Stormdog
Well-known member
I should have added
” I think it’s a great idea, and should be implemented but….”
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Bicycle thread
- Thread starter North ride
- Start date
” I think it’s a great idea, and should be implemented but….”
That wasn't anti-American btw. Just observations in the failure of a program.
Stormdog
Well-known member
But you aren’t wrong either.
We are pretty messed up on this side of the pond.
😁
We are pretty messed up on this side of the pond.
😁
Mambo Danny
Member
morsetaper2
Well-known member
I used to be fast. Now I ride motorcycles. Snowshoe Mt?
What year at Snowshoe? Here's a photo of me on my 4am lap at the 2001 24 hrs of snowshoe
North ride
Well-known member
I live in Canada and ride to work everyday. Even days it’s -40c out. My employer doesn’t even give me a bonus !
North ride
Well-known member
Pretty much. I always grow a beard in the winter. It makes living in the extreme cold temperatures of the Canadian sub arctic a little bit easier.Is that an Ewok under that mask?
My first and only job working for someone else before my father died (he kicked me out and told me to go do something on my own) was shuttling FIFO mining and oil industry workers and supply flights in the NWT and Yukon. I remember the winter cold well.
Those were some of the best times of my life. I didn't care much for the corporate types (spoilt children), but the FIFO workers were always a lot of fun. I still count many as friends and they are always welcome here.
Those were some of the best times of my life. I didn't care much for the corporate types (spoilt children), but the FIFO workers were always a lot of fun. I still count many as friends and they are always welcome here.
Stormdog
Well-known member
If I had to rely on my beard growing ability to keep my face warm during the winter, I would have to live in southern California.
MrWellAdjusted
One Less Car
Cool dude.
Mambo Danny
Member
Into the wind. I don't yet have aero bars on this gravel bike, but have found that I can wedge my forearms in to the hoods to get a really flat - perhaps too flat for leg clearance since I'm now fatter - aero profile.
By this point I had taken the jersey off and undid the tops of the bibs, then tucked the straps into the lower section and put the jersey back on. So... I now see that that helps my jersey back ride up. Whatever - I can't stand having the extra layer of heat retention on with bibs uppers, and really don't like the minor breathing restriction wearing bib uppers cause.
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DesmoDog
Well-known member
This isn't exactly along the lines of most of the bikes here, but here goes.
I worked in a couple Schwinn shops for about ten years, starting in high school. I had a few nice bikes right up until I started buying cars. I kept the last mountain bike I bought, and rebuilt it a year or two ago. It's seen a few incarnations through it's life but now it's back to a trail riding configuration. A 1988(?) Rockhopper Comp
My latest bike is a long story. For years I had been wanting something with an internally geared hub. I also wanted something old style, so I was going to buy a Schwinn Typhoon frame and build it up. Then I realized I could find a new bike with the same style frame and get the entire bike for a lot less than building something.
Amazon had one on sale, a 7 speed with a derailluer so it was already set up for hand brakes and shift cables etc. And it was just under $200. I figured what the heck. If it was trash I'd keep the frame and throw everything else away.
The bike showed up.
As expected, it wasn't going to be a case of just bolting it together. For instance, none of the bearings were greased very well.
I rebuilt the entire thing and was pleasantly surprised with the result. With everything on it rebuilt, it wasn't a bad bike. But if the average Joe bought it, bolted it together, and tried to ride it, it would have sucked. Which is what the Amazon reviews showd too.
So yeah, I rode it mostly stock for a season (aka maybe three times)... but I couldn't get the brakes to stop squealing. So I ordered some new pads. Plus some non-painted rims. And spokes. And hubs, Deore XT front and a 5 speed Sturmey Archer with a drum brake for the rear. And as long as I was doing that... well, you get the idea.
So now it looks more or less like this. I've upgraded a few other things since these pics
Yeah yeah yeah, the thing is a tank but I swear it rides so much better than it has any right to.
EDIT: It still has a rear derailleur because for some annoying reason they used vertical dropouts. A regular tensioner doesn't have the reach it needed. But I did at least upgrade from the plastic POS shown in the pics.
I worked in a couple Schwinn shops for about ten years, starting in high school. I had a few nice bikes right up until I started buying cars. I kept the last mountain bike I bought, and rebuilt it a year or two ago. It's seen a few incarnations through it's life but now it's back to a trail riding configuration. A 1988(?) Rockhopper Comp
My latest bike is a long story. For years I had been wanting something with an internally geared hub. I also wanted something old style, so I was going to buy a Schwinn Typhoon frame and build it up. Then I realized I could find a new bike with the same style frame and get the entire bike for a lot less than building something.
Amazon had one on sale, a 7 speed with a derailluer so it was already set up for hand brakes and shift cables etc. And it was just under $200. I figured what the heck. If it was trash I'd keep the frame and throw everything else away.
