I've never had any issues with mechanical shifting and drivetrains o I'm going to stick with them. They seem to be improving but still one less thing to charge.
I've never had any issues with mechanical shifting and drivetrains o I'm going to stick with them. They seem to be improving but still one less thing to charge.
Getting closer to track stands, and I'm like 80% at getting the front wheel up without going over backwards. Still have trouble turning right, but getting better. And I can successfully go up a curb every time. Never thought I'd be picking up a new "extreme" sport at 35, but it's better than sitting on a couch. And I have to think all this sweat is lost weight. Progress on several fronts.
barefootcyborg5000 said:This trials thing is fun. Spent half an hour out with the kids. They ride literal circles around me while I attempt to track stand, rock, and pivot. I definitely favor turning left in any maneuver, probably from living frontside all those years skateboarding. Learning proper brake control and timing too. Lots of little technical stuff that hopefully can be orchestrated into actual riding. I dig it.
Sweet score on the trials bike!
Those comp bikes are basically built to be on the back wheel. Practice getting the front wheel way up in the air & hopping on the back for balance. It's basically a pogo stick with the ability to roll.
I bought a Monty probably close to 20 years ago that was similar, but still had a small seat. I just couldn't get used to it & sold it.
I picked up a Brisa B26 afterward, and built it up for street trials this year. I'm out of shape/practice & haven't ridden it much, but at least it feels like a bicycle. Though 26" wheels just don't feel as maneuverable to me.
TheTallOne17 said:In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :
Those cranks look like they'd double as kickstands! Is that just a bmx thing?
It's mostly just perspective. They're 175mm, but there's still 5" of clearance at the bottom of the stroke.
AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) said:
I've been wanting to try it at the beach.
Trust me, you don't. Yes, it'll do well on sand, but it gets everywhere & into everything, and it's absolute murder on your drivetrain. It's bad enough just riding on the streets & sidewalks around here due to the sand that gets blown around. I'll come home from our group rides & feel it all over my face, kicked up from riders in front of me.
Upgraded from 11 speed Ultegra cable to 11 speed Ultegra DI2. No significant shifting difference right now, but I expect to go a lot further than the 1100-1500 miles I was getting between each aggravating time I had to replace the rear derailleur cable. That particular age of shifter eats the cable away as it makes the hard turn inside the shifter. A fraying cable eats away the slick liner of the cable housing. On the Emonda I have, you have to remove the internal cable routing entry every time you swap cables. Every time I did that I had to loosen or remove the front derailleur connection because it went through the same entry point and the cable tension was holding the plastic cable stop in the frame.
This was three to five times a year. Got old real quick...
Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) said:
I've been wanting to try it at the beach.Trust me, you don't. Yes, it'll do well on sand, but it gets everywhere & into everything, and it's absolute murder on your drivetrain. It's bad enough just riding on the streets & sidewalks around here due to the sand that gets blown around. I'll come home from our group rides & feel it all over my face, kicked up from riders in front of me.
Wow this has me thinking I may just want to sell the fat tire bike then. I can ride on a 27.5 x 3" most anywhere I want to go other than a beach or plow in snow (which I don't need to worry about at all really). It was a COVID purchase, and I will ride my new roadies a lot more and the 27.5"x3" steel frame bike is a perfect touring machine. I have better mechanical brakes for it, but it will keep the mechanical linkages and go for many, many more miles. I'd love to ride the Natchez trace from end to end on it someday. I have the vacation time, but my wife keeps filling that up with her plans. I guess that could be my retirement plan.
Any experience with pedals using the Time ATAC system? I hear they're better for panic-unclips than Shimano SPD, unclip force can be tuned not only at the pedal but also by changing the cleat on the shoe. I'd be looking for an EH500-style two-faced pedal, the Time ATAC Link comes close but I'd prefer something with pegs...
In reply to GameboyRMH :
Any experience? Yeah. Is it relevant at all? No. 'Back in the day', I really liked the original Time MTB pedals. Only complaint was the cleats were taller than the tread on the shoes (hence the attempt at adding ShooGoo). Nostalgia isn't what it used to be:
In reply to GameboyRMH :
I've run Times in the past, maybe ten years ago at this point. I'm back on Shimano now and no trouble getting feet out when I need to (or in). The build quality of the Shimano's from entry level up is great and they seem to last forever. My Times eventually broke and that's when I decided to move back to SPDs.
I have a Shimano clipless setup on my road bikes but for my mountain bike I ride flats because I am too terrified of being stuck to the bike if I crash.
Now for some more extremely grassroots pedalsports, today I added Rockshox volume spacers to my Himalo fork that was never designed to take any. The fork blows through a lot of travel even at very high pressures so volume spacers would be very helpful. Someone who made a video showing how to service the fork (here) mentioned that he'd added spacers by epoxying the first one to the air spring cap, so today I did the same. The threaded area on the first spacer needs to be ground down to a smaller diameter to fit inside the Himalo cap. I also filled in the gap inside the cap with hot glue while leaving a channel for air to get even more air volume reduction. Testing it out in the garage, the difference was immediately noticeable. I had the fork at 120psi to avoid using too much travel although 100psi gives optimal sag. I'll try it at 120psi again and see how it goes, 100psi still feels a bit soft even with the spacers, I may try something in-between next.
ChrisTropea said:I have a Shimano clipless setup on my road bikes but for my mountain bike I ride flats because I am too terrified of being stuck to the bike if I crash.
