there is no performance gain for having carbon cages. I just think they look nice. I ended up using mine on Sunday as I didn't have the spacers for my Elite cages. The carbon cages did ok over 70 miles
As for the water bottle argument. That always comes up when people talk about weight saving on bikes. Nothing changes
However, with a bit of careful buying, I have managed to shave half a kilo off my CX bike and that is quite a lot. Wheels will be next and that will make a big difference.
MadDad said:
A preoccupation with reducing rotational weight I can understand, wheels, cranks etc, but most of us could save £hundred's by just having a good poo before getting on the bike (or if you are REALLY committed to weight reduction stop drinking booze and cut shi7 out of your diet).I read an article in Cyclist Magazine (I think), where the whole weight saving myth on things like bottle carriers, seat rails, cable housing, bars etc was blown out of the water. Extensive and expensive independent testing proved aero components and weight reduction of rotational parts make the biggest impact on a bikes performance (on the assumption that the rider is in peak condition).
Why is so much made of reducing weight on 'consumer' components like bottle cages? Simple, the majority of weekend warriors can't justify blowing £2k on a lightweight/aero wheelset, but they can kid themselves that by spending £80 on a bottle carrier that is 20 gms lighter than a plastic one it will turn them into a local Strava legend! The product designers are not the ones pushing weight saving on inert objects attached to your bike, the marketing men are!!!!
There are some other benefits to carbon components besides weight. My carbon bars on my Giant reduce the road buzz and they look nicer. £40 delivered too.
I replaced the bars on my Planet X as I didn't like the feel of the original bars. Went for Carbon from the far east again and only £49, which is cheaper than the equivalent 3T ali bars from Wiggle. I'm perfectly happy with them.
Titanium bolts is a bit of a waste IMO, however, they don't rust which is the one benefit. I bought some for my discs, as I managed to loose my original bolts down the back of my bench. Came from Thailand. Thought they were cheap at the time, but then I saw a supplier from Yorkshire sold the same thing for a similar price. Oops!
Who else picked up a Garmin Edge from Aldi yesterday then?
I was there at 10.15 (I almost live across the road so not much of a special trip), they had 8 left after I'd picked up mine and the place was mental! I think I'll stick to going there at 9pm in the week when the crazies think it's closed in future.
On the Garmin, I took it out for 60 miles yesterday afternoon (fitted to the handlebars at 90 degrees because I'm a div and I couldn't be bothered with messing with those bands to fix it), only problem I have is that it doesn't seem to want to connect to my windows Surface so I'll have to do all of my stuff on it at lunch at work.
I was there at 10.15 (I almost live across the road so not much of a special trip), they had 8 left after I'd picked up mine and the place was mental! I think I'll stick to going there at 9pm in the week when the crazies think it's closed in future.
On the Garmin, I took it out for 60 miles yesterday afternoon (fitted to the handlebars at 90 degrees because I'm a div and I couldn't be bothered with messing with those bands to fix it), only problem I have is that it doesn't seem to want to connect to my windows Surface so I'll have to do all of my stuff on it at lunch at work.
bakerstreet said:
That's basically it and I'm not scared of admitting it. Some people come on here and expect their new shiny ultegra shifters to instantly make them faster.
I know there is no performance gain for having carbon cages. I just think they look nice. I ended up using mine on Sunday as I didn't have the spacers for my Elite cages. The carbon cages did ok over 70 miles
As for the water bottle argument. That always comes up when people talk about weight saving on bikes. Nothing changes
However, with a bit of careful buying, I have managed to shave half a kilo off my CX bike and that is quite a lot. Wheels will be next and that will make a big difference.
For a car analogy; Porsche put a sticker, instead of an enamel badge, on the front of the 996 RS but still had to fill it with fuel I know there is no performance gain for having carbon cages. I just think they look nice. I ended up using mine on Sunday as I didn't have the spacers for my Elite cages. The carbon cages did ok over 70 miles
As for the water bottle argument. That always comes up when people talk about weight saving on bikes. Nothing changes
However, with a bit of careful buying, I have managed to shave half a kilo off my CX bike and that is quite a lot. Wheels will be next and that will make a big difference.
bakerstreet said:
Having done the new forest sportive on Sunday, I see lots of expensive road bikes still running the standard wheels. Seems utterly pointless to run a £2k Venge on a pair of £75 wheels.
