coldfusionPaul

i usually find less crap on the roads the further from bangkok i get.

kanchanaburi? yeah you are lucky ;-) i have to go 100km just to see hills.

i've read that all folding clincher tires have some amount of kelvar in them (else they couldn't fold??). where do you normally buy tires at in bangkok? probike? going to try to find those tricomp ones you suggested. hopefully paying double this time round will get me double the mileage.

i pump my tires up to 100-120 depending on the road conditions (less pressure when i think i'm going to be on long stretches of bad roads). though as i said, i don't get pinch flats.

uh i ended up at 650 baht panaracer tires. i used to run top of the line hutchison (though by & large these were pretty poor) , continental, etc tires (1k-3k baht) & got about the same mileage on them. these panaracers, besides being easy to find, seem to be a bit better value (though not as good as the impossible to find kenda tires), about 0.4 baht /km vs 0.6 baht/km. though in all honesty i was probably being overcharged for the top-of-the-line "racing" tires (like i needed racing tires ;-)

never seen Vredestein Fortezza Tri Comp, where did you get them?

yes my front tires last considerably longer, it's the back ones that avg around 1500km.

where do you ride 5k & not get any flats? my long rides cover their first & last 10km in bangkok & cross several bridges (the pavement over these things is generally pathetic besides the builders not having a concept of ramps) & that's where i get the most flats except 304 into chachoengsao which is littered with metal shards & broken glass where i've shredded brand new tires (not included in my stats).

thanks.

yeah i'm a "big" guy & probably should roll 700x26 but those are impossible to find so its 700x23. though i can't see a > 3x difference attributed to weight & pretty much never get pinch flats. maybe i just have a lower tolerance for flats. how many exactly is "without many flats"? worst case pushing > 1500km is 6 flats on one 200km ride. if i start getting 1 or 2 flats on every 200km ride then i toss the tire. just changed rear tire & counted 11 slices/cuts in it that resulted in 4 flats (one a week), it ran just shy of 1560km. the only brand that i ever got more than 1500km out of was kenda but i can't find any LBS that supply them (i guess they simply last too long).

i ride the road shoulder when there is one or whatever the smoothest line is if there's not one (though usually left 1/3 of lane). i'm also keenly aware of glass, etc. i'll stop & inspect when i notice i've run through any patches (got a pair of tweezers for that) & i also inspect every water/food stop.

swapping rear with front? i was taught the opposite, newest tire on front for steering but i rarely do any swapping.

i've even tried those plastic & kelvar liners (installed by "experts") but never really worked for me--although i never got any punctures with them, those actually caused pinch flats.

i've tried a bunch of different brands (panaracer, victorio, hutchison, etc.) of road bike tires but i can't seem to get more than 1500km out of any of them (going much past 1500km sees the frequency of flats go through the roof). is that normal? anyone suggest a tire brand (available in bangkok or i guess online) that might last longer or is a better value than what i'm currently using panaracer @650 baht a pop.

thanks.

added some more reports. see map here

yeah i would like to see the route actually but that site seems to be only a wordpress placeholder.

how many days for that ride? how many km? etc.?

Just checked prices on some stores online in Bkk and prices are higher by a lot than in Germany. Has anyone actually bought a bike in another country and imported it to Thailand? Thinking of buying one in Germany or Taiwan and then importing it VAT free or with Thai VAT into Thailand. Any recomendations on how to do this? First idea buy it Vietnam (example) and drive it over the border and then hop on a bus. If it saves 1000€ I start thinking about it :-)

35% customs as mentioned would make the bike very expensive as it will cost like 2500€. A

Thanks!

the advertised & sticker prices are only guidelines. you should be able to get 10-20% off & even more if you go for last year's or older model.

When are you planning on doing this ride? A friend and I will be sussing out the general area via

yesterday ;-)

all this rain has put the kibosh on any riding for the time being.

fixies? that's pretty much pure fashion, little to do with cycling & more like a catwalk. helmet-less, brake-less, ignoring stop signs & traffic lights, those hipsters are more likely to end up in a hospital or dead than do much "riding".

to me there's very little "awesome" in those kids.

the bike snob has a pretty funny take here: http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2010/10/more-things-change-ushering-in-new.html

trying a ride to pattaya along this route: http://connect.garmi...ctivity/8538323 i've done this route a couple of times before but wondering about the road conditions given the insane amount of construction going on lately. its basically

- 304 to chachoengsao,

- 315 down past phanat nikom,

- 349 down to nong chak,

- 3138 down to 331 (near khao khan song),

- 331 to khao mai kaeo

- 3240 into pattaya

any news for road construction?

