Thanks fellas. :D

Yeah, I couldn't believe it was that far out either. Maybe it's me and I like my seat higher than it should be? I still have bend in my knee at the bottom of my stroke but not much. I hate riding with hugely bent legs.

so badsac...to check you have the seat in the correct position. With you shoes on, sit on the seat and put the peddle at the very bottom of the stroke. with your knee locked you should be able to just touch the peddle with your heal.

I wouldn't bet my test'icles on that if I were you Badsac :D

Thanks wattsy, I'll try to remember that one!

Glad to hear you finally got your bike badsac. Hope you have as much fun on the road as I now am. (I've had mine about 4 months)

Cheers,
Dave

ebay auction has finished for the STI's...$260.75. I'm pretty bl**dy happy with that!!

And Dave, I just thought of one other thing you need to know...When you f@rt, don't lift your backside off the seat. Just do it and then listen for the abuse being hurled at EVERYONE up front!! :D

Ah thanks for that. I still wasn't sure if I havd it exactly right. I'll try that when I get home.

Ah I don't know. She's been strange in more ways than one lately.

Hey Dave, my pet peeve in a group ride is a thing called the yo-yo effect. It starts with a minor change in speed at the head of the group and gets progressively worse as riders down the line overreact by slowing down too much then speeding up too much after they realise their mistake. Riders at the back of the group are treated to about double the workload of the riders breaking the wind at the front of the group because they are always on the gas off, the gas, on the gas, off the gas.

The proble is usually made worse because of the natural pecking order. Experienced riders tend to want to ride at the front of the group (so they don't get tangled up in a fall caused by someone that they don't trust). Experienced riders in the middle of the pack would calm things down and stop the yo-yo, but it normally doesn't happen coz they're all up the front!

So whatever you do in a group ride, make sure everything you do is smooth and progressive. If you fall behind a little bit don't try to surge back onto their wheel, but pick your pace up a tiny bit and ease back onto the wheel. You've probably got another 35km to make up that 10m gap, right?

Same goes for overshooting the guy in front. Don't slam on the brakes (in fact don't even touch you brakes because you could cause a fall), simply coast past to one side then ease back into line once you speed is normalised. If you do sidle up to the rider in front make sure you put a little bit of space between your bikes, but again no sudden movements just be smooth.

Climbing hills can be really tough, especially when you first start out. Try to be in the front third of the pack in the left hand line if you know you are going to tire out. That way you shouldn't end up waaaay off the back when you do. When you start going slower than the group raise your right hand briefly and step out of the line (to the left). Faster riders will naturally work their way around you.

And if you are going take a drink make sure you hold the bidden out to one side so the trailing rider knows that you're about to take a swig (ie. not in complete control). That way they will be ready for an unexpected movement from your bike.

And make sure you enjoy the ride. Chat when the chat is on, stay quiet on tough hills. :)

Excellent result...I scored that 'The hard road' DVD that the seppo's have been on about for ages...Y'know the 'fly on the wall doco' about the struggling pro team. It doesn't have a distributor in OZ, so I'm rapt to pick it up...should arrive in the next day or so.....copies available for a small fee fella's!

Hitchy

Yeah, I noticed this, especially because I stayed at the back most of the time.

I heard a couple of guys being told not to touch their brakes, so I sorta picked that one up. I guess practice will help me feel more comfortable with that.

I definately enjoyed it last night. I'll be joining in as regularly as I can. Hopefully I'll soon be strong enough to join in the training rides for the racing group :)

If you suspect that you might get dropped early you should find a good riding buddy who'll stay with you and help you back onto the group (if it's worth the effort!!). Those training rides can be hellfests sometimes. Many a man has been dropped on a training ride when the lead bangs it in hard from the word go. :)

Agree. This "good old" method still works for most, and is at the very least a good place
to start -- although I can never remember if it's shoes on or shoes off :)

Seat height is crucial, and can take a lot of stuffing around to get it right. I find that being even 5mm
too low can lose me stacks of "push" power

Yeah exactly. As it was it felt like the accelleration was worse than my old mtb. An inch was definitley a revelation.

