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Splode posted:Snip I'm jumping in late but, are you able to remove that rack and see if it makes the rear wheel any easier to fit? I have a rack that squeezes the dropouts together on one of my bikes just enough that re-fitting the wheel is a pain. Fortunately it's a huge rack and a steel frame so it's all quite springy, but with your frame and rack being so small I'd expect the whole thing to be stiffer and harder to pull around.
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Apr 15, 2024 17:30
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Residency Evil posted:Figure this is as good a thread to ask in as any: does anyone have any experience with those Strider-style bikes for toddlers? It seems like the Woom bikes get the best reviews, but are also significantly more expensive and I'm not sure how much it matters for something he'll be using for a year. I almost bought a Woom - there's actually a dealer nearby, which is uncommon - but ended up with a regular Strider instead. My kid was kind of in-between Woom sizes, and ultimately couldn't justify the extra cost. If you can find one used I'd totally go that route though. Besides weight as people mentioned, the other two big differentiators seem to be tire types and brakes. The Strider has pretty hard solid foam tires, which are adequate, but I think having real tires would be a lot more comfortable and grip a lot better, which might make a kid feel more confident and ride more. Especially off pavement. The other is brakes. Wooms come with handbrakes, which would be a great skill to learn, and they make a pretty convincing case against coaster brakes for kid's bikes (not being able to pedal backwards makes it harder to get comfortable, basically). But unless you're going to commit to only putting your kid on bikes with handbrakes, I think it's moot having it at the balance bike stage. Every kid's pedal bike in the US is legally required to have coaster brakes, even the ones with handbrakes, so you really have to go out of your way to avoid them (Woom sells a non-coaster-brake wheel separately, since they can't sell it on the bike). One nitpick on the Strider: the handlebars are almost straight, with only a slight bend, but it's real easy for a kid to end up riding with the handlebars backwards. They should've just made it a straight bar!
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Apr 15, 2024 18:19
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kimbo305 posted:You gotta think the labor for making a 12" fork is not much less than a 700c one. It's got a one-piece bar-stem, even. For sure, but carbon bikes are expensive because they're sold to assholes that are willing to pay way too much money for a bike, while carbon strider bikes are sold to oh I get it now.
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Apr 15, 2024 18:20
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kimbo305 posted:. Then got an Aliexpress carbon balance bike that was just under 5lbs or so. Link? Not a fan of buying new but I have 4 kids in my extended family that would use it
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Apr 15, 2024 18:24
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Way too detailed review of balance bikes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9eEE_vMNuE
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Apr 15, 2024 18:32
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Rode to some beaches, then to a rock in the forest. Highlight was of course finding some poop.   
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Apr 15, 2024 19:18
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Gay Nudist Dad posted:The other is brakes. Wooms come with handbrakes, which would be a great skill to learn There's luck of the draw with how your kid approaches the skill acquisition around brakes, and that could spend on when you start them. I started my kid at 15mon, and for a few months he would just blithely spin the wheels while crouched next to the bike. If your kid is 2.5, they could probably be coached through the brakes up front. I thought unlearning the foot dragging was kinda hard. Woom's argument: https://woom.com/en_INT/products/woom-balance-bikes-with-hand-brake For Woom specifically, they color code the right lever and rear pads green. For both the balance bikes and the first pedal bike. The left lever is black. Thanks to the color coding, I was able to get my kid to experiment with control and modulation on each lever. You could spray paint a lever for most of the same effect, but my kid loved pulling the lever and seeing the same color pads actuate.
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Apr 15, 2024 20:25
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I'm going to San Diego this summer for a conference and will be there for 5 days. I'm thinking of renting a road bike and trying to ride a few of the nights that I'm there. Has anyone been there or live there and have any routes they recommend? I'm staying near the convention center for what it's worth
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Apr 15, 2024 20:56
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Just finished my first zwift ride since my crash. 15 minutes of erg mode pedalling with my arm in a sling and a shifter that's in a million pieces, but it felt so good
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Apr 15, 2024 21:33
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jammyozzy posted:I'm jumping in late but, are you able to remove that rack and see if it makes the rear wheel any easier to fit? Not late, I haven't fixed poo poo yet. This is a great idea and I'll give it a try!
