The biking thread

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Oof, didn't think about spoilers. Sorry, Dolph.

In other awesome news, Jonas is going to be racing against Remco in La Vuelta.

I kind of suspect Jonas will be racing for Primoz, and Primoz loves La Vuelta, I'll doubt he'll want to play second fiddle. Remco may be one of the few non-Jumbo riders who can challenge Jonas. I really want to see the ITT results...because Remco is basically biologically crafted to dominate ITTs, especially hilly ones...but Jonas seems to have some Viking shaman magic going on, so we'll see.

 

[Dolph Drago]

Oof, didn't think about spoilers. Sorry, Dolph.

No problem. Like I said, I intentionally avoided this thread out of an abundance of caution until I finished it myself. Nothing was spoiled.

 

[Omnis]

So today was the only day where we're supposed to have sunshine, with thunderstorms for the next 10 days. Therefore, I did this:

Never ever, EVER, judge a ride-out distance based on how you feel when there's a tail wind. I missed the group ride on the west side (gotta love when you pull up and take your bike out, then everyone just freaking leaves) so I said the hell with it and if I was going to ride alone I would do it where it's actually beautiful. So I drove out east to The Cove in deerfield. I was only prepared for a 40 mile ride max, but I felt pretty good when I got to WPB so I decided to just go all the way to the inlet (north until you can't go any further because atlantic ocean). It's been something I wanted to do since I started riding. That said, riding back was pure torture. I had an unbelievable headwind the ENTIRE way, doing like 200-250W just to maintain 9-12 mph. After the 40 mile mark, my quads were cramping so bad and I couldn't keep my heart rate out of the 160s. I would just ride 5-10 miles then stop whenever I found a good shady bench or a beachside showerhead. The heat index was 105 F or 40.5C, and it just sucks the life out of you. I actually stopped at the Palm Beach Par 3 golf course and filled my jersey with ice. What a lifesaver LOL. On Strava my moving time was 4h 45m, but the whole ride took me like 7 hours total. It was just brutal. Now I know why a lot of the triathletes just ride north-only and buy commuter rail tickets for a ride home.

 

[Shaun]

So today was the only day where we're supposed to have sunshine, with thunderstorms for the next 10 days. Therefore, I did this:

View attachment 1276175

Never ever, EVER, judge a ride-out distance based on how you feel when there's a tail wind. I missed the group ride on the west side (gotta love when you pull up and take your bike out, then everyone just freaking leaves) so I said the hell with it and if I was going to ride alone I would do it where it's actually beautiful. So I drove out east to The Cove in deerfield. I was only prepared for a 40 mile ride max, but I felt pretty good when I got to WPB so I decided to just go all the way to the inlet (north until you can't go any further because atlantic ocean). It's been something I wanted to do since I started riding. That said, riding back was pure torture. I had a unbelievable head wind the ENTIRE way, doing like 200-250W just to maintain 9-12 mph. After the 40 mile mark, my quads were cramping so bad and I couldn't keep my heart rate out of the 160s. I would just ride 5-10 miles then stop whenever I found a good shady bench or a beachside showerhead. The heat index was 105 F or 40.5C, and it just sucks the life out of you. I actually stopped at the Palm Beach Par 3 golf course and filled my jersey with ice. What a lifesaver LOL. On Strava my moving time was 4h 45m, but the whole ride took me like 7 hours total. It was just brutal. Now I know why a lot of the triathletes just ride north-only and buy commuter rail tickets for a ride home.

I saw that pop up on my Strava, well done mate. 👍
I hear you on brutal head winds, I rode in an organised ride once that was 250km, the last 80km were into a head wind of around 60km/h gusting up to 80. It was dangerous and the ride should have been called off but wasn't. Actually saw people get physically blown over that day, never again for me.

 

[Omnis]

I was comparing my Bolt data to what was sent to Strava, and noticed that the actual recorded temperature on my head unit was 108 F. 42.25 C. Yikes. My arms are black today hahaha

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

I saw that pop up on my Strava, well done mate. 👍
I hear you on brutal head winds, I rode in an organised ride once that was 250km, the last 80km were into a head wind of around 60km/h gusting up to 80. It was dangerous and the ride should have been called off but wasn't. Actually saw people get physically blown over that day, never again for me.

