Bike Commuting: pickin' and flickin' to keep it clean

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > The Great Outdoors > Bike Commuting: pickin' and flickin' to keep it clean

Anachronist: Feb 13, 2009

Giant Metal Robot posted:

I'm replacing a stolen commuter hybrid and doubled my budget so I can add all the accessories on day 1. Didn't realize how much I put into that bike until I started building a cart for racks, fenders, light mounts, bottle cages, wheel reflectors, etc.

But hey, turns out I have a bit of extra cash left over. Time to prep for winter commutes and loads of questions about studded tires.

Would I just swap the tires on when the season changed?

Are studded tires tubeless compatible? If they're not, I have an idea of building up tubeless wheels for my spring commute and committing the default rims to a winter wheel set.

Finally, if I'm lazy, and only swap on one studded tires, is it better to be front or rear? Or is that worse than doing nothing?

https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/studdedtires.php

This page is quite useful for many questions about studded tires (although it doesn't answer all of yours about tubeless compatibility). I would swap them on when the season changes and just leave them until it stops snowing for good. It's okay to ride them on bare pavement it's just a little slower. Better to put one on the front first but having two is way better.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2020 17:32

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 15:54

Anachronist: Feb 13, 2009

Keep it inside if you can. A hook on a wall to keep it vertical or something might be nice for getting it a dedicated space. Don�t get smaller tires but do make sure you�re filling them up regularly. Under inflated tires will not be fun to ride. There are charts online with recommendations for pressure. What it says on the tire itself is not a good choice, usually.

Going 15 mph is easy, averaging 15mph on your whole trip is sometimes less so. If you�ve got stoplights and stuff on the way that will bring your average speed down quickly. (Substitute whatever speed you care about / can achieve above)

# ¿ Aug 7, 2020 15:18

Anachronist: Feb 13, 2009

Entropist posted:

Gotta go fast? No, the cult of time attack advocated in this thread is not the only way! Have a look how it's done in the only country where bike commuting is a normal and widespread practice:

Pretty hosed up Asian erasure right here.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2020 05:41

Anachronist: Feb 13, 2009

Entropist posted:

p.s. About the Asian perspective mentioned earlier, my sister lives in Tokyo and bike commutes there and yeah no, I'm not erasing things by saying it's not normal there to commute by bike. There is no dedicated infra (you use the sidewalk and pedestrian lights, or the roads) and you are definitely a second class citizen, to the extent that you aren't already by being a foreigner.

Wow. This is a pretty loving racist take right here. No, not all of Asia is exactly the same as Tokyo, and the perspective of foreigners riding there is not the only one to consider.

# ¿ Aug 28, 2020 18:03

Anachronist: Feb 13, 2009

kimbo305 posted:

I wonder if Entropist knows that there�s Chinese cities that have bike share programs bigger than most countries�. Probably not.

Was looking earlier and unfortunately the number of bike commuters in Shanghai is almost certainly not higher than the total population of the Netherlands. Was definitely hoping it would be though.

# ¿ Aug 30, 2020 22:42

Anachronist: Feb 13, 2009

For the record I haven�t been to Tokyo and wasn�t thinking about Japan in general when I brought up Asian bike commuting. Mostly I was thinking about every mid-tier city in China where each significant road has a dedicated separated bike lane with a barrier. Also thinking about India which maybe doesn�t have the infrastructure but certainly has the degree of use of bikes.

# ¿ Aug 31, 2020 14:53

Anachronist: Feb 13, 2009

Shibawanko posted:

im also dutch, i commute 50k by bike three times a week, and i also commuted by bike in tokyo for 2 years and this is entirely correct, cycling in tokyo is fine by comparison to many western cities, mostly because there are a lot of quiet side roads, but it's chaotic and people treat cycling as just "walking but with wheels", you are expected to behave like a pedestrian on steroids, not obeying right of way and giving way to cars and pedestrians at all times, riding on the wrong side of the road etc. it's better than, say, thailand though, and probably better than the us

ive also commuted in the uk for about a year, ive seen plenty of people decked in full gear on racing bikes, often swerving around cars instead of just obeying the rules of the road and taking it easy, seen several near-misses happen like this. to a dutch person this looks insane and while i don't agree with the "second class citizen" stuff or whatever this poster is correct about cycling, and most western countries get cycling wrong completely. it will never become a widespread practice if you keep treating it like a specialist activity for which you need to buy loads of gear and go at high speeds. it will need to become a widespread practice to enable high density living in cities while sparing the environment, so i would say promoting bike commuting is pretty important

so in short, those of who you dunked on this guy are wrong, at least about this topic

Entropist got dunked on because he asserted that only the Dutch do bike commuting right and when the millions of bike commuters in Asia were brought up he dismissed them with an anecdote from his sister in Tokyo. Ignoring just a couple places where bike commuting is ubiquitous and a plenty of infrastructure is implemented, i.e. China. And now I guess you're doing the same thing but with your anecdote from Tokyo???

