The biking thread
- Thread starter Bram Turismo
- 4,893 comments
- 270,118 views
- 5,996
- Finland
Well, it depends. If you go into the local company that does such things with a logo and tell them that you want it in size X, you'll get it but you'll end up paying lots, and then some more as they'll have to trace it, redraw it, and it takes time. And the time of those people is bloody expensive. My case was quite different in that I have the ability and programs to create the vector graphic myself and just gave them that - all the design costs were deleted from the equation and I only paid for the material and cutting. Which is by far the least expensive part of the process.
Of course there's also an inside joke in those decals. The real racing machines by Specialized are branded S-Works, every Specialized I've owned for any noticable time has had an R-Works decal with the same font somewhere as my first name begins with R and they've been more or less customized by me.
Of course there's also an inside joke in those decals. The real racing machines by Specialized are branded S-Works, every Specialized I've owned for any noticable time has had an R-Works decal with the same font somewhere as my first name begins with R and they've been more or less customized by me.
- 35,411
- Downtown North Dakota
- Cy-Fi
My first job was making those kinds of decals. The cleaner the starting image, the faster we could turn around a finished product. And there's not much of a cleaner starting point than av file that can be directly opened/imported into their software. 👍
Your other option, @W3HS, would be to do something like I did with my Tacoma, trace and cut by hand.
A few issues here and there but all in all not too bad.
- 5,996
- Finland
Quite true. I was a part timer designer from 2011 to 2018 at a local company, and we saw all kinds of source images. Pretty much everything short of a high resolution black and white starting point was easier to just redo though, the amount of cleaning the tracing result usually took meant that it both was faster and gave a better end result to draw it from scratch. The desirable thing would have been getting an AI file to be sent straight to the cutter but that happened exactly zero times over those eight years.
Cutting by hand isn't a bad option at all. Sharp tools and good quality vinyl, and it can look just as good as a computer controlled cutting if complex shapes aren't required.
Cutting by hand isn't a bad option at all. Sharp tools and good quality vinyl, and it can look just as good as a computer controlled cutting if complex shapes aren't required.
- 2,242
- Lima
- gohan_girabyt3
- gohan_girabyt3
Local bike, 2020 Jeff MTB Cityzen 29er... A bit ironic name for an MTB (and yes, a hardtail), but that HQ aluminum frame is quite a looker
View attachment 970205
Well... I looked no further
And I'm already tunning it lol
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- 2,242
- Lima
- gohan_girabyt3
- gohan_girabyt3
Double post sorry...
Finally took us both (me and my Cityzen 29er) to the local trails for the 1st time and, even if the downhill sections were a bit scary (give me a break, it's my 1st time on a trail)... I managed to keep it balanced and never felt when I was with my friends 👍 (I did fall twice but nothing serious) 👍. And I have to say, despite being equipped with the most basic of the Tourney groupset, it handled the madness veeeery well
Then, we decided to go for some chinese food 👍... Those are my friends' bikes (A stock Merida and a modified Scala... And my stock Cityzen, all 29ers 👍)
She looks better dirty 👍
Finally took us both (me and my Cityzen 29er) to the local trails for the 1st time and, even if the downhill sections were a bit scary (give me a break, it's my 1st time on a trail)... I managed to keep it balanced and never felt when I was with my friends 👍 (I did fall twice but nothing serious) 👍. And I have to say, despite being equipped with the most basic of the Tourney groupset, it handled the madness veeeery well
Then, we decided to go for some chinese food 👍... Those are my friends' bikes (A stock Merida and a modified Scala... And my stock Cityzen, all 29ers 👍)
She looks better dirty 👍
Say F without saying F for the poor guy's dead rim 
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- 2,242
- Lima
- gohan_girabyt3
- gohan_girabyt3
Despite being locked down again, I still got the chance to keep upgrading my bike ... Got my hands on a Zoom Fox 35mm stem from a bike shop and reduced the fork's tube to remove some spacers and weight 👍
Honestly, I think this is the thicc-est 31.8mm stem I've ever seen (even on more factory-prepped bikes with 35mm handlebars)... I had another fox stem (40mm) installed that was less big, but, since the fork's tube is not a black-anodized aluminum, it didn't look good...
