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After your own niggles its admirable how you continue wanting to give them more chances!

Wouldn't you agree that getting excited about mfr PR releases is the equivalent of buying a car because of its glossy eloquent brochure :-)

#2 and #3 are the only ones worth bothering about. #2 has worse specs than the mistral AFAIK (Claris < Sora). I'd say #3 and Mistral are equivalent. Plus I think the current Sora has 9speed STI levers which are better than the Claris equivalent.

Ah, another vote against them. What about gatorskins? I ask because normally i find them easily in SE Asia bikeshops during my travels. Pro Race is a bit rarer to find.

^^^GatorSkins by Continental are legendary for a very long life.

Let's see- about the 2015 Montra Celtic 2.1. I find it grossly undertyred. Gearwise- it is ok- at best.

I still think sticking to the Schwinn Fastback will be worth it, inspite of the price differential.

AFAIK, Gatorskins are supposed to be 'flat resistant'. All such tyres are horrible rides. You need a soft supple tyre for a nice ride, but the risk of flats is more. Nothing like a free lunch.

All tyres are available on line. Wiggle, Evans, CRC etc.

EDIT: Sorry, quoted the wrong post.



AFAIK, Gatorskins are supposed to be 'flat resistant'. All such tyres are horrible rides. You need a soft supple tyre for a nice ride, but the risk of flats is more. Nothing like a free lunch. Also 'long life' tyres are usually hard and not 'nice rides'.

All tyres are available on line. Wiggle, Evans, CRC etc.
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Actually the theory that 23s provide a faster ride than 25s is kind of in doubt now. Even the pros are slowly moving to 25s. Supposedly they actually roll better than 23s.

Note from Support: Please use the EDIT or MULTI-QUOTE buttons instead of typing one post after another on the SAME THREAD!

We bought a Schwinn Fastback for use in India when we are there, and my son finished a 200 BRM on it quite comfortably despite it being about a size larger for him (56).

Its a wonderful entry-level bike and according to the young man it is exceptionally good and confidence-inspring in fast downhill curves (50-55 kmph).

At the end of the day you pay primarily for the frame when you buy a bike off the shelf - if the frame stands up to your kind of use, the components shouldn't really matter as they are switchable.

Completed ride from Chandani Chowk, Pune to Kamshet and back on Saturday.

Total distance covered 92 Kms just shy of my target of 100 Kms
Total moving time: 4.5 hrs, Total time: 5.5 hrs

Want to share few learnings from this ride.
1. Always understand your own body limits and do not rely on someone else’s feedback. What has worked for others, may or may not work for you.
2. Study the route well. Again do not rely only on someone else’s feedback. What is easy for other riders could be moderate/difficult for you. Plan your distance, time in detail.
3. Have backup plan ready. This is with reference to any injury. In my case, a State transport bus was overtaking another bus from left hand side and I had to take an avoiding action. The sudden jerk resulted in cramp in left leg. Always carry pain relief spray :Frustrati
4. Consider the impact of Sun (heat) during your return journey. Most of the time we enjoy the morning time when the climate is cool. The average speed drops drastically especially after 9 am.
5. Consider the impact of cross winds. This was a major factor during return journey. It slows you down and is tiresome.

Any questions/feedbacks are welcome.
This was my longest ride so far and it feels great that I came really close to 100 clap:

Gatorskins get their puncture-protection from a layer of Kevlar fabric. Nothing wrong with their ride quality, AFAIK. Please do a bit of research on the net - you will find that most people love the Gatorskins for the ride + puncture protection combo as opposed to the Specialised Armadillo or other such 'hard tyres'.

On the flip side you have to be careful with the inflation - under-inflated Gatorskins have been known to have sidewall punctures.

Do also note that the Gator series now has several variants including the Ultra Gator which offers bead-to-bead Kevlar protection to take care of the sidewall issue on the first version.

Congrats mate. I did a half century(50 miles/ 81 Kms) ride last Saturday. Most of the ice melted during the week and so thought of doing this. Temperature stayed between 1 to 4C during the ride.

Total Moving time 4:05 Hrs, Total time 5:50 Hrs.

We took a detour through the woods and since all ice got melted, the road was muddy and that slowed us down. Usually we don't ride over ice but in this case riding over ice was much faster :D.

This is the longest I have ever ridden on a bike in one go. During the initial leg of the ride, I was bit scared of the task ahead. But as time passed, my confidence grew and also my speed. In fact the last 23Kms, we covered in one hour flat. I know this is no big deal for you guys but for me it was :).

As suggested by phamilyman, FINTAIL and other bhpians, I rehydrated and stacked up calories at regular intervals, even though I was not feeling hungry nor thirsty.

The ROX 5.0 cycle computer was showing the calories burned, which I think is a nice feature. Do you guys know how accurate those figures are?

