vvill’s N + 1 Pointless Prize

[americancyclo]

n=1
2/21/2016
Sunday C&O Out and Back with MUD!
Van Dessel Gin and Trombones

I bought this bike from Dirt a while back after he let me borrow it for a few gravel grinders. I get a silly smile every time I ride it, which is not often enough. It’s a surprisingly light bike and with 40mm tires, can go almost anywhere. I usually can’t resist riding some trail side gravel or the C&O canal, even if I’m only commuting on this bike. It’s funny. A few reviews on the interweb call it “not the lightest bike” which is true, but this 60 cm bike, with everything on it, including the 40mm Clement MSO tires, full saddlebag and lights weighs in at 20 lbs. Just as light as my carbon road bike.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]11024[/ATTACH]

[americancyclo]

@trailrunner 135313 wrote:

I figured people were getting bored hearing about my bikes, and since I’m halfway through my quiver, I thought I’d keep it short.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]11023[/ATTACH]

But since you asked – I bought this bike in November 2005. I raced it for a couple of years and had a blast. Now I ride it on not-too-technical trails and on some paths. Over the years, I replaced the original fork with a carbon fork, took it down to one chainring since I never did use the large ring very much, upgraded the brakes, and made a few other improvements. For a couple of years I also used it as a commuter.

A friend of mine has this same bike in the white/orange colorway and loved it. His was primarily adventure racing and commuting. Seemed like a great “do it all” bike.

[ShawnoftheDread]

N=3, Feb. 22. Took my Foundry Riveter for a spin at lunch (as well as today’s commute). It’s a carbon disc road bike, with wheels built by Hozn. Love the wheels, like the bike quite a bit, but not sold on the disc brakes, especially since I rarely ride this in bad weather.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@ShawnoftheDread 135346 wrote:

N=3, Feb. 22. Took my Foundry Riveter for a spin at lunch (as well as today’s commute). It’s a carbon disc road bike, with wheels built by Hozn. Love the wheels, like the bike quite a bit, but not sold on the disc brakes, especially since I rarely ride this in bad weather.

Oh nice…I like what you did with it. I’m not sold on road discs either, since I really only ride my road bikes in decent weather. Not that I’d avoid road discs, but I don’t think I’d specifically look for them if I were in the market for a new road bike…which is good, as it means I’m still perfectly happy with my Cervelo and feel no urge to upgrade. I may be looking for an all-weather commuter in the next few months though, and that will definitely need discs.

[americancyclo]

@ShawnoftheDread 135346 wrote:

Love the wheels built by Hozn

Can we get some stickers so that all his H+SON wheels can be re-branded HOZN?

[vvill]

@ShawnoftheDread 135346 wrote:

N=3, Feb. 22. Took my Foundry Riveter for a spin at lunch (as well as today’s commute). It’s a carbon disc road bike, with wheels built by Hozn. Love the wheels, like the bike quite a bit, but not sold on the disc brakes, especially since I rarely ride this in bad weather.

@TwoWheelsDC 135348 wrote:

Oh nice…I like what you did with it. I’m not sold on road discs either, since I really only ride my road bikes in decent weather. Not that I’d avoid road discs, but I don’t think I’d specifically look for them if I were in the market for a new road bike…which is good, as it means I’m still perfectly happy with my Cervelo and feel no urge to upgrade. I may be looking for an all-weather commuter in the next few months though, and that will definitely need discs.

Yeah I think if your n is greater than I dunno, 2 or 3, you’re probably not going to really need disc brakes. I don’t ride my fixed gear much in the wet, and I have my (disc) CX bike to use instead of my road bike if it’s pouring. Having discs is more about laziness and consistency. When I get around to replacing my current road and/or CX bikes I’m hoping to get something that will cover both bases, so I’ll only have to maintain one brake system and one geared drivetrain… excepting my other bikes of course.

[trailrunner]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]11037[/ATTACH]

22 February
I took this photo about five miles in to my commute home tonight. This is my Kona Sutra, which I bought 1.5 years ago as a touring bike to tow my camping trailer, and as a commuter and errand bike. I swapped the seat (came with a Brooks B-17, which I didn’t like) and the rear rack. This bike is built like a tank and weighs about as much.
n=6 for trailrunner

[ShawnoftheDread]

@americancyclo 135349 wrote:

Can we get some stickers so that all his H+SON wheels can be re-branded HOZN?

Let’s just get Tim to change his forum name to H+SON.

[TwoWheelsDC]

This is actually n=2 since this challenge started, but first bike photo I’ve taken. Cinelli MASH Parallax, 48×16 fixed.

[ATTACH]11038[/ATTACH]

[hozn]

@vvill 135354 wrote:

Having discs is more about laziness and consistency.

Yeah, I agree with this.