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Apr 15, 2024 22:06
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We did Strider for balance bike, as our kid's first bike, and then moved to Woom when we added pedals and had good experiences. Woom quality has been good for us and the spec level worked well for teaching her the basics. She's now on a Woom OFF as a first MTB and it's been great. $ but I'm sure you can find older stuff depending on what your local market is.
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Apr 15, 2024 22:43
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I can tell Woom bikes are owned by cycling enthusiast parents because they price them at a very generous 95% of MSRP.
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Apr 15, 2024 22:59
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Hadlock posted:Link? Not a fan of buying new but I have 4 kids in my extended family that would use it BXT balance bike. I got it for 324 shipped (end of 2022), but looks like the price and shipping have gone up on Aliexpress? You can see some 350 ones on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=bxt+balance+bike&_sacat=0
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Apr 15, 2024 23:41
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Residency Evil posted:I can tell Woom bikes are owned by cycling enthusiast parents because they price them at a very generous 95% of MSRP. Ask other parents at school who kids are a bit older and out growing stuff. Aren’t you in Colorado? We probably have 10-15 woom bikes every day at the bike racks, lots of options. And if you aren’t attached to Woom, lots of kids bikes in general as kids grow. We have a woom2 in the garage I think but it needs tubes. Not sure what size you’re looking for BJC bike swap last weekend probably had some really good deals too.
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Apr 16, 2024 05:06
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Oh since I’m an rear end in a top hat that pays too much for bikes that’ll be msrp + 15% (Joking aside I really would ask other parents first) vikingstrike fucked around with this message at 05:25 on Apr 16, 2024 |
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Apr 16, 2024 05:22
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Hutzpah posted:I'm going to San Diego this summer for a conference and will be there for 5 days. I'm thinking of renting a road bike and trying to ride a few of the nights that I'm there. Has anyone been there or live there and have any routes they recommend? Also interested in this (though gravel/MTBing maybe instead as I don't know if I'd cycle on the road over there) since I'll be going there fairly regularly for work
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Apr 16, 2024 05:56
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I'm planning to buy my first more expensive bike - ~5k or so, which means that I'll need to start caring about it not being stolen. Are there any particular locks which you'd recommend?
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Apr 16, 2024 06:24
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depends on where you're locking it up, how long, are you going to take it on every ride?
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Apr 16, 2024 06:42
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kaaj posted:I'm planning to buy my first more expensive bike - ~5k or so, which means that I'll need to start caring about it not being stolen. Are there any particular locks which you'd recommend? Really depends on what you plan on doing with it. Personally, if I were to have a bike that I would take around to do stuff where I would even have to lock it up and let it leave my sight, I would just get a beater bike and make sure to lock it up next to a bike that's locked worse, and still operate under the assumption that someone is going to try to steal it or parts off of it at some point. Locks are only good for preventing outright crimes of opportunity; if someone sees your bike locked up and knows that it's an expensive bike, they're just going to put on a high-vis vest and cut your lock off with a portable angle grinder in broad daylight in front of everyone and nobody is going to do poo poo when they throw it in the back of a truck and gently caress off. Beyond that, all the usual top rated bike locks are still the top rated bike locks, and make sure to lock up anything that can otherwise be easily removed (like wheels) that you can't just take with you.
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Apr 16, 2024 09:44
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kaaj posted:I'm planning to buy my first more expensive bike - ~5k or so, which means that I'll need to start caring about it not being stolen. Are there any particular locks which you'd recommend?
