The Biking Thread

[Guitar Heel]

Started back with bike commuting today...nice to be outside. I'm a totally fair-weather commuter, as I'm not tryna shower at work, and I work close to my apt. But I enjoy the exercise and the fresh(ish) air.

 

[Theodore]

Hydraulic brakes will have more stopping power and a better modulation than cable, but more of a hassle to maintain. I still have a set of cable brakes on my single speed MTB, but will replace them with hydraulic since they are really old now and suck even after new pads.

My road/CX/gravel bike has hybrid brakes, as in they are cable actuated (work with any cable road bike shifter or MTB brake lever) but use hydraulic calipers. They still don't have the power of hydraulic, but work better than cable brakes.

What's the saddle? I've been looking at ones like that. Just don't feel comfortable doing aero even after getting a more size-appropriate bike.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

I really want that Kona gravel/road bike. Just saying.

 

[nuke_diver]

BTW on the mechanical vs hydraulic question. Remember I am coming from only ever using rim brakes so if rim<mechanical< hydraulic mechanical might be a huge difference already.

That Kona is nice but it's well outside my budget I think. Unfortunately staying under a grand with reasonable components looks to be out of the question :(

 

[sunvalleylaw]

BTW on the mechanical vs hydraulic question. Remember I am coming from only ever using rim brakes so if rim<mechanical< hydraulic mechanical might be a huge difference already.

That Kona is nice but it's well outside my budget I think. Unfortunately staying under a grand with reasonable components looks to be out of the question :(

Yeah, apparently the Kona is sold out this year anyway. I will save, and then be looking to get my hands on one, and likely swap out wheels, much like I did on my other Kona, for a good 700c set, and run something more like 40-45c for my use. Will probably just sell the 650b's new like I did the stock wheels on my Kona Process. I like that this model comes with 2x gearing though.

 

[Aahzz]

Started back with bike commuting today...nice to be outside. I'm a totally fair-weather commuter, as I'm not tryna shower at work, and I work close to my apt. But I enjoy the exercise and the fresh(ish) air.

I've always wondered about people that commute year-round in all weather - what do they do to clean up when they get to work?

I'm back to my preferred routine of riding a bit over 10 miles every day it's not raining hard, and loving it . Since I work from home I suppose it's a round-trip commute...

 

[Guitar Heel]

I've always wondered about people that commute year-round in all weather - what do they do to clean up when they get to work?

I'm back to my preferred routine of riding a bit over 10 miles every day it's not raining hard, and loving it . Since I work from home I suppose it's a round-trip commute...

I do have a shower here (there's a small gym), and it's nice enough, but that just seems like too much. Will be moving back out to the burbs soon, so I'm hoping to start riding more in the evenings, since the commute will be out...

 

[sunvalleylaw]

I do not commute on the rain days. I need fenders for that, and then maybe I could. My commute right now is very short, and not much of a ride. About a mile, pretty flat. And it has been raining steadily for days now. Mountain bike trails are all too wet. Kinda getting skunked on the bike right now since Sunday. Ah well, this will pass, and in the long run, help the trails out. It will be dry soon enough.

 

[bsman]

I've been biking to work the past week (when we aren't getting rain, here in uncommonly-wet NorCal). I have about a ten-minute ride, and my ten-year old GT Tachyon 3.0 handles it just perfectly. I can't believe how lucky I am - I can get to the place I'm working now with only about a block riding on public roads - the rest of the ride is on a trail and a parking lot. Also, the building I'm in just set up an indoor bike room, with lockers, tools, and a stand for locking it up.

 

[Tig]

What's the saddle? I've been looking at ones like that. Just don't feel comfortable doing aero even after getting a more size-appropriate bike.

Sorry, I missed your post.
That is an older Fi'zi:k "Arione R3 Versus EVO" saddle. Fi'zi:k makes three types of saddle shapes, depending on your hip position related to how flexible your back is. Mine is the Snake style, but I could enjoy the in between Chameleon style, too. Look it up here: https://www.fizik.com/us_en/spine-concept-evo-animal

 

[Aahzz]

I do not commute on the rain days. I need fenders for that, and then maybe I could. My commute right now is very short, and not much of a ride. About a mile, pretty flat. And it has been raining steadily for days now. Mountain bike trails are all too wet. Kinda getting skunked on the bike right now since Sunday. Ah well, this will pass, and in the long run, help the trails out. It will be dry soon enough.

I've gotten lucky in having 14 good riding days in a row...we've had rain, but with one exception the timing has been such that I could get my ride in anyway. I still got 3 miles on the rainy day before it got to me . I have faith that your weather will cooperate shortly.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

I've gotten lucky in having 14 good riding days in a row...we've had rain, but with one exception the timing has been such that I could get my ride in anyway. I still got 3 miles on the rainy day before it got to me . I have faith that your weather will cooperate shortly.

I did indoors "Jillian Michaels, Ripped in 30" circuit type workout today. Cardio, core, strength, and some mobility/stretching tacked on the end by me. Hopefully can ride tomorrow.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Though I am not quite this soft and heavy, this video reminds me of our group just a little bit. Without all the social network insults on beer. Anyway, I found it funny. We have a guys' group ride tonight that is generally followed by craft beer. This group is a lot less intense than the group I used to ride with that finally folded. But good to get out with a group of guys and get some riding and laughs in.

 

[Tig]

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Got my largest effort and ride in today with Steve Sullivan, Spudman on my other forum. He is a great rider, stronger than I, former racer, etc. And he pushed me to go on a harder ride today. It was a pretty great ride!

I figured out these favorite old Fox shorts are about worn through on my ass sections. Time to find another favorite pair.

 

[rickenvox]

That's not a new bike, I just painted my old one


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sunvalleylaw]

So today, I tried to replace my rear tire on my mountain bike, which is tubeless. My carbon wheels do not really have any sort of lip inside. I was nervous about it as I know there is some risk getting things to seat. So, I got it done, I thought, but then second guessed myself based on some youtube shit, and decided I needed to add more air to make sure the tire was seated. So I did, and as I did, I blew the bead off the rim. It exploded from the floor on my left side and blew everything up into the air. The wheel came back down on my head. When the tire popped off the rim, it sounded like I was right be a big gun when it was shot. I blew my SRAM cassette off somehow, and I hope I didn't screw that up too badly. It is the XD driver. I can hear ok, but have some echo chamber like sensations in my left ear and a little ringing that hopefully will go away in a couple days. Not great.

So, I packed everything and took the whole mess down to the shop. Not sure I trust the bead on the brand new tire I bought as it seems stretched out now, and whereas it felt tight getting it over the rim before, now it seems loose. Not sure I will be doing this sort of repair next time.

Tried to listen to some more music tonight but my left ear seems sensitive so I am just watching a little TV quietly, and hearing whatever songs come on Grey's. Ok, whining over.

Did get a pretty good road ride in after. Didn't feel like going out on a borrowed mountain bike. Went on @Tig 's Fuga.

 

[nuke_diver]

Yikes!

Now you got me worried about tubeless again. One of the bikes I'm thinking about is tubeless (I think), it's a Giant Toughroad SLR GX2. It seems like all the Giant bikes are coming with Tubeless standard not just tubeless ready which most of the gravel bikes seem to be. Tubes are familiar and I know how to fix a flat with one, tubeless seems like a good idea but I'm not sure that for the purpose I have in mind the sealant won't end up being a problem...and I'm not sure if I fully understand how the sealant doesn't screw up the valve

Hope your hearing is fine now.

 

[Tig]

Tubeless is cool for MTB and CX/gravel, but I'll hold off on road until Continental makes tubeless tires.

You need a floor pump than is made for tubeless with an air burst mode to quickly seal a tire during installation.

The valve is removed when adding additional sealant through the rim's valve hole.

 

[nuke_diver]

This would be for a gravel bike. I know the valve is removed to add sealant I wonder how you add air to the tire since no tire is going to stay perfect forever (though with the lower pressures it might be longer than with road tires). I would think the act of adding air would cause sealant to get into the valve

If you need a special pump that might be a deal breaker for me. I'd rather not mess with extra new equipment when I already have a spare pump. I'll be asking when I get up and start checking out the bikes at the end of the month