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| Rides data |
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| Segments Data |
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| Sample Graph - Average Speed vs. Date |
Tuesday 22 January 2013
Strava Data Analysis
Earlier this year I wrote a programme to download data from Strava into Excel so that I could analyse my rides. It's still a work in progress and a bit flaky but I'll post it soon when I have improved the user interface and written some "documentation".
In the meantime here are some screen shots:
The alternative is to use the excellent veloviewer page:
Monday 21 January 2013
Shimano 105 Shifters Revisted
Caution - Work in Progress!!
Further update here: Building new bike part 3 observations
A while ago I wrote a short piece about the experiences I had when I fitted Shimano 105 5700 series shifters to my bike to replace the 5600 series originally fitted.
The reason for the change/upgrade was that I really wanted to upgrade my other bike (Giant Defy 4) to 10 speed and whist I had the cassette, chain and dérailleurs for the bike I did not have any spare shifters. As these are by far the most expensive part of the drive train it took a long time to decide on the correct strategy to get 10 speed on both bikes for the least amount of money but best compromise seemed to be to upgrade the shifters on the Focus and move the original shifters to the Giant.
The Focus came with the 5600 series parts, but at the time I was looking into this the newer 5700 series had been around for about a year. Part of the decision was also that it appeared increasingly difficult to get the 5600 parts, although they were slightly cheaper. From what I could make out the most prominent differences between 5600 & 5700 parts were that the 5700 had the shifter cables running under the bar tape alongside the brake cables whilst the older 5600 has the shifter cables coming out of the side of the shifters.
Here is a picture of each:
More subtle differences are apparently a more ergonomic shifter design and different pull ratios for the brakes and front dérailleur, although seemingly not the rear dérailleur. Because of this it is seemingly necessary to run a full 5700 system with the new shifters.
The pull ratio change was difficult one to find out more about. Given the physical dimensions of the shifters and the basic geometry of the brake caliper it was hard to see how different it could be. A search of the internet was not particularly helpful either. All of them basically say what I have summarised above.
After much heart searching (and internet price comparisons) I bit the bullet and bought a pair of the 5700 shifters for the Focus. I did also decide to get a 5700 front mech as these are relatively cheap.
I waited until the bad weather around Christmas 2011 (when I had some spare holiday to use) and fitted the parts to the bikes. Given that it was winter I did not ride the Focus for several months but the Giant carried on being ridden. I didn't notice any change to the Giant compared to the Focus (after all it has the same parts fitted), although up-shifting on the rear is not always as crisp as I remembered - it will either not quite shift up a gear and need a slight extra nudge, or will shift up 2 gears when only one is requested. I think this is due to a little wear on the right shifter but also because the medium cage (GS) rear mech is not as stiff as the short cage. Any way I live with it as I think it's one of those jobs that could absorb hours without making it any better.
However on the Focus all was not quite as well. Firstly the upgrade was completed before Christmas so it was not ridden. Testing the bike in the work stand suggested that the front mech was quite stiff to shift up to the big ring and sprung back very "positively" when dropping onto the small ring. Its really hard to get a good feel in the workstand as your hands are not in the normal riding position. I had a fiddle but left it until I planned to ride it again when I would have a better view.
Because of the weather I did not ride the bike until early March and this really highlighted 2 things - the back brake was pretty well in-effective and the lever load for the front mech was very high.
The back brake issue is discussed here: Shimano 105 5700 mechanicals (as is the first draft of this review) and seemed to be related to a rusty brake cable. My view of the front brake performance comparison between the original (6600?) Ultegra and the new 5700 105 calipers is that if there is a difference its almost undetectable, and probably more affected by rim/brake pad combination than the pull ratio.
I have also looked more at the front mech load - it "feels" at least twice as hard to shift up a gear than the 5600 combination. With the cable disconnected and moving the mech by hand it does not feel excessively stiff, but via the shifter is harder than the older model. The cable routing around the bottom bracket is identical to the initial install, and learning the lesson from the rusty brake cable I have checked the cable - both for rust, cleanliness, smoothness of outer cable, cable radii etc and can see nothing wrong. I am sort of resigned to it. Most of the time where I live I can ride on the big ring most of the time so its not that I am making dozens of changes a ride.
