General Bike Thread (Desiderata, Questions, Pics)

[HRoi]

Couldn't agree more. I've had one since June. I will never ride without it. It picks up vehicles so much farther away than I can see or hear. It's amazing knowing how many vehicles are stacking up behind me up to 1.5 football fields away. I still look over the shoulder if I have to cross the street but it increases situational awareness 100 fold. I turned off the beeps and stick with the visual/color display. I got used to it pretty quickly.

Virtually every review I saw loved it after initially thinking it was a gimmick. Same for the guys I've spoken on the road. Seems like about every third bike I see has one as well. The only negative is when a vehicle slows to match your speed for a second, then the car disappears until they change speed. Again, you kind of grow accustomed to knowing if a car disappears that it may still be there.

I've been averaging 3 rides/week or about 5 hours/week and the battery can last me two weeks between charges. I tend to charge the Bolt and the Varia every week anyway but in the event I forget I know it'll last.

I picked up a 3D printed mount which seems a bit more secure than the rubber bands.

View attachment 1686138

View attachment 1686139

Good looking out. The rubber bands are stupid and don’t even hold the unit straight. So I need a mount like that. Also good to know that the battery life holds up as advertised

 

[sugarbutch]

Why not a rear view mirror?

Okay boomer

 

[otc]

I've been riding in clips for a long time now but have considered switching to flat pedals for safety as I continue to not get younger, only I'm not sure if it actually is safer. Mainly thinking about technical areas mountain biking, not road biking if/when I get back into that eventually. It's been years since I've had any issue unclipping at will when I need to.

Further insight on the flat vs clipless question. Did an epic 19mi shuttle ride yesterday (thanks to my wife) and decided to swap in the clipless pedals.

Mostly downhill but still some good climbs in there--1800' of elevation gain, but 5200' of descent. Went from the top of a small ski area (that you drive to the top of) all of the way down and over to a town trail system where you could throw in extra laps if you felt like it. Awesome ride, but not super challenging terrain so its on my list for taking visitors from out of town.

Being back on the clipless pedals felt great on the climbs. Solid power transfer, ability to crank hard on them out of the saddle or spin really smoothly in it.

But oh man, my feet/calves were killing me on the long out-of-saddle descents (and given I'm on a hardtail and local terrain is chunky...I'm out of saddle as soon as there's any decline). I guess I underestimated how much comfort benefit you get from being able to reposition your feet on demand. With a flat pedal, you can always step forward a bit to give the muscles a rest.

I'll also admit to having a stupid low-speed crash due to the clipless pedals. When I made it to a lookout over the park where it ends, I stopped to call my wife (she was hiking in the park). Hung up and stepped back on the bike to turn around and leave the lookout...right foot clicked in and bike started moving forward, but the rear wheel bumped into a rock and stopped the forward motion. At this point I had 100% of my weight on the right foot, left foot was on its way to the pedal, but when forward motion stopped I lost balance and was already leaning to the right. No escape at that point...went the rest of the way over and bashed my knee into a rock.

 

[Piobaire]

Went for dinner at a friends' place last night and he does triathlons. He has a Cervelo P5 Di2 Dura Ace. Incredible piece of equipment and looks as uncomfortable AF.

 

[otc]

So...those Intense 951 trail bikes are back in stock at Costco.

I went #YOLO and ordered one (and upgraded my costco membership to Executive for the 2% back). Yes, I'd probably rather pay a little bit more for something like the Fezzari Delano Peak, but they are back to looking at 35-40 weeks of lead time. My 951 is supposed to be here Thursday so I can still ride it this season.

These photos from the Intense 951 outlet (where they resell the returns) actually convinced me...Still not the prettiest bike, but looks way better than on the costco page where it looks more black & white.

As I understand it, these are the exact same Intense Primer frames, but specced lower. Intense sells the frameset for $3k, so for an extra $250 you get an entire bike (although they might use a lower spec rear shock).

Parts are decent enough. I've been happy enough with a SRAM SX drivetrain, so NX will be fine, just heavy. Fork is only a Rhythm 36, but again...still better than what I'm riding now. Wheels and tires are pretty meh, but they are the same rims that would have come on the Delano Peak.

