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[RSTEIN]

I'll usually unclip one foot if I'm feeling like I'm coming up on a questionable area. then clip back in when I think I either understand what's coming or feel like there is a slim chance i'd need to save myself with a leg.

Yeah, I usually do that but there was no time as it was a blind corner to a sudden 10ft drop

The best thing about clip less so far is bunny hopping. Makes this noob feel bad ass. There was a four to six foot log puddle in the middle of the trail and I totally cleared it with an epic hop. So proud of myself lol. Before I'd just go slowly through it :/

 

[PjotrStroganov]

"Speed cyclists"? And in Belgium? Bike racing is pretty huge in Belgium. My favorite team (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) is a Belgium team.

I don't know what the situations look like but I gotta ask; are you swerving from left to right or staying in your lane? I don't got a bell on my bike and I rarely shout at people; when I do shout I go "wrong lane!". I always slow down when I see dogs or kids in front of me. Whatever with the pace, I'm not gonna run a kid or an animal over just because "I gotta go fast".

The norm on biking lanes is 15 to 20 km/h that's what the majority of people manage to get to. Generally, 'slow' cyclists ride two abreast. Maybe still in one lane but often on the line or over. The small speed difference between the cyclists gives most people ample time to make room for each other. This also goes for single lane paths. Speed cyclists, or whatever is the term in English, generally don't cause any problems. It's the groups of riders that get complaints. Also riding multiple abreast but with high speed. It's mostly the speed difference and inability to react quickly ( many elderly cycle over here or parents with kids) that causes accidents to happen. Not getting out of the way in a manner that they seems fit does often result in a face full of abusive language. It's as if riding in a group makes them assholes. Surely not all of them but it is getting worse.

 

[Mascot]

Back on the bike yesterday after another week off due to this recurring lower back problem (hence no trailer-bollard super-jump), and I noticed one of those annoying click/squeaks that tells you something isn't right with a bearing somewhere. Praying it wasn't the bottom bracket, a wheel hub or something similarly expensive I soon tracked it down to a sealed pedal bearing. Now I remember replacing the pedals last summer and thought they really should give more than a year's worth of service, so found the Amazon order and... the order was one year and one day old, and therefore one day outside of the one-year warranty. Sod's law in full effect, bah, bah and double-bah etc.

Anyway, nothing ventured, nothing gained so I phoned Amazon just now and no problem at all, they are sending out a new set of pedals in tomorrow's post.

TLDR: nice one Amazon, you just went up in my estimation.

 

[thomaser]

Back on the bike yesterday...

That's amazing customer service. Many reasons to not like Amazon, but the way they treat their customers is not one of them.

I've noticed a new "click" too the last couple of days. It comes on the downthrust of the right-side pedal, but only in a certain gear. Any ideas what it could be?

 

[waypoetic]

Speed cyclists, or whatever is the term in English, generally don't cause any problems.

Road cyclist would be the word you're looking for. I assume you're referring to us that look like this:

 

[Mascot]

That's amazing customer service. Many reasons to not like Amazon, but the way they treat their customers is not one of them.

I've noticed a new "click" too the last couple of days. It comes on the downthrust of the right-side pedal, but only in a certain gear. Any ideas what it could be?

Sounds exactly like my pedal bearing problem. Give it a shake and see if there's any loose movement.

Actually, I just got off the phone again with Amazon and changed things from a replacement to a refund. The faulty pedal was a Shimano M324 combo, which I thought would be useful at the time (ie SPD on one side, cage on the other) but I never ride the bike without my SPD shoes anyway. I've bought a set of M540 double-sided SPDs instead (same type I've used for decades) which makes clipping in a lot easier (ie never need to rotate the pedal if the SPD side isn't facing up). Plus, found a great deal and got them £10 cheaper than the amount Amazon are refunding, so I can spend that on blow, booze and hookers.

I bet Amazon still send me the M324s as well, free of charge. That always seems to happen when I amend any orders.

