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abraham linksys posted:I was looking at a Brilliant Cooper (https://www.brilliant.co/collections/bicycles/products/cooper?variant=28827810562125), which ships fast and seems easy to self-assemble. Now, all of these things say "after assembling this, take it to a bike shop to get it checked out before riding." Is this... one of those things they put up for legal reasons but most people probably don't do? Seems weird to walk into a bike shop and be like "hey can you tell me if I hosed this up?" Like what do you even pay for that? Priority makes a similar belt 3-speed: https://www.prioritybicycles.com/products/thegotham and two higher spec models: https://www.prioritybicycles.com/products/ltrain (I'd prob spring for the $900 disc brake, 8-speed model) Priority is a direct to consumer business model, so they are extremely invested in you successfully assembling the bike once it gets to you. That plays into your question -- if everything is normal and not defective, even if you have no experience, you should be able to follow the guide and build the bike correctly. Where it falls down is if some component is messed up and you don't have the background to catch it, outside of "hmm, the bike doesn't quite ride right." Priority follows through with some extra attention and support to try to make up the gap to accessing an LBS in person. In my limited experience with Citibike, it can be a huge convenience to have an account/pass once in a while where you don't want to deal with parking the bike on one end or other of a trip. But most of the time, it's much nicer to be traveling on your own schedule, with the primary mental cost around whether you have to park outside and how long you can safely stay locked up.
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Jun 16, 2022 19:42
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abraham linksys posted:and seems easy to self-assemble. Now, all of these things say "after assembling this, take it to a bike shop to get it checked out before riding." Is this... one of those things they put up for legal reasons but most people probably don't do? Seems weird to walk into a bike shop and be like "hey can you tell me if I hosed this up?" Like what do you even pay for that? Yes and no For a lot of people have no problem wrenching on a simple machine like a bicycle, probably already own a set of home depot brand crescent wrenches and socket wrenches in the most common sizes, couple screwdrivers, allen wrenches etc There's also a lot of people who shouldn't be trusted with kitchen knives in their own home, and aren't aware there's more than one size of flat blade screwdrivers, and will end up stabbing themselves with said screwdriver I've seen a lot of Walmart bikes where someone paid $50 for assembly and still got the fork installed pointing backwards. So it's a very wide spectrum If you aren't sure about your bike you can call the shop and be like "hey I got this bike, can you do a safety inspection and tune up? What's that? $50 bucks? Ok" Edit and yeah the benefit of bike share is when you lock it up on the street and walk away, you never need to think about it again. When you lock up your $700 bicycle you're gonna be worried about it until you get back, and now it lives in your unit at night $185 a year is a loving great deal, you can get three years of bike share for the price of buying a bike, plus 0 cost to you if/when it gets stolen Hadlock fucked around with this message at 20:01 on Jun 16, 2022 |
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Jun 16, 2022 19:59
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Hadlock posted:$185 a year is a loving great deal, you can get three years of bike share for the price of buying a bike, plus 0 cost to you if/when it gets stolen
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Jun 16, 2022 20:27
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Yes but that’s the problem. I dropped out of Paris’s bike share program just because only 1 out 5 bikes was in good condition. The rest were in degrees of busted with another 1 out of 5 being unusable. Depending on what your station was like you could regularly get shafted. At least my bike is in general good working condition. But winters here are hardly harsh.
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Jun 16, 2022 22:47
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You can absolutely walk into a bike shop and ask them to look over the bike and tell you what's wrong and/or fix what's not quite right. It won't be very expensive. And if they give you any guff about it, find a shop that doesn't suck.
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Jun 17, 2022 00:06
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NYC has lots of cool bike shops, have you just tried walking into a random one and asking what they have in your price range? If they don't have something you like they might be able to recommend another spot.
