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Serendipitaet posted:I'm looking to convert my old 26" hardtail MTB into my main commuter/tooling around town bike. First thing I need are new tires, as the current ones are nearly worn out. I'm seeing decent prices for Conti Contact Speed in 42-59, anyone got experience with those or a recommendation? Riding probably 70% tarmac and 30% unpaved bike paths, plus it gets really wet later in the season. I put Serfas Drifters on my 26" ss townie mountain bike and really like them. The only time I've ever lost traction was on ice and I've never gotten a puncture, even after riding through glass. My only gripe is they don't wear super evenly if you don't keep your pressure up. My previous tires were Continental Traffic, which were probably better. The lugs are small and the profile is very round for a treaded tire, at least on the models without shoulder lugs. Great in the wet, also never punctured them. HenryJLittlefinger fucked around with this message at 18:21 on Oct 18, 2021 |
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Oct 18, 2021 18:17
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Serendipitaet posted:I'm looking to convert my old 26" hardtail MTB into my main commuter/tooling around town bike. First thing I need are new tires, as the current ones are nearly worn out. I'm seeing decent prices for Conti Contact Speed in 42-59, anyone got experience with those or a recommendation? Riding probably 70% tarmac and 30% unpaved bike paths, plus it gets really wet later in the season. I did a similar thing with my fully rigid 26"er for about a similar ratio of tarmac vs. loose gravel/section lines, and I've been happy with Schwalbe hurricanes. I don't know how fast-rolling they are compared to other tires and they ain't the lightest, but traction is reasonable in the loose stuff and the smooth center tread feels nice on pavement.
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Oct 19, 2021 01:59
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Did the same thing with an old 26” mtb and chose continental contact travel, which have been great. Totally smooth in the middle, little lugs at the side for cornering on rougher ground or mud. They’re touring tyres so very hardwearing, and I’ve never punctured. I think your selection will be decent too unless you want to ride on mud / slimy leaves, which can clog the smaller tread.
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Oct 19, 2021 09:59
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I'm running Michelin country rock tires on three bikes right now, I really like them.
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Oct 19, 2021 15:05
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Another vote for continental contact. Had them on my winter 700c 32 hybrid for years, only issue was a bit squirrelly on wet gravel at times - just put them on the 26” MTBs and they don’t seem to have that same issue. e; originally bought because £8 each, not entirely convinced my marathon plus are a better tyre
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Oct 19, 2021 15:34
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Thanks for your thoughts, everyone. I think fast feel is what I'm looking for the most right now, so I'll try the Contact Speeds also because they look the coolest imo  .
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Oct 21, 2021 13:12
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I went to working from home 100% after coming home on commute 150 on my hardtail, bought last November. That was mid-July, and today I opened up Strava and recorded Commute Up 151. After more than 2 months of nothing more strenuous than couch -> computer chair I had to stop about three times going up the ~70m high hill that my office is perched on top of. I would have been doing this last week, having been allowed to work in the office since 11 October, but A) that week was rainy and lovely (just how lovely I will elaborate) and I drove in with my wife and B) the lovely weather culminated in a literal TORNADO hitting my university and it was VERBOTTEN to set foot on campus all last week while they cleaned up and assessed damage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpBcO9jLZv4 No injuries - very happily - and I live at the other end of town and just had the heavy hail (and no real damage, other than some rose bushes). The last 10 seconds of this video is of the university campus, and my office is in a building that was not hit by either the tornado itself or any large trees. Many people dislike this style of architecture, but I am very pleased with my giant-slabs-of-concrete building with tiny windows. It was a beautiful sunny morning with a gentle breeze and little traffic. I like that I'm getting off my lazy rear end for some much-needed exercise twice a day. This kind of coming-out-of-lockdown-and-WFH thing is probably nostalgia for most of you. Mauser posted:Someone recommended Rock n Roll Gold I heard that rec when it happened and bought a pair of bottles on Amazon. My bottle of cheap-rear end no-name chain lube from Aldi is almost finished, I'm looking forward to trying the R&R Gold.