I like disc brakes a lot, but my passion has mellowed a bit. I will say, and Jabberwocky will say “I told you so” l, that hydro disc is quite a different beast. On the MTB my BB7s were setup really nicely, but not in same league as my SLX brakes now. I have never gotten road mechanicals to be as firm/crisp as MTB. I like my Spyres, but I would like to switch to hydro on the road. I am torn because I prefer SRAM shifting by far to Shimano, but apparently SRAM hydro tech is inferior. I would rather work with mineral oil too. I think the answer is Di2+hydro.

Other random disc-brake observations:
– Black rims look much nicer without brake tracks.
– I like carbon rims but braking on carbon rims just sucks
– and shapes of these newer disc-only rims is really nice — Aileron, Grail, SL25.
– love swapping rim profiles without adjustments.
– the other tech going along with discs like tubeless-ready rims, thru-axle and standard use of tapered forks seems almost as good as the brake tech
– I find replacing disc brake pads simpler than brake pads (and then readjusting them). Probably this is just driven by familiarity.

But:
– discs are loud in the wet
– braking with mechanicals in fair weather is only marginally better than good pads on good rim brakes
– some (~4w worst-case iirc) aero penalty.
– hydro is definitely more if a pain in the butt. We will see how maintenance goes but dealing with mineral oil, olives, bleed blocks, etc. was not trivial. And of course I destroyed a set of brake pads with my first attempt to bleed my brakes.

Regardless, it seems obvious discs are her to stay across the board.

[dcv]

n=5
23Feb16
Tue coffee @ Cafe Kindred, snuggle bikes with Dickie’s CX
My absolute most favorite bike ever, Lemond Zurich converted fixed gear. Have had this frame since 2002, this fits better as a FG without hoods – shorter reach. 57.5 top tube for a 55 frame.

[ShawnoftheDread]

N=4, 2011 CAADX. This is my usual commuter, race bike come cx season, and do-most bike. Ridden more than 13,000 miles in the two years I’ve had it, including gravel, light single track, and Kill Bill. No real complaints, except for toe overlap and a propensity for BB noise.

This is after today’s ride to work, with fenders and cross tires.

[vvill]

@hozn 135374 wrote:

I like disc brakes a lot, but my passion has mellowed a bit. I will say, and Jabberwocky will say “I told you so” l, that hydro disc is quite a different beast. On the MTB my BB7s were setup really nicely, but not in same league as my SLX brakes now. I have never gotten road mechanicals to be as firm/crisp as MTB. I like my Spyres, but I would like to switch to hydro on the road. I am torn because I prefer SRAM shifting by far to Shimano, but apparently SRAM hydro tech is inferior. I would rather work with mineral oil too. I think the answer is Di2+hydro.

I haven’t tried to adjust my own hydros yet, but I love the ones on my Raleigh (TRP Hylex). Blew away any mech discs I’ve used (which is not many, admittedly), although I’ve read that for maximum reliability (in very cold temps for example), mech is still better. And for some reason the SLX hydros on my MTB squeal horribly and seem mushy so I haven’t been very impressed by them actually but may just need adjustment or cleaner rotors. OTOH, the BB7s on my beater MTB have been rock solid across several different wheelsets/rotors and bad conditions even if they don’t feel quite as nice.

I’m probably going to wait another year or two to see what else comes to market hydro-disc-integrated-shifter wise (I’m not married to Shimano or SRAM shifters, so I’ve been curious about the Gevenalle hydro-shifters which use Hylex brakes as a base.) There were only a few complete CX/gravel bikes that I was really interested in this year, and I’m very satisfied with my Raleigh for most purposes. The 10/11 speed thing is annoying because I’m trying to stay 10 speed but feel like it’s a losing battle – especially since I’d want hydro and thru axle (up front, at a minimum), and building a frameset vs buying a complete bike is even more expensive if you want newer tech.

@dcv 135381 wrote:

n=5
23Feb16
Tue coffee @ Cafe Kindred, snuggle bikes with Dickie’s CX
My absolute favorite bike ever, Lemond Zurich converted fixed gear. Have had this frame since 2001, this fits better as a FG without hoods, shorter reach. 57.5 top tube for a 55 frame.

57.5 ett, dang, that seems a little long even though I’m shorter than you – without hoods makes sense. (I usually ride 54-56 ett or so with a 90-110 stem.)

[hozn]

@vvill 135398 wrote:

And for some reason the SLX hydros on my MTB squeal horribly and seem mushy so I haven’t been very impressed by them actually but may just need adjustment or cleaner rotors.

It sounds like you just need to bleed the brakes (for mushy) as mine are very crisp. For the squeal probably start with cleaning rotors with rubbing alcohol; maybe new pads needed?

Let me know if you want oil / borrow bleed kit. Or bring it by and we can learn together! I have spare pads now …

[americancyclo]

N=2
https://www.strava.com/activities/500753915
Dahon Speed 7
I’ve got this on permanent loan from a family member to help close the last mile of our single car family routine. It’s a fun little bike but I do get the impression I’m a bit big for it. Heaviest of all my bikes weighing in at 32 lbs. usually my rides in this bike don’t exceed 2 miles but a mental error gave me a little extra distance today.
[ATTACH]11040[/ATTACH]

[Author]

Posts