Equipment

Bike tyre pressures

This entry is short and sweet but hopefully useful, with a look at the 'ideal' tyre pressure to use in your road bike tyres.

Traditional wisdom is that bike tyres should be very well inflated, perhaps to 8 bars (116 psi) as a reasonable guide.

Cycle toolkits - tools to take on the road

We cyclists all have a small pouch underneath our saddle, with as few tools as possible squeezed in - because every tool we carry adds a few extra grams of weight. But which tools are really important when you set out on a long ride?

Essentials:

1. Spare innertube - much quicker to replace an innertube and easier than repairing a puncture

2. Tyre levers

2. Puncture repair kit - it's much quicker simply to replace the inner tube but sometimes things go wrong - you might miss the cause of the puncture and get another one straightaway, for example.

Shimano components - the product range

Shimano are the dominant manufacturer of gears, transmission and brakes for bikes (others include Campagnola, SRAM, and various smaller outfits).

While many bikes bought 'off the shelf' contain a mix of products from different ranges, there is a clear pecking order for the Shimano components that you will need to be aware of if comparing bikes.

Cycle shoes - why wear them?

We have looked at bike pedals and why they make a difference to cycling performance. Well it is not possible to use these effective bike pedals without having 'proper' cycling shoes!

The way they work is that a cleat is screwed to the bottom of your shoe, and then the cleat in some way clips onto the pedal. The exact process varies slightly, depending on the make of pedal and cleat, but generally the front of the cleat is put into/onto the pedal first, and then pushing down with your foot 'clips' the rest of the cleat into the pedal.

Cycle helmets, are they important?

The issue of cycling helmets - whether to wear on or not - is always a hot topic.

Reasons for:

They protect your head!

Reasons against:

They won't help in a serious crash, or stop you breaking your neck, they are just not strong enough
In the heat, there is a risk that they cause heat exhaustion
Pedestrians and car passengers are as likely to suffer head injuries and no one suggests they should all wear helmets
They look daft and cost money

Choosing and buying a new road bike

When you first decide to buy a road bike the choice can be very daunting. From bikes in the local supermarket costing £150 to those in specialist shops costing up to £5000 or more, what is the difference and what should you look for?

If you haven't ridden a road bike before, or not for many years, it is not easy to 'test drive' bikes, because they will all feel 'wrong' at first. The saddle will seem uncomfortable and too high, your back might hurt, and you won't know how to change gears. Don't be deterred!

Road bike sizing

The most important thing when purchasing a bike is to get the bike frame size and setup right - otherwise you will find you ache on longer rides, and lose enthusiasm for cycling very quickly. Riding the most expensive bike in the world will not be fun if it is the wrong size for you.

As a quick starting point:

- With your feet 20 cm apart measure the distance from the crotch to the floor (you will need some help here!) Advice: find a big hardback book and push it up between your legs, while the other edge of the book is held square against a wall. Make a pencil mark on the wall at the top of the book, then measure from the floor to the mark (repeat three times for an average). Not very elegant but pretty accurate.

- Multiply this measurement by 0.67

Clipless pedals

In the 'olden days' cyclists wore shoes that simply rested on the pedals during cycling, and life was simple. Then someone had the bright idea of fitting toe clips to pedals, to stop the shoes sliding around so much. Slightly irritating to use, but more or less a good idea.

Then by the 1950's someone had the idea of also fitting something to the shoe that clipped around the back of the pedal. Used together with toe clips that worked pretty well, and it was still essentially possible to move your feet to the ground when necessary (for example stopping at a road junction) without major incident.

Cheap road bikes

If you are looking for a good cheap bike there is a bewildering choice of bikes in the £350-600 price range, the typical starting point for a road bike, and it is difficult to know where to start. Virtually all mainstream bike manufacturers have entry bikes in this price range.

To confuse matters further, your bike supplier will often have last years models at reduced prices, and often available at extremely tempting prices. There is little benefit for the beginner in having the latest model - so if last years version of the same bike is available at 25% reduction it is likely to be a bargain.

Best road bike

Which are the best road bikes? It's a common question - after all everyone buying a bike wants the best one possible - but the question is one that is impossible to answer!

The answer depends on what you are looking for i.e. what you mean by 'best. First you need to consider which of the following is important to you':

speed over comfort
comfort over long distances
a great looking bike
cheap or at least great value
easy to upgrade in the future eg frame that is good enough to merit much more expensive wheels in due course

Straighten a bicycle wheel

We're talking here about correcting reasonably small variations in the straightness of a tyre, not the situation where the wheel has been driven over by a car!

You can check the straightness of your wheels quickly and easily - turn the bike upside down on a flat surface, and spin the wheel quite slowly.

While the wheel spins, watch closely the distance between the wheel rim and the brake block.

Mending a bike puncture

As hard as you may try, sooner or later you will get a puncture - typically when you are a long way from civilisation.

It is well worth practicing a couple of times at home, so that when you are caught out:

you can be sure of your abilities to mend the puncture quickly and efficiently
you will be confident that you have all the necessary tools in your bike bag.

Note: if you don't practice at home because you don't have the time - then all the more reason to practice! Changing the tube should only take a few minutes and if you expect it to take a long time you are doing something wrong...