Your latest bike purchase?

[hozn]

@krazygl00 83802 wrote:

That makes total sense. My own carbon (with al. steerer) disc fork is 1.125/1.125 so it didn’t occur to me that this configuration would become scarce. I’m trying out a 2007 Kona Major Major to replace my 2004 JTS with cracked frame. It is an awesome frame but I’m considering two factors that may be at end-of-life, the first being the non-tapered head tube and the second being the 130mm dropout spacing with disc brake option.

Indeed both of those (especially the 130mm spacing) do seem to be end-of-life. I’d say the 44mm straight headtube is a very flexible solution that seems to be adopted by many frame makers. If the industry moves to straight 1.5-1.5 tubes, that should still work (with external cups). My first choice for a new frame would be 44mm; second choice would be tapered.

For the rear, it seems like most people have decided that 135mm makes sense for drop-bar bikes. There was one disc road (or cx?) bike recently that was doing 142mmx12 thru-axle rear. Assuming that actually requires wider spacing that seems like a horrible idea with road-length chainstays. (I’ve also seen reference to the additional 7mm being “built-in” to the dropouts? — Maybe I just don’t understand how the 12mm thru-axles work.)

[jrenaut]

@TwoWheelsDC 83796 wrote:

…I’m planning to do the Cap2Cap century on my FG, since the ride is pretty flat and boring/easy on a geared bike…

I really want a fixed gear in time to do the Seagull Metric on it. I did it last year and it was fun because I was leading two friends on their first organized ride but there’s like 6 feet of climbing in the whole ride.

[Anonymous]

What: specialized tricross disc.
When: November 2013
Why: It was on sale. It was my size. I had to, right?

Ok, I *had* already been toying with the idea of a ‘cross bike for a while, as I was feeling my hybrid was not zippy nor comfy enough for longish rides and my road bike was somewhat lacking in practicality, and neither of them are particularly handy off-pavement so what do I do when I want to ride more than fifteen miles and carry more than a credit card with me or what if I want to find some dirt or gravel or something to ride on? I had been resisting actively shopping for it, though. Also, I like to whine about not being secure enough on the brakes with small hands and had gotten some feedback on the forum that SRAM levers would be worth a try. Disc brakes seemed like a nice idea, and possibly also helpful with my braking confidence. And then my LBS put a 46cm disc-brake, sram-component ‘cross bike on sale for about 1/3 off. What else was I supposed to do?

I’m very happy with it, and I suspect it will eventually completely replace the hybrid (as well as adding its own benefits), though the hybrid has grannier granny gears and l live on a hill so I’m still mostly using that for any carrying home of anything of noticeable weight.

BF recently got a Cervelo S2 less than a year after getting his first “real” (not-from-Target) bike (Cannondale Synapse) and I am coveting very badly. I am currently actively resisting shopping for some pretty, aero-framed, carbon road bike.

[ebubar]

On the Thursday before Easter I got a brand spankin’ new Jamis Quest Comp. Steel frame with carbon fork. SUPER smooth ride that was reminiscent of my other love the Bianchi Volpe. It’s just a bit lighter and sportier which is what I wanted. A smooth riding fast road bike that could go off road onto the Georgetown Branch trail and C&O Canal. Thus far with crappy weather and holidays I’ve only gotten two commutes in but it’s meeting and exceeding my expectations thus far! Someday I’ll be able to bring it by DTSS Coffee Club!

If you haven’t yet, I’d give the Jamis Quest Comp a try.
And yes, it has rack and fender mounts.

[Harry Meatmotor]

are spouse-approved pending purchases fair game, too?

[dcv]

@jrenaut 83812 wrote:

I really want a fixed gear in time to do the Seagull Metric on it. I did it last year and it was fun because I was leading two friends on their first organized ride but there’s like 6 feet of climbing in the whole ride.

I have the opposite inclination, have been toiling over doing kill bill fixed

[dkel]

@Harry Meatmotor 83825 wrote:

are spouse-approved pending purchases fair game, too?

I want to hear about it! My Straggler covet is pretty close to a “spouse-approved pending purchase.”

[jrenaut]

@dcv 83827 wrote:

I have the opposite inclination, have been toiling over doing kill bill fixed

You, sir, are certifiably insane.

Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk

[vvill]

@TwoWheelsDC 83796 wrote:

I find I’m getting better at dealing with the drawbacks, like riding over potholes and bumps, and taking corners at speed (although I’ll probably go with 165mm cranks on my next build). Since my commute is pretty open and doesn’t involve the complications of riding in the city, I’ve had time to get the fundamentals down without constantly worrying about obstacles and such. I do use my brake pretty liberally, but mostly that’s because I have quite a few hills to go down and relying solely on backpedaling just seems crazy. I also have a hard time adjusting to my geared bikes now, since I don’t ride them very often at all…coming to stoplights is the most awkward, since I keep trying to backpedal and time my stop to sync with the correct spot in my pedal rotation, which is totally unnecessary with a freewheel.

I do the timing my stop to sync thing out of habit even though I don’t ride FG much. I use my brake a lot too, I’ve tried the Powhatan loop fixed and it wasn’t too bad but I used the brake a lot.

165 cranks would help cornering but then you would lose leverage when you climb. I’ve only ever used 170 and 175mm cranks though so I can’t really compare.

[Dirt]

Why? It is fun.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@dkel 83828 wrote:

I want to hear about it! My Straggler covet is pretty close to a “spouse-approved pending purchase.”

the new high-speed steed: 54cm Spec. Allez Smartweld with some Force22 hung on it. I’ll be repurposing the November Rails for this bike. The Salsa Pistola will keep the HED Belgiums laced to King hubs for good.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5413[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]5414[/ATTACH]

[hozn]

@Harry Meatmotor 83886 wrote:

the new high-speed steed: 54cm Spec. Allez Smartweld with some Force22 hung on it. I’ll be repurposing the November Rails for this bike. The Salsa Pistola will keep the HED Belgiums laced to King hubs for good.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5413[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]5414[/ATTACH]

Sweet! Look forward to the build pics. Is that a bike for racing? I was really tempted to do the Force22 on my build, but I somewhat stupidly built my wheels with a 10-speed only hub — to save $30 (on $800-worth of wheel parts …). So I did 10-speed Force. I figure 10-speed still has a few more years before it is obsolete, though I assume 105 going to 11 is the tolling of that bell. (When dealing with disc-brake hubs, though, there’s still a prevalence of 10-speed stuff since MTB is a little slower to add a cog.)

[Harry Meatmotor]

@hozn 83896 wrote:

Sweet! Look forward to the build pics. Is that a bike for racing? I was really tempted to do the Force22 on my build, but I somewhat stupidly built my wheels with a 10-speed only hub — to save $30 (on $800-worth of wheel parts …). So I did 10-speed Force. I figure 10-speed still has a few more years before it is obsolete, though I assume 105 going to 11 is the tolling of that bell. (When dealing with disc-brake hubs, though, there’s still a prevalence of 10-speed stuff since MTB is a little slower to add a cog.)

No racing for me. I tell myself that if i were to start racing, it’d be more like work (i’d actually have to “train” which means no more beer drinking, my commute would be considered “junk miles” and I’d have some wattage gizmo, which means my wife would have to put up with me strava-bragging). But i do like to hang on with the Cat 3 & 4 guys I occasionally ride with. I wanted to build a different flavor than my Pistola. Stiff, light, and fast. Luckily the November Rails have 11spd hub bodies, too, and the cost difference between Force and Force22 is minimal. Specialized is out of stock on the murdered out frames, hopefully back in stock mid-summer.

[hozn]

@Harry Meatmotor 83902 wrote:

No racing for me. I tell myself that if i were to start racing, it’d be more like work (i’d actually have to “train” which means no more beer drinking, my commute would be considered “junk miles” and I’d have some wattage gizmo, which means my wife would have to put up with me strava-bragging). But i do like to hang on with the Cat 3 & 4 guys I occasionally ride with. I wanted to build a different flavor than my Pistola. Stiff, light, and fast. Luckily the November Rails have 11spd hub bodies, too, and the cost difference between Force and Force22 is minimal. Specialized is out of stock on the murdered out frames, hopefully back in stock mid-summer.

Gotcha. Yeah, I’m in a similar (though I suspect slower) boat. No road racing yet (well, I’ve done 1 road race), but one of these years when the babies aren’t babies anymore I’ll dedicate a season to at least getting out of Cat 5. For now MTB and a few CX is good fun and plenty casual. I was very tempted by the Rails; were I building another rim-brake bike I would have bought those instead, but I couldn’t quite justify 2x the cost when braking surface / heat buildup is a non-issue and I’m less concerned about wind-tunnel data; I like the carbon rims for ride quality and the aesthetics and my LBU45 rims to fine on those benchmarks ).

[NicDiesel]

Today I pulled the trigger on a set of Ortlieb panniers so I can start going grocery shopping now that the ice and snow is all gone. Oh yeah, and I plan on using them when I ride up to Duluth this fall.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5416[/ATTACH]

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