Bicycling

[Shadow]

I think your sarcasm meter broke, Shadow.

Shadow has one of those??!? (Sorry Shadow, can't help it. Have to poke a little fun when we can. )

Yeah, I'm not very sarcastic on this forum. It just doesn't seem conducive to most of the discussions. Maybe in the general off topic threads, but I rarely read or post in many of those....

[bk7794]

I used to read MTBR. Granted it's an MTB forum but many of those guys ride road as well. There were so many threads about drivers expressing hostility towards them. Thinking about it now, this is one of the reasons I'm put off from riding road. When I ride, I ride to feel good and to enjoy myself. Not only do I get to smell exhaust fumes but then I get to hear some little jerk make comments towards me or even get run over in an extreme case? No thanks.

That's the main reason I lost interest in riding on the road. Too many jackass drivers who buzz by too close and are just inconsiderate in general. Of course the flip side of that is the inconsiderate cyclist who thinks he owns the road and will not yield to cars. Or a group of cyclist riding 3 or 4 abreast and taking an entire lane. I don't know, I just think riding trails on a mountain bike is just so much better because I can concentrate on my riding instead of worrying about the idiots on the road.

That is one reason why I never ride on a busy road. I generally cross them or ride on them for no longer then 200 feet. I live in a suburb so its generally easy to find roads that are not traveled too much...but my town is hilly so generally they are not as level as the heavily traveled road.

Also I ride on a mountain bike...which is a stupid thing to do due to its weight. haha.

[theholycow]

Also I ride on a mountain bike...which is a stupid thing to do due to its weight. haha.

Weight is less of an issue than you might think. It's nice to lose 10 or 15 pounds off the bike but the effect is quite small. Depending on your fitness the aerodynamic penalty may not be too bad, and if you have the knobby tires that came with the bike then chances are they've got pretty decent rolling resistance for knobbies.

I totally prefer my lightweight, drop bar, slick tire, aero carbon fiber fork/seatpost, short wheelbase road bike for road riding, but it's more about morale than physics.

[Shadow]

Also I ride on a mountain bike...which is a stupid thing to do due to its weight. haha.

I don't even own anything but a mountain bike anymore. It's definitely heavier than the average road bike, but the weight doesn't bother me at all. Think of the fitness advantage....

[theholycow]

You'll care even less about the weight of the mountain bike if you do this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs5hjz9qFjk

[theholycow]

Talk about weight...

In 1936, Popular Science Magazine reported a fully equipped aluminum bicycle weighing a mere 13 pounds. The article starts here:
http://books.google.com/books?id=wCgDAA ... e&q&f=true
and continues here:
http://books.google.com/books?id=wCgDAA ... e&q&f=true
It is on page 108 (the second link) that it refers to the 13 pound bike. These days I don't think you can find an aluminum bike at 13 pounds, can you? It would be carbon fiber.

Pardon me while I fly off on a tangent...can I threadjack my own thread?

The whole magazine is an interesting read. There are a number of useful bits and pieces such as
- using a compass to indicate current flowing through a wire to detect short circuits
- basic automotive troubleshooting strategies
- how to build a {whatever} out of cheap junk parts)

There are interesting new (well, they WERE new) things like:
- spinach that doesn't have sand in it
- Italy making mandatory the use of alcohol in gasoline
- England selling gasoline made from coal
- an electric farm tractor on a long extension cord
- a biologically engineered unicorn cow (horn buds in newborn calf were transplanted to the center of the head)
- a fistulated rat
- rotary harp that you pedal to bring the strings around to your hand
- an inebriation tester to catch people DUI
- a weather balloon
- a radium detector (not a geiger counter, though)
- driver reaction time testing machines
- filter-tipped cigarettes
- solar oven
- high speed camera images of combustion in an engine (engine NOT equipped with overhead valves, looks funny)

The letters from readers include one who questions an experiment showing that the world turns (and suggesting that if it did, trains would be derailed and we'd all be dizzy), one wondering what will happen with sound if an airplane successfully reaches mach 1, an idea to add an afterburner to cars to burn carbon monoxide and produce harmless carbon dioxide (lol wut)...