60km/h headwind? Wouldn't that require putting out like 500w or more just to move forward? 😵

 

[Shaun]

60km/h headwind? Wouldn't that require putting out like 500w or more just to move forward? 😵

This intrigued me enough to go back and check to see how much was bad memory and how close my guess was.

The ride.

https://strava.app.link/I1NhHErdTBb

The history from the weather that day.

Melbourne, Australia Weather History | Weather Underground

Seems I was reasonably close and I don't know the exact power figures as I didn't have a power meter at that stage but at times we (there was about ten of us from memory taking turns) were lucky to be hitting 10km/h and staying upright, absolutely brutal.

Conversely in the morning when we started with minimal effort when in a large bunch the speeds were around the 40-50km/h mark.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

This intrigued me enough to go back and check to see how much was bad memory and how close my guess was.

The ride.

https://strava.app.link/I1NhHErdTBb

The history from the weather that day.

Melbourne, Australia Weather History | Weather Underground

Seems I was reasonably close and I don't know the exact power figures as I didn't have a power meter at that stage but at times we (there was about ten of us from memory taking turns) were lucky to be hitting 10km/h and staying upright, absolutely brutal.

Conversely in the morning when we started with minimal effort when in a large bunch the speeds were around the 40-50km/h mark.

Sorry, I'm parking my bike with 60mph headwinds. I wouldn't even want to walk in those conditions...

 

[Greycap]

I had 60-70 km/h sidewinds on one ride a couple of weeks ago. It's a funny feeling to have to basically steer into the wind just to hold a reasonably straight line and that was on a mountain bike, with a deep aero wheeled road bike I probably would have ended up in the river by which the road runs.

 

[Shaun]

I had 60-70 km/h sidewinds on one ride a couple of weeks ago. It's a funny feeling to have to basically steer into the wind just to hold a reasonably straight line and that was on a mountain bike, with a deep aero wheeled road bike I probably would have ended up in the river by which the road runs.

That's a terrible crosswind, if you ask me worse than a headwind as far as being dangerous.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

That's a terrible crosswind, if you ask me worse than a headwind as far as being dangerous.

During the major fog season, it's not unusual for 60km/h straight line winds through the golden gate, perpendicular to the bridge. The bridge deck is 250ft above the water (which, even if you survive the fall has extraordinarily strong current and is extremely cold. Also sharks). The guardrail is 42" tall. The bike path is 10' at most wide (though with all the equipment always on the deck, it's typically around half that) with two-way bike traffic. Near the towers (which you have to ride around the outside of) the downdraft can be just as extreme as the wind and you can get buffeting in any direction. Then add the constant stream of highway-speed cars going in the opposite direction just a few feet away with the additional buffeting that creates. Harrowing is the word. At least in the morning the calmer city side of the bridge is open to bikes and there isn't nearly as much pedestrian traffic, but I refuse to ride NB on that bridge in the afternoon in the summer.

 

[Omnis]

Holy crap @Eunos_Cosmo I just realized it's a bird in your avatar. I always thought it was a blurry/bokeh photo of the bridge.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

I finally bought myself a torque wrench for bike maintenance, so I'm not just tightening to a random "that should hold it" level while also hoping I'm not snapping parts. First order of business - flipping my stem and replacing my stem bolts which had become rusty. I ride the ferry across the bay to work pretty frequently, and unfortunately most of the bike racks are on the outside deck and a lot of sea water/spray gets kicked up (the Ferry has 12,000hp and does 35mph...lots of water gets flung around).

I found some titanium bolts for a reasonable price. Felt like a good match and added some bling.

I really want to upgrade the wheelset on this bike. I'm gonna try to track down a used set of Ultegra or Dura Ace carbon hoops, then get some lightweight tubes and tires. After that I'm thinking carbon seat post and carbon bars + stem. I'd like to get the bike down to around 7.5ish kg - stock is 8.3kg.