The bike showed up.
As expected, it wasn't going to be a case of just bolting it together. For instance, none of the bearings were greased very well.
I rebuilt the entire thing and was pleasantly surprised with the result. With everything on it rebuilt, it wasn't a bad bike. But if the average Joe bought it, bolted it together, and tried to ride it, it would have sucked. Which is what the Amazon reviews showd too.
So yeah, I rode it mostly stock for a season (aka maybe three times)... but I couldn't get the brakes to stop squealing. So I ordered some new pads. Plus some non-painted rims. And spokes. And hubs, Deore XT front and a 5 speed Sturmey Archer with a drum brake for the rear. And as long as I was doing that... well, you get the idea.
So now it looks more or less like this. I've upgraded a few other things since these pics
Yeah yeah yeah, the thing is a tank but I swear it rides so much better than it has any right to.
EDIT: It still has a rear derailleur because for some annoying reason they used vertical dropouts. A regular tensioner doesn't have the reach it needed. But I did at least upgrade from the plastic POS shown in the pics.
Mambo Danny
Member
MrWellAdjusted
One Less Car
I think the bike on the right is a BMC with 10 mm of rear suspension, right?
Mambo Danny
Member
Like it would be too tame of a term. Something close to loving it.
Originally bought to upgrade from a circa-2003-made RockShox suspension seatpost. I bought it for the aluminum-framed (aluminum-fork, aluminum-seatpost) Kona Jake that my buddy, Dwight, turned into a gravel bike before selling it to me. I saw some flex in the Diverge seatposts on the gravel when riding behind fast riders, and wanted in on that action. We non-racers ... middle-aged non-racers ... have backs and kidneys to worry about.
But then the Kona frame broke earlier this year. So I bought this 2022 Diverge Expert Carbon with its flexible CF seatpost, and I gave it a go with that for six or seven rides - but that somewhat flexy carbon fiber seatpost just wasn't the Redshift, so I put the Redshift on it to try it out. Made the bike heavier, yes, but on the flat gravel of this area a little bit of added weight for an appreciable amount of added comfort is a fair trade-off, especially since aero is king, here, and the seatpost doesn't really add anything to the frontal surface area. (Why is aero king, here, you might ask? The gravel levees are often the highest things around, and we ride on top of those - completely exposed to wind and wind gusts more like a very low-flying airplane than a cyclist riding through an area with trees.)
Note that I also have aero bars on that Kona, and just added aero bars to the Diverge at 5 AM this morning. Spring adjustment for rider weight and terrain is important with the Redshift. I have mine set up to not be super-cushy - which another cyclist friend criticized, but he isn't as fast as I am. When I'm on super-flat gravel, or pavement, and in the aero bars, I don't want much flex in the seatpost, so I have it adjusted tight. This works to both taking the slightly bigger hits out when riding upright, and it evens out as I have less weight on the seatpost when in the aero bars - which helps make the seatpost even stiffer for aero power-pedaling.
The Diverge (with the Redshift seatpost) this morning:
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Mambo Danny
Member
Checking with her on that - waiting for a text back. I didn't look that closely since I didn't even know it was a thing.
Mambo Danny
Member
Well, you're going to get more range out of the Redshift I would believe. I also couldn't quite wrap my head around how little the travel range was of costly carbon fiber seatposts. I figured I should go for the range. IF you just want a slight bit of suspension, there is absolutely nothing wrong with finding a nearly-new used Rockshox elastomer seatpost off of ebay for about $30 to try it out. I own two of them now, as I had one on the Kona gravel bike, and the other on a hardtail MTB. Here is a picture of the Kona the RockShox susp seatpost:
Confirmed - 10mm rear suspension. Except up until we asked her just now, she DIDN'T KNOW it had that feature, lol. She had to look it up herself.
Mambo Danny
Member
Other than considering a Redshift stem for the Kona, no. They didn't make the length that came on the Kona, and the way it was was perfect for the aero bars - so I didn't want to mess with it. Three things though:
- I spoke to a rider out on the gravel who had the redshift stem, and he said that he really liked it, would not go back
- I now have a Diverge, which has suspension built in to under the stem - yesterday's gravel ride went across a section I generally avoid as it is so rough. I got two PR's throughout that section, yesterday, and by and large my wrists never felt anything until when I was in bed, and even at that it wasn't pain as much as I could tell they went through some trauma.
- This was the reason I woke up early and installed the aero bars this morning; too much standard-grip gravel riding (and that's with gel inserts under parts of the handlebar tape and under the hoods on the Kona) causes nerve damage to my wrists and forearms, but I found that with ample use of aero bars, wrist pain, tingling, and forearm twitching at work throughout the week is next to non-existent. Take all those bumps and put them through the shoulders instead of the wrists with aero bars. I swear by them.