[Vicegrip]

Hope you get rid of the silver bar set soon!

[Vicegrip]

@ShawnoftheDread 38342 wrote:

I keep thinking that’s ACC’s driveway, and that she has a staff.

asylums have staff too…..

[Vicegrip]

I have a trailer you can have. Payment would to post a picture of in happy use.

[Vicegrip]

I recently shopped for and purchased a road bike and found that the bottom end of the market was steel bikes. Think big box sporting goods stores. I think bikes are simply evolving. Lighter is better all other things the same. Steel is not stronger or more durable in some ways. Forks for example. A carbon fork can be flexed far more times than a steel fork can before failure. A steel frame is less likely to be damaged from a chain suck but can rust up internaly if water leaks in via the seat tube. If I wanted a trditional steel frame with modern running gear bike at a reasonable price I would check craigs list for a built bike or the frame I wanted and build one up just the way I want.

I work with metal and I understand why bike builders are using aluminum. It forms well and lets the builder use advanced geomertic shapes to give added strength without added materal or weight. What was once a metal that required more highely skilled workers to weld can now be done via machine.

Sometimes you just have to swim against the current if you want something out of the mainstream.

[Vicegrip]

I am reading “The escape artist” by Matt Seaton. About a normal guy that gets the cycling bug and races early in life. He became a husband and father leading a normal life later. So far it is good. Have not found it in digital form. Free for the next BA when I finish.

[Vicegrip]

@dcv 37758 wrote:

Why does this remind me of a Rush song? Red Barchetta

Have to say I am thankfull that my voice is a bit deeper. (except for a short while after I completly slipped off the pedal while messing up a stop light launch and then kinda sorta landed on the top tube)

[Vicegrip]

@Tim Kelley 37712 wrote:

I used to work out there and would make the trip from Arlington. Let me know if you want some routing tips.

Please, would like to stand on the sholders of giants. (AKA the tall KOM king with good experence) Will open another thread to lessen the hijack of this one.

[Vicegrip]

For me it was all highlights as real riding is new to me this year and overall quite tame considering the riding experences of many otheres here.

Middle of a ride on my old entry level mountain bike a little thought popped up, “Ya know, I really like trucking around on a bike”.

First ride on my new crabon bike. 10 min in I knew I was at the beginning of a good thing with lots to learn and refine. I bought my road bike without ever even test riding it and having not ridden a drop bar bike since I was in my late teens.

Getting my bike, body and kit good enough that I find myself “forgetting” that I am powering the bike. The bike is making the light oil ssssss of the chain along with the sound of wind and tires on pavement. My mind drops all else behind. Not thinking about cadence or if my heart is thumping or I am hot or cold or this or that body part is grumpy. I look down at a spinning crankset that is powered by “a” set of legs rather than my legs. I look around and soak in the world as it rolls past me. Shifts happen as needed without thought, the autopilot portion of me maintaining a cadence, power and speed that feels both fullfilling in pace and almost limitless in abundance. The steep hills are anticipated as something to attack with known reserve power rather than a task simply to make it to the top. Skills improve enough to understand and start to feel nuance in the bike, the rider and the road taken.

For 2013 I plan to mess it all up and figure out how to ride to work in Tysons corner without learing to hate everyone in a car. :rolleyes:

[Vicegrip]

Am truly sorry to hear this. I hope you heal well and quickly.

[Vicegrip]

If you get a bike that is otherwise not considered repairable let me know before trashing it. I have welded a lot of aluminum things that were deemed not repairable by others. I am not in any way a pro bike mechanic but have a good bit of experence welding up various metals.

(the car in the avatar is one of my ground up hand builds)

[Vicegrip]

^yes some systems use asymmetrical tooth groups, gearwall indentations and other methods to help instigate and complete shifting. In my case it was clear it was a rock ding and was the only tooth in the same condition. The chain would hesitate slightly then drop into the tooth gullet when rolling into the bad tooth. It did not do it when on the small sprokets and i am guessing it was due to the big cog to big ring cross chain angle. YMMV.

[Vicegrip]

I had a rattle in my crabon framed bike that turned out to be one of the internal cables. High energy, high frequency vibration was needed to meake it sound. Added a small zip tie to each end of the cabel and pulled it tight inside the frame to fix.

Had a tight chain chainring related click on another bike. I ended up finding it when I got around to cleaning and and inspecting the big chain ring. I found a slightly bent and dinged tooth. Unbent it with an ajustable wrench and filed off the ding for the fix. Only clicked when on the big ring in front and a one of big sprockets in back. (Did someone say “sprokets”? Now we dance!)

[Vicegrip]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2133[/ATTACH]A bike, some free time and an open road.

[Vicegrip]

Bike on stand hands busy.
Tools done chain clean and oiled.
Daylight comes spokes will speak.

[Vicegrip]

@KLizotte 37493 wrote:

You should show up wearing a kilt one day. Now that would blow his mind!

But don’t roll it up!

[Author]

Posts