General Bike Thread (Desiderata, Questions, Pics)

[JohnnyMarr]

Does anyone have a favorite maker of belt-driven commuter bikes?

BMC's Alpenchallenge is nice. Cannondale also do a belt drive version of their Badboy hybrid, but I think it looks ugly with the lefty fork.

Boardman have just released a new range of hybrids, one of which has, I believe, Shimano Alfine Di2, not sure if they're available outside the UK though.

 

[emptym]

^Thanks @JohnnyMarr. Those are good recommendations. I wish they used silver components. I wonder why black has become the standard for seatposts, stems, handlebars, cranks, etc.

 

[tricky]

Just brought home this Cervelo R3...very excited for the spring weather to come around.

Last summer I purchased this Specialized Sirrus Pro Carbon as I've wanted to get into cycling for years but thought my bulging discs wouldn't allow it so I went with the more upright style. Turns out I was able to get in 2 hour rides without much discomfort so I decided to transition to a road bike. Hoping someone will purchased the Specialized locally but not sure how hot the market is for higher end hybrid/fitness bikes.

The only thing I'm looking for now is a used mountain bike for casual rides with my son (and family).

Didn't know this thread existed so hopefully will get some good ideas here!

 

[emptym]

This beautiful Nua is done!

Way more pics of it on the Nua website. And I'll post more of mine soon.

 

[emptym]

Some more pics:

Should be here in a few days. Very excited. I had initially ordered it with a carbon fork, but decided to spring for the titanium for its durability/reliability. I'll switch the grips to Odi attack ones that I've used for a long time, add some fenders, and pedals.

My old bike served me well as a year-round commuter for 25 yrs. This one should be even more fun, require less maintenance, and will probably outlast me. Now I have two reasons to hope my son will be about my size: my tailored clothes and this bike.

 

[otc]

Damn, that's pretty sick.

I've got a custom built cyclocross frame that I don't use... Kind of want to take it back to the builder and see if he can make it belt drive and add disc tabs

 

[emptym]

Thanks otc. The maker, Roberto, has such a good eye. Can't wait to get it on the road.

Who built your frame?

 

[otc]

Thanks otc. The maker, Roberto, has such a good eye. Can't wait to get it on the road.

Who built your frame?

It is a fillet brazed steel frame from the guy at http://www.humbleframeworks.cc/ although it was done through through another guy who was sort of helping him get off the ground with an order of not-fully-custom frames. As such, I think mine used cheaper tubing in some spots than his standard builds. Unfortunately, it looks like he may have stopped operating as the prices and the last photo are from 2015.

If you scroll down enough, you can see a few of my frame's siblings. Mine was the only one built with multi-speed dropouts, so it would be kind of a shame to convert it back to something else...but it has literally just been sitting in my office for a couple of years (bike was stolen, but eventually the stripped frame was recovered).

Mine has has a 2-tone orange/glitter clear powdercoat job and the right dropouts/brazeons for derailleurs, but is pretty similar to these.

 

[emptym]

Wow, that sucks that it was stolen. Neat frame, and nice stuff on his site. His instagram seems to be recently updated.

Never had a bike stolen, but I'm afraid of it for this new one. Will probably get a kryptonite fahgetaboutit. Roberto put Hexlox on the bolts for components.

Ordered this rear taillight because it integrates a reflector, although I now read that it doesn't flash (apparently illegal in Germany and the Netherlands and may not be safer). Just need to figure out how to attach it to my seatpost bolt.

 

[UnFacconable]

Anyone else have a peloton? Just got one and while it’s not a substitute for a nice ride outdoors it’s a great activity when you are trapped at home (for example, while kids are napping).

Will be interesting to see how much I ride it especially when summer rolls around and the trails beckon.

 

[otc]

I have rollers...and have used kurt kinetics...I just don't think I could ever justify buying something like that.

There are apps/websites you can use to give you classes if you need the added motivation...although my typical method was to start a new TV show and only watch episodes while riding (if you wanna see what happens, better get on the bike).

