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Twobirds posted:What gloves do people go with in the winter? I've gotten some thick bike gloves but they aren't up the task once temperatures get below 40F, though that's usually my only body part that complains. Stuff made for skiing is great when it's cold. e:f,b
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Jul 27, 2020 00:55
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My winter riding tech tip: If you ever have problems with freezing shifter cables, this thing helps a lot. It installs on the cable sheath (ideally at the lowest point) and allows you to spray your favourite water displacement libation in there in a matter of minutes.
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Aug 3, 2020 17:44
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Mauser posted:So I just noticed that my bell only fits on my wife's hybrid and my rockhopper handlebars. I tried to put it on my new road bike but the handlebars are too big for the bracket. Where the hell can I attach this thing? Possibly at the very tip of the drop bar? Probably nowhere, sadly. Road bike handlebar profiles are rarely cylindrical unless very old and usually much fatter than straight bars, so standard stuff can rarely attach. O-rings or hose clamp style mechanisms is what you need for a road bike bell.
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Aug 21, 2020 05:18
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VideoGameVet posted:I mentioned that cycling in office clothes sans helmet gets me more space from drivers and he agreed.  Fake edit: amused myself by reading product reviews on the thing. Lots of unnecessary deployments it would seem. Who'd have thunk it? Bakfiets update: I finally upgraded to a hydraulic disc brake in the rear. It took some fabrication for a custom bracket but on a steel frame it's pretty trivial. Unfortunately I have a horizontal dropout and no chain tensioner mounted (though I bought one, needs a bracket too), so we'll see how it goes. The caliper sits on top so I'm figuring that a few mm front to back might not be a huge deal. Guess I should add allen keys to the onboard tool kit so I can jiggle it around sideways at least if I need to remove the rear wheel for a flat or something since I doubt I can remount it in exacly the same position as it sits right now, or get it into the dropouts completely straight. Right now it works fine FWIW, but it's a bit of an experiment and I'll move things around if I need to. Vertical dropouts and a chain tensioner is not out of the question if this configuration causes trouble.  Yes, that is overspray on my reflective tape. Yes, I was very lazy and just wanted to get done for the night. Since I was messing with the stuff on the handlebar I also got a bell for the first time in years. It's great to have the option to ring it and immediately be indentified as a bicycle since the horn I've been using causes all kinds of confusion and makes some people jumpy. Still great for people with headphones or in cars though.
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Sep 2, 2020 21:23
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Tippecanoe posted:Does this need to be replaced? And what do I look for in a replacement tire? All tires are compromises. You can't have a super light tire optimised for speed that lasts long and also have puncture resistance and good grip on all surfaces at a low price. I don't like flats and have come to trust schwalbe's tires with "plus" in the name for my e-commuter. On my road bike I care more about wet grip and comfort than speed. Odds are you'll get a tire that's a reasonable compromise geared towards at least one of the different desirable qualities as long as you get a name brand tire of some sort.
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Sep 4, 2020 21:12
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EvilJoven posted:I need trailer brakes. But yes, bike shopping is lots of fun in general compared to going by car. My main gripe is that shopping carts can usually only be found way out in the parking lots at the big box stores I normally frequent which seems a waste when I can normally park the bike right at the door. E: ofund a thread about bike trailer brakes: https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/25756/how-to-build-surge-brakes-on-bike-trailer Invalido fucked around with this message at 12:42 on Oct 12, 2020 |
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Oct 12, 2020 12:21
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CopperHound posted:E-braking works really good Before I bought a bakfiets I was seriously considering a motorised trailer for heavy hauling, dreaming of a surge-actuated speed controller if that makes sense. It would be awesome to have a trailer that you never really noticed. Now I'm thinking of building a contraption for hauling a kayak too. It's a pretty long craft so I would be the longest thing on the bike paths by a wide margin but it would allow me to explore more water in less time so I think I'm gonna do it, somehow. Eventually.
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Oct 12, 2020 18:00
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This morning was the first commute of the season below freezing. Like a total noob I had neglected to displace the water in my shifter cable and was stuck in first gear for 18 km. Electricity got me to work almost in time but I got really cold and bored since I couldn't pedal in any meaningful way. My colleague who has a similar bike was worse off though since he has cable brakes that were both frozen solid.
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Oct 20, 2020 10:15
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100YrsofAttitude posted:...how much below? Just a few degrees, but enough to turn water solid. The bike is parked outside so it doesn't really matter as long as it's negative centigrade.
