First ride - first thoughts

[dirty boy]

I've acquired a Viking XRR road bike >>>>



I know it's cheap, but my goodness, compared to riding on an old Specialized Rockhopper, which needs pretty much rebuilding, this thing is like a rocket.

I was aching like hell from a gym session on Friday, but decided just to go out and get a feel for the bike Saturday evening anyway.

Just a little loop aorund the block, smidge under 9 miles and averaged 17mph. When I got back I pumped the tyres up as they were only 45psi, popped in 90psi, thinking that might make a bit of difference next time I go out.

Might avoid the roads I was on too, country roads with grit and mud down the centre and holes at the side are frightening!

Anyway, thoroughly enjoyed it, think I could maintain that speed for a good period of time, but I did end up with pins and needles in my hands and bks.

Tips and advice welcome....doing a 50 mile ride next month.

[Some Gump]

Moveyour seat back - it'lll stop the pins and neeles in your hands

Also, run big pressure in your tyres all the ime - faster, but mor importantly less chance of snakebite / pinch flats.

Enjoy!

[dirty boy]

Some Gump said:

Moveyour seat back - it'lll stop the pins and neeles in your hands

Also, run big pressure in your tyres all the ime - faster, but mor importantly less chance of snakebite / pinch flats.

Enjoy!

I actually moved it forwards, not sure i'll be able to reach if I go any further back? I'll give it a go though...will pop out tomorrow evening for my next ride.

thanks

[littleandy0410]

I like the look of those - great colour scheme!

With regards to the pins and needles - were you wearing any gloves? I normally wear Fox or Kona full finger mountain biking gloves, but recently bought a cheap pair of Lidl/Aldi fingerless cycling gloves, (thought they were worth a punt for £2.99) and on a 23 mile ride yesterday, I got pins and needles quite early on. I can only assume it is caused by the cheap gloves.

[2volvos]

If you don't mind my asking - how much did the Viking cost?

Did you weigh it up against any other bikes before buying? I know that everyone raves about the Triban 3 from Decathlon and wondered how something like the Viking stacked up against what seems to be the accepted best budget bike. Agree that that in that colour it does look very nice.

Either way, enjoy the ride!

[Fluffsri]

I was told pins and needles could be caused by due to too much weight on the hands. The advice for me was to turn the stem upside down raising the handlebars slightly, worked for me.

[dirty boy]

2volvos said:

If you don't mind my asking - how much did the Viking cost?

Did you weigh it up against any other bikes before buying? I know that everyone raves about the Triban 3 from Decathlon and wondered how something like the Viking stacked up against what seems to be the accepted best budget bike. Agree that that in that colour it does look very nice.

Either way, enjoy the ride!

My cousin bought it for a £150 after it had only been ridden a couple of times.

He only rode it half a dozen times (football injury, so he got bike, but back playing footy)

So now i've 'acquired' it. I guess he'll want it back.....maybe.

[yellowjack]

Quick google of 'Viking Roma' reveals:
http://www.google.co.uk/shopping/product/154951642...

Sub £260 delivered (new), so £150 sounds OK for something so little used. Concur with those who have said it looks good. Nice traditional colour for a road bike, but not too 'old skool'.

It's a hefty beast at near 12kg, with a 52/42 front end and a 12-23 8 speed at the rear, so riding it will probably be a similar experience to my 90's steel 'Falcon Pro-line'.

Hope the OP enjoys riding it.

Both of the buyers who've reviewed the bike on here... http://www.rutlandcycling.com/34838/Viking-Roma-20... ...have mentioned the reach being an issue, along with complaints about the brakes and advice to upgrade the blocks/pads.

[dirty boy]

yellowjack said:

Quick google of 'Viking Roma' reveals:
http://www.google.co.uk/shopping/product/154951642...

Sub £260 delivered (new), so £150 sounds OK for something so little used. Concur with those who have said it looks good. Nice traditional colour for a road bike, but not too 'old skool'.

It's a hefty beast at near 12kg, with a 52/42 front end and a 12-23 8 speed at the rear, so riding it will probably be a similar experience to my 90's steel 'Falcon Pro-line'.

Hope the OP enjoys riding it.

Both of the buyers who've reviewed the bike on here... http://www.rutlandcycling.com/34838/Viking-Roma-20... ...have mentioned the reach being an issue, along with complaints about the brakes and advice to upgrade the blocks/pads.

I can vouch for the brakes.

You have to do some 'serious' thinking about slowing down in advance, especially having been used to good discs for so so long.

[TKF]

yellowjack said:

12kg, with a 52/42 front end

Hardcore. Lucky you're in the flatlands eh DB?

[Get Karter]

I recommend that you position your saddle fore/aftness with reference to your 'knee-over-pedal' optimum, rather than to your handlebar reach.
The classic position is to have your knee directly above the pedal axle when crank is parallel to the ground. (My knees prefer to be behind this, but it is the accepted starting point for adjustment).

