On Your Bike

Anyone else excited about the 2013 Tour de France itinerary?

Tried to ride yesterday but there's no pleasure in drizzle, 6 degrees and high winds. Plesae can we have the typical, calm, late autumn weather back?

So Armstrong has finally been stripped of all his titles a sad day for cycling indeed there is now a void for the winner of the tour de France for the 7 years as a lot of the front runners were proved positive in dope tests where will this leave the tour will riders who are clean become so disgruntled so will not compete also as Armstrong team are implicated will they be banned from future races if it was so sophisticated and a whole team involved they should be

Hi Chris tubulare tyres http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubular_tyre using a clincher the normal everyday tyre that is common place with a tude is what i what to do Velo 3000 cant or wont do the job though to be fair he has helped me out in the past Delprat just looked at me and didnt want to know its an old bike and they all think i'm mad riding the thing, just a simple rim change from sprint rims to clincher i should have had more sense really trying to relive my lost youth they really arent practical for normal road riding now, throwing 30€tyres away after just a few weeks due to a puncture isnt cost effective it would cost more to have them repaired maybe if i do drive back to the uk one day throw the wheels in take them back with me, clincher tyres have improved no end and saving a few grams in weight is important anymore not when i weight a few stone more now than i did years ago

John, when you say "tubular" do you mean tubeless tyres? Why not just use tyres with inner tubes?

As for bike shops, Louis at Lavaur Cycles will repair almost anything. Delprat at Soual and Velo 3000 behind Auchan in Castres are also pretty knowledgeable.

Is it me do i expect to much, cycling shops with staff with little or no knowledge i have tubular rims that i would like to change for clincher i have the rims its a simple rebuild maybe a few new spokes both shops in my area wont do it or cant do it i have been told impossible to do, not cost effective sell me a new complete wheel at almost 100€ a wheel build should take about 45 min using a jig to true them up.

Back in my home town there are two shops one started in 1914 still going and still in the same family the other there for over thiry years know them both very well they are amazed considering cycling is a national sport in France is no one here able to undertake repairs other than a simple service, i have found the same with the car its always replace, we dont know if its faulty so we will put a new one on but if its not that we wont take it off just charge you and try something else it becomes a process of elimination until the offending item is found, looking on the bright side you could get a complete new car or bike

Does anyone on here run tubular tyres if so what do you recommend, fitted Vittoria Rally 60km and the side walls are porous anymore of this i will fit clincher wheels

If there is a better place in the world for road biking than S France, I've yet to hear of it. Looking forward to Sunday's club outing, 85 km round Lavaur. Hope this glorious summer weather holds.

I have a Decathlon Cobra road bike for sale - only €150 or so. It was my first road bike and I have upgraded only because it is slightly too small for me [54 cm frame].21 gears, three front plates, recently serviced and in fine fetle except the sadle will eed replacing soon.

Hi John, there are some others out there (click here) so I think they were made under his name like so many riders do. Sorry I don't know anymore than that - try googling...

I have a Esclassan classic collection bike i have been unable to find any information on this model at all Jacques Esclassan rode in the Peugeot team in the 70s the bike has his name stamped on the top of each fork leg did he attempt to manufacture bikes or was it a one off it has Shimano 600 brakes drive train and pedal cranks tubular tyres on Mavic rims with Shimano hubs i have no idea could you help please

Hi all, just back from a 3 day weekend in the Ariège with my club. Stayed in Tarascon sur Ariège, some great rides in the area, plenty of "cols" to climb, fast valleys, all round excellent and of course the plateau de beille: 1280m climb over 17km with an average of almost 8%. Pantani did it in 45min, the record, most of our club made it in a little under 90 min - and some are cat. 1 riders at régional level, the difference is enormous!!!

Hi, are there any mtbs in and around Antibes who regularly go out?

well despite the freezing temperatures we managed 90km of valley riding (we usually go up and down rather than along but too much of the white stuff on the plateaux!) 29kmh average, nothing record breaking but given the conditions we were all quite happy with that! Training in spain (read cycling club holiday with a descent 100km ride each day!) in 10 days time :-)

That's some article - I don't think I've ever seen that one word used that many times in an article!! The hardest mtb race I ever did was the Wilderness 101 in PA in 2003. Here's an article about it: http://www.iplayoutside.com/Events/2003/07/5715c.html

Yep, I actually managed to get off course within the first HOUR of a 100 mile mtb race!?! Finished, but it was a lot harder than I thought it would be....

The Fruita Fat Tyre Fest is amazing, been twice now. The California race was i Downieville, just had a poke around the web and found this report on it. Don't let the kids read it...

Never been to Fruita, but I can imagine how great it would be for mtbiking based on the other parts of CO I've seen! I still have my mtb in the States. Not sure whether to bring it here or leave it there so I have a ride when I am visiting... Where in CA was your race? I lived in CA for a little while.

I've MTBd in Fruita CO, and a couple of other places in the USA aand Canada, but Fruita is very much my Fave! Never been to boulder or SF, although I DNFd at a race in N California a while back!

Have you been to Boulder or to San Francisco? They are also great places for riding and filled with cyclists... There are bike subcultures in other places too, like NYC (where I grew up).. but still laws and the press in the US tend to be anti-cyclist, and there's hardly any money in bike racing - yet baseball players make millions!!

Austin TX is great for cyclists, but they might be otherwise influenced! Minneapolis ST Paul has a bit less infrastructure (I seem to remember, it was a few years ago) but and amazing bike culture.