 

[PjotrStroganov]

Road cyclist would be the word you're looking for. I assume you're referring to us that look like this:

Ah yes, that's the word. Literately translated we use the term racebikers (racefietsers) to make the distinction between the two so there's were the confusion came from.

 

[Quote]

That's amazing customer service. Many reasons to not like Amazon, but the way they treat their customers is not one of them.

I've noticed a new "click" too the last couple of days. It comes on the downthrust of the right-side pedal, but only in a certain gear. Any ideas what it could be?

I'd do a quick check on the chainring bolts too if you haven't already.\

I have a clicking coming from my drive train. I'm pretty sure its the bottom bracket since it's been in 3 different bikes now. I bought a replacement but have been too lazy to install it.

I don't think I shared this, but I've had to replace my Niner Jet 9 RDO with a newer model for a crack in the carbon. The replacement didn't even last one ride, and about 4 miles in, hitting a dramatic steep climb (not tall, just steep) I hear a loud pop.

I was so frustrated with it because of how long it took the first frame to get warrantied. I almost just said fuck it, and when they sent me the next frame I was just going to sell it.

I slept on it and called them the next day, and ended up moving to their higher travel model, the RIP 9 RDO and talked them into overnight shipping and a free carbon seat post.

From the little riding i've done, I like it, but it'll take awhile for me to get over the worry of cracking carbon on every little thing now.

 

[Psychotext]

That's really surprising. Carbon is supposed to be stronger than aluminium if done right.

 

[thomaser]

Haven't checked on my road bike yet, but thanks for the suggestions about what the click might be.

Went up in the mountains today to try out the route for an upcoming event. I skipped two parts of the route because storm clouds suddenly appeared out of nowhere, so I had to bail and get down as fast as I could. But I rode at least 3/4ths of the route. Three pics:

Most of it went on nice gravel roads.

Also some stretches with singletrack. Nothing too bad, even I could do it without trouble. One of the stretches I didn't ride today looks like it might be a lot more cumbersome. Will try it next week, hopefully.

The route goes around the water in the background, which is pretty long. Stormclouds coming in, thunder booming. Time to bail!

 

[Quote]

That's really surprising. Carbon is supposed to be stronger than aluminium if done right.

Yeah, there is a crack thread on mtbr for the Jet 9 RDO I cracked originally, but the second one was newer so I hadn't seen a crack in that spot. I checked that thread recently and found someone with the exact same crack so it's some manufacturing defect I guess

 

[Mascot]

Took me ages to trust the carbon monocoque on my old Trek 11. I didn't believe something so light could be so strong. Turned out it was pretty much bomb proof as was proved when it went over a sizeable cliff with no ill effects. I landed in a bush, which was nice.

 

[waypoetic]

That's really surprising. Carbon is supposed to be stronger than aluminium if done right.

Damaged carbon can be invisible and cause a major accident when you least expect it.

 

[Psychotext]

Sure, but in pure strength terms, undamaged vs undamaged, carbon is far stronger. I've seen the tests done first hand.

 

[weremichael]

Sure, but in pure strength terms, undamaged vs undamaged, carbon is far stronger. I've seen the tests done first hand.

That is true, but durability wise, metal (steel or titanium in my opinion) is the better way to go. Aluminum is too brittle and unforgiving in my opinion. Take this post with a few grains of salt since I've been away from mountain biking since the 90s.

 

[waypoetic]

Wait, wait.. You'd go with steel or alloy instead of aluminum? Aluminum isn't "brittle" and it sure as hell ain't heavy compared to steel. I'd never use a steel frame bike for anything other than going to the grocery store..

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

Haven't checked on my road bike yet, but thanks for the suggestions about what the click might be.

Saw this on reddit the other day and it could help out: http://biy.let/CEBS-Bike-Repair-CD

I overhauled my bracket the other day and the annoying 'thunk' disappeared for a time but I noticed it again yesterday. The most annoying part of it is that you can't replicate it unless you're riding and even then it doesn't happen every revolution so it's been almost impossible to figure out what is actually making the noise.

