Somewhat tempting touring bike ...

I was randomly browsing the 'Net (as you do!) and I came across the Rose Bikes Activa Pro Rohloff which I find vaguely tempting!

Now it's not like I need such a capable machine for any of the touring I'm likely to be doing in the foreseeable future, especially with all the joy that SARS-Covid-2 is currently bringing to the world. However it would definitely tick a lot of boxes for anyone who was doing some pretty intense touring IMHO. Hub gears, hub dynamo, front & rear racks, mudguards, kickstand, carbon belt-drive … What's not to like? (I even like the inclusion of a "nurse's lock" as standard!) Well other than the asking price of £3,175.58! :-)

They also a version with the Pinion gearbox which is slightly cheaper at £2,812.56, but if it was my money then I think I'd spend the extra for the Rohloff version.

Alas as it is I think I'll have to settle for sticking a front rack on my Genesis Croix de Fer, and then converting it to a 3x10. I have all the bits to convert it to a triple, just need to get around to it. (And either get my local bike shop to do the handlebar re-taping, or just learn to do a decent job myself?)

Not loving the "new" Strava ...

So Strava has changed where they draw the line in their "freemium" business model … Though I'm still waiting for my own copy of the email to tell me about it!

I can see why they had to do something if they where going to stay afloat, but personally I'm not convinced that they haven't gone too far? They'll probably convert quite a few currently non-paying users into paying ones, which is obviously good for them. And equally they'll probably see a few people either delete their accounts, or stop using them, which will reduce their costs slightly. However my concern is, does this restrict the free offering to such an extent that it will be hard to persuade people to join and then upgrade to paying? Time will tell I guess?

Personally, I suspect I will probably upgrade to a paid account eventually but not just yet. I might decide to first invest sufficient money into an investment trust that it will throw off enough income each year in dividends to cover the £48 that Strava will want?

I do love a good conspiracy theory ...

Just to be clear, straight off the top I'm not suggesting that this is what happened! Or even that anything remotely like it happened. Just that it to my mind potentially explains that I otherwise feel is a strange decision from Strava.

A while back I was watching a video on YouTube in which was said words to the effect of "There is no way that Garmin is going to buy Strava, they can get anything they want from Strava just by asking!"? (I think the video was by DC Rainmaker, but for the life of me I can't find it now!) Well I was thinking about that today, and I came up with the following which I freely state again is a conspiracy theory! I have absolutely no evidence that any of this is true, but here's my thoughts anyway :-

Now Garmin clearly benefits from the existence of Strava, but if Strava went away then Garmin could create a very similar service on Garmin Connect. In fact, just after Strava became popular they attempted to compete with it in such a way before giving up on the idea because they'd left it too long and Strava already had the "market" sewn up. However Garmin only does benefit if Strava encourages people to buy Garmin hardware. (Obviously people could buy a competing product from the likes of Karoo, Wahoo, Polar etc but there's a decent chance that if someone wants a GPS device to use with Strava it's going to be a Garmin. Maybe even more than one product if people want a bike unit and a watch!) If Strava have an app which allows you to do everything that you'd do with a Garmin, but using the phone that you already have, then that's a problem for Garmin - they have to make their product sufficiently better than the App to make sufficient people buy one, and that's a tough sell as it'll potentially be more expensive than the phone you're competing with was!

So did Garmin say words to the effect of "Strava, ditch sensor support in your app … Or else!"? It explains why they suddenly announced that they had a major bug in their app affecting lots of people (without there seemingly being lots of complaints about this app that crashes a lot?), and why instead of reducing which sensors they supported or making it a "beta feature, engage at own risk!" they simply ditched sensor support and without any announcement about when or even if it would be coming back?

Incidentally I was doing the maths recently and felt the Strava App + Strava Summit + QuadLock mount would be a potentially better option than buying e.g. a Garmin Edge 830, but only if there was sensor support in the Strava phone app! And I suppose that's precisely the sort of calculation Garmin wouldn't want people making?

No real excuse for the delay ...

Back on the 29th June when I wrote my most recent blog posting I was definitely leaning towards the Trek Domane … And then I went into my local Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative and after being seriously tempted by the Specialized Roubaix Comp which they had quite seriously reduced, I noticed that they had the Whyte Wessex One reduced by quite a lot too. After much thought, I asked if they had/could get one in my size and it turned out they had one in stock but at one of their other stores which they agreed to get re-delivered there so I could take a test ride.

Alas when it arrived, it turned out that in addition to a couple of scratches in the paintwork (which to be fair, they'd indicated to me already) it also had a serious crack around one of the rear drop-outs which they eventually concluded made the bike too unsafe to ride (and therefore not sellable)! :-( However that turned out to be my advantage overall, as they offered to get me a 2020 model instead but for the same discounted price! This I accepted with alacrity, subject only to a test-ride. The conclusion of said test ride was that the bike would do just fine for me, so I bought it!

