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Biking Nerds Unite

test riding is key. so is deciding what type of bike you want.

if you are commuting on roads, you may not want a road bike. counterintuitive as that sounds. i use my road bike exclusively for riding paved trails, not roads that are shared with cars. i see many people riding their road bike as a commuter. it's doable. i suspect many of them have been commuting by bicycle for longer than you and me.

with road bike posture, which is aerodynamic, the natural tendency is to face down. instead of looking up, at cars and other surroundings. also road bikes have you leaning forward over the handlebars, which can be scary in traffic. some people, myself included, are more comfortable on an upright bike in traffic. road bike tires tend to be thin with a high psi. great for going fast. not so great for normal road hazards such as debris and potholes. road bikes tend to be more expensive because of features that may not matter to a commuter, such as an ultralight frame.

there are bikes called "hybrids" and bikes called "comfort bikes." both are the same idea, the latter sometimes being a little heavier in exchange for features that add to your comfort like storage space and wider tires. when looking for a bike, give these two types consideration. they are designed with commuters in mind. order of price from least to most expensive usually goes comfort, hybrid, road.
 
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I've been leaning toward the hybrid types given the variability of road conditions around here, and the fact I haven't used a proper road bike. More traditional experience / stance with hybrid.

There's a guy who uses a recumbent trike with a tall flag in my area. He is very odd.

However, I won't pass up a good bike if it pops up. And perhaps I'll replace some of my runs with bike trails instead, especially if my knee goes balky again. Also, the speed.
 
yeah, mixing up the running with some biking is a great way to give your knees a break.

i brought my bike in tonight. the new one. it's not supposed to rain or snow, and i need it first thing in the morning. i couldn't leave it out there in the cold. carrying it up the old-building stairs to my apartment building, i was wondering whether leaving it out over night or all the bumps in the stairwell put more wear on it.

i've already left it out overnight. a pretense wasn't even made that wouldn't happen. i replaced the quick release in the front with a key bolt. a thief could figure out a way to twist that bolt, but they're not gonna. not out on the sidewalk while the bike is locked up.

in addition to the frame, i get the back rim and right pedal in the u-bolt. getting the right pedal in there makes things tight enough that the u doesn't have much room the move. it's low and goes across the top of the drivetrain. there's not a low of room to wedge anything something like a hydraulic jack in there. especially without messing up expensive components that would effect both resale and ability to drive the bike away. plus when i can, and i almost alway can, have my drivetrain face the bike rack, pole, or whatever i'm locking to. the in addition to the u-lock obstructing them, the components are even harder to get to in order to remove to take and/or create room to get at the bolt. if the do get at the u-bolt, it's the standard kyrtopnite lock. not one of their crazy versions, but not one of their minis either. actually i looked at one of their minis, and it weighed as much as mine. i don't think they actually make small bike locks. which is the idea. yeah, you could grind through my u-bolt. that's about the only way it's gonna open. for using a grinder, the bike's in an inhabited area and the lock is in an awkward area on the bike. it could happen. i wouldn't even been all that shocked. but i've developed a system. though it no longer includes the best strategy -- ride beater -- it's still a formidable system with many layers. i believe. as of now.

i didn't wanna leave my bike out in the cold. not tonight.
 
it was 30 degrees fahrenheit and snowing this morning. slush madness. eating breakfast i was trying to decide. if i took the bus, there were no transfers. straight shot there. i wasn't business casual -- where i live, this term means very dressed up but guys' jackets don't have to match their pants like a legit suit -- but i was wearing office appropriate clothing.

i biked. i'd showered, my underwear was different than the pair i wore yesterday, and the outfit i was wearing was professional and laundered. wasn't gonna let some nonsense tool of class warfare persuade me to choosing a boring fossil fuel burning box over a morning ride on a self-powered vehicle i love.

i got to the office reasonably clean. i could tell as i was riding; i was not becoming wet. slush was not spraying the crotch of my pants and shooting up my spine. because i have fenders now. real fenders, big enough to do their job.



check out this cool purple bike parked on my block ...

cool%2Bpurple%2Bbike%2B1%2B2000.jpg


fixie with a front brake. steel frame. i can't quite make out who it's by in the photo. first time i've seen it. someone got a new job or a new ride.
 
