bikes bikes bikes

[Heckel7302]

Kids new bike came in. Pretty sweet ride. He’s thrilled.

I also put some new shoes on my fixed gear converted 1981 Panasonic DX-3000. I love this bike. So much fun to ride.

 

[WPerry]

Kids new bike came in. Pretty sweet ride. He’s thrilled.

I also put some new shoes on my fixed gear converted 1981 Panasonic DX-3000. I love this bike. So much fun to ride.

View attachment 185235

Sweet!

Just a heads-up: kids often have trouble with the twist grip shifters - they can sometimes need quite a bit more hand and arm strength than the kids can muster. If he's having trouble shifting through the entire range, look in to some trigger shifters - *much* easier. Shimano are $20 bucks or so, other brands may be even less - just be sure to check compatibility. Oh, and you'll need some new grips (can be had for under $10). Install is easy unless you're absolutely not mechanically inclined. Well worth the investment, though.

 

[Heckel7302]

Sweet!

Just a heads-up: kids often have trouble with the twist grip shifters - they can sometimes need quite a bit more hand and arm strength than the kids can muster. If he's having trouble shifting through the entire range, look in to some trigger shifters - *much* easier. Shimano are $20 bucks or so, other brands may be even less - just be sure to check compatibility. Oh, and you'll need some new grips (can be had for under $10). Install is easy unless you're absolutely not mechanically inclined. Well worth the investment, though.

Yeah, will probably upgrade the shifter. The stock is a shimano revoshift, which is pretty basic. He had fun running through the gears on our test ride (it’s his first geared bike), but was complaining his hand hurt at the end.

 

[tostadas]

Yeah, will probably upgrade the shifter. The stock is a shimano revoshift, which is pretty basic. He had fun running through the gears on our test ride (it’s his first geared bike), but was complaining his hand hurt at the end.

Invest in a pair of biking gloves. The padding, however minimal, helps tremendously for their little hands. Open finger gloves are lightweight and allow you to still feel stuff with your fingertips. Full finger gloves for very cold weather or if you're on tough trails where you need the extra protection.

 

[Heckel7302]

Invest in a pair of biking gloves. The padding, however minimal, helps tremendously for their little hands. Open finger gloves are lightweight and allow you to still feel stuff with your fingertips. Full finger gloves for very cold weather or if you're on tough trails where you need the extra protection.

Oh, they’ve had those for years. Though I do need to invest in some full fingers, just moved to indiana from Florida, didn’t need no full finger gloves in Florida!

 

[Keith Sinclair]

Never had a twist shift bike.

 

[BoSharpens]

Never had a twist shift bike.

I never did have twist shifters until I got a Diamondback mountain bike. What I found is that I didn't need to work two separate Shimano levers to go through the range of sprockets. To go up on sprocket size often takes 2 pushes on the "large lever", which I see as an annoyance.

Bought a used/but new Felt 6/7 recently with the "old" dual shift levers and I'm tempted to put twist shifts on it for the simplicity again, though I don't know what that will take. I do agree that the levers give a weak hand more leverage in moving to a new gear, making the effort lower. I really never thought of the effort with my older twist shift on the Diamondback, so it must not have been very much force.

Mountain bikes with off-road nobby's for literal high calorie exercise without beating up the body is terrific in my opinion. And if you want more exercise, all you have to do is lower the tire pressure down to 30-35 psi.

I put in 16 miles a day to try to keep my general health up. Yeah, I'm over-the-hill as they say. Been biking now for over 70 years.

 

[inferno]

hmm thinking about building new wheels. rim brake wheels.

apparently you can't get ultegra or dura ace hubs anymore? ***.
105 is all there is. and only 32 or 36hole front and rear. ***.

personally, if i'm gonna build shimano wheels i want these 2 words to be found on them. "dura" and "ace", because that looks cool. but now this options seems to be gone. ***.

so i had a look at the dt hubs, 240 and 350. front 240 hubs only come in 20 and 24 hole. ***. and the rears are only available in 24 or 28. ***.
the 350 fronts 20, 24, 28, 32. rears 24, 28 , 32. its ok i guess.

yeah maybe i just build up a pair of 350ies 20/24 f/r with alpine3 spokes.

i also got this idea: why not run a 36 spoke up front, with the thinnest dt comps 1,8-1,6mm or revos 2,0-1,5mm. radial. and then out back a 24 but with alpine3's

i'm also planning on building some wheels for a coworker, (he weighs 100kg). probably some pinned rims, dt or mavic, 32-32 but beefier/heavier rim in the rear, with regular dt comps. 2,0-1,8, or maybe a 36 in the rear.

so disappointed with shimano. and dt.

