The biking thread

[turbolefty78]

That's only an hour and a half away from me. Definitely going to have to check that one out soon. I brought my boys down to Itasca on Wednesday but due to some leg surgery I was in no condition to bike so, sadly, the bikes were left at home.

Do it. It'll be well worth the trip down here. Be prepared to carry, haul or otherwise transport all your gear to the campsite though. But that's a part of it's beauty.

 

[Gejabo]

IT IS HERE!!

Just picked up my new bike.

So now there is a Kona Unit, Kona Paddy Wagon and a Kona Explosif in the basement.

(The Unit is for Sale)

 

[Carlos]

IT IS HERE!!

Just picked up my new bike.

So now there is a Kona Unit, Kona Paddy Wagon and a Kona Explosif in the basement.

(The Unit is for Sale)

Woohoo! Can't go wrong with that colour

Why do you sell your Unit? Is it correct that's a 20niner? What do you think of 29"?

 

[Gejabo]

Woohoo! Can't go wrong with that colour

Why do you sell your Unit? Is it correct that's a 20niner? What do you think of 29"?

yes the unit is indeed 29" and its single speed... and rigid....and steel

The basement is a bit to small for three bikes.

And I think I won't be using it that often anymore now I have this orange beast.
Maybe when I go riding with one of my friends who have single speeds (only two left)

The 29" wheels are very comfortable specially with a rigid fork.
And it rolls over obstacles like roots and rocks smoother.

The Explosif is 27,5" which makes it a lot more nimble.

And if you wonder why all the Kona's, the bike shop owner is a friend.
And just because I buy a lot of bikes from him

 

[Carlos]

yes the unit is indeed 29" and its single speed... and rigid....and steel

The basement is a bit to small for three bikes.

And I think I won't be using it that often anymore now I have this orange beast.
Maybe when I go riding with one of my friends who have single speeds (only two left)

The 29" wheels are very comfortable specially with a rigid fork.
And it rolls over obstacles like roots and rocks smoother.

The Explosif is 27,5" which makes it a lot more nimble.

And if you wonder why all the Kona's, the bike shop owner is a friend.
And just because I buy a lot of bikes from him

Aha! I have not ridden a 20niner yet but will try in the future since more and more people are getting it, that was actually why I was interested in you selling it. Not to buy it from you but maybe you didn't liked it. But you do

Not too bad to have a friend that's a shop owner... Especially when they are specialized in Kona

Have fun with your new bike and show us some more photos!

 

[W3H5]

If you've got an hour spare I can highly recommend this BBC film.

 

[turbolefty78]

I'll stick to the open roads and paved trails around here where I live, thank you very much.
What get's me is that many of the high end bikes nowadays are more valuable than many of the cars on the roads. Good thing for insurance!

At any rate, my wife and I were out garage saling yesterday when I spied this:



So I took it, for FREE(there's the tag on the stem).
It's all there, wheels are straight, cables are free in the housings, derailleurs work. So I now have a winter project to mess around with.
I wound up buying something else from that sale and gave the old gal a couple extra bucks for the bike. I mean the tires aren't even weather checked!
How much would you guys have paid for it?
I guess I should mention that it's (I think) an old school Schwinn, with center pull Dia-Comp brakes, and SunTour derailleurs, 10 speed. I had a bike just like this back when I was a lad. Brings back many good memories of my teenage years cruising around the Twin Cities.

 

[W3H5]

You got that for free! Nice find!

That would make a nice around-town bike. How much would I have paid? I'm not sure but I think donating $20 for a free bike would still make it a bargain.

On an unrelated note I've been thinking about blogging about cycling. I've been looking for a bit if an outlet and I love to post about cycling so I might go ahead and start a blog to keep me busy. Thoughts?

 

[Emptyone]

If you've got an hour spare I can highly recommend this BBC film.

*snip*

Watched it. I've already seen a couple of those videos before from the cyclists side. But it's definitely a two sided thing, some cyclists are just pushing fate, I've seen loads of near misses, jumped lights and that's living in two small cities, with minimal goods traffic. It is just ridiculous sometimes.

However, some car drivers I've encountered also seem to just flat out hate cyclists. Overtaking with no regard for traffic on the other side or our safety. Even today on a ride we were pushing 30mph in a 40 zone, with double lines in the middle, yet we were still overtaken in our double paceline with the car narrowly missing the oncoming traffic. Double lines are legal yet still drivers hate them.

