Bicycles

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Tinton
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Bicycles

Post by Tinton »

I know there's a few road and mountain bikers here, I just thought we should have a thread to show off our bikes 8) :P.

Here's mine, a Schwinn Avenue Hybrid:
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It came with hybrid tires, a lightweight aluminum frame, and a long-geared 21-speed meant for cruising on surface streets. The rear tire got slashed a few months back, back when I parked it outside :evil: and I had to replace the tire. The local bike shop was selling really thin ultra-performance bike tires for half off ($20) so I got one of those :mrgreen::
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With the current tire setup, the bike feels perfectly balanced. I had an expensive $600 road bike last fall that got stolen :evil:, that thing was awesome but it couldn't corner worth shit, it'd just understeer like f*ck. My current bike has none of that, with the big wide hybrid front tire it has good grip in cornering and with the ultra skinny rear tire its ridiculously easy to power the bike :twisted:

Here's a picture of the front:
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I need to find a way to put disc brakes on it. At least a front disc brake, one of these days (wearing a helmet, of course) I wanna take it to the mountains for some riding. That'd be insane :twisted:
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Tups
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Re: Bicycles

Post by Tups »

I have a '03 Cannondale F500, but since it's well past midnight and the folks are sleeping, I'll take a picture of it tomorrow. Even though it's a mountain bike, I rarely take it off sealed roads since I like doing long day trips in the countryside, 140 km being the longest so far, instead of some random driving in the nearby woods. Everyone always wonders why I spent so much money on a bicycle I use so rarely...

Anyway, opened my personal bicycling season today with a 50 km round trip to our summer cabin. I guess I really have to start driving again because I had nearly forgotten how much I enjoyed it.
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potownrob
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Re: Bicycles

Post by potownrob »

Back in the 90's I used to ride bikes on a daily or at least weekly basis. I started out with a couple of department store bikes: a knock-off BMX called a Vortex (complete with a front chainring that looked like a CD) and a Columbia 10 speed "mountain" bike. I rode them around the neighborhood and my dad would take us to different places to bike now and then (he had a Motobecane road bike and my sister had a Huffy road bike).

Around 93-94 my neighbor got a nicer mountain bike that could actually be used on our nearby trails without walking up the hills. It was an 18 speed Giant MTB, not a highend model by any means, but it put my heavy Columbia to shame. I begged and begged until my mom finally got me a Mongoose Threshold MTB in the summer of 94. This was actually a better bike than my neighbor's with lighter cro-mo main tubes, deluxe Altus derailleurs, chainrings, shifters and other goodies. I started riding on the trails more. Sometimes I would go all by myself. Other neighbor friends still had heavy 10 speed bikes so they couldn't keep up on the trails despite me being much heavier than them (albeit not even close to how big I am nowadays). The Mongoose held up to my abuses with practically no intervention from the bike shop techs. I took care of the brake pads, lubing and changing innertubes.

In 1997 I got a pleasant surprise when my grandpa brought home an almost new Trek 7000 MTB he had recovered from one of the properties he landscaped and maintained. It was a rich lawyer he worked for and his kids were spoiled rotten. One time they got a new Apple computer, and the next morning it was found in the pool. This $700 bike was put out with the trash, not because it was junk but, apparently, because the kids didn't want it. Very little had to be done to get the Trek running well. I had a local bike shop do a $30 tune-up and check-up and I was on my way, or so I thought. Apparently, this bike was not as dependable as the Mongoose (which I soon sold to a friend's brother). I don't know if it was the alluminum frame or what, but this bike was always being worked on. Luckily, I learned how to work on it, but it still cost money in parts, and I couldn't take it on the trails without being ready to work on it without warning. The tires rotted out at least once a year if not twice. The brakes were never right. The chainrings wore down quickly. It also didn't help I went through alcohol pads like water trying to keep the rims clean. On the bright side, the bike was superlight for a mountain bike (of its time at least) and climbing hills and negotiating trails was a joy while it was working well. The STX-RC (modern day equivalent would be Deore) components worked very smoothly other than the brakes. I liked that the shifters allowed you to change multiple gears at a time (rather than having to go click click click click to change down or up 4 gears, you could go up or down 4 gears in one movement).

