SwissVan

vanwa_mordo - Well done for doing it before every ride allthough WD40 is not really the ideal product to use, (about 75%parrafin). Quote from rockshox web site: http://www.sram.com/en/service/rockshox/tuning_tips.php#DosA ndDonts CLEANING DO's and DON'TS Do: Wipe all excess water, mud, and sand from the upper tubes, lower tubes, and crown area with a clean rag or bristle brush (Park makes a great one!). Do: Wet a rag, or spray your fork with isopropyl alcohol or degreaser. Wipe the crown, top caps, upper tubes, dust seals, and lower legs clean. Do: Apply fork oil, RedRum, or Teflon-based lubrication to the upper tube area nearest to the dust seals. Cycle the fork a few times to circulate the lubricant. You can even gently pinch the dust seal, nearest to the upper tube, and add some lubrication (mentioned above) to the inside of the dust seal. This will lubricate the foam ring. Wipe away any excess oil from the upper tubes and dust seals. Don't: Stop by the local car wash and spray your bike with a power sprayer. This can force water into the dust seals and contaminate your seals, foam rings, bushings, oil, and rebound damper with water, dirt, and sand. Don't: Use a solvent (think WD40) to clean or lubricate your RockShox suspension. Use suspension or Teflon-based lubricant. Solvent will damage o-rings, seals, and bushings.

Much less work required on or off the bikesmileys/smiley2.gif

You can use a teflon lubricant (I use the Finish line teflon lube) to or the official rock shox lubricant called "red rum". Both should be available at any decent mtb shop. Make sure the upper tubes and area arond the top seals are clean, then lubricate the upper tubes just above the rubber seals, use a small plastic tie rap (cable tie, zip tie) gently push the tip of the tie rap under the top of the rubber seals and allow some of the lube to run in under the seal, slowly working your way around the whole seal. Once both fork seals have been lubed work the fork up and down a few times and then wipe off any excess lube from the seals and upper tubes. Doing it after or before every ride is ideal but not practical, but do it at least once a month - the idea is to keep the foam strip (just below the seal so you cannot see it) and the rubber dust seals slightly lubricated. SwissVan38820.7612615741

Also called "Copper Slip" in the blue collar trades - he he

Yep thanks HW, plenty to choose from there. You dont know by chance if they have a Conconi test excel sheet available???smileys/smiley25.gif

Bike thingy - "...cuz then I don't have to adjust my stupid brakes every time I take the front wheel off. I swear, I just tjuned it perfectly, double check buy braking a few times, then take wheels off, put back on and guess what, it's touching one side again. Those I want pulls both sides like a Road bike and I've never had problems with them, that why" smileys/smiley36.gif Patience - after another year or so of trying and you MIGHT pick up a trick or two to help with this V brake Phenomena...

Decisions Decisions Glad I am not in your position I am very happy with my SPECIALIZED Paris Roubaix. Giant seems to be the best option if you want light weight and performance - seems they are becoming a bit common thoughsmileys/smiley2.gif

Ok after reading about all you guys with your polar data, decided to use mine, installed latest SW version from polar, purchased infra red usb devious from polar dealer (not a polar IR, an iR wave usb IrDA). Tried to download from watch to blikbrain = " no answer from watch" message, retried plenty plus times same result. Watch shows "COM" on display after connecting and computer shows polar 720i on the IrDA icon, light flashes on IR device but no data saved. Checked driver and seems to be operating correctly according to device manager. Dont tell me I have to send the watch back to Polar again!! Any ideas and tipssmileys/smiley5.gif

?For what you wanna train indoors get out there, winters not here..yet Just reading this thread bored the hell out of me? Says ye who have 12,5 months of sunshine per year. Problem in SA for those that work a full day, the daylight hours start becoming few, besides Cervelo ID training is all in the mind, just what an IM athlete needs to work on smileys/smiley2.gif.

