What's the best (and worse) advice you've ever been given?

#1

At some point in our lives, we were cycling noobs and just thought all there was to riding a bike was to keep pushing the pedals. Doesn’t matter if you started cycling yesterday or decades ago, I’m sure you remember that very handy advice your riding buddy, teammate or team leader gave you.

  • (one of the) best advice

Spend more on cycling shorts.

I didn’t believe this at first. I went from 1800NT full kit (shorts, jersey, arm warmers and gloves) to spending 4900NT for one pair of bib shorts. It makes a difference. Trust me.

  • (one of the) worse advice

Switch to 52/36 crank set, it’ll be fun (they said)

I bought a 52/36 crank set (transitioning from the 50/34 crank set I’m used to) for my new bike and the hurt that followed was just…unimaginable. Leng Shui Keng never felt steeper. I’m not one for high cadence, but also don’t crank out too much wattage. I fit just right in between there. I eventually got used to it, but once I did…I got injured.

Now I’m not saying a heavier gear ratio is the only way to go, but…it was just not the greatest advice I was given.

What about you guys? Anything to share?

#2

Best: Don’t buy upgrades. Ride up grades. (Mr Merckx told me personally :wink: )
Worst: You should ride this 2-Up 25mile TT with me. (I was a novice, he was a veteran of countless TTs. I nearly puked in the first mile.)

#3

Worst: Buy local.

#4

Picture or it didn’t happen.

Yeah, whoever told you that, unfriend him.

#5

Eddy
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#6

It’ll be fun they said. Not harsh on the knee they said. You’re not to big they said. Lies…:neutral_face:

#7

I was unaware you tried cycling?

A long ride through the riverside on a Youbike or a rental does not count.

Or if you’ve had knee problems and were not fitted to the bike, that’s just a ticking time bomb. Local shops are renown for trying to fit someone of your height onto a bike that’s fit for someone 5-8cm shorter than you.

#8

Totally the opposite in Colorado. The local shops were where you got the best service. I used to actually refuse to sell bikes to customers if they were not the right fit. Some people would insist they wanted to buy it because it was a great deal.

#9

Renowned

#10

Exactly.

I personally know what my limits are, in both smaller and larger frames. I can ride anything from 46cm to 51cm with some adjustments here and there.

However, it really really comes down to the person’s body. My Dutch friend who’s 190cm, fit onto a 56cm frame. Which I think is normally for people 180-185cm. It just so happened that he just had really really long legs, but short upper body.

#11

With long legs and a short torso, I’d probably put him on a taller frame with a short top tube and stem. At 190 cm, he would dwarf a 56 cm! Plus, he probably had to swap out for longer crank arms?

#12

Yeah, I’m actually not quite sure how he got comfortable on that thing, but he had zero complaints. He made a few adjustments to his saddle position. I’m not sure if he was on a longer crank arm or not, but I have to assume he was…

Here’s a pic of his bike (left)…can you tell by this?

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#13

Hard to tell from the pic, but seat height does not look excessive. However, with his saddle slammed forward that far on the rails, I would check his position over the pedals. Drop a plumb bob from the front of his knee while seated and see if it lines up with the pedal axle.

There’s a misconception that moving the saddle fore and aft is a way to adjust your reach. I think he’d be better off with a shorter stem. Should first setup from the waist down (pedal stroke and position over the pedals). Once that position is set, work with the top half of the body adjusting the reach via stem lengths and angles.

If you look at triathlete bikes, their ride position is way over the pedals, often with a seatpost that kinks forward. This forces them to use more quads and save their hammies for the run.

#14

That’s a lot of analysis just from the pic (and it’s not even a good pic!). Pro.

If it’s any help, he rode this bike about a month ago. The frame is a 56cm and the crank length is 170mm. He was visiting a month ago and said the reach was a tid bit low and long, but for just one ride, he could deal with it.

My friend who owns this bike is a good 10cm shorter than him, measuring in (only) at 180cm.

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#15

Just for one ride should be fine, but he probably hated those short cranks. And with the seat sloped forward like that (not as extreme as some I’ve seen), the reach would have felt worse. Having your saddle like that can put more pressure on your hands as you tend to slide forward a bit.

Since the owner of this bike left the steer tube long, it would be very quick (couple minutes) and easy to raise the stem a skosh. Just move the from above the stem to below. Doesn’t seem like much, but as I’m sure you know, small adjustments make huge ride position differences.

#16

Yeah, I was lucky to join a new team after he got transferred back home, so lots of new friends and got lucky with one tall friend who happened to have extra bikes to lend. Dutch friend didn’t want to play around too much with the bike’s fit, so he opted to just leave everything as is.

I said moving the stem/handlebars up the tube wouldn’t be a big issue, but after a 10 minute warm up, he said he was fine and we left it as is. At the end, for the final climb of the day, it didn’t matter if he had a perfect fit or not, he still suffered from being off the bike for 2+ years and having long ass work days two weeks prior.

Luckily, nothing was hurt…except his ego.