 

[UnFacconable]

I think it’s a little different from the rollers crowd. If you don’t want the peloton cycle, you can use their app on an iPad. You lose the ability to take live classes and the leaderboard, but otherwise can still participate. I have a friend who does it that way and likes it.

The leaderboard participation might not be for everyone (and wasn’t part of the initial appeal for my wife and I) but after one live ride each we totally get it now. Even if you don’t think you have any reason to be competitive with anonymous random, it provides some extra motivation and entertainment.

People who are more budget conscious and/or self-motivated to train aren’t the ideal audience. I look at it as having the most appeal to people who are not price sensitive and/or super time challenged. For my wife and I, it lowers the barriers to exercise and enables us to capture what would otherwise be lost time because kids are napping or we are in between activities or whatever.

I haven’t taken a spin class in 5+ years but for me this checks all the boxes and will end up being far cheaper than in-person spin classes over a multi-year period. The bikes have pretty high resale value too so even though it’s a big cash outlay, it’s more like a deposit than a sunk cost.

One caveat to my initial statement in this post is that I have heard / seen that there is also a hard core cyclist crowd that is really into the power metrics and uses peloton as like a serious part of their training regimen to target certain weaknesses, etc but since I’m not into cycling/racing as a sport I haven’t looked into it.

 

[otc]

Just ordered a 2018 Raleigh Redux 2 for my GF. Suspect it was a price mistake or something...Amazon just had a big sale on some past-year models, but the listing was for only $272 for the Small size 2018 model (or at least I hope they send me the 2018).

Marketed as a sort of "Urban Assault" bike, I figure it will pair well with my scwhinn varsity that I modified into a bomproof beach cruiser monstrosity with huge slick tires and a 2-speed kickback hub.

I was initially swayed by this old model Redux 1 that was part of their sale for like $200 or something (sold out quick though):

But it had a bit too aggressive a look for her (reviews on it were good though).

The 2018 yellow color plus the gum sidewalls should be great for her. As an added bonus, this is the Redux 2, not the 1, so it has slightly upgraded parts.

If it doesn't fit her well, I will probably be able to sell it for a profit rather than returning it...most places still seem to have it for near its $680 list price and the season is only beginning here in Chicago. Heck, the wheels and tires alone are worth what I paid (horizons are about $60 a pop)

 

[otc]

Also got a good deal on a used Wound Up Disc Fork (well, I hope that ebay purchase doesn't turn out to be too good to be true)

Looks to be a satin finish fork with fender eyelets and carbon steerer. I'm planning to rebuild my stolen (and recovered) frame to replace my commuter bike. I have wanted a wound up fork since like 2010...the plan was always to put one on this bike, but they were having production delays during the original build and then the bike got stolen before I ever got the wound up.

Then I might be tempted to get a Paul's Klamper. They are stupidly expensive, but I already have a satin finish minimoto for the rear (well, missing a couple parts following the theft, but I can get replacements) and the orange adjuster wheel is just with my orange frame:

Plan right now is to either do something like 1x10 gearing or try out an internal geared hub. The latter seems silly though given that I have the only one of these frames ever built with a derailleur hanger. Pipe dream would be to have someone mod the frame for a belt drive...

 

[otc]

Why don't more companies that make "anti-theft" swewers include an anti-rotation tab?

I found these Hexlox Skewers and they seem like they avoid the most common problem with most similar products...namely that you can just grab the other end with some pliers and usually untwist without having the right size allen wrench (or security wrench). Putting anti-rotation tabs on the nuts basically makes this impossible and seems like a super easy solution to a common complaint with every other similar product on the market.

Not sure how I feel about their "hexlox" thing beyond that though. It is actually a pretty cool idea, but I am probably not going to bother with them. Simply replacing QR with a bolt (and in this case, putting a plastic cap over the bolt end) has typically been enough for me to feel comfortable. On seats/forks, the bolt is usually enough, although on this new build, I will probably go with the ball-bearing and candle wax in the bolt head trick once I get everything dialed in.