Then there's ads:
- OEM Ford rebuilt parts with core exchange - a clutch for $1.75, V8 short block for $56 installed, brake shoes for 45¢
- a 13,000rpm handheld electric rotary tool...who knew those existed before Dremel made them popular?
- Loads of ads for pipe tobacco
- BB pistols (did they have CO2 cylinders back then? If not, how were these powered? One specifically says compressed gas but it doesn't say anything more)
- a starting pistol that shoots blanks and can be mail-ordered for under $5 with 100 .22 blanks (and more blanks sell at 100 for 50¢)
- Fleischmann's yeast to be eaten plain as a cure for acne (called "hickeys" back then)
- Camel cigarettes to aid in food digestion
- engine oil
- 2 picture of Charles Atlas in a banana hammock to sell you fitness supplies, etc.

[AHTOXA]

Feeling compelled to post my setup on the bike. Not planning any big changes anytime soon unless I break something, however I think my bottom bracket will be done by the end of this season and if not, will be replaced regardless. Reviews on these have been mixed, apparently, with some units rapidly developing issues. In addition, both my front and rear shocks were factory rebuilt by Fox at the end of last season, so I hope to get a couple of seasons out them before I need to do another rebuild. Last time after couple seasons I started seeing oil leaking by the seals internally and blowing back through the air pressure adjustment valves - on both shocks. That was rather weird.

Anyhow, this is what I run now:

Raceface Evolve XC cranks
Raceface Evolve XC bottom bracket
Raceface Evolve XC stem
Raceface Evolve XC bar
Raceface Evolve XC seatpost
Tegu saddle

DT Swiss 370 hubs
Sram X9 rear deailer
Sram (too lazy to look up) rear cassette
Sram X9 shifters
Shimano XT front derailer
WTB Speeddisk rims
WTB Velociraptor tires (front and back specific)
Stroker trail hydraulic disc brakes
Shimano (something or the other) clipless pedals

Fox Float RL32 front shock
Fox Float RP2 rear shock


In regards to Sram vs. Shimano - I'd a Sram guy through and through. I have run the X9 rear since I've had this bike and I'd not go back. The XT front does me fine, however after running Shimano XT in the rear before, Sram is superior. In all the years I've ridden it, beat on it, neglected occasional cleaning, etc., it has never mis-shifted, jumped, lagged or otherwise caused me trouble. Along with the X9 shifters, it's combo has been as reliable as a hammer.

[potownrob]

Feeling compelled to post my setup on the bike. Not planning any big changes anytime soon unless I break something, however I think my bottom bracket will be done by the end of this season and if not, will be replaced regardless. Reviews on these have been mixed, apparently, with some units rapidly developing issues. In addition, both my front and rear shocks were factory rebuilt by Fox at the end of last season, so I hope to get a couple of seasons out them before I need to do another rebuild. Last time after couple seasons I started seeing oil leaking by the seals internally and blowing back through the air pressure adjustment valves - on both shocks. That was rather weird.

Anyhow, this is what I run now:

Raceface Evolve XC cranks
Raceface Evolve XC bottom bracket
Raceface Evolve XC stem
Raceface Evolve XC bar
Raceface Evolve XC seatpost
Tegu saddle

DT Swiss 370 hubs
Sram X9 rear deailer
Sram (too lazy to look up) rear cassette
Sram X9 shifters
Shimano XT front derailer
WTB Speeddisk rims
WTB Velociraptor tires (front and back specific)
Stroker trail hydraulic disc brakes
Shimano (something or the other) clipless pedals

Fox Float RL32 front shock
Fox Float RP2 rear shock


In regards to Sram vs. Shimano - I'd a Sram guy through and through. I have run the X9 rear since I've had this bike and I'd not go back. The XT front does me fine, however after running Shimano XT in the rear before, Sram is superior. In all the years I've ridden it, beat on it, neglected occasional cleaning, etc., it has never mis-shifted, jumped, lagged or otherwise caused me trouble. Along with the X9 shifters, it's combo has been as reliable as a hammer.