I started to work on my wife's bracket but it's one of the pressfit BB90...things. I can't wrap my head around how it works and it looks really difficult to work on. The bearings appear to be sealed and everything I've read (which isn't a lot just yet) say that it's easier to just replace the bearings than to try to service them. Something about tricky seals or somesuch. At any rate, it's a strange beast to try to work on.

 

[weremichael]

Wait, wait.. You'd go with steel or alloy instead of aluminum? Aluminum isn't "brittle" and it sure as hell ain't heavy compared to steel. I'd never use a steel frame bike for anything other than going to the grocery store..

Seriously?

Reynolds tubing, Dedacciai tubing, and Columbus tubing all are more resilient (less prone to break and can be bent back into shape unlike aluminum) than aluminum. They all are light weight frame materials that give a more flexible ride than aluminum.

I've competed in cyclocross on a steel frame and still love the ride of that bike.

 

[Psychotext]

There are some great steel framed mountain bikes out there too.

 

[Quote]

Lots of people are out there chanting "steel is real." My buddy has a steel Jamis 29er and swears by it. He has had all types of top tier MTBs since he works in a shop, and he loves the characteristics of this Jamis.

He has had me thinking of building a steel steed for a fun side bike.

 

[Mascot]

My first few mountain bikes were high-carbon chromoly steel but I've been riding aluminium frames for over twenty years now (plus a carbon FS a few years ago). Steel always used to be associated with additional weight and skinny frames but I'm sure that's not necessarily still the case. Fat-tubed aluminium bikes like the GT Zaskar were just a lot coooler back in the day and looked more bomb-proof, and helped differentiate MTBs from their thin-framed road bike cousins. Plus: no rust if you gouged the frame.

If steel really does have ride benefits, then how come the vast, vast majority of mtbs on sale today (and for the past couple of decades) are aluminium?

 

[Psychotext]

If steel really does have ride benefits, then how come the vast, vast majority of mtbs on sale today (and for the past couple of decades) are aluminium?

In part that's down to cheap mass production. Similar why we don't see more titanium frames.

Taiwan have aluminium frame production down to a fine art.

 

[waypoetic]

Aluminium frames are great, whatever discipline you're into. Carbon frames are in my opinion best for XC mountain biking and TT racing. For me, alloy and steel components are like weeds - like the seat post that came with my bike, I switched that out for an aluminum one the first week.

 

[PjotrStroganov]

First time I did a serious route. It's been a few decades since I last felt I would die.

No fucks were given.

http://i.imgur.com/UhdZJTP.jpg
It is the scenic part. The forest has some nice hills and technical parts.

 

[anonymous_abc]

First time I did a serious route. It's been a few decades since I last I felt I would die.

No fucks were given.

http://i.imgur.com/UhdZJTP.jpg
It is the scenic part. The forrest has some nice hills and technical parts.

you can really tell the difference between 30 and 60 FPS the shadows are just much better in the left image!

Spoiler

Nice hanging bike there.

 

[Mascot]

First time I did a serious route. It's been a few decades since I last felt I would die.

No fucks were given.

http://i.imgur.com/UhdZJTP.jpg
It is the scenic part. The forest has some nice hills and technical parts.

Quality hangage! The first involving wildlife, I believe.

 

[PjotrStroganov]

Let's call it semi wildlife.;P

 

[Mascot]

Let's call it semi wildlife.;P

You aren't Welsh, are you?

 

[PjotrStroganov]

I don't like what you are trying to insinuate sir!

Spoiler

But no.

 

[Mascot]

Want one.

 

[Jobiensis]

All the materials have their pluses and minuses. But calling aluminum 'brittle' is getting close to fan boy territory of delusion. Some steel bikes are pretty nice, but I still would never race on one. Titanium is just too expensive, might as well go carbon at that point. Aluminum is a good combination of price, weight, strength and stiffness. Steel is very easy to mass manufacture as well, but it is very difficult to make a lightweight and stiff steel bike.