Even though the outside temperature was below 4C, with the winter jacket on, I was sweating like crazy and because of that we didn't feel that cold. Only when we stopped for say, 5 minutes or so we started feeling the cold.

I mounted the phone on the bike to act as GPS, so couldn't take many pictures. I wish I had taken the pics of those wild horses in the wild. Next time, surely I will take more pictures.







Heart rate distribution

Hey guys have been driving my new bicycle from the past two months and its been quite a refreshing change, it has helped me lose quite a lot of weight too.

Congratulations on the long ride. That is a good speed for a first time long ride. The first ride always feels tough. As you repeat the rides, they get easier (in other words, your range increases). Just keep doing those long rides every week end, and in no time you will be comfortably doing 100K. When I attempted a 100K ride on my road bike about 9 months back, I could only manage 85k with a ride time of 4.5 hours and total time of 6.5 hours. I was hurting all over and totally dehydrated. After many rides, now I can do a 100K comfortably in about 4 hours and 10 minutes.

Here are some things I learnt from experts and have started following.

1. For long rides, pacing is very important. Unless you are attempting a personal record for speed, set a comfortable speed that you can keep riding hour after hour. If you have a heart rate monitor, Z2 (or endurance zone) is the right zone for long rides. If you are able to do only an average of 20kph, that does not matter. You will find your speed increase as you put in more kilometers on the saddle.
2. Always carry a puncture kit with you.
3. Stay hydrated and take care of nutrition. Don't wait till you become thirsty or hungry. I usually consume 1 to 1.5 liters of water and 250 calories of nutrition including salts (the actual calorie requirement may vary depending on your weight, age etc). Food that is easy to digest and release energy instantly into the bood stream are good. Snickers, oatmeal bars, peanut chikkies, banana etc are good source of nutrition. Avoid heavy food like samosas, vadas etc. When you eat such food, the body diverts energy to the digestion system to digest and you will feel deprived of energy for cycling. Minerals and salts should also be a part of nutrition. Carry enerzal, gatorade or electral sachets. Two to three sachets for a four hour ride will replenish the minerals and salts you lose from sweat. Tender coconut is an excellent source of minerals and salts.

Keep riding, and you will soon find you are able to do 4 hour century rides comfortably.

Good ride and great pictures. It should have been fun to ride in that cold.

Regarding calories, the most accurate calorie burn is considered to be when you use a power meter. The next best is based on heart rate (and weight and age data), at least I used to believe so till I had a chance to compare Garmin and Endomondo a few days back. For the same ride where my Garmin Edge 500 estimated about 770 calories, endomondo estimated 1200+ calories. Both use the average heart rate, weight and age. May be they use different algorithms and hence the huge difference. I have read many other forum threads on this topic as well where people have reported huge discrepancies between Strava and Endomondo calorie calculation as well (even between Garmin models). So, it is definitely inconclusive.

I agree, in my case my average speed was much higher towards the end and I was able to ride longer distances without break as well. The road profile was relatively flat.

Thank you. It was nice to ride in this weather, can't wait for the summer.

Even I thought the same, ROX was showing I burned 3000Kcal for this ride.

I almost forgot, I had some pictures in GoPro.

How are roadies to live with on a daily basis? Can one carry a backpack et cetera?

Please share some anecdotes- What sort of questions are asked about them by the public..et cetera.

Will inquire about the BTwin Triban 3/5 soon.

Backpack etc depends on your back's condition. People who commute often use a carrier or a frame bag depending on taste.

I only have a roadie in chennai and I wouldnt use anything else because I'm now used to the speed. YMMV ofc. Even in gurgaon, my hybrid used to be getting passed around for others to "try this cycling bug out" :)

of course, there are cities like Brisbane where a very decent number of folks commute on bicycles, and its an even split between roadies and MTBers. Many folks use a messenger bag or a backpack.

Not really. Once you start riding, you start sweating like a pig due to the layer(s) of clothes you have put up to bear the cold. And when you take a break, the reverse effect kicks in even faster!

And at this temperature the ice/snow is melting all around you, so eventually on a long ride you are wet, sweaty and cold! :) Hopefully it will be a lot more better once the low teens kick in.

Good going! Where are you put up, mate? From the pictures, my guess says somewhere in UK but I could be wrong! :)


Depends from person to person. On my brevets, I carried a small backpack, some of the other folks carried a small underseat bag (you get that for 300-500 in Decathalon), the majority didn't carry a backpack.

You could also look at the hydration backpack as an option; but these are mostly preferred by endurance riders, not racers.

How was roadbiking as an experience, back in Pune? :D

Would appreciate a detailed post- w.r.t Their Handling on the Puneri roads, the puncture likelihood etc.

And how did the famous public react to it? How many times have you been asked the price by an unknown stranger? And, lastly (:D), can a roadie work on Puneri roads as a good commuter- without braking your back? You know how the roads are!