[eminva]

@KayakCyndi 140258 wrote:

Let’s meet up for you to test my 53 Viaje. We’ll see how that fits. If too big we can try to get you on a 50. I’ll probably be on it Thursday and Friday. Live in Falls Church and commute into DC. Message me and we can coordinate.

Let me know when and where and I can bring my 50 Viaje.

[eminva]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]11820[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]11821[/ATTACH]

This is a Baby Jogger cup holder, added to the handlebar of my cargo bike. Great for refreshments on my way to farmer’s market, grocery store, etc.

Liz

[eminva]

Had the same problem with Giant in Vienna; their carts and empty bakery racks blocked the U racks that FABB donated. I repeatedly brought the manager out to show him until he finally got tired of me and solved the problem for good. Although now there is a bench right next to the bike racks where the employees on break sit to smoke. Oh well.

Liz

[eminva]

Oh, very unfortunate. I rolled through after EMTs were already on the scene as well as several other helpful folks so I thought the best I could do would be to stay out of the way. So thank you for your help. I also appreciated the cyclist down the trail who’d gotten off his bike to warn oncoming cyclists to slow down.

Sad that no one knew what had happened. I hope he recovers okay.

Stay safe out there, everyone.

Liz

[eminva]

Sorry to be a debby downer on BTWD, but . . .

I find it unfortunate to see such frank observations about local bike shops on the forum. Sometimes we treat the forum like an “over the back fence” conversation but it is not. It’s a public message board and anyone doing a Google search could find these threads.

If you want an honest assessment about a bike shop, it would be better to have that conversation in person at a local coffee club. If you have a complaint about a local bike shop, it would be best to take that up with the management — or at least give them a chance to make things right before going public.

I have patronized several local bike shops over the years and I find them to be, uniformly, well meaning corporate citizens of our cycling community who are sincere in their efforts to provide good products and services. And they care about their reputations. They all have different personalities and target different markets, so if you don’t find what you need in one, please try another.

Liz

[eminva]

Nice! He is one lucky kid.

Though if you find yourself searching the interwebs for miniature clipless pedals, you might ask yourself if you’re going overboard.

Liz

[eminva]

Sorry I’m late, Tim!

@KLizotte 138038 wrote:

Unfortunately the map also highlights the fact that if you actually want to get out of your neighborhood you forced to ride a moderate or high stress route at some point. Most of the blue and green routes are cul de sacs or circles within a residential neighborhood. An example of unintentional consequences of suburban street design.

I was focusing on Takoma Park and the close-in parts of Silver Spring, near where I used to live, and this is definitely not true there. They are older suburbs on a grid pattern and are fairly designated as low stress with reasonable access to Metro, shopping or other amenities. I think this is true of other communities in the south part of the county.

HOWEVER . . . there are some formidable hills in Takoma Park and a novice cyclist would be severely challenged getting to the Metro from, say, the Sligo Creek area.

My comments to the Montgomery planners would be as follows:

Glad they designated Carroll between Ethan Allen and Tulip as moderate-high; I consider the bike lanes there a total failure. I say that as a WABA LCI (I took a class of City Cycling students through there and they concurred).

I didn’t realize, until studying this map, that there are a ton of stream beds throughout the county — these could be sites for trails that could provide no stress cycling routes for a lot of the folks hemmed in by higher stress roadways.

Liz

[eminva]

I am confused after last night — do we need to get three or five people who haven’t ridden in a year?

Do they have to live in Arlington, or is anywhere in the greater DC region okay?

I have one so far, assuming it is not limited to Arlington. If it is . . . well, most the people I know in Arlington are already way over the top cyclists.

Liz

[eminva]

You’ve got some nice stuff in that box! I couldn’t see the captions here at work, but I don’t need anything at the moment, least of all temptation, so I defer to others if they want to avail themselves of the kind offer.

Thanks!

Liz

[eminva]

@ian74 137485 wrote:

DO I NEED AN N+1????

If you wanted someone to talk you out of this, you came to the wrong place. :p I will tell you what I did when faced with a similar dilemma.

I had (and still have) a road bike, a Cannondale Synapse, more than adequate for my 29-mile round trip commute. I wanted a bike that would allow for wider tires, touring on the GAP or C&O easily, steel frame and with disc brakes. I identified a lot of the same models that you note as being out of your budget. Because I had a decent bike for commuting, I decided to bide my time and wait until I could save enough for the bike that was out of my budget. I parted out another bike which netted almost $1000, sold whatever other parts were lying around, made my own coffee, looked under sofa cushions, etc. After almost a year of saving, I started to shop and test ride, settling on the Volagi Viaje.

Eight months in, I have loved it so far. I’m not sure if it is lighter or heavier than the Cannondale, as I have that outfitted with full commuter regalia (rack, frame pump, etc.) and can’t bear to do that to the Volagi, but they are reasonably close. It is a great bike for commuting, and due to slightly different gearing (11-speed Ultegra cassette!), I prefer it to the Cannondale. It’s not slower, that’s for sure, and does NOT feel like a monster. In retrospect, I’m glad I waited to get just what I wanted.

I can’t answer your questions about how speedy another steel bike would be, but I’ve been happy.

If you are looking used, try the DC Used Bicycle Marketplace on Facebook. Sometimes a great opportunity presents itself.

Good luck.

Liz

[eminva]

@dkel 137069 wrote:

Perhaps this isn’t an opportunity for me to be snarky…

She’s cleaning out your garage, so no.

[eminva]

Well, I bow down to Rockford10.

Is the Novara hybrid still available? (Not wishing to resurrect an old thread). Asking for a friend.

Liz

[eminva]

I’m sure nobody in your neighborhood thinks you’re eccentric or anything.

[eminva]

@consularrider 136902 wrote:

Anyone have one for tomorrow (St Patrick’s Day).

I’ve got four “Irish” pubs in my general neighborhood in Kyiv and may try to hit a fifth that is on the Left Back across from the Hydro Park. That’s Andrew’s, O’Brien’s, O’Connor’s, Golden Gate, and To Dublin. All serve Guinness. If I do them all it’s about a 40 km ride, but don’t know if I want to drink five half liters of stout.

Some folks were getting an early start last night in your old neighborhood — they were on foot when I went through Banneker Park, weaving all over the trail in their faux Irish regalia. Drinking wine directly from the bottle.

Liz

[eminva]

Gave away my old beater bike on Freecycle.

Liz

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