Despite the disappointingly high front shifting load the rear shifting is excellent - much better than the 5600 (and I am still using a 5600 105 short cage rear mech) - up and down it never misses a shift, very slick and positive.
When I do another major service I will probably change both inner and outer front cables regardless and try that to see if it makes any difference. I am not sure if the cable run from under the bottom bracket affects it - I'll post a photo another time, but it's the same as before.
So - does the pull ratio change make a difference?
Further update here: Building new bike part 3 observations
A while ago I wrote a short piece about the experiences I had when I fitted Shimano 105 5700 series shifters to my bike to replace the 5600 series originally fitted.
The reason for the change/upgrade was that I really wanted to upgrade my other bike (Giant Defy 4) to 10 speed and whist I had the cassette, chain and dérailleurs for the bike I did not have any spare shifters. As these are by far the most expensive part of the drive train it took a long time to decide on the correct strategy to get 10 speed on both bikes for the least amount of money but best compromise seemed to be to upgrade the shifters on the Focus and move the original shifters to the Giant.
The Focus came with the 5600 series parts, but at the time I was looking into this the newer 5700 series had been around for about a year. Part of the decision was also that it appeared increasingly difficult to get the 5600 parts, although they were slightly cheaper. From what I could make out the most prominent differences between 5600 & 5700 parts were that the 5700 had the shifter cables running under the bar tape alongside the brake cables whilst the older 5600 has the shifter cables coming out of the side of the shifters.
Here is a picture of each:
 |
| 5600 |
 |
| 5700 |
More subtle differences are apparently a more ergonomic shifter design and different pull ratios for the brakes and front dérailleur, although seemingly not the rear dérailleur. Because of this it is seemingly necessary to run a full 5700 system with the new shifters.
The pull ratio change was difficult one to find out more about. Given the physical dimensions of the shifters and the basic geometry of the brake caliper it was hard to see how different it could be. A search of the internet was not particularly helpful either. All of them basically say what I have summarised above.
After much heart searching (and internet price comparisons) I bit the bullet and bought a pair of the 5700 shifters for the Focus. I did also decide to get a 5700 front mech as these are relatively cheap.
I waited until the bad weather around Christmas 2011 (when I had some spare holiday to use) and fitted the parts to the bikes. Given that it was winter I did not ride the Focus for several months but the Giant carried on being ridden. I didn't notice any change to the Giant compared to the Focus (after all it has the same parts fitted), although up-shifting on the rear is not always as crisp as I remembered - it will either not quite shift up a gear and need a slight extra nudge, or will shift up 2 gears when only one is requested. I think this is due to a little wear on the right shifter but also because the medium cage (GS) rear mech is not as stiff as the short cage. Any way I live with it as I think it's one of those jobs that could absorb hours without making it any better.
However on the Focus all was not quite as well. Firstly the upgrade was completed before Christmas so it was not ridden. Testing the bike in the work stand suggested that the front mech was quite stiff to shift up to the big ring and sprung back very "positively" when dropping onto the small ring. Its really hard to get a good feel in the workstand as your hands are not in the normal riding position. I had a fiddle but left it until I planned to ride it again when I would have a better view.
Because of the weather I did not ride the bike until early March and this really highlighted 2 things - the back brake was pretty well in-effective and the lever load for the front mech was very high.
The back brake issue is discussed here: Shimano 105 5700 mechanicals (as is the first draft of this review) and seemed to be related to a rusty brake cable. My view of the front brake performance comparison between the original (6600?) Ultegra and the new 5700 105 calipers is that if there is a difference its almost undetectable, and probably more affected by rim/brake pad combination than the pull ratio.
I have also looked more at the front mech load - it "feels" at least twice as hard to shift up a gear than the 5600 combination. With the cable disconnected and moving the mech by hand it does not feel excessively stiff, but via the shifter is harder than the older model. The cable routing around the bottom bracket is identical to the initial install, and learning the lesson from the rusty brake cable I have checked the cable - both for rust, cleanliness, smoothness of outer cable, cable radii etc and can see nothing wrong. I am sort of resigned to it. Most of the time where I live I can ride on the big ring most of the time so its not that I am making dozens of changes a ride.
Despite the disappointingly high front shifting load the rear shifting is excellent - much better than the 5600 (and I am still using a 5600 105 short cage rear mech) - up and down it never misses a shift, very slick and positive.
