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Rad-daddio posted:Do belts flex or stretch? I always assumed there would be energy losses in them. Belts are a tiny bit less efficient than chains. If comparing worn items, belts are better. But IGH are less efficient than derailleurs by an order of magnitude, and will be the difference that you notice.
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Aug 16, 2021 17:14
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Cheese Thief posted:I like the idea of a fixed gear bike. 
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Aug 16, 2021 17:30
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truavatar posted:Hi bike thread... I want to get more into biking. I lived in NYC for the last 5 years and used a beater piece of junk to get around town when I needed. I took it on a few longer rides when I was in decent shape (about 15 miles, tops), but I recently moved upstate to Saratoga Springs and I want to get an actual decent bike to start doing some longer fitness rides. I should mention that I was recommended the Surly Cross-Check a few years ago when I started looking into this, but never pulled the trigger. It's a little on the pricey side, but I don't really know anything else about it.
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Aug 16, 2021 18:40
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For commuting / transport in a flat area I would definitely prefer a belt. Or for an e-bike. It's such a nice smooth feeling.
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Aug 16, 2021 19:48
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truavatar posted:I should mention that I was recommended the Surly Cross-Check a few years ago when I started looking into this, but never pulled the trigger. It's a little on the pricey side, but I don't really know anything else about it. It's not cheap, but the Cross Check will be tougher than anything else at that price.
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Aug 16, 2021 20:12
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Ola posted:For commuting / transport in a flat area I would definitely prefer a belt. Or for an e-bike. It's such a nice smooth feeling. I got a 3 speed hub on a ebike with pedal assist and five levels which basically turns it into a 8 speed, only you only use the lowest gear for setting off while fully loaded - the beauty of hubs is that you can change gear when not peddling which makes them perfect for idiots like me who has never once remembered to shift down before stopping.
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Aug 16, 2021 21:40
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I know it was a few pages ago now but the motivation to ride can sometimes take a while to come back. What someone else said about just doing something else for a while can help. I had been building up to a big 'race' (I don't compete I just ride) that was 85km of mostly dirt/gravel roads in a place I had never ridden before. It was really cool, a very good day out but since then I haven't ridden my bike except into town a couple of times. It's as if the coolness of riding somewhere else and seeing cool things has made the prospect of riding the same 3 or 4 loops around here just too dull to contemplate. Someone died on the ride which also made for some strange feelings for a few days.
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Aug 16, 2021 23:06
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Fun warning post, my wife and I both noticed that our high gear shifts went to hell. Went to the bike shop and it turns out that the KMC X11 chains we bought late last year were counterfeit poo poo. Bike shop asked me why we were running 4K+ on one chain when we had less than 900 miles on them. A> Everything is counterfeit right now B> if anyone has a source for good 11 speed chains that aren't counterfeit please tell me, thanks in advance.
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Aug 17, 2021 03:41
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Where'd you get them in the first place?
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Aug 17, 2021 03:47
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EvilJoven posted:Where'd you get them in the first place? Amazon and the packaging was flat out good KMC packaging so I wasn't worried in the slightest. I've got a cheapshit SRAM chain on my bike now because that's all they had in stock under $90 and I'm probably going to send my wife's bike in this weekend to get a Campagnolo 11 speed chain on just because that's what they've got. Good times.
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Aug 17, 2021 03:50
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Yeah Amazon is riddled with convincing fakes now, more than before.
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Aug 17, 2021 04:03
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Rad-daddio posted:Yeah Amazon is riddled with convincing fakes now, more than before. I bought these chains last September as a hedge against this poo poo, they were completely convincing. Turns out i'd have been better off just keeping the OEM chains on. Life is funny.
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Aug 17, 2021 04:09
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Pittsburgh Fentanyl Cloud posted:the packaging was flat out good KMC packaging so I wasn't worried in the slightest. The fakers put a lot of attention into that detail  
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Aug 17, 2021 04:11
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kimbo305 posted:The fakers put a lot of attention into that detail It was the plastic packaging with the two swappable links by the top. I actually had counterfeit worry in mind when I bought then and didn't think I was buying trash, that's how dumb I was.
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Aug 17, 2021 04:14
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Gonna be kinda neat if Amazon implodes from being so full of unreliable knockoffs people stop trusting it on a wide scale. I built myself a second wheel out of decent enough parts to bother with. SRAM X7 QR 6 bolt hub laced to another Mavic enduro 27.5" rim. Heavy but way better than the WTBs laced to Joytechs that came on the Journeyman. It's only a few hundred grams lighter but feels so much better. I hit the monkey trails and it felt so much better. I'm really starting to like wheel building. It's kinda zen and you end up with an amazing piece of kit that you made yourself for less than you'd pay for a prebuilt. I pulled the pin on some DT 350s. 28H front 32H rear, with centerlock. Gonna lace em up to DT 460 rims. Nothing super fancy but a definite upgrade. Parts should be here by middle of September so maybe I'll get to ride em this year. The Grails I built are awesome but I don't want to need to start swapping tires all the time and the stock wheels on my Jake the Snake are starting to show their age. EvilJoven fucked around with this message at 04:24 on Aug 17, 2021 |
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Aug 17, 2021 04:21
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My bike shop actually didn't charge me to put the SRAM chain on because I told them twice that I was hearing a hosed up grinding in high gears and they didn't think to check the chain (and neither did I) because it just went on in April. Nice of them. I can't imagine this poo poo has been fun for them either.
