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I Want To Ride My Bicycle [Bike Thread]
Whiniest Man On Earth
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZiikJn1jGNw
This thread is about bikes. Not about bike laws, not about bike helmets, not about anything but bikes themselves and riding them. Post sweet bike videos, stories about rides and gnarly crashes, pictures of your quiver, all that good shit.
I own a couple bikes, myself.
This bad boy I made myself. It's actually a few years old now, and I'm just getting to a point where I can build it up and ride it around. It's a custom track frame, with a 55cm seat tube and a 58cm top tube, because I'm all torso. It's got pretty traditional track geometry. I built it at the UBI frame building school which is an experience that I do not recommend to anyone.
If you're interested in frame building, I say go learn from the master himself.
Here's my old baby, Evermind. She was a Langster Pro from 04, and I loved the shit out of this bike until one day, I went to clean my chainstays and I noticed a very, very large crack around the drive side. In fact, one more ride, and I would've likely broken it right off and died a truly horrible death. Thank fuck I felt compelled to clean my bike for the first time in months.
Boring picture of my boring singlespeed cross bike. Boring bike is boring.
I am the best boyfriend in the world because I got this for my lady. Pink 3rensho, one of less than five in the world. Fucking badass. Knuckles provided by yours truly.
This thread is about bikes. Not about bike laws, not about bike helmets, not about anything but bikes themselves and riding them. Post sweet bike videos, stories about rides and gnarly crashes, pictures of your quiver, all that good shit.
I own a couple bikes, myself.
This bad boy I made myself. It's actually a few years old now, and I'm just getting to a point where I can build it up and ride it around. It's a custom track frame, with a 55cm seat tube and a 58cm top tube, because I'm all torso. It's got pretty traditional track geometry. I built it at the UBI frame building school which is an experience that I do not recommend to anyone.
If you're interested in frame building, I say go learn from the master himself.
Here's my old baby, Evermind. She was a Langster Pro from 04, and I loved the shit out of this bike until one day, I went to clean my chainstays and I noticed a very, very large crack around the drive side. In fact, one more ride, and I would've likely broken it right off and died a truly horrible death. Thank fuck I felt compelled to clean my bike for the first time in months.
Boring picture of my boring singlespeed cross bike. Boring bike is boring.
I am the best boyfriend in the world because I got this for my lady. Pink 3rensho, one of less than five in the world. Fucking badass. Knuckles provided by yours truly.
Whiniest Man On Earth on
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Like, 120+ goddamn degrees hot.
Now, I begin to seriously contemplate killing people in hopes that their blood is colder than the air after about 5 minutes of this shit on foot. Is a bike going to be even worse? Is there any way to stay cool on a bike?
You are an object moving at 20MPH. Ever stick your hand out of a window at that speed? It's like that for your whole body. But, you're still going to be hot and sweaty. You need to seriously consider how you're going to stay hydrated. Do you see other cyclists in your area?
Occasionally. I'm assuming giant water bottle will be a must?
I prefer Camelbacks/Hydrapacks to bottles, but that's because I'm used to riding with a bag and not so much with extra weight on my featherlight bicycles. Heh. You might try going to a bike store in your area and asking how people stay hydrated out in that kind of heat. It's likely they'll recommend you mix some kind of electrolyte replacement in with your water.
Speaking of bags, I really want a custom r.e.load that says "Keep honking, I'm reloading".
I'm learning little by little how to actually maintain it and what every last little bit involved is. It's single speed, I ride free-wheel (that bullshit fixie trend is the REAL damn danger from what I can tell -- how do people stay alive on those things? I almost killed one of them by walking in front of them on a crosswalk, and they could barely slow down to avoid me), and it does everything I want of it.
I'm on 28mm rims and I was thinking of maybe trying smaller ones. Do they affect the feel of the bike much beyond weight and speed? Turning base increase or decrease? Noticeable difference in breaking or what? That's all I'm really thinking of goofing off with at the moment.