Fan of the purple.

Tried out a few bikes today in this dreary weather (warm though). Don't quite have a feel yet, but so many choices.

Yeah, I'll be glad to not be burning so much fuel anymore. Probably did close to 25000 miles last year. At least some were in an electric and a hybrid, but transporting some stuff, and traffic, I definitely upped CO2.
 
oh man, what did you try out? excited to hear about your selection process.

check out my cockpit ...

cockpit%2B-%2Btouched%2B%2Brear%2Bview.jpg


cockpit%2B-%2Btouched%2Bfront%2Bwinner.jpg


the gopro is attached to a blendr base piece without the $20 blendr gopro mount due to some smart thinking from the people working at my local bike shop. i could remove that cygolite, move the reflector a bit to the left, and use an blendr mounter headlight. would clean things up a bit, but that's a lot of money to spend. i'll wait until the cygolite stops working or we'll see which bikes get which lights when autumn roles around and i use my road bike for exercise again. that tiny light on camera right is the front of the glo/ember set. that's gonna go on my road bike because it has a blink mode that's not too bright, so i can have a normal headlight on low but a light blinking so pedestrians actually see me but don't complain about a too bright flashing light. because none of the headlights i've ever bought have a dim blink mode. right now it's on my commuter as life preserver in case my headlight goes out and i'm not home yet. i got three taillights -- the ember, a standard mounted on my seat stem or whatever that's called, and a the coolest light on my back fender (bontrager flare 1). only gotta run outta batteries riding home in the dark once before you make sure it doesn't happen again.

i'm currently chatting with gopro right now to make sure it's not stolen. i got it yesterday through facebook marketplace using paypal/usps. there's no serial number on it (they put it on the stupidest sticker). the exif data doesn't contain it. so i don't know what else i'm supposed to do except contact gopro and see if they have any way of checking if it's stolen. if it isn't or they say it's impossible to know, i hope they give me a new serial number

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gopro says they do not think it's stolen but a new serial number is not possible or necessary. works for me.
 
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oh man, watching videos of myself running errands on a bike is almost as fun as running errands on a bike. was a little chilly out there today. i see from your log that the cold isn't scaring you off, @nuttynutskin. hell yeah.

i hope gopro makes another session model. crazy it wasn't a huge hit. 1.5" cube, water and dirt proof even without a case. that case is an open frame to hold it in place on my bike. it doesn't need that at all for protection. it's completely self-sealed. $80 off craigslist including shipping.

come on, checktest. tell us what you tried out and what you thought of them. i love talking bikes.
 
^builds character.

anyone got goals for 2020?

i want to bike at least 3.5k miles this year. pretty sure i’ll crush that. but this will be my first year keeping track from start to finish, so hard for me to know what an achievable yet difficult number is. also will depend big time on how much running my knee let’s me do.
 
Bikes are awesome. Mines in the garage gathering dust. I forget it's there,too easy to jump in the car and drive. Driving isn't the same though.

I feel for my boy,when I was his age I was zooming around everywhere exploring on my bike...Total freedom. He can ride but doesn't want to,he says "I could fall off and hurt myself." He's got a point that I can't argue with,even though I try.
 
what? riding bikes around with friends was my favorite part of childhood. closest thing you get to freedom as a little kid. yeah, like you say, “total freedom.” i couldn't believe how far we could ride from home and all the new areas to explore.

guess it’s not a terrible thing he’s safety minded. enjoy that while it lasts.

what kinda bike you got? would love to see a photo of it, if you’re comfortable sharing and get a chance.
 
