@@P4P5 I did a bike build a few years ago, got one of the first GRX-groupsets that was ever sold in Europe an put it on a Niner RLT steel frame. Bike cost me well in advance of €4000 all in all. Lovely bike. But to have fun on gravel I do not actually need that bike, any decent bike would do just fine. From a just fun perspective we overspend on our bikes like crazy. It is a fun hobby, admittedly, but it is also quite bonkers. Shopaholics unite.
I remember my brother getting into road cycling for exercise and I told him to get the triban rc520 ASAP. Peak pandemic. He managed to buy the last one from the batch. He's still riding it. Upgraded saddle, wheels and I think a stem. Bigger range cassette pending. He now understands that he doesn't need anything better. Having a cheaper bike, he's not worried about being dinged or scratched. It's his commuter, adventure bike etc. I don't think he'll change it ever. His previous bike was my old vintage Peugeot single speed. He's a cheapskate and decathlon bikes are the best value.
yup, another great bike. I got the RC 120, but the RC 520 is amazing value for what it offers. At the current price of the RC 520 (1100€ or so) I decided that my next bike, which I plan to buy next month is the Canyon Roadlite 6, it is a 1X drivetrain bike (1x12), 46T chainring, 10-51 cassette and this is what I've been dreamed of, 'cos I have a RC 120 road bike and a Giant MTB and I dreamed about a bike that mixed the nimbleness of a road bike and the easy gearing of a MTB, 'cos I've used both on the tarmac of the hilly region where I live. I found it by sheer chance and I didn't know that a bike like that existed. I know a gravel bike sound like the best option for me, but I dont want/need a gravel bike, plus the gearing of most gravel bikes is quite similar to road bikes, although usually with a smaller chainring
I got the RC500 Disc during the first summer of the pandemic, it was my first road bike ever. I traded her in to upgrade my gear when i bought the Canyon, i really regret doing that as it was such a good bike i should have kept her as a winter hack. Outstanding value for money
YES! I rode in Alps with 105 rim groupset and it was awesome, I did not feel any need for stronger brakes. For comparison I own a bike on Ultegra discs too
Any Shimano rim brake with SLR-EV (Shimano's symmetrical dual-pivot rim brake technology) strikes the balance between good braking and wallet-friendly pricing. Cane Creek eeBrakes are very expensive and can damage some frames if the bike steers right all the way hard.
@@Ober1kenobi Yes, not exactly the cheapest, but they just work. They're (Shimano rim brakes with SLR-EV) my favourite rim brakes to work on. This is my bottom line for rim brakes, I wouldn't want to use anything lesser than this.
I watched your reviews and went for the RC 120 as my first ever road bike to get into cycling and I'm having loads of fun. Road cycling always seemed out of reach for me so coverage of lower end components for me has been really important.
I was a bike courrier and loved my Continental Ultra Sport IIs, they're pretty cheap at ~20€ and they feel great. Did around 5000km on marathon +s and then I couldn't bear it anymore and did 15000km on UltraSports. I had a few punctures but its all worth it for me. Performance is amazing for the price, they're pretty much race tires. All by city bikes are on UltraSport or SuperSport and I wouldn't change it.
Such a great video! I love the fact that you're focusing on saving people money, whether on their bikes or on bike-related stuff! Well done and please keep it up!
Mate this is the best UA-cam channel ever made. Im not even a drop bar biker but I watched it all the videos. Great content, please keep pushing. Saludos from Brazil
y’all should list out the items that you recommend in the video description for easy reference! i often come back to these videos, and would make it easier to reference :)
Yeeeaaahhh...I ride with a backpack, and you can get a very high quality pump of a medium length in it no problem (albeit I've learned to attach a tether to keep it upright and in place). Frame pumps always seem to fall off or get in the way when carrying the bike or riding rough. Been there, done it far too often.
Maybe not that cheap by if you want a road tyre with a good balance of puncture protection, grip, longevity, and is relatively light, the "Michelin Pro 4 Endurance pro v2 28mm" (needs a better name!) works really well, I commuted on Triban 500 with them for years and it made it fun while only getting punctured by large pieces of glass which wouldn't have done any good whatever the tyre. Only complaint with it was below 5oC the compound became noticably harder, but it isn't specifically a winter tyre and you can't have everything apparently!
Me too, I use that groupset on my commuter bike (an old Surly pacer) and it's perfect. No one thinks to steal my bike because it looks old and the components are bad, but looks can deceive..