Never-less, it makes my Cityzen look way better and more Trail/Enduro-ish than when it came out of the box (Also, megaraaaaaange!)
All I need is a 760mm AceKit Jessica handlebar from Amazon and the cockpit's base is ready
... Got my hands on a Zoom Fox 35mm stem from a bike shop and reduced the fork's tube to remove some spacers and weight 👍Honestly, I think this is the thicc-est 31.8mm stem I've ever seen (even on more factory-prepped bikes with 35mm handlebars)
... I had another fox stem (40mm) installed that was less big, but, since the fork's tube is not a black-anodized aluminum, it didn't look good...Never-less, it makes my Cityzen look way better and more Trail/Enduro-ish than when it came out of the box
(Also, megaraaaaaange!)All I need is a 760mm AceKit Jessica handlebar from Amazon and the cockpit's base is ready
- 11,885
- Marin County
Had a bit of an off yesterday.
Was traveling down a road that I ride fairly often and decided I wanted to catch a guy I saw up the road. I went into the drops and started to push harder. The road in question is not in the greatest condition and has some potholes - not like sharp "holes" so much as small depressions in the road surface. Where a typical pothole will just jolt the bike, the fact that these are kind of sloped is kind of worse. In any case, I hit one while in the drops and it pretty abruptly twisted my front wheel to the right. I'm not sure if it also jolted my hand position but my first concern was keeping the bike upright so I didn't immediately hit the brakes or try to countersteer back to the left. But what that meant was that my trajectory went from "straight down the road" to "straight at a curb". I hit that curb (thankfully, the midsection of a wheelchair ramp so probably only 4" tall) at probably close to 20mph and it made this horrible crashing sound. Remarkably it didn't upset the bike too much and I was able to keep it upright and come to a stop. My Mavic wheel held up pretty well, but shows some damage. Tire and tube were totally wrecked, but I was able to limp home on my spare tube (the tube was bulging out of the torn tire carcass). I at least need a new tire (though, with 3k miles on them, they were due anyways) and I'm not sure the wheel is salvageable, but I'm just glad my fork (carbon) wasn't damaged and I wasn't hurt. It all happened so fast.
Was traveling down a road that I ride fairly often and decided I wanted to catch a guy I saw up the road. I went into the drops and started to push harder. The road in question is not in the greatest condition and has some potholes - not like sharp "holes" so much as small depressions in the road surface. Where a typical pothole will just jolt the bike, the fact that these are kind of sloped is kind of worse. In any case, I hit one while in the drops and it pretty abruptly twisted my front wheel to the right. I'm not sure if it also jolted my hand position but my first concern was keeping the bike upright so I didn't immediately hit the brakes or try to countersteer back to the left. But what that meant was that my trajectory went from "straight down the road" to "straight at a curb". I hit that curb (thankfully, the midsection of a wheelchair ramp so probably only 4" tall) at probably close to 20mph and it made this horrible crashing sound. Remarkably it didn't upset the bike too much and I was able to keep it upright and come to a stop. My Mavic wheel held up pretty well, but shows some damage. Tire and tube were totally wrecked, but I was able to limp home on my spare tube (the tube was bulging out of the torn tire carcass). I at least need a new tire (though, with 3k miles on them, they were due anyways) and I'm not sure the wheel is salvageable, but I'm just glad my fork (carbon) wasn't damaged and I wasn't hurt. It all happened so fast.
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- 1,667
- Bristol
- MrCrynox
- Mr Crynox
The main thing is that you are alright and didn't hurt yourself. Consider yourself lucky on this occasion 👍
- 12,899
- Cambridge
- Moglet85
- Moglet
I finally retrieved my Scott Aspect from in storage above our garage and have started to take it apart to clean and grease/replace everything. Bizarrely even after 5 years in storage the gear shifts are still working perfectly!
I'm in 2 minds whether to keep it as a basic cross country workhorse or replace the tyres with something more slick for blasting down the guided busway cycle track.
On the list to do:
Clean and re-grease
Bleed the brakes
New chain and cassette if needed
Replace pedals with larger flats
Replace tyres and tubes
I'm in 2 minds whether to keep it as a basic cross country workhorse or replace the tyres with something more slick for blasting down the guided busway cycle track.
