Bicycle Megathread 5: i warned you about bikes bro!!!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > The Great Outdoors > Bicycle Megathread 5: i warned you about bikes bro!!!

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a loathsome bird: Aug 15, 2004

numberoneposter posted:

Trying to get it setup for baby hauling to daycare duty as it's primary mission. It's all old Xtracycle stuff and adapters to baby seats don't readily exist anymore so I may have to get a bit crafty or phone around some of the second hand bike shops.

The drive train is a 3x8 and is kinda poo poo but it works. Brakes are hydro shimano and work really well. Going to raid some parts bins to get the components I like. This bike build is definitely going to be on a budget.

I think the silver adapter here is a Thule part but it just mounts directly to the deck and acts as a dummy rack similar to the idea above:

I love those Xtracycle panniers so much. Pro tip: toddler's balance bike fits in one side with room to spare!

# ? Jul 7, 2023 00:49

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# ? Jun 7, 2024 20:40

numberoneposter: Feb 19, 2014; How much do I cum? The answer might surprise you!

Yeah that silver part is the one that has been proving really hard to find. Loving the pics btw, I've literally never had a bike with any kind of rack before so it's a bit new to me.

# ? Jul 7, 2023 00:56

numberoneposter: Feb 19, 2014; How much do I cum? The answer might surprise you!

These look slightly unsettling naked.

# ? Jul 7, 2023 03:23

alnilam: Nov 10, 2009

numberoneposter posted:

These look slightly unsettling naked.

Turn on your monitor or put on some clothes

# ? Jul 7, 2023 03:32

Slavvy: Dec 11, 2012

Looks like a half-gestated tandem

# ? Jul 7, 2023 03:32

numberoneposter: Feb 19, 2014; How much do I cum? The answer might surprise you!

After examining a baby bike seat at a store I ended up buying a "Qibbel Air" because it will actually just mount right onto the rails at the widest part right at the front, with the plank removed, and is very sturdy. Gets us rolling with a baby on board.

No pics cause the previous owner left the bike filthy and I'm going over it.

alnilam posted:

Turn on your monitor or put on some clothes

Hi neighbor, stop peeping through my windows in the morning I like to walk around in the buff ok?

numberoneposter fucked around with this message at 03:56 on Jul 7, 2023

# ? Jul 7, 2023 03:39

tarlibone: Aug 1, 2014; it's in the mighty hands of steel; Fun Shoe

I'm loving all of these baby seat hacks.

tarlibone posted:

I've got a little bit of a creek/click on my road bike coming from the handlebars, I think....

... and I was wrong. After I got home from rehearsal, I re-checked the stem bracket bolts, and they felt fine. Still had the creek, but I have to be riding and hitting something bumpy to feel it. After messing around while leaning against my SUV, I noticed that the sound really happened the most noticeably when I was on the saddle, or when I was in the act of hopping on or out of the saddle.

I checked the screw on the seat post clamp, and it was not very tight. I loosened it, adjusted it up a couple millimeters, and screwed it back down... and no more clicky-creeks.

# ? Jul 7, 2023 04:33

Ihmemies: Oct 6, 2012

How heavy is too heavy for a gravel bike? I decided to turn my winter commuter mtb to a budget gravel bike with new tyres�

Weight with full 65mm wide aluminium fenders and 40-622 tyres and 100mm suspension front fork is now 13,5kg without pedals. For some reason weight comparisons use weights without pedals.

I could shave off extra kg with a carbon fork, but that�s quite expensive. I guess most gravel bikes these days have carbon forks. That would bring weight down to 12.5kg. Drivetrain is 3x10 so at least I have enough gears.

# ? Jul 7, 2023 21:06

Hypnolobster: Apr 12, 2007; What this sausage party needs is a big dollop of ketchup! Too bad I didn't make any.

Nothing is too heavy if you can push hard enough. Plenty of all-steel gravel bikes are in that general weight class, and even the lightest gravel bikes are going to be heavy if you throw a few bags and gear on them.

# ? Jul 7, 2023 21:20

Dog Case: Oct 7, 2003; Heeelp meee... prevent wildfires

Ihmemies posted:

How heavy is too heavy for a gravel bike? I decided to turn my winter commuter mtb to a budget gravel bike with new tyres…

Weight with full 65mm wide aluminium fenders and 40-622 tyres and 100mm suspension front fork is now 13,5kg without pedals. For some reason weight comparisons use weights without pedals.

