bikes bikes bikes

[Evan Estern]

WPerry,do you ever run into ice where you ride? In my area when there's snow on the roads it sometimes covers this incredibly slick ice--impossible to stay upright. I've gone down 3 times that I can think of in the last few years. I've considered getting studded tires, but I'm afraid the exra weight and mass will make the bike really sluggish and take the fun out of riding. This year I put 48mm Rene Herse knobbies on, but the XC Skiing has been so good that I've stayed off the bike so I haven't tried them in the snow.

 

[WPerry]

WPerry,do you ever run into ice where you ride? In my area when there's snow on the roads it sometimes covers this incredibly slick ice--impossible to stay upright. I've gone down 3 times that I can think of in the last few years. I've considered getting studded tires, but I'm afraid the exra weight and mass will make the bike really sluggish and take the fun out of riding. This year I put 48mm Rene Herse knobbies on, but the XC Skiing has been so good that I've stayed off the bike so I haven't tried them in the snow.

Oh yeah, lots of ice - this is my first year with studs (45NRTH Gravdals) after wiping out in past years. They've kept me upright all winter, so far *knock on wood* I even did my first frozen lake traversal, a little more than a mile long, on them - under the snow cover, the ice was suuuuper slippery.

 

[KO88]

The worst is dark black pavement with “sparks” I fell 3times on 10km ride when this condition (like -5 degress and relatively dry)... I have the basic WTB 700c gravel tires...

 

[Whit3Nitro]

Man, I love bikes. Bikes and knives!

 

[Polycentric]

Got a new (to me) bike a couple of months ago!

Only had the chance to go on a few serious rides before it got too cold for comfort though. It's still pretty fun to ride over snow and ice covered paths despite only having my regular 25mm road tires!

 

[MarcelNL]

nice, seeing all those bikes makes me sad having a bum knee...E-bike is the max I can manage nowadays. Once upon a time I had a custom Italian race bike, those were the days...

 

[Keith Sinclair]

WPerry,do you ever run into ice where you ride? In my area when there's snow on the roads it sometimes covers this incredibly slick ice--impossible to stay upright. I've gone down 3 times that I can think of in the last few years. I've considered getting studded tires, but I'm afraid the exra weight and mass will make the bike really sluggish and take the fun out of riding. This year I put 48mm Rene Herse knobbies on, but the XC Skiing has been so good that I've stayed off the bike so I haven't tried them in the snow.

Yeh Evan you have to pick your sports skis, snow boards better in winter than spoked wheels.

Still like seeing these cold weather setups for the hard core dudes riding bikes in the snow.

 

[DavidPF]

And have the wings instead of normal seat - I hope my prostate thanks me later.

Normal bike seats are not normal at all. I'm glad someone is trying to fix that.

The fact that a real seat that's also lightweight tends to end up looking like a toilet seat if the designer isn't sneaky, is probably part of the difficulty. But the fact remains that a real seat is basically a chair, not basically an axe head.

 

[DavidPF]

gravel tires

Tires with sandpaper grit embedded in the outer surface would actually be a nice invention if it worked

 

[ecchef]

 

[Keith Sinclair]

View attachment 115453

Is that classic yours? Kickstart, polished aluminum side covers. Sweet

 

[Keith Sinclair]

Semi- on both accounts - Zipp 303S. I wasn't sure if I had a current pic, but of course I do.

View attachment 91741

That's a lovely bike. Going back on this thread is bicycle porn.

I like the looks of the disk brakes. When that Frenchman expert decender passed forget how many he was using disk on a lightweight Mt. climbing bike. Two years ago TDF. Last year thought would see more disk but in the Mountains only noticed his team using. Other teams rim brakes. Have done a lot of downhill road bike rim brakes. Just tapping the brake levers, tight turns little more grab. Enjoy fast downhill, even little counter steer just like a motorcycle.

Semi- on both accounts - Zipp 303S. I wasn't sure if I had a current pic, but of course I do.

