NWR Road bike thread

Ian Hampsted

Ian Hampsted

Location
London
I searched and could not see a thread on this topic specifically, aside from one on e-bikes and extensive posting on the Tour de France and other professional bike races.

After a month’s layoff I went out riding in Surrey, Sussex and Kent last weekend and my undercarriage got a right old pummelling on the shockingly bad roads.

I currently have two Cervelo bikes, an R3 purchased in 2014 and an S5 purchased in 2017 both with rim brakes and 25 ml Continental all weather/four season tyres. I love them both but it is time for an upgrade.

I have decided to buy a Cervelo Caledonia 5 Di2 (yes I am loyal to the brand), which is more comfort-oriented without really losing anything on performance, and I will try to sell the S5.

I started this thread because I know there is an enormous wealth of knowledge on this topic on the forum, and my question is what sort of tyres should I fit on the new bike?

Two important criteria are comfort for the reason outlined, and tyres which are relatively puncture proof, but I would prefer not to go tubeless. The two options the dealer has to hand are Continental four season 28s or 32s. And other suggestions? Thanks.
 
I used to ride Vitoria Corsa and I’d say they are marginally more picture resistant.

But I don’t think any individual has a statistically significant experience. Aside from world tour mechanics.

I do ride tubeless. But often end up with a tube inside them if I get a puncture that won’t seal - I’m pretty slow to sort that out as it’s a messy job.
 
Been running 32mm GP5000 tubeless quite happily. Last year went with Pirelli P0 instead but back to the GP5000s this year.

I use valves with removable cores and change the gunk every six months or so - works quite well.

I was a Cervelo loyalist and was persuaded to go for a specialized on the advice / bullying from my bike fitter. Got an awesome deal on the Aethos s works - find myself grinning a lot while riding. Also bike mechanics nod approvingly, which I find more satisfying than I should.

On which topic - a proper fitting is the best money I’ve ever spent on the bike.

Maybe we can have a forum outing in the spring!
 
Yes a proper fitting is included in the price Leon and thanks for the saddle recco Neil, on my current bikes I have Fizik saddles which are ok but might switch to your specialised recco
 
I know you said you didn't want to go tubeless, but I went thus on my new Trek Domane SL6 and the comfort is amazing. Trek do this "iso decoupler" thing which is basically a shock absorber in the seat tube, so maybe it's that, but running 32mm tubeless tyres at 60psi instead of my previous 23mm at 100psi feels life changing in terms of comfort.
 
Neil Holland said:
I like Conti 4 seasons this time of year and Conti Grand Prix 5000 in summer. Think about saddle too, Ian.

I use this...

View attachment 41094
Click to expand...
I was about to say saddle

I upgraded from this model this year to the 3d printed version - no end of people comment on it, but it’s by far the best upgrade I’ve spent on my bike and made an enormous difference to ride comfort. I did a 200km/2800m ride not long after getting it and the difference was massive!

Personally I wouldn’t go back to tubeless - I was using it 2018-2022, tried various combinations of sealant and setups but always ended up spending far more time maintaining it than I ever did fixing punctures
 
I got a new road bike this summer, motivated partly by comfort, partly by the potential problems of maintaining my old bike and partly wanting to have the same range of gears as I'd enjoyed on rental bikes over the last couple of years.
I have Pirelli P Zero 28s, with tubes, ridden at 72 psi and that gives a massive comfort improvement over my old 23s at 100psi. The new bike came with a Prologo Dimension saddle, which has been great for me. I got the bike shop to replace the 52-36 chainset and 11-30 cassette with 50-34 and 11-34 to give me the low gears I wanted. (They reprogrammed the Di2 for that at the same time.) I stayed with the same bike brand, so the handling feels very familiar.
I might yet go tubeless, but I'm not rushing to get into that.
 
Down in Provence , we found a wonderful boulangerie 9 miles away in Lauris and rode our bikes (titanium for comfort) to get our baguette ( our favorite is called “Fefe d’amour”!…) this morning. We were so fast we arrived before the opening and had to wait in a nextdoor bar with a coffee and a pâtisserie under the sun at a terrace. Tough to be a retiree.
 
I love the idea of having pastries whilst you wait for a purveyors of pastries to open! You'll have to turn the electric motor off or ride with the brakes on to avoid getting there early tomorrow, Antoine!
 
Well, in Chambery we bought electric bikes... but in La Roque, we have our old titanium bikes without help, so credit has to go to Isabelle as she rode like a Tour de France superstar while I struggled to follow her lead!
I think we did not realise this baker only opened at 10:30 in the morning as previous purchases were later.
 
I have a fancy Cervelo Caledonia 5 with all the trimmings-dura ace di2 nice carbon wheels etc. I like 32mm Vitoria graphene tires because they are supple. Don’t like tubeless. Ever tried to change one?
 
Some tubeless aren’t too bad to change but can v much depend on the wheel/tyre combo, but some kind of airshot/similar setup is nearly always required to seat the rim unless you want to exhaust yourself!
 
The thought of having to learn something new and being stuck the first time puts me off tubeless. The 3 weeks I was riding in France, I had 3 punctures. 10 minutes to change, no biggie.

I've ridden Bianchis, Cervelos and S Works for hire bikes. I love coming back to my Merida Lampre which I bought 8 years ago. I don't see the reason in spending big money on bikes when the main determinant on whether it will go well or not is you.

When I first bought the Merida I asked a club member how much more I'd get in buying a decent set of wheels, he responded, " you could probably drink one more glass of wine the night before."
 
Sean Hardon said:
The thought of having to learn something new and being stuck the first time puts me off tubeless. The 3 weeks I was riding in France, I had 3 punctures. 10 minutes to change, no biggie.

I've ridden Bianchis, Cervelos and S Works for hire bikes. I love coming back to my Merida Lampre which I bought 8 years ago. I don't see the reason in spending big money on bikes when the main determinant on whether it will go well or not is you.

When I first bought the Merida I asked a club member how much more I'd get in buying a decent set of wheels, he responded, " you could probably drink one more glass of wine the night before."
Click to expand...
Exotic wheels are probably the worst £/w spend you could make on a bike - the best reasoning for getting some would be to make the bike look cooler, otherwise you’re better off looking at switching tyre/tubes, immersion waxing etc. I’ve always found it amusing when a £1k+ wheel set gets a top review from the cycling media with comments like “rolls so well, so fast to spin up..”
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top