[ebubar]

Sorry to hear this, but glad you’re okay! I seem to have really bad luck with Revolution Cycles. I’d say to definitely hold them accountable and make sure they don’t mess anything else up. If you know of anyone who works on bikes, maybe try and have them give it a once over. Not to say Revolution isn’t trustworthy, but they tried to replace my seatpost with a cracked one and then one of the wrong size. If I didn’t know what I needed from talking to the fine folks on here, i’d probably be hurt from their incompetence!

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@dcv 56084 wrote:

Or this LeMond Poprad CX full bike, 57cm with Sora components for $150. What’s going on?
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/bik/3890752889.html

This looks too good to be true. Don’t know much about LeMond sizing…if a 55 cm Bianchi is just a hair too big for me (standover height wise, length is actually good), then would this bike fit me? Could it be made to fit with a different stem perhaps?

[ebubar]

Didn’t have to work today. No 30 mile RT commute today. Instead, took the bike out for a quick 13 miles around Sligo Creek with the new Clipless pedals. No falls, one slight panic moment but “Dirt-like” reflexes kicked in to keep me standing!

[ebubar]

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/bik/3883169494.html

Lemond 55 cm road bike – $650

Not sure if this is a good price, but i’ve read good things about Lemonds!

[ebubar]

Got my first flat on the commute yesterday. While fixing it, lots of people slowed to make sure I was good to go and one even stopped to ask if I needed anything. In turn, I helped him figure out where his turn off was on the Capital Crescent Trail. Hope you made it home fine on your late night ride home, Mr. Recumbent!

Got my flat fixed, rode about 2 more miles to a local bike shop who happily let me pump my tire back to full pressure so I didn’t have be quite so slow and careful on the remaining 6 miles home.

I think those are pretty indicative of a nice group of cyclists in our area!

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@mello yello 55671 wrote:

I love it when I pull up at a stop light and there’s little kids staring at me from their car seat, I always wave at them, sometimes I get a wave back. This has happened at least once on about half of my limited number of commutes since BTWD. The pedestrians I don’t wave at, although if I ride on the sidewalk I’ll say thanks if they stop or move to the side.

I “wave” my fingers without removing my hand from the handlebar, will head-nod and make eye contact with bikes and cars, and will actually say ‘hey how’s it goin’, ‘morning’, etc after I call out ‘on your left’ if we’re riding the same direction. There are really very few bikes, I can afford to.

When I used to ride the MVT, however… that becomes like a mini freeway during commute times and no way was I ever acknowledging everyone. Some, sure… but pretty low key.

The kids are the best to wave to. They get so excited!

Just today on the CCT a kid was amazed when a road bike passed her (“Look at that one mommy!”). Then she noticed the guy using the path from Chain Bridge onto the CCT and said, “That ones in the trees!”. Then, as I rode by she exclaimed, “There’s another one!”

Kids really need to be on transportation planning boards. We’d have dedicated bike paths all over the place!

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@timo96 55678 wrote:

Couple of thoughts:

This happened right in front of my apartment 11th and P — I was taking the trash out and heard the wreck, my gf saw the cyclist get hit and thrown. Group of guys racing; dude who wrecked = no brakes, no helmet (not judging, just noting). No doubt that the cyclists were in the wrong, but there is also no doubt in my mind that the taxi driver was speeding – probably more than a little bit. I say this because I talked to people who saw it happen, because of the physics of where the impact happened versus where the taxi driver managed to stop his vehicle, and because I have seen the video. If the cyclists weren’t blowing redlights this accident would not have happened. It may also have been avoided if the taxi driver was going a safe speed for that road (believe the limit is 25 mph on 11th St).

The young man who was struck is very, very lucky he is not dead. There is no other way to put it.

Other thoughts — dude’s buddies were fairly poor examples of human beings. It was awfully cool of them to split before the cops showed up.

It did seem the taxi was speeding a bit. I suspect it was in an attempt to beat the red light that was coming. If I recall, the light the cyclist ran turned green shortly afterward (or am I making that up?). Of course, the cyclists were undoubtedly wrong and riding like buffoons.

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@krazygl00 55676 wrote:

Sure…could be. If his story is legit I’ll give him a little more sympathy. It doesn’t change the fact that he charged in accusing a group of people who did NOT cause his injury.

Besides…I’m really not sure it’s true. For me it doesn’t pass the smell test. Broken finger from hitting a handlebar? Really? How fast was the cyclist going? How fast was camomansf swinging his arms as he ran? Not impossible, but improbable.

I’d have to agree with this. Perhaps the gentleman is used to wider paths than we have here. There are times when I feel crowded on paths, just because they’re skinny. Key Bridge and Chain Bridge are both good examples. There just isn’t a lot of space to pass people and your going to feel crowded. This is why most of us on here (I would guess) cross those areas relatively slowly.