When I do another major service I will probably change both inner and outer front cables regardless and try that to see if it makes any difference. I am not sure if the cable run from under the bottom bracket affects it - I'll post a photo another time, but it's the same as before.
So - does the pull ratio change make a difference?
- Front brakes - no
- Rear brakes - no
- Rear mech - no
- Front mech - I can't tell but the shifting load is high
Sunday 20 January 2013
The Rawlinson Bracket
A colleague at work has set up a Sportive to remember another colleague who sadly died suddenly and unexpectedly last year.
This is it: The Rawlinson Bracket
I have signed up (hopefully with Noel)
Its for a good cause and looks challenging
This is it: The Rawlinson Bracket
I have signed up (hopefully with Noel)
Its for a good cause and looks challenging
Bike Servicing - One Years Worth of Grime
I am not anal about bike cleaning but I like them to be reasonably clean. The main benefit is to avoid getting too dirty if you have to do some work on them, especially getting a puncture out on the road.
However once a year they get a very thorough clean and service - this involves removing as many components as required, a careful T-Cut to the frame to bring the paint back up to a shiny state, degrease the chain, cassette and crank set, clean both the dérailleurs and any other work required. It's generally 3-4 hours work from start to finish, the time mainly being driven by any un-anticipated. On the focus this year it was that the Bottom Bracket had again failed - one of the bearings sounding like it was full of grit. I mentioned this in an earlier post back in June 2012. It's a FSA BB-6000 Gossamer Mega EXO, and at over £30 its expensive to keep changing every year or so. I mention this specifically because I had to change the BB from the Giant this year and it makes an interesting comparison. Everything else on the bike seemed OK - the stiff front shifter operation that I have also mentioned before is still present and I'll comment further about this in a later post.
Any way it all looked shiny and new so here is a picture of it. Its not a great picture as I used my phone
I seem to have managed to now do the cleaning in the warm house and not in the cold garage. Its in my "Park Tool Home Mechanic Repair Stand" which has been a great purchase. Its this one:
Its good -not professional grade by any means but for the home mechanic its great - so much easier than grovelling on the floor and trying to support the bike. Its not good if you need to put some effort in like remove BBs for example but for everything else its great - highly recommended and about £60 from Amazon at the moment.
Not only have I been able to clean my bikes in the house but I have also been keeping the Focus nice and warm and dry in the dining room - my garage does get a bit damp and a 2013 project is to re-roof it.
The Focus was cleaned and put away around the end of October and won't be ridden again until February or March now.
The Giant has a much harder life as its basically ridden every week of the year (snow & ice excepted) so it is always much dirtier. This has also now been serviced fully over the past 2 weeks - it was in a very bad state after several hundred winter miles, despite being hosed and wiped off every week or so.
One of the problems is that to stop the chain getting too bad I oiled it weekly - the theory is that oil is easy to remove whereas rust isn't. However the down side of lost of oil is also that it can get dirt stuck in in it and make a nice grinding paste. I only use a light oil (3-in-1) so that is a bit of a mitigator. If you look on forums or ask advice there are as many chain cleaning and lubrication processes as bikes, so I have stuck with what works for me. On the Focus - mostly dry/summer riding the chain lasts a good 3-4000 miles, whilst for the Giant the winter kills it and if I am lucky I might just about get 2000 miles. For either bike I use KMC 10spd chains - they seem good value and reasonably reliable apart from the one that almost failed when I was in Sheffield. On the Giant the current chains is at 0.75% stretch having done about 1700 miles - so once the worst of the winter weather is over I'll change it.
The cassette is looking a bit distressed now as well given that it did about 5000 miles on the Focus initially and is now at about 7000 having been moved to the Giant when I converted it to 10 speed in Jan 2012. I'll change it at the same time as the chain. The only dilemma is what range to put on it. It's currently 12-27, but given that I don't do challenging sportives on my Giant I don't really need that low a gear that the 27 gives, so I have been thinking about fitting a 12-25 - this will give me one "less" gear than I have at present and I think I can just about manage that around where I live - I'll just have to MTFU. What it will give is a nice set of close ratios.