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Jun 17, 2022 01:16
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abraham linksys posted:I've been Citi Biking around NYC for the past three weeks - first time on a bike in, idk, 15 years? - and really enjoying it. Now I'm out of my free trial and debating between coughing up $185 for a year of Citi Bike or just going ahead and buying a bike. Take a look at NYC Recycle-a-bicycle. https://www.recycleabicycle.nyc/pages/refurbished-road-bikes They are also helpful community people, see if they will help you with assembly.
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Jun 17, 2022 13:10
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Invalido posted:It's probably a great deal compared to owning a bike especially if you ride a lot. Just for some perspective I probably spend about that much every year on expected normal wear items alone in the form of driveline parts, shifter cables, brake pads and tires. Granted it would be much cheaper to ride the distances I do if it wasn't for winter what with expensive fast wearing tires and road salt corrosion but still, cost of maintenance is a factor to consider too. I don't factor in the time I spend cleaning, lubing and wrenching my bikes to keep them functional but there's arguably a price of ownership there too. This is true but riding an NYC CitiBike feels like riding a brick. I think it's worth a few hundo to have a bike that feels much nicer to ride, which even an inexpensive steel single speed will do for you.
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Jun 17, 2022 14:55
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a 58 cm fyxation pixel showed up on craigslist but I guess someone got it before me, rip
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Jun 17, 2022 16:32
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abraham linksys posted:I've been Citi Biking around NYC for the past three weeks - first time on a bike in, idk, 15 years? - and really enjoying it. Now I'm out of my free trial and debating between coughing up $185 for a year of Citi Bike or just going ahead and buying a bike. I bought a Brilliant L-Train awhile back and really like it. You really shouldn't be worried about assembly at all; the assembly video they provide covers every step including opening the box the bike ships in, they include just about every tool you're going to need, and they include a little bottle of touch up paint incase you scratch anything. You can always get it checked out at a bike shop after it's built, but there are really no steps that are particularly difficult and the complicated parts like the rear wheel come already put together and on the frame. I would recommend getting the tension gauge though, makes adjusting the belt so much easier. Their customer service is also really good. When I was trying to order they didn't have the color/size combo I wanted on the dropdown so I emailed them and within 30 minutes them they had the site fixed and gave me a coupon code for free shipping. I've heard of people breaking the CDN front sprocket and getting a free replacement CDX one. Do you have a Costco membership (or know someone who does)? Brilliant and Priority seem to be the same company so with a Costco membership you can use the Costco Next Priority Bikes link and get $120 off the Cooper. Unsolicited bike pic: 
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Jun 17, 2022 16:51
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sat on my keys! posted:This is true but riding an NYC CitiBike feels like riding a brick. I think it's worth a few hundo to have a bike that feels much nicer to ride, which even an inexpensive steel single speed will do for you. I put 600 miles on CitiBikes (according to their app) before I bought my own bike, and the difference is night and day. You really build muscle hucking around those massive things, though. 100YrsofAttitude posted:Yes but that’s the problem. I dropped out of Paris’s bike share program just because only 1 out 5 bikes was in good condition. The rest were in degrees of busted with another 1 out of 5 being unusable. Depending on what your station was like you could regularly get shafted. CitiBike tends to be better than that, I think, mainly because they're built like brick shithouses. I check the tire pressure on the available bikes and go with the first one that feels okay.
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Jun 17, 2022 17:00
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Safety Dance posted:CitiBike tends to be better than that, I think, mainly because they're built like brick shithouses. I check the tire pressure on the available bikes and go with the first one that feels okay. Maybe it's a Paris thing. People treat public stuff like that, like trash. The electric scooters were very quickly found lying in hedges, on the side of the road, and in all forms of disrepair. If the bikes don't have a flat, then the chains busted or the gears don't work, or their axes are wobbly. It was always something. I miss the convenience of not caring about security and parking conveniently, but yeah gently caress Velib.
