Ian F wrote: Repeat after me: FIT. IS. EVERYTHING. ON. A. ROAD. BIKE.
This. My road bike is a good fit for me except it is -maybe- a centimeter too long in the top tube. This caused a great amount of pain until I got aero bars:
(hotlinked from wikipedia for your amusement)
My bars didnt have pads up that high, but I could put my hands on the elbow pads which were about 2 cm higher and a cm or 2 closer to me than the normal bars. Doing this every now and then would help ease my pain. Of course, I could just get a shorter, higher stem, but I was young and stupid and thought aero bars would double as making me faster. They did, but a stem was probably cheaper 
For reference, the stem is the part that says Ritchey:
That stem looks ridiculously long. That makes my neck hurt just looking at it.
I'm too lazy to take these down for fancy pictures.
I still have my first bike. 1972 Ross Barracuda 16:
Ice bike (my current favorite):
Lunch break (I've never fallen on the lakes!):
Cannondale Rush 4, two Stingrays and a 1966 Sears Spyder.
My driveway chase bike. 1969 Schwinn Stingray Fastback frame, built up from assorted spares:
1969 Stingray Deluxe Two Speed, awaiting a sympathetic refresh, next to a 1966 Raleigh Rodeo Five Speed that may or may not get restored for my daughter:
1966 Stingray that was supposed to be stripped and powdercoated by now. Probably won't happen.
The road bike that I bought new and almost never ride. Probably Craigslist bound:
Making me want to refresh an early 90's dept. store Roadmaster MTB in my basement. I'm thinking some 2" cruiser tires, and knock it down to a 5 speed from 15.
neon4891 wrote: Making me want to refresh an early 90's dept. store Roadmaster MTB in my basement. I'm thinking some 2" cruiser tires, and knock it down to a 5 speed from 15.
I wouldn't be surprised if the crankset is a 1 price and the rings rivet on.... So you'll have to be commited if you really want to do a 1x5...
donalson wrote:neon4891 wrote: Making me want to refresh an early 90's dept. store Roadmaster MTB in my basement. I'm thinking some 2" cruiser tires, and knock it down to a 5 speed from 15.I wouldn't be surprised if the crankset is a 1 price and the rings rivet on.... So you'll have to be commited if you really want to do a 1x5...
I was thinking new crankset...
I've commuted 24 miles round trip for the past 5 years on this:
It's a very good cross between racer and mtn, with 1.5 tires I can curb jump, disc brakes (where have you been all my life?), and mine has a luggage rack. I have only crashed 5 times (ha ha- recovering from my last incident). Made it through DC winter last year with 3 days at 16 degrees in the AM.
2000s Cannondale R600 here. Pretty much my only choice at the time for a 64cm road frame. With bro-some tribal graphics that were so popular back then.
Teh E36 M3 wrote: It's a very good cross between racer and mtn, with 1.5 tires I can curb jump, disc brakes (where have you been all my life?), and mine has a luggage rack. I have only crashed 5 times (ha ha- recovering from my last incident). Made it through DC winter last year with 3 days at 16 degrees in the AM.
The only things I'd like to change on my Del Rey are wanting a higher ratio gear-set since I essentially don't use the low gears at all but am always wishing I had more gear to go up- and having disc brakes. Unfortunately the frame isn't set up for it so it would be difficult to convert it over. 
Ashyukun wrote:Teh E36 M3 wrote: It's a very good cross between racer and mtn, with 1.5 tires I can curb jump, disc brakes (where have you been all my life?), and mine has a luggage rack. I have only crashed 5 times (ha ha- recovering from my last incident). Made it through DC winter last year with 3 days at 16 degrees in the AM.The only things I'd like to change on my Del Rey are wanting a higher ratio gear-set since I essentially don't use the low gears at all but am always wishing I had more gear to go up- and having disc brakes. Unfortunately the frame isn't set up for it so it would be difficult to convert it over.
do you mean lower gears? as in easier to pedal up hill? A triple or compact crank gives you a much lower gear rage then the old racing cranks... I'm going to guess you've got a 5spd out back? either way it's very likely you have a freewheel which can still be had inexpensivly but changing the gearing up front will make a bigger difference. http://www.jensonusa.com/!YPmbVkccC9B2oWv-QESB4w!/Sunrace-Multi-Speed-Freewheel?utm_source=FRGL&utm_medium=organic&gclid=Cj0KEQjw1NufBRCx8ayaqY2t6KkBEiQA2nLWm8VUrAZXDIDNHUGM-IYYSvKlPaipTAA24o9qXduhSu8aAkOA8P8HAQ
this shows how changing gearing front and/or back can change things... http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/
for stoppers... if you are using the old side pull calipers different pads can make a big difference but the modern double pivot design calipers will do even more for ya.
If you want to change your pads, use Kool-Stop Salmon or Scott-Mathauser. I use Kool-Stops on my side-pull equipped Torpado and that bike stops on a dime. Both are very highly rated for stopping power, especially in the wet. Scott-Mathauser came up with the pad formula (secret ingredient- iron oxide. Yep, rust!), went under, Kool-Stop made a derivative of it, and now Yokozuna makes the original formula with S-M's blessing.
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