I have a pair of Look Keo Blade carbon pedals (that I don't know where they came from) that I'd _like_ to use because they're light and flash, but I just love the versatility and walkability of the SPD system so much that both of my 'serious' road bikes have M520s - both of which I don't know where they came from 😅
These products are great but beware the hidden weight products- I took my seat post out the other day and discovered/remembered the seat post pump I’d put in there 3 years ago…. And totally forgotten about. For 2 years at least, I’ve been carrying two pumps for absolutely no reason other than poor memory.
The Triban bikes make good used buys too. Back in early 2020, I brought a Triban 540, barely used for £300. Shimano 105 and decent wheels for three hundred quid. People buy them, don’t use them and sell them as bargains.
The Specialized Short Reach is even shorter and shallower than the Deda RHM and it comes in 360mm. Reflective tape is certainly a cheap but excellent cycling product. More aero, lighter, visible, and cheaper than actual bike reflectors. 1€ total of red and silver tape is more than enough to fully equip a bike with front, rear, and wheel reflectors.
Talking of Continental tyres, I have run their Race King Protection tyres on my MTB for over a year as a tubeless setup. Mostly on road, commuting and some gravel with zero punctures. Cheap as chips as well.
I had very good results with the Towild BR800 light off of Aliexpress. Cheap, works great, sturdy and can be mounted hanging or standing so you can save space on your handlebars with a dual mount. And the Battery is a standard 18650, so you can change it if it breaks or take a spare on with you on longer night rides. Very nice lamp for that money. Had worse ones from name brands that were 4-5x the price.
7:14 put the plugs in the empty bar interior, behind the plug spike. You can cut the plastic sheets to fit just outside of the plugs themselves so they don't stick to the inside of the bar.
Does the Topeak frame pump come with a "nub" or some sort of strap to secure the end at the head tube? Otherwise, that end of the pump will just slide down the head tube and rest at the junction with the down tube. Back in the day the frame pump would be carried along the seat tube which has acute angle lugs at both ends to hold it in place. Aside from that, if you are running tubeless on your road bike, a frame pump is actually great, as it can pretty easily get to 60+ psi and very quickly. Getting up to 100+ psi was always a challenge with them, but now you don't have to!
Great video Francis. I've gone onto purchase the JBL speaker and the bar tape. I already have the Maripossa bar end plugs, excellent product, sometimes I find the bars a little to wide for the plug but I just wrap some electric tape for the perfect fit. 🍌
The bbb flex ribbon handlebar tape is really fantastic. I also ride it on my - at that time - really expensive top-end bikes because it is simply a really, really good tape and, above all, lasts an extremely long time. In addition, it can actually be rewound and reused very often. Really a no-brainer, more expensive tape is basically a waste of money. If you want "more style", you can also go for the carbon version, but the Flex Ribbon has significantly more grip.
I agree , i don't race , continental Ultra sports are the best affordable road tire i have used , they go on all my road and fixied gear bikes and they perform decently on gravel as well .❤
Excellent recommendations! I have the M520s and Claris groupset and they have been excellent. UltraSport IIIs were also a revelation. Quick, but crucially smooth. I ran them out before getting a single puncture as well. Also I love the speaker recommendation! I can't bear the idea of headphones because of safety, so most often I listen to music just through the phone - but the quality is terrible. The clip might be just what I need.
I got standard SPD shoes when I first got my Giant Roam XR1. I kept on using these, even when I got my Carbon Canyon Ultimate. Effectively putting these 520's on a road bike. They are two-sided which is great, I get to use the same shoes and weight-wise I could gain 100 grams by using SPD-SL's or by managing my body weight a bit better ...
I used M520 pedals on my road bike for the first couple thousand miles. For a lot of people, they’re probably a great choice. On my mtb I use the M8120. The larger platform is 1000% worth the extra cost. Clipping in is so much easier.
Last year I was riding a Nortcape 4000 and GP5000TL broke in Germany. I had a spare tyre with me that I took into use, but I still wanted a new spare tyre in case I had another fatal flat tyre on the road. I bought a Continental ultra sport on the trip. Since then, I've had it with me on long trips as a backup tyre. I have not seen the need to buy a better tyre for this use.
Great video. Lovely to see recommendations for the casual cash strapped cyclist. One little niggle. Tappabuco is pronounced with a 'c' sound like 'cube' and not a 'ch' sound. Basically it translates as 'hole plugger' or 'stopper'. Ciao.
Question: People make a lot of noise about using too short of a stem, basically arguing that going from a 100mm stem to an 80 mm or shorter stem will "ruin the handling of the bike". However, short reach bars effectively to the same for handling when you are on the hoods. Short reach bars with a long stem put your hands relative to the steerer tube in the identical position as a short stem with long reach bars. So why are short reach bars not railed against the same way that short stems are?