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Oct 20, 2020 11:27
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Literally Lewis Hamilton posted:How is there that much water in your housing? I don't think it's necessaily a lot, but there's a huge surface area between the wire and the sheath, so I'd imagine a very small amount would be enough. I have a purpose made T-peice installed in the middle of the housing so it's an easy matter to spray some WD-40 or similar in there and push the water out the ends, but I neglected to do so all summer. Depending on how much the bike gets rained on I have to repeat this procedure a few times per winter. Replacing the cable entirely only helps for a while until it gets freeze-prone again and that gets tedious and expensive so I'd rather just keep spraying it when it becomes sticky (I usually get some warning with an increasingly sticky cable before it freezes solid). I have the option to take the bike inside both at home and at work but it's big and heavy and I usually can't be bothered unless I need to thaw it out for maintenance or something or I know it's worth it because of incoming snow/freezing rain. Also at home I can only store it inside in a poorly insulated shed I'd rather keep cold for economic reasons. But yes, winter riding in Stockholm kind of sucks, but it's manageable and preferable to the alternatives. The city is excellent at clearing snow and ice on most of my commute path which is nice. My biggest problem is cold, rain and darkness combined. I need goggles for the cold, and rain drops on those make a lot of glare from headlights and streetlights. I bought some rain repellant windsceen product last winter which helped a little but visibility can still be problematic. A nice thing is that Schwalbe has upgraded their studded tires with puncture protection. I have a new set of those waiting for weather that warrants their use. Hopefully I don't need to fix any flats this winter, but we shall see. Roadside repairs always suck but much more so when it's cold and dark.
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Oct 20, 2020 13:12
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My (avatar yielding) experimental magnetic reed switch for piggybacking the regenerative braking on the hydraulic disc brake handle has failed. It's configured as normally closed unless in presence of a magnet, and now it's closed all the time regardless of magnetism. I can't ride like that so I disconnected the thing. It will be difficult to do but I'll try to excavate the little glass ampoule from the epoxy and look at it under a microscope but my working hypothesis is that there's been arcing that has eroded or welded the actual switching surface. I've seen it happen on relays before. I'll try to figure out what resistor I can get away with in parallell with the switch without the ESC going into brake mode and see if that will get rid of the problem long term. Also I think I will put the switch for front wheel regen on the rear wheel brake handle this time. Seems unorthodox but it would give me casual braking on both wheels with just one actuator, possible to do while signalling left turn which in my mind is probably more important than signalling when turning right. I'll also try to figure out some adjustment for the magnet position. Last attempt was a little too sensitive and brake feel is important for enjoyable riding IMO.
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Oct 28, 2020 11:52
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CopperHound posted:If you get tired of going the DIY route, these things do exist: Cool product, but I'm not sure I like the way it's mounted inside the handle like they show. Seems like it would get damaged easily. Also I'd worry that the mechanical cable would freeze up when cold and wet. I'll give this reed switch at least one more go before I look into another route though. A hydraulic pressure switch is another tempting solution to the problem. Invalido fucked around with this message at 16:23 on Oct 28, 2020 |
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Oct 28, 2020 16:19
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Yeah it's been a wet couple of weeks here as well. I need to get a new rain jacket, I have two and they are both leaking. Legs, feet and head stayed dry though the worst of it though. Hands were... warm at least.
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Oct 28, 2020 23:02
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I remember that kind of snow. I haven't ridden in it for years but I feel your pain. It's my second least favourite* type of riding surface. Absolutely no grip, and no help from the studs. There's nothing even close to solid for them to grip, that stuff doesn't compact at all, it's like a dry gritty dirty slush. I've never ridden a fatbike, but I'm guessing one of those would possibly provide flotation enough to stay on top of it. You could try airing down your tires as low as you dare and see if that improves things at all. *my very least favourite riding surface would be formerly deep slush full of wiggly tracks from previous bikers that has frozen into solid ice , possibly with some thaw water or a light sprinkling of dry powder snow on the surface to lubricate your tire/road interface properly, making it is impossible to steer since your tires follow those tracks no matter what you do, meaning it's all about weightshift bicycle wrestling trying to stay upright on a pre-determined semi-random course trying to limit the amount of times you fall and smash various body parts on the rock hard, uneven ice.
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Nov 26, 2020 22:23
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I had the wheels on the bench for winter tires anyways so I went hog wild with reflective tape. Not as effective as proper hard plastic reflectors but I haven't found any that fit my weirdly patterned short and thick spokes. Quantity has a quality all on its own is my reasoning
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Nov 28, 2020 14:52
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Retroreflectors all over is nice, also legal and dirt cheap. Active lights are great for being seen when they work and are bright and blinky enough but there's something to be said for things that are passive, always on and not a temptation for theives or something an rear end in a top hat cop could potentially give you grief about if he feels like it. It also doesn't have to be either or, obviously.
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Dec 2, 2020 10:10
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That's interesting, and makes sense. As a driver my attention is probably caught better by blinking light but it's harder to judge speed and distance if it's intermittent, even without considering target fixation. Rotating lights in the wheels are real attention getters without the problems with blinking IMHO.
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Dec 2, 2020 15:21
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 The snow clearing crew in my part Stockholm was on point this morning! About 80% of my commute looked like this. The brine they spread out after sweeping away the snow really does a number on my chain, but chains are cheap. The other 20% is really slushy now and colder weather is coming. Things could become interesting on monday morning.
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Jan 8, 2021 14:27
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Groda posted:Even Solna is doing a pretty good job with the sopsaltning, but a lot of the fences they put up block the vehicles, so you go from bare black asphalt to 20 cm of packed snow a few times per commute.  That's a municipal border in the middle of the bridge. Wintertime is best time for internal hub gears. evil_bunnY posted:Gates my dudes, GATES
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Jan 8, 2021 18:54
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More than once I've pondered how much the city spends on me alone being able to bike to work all winter. It's probably a significant fraction of my salary. When snow conditions are right it's easy enough to see how many bike tracks there are. Combined with the other riders I see I'd guess about a dozen riders or so on an average lovely winter day along a lonely 5 km semi-rural stretch between suburban centers with almost no pedestrians or bikers just going on short trips to their nearest train station. I don't know how the funding for it is allocated for this but the gist of it seems to be to try and limit car commuting generally in the long term, and you can't do that for real without enabling alternatives. That means trains, buses and decent bike lanes I guess. In the months with good weather it's a different story, but Stockholm isn't Copenhagen, let alone Amsterdam. Shittier weather, actual hills and a more spread out city is part of it but culturally we're way behind better bike cities too. I can't see that improving without good snow control so I'm glad they're at least trying. I'd like to think that lovely weather biking has never been easier, what with advanced yet affordable clothing, e-assist, good tires, LED lights, hydraulic brakes and other newfangled technology that didn't exist ten or twenty years ago. Lots of people don't believe me and think I'm crazy for riding in January but they've never tried it so they don't know.
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Jan 8, 2021 22:32
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I learned something that surprised me today during a grocery run: hydraulic brakes can actually freeze if conditions are just right. The handle was fine but nothing was happening at the pads. I messed with it some and it freed up and worked like normal again. Just one more thing to keep in mind when winter riding I guess.
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Jan 17, 2021 18:18
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EvilJoven posted:Got paced by an owl once. Kept swooping next to me then landing in front of me and waiting for me to go past again. She was so close I could touch her and she was dead silent I got swooped by a large owl 17 years ago (eurasian eagle owl, they're huge for owls). Dead silent, super cool, my hair stood on end too. That single encounter turned me into a bit of a bird lover. On my commute I see deer at least once a week and the occasional fox or badger. I've seen moose twice, had to brake for one of them. They don't look both ways before crossing the road.
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Jan 22, 2021 21:45
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I have a long john problem. In the cold season I ride in long johns, with various layers on top depending on conditions. I switch pants when I get to work but usually the long johns stay on all day. For long term comfort and lack of smell I like thin merino wool the best by far, except it wears out too fast. After a few months of commuting the crotch disintegrates on the models I've tried. This is annoying and expensive. Does anyone know of a product with a stronger crotch yet thin and comfy merino for the rest?
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Jan 23, 2021 09:00
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I tried to get new internals for a nexus 8 but it was cheaper to get a whole hub with shifter and cable. I ended up re-lacing the wheel cause I kinda like that process for some reason. Sheldon Brown's website and a good audiobook and it's a pleasant evening if I'm in the right mood.
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Jan 26, 2021 19:12
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I just ordered a pair of long johns that I hope will last a lot longer than the merino wool ones I've been using. It's a blended fiber deal with 25% silk/75% merino that according to the sales pitch should solve my problem. They better be pretty great cause they cost $lol. At least 10cm of snow fell while I was at work today. Snow clearing was on point though so getting home was no ordeal. What slows me down the most time-wise is the need for longer routes since my usual shortcuts aren't cleared with any priority, and the last kilometer between the prioritized bike route and my house was troublesome since I picket a badly cleared path. I'm really happy with the new winter schwalbe tires. AFAIK I haven't torn out any studs yet and not a single puncture so far. Last winter with the non-plus (non-puncture proof) schwalbes I had three flats total, all very lovely and frustrating experiences in their own unique way.
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Jan 28, 2021 20:35
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I use a short length of gardenhose and a disgusting greasy dishwashing brush like a loving peasant. Then I immediately have to purge the hose because winter which is why it is short.XIII posted:NEVER.
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Jan 30, 2021 13:47
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When I know I'll get rained on for real I just go for the rubber boots, tucked under rain pants. Super useful footwear, everyone should have a pair unless they live in the desert or something. Where I live you mostly see them on kids though because adults forget how to dress properly for some reason (vanity I guess).
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Feb 3, 2021 19:00
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I had a new and exciting failure mode this morning. The bike became increasingly slow. The problem was masked by going down hill and having an e-bike. By the point it got unrideable it became clear I had a severely dragging rear disc brake. The disc was super hot, the caliper lukewarm. Pumping the brake alone did not free it up, but luckily there was a convenient snow bank nearby, so I packed the whole area with snow and within a minute and a few pumps it freed up and I was off again. When this happens on cars it's usually rusty brake pistons that refuse to retract properly into the caliper bore, but these pistons are plastic so that's hardly the case. Unless someone ITT has some better idea what's going on I'm just gonna assume for now that it was some freak piece of road grit that caused the initial jam and the increasing brake force was caused by thermal expansion. On second thought the pads in the rear are just a few weeks old and I didn't meticulously clean the caliper before replacing them. That could possibly have something to do with it I guess.
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Feb 23, 2021 07:51
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When I converted to discs I just bought pretty random stuff that was on sale at the usual getting place, guess I'm paying the price for that now. Rear is Shimano MTB BR-MT500 (the one that got stuck) Front is Shimano Deore XT BR-M810 Brake handles are Shimano Deore Trekking BL-T6000 I've had some issues with leaks, or rather air bubbles. Especially up front where the hose connects to the caliper with a banjo fitting that I don't quite trust, though I haven't seen any leaks. Hard to tell during the slushy season. What are good brake components that don't cost a fortune, don't leak and don't get stuck? I'm a hydraulic brake noob. The parts list above might prove this.
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Feb 23, 2021 11:55
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New electrocommuter of sorts: I bought the bike used and cheap over a year ago intending to put a mid drive motor on it, but being a dumbass I bought a Trek with their special bottom brackets. I could probably have brought it off anyways with tools and material at hand but I'm lovely at TIG-welding thin aluminum and long story short I never got around to doing it. So I just bought a plug-and-play kit with a 500w geared hub rear wheel, battery, controller and everything else and slapped it on. It was a breeze to build apart from needing to fabricate an adapter in order to get the battery where I wanted it and solidly monted. Rack and fenders wasn't bad to mount at all, even though clearance is tight all around. It's early days since I've only got about 200 km on it but so far it's a great bike for my needs. Plenty fast, plenty fun and feels safe at high speeds. With the shock fork and large tires I'm not worried that an inevitable fuckup where I hit a rut or pothole or curb or whatever will send me flying, and I think it will turn out to be good on snow and ice. The best part is probably that something about this bike encourages me to pedal hard, which the electric cargo bike that used to be my main commuter simply doesn't. Also I think it will get me ready for road bike season which usually starts out not only weak legs but also neck and rear end pain. The cable management isn't finalized yet since I'm waiting for lights and a sensor to arrive, and I need to make a bracket for the front light to sit where I want it but all in all I'm really happy with how this has turned out.
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Mar 3, 2021 09:09
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I had to look that up on SAclopedia. Wish I hadn't.
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Mar 3, 2021 17:58
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I'm new to pannier bags, but must-haves for me was it being waterproof and easily attached/detached and I wanted something good so I went with a Vaude. The roll-to-close mechanism is a bit clunky, but the clips that hook to the rack are really good. As a shoulder bag it's pretty lovely and uncomfortable but mainly I'll use it to carry clothes and such to and from work and I think it will be great for that. For heavy grocery hauling I have the the bakfiets so one bag will do I think. Also the lock is in the way for a second bag, there was no other good place to mount it really, also it's good for balance where it sits now. I got to try the e-commuter MTB in snow (slush really) sooner than I wanted. I had hoped for bare ground until spring but nature had different plans. I saw last night's snow storm coming in time to order a set of winter tires. They're "only" 50mm wide but that was the widest winter marathon pluses available in 622, and I like and trust those so that's what I bought. They'll probably stay on until there's little risk of night frost anymore, so probably mid April or so. I really like how this bike handles snow, and the fenders work well which is nice.  I also added a kickstand and wired up the lights and tidied up all of the other cables at the same time, and apart from the headlight bracket which is shameful and temporary and untested in darkness and some screws that are too long or not stainless yet I think this bike is pretty much done. Except for a spiffy chain guard on the way from China. And whatever else I haven't thought of yet. So far I'm happy with it on the whole, it's more or less exactly what I want for light load commuting I think.
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Mar 12, 2021 17:22
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KozmoNaut posted:Mine is generously treated with fabric wax, but it's more like "heavily water resistant" than actually waterproof. For that you have to go with plastic/rubber. leftist heap posted:I outgrew panniers for groceries a while back and bought a cargo trailer. I knew it was time when I had to tie a reusable grocery bag to the side of the panniers to get all my poo poo home one time. 
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Mar 12, 2021 19:40
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My only strong opinion on headlamps is that unless the light is super weak it's important to get something with proper optics that project a light cone with sharply defined edges, and then adjusting it to shine low enought that you don't blind others. At least in Europe StVZO compliance seems to indicate such optics.
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Mar 19, 2021 09:21
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For the first time in my life I've serviced a shock fork that had a leaky dust wiper seal. I was a little intimidated but it seems to have worked out alright. I was aided by a good youtube and some new tools (a seal thwacking thingy, a shock pump and a tiny torque wrench). What I didn't have is a mechanic's stand, but I think I will treat myself to one before I carry out this procedure again. It should make it easier to not spill oil all over the floor if nothing else. Since I now have derailleur gears on the primary commuter I've also experimented with a dry PTFE chain lube that had really good reviews at my normal getting place. It sort of works because there was no noise, but plenty of rust. I'll have to use oily lube until spring has sprung for real and there's no more salt on the roads before I try that again.
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Mar 20, 2021 18:25
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Leng posted:And yeah, get a solid kickstand. A VERY solid one. What I liked about the siesta was the ability to tilt the seat back with the twist of a knob. She'd fall asleep more often than not when on the bike and a little tilt goes a long way to keep the head from flopping around too much. Although stupid heavy for what it is the hamax quick connect bracket around the seat tube worked pretty well and meant my wife and I could easily move the seat between our respective bikes which was useful at times.
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Mar 21, 2021 16:49
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So my brother likes to spend money on geeky things and he's had one of these for years and probably never used it so he gave it to me because it was my birthday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqk6bENX0Hg It's really nicely made and has a normal light too so it's not useless and I'm gonna give it a try but the laser seems pretty dumb tbh.
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Mar 24, 2021 17:35
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Leng posted:Was planning to come in and tell this thread all about how much fun we had riding as a family on our tandem to a local bakery to get some Portugese tarts, except on our way back home we saw a guy riding a tall bike as part of his normal, everyday, going around town doing errands business. I rode a borrowed tall bike around for a day a decade ago or so. It looked a lot like that one in the picture, build by welding two normal frames together on top of one another pretty much. It was lots of fun, surprisingly easy to ride in most situations and not super impractical. You see really well and they are stable at slow speeds and can keep up with other bike traffic, but there better be a lightpost or something to grab when you need to stop or it's a bit of a hassle. The main problem was that it tended to flip over backwards really easily - you can see how the saddle is right above the rear hub. I'm toying with the idea of building one since I need a new metal working hobby project, but if I do it I'll try going for a longer wheelbase to prevent that from happening.
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Mar 27, 2021 17:51
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This one looks like it would rule for doing actual bike stuff, only taller.
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Mar 27, 2021 19:42
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| # ¿ May 17, 2024 14:49 |
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My electric MTB has been shifting increasingly poorly lately to the point where I had to do something about it. Indexing all messed up, felt all wrong. So I watched some youtubes and went to work. A bit of cleaning and lube first. No improvement. I checked that the cable seemed to run freely. The derailleur hanger was tweaked and didn't run true with the cassette so I bent that as close to shape as I could eyeball it. Still bad. I found I had undertorqued the cassette nut which had come loose which surely must have been the problem, but nope, still bad. I finally looked into the shifter cable more thoroughly since I thought I should give it a clean and a light lube at least before giving up for the day. Turns out I'd made a real idiot move and zip-tied the naked stretch of cable running under the top tube together with the brake hose and electric cable running there in my zeal to tidy everything up.  This had worked well enough at first that I didn't notice it immediately. The cable slowly dug into the plastic of the zip-tie causing slowly increasing friction and poor shifting (but only when under tension which is probably why I missed it the first time). The upside is that with all the other issues corrected the bike now shifts better than ever.
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Apr 18, 2021 21:05
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