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Jun 17, 2022 21:45
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100YrsofAttitude posted:Maybe it's a Paris thing. People treat public stuff like that, like trash. The electric scooters were very quickly found lying in hedges, on the side of the road, and in all forms of disrepair. If the bikes don't have a flat, then the chains busted or the gears don't work, or their axes are wobbly. It was always something. I miss the convenience of not caring about security and parking conveniently, but yeah gently caress Velib. I'm not gonna say that every citibike is perfect, but in high-traffic stations in manhattan bad bikes get pulled fairly quickly. My only beef with Citibike is that I like to run barely on time to places I've never been so if I have an uncooperative docking station it fucks my poo poo up.
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Jun 18, 2022 04:22
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any ideas as to how i keep throwing spokes? I got a new, stronger wheel after cracking a hub recently and have still managed to snap 2 spokes while barely riding at the moment (30km a week for the past month- new job close by and been running for fitness). I don't do anything stupid like kerb hopping or even going off-road. My only thought is maybe weight given I'm 6'2 and a little over 90kg and usually have a backpack on thats between 4 to 10kg depending on what I am carting around.
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Jun 19, 2022 05:42
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Animal Friend posted:any ideas as to how i keep throwing spokes? How many spokes are on your wheel? Are they well tensioned? I'm about the same weight as you with a heavy bike and I only break about one spoke a year riding daily on terrible streets. My rear wheel is 36 spokes I think.
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Jun 19, 2022 07:16
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This may sound obvious but I'll say it because I see people every day who don't know: get your butt off the seat when you hit bumps.
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Jun 19, 2022 13:23
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Animal Friend posted:any ideas as to how i keep throwing spokes? I should note there have been bad batches of wire making it into the spoke supply chain that cause brittle spokes. Storage of chlorine/pool cleaning supplies nearby also causes the problem. Here is an example of brittle spokes: https://www.facebook.com/100010143258713/posts/1375084449506317/?flite=scwspnss&mibextid=fhnZgCATt0jRY6E0 CopperHound fucked around with this message at 15:15 on Jun 19, 2022 |
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Jun 19, 2022 15:09
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Animal Friend posted:any ideas as to how i keep throwing spokes? What rims, what hubs, how many spokes on each wheel where they’ve broken, and what spokes? And do you have rim or disc brakes? Probably your wheels are just under built / you’re dropping watt bombs. Rear wheel spoke breakages? Fwiw I outweigh you by 10kg+ and I’ve never broken a spoke on 26” mtb, gravel or road. Including riding stock 24/20 spoke Shimano rim wheelsets for a while. You probably need some handbuilt wheels with at least 32 spokes, 2-cross spoke layout at the rear. Lots of custom builders have a heavy rider option - you shouldn’t need it at 90kg imo, but it’d be strong. Also fwiw the hubs can make a difference too - hubs with wide flanges for the spoke make for a better angle that makes the wheel a bunch stiffer at the cost of a few grams in weight. Miche Primato hubs are especially strong on this front, and they have steel axles too.
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Jun 19, 2022 19:50
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Sorry for the vague post all. Thanks for the info. Here's some specifics. Running 32 spokes, disc brakes. This wheel is a little thicker than what I had previously because not only was that throwing spikes every few months, I managed to crack the hub. I normally cruise at around 30 to 35km per hour. There are street trams all over my area and I have to sort of hop the wheels across the tracks occasionally. That's all I can really think of what's causing me to damage the wheels.
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Jun 19, 2022 23:48
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When you say "throwing spokes" do you mean they broke? And was this hand tensioned at some point or are you using it straight out of the box?
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Jun 20, 2022 00:00
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On the old wheel the spokes were snapping around the hub. This time a couple have snapped in the same place, near the hub and some others have become loose. I had this wheel fitted at the shop when I replaced the old one as part of a service 3 months ago. I haven't messed with the tension on it myself.