Could be because short reach bars only make the most stable positions less stable, but a shorter stem makes all hand positions including the tops less stable. I don't know if that's the real reason, but it is something. As someone who went from average 44cm bars and 100mm stem to 36cm 65mm reach bars and 80mm stem, I don't think I ruined anything. The bike is definitely more responsive now, but also much more rideable. Turns out planking while trying to steer doesn't do wonders for handling either.
On pedals, I like the PD-ME700 from Shimano more than the M520. They're a few more dollars/pounds, and I assume heavier, but in a pinch you can ride them in normal shoes. Not ride across Vietnam, but down to the store or a casual 20 minute ride at lunch is no problem. I've tried flat-spd combo pedals (I have a pair of MD324 on my dad bike), but it's a hassle to get the right side up for whatever shoe I'm wearing if I'm stopping a lot.
I thought I was buying a smaller speaker to replace the old dead clip on one I'd had before.... I ended up with a chunk. My speaker now lives in my water bottle holder during commutes. Thanks for the recommendation for a clip-on! I'd like to have a water bottle for long rides, hah!
In Ultra sport 3 no puncture protection, gp 5000 have vectran breaker, ultra sport 3 is pure grip compound, gp 5000 is black chilli. Ultra sport 3 is a great budget tire but gp 5000 is way better tire in every ascpect expect the price.
7:29 currently running the Ultra Sport 3s, For the money compared to the GP lineup, for what they can be purchased for here in Australia unless you find the GPS on a crazy sale, The ultra sports are a solid solid choice I refrain from skidding in them however, the rear brake has been adjusted to basically not skid, though the stopping power is significantly less 😂
Continental Gatorskins have been the tyres I swear by. I don't recall ever getting a puncture in years on them, and they feel great on my 700*25 and my 700*32. Is the Ultrasport III worth switching over to, when these eventually get bald?
Sounds like there was a reason why only tire availailable in Haiphong was that Continental ultra sport... If it works well in that enviroment, someone else might be interested to buy one or two there.
Buying a gravel bike in france the Triban's were roughly €700 - €850 and Decathlon were not very helpful. Instead I went to a local family run store and got a Specialized Diverge E5 - just the base model. The shop gave me a free postural fitting and helped me to build the bike. With all the accessories - helmet, pedals, lock, lights, bottle cage, pump, bottle, mudguard, I think we ended up at about €1400 total with top end after-care service. I think the same would have cost me around €1100-€1200 all up at decathlon but without the support. I also think for future proofing the upgrades I might get or protecting resale value, going with the brand name bike was worthwhile too.
And buy used. I bought a 2018 steel gravel bike with Apex1 groupset in 2020 for 1k USD. Still riding it, upgraded handlebars, wheels and couple of small things, but still dont feel I would need anything more for my annual 3-4k km.
Thank you for some really good recomendations. Christmas is coming😁. For my gravel bike I got Shimano M324 pedals. SPD clips on one side and flat pedal on the other ( there is a MTB version too) Options. After a year I switched to full on flat pedals. Nice to see frame pumps making a come back. My first "real" bike was a Raleigh race bike that came with a frame pump, VERY early 70's 😮 Cheers 🌞🚴♀️🖖
Say, whats your take on the surly corner bar? I'm thinking about wacking one of those on my 26' MTB to get a road-style hand position without having to buy a new groupset (the old shimano deore XT 3x8 with hydraulic discs is still fine). I'd love to see you do a conversion like that
Shimano PD-EH500 pedal. 50€, so it's not very cheap, but it's a good combi-pedal, with mtb screws on the flat side - great for anybody who has one bike and doesn't want to wear always spd shoes. It's fairly light as well.
An important patent (US) for the Shimano pedals shown here, giving them their characteristic dome shape, intended to shed mud, expired in the past few years. This means that we may see competitors like Wellgo copy it and offer it in the market, perhaps at even lower prices or across a wider range of pedals.
Hey.. Super helpful vid this. Just bought the Shimano pedals, and wanted to ask if you can recommend some good, (but not too expensive) footwear to suit please?
Prime Primavera carbon handlebars - not entry level, but cheap and very great in the sense of ‚first handful of tuning measures to turn your entry/intermediate bike into a high end looking product at a very decent price‘
i have the shimano pedals from my first road bike build 6 years ago. they have more than 15k km by now and I just "sold" them to a colleague...I guess they'll last another 5k easy with him
Please for the love of god, do not buy a speaker... get some earbuds like an adult and dont fill the area around you with whatever crap you want to listen too.