thanks.

you can try searching for bike routes here: http://connect.garmin.com/explore (use "Road Cycling" in the 1st search field & "Suphan Buri, Thailand" in the 2nd)

i've only been west of the city/chao phraya river once, it was the suck. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/9674869

can anyone recommend a decent road bike shop down past sukumwit 103 or bang na way?

thanks.

yeah on the cobblestones no less.

just FYI, found a few via garmin connect

just spent 30 minutes trying to get a kenda tube in a panaracer 700x23 up in nakhon nayok, took 3 attempts. it looks like where the valve is attached to the tube is just a bit too big & won't easily fit inside the clincher. needed to pump it up a couple of times to get it to finally fit.

it appears i'll be in nan for a few days later this year, can anyone recommend any good road bike routes from the city? 200km or so round trip.

thanks.

apparently these forums don't like iframes, etc. nor multiple edits. so....

first cut at road construction tracking app click on the visualize menu then map to see locations or use this to go directly to the map.

first cut at road construction tracking app:

[media][/media]

seen 25-sep-2010:

• 305 inbound is still getting worked on, maybe final layer of asphalt? road surface is marginally improved but riding from Catholic church in ongkharak to khlong 14 shook the blood out of my arms again.
• out-bound suwinthawong/ram indra road from the bridge over khlong san suk to nimit mai intersection is still messed up pretty bad though it looks like some progress has been made (by who i couldn't say, only saw one worker & he was cooking rice).
• in-bound suwinthawong/ram indra road still messed up from nimit mai intersection to around rom klao intersection (some progress also).
• and no surprise, rural route #2006 (lum sai-lum lukka pathumthani) is still an utter mess, funny thing if you look 500m to the north you'll see this interior ministry building (dept of provincial administration). look out your windows much?

• You are what you eat. Jens Voigt eats spring steel for breakfast, fire for lunch, and a mixture of titanium and carbon fiber for dinner. For between-meal snacks he eats men's souls, and downs it with a tall cool glass of The Milk of Human Suffering.
• Someone once told Jens Voigt to "dig deep". That is how geologists know the earth's core contains an iron-nickel alloy.
• Jens Voigt has four heart rate training zones: anger, rage, fury and breakaway.
• SRM had to jury-rig a special power meter with stolen parts in order to measure Jen's output. As a result, the nuclear power plant is no longer operational.
  
• Once when Jens put the hammer down driving the peloton, some riders just dropped off the back, others had their entire existence wiped off the time-space continuum.
  
• Jens Voigt crashed spectacularly during the 2009 Tour de France. The resulting impact created a mound of earth that is visible to this day. It is called "Col du Tourmalet".
  
• Jens Voigt grinds his coffee with his teeth and boils the water with his own rage.
  

jens voigt facts

train, train & train some more. besides the distance training you should also do intervals as these will quickly help build up your strength & speed. do the training on the hilliest ground you can find.

once you're fit enough you should consider the timing, during the rainy season the days will be longer & the wind will be in your favor (S/SW) but its, you know, raining ;-) the winter's of course cooler but the days are shorter & the wind will be against you (N).

you'll need to do some considerable planning, which routes, food & water along the way, accommodations, support/solo, equipment, etc. 200km/day is reasonable but will be harder to maintain all day in the hills & against the wind.

ianf's suggestion about not wearing underwear is probably the best advice i've ever heard, wish somebody told me that when i started riding. saddle sores are not fun at all. i'd also add lubricating with petroleum jelly or whatever isn't a bad idea.

seen 4-sep-2010:

• in-bound #305 has improved, road surface is still pretty rough in spots for a road bike & there's those idiotic "drainage runnels" cut across the shoulder but it's better than last week.
• out-bound suwinthawong/ram indra road from the bridge over khlong san suk to nimit mai intersection is messed up pretty badly. looks like road widening, left lane, road shoulder gone.
• in-bound suwinthawong/ram indra road also road widening from nimit mai intersection to around rom klao intersection.

i guess all the MTB folks are happy with all this road construction ;-)

follow up, bought "wet" lube to see how well it works in what remains of the rainy season (funny thing had to ride all the way up to ban na to get it, LBS was out of any kind of lube ;-)

Exactly as Somchai stated.

Otherwise why would there be different lubes?

Or do you think it's all marketing?

no idea why there would be different lubes, never even knew there were different lubes (beyond "wet" vs "dry") until that post.

marketing? maybe. 90% of the cycling industry is marketing these days.

@el jefe

that's interesting. never had recommendations to change lube for rainy season. what's the difference between dry/waxy lube & Tri-Flow" or "ProLink" that you recommend?