Bicycles!

Redliner said:
Anyone ever owned a wireless bike computer?
I am thinking of buying one but I am a bit skeptical it will work as well as a traditional wired one...
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It's one more battery to be drained and I really don't see any upsides over one with a cable.
 
DanRoM said:
It's one more battery to be drained and I really don't see any upsides over one with a cable.
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Yeah, I keep thinking that...
 
I have a Garmin with wireless speed/cadence sensor and of course wireless heartrate monitor, and while I haven't been outside since I got it (because snow and salt, so much salt) I'm not exactly concerned about the battery. They say the speed/cadence sensor has a 500 hour battery life. In any case, it's super unimportant to me if those batteries die (mainly because the Garmin head unit is fine by itself and has enough battery life to spare), plus carrying a spare CR2032 isn't exactly onerous. You should have at least a spare tube with you, throw that extra CR2032 in whatever storage method you use, it'll fit. ;)

Less cables is more better too. Unless you have a fancy assed carbon frame with internal cabling.

Captain_Whine said:
P.S. On the subject of try-outs, has anybody rode variator rear shift?

http://www.cxmagazine.com/wp-conten...-batch-2/sea-otter-2010-6822-cxmagazine_1.jpg

I do like the concept, but in my case i wonder how much torque can it actually take? (i'm one of them "lead stompers", and abit nervous thoose balls could actually start slipping...)
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...what is that? :?
 
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Can you attach a motor to that? Say, weed eater motor?
 
Captain_Whine said:
Maybe not that, but his wheels are made of fine alloy, rather than chineese tinfoil, and he doesn't use the ceramic brakepads (which are equal to pare-o-grinding stones).

Also, there are some styles of "pulse" braking, which prevent pads to meltdown after single average hill.



2), i'm not saying disc brakes are bad, but sometimes V's are more apropriate to use.

3) Best brakes for the bike yet are dyno-axles. You can lowride few km downhill and charge your lights for like... few nights.



P.S. On the subject of try-outs, has anybody rode variator rear shift?

sea-otter-2010-6822-cxmagazine_1.jpg


I do like the concept, but in my case i wonder how much torque can it actually take? (i'm one of them "lead stompers", and abit nervous thoose balls could actually start slipping...)
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That looks really clever, but, also REALLY HEAVY

I like that they're using a set of bearings to distribute load/increase contact surface, so I suspect it'd be able to take the torque, but still, I can't get over how much metal he's holding.
 
Today I experienced again how easy it is to spend almost a grand on a simple commuter bike. Not my money, though. Also, not my bike. :D
 
i'd say it's fairly easy to spend much more than a grand on a commuter bike :D ... at least if i was the one buying one. admittedly, wouldn't quite be "simple" anymore...
 
Weee, spring thaw, weee, first ride of the year. Boo, dirt. I almost looked like I'd been mountain biking my clothes were so dirty. Somehow the picture looks about half as dirty as my bike actually is.


Also, I checked out the spring bike show yesterday. Kinda cool, it's basically where all the local bike shops come to sell their last-year's stock (including what they didn't move during the fall bike show). Also a handful of manufactuerers and organizations (couple clubs, some charity ride promoters, couple tour companies). So many pretty bikes, kind of almost got tempted to get a new mountain bike but managed to hold myself back, my old 26er will do until I learn how to actually ride single track. Anyways, came home with some new bibshorts and carbon soled Giro shoes that fit like a foot-glove (which are accidentally in the picture)
 
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Bought some new gloves


A bit more then I used to pay for gloves, but I reckon they should last me a while, and since i use them whenever I ride, it's a good investement.
They felt great from the start, will see how they are when used.

Next on my shopping list are sunglasses.
I should actually invest in a proper road bike :D
 
I want to try and do more work-commuting with a bicycle this year. Last year I had similar plans, so I dusted off my bike that I haven't used in years (ye olde post), and put it on a diet in attempt to shed weight and rattling noises. Removed mudguards, luggage rack, speedometer and the massive U-lock with its holder, which I replaced with a simple wire lock. Certainly made it look simpler and cleaner which I really liked (before, after). It was fun for a while, but then I got the car back on road and kind of forgot about the bicycle ;)

I do remember regretting removing the rack at some point. I only need the backpack, but having it on a hot day was uncomfortable. So I guess the rack goes back on, even though I really dislike the way it looks and how its built with dozens of tiny screws everywhere instead of cleanly bent tubes. Annoys my inner strive for minimalism in design :) But even with the rack, attaching the backpack is a chore, with straps hanging everywhere, the bag swinging side to side... There has to be somethign better. Do you guys use panniers or something? I'd like something that sits on top of the rack, and that I can take off and go to a store with, for example. The volume of a regular school backpack would do.
 