?Thanks guys! I will try SwissVans suggestion for the next week or 2 and report back!? Big Ben - Don?t do this routine more than once a week, if you are inclined to do more than 1 quality session a week rather do a different one for the 2nd session. BTW - I have forgotten how hard this routine is, did it last night and found it quite hard, especially the 60s single leg reps.smileys/smiley9.gif

"No hands on the rollers? Standing? Sounds like a death wish to me." Would not recommend the hands off standing routine on rollers, meant to be done on a trainer where you secure the rear wheel onto the trainer frame. But if you are comfortable on rollers (wheels not secured anywhere) standing or no hands riding is quite easy once you pluck up the courage to try it.

Tarryng - IMO gym spinning classes for cycling rate a 5/10, purely because a spinning bike (fixed gear) and your typical gym spinning instructor / program do not cater for real cycling. Personally I find the fixed gear flywheel effect hurt my ankle ligaments, especially in the beginning and took a bit of getting used to. (Don?t try and back pedal he he)smileys/smiley4.gif That being said it is definitely better than doing no training and can be effective for out of season training, especially if you have an instructor who is a cyclist providing realistic cycle type training. Plus the change in scenery, people and general good vibe can be refreshing.

As long as you were not shouting "Look Droster no hands" in the class. Wait till you try this for real on the road (riding with one hand and standing), guaranteed to hurt, instantlysmileys/smiley2.gif

<?:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> The key to indoor training is to have specific plan to follow, don?t try and spend the whole hour just riding with no objective. You need to make it varied and difficult enough to keep your mind concentrated on the task. Set up a desk fan (not too close) to move the air around and some good music (this is where a MP3 comes in handy). Below is an ?almost? 60 minute version of something I have used before, useful when training for XC, although ideally you need longer (1.5 -2 hrs). Some of the exercises use cadence and others may seem ?strange? (Riding with no hands), just try it and if you don?t have a cadence sensor fitted just follow the basic idea of gradually increasing / decrease pedaling speed. Exercises (4) and (6) can be done twice but with 5-10 minutes recovery between each set and the WU and CD times can be increased if you want to spend more than 60 minutes on the trainer. Lo = Low intensity (< 65% max HR) Med = Medium intensity (65% > 75%) Hi = High intensity (75% > 80%) Rpm = pedaling cadence, +/- if you don?t have a cadence indicator ? = minutes s = seconds 1) 10? WU at +/- 90 - 100 rpm, Lo intensity, no incline - stand a few times for 30s. 2) 5? Med intensity, no incline, 95 - 105 rpm, every minute increase your cadence slightly for 4 min, last minute return to normal cadence. 3) 5? Lo ? Med intensity, single leg reps, normal to low cadence, (30s left leg, 30s both, 30s right leg, 30s both) x 2 1? Med, normal rpm. 4) 10? Med - Hi, Simulated hill climb, set resistance to equivalent of 5-6 % gradient, Start Lo progress through Med to Hi, do not exceed 75% max HR, change down to an easier gear before HR goes above 75%, try and keep upper body and hands relaxed. 2? 80 rpm, 2? 90 rpm, 2? 100 rpm, 2? 90 rpm, 2? 80 rpm 5) 5? Lo, recovery normal rpm, no incline. 6) 10? Hi, no incline, vary pedaling speed by occasionally changing gears. Keep HR in 75 ? 80% range throughout the 10 min, don?t start to hard as HR will lag behind effort for the first few minutes. 7) 5 ? 10? Lo, recovery normal rpm, no incline. 8) 6? Med, normal to low rpm, cycle standing with one and both hands off the handle bar, try and keep your body straight and not lean to the side when riding with one hand off. The object is to work some of the muscles you forgot you had, whilst still cycling at the same time. Standing 30s LH off, 30s RH off Sit 60s with both hands off behind your back, body position same as if riding in the drops. 2? Med, normal hand position and rpm. Repeat above LH, RH and Both off routine. 9) 10 ? 20? Lo, recovery normal rpm, no incline. SwissVan38804.8553587963

CVANC - Is that even possible? Depends how motivated you are to train - even when in SA I trained weekdays on my ID trainer, in the begining it was a schleep, but with as long as you vary the training, use a fan and some good music it can be quite enjoyable.