 

[parbaked]

Looks like you can order DA 9000 hubs from these guys in UK…
https://www.totalcycling.com/SearchResults.aspx?Search=Dura+ace+hub

 

[swarfrat]

They want you to buy whole integrated wheelsets now.

 

[inferno]

They want you to buy whole integrated wheelsets now.

yeah i noticed. its a shame really. and its all proprietary crap today. i need stuff built with regular spokes, regular nipples that takes regular tires and cassettes. also now there is like a 100 different dt 240 rear hubs to choose from. the "standards inflation".

i remember the good old days when there were 2 rear widths, 130 for road and 135 for mtb.
and then you could get either disc or no,
and cl or iso mount.
campy or shimano cassette.

now its a ****ing jungle. its almost a joke now.

 

[inferno]

Looks like you can order DA 9000 hubs from these guys in UK…
https://www.totalcycling.com/SearchResults.aspx?Search=Dura+ace+hub

with those prices... it might even be worth it to chase down some nos da of older generations.

 

[swarfrat]

....i remember the good old days when there were 2 rear widths, 130 for road and 135 for mtb....

Good times.

Heh, heh, I remember when we only had 126mm with freewheels in the back and there were no mtb's. Back then anybody's cluster worked with anybody's derailleurs, anybody's shifters and anybody's hubs. (Of course by today's standards, none of them shifted very well.)

As a Campy guy, I'm doubly screwed. I have Even fewer choices for hubs.

 

[inferno]

5 and 6sp was 126 right. but was 7sp 130?

 

[inferno]

anyone with experience of square taper cranks?

i wonder if jis or iso is better? is there any practical difference at all (in use/to service).

i found old dura ace and old campy stuff online and i wonder if its problematic to run these over time?
i have the impression that this system is the most reliable/durable ever made.

---------------

i've only been using shimanos hollowtech 2 system for the last 15 years or so. and it just works. but earlier this month i had to change the cups/bearings on my winter bike. only the drive side bearing was shot, but still. these were the cheapest shimano silver ones. 15€. they lasted about 15000km or so.

the problem with these is that there is no way of relubing them. you cannot get any grease inside the bearings, not from the front nor the back. even if you remove the dust covers there is no way to lube them since the bearing balls are held on a plastic ring and it basically fills up the whole bearing.

 

[noj]

A small sample from my "early" racing days.

 

[LostHighway]

5 and 6sp was 126 right. but was 7sp 130?

120mm was old school 5-speed road rear spacing, 126 was 6 and 7-speed road, 130 was 7-speed mountain and then that shifted to 135 for 7, 8, and 9 mountain.

The early 1990s Shimano switch from Uniglide to Hyperglide did make a noticeable difference in shifting. Personally, I'd be looking for DuraAce 7402 or 7403 series hubs but prices have gone crazy

I'm totally not down with the planned obsolescence and lack of interchangeability among current bike parts.

 

[inferno]

now there is like 4 or 5 different standards/mounts for cassettes.
and then 12sp, 11sp, 10sp, 9sp, new 7sp downhill etc etc. with different chain widths.
many many hub widths and axle standards.
7 gazzillion bb standards (and none of them is better than the old bsa)
several headtube/steerer standards

**** it. i dont need nor want any of that ****.
i always go with the most common (and therefor cheapest) systems and standards.
right now i'm running 8 or 9sp on all bikes. 130mm qr for road and 135qr for my disk bikes.
bsa or italian bb, italian steel frames usually only come with italian bb.
no fancy hubs/wheels with unobtanium parts.

i stocked up a few years ago on 8/9sp parts. 8sp is ridiculously cheap. like 14€ cassettes, 14€ shifters, 14€ chains, 20€ RD's and similar
I like that. 9sp is about 50% more expensive than 8sp in general.

 

[inferno]

even though i have hoarded a lot of 8 and 9sp parts i realize i didn't hoard enough. should have gotten a few 9sp sram shifters and RDs when they went to 10sp and you could still get the premium ones cheap. also i should have gotten more hubs and cranks.

 

[swarfrat]

... I'm totally not down with the planned obsolescence and lack of interchangeability among current bike parts.

That's what soured me on Shimano in general and Dura-Ace in particular back in the 70's. Went Italian in the 80's and never looked back.