I'll probably change the rear dérailleur as well - its currently got the GS spec (medium/long cage) model that was originally fitted to the Focus and that I changed it as it didn't look right. If I do this I think I'll get a 5700 series 105 rear unit for the Focus and move the existing 5600 105 rear mech from the Focus to the Giant.
During the clean of the Giant I found that the Bottom Bracket was very noisy - clearly it was on the way out so I removed it on the first weekend to see exactly what it was and changed it the following weekend. The unit removed was this:
I replaced it with a Shimano unit:
This cost about £20 from Wiggle compared to the £35 for the FSA model. Not only that the original Truvativ unit lasted just under 4 years, has been fitted to a bike that has been ridden most weeks of the year and been through 3 Winters, and done 15000km (over 9000 miles). I have no complaints.
For other Giant Defy Owners the size was 68-110mm. Its not quite an exact match from the size of the original (68-108), but matching them up by eye the extra 2mm seems to be on the non-drive side. I have not ridden the bike yet, but there was no need to change the indexing of the front shifter. Lets hope all is well.
However I had some minor issues when changing the part. I have the "proper" tool but the depth that the splines can purchase in the BB is quite small so it was difficult to get leverage on the spanner without the tool slipping out. The solution was found in my "odds 'n' sods" box as seen here:
I have used the threaded part of a brass tap hose pipe fitting - the allen bolt fits within the inside diameter of the fitting and screws into the end of the axle whilst the overall diameter fits over the end of the tool holding it firmly in place allowing suitable leverage to be applied. I have put the brass fitting into my "special bike tools" box for future use I felt pretty pleased with the solution.
Just for info the tool was from Halfords (Bikehut Professional Bottom Bracket Tool part No 969790-0):
Its about £9. Other cycle tool vendors are available. I have been happy with it - I have used it 2 or 3 times now. It certainly took a lot of force to get the bearing out of the Giant this time around
However once a year they get a very thorough clean and service - this involves removing as many components as required, a careful T-Cut to the frame to bring the paint back up to a shiny state, degrease the chain, cassette and crank set, clean both the dérailleurs and any other work required. It's generally 3-4 hours work from start to finish, the time mainly being driven by any un-anticipated. On the focus this year it was that the Bottom Bracket had again failed - one of the bearings sounding like it was full of grit. I mentioned this in an earlier post back in June 2012. It's a FSA BB-6000 Gossamer Mega EXO, and at over £30 its expensive to keep changing every year or so. I mention this specifically because I had to change the BB from the Giant this year and it makes an interesting comparison. Everything else on the bike seemed OK - the stiff front shifter operation that I have also mentioned before is still present and I'll comment further about this in a later post.
Any way it all looked shiny and new so here is a picture of it. Its not a great picture as I used my phone
I seem to have managed to now do the cleaning in the warm house and not in the cold garage. Its in my "Park Tool Home Mechanic Repair Stand" which has been a great purchase. Its this one:
Its good -not professional grade by any means but for the home mechanic its great - so much easier than grovelling on the floor and trying to support the bike. Its not good if you need to put some effort in like remove BBs for example but for everything else its great - highly recommended and about £60 from Amazon at the moment.
Not only have I been able to clean my bikes in the house but I have also been keeping the Focus nice and warm and dry in the dining room - my garage does get a bit damp and a 2013 project is to re-roof it.
The Focus was cleaned and put away around the end of October and won't be ridden again until February or March now.
The Giant has a much harder life as its basically ridden every week of the year (snow & ice excepted) so it is always much dirtier. This has also now been serviced fully over the past 2 weeks - it was in a very bad state after several hundred winter miles, despite being hosed and wiped off every week or so.
One of the problems is that to stop the chain getting too bad I oiled it weekly - the theory is that oil is easy to remove whereas rust isn't. However the down side of lost of oil is also that it can get dirt stuck in in it and make a nice grinding paste. I only use a light oil (3-in-1) so that is a bit of a mitigator. If you look on forums or ask advice there are as many chain cleaning and lubrication processes as bikes, so I have stuck with what works for me. On the Focus - mostly dry/summer riding the chain lasts a good 3-4000 miles, whilst for the Giant the winter kills it and if I am lucky I might just about get 2000 miles. For either bike I use KMC 10spd chains - they seem good value and reasonably reliable apart from the one that almost failed when I was in Sheffield. On the Giant the current chains is at 0.75% stretch having done about 1700 miles - so once the worst of the winter weather is over I'll change it.
