Good road bike

Quoted message said:

I'm looking to buy a road bike for about £200. Can any one recommend
one. Is there any good websites or magazines that rate road bikes?

David Maggs

That means you're looking to buy a used bike, right? I don't think you
can get a new road bike for much less than $500.

There are websites (www.roadbikereview.com) and magazines (Bicycling)
replete with reviews and ratings, but that stuff means nothing. You
need a bike that fits.

-Vee

Quoted message said:

I'm looking to buy a road bike for about £200. Can any one recommend
one. Is there any good websites or magazines that rate road bikes?

David Maggs

Many good inexpensive road bikes out there, BUT what is missing is the
good bike shop along with these bicycles. Shop around, ask around, find
a good shop that won't either fill your ears with a bunch of marketing
BS or give you the thousand yard stare...

Hard to buy a bad bike these days, Easy to find a bad bike shop tho.

Quoted message said:

I'm looking to buy a road bike for about £200. Can any one recommend
one. Is there any good websites or magazines that rate road bikes?

David Maggs

Since you are inquiring in Pounds, I'm guessing you are in the UK.
Cycling Weekly is a UK based magazine. I think they do a good job.
You may be able to find low priced suggestions in their reviews.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/

200 Pounds is about $350 US Dollars. In the US, there are no decent
new road bikes sold at this low of a price. Basically $500 is the
minimum. About 285 Pounds. If 200 Pounds is your goal, used is the
only option. Best bet may be to contact a local bicyclig club and see
if anyone is selling a bike. Fitting would be done by you and/or the
seller. You can research this some. But even if you end up with a
less than ideal fitting bike, you can still ride it and enjoy bicycling
and use the knowledge gained to make sure your next bike fits better.

Quoted message said:

I'm looking to buy a road bike for about £200. Can any one recommend
one. Is there any good websites or magazines that rate road bikes?

David Maggs

Since you are inquiring in Pounds, I'm guessing you are in the UK.
Cycling Weekly is a UK based magazine. I think they do a good job.
You may be able to find low priced suggestions in their reviews.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/

200 Pounds is about $350 US Dollars. In the US, there are no decent
new road bikes sold at this low of a price. Basically $500 is the
minimum. About 285 Pounds. If 200 Pounds is your goal, used is the
only option. Best bet may be to contact a local bicyclig club and see
if anyone is selling a bike. Fitting would be done by you and/or the
seller. You can research this some. But even if you end up with a
less than ideal fitting bike, you can still ride it and enjoy bicycling
and use the knowledge gained to make sure your next bike fits better.

I'd place a higher emphasis on getting the fit done correctly. The
difference in comfort (and fun) in riding a bike that fits right vs one that
doesn't may very well be the difference between a bike that rots in the
garage vs one that changes your outlook on cycling and creates a new addict.
This is particularly true for road bikes, which tend to be used on longer
rides, and ridden in a way that you're more "rooted" to the bike (meaning
that you're not in and out of the saddle so much) compared to, say, mountain
biking.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

Yes I'm in the UK, near Chesterfield. The only cycle shop I know
round here in James cycle shop, but I don't know if this shop is any
good. My mate has a road bike and gets alot of punctures. I've heard
that there is a sealant that can be put in to the inertubes to stop
punctures or at least seal the inertube faster than doing a normal
repair. Is this true?

David Maggs

Quoted message said:

Yes I'm in the UK, near Chesterfield. The only cycle shop I know round
here in James cycle shop, but I don't know if this shop is any good.

I have a J.E. James water-bottle and it works fine.

Joking aside, a shop that gets its name printed on water-bottles stands
a realistic chance of being OK. You would get a more detailed response
from their customers if you posed your question on uk.rec.cycling

Two hundred quid is not a lot for a new bike. For sure you must avoid
suspension at that price. Between 200 and 250 the own-brand bikes from
Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op get a lot of good reviews. Their website seems
to be borked though. And what you mean by "road bike" and what the
shops mean may very well be different. If you are looking to ride
across town to work, or to the shops, you should be asking for a
"hybrid", or possibly a "town-bike". If you ask about a "road-bike"
they will think you want to do 100+ miles in a day, possibly with a
modest amount of luggage, and you'll be told, rightly, that 4 to 5
times your budget is the minimum to spend.

Quoted message said:

My mate has a road bike and gets alot of punctures. I've heard that
there is a sealant that can be put in to the inertubes to stop
punctures or at least seal the inertube faster than doing a normal
repair. Is this true?

Yes. Up to a point. I have not heard of anyone doing a lot of cycling
who uses anything but patches and glue to fix punctures though, and many
of those minimise the puncture rate by using tyres with kevlar bands
under the tread (eg the Schwalbes I now fit to all my bikes) or a
separate kevlar strip between tyre and tube.

Mike

In article <[email hidden]>,

() said:

My mate has a road bike and gets alot of punctures. I've heard
that there is a sealant that can be put in to the inertubes to stop
punctures or at least seal the inertube faster than doing a normal
repair. Is this true?