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Oct 25, 2021 01:56
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ExecuDork posted:TORNADO Sydney huh? Melbourne here and everything has just opened up. Starting to cycle again and drat our last lockdown took a lot out of me lol.
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Oct 25, 2021 02:09
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Animal Friend posted:Sydney huh? Nope, Armidale - about 450 km north-northwest of Sydney. The reports are that the storm (the supercell) hit Sydney first then moved up to us. Regional NSW and Sydney are separate beasts for the purposes of COVID, right now and for the last at least month we've been able to move around the state as long as we stay out of greater Sydney. For Sydneysiders, the opposite - stay in the Sydney basin. If we were to visit Sydney we would be required to self isolate at home for 2 weeks and would be strongly encouraged to get tested. The regions are full of people who have become quite suspiscious of Sydney, and the occassional disparaging comment is made about foolish Metro types driving up to regional NSW and scattering COVID infections like candy. It's another level of hostility to out-of-state visitors, particularly Melbournians. But I also detect a strong feeling of wanting to get past all that and go back to being just wankers again. Back to bikes. Bikes are good. Two complete commutes done, and yes, my taint hurts.
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Oct 26, 2021 08:59
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I got a flat My day at work yesterday was stupid and mostly useless, entirely my own fault for procrastinating like it's my actual job. I was feeling pretty low about this when I got home, with the flat tire a lovely topper for that sundae. But actually succeeding in fixing the problem was a real boost to me, so, uh, thanks random sharp street trash!
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Nov 2, 2021 05:49
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From experience it was most likely glass or an unfortunately shaped stone, but could have been pretty much anything with a sharp edge on it. After bragging about my tubeless marathons the other week I got a puncture riding home on Thursday. I heard one rotation of hissing, one of sealant squelching and then silence, didn't feel like I'd lost any air and I can't even find the hole.
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Nov 2, 2021 08:51
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The punctures you can hear fix themselves are the best part of tubeless. Also I don't understand people who don't pack a couple nitrile gloves in their patch kit.
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Nov 2, 2021 09:46
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evil_bunnY posted:The punctures you can hear fix themselves are the best part of tubeless. My ignorance is boundless. What are the gloves for?
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Nov 3, 2021 01:32
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Stop your hands getting mucky
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Nov 3, 2021 01:42
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ExecuDork posted:My ignorance is boundless. What are the gloves for? Impromptu roadside fisting.
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Nov 3, 2021 01:53
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Bike Commuting:osker posted:Impromptu roadside fisting.
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Nov 3, 2021 04:31
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evil_bunnY posted:Also I don't understand people who don't pack a couple nitrile gloves in their patch kit.
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Nov 3, 2021 06:57
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But if I wrap my fingers in bar tape I won't be able to change a tube? 
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Nov 3, 2021 08:35
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I am about to pay £85 with a £15 deposit for a bike locker in town and am not happy about the price of it. It’s a work thing where the bike has to be parked in town overnight so it’s the only way 
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Nov 4, 2021 11:44
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learnincurve posted:I am about to pay £85 with a £15 deposit for a bike locker in town and am not happy about the price of it.
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Nov 4, 2021 16:14
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learnincurve posted:I am about to pay £85 with a £15 deposit for a bike locker in town and am not happy about the price of it. How long do you get the locker for? You can’t just leave it in the office? Or take a beater? Or lock in the nearest big railway station? Or is there anyone going via car with a big enough boot to stash it in? At least try to claim it as an expense if it comes to it.
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Nov 4, 2021 16:28
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Cugel the Clever posted:lol, what's the equivalent car parking fee? I'm gonna guess free Oddly this town council is quite affluent, mostly because of the insane car parking fees. £7 a day to park on unguarded rubble rising to £14 a day for a unmanned place with security cameras. wooger posted:How long do you get the locker for? You can’t just leave it in the office? Or take a beater? Or lock in the nearest big railway station? I can’t get out of this one and it’s taking the bus four times a day that broke me - need somewhere to park it at night 365 days a year. I ride it home from drop off in the morning and then down again in the evening for pick up and the only parking for bikes there is in the car park, next to a dodgy pub. Can’t bring it inside because health and safety. So what they are is a metal box bolted into the ground with a rail you wheel the bike down which also acts as a locking point. CCTV cameras are above and it’s where the £10k carbon bikes live, mine will be a beater.