wow, nice setup tone-bone!! kind of makes me glad i'm too fat and unmotivated to ride my bike, since i would probably end up dumping half my income into bikes and bike parts. what's funny is when i was more into MTB, it was sram gripshift vs. shimano rapidfire shifters, and then there were the other brands like suntour and the knockoff brands. i know there were people who lived by grip shift, but i couldn't come to grips (pun intended?) with having to turn the grip while riding (the grips were stiff back then; hopefully that's changed - i know SRAM makes rapidfire shifters these days too). i thought rapidfire was the cat's meow and the way a MTB was meant to be shifted (keep in mind the best components i rode on were Shimano STX [probably equivalent of the more recent Deore, just under Deore LX]). due to all this, i never thought much of SRAM, despite knowing some of their derailleurs and other components were considered to be superior to most shimano parts, even back in the 90s.

[theholycow]

That's approximately how I ended up never taking SRAM stuff very seriously for my own bike. I use plenty of SRAM chains and cassettes and would probably use other parts if I was given specific compelling reasons (like price) while I was looking for that part, but Shimano has been my default as much for familiarity (not having to worry about compatibility) as any other reason -- and it all started because I hate the grip shift concept (and that hate was exacerbated by the stiffness of grip shifts that I've used). Rapidfire for straight bars, brifters for drop bars, and don't bother me with any other shifters please (though I do have barcons on my time trial bike's aerobar but it's less relevant there).

I suspect that SRAM is more popular and therefore more available now than it was back when I used to buy components, so it's more likely to be considered in the future despite my unfamiliarity. Since getting re-interested in bicycling I haven't bought any components other than a chain (SRAM).

[AHTOXA]

I have always hated grip shifts myself. I'd never consider them for my MTB setup.

[theholycow]

So revisiting the question of what a suspension seatpost does for you...

Since I serviced my Tricky Dick seatpost the other day, I rode it for the first time today. Oh my god, what a difference! Before it was mostly seized, it would only go "boing" if the saddle was about to go more than halfway up my colon. Now it's plush. It preloads when I sit on it and sucks up everything the trail throws at it.

Despite not having ridden much lately, today I put out my best performance since getting back into riding (this year/the last 8 years). Except on the toughest climbs I was constantly going fast, instead of usually going slow with occasional pockets of terrain-aided speed. I was able to blast right through mud that I would have to walk normally, and fly over obstacles that I'd crawl over usually. I felt like a real mountain biker, not a fatass. I was even able to ride up hills that I've always had to walk before...very slowly, in ultra-granny gear, but riding instead of walking. I got to go fast around turns and on whoop-de-doos where I usually wish I could go fast.

How much of that credit goes to the seatpost, how much goes to the weather (slightly warmer than perfect), and how much goes to whatever other factors may be involved? I don't know but I know the seatpost is a significant part of it. I was able to keep my tire planted, down and up hills, on rougher terrain than normal - without having to keep my weight so far back that I would pull wheelies. I definitely saved energy that's usually wasted on supporting my 220lb body weight by staying seated so much more, allowing me to pour that energy into pedaling instead.

[AHTOXA]

Interesting. I run a dual suspension bike, which is set for my weight, riding condition and preference. I'm quite happy with stiffness and damping I have dialed in. Yet, Im not sure why you would sit when in rough terrain going downhill. The legs are still primary suspension. I do sit to make pedaling most efficient while climbing, especially, as I also ride clipless pedals.

My knees suspend my ass and my suspension really keeps both tires planted when the going gets too rough for legs alone to compensate.

[theholycow]

Yeah, I forgot to go into more detail about that. I tried sitting while descending and found it to be a decent way to ride, but I still prefer standing...there's a little more suspension travel in my legs than in the seatpost, and I can throw my weight around better. Seated descending was an academic experiment more than an attempt at doing something useful.

I too ride clipless.

[theholycow]

[bk7794]

So today I bought a new Mountain bike. A jamis brand. Better then the Target cheapo bike I owned before. I put thousands of miles on that bike that was designed for a stroll in the park like twice a year.