Little delay here. Sorry about that

I stopped in a bike shop not too far from one of the sites I used to work and saw this in the clearance section. Something must have been funny. Even my size and ride height, strangely. It wasn't quite what I was originally thinking of particularly, but a few test rides of some and I decided to go for it.

Lights and reflectors are removed while I do some inspection but I have them ready.

Specialized divergence e5. Low road / bottom entry adventure with shimano claris. Don't think it has a typical rack setup possible but I'm testing out a bit. Looking at some of the components I can see possible issues, but at the price I got relative to what I saw online, even used, I'm not complaining.

Did a test 5 miles today, with a backpack. Man, this is a lot better than running. Worked great and felt fantastic. Has been years since I've properly moved on the road.

Sure it is Superbowl Sunday and a bit quieter, but even the heavier roads here aren't like where I was. Definitely more burbs and exurbs

xV7ETD7.jpg


Did try out one of those trek fx 4s you have, thinking more in the fx 3 range. Definitely nice, but wasn't at my price point for starting out.
 
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looking slick! is quite similar to my fx sport, except with with drop bars. could call yours a road bike with a touch of hybrid geometry and mine a hybrid a touch of road bike geometry. good angles and nice compromise of plenty of reach to lean into the ride, but not so aggressive it's scary to use a commuter.

thanks for sharing a photo. looks like an awesome choice for a lot of practical use. those 700 x 35 tires and carbon fork should deliver a comfy ride. looking forward to hearing how your opinion of it develops as you tack on the miles.
 
Ugh, why did I have to answer my phone this morning? Missed the chance to bike to work. Got roped into some small errands that could have been put off. Next time.

Upper 40s, clear, sunrise before 7 and sunset after 5. Better than the snow that is coming.

Yeah, it was a good ride, especially compared to the old bike I had. I wonder how some light dirt trails will be for longer distances. Only a short stretch yesterday. Hoping to try one next to the train tracks or near the forest.
 
was beautiful day out. only got to ride around for errands, but that was enough to enjoy it. cannot put my love for the gopro into words. though i'm running into issues. have 1tb internal ssd and a 4tb external hd, but recording every ride -- in 1080, not even 4k -- is filling up space at a problematic rate.
 
There was legit, a homeless person with their tent set up IN the right lane of the bike path today. I was almost gonna stop and take a picture but I wanted to keep my ride going. I'm so over this homeless shit everywhere. I have sympathy for people that have fallen on hard times, but I have no sympathy for the ones that leave trash, feces and needles everywhere or that think they have the right to camp anywhere they choose, even if they get in the way of pedestrians/bikers.

/rant
 
my chain is slipping. cut my ride short tonight. luckily i rode all day long without it being a problem, and it was a crazy nice day.

gonna bring it in tomorrow. every bike comes with a free tune up in the first 90 days, and i bought it about 60 days ago. i still expect it will cost me parts, as i assume i've stretched by chain.

i won't complain about the bill. usually i would, but the place i'm bringing it in to is also the place i put an application at last week. i really hope they hire me.

i have a date at 3pm. i'm gonna bring it in the second the open at 10am. but it probably won't be fixed in time. that's ok. i have a 90s steel hybrid i can use in the interim. also my date has a car, which is like a second mutilated head far as i'm concerned. she's 23 and absolutely beautiful, so i'll let it slide. i really hope she's not dating me because she wants to be a model and she saw my instagram account.
 
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Got stuck behind 2 morons riding about 4 mph today. I usually say "On your right" but they were side by side blocking both lanes so I just said "Behind you" to no avail. So the guy finally looks back and sees me, then they both move into the wrong lane where someone's coming with their dogs. Seriously thinking of getting an air horn and strapping it to my handle bars so I can use it to scare homeless people and other assorted idiots out of my way.
 
be nice to homeless people. i'm not sure of the connection, but somehow homeless people and cyclists are on the same team. we're both just trying to use the city.
 
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