Ollie: Welcome to another GCN Tech Clinic where we aim to answer your bike
and tech related questions. As ever, you can submit your questions down below
in the comments section on this video and on other videos using the #AskGCNTech. We'll aim to answer
as many of them as possible. First question is from Paul Chua who asks, "What are the advantages
or drawbacks of using time trial specific tires on a road bike in particular a climbing bike?"
Great question, Paul. Well, the advantages of using a time trial specific tire are that
they're usually lighter than a standard road tire and also exhibit lower rolling resistance.
They're maximized for speed and maximized for time trial applications. They usually have
lower rolling resistance, because the carcass is thinner on the tire. Sometimes,
they use a slightly faster compound as well. Now, this means that you can ride faster for
the same effort using these tires because of that lower rolling resistance, but because the carcass
is thinner and the tire is a lighter construction, the disadvantages are that they often wear out
quicker. They're not as higher mileage tire. They have much less puncture protection in there,
because they're all about speed, so your chances of puncturing on them is much higher
specifically on dirty, wet, wintry roads. It's basically weighing that up. Do you
want a puncture? Consequently, I would say for a hill climb bike where you're racing up a hill,
absolutely, a great thing to put on a hill climb bike. For other applications,
you're probably better off using a general purpose tire to increase
your puncture protection and just longevity of the tire. Unless you've got very deep pockets.
The next question is from Tube Le Thomas. It's not really a question. It's more of a statement. It's
in regard to a question we answered about a month ago regarding what is the best way to eat a banana
while riding along. Now, Tube Le Thomas says, "You should use the one-handed banana opening technique
"monkey style". You should open your banana the way the apes do it. Flip it upside down, which is
actually the top of the banana and squeeze what normally is the bottom of the banana. And then
you will find that it opens up super easy." Well, every day is a school day here on the
GCN Tech Clinic. What I can say is, that having consulted a zoologist, I'm going to draw a few
plot holes in your comment there, Tube Le Thomas. Because apparently if a banana was found by an ape
in the wild, they wouldn't really know what to do with it and they'd probably just bite
through the skin and eat it normally. Apparently, they're not accustomed to eating bananas.
That's an urban myth that you've spouted there. However, it does work. Your technique is sound.
It's just it's technologically or technically incorrect to refer as a monkey style. Anyway,
thanks for sharing that with the rest of us. Next question is from Shamanth KS who says,
"My saddle gets loose after riding a few miles, especially on bumpy roads even if he tightens it
to its fullest potential. Is there any way I can prevent my saddle becoming loose?" He says that,
"This is not the saddle height adjustment. It's not the saddle slipping in the seat post.
It's the tilt and full aft of the saddle that's moving." The first thing to do is to check over
the components and see if they've become worn. There's a chance that surfaces that are actually
held together by friction that over time if they're dirty they can wear against each
other and then become loose. Check if that's not the case. What you could also do is apply some
fiber grip compound. This is particularly useful. Also known as carbon assembly paste which is used
for carbon and alloy surfaces that are then coming into contact with each other. There are also
compounds that you can use on just metal or metal surfaces as well.
Apply some of that. Hopefully, that will increase the friction between the two surfaces and stop
them slipping against each other. Also, if you've got a torque wrench,
make sure the torques are correct as without using a torque wrench, you've got no way of knowing.
If your problem still persists, unfortunately, it might mean that you have to replace some
components on your bike as they may be damaged. Aidan Pearce has a question next. "I'm assuming
gravel bikes are used in cyclocross. What's to stop someone for putting wider tires on a
road bike and just treating it as a gravel bike? Aren't the frames basically the same?" First up,
you could use a gravel bike as a cyclocross bike as long as it was a non-UCI event,
as gravel bikes aren't technically UCI legal. In terms of putting on gravel tires onto
a road bike, what's generally going to stop you doing that is the tire clearance. Most
road bikes don't have anywhere near the tire clearance of a gravel bike although this does
change from frame to frame and brand to brand. Road bike tire clearance is increasing seemingly
year on year. At the moment now, the biggest I've seen on road bikes that I have is around
32 millimeters which also doesn't account for knobbly treads. The knobbly tread seems to add a
bit more onto that as well. With the knobbly tread you're not going to have adequate clearance. Even
if you can just about fit in a 32-millimeter tire into a road bike, it's then a very, very snug fit,
which means that as soon as you start getting dirt and debris building up on the tires that
you get when you ride off-road and through mud and stuff, that dirt is then clogging up in the
frame because there isn't that big tire clearance. Then that's rubbing against the frame, damaging it
and it's just not efficient. Also, your statement about aren't the frames basically the same. No.
It's not just tire clearance. Gravel frames are also designed to be quite a bit different in a
number of other ways as well. Things like the bottom bracket drops normally more clearance
on a gravel frame. The compliance and the geometry of a gravel frame is usually different.
