The Bicycle / Biking Gear Thread

See all caps inserted in your quote for my responses/suggestions.


Theodore said:
Oh, I'd ride them down too, they just give me eye cancer. :embarrassed: I had never had anything more than a 32c tire on a road bike until the Raleigh I had last year with Donnelly X'plor and I'm sure there are much better 40c tires but they were sooo slow on pavement. GONNA HAVE TO FIGURE OUT THAT ONE MYSELF. SECOND SET OF WHEELS, NARROWER TIRES I GUESS


I've probably bought four or five times the amount of bike stuff in the past month, especially this week, than I have in my whole life. Bought bibs, a short sleeve jersey, a thermal long sleeve jersey, a wind/light rain jacket, skull cap, sun sleeves, gloves, a saddle, two pairs of socks, long sleeve base layer, leg warmers, grease, lube, chain tool.... and bike. Almost bought tights but think the leg warmers will probably suffice. I WEAR CHEAP, LIGHT BLACK LONG UNDERWEAR FROM COSTCO OVER MY CHAMOIX, UNDER MY BAGGIES. WORKS GREAT. SUPER CHEAP. Oh, and some SH56 cleats I better need for my shoes that will fit or else. They get here tomorrow. Still need pedals if they do but I didn't want to gamble that much yet. Probably get 520s. I JUST GET SOME PRETTY INEXPENSIVE SHIMANO SPD’S FOR ALL MY BIKES. CONSISTENCY WORKS FOR ME, AND I DON’T CARE ABOUT A FEW GRAMS.

Wanting a non-cotton cycling cap for relatively cheap but don't know what to get or where. AMAZON HAS SOME. THAT CANARI ONE I HAVE IS PRETTY GOOD, AS IS A HEAD SWEATS ONE OR SOMETHING. I CAN TRY TO FIND YOU A LINK OVER THE WEEKEND. Would also like some better sunglasses for under 50ish that won't let in a bunch of sun from everywhere except the lenses.I JUST KEPT MY EYES OPEN ON FLEABAY FOR SMITH PIVLOCKS, INTERCHANGEABLE LENS TYPES. THE KIND IN ALL MY BIKE PICS. FOUND THEM WITHIN THAT RANGE ON FLEABAY AFTER I WAS PATIENT. I USE THE “CLEAR” LENS A LOT, AND THE ROSE, AND HAVE A DARK LENS ALSO THAT I USE LESS. OH, AND A YELLOW I ALMOST NEVER USE.
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jbj said:
Cheers for the input guys. It's actually in pretty good nick so not too much reswotting to do.

Picking up some new inner tubes tomorrow, the rear wheel needs a little bit of truing and I shat a chain on the ride down so I'll have a look at the front derailleur but apart from that it looks good to go.
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:facepalm:

Never even got near the derailleur.

Spent an hour dicking about with the front tyre before giving up - the valve was slightly bent so couldn't get a proper seal with the pump, tried to fix it with pliers, you can guess how that worked out. 2nd tube went on and wheel inflated and back on the bike in 2 minutes :facepalm: I'll pick up another for the rear wheel whenever I'm back out shopping.

Before I got to truing the wheel I had a look at the brakes- front ones work perfect, rear ones wouldn't release. Cue another hour dicking about with the pads, cable, levels et al before taking it apart and realising the spring wasn't re-engaging.

Eventually took it right off and gave it a proper clean. Still nothing from the spring. I'm about to start looking for places I can order a replacement online when I knock it over, it hits the deck and boom - spring action is working again. Must have had a bit of grit or something in at the pivot.

I can't even be bothered putting it back on the bike today incase it turns something else up that needs fixed :embarrassed:

Will get it on tomorrow, have a look at the derailleurs and, inshallah, that should be me ready to go. Pics and that will be forthcoming.
 
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nuke_diver said:
Looks nice SVL and ultegra too!

I miss being about to ride the trails. My gravel bikes isn't as quick as my Cannondale but more comfy on the county roads and so much fun on the interurban trails. I've wondered about taking it on the easier (easiest???) MTB trails but I'm too old and chicken for that having never ridden them before.
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I'll ride non-technical trails, but not going to get foolish on anything with roots or rocks.

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:shock:

Guess I'll be waiting till Monday at least. Estimated delivery is Tuesday.

Also ordered a POC Octal X helmet. A lot of people think POC helmets look dumb but I dig 'em, a lot more than typical road helmets that look like a tacky spaceship to me. I just hope it doesn't look enormous because I do hate that.
 
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Don't care that much (it's raining) but I could have had it today if I'd known DHL was going to give it to the post office. They left a note in my mailbox but I didn't get it until after they were closed. *spits* Guess I'll get it on Monday.
 
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Cable end snapped and jammed in my shifter with a tiny little frayed bit sticking out. Not enough to get any purchase on but just the right amount to keep cutting my hands and not have any space to fit a tool in to push it through!

Spent an hour trying to jiggle and force it out before giving up.

Having googled it it seems that campagnolo shifters are slightly smaller so the cable end may be stuck anyway. Going to take a drill to it tomorrow and hope for the best otherwise it's going to be an expensive fix.
 
nuke_diver said:
Yikes! jbj hope you can fix it
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I'm not so sure tbh. Drilling will get the cable threads separated from the end piece but it might wreck the mounting point inside the shifter too. I had a few tentative goes earlier and I think the heat the of the drill friction may have welded the led "bullet" onto the shifter mounting point : facepalm:

Big chain bike store - £2 for a cable and never had a problem. Pops in and out of the fitting like butter

Small local place you try to help out: £5 and causes a complete cluster fuck.
 