The cassette is looking a bit distressed now as well given that it did about 5000 miles on the Focus initially and is now at about 7000 having been moved to the Giant when I converted it to 10 speed in Jan 2012. I'll change it at the same time as the chain. The only dilemma is what range to put on it. It's currently 12-27, but given that I don't do challenging sportives on my Giant I don't really need that low a gear that the 27 gives, so I have been thinking about fitting a 12-25 - this will give me one "less" gear than I have at present and I think I can just about manage that around where I live - I'll just have to MTFU. What it will give is a nice set of close ratios.
I'll probably change the rear dérailleur as well - its currently got the GS spec (medium/long cage) model that was originally fitted to the Focus and that I changed it as it didn't look right. If I do this I think I'll get a 5700 series 105 rear unit for the Focus and move the existing 5600 105 rear mech from the Focus to the Giant.
During the clean of the Giant I found that the Bottom Bracket was very noisy - clearly it was on the way out so I removed it on the first weekend to see exactly what it was and changed it the following weekend. The unit removed was this:
I replaced it with a Shimano unit:
This cost about £20 from Wiggle compared to the £35 for the FSA model. Not only that the original Truvativ unit lasted just under 4 years, has been fitted to a bike that has been ridden most weeks of the year and been through 3 Winters, and done 15000km (over 9000 miles). I have no complaints.
For other Giant Defy Owners the size was 68-110mm. Its not quite an exact match from the size of the original (68-108), but matching them up by eye the extra 2mm seems to be on the non-drive side. I have not ridden the bike yet, but there was no need to change the indexing of the front shifter. Lets hope all is well.
However I had some minor issues when changing the part. I have the "proper" tool but the depth that the splines can purchase in the BB is quite small so it was difficult to get leverage on the spanner without the tool slipping out. The solution was found in my "odds 'n' sods" box as seen here:
I have used the threaded part of a brass tap hose pipe fitting - the allen bolt fits within the inside diameter of the fitting and screws into the end of the axle whilst the overall diameter fits over the end of the tool holding it firmly in place allowing suitable leverage to be applied. I have put the brass fitting into my "special bike tools" box for future use I felt pretty pleased with the solution.
Just for info the tool was from Halfords (Bikehut Professional Bottom Bracket Tool part No 969790-0):
Its about £9. Other cycle tool vendors are available. I have been happy with it - I have used it 2 or 3 times now. It certainly took a lot of force to get the bearing out of the Giant this time around
New Year - New Post
Well its now 2013 and I have got around to adding some more posts. I had made a half-hearted attempt a month or so ago, but the past few months have been difficult and busy.
My wife has significantly recovered from her illness but is still not 100%. As a result I have been cycling a bit less and spending some more time with her. In addition with the clocks changing and the short days there is no opportunity to commute to work. I have been riding a bit but the miles have dropped off recently, and as I write today we have about 15cm of snow and ice which looks like it will be around for some time.
Looking back at 2012 despite some issues I did manage to achieve my 5000 miles target, by a few 100 miles or so which was very satisfying again. This is the 3rd year in a row that I have achieved this. An additional challenge during 2012 was the 2½ weeks in the US in the summer off the bike, although I believe I would not have cycled in the UK either given the torrential rain we had for that period.
Here is the Strava 2012 summary:
I have taken advantage of the colder weather and been doing some DIY around the house and garden over the past few months as well.
My wife has significantly recovered from her illness but is still not 100%. As a result I have been cycling a bit less and spending some more time with her. In addition with the clocks changing and the short days there is no opportunity to commute to work. I have been riding a bit but the miles have dropped off recently, and as I write today we have about 15cm of snow and ice which looks like it will be around for some time.
Looking back at 2012 despite some issues I did manage to achieve my 5000 miles target, by a few 100 miles or so which was very satisfying again. This is the 3rd year in a row that I have achieved this. An additional challenge during 2012 was the 2½ weeks in the US in the summer off the bike, although I believe I would not have cycled in the UK either given the torrential rain we had for that period.
Here is the Strava 2012 summary:
I have taken advantage of the colder weather and been doing some DIY around the house and garden over the past few months as well.
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