Carbon is the best all around material, but it does have a tendency to get destroyed in crashes (at least for roadies). I would (and did) take a high quality aluminum frame over a lower end carbon frame.

 

[weremichael]

All the materials have their pluses and minuses. But calling aluminum 'brittle' is getting close to fan boy territory of delusion. Some steel bikes are pretty nice, but I still would never race on one. Titanium is just too expensive, might as well go carbon at that point. Aluminum is a good combination of price, weight, strength and stiffness. Steel is very easy to mass manufacture as well, but it is very difficult to make a lightweight and stiff steel bike.

Carbon is the best all around material, but it does have a tendency to get destroyed in crashes (at least for roadies). I would (and did) take a high quality aluminum frame over a lower end carbon frame.

My take is this: if aluminum gets bent, it can't be bent back like steel. The metal itself is more rigid and less flexible and therefore more brittle than steel. It would take a lot of stress to bend the aluminum, but it does happen. When I worked at a bike shop in college, my manager drove her and husband's CAD3 and Columbus frames into her garage when she forgot to take them off her roof rack. The Canondale frame was done but the Specialized frame was bent back into shape by our master tech.

I'm no fanboy when it comes to bikes (or frame materials). I just love to ride. I am strangely proportioned (long torso/short legs) so I've ridden custom frames since working in the bike shop. The frame builders that I like use steel, so my bias might come from that.

 

[ameratsu]

I agree with jobensis about high end aluminum being preferable over cheap carbon. I have had more than a few spills on my aluminum cross bike and it seems to be plenty durable.

That said, I have an older columbus steel Bianchi road bike as my commuter. I adore that thing. It's really popular amongst the hipper people in my city.

 

[dubc35]

Any opinion on Nashbar bikes, AL-1 to be specific? I'm looking for something cheapish with decent components that I can later swap out the F&F for something better.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

Got a tire pressure question: Every time I put air in my tires (usually every Sunday before the work week) the gauge says 60psi. I fill them up to 100/105 and go about my week. Does it seem 'normal' to be loosing almost half the pressure in a week? I feel like I should do a control and see if it stays at 60 for two weeks or something.

 

[Laekon]

Any opinion on Nashbar bikes, AL-1 to be specific? I'm looking for something cheapish with decent components that I can later swap out the F&F for something better.

The bike market works the opposite way. The frame and fork are what make the bike not the parts. If you look at brands like Trek and Giant they really only make a small number of frames versus the number of models. So the frame used on the $700 model is normally the same as the one on the $1,100 one. A lot of the 2015 bikes are starting to ship so it might be a good time to look around for a 2014 model going on sale. Something like a Giant Defy 5 or Trek 1.1

 

[Jobiensis]

Probably normal, I fill up couple of days and I get a drop from 120 to 90 or so.

 

[brentech]

Got a tire pressure question: Every time I put air in my tires (usually every Sunday before the work week) the gauge says 60psi. I fill them up to 100/105 and go about my week. Does it seem 'normal' to be loosing almost half the pressure in a week? I feel like I should do a control and see if it stays at 60 for two weeks or something.

It's normal for road tires.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

Ah, thanks.

 

[Stinkles]

Speed cyclists are becoming a pest over here (even more so in Belgium). And they seem to keep growing in numbers. Can't ride down a normal cycling path minding your own bussiness without a few of them yelling to get out of the way. How about getting a bicycle bell instead of yelling like you own the road.

Road cyclists in this region (Seattle) can be incredibly annoying and RUDE AS FUCK on public TRAILS. I don't care what they do on the road as long as they obey stop signals, but our trails are for commuters, families, exercise, they are not for racing.

