Modifying my Giant Propel

I am lucky enough to have been able to afford a really nice bike - a 2014 Giant Propel, with Di2. Given its specification (and cost) i have generally only ridden it in good weather and kept it almost stock. I have made a few small changes over the 4 years I have had it but I have started to make some changes as its worn out or other drivers have forced something

Here its is after the 1st or 2nd ride:

 Here it is about 9 months later - still no changes

 Here it is when I added a 4iiii left hand crank power meter

Here I an riding it at Mallory Park race circuit - still no major changes

In 2018 I bough the "official" Giant rubber bungs to plug the holes in the frame for the Giant Cadence sensor - these bungs fit in the non-drive side chainstay. I got these from www.giantbikespares.com. The postage cost as much as the parts. I got this because I was now sometimes riding the bike when it was damp and did not want to get water in the frame

This year (so about 3.5 years after I bought the bike) I finally gave up and downsized the chain rings from 52-36 to a more normal Compact (50-34). I bought Ultegra rings even though the cheaper 105 rings are completely compatible to keep the specification correct

The main difference between the Ultegra rings (above) and the 105 (not shown) is that the Ultegra big ring is a metal/nylon composite whilst the 105 is all metal (with integral strengthening "ribs"). You can see the nylon quite clearly above. I also needed to change the chain at the same time as it had done over 4000 miles, although the chain wear checker did not suggest that it was over the recommended 0.75%. Obviously changing the front rings (a 2 tooth reduction on both rings) meant I needed to also look at the chain length and the position of the front dérailleur. I took some photos before for all the gear extremes (52-28, 52-11, 36-28 and 36-11) to look at the original chain relationship and to compare to what it was going to be like with the new extremes  (50-28, 50-11, 34-28 and 34-11).

52-11

52-28

36-28

36-11

 I decided to start with the same chain length as for the 52-36 chainset when I fitted the 50-34 rings:

50-11

50-28

34-28

34-28

It's not perfect in the 34-11 combination and the chain could probably be ideally 2 links shorter, but it functions completely OK (and in reality I never use the 34-11 gear on the road anyway). It also means  that should I found a sudden burst of youth, strength and knees, I can refit the 52-36 rings without changing the chain again.

I also noticed that although the original chain was not over 0.75% wear, the new chain actually ran more quietly and smoothly and shifted better, so clearly the wear indicator method does not always show a true real world level of wear.

Some careful photos also meant that I could reset the front dérailleur into the new lower position:

There was one real benefit here with Di2 - this was that I didn't need to do anything to reset the cable length like I wild have had to with a traditional mechanical set up

This photo is with the original 52 ring so I set the same height gap for the 50 tooth ring

The change to the smaller front chain rings is by far the biggest change to the bike - and the outcome is that it is easier for me to ride and I can use more of the cassette, so it was money well spent. For info I got the rings from Rose Bikes (ignore the .uk domain - they are a German company). Its clear that although the 6800 series Ultegra is only one generation old it's already seen as obsolete as I could not get these rings in the UK

I have also needed to swap the rear tyre out - it was still just about OK at 4600 miles but the wear indicator was long since gone and the tread area no longer round:

The tyres are Giant P-SL1 700 x 23c. These are around £30 each and are starting to be replaced by P-SL2. However by compete chance I looked on EBay and saw a pair of almost new P-SL1 tyres. I bid and got the pair for only £22. They really had done only a few 100 miles at most - what a bargain

The final changes I have done are to fit a Shimano SM-EWW01 unit so I could read the gear position and other Di2 data into my Garmin. This is documented here: di2-monitoring

So - my bike is still almost as built but has some small changes, some more visible than others. It's a great bike but as I will freely admit - a better bike that I am rider

To Kinver for the 2nd time

Today I rode to Kinver in Staffordshire. It was a "new to me" route based on one I'd seen on Strava from a Solihull Cycling Club ride. Whilst it was a new to me ride it went through or passed by a number of places I have ridden before such as Belbroughton in Worcestershire ("gateway to St Kenelms Pass"). However it took a number of roads I have not used before at all so was a new ride but in a familiar area. It also meant of the weather turned I know I could abort at Belbroughton as I knew several routes back without needing the Garmin. The weather was not quite as warm as I'd hoped but was in general OK.

A nice rolling route - 58.9 miles and 4300ft of climbing, 3 counties (again as I have mentioned - just 30 minutes from Birmingham and there is challenging cycling to be had).

I rode the Giant and managed with the 36-28 lowest gear - I was going to take the much lower geared Scott but we've planned another French Cycling Holiday this year so I thought the higher gearing would be good training - it was and I only needed the 36-28 twice. I am still torn whether to take the Scott or the Giant to France but I think the Scott's lower gearing and non-aero wheels will win the day for the long ascents. There was a particularly strong cross wind on the ascent of the Galibier that was quite a challenge on the Scott with its low profile Ultegra wheels last year.

I have been through Kinver before on the Tour of the Black Country in May 2015:

 

  I took some video on the approach to Kinver and through the Kingsford Forest Park:

April and May Update

Whilst I am fairly pragmatic about the number of readers of this blog being relatively small I know that infrequent updates do not help build an avid reader base and its been quite a long time since I last posted an update. There are 3 reasons for this - 1: busy riding quite a bit; 2: been doing boring things like decorating and 3: its been busy at work and needed many early starts and by the time I get home I am far too tired to think about adding to this blog.

However all this has not been without progress in the Midland Cyclist household since the last post back in early April when I went Mountain Biking at MudTrek in Wales.

The weather has improved and has been fairly consistently good (and in fact we also had a fantastic weekend at the start of May) and this has opened the opportunity to start to cycle to work more regularly. I have also been out some evenings for a short (~1 hour) ride now that the lighting up time is nearly 9pm, meaning I can be out and back safely without lights. Last year I'd have done many more commuting miles than I have done so far this year but being knocked off has still damaged my confidence to an extent. Some changes to my working week schedule has seen me needing to drive to Wolverhampton on a Thursday which was a previous standard commute day.

I have also ridden a lot of miles on my Giant Propel (in fact I have not ridden my Scott for the past 5 weeks or so). I am still really pleased with the Giant- fast, comfortable and eats the miles up:

However I managed a good mileage in both April and so far in May as well and finally seem to have rediscovered the level of fitness that I was consistently at all the way up to the accident. This was on the 80 mile ride up did "North of Meriden":

80.2 miles, 3200ft of ascent and 4:45 hours riding - I felt fairly tired with about 20 miles to go but a gel and cereal bar sorted that. What's more I rode the whole ride on the big ring, and whilst there were no real climbs its an undulating route so I took that as a positive as well.

In terms of the Giant - its surprisingly comfortable to ride. I have not got a particularly racy position in terms of saddle/handlebar drop, but its supple over all but the worst road surfaces. The Ui2 is excellent and has never missed a beat (apart from when I went out without checking the battery level and got left on the small ring). The brakes are superb - huge power from very minimal finger pressure only - its difficult to avoid locking the wheels at times. In terms of aero etc I have not really noticed huge benefits until you get over 25mph or so and this is difficult for me without going down hill! The deep section wheels (they are actually aluminium rims with a non-structural aero section) feel quicker (as an engineer I hate the words "feel" as its subjective). I have ridden in a reasonably windy day and they are best described as "interesting" and if you are not ready or prepared for it you can be pushed all over the road.

I popped out for a quick ride on Saturday 14 May 2016 and managed 26 miles at 17.8mph average, 142bpm average and this now reflects a much better level of performance and effort than even a month ago. Here's a (boring?) video I took of most of the route:

Today (15 May 2016) I rode with Noel and took it easy with a more social ride at Noel's pace:

The average Heart Rate of 131bpm was indicative of the lower level of effort needed.

Here's a few photos on the way and up the St Kenelms climb:

Here's a video of the approach to and ascent of St Kenelms Pass:

 

As I am going to France for 2 weeks cycling in June/July it looks like I am getting into good shape in time

Second Ride on the Propel

Went for a ride on the Propel this weekend - only the second ride (the first being back from the shop):

Fitted with an 11-28 and "Pro Compact" 36-52 its a bit over geared for me at the moment, especially as I am struggling to find fitness since being knocked off back on November 2015. I have a 11-32 for it that I'll need to fit

Didn't really do it justice today - grovelled all the way to the top of St Kenelm's Pass but did manage to up the average slightly on the way back home. Its a great bike and the Ultegra Ui2 is excellent.

Here's a video of a not particularly fast climb up St Kenelms Pass. Its a really scenic climb in a really nice part of the countryside - and hard to believe its only 15-20 minutes from the suburbs of south west Birmingham:

Hmm - Nice