Road Riders
- Thread starter kaiser
- Start date
Ok, just a wee round up of the first few weeks on the Canyon.
Firstly, great value for money. Notice I didn't say cheap, but compared to the big brands you get a lot for your money. Full Ultegra unlike the Treks etc I also looked at, the brakes and chainset haven't been downgraded to FSA or own brand versions. I"m sure these are alright but for that sort of money I wanted full (matching) Shimano.
Secondly I like the custom options you are offered. There was normal or compact chainset and a choice of 4 cassettes. Being a wimp I went for the compact and a 11-28. I know to somefolk it's sacrilege but by the time I"m spinning out 50-11 I'm going plenty fast enough and at the end of a long work day the lowers gears are really useful round here. A happy by-product is they spec 25c tyres if you go for a compact which smooth the back roads round here better than a 23c. I also went for the VCLS carbon post which flexes a bit on rough roads. A £60 upgrade, but retails for £180 so worth a try. So far I like it. You can feel it move a little on bumpy roads but not enough to be annoying when pedalling hard.
So how does it ride? Pretty damn well! With buying it direct from the factory, fitment was a bit of a worry but it feels great. Still running the full amount of spacers, but it puts the bars at a height where I can reach the drops comfortably and there's not too many that it looks awful. Biggest ride so far only 30 miles but no aches from my back, just my legs. Always feel like its goading me into hammering every climb and sprinting for every 30 sign. Geometry is their Sport Pro offering. Not as aggressive as the tour spec bikes but not as upright as the sportive bikes. Handling is very agile while still being surefooted and feels a lot more confident than my Colango or cross bike. Feel very comfortable on it already and building up cornering speeds and angles nicely. As you'd expect from a 17lb carbon bike it goes uphill amazingly, although there is a bit of lateral frame flex and brake rub when honking out of the saddle. Probably a lot to do with my weight but I guess thats the pay off for the smoother ride of the skinny stays. The lower gearing is perfect for my fitness level at the moment and can easily be changed when parts wear out if needed. The 11 speed Ultegra block is a work of art and the shifting is so silky smooth it's hard to tell if it has actually shifted.
A big decision when speccing the bike were the wheels. They did 2 version, one with lightweight mavic wheels or one with aero mavics. The two devils on my shoulder both had different opinions, but as usual the German ("they're lighter") was defeated by the forces of good ("they're pretty"). Cheers Gmac! In reality I know they won't make much of a difference to me but they look damn impressive. Wet braking is a concern with carbon rims, but these have an alloy brake track with Mavic's Exalith treatment. It's supposedly an extra hard wearing layer grown onto the rim surface. It does give the rim a wavy pattern and dark colour and seems to do the job so far. One downside is the need for specific pads, but these were included, and a horrific bed in period when the brakes screamed like a banshee. Thankfully this is now past and all that is left is a whirring noise almost like the new F1 cars spooling down. The hard treatment has eaten a huge chunk of the pads though, although now bedded in, the worst is supposed to be over and pad wear is said to be a lot less than normal from now on, but only time will tell. Haven't been out in the rain yet but dry braking is certainly powerful with good control. The wheels came with mavic's own tyres which to me seem really good. I know Gmac is not too impressed with his, but I don't know if this is down to a difference in compound or just my ignorance of road tyres? I'll certainly be keeping them on until they wear out.
As detailed a page or so back, I was bullied into proper road shoes and pedals. And thankfully so. I didn't really appreciate just how much more stability they would give. The long axle carbon Dura Ace pedals are just beautiful and the SPD-SL cleats are huge. They came with the blue cleats (2 deg float?) and after a couple of small adjustments these have been great. I've tried 15 deg look cleats on my Colnago before and found the amount of movement really weird. The extra size of the Shimano cleat make even the small amount of walking you do in them easy. Getting in and out of them was extremely hard at first, but as the cleats have bedded in, things have improved. The Giro shoes have also bedded in nicely and look nicely made, just hope they last as well as their helmets.
My Strava times have certainly taken a hammering, even if I'm not troubling the leaderboards. So far it's all been smaller rides but I hope to fit in some bigger ones when I get back from Whistler. Even been looking at some of the european Grand Fondos next spring. The Barcelona one is quite tempting, I could even persuade "her" to come along as support, under the guise of a city break. Hmmmmm.
