Topic Title

When can i bring my summer bike

Hmmmm, summer bikes. Yes please. Maybe for the quicker rides, weather permitting? Summer bikes are so much faster.

To the clifton rider who passed me on the way home from Leeds last night coming in to Tadcaster.

"Lovely set of mudguards you had there"
A joy to sit on your wheel for that 100 yards that I managed to keep up with you.

Patrick

Hmmmm, summer bikes. Yes please. Maybe for the quicker rides, weather permitting? Summer bikes are so much faster.

I wished that was true, but coming from my Genesis Aether (cracked, was a winter bike), to a carbon "summer bike" that I use all year round, there is no speed difference, it's the engine that makes speed difference. I notice one thing though, it's faster down hill, but at the same time I've put on like half a stone since last year :p

I know, I shouldn't even be looking at the racing/training forum, let alone posting when I'm doing well to average 15mph, but I can't resist the annual and perennial mudguard debate.

No Will, you do not get just as muddy behind someone with full mudguards as you do behind someone without.

And a bit of mud never hurt anyone - wait till you get a dose of the sort of thing a day spent eating Belgian toothpaste can give you; mindst you, you could lose that half stone in a week if you do.

Having said this, I'm told the mudguards in winter is a purely British phenomenon - nowhere else in the world do they bother, anyone know whether this is true?

Gawd, I've finally cracked - I'm starting to feel sorry for Will ending up on the receiving end. My take on it is...

-You don't get as mucky behind someone with guards/flaps, but you still get pretty mucky. The crap doesn't just trickle neatly down to the tarmac like some lab demonstration - it comes out all over the place.
-I'd be seriously surprised if collective lack of mudguards put anyone off doing the training rides this winter - it's predominantly been bone dry and freezing cold. Last time I can recall being caked (prior to last Saturday) was months back (Me:- "I'm still getting covered with crap, however wonderful those guards are"! Nigel W:- "I'm b****y delighted, I am")
-If mudguards are so good at preserving chains, gears etc then why is it always people's winter bikes that eat their rear derailleurs, wrap their chains round their bottom brackets, etc eh?
-Go easy on cantilevering bloomin' great decapitated milk cartons off the end of strap-on guards since they're often not that secure - sooner or later we'll end up with someone's rear tyre stuffing the whole lot up through the chainstays and that'll make an excellent YouTube video.
-If the job description for organising next winter's training rides includes promoting mudguard use, get your applications in now!!

Dan sits down with a cup of coffee and a chocolate hobnob to watch the whole mudguard debate start again

Click on (cut and paste) link below.
From 0:36 all will become clear.
Can't figure out if milk carton or not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shsTMBjT ... re=related

Patrick