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| Join in the fun; The Calorie-Count Cycling Club... |  leinad |
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| #681 |  nightc1 |
Jul 10 2007 18:46 |
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Dang jane, glad your Ok. On my ride yesterday I keeped a close eye on traffic from the rear using my third eye mirror (glasses mounted). Everyone was really nice about giving me more than enough room to move (probably since they don't see bikes on the road very often) but I still was super paranoid about someone getting too close. gmule, my version of heavy traffic is probably not as heavy as yours and others. I was on sidestreets and probaby was only passed by 30 or so cars. In a perfect world I would have only had a few cars to deal with. Looks like more rain this afternoon and the rest of this week. I'm contemplating more and more the bicycle commute. Wrapping my mind around doing something is more involving than actually doing it sometimes. Today, i could have easily rode in this AM (pending I went to bed earlier and got up earlier)... but now, i could imagine if I had my bike I'd feel all stranded with this seemingly big rain about to hit. |
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| #682 | gmule |
Jul 10 2007 19:37 |
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Draggonpaddler, Try dribling some tryflow lube down the seat post where the seatpost fits into the frame. I had a squeak for months until i tried that.
Dan I had some pretty cheap tires on my bike. It came with a set a Vittora Zafiro's on it and I replaced the first set with the same ones. I figured that I was saving money by using cheaper tires. Maybe by using a better quality tire I won't have to buy so many. Either way I am at 2500 miles for the year. I have beaten my goal of doubling the milage I rode last year. Last year I rode 1200 miles and this year I wanted to double that. Now am going for 3k with 500 more to go one more month of commuting should do it. |
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| #683 | autismjtm |
Jul 10 2007 20:17 |
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nightc1, I ride in very heavy traffic on the one part of my ride. This cop was probably too busy looking at his computer or something like that. Still not an excuse though. By far the majority of people have been very considerate and careful.
Jane |
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| #684 | leinad |
Jul 11 2007 00:48 |
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jane, that is just scary! To think a patrolman is so busy with other bussiness in his car that he almost hit you, then just drives away, How could he not know that he did that. Maybe he did know but drove off so as to not have to explain himself.
Once I had an officer pull up and tell me to get off the street, I calmly told him the vehicle law and he drove away! I reported him to the police dept. don't know if it did any good! DAN |
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| #685 | behanna |
Jul 11 2007 02:52 |
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traffic: If there isn't room to get a few feet out of the way of traffic on a clean shoulder or a nice, wide lane, I take the right tire track and make the cars wait for a safe spot to cross to the other lane to pass me. The law in most places is that you are entitled to as much of the roadway as you think you need to keep you safe, but you must ride as far to the right as you think you safely can. The odd thing is that by taking up just a little more of the roadway, (most) car drivers will end up giving you a LOT more room, and you'll encounter far fewer "brush-by" passes. There's still the occasional fscktard who's compensating for what nature didn't provide him, though.
tire life: Lots of climbing on chipseal roads chews up my tires. I was going through a Specialized Pro Cippolini on the rear every 500 miles, but then switched to Specialized All Condition and they were going great (2000 miles each) until I had my blowout on Sunday. I have a Michelin Carbon in-hand now, and the guy at the shop said people were claiming 4000 miles out of those. squeaks: These are maddening to track down. They can be steerer clinch bolts, seatpost clinch bolts, crank arms, cleat/pedal interface, the saddle material moving against the saddle frame, or even crappy wheels whose spokes unwind and then creak (I had a set of these). If you have a steel seatpost, then lubricate as was suggested. If it's carbon, DON'T. There's carbon fiber assembly paste you can get, but otherwise, carbon seatposts should be left dry, and MIND THE TORQUE WRENCH lest you crush your seatpost. For the seat itself, you can try spraying silicone spray lubricant into the saddle and around all of the frame bits. That often cures squeaking for me for awhile. For the cleat/pedal interface, a TINY amount of light grease or white lithium grease works. For everything else, it's loosen and retorque. For crappy wheels, the solution is to get the wheels retrued by a competent wheelman, such that the spokes are all tighter than 65Kgf/m (this is actually a pretty low tension, but it's the absolute minimum for a spoke to not unwind itself--most good wheels have spokes tensioned to at least 80Kgf/m). If they're looser than that, they'll unwind on you while you pedal and will creak when you stand up to pedal. If the wheel can't be made that tight, then you need to replace it with something decent (I replaced the crappy Alex 220 wheels that came with my bike with Bontrager Race wheels, and that cured it. The Bontragers are much stronger, and stay true longer, too). |
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| #686 | gmule |
Jul 11 2007 04:56 |
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I am looking for a new wheelset to replace the alex 500 that are on my bike now. Sad to say it but I have had more broken spokes than flat tires. I have replaced all of the spokes on the drive side with some good DT stainless spoles and that seems to have fixed the problem for now. I know it is not correct but it is working until I can make up my mind about which wheelset I want to buy. I know part of the problem is that I weigh 220 pounds and use a seatpost rack with a trunk when I coummute. What other wheels are you fine cyclist using? |
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| #687 | leinad |
Jul 11 2007 10:15 |
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behanna, in traffic that is what I like to do too, ride in the right wheel track, it seems that if you try to ride to the right, lots of drives take that as an invitation to try and squeeze by. The narrower the road and the more lane I take up, on multi-lane roads I take the middle of the right lane.
gmule, mavic makes nice wheels. DAN |
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| #688 | autismjtm |
Jul 11 2007 14:04 |
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That may be my problem; that I try and get over too far to the right when riding. I am going to have to give the right wheel track a try.
