The Cycling Thread

You need to push the tyre beads into the centre of the rim (the well), start at the bottom then work your way around with both hands, pushing the rest of the bead into the rim. This is the deepest part of the wheel and creates a bit of slack at the top as you work your way up. It may take 2-3 times working your way around, but you won’t ever need anything but your hands to get a tyre on.

Brute force isn’t the answer. Have a look on YouTube and you'll get the technique easily enough. :smashin:
Until you get to tubeless road tyres where we don't have a common standard yet and omg... It usually either flaps on too easily or you need immense patience. Sometimes it just works and you sit there wondering why and what you've broken.
 
Any tips to avoid punctures? I’ve had the bike months but only been riding off road on gravel and mud paths for 5 days

it is a hybrid but are these tyres suitable for that sort of terrain ?

the puncture was a thorn which was so sharp it cut my finger


should I get some more durable tyres ? If so which ones do I get ?
my current ones are resist protect 28-622 700x28c

these ones look good
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/.../rp-prod171961


I need tyres which are fast on road and puncture resistant off road
 

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You need to push the tyre beads into the centre of the rim (the well), start at the bottom then work your way around with both hands, pushing the rest of the bead into the rim. This is the deepest part of the wheel and creates a bit of slack at the top as you work your way up. It may take 2-3 times working your way around, but you won’t ever need anything but your hands to get a tyre on.

Brute force isn’t the answer. Have a look on YouTube and you'll get the technique easily enough. :smashin:
Some tyre and rim combinations will require tyre levers. Some won't. Sometimes people's hands may just not be strong enough on there own. You cannot say you can always get tyres on without levers.
 
Try a little soapy water as well to help the rubber pop over the rim.
 
Any tips to avoid punctures? I’ve had the bike months but only been riding off road on gravel and mud paths for 5 days

it is a hybrid but are these tyres suitable for that sort of terrain ?

the puncture was a thorn which was so sharp it cut my finger


should I get some more durable tyres ? If so which ones do I get ?
my current ones are resist protect 28-622 700x28c

these ones look good
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/.../rp-prod171961


I need tyres which are fast on road and puncture resistant off road
Maybe Schwalbe Marathon plus, they'll probably double the weight of your bike (well they're not that bad) but they have a thick centre puncture resistant strip and get great reviews.
 
Spoke to a bike mechanic and he suggested the continentals so went with them .
what exactly made it so difficult to change the inner tube? Was it the tyre or the rim ?
 
Got some new tyres coming more suitable for off road and puncture resistant

is the back tyre easy to get back on? I looked at my draleor and it looks tricky
Everyone on YouTube does it with the bike standing up, surely upside down is easier?
 

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Until you get to tubeless road tyres where we don't have a common standard yet and omg... It usually either flaps on too easily or you need immense patience. Sometimes it just works and you sit there wondering why and what you've broken.

Tbh I’ve had 3 punctures in the last 6 years, and not one of them was on road (2 on my commute on the trans pennine trail and 1 on a cycle path). One was a huge nail right through the tyre, so tubeless would probably have been wrecked anyway, whereas I put a new tube in and patched it to get me home. To me, tubeless is fixing a problem I don’t have so I haven’t bothered with them.
 
Some tyre and rim combinations will require tyre levers. Some won't. Sometimes people's hands may just not be strong enough on there own. You cannot say you can always get tyres on without levers.

It’s not about strength, it’s about technique. I got marathon plus wire bead tyres on my CX bike without tools, and they are notoriously hard to get on. They were hard - if i‘d tried to just force them on I’d have gotten nowhere and probably ended up snapping levers or nipping tubes.

Look on YouTube - there’s an old guy fitting Marathon plus, and whilst he uses a toe strap to hold the tyre on one side, he doesn’t use any levers or tools to force the rest onto the rim - just the correct technique.

All the ‘use soap, talcum powder, tyre levers, tyre keys’ talk on the FB pages is rubbish. You need to be able to get your tyres on and off whilst you’re out possibly miles from nowhere, so you either carry a load of tools or learn to do it properly.
 
i think ive had one or two punctures on my road bike ( in fact one was even a blowout)

Many more on a mountain bike but that is to be expected.

I do want to go tubeless but not enough to actually do anything about it
 
Put on the old training wheels today which meant the bike was essentially back to OEM 2011 spec. Took it easy but really enjoyed pushing it on the climbs, getting close to my old PBs on the biggest hills we have around me :).

