#281 - Road Biking for MountainBikers Part 2

Gel to be put under bar tape
- pic grabbed from Goggle Images

Fizik Bar Tape with Gel.
I've seen this in CRC.
- pic grabbed from Google Images

 

 

4. Choose your Grips
Mountain bikers are spoiled in the choice of grips.

You can have thick grip, thin, sticky, short, etc.

There are soooo many combinations.

For road bikes, there are just long strips of tape.

I know that these tapes come in gel, cork, etc. but

still it is difficult to get the right tape which will

prevent my hands and by extension, my brain, from

being jarred by the rough road. That is until Roadie Rio

told me to use 2 tapes. One on top of the other. It worked!

Alternatively, you may also use gels under the tape.

 

 

See the black thumb screw near the brake lever?
Screwing in / out that screw would adjust the
distance of the brake lever from the handle.

 

Compare the MTB solution to this rather crude solution
for the same situation. Above piece is the 10mm shim.
Below piece is the 5 mm (stock) shim.

 

The shim goes at the notch

 

5. Adjust the Distance of the Brake Lever
Mountain bikers are again spoiled in this area.

Most of the disc brakes that mountain bikers use

have an adjustment for the brake levers.

 

There is a screw that you can adjust so that the

brake lever can go out or in depending on the

size of your hand. Now for road bikes, the brifters

are so expensive and yet this very simple adjustment

is nowhere to be found!

 

What you need to do is buy a 10mm shim (most

probably what you have installed in your brifter is

the 5mm shim) that goes inside the brifter.

 

Take note though that different brifters will

require different shims! John from Hup Leong

had to rummage around for the precise shim that

will fit my 105 brifter.

What this shim does is to act like a 'door wedge'.

The brake lever can not return to it's normal

position properly because the 10mm shim is there.

 

 

 

6. Change your Brake Pads
Again, mountain bike win here. The hydraulic disk

brakes that we use on our mountain bikes really give

meaning to the cliche 'stop on a dime'.

Road bikes will never get this kind of braking power

(of course unless you have hydraulic disc brakes on

your road bikes). So, the best thing you can do is go

and get Shimano R55C3 brake pads for aluminum
rims (I'm assuming you have aluminum rims). I have

used the very popular KoolStop Salmon brake pads ...

 BUT I think the R55C3s have more bite.

 

 

7. Change your tires
Normally, bike manufacturers, be it on mtb side or road

bike side skimp on the tires. That alone should be sufficient

grounds to change your tires to a better gripping one.

 

A little bit of a warning here, roadies
talk about a tire being grippy ... BUT I don't think they 

are referring to the same GRIP that mountain bikers are

used to.

 

If you have cycled in Butterfly Trail AFTER a downpour

and you find your tires are so grippy that you were able

to shrug all (or most) of the roots there THEN we have
a REALLY GRIPPY tire!

 

Do NOT expect this same "grip" when talking about
road bike tires!

  

Anyway, I have two recommendations : the currently

very popular Continental 4000S and the

'lagging in popularity' Michelin Pro 4.


#280 - Paddle Wednesday

 

 

 

Went for a nice, easy paddle from 6pm to 7pm @ Tanjong Beach :)

 

 

 

 

 

 



#279 - Road Biking for Mountain Bikers - Part 1

My Merida Scultura 904 Comp posing at Loysel's Toy Café

Heh! Nice title right? Anyway, don't let the authoritative
sounding title fool you. That is just my way of saying "Steps
I took when I ventured into Roadbiking" .

 

Anyway, why get a road bike? For training purposes!

Most professional XC riders train on a road bike.

Even downhiller Rachel Atherton was on
a Cervelo road bike when she had that accident

circa 2009.

 

Round The Island training rides (RTI in Singapore

Roadie speak) are much faster on a roadbike. I know

that it can also be done on a MTB.

I have done it twice and twice I came home at

almost lunch time and almost bonking. Compare this

with my Roadie friends who go at around 5AM and then

reach home in time to have breakfast with their families.

 

Ok, now that I've convinced myself that road bikes

are good for training and marital bliss,

let's go and discuss the steps I took :
 

1. Buy a Roadbike

This should be a no-brainer ... if you have money :-)
Since I am always short of this magical stuff that

makes the world go round, I had to do some hunting.

 

Off I went to Vertex to take a look at last year's ...

No, make it last 5 years' bike models from Specialized,

Giant, and Cannondale. Sigh, no dice. Nothing fits

my budget.

 

I then went to Hup Leong at Chinatown and looked

longingly at a 2013 version of the Merida Scultura

904 Comp in white and blue. John approached me and

asked what I was looking for and what was my budget.

I said I have only this much (or is it this little hehe) and

that I think a good aluminium bike should be good

enough for me. If he can give me an aluminium frame

with carbon seatstays and carbon fork then that would

be like hitting the jackpot already.

 

We both sighed and stared loonnnggg and hard
at the ALL carbon (even the fork steer) Scultura 904

... and then he asked me if I want THAT all

carbon bike instead? I said of course !!!!

So he fitted the bike to me, put in Shimano 105

pedals and kept the cleats for when I come

with my new roadie shoes :-)

 

Before I do a review of the Merida Scultura 904 Comp,

here is Road.cc's review of the same bike.

 

 

My carbon Shimano roadie shoes
- pic courtesy of Google Images

 

2. Buy a pair of Carbon Roadbike shoes

I went back to Vertex and headed straight to Tay

Junction/Giant. I saw some cycling shoes on sale

there and I wasted no time trying on a few pairs

that would fit my budget.