Didn't, for various reasons, end up putting much distance on the bike over winter but I'm still liking it! :-) At some point if it's going to become a "serious" audax bike I probably need to invest in the mudguards that Whyte make for it, and if I'm also serious about an attempt at La Marmotte then a power meter[1] might be a good idea too? Other that that, well I might invest in some Specialized "Bar Phat" tape too and then we're done!

[1] - Form of power meter (left side crank or pedals) still to be determined.

Update on the next bike ...

When I wrote the immediately proceeding post to this one, I'd pretty much settled on getting a Specialized Roubaix Sport unless I could get a Whyte Wessex One at a reasonable discount (I have seen them in the past with ~15% off). However whilst doing some more research, it seems that the 2020 Trek Domane is going to ditch the BB90 press-fit bottom bracket and fit something more sensible! Given that Evans also sell Trek, and the Domane is about the same price as the equivalent spec' Roubaix the order of preference would now seem to be :-

1. Trek Domane SL5
2. Specialized Roubaix Sport
3. Whyte Wessex One

&ellipses; though I could still go either way between the Domane and the Roubaix.

About that next bike ...

As I do so often, I'm contemplating my next bike! (N=H+1 being a very real thing!) Currently I have a On-One Pompino which works fine for commuting and also shorter day rides, and a Genesis Croix de Fer which makes a decent enough touring bike but is a little on the heavy side for some of the things I'd like to do. So the plan is to make the Croix de Fer into a even better touring bike, either by fitting a Tiagra triple crankset (& associated derailleur and shifter) or Absolute Black 46/30 oval chainrings. The triple option is much cheaper because I already have all the bits I need, the oval chainrings would however be much simpler to install!

The goals/aspirations for which the Croix de Fer would be less than wholly suitable for are :-

1. La Marmotte
2. 7x 200km LEJOG - Land's End to John O'Groats in 7 days, each a 200km audax
3. Super Randonneur Series and/or Randonneur Round The Year
4. Paris-Brest-Paris and/or London-Edinburgh-London

Which leads to the consideration of which bike might suit bast?

Specialised Roubaix Sport

Currently the leading contender as it seems to hit most of the boxes without having any obvious drawbacks.

Whyte Wessex One

Not wild about the colour, but could live with it! However at £1999 it does seem overpriced compared to the competition, especially as it comes with Apex 1 whilst they seem to be about the Shimano 105 level. If it was more like ≤£1600 and/or came with Rival 1 then might be a serious contender.

Trek Domane SL5 Disc

It was actually a discussion on this bike over on YACF that attracted my interest in this particular market segment, did rather like the description that it was so comfortable that it almost felt like cheating! :-o However the press-fit bottom bracket doesn't seem to have been trouble free for at least of the purchasers, so I'm a bit wary of it in that regard.

Giant Defy Advanced 2

Perhaps less comfortable than either the Roubaix or the Domane, but also much cheaper! And the money saved could be used, say, for some more aero wheels so it might end up faster except on the roughest roads? Alas the press-fit bottom bracket marks this one down too.

Ribble CGR Ti

To be honest I'm not 100% certain this is a real contender, other than for the fact it's made out of titanium!

Ribble Endurance SL Disc

Certainly has the advantage of a good price, to the point where I could be tempted to spend £ more and get the Ultegra equipped one! The custom colours option could be a little tempting too, however actually how good a bike is it? Not really willing to splurge that much on a bike that I can't ride beforehand.

What could well have been an option as well would've been the Thorn Audax Mk4, in "compact hydro disc" form. However let's just say my experience of SJS Cycles' post-sales customer service leaves a little to be desired (YMMV of course) and hence I'm less than willing to throw ~£2k in their direction. A pity really, because I suspect the bike would suit me quite well. :-/

I don't have enough money realistically for any of the above options at the moment, however projections say I should be able to make a purchase of whichever one I settle on towards the end of the current financial year.

The alternative to all of the above would probably be to get something like a Planet X Pro Carbon for £899, and then use the money left over plus extra saving along the way to purchase something like a Bacchetta Corsa A70 in a few years time. The Pro Carbon would be fine for anything up to 200km I'd hope, and then I could use the recumbent for anything longer that I was planning on doing later for which it would likely be better overall than any of the bikes listed above.

Switching to English from here on in ...

It seems increasingly likely that I won't be going back to Austria. :-( Well not to live there anyway, holidays remain entirely possible. Partially it's due to having settled down somewhat in Scotland, partially it's due to the hold "Brexit" thing and I suspect at least some of it is not wanting to take the risk again.

Last time the risk didn't seem so very high. My then girlfriend owned a flat in Austria so the accommodation was easily available and cheap, and since I was in my mid-30s there was plenty of time to recover if it all went wrong. If I go again I need to somehow arrange some accommodation before I go and if the whole idea is less than successful, again, then I'd "up a creek without a paddle" when it came to things like my eventual retirement.

I've been on a pair of cycling holidays in Austria since I left, and I strongly suspect there will be more in future. And who knows, if my some miracle someone was to offer me a job whilst I was out there then ... :-/

On the plus side, if I'm writing in English then I might actually update this blog on a more frequent basis?