49980262752_fcd462b456_c_d.jpg


Am still amazed how well this bike has lasted over the years, I cannot think of many other things from 2011 which I own that is essentially working 'as new'. With pedal bikes paying for quality components really do seem worth it.

Every time am tempted to a newer bike with fancy stuff like disc brakes/electronic shifting I remind my self, 'it's not about the bike' :).

49980009621_50a3df86c3_c_d.jpg
 
Did you service it over that time?

How often do service for those that do?

Downhill bike was a deep clean every time used and a full strip and re-grease every 1/4 or when required in winter months.
New bike is full clean monthly, or when needed and chain is scrubbed and checked for wear every 1/4 with a full re-grease of bearings 6 monthly or when required.
 
Question for the gravel bike riders of you.

I’ll be looking to get a Gravel bike towards Black Friday. Not wanting to spend silly money but I’m thinking along these lines.
Spend a bit more than I’d originally planned and then get a set of rod wheel as well so I can switch them over when wanting to use it on the road

anyone had any experience of this

Ive currently got a Cube road bike which is great but could move this on and this would also mean less space for two bikes which is never a bad thing
 
Did you service it over that time?

How often do service for those that do?

Paid for one 'gold' service a few years ago, changed brake pads a few times my self, plus rear cassette. Nothing else I can remember. Gears shift perfectly still, and wheels run ture. Clean and re grease the chain every few months.

Really impressed by durability of Shimano and Trek bits.
 
Question for the gravel bike riders of you.

I’ll be looking to get a Gravel bike towards Black Friday. Not wanting to spend silly money but I’m thinking along these lines.
Spend a bit more than I’d originally planned and then get a set of rod wheel as well so I can switch them over when wanting to use it on the road

anyone had any experience of this

Guy I've ridden with a few times has an Orbea Terra which he uses for road and off road rides. His had double rings up front (not sure what size) and for roads, he's got a wheelset with 28c tyres and a smaller cassette, something like a 12-25, and for offroad he's got another wheelset with 38c tyres and a bigger cassette, think it might have been 11-34. I guess he'd need to swap chains as well, but that's a 30 second job with quick links.

It certainly wasn't slow in road set-up, seemed much the same as a normal road bike really. I guess if you had smaller front rings you'd spin out sooner than a road bike with compact or 52/36 front rings, but you'd need to be going pretty quick before you hit that point.

Seems a good idea really, if you can find something with mounts for guards, it could double as a good winter road bike.
 
Guy I've ridden with a few times has an Orbea Terra which he uses for road and off road rides. His had double rings up front (not sure what size) and for roads, he's got a wheelset with 28c tyres and a smaller cassette, something like a 12-25, and for offroad he's got another wheelset with 38c tyres and a bigger cassette, think it might have been 11-34. I guess he'd need to swap chains as well, but that's a 30 second job with quick links.

It certainly wasn't slow in road set-up, seemed much the same as a normal road bike really. I guess if you had smaller front rings you'd spin out sooner than a road bike with compact or 52/36 front rings, but you'd need to be going pretty quick before you hit that point.

Seems a good idea really, if you can find something with mounts for guards, it could double as a good winter road bike.
That’s kind of my plan.

Not fussed about mounts as I don’t mind getting mucky and I’m generally riding in the dry and winter start in heavy rain.
 
Got me new tyres and will be fitting them tomorrow. Do you guys recommend slightly inflating the inner tubes before fitting them and the tyres ?
 
Got me new tyres and will be fitting them tomorrow. Do you guys recommend slightly inflating the inner tubes before fitting them and the tyres ?
It might make it a bit easier to keep things in place but won’t make much of a difference and certainly isn’t essential
 
It helps to have a little air in there to avoid pinching the tubes when the tyre is being seated.
 
Got me new tyres and will be fitting them tomorrow. Do you guys recommend slightly inflating the inner tubes before fitting them and the tyres ?
Get one side of the tyre on the wheel. Put the inner tube in. Inflate it very slightly (only enough to give it some shape) so it makes it easier to fit inside the tyre. Fit the other side of the tyre to the wheel.
 
Why on the tyres does it have the word front and an arrow ? Is it important to put it the right way round ?
 
Yes. This is due to how the tread patterns are supposed to roll. Most but not all tyres are directional
 

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