The fact is you have jerks everywhere and I bet there are just as many elite cyclists out in SF as there are here. With a high cost of living comes a high level of “moron with too much money and too little sense”. I have to note that in my short 4-5 months of regular bike commuting, i’ve had many more days of no incidents than days of problems.

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@MV Clyde 55588 wrote:

I was a bad teammate last week. Between work, weather and being sick, I didn’t ride for 8 days (I had some kind of summer cold that felt like the flu). I dropped around 2,500 spots in the GC. I’m clawing my way back though….made up probably 1,000 spots so far. Tonight was a sleaze ride but needed the points.

I feel your pain. I dropped like 1000 spots just missing 3 days due to a broken seat post.

[ebubar]

@Greenbelt 55570 wrote:

I use the 424 model on both bikes, and love them — especially great for commuting.

The 424 has the SPD on both sides, but a nice wide, pretty indestructible plastic rim. A little more convenient for riding clipped in, since you don’t have to turn the pedal to find the clip side, but a little less good for riding with flat shoes, since the pedal does stick up a little bit.

I thought about those too. But since this is my do it all bike, I need the dual function for clipping in and riding with plain sneakers. Pulled the trigger and got 1 day shipping (love amazon prime). Should be back tomorrow or Thursday to tell a nice tale of falling and bruised ego.

@Greenbelt 55570 wrote:

Definitely bring your new pedals when bike shopping — usually a purchase comes with at least a basic bike fit, and the fitter will want to see how your fit works clipped in or not.

My plan is to purchase from Proteus (I believe your shop of choice!) when I eventually bite the bullet.
According to web reviews I’ll get a good basic fitting and will have the option to get a discounted comprehensive fit within the first few months.
This is my reasoning for getting the pedals now and getting comfortable with them on the current steed. Should simplify the transition! Learning clipless and a
curvy bike all at once sounds like a recipe for falls!

[ebubar]

So how often are you all cleaning your chains? I tend to clean after any particularly rainy commute. So, after riding today, i’ll be cleaning things up.
What say you experts?

[ebubar]

I tend to nod and smile at almost everyone. I wave if the other person seems particularly happy to be out riding!

Mostly, lots of cyclists look to be too ELITE to be bothered with acknowledging my presence. They just have to concentrate
on flying by me like stealth ninja’s. This makes me want to get that curvy bar bike, but as I get faster its tempting to keep
cruising on the hybrid as the feeling of keeping up and/or passing those with $2K+ road bikes is pretty priceless…

[ebubar]

I too am fiddling with my seat a bunch to get is as comfy as possible. I keep reading about biking and delaying my new commuter purchase until I can be certain that my current hybrid isn’t comfortable and/or sturdy for my 30 mile RT commute. Its been amazing to me how simple mm adjustments can really change how the bike feels.

When my hands were getting numb (this is on a flat bar hybrid), my essential purchase was Ergon grips to give my wrists somewhere to rest (http://www.rei.com/product/722554/ergon-gp1-grips-large). Added on some bar ends and the comfort factor vastly increased. Now as I fiddle with the seat i’m working on distributing my weight across all parts of the bike a bit more equally. I’m betting you had this done with a fitting though.

Hope it improves for you! I’m expecting a bit of hand pain if/when I ever get a curvy bar bike.

[ebubar]

On a separate note, big thanks to Rod for providing a replacement seatpost when I was anticipating a longer wait.

It will prove to be even handier now that I’ll be dealing with an uncooperative local shop. I’ll most likely end up having to buy
a seatpost in the end, but your generous loan will allow me to at least be obnoxious until the bitter end!

[ebubar]

I was all set to praise my local trek dealer for getting me my seatpost in 2 days rather than the week they originally told me.

Seatpost came in and is a nice shiny black all over and now has 2 bolts for double the glute support! It will match my bike wonderfully until I get the post home and realize its missing the bottom platform with the railing cutouts for me to actually be able to connect the seat. I figured they screwed something up (which seems to be a trend with
this shop) and called them to ask about exchanging the seatpost for one that, you know, is actually complete.

I’m told by the manager that he personally looked at the post and everything was there. Oh really? Were you there when they dropped the post getting it out of the bag? I suspect the piece in question was dropped then too and never given to me. Still being a relatively new biker, I didn’t think to look and make sure everything was there. Shame on me and now I have to pay for a new seatpost.

What really bugs me though, is this level of service. IMHO when I call your shop and say your seatpost wasn’t complete, the correct response is “oh, bring it in and we’ll take a look at it and fix it if something’s missing”. Do they think i’m trying to cheat them somehow? Is there really a huge market for folks stealing pieces of seatposts? If so, i’ve got a great seatpost here that’s only missing a third of what you need to make it work!

Rant done…:mad:

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