I could shave off extra kg with a carbon fork, but that’s quite expensive. I guess most gravel bikes these days have carbon forks. That would bring weight down to 12.5kg. Drivetrain is 3x10 so at least I have enough gears.

For the first time ever I think we need new terms for types of bikes, because "gravel bike" currently encompasses Path Less Pedaled style "riding my platform pedaled fat tire bike on gravel roads while wearing Crocs" and also misplaced roadies racing carbon bikes on gravel roads.

Since the bike you're building is a converted mountain bike, I wouldn't really worry about weight too much. If you really want a fork with more mounts just get a suspension adjusted steel touring fork and have fun riding around. It will probably still be a little lighter than your suspension fork anyway.

# ? Jul 7, 2023 21:46

Residency Evil: Jul 28, 2003; 4/5 godo... Schumi

Does anyone have suggestions for a decent road bike for MY WIFE? She's not looking to race, but just looking to join me/some friends on occasional rides in the mountains of 30-50 miles or so. She has very little interest in riding on gravel.

Some initial thoughts on stuff that'd be nice to have:
Disc brakes
Electronic shifting (preferably SRAM, but I think Shimano would be okay too)

I found this:
https://www.cannondale.com/en-us/bikes/road/endurance/synapse-carbon/synapse-carbon-2-le

Which I guess is how much a bike like that costs in TYOOL 2023?

# ? Jul 7, 2023 22:17

tylertfb: Mar 3, 2004; Time.Space.Transmat.

Canyon Endurace comes in a couple of electronic flavors for ~$2600

# ? Jul 7, 2023 22:34

Mederlock: Jun 23, 2012; You won't recognize Canada when I'm through with it; Grimey Drawer

Residency Evil posted:

Does anyone have suggestions for a decent road bike for MY WIFE? She's not looking to race, but just looking to join me/some friends on occasional rides in the mountains of 30-50 miles or so. She has very little interest in riding on gravel.

Some initial thoughts on stuff that'd be nice to have:
Disc brakes
Electronic shifting (preferably SRAM, but I think Shimano would be okay too)

I found this:
https://www.cannondale.com/en-us/bikes/road/endurance/synapse-carbon/synapse-carbon-2-le

Which I guess is how much a bike like that costs in TYOOL 2023?

Has she tried modern drop handle bars and liked them? You may want to consider having her try a hybrid with flat bars and an endurance/touring style bike at the LBS back-to-back first. My wife was veeeerry iffy on drop handles until we tweaked hers a lot (shorter stem that had an extra few cm in rise, handles twisted down till ends were perpendicular to ground so levers could be mounted further back, a few other things). We were really close to saying fuckit and putting a flat bar onto it until it finally clicked for her.

If she's not going to be cycling often and you're going to be doing lots of riding in the mountains, you might want to consider having her bike have a granny gear combination, doesn't matter if it's a big cog in the back or a smaller ring up front. My wife had a pretty hard time with the protracted climbs in the mountains on her bike's easiest combo at 37 gear inchs. That Cannondale does have a 1:1 34T/34T gear combo at ~27 gear inches which would probably? Be pretty easy for her, but some makers like Trek are even going with a 26T Granny ring in a 3X crankset up front over a more conventional 34T small ring on their touring bikes. Totally depends on the elevation of the routes you're taking, and her physical fitness levels whether that's all even relevant or not.

# ? Jul 7, 2023 23:01

jamal: Apr 15, 2003; I'll set the building on fire

Oddly this synapse has different pricing based on color and size but some of them are ~4100 which for an extra $300 over the 2LE gets you the varia radar and ultegra instead of 105 which is more than worth the difference.

https://www.cannondale.com/en-us/bikes/road/endurance/synapse-carbon/synapse-carbon-2-rle

Anyway, yeah it's a solid general use road bike, more reasonable geo than a race bike, clearance for 35s, and the built in lights and radar thing are kind of cool. Just charge the pack instead of having to worry about the individual lights.

# ? Jul 8, 2023 04:55

Krogort: Oct 27, 2013

Garmin Edge 1040 and 840 cost basicaly the same.
Except for weight weenyness, is there any reason to take the 840 ?

# ? Jul 8, 2023 06:53

Platystemon: Feb 13, 2012; BREADS

Dog Case posted:

For the first time ever I think we need new terms for types of bikes, because "gravel bike" currently encompasses Path Less Pedaled style "riding my platform pedaled fat tire bike on gravel roads while wearing Crocs" and also misplaced roadies racing carbon bikes on gravel roads.

