Blake TDo you have enemies then?Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.Registered Userregular
edited March 2018
As a rough rule of thumb, if the company doesn't advertise the amount of lumens it outputs it is not very many, and while I may have just missed it because I only spent a minute or two on each website, if they are advertising weeks of battery life, I would guess that the output is not that high, which means they are lights designed to be seen.
If you are after lights to see with, you should probably aim for a minimum of 800 lumens, but obviously the more lumens, the more you can see.
Donovan PuppyfuckerA dagger in the dark isworth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered Userregular
Yeah if you wanna be able to see where you're going, lights that fit on the rim are out straight away. If you're going to be covering real mileage on the road, you'll be travelling at pace, and a light that only shines 15 feet in front of you is barely better than no light at all, because by the time you see the pothole you'll be in it, and away over the handlebars with a bent rim, a fucked tyre, and most of the skin off your forearms. As long as your light is pointed at the ground off in front of you, you won't be blinding anybody, and for sheer safety's sake the more you can see the better.
As for visibility, if it's drizzly or snowy and you're on a nice bendy mountain road, a 'normal' bike light isn't worth shit. You want people to be able to see you from half a mile away, and the type of light that runs on a two AA batteries simply is NOT going to get the job done. You want a big beefy LED that throws out some serious lumens, not just so that you can see, but so that other people can see you too.
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Donovan PuppyfuckerA dagger in the dark isworth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered Userregular
I know I'm mansplaining like a motherfucker here, but that last thing I want is for you to get cleaned up by a Belgian farmer driving his tractor to the pub one night, and have to cut your trip short thanks to the missing leg.
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Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
They... don't.
It's fine, never mind. I am gonna just quietly pull out of the bike thread for a while I think, from an advice perspective it is like a 75-25 split "well you've done ___ wrong already/why don't you choose something entirely different from your preferences" to helpful opinions. It's like I've picked up the hobby most likely to make me feel like an inadequate dipshit no matter what I choose.
"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
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Blake TDo you have enemies then?Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.Registered Userregular
I do want to say though those wheel lights look cool AF though Sandra and I think you should buy that, and your app indicator one and a set of bright lights as well and just be a Christmas tree on a skateboard.
Anyway, my old cheap bike I got used was falling apart one piece at a time since I started riding it to work. It just couldn't handle that much use, so I figured I'd get a new one.
I would ask - why do you need a strap? I find getting grippy bike shoes+good flats = better. You'll get some shin strikes the first month or so you're riding them, but your pedal stroke will get so refined it's worth it.
I left the brakes on my fixed-gear -- you can just choose to not use them, after all, and then they're there as a backup in case the chain snaps or your foot comes loose or something. Theoretically it's a cleaner look / less to maintain, but I'd rather have them there as an option. (and I guess if you're doing barspins there's less tangling issues -- I don't think anyone makes a gyro to fit a non-bmx-sized frame)
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Donovan PuppyfuckerA dagger in the dark isworth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered Userregular
Wow, I didn't realise they made Potts mods for aheadsets. Looks like there's a whole bunch of extra rear brake cable in there, which should get you one spin, at least.
That said, BMX has increasingly gone brakeless these days and people are using footjams to stop, which just seems like making your life harder for the sake of making it harder to me, though to be fair watching videos they definitely seem more fluid than they did back when there were more brakes around.
This guy is taking things one step further still, and has removed not just the brakes, but the chain (presumably he's getting a running start somewhere, but he is still doing an amazing job of keeping momentum going):
Well I don't think I'll be going chain less any time soon. I will be keeping the brakes on my bike for the foreseeable future but I would like to try to get good at plain fixed riding, just cause.
Is there a reason you don't want to go with the pedals amazon has listed as 'frequently bought together' with the straps? Of the two options you've given, the second one looks like it might be too thin top-to-bottom to fit the straps through -- they look like they're designed to work with clones of the classic Shimano DX form factor, which has a fair amount of room in the middle. Not sure about the first one.