Once I went off to college in 99 I pretty much stopped riding bikes. I gave my Trek to one of my neighbors and he still has it now. I bought a lowend Giant MTB just to have a bike, and I rode it a few times with my neighbor, but I eventually ended up selling it to my sister since she needed a bike and I wasn't using it. I later bought a nicer Motobecane MTB on eBay, planning to ride it on the trails near my grad school (Minnewaska/Mohonk near New Paltz), but I haven't ridden that bike once other than when I put it together.
ClutchFork wrote:...So I started carrying a stick of firewood with me and that became my parking brake.
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Re: Bicycles

Post by potownrob »

Tinton wrote:I need to find a way to put disc brakes on it. At least a front disc brake, one of these days (wearing a helmet, of course) I wanna take it to the mountains for some riding. That'd be insane :twisted:
I think you would want rear disc before front disc, unless physics have changed since I used to ride or you want to fly over your handlebars. As far as I know you need a fork that has the mounts for the discs to mount a front disc. Not sure how it works for rear disc these days but I'd imagine there would have to be a mount on the rear stays if you want a rear disc. There was a similar issue in the olden days of cantilever vs. v-brakes but the rear mount was higher up near the seat of course.
ClutchFork wrote:...So I started carrying a stick of firewood with me and that became my parking brake.
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Re: Bicycles

Post by theholycow »

potownrob wrote:deluxe Altus
:lol:
Apparently, this bike was not as dependable as the Mongoose (which I soon sold to a friend's brother). I don't know if it was the alluminum frame or what, but this bike was always being worked on.[/quote]It's not the lighter frame, but the lighter components. The higher-end components, tires, etc are designed to provide performance as a tradeoff to wear life. That's fine for the sort of people who usually buy that stuff, since they enjoy replacing parts often, and are likely to upgrade on a regular basis anyway. It's like ultra high performance tires for cars; they might have a treadlife of 20,000 miles at most, but they squeeze out another 1 mph on the driver's favorite turn...

I used to ride a lot and started to get heavily into that stuff. I wish I was still doing it. Instead, once or twice a year I gather up the energy to drag myself onto a trail, where my neglected old stuff is likely to break, and then I go home.

I can't even bear to put together the energy to clean up the road bike, let alone try to actually do some road riding. I should clean it up and sell it.
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Re: Bicycles

Post by theholycow »

potownrob wrote:I think you would want rear disc before front disc, unless physics have changed since I used to ride or you want to fly over your handlebars.
Common FUD, just like the FUD leveled against automatics here, or the FUD leveled against manuals elsewhere. With a little practice (very little practice), you learn that the front brake is far more effective and controllable. The rear tire can't slow you much no matter what, and the front can do the job safely. Back when I did lots of riding I rarely used the rear brake. I did a very wide range of styles, aggressive off road, mud, smooth trails, aggressive road riding; it remained true in all conditions.

Anyway, disc brakes aren't required to provide threshold braking front or rear, nor are they required to modulate your braking well. They excel at clearing mud quickly and are probably luxurious to use in many riders' opinions. Decent cable-actuated linear pull rim brakes provide as much force as you can use, easily modulated, with simple inexpensive bulletproof systems. I'm sure hydraulic brakes are nice, I'm sure disc brakes are nice, and I'm sure hydraulic disc brakes are especially nice...but not necessary for good braking, nor any more or less necessary if you want to face plant.
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Re: Bicycles

Post by AHTOXA »

My type of thread now!

Disc brakes work well with continuous braking. Rim brakes can heat up and have an issue dissipating resulting in reduced performance. Disk brakes stay cleaner riding in the woods. Mud and dirt don't get on them as easy. They usually have better performance in the wet than regular rim brakes. Also, you rim doesn't wear out. :)
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Re: Bicycles

Post by AHTOXA »

Here's my Specialized. I'm hoping to upgrade to a Trek Fuel next season but want to keep this one. It's been faithful to me and got me into the sport. Even though my next bike will be a full-suspension rig, riding a hardtail is much less forgiving. It's stock for the exception of the bar ends, Shimano clipless pedals and Panaracer Fire XC tires - which are absolutely outstanding, IMO.

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This damage is from the previous weekend of riding. I was kinda messing around with this ledge and misjudged the rock. Smacked my ring gear hard on it. This bent the teeth in. I'm kinda tired of losing teeth this way so I will end up taking it off completely (no need for such gearing in the woods) and replace it with a bash guard.

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P.S. Speaking of hardtail vs. full suspension. My friend that I ride with has a good full squish rig. He doesn't ride as often and in a bit lesser shape. I notice that usually because of his FS rig he can outrun me just a bit going downhill where I have to be more careful and pick better lines. I got on his rig and couldn't believe how much faster it was simply because of how forgiving it was. Much more traction as well due to suspension in the rear. At the end of the day hardtails are for hardasses. :mrgreen:
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Re: Bicycles

Post by wannabe »

i see a cat :)
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Re: Bicycles

Post by theholycow »

Sounds like you'd like disc brakes. Rim brakes work fine if you remember to squeegee them (by braking lightly for one revolution) after running through a puddle, but if you don't you'll have to wait one revolution before you get good braking.