And hey, if it sucks, Costco has the best return policy. No need to feel bad as Costco usually insists "just take it home and try it, bring it back if you don't like it" (and based on the inventory on the intense951 outlet page, they have no problem reselling the returns).

 

[UnFacconable]

So...those Intense 951 trail bikes are back in stock at Costco.

I went #YOLO and ordered one (and upgraded my costco membership to Executive for the 2% back). Yes, I'd probably rather pay a little bit more for something like the Fezzari Delano Peak, but they are back to looking at 35-40 weeks of lead time. My 951 is supposed to be here Thursday so I can still ride it this season.

I mean I need another bike like I need another backpack but damn you if you didn't get me to consider another one. Really though the 951 won't give me anything I can't get on my wife's Ripley and I don't have more room in the storage room for another bike.

Yeah, still thinking about it. Thanks for nothing otc.

 

[HRoi]

$3.2k for carbon frame, full sus, disc brakes with dropper post seems like a great deal if those components (which I have no idea about except for the SRAM NX) are of decent quality

 

[smittycl]

Dateline DC: this just in… knocked out a decently fast 25 miler with new flat pedals. I could feel the difference of course. Data was basically the same as previous rides, though, no noticeable loss of time or speed. It was nice having feet free as recent rain and wind had the trails covered with debris.

Pedals are nice and sticky with the screws pointing out. As someone mentioned before, one downside is that the pedal will shred my shin if I ever lose footing.

Also, anyone ever sweat out a contact lens? I hate when that happens. Ran into my eye and washed the lens right out. Pedaled home like Popeye the sailor.

 

[otc]

$3.2k for carbon frame, full sus, disc brakes with dropper post seems like a great deal if those components (which I have no idea about except for the SRAM NX) are of decent quality

Yeah, it is a nutso deal. I think I saw someone try to price out the build kit (starting at the $2999 intense charges for the frame kit) and it was like 5k.

Rumor is that they had plenty of frames but with the parts shortage couldn't come up with congruent build kits at high enough levels... So throw together whatever you can get, paint it a different color, and sell it at Costco.

But who knows how it will ride. That's the real question. I can make do with the parts but if I don't like how it rides, I'd much rather spend more for something else.

 

[bicycleradical]

Being that we finally had some glorious autumn weather, I took the lady on a bike ride on the C&O Canal towpath. We ended at the Monocacy Aqueduct, a nearly 200 year old bridge. Scenes along the towpath included the Dickerson Generating Station.

It was a beautiful day to be out and the trees along the path shielded us from the worst of the wind.

 

[otc]

Wow, that's actually an impressive lack of elevation gain for that distance!

Looks like solid place for any sort of sustained effort training--no need to stop, no big terrain variations, etc.

I looked back at my recent history and even this ride along the Chicago lakefront made it into the 100s of feet just from having to climb a couple of overpasses/bridges and random small inclines.

 

[kjb]

*edit* whoops, wrong thread

 

[bicycleradical]

Wow, that's actually an impressive lack of elevation gain for that distance!

Looks like solid place for any sort of sustained effort training--no need to stop, no big terrain variations, etc.

I looked back at my recent history and even this ride along the Chicago lakefront made it into the 100s of feet just from having to climb a couple of overpasses/bridges and random small inclines.
View attachment 1687588

The canal towpath is flat as a pancake until you reach the Eastern Continental Divide, that is.

 

[otc]

Ugh--part of the "parts bin" element on that Intense is that they are still using an old Hyperglide hub instead of a new XD or Microspline (unclear if the freehub can be swapped). If I want to upgrade the wheelset, I either have to buy an outdated wheel, or buy a new cassette.

On the flip side, I just peeked at the spec list for the Specialized Stumpjumper EVO Comp Alloy and it does the same thing with the old HG hub.

In fact...the EVO Alloy Comp has an almost identical build kit to the Intense Trail except:
1. 10mm more travel
2. Maybe better tires
3. NOT carbon
4. $550 more expensive

 

[Fueco]

A friend posted his n+1 build on Facebook.