I just talked to my parents over in Denmark. They are going to give me a new bike for my birthday, so it looks like I will be getting my trek hybrid. They are transfering money right now so I will get it soon. I am sooo excited. Jane |
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| #689 | autismjtm |
Jul 11 2007 16:37 |
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Just went to the bike shop. I talked to the guy for over an hour. Next week I will be a proud owner of a Trek 7.3 FX. Bring on the distance and hills 'cause here I come!
http://www2.trekbikes.com/bikes/bike.php?bikeid=1327010& f=26 Jane |
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| #690 | jc343 |
Jul 11 2007 17:19 |
| Jane: That's a nice looking bike. | ||
| #691 | autismjtm |
Jul 11 2007 17:27 |
| Thanks jc343, I sure hope it works out. | ||
| #692 | leinad |
Jul 12 2007 01:00 |
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jane, congrats on the new bike, bet you're real excited to get it! Next year you'll have to go on some of the club and charity rides.
DAN |
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| #693 | leinad |
Jul 12 2007 01:02 |
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BTW, here is the ohio cycling calendar link,
www.ohiocycling.info this list all the clubs and has a list of rides around the state to go on. DAN |
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| #694 | autismjtm |
Jul 12 2007 01:34 |
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I may just have to do that, Dan. First let me get a handle on the bike, lol. The gear shifters are different than what I am used to so I will have to work on that. Not to mention that I can pick this bike up with just one hand - it will take some getting used to.
Greg at the Medina Bike Shop was really nice. As soon as I told him I was considering (eventually) joining some of the rides he steered me away from the comfort bike. Since I didn't ride this morning (due to a little thing called "Oh my Lord, I really have to clean my house") I am going for a little evening ride before it gets dark. Thanks for the link. I will be checking that often. I plan on bringing Christopher down to the Buckeye Woods Park on Saturday. Jane |
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| #695 | jc343 |
Jul 12 2007 04:22 |
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Jane: I hope your evening ride went well. You will probably find that your new bike handles quite differently from the one you are riding now. It's call being more responsive but for me it was like the first time I drove a car with power steering. The bike, my stodgy Aurora, felt like it had a hair trigger. It made me feel very shaky in traffic. I have adjusted but initially it was quite unnerving. I just mention this as a suggestion that you might want to take some time making sure you are comfortable on your new bike before you take it out in traffic. But I am sure that you are going to be very happy with your new toy. By the way -- Happy Birthday. Joe |
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| #696 | autismjtm |
Jul 12 2007 17:33 |
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Joe, I totally agree. There will be lots of riding up and down our quiet street before I really hit the roads. I was just thinking about that today as I was pedaling up a hill. I have gotten quite used to handeling a heavy bike so the lighter one will be very different.
Now for my ultimate blonde moment. This one will go down in the history book. I was out there on my daily 30 mile ride. It is sooo nice out there with a cool breeze. Well, as I am riding along, I noticed a house that has been in the process of huge remodeling. It is almost finished and I was admiring it. I guess I was paying a little too much attention to the house and not the road because suddenly I found myself crashing my bike in a ditch. I drove straight off the road and hit the ditch head first. Thank goodness there was nobody around because it must have been quite a sight; feet straight up in the air and me completely entangled in my bike. Both the bike and me are ok and after getting back on the road I laughed so hard I couldn't catch my breath. So, note to self: sightseeing is ok, but main priority is to watch where the heck I'm going. LOL, where's the camera when you need it. Jane |
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| #697 | behanna |
Jul 12 2007 17:35 |
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gmule, at 220# and using a trunk rack, you cannot use a lightweight "boutique" racer-boy wheel on the back. You're going to want a more conventional 36-spoke (laced 3-cross) wheel from a reputable wheelbuilder. You could get away with a lighter wheel up front (the rear wheel takes most of the weight), but you'd be pretty well-served with 28, 32, or 36 spokes there, too, instead of the 16, 18, or 20 that are so popular amongst Freds these days.
As for where to get them, Peter White Cycles offers a lifetime guarantee on his wheels, or, if you're adventurous, you could try building your own. The only tricky bit would be the offset dishing on the rear wheel to compensate for the freehub. As Peter White notes on his website, offset rims reduce that trickiness somewhat. You could also do well buying from Colorado Cyclist, Peter Vecchio (I think that's his name, he's the Campagnolo guy on rec.bicycles.tech), or Sheldon Brown. You could also ask around locally to see if there's a decent wheelbuilder. |
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| #698 | jc343 |
Jul 13 2007 01:52 |
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Jane: You're not alone -- from the Tour de France today: 75km - A fall in the peloton...IT'S ANDI KLÖDEN!!! One of the favourites for overall victory!!! He has fallen into the ditch!!! He's back up on his bike after a few seconds, but is grimacing. He appears to have hurt his back. BTW, Kloden finished okay. He was 65th today but is still in second place 33 seconds off the lead. |
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| #699 | autismjtm |
Jul 13 2007 04:46 |
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Wow, I feel better about my fall then if Andi can dive into the ditch as well. I used to watch the Tour de France all the time when I lived in Denmark. Now I don't even bother because of all the doping problems. It is such a shame that they have to ruin sports like that. Of course I still go bonkers over a good soccer game.
You guys, I feel like a kid around christmas time. I can't wait to get that bike!!!! Jane |
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| #700 | nightc1 |
Jul 13 2007 17:56 |
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gmule, I've had one flat due to a loose spoke. Turns out I had quite a few others loose as well. I think it's good regular maintainance to not only lube the chain and air up the tires but check spoke tention. It doesn't take a fancy tool to do this... just push on em near the middle and any loose ones will seriously stand out. A little tightening here... a little there... and the chances of a flat or broken spoke go down considerably. Oh and hey I second the idea that you need 28, 32 or 36 spoke wheels for your size. I'm not too far below that @195 (200 clothed) and I wouldn't even consider anything less without losing some more weight. |
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