Bicycle thread

[Bimble]

Originally Posted by Mercury264

But sadly, it has the dreaded direct connection to the valve. I really dislike them - I did look for something like this with a flexible adapter but I couldn't find one.

Check out the Topeak Road Morph.

http://www.topeak.com/products/Mini-Pumps/RoadMorphG

[pierce]

Originally Posted by Stinez

I have one like that I take on long self-sufficient M/C trips because of the chance of multiple flats in the middle of nowere.

I don't see multiple bicycle flats in the middle of nowhere as a likely issue. (Knock on wood and bring the cell phone. )
That's why I like the idea of a small CO2 filler.

Classically, its when you think you've fixed the flat, pump it up, only to discover you still have a slow leak, and have to patch it again. Once I ran over thumbtacks some vandal had strewn across a bike path and flatted both wheels at once. I had one spare tubular with me. oops. As I was 50+ miles from home, and living in a city I'd just moved to and knew no one I could call, I had to deal with a sewup patch on the side of the road. Luckily, I had a lot of practice patching those old Clement setas, heh, took me about 30 minutes to peel the tape off, unstitch the casing around the flat, pull out enough of the latex inner tube to patch, then stitched it back up, glued the rim tape back on with the tube of tubasti I had in my kit(*), then glued the rim back onto the wheel. I stopped a couple other cyclists from doing the same thing, and we cleaned the trail up before more carnage.

one century, I had 3 flats but was only carrying two spares. that time, another rider traded me one of his spares for one of my flatted ones (mine were better tires).


(*) emergency practice only. ruins the tire for the long run, you're supposed to use latex for this but that wasn't something I usually carried..

[Mr Head]

I only managed about an hour again. Though I did stay off the hills I rode pretty hard. Had to stop and re-thread the outer cogs back on the old freewheel they had come loose.

The bars to stem interface is getting worse, I'll have to take it apart when the rain hits Thursday and see what I can do about it. Need to replace the tape again anyway.

Track map

Great weather light breeze to keep me cool and only about 46% humidity. A couple weeks of these laps I can go home and ride to the beach and back.

[pierce]

Originally Posted by Mr Head

The bars to stem interface is getting worse, I'll have to take it apart when the rain hits Thursday and see what I can do about it. Need to replace the tape again anyway.

take the clamp bolt(s) out, clean and grease the threads and shoulder of the bolt carefully. degrease the stem-bar contact surfaces with a little alcohol or paint thinner or something, then reassemble. the greased bolt will torque down better.

[Mr Head]

Originally Posted by pierce

take the clamp bolt(s) out, clean and grease the threads and shoulder of the bolt carefully. degrease the stem-bar contact surfaces with a little alcohol or paint thinner or something, then reassemble. the greased bolt will torque down better.

I'll give that a try Thursday night. I'm waiting on crappy weather. I got it better last night. The bolt is worn a bit, (new in 1983...), the bike has a good many miles on it.
I am hoping to ride the thing until the real bad weather and dark hit later this Fall. Then probably fleabay the thing in pieces.

Back to playing with schedules...

[ducnut]

I did my first night ride, last night. I started out on the rail-to-trail for 12 miles then took off out through the country and made a loop back to town. I managed 35 miles. I met 1 car and had 1 pass me in 23 miles of road riding. I had a nice breeze, full moon, and plenty of tranquility. Definitely, one of my better rides.

Unfortunately, lights don't give a good sense of terrain. Many of the country roads, around here, have extremely soft areas. I hit one of those and had to bail off the left side. I walked out of it, jumped on the bike, only to hit another one a hundred yards later. I wasn't so fortunate on that one and fell on my right side. Luckily, it was like falling on a beach of gravel. Another thing is, what looks like road patch can be a pothole. It's very hard to differentiate color in the darkness. Lastly, the trail is like a tunnel in the trees, in a lot of places. The critters like to build webs to catch other critters. Some of the webs spanned the whole trail, like 12'-15' across. I could see them, even with a limited light source. Worse yet I could see what had made them and managed to snag a couple critters while blowing through. I'm arachnophobic, so I won't be on the trail, in the future, at night.

This was the first passenger I picked up, riding the aerobar (cell pic). My bike and myself were covered in webs, by the time I left the trail. Ugh!