A Bianchi Volpe. I tossed the stock saddle for a more comfortable and stylish one (though the leopard print did send a certain message) and I've retaped the handlebars after having a run-in with the pavement. I also put the deeply treaded stock tires in my garage in favor of Armadillo road slicks. I've not had a flat in over a year.
what should I... know?
Hmm. Do you mean 28c tires by this, or do you really mean smaller rims?
Volpes are well built bikes for the money, and Armadillo tires are pretty fantastic if you can handle the increase in weight and the stiffer sidewall. I'd like to see Bianchi squeeze a bit more out of the components on that bike in the future, but with bike prices jumping up 7-20% in the next model year, I really don't see that happening.
In fact, expect that 09 bikes are going to be a lot shittier for the money, regardless of the manufacturer, because of the increasing costs.
EDIT:
Variable, get the bike looked at by a mechanic and ask them where to ride around where you are. Bike shops are awesome sources of information, as long as you go to one that isn't staffed by total twats. This is, of course, harder than it sounds.
The bikes defrag, Doc, and I posted would fit the bill of a road/city/commuter bike very well. If you're going to be frequently riding long distances on flat(ish) surfaces, they're a good fit.
If you're just going to dust the one off in the garage, I'd highly recommend doing a regular maintenance on it before riding. Make sure the chain is greased, the brakes are healthy, the tires are properly inflated, everything is working / in good shape. Mechanical failure is a serious bitch. If you don't know how to do this stuff yourself, a local bike shop should be able to help you out on this for pretty cheap (free maybe, if you buy something off them like a light or bell or something and it doesn't need too much work).
Also, be smart about your commute. You want to know / be comfortable with the roads you'll generally be riding on. Taking a longer route in order to stay on streets with lighter traffic is something I do often. It won't just make the biking more pleasant if you're not constantly freaking out about cars roaring up behind you, but it'll probably make you safer, too.
maintenance makes sense but I wouldn't have even bothered so I appreciate that advice.
This is a pretty common thing with bikes. People don't separate the wheel from the tire from the rim from any other part that rotates when talking about em.
Thinner tires roll faster. They're also not quite as cushy as wider tires, so you'll notice that you feel more of what you ride over. That said, my recommendation is to just go for the road standard 700x23c and ride the hell out of it. If it's uncomfortable, swap back. Just ride whatever tires you've got into the fucking ground and then swap em out for something new. That said, I can't say enough good things about Vittoria Rubino tires. Light, awesome road tires that are actually damned durable. If you're looking for something a bit more robust, the Armadillos that Doc mentioned are actually in a few varieties... All Conditions for all kinds of weather (durr) and the Roubaix for slicks. The Roubaix Elite is actually a 700x23/25, and is a good option for summer riding on something not too skinny, not too wide, and mostly puncture proof.
Warning, it might be a bit on the expensive side to pay a shop to tune up your bike. If you want, find a bike advocacy place near you who will show you how to do the basic stuff for free. A lot of towns have Bike Churches/Bike Kitchens/random creepy old dudes who will help you out.
I feel like I just need to get on someone else's 23s to see how they feel, but I don't know anyone who has a setup like that right now. Gahhh...
Thinner tires don't necessarily lose any traction in wet conditions, depending on the tires being compared. A wider tire will always have a bigger contact patch for more traction, but a tire with better water-shedding tread will grip better in the wet than one that won't. So, for example, a 23c All Condition from Specialized grips way better than a wider Roubaix that's completely slick.
Traction in the wet is 50% tire and 50% rider ability. I ride all year long with 23c tires in the Bay just fine, but in the winter, when it rains a lot, I definitely feel better on my big fat 32c cross tires.
Speaking of which, I just reattached my fenders because it is going to be rainy all week.
I can't believe you ever get away with that in Seattle...
It's kind of funny, the sun comes out and everyone takes off their fenders, goes to the beach, and does summer stuff. Then the next week it's all gray and rainy and everyone acts like that's a normal thing for June.