Now that it's standard procedure for everybody I guess I could theoretically peek outside of Vicenza.

Nah. At least Campy is good about internal compatibility across lines and generations. Plus I've tried SRAM and Shimano shifters. I hate them.

 

[LostHighway]

We probably should be asking @boomchakabowwow what is happening in fishing equipment. Shimano makes far more money off fishing gear than it does from bike equipment.

 

[Greasylake]

We probably should be asking @boomchakabowwow what is happening in fishing equipment. Shimano makes far more money off fishing gear than it does from bike equipment.

Shimano has been leading in the reel department for some time, but Daiwa has really stepped up their game lately and Shimano has been facing some really stiff competition. I haven't really noticed any planned obsolesce in reels and such, actually I regularly fish Shimano reels that are 10-20 years old and they're a pleasure. It does seem that with every new generation of reel there are actual improvements made to the designs and they do make changes that fishermen request, so there is definitely innovation going on and the new generations aren't just the same old reel with an updated color scheme. Shimano is also pretty good with service and they keep parts on hand for something like 7 years after the reel of a particular model rolled off the line, and often times they'll give people small parts for free. I can't really comment though because none of my Shimanos have needed more than fresh grease and the occasional bearing. I did have to swap the spool on an old Stradic I got because it was badly chipped, probably where someone dropped it against a rock. I got a NOS spool for 20 bucks with drag stack included though, so no complaints there.

I'm not even sure what the question was but there's my rambling thoughts on Shimano. If anyone has a specific question about their gear, I'd be happy to ramble some more.

 

[LostHighway]

Shimano has been leading in the reel department for some time, but Daiwa has really stepped up their game lately and Shimano has been facing some really stiff competition. I haven't really noticed any planned obsolesce in reels and such, actually I regularly fish Shimano reels that are 10-20 years old and they're a pleasure. It does seem that with every new generation of reel there are actual improvements made to the designs and they do make changes that fishermen request, so there is definitely innovation going on and the new generations aren't just the same old reel with an updated color scheme. Shimano is also pretty good with service and they keep parts on hand for something like 7 years after the reel of a particular model rolled off the line, and often times they'll give people small parts for free. I can't really comment though because none of my Shimanos have needed more than fresh grease and the occasional bearing. I did have to swap the spool on an old Stradic I got because it was badly chipped, probably where someone dropped it against a rock. I got a NOS spool for 20 bucks with drag stack included though, so no complaints there.

I'm not even sure what the question was but there's my rambling thoughts on Shimano. If anyone has a specific question about their gear, I'd be happy to ramble some more.

Thanks, it sounds like Shimano product support is much better for fishing gear than it is for bikes.

 

[swarfrat]

anyone with experience of square taper cranks?.......

Hell, I still have square taper cranks on my mountain bike. Never anything but on my roadie bikes. (Well,... my wife's road bike has ISO.)

I've never had problems. The most common issue is that they creak if you grease the flats when assembling them to the cranks. Don't do that. I always wipe them with a solvent before assembly.

....i've only been using shimanos hollowtech 2 system for the last 15 years or so. ...

the problem with these is that there is no way of relubing them. you cannot get any grease inside the bearings, not from the front nor the back. even if you remove the dust covers there is no way to lube them since the bearing balls are held on a plastic ring and it basically fills up the whole bearing.

I have no experience with Holotech BB's specifically, but in general, sealed cartridge bearings aren't serviceable. You just replace the whole bearing cartridge. But they're usually just a friction (interference) fit into whatever shell (BB, hub, headset, etc) they're fitted to. You normally pop them out with a puller or press.

 

[inferno]

does anyone know whats different between the cheapest 3-4 shimano hubs?
they start out at like 10-15€
but they kinda increase in price in 50% steps.
sora/tiagra rs300 rs400. whats the difference?
more clicks?

 

[AT5760]

New to me. First drop bar bike. Looking forward to some longer rides than with my old hybrid.