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Jun 20, 2022 05:18
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get a nice wheel made by mean french people
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Jun 21, 2022 01:59
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So I took it to the shop and because it was close to new they fixed it for free. I think it might have had something to do with it not being properly tensioned at first? They didn't really say they just fixed it. I was coming from my old weaker wheel constantly having problems and thought it might have been me doing something to somehow gently caress up the new one while barely riding it. Good to go I guess. Thank you all for your time and answers. Jokerpilled Drudge posted:get a nice wheel made by mean french people It is made in france but I don't know how mean they are.
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Jun 26, 2022 00:25
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Hey all, I might be commuting to downtown soon, and was wondering what locks you'd recommend? It's gonna be a relatively high traffic area (not that that means much), and I already have a Kryptonite Evolution Standard, but was thinking of getting a second one to lock my bike to a post and use the older one to secure my front tire. Thoughts?
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Jun 29, 2022 14:00
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The Kryptonite NY (standard not fgbt) is a good medium. 16mm shank. The bracket works well. Other brands in same size might be cheaper but that yellow block has some value in signaling what the lock is from a distance imo. I used to have an onguard for indoor use and that was fine too.
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Jun 29, 2022 15:00
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iospace posted:Hey all, I might be commuting to downtown soon, and was wondering what locks you'd recommend? It's gonna be a relatively high traffic area (not that that means much), and I already have a Kryptonite Evolution Standard, but was thinking of getting a second one to lock my bike to a post and use the older one to secure my front tire. Are you able to leave the lock there or is it something you need to take with you each way? If it’s the latter I agree with SP. If you are able to leave it then that opens up some options for heavy chain locks and such.
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Jun 29, 2022 15:39
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iospace posted:Hey all, I might be commuting to downtown soon, and was wondering what locks you'd recommend? It's gonna be a relatively high traffic area (not that that means much), and I already have a Kryptonite Evolution Standard, but was thinking of getting a second one to lock my bike to a post and use the older one to secure my front tire. As always Sheldon Brown has you covered. https://sheldonbrown.com/lock-strategy.html
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Jun 29, 2022 18:59
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Yeah I'm a fan of heavy chains, but they are more awkward to carry on the bike (I use one with my basket bike because that makes it easy).
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Jun 29, 2022 19:04
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I just kept a dedicated lock at my office parking location. Nobody ever bothered me about it. That was in Dallas After SF, I don't think I'd street park my bike in a major downtown without at least three heavy duty kryptonite chains, one through each wheel and a third through the frame and at least one wheel, and let them live on the street
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Jun 29, 2022 20:17
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Follow up to my previous post and also the above discussion: I ended up getting a bike from a local shop - a Specialized Crossroads, very cool as a step up from Citi Bikes. 21 speeds are very overkill for me, but I'm liking the form factor and comfort a lot as someone who probably wouldn't do well (yet) on a proper road bike. I got the 2.0 which has disc brakes, which are also probably overkill but nice to have since I've been getting used to going a lot faster than I used to on a dang Citi Bike (can't find any weight listed for this bike, but feels like half the weight...). That said, I live in NYC, got this in the only color I could find which is "PLEASE STEAL ME Red," and I gotta buy a lock (or two?). Now, thankfully, I have room for it in my apartment, and I'm not actually commuting to work yet, but would like to be able to take this on some in-city excursions. This wouldn't be a leave-a-lock situation since this would be like going out to run errands and such. A few questions: * Should I go ahead and get two locks for the front and rear wheels? * How do yall carry locks? I see that the Kryptonite locks come with a bracket, though if I get two locks, that's basically shoving 10 pounds of extra weight on the bike as I ride it. Does this get annoying in practice? * Does Kryptonite's bike protection guarantee thing actually work at all? Seems like the two review types I see are "if the thieves don't leave behind the lock you're not going to be able to make a claim" and "they said I did it wrong and its my fault the bike got stolen", but I'm hoping this is because the people who have good experiences don't bother reviewing... * I have Lemonade renter's insurance which covers the bike (even away from my home) with a $250 deductible, but they do offer specific bike insurance as well. Anyone pay for this (on Lemonade or any other US insurance in a major city) and can let me know how much it costs per month? Surprisingly hard to find ballpark figures (this bike is $775 fwiw). I figure in terms of which lock(s), I'll just get the Kyrptonite New-U New York - I don't actually plan on biking in Manhattan, but having the protection thing cover it might be nice. Not sure if the regular or mini is preferable; the mini actually weighs more which is weird but I guess might be easier to carry on a bracket? abraham linksys fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Jun 29, 2022 |
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Jun 29, 2022 21:37
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When I commuted to an office, I used my Brompton and kept it under my desk.
