Rapha Canyon Bike Hire
Canyon Ultimate CF SL 8.0 and Endurace CF SL 8.0
I managed to drop my Colnago in Condor cycles. It happened in slow motion as me and the salesman watched the top tube crack against the corner of the wall. He recommended I speak to carbon bike repair. Find them here. I will do a post once I have had the repair done.
I was booked on a club ride with Dulwich Paragon for the weekend and now had no bike so looked to Rapha to hire. The price has gone up recently from £20 to £35 per day. A big jump but the bikes are top end Canyon but there is no real discount from hiring them elsewhere.
The first weekend the rain called off the ride so I had to hire again the following weekend so I got to try out the Ultimate and the Endurance.
The Ultimate was an XS size which was to small for me and felt awkward out of the saddle. It’s a nice light bike and came with Ultreaga Di2. You need to take your own pedals and let them know your saddle height and what computer you use. They also hire out Wahoo’s. Bike came nice and clean all charged up and they let me bring it back on the Monday morning even though I hired only Sat and Sun.
Ultimate CF SL 8.0
Endurace CF SL 8.0
The following weekend I had it only sat but they allowed me to collect Friday afternoon. This means I can get a full days ride in for the hire day. This was the Endurace and in a small size. This was a much better fit and was a really light and quick bike. The two things I took away from this bike which I will add to my next bike were the disk breaks, great in the wet and 28mm tyres. These felt like cushions on the bike and were really comfortable. Alongside the springy seat post I felt like I had suspension. A little bendy for hard a saddle climbs though. It also came with the Sram Force wireless groupset. This looked great and was slick in shifting. It also had a great gear range so less shifting on the front. Cycling weekly review here.
Overall a good service from Rapha if a bit expensive, more details here.
Don’t forget to take your own pedals!!
You also need to be a RCC member!
Wahoo Kickr + Zwift
To ZWIFT or not to ZWIFT?
To start off I hate indoor cycling. It’s boring and it feels nothing like the real thing. You don’t go anywhere. It’s boring. You can’t feel the wind or the sun. It’s boring. You get too sweaty. I hate it.
I tried Zwift and found it dull. I then started to look at the training rides and found this better as I had an aim and target to meet/complete.
Then we were forced to ride inside by COVID19. I started to explore more of what Zwift had to offer and started joining in group rides with Rapha and other random events. I found this to be more entertaining. Something to ride for other than just turning the pedals because it was horrid/dangerous outside.
Riding with the founder of Rapha!
It will never beat cycling outside and I am not sure if I agree with there being UCI sanctioned races either. But I don’t have to do it and if others enjoy it, fine with me!
I did however really enjoy it when we couldn’t be outside and now find the training regimes very useful for keeping up fitness if you can’t be outside.
Arriving at the top of Alp du Zwift!
Wahoo now offer a whole host of gadgets to replicate cycling outside even a mountain climber?!?!? and wind machine synced in with Zwift. The Vegan Cyclist has done a great video on this stuff here.
When I first got my Wahoo Kickr I was worried about my expensive carbon fibre frame breaking. There are various youtube videos on how to make sure your bike is connected properly (don’t use the Wahoo one!)
Riding with Le Col and Bradley Wiggins
In a nutshell as long as everything is fitted correctly and tight you can’t break it unless you're being silly with it. You have to change your sprinting technique which means don’t swing the bike from side to side. I found some really good tips on ZWIFTINSIDER and a good one to note if your keeping the bike on the trainer for extended periods is to move the front wheel around so that the same spokes don’t always take your weight. Have a look here.
The Wahoo Kickr is simple to set up and can be used with road and mountain bikes with either quick release or through axles. I found that my wheel was not sitting in the middle of the roller. This was easily fixed with an extra washer on the quick release to balance this off.
If your new to Zwift Cycling Weekly has done a great introduction here.
Wahoo Elemnt
Wahoo is great if you keep on track but not if you deviate!
