ojwithbikes

I just can’t for the life of me get the levers to ‘feel’ level but that’s minor.

I've got some serious emotional damage in this department. One or other of them is always higher than the other, or crooked.

I usually do Monday race training or Saturday inters, I also work in the cafe in the pavilion sometimes.
Would be nice to see some llllfffggggsssss people here :) feel free to say hi! Or borrow some sprockets or whatever..

Literally. I’ve given up, just letting levers hang where they may.

yeah man sick! will hopefully run into you once I get out the newbie group then I guess!

cheers @jono84, yea @ojwithbits i tend to do the friday night skills sessions. give a holler if you end up at one of those. enjoy the taster sesh

First track taster was good! Definitely will be back and will hit you guys up, gotta wait a couple weeks as next weekend doesn’t work for me. I hear the Tuesday skills session will be running from April onwards so that’s decent for my schedule.

In other HHV related stuff, I said I’d ride the fun race at thundercross tomorrow on my garvel biek with bikepacking bags. Despite gravel bikes and cross bikes being basically the same thing (don’t shoot me), I’ve never ridden cross so thought I’d make my life even harder by putting luggage on for a good little joke.

Actually works out kinda convenient, I’ve got work 3-11am tomorrow baking goods for the fine people of SE London, then I’ll have to nip over to HHV, sign on, get muddy, try not to have any kinda expensive crash, and then chill n watch the tracklocross pals going at it. Work clothes and non-muddy casual clothes will be coming along for the ride. Feel free to say hi and laugh at my cross dis/mounting skills that I just honed from 10 minutes riding round the block.

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Had a blast for the 1 and a half laps I did before crashing onto my derailleur 😬 Took the chain off so the bike would be rollable to get home but then good friends saved the day. £20 is on the lower end of what I thought my total lack of cyclocross skills were gonna cost me today, so that’s something!

Next year I’ll have a fixie with tyre clearance…

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Looking to buy a dedicated wheelset just for track use and maybe crit stuff if I get way less shit at cornering before any events this year… black, fixed/fixed, clincher, alloy, not too spenny. Anyone have any leads?

Have been offered this Weinnmann factory made setup for £140 but can’t find any reports on how well made they are?
https://imfixies.com/fixie-wheels/wheels­et-fixie-weinmann-dnz18.html

This is of course one step in the run up of me inevitably building a bike just for track use, so I can stick risers and an easier gear back on the Swift frame. Definitely unnecessary, Allen keys and lock ring spanners do exist, but any excuse to build a new bike up ennit

This is of course one step in the run up of me inevitably building a bike just for track use

Do it, i loved having a dedicated track bike when i was going. Rode there, flipped the wheel and took the brake off, took 2 minutes. Was always fun getting up Fountain drive on the way back without switching back to road gear after the session.

get way less shit at cornering

I am absolutely not the person to be giving any riding tips but i did notice that when i went to one of the fixed beers circuit training sessions i had a way higher gear than everyone else and as such was fucking useless on corners.

Yeah it’s definitely gonna happen I reckon. Hopefully buying backing a Dolan Pre Cursa that I sold on here last year, it was raw with a painted fork n head tube, loved it, just waiting for the guy to decide whether he wants to part with it for what I sold it for rather than the price that it’s been listed for elsewhere (which is how I saw it was for sale again).

That’ll be the dedicated track bike I reckon, cheap and cheerful, but solid (enough for me anyway)

Yeah definitely ratio is important, also important is just practice and not being scared of pedal strike, which I definitely need to improve on both haha.

Did you ride the CAAD as your track bike?

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Did you ride the CAAD as your track bike?

I did, never really took to it on the road but loved it at HHV. I have zero ability to ride fast for sustained periods but that bike with the carbon wheels flattered me on sprints. Dolan looks great, my self awareness/lack of speed makes me want to strip the CAAD but i think i'd regret it.

Strip the paint and get it resprayed like the original cannondale track in the green or blue, old ‘cannondale’ font, have always thought that would be sick

Edit*
Ah such a thing does exist, looked better in my head?

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Yeah i've seen that and wasn't a fan. I actually really like the OG paint job, not easy to get right but looks great if you can ride it slammed (which currently i can not).

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