Handlebar reach should really be adjusted through stem length (and top tube length if you were still in the process of choosing a bike to buy).

Either way, everyone tends to adapt to the bike they use somewhat, and other's bikes always feel wrong!

[dirty boy]

TKF said:

yellowjack said:

12kg, with a 52/42 front end

Hardcore. Lucky you're in the flatlands eh DB?

Those numbers mean nothing to me, other than first number suggests the bike is probably made from pig iron

[yellowjack]

dirty boy said:

TKF said:

yellowjack said:

12kg, with a 52/42 front end

Hardcore. Lucky you're in the flatlands eh DB?

Those numbers mean nothing to me, other than first number suggests the bike is probably made from pig iron

In Manufacturer/Retailer speak you bike is made from "Lightweight" Aluminium, so not 'pig-iron'. Fork is Steel.

Yes, compared to high end stuff, it will be quite heavy, but you've come from a MTB? 23c Tyres and road oriented gearing will feel much better, and more suited to the task of covering tarmac quickly than a MTB or hybrid on knobbly or semi slick tyres.

As far as the numbers go, that'll define how fast you can go, or how easy it will be to climb steep hills:

Standard chainset = 53/39 ; Double chainset (yours) = 52/42 ; Compact chainset (mine) = 50/34 {where the numbers are the number of teeth per chainring}

Assuming identical rim/tyre combo, and a crank length of 170mm, a comparison of your bike (as sold) and my 'best' bike follows...

Your 'Top' gear is 52x12 = 30.5mph @ 90rpm ; Your 'Bottom' gear is 42x23 = 12.8mph
My 'Top' gear is 50x11 = 32mph @ 90rpm ; My 'Bottom' gear is 34x25 = 9.6mph

• 'Proper' old-school cyclists (you know, beards/panniers/mudguards types) refer to 'gear inches', but by converting that into mph you get a better understanding of what it means in any given situation.

In the old days, a 12 tooth small cog at the back was the smallest you could go. This meant bigger front chainrings to achieve higher speeds for racing, but the size of the jump you can make with a dérailleur system is limited, which meant you were stuck with more teeth on your inner (front) chainring and less on the biggest cog on the back. All good if you ride in flatter terrain, not so great if you do lots of climbing.

New technology has allowed the size of the axle and consequently the freewheel to shrink in diameter, which in turn allowed the small cog to go down to 11 teeth. At the same time, rear dérailleur technology advanced to allow a larger gap between the largest and smallest cogs on the rear cassette. Taking advantage of this, the compact chainset was developed. Using the 'higher' 11 tooth gear at the back with a lower 50 tooth outer chainring gave similar (or even higher) 'top gear' speeds, but at the same time, the inner chainring could be reduced in size allowing a lower climbing gear.

Comparing your gears with mine again for a moment, we can see that, assuming the same rider, riding at the same cadence(rpm), over the same distance, one would be able to travel at a higher speed with a 'Compact' than with your 'Double'. If we set the same rider the task of climbing a constantly steepening hill until he ground to a halt, he would get further up with my compact gearing than with your double. Or to look at it from the other side, I could achieve the same top speed as you but expend less energy doing so, and climb the same hill as you, but feel fresher when I got to the top.

It's horses for courses when it comes to gearing. I always rode a 53/39 with 12-25 which gave a range of 11 to 31.1mph @ 90rpm, and, in a rather old fashioned and blinkered fashion, presumed that a compact was for wusses, and would be slower at the top end and have an easier 'crawler' gear. I didn't deliberately choose a 'Standard' chainset, but I chose a bike on which to commute to work. It just so happened that it came with the 'Standard' chainrings. Later, I got back into cycling for fitness and recreation in a big way. I formed the opinion that riding a '53' made me awesome, and those riding 'Compacts' were lesser mortals. Then I started riding with other people, and saw how I wasn't any faster than them in real riding conditions, but that they suffered less on the hills than I did. I wanted a lighter bike, and after taking the advice of my LBS owner (and a competitive rider) I changed my opinion, and bought a bike with 50/34 x 11-25 gearing, which gave me a range of 9.6 to 32mph @ 90 rpm. This was slightly faster 'top end' than the 'dinner plate' Standard on my old bike, and it benefits from having a significantly lower 'crawler' gear, so I am able to maintain similar top speeds, but more importantly, at my age, enjoy a much easier life when I'm climbing. Ally this to the fact that my 'best' bike weighs in at a claimed 8.9kg, and is significantly lighter than my old 'warhorse', which, although it's not been weighed, I imagine is probably heavier than your Viking, given it's age and the fact it's a lugged steel frame, and my pace increased to the point where I was no longer slowing my riding partner down.