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Apr 16, 2024 10:02
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kaaj posted:I'm planning to buy my first more expensive bike - ~5k or so, which means that I'll need to start caring about it not being stolen. Are there any particular locks which you'd recommend? Where are you imagining locking a 5k bike? Above a certain level, in most cities, I wouldn’t leave a bike that expensive locked anywhere out of sight in public for longer than a minute. My nice bikes live at home, or outside a cafe, in my sight, with a trivially broken little cafe cable lock or nothing. My commuter bike is locked with a gold standard D lock whenever I leave it, but that’s normally at work in a secure room. Look at what your insurance company will cover. For me, no cycling specific insurer covers bikes for theft away from my home unless they’re locked to an immovable object (undefined) with a Sold Secure Gold standard lock (heavy). So effectively no coverage, as I’m never going to carry a heavy lock with me on my nice light carbon bike. To actually prevent a bike being stolen for a while, given that portable angle grinders exist, the only good locks are high quality D-locks from Abus / Kryptonite, or a heavy (motorcycle) chain lock with a padlock that’s effectively a tiny D-lock.
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Apr 16, 2024 10:26
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Hadlock posted:It sounds like you've done this before The parts you get depends heavily on what route you end up going. If you already have a complete bike and are just trying to replace the stock fork with a carbon fork, get everything set up first fitment-wise with the stock fork before looking for a carbon fork so you have a good idea of what you might need. If you are able to find a threaded 1" carbon fork that's the right size, you're pretty much just swapping the old fork for the new fork, with the only thing you'll have to do is remove the crown race off the old fork and put it on the new fork (assuming there isn't a crown race on the new fork you need to take off first) and then put everything back together. There are a variety of ways to take off/put on a crown race, ranging from expensive if you want to get the fuckoff Park Tool crown race puller and crown race setter, to cheap if you do it whatever weird cheap ways people suggest online to remove and install the race. If you opt instead to go with a threadless fork (or a threaded carbon fork that's too long), it's going to take a bit more work. You'll need to get a 1" threadless headset, which are still easy to get from the usual makers like Cane Creek, FSA, Origin8, Chris King, etc. From there, if your bike still has the original headset on, you'll have to remove the old headset off your bike and put on a new headset (again, this can be either expensive or cheap depending on the scale of "buy the expensive tools" to "saw some DIY videos on YouTube for cheap), set the crown race on the new fork, generally put everything together to figure out if you need to cut the fork steerer tube and how much you need to cut it by (there are a variety of ways you can do this, from pipe cutter to hacksaw with guide to angle grinder; just make sure the cut is straight). Once you're sure of the length and have all your spacers and stem put on (there are 1" to 1-1/8" shims out there you can buy to use modern stems), get everything all tightened up appropriately; if your steerer tube is carbon, you can only use an expander compression plug to get the right headset tightness, if your steerer tube is metal, you can use either a compression plug or the whole star nut and bolt way of doing it. I prefer using compression plugs regardless because it's less a pain in the rear end. quote:In addition to that trek, I have a lead on a Vitus 979 which I guess is a French top of the line press-fit aluminum bike that's epoxied in place for good measure? Yeah those were a thing for a while. I have a Raleigh Technium 400 from like 1988 or something that's a bonded aluminum frame also, but I only ever used it on the trainer, because to be honest, I no longer trust in the ability of the epoxy used to keep the bike together because it's all old as poo poo. As it sits currently in the garage compared to the pic, it's a freakshow with mostly SRAM Red poo poo on it converted to 1" threadless with a Kinesis fork and Chris King headset. 
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Apr 16, 2024 10:38
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), and all my bikes since I was 6 years old have been red
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If you're dropping 5k on a bike, it better be light enough that you can sling it over your shoulder and just carry it anywhere.