Not an easy life sometimes, though I've only had one severe near miss.

Shem no reason not to start a blog I think 👍

 

[Gejabo]

After only a few rides on my new Explosif the chainstay already showed signs on the chain slamming against it.
Even with Shimano derailleur that you can lock off (can't think of the name right now)
So when I was at my friends shop today to make tyre tubeless I bought a chainstay protector.

This should solve it

 

[W3H5]

From what I remember those Lizard Skins are so expensive. I got mine from my local bike shop for 10yuan (£1). I think it was a Merida one. Has done a fine job so far.

 

[Gejabo]

meh, it was €8,-
That would be around £5 I think.

Of course I could als use an old inner tube.
But hey it's a brand new bike.

 

[W3H5]

I have a confession: after using Strava for a month or so I gave up. There really isn't much need to document my daily commutes and it just adds an extra chore to my morning routine. I'll still use it when I go on proper rides though as it is a fantastic app.

Cleaned my bike today and could have built a small dwelling with the crud that came off. The gears once again need tuning so I'll be off to the mechanic this afternoon.

 

[Shaun]

I have a confession: after using Strava for a month or so I gave up. There really isn't much need to document my daily commutes and it just adds an extra chore to my morning routine. I'll still use it when I go on proper rides though as it is a fantastic app.

I don't blame you and wouldn't bother myself for a commute.
Same for me when I ride my other bike to the shops or to go for a ride with the kids, I used to but just don't worry about it now. Don't even clip the speedo on as I only have to take it off when going into the shops.

 

[W3H5]

I've done the opposite and left the computer on the bike!

When I've just woken up and have to think of things like putting on underwear and brushing my teeth the thought to clip on the computer rarely crosses my mind and as such has been in my bag for the last month.

Just spoke to my mechanic who has moved shop a whole 10m across from where he was before and he's confirmed that I can get another full tune-up for the price I paid last time. £1. Yay.

 

[Carlos]

I've done the opposite and left the computer on the bike!

When I've just woken up and have to think of things like putting on underwear and brushing my teeth the thought to clip on the computer rarely crosses my mind and as such has been in my bag for the last month.

Just spoke to my mechanic who has moved shop a whole 10m across from where he was before and he's confirmed that I can get another full tune-up for the price I paid last time. £1. Yay.

Same for me, I just forget Strava every time I go on a ride. Though I rarely think about putting underwear on, that's so routine now

And that's a ridiculously cheap tune up!!!

 

[W3H5]

And that's a ridiculously cheap tune up!!!

They guy who I have do it is the mechanic for an adventure riding place. They take customers up the mountain and then the customers ride down the trails on the bikes they've hired. The guy is in the workshop most of the day bored so I think he's just happy to practice his English and jut charges enough to get himself a beer or two.

 

[SniperRed3]

After getting strava and doing my first run. I'm happy not bad for a raleigh chopper on a mountain bike route. Even hit 22mph! I did also finally rip my 10 year old tyre around 20 or so meters from home gives me a reason to get a more stubby tyre. Strava is here

 

[Moglet]

I don't blame you and wouldn't bother myself for a commute.
Same for me when I ride my other bike to the shops or to go for a ride with the kids, I used to but just don't worry about it now. Don't even clip the speedo on as I only have to take it off when going into the shops.

This makes me feel very lucky; where I live you don't need to take anything off the bike or even lock it, you just leave it outside the shop. Hell, my neighbours have left their bikes out in the garden all summer.

I went to Parkhurst Forest (2nd nearest forest to me) for the first time today and found some awesome trails that people have set up in amongst the trees, much more technical stuff than I'm used to (tree roots and stumps, steep drops, narrow gaps etc.) but it was huge amounts of fun, even if I did get smacked in the face with a few branches. My chain is making an awful racket while hitting the bumpy stuff though. Either it's smacking the chainstay or, my other guess would be the derailer isn't quite working as expected, which might also explain the dodgy shifting in the bottom 3 gears

 

[Gejabo]

I think it would be the chain slamming against the chainstay.
Tie a piece of inner tube to it, the chainstay not the chain in see if it's better.

Riding more technical trail than you're used to is great fun.
It makes you a better rider and builds confidence (if you don't crash too much..)

👍

 

[W3H5]

I've never had a chain knocking but road bikes have a hard tail, perhaps with a mountain bike, especially if you full-suspension, there's enough slack there to create some noise there.