Famous bicycle mechanics Wilbur & Orville Wright built gravel bikes.

# ? Jul 8, 2023 07:10

numberoneposter: Feb 19, 2014; How much do I cum? The answer might surprise you!

road tires work fine on gravel

these are mich pro 4s and they held up on some nice graded gravel, 23 mm

just dont try to do anything to fast and watch out for sharp rocks

i have some specific "gravel road" tires now which are the piralli cinturattos but as much as i like them they are too heavy

ill just roll the dice with Gp5KtL

edit: i cant remeber anymore but those might be the clincher version of the roubaix with the green sidewall in that pic

numberoneposter fucked around with this message at 11:03 on Jul 8, 2023

# ? Jul 8, 2023 09:14

Ihmemies: Oct 6, 2012

Hypnolobster posted:

Nothing is too heavy if you can push hard enough. Plenty of all-steel gravel bikes are in that general weight class, and even the lightest gravel bikes are going to be heavy if you throw a few bags and gear on them.

Thanks, yes I guess you are correct. I have around 8kg of gear including bag weight so it probably evens out in the end.

Dog Case posted:

For the first time ever I think we need new terms for types of bikes, because "gravel bike" currently encompasses Path Less Pedaled style "riding my platform pedaled fat tire bike on gravel roads while wearing Crocs" and also misplaced roadies racing carbon bikes on gravel roads.

Since the bike you're building is a converted mountain bike, I wouldn't really worry about weight too much. If you really want a fork with more mounts just get a suspension adjusted steel touring fork and have fun riding around. It will probably still be a little lighter than your suspension fork anyway.

My suspension fork doesn't have any mounts at the moment. I drilled a hole through the fork to get a fender mount point (yes it probably weakened it, maybe it will break some day..), and had to install clamps next to dropouts.

Head tube outer diameter is 50mm so some skinny steel fork would probably just look stupid. It's just that most carbon forks seem to be like 15x110mm axle so I'd have to build a new wheel (since there's not much point swapping hub and spokes and keeping the cheap rim only..).

Fork with 40-50mm rake and ~485mm A2C would replace a 100mm suspension fork. There's a list of forks with mount points, maybe I'll find a used one cheaply one day.. https://bikepacking.com/index/forks-with-bottle-cage-mounts/

Ihmemies fucked around with this message at 09:32 on Jul 8, 2023

# ? Jul 8, 2023 09:29

Vando: Oct 26, 2007; stoats about

Dog Case posted:

For the first time ever I think we need new terms for types of bikes, because "gravel bike" currently encompasses Path Less Pedaled style "riding my platform pedaled fat tire bike on gravel roads while wearing Crocs" and also misplaced roadies racing carbon bikes on gravel roads.

Any bike is a gravel bike if you're happy riding it on gravel :colbert:

# ? Jul 8, 2023 09:44

Angryhead: Apr 4, 2009; Don't call my name
Don't call my name
Alejandro

Carried some extra weight around today, handy to throw at aggressive motorists (like the biker who, according to my Varia, passed me going 189km/h)

Also today I noticed that I've even got tan lines from my helmet straps :negative:

# ? Jul 8, 2023 11:32

Heliosicle: May 16, 2013; Arigato, Racists.

Angryhead posted:

Also today I noticed that I've even got tan lines from my helmet straps

I don't see an issue here?

# ? Jul 8, 2023 11:40

Angryhead: Apr 4, 2009; Don't call my name
Don't call my name
Alejandro

Heliosicle posted:

I don't see an issue here?

Yeah no I'm actually embracing that, plus the usual cyclist tan lines (raccoon eyes, gloves etc)

# ? Jul 8, 2023 12:01

Loving Africa Chaps: Dec 3, 2007; We had not left it yet, but when I would wake in the night, I would lie, listening, homesick for it already.

Because I'm fat and poo poo I'd ideally like a 32 on my cassette but everywhere suggests the highest 11s Super Record can take is a 29 because of the RD cage length. If I were to get an J+L oversized pulley would that give me the extra range I need to accommodate a 32?

# ? Jul 8, 2023 13:06

wooger: Apr 16, 2005; YOU RESENT?

