Any cyclists here?

[DaveC]

I would never ride a carbon handlebar. I am a big guy. Theyhave a habit of snapping for 150lb mountain goats. Think about a face plant at 40mph. Other than that, caron is fine. Just don't crush it in your bike stand.

I won't use anything other than a carbon handlebar. Modern C handlebars damp vibration far better. With Al I had issues with inflammation in my finger joins that completely went away after switching to a well-designed carbon bar. Check out the link below, parts of the handlebar are oval in order to tune flex and damping characteristics.

OneUp Components 35mm Rise Carbon Handlebar

Ride further. Ride harder. And keep your hands feeling fresh all day. Our Carbon Handlebar’s patented oval shape noticeably reduces arm pump and hand fatigue by dampening vibrations and increasing steering response. EWS-winning precision meets all-day comfort. Get more from your bar. Save on the...

www.oneupcomponents.com

This one has a smaller diameter clamp diameter and uses fancy layups in order to tune the flex and damping:

Da Package

ALL WRAPPED UP IN ONE.DA BAROut of the mould our 800mm wide carbon handlebar is offered in 20mm, 27.5mm and 35mm rise options with a 5° up-sweep and a 8° back sweep. We inlay cut marks allowing for precision cutting from 800mm down to 740mm. Hand Laid in Kamloops, BC Canada. DA STEMMachined from...

www.weareonecomposites.com

The ride is SO MUCH better with these bars vs Al, but whether it's worth it depends on the individual and their sensitivity to vibrations.

 

[MarkusBarkus]

...I gave up on clamping carbon. I highly recommend the Silca Hirobel. If you wrench on your bike often, it's worth it. Or you go with the "platform" stand where you remove the front wheel. I use that for washing bikes. It's more of a bother (for me) for general purpose. Good to take to races or for race/ride support. You will see them in the pro-pit areas.

HIROBEL

SILCA has acquired Hirobel Cycling Solutions and has moved production to SILCA HQ in Indianapolis. Our engineering staff at SILCA has more than 35 years of combined experience developing carbon fiber wheels, frames, cycling components and even carbon components for auto racing and aerospace...

silca.cc

BTW: the composite repair place mentioned on the Silca page (above) Ruckus Composites is a great resource for carbon repairs. Very thorough. They did the repair on the tri-frame I mentioned. Embarrassing pics. My shop is a mess with home projects.

 

[Gregadd]

Note: having a frame collapse in a crash is not necessarily a bad thing. You want anything but your body to absorb that energy.

 

[MarkusBarkus]

... @Gregadd you are definitely a glass half-full guy. Love it!

 

[Atmasphere]

Should Cannondale return to aluminum? Suppose they gave this treatment to their CAAD5 fame. They probably would have to design a new frame to accommodate disc brakes, etc. I think that was the last version. I believe the only advantage carbon would have would be comfort. The solution to that is gel. Cork handle bar tape, gel inserts for shoes, gloves and shorts would help. that with the trend toward low pressure tires. Remember most discomfort on the bike comes from trying to make the bike go fast.
Suppose Cannondale gave this treatment to an aluminum bike.

Ride comfort mostly comes from tires and the contact points. Tire pressure plays an enormous role.

The lightest bike I have is from 1954; a Bates All Rounder employing Reynolds Cantiflex tubing. Bates figured out that frames get whippy from being butted at the ends of the tubing with the middle of the tubing being fairly weak. So they had Reynolds make a tubing set that had the butting in the middle of the tubes instead. Not only is it lighter, but its also considerably more rigid. Reynolds only makes the Cantiflex tubing for Bates. Its as light as any aluminum frame.

 

[rando]

I lasted a season. I liked pushing myself but realized that a crash would probably put me out for months. I’ve come to realize that I’m the sort of person who likes the apres ride social side of group rides, but I prefer to ride alone, at my pace, with my rules of the road.

Pre-pandemic and especially pre-dating fears of active call up to service in parts of the world far flung and not so much. Foreign friend of someone I knew locally got caught up in a wave of interest towards exploring their small corner of the world on a bike. Despite hesitation to confront their options with me from a nonexistent state of fitness and, more polite than colorful terms I absorbed, commanding spirit. The online conversation that developed had wider positive effects. At least a handful of people across the spectrum of new or used and meditative to increasingly vigorous found entry into cycling.