Totally agree. Some fool at Bike Park Wales ruined everyone’s day with playing loud music like he owned the place and got aggressive when asked to turn it off.
But you wont be able to hear trafic with headphones in. Dont get me wrong, im not a fan of the speakers as well, but im still waiting for working earbus with external mic and winds suppression.
I’d argue if you really want to listen to music during riding, bone conduction headphones like AfterShokz makes are the only safe and considerate way to go.
Don't know the verdict on Claris can be very convincing though. From Shimano's offering it is indeed a good deal, but I have this groupset and i find it being harder to setup than my Sensah's empire, the rear mech just dont index well. The brakes are weaker than a set of zrace r7000 copy ,which also have changeable brakr shoe. I understand for most who buy i complete bike this groupset will have no problem i mentioned above, but for people build their own bikes, there are alternatives at the similar price range with more gear, better brakes..
Triban... love it! I find great pleasure in good inexpensive bikes... I mean, not having to worry about it is worth a fortune. I'd say bike thieves would not give this a 2nd look, priceless.
People need to realize they do not need electric shifting nor €500 bike computers to have fun on the road. This was a good reminder.
Recently got a bike with electronic gears. Massively underwhelming. Tiagra/ grx on my other bikes works just as well.
True, you don't "need" it but is hella nice once you have it :)
Also a good reminder
The amount of pro's on tv, struggling with changing gear.
Last year i bought a bike with Di2. Never going back to mechanical
@@P4P5 I did a bike build a few years ago, got one of the first GRX-groupsets that was ever sold in Europe an put it on a Niner RLT steel frame. Bike cost me well in advance of €4000 all in all. Lovely bike. But to have fun on gravel I do not actually need that bike, any decent bike would do just fine.
From a just fun perspective we overspend on our bikes like crazy.
It is a fun hobby, admittedly, but it is also quite bonkers. Shopaholics unite.
Huge respect for you guys for including the brands that are potential rival for your sponsors, thats whats make this list real
I remember my brother getting into road cycling for exercise and I told him to get the triban rc520 ASAP. Peak pandemic. He managed to buy the last one from the batch. He's still riding it. Upgraded saddle, wheels and I think a stem. Bigger range cassette pending. He now understands that he doesn't need anything better. Having a cheaper bike, he's not worried about being dinged or scratched. It's his commuter, adventure bike etc. I don't think he'll change it ever. His previous bike was my old vintage Peugeot single speed. He's a cheapskate and decathlon bikes are the best value.
yup, another great bike. I got the RC 120, but the RC 520 is amazing value for what it offers. At the current price of the RC 520 (1100€ or so) I decided that my next bike, which I plan to buy next month is the Canyon Roadlite 6, it is a 1X drivetrain bike (1x12), 46T chainring, 10-51 cassette and this is what I've been dreamed of, 'cos I have a RC 120 road bike and a Giant MTB and I dreamed about a bike that mixed the nimbleness of a road bike and the easy gearing of a MTB, 'cos I've used both on the tarmac of the hilly region where I live. I found it by sheer chance and I didn't know that a bike like that existed. I know a gravel bike sound like the best option for me, but I dont want/need a gravel bike, plus the gearing of most gravel bikes is quite similar to road bikes, although usually with a smaller chainring
I got the RC500 Disc during the first summer of the pandemic, it was my first road bike ever. I traded her in to upgrade my gear when i bought the Canyon, i really regret doing that as it was such a good bike i should have kept her as a winter hack. Outstanding value for money
I upgraded my brake calipers to the Shimano 105 _R7000_ on my rim brake bike for
YES! I rode in Alps with 105 rim groupset and it was awesome, I did not feel any need for stronger brakes. For comparison I own a bike on Ultegra discs too
Any Shimano rim brake with SLR-EV (Shimano's symmetrical dual-pivot rim brake technology) strikes the balance between good braking and wallet-friendly pricing. Cane Creek eeBrakes are very expensive and can damage some frames if the bike steers right all the way hard.
Just brought a set a few days ago for my single speed that came with some unbranded garbage
Can’t wait to get them on
Pricey-ish at $130 though
@@Ober1kenobi I have them installed on my Wabi Classic steel single speed. I hope they perform just as well for you.
@@Ober1kenobi Yes, not exactly the cheapest, but they just work. They're (Shimano rim brakes with SLR-EV) my favourite rim brakes to work on. This is my bottom line for rim brakes, I wouldn't want to use anything lesser than this.
