Topic: The Cycling Thread

[quadzilla]

This is me this year. It's not great, but at least I'm ahead compared to last year.

Took the road bike out for a short ride last night and man it felt so good. Really looking forward to doing longer rides as soon as the weather permits. So far the average temp on my rides has been around 3-4 C.

WOW! What a huge difference. Hopefully your weather warms up soon. I think we had more nice days in February than April.

[SKYMTL]

Guys, if I'm looking for a good beginner city bike (road + some offroad) with a max price of $600, is there a particular bike or set of bikes you can recommend? 

I was looking at the Miele Preza XD hybrid (http://www.mielebicycles.com/1332-Preza_XD-hybrid-bike.html) which is on sale right now for $500 from a local shop.

Some has been said already but here is my 2 cents worth.

- Don't buy a bike with front (or any) suspension.
- While a used bike can have more value, unless you know what you are looking at, it might just be more money to fix it. IE: Drivetrain is shot due to lack of care/maintenance.
- For new bikes, also add Kona and Devinci. You should be able to find something at your price point or maybe something left over from last year.

Let be honest about what you plan on riding over the next two years. What does "off road" really mean? Rail trails and gravel roads? Because you don't need anything special to ride that. I ride my racing bike down gravel roads and my CX bike on 32 mm tires has been on trails that you would probably never be riding. So basically, get a bike that you can put 32 mm tires on it if you plan any crappy dirt/gravel roads or 28 mm if nice dirt trails/rail trails. Both will ride perfectly fine on pavement.

I use these (700x32mm) on my CX bike and they work great for everything I've thrown at them.

http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/equipment/cycling-components/bike-tires-tubes/bontrager-h5-hard-case-ultimate-700c-hybrid-tire/p/09390

How comfortable do you want to be while riding? IE: sitting up a lot, a bit or stretched out like you are in the tour. IE: A nice hybrid will be much more comfy than a CX bike.

How far do you plan on riding? Will you want to add a rack/panniers so you can run errands.

If you have a local shop with a good website, post it so we can pick something out for you. Good luck in your search.

Yeah, truth be told I have no idea what to look for since I haven't been biking all that much over the last decade or so.  Mostly small trip recreational use with a pretty busted CCM bike. 

At this point we are looking to significantly boost the amount of riding we do (15-30KM per trip, every other week) and I want to upgrade both our bikes. 

As for the sites, the local shops I like are:
http://www.cyclepaul.com/en
http://lesuroit.qc.ca/
http://cyclesgs.com/

What I hate is that there aren't any retailers that offer a wide range of brands. 

[Patrick_D1]

Durham Forest is open! First day on the trails this Saturday, can't wait.

I lived in Oshawa for a year and rode DF all the time.  Man, I love that place.  The trails have so much flow.

Do they ever. Amazing place maintained by an even more amazing group of volunteers. I'm very fortunate to live relatively close by.

EDIT: First ride of the day on Saturday. Only got in 13 km and felt like I was going to die, but in my defense, I basically attacked the hilliest and roughest terrain Durham Forest has to offer. Definitely have the bug again, though. By dinner time I was already craving another ride.

[quadzilla]

What an incredible day. Blue skies and over 20C. Didn't even need any arm/leg warmers today. Was able to test out a new loop I mapped out a while ago.

Cambridge - Dundas - Campbellville - Cambridge.  115 kms with 1.054m of climbing.

The "best part" is getting to climb up Sydenham...Oh so much fun. Pretty easy to find it on the elevation profile. 

[Jaeger]

So after like 6 weeks not riding  I finally got back on the bike - just 20km around the neighborhood, but a gorgeous day and nice to be rolling again.

Pointless existential observation of the day:

So I'm on my fave type of road - very slight downhill - your eyes tell you it's flat but all of a sudden you're stronger than you think.    I pump it up to 40 kph and I'm feeling studly.  Then it enters my brain that this is just short of the peak speed Usain Bolt reaches in the 100m sprint.    I imagine him blowing past me on foot and come to the inescapable conclusion that I suck. 

That is all.

[quadzilla]

So after like 6 weeks not riding  I finally got back on the bike - just 20km around the neighborhood, but a gorgeous day and nice to be rolling again.

Pointless existential observation of the day:

So I'm on my fave type of road - very slight downhill - your eyes tell you it's flat but all of a sudden you're stronger than you think.    I pump it up to 40 kph and I'm feeling studly.  Then it enters my brain that this is just short of the peak speed Usain Bolt reaches in the 100m sprint.    I imagine him blowing past me on foot and come to the inescapable conclusion that I suck. 

That is all.

for getting back on the bike. Just in time for the crappy weather this weekend. Great comment on speed, so true.