Also, I'd be wary of getting pedals that are _too_ grippy if you're going with that sort of strap -- I had PowerGrips at one point, and you need to remember that you'll need to be able to slide your shoe in under the strap, so if there's a bunch of really spiky pins sticking out the top of the pedal, you can end up with your foot getting stuck halfway in, or needing to leave the strap a bit looser than you'd want. (powergrips work slighly differently than the ones you have, though).
Saw some strap pedals at the shop the other day that tensioned/loosened when you twisted your feet into/out of them, making them work basically like clipless. Thought that was a neat idea
Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
So I invested in a pair of padded bike pants for my trip and
I just don't know what to do about this situation?
I bought them because my ass was getting sore af by the end of these 72 km trips I've been doing, but after wearing the pants once, it's like they just shifted where was sore, AND they chafed. So instead of "damn, my butt bones hurt" for like a day after a big ride, my butt was still sore but in a different area, and I've got super awful chafe in unmentionable places for a week. On top of this they were godawful expensive so now I'm not sure what to do. What the hell?
"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 don't want to be wearing underwear with your bike shorts, I wasn't certain about this when I started using them so I figured I'd mention it.
Some folks use chamois cream to cut down on the chafing, I personally use a very small amount of bag balm (which is Vaseline with lanolin). Cycling weekly has a little article about it that seems pretty reasonable.
The good news is the sore butt bones will generally go away the more riding you get in. Sometimes you might need to find a different saddle to fix the problem, though that can be really frustrating and expensive depending on your options.
It also might be a good idea to evaluate your riding position, your body will shift around a bit as you ride more so you might need to move your saddle up a bit or change the angle slightly. Friends that ride can be a good resource here, them watching you ride around might highlight things that look a bit off. I find the best way to set up a bike for myself is to completely clear my mind of everything and just ride smoothly and let my body "tell" me what to change. This sounds pretty stupid but it seems to work for me.
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Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
edited April 2018
I already ride 14km a day five days a week, and I've been riding for years, but I do suspect the saddle and different riding posture is coming in to play here - the bike I commute to work with is not the bike I use for the big rides I'm doing on weekends, nor is it the bike I'll be taking on my trip with me. (My office doesn't have secure bike parking, which means I need to lock my bike on the street, which means I use my refurb commuter and not my fancy new LHT on Monday through Friday.)
So maybe it's the new bike's saddle, or the posture shift that's causing the soreness. If it's likely that eventually my tush will adjust to the new saddle I'll just deal with it for now, I was just shocked at how much worse I felt after riding my touring bike with padded pants in comparison to just cycling in regular exercise pants.
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
yeah if you don't ride that bike much it's very likely you've just got new saddle butt. If it's just soreness, it'll go away. Chafing is more of an issue because that's likely to be ongoing. Personally I'd probably ditch the padded shorts if they're causing irritation, but then I got plenty of buffer down there already.
Blake TDo you have enemies then?Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.Registered Userregular
If you are super concerned about your butt hurt you can always get your stay professionally fitted where they look at how your tail bone and hip bones sit and select you a correct seat.
Otherwise it is kind of a put up until the seat is better broken in.
The two bottom pointed edges of the pelvis are supposed to sit right on top of the wide base of the seat, right? That's what is uncomfortable for me rather than the tailbone, but moving them forward so they're not directly making contact would put more pressure on I guess the perineum(?) which I always thought was worse/wrong.
PSN: Kurahoshi1
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Tynnanseldom correct, never unsureRegistered Userregular
The two bottom pointed edges of the pelvis are supposed to sit right on top of the wide base of the seat, right? That's what is uncomfortable for me rather than the tailbone, but moving them forward so they're not directly making contact would put more pressure on I guess the perineum(?) which I always thought was worse/wrong.
Yes. Prolonged pressure on the perineum will cause problems. If the positioning of your 'sit bones' isn't comfortable enough you might want to get your fit checked.
I switched to an ISM saddle at the recommendation of someone in this forum which helped me a lot with soreness on longer rides.
I think the point of chamois in bike shorts is more the lack of seams than padding. As mentioned, they're not meant to be used with underwear. Try getting some chamois cream and being generous with it to see if that helps with the chafing.