View attachment 91741

That is a lovely bike like the look of the disk brakes. Going back on this thread is bicycle porn.

 

[Luftmensch]

Fun thread,

I used to do a fair amount of trail riding... but its been a while. Have you guys seen HTech bikes? I have never used one and wont claim anything about them... except to say wood is one of my favourite materials and i think the bikes are pretty....

 

[big_adventure]

They are beautiful, but I imagine that they are some combo of at least two of three: heavy, fragile and expensive. I don't see how you'd manage differently with wood?

 

[WPerry]

That's a lovely bike. Going back on this thread is bicycle porn.

I like the looks of the disk brakes. When that Frenchman expert decender passed forget how many he was using disk on a lightweight Mt. climbing bike. Two years ago TDF. Last year thought would see more disk but in the Mountains only noticed his team using. Other teams rim brakes. Have done a lot of downhill road bike rim brakes. Just tapping the brake levers, tight turns little more grab. Enjoy fast downhill, even little counter steer just like a motorcycle.

Thanks! I've cleaned it up a little more over the winter, finally getting around to trimming the steerer so that it's flush with the stem (funny what a difference that makes) and getting a slightly more tidy mount for the radar-equipped rear light. Actually received my annual supply of new tires yesterday, too - can't wait to try them out in... oh, two or three months.

A lot of retrogrouches say that they hate the look of disc brakes, but I quite like them. Visually, I think that it provides a cleaner silhouette without the brake calipers hanging off the fork and seat stay bridge. I mean, it's not a big deal either way, but I just don't get the hate. In terms of performance, yeah - hard to argue against.

 

[big_adventure]

Yeah there is definitely no arguing with the performance of discs. Once you ride with a decent set, it's painful to go back to rim brakes.

 

[tomsch]

Some great looking winter bikes! My winter bike is a Peloton that I ride daily in the comfort of my home I did used to MTB every weekend but life/work has a way of dominating some times.

 

[Keith Sinclair]

Interesting discussion on rim v. disc brakes from one of the more bougie bike shops in the Bay Area.
https://abovecategorycycling.com/blogs/journal/ac-tech-talks-disc-vs-rim
Their Journal also has some very nice "Bike of the Week" builds...

Parbaked posted this article couple pages back. On Rim & Disk. Plus & minus of both.

When Julian Alaphilippe passed bunch of guys fast downhill was amazing to watch. 2018 TDF.

Like the look of the disk too.

 

[Bear]

View attachment 115324 below.

In Connecticut?

 

[inferno]

rim vs discs imo = different horses for different courses.

when i was young i ran xtr v brakes on ceramic rims, lx v on alu rims. magura hydros on alu rims. and they all worked well in the winter too.

then over the last 12 years or so i was all into discs. had several brands of hydros and then simply said F it! too much service/fiddling needed with all of them. and in the winter the problems start... so i went with mech discs on all bikes. bb7 road/mtb. and if you see my choice of brake levers you understand that there is/were no hydro solution for this when i built them.

the rims brakes are even more simple than mech discs. even less to go wrong. so on my sexy italian steel bikes i run regular calipers. i dont run these in bad weather on purpose. for the intended use they are more than enough. i even run the cheapest sram calipers with stock pads, and i have more power than i would ever need. this is on mostly flat though.

now if i were riding lots of steep fast mountains roads i would probably go for a 180 disc up front and a 160 out back. then you know you can stop when you really need to.

 

[WPerry]

First, people can use whateverthe**** they want - it doesn't bother me in the least and I'm not going to tell anyone that they're wrong in their personal choice.

That said, for me, running discs isn't just a matter of pure stopping power, it's the way it behaves up to that point. I like the lever feel/feedback, the way it can be modulated finely, really flirting with that lock-up point. I like that they're consistent in any conditions that I'd ride in. I like that my chunky ass can descend with one finger on the lever and three wrapped around the bars and still stop as fast as I need to. I also like my blingy carbon wheels and appreciate that those expensive rims are no longer a wear surface.

