Your latest bike purchase?

[vvill]

I don’t own any canti equipped bikes, but I thought this was an interesting read on cantis/vbrakes.
http://www.rodbikes.com/articles/brakes.html

[TwoWheelsDC]

@vvill 101267 wrote:

I don’t own any canti equipped bikes, but I thought this was an interesting read on cantis/vbrakes.
http://www.rodbikes.com/articles/brakes.html

The “R” is for retrogrouch.

[cyclingfool]

Yeah, I’ve got v-brakes on my drop bar converted MTB, for all intents and purposes a 26″ wheel touring/commuting rig at this point. I monkeyed for weeks trying to get a set of cantilevers set up to provide a semblance of the stopping power I wanted/needed for my big arse. It wasn’t worth the frustration; I gave up. I love my Avid SD-7 v-brakes w/ Tektro long pull drop bar levers, and you’ll only get them by ripping them from the cold clutches of my rigor mortis-stricken hands.

[dplasters]

@dplasters 101025 wrote:

I have purchased the Sparse Bike Lights .. from Urban Outfitters… effectively for 30% off.. which is a solid deal.

But I purchased bike lights from Urban Outfitters for crying out loud. I am so hipster my inseam just shrank ironically.

Bah. Your level of hipster from just a few days ago is nothing! You just bought the most ridiculous shoe covers ever imagined and they are made from artisanal wax coated cotton (using a quaint Scottish method of some variety). I can only assume they come with a plaid shirt and organic, sustainably produced jeans made from cotton plants that are grown using free range non GMO cotton seeds whose lineage has been traced back to the original cotton plants of the Indus river valley.

Step your game up.

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[83b]

I’ve had those MUSA shoe covers for a couple of seasons now. They’re great! I finally stopped killing two sets of (cheap) dress shoes a year!

[dkel]

Not a purchase, but an early Xmas gift from my mother: bar mitts!

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This is the first time my mother has ever gotten me a gift to use on my bike. Deep down, she really does disapprove of this nutty cycling business, I think.

[Vicegrip]

9 @vvill 101267 wrote:

I don’t own any canti equipped bikes, but I thought this was an interesting read on cantis/vbrakes.
http://www.rodbikes.com/articles/brakes.html

Thanks.

My girl and I took a nice Saturday ride to test out the tandem and grab some lunch. Have to say the brakes work well. Did a couple of test OMG! stops and they pulled the bike down well. We also stopped in the LBS and picked up the hardware for the rear drum brake. Reminding the stoker that she can add watts too seems to be good for about 3 mph.

[TwoWheelsDC]

Christmas is coming a little early this year…I’ve been wanting a cheap all-weather bike that could take fenders and studded tires since I sold my Bianchi, but based on my experience with my Bianchi, I pretty much refuse to ever buy another geared all-weather bike. Solution: Cheap SSCX* bike! I had actually been eyeing the Kilo WT from Bikesdirect, but the Nashbar SSCX bike was $100 cheaper, plus an extra 20% discount promotion going on through today brought the price down to $300. Would be crazy to NOT pull the trigger, right?

It’s almost unbelievable how difficult it is to find SS/FG frames that will take tires wider than 28mm AND have clearance for fenders AND that have eyelets…particularly when you don’t want to pay more than about $450. So we’ll see how well this thing holds up, but even if I end up replacing a bunch of components, I probably still come out ahead.

*don’t worry, flip/flop hub means I’ll be running fixed

[hozn]

I would also own another SS for commuting again if I didn’t want to also pull the trailer or ride off-road, but haven’t found gears to be that big a lifestyle cramp for all-weather commuting. Was it just the increased frequency of cassette replacement that was annoying? I suppose cables have to replaced every 8-10k miles too.

What I really want, but cannot justify is a proper SS CX bike like the Traitor Crusade. But choosing the gearing would mean it would only be good at one thing and I would want that to be the off-road bit. Maybe I could find a compromise ratio that would let me ride to the trail too. And which bike would I give up? Sadly that will have to wait until the kids are in college or something

[TwoWheelsDC]

@hozn 101973 wrote:

I would also own another SS for commuting again if I didn’t want to also pull the trailer or ride off-road, but haven’t found gears to be that big a lifestyle cramp for all-weather commuting. Was it just the increased frequency of cassette replacement that was annoying? I suppose cables have to replaced every 8-10k miles too.

Not a big lifestyle cramp…I just didn’t like that it seemed to be constantly begrimed with the derailleurs/cassette/crank/cables all gunked up, and I’d feel guilty if I didn’t clean it really well, which I hated doing.

[ShawnoftheDread]

I may have just gone full hipster.

[KLizotte]

You have drunk the Koolaid. 😮

[hozn]

@TwoWheelsDC 102003 wrote:

Not a big lifestyle cramp…I just didn’t like that it seemed to be constantly begrimed with the derailleurs/cassette/crank/cables all gunked up, and I’d feel guilty if I didn’t clean it really well, which I hated doing.

Ah, I guess the trick is that I just don’t feel guilty. I clean it when it starts making noise. (I am a believer in minimal bike cleaning, esp. with water, as a way to increase lifespan of the greased parts.) So I brush off dry dirt every couple weeks and chain gets oiled but that is all. Once a year or so, I replace cables. Of course cassettes get replaced twice a year or so. That is annoying. And the BB about as often as the cassettes, but that is not a geared-specific feature.

[dkel]

@ShawnoftheDread 102004 wrote:

I may have just gone full hipster.

Don’t worry, you totally didn’t.

(‘Cause it happened a long time ago.)

[ShawnoftheDread]

@dkel 102027 wrote:

Don’t worry, you totally didn’t.

(‘Cause it happened a long time ago.)

Watch it, man.

[Author]

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