I watched your reviews and went for the RC 120 as my first ever road bike to get into cycling and I'm having loads of fun. Road cycling always seemed out of reach for me so coverage of lower end components for me has been really important.
I was a bike courrier and loved my Continental Ultra Sport IIs, they're pretty cheap at ~20€ and they feel great. Did around 5000km on marathon +s and then I couldn't bear it anymore and did 15000km on UltraSports. I had a few punctures but its all worth it for me.
Performance is amazing for the price, they're pretty much race tires.
All by city bikes are on UltraSport or SuperSport and I wouldn't change it.
Such a great video! I love the fact that you're focusing on saving people money, whether on their bikes or on bike-related stuff! Well done and please keep it up!
Mate this is the best UA-cam channel ever made. Im not even a drop bar biker but I watched it all the videos. Great content, please keep pushing. Saludos from Brazil
Campagnolo Potenza rim brake with a SRAM lever.
This combo is so good I don't need a disk brake. And great modulation as well.
could I fit a 32 mm tyre there?
y’all should list out the items that you recommend in the video description for easy reference! i often come back to these videos, and would make it easier to reference :)
Frame pump now that’s a blast from the past. My 1990 racer had one the old spring operated long ones.
Yeeeaaahhh...I ride with a backpack, and you can get a very high quality pump of a medium length in it no problem (albeit I've learned to attach a tether to keep it upright and in place). Frame pumps always seem to fall off or get in the way when carrying the bike or riding rough. Been there, done it far too often.
Good recommendations. Agree with pedal, pump, and tire recommendations. Like how you don’t push unnecessary expensive products. KISS.
Maybe not that cheap by if you want a road tyre with a good balance of puncture protection, grip, longevity, and is relatively light, the "Michelin Pro 4 Endurance pro v2 28mm" (needs a better name!) works really well, I commuted on Triban 500 with them for years and it made it fun while only getting punctured by large pieces of glass which wouldn't have done any good whatever the tyre. Only complaint with it was below 5oC the compound became noticably harder, but it isn't specifically a winter tyre and you can't have everything apparently!
have been using Continental Ultrasport III for over a year now = 3000kms. had 2 punctures on British roads. very happy with it.
Very slippery though...
Lucky only two punctures, super tight to get on and off I found
@@rafaeldegiacomoaraujo8778 interestingly i find it quite alright even when hard braking although i must say i have rim brakes and ride on 28c tyres
@@Angrybadger70 i find it alright. i have those plastic pliers to put back in so not very difficult.
Im still using my 8 speed Sora shifters. Love the thumb lever for upshifts.
Me too, I use that groupset on my commuter bike (an old Surly pacer) and it's perfect. No one thinks to steal my bike because it looks old and the components are bad, but looks can deceive..
Claris ftw! I got into cycling on Claris! I have nicer group sets now, but I still love the simplicity and charm of a reliable mechanical 8 speed 😍😍😍
giant contend 3 rim brakes is also a perfect choice for a simple yet fun to ride bike.
Every real cyclist has at least one pair of M520’s that they don’t know where they came from
😂 it‘s so true!
But wait… I could recall where mine came from
I have 2 sets of Shimano M747s that I've had for at least 25 years.
No where or when I bought them, but they are excellent.
I have a pair of Look Keo Blade carbon pedals (that I don't know where they came from) that I'd _like_ to use because they're light and flash, but I just love the versatility and walkability of the SPD system so much that both of my 'serious' road bikes have M520s - both of which I don't know where they came from 😅
We all used frame pumps years ago. Your right their nice faster to ump than some mini thing & also to whack any mean dogs trying to bite your ankles 🤣
Rapid Hand Movement? Been there, done that. Once, while cycling too.
lol...Now about that quick release seat post...
haha
Just installed my Deda RHM Bar with the BBB tape and it’s just life changing!! Love this channel
These products are great but beware the hidden weight products- I took my seat post out the other day and discovered/remembered the seat post pump I’d put in there 3 years ago…. And totally forgotten about. For 2 years at least, I’ve been carrying two pumps for absolutely no reason other than poor memory.
The Triban bikes make good used buys too. Back in early 2020, I brought a Triban 540, barely used for £300. Shimano 105 and decent wheels for three hundred quid. People buy them, don’t use them and sell them as bargains.
The Specialized Short Reach is even shorter and shallower than the Deda RHM and it comes in 360mm.