[quadzilla]

Legs are tired, looking forward to a couple of days off this weekend. I've now passed 3K for YTD.

Just short of 1K for this month already and over the last 30 days I've done 1,935 kms!

Feeling stronger now than I was at my peak last year which I'm sure has come from doing the group rides.  The Wednesday night training ride (which is a drop ride) really makes me work hard...very hard. I've gone from sitting on the back to actively pulling. It's a nice feeling when the top riders say 'good pull, you dropped somebody' on a long section.

My first problem is my BMC has an annoying squeak. Was hoping it was my bottom bracket but nothing wrong with it. Can't figure it out and its driving me crazy.

The second is I don't stop eating. Always hungry.

[Patrick_D1]

My first problem is my BMC has an annoying squeak. Was hoping it was my bottom bracket but nothing wrong with it. Can't figure it out and its driving me crazy.

Seat post? I used to get a creak that I thought was from my BB, but it was from the post.

[Triple Bob]

My first problem is my BMC has an annoying squeak. Was hoping it was my bottom bracket but nothing wrong with it. Can't figure it out and its driving me crazy.

Seat post? I used to get a creak that I thought was from my BB, but it was from the post.

I used to get a creak that I thought was from my BB, but it was actually my knees! 

[quadzilla]

I used to get a creak that I thought was from my BB, but it was actually my knees! 

Some days this is very true.

Seat post? I used to get a creak that I thought was from my BB, but it was from the post.

I've been wondering that also. Going to take it out, clean, some lube and stick it back in. My bike has a strange seat post though, one of those brilliant ideas that wasn't. Found lots of people complaining about it on the net.

Won't lie, for a while I was looking at just picking up a new frame.....would probably solve my problem. 

[quadzilla]

 

Took out the seat post and rode the bike putting lots of tq through the pedals and was still able to make the noise. Not happy.

Funny thing is if I adjust my rear skewer/release the sound will go away for a short period but then returns. So now I'm thinking it might be coming from my rear dropouts. So hard to tell as its hard to isolate the sound when on the bike.

Did some more cleaning/lubing but then it started to rain. 

[craigq]

On my indoor bike, a NordicTrack GX2 Sport indoor trainer, the seat clamp let go and it still feels like I got my "man parts" rammed up into my lower abdomen. Sheeesh. It's the old style seat clamp with the serrated teeth that are supposed to mesh together, I suppose it loosened up a little bit after 4 or 5 years of use and it sheared the teeth off of all 4 pieces.

[huota]

Took out the seat post and rode the bike putting lots of tq through the pedals and was still able to make the noise. Not happy.

Funny thing is if I adjust my rear skewer/release the sound will go away for a short period but then returns. So now I'm thinking it might be coming from my rear dropouts. So hard to tell as its hard to isolate the sound when on the bike.

Did some more cleaning/lubing but then it started to rain. 

I understand that you've tried tightening the rear release already. What about pedals, some people say that they can cause creaking, too.

Those noises can drive you crazy. I've been lucky to not have to deal with them so far, but the day will come, I'm sure. Anyone who watched this year's Giro d'Italia stage 6 could hear Tim Wellens' bike creaking on TV, it was so loud.

[Jaeger]

I hope you get it worked out Quad.  My bike squeaked when new but the dealer diagnosed and fixed the bb issue that was causing it.  Drove me facking bonkers for the few days it was a problem, though.

[Triple Bob]

Hey Roger, do you have an MTB?

[revalations]

Dedicated to do more "dirt" riding this season, I have a 29" hardtail after all and I'm quite tired of the local pathways. Around here we have irrigation canals that serve the Farmers, they have service roads beside them. I could go 100 miles on these trails. They're boring really, flat, dirt, not very many treed sections, but oh well at least close to home and absolutely nobody else on the trail.

Another thing I'd like to try out are the old railway lines. Last year they took all the tracks out and laid down gravel, so theres these nice gravel trails that would go on forever. Haven't tried them yet, hoping the gravel is not a foot deep so one could actually ride them.

This is what the irrigation trails look like.

[Jaeger]

Hey Roger, do you have an MTB?

Nope, just the road bike - don't even have my hybrid anymore.

[Triple Bob]

Hey Roger, do you have an MTB?

Nope, just the road bike - don't even have my hybrid anymore.

Balls.

[Patrick_D1]

Hey Roger, do you have an MTB?

Nope, just the road bike - don't even have my hybrid anymore.

Balls.

Balls indeed. Bob, come ride Durham or Glen Major (or both!) some weekend. The trails have more flow and variety than anything on the west end.

[Jaeger]

You and Patrik both need to get some basic road bikes and hook up for a nice ride with me, quad, Runsinlight and whoever else we can snag.