The course was exceedingly simple. Accept some well meaning advice on your purchase and how to adapt your fit. Then get into the practice of going for numerous short easy rides with a few hours separation.

Out of this only one person chose barreling around inner city traffic with no brakes. Resulting in numerous broken bones and becoming the sort of person who attended the après ride social events in a vehicle. Make what you will of it, but they were the sole (unmentioned) individual in this group located in North America. All others balanced respectful practices with moments of injected excitement. Slowly developed as riders with increased focus on noticing changes over time that many sag into.

Job done. Friend's and all other's concerns alleviated.

On the topic of speed, I joined the local chapter (I’m in the ‘burbs) of a Toronto cycling club during the pandemic. Weekday rides left at 5:40 am but fortunately the meetup point was just up the street from my house. There’d usually be 10-15 of us in our group (there was also a faster ride group) and I got quite a rush out of going fast as part of a group. But it wasn’t relaxing in the slightest. First, I was pushing the upper range of my fitness trying to hang with the young bucks. Second, it was pitch black when we set out. Third, some new guys who I hadn’t ridden with before would occasionally ride with us so I needed to get used to their habits. Fourth, every little bump had to be called out down the pace line which, frankly, got annoying. And fifth, because the roads were pretty empty, we used to run lights and stop signs to keep the momentum going.

After countless formal and informal group rides. Not to mention encounters with friendly challenges by CC hero types on $$$$$$ new bikes with vastly more ability in all directions than they have interests towards developing.


It's only really fun to do repeatedly for many hours if you can relax inside any effort. Bobvin and wife believably can intuit moving beyond hazards or predicting them. A lot of the time you just have to accept taking the front or reverse dropping a group. Relax.... Smooth at the front simply produces effects all the way back.

Choosing one positive of spiraling bike prices would have to be the secure environment a rolling Millionaire's club all personally insist on. At least in practice you encounter better personal control by intelligent perceptive company sharing that close of space by choice. The best rides I've finished weren't regulated by something so measurable as average speed. Acceptance of safe behaviors as a group at complete disregard to... always tops that list. Followed by unflappable return to form after an issue. Never in need of discussion, sometimes vocalized.

 

[Gregadd]

Ride comfort mostly comes from tires and the contact points. Tire pressure plays an enormous role.
View attachment 121278
The lightest bike I have is from 1954; a Bates All Rounder employing Reynolds Cantiflex tubing. Bates figured out that frames get whippy from being butted at the ends of the tubing with the middle of the tubing being fairly weak. So they had Reynolds make a tubing set that had the butting in the middle of the tubes instead. Not only is it lighter, but its also considerably more rigid. Reynolds only makes the Cantiflex tubing for Bates. Its as light as any aluminum frame.

We ride the same tires.

 

[Atmasphere]

We ride the same tires.

I've since gone to tubular Continentals since this photo. They allow for lower pressure since there's no inner tube to pinch flat. A real pain in the rear to mount on the rims though and it took a bit of a search to find alloy rims of the right vintage and pedigree.

I've been riding 28mm on my road machines with clinchers, but I've been finding things so much better by going to 32s. I'm a bit of a Clydsdale though.

 

[MarkusBarkus]

...reading about sourcing parts makes me think to ask if you guys know about SVB in Berlin:

Steel Vintage Bikes | Online Shop for Vintage Bicycles, Parts & more

Steel Vintage Bikes is your shop for vintage bicycles from the worlds best brands! A wide selection of Eroica bicycles, vintage bikes, retro clothing, cycling shoes and more. Colnago Super, De Rosa, Eddy Merckx, Pinarello

steel-vintage.com

Good folks and nice place if you find yourself in the neighborhood.

 

[Gregadd]

We have a vintage bike shop.
I never go there.
I prefer the occasional find at the thrift store.

Both of my current bikes are thrift store finds.