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Apr 16, 2024 13:56
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HamburgerTownUSA posted:Really depends on what you plan on doing with it. Personally, if I were to have a bike that I would take around to do stuff where I would even have to lock it up and let it leave my sight, I would just get a beater bike and make sure to lock it up next to a bike that's locked worse, and still operate under the assumption that someone is going to try to steal it or parts off of it at some point. Turns out my rear fork issue is actually a clever anti theft feature
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Apr 16, 2024 13:57
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kaaj posted:I'm planning to buy my first more expensive bike - ~5k or so, which means that I'll need to start caring about it not being stolen. Are there any particular locks which you'd recommend? That super heavy thick kryptonite lock with the giant hardened steel links. I wouldn't even consider anything else If you're gonna commute on a super expensive bike in a major west coast bike theft market you might as well plan on buying a really nice vintage Italian bike for $1000 and plan on getting one stolen each year
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Apr 16, 2024 15:48
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OBAMNA PHONE posted:depends on where you're locking it up, how long, are you going to take it on every ride? Thanks, I should have specified this when asking the question. I normally am planning to ride it in neighborhoods which are safe enough - and commuting to work, where I'd be able to lock it properly in a bike room. I'm fully aware you can't really get an unbeatable lock, but what I'm aiming is to get something good enough to stop occasional thieves from snatching it, when I i.e. stop to get a coffee on the way to where I'm going. I live in a rather sparsely populated area and I'm not planning to take that bike to big cities. Thanks for all the answers so far.
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Apr 16, 2024 15:55
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HamburgerTownUSA posted:If you are able to find a threaded 1" carbon fork that's the right size, you're pretty much just swapping the old fork for the new fork, with the only thing you'll have to do is remove the crown race off the old fork and put it on the new fork (assuming there isn't a crown race on the new fork you need to take off first) and then put everything back together. Ooh, that reminds me — there’s some different crown race standards are 1”. JIS is 27.0, while ISO and Campy are 26.4.
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Apr 16, 2024 15:56
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Hutzpah posted:I'm going to San Diego this summer for a conference and will be there for 5 days. I'm thinking of renting a road bike and trying to ride a few of the nights that I'm there. Has anyone been there or live there and have any routes they recommend? Heliosicle posted:Also interested in this (though gravel/MTBing maybe instead as I don't know if I'd cycle on the road over there) since I'll be going there fairly regularly for work https://www.strava.com/routes/3215333313888785726
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Apr 16, 2024 16:12
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kaaj posted:Thanks, I should have specified this when asking the question. I normally am planning to ride it in neighborhoods which are safe enough - and commuting to work, where I'd be able to lock it properly in a bike room. I would not spend 5k on a commuter bike what the Christ. Spend 1k. Have a separate nice bike for sporty leisure rides where the performance matters. I wouldn’t even want the same tyres on a 5k performance bike that I’d want on a commuter. The theft issue may be far less of a problem if you’re out in the sticks rather than commuting into a city, but as stated, any decent lock will be heavy and negate any benefit of having a nice bike. - I have a little Abus cafe lock with a retractable cable which I occasionally use on very long distance rides, on my nice bike, with lots of food stops. - I have a light-ish Kryptonite chain lock that I can wrap around my seatpost on my commuter if I know I’m gonna stop somewhere. Still almost as heavy as a D-lock, but convenient, can easily go round my friend’s bikes too, and apparently chain locks are harder to quickly angle grind as they don’t stay still.
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Apr 16, 2024 17:08
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wooger posted:I would not spend 5k on a commuter bike what the Christ. Thanks for the tips. It's a gravel bike (Canyon Grizl) for rides on trails around where I live, with some random commute squeezed during the summer. Commute is ~20 miles, so we're talking about me doing it twice a year and calling it done  I've got really good access to bike paths out of my neighborhood even (Rocky Mountain front range) and it feels like a waste of good paths not doing anything with that.I'm planning to get a second set of tires tbh, but road riding isn't the main purpose of the bike. I just want to take care of it properly once I finally decide to do that.
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Apr 16, 2024 17:37
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kaaj posted:I'm planning to get a second set of tires tbh, but road riding isn't the main purpose of the bike. I just want to take care of it properly once I finally decide to do that. Tires or wheels? Swapping tires is... pretty inconvenient.
