jhob

I have just started cycling again all of 2 days ago after a hiatus of about 10 years and am really enjoying it!

I am currently intending on commuting the 14 miles or so to work on Edinburgh's great network cycle paths, it's also really flat which is great. Also planning to head out for rides at the weekend.

I'm hoping that cycling will help sort my knees out as they are pretty dodgy and I've had to almost totally give up sport over a year ago, just itching to get back doing some again. The constant even pressure on the knees of road cycling I'm hoping will sort them out, or at least improve things.

I bought a road bike second hand off ebay last month and it's been really good so far. It's nowt flash - a matrix whirlwind made by Neuzer, shimano sora for the derailleurs, prowheel chainset (most likely cheap but seems to work perfectly well and tektro brakes which are a bit rubbish. Think I'll replace them with some second hand 105 calipers at some point. As long as nothing much breaks it's pretty much perfect for what I need.

I just fitted a lightweight rack tonight so that I can attach panniers for the commute, picked a cheap pair of them up from lidl for just £15 last week too.

I'll most likely be a question asker on here for the time being as I will likely have many questions but little to offer in the way of advice for the time being.

CbadRider

Welcome to Bike Forums. Feel free to ask any questions you have. If you are interested in commuting, you might want to check out that subforum.

Siu Blue Wind

Don't worry about offering advice. You can do that later on. I started out here a new person too and now I'm the one helping out!! I've even built my own bike!! One of the mechanics here even told me that he was proud of me for I've "come a looong way".

Sixty Fiver

Feasger mah...

Check out the commuter forum... the folks there are as real and helpful
as cyclists get and if you bring a few cold ones, stop by the mechanics forum for any help you need.

jhob

I'll be sure to check those forums out. I do enjoy tinkering with mechanics and have done a reasonable bit of that on bikes in the past.

Won some 105 calipers on ebay last night so my first job will be to install them. I've at least got the current brakes to toe correctly so they don't squeal any more. They're still not very good though, stopping power is quite limited so I'm hoping the 105s will go some way to sorting that out.

Cyclist0383

Try some Kool-Stop brake pads as they make a huge difference over stock pads. I use the salmon colored ones, which are for wet weather.

hendrick81

Welcome to bike forums...

jhob

I took your advice and ordered some kool stop salmons to go with the 105s.

The other day I put on a longer stem that has also raised the handlebars but annoyingly the brake cable is too short so I'm also going to have to put a new cable sheath on and then re-tape the handle bars because of it. I actually think the cable always was too short as the brakes are pulled slightly to one side because by the sheath meaning that I have to slacken the adjustment to take the pads further away from the rims.