Topic: The Cycling Thread

[pi314]

Well... I went for a second test ride of the norco storm 9.2...



and bought it. Trails, here I come!

No fancy gizmos here, but it was strongly recommended by the mechanic who ran into me riding in a park. He in fact didn't recommend I go higher end than this, so hopefully he is right!

As far as riding position, I found I can't put my foot down flat on this either. It was explained to me that it has to do with the position of crank relative to seat and it makes for a more efficient downstroke (compared to my old bike in which the riding position was perfect for urban riding)

[Snowman]

Very twitchy bike...The paddle shifters are to die for tho. One thing I don't like is after the fitting I am on my tip toes at rest. Balance is key when coming to a full stop and waiting the light to change and staying in the saddle.

Congrats on the new bike. Looks sweet!

I'm surprised you can even touch the ground on tip toes. I'm pretty sure I couldn't do that on either of my bikes (road & Mtn), but to be honest, it's never even crossed my mind to try.

Just unclip and put one foot flat on the ground, or work on the track stand! Sorry, but the image of a grown man in the saddle and perched precariously on tiptoes makes me giggle. 

  If I get off the saddle then I have to get back on..... carefully....I have to grab my junk and position myself again back up on the saddle..... with people around me in cars looking at me 

[Snowman]

Five rides in the last seven days, feels great.

[johngenx]

Hit the trails with feet and tires, 10km run and 15km bike.  Legs feel great, probably the first fall in forever that I'll actually be sad to hang the bike up when the snow flies.

[Jaeger]

I only had time for a quick neighborhood ride yesterday, but even in the 'burbs on an overcast day, the fall colours were impressive:











Oh, and these toe thingies do work a treat:

[Snowman]

Great shots Jaegar, I had my booties on as well 

[Guy]

Great pictures, we are already past that around here..

[Jaeger]

Those pictures from the bridge on Upper Middle between Neyagawa and Dorval?

Yep - the pics of Glen Abbey Golf Course were shot there.

[quadzilla]

I only had time for a quick neighborhood ride yesterday, but even in the 'burbs on an overcast day, the fall colours were impressive:

Great pics

[tortoise]

Jaeger, did you get a new bike?  For some reason I thought you bought a hybrid recently.

Great photos.  Glen Abbey looks beautiful.

[Jaeger]

Jaeger, did you get a new bike?  For some reason I thought you bought a hybrid recently.

Great photos.  Glen Abbey looks beautiful.

Funny, my wife said nearly the exact same thing.   

And you are both correct.  I did get bitten by the road bike bug and it has seen probably 85% of my seat time since I got it earlier this summer.  I pretty much ride the hybrid on light trails with the family now, otherwise I'm on the road bike.  And surprisingly, I'm finding the drop bars feel more comfortable to me now than the flat bars of the hybrid.  Go figure.

[blotter]

oh boy here we go...

since Ms Blotter is recovering from ankle surgery, she can road ride but no mountain biking.
So we've been doing road rides on the weekends.   While we got these touring bikes for comfort, fatter tires to ride anywhere (gravel roads) and disk brakes for a more secure feel....   

Ms Blotter is now talking about getting into duathlons next spring.   
Since a duathlon is a race, her touring bike will likely not be good enough.  (it's too heavy, the gearing is touring not racing....)   Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.....   It sounds like after saying NO ROAD bikes, there's going to be some road bike purchase at some point in the future....   

[Snowman]

oh boy here we go...

since Ms Blotter is recovering from ankle surgery, she can road ride but no mountain biking.
So we've been doing road rides on the weekends.   While we got these touring bikes for comfort, fatter tires to ride anywhere (gravel roads) and disk brakes for a more secure feel....   

Ms Blotter is now talking about getting into duathlons next spring.   
Since a duathlon is a race, her touring bike will likely not be good enough.  (it's too heavy, the gearing is touring not racing....)   Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.....   It sounds like after saying NO ROAD bikes, there's going to be some road bike purchase at some point in the future....

Excellent 

[Bubba]

I only had time for a quick neighborhood ride yesterday, but even in the 'burbs on an overcast day, the fall colours were impressive:

Wow!   

[quadzilla]

Ms Blotter is now talking about getting into duathlons next spring.   
Since a duathlon is a race, her touring bike will likely not be good enough.  (it's too heavy, the gearing is touring not racing....)   Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.....   It sounds like after saying NO ROAD bikes, there's going to be some road bike purchase at some point in the future....