Hey quick question. I've got a little bit of rub on the front deraileur when I'm in the big on the front and the smallest on the back. Is it easy to adjust those things, or shouldn't I try?

Anyone feel free to correct me here, but the guy at my LBS told me I shouldn't be using that sort of combination. You get the equivalent gear by using the small chainring and a smaller cog (higher gear)
Try to keep the chain as straight as possible and use the trimming on your front derailleur

Dave

Be warned that I'm a known backyard butcher when it comes to bikes, but...................

Piece of cake. I sometimes even adjust those screws with my fingernail whilst riding
the bike!!!

First, check that the cable tension on the left STI is sufficient. I can't give you an exact figure in pounds per square inch ( :) ), but when the chain is on the small chainring, I like some tension to be on the cable, so if there is any sag (ie, not in a straight line along the downtube), or the cable is obviously very loose, it should be tightened with either the adjuster on the headtube, or by unclamping the cable on the front derailleur, and re-tensioning.


The limit screw:

You've gotta be extra careful if you have a carbon frame, because you here stories of
people "dropping" the chain off the chainring, on to the carbon, damaging it.

Put the chain on the small chain-ring, or at least "click" the left STI so that the tension is off the cable, then slightly loosen the outer screw on the front derailleur. It might only need a quarter or half turn.

yeah......it did......I was also going to get my windows tinted and get an alarm in my old car...after 11.6 years.....it was sold with only one upgrade....the CD player!!

You can't go any faster than big front, little back. So I don't really have a choice. ;)

Me thinks you fellas read my post wrong. ;)

Sorry badsac. Had a bit of a dislexic moment.
You should be able to find a service manual for your front derailleur on the internet. That'll show you how to adjust it 'out' a little

/end brain fart :)

Clarification:

It might only be a loose cable, which obviously means you won't have to
adjust the limit screw. However, it could be both, or just the screw.

Yeah to me it seems like the deraileur just doesn't quite go out far enough. It's only a very fine rub. So I can't fubar everything up if I just change the limit screw so it allows the deraileur to go out half a mm more?

I think I'll look up that adjustment manual though.

Good idea.

If you notice a mysterious "clicking" on your next ride, it could be the right crank hitting the
derailleur, which obviously means you've gone too far. :)

By the way, close ratio gears (or whatever they're called) are crucial, I reckon.

I only have one 9 speed bike, and my other "good" bikes are 8 spd.
Because I like having an 11 tooth cog, it meant I had to take out the 16.
MAN!!! every time I'm grinding into a head-wind I'm ususally around the middle of the
cassette, no matter which chainring I'm on, and switching between the 15 and 17
is a pain is the @SS.

saccy,

now that you have a bike worth 'tinkering' with (allegedly, since we STILL haven't got any photo's), invest some hard earned in a mechanical book. "Zinn & the art of Road bike maintenance" is worth its weight in gold. Easy to understand, plenty of photo's & hints...etc.....you can order it here
BNSW at Level 5, 822 George Street Sydney, Telephone 02 9281 4099. (they don't do it online anymore)

Hitchy

Can't say I ever had any problems with my mtb all those years with it's 7 speed cassette, and the many tooth jumps it had. I'm sure I'll get out of my trog ways soon enough though. ;)

Farkin blowing a gale up here and 30 odd degrees at the minute. Not the kind of conditions I want to go for a ride in, but I'll do what I have to to get some pics for you blokes. 15 km into a crazy hot headwind on the way home wont be cool though. :(

Yeah, thanks for that Hitchy. I really would like to get to a stage where I can do most of my own work. So something like that should come in invaluable. :)

Hitchy, you can put me down for one of those tapes!!

Badsac, I agree with Hitchy about the book. Money very well spent. In the mean time, do a Google on 'adjustment front Derailleur' and you'll get more info than you can poke a stick at.