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Apr 16, 2024 17:39
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kimbo305 posted:Tires or wheels? Swapping tires is... pretty inconvenient. I meant wheels! 
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Apr 16, 2024 17:47
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I commute on my fancy bikes more than my actual commuter bike because i usually go riding after work. And big tubeless gravel tires work pretty good for commuting. The only issue with multiple wheelsets aside from cost is that sometimes (usually) your rotors and drivetrain indexing don't line up perfectly between the two. Like for some reason my two sets of new sram rotors aren't the same and I have to adjust the calipers every time i want to swap to road wheels. and move the cassette over because it turns out an xplr derailleur does not really want to be on a 10-36 cassette.
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Apr 16, 2024 18:47
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Lex Neville posted:Just finished my first zwift ride since my crash. 15 minutes of erg mode pedalling with my arm in a sling and a shifter that's in a million pieces, but it felt so good I feel your joy. Last week was my first Zwift in 8 weeks after a stress fracture repair in my femoral neck. And yesterday was my first actual ride. Just in time for my afib to creep back into my life. I swear, it never ends. I just want to ride.
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Apr 16, 2024 18:56
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I was chatting with some friends today and stumbled across a fun fact. In 11 years of strava I've never once gone on a 90 mile bike ride. Just a big gap between 89 and 100.
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Apr 16, 2024 19:01
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If I don't feel safe leaving my expensive bike unlocked, I don't leave it at all. No lock that is light or small enough to carry is going to do a drat thing. I keep a little cafe lock on my commuter, but as others mentioned, it's just for 'crime of opportunity' prevention. I also leave a heavy kryptonite lock at my office garage so that it's more secure there, but I'm not hauling that around all the time.
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Apr 16, 2024 19:12
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jamal posted:I commute on my fancy bikes more than my actual commuter bike because i usually go riding after work. And big tubeless gravel tires work pretty good for commuting. Do you swap between a 10-44 and 10-36 cassette? If so its normal that you need to adjust the b-gap on the derailleur. If they're the same cassette though that's bad luck with the hubs I guess, I've not had any issues with my 2 sets of wheels with different hub manufacturers. And re: the rotors, if they're centrelock you get some little shims (like these https://www.bike-discount.de/en/tune-shim-set-for-centerlock-hubs-4-pieces) that go behind the rotor (on the wheelset that has the rotors most in-board).
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Apr 16, 2024 19:40
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wooger posted:- I have a little Abus cafe lock with a retractable cable which I occasionally use on very long distance rides, on my nice bike, with lots of food stops. I do something like this too. I have an Abus 5850 frame lock (e: I guess these are called café locks in the US so we might be referring to the same thing?) permanently mounted to the bike that serves as the brief stop security. It's incredibly convenient if you have to leave the bike only for a minute or so - takes all of two seconds to lock up and you can't forget to bring it. It's surprisingly annoying to get rid of for a thief too; it's just an 8,5 mm (5/16", ish) steel bar, but it's in a really awkward place to get to with an angle grinder and you need to cut it twice to defeat the lock - once on each side of the rear wheel. The big problem with it is you can just carry the bike away and deal with it somewhere else, so I also carry an 8 mm chain lock wrapped around the saddle post which secures the frame and the front wheel to a fence or a lamp post or whatever. This is good enough to make me not worry about leaving the bike for an hour or so for shopping, as long as it's in a high traffic area. It's not too hard to defeat but I figure it'd take a few minutes at least. Seems to have worked so far. TheFluff fucked around with this message at 20:40 on Apr 16, 2024 |
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Apr 16, 2024 20:25
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Got some great advice a couple pages back. Just stopping by to say thanks.
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Apr 16, 2024 22:03
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Crumps Brother posted:I was chatting with some friends today and stumbled across a fun fact. In 11 years of strava I've never once gone on a 90 mile bike ride. Just a big gap between 89 and 100. Same, and it's 100% because my brain will not let me get that close to 100 without finishing it up.
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Apr 16, 2024 22:08
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