So went to the bike store today with the wife to look into getting a couple bikes and a tow along thingy for our 2.5 yo. I am looking at a Trek FX2 and I think it'll do me well. We play on just doing rides around our subdivision to start with, and once I figure out how to get a hitch attached to my Honda CR-V we'll go on some of the paved trails that aren't too far away from us. I believe my wife was looking at the Trek Neko I, but we had to switch off the daughter as the guy was seeing how well the bikes fit us. I'm stoked to get a bike and be able to go riding again. I do miss my trails I rode when I lived in Florida but I'm sure Colorado(north Denver/Brighton) will be able to give our family some fun days!
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Lost Salientblink twiceif you'd like me to mercy kill youRegistered Userregular
I did do some reading about positioning and saddles for women cycling and it seems like there's at least a fair amount of difference in where we end up resting weight on the saddle due to different hip structures. It was pretty informative but I'm not sure it's really done much to help identify whether the seat needs breaking in or adjustment in my case since I can't really see myself mid-ride except in like, glass windows. Maybe I'll look into a shop where I can get my setup analysed. But for today I just ain't wearing those padded pants. (I wasn't wearing them with underwear, at the risk of TMI.)
"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
First Audax of the year (and the first one I've done since early 2016!). Nominally 100k but with the ride to and from the start I covered about 120k all up.
Feeling pretty good right now - a few niggles but nothing major. I expect I'll be hobbling tomorrow though
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minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
edited April 2018
So, as part of my campaign to not die in my 30s get back in shape, I dug my bike out of the basement after nearly 2 years without riding. An injury plus a job change to a new job with longer hours and a loooong driving commute really fucked me up.
I'm posting here partially to help hold myself accountable. The plan feels reasonable but I may be underestimating my out-of-shapeness. I hope not:
15 miles by the end of April
50 miles in May
100 miles in June
200 miles in July
Complete a half-century (my first, ever!) in August
Stretch goal: Complete a century by the end of the year
We'll see how this goes. I've never really been in what anyone would call "great" shape, but I used to be able to manage regular 20+ mile rides, so I'm gonna make this shit happen.
minor incident on
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
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minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
And to contribute something pretty to the thread, here's the ride:
Surly Cross-Check with (mostly) Shimano Tiagra components.
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
So, as part of my campaign to not die in my 30s get back in shape, I dug my bike out of the basement after nearly 2 years without riding. An injury plus a job change to a new job with longer hours and a loooong driving commute really fucked me up.
I'm posting here partially to help hold myself accountable. The plan feels reasonable but I may be underestimating my out-of-shapeness. I hope not:
15 miles by the end of April
50 miles in May
100 miles in June
200 miles in July
Complete a half-century (my first, ever!) in August
Stretch goal: Complete a century by the end of the year
We'll see how this goes. I've never really been in what anyone would call "great" shape, but I used to be able to manage regular 20+ mile rides, so I'm gonna make this shit happen.
I like the cut of your jib.
I should do my own plan. Are your mileage totals for the month?
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.
When I did a century, I just followed a plan roughly like the spreadsheet here and added the long rides on to my existing commute to/from work.
There are a lot of plans out there and a lot of them talk about interval training / hill sprints / how to not get dropped by the pack / other things that probably apply more if you have a time you want to beat or are in an organized event with other people to keep up with. I just wanted to do a hundred miles in a day, so I did it at a nice leisurely pace and it really did take all day. If you can do a half century in a day then you can probably do the full one without much more trouble, just give yourself lots of time.
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minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
So, as part of my campaign to not die in my 30s get back in shape, I dug my bike out of the basement after nearly 2 years without riding. An injury plus a job change to a new job with longer hours and a loooong driving commute really fucked me up.
I'm posting here partially to help hold myself accountable. The plan feels reasonable but I may be underestimating my out-of-shapeness. I hope not:
15 miles by the end of April
50 miles in May
100 miles in June
200 miles in July
Complete a half-century (my first, ever!) in August
Stretch goal: Complete a century by the end of the year
We'll see how this goes. I've never really been in what anyone would call "great" shape, but I used to be able to manage regular 20+ mile rides, so I'm gonna make this shit happen.
