27 replies to this topic

[nole.kennedy]

Just curoius if any of you guys are bike riders? I commute by bike about 90% of the time (when I'm not with my family) almost always riding to work, to run errands, and to go out with friends. Also, I just converted my first fixed gear about a week ago and I'm having a blast riding it around town.

[Hans Christian Anderson]

hi nole!

i'm about the same too, i'd say i use a bike for roughly 90% of my trips within the city i live. to work, to get groceries, to see people, etc. my bike is essentially a cyclocross ride somewhat modified for touring/commuting. sporty enough to be able to ride relatively fast + hard around town if i want to, but substantial/comfortable enough to handle the traumas of commuting + touring.

i also have a hardtail MTB set up for XC riding thats in relative shambles at the moment, but i hope to spruce it up this summer and get out of the trails a few times in 09. i rarely use it but i refuse to give it up b/c, despite only using them the way they're supposed to be used a few times a year at best, MTBs are just too much fun:).

went to a "bike swap" this morning in fact to try to get a new home repair stand, but came back empty handed.

i'd love to get into real cross riding+racing one of these days. i'm just too busy (and out of shape) at the moment, not to mention that race culture always weirds me out. that said, true cross riding looks like a lot of fun.

i'm in the process of planning my first tour in ~5 years: riding around the olympic peninsula w/ some friends this summer. i will update this thread accordingly w/ my plans + stories if anyone's interested.

i've yet to jump on the fixed gear bandwagon, but i try to support their popularity instead of talk shit about their being a fad as so many people seem to do. anything that gets people on bikes is a good thing in my eyes. however, with seattle's hills and wet pavement, they make little sense in my eyes. there have actually been a few fatal fixie accidents in this city in the last 2-3 years. seattle's yet to adpot a law requiring a handbrake to my knowledge (portland, or has), but its not like it's really going to be enforced anyway. go figure. a friend of mine does have a gorgeous old steel track frame that fit me well and that he's willing to give me for free. another tentative summer project is building that up w/ dirt cheap/shit parts as a beater/cruiser of sorts, and would likely go the fixed or single speed route w/ that.

actually, what i'm most in the market for bike wise at the moment is a tandem. in high school my friends and i gradually built up a fleet of old schwinn tandems that we'd outfitted w/ everything from a soundsystem (to bump r. kelly and other assorted R+, bmx pegs on the front and back so we could roll w/ 4 people, to a full touring set up to aluminum foil around the spokes to make it look like escalade wheels. it was kinda performance arty, acutally. we even recorded a rap song about tandems, check it out here: http://www.myspace.c...ahamandrobjeezy. anyhow, my housemates and i need one. it's a great catalyst to spontaneous and/or drunken adventure, and a decent romantic/pickup tool taboot.

anyhow, rant over. i love bikes!

[James D]

[kaliman]

I just got back from running some errands. I'm on my bike about +90% of the time. At this time of year I am using a bright green 76' Schwinn Varsity. I turned it into a single speed (not fixed gear, I refuse to join "the bandwagon") with horns and fenders. This year with all the snow I got some Schwalbe Winter Marathon tires that kick all kind of ass. They have tungsten carbide studs, and are bomb proof. Sure they weigh a ton but my winter bike isnt a lightweight either. The best deals I got this summer was the Schwinn which I got at a garage sale for $25! And a used tandem which I got for $125. I have EASILY spent more than double fixing up both bikes but they are completely worth it now. My normal ride is a Jamis Nova.

[Petition]

I have a Trek 7300 FX but I am loathe to ride it since the roads are so damn congested where I live AND a couple of bikers have been run over by automobiles and killed, of late.

[Soma]

Only on the weekends as my sixth-form is too far away and I'm leeching off the state.