They're just generally built up and to be a bit beefier to take more abuse off-road.
MasJoko has a question next about compatibility of different components on a groupset. He says. "Hi,
Ollie and Alex. I have a secondhand Shimano 105 5700 10 speed groupset." He doesn't have
the brifters. "I'm desperate to look for some 5700 10 speed shifters in my country. They're
quite hard to get hold of. What do you guys think? Should I change the shifters to another 10 speed
shifter from Shimano like a 4700? Or should I just buy some cheap Chinese ones off AliExpress?"
Well, there's a website si.shimano.com which is a great resource for doing compatibility checks of
different components for different groupsets and checking that they work across each other. You can
check out on there. The Shimano 4700 shifters you talk about will work fine with the 5700 groupset,
because they have the same pull ratio on the 10 speed shifters. That's important for the cable
tension through the derailleurs and stuff. Yes, they work absolutely fine. They will
work. You can use them. I would advise against using random
cheap Chinese unbranded stuff, because it can often be pretty unreliable out there. There's
quite a few videos on the internet that pertain to that. That would be my advice.
I'd go with the 4700s. A question from Dries Verhauwaert. I think I got that near enough.
Sorry, Dries. He says he just bought a new bike. It's his first carbon fiber bike. He's wanting
to ride on his Tacx indoor trainer now, because it's winter. It's getting dark. I don't blame you.
He's heard from some people that riding on an indoor trainer can be bad for a carbon fiber bike.
"Is this true? Can I use my bike on my indoor trainer? Or should I just stay away from it?"
Well, some brands did used to say don't use our bikes on an indoor trainer.
I think this was a bit of fear of the unknown and just covering their backs just in case, because
they weren't sure how bad it was going to be. Now, that seems to have disappeared. Pretty much,
all carbon bikes now sold are fine for indoor trainers. I'm struggling to think of a brand
that says that you can't. I wouldn't worry about it. I've used carbon bikes on indoor trainers for
many years. Never had a problem and I don't know anyone that's had a problem. One thing to be aware
of though is that if you are using your bike on the trainer and you don't want to damage it,
just wipe off any sweat that lands on there as this can get into bearings and rust components
as it's, well, basically salty water. Just be aware of that. I think you should be fine
to ride your bike on your indoor trainer. Our next question is from Matthew Ho. It is
a really cool one. He says, "With the narrowing price of Dura-Ace mechanical and Ultegra Di2,
which has the better bang for your buck?" You're right. In price, they're very close
together. Which would you get? Well, if it was me, my personal take on it, I would go Di2,
because I think-- when we've done the blindfold test in the past between even Dura-Ace mechanical
and 105 mechanical, it's genuinely really hard to tell the difference, because the shifting quality
of 105 mechanical is so good. It's so comparable to Dura-Ace,
that there isn't really that big of a step up in performance. It's just that Dura-Ace is lighter.
Whereas, as soon as you switch on to Di2, the shifting performance of Di2 is amazing.
It's really good. That is the biggest game changer in shifting performance.
If it were me, I'd go with Di2. That'd be my personal take on it.
Di2 components are now very reliable. They last an incredible amount of time. Yes, that's
what I would go with, but it's up to you. Rick Snyder, this is our last question this week
says, "On longer rides energy bars can get me so far but I find myself craving protein.
Can you recommend a protein based jersey pocket snack that isn't too messy,
won't spoil, and won't feel like a gut bomb?" Well, I mean there are a lot of nutrition brands
out there that make protein bars and protein specific products you can take on rides.
These are great. There's also protein and carb drinks and some pros do actually consume these
out on rides. Enervit makes loads of different products that you can use and stuff like that.
I think sometimes as well you can take real food out on rides. It's something that
a lot of pro riders do, is take the little paninis out on rides. What they do is, they get little
brioche rolls, cut them open and put in things like ham and cheese. These are really popular
snack that's been around for 100 years that pro riders have been taking out on rides. Something
like that is good, or if you wanted to go down the classic [unintelligible 00:11:48] route,
you could take some [unintelligible 00:11:50] with you on your rides. Again,
nutrition is so individual and something that upsets one person's stomach, is going to be fine
with another person. Kind of experiment and try things yourself and find out what works for you.
Unfortunately, that's all we've got time for this week. I hope you've enjoyed the show and I hope I
got around to answering one of your questions. If I didn't, keep your questions coming because
I love answering them and I try and answer as many of them as possible. Hopefully, I will get round
to your question eventually. If you need a bit of last-minute Christmas shopping, quick plug,
GCN shop. Loads of stocking fillers in there. Loads of amazing ideas for the cyclist in your
life or if you want to just treat yourself. Even if you're buying for an non-cyclist,
just buy them a cycling present anyway. Whatever. Anyway, and you can keep the present yourself.
I'll see you in the next one. Bye. [00:12:46] [END OF AUDIO]