Reflective tape is certainly a cheap but excellent cycling product. More aero, lighter, visible, and cheaper than actual bike reflectors. 1€ total of red and silver tape is more than enough to fully equip a bike with front, rear, and wheel reflectors.
Just this, Cade Media by far the best cycling channel on this platform,has the lot Keep doing what your doing guys and gals.dont change. A1 rep,
I'm currently rocking Claris and I feel validated.
Talking of Continental tyres, I have run their Race King Protection tyres on my MTB for over a year as a tubeless setup. Mostly on road, commuting and some gravel with zero punctures. Cheap as chips as well.
I just bought the Van Rysel RCR (partly because of your channel), only to learn now that you guys think my cheap RC120 is fantastic too. 😅
I had very good results with the Towild BR800 light off of Aliexpress. Cheap, works great, sturdy and can be mounted hanging or standing so you can save space on your handlebars with a dual mount. And the Battery is a standard 18650, so you can change it if it breaks or take a spare on with you on longer night rides. Very nice lamp for that money. Had worse ones from name brands that were 4-5x the price.
Tribit Stormbox is an amazing speaker also and has a very good strap
Yeah the Tribit Stormbox Micro 2 is a much better value than a JBL clip and it straps sturdily to a handlebar.
7:14 put the plugs in the empty bar interior, behind the plug spike. You can cut the plastic sheets to fit just outside of the plugs themselves so they don't stick to the inside of the bar.
Does the Topeak frame pump come with a "nub" or some sort of strap to secure the end at the head tube? Otherwise, that end of the pump will just slide down the head tube and rest at the junction with the down tube. Back in the day the frame pump would be carried along the seat tube which has acute angle lugs at both ends to hold it in place. Aside from that, if you are running tubeless on your road bike, a frame pump is actually great, as it can pretty easily get to 60+ psi and very quickly. Getting up to 100+ psi was always a challenge with them, but now you don't have to!
Great video Francis. I've gone onto purchase the JBL speaker and the bar tape. I already have the Maripossa bar end plugs, excellent product, sometimes I find the bars a little to wide for the plug but I just wrap some electric tape for the perfect fit. 🍌
I have claris on my CX-do-all bike, with 520 pedals. I cannot recommend this groupset more than the price should convince anyone to try it.
Vietnam ❤❤ Best cycling video series ever
Also one of Top Gears best specials! :-)
The bbb flex ribbon handlebar tape is really fantastic. I also ride it on my - at that time - really expensive top-end bikes because it is simply a really, really good tape and, above all, lasts an extremely long time. In addition, it can actually be rewound and reused very often. Really a no-brainer, more expensive tape is basically a waste of money. If you want "more style", you can also go for the carbon version, but the Flex Ribbon has significantly more grip.
I agree , i don't race , continental Ultra sports are the best affordable road tire i have used , they go on all my road and fixied gear bikes and they perform decently on gravel as well .❤
Excellent recommendations! I have the M520s and Claris groupset and they have been excellent. UltraSport IIIs were also a revelation. Quick, but crucially smooth. I ran them out before getting a single puncture as well. Also I love the speaker recommendation! I can't bear the idea of headphones because of safety, so most often I listen to music just through the phone - but the quality is terrible. The clip might be just what I need.
I got standard SPD shoes when I first got my Giant Roam XR1. I kept on using these, even when I got my Carbon Canyon Ultimate. Effectively putting these 520's on a road bike. They are two-sided which is great, I get to use the same shoes and weight-wise I could gain 100 grams by using SPD-SL's or by managing my body weight a bit better ...
I used M520 pedals on my road bike for the first couple thousand miles. For a lot of people, they’re probably a great choice.
On my mtb I use the M8120. The larger platform is 1000% worth the extra cost. Clipping in is so much easier.
Last year I was riding a Nortcape 4000 and GP5000TL broke in Germany. I had a spare tyre with me that I took into use, but I still wanted a new spare tyre in case I had another fatal flat tyre on the road. I bought a Continental ultra sport on the trip. Since then, I've had it with me on long trips as a backup tyre. I have not seen the need to buy a better tyre for this use.
Great video. Lovely to see recommendations for the casual cash strapped cyclist.
One little niggle. Tappabuco is pronounced with a 'c' sound like 'cube' and not a 'ch' sound. Basically it translates as 'hole plugger' or 'stopper'. Ciao.
More of this, please.
Question: People make a lot of noise about using too short of a stem, basically arguing that going from a 100mm stem to an 80 mm or shorter stem will "ruin the handling of the bike". However, short reach bars effectively to the same for handling when you are on the hoods. Short reach bars with a long stem put your hands relative to the steerer tube in the identical position as a short stem with long reach bars. So why are short reach bars not railed against the same way that short stems are?