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Nov 4, 2021 17:41
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learnincurve posted:I can’t get out of this one and it’s taking the bus four times a day that broke me - need somewhere to park it at night 365 days a year. Ok, so how long is £85 for, a month? A week? The whole year?
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Nov 4, 2021 18:33
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learnincurve posted:Oddly this town council is quite affluent, mostly because of the insane car parking fees. £7 a day to park on unguarded rubble rising to £14 a day for a unmanned place with security cameras. The family business was parking garages in Manhattan, NYC. The daily parking fee in 1974 was $20 I recall. I used to park cars there when I was in HS. And my dad's garage is still there (he retired in the 1980's):  And now (from Google Reviews): "Such a waste of money I paid almost $60 for a little over an hour!!!!"
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Nov 4, 2021 19:29
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 So I've been running a hacked together adapter for my bike child seat for a while, and I would say it's probably ok after a month of weekday use. I had this somewhat more secure on my old commuter bike's rack, and had to figure out how to put it on the Xtracycle deck. Here's what the underside of the rack-mounting Thule Yepp Nexxt Maxi looks like:  Adjustable clamps that go around rack rails. The adjustment range and expected rail size is such that I couldn't clamp it straight onto the deck. My plan was to make available a rack just above the surface of the deck. The hole spacing on the deck is either 3.5" x 2" or 90mm x 50mm, but close enough either way that I could use an SAE spaced hole drilling jig we had lying around from remodeling to drill holes through a 3/4" block of wood. I took a cheapo front rack and cut the legs off, and bent the upright tombstone flatter to clear the front of the seat. Drilled some scrap iron and used those to hold the rack down onto the wood block.   The bolts go all the way through to the bottom of the deck. I padded inner tube between the cross pieces and the rack, and the rack and the block, hoping to grip things better and to prevent too much digging in. The rack feels very secure laterally when bolted down this way. Unfortunately, this position blocks use of that strap, which is a nice way to carry the bike when folded. I don't risk carrying the bike by holding the back of the rack or seat. The seat clamped on just fine, but wobbled a bit front to back, because the wood block was so short longitudinally. I could have and should have done 3 holes long instead of just 2. Instead I just shimmed under the end of the rack with some more wood:  That pretty much takes out the wobble. Some risk analysis: The rack would only fully break free if all 4 bolts snapped and dropped their shafts out the bottom (there's not enough clearance for the bolt to fly out the top). Otherwise, a bolt would limit the rack to ~1" left to right. The safety strap would keep the seat from moving back. With the weight of a child on the seat, the rack is compressed down on the wood block. It would take quite a bit of a drop for the seat to get to 0 g. It wouldn't slide left to right much in the event of all 4 bolts going, and would take a lot of G-force in a turn to tilt over enough to come off the deck. The rack is aluminum, and by bending the tombstone, I'm sure I've weakened the weld joint quite a bit. I think this is likely the biggest risk. This is one reason I started looking for a cargo bike -- the steel strut holding the rack at the front on the other commuter bike broke around a bolt hole, so the child seat was being supported vertically by the rack and horizontally by the safety strap. I rode it like this for 4 days before finally tracking down the squeak  The wood components might rot from standing water over a couple years. The adapter is covered from all but the front and rear from rain, but it certainly does get wet -- I saw for myself when I was inspecting the setup with the seat off the first week of use. The iron bits might rust. I sprayed things very crudely with rustoleum paint, but it's eventually gonna start rusting. I think... they'll last the time I need from the seat. I actually made a whole 2nd adapter set on the off chance that we would have two kids of the same size range, but I could swap that one on if the first one failed early. Note in the widest shot of the deck how there's a rectangular outline toward the back. That's a cutout you can make to run a Yepp Maxi (not a Nexxt Maxi). I thought about getting that seat and the Xtracycle adapter needed, but I just kinda wanted to keep the deck pristine. Not to mention the Nexxt is a couple lbs lighter.
