CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
I'm riding the Moffat Toffee on the 27th. Unfortunately my bike won't go inside anyone's car (unless the seats go down, which defeats the purpose).
I'm not sure whether I'm going to have our car, or ride back up (!!). Part of the deal of my getting so much road time this year is that I won't ambush the car every weekend just so I can ride...
I have just entered (the Moffat Toffee). Will be the longest ride I have done so far. Although there is quite a bit of climbing, I don't think that there is anything very steep (like Witchy Knowe or Talla in reverse). Here is the route copied from the cyclechat forum.
Kaputnik - I'd be happy to give you a lift.
"I'd be happy to give you a lift"
Isn't CCE wonderful.
Now that it seems to be working again!!
A friend asked me if I wanted to do the Moulin Hills Aduax from Forfar (4 East-Fife 5) but I don't think I'll be able to get in enought miles under my belt in time. Before the Easty lothian I was held up with flue for a week and now I have a chesty cough and after my last road ride I coughed at work all day! and have been coughing since (1 week)
I wouldn't mind another 100 but 150 (or more) ia a bit much for me.
So whats a good Audax bike? What makes it an Audax bike? I have an image of a road racer and a tourer but is an audax something inbetween? Whats the diff in spec, gears, frame etc??
http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3598
Slightly relaxed geometry from a racer but lighter and 'sportier' than a tourer.
Cheers Steveo, so its a relaxed racer but with room for mudgards, and has a triple instead of a double or compact.
I'd certainly go for something lighter than my tourer, it weights a tonne.
Well I've just bought an "Audax" frame second hand on Ebay - Dawes Giro 700 Audax. My definition of an audax bike (beyond what you need to comply with the regulations) would be it's whatever sort of bike works for the rider to get them over a long distance in the prescribed time.
I wanted something that filled the gap between my road bike and my tourering bike - infact when I measured out the geometries it was almost literally exactly inbetween. Wanted a balance of long distance comfort and stable handling yet still be light and fast and not feel like a heavy frame, wheelset and tyres are sapping my energy. The "relaxed" geometry should be coupled with a decent frame material - not just cheapo aluminium as the "relaxed" geometry of entry-level road bikes often have. The frame I've bought is Reynolds 531 Competition so the theory is that it should be light and stiff enough to get a good performance but good at soaking up the bumps and road buzz like steel is.
Audax events often specify you must have lights and mudguards so there should be the fittings for these. A lot of people fit a slightly wider tyre for comfort (25 or even 28c) so there needs to be clearance for those. A rack or something like a Carradice seems pretty common to carry extra clothing and enough food and supplies to keep you going for hundreds of km. A comfy brooks saddle or similar seems to be quite common, not often to be seen gracing a carbon mamil-special superbike!
There seems to be very little to choose from between what some manufacturers sell as "audax" bike and some as "winter" bikes (requirements for lights, wider tyres and guards being common). Infact when I was doing my research before I saw one on Ebay it seemed there's not a huge range and that the custom framebuilders seem to have a good chunk of the market.
Comfort and reliability are the key I think. Mudguards add to both if the weather is poor. Quite a few audaxers I have seen do use tourers with saddlebags etc; many others use racers with no mudguards (- not sure if they would for 400km plus events though).
Audax don't always has such steep hills as the tour of East Lothian so the gearing may not be so important.
Yeah that granny ring would just be deadweight to a weight-weenie!
Dave C - also see the audax handbook at
http://www.aukweb.net/official/handbook/
Re: mudguards - from the Audax Uk site:
"AUK's regulations used to require mudguards - but not any more. Some events may require mudguards, but that depends on the individual organiser. In the Calendar, the code M indicates that mudguards may be required. Otherwise, they are not required, though their use might be 'encouraged' by some organisers."
Can't see an M for the Moffat Toffee - unless it is the Offat Toffee (ho ho).
'So whats a good Audax bike?'
Something fast and comfortable..... ;-)
It's funny that anyone would consider building an audax bike without lights, given that all the longer distances involve riding through the night.
But loads of people ride without mudguards. The rule was only there to prevent cafes from refusing entry to muddy dripping derrieres, which would make many rides hard to run. I guess it killed participation too much.
At the end of the day you see all sorts of bikes even on the longer events (all-rigid MTBs with slicks, for example). The more comfortable and faster the better, however you like that blended.
