Biking: Catch-all

Blotto The Clown wrote:
WipEout wrote:

I just ordered this saddle:

IMAGE(http://www.selleanatomica.com/products/titanico-x/files/stacks_image_195.png)

And matching bar tape! Also some new Maxxis Raze CX tires for my commuter. Now that the crappy weather has hit, I figure it's finally time to upgrade a couple of the crappier and/or worn out parts of the bike. I also need to replace the bearings in my front hub. Possibly my bottom bracket as well, but I'm going to try to hold out on that one until next summer.

Careful with this seat. Make sure you round up from their weight recommendations for this saddle. The leather can stretch / the the rails can bend. Both have happened to a friend of mine who purchased this one.

The stretchiness is sort of the point How long did your friend ride the saddle for before the stretch became an issue and the rails bent? Several of my old bike shop coworkers/professional rider friends swore by the Titanico X (pictured above, what I ordered), and having ridden a regular Titanico as well, I'm kind of in their camp. Thanks for the heads-up, though-- I'll definitely be keeping an eye on the thing, since it'll be my first real leather saddle, and going on a year-round commuter in Chicago.

WipEout wrote:
Blotto The Clown wrote:
WipEout wrote:

I just ordered this saddle:

IMAGE(http://www.selleanatomica.com/products/titanico-x/files/stacks_image_195.png)

And matching bar tape! Also some new Maxxis Raze CX tires for my commuter. Now that the crappy weather has hit, I figure it's finally time to upgrade a couple of the crappier and/or worn out parts of the bike. I also need to replace the bearings in my front hub. Possibly my bottom bracket as well, but I'm going to try to hold out on that one until next summer.

Careful with this seat. Make sure you round up from their weight recommendations for this saddle. The leather can stretch / the the rails can bend. Both have happened to a friend of mine who purchased this one.

The stretchiness is sort of the point How long did your friend ride the saddle for before the stretch became an issue and the rails bent? Several of my old bike shop coworkers/professional rider friends swore by the Titanico X (pictured above, what I ordered), and having ridden a regular Titanico as well, I'm kind of in their camp. Thanks for the heads-up, though-- I'll definitely be keeping an eye on the thing, since it'll be my first real leather saddle, and going on a year-round commuter in Chicago.

it sounds like you ordered up by getting the X. You should be fine, just keep the rain off

Rode my bike into work for the first time. The ride was easy, but the drivers are crazy. It was a little chilly, but wasn't too bad. Still shorts weather.

Awesome!

Windy in NYC today. It almost brought me to a standstill a couple times on the 59th St. Bridge. Can't it blow west some morning?

I'm sure it will blow west in the afternoon. That counts, right?

Looks like I've fully acclimated now. I've always had issues being active in cooler weather, getting short of breath and sore throat. I went out biking today in 35-38º temps and was absolutely fine. Maybe it's my Colorado beard.

LiquidMantis wrote:

Looks like I've fully acclimated now. I've always had issues being active in cooler weather, getting short of breath and sore throat. I went out biking today in 35-38º temps and was absolutely fine. Maybe it's my Colorado beard.

Man that's practically balmy! It was 20f for my commute this morning, had to bust out my full on winter gear.

gore wrote:
LiquidMantis wrote:

Looks like I've fully acclimated now. I've always had issues being active in cooler weather, getting short of breath and sore throat. I went out biking today in 35-38º temps and was absolutely fine. Maybe it's my Colorado beard.

Man that's practically balmy! It was 20f for my commute this morning, had to bust out my full on winter gear.

I am comforted that my commute won't get nearly as cold as the weather you two of you experience for about a month.

It's almost summer here, so I'll be doing some 40c biking

My gf took her new Colnago out for its first run in El Tour de Tucson last weekend.
You know, Tucson? In the desert. Dry, sunny, Arizona.

We had 2.5" of rain in 24 hours, much of it during the race. She had a blast though, in spite of the soaking.

IMAGE(http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/azstarnet.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/99/c992c8f1-8aef-57df-bc1a-a2eb7812d4b4/52919a2570090.preview-620.jpg)

IMAGE(http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/azstarnet.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/b/c6/bc67c3ae-5480-11e3-841d-0019bb2963f4/529114d5ec950.preview-620.jpg)

Hell of a way to break in a Colnago

Man, you folks are actually making me want to get out and ride my road bike. The temps have been down in the mid-teens this past week, I've been enjoying the nice heated seats of my car for my commute. I have noticed my friend is still bike commuting though it all, though. Those bar mitts must work well. Pretty sure I don't have anything even close to warm enough clothing to ride in those temps, though. Maybe one afternoon I'll bundle up and take a short ride to see how it is.

gore wrote:
LiquidMantis wrote:

Looks like I've fully acclimated now. I've always had issues being active in cooler weather, getting short of breath and sore throat. I went out biking today in 35-38º temps and was absolutely fine. Maybe it's my Colorado beard.

Man that's practically balmy! It was 20f for my commute this morning, had to bust out my full on winter gear.

Oh, I'm not saying 35-38º is crazy cold, just that I'm happy to finally be able to get to anaerobic levels without my throat and chest aching. Also my riding buddy had fun.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/Zc3RJQh.jpg)

I took the subway this morning on account of rain. So undignified. I need better rain gear, I realize. My flowy poncho was hitting parked cars as I rode home last night, the hood wouldn't stay on, and my legs were getting wet anyway.

In case anyone was interested in picking up some Monkey Lights for your wheels, I just got an e-mail with some promo codes to share.