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Aug 17, 2021 04:24
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I bought a bicycle a couple of months ago and I'm starting to think I didn't make the best decision. I'm 6'8" tall and 285# with a 34-36" inseam, and I got the biggest cruiser I could find for sale, a 27" Schwinn cruiser. It's good for casual riding, but it also feels wobbly and unstable. I got run off the road and ended up with some fortunately minor injuries to a knee and my face. Before this, I hadn't ridden a bike in 15-20 years. Am I likely to be able to ride it normally with practice or am I just riding an undersized bike for me and dooming myself to further pain and injury?
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Aug 17, 2021 07:48
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Could be the tyre width, what tyres are you using?
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Aug 17, 2021 08:12
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GWBBQ posted:I bought a bicycle a couple of months ago and I'm starting to think I didn't make the best decision. I'm 6'8" tall and 285# with a 34-36" inseam, and I got the biggest cruiser I could find for sale, a 27" Schwinn cruiser. It's good for casual riding, but it also feels wobbly and unstable. I got run off the road and ended up with some fortunately minor injuries to a knee and my face. Off-the-shelf bikes aren’t really made for people who are 6’8”, but you should still be able to ride a significantly undersized bike without its geometry causing too much instability.
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Aug 17, 2021 08:19
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It could also be the type of bike. Some cruisers are incredibly comfortable for all sorts of chill riding while others seem to be terrible and only get worse if you try to do anything at speed. Seems a lot of that has to do with the bars. I find the more swept back bars of the Electra Cruiser unwieldy to the point of being sketchy while the ones on the Electra Townie are fine. Post the bars on your bike. I might suggest a swap for em.
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Aug 17, 2021 11:21
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SimonSays posted:It's not cheap, but the Cross Check will be tougher than anything else at that price. Is it reasonable to expect a decent intro road bike for closer to $500-700, if I don't want to drop what is likely $1200 for a fully set up Cross-Check? I'm also open to used, I suppose.
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Aug 17, 2021 14:42
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EvilJoven posted:It could also be the type of bike. Some cruisers are incredibly comfortable for all sorts of chill riding while others seem to be terrible and only get worse if you try to do anything at speed. Seems a lot of that has to do with the bars. I find the more swept back bars of the Electra Cruiser unwieldy to the point of being sketchy while the ones on the Electra Townie are fine.
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Aug 17, 2021 14:49
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truavatar posted:Is it reasonable to expect a decent intro road bike for closer to $500-700, if I don't want to drop what is likely $1200 for a fully set up Cross-Check? I'm also open to used, I suppose. Look around here to check out some reccs and what you should look out for: https://road.cc/content/buyers-guide/10-best-road-bikes-around-ps700-207635 https://www.bikeradar.com/advice/buyers-guides/best-road-bike-under-1000/ https://www.cyclingweekly.com/group-tests/best-road-bikes-under-1000-345105
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Aug 17, 2021 14:52
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Ah, awesome, thank you! Also found this one on CL, which seems like it has potential. https://albany.craigslist.org/bik/d/troy-scott-speedster-30-56cm/7364349753.html
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Aug 17, 2021 14:53
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truavatar posted:Ah, awesome, thank you! https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/bikes/road-bikes/scott-speedster-s30-review/ It's a decent enough bike but it's around 10 years old, with entirely original parts - including the original tyres. 23mm tyres - and potentially without the clearance for much more - isn't going to be great on dirt road in my opinion, but I'll let others weigh in.
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Aug 17, 2021 15:00
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MrL_JaKiri posted:https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/bikes/road-bikes/scott-speedster-s30-review/ Yeah the Speedster is old geo for tire clearance. You’d probably be able to squeeze a 25 in the back but that’s it. It also has zero mounting points if you wanted to use it for anything other than pure road riding.
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Aug 17, 2021 15:02
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truavatar posted:Is it reasonable to expect a decent intro road bike for closer to $500-700, if I don't want to drop what is likely $1200 for a fully set up Cross-Check? I'm also open to used, I suppose. For the past few years I don't think a road bike at that price is realistic. It's certainly possible to find, but the parts will be absolutely the worst possible, so you'll never reasonably wind up getting it repaired or maintained. You can certainly find a used road bike for that price though.
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Aug 17, 2021 16:04
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My used Bob Jackson that I found on Craigslist was $650 dollars, and is unquestionably the greatest bike in the continental US, so yep, it is possible!