"The frame I've bought is Reynolds 531 Competition so the theory is that it should be light and stiff enough to get a good performance but good at soaking up the bumps and road buzz like steel is."
531 frames often seem to have 'magical' properties. One very real reason is the forks which take a lot of the road shock out.
At one time 531 came in several varieties including 531C and 531ST/Super Tourist. Both should make great Audax frames. In general C was intended for racing frames and the slightly heavier/stiffer ST for bikes carting luggage.
In practice various companies produced 'fast day tourers' using 531C with mudguard eyes.
I stripped down the old aluminium frame last night and had a few shots on the scales.
The steel frame, with steel fork, stem and bar was 1/2 lb heavier than the (cheap) aluminium frame with the stock alloy bar and stem and (moderately expensive) carbon fork. I'll weigh them properly on better scales if I can find any and work out how to do it without the added weight of me shuffling around on the scales trying to balance with a bike frame.
The steel frame is also an inch longer on the chainstay, the top tube is an inch shorter but the overall wheelbase remains the same as the carbon fork is nearly straight but the steel fork curves forward. I might make some scale drawings comparing the tourer, road bike and audax bike tonight.
"carbon fork is nearly straight but the steel fork curves forward"
It's the curved bit that helps to reduce road shocks.
Never did understand the point of straight forks.
Never did understand the point of straight forks.
They reduce the wheelbase and make for snappier handling?
Tell you what else I noticed was that when I bumped the aluminium frame it just went "thud". When I bumped the steel frame it sung out like a tuning fork and I could feel it resonating in my hands. Interesting.
"They reduce the wheelbase and make for snappier handling?"
Yes, I think that's the theory and probably practice.
But something that might sense to some people in some circumstances became fashion - which is, perhaps, a reason for the popularity of suspension forks - which again have their places - which isn't (ideal) on cheap, heavy bikes for people 'thinking about taking up cycling'.
I improved my BSO no end by dumping the stupid, cheap, straight, useless SR Suntour "suspension" fork it came with and having the LBS install a simple chromoly fork with said extra reach.
I did some measuring and sketching. All to scale.
Interesting
Clearly demonstrates some of the parameters of framebuilding -
Wheelbase and head + seat angles.
Slightly surprising that Dawes seatpost is slightly more 'relaxed'.
So who's signed up for the Galashiels events?
Dave
Kaputnik? (with new audax set up?)
Anyone else?
Hope the weather cheers up by then. I have been sent the route for the Moffat Toffee - looks "fun"
I'm afraid I've been too slow at getting my entry in as it's now closed so I won't be doing it "officialy". I'd be happy to tag along and ride the same course though for the sheer joy (!) of it though if you'd he happy to do driving duties? The new audax bike should be hopefully up and running by this weekend and it would be a good shakedown ride for it
Sure - I'll pm you nearer the time to set up. I can then send you the route info.
I'll be there. My transport is sorted as we're going to be down on the Saturday doing wedding stuff anyway, and I'll ride back.
Quite looking forward to riding some new roads to the south (I've not ridden from Moffat to St. Mary's Loch, nor up the Ettrick valley and across to Hawick).
I've done two 200's now in great weather, so expect this one to be a stinker. ;-)
Dave - are you going to ride home that day?
The route is v nice. I've not done the bit near Hawick or the St Mary's Loch to Tweedsmuir. I done other bits on the Bonnyrigg Sportive and the Tour of Tweeddale. I am glad we are not doing Witchy Knowe!
Aye, I rode much of this in reverse last weekend on the Dave Harris Memorial (which I think used to be called the Tour of Upper Tweedsdale IIRC?) including Witchy Knowe - to be honest I found after the agony of riding up Talla that the rest of the hills seemed a bit puny! ;-)
I'm riding back that evening, indeed (and to the start from my parents, which is about 10km away). Makes it into a 250 or something - PBP isn't going to ride itself :)
I actually thought about doing it officially as an extended event to 300, but that would mean going home via Peebles, Carnwarth and in. Which is a bit too much IMO!
I can only admire your dedication to pain.
Come now. Edinburgh-Preston-Edinburgh awaits us all!
Who's doing the Kinross Sportive on 23 April?
I'll be doing the black route (probably).
BLACK ROUTE - HO!
You must log in to post.
Cycling in Edinburgh Flickr group
Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin
posts