Any question answered...

Thanks guys.

That's the girth of the shell.

My new (second hand) wheels are making strange noises.

they are alloy rims with aero carbon fairings on, like older Mavic Cosmic's and some Zipps I believe.

you can hear the carbon creaking over rough ground. I guess this is from the alloy rim flexing and the fairing rubbing on the spokes.

It makes sense, I think. But Is this normal?

Are your rims 10mm wide or something?

The rims on my road bike are 19mm wide, externally. I thought that 25c would be borderline too big for that?

Nah.

19mm is usually a standard width (internal tend to be between 13-15mm), and fine up to 28mm.

It's only recently that 23mm gaining traction as the de facto rims width of choice allowing you to drop the pressure even more without feeling squirmy.

Not to my knowledge, best to take it to the shop and ask them to give it a check, could be the spokes is a bit on the loose side.

Ok, thanks Ed. I'll give 25c a go.

Probably the Detonators that @snottyotter suggested.

Cheers

25mm a good start, drop the pressure by 10-15psi from your usual when you rode on 23mm.

They shift cable on my Alfine seems to be rubbing on the chain after I reinstalled the wheel yesterday. I can't seem to move it as the axle only goes in a specific way. It's a MAJOR pain to get the rear wheel in and out on this bike due to the Alfine, axle spacers, chain tensioner, mudguards etc. Any ideas?

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All the pics I google seem to show a straighter run; cable too long?

new bike

Sheldon has the answer. The anti-turn washers that stop the axle spinning are L/R sided. And I've put them on the wrong side. Wheel's coming out again...

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/nexus-mech.html

the bike looks very clean

It got absolutely mullered when I rode Coast-to-coast in November, then did 40 miles of mud bath bridleway on Festive 500. Stripped it yesterday for a clean. Re-packed the wheel bearings (which still sound awful), stripped cranks and BB (ordered new BB as it's FUBAR) and gave it all a wash. It still looks dirty to me. Chain sounds like I lube with sand. Why is it that it always sounds worse after you clean them?

Cable angle is fixed at least.

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It's a Genesis Smithfield, by the way. Got 2,200 miles on it now. Functional.

Too tight perhaps?

Nice try. Needs more ozone.

Febreeze you mean?

Thinking of upgrading the seatpost in my aluminium Canyon (Roadlite) from the stock aluminium one to a carbon one. It's by no means pressing, but I've found what seems to be a bargain.

Weight is my least important criteria and I'm not sure of the exact weight of what I have, but from looking around a few sites, it seems to be around 230g, whereas the replacement I'm thinking of is in the region of 160g, so let's say 65g saving, give or take.

What's more important is what kind of improvement it may have in terms of ride quality and whether or not that is going to be offset by any increased maintenance - what is the current wisdom on carbon post in an alu frame? What, if any grease/compounds are required?

Here's the post in question, which is half price. The current one is a Ritchey WCS aluminium one.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ritchey-wcs-carbon-seat-post/

Carbon will be more comfortable than alu seatpost, weight isn't important in that area (like handlebar and stem).

Just be wary of cheap carbon post that's doesn't really do much/usually wrapped on alu.

Carbon grease is necessary.

Do you need the exact same setback?

Carbon will be more comfortable than alu

Unqualified, that's definitely bullshit. Even if you knew that a given carbon post had less bending stiffness than the aluminium one it was replacing, the difference would be pretty small. If you want to get comfortable, get your position, saddle and tyre section/pressure right and you won't have to looking for marginal gains from bendy components.

but carbon doe...

TBF, I never looked further after getting the tyre/pressure right, but there's a ridiculous amount of article/product promoting about carbon seatpost as we speak.

If some people who insist on running 140psi on their 23mm notice the difference, then who am I to argue otherwise?

Some article went as far to says "A stiff seatpost tends to negate ALL benefits of a steel/titanium frame or slightly wider tyres!"

Some article

The same article placed the aluminium Zipp Service Course SL near the top of the comfort league, using their arbitrary test procedure, and the carbon Ritchey WCS near the bottom :-)

That Cyclingabout thing is just a dumbed down rehash of Zinn's article from a few years back: http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/12/training-center/technology/from-the-pages-of-velo-getting-the-most-from-your-post_267560/1

They do link to it amidst with one of the super userfriendly "CLICK HERE" links. At least Zinn provided some information about what they were measuring to give it a bit of context...