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Jun 29, 2022 21:44
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abraham linksys posted:* How do yall carry locks? I see that the Kryptonite locks come with a bracket, though if I get two locks, that's basically shoving 10 pounds of extra weight on the bike as I ride it. Does this get annoying in practice?
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Jun 29, 2022 21:52
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The brackets that come with the kryptonite locks are terrible and move around a lot no matter what. You could buy a ulock bike holder, like the huldit. Or make your own it's literally some velcro straps that will be more secure than that single bracket. Right now I'm actually waiting for the foldylock forever to actually ship as while ulocks are secure they are inflexible with shape. Not as secure as a hunk of metal but it seems pretty good for a folding lock as it gives you more flexibility in locking locations.
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Jun 29, 2022 22:04
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Chillyrabbit posted:The brackets that come with the kryptonite locks are terrible and move around a lot no matter what.
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Jun 29, 2022 22:44
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I'm blessed in that I can put my bike indoors at work as well as at home so I I don't have to lock it on the daily. I carry a single beefy Abus u-lock on the rack opposed to the bag to balance things out a little. It sits in the original holder but needs a velcro strap as well to stay still. I mostly use it for short shop errands on the way home from work. A single lock isn't ideal but it's all i can be bothered with. Messing with the (usually very dirty) velcro strap is inconvenient - if I had to lock the bike seriously daily I would definitely use a basket for the locks or something like that so thirding the suggestion.
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Jun 30, 2022 10:23
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VideoGameVet posted:When I commuted to an office, I used my Brompton and kept it under my desk. Very helpful addition to the conversation about bike locks. Chillyrabbit posted:The brackets that come with the kryptonite locks are terrible and move around a lot no matter what. I like my Foldylock but I’m in a pretty low traffic area. I was hoping the LPL would do a review on it to see how good/bad it is in reality. Also for Ulocks you can stick them between your belt and pants, usually best for shorter trips:  Or there’s even belt holsters:  Commuter specific pants also can have a spot to hook the lock: 
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Jun 30, 2022 12:28
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Literally Lewis Hamilton posted:I like my Foldylock but I’m in a pretty low traffic area. I was hoping the LPL would do a review on it to see how good/bad it is in reality.
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Jun 30, 2022 13:10
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Chillyrabbit posted:The brackets that come with the kryptonite locks are terrible and move around a lot no matter what. It doesnt help that literally every person alive installs the brackets incorrectly wrt the rubber shim being left too long
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Jun 30, 2022 13:38
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Literally Lewis Hamilton posted:Also for Ulocks you can stick them between your belt and pants, usually best for shorter trips:
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Jun 30, 2022 14:27
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on lockchat, i saw this vid on a pinhead ulock a while ago and tried to find it, but there’s nothing anywhere on the internet about it except this vid—even pinhead’s site only has an image show up in google results, but it’s not anywhere on it. anyone know what’s up with that/if it’s possible to find the lock anywhere?Jokerpilled Drudge posted:It doesnt help that literally every person alive installs the brackets incorrectly wrt the rubber shim being left too long manofteflon installed mine on my fork and it’s been 100% stable for a little over a year, even after moving to nyc and dealing with waaay bumper roads
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Jun 30, 2022 15:19
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