All about bicycles

[]-[@n$0Ma☩!©]

My story should be ready to tell in 6-8 days. Shoes arrived Tuesday. Pedals from Italy, via Germany yesterday. Bike has been in transit the longest, but UPS finally got it from California to Illinois - still the wrong side of the border.

Oh, I've seen the shoes on Book of Faces. Sergio will be jealous. Looking forward to seeing the build.

Here's a hint for mine.

 

[ducmike]

Oh, I've seen the shoes on Book of Faces. Sergio will be jealous. Looking forward to seeing the build.

Here's a hint for mine.

Reference to Lauf? Or, something vintage? Either way I'm sure it will be sweet.

The LBS called this morning to tell me my new gravel bike is in, dropped off my roadie earlier to match the fit. Should be ready later today. I'm thinking about having Cindy take me up there so I can ride it home.... except it's well over 100F right now, might wait until morning.

 

[]-[@n$0Ma☩!©]

Reference to Lauf? Or, something vintage? Either way I'm sure it will be sweet.

The LBS called this morning to tell me my new gravel bike is in, dropped off my roadie earlier to match the fit. Should be ready later today. I'm thinking about having Cindy take me up there so I can ride it home.... except it's well over 100F right now, might wait until morning.

No but a Lauf fork was an option. I gave it serious consideration but decided to keep it rigid front and rear.

Can’t wait to see photos of your new ride.

 

[tiboy]

Very nice accessory - i might look into one.
On another note - anyone familiar with tandems? My wife and I were considering one but have heard lots of pros and cons.

Tandems are a matter of perspective. If you want a divorce, get a tandem. It delivers. If you don’t want a divorce, forego the tandem. Forbearance will not prevent a divorce, but it will increase your odds drastically.

 

[veinbuster]

Very nice accessory - i might look into one.
On another note - anyone familiar with tandems? My wife and I were considering one but have heard lots of pros and cons.

They can be ok for toodling around, but it is hard to match two riders up well.

As an observer, they can work if the person in front is an avid cyclist and doesn’t mind working for two and the person in the back doesn’t care much but is willing to indulge their partner’s obsession by hanging out on the back of the bike and not see what they are about to crash into.

It also works if the person on the back is blind.

 

[gioforce76]

I took my bike out for the first time in many years and realized 2 things , im not young anymore and where I live there are way too many hills. I did about 4 miles then had to come uphill. I was so out of breathe and was thinking of just leaving the bike there and calling for a ride.it was brutal. I ended up walking the bike up the big hill. im going to have to work myself up to the hills on the way back. hopefully it wont take long.

 

[Rockula]

i have a Pinarello Radius that was contracted out to Dario Pegoretti to build. Just yesterday I was wondering what Dario was up to in 2020 and was sad to see that he passed in 2018. I hadn't even heard that.

I should treat it better and throw full Campy on there and a decent wheelset. Maybe someday.

Like this maybe?

Campy 11 speed, but all alloy. No carbon should ever be attached to classic Italian steel...

 

[Kiwi]

Well, my regular ride is a 2005 Specialized Roubaix Elite, with the triple chainring for the granny gear up front. Kind of a lot of money at the time.

It was my first-ever carbon-fiber frame, and I instantly fell in love with it. Rides like a Cadillac, drives like a BMW. Never going back to steel or aluminum. Back when I clocked my rides, it delivered 1:00 to 1:30 improvements in measured times around a 10-mile circuit. Now I'm an old guy and I've turned off the clock. Just here to enjoy the ride.

I've ridden it now for 15 years, about 1000 miles a year, around and around and around a local lake's bike path. I've worn out a full set of gears in back, chains, cables, brakes, and countless tires. My awesome drive power - not - had worn out the bottom bracket, so that was replaced too.

Every time I think of replacing it, I'm reminded: I replaced all the wearables just two years ago, to replace it entirely would be a new PRS price, and there are no bikes available this summer anyway!

=K

 

[ducmike]

I took my bike out for the first time in many years and realized 2 things , im not young anymore and where I live there are way too many hills. I did about 4 miles then had to come uphill. I was so out of breathe and was thinking of just leaving the bike there and calling for a ride.it was brutal. I ended up walking the bike up the big hill. im going to have to work myself up to the hills on the way back. hopefully it wont take long.

Keep at it, get's easier the more you do it. Plus, you will feel great the more you do it too.