 

[Omnis]

People in Miami have some insane bikes.

I'm looking at an old Cannondale Synapse Carbon 6 Apex on ebay that some guy only wants $500 for. It's 10 years old and the stickers are kind of in rough shape, but for that price it can't be that bad, right? There's also a super nice SuperSix Evo for $1500, but that's pretty much the same bike as my TCR. Really want something endurance or gravel-capable, so it kinda sucks that all these sweet bikes can't fit bigger tires. I don't want freaking disc brakes though. Ughhh.

edit: Every time I do this, I get so sucked in but then I realize that I can just get a brand new Lauf Seigla for only a couple hundred more than all these used bikes. I'm such a dummy.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

My CAAD12 weight loss journey has begun

I'm not going crazy with this (changing the groupset doesn't seem worth the trouble), but I at least wanted to capture some low hanging fruit. First purchases:

1. Look Keo Classic 3 pedals - Around 300g for the pair + cleats vs 500g for the Look Xtrac Enrage pedals & cleats I have on the bike now. Now that I have the gravel bike and am planning to get a flat-pedal whatever bike, I don't feel the need to have SPD pedals on this bike anymore, so I'm going back to the SLs. I also find the power transfer and overall ergonomics slightly better with the SLs so I'm looking forward to this update. Considered other options, but these seemed to deliver the best bang for the buck and I've used them before and liked them. 200g for $65 | $0.33c/g saved

2. Tubolito Tubes
120g for a pair vs around 270 for the bike shop rubber (REI brand) ones I have now. A surprisingly large gain to be had here for not much money. 150g for $40 | $0.27c/g saved


Unfortunately, the cost/weight savings math looks less friendly from here. A good wheelset is the most obvious next upgrade, as that will also benefit other aspects of how the bike rides. I'm gonna try to find a used Dura-ace C24 set because rim-brake wheelsets are a bargain on the used market because nobody wants them. Then I think I want to go with the bars and stem from Darimo...there are other "carbon" bars out there, but few that are genuinely hand-layed carbon fiber...and they look so pretty. 127g bar seems unreal. I might add a front chainring to the table, because I've been considering going subcompact up front anyways due to the terrain where I live.

edit: Just after posting this a buddy offered his Mavic Kyrsium Elite wheelset (from his trainer bike) to me for $100. Not quite as light as the Dura-Ace set (1400g), but I like the idea of keeping Mavic components (it came with Mavic Aksium) on the bike and the price is ridiculous. $0.22C/G!

 

[Shaun]

You won't be disappointed if you find a set of C24's, I had a set on a previous bike and they roll oh so smooth and are so simple to maintain.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

You won't be disappointed if you find a set of C24's, I had a set on a previous bike and they roll oh so smooth and are so simple to maintain.

See edit

So far saved 850g (nearly 2lbs!) for only $200. Not bad weight weenie math.

 

[Greycap]

The wheel weight making a huge difference is, at least in my experience, a bit of a myth. Years ago I had a cyclocross bike that came with what were best described as boat anchors, some 2500g a pair, and since I had ~1900g MTB wheels on my then current daily driver I tried them on the cross bike. The same tyres as before, the same cassette, only the wheels themselves were changed.

Expected all kinds of great things for such a weight loss, got... very nearly nothing. It may have felt slightly more responsive, or then it was all in my head, but what is absolutely certain is that it didn't become any quicker by any measurable criteria.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

The wheel weight making a huge difference is, at least in my experience, a bit of a myth. Years ago I had a cyclocross bike that came with what were best described as boat anchors, some 2500g a pair, and since I had ~1900g MTB wheels on my then current daily driver I tried them on the cross bike. The same tyres as before, the same cassette, only the wheels themselves were changed.

Expected all kinds of great things for such a weight loss, got... very nearly nothing. It may have felt slightly more responsive, or then it was all in my head, but what is absolutely certain is that it didn't become any quicker by any measurable criteria.

Been curious about this myself. I'm kind of doing a holistic approach here, so hopefully everything added together will make the bike feel a little more spicy.