I have to ride over brick pavement to get to my office building. If it is raining for the first time in a while, all the oil buildup from cars driving over it comes to the surface. It's like a freaking ice rink. I'm always terrified to ride over it when it's like that.
So, I hear this a lot. Let me clear something up quick.
A lighter bike, especially lighter weight components in the wheels, makes for an easier ride, regardless of rider weight. Rotational mass, like what you have in your rims and tires, is a huge factor in how easy it is to climb. Try riding the same bike twice with a heavier and lighter wheelset, and you'll see the differences.
Not saying you have to worry about it a lot, but weight in the wheels is the #1 place that it makes a difference on a bike, and rider weight generally doesn't have much to do with why a lighter bike is faster.
And yet, so necessary for all three of our climates. I can at least take them off in the summer without much worry.
I look forward to hitting some trails with them later this summer, though.
Plus if you make a hard turn when going slow, they bang into your foot. Or mine, anyway.
Three 600X500ish pics after the jump.
My dad's stumpjumper:
phatty tires make this thing ride like a dream on singletrack
And my old bike, it has slicks for riding around the college campus, and some knobbies for riding around in the winter.
(My dad has a road bike I also ride, picture of that later.)
I'm a bike mechanic. I can tell you, without a doubt, that $300 bikes do not "work fine", and the mentality of replacing them when they wear out isn't exactly one I'd deem "cost-effective". But, yeah, like Doc said, knock your socks off, so long as you don't do it from any of those stores.
Mine was $850 when I got it new, and I'd call it "good." It's nothing super special, but I have very few complaints about it.
Edit: $300-400 can get you a pretty solid used bike. I would do that before getting a $300-400 new bike.
Mountain or Road? I seem to remember you saying you can't commute (T/F?) and so would be doing it for exercise/pleasure. How big of a dude are you? You don't have much experience riding bikes recently (right?), how much did you ride before that? How much mechanical skills do you have?
I'm sure most of these questions are overkill, but it's nice to know how much, and how hard you'll be using your bike prior to giving recommendations.
I did have a friend who picked up a pretty respectable Bianchi track bike for $550 not too long ago, but then again it's probably not exactly built to be an everyday commuter.
Increased production costs on everything relating to fuel prices and all that will probably bump any all prices mentioned by me and Doc up a bit.
This really depends on the kind of bike you're talking about.
A good mountain bike that will last a long time and has middle-of-the-road components costs about $800. A good road bike will run you over $1000, easily, because anything with Sora-level shifters sucks fucking balls. There are, of course, exceptions to these general guidelines, and I admit my qualifications are higher than most, but I work on the damned things every day.
Now, a good singlespeed/track bike you can pick up for about $700ish, these days, with the rising costs of bikes. Used to be you could snag a Pista for about $500 and be done with it, but that just isn't the case anymore.
I can provide examples if anyone wants specific recommendations, too.
edit - thanks for all the info, everyone.
edit 2 - not sur if I gave enough info since I'm not sure yet where I'd ride (probably around town/streets) but I would certainly take recommendations, would be helpful for the future.
And I'd like to know how cheap they go used/refurbished/whatever. Because I'm so broke that a 360 game breaks the bank in half and makes it squeal like a little piggy, so I need to think the combatting concepts of inexpensive and long lasting.
What kind of road biking do you want to do, what's your price range, and do you have a preferred frame material?
Drool inducing:
Indy Fab SSR. Renyolds 953 Stainless Steel tubing. Oh my dicks.
Ok, so then riding my bike on trails and in the city every day without issue until about 5 years later doesn't qualify as working fine? I might get the odd flat and need my gears tightened on occasion but nothing is falling off.
My latest bike is having a couple more issues than my previous couple (both of which lasted around 5 years), but nothing that can't be fixed on warranty.
I bought it at a local store called Sport Mart, if it makes a difference.