 

[Bobvin]

Rule # 12:
// The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.While the minimum number of bikes one should own is three, the correct number is n+1, where n is the number of bikes currently owned. This equation may also be re-written as s-1, where s is the number of bikes owned that would result in separation from your partner.

 

[DaveC]

Rule # 12:
// The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.While the minimum number of bikes one should own is three, the correct number is n+1, where n is the number of bikes currently owned. This equation may also be re-written as s-1, where s is the number of bikes owned that would result in separation from your partner.

Now is a great time to N+1, most mfg'ers have huge overstock, you can get bikes and components for 30-40% off right now, and the "old" cable actuated drivetrain parts are even cheaper.

Here's my latest +1, a '23 SC Nomad. This would be around a $10k bike, I probably paid about half that with a combination of sale pricing and used parts. New prices are about what used prices were a year ago and used is even less.

 

[MarkusBarkus]

...nice scooter, Dave C. I'm so old school, it's a hoot when I see the new school pie-plate cassettes. And the head angles? I need to rent a 29er set-up and recalibrate my mind. I love the single chain-rings, BTW.

I "made" one in '97 maybe it was, but without the cool engineering wolftooth and modern rear-Ds, which are so cool. I had to scab a "keeper" from the Volvo downhill wrench. A complete frankenbike, but still my coffee-bike. The frame was from a catalog photoshoot. The frame is rattle-can flat black. But custom Headshock Valving! Total sleeper. And SRAM Woody rear-D. Love the Santa Cruz full-squishy. Very nice.

 

[DaveC]

...nice scooter, Dave C. I'm so old school, it's a hoot when I see the new school pie-plate cassettes. And the head angles? I need to rent a 29er set-up and recalibrate my mind. I love the single chain-rings, BTW.

I "made" one in '97 maybe it was, but without the cool engineering wolftooth and modern rear-Ds, which are so cool. I had to scab a "keeper" from the Volvo downhill wrench. A complete frankenbike, but still my coffee-bike. The frame was from a catalog photoshoot. The frame is rattle-can flat black. But custom Headshock Valving! Total sleeper. And SRAM Woody rear-D. Love the Santa Cruz full-squishy. Very nice.View attachment 121284View attachment 121285

Nice, love the wood RD and vintage chainguide! I've been on single front rings for many years, at first it was with a 36t cassette, now there's 52t, although I use the "old" 50t cassettes. So my DT is pretty out of date, it's only 50t and cable actuated, no batteries on this bike! The 32t chainring is from Absolute Black. I also use their graphene wax and lube, my drivetrains seem to not wear and I never have to clean them. I was able to put a new chain on a 2 y/o old dt, this is generally not possible without excessive noise/grinding. For me it's a miracle product but of course ymmv... initial application is key and not easy to accomplish, cleaning a new chain isn't trivial.

If you haven't tried a modern mtb, they're pretty well dialed, everything works really well and they are pretty intuitive to ride. My new SC Nomad is a mixed-wheel bike, 29" up front and 27.5" out back, it's called a Mullet or MX. They react faster to turning inputs and don't require as much lean angle as a full 29'er, overall a bit more agile.

 

[rando]

I "made" one in '97 maybe it was...

That is a work of art in progress. Still appreciating.

 

[Atmasphere]

I found out about the Lake Pepin 3-Speed Tour about 15 years ago. Its been one of the more fun things to do with a bike, and revitalized my interest from high school in Sturmey Archer 3 speeds. So it became an interesting challenge to work with vintage machines. This is a 1935 roadster that I put together to test to see if the frame was going to be alright prior to restoration. The second photo is after restoration; it took months to sort out the correct graphics for a pre-war roadster. The bike had been optioned with stainless rims, spokes and drum brakes so the rear hub is a type KB.

 

[Gregadd]

 

[Vienna]

Been away from Hi-Fi for a while, trying to fall in love with it again, perhaps it was the incorporation of my new business which kept me away. Fortunately got deeper in long rides.

 

[Gregadd]

Been away from Hi-Fi for a while, trying to fall in love with it again, perhaps it was the incorporation of my new business which kept me away. Fortunately got deeper in long rides.View attachment 122183

sweet

 

[Gregadd]