So on my last ride, I did a poll to see if I was just having confirmation bias. But here's the result which was a numerical observation based on a 2.5 hour ride over about 25 miles of the Burke Gilman trail:

1. Road cyclists are more likely to ride two abreast by a massive margin, even more than families. And they DO NOT switch back to one abreast when passing oncoming traffic. They were also the only riders who ignored passing signals when I passed them.
2. Road cyclists almost universally ignored voice signals (heaven forbid they add a two ounce bell to their ride) EXCEPT girls. For some reason, female road cyclists almost universally called out "on your left." Props to them (although many waited until they were actually ON your left, which is far too late).
3. The more expensive the bikes, the douchier the behavior. Felt riders seem to have it in for manners, period.
4. At road crossing, road cyclists ignored the order people arrived at the stop light, and worse, are slower to accelerate than many other bikes, causing a clusterfuck.
5. Recmbent bikes are too slow to be an issue and are all driven by hippies with gray beards.
6. There are no fixies on the trail, I don't know why, but I suspect it's not hip enough.
7. Elliptical bikes are ridiculous.
8. Skateboarders can't really adequately control their longboards when they do that swerve thing to go faster.
9. People walking little dogs on long leashes are the most dangerous, followed by tiny children on training bikes - however that's a good usage case for the trail and it's up to us to avoid them. I crashed into a tree last week when a three year old did a 360 turn in front of me. Ow.
10. I am probably worse.

 

[dubc35]

The bike market works the opposite way. The frame and fork are what make the bike not the parts. If you look at brands like Trek and Giant they really only make a small number of frames versus the number of models. So the frame used on the $700 model is normally the same as the one on the $1,100 one. A lot of the 2015 bikes are starting to ship so it might be a good time to look around for a 2014 model going on sale. Something like a Giant Defy 5 or Trek 1.1

Yeah I get that. I should have been more specific. I was looking to buy the Nashbar given the price since I frequently seen some good Specialized F&F's for sale. So buy the Nashbar and swap out the F&F for the Specialized. Then as I ride it more upgrade some components as I want to. If it was a BMX bike I have parts galore but I'm too damn old and live in too hilly a city for BMX.

 

[outunderthestars]

Any opinion on Nashbar bikes, AL-1 to be specific? I'm looking for something cheapish with decent components that I can later swap out the F&F for something better.

Don't. Nashbar sells bicycle shaped objects, not actual bikes. Save more money and buy a full bike from a local bicycle shop.

 

[Quote]

Any opinion on Nashbar bikes, AL-1 to be specific? I'm looking for something cheapish with decent components that I can later swap out the F&F for something better.

I feel like this is $100 or $200 from getting yourself a named brand bike with a better warranty, and hopefully a good relationship at a bike shop.

It might not be a bad idea to even show them that you're looking at the Nashbar bike because thats your price range. They might work with you more to get you something good from them.

 

[Mascot]

So on my last ride, I did a poll to see if I was just having confirmation bias. But here's the result which was a numerical observation based on a 2.5 hour ride over about 25 miles of the Burke Gilman trail:

1. Road cyclists are more likely to ride two abreast by a massive margin, even more than families. And they DO NOT switch back to one abreast when passing oncoming traffic. They were also the only riders who ignored passing signals when I passed them.

Road cyclists don't do themselves any favours when they pull this shit, especially on public roads. There's been several occasions where I've been in long tailbacks in my car caused by roadies cycling two (or even three) abreast on narrow roads, just ambling along with no urgency, quietly chatting with each other and seemingly totally oblivious to the chaos in their wake (but, I suspect, secretly enjoying the power they are wielding over the evil motorist). Is it really so difficult to cycle in single file?

Makes me embarrassed to be a cyclist sometimes. Thankfully these fidiots seem to be in the vast minority, but there's little wonder that some non-biking motorists see cyclists as dangerous pests when they come across situations like this.

As cyclists we demand respect and consideration from motorists to allow us to ride safely on roads, but it has to work both ways. Cyclists that hog public roads need to remember that they will always come out second best in an argument with a frustrated driver.