Loving Africa Chaps posted:

Because I'm fat and poo poo I'd ideally like a 32 on my cassette but everywhere suggests the highest 11s Super Record can take is a 29 because of the RD cage length. If I were to get an J+L oversized pulley would that give me the extra range I need to accommodate a 32?

Big pulleys don�t help with anything. Wolftooth extenders don�t help with total capacity: (biggest chainring - smallest chainring) + (biggest cog - smallest cog) but might help with reaching a bigger max cassette size.

If they sell campy 11s 32 tooth cassettes, what *are* they compatible with if not super record?

wooger fucked around with this message at 13:25 on Jul 8, 2023

# ? Jul 8, 2023 13:18

Havana Affair: Apr 6, 2009

Loving Africa Chaps posted:

Because I'm fat and poo poo I'd ideally like a 32 on my cassette but everywhere suggests the highest 11s Super Record can take is a 29 because of the RD cage length. If I were to get an J+L oversized pulley would that give me the extra range I need to accommodate a 32?

It's not really the cage length but how far down from the cassette you can get the upper pulley which depends on the design of the derailleur. There are (I think) different cage length versions of the same super record RD and they all should be similar except for the cage. So the same maximum cog and different capacity.

E: I thin Centaur is 11 speed and that's the entry level group they have these days.

# ? Jul 8, 2023 13:20

kimbo305: Jun 9, 2007; actually, yeah, I am a little mad

Loving Africa Chaps posted:

Because I'm fat and poo poo I'd ideally like a 32 on my cassette but everywhere suggests the highest 11s Super Record can take is a 29 because of the RD cage length. If I were to get an J+L oversized pulley would that give me the extra range I need to accommodate a 32?

It�s been ages, but I think I tried out a Shimano wheel on my SR11 bike back in the day. And that would have had an 11-32 cassette. It shifted into the big cog no problem, though overall shift quality was markedly worse than with the Campy 11-29, despite internet claims of compatibility. A Campy 11-32 wasn�t available back then, I don�t think.
Maybe I just got lucky with the frame�s specific placement of the hanger.

# ? Jul 8, 2023 14:18

Serendipitaet: Apr 19, 2009

My wahoo tickr strap has been getting increasingly erratic, getting stuck at one heart rate, or a narrow band, for entire workouts or dropping out entirely. Is there a way to verify whether it�s the device or the battery losing charge/being faulty? Also any recommendations welcome for a replacement�

# ? Jul 8, 2023 14:41

Ihmemies: Oct 6, 2012

So now I'm content with the bike's weight. It its what it is. But how about hauling all that crap around? Finland has mostly wide gravel/forestry roads, not much singletrack paths around.

I determined that overnight/multi-day setup requires at least 45 liters of capacity with food and gear.

I thought I'd save money and get a 33� rear rack, use two existing 15L panniers. Then I'm 15L short. My suspension fork doesn't have any rack mounting points, so I need to figure out something else. A frame bag and a handlebar bag?

code:

item			type		wt g	capacity L
xlc rp-r03		rear rack	670	0
altura ultralite	pannier		260	15
altura ultralite	pannier		260	15
apidura expedition	frame bag	200	5,30
rockgeist bag		handlebar	440	11
			
			
				total	1830	46,3

Man those >bikepacking bags are expensive. Over 100� each. 200� for 15L of capacity, oof. Are there any cheaper alternatives or are all bikepacking bags just that expensive?

Pictured, gear in 15L panniers, without food:

Gear all around. Clothes, cooking, 2 layer tent, sleeping bag, mat etc.

# ? Jul 8, 2023 14:45

Residency Evil: Jul 28, 2003; 4/5 godo... Schumi

jamal posted:

Oddly this synapse has different pricing based on color and size but some of them are ~4100 which for an extra $300 over the 2LE gets you the varia radar and ultegra instead of 105 which is more than worth the difference.

https://www.cannondale.com/en-us/bikes/road/endurance/synapse-carbon/synapse-carbon-2-rle

Anyway, yeah it's a solid general use road bike, more reasonable geo than a race bike, clearance for 35s, and the built in lights and radar thing are kind of cool. Just charge the pack instead of having to worry about the individual lights.

Ugh, yeah, this probably makes more sense. Insane how expensive bikes have gotten.

Mederlock posted:

Has she tried modern drop handle bars and liked them?

Yup she has a road bike that got stolen out of our old garage in Philly. :negative:

# ? Jul 8, 2023 15:12

Krogort: Oct 27, 2013