Big Ben, what type of indoor trainer do you have, i.e. rollers, resistance and what type of riding do you want to train for i.e. mtb XC, marathon, road avg fun ride...

Soutie it would seem that you are "blessed" with to much HP in them thar legs. Provided that the chain is properly joined (pin extends correctly at both ends) then all i can suggest is to eat less Spinachsmileys/smiley2.gif

Quote Soutie - " WHat do you mean by " Snapping a chain is normally down to poor changing or cross chaining etc",THere is only one way to change the gears." Actually there are 2 ways - right way and the wrong way. HeHe Thats what Bikemax was getting at. Strange the only time I have had problems with chains "snapping" is on the mtb and thats been due to human error i.e. connecting pin not inserted properly or sudden change into a to larger gear. Beats me how anyone "snaps" a chain thru normal usesmileys/smiley5.gif

Christie "The big Q for me is: Will electric shifters make me go faster " Only if you cycle like a Duracell bunnysmileys/smiley2.gif In theory an electrical gear system sounds appealing, but think about it - why? would you want an electric system? Only one reason comes to mind IF they could do away with all the cables and wires then bike would look much "cleaner". The present systems today work pretty well. I don't think an electrical system can be built to match whats on the market today - taking cost, weight and ease of use into account - Unfortunately Moores Law does not seem to apply to cycling and we probably will have to wait a few more years befoe it is really viable.

EPOH - To answer your question: If improving your strength and endurance on the bike as quickly as possible is your goal, then you need to adapt your training on the bike and not take up running. Rather spend some time looking for a cycling coach/training programme with your goals in mind. Having a specific programme to follow is critical, instead of just going out every day with no plan. In most sports (cycling included) nothing beats sport specific training i.e. to improve your cycling you need to cycle, and not waste valuable time on other forms of exercise. Some form of cross training for your core and stabiliser muscles which are not exercised by cycling (but are important for cycling and general well being) would be beneficial in the long run smileys/smiley4.gif (pun intended). Running in moderation is probably one of the easiest, cheapest and best forms of exercise a person could do, however it is quite demanding on your body and for a beginner (someone who has not run regularly on a consistent basis) it can take 6-8 months for your body to adapt to the rigours of regular running and therefore is not a quick or easy route to improve your cycling.

No loctite for sure, clean and lubed - you can use plumbers thread tape (the white ptf type) but only if you have problems with it creaking and grunting after awhile. Grease I found will usually only stop creaks temporily.

Ja Ja - I so far have managed to keep my hands above the water line when I cycle. smileys/smiley2.gif Point to send it in is without doubt the best solution. but I originally asked the question to find out if anyone had done it themselves, to see if the 720 was more difficult to change than the other polars without the altimeter, temp sensor. Usually they can be changed without damaging the seal (unless it was damaged when last assembled), have done it many times on my other polars and they (I used them for swimming) never leaked, it just takes TLC - just like when you shave your legs?.

he he smileys/smiley36.gifI found "some" batteries for the 720 - CR2453's nogal, just one problem - cannot buy 1 battery, have to buy a box of them, not sure exactly how many in the box or how much (was in a cataloge showing only the item number). So it's now in the post to Polar Switzerland.

First question, how old / +/- many km's have they done? I had a similar problem a few years back with a Bontrager ceramic coated rim. it was less than a year old and had to no obvious signs of abuse, so was replaced free of charge (I had to pay for the wheel to built up).

Dick - Fine print in 20 languages excpet engleesh..smileys/smiley2.gif plus I dont plan to swim with it, (probably will sink with it). Safest bet would be to send it to Polar I suppose, but I would like to see what's what inside as well.. I have taken it to 2 polar dealers here in good ole Schweiz... 1st one gave me a form to fill in and told me to send it to polar myselfsmileys/smiley32.gif The other said I can bring it in to them and that they would send it to polar on my behalfsmileys/smiley32.gifsmileys/smiley32.gif +/- 2 weeks delivery. Tried a few watch and electronic shops for the 2453 battery, no luck never had it in stock. It is a larger than normal dia and thickness than the usual batteries, perhaps a camera shop??