 

[Keith Sinclair]

Never had a bicycle with disk, was amazed how well the rim brakes worked on down hill runs with my trusty Trek road bike.

When going on hikes drive up the mountain ridge to start. Up there had trail bike guys getting ready to go down the mountain via dirt trails. Their bikes all had disks & fancy suspension setups.

 

[big_adventure]

Rim brakes are fine for road bikes, especially when on flats, and they are easier to deal with in case of a fixable failure. But for off-road? Discs are just mountains better: better control, better fade resistance, and if you melt something, it's a 50 dollar rotor and not a stupidly expensive rim. That's not likely, but it can happen. The front brake (the only one) on my fixie is literally a 12 euro knockoff, and it's all I've ever needed in 12 years of hard use. I've only had to change the shoes once I think. Fixie magic there. I've also got an electric assist single-speed for friends to use, it has discs and they are great, but they really aren't necessary. All of my MTBs over the last 23 years have been discs.

 

[Keith Sinclair]

I'm in my 70's a electric assist with disk brakes painted a cool color is my cup of tea.

I see these old geezers pedaling along with a battery pack in the back.

 

[big_adventure]

I'm in my 70's a electric assist with disk brakes painted a cool color is my cup of tea.

I see these old geezers pedaling along with a battery pack in the back.

Oh I having nothing against electric assist. I enjoy that bike and would ride it more, in a covid-free world. I use it when I'm heading out and up a hill, and don't want to arrive too sweaty.

 

[ecchef]

Is that classic yours? Kickstart, polished aluminum side covers. Sweet

It was. My first bike...1962 BSA Super Rocket. That pic was taken around 1979.

 

[Keith Sinclair]

We have something in common my first motorcycle in Hawaii was a BSA 441 Victor.
In 1969.

 

[inferno]

today i fixed my coworkers hydro road discs. shimanos.
basically the lever went all the way to the bar, and he had very low power.

so i remove the caliper from the frame and pump the lever once. pads now move out a bit further and stay there.
reassemble. same problem.

investigate further. seems one piston is moving much further than the other. pump them out very far and clean the pistons with brake clean. then i push the "faster" piston in to try to get the sluggish one to move out. this works, and when i have that one out far i spray it with brake clean.

then i try to cycle them in-out a few times. and spray them a few times more with brake clean. when they are moving freely i drip one drop of oil on each one making sure it wont get on the pads.

then i set the distance i want the pistons sticking out, and assemble again on the frame. pump the brakes a few times and make sure its not rubbing.

done. now the lever wont go all the way into the bar anymore and both pistons move at the same speed. this took me about 10 minutes.

its BS like this that made me ditch hydros. long live the bb7!

 

[big_adventure]

today i fixed my coworkers hydro road discs. shimanos.
basically the lever went all the way to the bar, and he had very low power.

so i remove the caliper from the frame and pump the lever once. pads now move out a bit further and stay there.
reassemble. same problem.

investigate further. seems one piston is moving much further than the other. pump them out very far and clean the pistons with brake clean. then i push the "faster" piston in to try to get the sluggish one to move out. this works, and when i have that one out far i spray it with brake clean.

then i try to cycle them in-out a few times. and spray them a few times more with brake clean. when they are moving freely i drip one drop of oil on each one making sure it wont get on the pads.

then i set the distance i want the pistons sticking out, and assemble again on the frame. pump the brakes a few times and make sure its not rubbing.

done. now the lever wont go all the way into the bar anymore and both pistons move at the same speed. this took me about 10 minutes.

its BS like this that made me ditch hydros. long live the bb7!

I have a deep love of mechanical discs for road bikes. I'd probably still opt for hydros for a hard core offroad bike, but mechanicals are nice for so many reasons, mostly like the story you just told.

 

[Lpn562]

I don’t think would ride mountain bikes without disc brakes again. They are just as necessary as dropper posts
now.