[nole.kennedy]

Cool to see there are a few other bikers out there. My main bike is a 27 speed cycle-cross. When I first started riding a lot I used a backpack to haul things to work (laptop, change of clothes) but found that my back got so sweaty so I outfitted the bike with two rear-panniers which makes commuting so much easier and less sweaty. At the start of this winter I changed from standard road tires to much more "knobby" tires to help with traction in cinder, wet, or snowy conditions. For the most part, I'll ride in any weather. The harriest of conditions that I rode in so far has been snowing with 3-4 inches on the ground and 20 degrees. Honestly, it was fucking scary. I almost went down like 15 times. I also just purchased a single speed mountain bike with front suspension. Last year I borrowed a mountain bike for summer trail riding, but this year I'll be able to use my own. I went for a single sped because it was cheap and many of the trails around Central Oregon are pretty flat. I haven't had an opportunity to go ride it yet, but I'm really looking forward to trail riding a lot more this spring. As I said, I also just converted an old Takara ten-speed road bike to a fixed gear. I found this bike last winter at the end of my street stuck upright in a huge mound of snow. I left it alone for three days and when no one claimed it, I called the cops to make sure that I could take it. They said that if its been abandoned for more than 48 hours that it was mine. It had been sitting in my garage since then. After riding a buddy of mine's fixed this summer, I knew I had to have my own. I was hesitant to jump on the bandwagon, but after riding his I realized how much fun fixed gears are. I finished the conversion about two weeks ago so I've only just started riding it around town. The only thing I hate about the fixed gear trend are the holier than , smug asshole group of people that often ride fixed gears. Its like this club of too-cool hipsters and its annoying. I don't buy into that shit. I'd really love to get into long-term touring. I want to ride from Bend to San Fran. camping the whole way, but I really have no idea how to start training or how a tour like that works. We'll see if I ever really do it. Any ways, I'd love to hear any bike riding stories whether its commuting or touring or whatever. Post 'em here!

[norton]

Yea, a new biking thread! I love to ride. Can't really ride to work (no shower at the office), but I get out as much as I can. I finally got a trainer, so I've been working out a little in the basement to get ready for Spring. Here's a photo of my main ride -- a 2001 Lemond Zurich. Steel frame. A little heavy, but comfortable as hell, and I figure I should focus more on taking some pounds off my waist instead of my bike.



I'm in the processs of having my old Schwinn Premis repainted and coverted to a fixie. Here what it used to look like:



The thing is about 21 years old and my son had it for a year down at school -- locked up outside the dorm -- so it was in pretty bad shape. I figured it'll be fun to have a fixie (actually, it'll be a flippie) to tool around town. We'll see how much I used it, but I'm sure it'll be more than I was riding the Schwinn. I'll post a picture of it when I'm done.

Speaking of which, post photos of your rides!

[Hans Christian Anderson]

not my bike exactly (no digi camera)...but pretty close.


steel frame, lugged fork. like this bike, i've outfitted mine w/ aluminum toe cages, leather straps and old MKS rat trap style pedals, canti breaks and full coverage fenders. the bike looks like it has a nicer crankset than mine does, and maybe nicer wheels too. i also use bar end shift levers, not the STI style seen in this picture. his drivetrain is a bit different too, i''m full tiagra w/ hubs to match too. i've also got a nice burly rack on mine. i ride knobbier 32mm tires in the winter and switch to slicker 28s in the summer.

nole, i've got a great route to SF from medford that i can pass to you if you're interested. never done it myself but i've had many friends that have. my understanding is that it's hilly and gorgeous.

[nole.kennedy]

Hans, I would love that route. Can you PM it to me?


Here are my bikes:


1.) My fixed. Its a vintage Takara I found in the snow. All original parts excpet for pedals, crankset, and the rear hub.

2.) My commuter that I've ridden for 2 years now.

3.) Single speed mountain bike I picked up off Craigslist for $80.



My wife got me this for X-mas and I love it.

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[Hans Christian Anderson]

cool rides nole, that fixie especially. it definitely forsakes a lot of the code of the fixie or track culture, so to speak, with it's seemingly heavy or extraneous fenders, chainguard, + front brake. way to go be outside the box! that single speed MTB looks fun too. it will take me a bit to track down that cali route. as i said, it's friends of mine that have done it, not me, and a lot of the info i'll pass will include their notes + insight, so take it w/ a grain of salt. but i'll get it to you soon enough.

[no magnets]

i've not been riding as much this winter as in the past, but i still go out maybe once a week or so. in the spring and summer i'm out everyday, even if it's just for a few miles. i ride an old specialized allez. it's been very good to me.

[_____________]

what do you guys know about these in-axle 3 speeds? i had my bike stolen this past fall and i'm in the market for a new ride. i don't want a fixed/single gear, but the idea of having 3 speeds and no derailer is a pretty cool idea to me... anybody know anything about them?