Monkey Light wrote:

20% lower regular prices PLUS two promotion codes with addional savings:

Promotion Code MONKEY79 will get you an additional 10% off any Monkey Light.
Promotion Code MONKEY81 will get you 2 of our M232 lights for $99. That's an extra $20 savings.

Promotion codes are good through DECEMBER 6. 20% reduced retail prices are compared to July 2013 and earlier.

How to buy:
Find us on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html...
Use Promotion Code: MONKEY79 or MONKEY81 when you check out (enter it on the bottom of the 'Select Payment Method' screen).

Hell yeah, that's what I'm talking about!

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/ftROqfi.png)

Days like this in late November are special gifts from Ma Nature.

We have 2 feet of snow and we'll below freezing temperatures... I'm out see you all next year :p

So bikes direct seems to actually have a sale for the holiday (not the bogus "sale" that they always seem to have) which includes this steel hard tail 29" for $800.

http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/motobecane/9iron_elite.htm

Thoughts?

The bike shop was running a Small Business Saturday sale so the little man got an early Christmas present, and of course he immediately slapped a shop sticker on it. He's stepping up to 24" wheels from his 20" and it's a world of differenct. Here's a crappy cell phone shot, poor guy was looking right into the sun, hence the squinting.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/mceRLzi.jpg)

Sweet ride. And to think that when I was his age my bike had a banana seat and hanger bars. Good on him.

I'm intrigued by the new Bikesdirect toolkits

IMAGE(http://www.bikesdirect.com/incredible_holiday/images/greytop_toolkit.jpg)

It's got some stuff I'm missing and the price looks good offhand.

gore wrote:

I'm intrigued by the new Bikesdirect toolkits

IMAGE(http://www.bikesdirect.com/incredible_holiday/images/greytop_toolkit.jpg)

It's got some stuff I'm missing and the price looks good offhand.

That's a ridiculous deal. I'd say pick it up ASAP.

WipEout wrote:

That's a ridiculous deal. I'd say pick it up ASAP.

Sure looks good... but it's hard to say what sort of quality the set is. Since it's new, I can't find any info online yet.

I think it's fair to say that BD has a pretty good reputation at this point, but it's still tough for me to buy something from them blind with no reviews. Though a part of me is really curious to see what sort of quality they can manage to put together at that price and I'm tempted to buy it just to find out. I have most of that stuff already but it's decidedly low end and if nothing else it doesn't hurt to have a spare around.

They also have a larger version with more tools:

IMAGE(http://www.bikesdirect.com/incredible_blackfriday/images/supremebike_toolkit.JPG)

You reminded me, I need to get this:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/OBB2RPk.jpg)

As the official Campagnolo tool costs exponentially more. Though, it's actually less now than it was when they first released the 11spd drivetrains-- that tool was originally $300 wholesale...

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/r5epTiD.png)

Also, damn! Lezyne's tools are so pretty!!

Looks like today was the first day of trainer week.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/EjzG3b0.png)

LiquidMantis wrote:

Looks like today was the first day of trainer week.

Yuck! Quite a temperature swing there.

Yeah, didn't help that when it was warm today I was stuck on conference calls. It was windy and drab out anyway. By the time my schedule cleared up it was down to the mid 20s and I just didn't feel like dealing with that. So, trainer intervals and an episode of The Mentalist instead.

I've darn near sold myself on a BD fixie. I just have the bike buying itch and that's the cheapest thing I can find that's not Craigslist

Debating between Kilo TT, Kilo WT, and Kilo TT "Chrome" edition. Decisions!

From a practical perspective the WT (Surly Steamroller copy) is clearly the right choice, since it would take larger tires and fenders and comes with two brakes. From googling around it looks like you can just barely squeeze some 35mm fenders onto the TT frames, though you're stuck with 23's if you do...

Personally I've never found Mercier bikes to be of stellar quality, but for the price, any of those bikes are tempting. One thing, though: the Kilo TT only comes with a rear brake? WTF?! If it's a fixed gear, then you need a front brake, hands down. Why they'd only offer one brake (they only cost like $30 for a set) then choose the least useful, is beyond me. I'd go with the WT or the Chrome (at least they come with front and rear brakes, and a better crankset on the WT).

WipEout wrote:

Personally I've never found Mercier bikes to be of stellar quality, but for the price, any of those bikes are tempting. One thing, though: the Kilo TT only comes with a rear brake? WTF?! If it's a fixed gear, then you need a front brake, hands down. Why they'd only offer one brake (they only cost like $30 for a set) then choose the least useful, is beyond me. I'd go with the WT or the Chrome (at least they come with front and rear brakes, and a better crankset on the WT).

The rear brake thing is decidedly weird to me as well, but I think it's due to regulations in some jurisdictions that actually require a rear brake on bicycles (and while I guess coaster brakes count, leg muscle brakes don't...). Maybe it's a liability thing for BD? At the price point they're hitting every little bit counts, so I can see why they'd leave the front brakes out (especially cause some people actually won't want any brakes at all (though I'm no such person)).

I think I've got a good sense of what I'd be getting quality-wise from BD. I wouldn't buy a Kilo as my only bike, but I'm specifically looking for a project of sorts and something to tinker with and the low end components don't bother me much since I don't mind replacing them if/when they go. My geared bikes are definitely better, but I'm looking for something to play with and not worry about being stolen / damaged / broken. For a while I was leaning towards their "city" bike line with Nexus hubs, but I think a fixie would be more fun.