Bicycle thread

[DougZ73]

Had a chance to get out on my new GT today. This was probably about the 5-6th ride on this bike. I had a small window to get out before a couch was to be delivered today, and taking out one of the motorcycles would not have been worth it. With the amount of cash I have dropped on motorcycling gear, and outside the MTB helmet, I refuse to drop cash on a lot of bicycle related clothing.

It was a tad chilly, and somewhat rainy(intermittent) today here in NJ, so I geared up with some full length spandex pants( usually worn under my dual sport pants), a pair or Army PT shorts, and my bright orange Klim pull over. I looked like a weird pumkin.



I got in about 10 miles total. Also from my motorcycling gear, I use a RAM mount and smart phone holder. I am able to record my tracks with it, and use it as a GPS when needed..so it is pretty useful. Today's route:

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid...9700fe98&msa=0

It was good to get out on the bike. I have noticed that the last few times I have been out on dirt bike, my endurance has been a little better..so its doing its job..and fun.

[pierce]

and I got in a 6 or so mile ride on my hybrid, putzing along at an easy pace.

they closed a few miles of West Cliff Dr today from 9-1 as a trial run for "Open Streets Santa Cruz", there were vendors, bands, drum circles, and lots and lots of people milling around the street, dogs, kids, roller bladers, a tandem pulling a full sized sofa on a trailer with a boom box (love it!) stilt walkers, a couple grungy double-decker bikes, and a gentlement in period clothes on a penny farthing!


View Larger Map

great fun.

[k7]

Originally Posted by pierce

......, a tandem pulling a full sized sofa on a trailer with a boom box (love it!)

Originally Posted by DougZ73

..... I had a small window to get out before a couch was to be delivered today,....

I take it that your couch arrived in good shape?

[DougZ73]

Originally Posted by k7

I take it that your couch arrived in good shape?

Well, yes. Thanks for asking. It was actually a replacement loveseat for one we got delivered three weeks ago, that got scratched/tear in the leather. They gave us the old" we'll be there between the hrs of 10 am and 4 pm."

So right before 9 am, I told wife I was gonna try to get out for a short ride on the bicycle.

[brianwheelies]

Originally Posted by pierce

and I got in a 6 or so mile ride on my hybrid, putzing along at an easy pace.

they closed a few miles of West Cliff Dr today from 9-1 as a trial run for "Open Streets Santa Cruz", there were vendors, bands, drum circles, and lots and lots of people milling around the street, dogs, kids, roller bladers, a tandem pulling a full sized sofa on a trailer with a boom box (love it!) stilt walkers, a couple grungy double-decker bikes, and a gentlement in period clothes on a penny farthing!


View Larger Map

great fun.

Sounds like a great time! I wish it were safe and legal to ride the 1
the entire USA west coast by bicycle....one can dream.

[pierce]

Originally Posted by brianwheelies

Sounds like a great time! I wish it were safe and legal to ride the 1
the entire USA west coast by bicycle....one can dream.

THe Pacific Coast Bike Route mostly follows 1 the whole way. It was created in 1976, I believe. The signage has largely faded away but the route is still in the books, from Vancouver to the Mexican Border.

[brianwheelies]

Originally Posted by pierce

THe Pacific Coast Bike Route mostly follows 1 the whole way. It was created in 1976, I believe. The signage has largely faded away but the route is still in the books, from Vancouver to the Mexican Border.

Really? I thought it was not legal up by Big Sur down near San Simeon. Maybe it was walking.

I may have found my next adventure!

[pierce]

Originally Posted by brianwheelies

Really? I thought it was not legal up by Big Sur down near San Simeon. Maybe it was walking.

I may have found my next adventure!

http://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Paci...e=UTF8&s=books

[TheNedster]

Other than missing the proper size clamp for the front derailleur, the new ride is built up and ready to go:



It's a 2004 LeMond Arrivee. Only the fork and stem are original, everything else is new, an LBS take-off, or donated from my 'cross bike.

Since the 'cross bike donated its shifters, derailleurs and cassette (Ultegra), it received a SRAM drivetrain as a replacement (Apex and Rival with a 10-32 cassette). I rode it today and think I may be a convert to DoubleTap. Very nice.

[neanderthal]

Originally Posted by TheNedster

Other than missing the proper size clamp for the front derailleur, the new ride is built up and ready to go:



It's a 2004 LeMond Arrivee. Only the fork and stem are original, everything else is new, an LBS take-off, or donated from my 'cross bike.

Una bella macchina

[Slimie]

Originally Posted by neanderthal

Una bella macchina

Now that really is bel mezzo!



-Simon

[ducnut]

Originally Posted by Aurelius

A local rider is looking for an inexpensive road bike. One model he's particularly interested in, because of it's low price, is the Motobecane 'Immortal Ice'. The thing that's holding him back is that Motobecane seems to have a bad reputation. I've only owned one Motobecane (600DS) and it proved to be a heap of junk, but I don't know whether that's representative of the entire brand. Anyone here know?

I got my MTB partner onto one of these. The only issue is that the rear triangle is not perfectly square (I've seen that from the big names, too). Unacceptable to me, but, he chose to not warranty it. It's a nice riding bike with a nice drivetrain. The components are worth what the bike costs.

[ducnut]

Originally Posted by brianwheelies

Really? I thought it was not legal up by Big Sur down near San Simeon. Maybe it was walking.

I may have found my next adventure!

Originally Posted by pierce

http://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Paci...e=UTF8&s=books

ACA has maps, too.

[Mercury264]

Originally Posted by pierce

I've had spoke heads break off at the hub, usually on cheap wheels, but never had a nipple break. What sort of wheel was this?

Mavic Ksyrium Elite

Originally Posted by Oznerol

I'm betting on aluminum nipples, plus an under-tensioned wheel. Al doesn't like cyclic loads, and an under-tensioned wheel will mean that each individual spoke and nipple experiences greater extremes of load.

I found a couple of broken nipples on my girlfriend's mountain bike, last time we were preparing to go for a ride. Aluminum nipples, stock machine-built wheels.

I've used aluminum nipples on some of the wheels I've built, but since I was hand-building I could ensure that they were properly tensioned; So far no problems.

Def aluminum nipple, tension was good (AFAIK - I do check them periodically as I'm on the larger side, so last time was prob a month ago )

I was out riding this weekend so I have only just got round to looking at this.

This is what I found :







So the rim is cracked. Bike is about 2 years old and I have Mavics on my other bike that have been fine so not sure what happened here. Is this a warranty job do you think ? No idea how long rims are warrantied if at all

[Aurelius]

That, in essence, is what the sales manager at a Trek dealership told me this weekend when I asked what the practical difference is between their top of the line Madone P1 and the lower end version Madone, which costs around $5000 less. He said that a pro racer or even a top level amateur could tell the difference between a modestly priced road bike and one equipped with all the cutting edge technology, and also be able to capitalize on those differences. But as for the remaining 95% of riders like me who only ride on weekends and don't race, he said buying a high dollar model would just be a case of throwing money away. Thoughts?