[Hans Christian Anderson]

not a ton. they're cool, but if practicality is really the issue for you (no derailuer), i'd suggest going single speed. internal gear hubs are expensive, heavy and difficult to repair yourself, not to mention that not nearly as many wheel parts are as compatible w/ these hubs than say a single speed hub. you live in chicago, right? you can probably get by the hills there w/out any gears, so go single speed which will give you the freedom of being able to coast that you don't get w/ a fixed gear without being any more complicated. however, you can sing that eels song all the time if you go w/ the 3 speed . those allez frames are rad, mr magnets.

[nole.kennedy]

cool rides nole, that fixie especially. it definitely forsakes a lot of the code of the fixie or track culture, so to speak, with it's seemingly heavy or extraneous fenders, chainguard, + front brake. way to go be outside the box! that single speed MTB looks fun too.

it will take me a bit to track down that cali route. as i said, it's friends of mine that have done it, not me, and a lot of the info i'll pass will include their notes + insight, so take it w/ a grain of salt. but i'll get it to you soon enough.

Thanks. I really like the fixed too. My goal was to try and keep it as original as possible, so that's why the fenders and chain gaurd are still on. Plus I think it looks so cool to have them with the matching paint and everything. I left he front brake on because of safety. I don't want to get hurt or killed just so that I can look cool or have cred. Another thing about fixed culture that I've noticed is that no one ever wears helmets. Its all about looking cool, and I just can't get behind that. I'll sacrifice some cool points to be sure that I don't die. My son needs a father.

No worries on taking time to find that route. I wont be making that ride any time in the near future. But I would love to see it and read through it as I don't really know what to expect on a ride like that. So thanks in advance!

[norton]

what do you guys know about these in-axle 3 speeds? i had my bike stolen this past fall and i'm in the market for a new ride. I don't want a fixed/single gear, but the idea of having 3 speeds and no derailler is a pretty cool idea to me... anybody know anything about them?

My buddy has a collapsible Surly with an internal hub and mustache handlebars. Really cool bike. Not cheap, but really cool. He does some part time work at a great bike shop in Crystal Lake (Wheel Werks), so he got the hub for a great price (well, at least when compared to its list price), but the whole thing still ended up being pretty pricey. I guess that's all relative though. His wife is an Ironman triathlete, so she rides a $10K+ Kestral - makes his Surly and his Issac road bike seem cheap by comparison.

[nole.kennedy]

Anyone got any good "almost hit by a car" stories? I just had one yesterday when I was riding to work (which is a school). There is a trail that leads into the parking lot which I read every day. The trail crosses the road that leads into the place where parents drop off their kids. At that crossing the cars have a stop sign so the trail riders and walkers can continue through. I'm always cautious as I approach this spot, but the parents dropping off their kids are always polite and alert and always let me (and any kids) pass first. Well, yesterday it was raining and as I approached the crossing I slowed down as usual. An SUV (of course) approached the stop sign and stopped, so I started to pedal thinking that the driver was letting me go through. But right as I entered the crossing, she gunned it and went through totally unaware of me. If this would have happened on the streets I would have lost it and screamed all sorts of obscenities. But, being as I'm at work, I had to just slam on my brakes and keep my mouth shut. I was debating whether or not I should follow the car into the drop off zone and tell the lady off when I saw who was behind her in line at the stop sign: the school's student resource police officer. He instantly flipped on his lights and pulled her over right there in front of all the other parents. I just laughed it off and rode into school. Serves her right.

[sKinnY]

i ride a 1980 something or other schwinn world sport ten speed. don't do much winter riding but i'll be doing a shit ton this spring and summer when i quit this damn job. i should probably get it in and back into shape.

[no magnets]

Anyone got any good "almost hit by a car" stories?

how about actually getting hit by or hitting a car? my "almost hit by a car" stories are too numerous. only a few were totally my fault, though.

[nole.kennedy]

Anyone got any good "almost hit by a car" stories?

how about actually getting hit by or hitting a car? my "almost hit by a car" stories are too numerous. only a few were totally my fault, though.

Yeah, I want to hear "actually getting hit the car" stories too. Honestly, I've almost been hit about 100 times and its been my fault maybe twice.