On the list to do:
Clean and re-grease
Bleed the brakes
New chain and cassette if needed
Replace pedals with larger flats
Replace tyres and tubes
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- 2,242
- Lima
- gohan_girabyt3
- gohan_girabyt3
Bonus ones:I finally retrieved my Scott Aspect from in storage above our garage and have started to take it apart to clean and grease/replace everything. Bizarrely even after 5 years in storage the gear shifts are still working perfectly!
I'm in 2 minds whether to keep it as a basic cross country workhorse or replace the tyres with something more slick for blasting down the guided busway cycle track.
On the list to do:
Clean and re-grease
Bleed the brakes
New chain and cassette if needed
Replace pedals with larger flats
Replace tyres and tubes
Make it 1by
Shorter stem
Give the fork a good maintenance
Dropper post... maybe??
All good 👍
Also...
*Almost* one month later... Jessica's finally here
Quick review: It immediately felt lighter in the hand than my previous 720mm handlebar (plus, being 760mm will give me more stability on the road (even if now street maneuverability will be a bit harder but I've seen guys with 800mm handlebars tackling traffic easily so I'll figure it out over time 👍)... Also, it really feels well made, even if, at least mine, came with a white paint scratch on the bottom, I will see if it really accomplish its promise on the trails since I've heard horror stories about it on Amazon's reviews but, since it's one of the most well-reviewed handlebars over there, I have good expectations
Also, on a side note, the Jessica may be the latest, but it wasn't the only upgrade I did this month, even if, hopefully, it's gonna be the most permanent so far
Yep, that's a 7s (13/34) Shimano HG cassette
(they are now a thing, thank god), and an Altus derailleur as a bonus ... Decided to change the hubs simply because the stock ones sucked like crap (the front one was too thin for the fork so, even at high pressure from the QR axle, it had an ugly feeling and the rear one was so misaligned it made the wheel have a way decentered free movement so I went (for now) with this setup (the hubs are Evolve branded btw)...I say for now since I point towards the Microshift Advent X as my permanent groupset to make the 1by conversion
... Honestly, I don't know what will be my next upgrade though (maybe making the 1by crank next, Idk) gonna ride it like how it is right now since my Cityzen's now a much better bike and there's still a lot of skills to learn on the trails 👍Also, now I'm an official member of my bicycle group
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- 5,492
- Vic, Australia
- gundalini
I love riding bikes but I also really enjoy working on bikes so when this video popped up in my stream for YouTube I was happy.
It's the same frameset I own albeit about 10 years and few generations older but it was nice to see it going through a rebuild.
It's the same frameset I own albeit about 10 years and few generations older but it was nice to see it going through a rebuild.
- 12,899
- Cambridge
- Moglet85
- Moglet
I'm only using this for basic, flat riding on cycle paths so a dropper would be pointless. I have one on my more aggressive hardtail though. I have considered making it 1x but again, I'm just using it on cycle paths so the gears barely get used anyway!
I completed the rest of the work over a day and I've been riding it ever since, I've covered around 80 miles on it so far and the main issue is that the gears aren't shifting as smoothly as they used to so I need to fix that (I think they just need indexing) but the fork is also underperforming so I'll see how it fares after a bit of a refresh. I might swap it out for a basic air fork.
- 5,492
- Vic, Australia
- gundalini
Had my bike about 2 years now so around 20k km ridden. Drive train was showing some signs of wear so installed new chainrings, cassette and chain (been through a couple of chains in that time). You forget how quiet a new quality drivetrain is.
Also the wheelset I had on had done around 50k km so treated myself to some nice Dt-Swiss wheels also.
Also the wheelset I had on had done around 50k km so treated myself to some nice Dt-Swiss wheels also.
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- 30,023
- Thailand
@Shaun, you’ve put more distance on that bike than I did on my motorcycle in double the time. That’s awesome.
I haven’t touched a bicycle for over a year now, not for a proper ride anyway. Throughout my life my passion for cycling has had it peaks and troughs but it’s certainly at its lowest right now.
I haven’t sold my bike, although I did consider it a while back, but I still don’t see it getting any use in the foreseeable future. I don’t think I’ve been so out of shape in my entire adult life. There’s clearly a correlation there.