After almost crashing in the 80s because I wasn't attached to my bike, I ride clipped in on the mountain bike. I know it's not cool anymore but I like what being able to lift on the pedals does for my riding and it's what I've been used to for (mumble mumble) years. I use Crank Brothers pedals with a fairly loose cleat, so unclipping is about as difficult as getting one of those gummy skate shoes to relinquish a set of bear claw pedals. You just move your foot sideways instead of up.
Don't get me started on Bluetooth shifters. And get off my lawn!
BTW, I managed to crack the Race Shop Limited one-piece carbon handlebar/stem on my Supercaliber. Spotted the developing crack before it turned into a likely very painful faceplant, and Trek is looking for a warranty replacement now. The guys at the Trek store were definitely surprised to see that failure, I think it's the first one they've seen. No crash damage, it just plain started to fail.
I'm back on (shudder) aluminum handlebars for the time being. Let's see if I can even notice a difference.
More track stands and hopping. I went over the bars the other day, but my knees only bled a little. Practicing stoppies in small steps. Still can't hold it on the back wheel, never was any good at manuals, but I'm determined to get better. More practice should be easier as the weather cools.
Our weather here has been about 108-111 every day so I've been off my usual pace by about 50 miles per week. But I see the long term forecast is softening a bit in the next two weeks so I'm getting ready to double down again and get back to my more ambitious mileages. I'm spending today in the garage getting ready for that.
These are my two main riders for gravel and road.
The Trek is a 1992 Trek 970. I built it from a scrap pile frameset with all used, but very quality, components. The majority of it is Deore XT with a bunch of Ritchey Logic, Thomson, Raceface, and Brooks stuff. I like it because it's one of the last of the made in USA, lugged, hand welded Trek frames. I put about 2500 miles on this one so far this year and then recently tore it apart to sandblast and paint and decal and refresh a couple of mechanical issues that had developed. I'll take it out tomorrow for the first time since the restoration. I still need to adjust the saddle and bars back to where I need them. That will happen tomorrow.
My main road bike is a 1988 Dave Scott Ironman. I built this one from a bare frameset also. All of the shifters, derailleurs, hubs, and brakes are vintage 10 speed Dura Ace stuff. The rest of it is Thomson, Nitto, and HPlus Son. I have a ton of miles on this bike. It's a trip to ride this one around the younger folks. A lot of them have never even seen downtube shifters. It's fast and it climbs real well and I am never ashamed of how it performs.
In reply to Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) :
I need to pull out my old road bikes, you'd appreciate them. I've got a Bianchi Campione D'Italia from the late 80's with the first version of Campy index shifters...on the downtube, natch. And of course, it's celeste including the handlebar tape. Built it up when I worked at a bike store. Works beautifully.
There's also a Klein Quantum in the shed, but unfortunately it's before Klein got really weird. Looks like a normal bike.
New saddle, wider handlebar, charge batteries and try out electronic shifting. It's pretty cool, but I agree you don't need it. This bike is way more comfortable than I thought it would be. I will be getting lighter wheels with 28mm tires and using it as my event bike.
Thus far, the Trek rebuild has been a resounding success. My daily route is 30-40 miles and far from towns. I ride alone. Mechanical issues can certainly be stressful when it's a 20 mile walk to your vehicle.
Before, I had been dealing with tire issues about every 50 miles. When I did the rebuild I changed over to Ritchey rim strips and Schwalbe tubes and tires. The Schwalbes are definitely heavier than the Continentals I had before, and I can feel the weight when I climb.
This morning I crossed 210 miles this week, and so far, zero tire issues. That's absolutely a new record for this bike. I'm quickly becoming a Schwalbe man.
Keith Tanner said:In reply to Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) :
I need to pull out my old road bikes, you'd appreciate them. I've got a Bianchi Campione D'Italia from the late 80's with the first version of Campy index shifters...on the downtube, natch. And of course, it's celeste including the handlebar tape. Built it up when I worked at a bike store. Works beautifully.
There's also a Klein Quantum in the shed, but unfortunately it's before Klein got really weird. Looks like a normal bike.
I'm such an old bike nerd. You've really got some good stuff there.
In reply to Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) :
What trail is this? It looks like a great ride!
In reply to Keith Tanner :
One of the guys racing when I started(mid 90's) was racing on downtube shifters, and it took me several races to notice. He was one of the smoothest riders I have ever ridden with. I still remember being in a bunch sprint in a downtown crit and him coming by hitting the shifter with his knee mid-sprint (on purpose!) One gear harder and away he had gone...
Been making adjustments and getting everything how I like it. Got the new handlebar and saddle on the touring bike. Wrapping the handlebar was quite and experience. I may go to a shorter stem since this bar added reach due to its shape. I also added the cane creek seat post with rubber shock absorber.
The road bike with mechanical 105 has brown bar tape now too.
The fat tire bike fork is facing the right way now but I think I want to sell it. I have no real use for it.
Been riding 3 days a week. It's coming back to me and getting easier. It's kind of surprising how many elevation changes there are in MS. I ride my Scott with 105 mechanical the most. I may change handlebars on it. The Zipp service course aluminum bar I put on the BMC just fits me so well.
Speaking of the BMC, I never knew I could be that comfy on a race geometry bike. I have new wheels and 28 mm tires in the way for it. I will ride it once a week and at events. Electronic shifting is not over rated. It's so fast and smooth. I can see how it might not be worth the cost, but it works really well. I'm going to adjust some more settings soon so that it'll shift the front chain ring automatically. That way all I need to think about is harder and faster or oh this hill and go easier.
When I don't feel up to a planned ride, I hop on my touring bike and just go for easy and relaxing. Having choices is so nice.
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