I like the cut of your jib.
I should do my own plan. Are your mileage totals for the month?
Those are the mileage totals I'm aiming for within each month. So 50 miles in May alone, then 100 miles in June alone, etc. I used to do about a 2.5 mile commute to work like 4 days a week, so I know I'm capable of this, but I'm soooo out of shape and out of practice, it's going to take a bit of work. I'm so rusty I accidentally snapped a valve stem last night trying to air up my tires.
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
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minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
When I did a century, I just followed a plan roughly like the spreadsheet here and added the long rides on to my existing commute to/from work.
There are a lot of plans out there and a lot of them talk about interval training / hill sprints / how to not get dropped by the pack / other things that probably apply more if you have a time you want to beat or are in an organized event with other people to keep up with. I just wanted to do a hundred miles in a day, so I did it at a nice leisurely pace and it really did take all day. If you can do a half century in a day then you can probably do the full one without much more trouble, just give yourself lots of time.
Thanks for the link! I'll look it over. But yeah, I'm not sure about the group rides/organized event things. My work schedule makes a lot of that kind of stuff tricky. My goals are basically to just be able to do those rides in a single day on my own. If I could manage that, I'd be pretty happy with myself.
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
Just had to get a lot of work done on my bike. New shifters, bottom bracket, and whole drive train. With new wheels a few months ago, I've spent more on my bike this year than it originally cost 11 years ago.
Put it all to use with a 200km ride yesterday and a 70km ride today. Think I've sufficiently taken advantage of the nice weather this weekend.
Posts
If you are after lights to see with, you should probably aim for a minimum of 800 lumens, but obviously the more lumens, the more you can see.
Satans..... hints.....
As for visibility, if it's drizzly or snowy and you're on a nice bendy mountain road, a 'normal' bike light isn't worth shit. You want people to be able to see you from half a mile away, and the type of light that runs on a two AA batteries simply is NOT going to get the job done. You want a big beefy LED that throws out some serious lumens, not just so that you can see, but so that other people can see you too.
It's fine, never mind. I am gonna just quietly pull out of the bike thread for a while I think, from an advice perspective it is like a 75-25 split "well you've done ___ wrong already/why don't you choose something entirely different from your preferences" to helpful opinions. It's like I've picked up the hobby most likely to make me feel like an inadequate dipshit no matter what I choose.
"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.....
It's this bike if you're interested in the specs.
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/mercier/kilott-pro-fixie-track.htm
Anyway, my old cheap bike I got used was falling apart one piece at a time since I started riding it to work. It just couldn't handle that much use, so I figured I'd get a new one.
https://www.amazon.com/Origin8-Pro-Grip-Pedal-Straps-Black/dp/B007JWZ4MG/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1523203599&sr=1-1&keywords=Origin8+Pro-Grip+II+Pedal+Straps&dpID=61Aex96KkDL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
Would you take the brakes off a motorcycle?
That said, BMX has increasingly gone brakeless these days and people are using footjams to stop, which just seems like making your life harder for the sake of making it harder to me, though to be fair watching videos they definitely seem more fluid than they did back when there were more brakes around.
This guy is taking things one step further still, and has removed not just the brakes, but the chain (presumably he's getting a running start somewhere, but he is still doing an amazing job of keeping momentum going):
I was looking at these:
Wellgo MG-1 Magnesium Sealed Platform Pedal, 9/16-Inch, Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E7UZ5OK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_kc5YAbEH5N6NY
VP Bike Pedal Set for MTB BMX Bicycle, 9/16-Inch Spindle, Aluminum Platform with Replaceable Anti-slip Pins (VP-Vice Pedals) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006ZH1H7M/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_gd5YAbJNV4BMH
Also, I'd be wary of getting pedals that are _too_ grippy if you're going with that sort of strap -- I had PowerGrips at one point, and you need to remember that you'll need to be able to slide your shoe in under the strap, so if there's a bunch of really spiky pins sticking out the top of the pedal, you can end up with your foot getting stuck halfway in, or needing to leave the strap a bit looser than you'd want. (powergrips work slighly differently than the ones you have, though).