Wahoo is great if you keep on track but not if you deviate!
I have recently switched to the Wahoo from a Garmin. I wish I had done this earlier. See Garmin review. Only a few weeks in and I highly rate this GPS unit. Easy to use app, big clear screen. Loads of battery. The menu system is really intuitive on the unit itself and it is easy to hook up with Strava, Komoot and many other apps. The one thing I have noticed is that if you plot a course but deviate from this you will have yo go back and find the original route, it won’t reroute for you like the Garmin did. It's easy to keep your old Garmin mounts if you have them with an adapter you can purchase here.
Details>
£250 which is for the bundle that includes heart rate monitor, speed and cadence sensors. 2 year limited warranty. 17 hours battery life!!
PRO'S
Large screen
Waterproof
Extra long battery life
Easy to use app and menu systems
Easy sync with third party apps
CON'S
No re-routing
No sleep option
RIDE PAUSED/ RIDE RESUMED logo covers half of map once stopped. Annoying but can press page button to remove, but still, annoying.
UPDATE June 2019
WAHOO have just released the WAHOO ROAM £300 standard kit.
New features include a Colour Screen, Auto adjust brightness, re-routing "back on track", In device navigation features.
Linked with "Trailforks" for off road riding!
Review here
Colnago C60
“The Colnago C60 is so good it might be the last bike you'll ever need”
“The Colnago C60 is so good it might be the last bike you'll ever need”
I love riding this bike. It’s the best bike I have ever owned. It just feels fast but handles like a dream. Corners like its on rails, stiff for explosive uphill sprints but comfortable enough for all day rides. It is the top end from the C range and still hand made at the factory in Cambiago, just outside Milan. With it's beautiful craftsmanship and rich history it really stands out. Sigma Sports visited the factory here and read more on the history here. Save up and buy one!
Details>
£3,800 Frame only!
Carbon Fibre hand built in Italy
Lugged frame
Latest version is the C64 £4,099 frame only here.
You can also get a custom paint job
PRO'S
Fast
Beautiful
History
Fast
CON'S
Expensive
Roberts D.O.G.S B.O.L.X
The D.O.G.S B.O.L.X
Probably the finest steel hardtail out there? Instead of raiding the thesaurus for superlatives, we'll let the critics explain why it's such a good thing: "'Thing' is an indefinable quality that you sense rather than see or feel... There was my Chas Roberts DOGSBOLX parked in the corner of the room, quietly exuding 'thing' all over the carpet." - Justin Lorentz, MBUK.
With it’s signature rear tapered horseshoe seatstays and dialed-in geometry, this is a bike that screams out to be ridden and ridden hard. It’s one for the true connoisseur of all that a classic hardtail should be.
This was my dream bike as a kid growing up as MTBing became big in the UK in the 90s. I finally got Chas to build me one in early 2000s and it took me several years to get the parts I wanted and i’m still looking for that next retro part to take it a bit further. www.retrobike.co.uk is the place to find those retro gems!
Chas has stopped building bikes but you can head over to Six Four Frameworks here to have Adrian build you a bike! He was with Chas for 28 years building frames.
Current Spec - June 2020
Shimano XTR Groupset
Cook Bros Racing cranks
Zephyr Chain Rings
Shimano XTR Seatpost
Selle Italia Flite Saddle
Schwalbe Billy Bonkers Tyres
Syncros Stem
Renthal RC 30 bars
Mushroom Grips
Pace RC-35 MXC (I believe) See here for Pace fork history
Pace RC 50 Carbon front hub
Mavic X 517 SUP front rim
Mavic M231 CD rear rim
Royce Titanium Bottom Bracket
Previous additions
Tioga Disk Drive
Onza Porcupine 2.1 tyres both black and white versions
USE Titanium seatpost
Panaracer Smoke Dart Tyres MAGIC in cream colour
Ringle 150mm stem (toooo long)
USE Anti Dive suspension fork