General Bike Thread (Desiderata, Questions, Pics)

[LawrenceMD]



Sorry. Thanks for the correction, LawrenceMD; I always screw them up. I think of those V-brakes as linear pull brakes. Aren't those synonyms?

Anyway, cantis are what I was talking about.

no problem. I actually used to have the wrong assumption that cantilever brakes were the most powerful brakes because I always saw them on cross country bikes. it turns out that my assumption was totally backward in the last two years I really got into bike maintenance and finally understand/know how things like brakes/gears work.

 

[rdawson808]



Sounds like a UK gov't thing.

We've got something similar on this side of the pond (albeit to a laughably smaller degree), if your employer chooses to participate: http://www.bikeleague.org/news/100708faq.php

Yeah, and you have to give up your entire transit benefit to get the bike benefit. And there are all sorts of ridiculous restrictions on what you can use the money for and what sort of receipts you have to show, etc. I work with a bunch of serious bike commuters and I don't think any of them use it.

Basically my choice is to keep my transit benefit which saves me more than $100 dollars each month or take the bike benefit which will save me (maybe) $100 over the course of the year.

 

[otc]

Anyone need some sick gravel tires and accouterments?

http://tatiprix.com/post/46522508196/the-what-the-hell-are-you-selling-clinchers-for

 

[otc]

Bought a rear pannier to make the commute to work easier.

Finally get around to installing my rack and it turns out there is basically no way to mount this thing without heel strike on my bike. I guess I have to return it and get the Ortlieb's or something similar with a tapered bottom and the ability to adjust the hooks to mount at a slight angle.

Also, I used a coupon to get good deal over a certain minimum...which I easily hit with the pannier, but now I really hope they don't kill the coupon on the other things when I return part of the order.

 

[Fang66]



Bought a rear pannier to make the commute to work easier.

Finally get around to installing my rack and it turns out there is basically no way to mount this thing without heel strike on my bike. I guess I have to return it and get the Ortlieb's or something similar with a tapered bottom and the ability to adjust the hooks to mount at a slight angle.

Also, I used a coupon to get good deal over a certain minimum...which I easily hit with the pannier, but now I really hope they don't kill the coupon on the other things when I return part of the order.

Heel strike on the rack or on the panniers?

 

[otc]

panniers. I assume the rack is fine.

 

[Fang66]



panniers. I assume the rack is fine.

Can you adjust the mounting position further back with the likes of P-Clips, perforated metal strips or cable ties, etc? Or similarly move the rack further back?

 

[Renault78law]

Great Rapha video on framebuilding here:
http://www.rapha.cc/builders/
Lots of parallels with crafting suits.

 

[otc]



Can you adjust the mounting position further back with the likes of P-Clips, perforated metal strips or cable ties, etc? Or similarly move the rack further back?

Not really, and its not worth making an ugly ass install when a different pannier would work.

 

[Fang66]



Not really, and its not worth making an ugly ass install when a different pannier would work.

True

 

[Cantabrigian]



What the hell? Pre-tax? I want in on this deal! Is it just your company that does this as a perk? Or does the UK gov't mandate that employers offer such a thing? Holy crap.

I imagine its split gov't (tax free) and company (you pay in instalments over a year).

As I understand it, you go to a LBS, get a written estimate for bike / safety equipment, up to £1k. Cyclescheme the gives you a voucher that you take back to the shop and walk out with your bike, etc.

My company only does it once a year and only for a few weeks. And you can only participate once every three years or something like that.

Pretty nice deal though.

 

[otc]

went used bike shopping with the GF yesterday.

ended up with a Raleigh built Hercules three speed roadster. pretty good shape although I am going to replace the steel single pivot brakes with some alloy dual pivot tektro 800as which I have used before.

think it really helped sell her on it when multiple customers commented on it in the checkout line and some random sstopped to t talk about it when we were unloading the car. also helped when I polished/ waxed a section of the down tube to show her how nice it would clean up.

Will take some pics when it is all pretty

 

[acidboy]

repost from the making me happy threak...

 

[vm1336]

Nice hardtail. What kind of riding do you do?

Is anybody around here eyeing the new crop of disc-brake road bikes? I love the discs on my mountain bike, I live in a hilly area for road riding, and it does rain a lot here. All pluses for discs. On the other hand, maintenance, weight and price are all minuses, plus it might be overkill?

 

[LawrenceMD]



Nice hardtail. What kind of riding do you do?

Is anybody around here eyeing the new crop of disc-brake road bikes? I love the discs on my mountain bike, I live in a hilly area for road riding, and it does rain a lot here. All pluses for discs. On the other hand, maintenance, weight and price are all minuses, plus it might be overkill?

SRAM's got some new hydraulic caliper breaks out for road bikes. They could be interesting.

I've used Avid (also a SRAM subsidiary) BB5 and BB7 mechanical (non hydraulic) breaks and have the BB7 road mechanical (shorter pull for road brakes) on my commuter (basically a steel cyclocross bike with BB7) and they work great (but only about 90% as well as the regular mountain BB7). That means stopping a near 35lbs bike quickly. The best part about disc brakes is that the breaking in the back is so much better and you can really modulate smooth stops on a dime because you're not so dependent on the front brake to stop.

the road disc breaks right now seem to be in their infancy stage (especially when it comes to hydraulics) - unless you're in seattle and riding up 10% grade hills in rain/snow regular road calipers are very very powerful as is (because of dual pivot or cam leverage).

personally I like having the non-hydraulic disc brakes - the BB7 (specifically) are a breeze to install and maintain. Its pretty much install adjust and go. new brake pads may be a bit noisy at first but that goes away within days.

hydraulics, i've heard, are a LOT easier to install and maintain these days, but I've never tried them.