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Nov 4, 2021 19:31
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VideoGameVet posted:The family business was parking garages in Manhattan, NYC. The garage near my office / down the street from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan only charges $23 to park a car for 12 hours. Bikes are $7/day, but luckily I can expense that.
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Nov 4, 2021 19:54
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wooger posted:Ok, so how long is £85 for, a month? A week? The whole year? Oh a whole year or £5 a week
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Nov 4, 2021 21:33
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This doesn't seem too bad (by UK standards.) The only bike lockers I've ever used were crusty, forgotten relics from the 90s in Leeds. I recently found some on an overgrown path behind Saltaire station. They're free but you have to bring your own padlock and I'm always a bit paranoid the council/Network Rail will suddenly remember they exist and cart them off for scrap. Would be nice to have Utrecht-style bike parking garages at major stations here.
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Nov 4, 2021 22:49
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Sheffield has cycle hub (£10 for a key fob 24/7 use) at both the main station and Meadowhall (if you leave your bike at night they gently caress up your lock and clamp your bike)
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Nov 4, 2021 22:57
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learnincurve posted:Sheffield has cycle hub (£10 for a key fob 24/7 use) Nice, I never knew. Rollout to every major station in this small country with a very centralised government will presumably happen quickly and effici...nah I can't do it
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Nov 4, 2021 23:04
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Derby, Nottingham and Sheffield all have them and your £10 key works in all of them. But Leeds is Leeds which won’t have any abandoned space to install one, and food £20, utilities £50, fix for designer glass sheeting to stop it vibrating in the snow £8 million please help me budget my family is dying
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Nov 4, 2021 23:25
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When I travel (flights, train) I take the Brompton and just keep it with me.
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Nov 5, 2021 01:07
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I’m going to take a wild guess and say Sheffield, the city built on 7 hills, has the lowest Brompton sales in the land  In all fairness bike parking has massively improved there, bike locking up has not and you see those cheap plastic covered bits of metal string wrapped round a frame on every single bike rack, so bike crime is high. On the plus side if you U lock your bike on any bike rack yours won’t be stolen.
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Nov 5, 2021 08:08
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learnincurve posted:I’m going to take a wild guess and say Sheffield, the city built on 7 hills, has the lowest Brompton sales in the land Does mean I picked up mine cheaply second hand, put the smaller chainring on it that it should’ve come with originally and now have a perfectly Sheffield capable Brompton that is basically brand new. With the low gearing, they’re surprisingly good up hills, but you don’t see many optioned like that as Evans Cycles never mentioned it to new purchasers.
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Nov 5, 2021 15:45
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Nice! I’ve seen them round rother valley but never in Sheffield itself. Evans are dumb, the supertram is made for Brompton.
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Nov 6, 2021 18:46
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what do you recommend using to remove the glue left behind after removing tubeless rim tape? I have tried acetone, meths, white spirit and petrol, and only succeeded in making glue bogeys.
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Nov 9, 2021 21:31
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What about some really strong tape to try and yank off the boogies? The powder coating tape referenced here a million times hasn’t left any residue FWIW.
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Nov 9, 2021 21:43
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Goof Off should do it.
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Nov 9, 2021 21:55
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mikemelbrooks posted:what do you recommend using to remove the glue left behind after removing tubeless rim tape? I have tried acetone, meths, white spirit and petrol, and only succeeded in making glue bogeys. Don't worry about it
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Nov 10, 2021 01:31
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mikemelbrooks posted:what do you recommend using to remove the glue left behind after removing tubeless rim tape? I have tried acetone, meths, white spirit and petrol, and only succeeded in making glue bogeys. You make glue bogeys, then peel off the glue bogeys.
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Nov 10, 2021 01:54
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