 

[Sertsa]

My mountain bike needed a new dropper and rear wheel and awaited parts for nearly a month. Finally, it was done, so I picked it up and took it for a trial run. Just under five miles in, it started wobbling. Turned around and shortly later the wobble became bad. So I jog/walked the bike the rest of the way back. The spokes on the newly built rear wheel came undone. So they redid it, and I got the bike back a couple days ago. I've taken it for two rides, but I'm questioning it now, especially thinking if the failure had happened during a steep descent I often ride.

 

[Omnis]

So I did a thing...

NBD coming soon. All-City Space Horse converted to 1x with WTB Venture 50s. Perhaps a perfect levee machine. Got it for a steal on auction. Gonna grab a bigger chainring and give it a little refresh during reassembly. Hope everything is in good shape and ships well. This winter is going to be really, really dirty

 

[Shaun]

So I did a thing...

View attachment 1283058

NBD coming soon. All-City Space Horse converted to 1x with WTB Venture 50s. Perhaps a perfect levee machine. Got it for a steal on auction. Gonna grab a bigger chainring and give it a little refresh during reassembly. Hope everything is in good shape and ships well. This winter is going to be really, really dirty

Awesome, a buddy of mine had an All City made for himself as a commuter bike and he absolutely loves it.
I'm sure it will serve you well. 👍

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

So I did a thing...

View attachment 1283058

NBD coming soon. All-City Space Horse converted to 1x with WTB Venture 50s. Perhaps a perfect levee machine. Got it for a steal on auction. Gonna grab a bigger chainring and give it a little refresh during reassembly. Hope everything is in good shape and ships well. This winter is going to be really, really dirty

Just as the company goes out of business! That looks like a fun bike - bet it rides like a Cadillac with those big squishy tire meats and the steel frame.

Installed my new wheels & tires (with tubes, including replacing my spare tube in my saddle bag), and new pedals, and gave my rear cassette its most thorough-ever cleaning. The bike feels really good though I can't say its a huge difference as @Greycap suggested. I think the biggest/most noticeable difference is going from the Gatorskins I had on the bike before to GP5000s. The bike just feels more eager to roll and each pedal stroke feels more effective. Right near my house is a 4.5 mile segment that is basically a 1-2% uphill grade for 3.5 miles and then a punishing 8% (topping out over 10%) 1 mile climb at the end. My previous best on this road was 20:18 and today I did it in 18:15. The last mile I was 1 minute faster. My HR was comparable between this effort and my previous best so either I'm just faster or the bike is...or both. On the 8% climb I'm shockingly close to some local pros that I follow and only 45 seconds shy of Paris-Roubaix winner Alison Jackson...though its hard to say how hard they were trying.

 

[Omnis]

Yeah, they say it's a huge bike for its size so it's good that this popped up in a 58. Comparing geometry, the chainstays make it look like a drag racing bike compared to my TCR lol. The navy matches my shoes and should look neat with fluorescent yellow furniture.

Steel is Real (cheap), baby. Sucks they went out of business. The bike industry is going to crash soon. They can't sustain entry level stuff being $2,000 forever. Nobody is going to buy bikes like that. The pandemic is over.

 

[Shaun]

Steel is Real (cheap),

Whistles to myself.

The bike industry is going to crash soon. They can't sustain entry level stuff being $2,000 forever. Nobody is going to buy bikes like that. The pandemic is over.

Totally agree with you here mate, the price of top end off the shelf bikes here has surpassed they're custom made equivalents.

I just don't get it why buy off the shelf for that price when there is a good chance when the next 'latest and greatest' bike comes out the owner of said over priced high end bike will be drooling over new version a year down the track. It's a masterclass in marketing that so many fall for.

Since having my bike made nearly 5 years ago not once have I looked at another bike and wished it was mine.

Don't get me started on entry level bike prices, it's out of this world.