I can't stand any noise from the chain but I expect that due to the nature of trail riding there's no way to eliminate all noise. I actually feel like doing some mountain biking so I might hire a downhill Kona from the shop across from me and hit some jungle.

 

[Moglet]

Thanks guys, the chainstay has a clear plastic guard on it anyway so for now it's not too much of an issue but I'll keep an eye on it. The bumps were fairly harsh so that explains it. It definitely built my confidence a huge amount, especially having to think about the pedal positions to avoid tree stumps, something I'd never done before. I absolutely loved it.

In related news I've been invited up to Kingussie to hit the hills in this landscape:

As well as being invited to my friends new place when he gets a work placement at an MTB track in Betws Y Coed. I've also joined a Sunday Social group that goes off mountain biking across the island every Sunday morning It's all going well so far! 👍

 

[SniperRed3]

I've narrowed down my bike requirements. It's got to be a hard tail mountain bike and be less than £100. Any ideas? Edit: Having decent suspension forks is a must as well.

 

[W3H5]

Check eBay or similar. I doubt you'll find anything of great quality with premium parts for that cheap otherwise unless you're very lucky or have a friend that has one for sale.

You could always put up a wanted ad in a local community place of in a paper, people often have bikes sitting around that they don't use.

 

[Carlos]

I've never had a chain knocking but road bikes have a hard tail, perhaps with a mountain bike, especially if you full-suspension, there's enough slack there to create some noise there.

I can't stand any noise from the chain but I expect that due to the nature of trail riding there's no way to eliminate all noise. I actually feel like doing some mountain biking so I might hire a downhill Kona from the shop across from me and hit some jungle.

You go nuts when you hop on my hardtail then.. When I jump or go downhill it sounds like it's falling apart. My crank just recently started making noises too

Race bike = silent

 

[W3H5]

Is it noisy because of the expanse of the gear range? Because I know a MTB has a much wider range of gears than a road bike.

Speaking of gears, I hardly use more than 3 to 4 gears. The last two on the rear cassette and the same two on the big ring really doesn't give me much option but really the option I have is fast.

I've been watching my weight recently and counting calories. Not what you think. I've dipped down to 63kg, lowest I've ever been, and I'm eating 2000+calories a day an trying to reduce exercise to keep up the fat build. What I've noticed is that prior to dropping the weight I rode low rpm/ high speed and the weight drop came when I switched to high rpm / high speed after trying to emphasis the cardio aspect.

I'm sure that spinning more is burning not only calories but muscle too. I've seen no physical reduction in performance nor any visual evidence that I'm losing muscle time to muscle burning but I think I'm going to have to switch to riding the big ring again for that extra couple of kg of muscle that I seem to have lost in the last month or so.

Anyone have any experience with this? @Shaun, I know you started out on a fitness plan which got you on the bike initially, do you have any thoughts on this?

 

[Shaun]

@W3HS

Yeah mate that all sounds pretty reasonable to me.
My way of thinking (and there's no science behind this just personal experience) is that grinding a big gear at low rpm must surely build more muscle. I only have to look at my legs after a ride to see it.
On most occasions I try to spin fast to keep the load, so to speak off my legs. I do however mix it up on occasions and grind a hard gear for a ride just to work the legs more. After riding like this it can be seen visually (and felt) in my legs when I step straight off the bike. Veins popping more with more muscle definition also.

I'd imagine it's comparable to lifting heavy weight for a lower amount of repetitions compared to higher repetitions of lighter weights. The heavier weight will build more muscle.

 

[Emptyone]

Been a long time since I posted, so I thought I'd give a little update on the bike and things. Unfortunately it's starting to get cold and rain, meaning the carbon bike has to go away for 4 months or so soon, but been loving it recently. Did the Tour of Britain stage 5 a while back with a friend, makes you appreciate the fitness of the guys when they are two hours faster and still utterly destroy the hill at the end!

Also did my first 10 mile TT today, guess that's more of a British thing, but it was 24:44 (39.1kph) which is okay considering lack of aero anything and the fact it's October, so I wouldn't call myself peak shape

Also, relevant to above low cadence hill climbing is good for building muscle but absolutely destroys the knees, or so I've heard. Spin to win

 

[Shaun]

This could be interesting.
Might even make a turbo trainer bearable during the winter months.

 

[W3H5]

I wonder if that is a further development of this.

Man, I love that website.