PSN: Robo_Wizard1
I just don't know what to do about this situation?
I bought them because my ass was getting sore af by the end of these 72 km trips I've been doing, but after wearing the pants once, it's like they just shifted where was sore, AND they chafed. So instead of "damn, my butt bones hurt" for like a day after a big ride, my butt was still sore but in a different area, and I've got super awful chafe in unmentionable places for a week. On top of this they were godawful expensive so now I'm not sure what to do. What the hell?
"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
Some folks use chamois cream to cut down on the chafing, I personally use a very small amount of bag balm (which is Vaseline with lanolin). Cycling weekly has a little article about it that seems pretty reasonable.
The good news is the sore butt bones will generally go away the more riding you get in. Sometimes you might need to find a different saddle to fix the problem, though that can be really frustrating and expensive depending on your options.
It also might be a good idea to evaluate your riding position, your body will shift around a bit as you ride more so you might need to move your saddle up a bit or change the angle slightly. Friends that ride can be a good resource here, them watching you ride around might highlight things that look a bit off. I find the best way to set up a bike for myself is to completely clear my mind of everything and just ride smoothly and let my body "tell" me what to change. This sounds pretty stupid but it seems to work for me.
So maybe it's the new bike's saddle, or the posture shift that's causing the soreness. If it's likely that eventually my tush will adjust to the new saddle I'll just deal with it for now, I was just shocked at how much worse I felt after riding my touring bike with padded pants in comparison to just cycling in regular exercise pants.
"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
Otherwise it is kind of a put up until the seat is better broken in.
Satans..... hints.....
Yes. Prolonged pressure on the perineum will cause problems. If the positioning of your 'sit bones' isn't comfortable enough you might want to get your fit checked.
I think the point of chamois in bike shorts is more the lack of seams than padding. As mentioned, they're not meant to be used with underwear. Try getting some chamois cream and being generous with it to see if that helps with the chafing.
PSN: Robo_Wizard1
"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
Feeling pretty good right now - a few niggles but nothing major. I expect I'll be hobbling tomorrow though
I'm posting here partially to help hold myself accountable. The plan feels reasonable but I may be underestimating my out-of-shapeness. I hope not:
15 miles by the end of April
50 miles in May
100 miles in June
200 miles in July
Complete a half-century (my first, ever!) in August
Stretch goal: Complete a century by the end of the year
We'll see how this goes. I've never really been in what anyone would call "great" shape, but I used to be able to manage regular 20+ mile rides, so I'm gonna make this shit happen.
Surly Cross-Check with (mostly) Shimano Tiagra components.
I like the cut of your jib.
I should do my own plan. Are your mileage totals for the month?
There are a lot of plans out there and a lot of them talk about interval training / hill sprints / how to not get dropped by the pack / other things that probably apply more if you have a time you want to beat or are in an organized event with other people to keep up with. I just wanted to do a hundred miles in a day, so I did it at a nice leisurely pace and it really did take all day. If you can do a half century in a day then you can probably do the full one without much more trouble, just give yourself lots of time.
Those are the mileage totals I'm aiming for within each month. So 50 miles in May alone, then 100 miles in June alone, etc. I used to do about a 2.5 mile commute to work like 4 days a week, so I know I'm capable of this, but I'm soooo out of shape and out of practice, it's going to take a bit of work. I'm so rusty I accidentally snapped a valve stem last night trying to air up my tires.
Thanks for the link! I'll look it over. But yeah, I'm not sure about the group rides/organized event things. My work schedule makes a lot of that kind of stuff tricky. My goals are basically to just be able to do those rides in a single day on my own. If I could manage that, I'd be pretty happy with myself.
Put it all to use with a 200km ride yesterday and a 70km ride today. Think I've sufficiently taken advantage of the nice weather this weekend.
PSN: Robo_Wizard1