Firstly, great value for money. Notice I didn't say cheap, but compared to the big brands you get a lot for your money. Full Ultegra unlike the Treks etc I also looked at, the brakes and chainset haven't been downgraded to FSA or own brand versions. I"m sure these are alright but for that sort of money I wanted full (matching) Shimano.
Secondly I like the custom options you are offered. There was normal or compact chainset and a choice of 4 cassettes. Being a wimp I went for the compact and a 11-28. I know to somefolk it's sacrilege but by the time I"m spinning out 50-11 I'm going plenty fast enough and at the end of a long work day the lowers gears are really useful round here. A happy by-product is they spec 25c tyres if you go for a compact which smooth the back roads round here better than a 23c. I also went for the VCLS carbon post which flexes a bit on rough roads. A £60 upgrade, but retails for £180 so worth a try. So far I like it. You can feel it move a little on bumpy roads but not enough to be annoying when pedalling hard.
So how does it ride? Pretty damn well! With buying it direct from the factory, fitment was a bit of a worry but it feels great. Still running the full amount of spacers, but it puts the bars at a height where I can reach the drops comfortably and there's not too many that it looks awful. Biggest ride so far only 30 miles but no aches from my back, just my legs. Always feel like its goading me into hammering every climb and sprinting for every 30 sign. Geometry is their Sport Pro offering. Not as aggressive as the tour spec bikes but not as upright as the sportive bikes. Handling is very agile while still being surefooted and feels a lot more confident than my Colango or cross bike. Feel very comfortable on it already and building up cornering speeds and angles nicely. As you'd expect from a 17lb carbon bike it goes uphill amazingly, although there is a bit of lateral frame flex and brake rub when honking out of the saddle. Probably a lot to do with my weight but I guess thats the pay off for the smoother ride of the skinny stays. The lower gearing is perfect for my fitness level at the moment and can easily be changed when parts wear out if needed. The 11 speed Ultegra block is a work of art and the shifting is so silky smooth it's hard to tell if it has actually shifted.
A big decision when speccing the bike were the wheels. They did 2 version, one with lightweight mavic wheels or one with aero mavics. The two devils on my shoulder both had different opinions, but as usual the German ("they're lighter") was defeated by the forces of good ("they're pretty"). Cheers Gmac! In reality I know they won't make much of a difference to me but they look damn impressive. Wet braking is a concern with carbon rims, but these have an alloy brake track with Mavic's Exalith treatment. It's supposedly an extra hard wearing layer grown onto the rim surface. It does give the rim a wavy pattern and dark colour and seems to do the job so far. One downside is the need for specific pads, but these were included, and a horrific bed in period when the brakes screamed like a banshee. Thankfully this is now past and all that is left is a whirring noise almost like the new F1 cars spooling down. The hard treatment has eaten a huge chunk of the pads though, although now bedded in, the worst is supposed to be over and pad wear is said to be a lot less than normal from now on, but only time will tell. Haven't been out in the rain yet but dry braking is certainly powerful with good control. The wheels came with mavic's own tyres which to me seem really good. I know Gmac is not too impressed with his, but I don't know if this is down to a difference in compound or just my ignorance of road tyres? I'll certainly be keeping them on until they wear out.
As detailed a page or so back, I was bullied into proper road shoes and pedals. And thankfully so. I didn't really appreciate just how much more stability they would give. The long axle carbon Dura Ace pedals are just beautiful and the SPD-SL cleats are huge. They came with the blue cleats (2 deg float?) and after a couple of small adjustments these have been great. I've tried 15 deg look cleats on my Colnago before and found the amount of movement really weird. The extra size of the Shimano cleat make even the small amount of walking you do in them easy. Getting in and out of them was extremely hard at first, but as the cleats have bedded in, things have improved. The Giro shoes have also bedded in nicely and look nicely made, just hope they last as well as their helmets.