I didn't know I snagged this one. I felt something on my head and thought "Spider!!!!". I discovered this one, 12 miles after leaving the trail, so it'd been up there a while. It had a fly in its mouth. Creepy!

[ducnut]

For those who care, the 2011 Specialized product line is up at their site.

[Mr Head]

Originally Posted by ducnut

For those who care, the 2011 Specialized product line is up at their site.

The blue and white Roubaix is nice looking, but I'll need a few months to wear out the 2010 I just got a couple of weeks ago, and only rode once.

[Stinez]

Originally Posted by ducnut

For those who care, the 2011 Specialized product line is up at their site.

That high end Sirrus has sure gone...high end.

PS I'm not arachnophobic but I'd still avoid riding through those webs if at all possible.

[rxcoop]

likewise the 2011 line for Trek is up....

[SeaBass]

Originally Posted by ducnut

I did my first night ride, last night. I started out on the rail-to-trail for 12 miles then took off out through the country and made a loop back to town. I managed 35 miles. I met 1 car and had 1 pass me in 23 miles of road riding. I had a nice breeze, full moon, and plenty of tranquility. Definitely, one of my better rides.

Unfortunately, lights don't give a good sense of terrain. Many of the country roads, around here, have extremely soft areas. I hit one of those and had to bail off the left side. I walked out of it, jumped on the bike, only to hit another one a hundred yards later. I wasn't so fortunate on that one and fell on my right side. Luckily, it was like falling on a beach of gravel. Another thing is, what looks like road patch can be a pothole. It's very hard to differentiate color in the darkness. Lastly, the trail is like a tunnel in the trees, in a lot of places. The critters like to build webs to catch other critters. Some of the webs spanned the whole trail, like 12'-15' across. I could see them, even with a limited light source. Worse yet I could see what had made them and managed to snag a couple critters while blowing through. I'm arachnophobic, so I won't be on the trail, in the future, at night.

This was the first passenger I picked up, riding the aerobar (cell pic). My bike and myself were covered in webs, by the time I left the trail. Ugh!


I didn't know I snagged this one. I felt something on my head and thought "Spider!!!!". I discovered this one, 12 miles after leaving the trail, so it'd been up there a while. It had a fly in its mouth. Creepy!

Did a little late night country road spin myself and wound up running over something which I think was a toad. I felt a small bump and some wet mass kicked up off the back of my front tire and hit my right shin. I couldn't see what it was. I think i yelled "WTF" or something because it spooked me.

[Stinez]

Originally Posted by rxcoop

likewise the 2011 line for Trek is up....

I saw that they had a new site "introducing" the 2011 bikes but I kept getting an error message when I tried to look at the bikes.

I guess it could be too busy...

[Dahveed]

An organization Bike Texas.org is passing a petition to PREVENT cities from banning cyclists from using the road. This has been a problem from a few little rural cities wanting to prohibit the use of "their" roads by cyclists.

If you live in Texas and wish to sign this petition (or just read more about it) it can be found here.

Thanks for your attention, we now return you to your regularly schedule forum...

[Mercury264]

Originally Posted by Bimble

Check out the Topeak Road Morph.

http://www.topeak.com/products/Mini-Pumps/RoadMorphG

I did see that but I just bought a Lezyne so I'll see how I get on with that.

[ducnut]

Originally Posted by Stinez

That high end Sirrus has sure gone...high end.

They gotta' compete with that Trek carbon fixie thing those guys came up with. I saw where someone else just came out with a carbon city bike, too. I guess there's a market (I don't see it), yet, very few mfrs see a need for touring bikes (huge opportunity).

Originally Posted by MrHead

The blue and white Roubaix is nice looking, but I'll need a few months to wear out the 2010 I just got a couple of weeks ago, and only rode once.

I was diggin' on the Roubaix Elite Compact Apex in Carbon/Gloss Gold.

Forgot: They really screwed with the Tricross lineup. If you want any kind of carbon, you gotta' go with the CruX Expert Carbon ($2500), which means no eyelets whatsoever. The Tricross is only available in a triple 105 setup, or less. They offer a CruX Comp with Apex, but, nothing in the Tricross where it makes sense. They should at least offer something with carbon stays and eyelets for those who want a higher-end commuter/tour bike. I'm glad I bought my Tricross when I did.