Current Projects chat and miscellany

Blimey, it's like watching dogs with a bone. Hat He Chewed speaks sense.

TTs in the UK are mainly held over set distances so people chase after times on fast courses, which tend to be on busy dual carriageways with traffic and no hills. The course Chris Boardman set the competition record on is based on the A34 south of Oxford. He did this on fixed.

TTs in the tours and the world champs tend to be held on undulating courses so are faster on gears, especially with any descents where a fixed gear would lose time unless you were in a massive gear.

Like it Russell, like the straps too, keep them

Nice one russel.
I'd add some slime green grips and seat.

Nice one russel.
I'd add some slime green grips and seat.

Slime green grips and a green Brooks could look cool!!

Nice one russel.
I'd add some slime green grips and seat.

dont really want to spend any money on it!

Fine as it is Russ...

No need to!! It looks wicked as it is, just a suggestion ;)

the toes strap, as cheap and temporary as it is, is perfect! it a better alternative to having bar grip in a bright colour to make the bike look rather nice.

i got some black ones if you want. free.

Blimey, it's like watching dogs with a bone. Hat He Chewed speaks sense.

TTs in the UK are mainly held over set distances so people chase after times on fast courses, which tend to be on busy dual carriageways with traffic and no hills. The course Chris Boardman set the competition record on is based on the A34 south of Oxford. He did this on fixed.

TTs in the tours and the world champs tend to be held on undulating courses so are faster on gears, especially with any descents where a fixed gear would lose time unless you were in a massive gear.

So if you ride up and down A roads at a constant speed with no undulations then a fixed can be more efficient. For the rest of us it isn't (as proven by my own times on a variety of loops)
A long way of getting to the fact it is harder work not to have gears (which was pretty obvious in the first place)

good evening, heres my first fixed gear project which is pretty much ready to go.
nothing too exciting, just to get me out of the car etc.
plans include:
pedals with straps
sort out the slack chain
new wheels
and hopefully some road drops ( or bullhorns?) as im finding these track ones a bit uncomfortable.
anyway:


was also after some more information on the frame, pictures of the lugs if it helps:

last picture didn't work....

Indeed, exactly how I feel.

for climbing a mountain, fixed would be fine, but I wouldn't want to come back down it on 42:22! a SS might be ok. would still prefer gears though.

There are buses provided for the trip back down (did it geared last year, riding back down was nuts).

The fondriest is ready to ride... first had my campy/mavic open pro wheelset on there but i prefer the faux-dp18's. Should have put a clean blingy chain on it though...
Waiting for the weather to change to take it out for a proper ride...

I like that a lot dogmatic. Beautiful looking bike, a tribute to it's progenator (who looked beautiful on a bike).

looking good

I may get some white grips, seat and a new white rear wheel in the mid-future on my currently stock plug freestyler. Any oppinions?

I may get some white grips, seat and a new white rear wheel in the mid-future on my currently stock plug freestyler. Any oppinions?

I like a white seat and grips/tape (definitely picks up a darker coloured bike)
However, they look like shit after a few weeks covered in dirt/marks from hands/shorts and the look is lost.

^ Wait till Spring.

^ Wait till Spring.

Yup yup, and I'll save up enough to get a pair of wheels instead of having a frankenbike..

Are the velocity deep v's dogmatic?

nope they're weinmann dp18's... supposedly made in the same factory as the rigida dp18's...

I would have thought that having to constantly pedal would provide a more consistent cardovascular workout.

What I dont understand, is when people claim that you sweat less if you are fitter. OK you should be able to ride at the same pace, at a lower heartrate. But the heart is not the only muscle involved in cycling.

I was reading an article on hydration in sport the other day, and - unless I'm losing the plot totally - it claimed that fitter folk sweat more. Not sure that makes sense, unfortunately I can't re-find the link tonight either.

On a slightly different line of thinking... overall, if you're doing regular exercise and your lard eating, 20 a day smoking, Big Brother watching neighbour isn't - you're going to sweat more on average, just by virtue of the fact you've been out exercising.