General Bike Thread (Desiderata, Questions, Pics)

[Cleav]

The store manager talked up the carbon wheels in depth. Hard part with a bike like this is I can never turn my back on it even when locked up. I was thinking of hiring goons to ride along with me and glare ominously at people.

Hey! Running those TL through an English Winter on a Trek Checkpoint SL7 - Zero Let Downs

Running Vittoria TL on my Bianchi XR4, last summer all good. Just about to get the baby on the road again...

 

[HRoi]

@smittycl i just came from the Trek store to replace a tire and they had a “Domane +hp” in stock, which sounds like your bike with a 28 mph Bosch motor. It’s $6999 which is around the same price as your SL7, no? If so I’m surprised that you can get the electric version for around the price of the normal one...

 

[smittycl]

@smittycl i just came from the Trek store to replace a tire and they had a “Domane +hp” in stock, which sounds like your bike with a 28 mph Bosch motor. It’s $6999 which is around the same price as your SL7, no? If so I’m surprised that you can get the electric version for around the price of the normal one...

Not ready for an electric-assist just yet. Those bikes are also fairly heavy even with the battery and motor removed. Cover sold separately I think.

EDIT: Tempting if it's the 28mph version. The normal ones are 20mph.

 

[HRoi]

Yeah I get it and I’m prolly not ready for an e-bike yet either. Was more asking whether it made sense that the e-version cost about the same as the normal one despite all the added motors and batteries

 

[smittycl]

Yeah I get it and I’m prolly not ready for an e-bike yet either. Was more asking whether it made sense that the e-version cost about the same as the normal one despite all the added motors and batteries

I think the main difference is the Domane SL7 had the Di2 electronic shifters but the +HP version didn't. I thought about just going for an ebike and using the power sparingly but was turned off by the weight comparison. SL7 much lighter than the electric version. Anyway, I'm sure there's an ebike in my future!

 

[patrick_b]

I wouldn’t consider it cycling but I love the idea of these Sondors motorcycle.

MetaCycle

Go beyond an eBike. Go beyond a motorcycle. Introducing MetaCycle. The new icon that changes the way you move.

sondorsx.com

 

[imatlas]

I wouldn’t consider it cycling but I love the idea of these Sondors motorcycle.

MetaCycle

Go beyond an eBike. Go beyond a motorcycle. Introducing MetaCycle. The new icon that changes the way you move.

sondorsx.com

View attachment 1583965

Taking their design cues from Tron - or Akira. I dig it.

 

[smittycl]

Peak bloom for the Cherry Blossoms today and DC will likely close down the Tidal Basin soon to keep the Covid-crowds at bay. Wore a mask and darted in for some pics on this beautiful day. Also, an Osprey flyover!

Ran afoul of a serious cycling Road Warrior. Road was closed to cars and he came zipping out of the shade at serious speed and, too focused on my next pic, I almost cut him off. Totally my fault and I got to enjoy the full Doppler Shift of Cycling Epithets from the full-on blue shift "What the **** are you doing!?!" to a long red shift of curses I couldn't quite hear but totally got the meaning of. I drank a Guinness in his honor later.

 

[otc]

I've had the spring-loaded tension poles before and they cannot be trusted. I've seen them fall and send bikes flying or stupid Siamese cat (we have two) gets up there and knocks it down. The wall-leaning gravity racks are just as dangerous.

My Ikea rod setup is not spring loaded, you tension it with a wrench.

It also has holes for adding retention screws to keep it in place. I used one or two in my last place. My current place has concrete ceilings so I just went with pure tension and it has held for years without issue.

 

[Cleav]

She's ready, Trek going away and Bianchi back on the start line...

 

[patrick_b]

Stopped on the bridge to finish my water bottle. This was the view. This is Deer Island and bridge on the right is the Newburyport Chain bridge, connecting Amesbury and Newburyport, MA. It's the oldest continually operated bridge in the country. The original was built in the late 1700's.

So damn windy, I was really struggling.

 

[sugarbutch]

She's ready, Trek going away and Bianchi back on the start line...

My buddy has the rim brake version of this in the matte black/celeste color way. Issa nice bicicletta!

 

[vdubiv]

She's ready, Trek going away and Bianchi back on the start line...

I should have bought 3 of these before we left Italy a few months ago, our friend that left a few weeks before us bought his son a bianchi and told me the states were dry, should have listened, could have flipped 2

 

[am55]

Anyone tried tubeless tires? The tires on the Domane I ordered are "tubeless ready." Curious if that is worth effort to avoid flats?

Controversial answer: Schwalbe Marathons, one of if not the most popular touring tyre (greenguard is fine and has tested the second best rolling resistance of the series, and can be found for 10-20 euros a pair on German sites with moderate shipping).

I like them so much I have 4 pairs on as many bikes. Tourers report tens of thousands of km without puncture. The ovoid shape lets you go wider, and relatively light pattern give good grip in most weather. If you do end up needing to swap them out, you won't cover yourself with sealant. They keep their pressure much longer than standard road tyres. I've even replaced the tyres on my MTB after reading up on the relative uselessness of nubs and the guys who ride slicks, and they do quite well there, in the grass, over roots, rocks etc. Lets me schedule rides that cut across less maintained places.

If I still raced, I'd probably have something much lighter on a separate set of quick release wheels and swap for events with good roads and weather.

The downsides: they're quite heavy, and can take forever to put on. I've broken plastic levers in previous attempts... Also, many people don't pay attention to alignment - the shiny strip should be parallel to the wheel throughout, but it's very easy to have it ride over a bit of the tube.

Here is some terrain I've ridden road frames with marathon greenguard:

Spoiler

 

[patrick_b]

She's ready, Trek going away and Bianchi back on the start line...

Gorgeous machine. Makes me covet carbon wheels.