Using my standard 8 speed training bike on Zwift it was never quite right, the 8 speed gear change was always clunky, the changes were never clean or quick, I found myself having to adjust all the time. Switching over to the Ribble Sportive, I found the same clumsiness and was getting disappointed with the Elite. Then I tried the cube which is 11 speed, the gear changing was much smoother, not perfect but definitely better.
when using the Elite Muin b+ I realised I was missing the resistances, don't get me wrong, it's a good smart training, but it does lack the resistance settings and as I get fitter, it becomes too easy to pedal.
So with that thought bothering me, I decided to buy the Elite Suito smart trainer which has the usual cadence and speed measurements but also gives you your heart rate and more importantly, resistance!
The Muin b+ is now sitting in my shed as a spare trainer and I'm regularly using the Suito. I have fitted the cube to the Suito it's still not the smoothest with gear changing, but it will do. On top of that and probably as a result of the clumsiness, my front changer on the Cube is playing up and has decided that it is not prepared to change up! So for the next few days I shall be trying to re-adjust my front derailleur. ...This is now fixed and was just a simple bit of front derailleur adjustment.
Looking at the Cube overall I think it probably needs a good service. I bought last year for around a thousand pounds and because of that I don't want to mess about with it too much. But I can do the basics on it and if it requires more serious work, I'm quite happy to pay for a professional to work on it should it be required.
Thursday, January 23, 2020
The new Ribble Sportive
Although I had a Ribble Audax for winter training, I wanted another bike to build over the winter which would cover both winter and summer rides. So I felt a carbon frame would be no good and I settled for an aluminium frame being sturdier and cheaper cost wise.
Ribble were selling off the last of their 2018 sportive aluminium frames cheaply and I managed to pick up the very last at a reasonable £60.
Via eBay I managed to get most of the components at a reasonable price and even managed 105 gearing, although it was 10 speed, but in all honesty that really didn't matter to me.
I decided I would take most of the 2019 winter to slowly build up the bike and perhaps use it with my Elite smart trainer. Getting the front derailleur to work efficiently proved a bit of an issue and also fitting the headset, something I hadn't done for a while. But eventually after much swearing and moaning, it all fitted in to place!
Finally, once the bike was built I first put it on a mount and then the Elite to see that all components were working correctly. It was a bit clunky with changes and before I made any alterations I decided to use the mount to just tune up a wee bit and took it out for a proper ride. As I suspected it was more to do with the Elite rather than the Ribble and everything worked nice and smooth, Suffice to say it was a very nice ride!
Change of plan, think this summer along with the Cube because the Ribble is so smooth, I shall use it as my spare!
Ribble were selling off the last of their 2018 sportive aluminium frames cheaply and I managed to pick up the very last at a reasonable £60.
Via eBay I managed to get most of the components at a reasonable price and even managed 105 gearing, although it was 10 speed, but in all honesty that really didn't matter to me.
I decided I would take most of the 2019 winter to slowly build up the bike and perhaps use it with my Elite smart trainer. Getting the front derailleur to work efficiently proved a bit of an issue and also fitting the headset, something I hadn't done for a while. But eventually after much swearing and moaning, it all fitted in to place!
The Ribble in the process of being built with my Zwift training setup in the background.
Finally, once the bike was built I first put it on a mount and then the Elite to see that all components were working correctly. It was a bit clunky with changes and before I made any alterations I decided to use the mount to just tune up a wee bit and took it out for a proper ride. As I suspected it was more to do with the Elite rather than the Ribble and everything worked nice and smooth, Suffice to say it was a very nice ride!
Change of plan, think this summer along with the Cube because the Ribble is so smooth, I shall use it as my spare!
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