Another good thing about this time of year is that there's no longer any need to put the bike away for the winter.
LED headlights are powerful enough to be able to see in the dark, and modern thermal overshoes, gloves etc, keep you as warm as you want.

For the clarification of doubt: 90 rpm is 90 turns of the crank, right?

Yes, and the left one too

Damn... I feared as much!

There is a good deal going on Michelin Pro Race 4 endurance tyres. These are probably one of the best winter tyres around.
£45 for a pair inc free delivery

How do they cope with flint etc?
Do they have a good resistance to cuts?
I find I'm unintentionally hitting lots of stones etc. in the dark.

I'm off to France next week and will be visiting Decathlon for some of their excellent value riding boots. Anyone want me to find out about availability/shipping for Tribans while I'm there...?!

They cope well. Much better than the softer Pro Race 4 service course of the realy soft Pro Race 3s.

They are easy to fix with a dab of super glue too. I have done 2000miles on a set and they have worn well.

@Jim, yes! I'm looking at a smaller size 48 or 51 for my oldest son who is 5ft or 152cm and not likely to ever get any taller than 175cm, I'm waiting for my local Decathlon store to get back to me about availability

@bockers, what makes them so good for winter? Just the fact that more cr@p tends to be on the roads in winter and it's a tougher tyre? They seen pretty much like slick tyres to me!

Slick tyres are always safer, more rubber in contact with the road. Tread on cycling road tyres is a gimick.

The casing is stonger and the rubber harder than the summer versions so they last linger and are more resistant to cuts (which will happen more in the winter as flints will be more likely to be lubricated by water making it easier to penetrate the tyre casing.

In my experience they are about the best compromise between performance and puncture protection. My prime concern in winter is staying upright on wet roads and this is where these excel. Conering with confidence on a 30mph descent in the rain cannot be overstated

I'll have to try the super glue trick. Michelin also suggest putting a patch under any cuts but I guess it needs to be an inflexible patch.


Also I'm glad you also see the issue with wet flint rather than this argument that it gets washed onto the road in the winter.

Indeed with a decent tyre in the dry you can ride over shattered glass and likely be OK, add a bit of water and a puncture is almost inevitable.

Winter riding. Can i suggest a pir of these mudguards

They are easy enough to remove if you want to put the bike in the car and they pretect the front drivetrain well too. Plus they cover more of the wheel than conventional guards at the back and so you will be more popular on group rides.

I have previously used SKS or similar guards and they ineviteably end up rubbing, which can be irritating in the extreme. Then they crack and then in a rage they get shed from the bike

I was disappointed to find that they only fit up to 28mm wide tyres and one particular bike I tried to fir them to had 32mm wide tyres.

Could you post up some "as fitted" pics if you get a chance?

Well it won't make any difference Dave as my tires are 23mm!

Yes but the Winter endurance tyres are not in that offer. Great price though for the race tyres, tempted to get a set for the spring.

Which is why I said 'similarly'

I've already got a set of Mk2 crud guards fitted! My advice for anyone that goes for them is to use some thread lock on the fixings. A mate's had worked loose; this should stop it. They do a great job of keeping you clean (and anyone riding behind!)
I think i've finally got everything I need now bar winter tyres. I must have spent the same as I spent on the bike on accessories

It won't be long before you're replacing the accessories.

I've already put a new zip into an overshoe, second battery pack for the head torch, second pump, third speedo, and have a set of thermal gloves that need darning.

Buy cheap buy twice...

Ice Spikers on the MTB - already down 1.3C here tonight

Getting back to the original topic, I just bought a 51cm Triban 3 for my 13 year old son as a Xmas present (with other family members contributing). At just over 5 foot tall, he needed a few cm cut off the bottom of the seat post to get the saddle low enough, since the second bottle mount fixings get in the way, but there's plenty of growing room available. I'm not a fan of the gear levers and the "change down" button but having said that I've never ridden a bike with them on. Service was great from the Reading branch, they swapped the plain pedals for a pair with the "shoe holder" thingummies taken from a larger frame.

I know the Mk2 crud guards can be fitted but I've read elsewhere that "normal" guards can be fitted, although the clearance under the brake caliper is minimal. Has anyone else from the fccuk Triban 3 club fitted mudguards? It seems a shame to design a bike with the mounting points included and then not be able to use them...

No, not fitted guards to the wifes one. But i just replaced the guards on my Ribble winder frame which has all the same fittings and more than adequate clearance for normal guards.

I find the crudguards more effective. They stop crap getting on the front mech and the tails run lower than standard guards so my feet stay drier.

Also they are easy to adjust and quick to remove. All in all i would not go back. I hated the sks guards with a passion, always bloody rubbing and catching.

Resurrecting this old thread rather than starting a new one because...

1. I fitted the Crud Mk2's to the Triban 51cm and wondered why the guards seemed too big...the wheels/tyres are 650c and not 700c I had been looking at other bikes and wanted to avoid getting a "mini" racing bike, but was blinded by the good value of the Triban and didn't realise the smaller size came with smaller wheels. Never mind, my son's chuffed to bits with the bike and when it warms up a bit we will be going for longer rides together.

2. (main reason) There's a good deal on the Bryton Rider 35T GPS for £90 at cyclestore - a few forum riders were asking about "speedo's" earlier in the thread.

1. It seems you can get popular tyres like Continentals in that size.

2. Does that Bryton provide navigation too? I can see a course map thing in one of the screen shots. Can you load in a GPX file? Would it know where you were if you got lost?

Got my 57cm Triban last week. God it's light compared to the Raleigh thing I had when I was a teenager (and which I hated :-) )

Going to get my son the 54cm so that we can try a few long summer rides without the pain and misery of using a mountain bike.

Very pleased with it.

Very good questions. And not easy to find answers.

I did a little research on it and found that you can use the sensor suppied in the T kit for speed OR cadence but not both (HUH? Surely the GPS will give you speed anyway!) Although for another not inconsiderable amount of money you can buy a dual sensor that is like the one I have on my Velomann.

For GPS stuff you have to go through "Bryton Bridge" (I would have called it Bryton Peer" ) to upload/download. I was also intrigued by the tiny track-like display but haven't seen any different pictures so for all I know it always shows the same thing?...

...still looking...

Garmin 500 off ebay without the bits(about £100). Sorted.

Yes good call, but more like £150+ with the sensors. The earlier Bryton 30 looks very similar to the Garmin 500, so similar that Garmin have sued for patent infringement or something so that the Bryton products are not available in the US (even though the manual you can download is a "US" version

I saw a video that suggested the Bryton 35 is a squarer Bryton 30 - maybe to fix that patent issue?.
It looks like the 50 is the one that can do proper navigation/maps.