 

Of course, these would be the plastic/composite

soled shoes. One of the salesladies whispered to me

that there is this Shimano Carbon soled shoes which was
a few years old and is on sale for 50% off. That should

fit my budget!

 

I tried them on and they were sooo stiff. If anyone

of my friends saw me at Tay Junction on that day,

they'd swear that they can see a thought bubble

on top of my head showing myself winning a sprint

in Tour de Bintan (teeehihihihi).

 
I was willing to take the display pair that I tried

on but the saleslady said she'll get a new

pair for me. Nice :-)

 

Again, before I make a review of my Shimano

SH-R215s. Here's a review from Cycling News on

Dec 2004 (gasp! My shoes are that old?)

 

 

3. Have your bike fitted to you

Bike fit is not that important for Mountain Biking.

Case in point, watch any UCI XCO race last

year and see how many times you will see

Absalon, Schurter or Fontana sit on their saddles.

I think there was even a race when Fontana

elected to continue racing without a seatpost

when his seatpost broke?

 

But for road cycling, you may have to sit 2-3

hours straight! Hence a proper bike fit is

necessary.

 

A few years back, I emailed a bike fitter which

was featured in the Singapore Cycling magazine

SPIN. Not sure if I remember correctly, but I

was quoted 400$ for a bike fit. Yes, I know bike fit

is important BUT I didn't know it would cost

that much :-(  

 

So, I turned to my ever dependable friend : Youtube.

Just search for bike fit and you will see all the

videos where people will teach you how to do a basic
bike fit ... for free :-)

 

I know that having a professional do the bike

fit is ideal. However, I am just looking for a basic

fit and these Youtube videos should be ok for this.

 

So in the end, I fiddled with the following :
position of the cleats
saddle height
saddle fore and aft position

 

As for the stem length and stem height

(spacers under the stem), I kept the stem

height as is (all spacers under the stem). I then
kept shortening the stem from 100mm to

80mm and finally 70mm UNTIL I no longer

feel numbness on my hands whenever I cycle to

East Coast Service Road.

 

That is the extent of my bike fit.

Here are two videos that I used as instructional

videos for fitting my bike :

video1

video2

 

Ok, that's it for Part 1. See you again for Part 2

where I will discuss grips, brake lever adjustment,

brake pads and tires.

 

 

 



#278 - Quick and Dirty Mini XC Race

Friday, Jan 31st is Chinese New Year in Singapore.

Those who have been living in Singapore for some

time now know that lots of commercial establishments

(even hawker centres) are closed for a few days. 

So what can we do when faced with this kind

of predicament? Hehehehe hold an XC Race maybe?

... and that is exactly what Owen of CrestPursuit

and the rest of PadyakPinoy SG thought so.

This is a very informal race. It was unsupported

and unsanctioned. You may even think of it as a

'timed' group ride and you get lots of beer

afterwards ;-) Hup Leong bike shop also donated

some items for the raffle draw :-)

The venue was supposed to be the Tampines Bike

Park where the Youth Olympics for XC was held

BUT of course later on it was announced that that

place would be closed for CNY as well. So the race

was held at the back where the Moonscape

and Kidneys are situated.

Anyway, I went to Tampines to join in the

heckling hehehe. When I got there, the Race Committee

told me that I am not too late and I can still join!

Huh?! No no no not today. I told them my wife

just told me to buy a bottle of vinegar and

that I just lost my way.

At that point, Owen of CrestPursuit and John

of Hup Leong was leading the racers on a 'neutral lap'.

This neutral lap will show the racers the complete loop.

I sat down at the Race Committee's hut and exchanged

"hi"s and "hello"s to people I only see in Malaysian

Jamborees.  After a few minutes, all the racers came

and lined up at the starting line. Owen mentioned that they

need more marshalls and the Race Committee

immediately volunteered me to be one of the marshalls.

There goes my heckling plans.

Owen explaining the rules : no biting, no headbutts, no hitting below the belt, etc.
- pic by Louie Aribon

The Race Committee

Start of the race !

The racers were divided into Beginners' and

Masters' Categories. I think Beginners would include

those who have not raced in Singapore and Malaysia yet.

Masters Cat didn't have anything to do with age.

If you've raced before, then you'll be grouped here.

I didn't see the actual start but it seems there was

a delay because Nick McHugh had a puncture and

Owen had to lend him a wheel. Anyway, after that,

the race started and the pack went on to the forest

and then they had to go to the Kidney (not sure which

one, lower or upper?), then they went towards my

marshalling point and then went towards the

ex-Moonscape part, went down towards the hut and

that would be 1 lap.

Beginners had to do 3 laps and Masters had to

do 4 laps. The first lap leaders were Anton and Bal.

After the 2nd lap, it was Bal leading by a margin of 10

seconds from Nick. At the 3rd lap, Bal was still leading but

Nick was already glued to his rear tire. At the fourth lap,

it was already Nick who was leading, followed 

by Darren (mechanic of Bike Haus 6th Ave) then followed by

Bal who I think hit the proverbial 'wall'.

First lap

 After the race, I immediately got down from my
marshalling point and did a lap of the race loop.
The forest area is nice and dry. The Kidneys are
nice and flowy too. Sigh... too bad this place

had to go to make way for some new development.

Overall nice guy Nick McHugh of PadyakPinoy SG won the race

The top ten. Notice the different team jerseys? PadyakPinoy SG,
Tropang Putikan, Lagalag and MTB Brothers are all represented

Me ! - wearing RED . It's Chinese new Year :-)