Could be because short reach bars only make the most stable positions less stable, but a shorter stem makes all hand positions including the tops less stable. I don't know if that's the real reason, but it is something. As someone who went from average 44cm bars and 100mm stem to 36cm 65mm reach bars and 80mm stem, I don't think I ruined anything. The bike is definitely more responsive now, but also much more rideable. Turns out planking while trying to steer doesn't do wonders for handling either.
On pedals, I like the PD-ME700 from Shimano more than the M520. They're a few more dollars/pounds, and I assume heavier, but in a pinch you can ride them in normal shoes. Not ride across Vietnam, but down to the store or a casual 20 minute ride at lunch is no problem. I've tried flat-spd combo pedals (I have a pair of MD324 on my dad bike), but it's a hassle to get the right side up for whatever shoe I'm wearing if I'm stopping a lot.
Thanks for the tip on the JBL Clip Bluetooth speaker 👍 📻
I thought I was buying a smaller speaker to replace the old dead clip on one I'd had before.... I ended up with a chunk. My speaker now lives in my water bottle holder during commutes. Thanks for the recommendation for a clip-on! I'd like to have a water bottle for long rides, hah!
I have my phone mounted on the handlebar. An added benefit of that setup is that I can listen to music directly from it while riding.
Great video guys (as always) and some belting recommendations...my shopping list just extended.
In Ultra sport 3 no puncture protection, gp 5000 have vectran breaker, ultra sport 3 is pure grip compound, gp 5000 is black chilli. Ultra sport 3 is a great budget tire but gp 5000 is way better tire in every ascpect expect the price.
7:29 currently running the Ultra Sport 3s,
For the money compared to the GP lineup, for what they can be purchased for here in Australia unless you find the GPS on a crazy sale,
The ultra sports are a solid solid choice
I refrain from skidding in them however, the rear brake has been adjusted to basically not skid, though the stopping power is significantly less 😂
Claris looks fine olny when it's new. After a few months shifters plastic under rubber is getting gray. At the beginnig it was black.
Continental Gatorskins have been the tyres I swear by. I don't recall ever getting a puncture in years on them, and they feel great on my 700*25 and my 700*32.
Is the Ultrasport III worth switching over to, when these eventually get bald?
Sounds like there was a reason why only tire availailable in Haiphong was that Continental ultra sport... If it works well in that enviroment, someone else might be interested to buy one or two there.
Agree on the ultrasport tire, ride 10k Km this year on it without puncture (i hope i didn't jinx my self there)...
Did not expect to see the JBL speaker. I have that exact one and wedge it in a bottle cage. :)
How about the old Zefal frame pump? It is also handy for swatting dogs that chase after you.
Uncented baby oil.... has been the oil of choice for my Shimano XT brakes for 12 years. Not dyed red though.
I got the TRIBAN RC 500 and im on 40k KM on it ;)
A cheap dummy wheel is fantastic to have if you're leaving the rear tire off for a while, especially with a through axle.
i just got a puncture 9kms into using a gp5000 28mm back tire (in Thailand)!
Buying a gravel bike in france the Triban's were roughly €700 - €850 and Decathlon were not very helpful. Instead I went to a local family run store and got a Specialized Diverge E5 - just the base model. The shop gave me a free postural fitting and helped me to build the bike. With all the accessories - helmet, pedals, lock, lights, bottle cage, pump, bottle, mudguard, I think we ended up at about €1400 total with top end after-care service. I think the same would have cost me around €1100-€1200 all up at decathlon but without the support. I also think for future proofing the upgrades I might get or protecting resale value, going with the brand name bike was worthwhile too.
I have a triban 120 with ultra sport tires, hehe. Been riding pretty nicely on a budget, cant lie.
And buy used. I bought a 2018 steel gravel bike with Apex1 groupset in 2020 for 1k USD. Still riding it, upgraded handlebars, wheels and couple of small things, but still dont feel I would need anything more for my annual 3-4k km.
Thank you for some really good recomendations. Christmas is coming😁.
For my gravel bike I got Shimano M324 pedals. SPD clips on one side and flat pedal on the other ( there is a MTB version too) Options. After a year I switched to full on flat pedals.
Nice to see frame pumps making a come back. My first "real" bike was a Raleigh race bike that came with a frame pump, VERY early 70's 😮
Cheers 🌞🚴♀️🖖
520 pedals are more durable than the xtr. Been using them both around 15 years on various bikes
I own a triban 120 gravel bike. Great deal!