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i have an ancient pair of panniers that i basically inherited from my mother when she got herself two new ones. made by ortlieb, they're still 100% waterproof after at least 20 years. they look very beaten, but they work nicely. only thing is, if you take only one and have more than a few kilos to transport, you'll end up riding around ever so slightly lopsided (it's not too bad, really. i've moved 10+ kgs on one side of the bike and was only wobbly for the first 100m or so)
 
I have a classic luggage rack with a spring-operated holding mechanism. This kind of secures the backpack. Additionally, I put the backpack straps around the seat post.
 
MXM said:
I want to try and do more work-commuting with a bicycle this year. Last year I had similar plans, so I dusted off my bike that I haven't used in years (ye olde post), and put it on a diet in attempt to shed weight and rattling noises. Removed mudguards, luggage rack, speedometer and the massive U-lock with its holder, which I replaced with a simple wire lock. Certainly made it look simpler and cleaner which I really liked (before, after). It was fun for a while, but then I got the car back on road and kind of forgot about the bicycle ;)

I do remember regretting removing the rack at some point. I only need the backpack, but having it on a hot day was uncomfortable. So I guess the rack goes back on, even though I really dislike the way it looks and how its built with dozens of tiny screws everywhere instead of cleanly bent tubes. Annoys my inner strive for minimalism in design :) But even with the rack, attaching the backpack is a chore, with straps hanging everywhere, the bag swinging side to side... There has to be somethign better. Do you guys use panniers or something? I'd like something that sits on top of the rack, and that I can take off and go to a store with, for example. The volume of a regular school backpack would do.
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This looks MUCH better now. :D
 
MXM said:
I do remember regretting removing the rack at some point. I only need the backpack, but having it on a hot day was uncomfortable.
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I use panniers for nearly ten years now for the same reason, as eizbaer mentined you slightly notice the inbalanced weight but it is much more comfortable than carrying a backpack all the way. I started off with some cheap ones from Aldi and switched to Ortlieb seven years ago which I also use for my commute to work. Their bags are nearly indestructable, despite the very high price for what is basically a bag that you can attach to a bicycle I'd recommend them without any hesistance.
 
One of the guys I ride with has a nice bag that sits on top of his rack, but I don't think it's the kind of bag you would want to just carry around, it's an odd shape (long and not very tall) and doesn't look convenient to carry. Likewise, your standard side panniers seem like they would be unweildy to me. I dunno, bungee cord to keep the straps in?


So I went for a big long solo ride today. Rode straight into the wind on an endless gradual incline for the first two hours which led me to what I figured was the "easy" route up one of the rare big climbs around here, didn't expect the >15% grade around a curve, yeesh. Dismount and push! Those headwinds really demoralized me (speed, y u so slow) and drained all my energy. FWIW, there's 4 or 5 routes to the top, the infamous one averages 10% for 1km. Haha, I'm nowhere near fit enough to even look at that right now.

edit: oh yeah, and I swapped out my super rigid plastic bottle cage with a somewhat flexible side pull specialized cage. It's nice, holds the bottle tight but I can actually get a camelbak bottle out of it. Could only use bottles with the classic deep grip cutout with the old cage, but I like the camelbak bottles. I still like my crappy plastic cage for the second bottle on the seat tube, can pull it out of either side and the bottle's not going to pop out if the hold is a little weak like it might on the down tube.
 
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Ramseus said:
edit: oh yeah, and I swapped out my super rigid plastic bottle cage with a somewhat flexible side pull specialized cage. It's nice, holds the bottle tight but I can actually get a camelbak bottle out of it. Could only use bottles with the classic deep grip cutout with the old cage, but I like the camelbak bottles. I still like my crappy plastic cage for the second bottle on the seat tube, can pull it out of either side and the bottle's not going to pop out if the hold is a little weak like it might on the down tube.
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How are the Camelbak bottles, do you have one of those insulated ones?

I plan on getting a Specialized purist cause of the odourless coating on the inside, but saw that camelbak has insulated ones so I considered getting one of those.
It would be nice to keep the drink at least a bit cool on hot days, it gets warm very soon in normal bottles.
 
Danke!
 
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