General Bike Thread (Desiderata, Questions, Pics)

[otc]

Most shops will happily service them--at least the non "ebike" parts.

The motors are usually pretty self contained units (and probably go back to the manufacturer if anything doesn't work), but everything else is just standard fare. If you can replace a headset bearing, bleed a brake, or tune up a drivetrain on a normal bike, you can do it on an ebike.

As for selling--maybe not the random chinese online brands, but you can buy a trek ebike from most trek dealers.

 

[smittycl]

Now that it’s warming up the gravel bike path is filled with e-bikes. For the most part they are like every other cyclist but with slightly less situational awareness and more headphones.

Do regular bike shops sell and service them? They are so busy now I can't imagine taking on influx of a new class of bike. When I picked up my wheels there was a woman complaining that they couldn’t service her road bike while she waited. First available appointment was almost 3 weeks out.

E-bikes occupy all the window positions in our local Trek store. They are also the first thing you see when you walk in. City Bikes here in DC area has a separate building for them. I would imagine "regular" bike shops work on them as they have all the same parts as any bike. Trek's motors and batteries are modular so I would guess the shops do more replacing than repairing for those components.

How long until bikes have data ports like cars to tell you what needs repair?

ElectriCityBikes - Your DC Electric Bike Shop

www.electricitybikes.com

 

[Piobaire]

Fizik was great to deal with for the return. Great customer service.

 

[flipstah]

I'm fat.

New chains though; freewheels are a ***** to find

 

[otc]

The freehub sounds glorious...like Foo's Akrapovic exhaust glorious.

I will say...on my last ride I never had to say a word for pedestrians or slower riders to move over and let me pass. Just let the swarm of angry bees out for a second and they'd k now I was there.

DT ratchets aren't the world's loudest, but with the upgraded 36t ratchet it's got just enough noise for crowded path use.

 

[Fueco]

Some people don’t even notice the noise. I managed to scare the crap out of a hiker on my ride today despite coming up to pass her at only about 13 MPH on very noisy gravel AND calling out twice.

Oh, and these were waiting when I got home.

 

[otc]

I'm a Time guy.

I might put the ATACs on the MTB next time. I've been very much enjoying this flat pedal experiment, but being clipped in might give me enough oomph to make it up the hard climb.

 

[flipstah]

My brakes have two levers for the drop bar and the one on the top flat part sucks. I ride mostly the hoods so it's not a big deal, but is there something I need to adjust to make the top levers squeeze tighter?

 

[venessian]

My brakes have two levers for the drop bar and the one on the top flat part sucks. I ride mostly the hoods so it's not a big deal, but is there something I need to adjust to make the top levers squeeze tighter?

Not really. The secondary brake levers along the bar tops are called "safety levers" and always have terrible (very soft, squishy) attenuation relative to the actual brake levers. I'm not sure they even exist anymore, on newer brake systems.

All you can do is adjust the entire system (both levers + cable tension + pads (if worn) + pad toe-in (if possible) + pad holder alignment and clearance w/rim) as precisely as you can. But you will never achieve any real feeling of grip and reaction via the safety levers, they just don't have it, and indeed truly suck.

 

[otc]

Yeah...they also call those "suicide levers"...

They can actually be problematic in 2 ways. First, the levers themselves just don't work that well. They are flexy and they often bottom out before fully pulling the real lever.

Second, the original design of the levers worked by inserting itself in between the real lever and the lever body. This actually reduces the total travel available in the system since your starting point is now in the "slightly squeezed" position. If you have a nice combination of bad cabling/housing, long/flexy brake calipers, and weak pads, this loss of extra travel limits how much force you can apply even when you are in the drops and bottoming out the levers. Sometimes the suicide levers are easily removed which would restore your full lever travel.

Now...they *can* work fine if you can get the rest of the system dialed in. Fortunately it looks like you have alloy wheels (as opposed to chrome steel rims which will always brake poorly), If the wheels are perfectly true, you can put on good pads and adjust the brakes so they have very little travel to the rim (and maybe put on good cables/housing while you are at it) and you should be able to get adequate stopping power.


Depending on reach needed, you may also be able to replace the calipers. Tektro has some dual pivots with a long reach that might work much better than what you've got there.

 

[imatlas]

Some people don’t even notice the noise. I managed to scare the crap out of a hiker on my ride today despite coming up to pass her at only about 13 MPH on very noisy gravel AND calling out twice.

I have a pleasant little bell and a 120 dB electronic horn for situations like that

 

[venessian]

I have a pleasant little bell and a 120 dB electronic horn for situations like that

If anyone is looking for a nice bell, Spurcycle Bells are really good: beautiful, discreet, very well-crafted, extremely durable, and clear/loud but not at all obnoxious in tone (see the video in the link above).

If you subscribe to their email list they have "factory seconds" sales a couple of times a year at least, at nicely reduced prices. That is how I bought mine, and I could not tell the difference from new.

 

[smittycl]

If anyone is looking for a nice bell, Spurcycle Bells are really good: beautiful, discreet, very well-crafted, extremely durable, and clear/loud but not at all obnoxious in tone (see the video in the link above).

If you subscribe to their email list they have "factory seconds" sales a couple of times a year at least, at nicely reduced prices. That is how I bought mine, and I could not tell the difference from new.

How do you guys deal with not filling up your handlebars with stuff? My Trek DS 8.5 currently has an iPhone mount for the 7 Plus, bell, and small Bontrager headlight which seems like a lot.

When the Domane arrives I'll likely grab one of the small headlights that mounts below and just in front of the handlebars. Not sure I want to add a bell and may just keep phone in my Camelbak. Still resisting buying a bike-specific computer.

 

[Piobaire]

Get that Bontrager Pro light and it will hang under the stem Blendr mount. That will leave the top stem mount free if you want to do something. My Wahoo came with a nice handle bar mount and I used to have it center aligned, right over the headlight, but now it's off to the right side as I got a GoPro and that can sit in the center mount "street sweeper" style.

ETA:

Bontrager Ion Comp R/Flare R City Bike Light Set - Trek Bikes

Enhance your cycling experience with Ion Comp R/Flare R City Light Set. Shop now!

www.trekbikes.com

 

[imatlas]

If anyone is looking for a nice bell, Spurcycle Bells are really good: beautiful, discreet, very well-crafted, extremely durable, and clear/loud but not at all obnoxious in tone (see the video in the link above).

If you subscribe to their email list they have "factory seconds" sales a couple of times a year at least, at nicely reduced prices. That is how I bought mine, and I could not tell the difference from new.

That's my pleasant little bell (mine is black), and I back up with one of these:

dB140

140 decibels is the equivalent sound of a jet engine and 4 times louder than the nearest competitor so you can alert cars, buses, lorry drivers & pedestrians to your presence. It has two sounds - a piercing 'road' mode and a lower pitched 'park' mode for cycle paths. The remote trigger means it...

us.hornit.com