As a balance, my Trek Emonda SL 6 (£2,300) is running it's original wheels, and will have to for some time to come. Fortunately they are Bontrager Race (Tubeless Ready) wheels, and retail for around £220 at 1720 grams, so they're no more than 200 or so grams heavier than a (typical) upgrade wheelset. I looked hard at replacement wheels for it before I even bought it, but after doing the sums, it seemed senseless to spend >£500 to save only 200 grams. In the end I was busy spending money which added weight, on things like a saddle bag, and decent lights. I value having the flexibility to carry on riding well beyond sunset over shaving a few seconds off a Strava segment. My lovely carbon fibre bottle cages were effectively free, given that they cost me only 6 of the 16 'bonus' "Podium Points" I earned when I bought the bike. The key driver in me abandoning an immediate wheel upgrade, though, was the first ride, where it became very apparent that the original wheels were absolutely fine, and I didn't really feel the need, nor the desire to replace them.
more to wheels than weight though, I would rate aero and stiffness more than weight. Nothing gets my goat more than powering up a climb and feeling the rear wheel flex, that affects me more than 2-300 grams
Normally I upgrade initial wheels on a bike because they are Shiite and start popping spokes.
Going against everyone wanting to save weight I am finding myself quicker on steep climbs on my old Alu double campag Wilier than my new Carbon compact shimano Wilier! The new bike is stiffer, lighter , more aero, lower gear ratios, but I am quicker on steep 14% climbs on my old bike! Sometimes by quite a margin! I just don't get it, think the position is too crampt, even though technically the new bike "should" fit better.
Normally I upgrade initial wheels on a bike because they are Shiite and start popping spokes.
Going against everyone wanting to save weight I am finding myself quicker on steep climbs on my old Alu double campag Wilier than my new Carbon compact shimano Wilier! The new bike is stiffer, lighter , more aero, lower gear ratios, but I am quicker on steep 14% climbs on my old bike! Sometimes by quite a margin! I just don't get it, think the position is too crampt, even though technically the new bike "should" fit better.
yellowjack said:
As a balance, my Trek Emonda SL 6 (£2,300) is running it's original wheels, and will have to for some time to come. Fortunately they are Bontrager Race (Tubeless Ready) wheels, and retail for around £220 at 1720 grams, so they're no more than 200 or so grams heavier than a (typical) upgrade wheelset.
I looked hard at replacement wheels for it before I even bought it, but after doing the sums, it seemed senseless to spend >£500 to save only 200 grams. In the end I was busy spending money which added weight, on things like a saddle bag, and decent lights. I value having the flexibility to carry on riding well beyond sunset over shaving a few seconds off a Strava segment. My lovely carbon fibre bottle cages were effectively free, given that they cost me only 6 of the 16 'bonus' "Podium Points" I earned when I bought the bike. The key driver in me abandoning an immediate wheel upgrade, though, was the first ride, where it became very apparent that the original wheels were absolutely fine, and I didn't really feel the need, nor the desire to replace them.
Standard wheel set at 1770g? That's pretty good. I'd agree, there isn't much point upgrading those. I've heard that Giant's off the shelf wheels are meant to be pretty good these days. I looked hard at replacement wheels for it before I even bought it, but after doing the sums, it seemed senseless to spend >£500 to save only 200 grams. In the end I was busy spending money which added weight, on things like a saddle bag, and decent lights. I value having the flexibility to carry on riding well beyond sunset over shaving a few seconds off a Strava segment. My lovely carbon fibre bottle cages were effectively free, given that they cost me only 6 of the 16 'bonus' "Podium Points" I earned when I bought the bike. The key driver in me abandoning an immediate wheel upgrade, though, was the first ride, where it became very apparent that the original wheels were absolutely fine, and I didn't really feel the need, nor the desire to replace them.
I'm always looking at new bikes and budgeting in a new wheel set. Yours does seem to be decent, just not sure I could stretch to £2300 for a new bike. Also, I'm a SRAM fan and there isn't much to choose from if you like SRAM shifting
Probably going to end up buying a Spesh Tarmac or Giant Propoel Advanced selling most of it on Ebay apart from the frame! bakerstreet said:
Standard wheel set at 1770g? That's pretty good. I'd agree, there isn't much point upgrading those. I've heard that Giant's off the shelf wheels are meant to be pretty good these days.
I'm always looking at new bikes and budgeting in a new wheel set. Yours does seem to be decent, just not sure I could stretch to £2300 for a new bike. Also, I'm a SRAM fan and there isn't much to choose from if you like SRAM shifting Probably going to end up buying a Spesh Tarmac or Giant Propoel Advanced selling most of it on Ebay apart from the frame!
Same here, I'm a SRAM fan and nobody seems to sell bikes fitted with their kit except Canyon, and they don't offer SRAM builds in their heavily condensed Swiss range. The only one I've come across is Argon 18 where I can opt for 105/Rival, or Ultegra/Force at the same price points.I'm always looking at new bikes and budgeting in a new wheel set. Yours does seem to be decent, just not sure I could stretch to £2300 for a new bike. Also, I'm a SRAM fan and there isn't much to choose from if you like SRAM shifting
Probably going to end up buying a Spesh Tarmac or Giant Propoel Advanced selling most of it on Ebay apart from the frame! Even doing a self build from a frameset the SRAM groupsets are a good bit more expensive than their Shimano equivalents. I'm debating a Sora equipped BMC Teammachine SLR-03 and swapping the Force 10 speed gruppo from my current bike over.
Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff