Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
It's everywhere in Shenzhen, China - crazy popular - and here in Singapore it's debuted recently. The only negative thing I've heard so far is that sometimes people leaves the bikes in mildly annoying places.
My reaction to the article was "Okay you big whiny baby, sorry you had to walk down an alley and no bike was there, and also some people aren't wearing helmets," but I'm curious about how much the preexisting cycling culture of a place sways the average person's opinion of the programs.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
It's everywhere in Shenzhen, China - crazy popular - and here in Singapore it's debuted recently. The only negative thing I've heard so far is that sometimes people leaves the bikes in mildly annoying places.
My reaction to the article was "Okay you big whiny baby, sorry you had to walk down an alley and no bike was there, and also some people aren't wearing helmets," but I'm curious about how much the preexisting cycling culture of a place sways the average person's opinion of the programs.
I think the complaints are fair. Which if the article writer is not exaggerating, them being in dodgy alleyways is a problem, because people aren't going to use them is they feel unsafe. And back when Uber was an upstart company with an unknown shitty bad culture, one their major selling points is that they may not be fancy, but they're nice cars, getting a shitty bike that doesn't work is a problem.
It seems like the author might be correct despite themself. Bike share deployment in a place like Seattle isn't like in D.C. or Manhattan but in a lot of ways those are useful comparisons. Bikes ending up left in odd spots, being mis-tracked, having vague instructions, vandalism, etc., are certainly issues but fairly well-known ones. It seems like, on those counts, the author is really nit-picking. Compare it to other bike share systems and those concerns are kept in proportion.
However, throw in the county helmet laws, the bikes having a mighty three speeds (the Spin.pm one has a SA 3-speed hub in the picture, so a ~180% max ratio spacing), and the provider's inability to run usage or user studies beforehand, well...
(From the pictures it looks like an SA hub, so 1.7:1 drive there w/ -25%/+33%, a 18 or 20T rear, and the front ring looks like maybe a 42T front? Let's say 26" tires and that gets us 41.0 / 54.6 / 72.8 gear inches. For the worst of Seattle's hills I probably wouldn't want anything above ~30". That thing is probably a brick to pedal uphill but it'd be doable if you go real real slow, have good balance, and don't mind sweating.)
So my bike's had an annoying rattle coming from the front for a month or so now; every so often I'd stop and check to see if I could work out what was going on. Is it a loose/broken spoke? No. Is it the speedo magnet / sensor? Nope. Is it cables rattling against the frame? Nope. Is it the tensioners for the shifters rattling? Nope. Is it light / bell / speedo mounts? Nope.
Today I found out what it was. Can you spot the problem?
That's a good point, now that I look at it from this angle -- I should move them back up again. I think they've gradually slid down, I don't remember doing that on purpose. (and that would also explain why the bar tape's got gaps in some places where it was okay after I installed it initially, come to think of it).
So we get stiff once in a while. So we have a little fun. What’s wrong with that? This is a free country, isn’t it? I can take my panda any place I want to. And if I wanna buy it a drink, that’s my business.
The rings on my Roubaix have probably 30k miles on them. It's hard to tell since I rode it the first two years of its life without bike computer or tracker. The rings probably have another year or two of life in them (sharkfin look but only just starting to scallop) but if I start looking now I'm hoping to find it cheap on ebay / etc.
So I always hear about how the geometry on a P2 with regular drop bars is bad. What does that mean exactly? It seems to ride fine.
If it works for you, it works. It's probably a lot slower in steering than a non-TT bike due to the slack head tube but whatever. The usual complaints about putting drop bars on a TT bike is that the forward seatmast position and long effective top tube makes long rides in the drops uncomfortable. Different weight distribution, using your quads too much due to the rotation, etc. But if it works for you, it works.
Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
edited July 2017
Next cycling question!
I'm hoping there are some people in this thread who have done cycle touring in the past. My best friend and I are planning to do a cycling tour of The Netherlands and Belgium in May. I'm looking for advice on:
1. Best bicycle options for touring. My plan was to rent a bicycle when we landed, and bring along the accessories that couldn't be rented. There are lots of options for this and a wide variety of bikes for rental. I'd prefer to do a trip like this (about two weeks) with a hybrid or road bike, but my friend is convinced that the better option is a folding bicycle. It seems to me that you would generally expend more effort for less speed/distance traveled with a folding bicycle, which means we wouldn't be able to eat up many kilometres in a day. Is that wrong? I'm totally willing to be wrong. Also, my impression is that while they're convenient from a portability aspect, they are less comfortable to use for long periods.
2. Trailers/panniers. We're traveling light but I'm considering investing in a bicycle trailer so we can trade off pulling it and our backs won't be miserable.
3. Training/prep work I guess? I cycle 15 km to work every day and it's quite easy, but that's a far cry from spending two weeks cycling about 40-60 km a day. (60 is based on our current furthest point-to-point-to-point travel of the trip.) What are some things we can both do to make sure we're prepped, physically able, and don't poop out when we're on our trip?
E: I'm also interested in experiences people have had transporting their bikes from country to country, say, in an airplane... how much of a colossal PITA is this going to be if we buy folding bikes and bring them with us?
Lost Salient on
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
0
Donovan PuppyfuckerA dagger in the dark isworth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered Userregular
Folding bicycles are the best of a bad situation, and that situation is that you are at a point in your life where you must be able to fold up your bike for one reason or another. If you don't NEED the bike to fold, do not buy a folding bike. Regular bikes can be flown on airplanes for the same amount of money and hassle as a folding bike. Trying to ride 60 kilometres in one day on a typical folding bike would likely be much more of a pain in the ass than on a nice hybrid.
As you'll be in countries where cycling is very popular and wide-spread, the worry about fewer parts being available for 700c bikes should be a non-issue. So a 700c bike with broad enough tyres to let you handle dirt and potholes might be your best bet. Whatever you do, get something light and smooth-riding with an excellent quality drivetrain and good brakes.
+4
Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
See that's my feeling as well. And I'd rather have a nice touring bike for my every day here in Singapore anyway; if I'm going to shell out money for a new bicycle at all I'd rather buy one I'll really enjoy and use.
The second bit I guess is how to bring a bike to Europe in a way that functionally doesn't bog me down with something massive (like a suitcase) that will be cumbersome/impossible to lug along on the ride.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
+1
Blake TDo you have enemies then?Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.Registered Userregular
The only reason you want to buy a folding bike is if you can't bring a regular bike somewhere and if your bike is foldable you would be able to bring it there. They aren't designed for planes, they're designed to be ridden less than five kma and then carried onto trains and thrown in the back of a boot with minimal fuss.
Don't forget that you can box and ship your bike out in advance of you, too. Depending on the destination it's sometimes cheaper than hauling it on a plane. Just make sure it arrives a week early. (Our local bike club loans out travel / shipping hard cases for free as part of membership perks. If that's not an option, talk to a local bike shop: they have a ton of empty bike boxes they'll happily give you. Just remove your pedals, handlebars, partly deflate the tires, and add packing material.)
Re folding bikes, I'm with the above folks: probably not worth it. I have a good friend who regularly goes to tour the northeast US with a little red folder but she's the exception. I don't know anyone else who would be happy with that setup.
also some airlines will have free (or at least quite cheap) bicycle hold transportation. Check the airline. I know quite a few people who've done europe with their own bikes (unfortunately I don't know the details!) but it shouldn't be too crazy.
What's your all opinion on Critical Mass? I did it for the first time last night and it was a lot of fun, but I understand there's a lot of detractors of it.
What's your all opinion on Critical Mass? I did it for the first time last night and it was a lot of fun, but I understand there's a lot of detractors of it.
In SF at least, they were largely entitled shitheels.
Okay, so I went and had my bike fit checked since I changed from the tri bars to regular road bars. Fit was fine, if anything he would like to put a longer stem on it and stretch me out a bit more to help with the weight balance. What is interesting though, is that we discovered my chain had a couple issues. 1. it's too short by a link, so I couldn't go onto the big ring while on the big ...cog?... on the crank, and 2. the chain was on backwards. I didn't realize that was a thing, but apparently it is with some higher end chains, they're directional. So new FSA chain.
So we get stiff once in a while. So we have a little fun. What’s wrong with that? This is a free country, isn’t it? I can take my panda any place I want to. And if I wanna buy it a drink, that’s my business.
Yeah, Shimano (and others?) flirted with directional chains for a while. They eventually abandoned it with the CN-9000 a few years ago because, in the move to 11 speed, there were easier ways to get what they wanted. Anyway, hopefully your shifting is a bit improved now!
ButtersA glass of some milksRegistered Userregular
Lovely Sunday ride downtown with the lady from my house. Indianapolis has it's faults (shitty public transit for one) but an 18-mile flat bike path that connects the northern suburbs to the social districts of downtown sure is awesome. Bike friendly cities are the bees knees.
also @Lost Salient the trains i was on in the Netherlands had multiple bicycle cars, so you set your kickstand and can sit or stand nearby. the stations also had little runnels next to stairs so you didn't have to shoulder a bike, but could roll it up with some effort. it was very easy, lovely biking country, even for my out-of-shape self. the Dutch loooooooove bikes, and there's a pretty strong secondhand and rental market if you go that route.
+3
Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
edited July 2017
Thanks! I think we're currently leaning toward bringing our own bikes and pedaling most places, with a day set aside to leave our stuff and the bikes in Brussels, rent a car and drive out to east Belgium (Fantôme Brasserie and so my friend can see Bastogne). We'll be in the Netherlands part but not all of the time, and I don't know that Belgium is quite as bike-mad as the Netherlands? I mean it seemed cycling friendly but I was driving through, myself.
Lost Salient on
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
Have you ever toured by bike before? It's pretty easy but if it's your primary means of getting around there are a few key things to know. E.g., even if packing super-light you want full watertight shoe covers because shoes take FOREVER to dry out and having to put on wet shoes in the morning is a recipe for blisters.
Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
edited July 2017
No! Actually that is one of the questions I had asked earlier - I'm definitely in the market for touring tips. It will be our primary method of getting around.
E: I did not ask about shoes, but general touring and touring prep tips are both welcome and needed.
Lost Salient on
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
I haven't done that much, but here's what I've learned:
- Good waterproof bags (ziploc, etc.) are a godsend and clothes+electronics in one real commercial dry bag can be a life-saver.
- You don't need to carry as much as you think but somehow you always need an extra pair of underwear and socks. It's some universal constant.
- One pair of shoes for the bike, one pair of shoes for stomping around town, no matter how comfy and walkable your bike shoes are.
- Washing your shorts and such in a sink and air drying them in your room (or on your seat bag while riding!) works great until a rainy week when nothing will dry. Such is life.
- Bring tiny soap and toothpaste because there will be, inexplicably, some towns and villages where you can't find either.
- Panniers, big seat bag, bar bag, or trailer, in decreasing order of preference. Backpacks super suck, though if you're used to a hydration pack maybe it works if you keep it really light.
- Use all the equipment loaded up on a couple rides before you go. This is doubly true for anything with a mount, clamp, clip, or other attachment. Something will inevitably scuff or rub or make a mind-breaking squeaking noise.
- Local bike shops at your destination are amazing. Almost without fail they'll love to help you out with advice, route condition reports, etc.
- If stopping over for a while somewhere in the middle, consider mailing a little box of stuff to your hotel. It's super easy to do when you land but haven't rolled out yet and it can really make a town break amazing. "Oh man, a fancy shirt and a fresh spare tube!"
- Have a simple Bad Weather Bail-Out Plan. Even if you never use it, knowing that you've budgeted for a couple days of stay to be a stationary tourist, etc., will give you the option to take on a tough day. Similarly, having a simple bail-out plan for hiring transportation between towns A and B can ease a lot of stress.
I can dig up my google doc w/ my packing list if you think it'd be of any use.
Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
Ooh!
Apparently I wrote this and saved it as a draft but didn't post it.
That is some awesome advice and I am sending it to my friend! If you didn't mind sharing your pack list it would be extra appreciated. I also got in touch with friends of mine who are really into bike touring (and also ultrarunning, so they're crazy, but lovely people) so I'm thinking I'm making progress on an actual to-do list.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
Specialized? nice
You should be fine. I would take it into a good-quality repair shop to check the fit, because if that's off you could be setting yourself up for back/neck problems down the road. And maybe get them to give it a once-over, check the brakes etc.
You may also need a few days to get used to the saddle, depending on what you had on the Trek.
Consider getting clipless pedals/shoes if you don't have them already. There's a small learning curve at first but they're so much nicer and it's hard to imagine life without them once you're used to it.
Side note, I'll never stop thinking the name clipless pedals is super unintuitive
My girlfriend's brother-in-law gave me his road bike since they were moving and he didn't want to lug it around since he has another one uses more.
As this is my first road bike, is there anything I should know about? Especially since I'll be going from commuting 5 miles a day on my cheap hybrid Trek bike to 20 miles a day on this Specialized.
If it's sized incorrectly for you you're gonna have a bad time and your knee is going to get hurt.
I'm hoping it should be sized correctly as we're the same height.
Sizing is a lot more about body/leg length ratios than overall height. I would get someone to check out your positioning, sometimes handlebar adjustments can compensate for frame offsets.
Posts
My reaction to the article was "Okay you big whiny baby, sorry you had to walk down an alley and no bike was there, and also some people aren't wearing helmets," but I'm curious about how much the preexisting cycling culture of a place sways the average person's opinion of the programs.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
Author seems to be a bit of a bicycle snob.
I think the complaints are fair. Which if the article writer is not exaggerating, them being in dodgy alleyways is a problem, because people aren't going to use them is they feel unsafe. And back when Uber was an upstart company with an unknown shitty bad culture, one their major selling points is that they may not be fancy, but they're nice cars, getting a shitty bike that doesn't work is a problem.
Satans..... hints.....
However, throw in the county helmet laws, the bikes having a mighty three speeds (the Spin.pm one has a SA 3-speed hub in the picture, so a ~180% max ratio spacing), and the provider's inability to run usage or user studies beforehand, well...
(From the pictures it looks like an SA hub, so 1.7:1 drive there w/ -25%/+33%, a 18 or 20T rear, and the front ring looks like maybe a 42T front? Let's say 26" tires and that gets us 41.0 / 54.6 / 72.8 gear inches. For the worst of Seattle's hills I probably wouldn't want anything above ~30". That thing is probably a brick to pedal uphill but it'd be doable if you go real real slow, have good balance, and don't mind sweating.)
Today I found out what it was. Can you spot the problem?
enhance...
enhance...
fixed!
Also, holy cow how do you ride with that much down-tilt on your hoods?
So I always hear about how the geometry on a P2 with regular drop bars is bad. What does that mean exactly? It seems to ride fine.
If it works for you, it works. It's probably a lot slower in steering than a non-TT bike due to the slack head tube but whatever. The usual complaints about putting drop bars on a TT bike is that the forward seatmast position and long effective top tube makes long rides in the drops uncomfortable. Different weight distribution, using your quads too much due to the rotation, etc. But if it works for you, it works.
I'm hoping there are some people in this thread who have done cycle touring in the past. My best friend and I are planning to do a cycling tour of The Netherlands and Belgium in May. I'm looking for advice on:
1. Best bicycle options for touring. My plan was to rent a bicycle when we landed, and bring along the accessories that couldn't be rented. There are lots of options for this and a wide variety of bikes for rental. I'd prefer to do a trip like this (about two weeks) with a hybrid or road bike, but my friend is convinced that the better option is a folding bicycle. It seems to me that you would generally expend more effort for less speed/distance traveled with a folding bicycle, which means we wouldn't be able to eat up many kilometres in a day. Is that wrong? I'm totally willing to be wrong. Also, my impression is that while they're convenient from a portability aspect, they are less comfortable to use for long periods.
2. Trailers/panniers. We're traveling light but I'm considering investing in a bicycle trailer so we can trade off pulling it and our backs won't be miserable.
3. Training/prep work I guess? I cycle 15 km to work every day and it's quite easy, but that's a far cry from spending two weeks cycling about 40-60 km a day. (60 is based on our current furthest point-to-point-to-point travel of the trip.) What are some things we can both do to make sure we're prepped, physically able, and don't poop out when we're on our trip?
E: I'm also interested in experiences people have had transporting their bikes from country to country, say, in an airplane... how much of a colossal PITA is this going to be if we buy folding bikes and bring them with us?
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
http://www.bikewanderer.com/on-the-road//what-type-of-bike-for-touring-26-700c-29-fat
As you'll be in countries where cycling is very popular and wide-spread, the worry about fewer parts being available for 700c bikes should be a non-issue. So a 700c bike with broad enough tyres to let you handle dirt and potholes might be your best bet. Whatever you do, get something light and smooth-riding with an excellent quality drivetrain and good brakes.
The second bit I guess is how to bring a bike to Europe in a way that functionally doesn't bog me down with something massive (like a suitcase) that will be cumbersome/impossible to lug along on the ride.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
Satans..... hints.....
Re folding bikes, I'm with the above folks: probably not worth it. I have a good friend who regularly goes to tour the northeast US with a little red folder but she's the exception. I don't know anyone else who would be happy with that setup.
Around 50 to 65€ per flight.
But all told it sounds relatively easy to do, just costs some. And we'll have to figure out the box situation.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
Airlines often supply the box.
In SF at least, they were largely entitled shitheels.
"Can I borrow your phone to see if there's a firmware update for my pedals?"
Please shoot me.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
E: I did not ask about shoes, but general touring and touring prep tips are both welcome and needed.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
- Good waterproof bags (ziploc, etc.) are a godsend and clothes+electronics in one real commercial dry bag can be a life-saver.
- You don't need to carry as much as you think but somehow you always need an extra pair of underwear and socks. It's some universal constant.
- One pair of shoes for the bike, one pair of shoes for stomping around town, no matter how comfy and walkable your bike shoes are.
- Washing your shorts and such in a sink and air drying them in your room (or on your seat bag while riding!) works great until a rainy week when nothing will dry. Such is life.
- Bring tiny soap and toothpaste because there will be, inexplicably, some towns and villages where you can't find either.
- Panniers, big seat bag, bar bag, or trailer, in decreasing order of preference. Backpacks super suck, though if you're used to a hydration pack maybe it works if you keep it really light.
- Use all the equipment loaded up on a couple rides before you go. This is doubly true for anything with a mount, clamp, clip, or other attachment. Something will inevitably scuff or rub or make a mind-breaking squeaking noise.
- Local bike shops at your destination are amazing. Almost without fail they'll love to help you out with advice, route condition reports, etc.
- If stopping over for a while somewhere in the middle, consider mailing a little box of stuff to your hotel. It's super easy to do when you land but haven't rolled out yet and it can really make a town break amazing. "Oh man, a fancy shirt and a fresh spare tube!"
- Have a simple Bad Weather Bail-Out Plan. Even if you never use it, knowing that you've budgeted for a couple days of stay to be a stationary tourist, etc., will give you the option to take on a tough day. Similarly, having a simple bail-out plan for hiring transportation between towns A and B can ease a lot of stress.
I can dig up my google doc w/ my packing list if you think it'd be of any use.
(I just ordered a pair of Jagwire's "Elite Link" with the odd-looking segmented aluminum housing. We'll see how it goes.)
Apparently I wrote this and saved it as a draft but didn't post it.
That is some awesome advice and I am sending it to my friend! If you didn't mind sharing your pack list it would be extra appreciated. I also got in touch with friends of mine who are really into bike touring (and also ultrarunning, so they're crazy, but lovely people) so I'm thinking I'm making progress on an actual to-do list.
"Sandra has a good solid anti-murderer vibe. My skin felt very secure and sufficiently attached to my body when I met her. Also my organs." HAIL SATAN
You should be fine. I would take it into a good-quality repair shop to check the fit, because if that's off you could be setting yourself up for back/neck problems down the road. And maybe get them to give it a once-over, check the brakes etc.
You may also need a few days to get used to the saddle, depending on what you had on the Trek.
Side note, I'll never stop thinking the name clipless pedals is super unintuitive
PSN: Robo_Wizard1
If it's sized incorrectly for you you're gonna have a bad time and your knee is going to get hurt.
Sizing is a lot more about body/leg length ratios than overall height. I would get someone to check out your positioning, sometimes handlebar adjustments can compensate for frame offsets.