 

[kottila]

Road cyclists don't do themselves any favours when they pull this shit, especially on public roads. There's been several occasions where I've been in long tailbacks in my car caused by roadies cycling two (or even three) abreast on narrow roads, just ambling along with no urgency, quietly chatting with each other and seemingly totally oblivious to the chaos in their wake (but, I suspect, secretly enjoying the power they are wielding over the evil motorist). Is it really so difficult to cycle in single file?

Makes me embarrassed to be a cyclist sometimes. Thankfully these fidiots seem to be in the vast minority, but there's little wonder that some non-biking motorists see cyclists as dangerous pests when they come across situations like this.

As cyclists we demand respect and consideration from motorists to allow us to ride safely on roads, but it has to work both ways. Cyclists that hog public roads need to remember that they will always come out second best in an argument with a frustrated driver.

Legally (in my country) they have the right to do that as long as they are in the same file and cars should move all the way to the other file when passing anyways. The time it takes to pass the cyclists also increases when they are in a long line. However I try to make as little trouble for cars as possible just because I don't want them up in my ass in case something happens and I'd hate to be stuck behind cyclists for too long myself.
However it seems that not many drivers know the driving rules themselves as they regularly pass too close or they pass you just before a turn or a hill where they won't have time to react if a car comes towards them.

 

[Mascot]

However it seems that not many drivers know the driving rules themselves as they regularly pass too close or they pass you just before a turn or a hill where they won't have time to react if a car comes towards them.

Oh absolutely. I hate riding on roads for this very reason. I'd like to see a public information campaign on TV to educate drivers how to interact with cyclists on the roads. But maybe we also need one to do the reverse.

These films were on TV all the time in the 70's. Some of them are hilarious.

make yourself seen

 

[dubc35]

Don't. Nashbar sells bicycle shaped objects, not actual bikes. Save more money and buy a full bike from a local bicycle shop.

I feel like this is $100 or $200 from getting yourself a named brand bike with a better warranty, and hopefully a good relationship at a bike shop.

It might not be a bad idea to even show them that you're looking at the Nashbar bike because thats your price range. They might work with you more to get you something good from them.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Incognito]

Road cyclists don't do themselves any favours when they pull this shit, especially on public roads. There's been several occasions where I've been in long tailbacks in my car caused by roadies cycling two (or even three) abreast on narrow roads, just ambling along with no urgency, quietly chatting with each other and seemingly totally oblivious to the chaos in their wake (but, I suspect, secretly enjoying the power they are wielding over the evil motorist). Is it really so difficult to cycle in single file?

Makes me embarrassed to be a cyclist sometimes. Thankfully these fidiots seem to be in the vast minority, but there's little wonder that some non-biking motorists see cyclists as dangerous pests when they come across situations like this.

As cyclists we demand respect and consideration from motorists to allow us to ride safely on roads, but it has to work both ways. Cyclists that hog public roads need to remember that they will always come out second best in an argument with a frustrated driver.

Word. I actually get more pissed at cyclists who disregard the rules of the road than motorists because cyclists should know better. And as kottila mentions, I always try and make it easier for the motorist to navigate around me, especially in precarious spots, rather than hope for the best. I saw some idiot cyclist just meander on through a four way red light intersection during rush hour yesterday and my blood was boiling. This wasn't some dude coming back from work, either. It's a guy on a carbon bike in his lycra outfit who clearly felt the rules don't apply to him. If you don't want to stop at red lights, don't ride on major thoroughfares! No wonder some motorists feel they way they do! Absolutely insane.

 

[waypoetic]

Riding abreast on a country side road is safer for the riders. And don't give me that bullshit "hogging up all the road" - what, and a car doesn't?

 

[Mascot]

Riding abreast on a country side road is safer for the riders. And don't give me that bullshit "hogging up all the road" - what, and a car doesn't?

Amazing.