Bike for the Alps
Discussion
I have a bit of a dilemma.
Off to the alps next week and only room in the car for one bike.
I was originally going to take my newly acquired GT Grade adventure bike and 2 sets of wheels. 1 set with the 28mm road tyres for road cycling and 1 with a set of 32mm cross tyres for some off road. I am a roadie with only very limited off road skills.
I found out last week that there is a cyclosportive starting and finishing in our town (Les Menuires), so I have signed up for the 137km ride, which has 4200m of climbing.
My dilemma is the Grade weighs 1.3kg more than my road bike at 9.5kg fully set up with pedals, cages etc. Most of that extra weight seems to be in the wheels, which is no surprise with the disc brakes and wider tyres.
With all that climbing in the sportive I am now thinking about just taking the road bike and pretty much forgetting about riding off road.
Thoughts??
Off to the alps next week and only room in the car for one bike.
I was originally going to take my newly acquired GT Grade adventure bike and 2 sets of wheels. 1 set with the 28mm road tyres for road cycling and 1 with a set of 32mm cross tyres for some off road. I am a roadie with only very limited off road skills.
I found out last week that there is a cyclosportive starting and finishing in our town (Les Menuires), so I have signed up for the 137km ride, which has 4200m of climbing.
My dilemma is the Grade weighs 1.3kg more than my road bike at 9.5kg fully set up with pedals, cages etc. Most of that extra weight seems to be in the wheels, which is no surprise with the disc brakes and wider tyres.
With all that climbing in the sportive I am now thinking about just taking the road bike and pretty much forgetting about riding off road.
Thoughts??
weedram said:
I have a bit of a dilemma.
Off to the alps next week and only room in the car for one bike.
I was originally going to take my newly acquired GT Grade adventure bike and 2 sets of wheels. 1 set with the 28mm road tyres for road cycling and 1 with a set of 32mm cross tyres for some off road. I am a roadie with only very limited off road skills.
I found out last week that there is a cyclosportive starting and finishing in our town (Les Menuires), so I have signed up for the 137km ride, which has 4200m of climbing.
My dilemma is the Grade weighs 1.3kg more than my road bike at 9.5kg fully set up with pedals, cages etc. Most of that extra weight seems to be in the wheels, which is no surprise with the disc brakes and wider tyres.
With all that climbing in the sportive I am now thinking about just taking the road bike and pretty much forgetting about riding off road.
Thoughts??
For that much climbing I would want my best bike. The extra weight will (literally) be a drag on the ride. You could always rent a MTB for a day or two if you want.Off to the alps next week and only room in the car for one bike.
I was originally going to take my newly acquired GT Grade adventure bike and 2 sets of wheels. 1 set with the 28mm road tyres for road cycling and 1 with a set of 32mm cross tyres for some off road. I am a roadie with only very limited off road skills.
I found out last week that there is a cyclosportive starting and finishing in our town (Les Menuires), so I have signed up for the 137km ride, which has 4200m of climbing.
My dilemma is the Grade weighs 1.3kg more than my road bike at 9.5kg fully set up with pedals, cages etc. Most of that extra weight seems to be in the wheels, which is no surprise with the disc brakes and wider tyres.
With all that climbing in the sportive I am now thinking about just taking the road bike and pretty much forgetting about riding off road.
Thoughts??
Depends what the gears are on your road bike. 42x26 nearly killed me in the Alps 20 years ago, the 36x32 I've got on my Grade would have been lovely.
I quite fancy giving disk brakes a run down some proper alpine descents, although single pivot callipers with brake blocks that magically have never worn out were perfectly fine.
I quite fancy giving disk brakes a run down some proper alpine descents, although single pivot callipers with brake blocks that magically have never worn out were perfectly fine.
That's part of my dilemma. The gearing is not an issue. Lowest gear on the Grade is as you say 36x32. My road bike runs 10S 105 with 36 x 30 as the lowest gear in it's current set up. I can borrow a 12-32 cassette from my son's cross bike which I believe will work with a 105 medium cage rear mech, so in theory the gearing can be identical. The only real difference between the bikes (apart from the brakes) is the weight.
Lighter is faster, but not by as much as we tend to think. About 2 secs per kg per 100m ascent, according to those that have done the physics. So the extra 1.5kg over 4,100m climbing will add about 2 minutes to your event time.