It's called "Slime" and is a lurid green, well, slime, which one injects
into the inner tube. However, the business end of the valve needs to be
removed to squirt it in, so one is limited to Schrader valves or certain
brands of Presta-equipped inner tubes with removable workings - Schwalbe
being a notable example thereof.

Pre-Slimed tubes are also available - I think I've seen them in
Halfrauds - but in what sizes and valve types I couldn't say.

--
Dave Larrington - <http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/>
It would appear apparent, to me at least, that dinosaurs were largely
burrowing creatures.

Before your start sliming tires, er, tyres, read up a bit about the
different ways in which flats occur. It may be that your friend is,
inadvertently, the cause of his flat problems, perhaps without even
knowing it. When he flats, does he check the inside of the tire for the
cause and remove it? Does he pinch flat (2 small holes in the tube
caused when the tire is underinflated and you hit something)? A problem
at a nipple hole or with the rim tape? Does he install new tubes
properly? Etc., etc. In other words, slime might not be necessary.
Regards, Roy Zipris

In article
<[email hidden]>,

Roy Zipris said:

Before your start sliming tires, er, tyres, read up a bit about the
different ways in which flats occur. It may be that your friend is,
inadvertently, the cause of his flat problems, perhaps without even
knowing it. When he flats, does he check the inside of the tire for the
cause and remove it? Does he pinch flat (2 small holes in the tube
caused when the tire is underinflated and you hit something)? A problem
at a nipple hole or with the rim tape? Does he install new tubes
properly? Etc., etc. In other words, slime might not be necessary.
Regards, Roy Zipris

Another cause of flats is riding over debris on the
roadway. The solution is not to ride over debris on the
roadway. The difficulty with this solution is the constant
attention required to scout the roadway for debris. One
moments inattention and you are rolling over junk. Another
difficulty is that on a wet road, glass is invisible. When
I have inadvertently ridden over glass or something I will
stop and check the tire treads for imbedded material.

--
Michael Press

Michael Press said:

Another cause of flats is riding over debris on the
roadway. The solution is not to ride over debris on the
roadway. The difficulty with this solution is the constant
attention required to scout the roadway for debris. One
moments inattention and you are rolling over junk. Another
difficulty is that on a wet road, glass is invisible. When
I have inadvertently ridden over glass or something I will
stop and check the tire treads for imbedded material.

I use Mr. Tuffies. They work really well. I can ride over all sorts
of junk on the road and ignore it. The only stuff I have to pay
attention to is stuff large enough to present, perhaps, a bike handing
issue, or that would be gross to get on the bike (like dead flesh).

Glass is a non issue with them.

They slow the bike down a little but in many situations they're worth
it. Awesome product.

JT

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"Michael Press" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article
Another cause of flats is riding over debris on the
roadway. The solution is not to ride over debris on the
roadway. The difficulty with this solution is the constant
attention required to scout the roadway for debris. One
moments inattention and you are rolling over junk. Another
difficulty is that on a wet road, glass is invisible. When
I have inadvertently ridden over glass or something I will
stop and check the tire treads for imbedded material.

The other difficulty with constant attention I've found is these new road
surfaces made with recycled glass. All of a sudden the whole road is
glistening with the promise of punctures, and it's only there to play with
your head...

Riding in an Urban environment, you can fully justify getting Kevlar belted
tyres, when I rode them in London heavily I got very few (<1 per year)
punctures.

Michael Press said:

In article
<[email hidden]>,

Roy Zipris said:

Before your start sliming tires, er, tyres, read up a bit about the
different ways in which flats occur. It may be that your friend is,
inadvertently, the cause of his flat problems, perhaps without even
knowing it. When he flats, does he check the inside of the tire for the
cause and remove it? Does he pinch flat (2 small holes in the tube
caused when the tire is underinflated and you hit something)? A problem
at a nipple hole or with the rim tape? Does he install new tubes
properly? Etc., etc. In other words, slime might not be necessary.
Regards, Roy Zipris

Another cause of flats is riding over debris on the
roadway. The solution is not to ride over debris on the
roadway. The difficulty with this solution is the constant
attention required to scout the roadway for debris. One
moments inattention and you are rolling over junk....

Motor pace behind one of these to avoid flats:
<http://www.elginsweeper.com/aircubLX/index.asp>. 😉

--
Tom Sherman - Fox River Valley

Roy Zipris said:

Before your start sliming tires, er, tyres, read up a bit about the
different ways in which flats occur. It may be that your friend is,
inadvertently, the cause of his flat problems, perhaps without even
knowing it. When he flats, does he check the inside of the tire for the
cause and remove it? Does he pinch flat (2 small holes in the tube
caused when the tire is underinflated and you hit something)? A problem
at a nipple hole or with the rim tape? Does he install new tubes
properly? Etc., etc. In other words, slime might not be necessary.
Regards, Roy Zipris

Nice thorough paragraph, Roy.

And consider the software, too. The guys who always ride at
the curb, where debris is plentiful, have more punctures.

Sometimes moving your commute route over a street or two can
drop the incidence dramatically.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971