 

[inferno]

i'm debating with a coworker if we should modernize his chesini from the 70ies.
he bought it in the 80ies and then it was already 10 years old. it has a mix of campy and shimano stuff on it. for example one crank is a campy record and the other is a japanese one. mishmash of wheels. downtube shifters (unindexed), 6sp freewheel rear. 144bcd unobtanium rings. etc etc. its basically a race bike that he used in the 80ies that we revived 2 years ago.

i did some upgrade last year. and then we did

modern ergo handlebar.
quill to ahead adapter to run modern stems, to run modern bars.
shorter stem (the frame is too long for him 2-3cm)
sram apex brakes
modern brake levers
new cable housings and cables (jagwire)
and then i adjusted and lubed up everything and reground bearing surfaces (its all loose ball).
new tires. conti gp4k.

and now were talking about maybe building a modern set of wheels that you can run cassettes on.
8 or 9sp cassette since these are the cheap ones. and if he wants 9sp he needs new cranks since the chainrings will be too fat most likely.
cranks. 110 or 130mm 5 bolts. preferably shimanos.
new bb italian.
8 or 9sp shimano "brifters"
new RD and new FD
and if the shimano brifters dont like the apex brakes he needs new calipers too. they have different pull ratios supposedly.
and chainrings.
and chain.

so it adds up pretty fast. its at least a 5-600 project now. probably more. and the bike is not worth that much to begin with. i think its worth doing something at least!

so my plan is to build up a pair of wheels that takes cassettes. some cheap shimano hubs but prepped and adjusted well. **** i run shimano slx hub on several disc bikes, even on 4000 dollar frames. i like the shimanos myself. servicable and durable. then some touring rim in the back, either dt or mavic. ~550g. and then a 500g up front, maybe half aero. dt comps 2.0-1.8-2.0.

then an 8sp cassette.

then an sram x4 8sp shifter somewhere on the handlebar. i mean they are (******) downtubes now.
and an x4 RD out back. I'm running just that combo on my lynskey ti now and its rock solid. and all the internals in the shifter is steel!! and its 14€!!
the RD is 25€ now.

keep FD/crankset/BB/rings/front DT shifter/brake lever/brake calipers for now.

what do you think?

here below is what i did with my x4 shifter on my upside down nitto north road bar. this actually works very well. i had to hacksaw away a bit from one of the levers but other than that its working very very well. now, my friend will use an ergo drop bar so i will probably have to machine/weld a mount for that x4 shifter.

the sram shifters are more problematic to adapt to this than shimanos since it has a completely different design. you use the thumb for both functions. and this works well on flat bars. but not on anything else. while with the shimanos you can use the index finger for one function. well i actually use my thumb for both on my shimanos that i have converted but its a different design. the shimanos you can simply space out a bit and angle and then its perfect. not so much with srams.

i run shimano mtb shifters on all my bikes in a way i'm not supposed to.

 

[Keith Sinclair]

My Shimano Ultegra down tube click shifters
were bomb proof reliable. Best I had ever used. Boat trolling used Penn Senator & International. Spinner have a Cadence CS8 that I like. The Shimano reels are in another class.

 

[swarfrat]

i'm debating with a coworker if we should modernize his chesini from the 70ies....

Dang, so many possibilities, so many opportunities to fall into the abyss. All I can suggest is to never lose sight of the goal. Are you trying to smooth the rough edges off a classic? Or are you trying to create something modern?

does anyone know whats different between the cheapest 3-4 shimano hubs?
they start out at like 10-15€
but they kinda increase in price in 50% steps.
sora/tiagra rs300 rs400. whats the difference?
more clicks?

Haven't a clue. We don't really even see those parts for sale around here. I get the impression Shimano makes them for OEM's to hit price points on their bikes. Maybe somebody who works in a bike shop and sees a lot of different bikes could say?

I wouldn't be surprised if the differences in hubs are mainly cosmetic in those groups and they get their price point differentiation in the shifters, derailleurs and cranks.

 

[Keith Sinclair]

Anyone up on present used bike market? Seems like disks & very light carbon frames have made some nice rim brake bikes relatively cheap. Because biking is popular in Hawaii. Iron man triathlons, century rides craigslist has some nice hardly ridden carbon frame bikes for reasonable price. I saw a Trek OCLV carbon silver & blue paint, Ultegra
components put in storage 20 years. New tires, brake pads checked out by bike shop for sale ready to ride. Bike looks almost like new. It's a 2005. owner asking 800.00. Live close to mountain used to train on. It's a loop
climb clockwise trees whole way so nice climb up switchbacks in the shade. Decent less tight turns Good fun end up at base of ridge were you started. I'm older used to make that climb sometimes won in my age group. Now happy to climb slower in low gear, haven't redden in over 10 years. Watching Tour de France got me thinking.
Walking uphill & hiking with a group I'm in decent shape for my age. Also saw a steel bike with full dura ace components for under a grand. I like the light weight of the Trek for climbing & sure it's a good for downhill. Ultegra are excellent that's what had on my Trek 1500.