 

[Omnis]

I'm not a durianrider fanboi but I watched his SL8 video and had a great laugh. It's funny to see someone finally being honest about bike products. Makes me realize how every other media creator to whom I'm subscribed or involved with has an interest in selling new bikes. I love the people at my LBS but they have an interest in making sales to stay in business. Found an old weight weenies thread about frame stiffness with links to some german and chinese bike magazines who actually tested dimensional, BB, fork, and seatpost stiffness. I think, objectively, the SL5 was the best bike tested, as far as being stiff in the right places and compliant where you want it, with a lot of the other older model flagship performance bikes performing similarly. I don't know if it's because of the move to foil-shaped tubes and seeking aero gains, but a lot of the newer bikes were tested to be objectively inferior in the flex department.

I suppose I benefit from it. That's both bikes in the stable now bought for around 30% of their MSRP. I'm not complaining, but, again, I'm not sure people even know what they're buying anymore. It's not sustainable.

 

[Greycap]

Since having my bike made nearly 5 years ago not once have I looked at another bike and wished it was mine.

That's a great situation to be in. I had the same between 2015 and 2020 with my old Stumpjumper HT, at times I looked at new bikes but always decided that none of them were enough better than my own to require a purchase. Then eventually the second generation Chisel was revealed and it ticked all the right boxes. Now I've had it for three years and it seems it'll be here for at least another three.

This summer has been a bit of a nerve wrecker with it though. In early June it developed a creaking sound somewhere up front, and I had bad feelings about the fork as it's been overhauled for warranty once already. I began going through every imaginable part one by one to find the source of the sound, that only presented itself while pedalling in the saddle, and usually only on the left pedal.

• checked the headset bearing preload
• checked the cranks' preload
• tried a different saddle
• tried a different seatpost
• removed the pedals, greased the threads, put them back on
• tried different pedals
• disassembled the cranks, cleaned the bearing contact surfaces, assembled them
• tightened the cassette
• tightened the rear axle
• disassembled the stem/steerer tube/bar combination, cleaned everything, assembled them
• disassembled the cranks, took out and cleaned the chainring interface, assembled them
• tried a completely different fork
• took out the headset bearings, cleaned them, put them back in
• took them out again, greased them, put them back in

All that took about two months and the sound never went properly away. Until last week, when I finally caught it. On this frame the derailleur hanger consists of two parts that clamp the rearmost part of the frame, held together by one small screw, and there's a flange on one of the halves that fits into a hole in the frame. Furthermore, the said flange also doubles as the threading for the rear axle. In a way an excellent structure in that if one strips the threads it's fixed by getting a new derailleur hanger instead of saying goodbye to the frame, but there are more than a few potentially slightly moving surfaces in it.

The solution to the creaking was to take the hanger apart, clean everything, put grease into every surface in contact with anything and tighten the small screw properly, and then also grease the rear axle threading as well as the axle itself - including the flange on the other end - and put it all together. No more creaking, and indeed it had for the entire time sounded like it was coming from the front of the bike. Cursed thin aluminium frame and its ability to carry sound.

On the positive side - at least the entire thing has been extremely thoroughly checked and serviced. I don't even want to guess how much it would have cost to have all that done by the LBS, fortunately I have a decade's worth of spare parts and a couple of donor bikes for the experiments as well as the tools and ability to do it myself.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Rented a tandem bike today to ride with the S.O. First time riding a tandem and it was pretty good fun. You can really get those things moving on a flat straight road.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

For those of you on here that Strava, what's your most brutal local segment? Criteria up to you - could be most gators (@Omnis ) or absolute hell terrain or steepness. I was thinking about it because only a mile from my house is this absolutely insane fire road (that somehow is supposed to be traversable by fire trucks?) called Luiz fire road. The Strava segment is called "Luiz Death Climb"....because it climbs almost 1400ft...in 1.5 miles, with some sections over 30%. People do it, somehow, on mountain bikes but I've never attempted it. I tap out at 20% with my 42/46 max ratio.

edit: I forgot that just like a 1/4 mile from this fire road there is a trail that is officially called "exposed misery at 30%"

 

[Omnis]

Most brutal is the Don Pan ride. Brutal because you have to average +30mph to keep up with those guys in their wild peloton, and it goes over the Rickenbacker causeway bridge which is like south florida's Alpe du Huez.