Bicycle thread

[pierce]

Originally Posted by Dahveed

A hundred bucks seems reasonable unless the frame and wheels are shot. For a $100 I'd expect to be replacing some of the components and doing some basic maintenance as well.

Its hard to go too wrong on a $100 bike unless the frame is cracked or bent.

As long as the wheels aren't totally trashed beyond repair, everything else should be minor. the parts look functional, just maybe need little stuff like fresh cables, some cleaning and lubing. new shoes on the V-brakes, and clean the rims. check the headset, wheels, and bottom bracket for play. its all fixable, just costs more time and/or money.

[rajflyboy]

Originally Posted by ajmaki

well, even though I'm poorer than sin, I finally pulled the trigger on getting a new bike. Picked up this little gem on friday, a jamis trail x3




Rides alright, reasonably light, pretty cheap. Its a 17" frame. Probably should have held out for a durango 1, but this should do well for some light duty trail riding and around town commuting either way. I put 25 miles on it saturday, my legs still feel like jelly, let alone the ass region. Not a particularly comfy seat haha. Also managed to endo it doing nose wheelies - the disks are a little grabby compared to the rim brakes on the old roadmaster! I think I may have to go bitch to the shop though, as the fork seals appear to be leaking. Hopefully this isnt a sign of things to come.

I think next I'll be getting clip in pedals. Anybody have any reccomendations? For a college kid too, so think champagne on a beer budget.

Nice bike! Congrats!!!

[pilot]

Originally Posted by pierce

As long as the wheels aren't totally trashed beyond repair, everything else should be minor. the parts look functional, just maybe need little stuff like fresh cables, some cleaning and lubing. new shoes on the V-brakes, and clean the rims. check the headset, wheels, and bottom bracket for play. its all fixable, just costs more time and/or money.

Thanks, I'm learning here.

[pierce]

so someone makes a crack in a PM about how tiny that frame was and how they are glad its not their back... I just tape measured it...

the 'virtual' top tube length is 22", or 56cm, measured from the intersection of the centerline of the top tube and the headtube, dead level to the centerline of the virtual seattube aka seat post.

and the virtual frame size, BB center to virtual TT center along the seatpost is 19" or 48cm...

so its a little short, but not -that- short. I rode a 23" in old style road frames.

its actually 1-2" *longer* wheelbase than my old cruiser?!?!? (I just eyeballed the two frames), I think this is virtue of a longer fork rake. it handles really nicely at very low speeds, quite stable and not at all twitchy (my cruiser could sometimes get twitchy at 2-3MPH walking speeds, and also could get a little wobbly at 30mph downhills if I wasn't real careful with my bar input)

I'm a thinking, I'm gonna -like- this ride. Meanwhile, brakes, and shifters are installed and cabled. just waiting for the bottom bracket, crankset, so I can slap a chain on it and go to town.

updated picture with latest additions...



sigh, v-brakes don't particularly like my preference for right hand front brake, backwards from the bike industry standard. the cable gets pretty sharply bent and wants to put a little lean on the brake making it harder to keep them centered. I have their spring pins in the middle position, maybe I should go for a little more spring tension so the cable torque is less important.

[Crocodile Tears]

Originally Posted by rajflyboy

Nice bike! Congrats!!!

thanks! did another 15 easy miles tonight as I didn't want to blow my friend off the road. However, I did make a point of riding a circle around him

Hitting the MTU trails tomorrow for the first time on the new steed, should be interesting to see how that goes. I'm trying to make a point of riding at least 4x a week so I can lose my beer muscle to the point of not scaring attractive women.

[pierce]

Originally Posted by OldRoadToad

Nice looking bicycle. I own an aluminum framed Mongoose Redondo from several years ago. It has the four speed internal hub and I fitted a Brookes B17 saddle in honey brown along with a moustache handle bar I bought from Rivendell.

I have not ridden it for some time now, but that is due to when ever I ride a bike for any length of time I tend to lose weight and that is not some thing I wish to do right now. I all so have a recumbent, albeit the least expensive Easy Racers model. A nice bike it is, too.

The Toad

see, losing weight is my goal. I found myself hovering around 225 lbs for the past couple years, and got fed up with it. i would love to see 180 again but I'll settle for 200 lbs and decently fit

Easy Racers are sweet. i think they are from Santa Cruz County here, in Watsonville.

ps. we want pictures of your bicycles

[ducnut]

Does anybody here wear the loose MTB style shorts?

I see that most have some sort of chamois liner. Does that liner fit like lycra shorts?

I'm wondering if a short like this would be suitable for more casual rides; like around town. I'm concerned about the outer layer bunching up and causing irritation.

[EvilGenius]

I find a cheap pair of I'll boxers help keep bunching to a minimum, but they obviously don't fit as tightly.

[kbasa]

Originally Posted by EvilGenius

Ah, I'll grab some new socks next time we hit the store.

We got a bunch of those baby wipes already, I'll throw some in a ziplock bag.

Remember to apply to crotchal areas.

[Oznerol]

Originally Posted by ajmaki

Hitting the MTU trails tomorrow for the first time on the new steed, should be interesting to see how that goes.

MTU as in Michigan Tech?

[Crocodile Tears]

Originally Posted by Oznerol

MTU as in Michigan Tech?

yessir! I'll be graduating in december from that hellhole. Actually its not too bad. Industrial Technology - hopefully I can find a job so I can buy a real bike

[kbasa]

Originally Posted by ducnut

Does anybody here wear the loose MTB style shorts?

I see that most have some sort of chamois liner. Does that liner fit like lycra shorts?

I'm wondering if a short like this would be suitable for more casual rides; like around town. I'm concerned about the outer layer bunching up and causing irritation.

I've got a pair of Cannondale MTB shorts that work great. The liner's decent and the pants just snap to the liner. It's got giant pockets, but I don't really keep anything in them when I'm riding.

No problems with bunching at all. Just be careful to get them in a length that allows for decent pedal form.

I wear them with a non logo'd road jersey or a decent MTB pullover. If I wear the MTB pullover, I use a Camelbak that has enough room to carry my snacks and Nuun tabs, sunscreen, camera, phone, wallet and any layers I peel off. If I wear a street jersey all that crap fits in my pockets and I wear a thinner Camelbak.

Don't forget chamois cream!

TMI Moment: Now that I'm "of a certain age" some of my boy parts tend to stick to my leg. Chamois cream keeps that from happening. Worth the money to eliminate any potential chafing issues.

[pierce]

Don't know much about geography
Don't know much trigonometry
Don't know much about algebra...

I photochopped some numbers I measured...



same top tube length as a 56c CX bike. same head angle too, but shorter trail on the fork (I didn't measure my trail, but it sure looks shorter in the pictures). same chain stay length.

[Oznerol]

Originally Posted by ajmaki

yessir! I'll be graduating in december from that hellhole. Actually its not too bad. Industrial Technology - hopefully I can find a job so I can buy a real bike

Congrats!

My girlfriend is an MTU alum. We went to Houghton a few years ago for vacation, revisiting her old haunts. I was pretty new to mountain biking at the time, and I think the MTU Trails were the first time that I realized that mountain biking could be as much fun as motorcycling.

[EvilGenius]

How do you measure out the different parts of a frame?

I don't plan on making my own anytime soon, but I'm curious how that's done.

Specifically for a road bike.