While my first answer is always buy another bike I'll play the devil's advocate today.

I could ride a full suspension mtn bike with 2 inch tires and probably finish in the top 60% on the bike section, maybe even top 50%. Unless the Mrs is a top duathlon competitor and is looking at qualifying for Cdn or Worlds is it really worth spending more money on another bike in the first year.

Her current bike is plenty fast enough unless I'm underestimating her ability to ride an average speed of 60kph.  A 46x12 on 700x32's @ 90rpm = 44.4 kph.  While there is no arguing that she would be "faster" on a real road bike due to being more aerodynamic how much faster would she really be?

If she is doing Olympic courses the bike section is 40kms long.

Time and avg speeds

1 hr 20 = 30.00 kph
1 hr 25 = 28.24 kph
1 hr 30 = 26.67 kph
1 hr 35 = 25.26 kph
1 hr 40 = 24.00 kph

If she isn't even doing Olympic distance races, spending money on a nice road bike is a waste. Every time I see a person in a tri-a-tri on a $10K TT bike with a skin suit and aero helmet I just want to kick them in the balls.

On a side note, I can't believe the prices of these races now. Sure glad I stop doing them.

[blotter]

Ms Blotter is now talking about getting into duathlons next spring.   
Since a duathlon is a race, her touring bike will likely not be good enough.  (it's too heavy, the gearing is touring not racing....)   Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.....   It sounds like after saying NO ROAD bikes, there's going to be some road bike purchase at some point in the future....

While my first answer is always buy another bike I'll play the devil's advocate today.

I could ride a full suspension mtn bike with 2 inch tires and probably finish in the top 60% on the bike section, maybe even top 50%. Unless the Mrs is a top duathlon competitor and is looking at qualifying for Cdn or Worlds is it really worth spending more money on another bike in the first year.

Her current bike is plenty fast enough unless I'm underestimating her ability to ride an average speed of 60kph.  A 46x12 on 700x32's @ 90rpm = 44.4 kph.  While there is no arguing that she would be "faster" on a real road bike due to being more aerodynamic how much faster would she really be?

If she is doing Olympic courses the bike section is 40kms long.

Time and avg speeds

1 hr 20 = 30.00 kph
1 hr 25 = 28.24 kph
1 hr 30 = 26.67 kph
1 hr 35 = 25.26 kph
1 hr 40 = 24.00 kph

If she isn't even doing Olympic distance races, spending money on a nice road bike is a waste. Every time I see a person in a tri-a-tri on a $10K TT bike with a skin suit and aero helmet I just want to kick them in the balls.

On a side note, I can't believe the prices of these races now. Sure glad I stop doing them.

I couldn't agree more!   Although to put the potential new bike purchase in perspertive, she'd get an entry level ride spending around $1000 (still $1000 though).    This is some new thing she has going on likely due to not being able to mountain bike for longer than expected.   I'd suspect she'd do one or two races and get back to spending more time on the MTB.   We'll see what happens.   I keep telling her that the existing bike will be fine........  and while she's a pretty darn good rider, she's no olympian.  (sorry my love)... LOL

[tortoise]

Would a better wheelset (and proper rear cogs) be a better investment?

[blotter]

Would a better wheelset (and proper rear cogs) be a better investment?

I could swap tires.   But she's in the mindset that the current bike is a heavy steel frame (which it is) vs a nice light carbon ride.   (although I don't think $1000 will get her a carbon road bike)

[quadzilla]

Would a better wheelset (and proper rear cogs) be a better investment?

I could swap tires.   But she's in the mindset that the current bike is a heavy steel frame (which it is) vs a nice light carbon ride.   (although I don't think $1000 will get her a carbon road bike)

But weight only matters for acceleration and climbing. Most smaller dualthon races have very little climbing in them from my experience.

Might be able to find a used carbon bike and very easily find a nice alloy one for $1k.

[huota]

Would a better wheelset (and proper rear cogs) be a better investment?

I could swap tires.   But she's in the mindset that the current bike is a heavy steel frame (which it is) vs a nice light carbon ride.   (although I don't think $1000 will get her a carbon road bike)

Is there a second market for bicycles in your market? If so, I guess you may score a used carbon bike for $1000. There's probably a lot of people upgrading their bikes now that the 2015 models are available and there some very tempting price reductions.