Your latest bike purchase?

[Starduster]

I finally retired my 13-year-old-or-so Bell Ghisallo, for this:

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A Giro Savant with MIPS technology. The thinking behind the additional movable lining/cap inside is to reduce rotational forces to the brain during certain impacts. Sounded good to me. And suprisingly, I didn’t have to shell out $200-$300 for a “pro” helmet to get this feature. This is at the $100-$110 price point. That it fits better than the Ghisallo is a bonus.

[dkel]

Done assembling my son’s bike!
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My other son took this CX action pic:
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In addition to putting on the bars, seatpost, and pedals, I had to true the wheels, adjust the brakes (including loosening the mounting bolts and centering the calipers), and adjust the shifting. The bike has Tektro Lyra disc brakes, and I was sorely wishing for some good ol’ BB7s: those Lyras are fussy and difficult to adjust! The stopping power is ok, but the front could be better, in my opinion; my sons both seem to be afraid of front brakes (despite my educating them many times on proper braking technique), so since he doesn’t use the front much anyway, I guess it doesn’t matter. Also, I managed to totally screw up the first wheel I tried to true, so I had to loosen everything and start over. It took many hours when it should have taken several minutes, but I learned a lot in the process. The dish is still off by about a millimeter, but it’s close enough for now, and though I’m brand new to working on wheels, even I can tell these ones are kind of cheap. Whatever. Despite the extra hours and frustration with many elements of the process, I had a ball, and my kid loves the new bike!

[Starduster]

Brake upgrade- it was time…

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These are Tekro R559 sidepulls, nut & bolt version, long reach. It was time- I had trouble generating enough braking force with the OE Dia-Compe brakeset at the last Confident City Cycling Class. These, plus a Tekro-made, Origin8 branded brake lever set, have made a world of difference in braking performance. Kept my preferred Kool-Stop salmon pads. I later looked at the OE Dia-Compe 500s I pulled- both (!) main bolts bent. Time. The bonus? Not having to navigate my hands around looped-over brake cables.

If anyone wants to duplicate this setup, these are one of the very few *new* caliper brakes that are nutted, to fit a frame of this vintage (1981). They are longer reach- I am running 700c wheels on a bike designed around 27 inch wheels. As you see, the rear brakes at at their inner limit. But the Dia-Compes were *beyond* their outer adjusting limit up front. 27s would have required a treasure hunt for short reach brakes, or surgery, to accomodate modern recessed allen bolt mounting.

[ShawnoftheDread]

I have the same setup on a Raleigh. They work well and are pretty inexpensive.

[Starduster]

@Starduster 107177 wrote:

Putting my money where my mouth is- Busch+Muller Ixon Core headlight and a Busch+Muller Toplight Flat S Permanent, which fits the rack perfectly.

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An on-the-road image is available here, at http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/headlights.asp, or http://www.bumm.de/innovation-original/lichtvergleich-scheinwerfer.html. Light on your path of travel without having to *cover your light* to keep from blinding your fellow riders. My point all along.

And finally, a road shot.

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[hozn]

[IMG]http://bikearlingtonforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8511&stc=1[/IMG]

Replacing my road frame! Still disc brakes (of course). Just a size smaller (58cm) and a slightly different frame design that has full internal cable routing. And I decided to pay $50 extra and wait an additional month for the Hong Fu “Avenger” branding (that’s their team sponsorship brand) rather than get raw UD carbon again.

(That isn’t actually my frame, but is the same model & paint scheme. I’m not getting a fork, since I’m gonna keep using my Whisky No 9 thru axle.)

[dkel]

Among other clothing items, a Gore Windstopper on half-price sale from REI.
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The only downside is that I’ll have to wait six months before the weather is right for wearing it. #BAFS2016

[kwarkentien]

I am pleased to announce that my newest addition to the bike family arrived tonight: a Specialized Diverge Expert 49cm with Di2 and Hydraulic Disk Brakes that I’ve named Dusty Bad Ass. I ordered him in mid-December and he was supposed to be my “winter” bike for Freezing Saddles but alas, the Diverge model proved to be more popular than Specialized expected plus the dockworkers strike/slowdown affected his arrival for adoption but he’s here now and I’m one proud mama. Here’s a picture of my new boy:
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We’ll be at HDCC at Best Buns in the AM for a meet and greet.

[JimF22003]

Nice! I have the one with plain old mechanical shifting. Haven’t gotten to ride it as much as I expected, but it’s a fun bike.

I did ride it for 10 or 15 miles on the C&O, and also for a 50-miler on the New River Trail near Pulaski, VA, which has a similar surface. Perfect bike for that (as long as you don’t run tire pressure too high like I did.)

[TwoWheelsDC]

After a couple months testing platforms + straps on one of my fixed gear bikes, I realized I love having the flexibility that setup offers, but hated the cheap-o pedals I chose (bmx-style style platforms + velcro power straps), since it was almost impossible to flip the pedal over with one of my favorite pairs of shoes, as the tread pattern wouldn’t hook up with the knobs on the platforms. So I decided to go for the traditional clips+straps method, paired with MKS Urban pedals. Going to take a bit to get used to getting my feet in and out, but I can already tell that they are more comfortable to ride with.

**I realize the strap is set up wrong in the photo…that was me setting things up in a hurry. But I fixed it shortly thereafter.**

[Powerful Pete]

New chain and cassette thanks to the friendly folks @ Bikekinetic. Old chain was stretched beyond belief and in rather poor condition following BAFS and having waited too long I had completely screwed up the cassette.

It’s all shiny and it all actually shifts when I need it to (the old set-up had reached well beyond lazy shifting… actual shifting of the chain to a different cog might occur immediately or 5-10 minutes after I had shifted…).

Happy Pete.

[dasgeh]

Note that it has room for a “baby”, nutrition, hydration and tracking.

[hozn]

1×10 – it is happening — with “road” gearing (46t ring, 11-36 cassette). This should help quiet things down and eliminate (?) dropped chains in the woods. Too bad I had just changed my drive train, but at least my road bike will use the 11-28 cassette.

[dbb]

I am invoking the powers of KayakCyndi to declare this a bike related purchase.

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I hope the sign over the kayaks isn’t some sort of omen!

[Phatboing]

@TwoWheelsDC 116573 wrote:

one of my favorite pairs of shoes

What shoes? I’ve been hoarding good platform-pedal shoes, because there are too many that look like skateboard kid shoes.

[Author]

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