I haven’t touched a bicycle for over a year now, not for a proper ride anyway. Throughout my life my passion for cycling has had it peaks and troughs but it’s certainly at its lowest right now.
I haven’t sold my bike, although I did consider it a while back, but I still don’t see it getting any use in the foreseeable future. I don’t think I’ve been so out of shape in my entire adult life. There’s clearly a correlation there.
- 5,492
- Vic, Australia
- gundalini
@W3HS thanks mate.
Don't sell your bike, couple of things. Everyone goes through peaks and troughs in life and that one day you want to go for a ride you need a bike there.
Once a cyclist always a cyclist mate and I know how much joy it has given you over the years. I still recall reading about your adventures riding across China. Don't forget that. 👍
Don't sell your bike, couple of things. Everyone goes through peaks and troughs in life and that one day you want to go for a ride you need a bike there.
Once a cyclist always a cyclist mate and I know how much joy it has given you over the years. I still recall reading about your adventures riding across China. Don't forget that. 👍
- 11,885
- Marin County
- 2,242
- Lima
- gohan_girabyt3
- gohan_girabyt3
Yesterday was a case of many things for me and my mighty Cityzen, mostly because I suffered one of the hardest (if not the hardest) climbs ever in Lima!! (Possibly of the world too, idk )
Long story short, my crew invited me to a ride with them to a place I knew where it was but never went on one of the most exclusive districts of Lima (La Molina), called "El Peñon", I say it like that I know the district, which is quite far away from my house, but never went to that area... Of course, I didn't know what I was getting into and how incredibly hard it was
. To say it short, it was a "You think that was hard?!... That's nothing!! 
" case...
"El peñon" is a 3-stage climb where the beginning (stage 1) is the longest stage (4,0 km) but also the easiest since the steepness is the lowest of the climb (don't know how many degrees is...)... 2nd stage is the transition since is the shortest one (300m) but gets eventually steeper than stage 1 (and considering stage 1 will drain quite a stamina, some take the shot to get some resting, others just continue)... Stage 3 though is the big one... 900mts of a one, grueling 30-35° (or more, Idk) climb where you either zig-zag, or walk-climb if you don't have enough stamina or a big enough cassette, and you will be out of it at the end, trust me, and if it gets sunnier as you see, you will run out faster, thank god we went out very early in the morning to avoid the sun as quickly as we could... On the flip-side though, once you get to the top, the downhill will be awesome . Here's my mighty Cityzen at the end of the climb 
(I need to get a new saddle though since the current one is almost worn out)...
Here's the whole crew that went yesterday! (The most basic ones are my friend Gabriel's Yellow Neuf and my Cityzen), the others really had quite some cool rides, especially the leader who was debuting a brand new green Rockhopper expert 29er (actually, all of us were 29ers). Fun fact: I suggested him to increase the travel of his Rockshox Judy with tokens to make it more trail-friendly, I would do it ... There was another Rockhopper (a silver one) with us as well, but went to his nearby house to take out some stuff 👍
Also, another fun fact, I saw quite two rarities in the climb and a nearby gas station after descending it, a black Jaguar F-type (on stage 3) and a gray C6 Corvette Grand Sport (on the gas station) (stupidly, I didn't take a photo of any... sorry), I talked a little bit to the owner of the latter about it since I was curious if it was another mid-life crisis or a car guy, it was more of the former, I was quite surprised to see both considering, even in such a wealthy district, people prefer to drive fancy SUVs more than sports cars
The whole crew on the gas station, the leader is the one who took the selfie, I'm on the "whatever" t-shirt (I know I'm quite chubby, thank you... I blame the pandemic!... It's ok though since I've seen really chubby guys in both full suspension and hardtails on the streets and trails sending it quite good 👍)... I gotta say, it was exhausting as hell but really awesome to do the whole climb for the 1st time ever, have to do it quite a few more times to finally conquer it but I would low-key return anytime soon to it!
