About bikes, cycling and cycle to work - Tredz Blog

Chainset sizes explained

Suit you sir. But which one, there's so many? Over the last couple of years mountain bikes have lost their monopoly as the only type of cycle to offer more gears than most of us have fingers and toes. Road bikes have never been built with more choice. That choice comes from the trio of variant in chain sets. To state the obvious, chainsets are driven by a cyclists’ legs via the pedals; the size (measured in teeth) of that chainset plays a huge part in your gearing and consequential speed.

Double - as the name implies, a double chainset is two chain rings, typically 52 and 39 teeth, feeding a range of gears at the back, known as the cassette. A double chain set is likely to be light and offer fast shifting. Doubles are often the preferred choice of the seasoned cyclist who may think of it as the purest offering.

Note: Cassettes tend to be geared from 11 teeth (the smallest, hardest and fasted gear) through to 27 teeth (the largest and easiest to pedal – theoretical 1st). For example, my Specialized Allez Sport (27 speed) has a 12 to 25 tooth cassette.

Triple - three rings, typically 50, 39 and 30 teeth (mountain bikes are smaller: usually 42, 32 and 22). Power is comparable to the double but with an added smaller ring for steep climbs. Changing down to this ‘granny’ ring because of a lack of thigh muscle is when the purists may frown. Three rings makes it a heavier choice and asking the front mech to move further means shifting wont be quite as swift (I’ll be amazed if you notice though).

A triple is ideal for mountain bikers who are used to the set up and for anyone new to road cycling and finds climbing difficult. Wait there; surely that’s everyone bar L. Armstrong? Yes it is, and that’s why a triple is a popular choice. My Specialized Allez Sport runs Shimano Tiagra 52, 42, 30 – I guess that makes me a lightweight then?

Compact – back to just two chain rings here but these are typically 50 and 34 teeth. The big ring is fairly normal but that small ring is smaller than you’d find on a double. This gives the rider an easier set of gears in which to climb.

I hope this helps rather than confuses you further.

Tredz rider selected for team GB

It’s been an excellent fortnight. I had a great birthday going to the Walthomstow Dog racing track (no winners though). I was made somewhat of the local celebrity by my local paper writing about me here and I’ve received a couple of very nice invites. The first was to the BBC sports personality of the year in December, which I thought was pretty cool (no Nic, I don’t need a chaperone). The second was confirmation of selection for the GB team for a training camp and competition in Australia (again Nic, no). Chuffed!

Here is the itinerary they’ve sent me:
- 22nd Jan - Leave UK
- 24th Jan - Arrive Australia - Based Melbourne using Bendigo Track
- 4th Feb - Travel to Sydney
- 6th Feb - Australian Nationals Begin (Dunc Gray Velodrome)
- 11th Feb - Nationals End
- 12th Feb - Riders Day Off
- 13th Feb - Travel to Beijing - familiarization for Olympics
- 15th Feb - Leave Beijing
- 16th Feb - Arrive UK

My winter training still isn't confirmed, but I've got an athlete review with my coach Barney Storey, the head coach Chris Furber and Performance Director Dave Mellor on the 8th November, so I'm guessing I'll find out more there.

The Giant’s going really well. Been for a couple of rides and a session on the rollers but not really ridden much more than that as I'm officially on a 3 week break. Although I’ve got to say it handles descents really well. But I'll update you more once I'm on it everyday.
Posted by Jody

Cycling screensaver

Our previous post giving you cycling desktop pictures to download has proved very popular and we thought we'd offer you a screensaver we liked...

Download NSMB_screensaver.exe (1532.2K)

Triathlon Lesson - Swimming 2

Its been a while since my first post about my 10 week beginners swimming course at Swansea’s national pool and I can safely say I'm really enjoying them. Initially we swam each stroke (including an attempt at butterfly!) but the weekly lessons now tackle only one stroke by going 'back-to-basics' on each. The main stroke for getting from A to B quickly is obviously front crawl so we have spent a fair bit of time trying to master it. My instructor, Andy, believes in using flippers to help keep legs in the right position in the water. These are also a great aid to propulsion while we concentrate on the arm movements.