Got a bad joke of a bike packing job today. Left wondering if they got it from Cube, threw away the box and all the packing materials, then put it in a generic box with almost no protection. Not even going to do the remaining assembly. Off to shop for an inspection. I was nervous enough about ordering from Wiggle but I didn't know they had bought Chain Reaction, which I wouldn't have ordered from after reading too many stories. Of course that's where it came from.


Now I'm thinking I should just return it even if it costs me 60-90 bucks to ship it back. I don't want to find out there's some additional problem after riding it and not be able to return it. Fuck a duck. More pissed because I felt pretty confident about the bike itself. It's made in Taiwan and assembled in Germany at Cube, no alarm bells there. But then....
 
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Turned around and late-night angryordered the Impulso I was hung up on to begin with for delivery by the 5th. After trying to calculate the reach and stack of my road bike a million times, I think the Bianchi may be a bit more relaxed than I thought.

So pissed. It looks like a shitty residential ebay seller packing job. No protection for the crank arms or rear derailleur, which was flush with the inside edge of the box. Front wheel had its own cardboard piece but it was loose and there was no additional protection for the rotor or anything else. Some random cardboard sleeves and globs of masking tape. Greasy smudges all over the frame. Pads on the rear wheel were dialed in great if I wanted to go .5 mph. Pedals and other accessories were in a cinch bag loose and could have been banging up and down and around. I would literally bet money that it came to them in a well packed factory box like the immaculate one I got from Raleigh last year and they just fucked it up to look busy, then ticked off the included checklist in one go. Very thorough, thanks.

Helmet was too small but still looked enormous. :lol:

Most of the clothes I ordered were too small even though I went by the charts. Garneau, chief offender. I guess cyclists don't want to think they're one size too big.

Just needed to vent. I sweat the small stuff more than I sweat the big stuff. Acts of god, homocidal leaders, etc? Daily angst but what are ya gonna do. Negligent packaging and inaccurate sizing info ? I'll get over it but someone must die now.
 
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Theodore said:
Turned around and late-night angryordered the Impulso I was hung up on to begin with for delivery by the 5th. After trying to calculate the reach and stack of my road bike a million times, I think the Bianchi may be a bit more relaxed than I thought.

So pissed. It looks like a shitty residential ebay seller packing job. No protection for the crank arms or rear derailleur, which was flush with the inside edge of the box. Front wheel had its own cardboard piece but it was loose and there was no additional protection for the rotor or anything else. Some random cardboard sleeves and globs of masking tape. Greasy smudges all over the frame. Pads on the rear wheel were dialed in great if I wanted to go .5 mph. Pedals and other accessories were in a cinch bag loose and could have been banging up and down and around. I would literally bet money that it came to them in a well packed factory box like the immaculate one I got from Raleigh last year and they just fucked it up to look busy, then ticked off the included checklist in one go. Very thorough, thanks.

Helmet was too small but still looked enormous. :lol:

Most of the clothes I ordered were too small even though I went by the charts. Garneau, chief offender. I guess cyclists don't want to think they're one size too big.

Just needed to vent. I sweat the small stuff more than I sweat the big stuff. Acts of god, homocidal leaders, etc? Daily angst but what are ya gonna do. Negligent packaging and inaccurate sizing info ? I'll get over it but someone must die now.
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Mojo!
 
Only taken it out of the box but bike #2 is a lot more like it. Almost everything well protected, so much so that I can barely see the thing. :embarrassed: All the more confusing that they didn't protect the rear derailleur either. There's a plastic guard over the thrubolt skewer on the other side but nothing for the derailleur. Looks ok but it definitely got punched into the side of the box a few times. Looks like the bike was on the shop floor but barely ridden if at all. The other one, the big ring had noticeable wear on it, and that's from a direct order joint. :facepalm:

Y'all are laughing at me for not going LBS, aren't you. :embarrassed: Just couldn't find what I wanted here. Most local actually had a Felt Broam that I was looking at early on but after becoming more familiar with geo I realized it had the wheelbase of a mid 70s Cadillac. Stop laughing at me. :cry: The Wiggle crapis still hanging over me but I got in a couple days just short of 50 miles when it wasn't pouring or gusting so that was nice.

Pics to follow, I hope. Stem is turned sideways, so now I've got to rearrange that for the first time. Researched it plenty but still paranoid of torquing pinch bolts and top cap too much or too little.
 
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So can of worms time. What chain lube do you prefer? Up here, it is pretty dry unless you ride some creek crossings. I am thinking I will switch from Triflow which I have used, trying to use sparingly and keep things clean. But it still seems to built up, attract some dust and get black. Gonna try Rock and Roll gold for the good bikes, and maybe use Triflow on the family bikes that see less attention. What do you guys like?
 
I'm still going through a bottle of R&R Gold but when it's done, I'll just use Dupont chain saver from now on. I've switched over to it exclusively on my street motorcycle and it's a great wax lube.
Effective, cheap & widely available at hardware stores, box stores, etc.
 
Used an ancient bottle of prolink for who knows how many years and just ordered a new one. It works... I think. Can't be bothered to compare. I get plenty of gunk but I would be surprised if anything else didn't around here.
 
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