Whether that's significant or not depends on whether you'll be in contention for the win or not, I suppose...
Whether that's significant or not depends on whether you'll be in contention for the win or not, I suppose...
Rolls, Yeah the Etape was tough. Then the weekend following I did the Charly Gaul in the Dolomites. 4,500m climbing over 140km. So 700m climbing more and the same 35 degrees, but for some reason it didn't quite so bad. I guess it depends what you're used to, and the second time I was a little more used to it!
I would think that 1.5kg isn't enough to worry unduly about.
I'd think more about your brakes. How are you at descending? If you're not confident about hooning into hairpins at 50mph+, I'd take the bike with discs.
I watched a chap blow a front tyre on the way down from Avoriaz which was very likely down to the amount of time he was spending on the brakes. He was a right mess and was taken away in an ambulance to have his face put back together again.
Clinchers get very hot and can pop an inner tube quicker than you'd think. Plus they tend to part company with the rim if you get a blow out whilst negotiating a bend. If you're on tubs, then don't worry so much, but I do worry about long descents when I'm on clichers these days. Of course, discs are a nice way around the problem.
I'd think more about your brakes. How are you at descending? If you're not confident about hooning into hairpins at 50mph+, I'd take the bike with discs.
I watched a chap blow a front tyre on the way down from Avoriaz which was very likely down to the amount of time he was spending on the brakes. He was a right mess and was taken away in an ambulance to have his face put back together again.
Clinchers get very hot and can pop an inner tube quicker than you'd think. Plus they tend to part company with the rim if you get a blow out whilst negotiating a bend. If you're on tubs, then don't worry so much, but I do worry about long descents when I'm on clichers these days. Of course, discs are a nice way around the problem.
I would take road bike, otherwise, you will be on one of the last steep climb of the day hating yourself for not taking the "best" bike, even if in real terms it wouldn't have made much difference, mentally though you will think it does!
Having said that I would take the one you have done the most long distance rides on, for example I entered a winter sportive once on my winter road bike, which at the time all I had used was sub 15 mile each way commutes, I'd never done many long distance rides on it and by 40 miles I realised the position of the bike was all wrong, only as I have never done any real distance I never noticed
Having said that I would take the one you have done the most long distance rides on, for example I entered a winter sportive once on my winter road bike, which at the time all I had used was sub 15 mile each way commutes, I'd never done many long distance rides on it and by 40 miles I realised the position of the bike was all wrong, only as I have never done any real distance I never noticed
mcelliott said:
Take a road bike with a decent brake set up (and by that I mean callipers) and clinchers. Goodness me you will be absolutely fine on the descents. Tyres blowing up through overheating? Whatever next lol...
It happens. I saw a tube "escape" from a tyre on a long alpine descent. It didn't end well. The tyre itself didn't blow up, but maybe the rim lost it's shape due to heat, it was carbon, and the tyre bead slipped off the beat seat, allowing the still fully inflated tube to escape.Anyway, do a quick alpine descent with an alloy rim brake set up, then grab the rim with your bare hand....you won't wonder whether rims get hot ever again.
Kawasicki said:
mcelliott said:
Take a road bike with a decent brake set up (and by that I mean callipers) and clinchers. Goodness me you will be absolutely fine on the descents. Tyres blowing up through overheating? Whatever next lol...
It happens. I saw a tube "escape" from a tyre on a long alpine descent. It didn't end well. The tyre itself didn't blow up, but maybe the rim lost it's shape due to heat, it was carbon, and the tyre bead slipped off the beat seat, allowing the still fully inflated tube to escape.Anyway, do a quick alpine descent with an alloy rim brake set up, then grab the rim with your bare hand....you won't wonder whether rims get hot ever again.
How heavy are the GT grade wheels? I'm picking up a Boardman CX Team tomorrow and I wil be putting its wheels straight onto ebay and fitting some considerably lighter Pro Lite Revo wheels (which I intend to run tubeless). £350 on Wiggle but, on second attempt, I managed a price match with Ribble's £160 clearance price (for an outdated model).
Scroll down this page:
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40...
Price match on Saturday afternoon and wheels arrived on Monday.
Scroll down this page:
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40...
Price match on Saturday afternoon and wheels arrived on Monday.
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