We have been swimming using one arm at a time and Andy has commented that my technique isn’t too bad, but I do need to make myself more streamlined by keeping my head in the water. The aim is to have a nice flat body throughout the stroke but each time I lift my head out of the water to breathe I end up arching my body which slows me down. It’s my big weakness. What's good is that as I'm gaining more water confidence I'm now able to relax a bit more in the water which is actually helping with my breathing. I'm getting the hang of blowing out under water and turning my head to take in air but I still forget to use my nose which obviously fills up with water and forces me to stop and give it a good blow every now and then. Some of the guys in the class use nose clips but I'm going to persevere and try to get my breathing right. I have to say that I do look forward to each Thursday’s lesson and the hour goes really fast. I guess it’s because I'm concentrating so hard (for a change!).
Posted by James

Specialized Stumpjumper FSR review on first outing

Sunday was my first date ride with my 2007 Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Expert since posting its arrival last week. I’d like to give you a huge review about an epic all-day bonding between man and machine, but Afan Argoed on Sunday was the wettest it’s been all year. One of my two riding colleagues thought he’d beat the weather by not wearing a jacket – how the hell does that work? Despite my Kona Primo jacket being up to the task it appears neither I, nor my fellow riders were.

But the Stumpjumper was great. I find you really sit in a Stumpy, rather than on it. You set the sag right (20-25%) on the rear and you’re immediately in the groove. The X-0 shifters give new meaning to rapid-fire. I’ve been a Shimano fan for donkeys’ but these things were incredible. I wasn’t used to the setup so I hit the wrong paddle on a couple corners. This wasn’t a biggie I could go from 4th to 5th back to 4th and through to what I really wanted, 3rd, all way before the bend. Despite the weather and a rider with empty legs (still not recovered from the marathon) the Stumpy felt great. I need to adjust the rebound – it was kicking me up on the bigger dips – and the front brake needs more give, but I think we’re onto another great love affair. More reviewing soon I hope.

The end of a sporting era

As every man and his dog are aware this morning, Michael Schumacher is no longer an F1 racing driver. The giant of this glamorous and often underrated sport (in my humble opinion) retired after yesterday’s Brazilian Grand Prix. How ironic that his Ferrari team - supposedly Michael-centric but forced him to retire - should let him down in the last two races after he managed to claw back and level the championship. His final race was a catalogue of bad luck and brilliant driving: from 10th on the grid (thanks to a duff fuel pump on Saturday), to last (after a puncture), to fourth. It could so easily have been victory #92.

Some love him; some think he’s spoilt the ‘racing sport’ by repeatedly quashing his competition. But he's in that most elite league of world sportsmen with only a handful of others: the likes of Lance Armstrong. Michael's estimated earnings stand at over $500 million - bettered only by Tiger Woods. Personally I think seeing him win week in, week out was a bit of an anticlimax, but the last few seasons have been fiercely competitive. If anything, I regret that he didn’t bow out with an eighth World Championship, further enforcing his greatness – well done and congrats go to Senor Alonso.

Biking downloads

One of our IT guys gave my desktop a cool cycling background picture this morning (can't be working hard enough, eh?). He's found some crackers, take your pick:

Download Whistlerbanking.jpg (1057.2K)

Download Whistlerbeforedescent.jpg (828.0K)

Download Whistlercablecar.jpg (1229.9K)

Download Whistlerdoubles.jpg (1079.2K)

Download Whistlerseesaw.jpg (1133.5K)

Download Whistlersnowbackground.jpg (845.3K)

Specialized FSR Stumpjumper 2007 review

I took out a 07 Specialized Stumpjumper Expert FSR last weekend to Afan Argoed on The Wall and Penhydd trails (in unseasonably stunning weather). I was expecting good things after riding the 06 Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Pro model last year and loving it to bits. I wasn’t disappointed, but more of that later.

Component-wise I found it spot on: Sram XO shifters are the best available in my book, XO rear mech likewise. The two combined deliver faultless shifting with the workhorse XT front mech doing its job well. The hollowtech2 XT chainset is also spot on (if you haven’t tried one you need to, to see how much better they are than octalink!). Juicy 7 brakes are again another benchmark for reliability and quality of feel (even sold my Hopes to swap to them). Shock absorption is taken care of by Fox at both ends with the Talas RL up front and Brain Fade at the back. DT rims are a nice touch and the usual finishing package of Specialized components give the bike a look and feel of quality.