My Strava times have certainly taken a hammering, even if I'm not troubling the leaderboards. So far it's all been smaller rides but I hope to fit in some bigger ones when I get back from Whistler. Even been looking at some of the european Grand Fondos next spring. The Barcelona one is quite tempting, I could even persuade "her" to come along as support, under the guise of a city break. Hmmmmm.
gmac123
MacRetro Rider
all sounds like good stuff steven... looks like you've got the roadie bug
no shame in a compact, i was screaming out for one on the ratagan pass on friday, it was like a 20 minute ice-cream headache.
although surprised i comfortably rode 39 * 28 up the bealach na ba the next day, although we did score a bit of a tailwind
my mates got the Mavic SLE's, from the desription above sounds like the same brake track. he reckons the braking's better than his campag shamals, guess it's down to the pads. From my recent research into carbon wheels, the Swissstop yellow and Reynolds blue pads seem to be the recommended
no shame in a compact, i was screaming out for one on the ratagan pass on friday, it was like a 20 minute ice-cream headache.
although surprised i comfortably rode 39 * 28 up the bealach na ba the next day, although we did score a bit of a tailwind
my mates got the Mavic SLE's, from the desription above sounds like the same brake track. he reckons the braking's better than his campag shamals, guess it's down to the pads. From my recent research into carbon wheels, the Swissstop yellow and Reynolds blue pads seem to be the recommended
Re:
The original exalith pad was made of swissstop green, so I know these work if I can't find the current mavic ones.
The Beallach is one my wish list, I've a week off late September if the weather is still holding. Did you do the loop up round Shieldaig?
Definetly got the bug, makes a nice change from driving an hour or so to go riding.
The original exalith pad was made of swissstop green, so I know these work if I can't find the current mavic ones.
The Beallach is one my wish list, I've a week off late September if the weather is still holding. Did you do the loop up round Shieldaig?
Definetly got the bug, makes a nice change from driving an hour or so to go riding.
gmac123
MacRetro Rider
yip did it from strathcarron, bealach, shieldaig and back to strathcarron. be warned, it was a tough ~60 odd miles, that felt more like a ton to my legs (tho I'm not in great shape at the mo).
nice wee climb outta loch carron, lovely ride along the sea to & past kishhorn,
then the bealach. pretty steady 8/9% all the way, I'd read it was 20% for the last 1Km, but felt nothing like it. Actually enjoyed it!
Blazed down the other side to applecross with bikers trying to keep up (felt like tdf) and round the peninsular. the hardest bit of the ride is from 3-4miles outta applecross all the way to shieldaig.
the description rolling terrain doesn't really cover it. you go steeply up, then steeply down, then steeply up and so on all the way round the peninsular. it became a really battle of leg strength attrition for me, as I was defo the weakest in the group. In saying that it was probably the lowest average speed ride any of us have done all year and we were all surprised it was only 2000m of ascent
fantastic 2 days riding, views second to none, highly recommendaned - GO FOR IT
nice wee climb outta loch carron, lovely ride along the sea to & past kishhorn,
then the bealach. pretty steady 8/9% all the way, I'd read it was 20% for the last 1Km, but felt nothing like it. Actually enjoyed it!
Blazed down the other side to applecross with bikers trying to keep up (felt like tdf) and round the peninsular. the hardest bit of the ride is from 3-4miles outta applecross all the way to shieldaig.
the description rolling terrain doesn't really cover it. you go steeply up, then steeply down, then steeply up and so on all the way round the peninsular. it became a really battle of leg strength attrition for me, as I was defo the weakest in the group. In saying that it was probably the lowest average speed ride any of us have done all year and we were all surprised it was only 2000m of ascent
fantastic 2 days riding, views second to none, highly recommendaned - GO FOR IT
epicyclo
Senior Retro Guru
gmac123":1y405ym6 said:
I did the Beallach loop from Kinlochewe a few years back on my single speed Pompino. I put the fattest tyres on that would fit (38mm Schwalbe Marathons). I reckoned that was worthwhile because the road surfaces are a bit rough in places and there's more line choices if your tyres aren't delicate - especially on the downhill to Applecross.
I agree that the toughest bit is after Applecross. It's a bit demoralising to get over the Beallach to then discover that lot with empty legs.
At the time I did find myself wondering if a huge gear would be better. Blast down the hills and rely on speed to carry you up most of the next bit, but then the Beallach itself could be a long walk.
It's worth doing as a challenge, but even more worthwhile for the scenery - which of course was why I stopped so often on hills to admire it.
velomaniac
MacRetro Rider
If ever a section of road sold motorbikes to me its that one, nice thumpy single cylinder trail bike would eat that. Never likely to tackle that on a 1 Human Power bicycle :roll:
