Cycling Tips and General Information

Once you ride in a pair of cycling shorts, you’ll never ride without them again!

Chamois pad is primarily designed to quickly absorb and evaporate sweat, but also provides a layer of padding between your crutch and the saddle.

Au Natural. The only thing you wear under cycling shorts is your birthday suit. Underwear seams and elastic leg openings can chafe sensitive crotch-area tissue. Besides which, underwear is usually made of cotton, which retains moisture and defeats the purpose of having a moisture-wicking chamois.

Snug fitting design eliminates loose, bunched-up clothing between you and your saddle that can chafe skin. Smooth/stretchy fabric reduces saddle friction.

Padded palms reduce the amount of road shock transmitted to your hands and minimize pressure on median nerve in palm which can cause numb or tingling fingers.

Tough fabrics help you avoid “hamburger hands” when the inevitable happens and more than rubber meets the road. “Grippy” fabrics provide you with a better grip and more control than bare sweaty palms.

Fingerless design exposes your fingertips to give you a greater “feel” for the road and increased dexterity for shifting gears and adjusting your clothing.

In cold weather, use full-fingered gloves.

When buying a bicycle the three main things to look for are:

• Frame Type and Quality.
• The Components on the bike.
• The Size of the bike.

Frames vary in strength and weight depending upon the materials used:

• “Hi-Tensile steel” is a very strong frame material, however it is a fairly heavy material and is used mainly on bikes that are for only riding on weekends.
• “Cro-moly” is a stronger material and is much lighter. Many people that race or are wanting a light but reliable frame mainly will use cro-moly.
• “Alloy” is becoming much more popular now, in that the frames are ultra light and are usually very strong. Most top end MTB and ROAD bikes are now using Alloy. Those people who want a nice strong but light bike to commute with.
• “Carbon Fibre” has been used successfully in the construction of bike frames for many years. However 2005 will be the year that we will see more carbon bikes. The reason more people are on carbon bikes is that they have become cheaper, lighter and stronger as well as being able to boast a softer and more comfortable ride especially on those rough roads.

Components on your bike are exceptionally important to get right.

For example if you are participating in cross country riding where your bike is constantly bouncing of rocks, logs and trees and the components on your bike are not designed for it they will need to be replaced pretty quickly. The same applies to the road / Triathlon cyclists their components if not suited to the riding will wear quickly and change poorly and will need to be replaced a lot sooner. The smart thing to do is when beginning to look for that new bike have a good understanding of the riding you are doing and also the riding you aim to be doing in the future. The bike you are looking for may suit you NOW but what happens when those legs and lungs grow stronger and you are ready to ride with the big Boys and Girls. Understand the parts hierarchy, talk to friends, people in the know and shop keepers, but remember there are good and bad shops out there and information can vary a lot.

Sizing of a bike can mean the difference between winning and losing. However it needs to be understood that there are different methods of sizing bikes. Road, Mountain and Hybrid bikes should be looked at a lot differently.

• Road: In most cases a road bike is being ridden to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible. Thus the bike should be set to an aggressive position where rider is comfortable but also very aerodynamic, allowing for maximum speed and maximum output without putting unneeded pressure on the rider.
• MTB: There are many people riding MTB for many differing reasons. Comfort is becoming more and more desirable, thus for this tip we will angle this towards the comfort rider and will discuss more aggressive/off road later ( if you are wanting some tips on sizing/positioning for off road email the store and we will help where we can.)

When you are getting a comfort MTB you need to look for a bike that has a raised handle bar and steep rise on the head stem. The bike should have a minimum of 1 inch when you stand over the top tube.(this is the tube you don’t want to fall onto if you have to stop suddenly.) Your leg extension when pedaling should be , when your at the bottom of your pedal stroke there should be a very slight bend in your leg, nearly to the point of a straight leg but not fully. Your back should also be in a similar position, meaning not fully straight but with slight bend.

This is also the common position required for a Hybrid bike.