Thanks Alan

Tis the week for praise me thinks:

First time customer (bought Cycle Ops Mag Trainer & block). Great price, great service and constant updates while order was processed. Well done. Shall be back!
Alan

Turn your bike into furniture

Surfing last night for other cool bike blogs led me to a firm in the US that turn bikes into furniture. There's some really cool stuff here.

It's confirmed - marathons are easy

Relatively speaking, you understand. They are, of course, complete and utter torture followed by several days of aches, pains, bruises and rashes. But this is nothing in comparison to actually training for a marathon.

I completed the Cardiff marathon yesterday, my second 26 mile personal hell (Paris ’05 was my first). Okay easy is a very relative term - muscles have no memory so they forget pain the moment it stops. Therefore the suffering, misery and agony of the event is soon a thing of the past, replaced by an internal patting on the back; academics would call it self actualisation.

For 70-80% of yesterday's 240 minutes the voice in my head didn’t stop with likes of “Just stop for a minute. Go on stop you idiot. He has. And she has. At least slow down. Look, there’s a group who’ve all stopped. This is stupid, just stop.” So don’t get me wrong, I find such distances extremely difficult. But that’s just stamina; the race itself really is mind over matter. Training on the other hand is all about motivation and sacrifice - a far larger undertaking.

My work colleague and running partner helped drag me round yesterday whilst completing his fifth marathon. That’s seven between us and although we're miles away from the 2 hour, or even 3 hour mark, we feel we’re qualified to argue that training is much more difficult than the event itself.

Training is difficult on 3 levels: time, motivation and injury.

Giant's Mr Over The Moon

I received a nice email from a customer via info@tredzblog.co.uk late yesterday. He ordered a Giant XTC SE from us on Tuesday and received it on Wednesday. He writes:

Hi guys,
just thot i would drop you a line to say thanks for all your help.  Ive now got my first proper mountain bike and i love it, took me 2 mins to put together once it got here and its perfect.  The staff i spoke to were very helpful and the price of the bike itself was superb.  Keep up the good work, I know where i'll be buying all the rest of my kit ;-)
thanks,
steven

Perhaps he watched our video to setup his bike. Either way, cheers Steven, you nearly brought a tear to my eye.

Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Expert arrives

It’s my birthday this week, although I’m not saying exactly when for fear of pesky egg & floor tricks. I’ve received the obligatory gifts (socks & tie rack), but my sister got all 21st Century with a great iTunes voucher (cheers Em) and my ten month old daughter managed to get hold of enough pocket money to buy her old man a cool cake. But I’ve also been graced with a 5* present: my 2007 Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Expert has finally arrived. Isn’t she amazing?!

She’s a thoroughbred whose bloodline can be traced back to the 2004 Specialized Enduro (great bike marred by obscene amounts of chain suck). I’ve riden all her predecessors and loved them but this 2007 version promises to be my new favourite. Specialized aficionados will notice she's a non-catalogue colour: it's test bike purple.

After being without a mountain bike for a couple of months (wasn’t too bothered as I've been training for a marathon) I now get the feeling I’ve found myself a mistress. After all, every hour spent with her will be one stolen from my wife and child. I will long to be with her when my mind should be on work or motorway junctions. I am already planning dirty weekends away together (Mr & Mrs Smith at Coed y Brenin). She will make me smile broadly and laugh out loud when I least expect to. She will make me feel like a teenager the moment I join her. I will take great care for her and spend as many hours as possible in her presence. It’s official, I’m having an affair - well, I will be after my marathon this weekend. We'll both have to wait patiently...

New Brechfa Forest Trail

We went riding at the new trail at Brechfa, Carmarthenshire on the weekend. We mustered 8 riders to find our way there which wasn’t as complex as it first appeared. Find your way to Llandilo, take the A40 west towards Carmarthen and Brechfa itself is signposted; they're small roads but trust your direction finding, it is there!

Although having no facilities beyond a car park (free!) there is an excellent pub on the doorstep for post ride food and perhaps more importantly, beer. The trail itself is quite an eye opener; the climbs, of which there are 3 main ones, are all on fire road which may be dull but do gain altitude quickly and efficiently. Where this trail really comes into its own are the descents which resemble a downhill, 3 foot wide BMX track, consisting entirely of perfectly sculpted berms, doubles and tabletops all the way. Its all been designed well enough to be doable by most abilities, retaining a sense of fun at low speeds (definitely recommended first time round). It adds an injection of speed which results in a remarkable amount of air time for what is essentially an XC course.