)Long story short, my crew invited me to a ride with them to a place I knew where it was but never went on one of the most exclusive districts of Lima (La Molina), called "El Peñon", I say it like that I know the district, which is quite far away from my house, but never went to that area... Of course, I didn't know what I was getting into and how incredibly hard it was
. To say it short, it was a "You think that was hard?!... That's nothing!! " case..."El peñon" is a 3-stage climb where the beginning (stage 1) is the longest stage (4,0 km) but also the easiest since the steepness is the lowest of the climb (don't know how many degrees is...
)... 2nd stage is the transition since is the shortest one (300m) but gets eventually steeper than stage 1 (and considering stage 1 will drain quite a stamina, some take the shot to get some resting, others just continue)... Stage 3 though is the big one... 900mts of a one, grueling 30-35° (or more, Idk) climb where you either zig-zag, or walk-climb if you don't have enough stamina or a big enough cassette, and you will be out of it at the end, trust me, and if it gets sunnier as you see, you will run out faster, thank god we went out very early in the morning to avoid the sun as quickly as we could... On the flip-side though, once you get to the top, the downhill will be awesome . Here's my mighty Cityzen at the end of the climb (I need to get a new saddle though since the current one is almost worn out)...Here's the whole crew that went yesterday! (The most basic ones are my friend Gabriel's Yellow Neuf and my Cityzen), the others really had quite some cool rides, especially the leader who was debuting a brand new green Rockhopper expert 29er (actually, all of us were 29ers
). Fun fact: I suggested him to increase the travel of his Rockshox Judy with tokens to make it more trail-friendly, I would do it ... There was another Rockhopper (a silver one) with us as well, but went to his nearby house to take out some stuff 👍Also, another fun fact, I saw quite two rarities in the climb and a nearby gas station after descending it, a black Jaguar F-type (on stage 3) and a gray C6 Corvette Grand Sport (on the gas station) (stupidly, I didn't take a photo of any... sorry), I talked a little bit to the owner of the latter about it since I was curious if it was another mid-life crisis or a car guy, it was more of the former, I was quite surprised to see both considering, even in such a wealthy district, people prefer to drive fancy SUVs more than sports cars
The whole crew on the gas station, the leader is the one who took the selfie, I'm on the "whatever" t-shirt (I know I'm quite chubby, thank you... I blame the pandemic!
... It's ok though since I've seen really chubby guys in both full suspension and hardtails on the streets and trails sending it quite good 👍)... I gotta say, it was exhausting as hell but really awesome to do the whole climb for the 1st time ever, have to do it quite a few more times to finally conquer it but I would low-key return anytime soon to it!
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- 10,839
- Plymouth, UK
- motorforum
My main birthday present from my partner was a wonderful surprise in the shape of a hybrid bike.
Dressed in matte blue and black, this is Raleigh's Strada City with a 16-speed Shimano gear set. Of my three other bikes, 2 are BMX and my beach cruiser has a paltry 3 gears, so I finally have a practical means of exercise and one that's a darn site smoother to ride. It's quite a gradual incline from the beach to my house, but a relatively long one at that, so I'm trying to build myself up to making it in one go as the year progresses.
The bonus is, once I'm fitter, I should be able to ride the BMXs or Cruiser down to the beach and back, too.
Dressed in matte blue and black, this is Raleigh's Strada City with a 16-speed Shimano gear set. Of my three other bikes, 2 are BMX and my beach cruiser has a paltry 3 gears, so I finally have a practical means of exercise and one that's a darn site smoother to ride. It's quite a gradual incline from the beach to my house, but a relatively long one at that, so I'm trying to build myself up to making it in one go as the year progresses.
The bonus is, once I'm fitter, I should be able to ride the BMXs or Cruiser down to the beach and back, too.
- 11,885
- Marin County
Anyone have some recommendations as far as budget friendly road rim brake wheels? My bike came with Mavics, but they seem hard to come by state side.
- 5,492
- Vic, Australia
- gundalini
What sort of budget and why are you moving on from the Mavic's. Are they broken or upgrade etc?
Carbon, Aluminium?
Lots of options out there DT Swiss for example make bullet proof budget wheels all the way up to high end wheels.
- 3,033
For everyday riding around I actually think the aluminim HED Ardennes is a really nice choice. I have an old pair of tubular Ardennes from years ago and they still feel as good as my carbon tubulars to be honest...
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