AHTOXA, why spend on a guard when you've already got a bashed chainring? Either leave it alone and just tune it out with the derailer limit screw, or grind off the teeth and tune it out. If you leave the teeth there, it's still good for sticking into logs to pedal over them.
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Re: Bicycles

Post by AHTOXA »

Ash, quality rim brakes provide plenty of stopping power even when they are wet but I am talking really good quality, top of the line stuff. Your run-of-the-mill, Walmart stuff will never work right.

If you do not ride trails, you do not need disc brakes. When riding in mud your disk brakes stay clean. If they do get muddy, the clean out really well without sacrificing stopping power. Another advantage of disk brakes: if the wheel gets bent (out of true), disk brakes will still work like they have before whereas rim brakes will rub or with if it's severe enough, they have to be disconnected completely to allow the wheel to spin and not rub.

It's hard to bend a wheel riding on pavement and I don't assume you're gonna cross a lot of streams and mud. A set of quality rim brakes will be best.

However, disc brakes do have a negative side - they are heavier than regular rim brakes. This is another major reason why road bikes do not use them. On the trail weight is also important but it's only a small downside as opposed to the benefits if provides.

Mr. Bovine, a bash guard is smaller and provides more ground clearance. This is a big plus. The bash guard's small "teeth" (more like a few raised ledges) are angled back so they can slide over obstacles if you don't pedal or bite into the log if you decide to pedal over it. With the riding I do I need to slide over rocks and the ring now has too much bite with the teeth - it's not effective.

Plus, if I do manage to unclip during a fall or something, the bash guard won't eat my shin for dinner with it's teeth unlike the chain ring now. That happened to me as a kid and I still have 3 "claw" marks on my lower shin. :D

For $15 that it costs it provides many benefits in my case.
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Re: Bicycles

Post by potownrob »

AHTOXA wrote:(cool stories and pics of Tony's beat-up bike)
DAMN, and I thought my chainrings were bad!! How the hell do you drive that thing with so many pieces practically missing from the chainrings?? Mine were worn down, but not missing :lol: :!:
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Re: Bicycles

Post by potownrob »

theholycow wrote:
potownrob wrote:deluxe Altus
:lol:
Altus actually was deluxe compared to the base Shimano SIS component set which was what you'd find on a highend department store bike. The shifters were more precise and easier to shift and they just felt more professional than cheaper sets. For 94-95, and maybe a little later too, the Alivio component set would have been better for what I used it for (set up for 7-8 rear gears and rapidfire shifters), assuming it was more durable than the STX components (STX offered multiple gear switching, which came in handy on the trails). I don't think it much mattered which Shimano brake set you had if they were cantilevers as they all sucked by design. I heard good things about other brands of brakes though (this is talking about the metal brake assembly, not the pads which is another story).
ClutchFork wrote:...So I started carrying a stick of firewood with me and that became my parking brake.
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Re: Bicycles

Post by ColJessip »

I've had the same bike since 9th grade. When I used to bmx

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Re: Bicycles

Post by potownrob »

theholycow wrote:
potownrob wrote:(Rob's experience with brakes)
Common FUD, just like the FUD leveled against automatics here, or the FUD leveled against manuals elsewhere. With a little practice (very little practice), you learn that the front brake is far more effective and controllable. The rear tire can't slow you much no matter what, and the front can do the job safely. Back when I did lots of riding I rarely used the rear brake. I did a very wide range of styles, aggressive off road, mud, smooth trails, aggressive road riding; it remained true in all conditions.
Unfortunately, I probably won't even try out your theory, though I could easily be wrong. Truth be told, I didn't dare test the front brakes by themselves on the trails (at least while going downhill) and, when I read a bike magazine (which I did a lot back then), I didn't try out many of the techniques they tried to teach. I had almost no trouble stopping with just the rear brakes and, when I did need a little extra stopping power, I would just add a little front brake. That I didn't need more than the rear brakes using a crappy cantilever system should tell you I wasn't the most aggressive rider but rather a more casual trail rider, the sunday driver of mountain bike and 4 wheeler trails.
Anyway, disc brakes aren't required to provide threshold braking front or rear, nor are they required to modulate your braking well. They excel at clearing mud quickly and are probably luxurious to use in many riders' opinions. Decent cable-actuated linear pull rim brakes provide as much force as you can use, easily modulated, with simple inexpensive bulletproof systems. I'm sure hydraulic brakes are nice, I'm sure disc brakes are nice, and I'm sure hydraulic disc brakes are especially nice...but not necessary for good braking, nor any more or less necessary if you want to face plant.
Back in the 90's many people were afraid to upgrade to hydraulic brakes due to reported problems with these new systems. Even cantilever brake systems were WAY better than old-school caliper systems. If it were caliper brakes vs. hydraulics, I think more people would've taken the risk earlier on.
ClutchFork wrote:...So I started carrying a stick of firewood with me and that became my parking brake.
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