 

[veinbuster]

I took my bike out for the first time in many years and realized 2 things , im not young anymore and where I live there are way too many hills. I did about 4 miles then had to come uphill. I was so out of breathe and was thinking of just leaving the bike there and calling for a ride.it was brutal. I ended up walking the bike up the big hill. im going to have to work myself up to the hills on the way back. hopefully it wont take long.

It’s all right to walk the last bit of a hill. One of these days you'll make it all the way and rightfully feel like the king of the mountain.

I live surrounded by hills. I have to climb one to go anywhere from the house, and then back up the other side of it to come home.

Maybe check for a rail trail in the area. They tend to be relatively flat, and if there is a climb, it is a relaxed grade. Trains didn’t do steep hills well.

 

[gioforce76]

It’s all right to walk the last bit of a hill. One of these days you'll make it all the way and rightfully feel like the king of the mountain.

I live surrounded by hills. I have to climb one to go anywhere from the house, and then back up the other side of it to come home.

Maybe check for a rail trail in the area. They tend to be relatively flat, and if there is a climb, it is a relaxed grade. Trains didn’t do steep hills well.

There is a bike path nearby but it’s not always the safest bike path , it Ashlee cause it’s very nice bit a lot of muggings on certain parts of it.

 

[dmatthews]

First use of the new rack/bag/pannier system today. I went for an adult beverage run. I bought a 15 can pack of beer, and a 26er of both Luksusowa vodka, and Crown Royal.
Two rookie mistakes were made:
1) If you're going to buy two glass bottles of anything, bring something to separate them. Clinking and clanking over bumps is obnoxious.
2) On the way home I started hearing noises... tick tick tickety tick... I stopped and found that the ends of the elastic cords that fasten to the bottom of the pannier racks were lightly hitting the spokes on both sides of the wheel. Sorted.

As you can see, a 15 pack just barely makes it into the pannier. It's stable and in no way in danger of coming out, but you can't close the top.



A little lopsided.





The rack has a suggested weight limit of 20lbs as I recall, and this load would probably be around 15 - 17lbs I'm guessing.
Riding was easy. No noticeable issues at all with the exception that you need to be prepared for the extra weight when leaning the bike over.
The rack stayed put with zero issues. No shifting or moving over about 9km round trip with obviously half of that loaded down.
Tomorrow will be a grocery run. I will add the backpack to that experiment.

 

[Screamingdaisy]

Custom build.

 

[dmatthews]

Custom build.

Who made it, what were your specs, and why?

 

[Screamingdaisy]

Who made it, what were your specs, and why?

I did.

Specs - The gist is that I try to buy parts from companies that innovate and push the sport forward.

In BMX, once you get past a certain price point they stop offering complete bikes. Top of the line is all sold at the component level. You buy everything down to the headset individually and build it yourself. Even those wheels are one offs (Fly hoops, DT Swiss spokes and nipples, G Sport hubs and Fly Kevlar tires and tubes. The rear hub has been modified with a 20mm aluminum female axle and 10t driver, and you’ll note that it’s left hand drive).

 

[dmatthews]

I did.

Specs - The gist is that I try to buy parts from companies that innovate and push the sport forward.

In BMX, once you get past a certain price point they stop offering complete bikes. Top of the line is all sold at the component level. You buy everything down to the headset individually and build it yourself. Even those wheels are one offs (Fly hoops, DT Swiss spokes and nipples, G Sport hubs and Fly Kevlar tires and tubes. The rear hub has been modified with a 20mm aluminum female axle and 10t driver, and you’ll note that it’s left hand drive).

Interesting. What's the reason for the lefty drive?

 

[Screamingdaisy]

Interesting. What's the reason for the lefty drive?

I grind on the right. Ideally you want your chain and sprocket on the opposite side that you grind on.

Video isn’t me... just throwing it up as an example.

 

[veinbuster]

Custom build.

That looks like brilliant fun.

 

[dmatthews]

Success on the grocery run!
26 items/$136 worth. Did not need the trunk bag space, just the panniers and backpack.





No rookie mistakes this trip.

 

[bodia]

I did.

Specs - The gist is that I try to buy parts from companies that innovate and push the sport forward.

In BMX, once you get past a certain price point they stop offering complete bikes. Top of the line is all sold at the component level. You buy everything down to the headset individually and build it yourself. Even those wheels are one offs (Fly hoops, DT Swiss spokes and nipples, G Sport hubs and Fly Kevlar tires and tubes. The rear hub has been modified with a 20mm aluminum female axle and 10t driver, and you’ll note that it’s left hand drive).

Man, this brings back good memories from the early 80s. Me and my buddies built so many bikes from the ground up. I can’t tell you where we got the money to do it, but we did.