The quality of construction has to be seen to be believed as we're talking about 12 to 13 km (19km. overall) of entirely hand built BMX/four cross track with what appears to be near perfect drainage. The progression in technicality of the downhill sections is excellent - they get better and better until the final section which is a quality downhill course in its own right. With that in mind they have handily put in a shortcut walk (20 mins) to the top of the final section which was being made full use of by a number of riders on big bounce downhill/freeride set ups, all of whom had beaming grins behind their (full face) helmets.

To sum up: this is cracking little venue for taking the XC bike for a smooth, clean technical spin but equally good for taking the freeride/dh bike to session the final section. It is a VERY manmade feeling course that wont satisfy the wilderness riders and don’t expect root strewn singletrack riding - as someone described it on the weekend "a cross country BMX track". If this tickles your fancy it comes highly recommended and even if this isn’t your kind of thing, its worth making the effort to see for yourself the construction and style of this course (it is only 20k after all).
Posted by Chris

Gold medallist and World Champion joins Tredz team

Swimmer-turned-cyclist, Jody Cundy has joined Tredz as a sponsored rider and is to become a TredzTalk contributor. Jody has quit the pool in order to turn his future training and Olympic intentions to cycling. When this guy decides to do something, he really does get it done. The Federation of Disability Sport Wales said:

"Jody Cundy only started cycling this year but shot out of the gate to gold in the men’s LC2 kilometer time trial at the UCI World Cycling Championships in Aigle, Switzerland, earning himself the illusive rainbow jersey in a time of 1 minute 10.530 seconds."

   

Before deciding to dominate on his bike, Jody was somewhat of a star in the pool. He won:
  - gold in the Paralympic Games, Atlanta 1996 (by breaking the world record);
  - two gold and a bronze medal in the Paralympic Games, Sydney 2000 (and another world record time for butterfly);
  - gold at the World Championships, Mar Del Plata 2002;
  - bronze at the Paralympic Games, Athens 2004.

Tredz have given Jody a Giant SCR 1.0 to allow him to train through the winter. He plans on posting regularly on all aspects of his training including having a new prosthetic cycling limb (lower right leg) that will offer far more stability, in turn letting him generate more direct power and contact with the bike.

Triathlon Lesson – Swimming 1

Over summer I've raced a few duathalons (run/bike/run) and have really enjoyed the competition. So after lots of pressure from triathlete mates I've set myself the target of taking part in a triathlon (swim/bike/run) next year. Trouble is, the last time I actually swam properly was 1990 at college, so I am a bit daunted.

Anyway, feeling brave one morning recently, I went down to the National Pool and started with breaststroke not wanting to draw too much attention to myself splashing about. I had forgotten how physically hard it was and only just managed to keep up with a pensioner in her classic purple flowered swim cap. After a few exhausting lengths of drinking water and torturing my eyes with chlorine I quit. It took me a few months to pluck up the courage to go back. This time the 25 meter pool was being used and I was forced to get in the big boys pool (Olympic 50 meter). Well it looks OK from the side but once your in the water 50 meters looks a very long way indeed!

Don't take your legs for granted

This is why it's a good idea to ride regularly…

Meet my mate Viv, aka Valve, Long Jaw and many other unpublishable nicknames. He rode his Specialized Epic all last summer and for most of the winter, but this weekend was the first time he's ridden (or done any exercise) in over six months. The picture says how knackered he was after the first climb of Penhydd at Afan Argoed. He brought up Saturday's Chinese about half hour later - nice. Keep riding mate, you’ll be back to your reckless self (like Bambi on ice) in no time.

Bike building at Tredz

Unlike most of our online cousins, each and every Tredz bike is fully built. This is also known in the cycle trade as a pre-delivery inspection or PDI. We then place it in a large tailor-made box and despatch it to you. This is a big deal because bicycles arrive from manufacturers (regardless of who) only semi-assembled. Therefore many retailers, especially catalogue firms, simply receive bikes and ship straight to you without looking at, let alone building the bike.