# ¿ Oct 21, 2020 22:13

Anachronist: Feb 13, 2009

Shibawanko posted:

no im not talking about asia in general, i only know about how its done in japan (flawed but still better than the uk), i havent even mentioned asia. i just agree with him about that bike commuting in holland is a good model for how it can work en masse, and that it should involve as little lycra and racing bikes as possible

Yes but the post you quoted was from the conversation where Entropist said only the dutch do it right, I brought up Asia, and he dismissed it with the post you quoted. So presumably you read that conversation and are aware of the context.

I'm not trying to say that riding in Tokyo is great, or that riding in Holland is bad, or that TT bikes are the one true way to commute. Just that there are a whole lot of places out there where large fractions of the population commute by bike and they don't do it the dutch way exactly.

# ¿ Oct 22, 2020 01:47

Anachronist: Feb 13, 2009

Also consider bike parking situation at work and home. The more secure your parking spot is the more willing I would be to spend the big bucks. Inside on both ends of the commute is optimal.

# ¿ Jan 25, 2021 03:52

Anachronist: Feb 13, 2009

Those brake cable runs are maybe the best part about that absurd creation.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2021 23:35

Anachronist: Feb 13, 2009

Heliosicle posted:

What pedals are nice on a commuter? I have flats on my MTB and SPD-SL pedals on my road bike. XT seems like a good middle ground, and I've been meaning to put them on my MTB, but there are quite a few traffic lights or spots where I need to wait on my commute so flats are also an option. Would also need new shoes. Road bike pedals would mean I could just use the same shoes, but I need to walk from the bike shed to my office and would wreck the cleats after a while (and walking up stairs sucks).

Currently using flats but they're just the plain slippery plastic canyon ones that come with the bike. I think them being so slippy is contributing to the knee/hip tension and pain I've been getting in the month since I started the commute. The distance I've cycled each week hasn't actually increased, but now it's just commuting kms only every day, rather than a couple of harder/funner rides a week

So maybe my legs just need to get used to the constant load from commuting (after a year of mostly sitting at home), I'm missing cycling for fun.

I have some more legit MTB flats on my commuter with the metal pins / large platforms etc. Mine are Answers but I think any similar pedal will be just as good. Better than the standard cheapo flat pedal at least. I'm happy using them up to at least an hour of riding, probably more. Very worth it to not have to store shoes at the office, clomp around in cleats, and so on.

# ¿ Jul 15, 2021 19:47

Anachronist: Feb 13, 2009

I use some fleece lined soft shell bike pants from Amazon, I think cycling4u branded. They work great for Denver�s climate, some days down to single digits F, some snow. I usually put them on over my regular pants but sometimes change. They have lasted me a few years of ~2 day/week commuting. Maybe starting to look thrashed but certainly not falling apart.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2023 16:09

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# ¿ May 17, 2024 15:54

Anachronist: Feb 13, 2009

Ethics_Gradient posted:

Speaking of winter:

I bought an old steel Bianci Brava for commuting a month ago. It's working great for now, but a bit concerned about how the skinny road bike tyres are going to fare once it starts getting slick and icy (Denver). My current commute is about 20 minutes of mostly bike lane, if that helps.

Is it worth it to buy some winter tires (and if so, any recs for a 700C x 23?). I used to have Gatorskins on my last bike, which I loved for the puncture resistance, but from memory they had pretty ordinary grip.

Gatorskins grip is trash in the wet in my opinion. I have some Schwalbe marathon winters (with carbide studs) in 700x35ish which are overkill for 95% of days in Denver but very nice when it�s icy. I doubt they come in 700x23 though. If I was trying to commute on 23s I guess I�d go for Panaracer Paselas or something and plan on not riding when it�s icy.

# ¿ Oct 16, 2023 01:42

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > The Great Outdoors > Bike Commuting: pickin' and flickin' to keep it clean