With a bike at that end of the market, significant savings can be made in it's weight by upgrading the wheels and tyres, and maybe a budget carbon fibre fork, but you would be limited by the frame eventually, should upgrading become a way of life. Ride it as it is, see how you get on. You can always buy 'better' to replace this one if you are bitten by the bug, and either sell the Viking, or give it back to whomever you acquired it from.

Whatever the outcome, enjoy the bike for what it is. Don't worry now about whether or not it's too heavy, or too 'low rent'. Don't concern yourself with bike snobs, as there aren't many genuine cycling addicts who would judge you by your kit anyway. The one's that look down their nose at people on cheaper bikes can go to hell, there are some millionaire/company director types who have all the gear and no idea, but they're not worth bothering with, and you'll soon see through them.

Above all, enjoy your cycling. You should only measure the value of your bike in "Smiles per Mile". You can only spend money once - a bicycle will repay you every time you ride it, no matter what it's cost in £.

[dirty boy]

yellowjack.

Thank you, posts like that are much appreciated.

[littleandy0410]

yellowjack - great post! That was like a history lesson, a physics lesson, a technology lesson and a minirant, all in one!

[eggchaser1987]

Have another Yellow. Explained something that I assumed I knew but didn't really! Thanks again

[MadDad]

yellowjack said:

Above all, enjoy your cycling. You should only measure the value of your bike in "Smiles per Mile". You can only spend money once - a bicycle will repay you every time you ride it, no matter what it's cost in £.

And another from me - excellent post! I would also like to underline what you said above, forget what others think, just ride and enjoy it!

I was lucky enough to get a very large tax refund last year that let me indulge in a couple of bikes that I would never normally be able to afford. I hope I don't look like an 'all the gear and no idea' middle aged tt, but hey - if I do I really don't care, if you see me on a bike I am a grinning 'all the gear and no idea' middle aged tt!!

I managed a short spin through the Somerset countryside this evening, pi@@ing down with rain, cold, an unforgiving wind and roads that were slippery as a salmon lathered in baby-oil, but it was smiles all the way - just me v the elements!!

[yellowjack]

littleandy0410 said:

yellowjack - great post! That was like a history lesson, a physics lesson, a technology lesson and a minirant, all in one!

Was gonna ask where the 'minirant' was but re-read my post and realised it was the one sentence regarding bike snobbery. I'm glad it went down well with the assembled...

...sometimes I think I come across as a bit 'dry'. As far as knowing my stuff goes, a lot of credit to this forum, really. So many people have provided so many useful links over the years that I've learned lots of cool new stuff, and understood the reasons behind some of the things I already knew a little about.

I do hate bike snobs, though. There's absolutely no need for it. My best bike is not exactly a budget buster by many people's standards, but I was quite literally sweating handing over my credit card to pay 'THAT MUCH!' for a mere bicycle. Sometimes extending the hand of friendship, or offering some assistance to another rider is all that you need to give you an inner glow for the rest of the day, even if the chap you help is wearing 'civvies' and riding a 'bike shaped object'. It's all very well snearing at the Stealth's and Apollo's churned out by the big chainstores, but if that is all someone can afford, then that's what they have to work with. It's up to those of us with a little knowledge to spread that know-how to folk who need it. Little things like re-greasing and adjusting a newbie's cone bearings, and showing them that they can do small jobs for themselves, with a little assistance, can make the difference between someone sticking with the sport or tossing their bike into a skip.

[mcelliott]

Excellent post yellowjack, the best one I've read on PP.

[yellowjack]

MadDad said:

And another from me - excellent post! I would also like to underline what you said above, forget what others think, just ride and enjoy it!

I was lucky enough to get a very large tax refund last year that let me indulge in a couple of bikes that I would never normally be able to afford. I hope I don't look like an 'all the gear and no idea' middle aged tt, but hey - if I do I really don't care, if you see me on a bike I am a grinning 'all the gear and no idea' middle aged tt!!

I managed a short spin through the Somerset countryside this evening, pi@@ing down with rain, cold, an unforgiving wind and roads that were slippery as a salmon lathered in baby-oil, but it was smiles all the way - just me v the elements!!

I didn't, by any means, mean to lump everyone with expensive kit into "the all the gear..." category. Hell, if I could have negotiated permission from the wife, I'd be on an ex-Team UK Youth bike from WyndyMilla (£2,600 - without the wheels!) right now. As it is, I've yet to haul the Merida out of the garage for the first time this year.

I've got to buck up and take a slice of my own advice, and get out riding and enjoying it again. I'm back on the MTB though, following a nice email from MadDad, encouraging me to take that first step again. Thank's Lee! It was just the kick up the arse that was needed

That was exactly what I meant when I wrote about supporting others, regardless of the cost of their kit or the type of riding they like to do. You never know when you will need some of that support yourself. Kind of a 'pay it forward' type scenario.