Tredz have been ‘posting’ bicycles to customers in various guises since 1991. It’s taken a long time to master the technique and we’ve learnt a lot – usually the hard way. After our fully trained mechanics have built your bike, setting up the gears, brakes, etc., the pedals are removed and the handlebar is turned. We do this to better protect your bike in transit. On arrival, you only need a minute or two to screw in the pedals and adjust the handlebar before you’re on your way. Our three minute video above demonstrates how straightforward the process is.

Cycle Show grows this year

Cycle, is the final bike show of the year is on this week in London’s ExCel. It’s open to the public from 6-8th October and is well worth a visit if you’re into your cycles and can get there without a 10 hour commute. We went to the trade day today and found it improved on last year despite not being any larger. Okay, it’s not as big or as jazzed up as the motor show but there are scores of bike brands doing their best to impress the public. Everyone from Specialized to the Sustrans are there.

The Cycle site says:

As well as getting close to hundreds of new bikes and accessories for the year ahead, the Cycle Show is a great chance to meet the teams from the leading bike magazines, chat to campaign groups, or book a cycling holiday. You'll also find plenty of experts willing to share their cycling knowledge, an all action fashion show, the cycling test track, an elite circuit race, an indoor duathlon race, a trials competition and much more.

If you go, head to the Specialized stand (by far the best there) and say hi to this fella. He's our rep Steve Cole. I took this yesturday on Mark's phone and found a great warping feature. My baby photos will never be the same.

Cycle light laws and regulations

LED cycle lights have been around for a long time now. The trouble is although most of us think they allow motorists to see cyclists more clearly, many were actually illegal. Well that law - the road vehicle lighting regulations or RVLR - changed in October 2005. Seeing as the nights are now looming in and many of you will be buying new bike lights, we thought it an appropriate time to reiterate what’s what with bike lights.

LEDs
The RVLR now allows a flashing light to be attached to a bike if it
(a) emits a minimum light output of four candela (i.e. the strength of four candles, queue the Two Ronnies); and,
(b) flashes at an equal and constant rate of between 60 and 240 flashes per minute.
To summarise: a not-too-bright steady pulsing LED is fine - out goes your Nightrider strobe.

Unfortunately the British Standard regulation for cycle lights has not as yet been updated. So you may have a light that complies with the RVLR which will not automatically comply with British Standard and visa versa.

The Law
You are riding legally if your front and rear lights meet either the RVLR and/or British Standard 6102-3. This means you can also mix standards between front and rear. For example:
Cycle 1: is legal because its front light in constant mode complies to British Standard and the rear complies to the RVLR in flashing mode.
Cycle 2: is legal because its front light complies to the RVLR in flashing mode and the rear complies to British Standard in constant mode.

Note: the RVLR was set considering the requirements for riding in areas with street lighting. Therefore, RVLR lights are not required to give any ‘beam of light’. This can mean they more useful at ensuring the cyclist can be seen by other road users. A four candela front cycle light would not be suitable for riding down a dark road, even if it’s technically legal to do so.

The following lights comply with RVLR when used in constant flashing mode:

Front lights: Cateye EL-320 £29.99, Cateye EL-410 £29.99, Cateye EL-220 £24.99, Cateye EL-135 £19.99, Cateye HL-LD270 £12.99, Cateye HL-LD150 £12.99, Cateye HL-LD130 £9.99

Rear lights: Cateye TL-LD 270 £12.99, Cateye TL-LD150 £9.99 , Cateye TL-LD130 £7.99

The following lights comply with British Standard when used in constant mode:

Front lights: Cateye EL-300 £28.99 , Cateye HL-500BS £12.99

Rear lights: Cateye TL-AU100 £14.49, Cateye TL-LD260BS £12.99

The Department of Transport’s Guidance about lights on pedal bicycles can be found here.

Tredz rider wins at Mountain Ash

Congratulations are once again in order for TREDZ downhill rider Julian who followed his performance at Fort William last weekend by winning his class at the final round of the Dragon Downhill race series at Mountain Ash this weekend. He won his class in both days' runs (in foul weather) and this put him first overall for the series! The weekend brought to a close another successful year of racing in fine style - nice one mate. Full Race Results.
Posted by Chris

Polling that aint political

The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that TredzTalk has added a polling section called ‘What’s your bag’ on the right hand column. We have bantered about suggestions that we think you’d be interested in but would welcome your input. We’d love you to post a comment with your ideas or you could email poll@tredz.co.uk.