Say, whats your take on the surly corner bar? I'm thinking about wacking one of those on my 26' MTB to get a road-style hand position without having to buy a new groupset (the old shimano deore XT 3x8 with hydraulic discs is still fine). I'd love to see you do a conversion like that
Shimano PD-EH500 pedal. 50€, so it's not very cheap, but it's a good combi-pedal, with mtb screws on the flat side - great for anybody who has one bike and doesn't want to wear always spd shoes. It's fairly light as well.
These did not last for me, in contrast to the M525. It seems like the" light entry"/beginner mechanism is a bit flimsy.
pd m520 - i use it for road. it is perfectly good for that too.
An important patent (US) for the Shimano pedals shown here, giving them their characteristic dome shape, intended to shed mud, expired in the past few years. This means that we may see competitors like Wellgo copy it and offer it in the market, perhaps at even lower prices or across a wider range of pedals.
Coast front lamp
Hey..
Super helpful vid this.
Just bought the Shimano pedals, and wanted to ask if you can recommend some good, (but not too expensive) footwear to suit please?
Muc off do a tyre plug kit that fit in handlebars and has a knife and storage for strips 😊
Tape the tubeless plugs to the needle of the spiker with some painters tape. Easy to remove and they are where they belong.
I have Continental Ultra Sport tires on my bike and I got a puncture for the first time yesterday :))) after ~8 000 Kms :)
“Groupsets have never been such good value”… I still remember when you could get an 11 speed 105 groupset for under £250.
Valve Adapters, so you can fill up your tires at any Gas station around the world... Costs like 1,5€ and is so useful
I got triban RC120 with Conti ultra sport III hahahah perfecto 😎
Why not PD-M540? Same pedal but way much durable because there is no plastic parts inside the pedal I still have a pair from 2007.
Proper decent video! Well done boys
something better than the jbl box, is a shokz headphone. this use bone-conduction so you hear the trafic.
Prime Primavera carbon handlebars - not entry level, but cheap and very great in the sense of ‚first handful of tuning measures to turn your entry/intermediate bike into a high end looking product at a very decent price‘
If I have an older claris groupset in my current bike, is it worth it to get the newest version of it to put on my bike?
i have the shimano pedals from my first road bike build 6 years ago. they have more than 15k km by now and I just "sold" them to a colleague...I guess they'll last another 5k easy with him
What are those cool camera straps shown in the Vietnam trip footages?
Great info guys and agree with all of these 😊 well done for putting this together🚴🏻😃👍 Pete
Please for the love of god, do not buy a speaker... get some earbuds like an adult and dont fill the area around you with whatever crap you want to listen too.
Totally agree. Some fool at Bike Park Wales ruined everyone’s day with playing loud music like he owned the place and got aggressive when asked to turn it off.
Speakers should be banned as it is very inconsiderate.
But you wont be able to hear trafic with headphones in. Dont get me wrong, im not a fan of the speakers as well, but im still waiting for working earbus with external mic and winds suppression.
I’d argue if you really want to listen to music during riding, bone conduction headphones like AfterShokz makes are the only safe and considerate way to go.
Also, the Samsung Galaxy buds live allow you to hear your surroundings, so long as you don't have the music full blast.
Don't know the verdict on Claris can be very convincing though. From Shimano's offering it is indeed a good deal, but I have this groupset and i find it being harder to setup than my Sensah's empire, the rear mech just dont index well. The brakes are weaker than a set of zrace r7000 copy ,which also have changeable brakr shoe.
I understand for most who buy i complete bike this groupset will have no problem i mentioned above, but for people build their own bikes, there are alternatives at the similar price range with more gear, better brakes..
ultrasport iiis are goated as a value proposition
Decathlon doesn't always mean cheap: the 100 series ae entry level, 500 mid, and 900 for top end. Check out a range of basic t-shirts (for example).
What watch and watch band do you have?
Can’t find the latest shamano Claris groupset for sale in the uk? Anyone know an online shop?
Triban... love it! I find great pleasure in good inexpensive bikes... I mean, not having to worry about it is worth a fortune. I'd say bike thieves would not give this a 2nd look, priceless.
I also ride the Conti no Problems so far
Like your style and mindset very much¡
The one excellent product is unlisted. 4:55 what is he name of this beautiful helmet?
does the tubeless spike fit shimano grx cranks? Do you guys have one to check?
So to have a toptube pump is to be the group rides village bicycle?
Do you have link to the puncture spike tool please