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Aug 17, 2021 16:25
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Or if you go 'off-brand' (i.e. not the big names like Trek, Giant, Specialized, etc) you might find some good stuff for a decent price. Something like this for 650 euros (including tax): https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/rc-120-disc-road-bike-blue-microshift/_/R-p-308064?mc=8554265 gets you a decent frame, decent specs, and will serve you well as a beginner road bike. It'll do everything, survive tons of abuse, and is easy to maintain and upgrade. My girlfriend has one, and I have a model up (with semi-hydro disc brakes and a 105 set, same frame, for 200 euros more). I use it as my gravel bike / commuter with 32mm tubeless tires and it owns. Halfords, Decathlon are euro chains that have their own bikes for great value. I don't know if similar brands/shops exist in the US though.
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Aug 17, 2021 16:38
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Samopsa posted:Halfords, Decathlon are euro chains that have their own bikes for great value. I don't know if similar brands/shops exist in the US though. There was nothing gravel bikey close to Halfords (Boardman ADV, which have heavy discounts available) or Decathlon (RC520) for value when I bought in 2019. Halfords prices are now up about 30% since then, so…
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Aug 17, 2021 19:21
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My new bike finaly arrived !!! It looks awesome and is very dynamic. But it has a longer reach than my old endurance bike so it's a bit agressive even with max spacer ! The Trek store had tons of bikes in stock, but the salesguy was on holiday and it was a mechanic doing the sales and the service was very minimal, no bike fit or anything. Which is a shame for a 4300 Euro bike.  It also came with a powermeter, yay more numbers to tell me I suck ! Shifting is awesome, brakes are a bit meh, I hope they'll get better as they wear in. They make some weird noise after warming up, and I'm not talking about going down mountains or anything.
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Aug 17, 2021 21:12
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https://www.sram.com/en/service/articles/9-important-things-to-know-about-road-disc-brakes Bed them in (1st bit of this)
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Aug 17, 2021 23:01
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My upper left thigh keeps rubbing on the nose of my saddle on my commuter bike, doesn't happen on others. Weirdly only seems to actually become sore when I wear a specific pair of bibs. Can't work out if it's something I should/can change in my fit or if my legs have become so muscular (fat) that it's unavoidable
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Aug 18, 2021 12:30
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Heliosicle posted:My upper left thigh keeps rubbing on the nose of my saddle on my commuter bike, doesn't happen on others. Weirdly only seems to actually become sore when I wear a specific pair of bibs. Can't work out if it's something I should/can change in my fit or if my legs have become so muscular (fat) that it's unavoidable A bit obvious, but I find I ignore obvious things until I've exhausted the unlikely ones first, thus wasting tons of time: is the seat slightly askew?
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Aug 18, 2021 13:44
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George RR Fartin posted:A bit obvious, but I find I ignore obvious things until I've exhausted the unlikely ones first, thus wasting tons of time: is the seat slightly askew? Already double checked this unfortunately. I guess I could make it askew in the opposite direction to account for the rubbing, seems like a bodge though For more info: I had this saddle on my MTB previously so don't think it's that. Maybe the Q factor is different between the bikes? Haven't tried measuring it. Pedals are also identical. Saddle height is the same, but think my saddle is further back on the commuter, which is a possible cause, so could try moving it forward 1cm or so. Main difference between the bikes is the commuter has 6cm lower stack, so I'm rotated forward a lot.
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Aug 18, 2021 14:52
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Heliosicle posted:My upper left thigh keeps rubbing on the nose of my saddle on my commuter bike, doesn't happen on others. Weirdly only seems to actually become sore when I wear a specific pair of bibs. Can't work out if it's something I should/can change in my fit or if my legs have become so muscular (fat) that it's unavoidable If you look at the bibs of guys riding in front of you, you’ll often see them offset a bit to one side of the saddle relative to the vertical seam line on the back of bibs. You might be adjusting yourself over without realizing it’s happening. https://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/bikefit/2011/04/the-right-side-bias/ Anecdotally my fitter told me that guys favor one side because of how their junk is positioned in the bibs. Maybe those bibs are causing you to be shifted over even more to the side, causing the thigh contact.
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Aug 18, 2021 14:53
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Polo-Rican posted:My used Bob Jackson that I found on Craigslist was $650 dollars, and is unquestionably the greatest bike in the continental US, so yep, it is possible! I had a Bob Jackson in the 1970’s.  Yes, I worked for Bikecentennial in ‘76 after my Freshman year in college.
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Aug 18, 2021 18:08
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Literally Lewis Hamilton posted:If you look at the bibs of guys riding in front of you, you’ll often see them offset a bit to one side of the saddle relative to the vertical seam line on the back of bibs. You might be adjusting yourself over without realizing it’s happening. Yeah I do find it tricky to make sure I'm straight on my saddle and do a reset to make sure my sitbones are planted, so could be slipping to one side without noticing I don't think my wonky junk has much to do with it though 
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Aug 18, 2021 18:48
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Never heard of Bob Jackson before but check this out: 
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Aug 18, 2021 18:54
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Salt Fish posted:Never heard of Bob Jackson before but check this out: Oh hell yes Look at that miserable gearing and lack of hydration. Pure 80s Holy hell that's a moustache bar. What a bike.
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Aug 18, 2021 19:19
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