[Harry Meatmotor]

@americancyclo 93230 wrote:

Looks like I’m in this situation now too. Just noticed a skipping noise on my front wheel, and it seems to have a small crack in the brake track. I’ll be stopping by bikenetic tonight on the way home (and probably riding the beater bike for the next few days). Any recommendations for replacement of a 2009 Ultegra SL wheel? I think the hub is fine, but when Jan rebuilt my rear wheel, he said it was a PITA to relace those hubs.

Should I replace the whole wheel? Trying to minimize cost as it comes out of my N+1 budget.

I agree with the notion that Shimano prebuilt wheels, in general, are difficult to rebuild. They’re not impossible, but definitely more trouble than a typical j-bend spoke wheel. It’d certainly be less headache for a mechanic to just replace the whole wheel, obviously, but you might gain some longevity by buying a wheel that uses more common spokes/spoke nipples/lacing pattern than the prebuilt Shimanos.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@KLizotte 93240 wrote:

One of the quotes says “As an aside, what surprised me from the twitter post was the number of people who get the terms ‘half-wheeling’ and ‘overlapping’ mixed up, when they are two different things entirely.”

I’m one of those who would have thought they were the same thing. What is the difference?

Half-wheeling is riding next to another rider, but about half a bike length off his front wheel. It’s generally construed as poor etiquette. Wheel overlapping is when you’re behind someone and overlap your front wheel with their rear wheel. Overlap is plain dangerous, half-wheeling more or less just annoying.

[Harry Meatmotor]

Just wanted to follow up with this for anyone interested in perhaps riding it next year. Our group had a great time on the course, and the event was very well run. excellent traffic control throughout. Even managed a couple top ten finishers on the combined timed sections in our group. Overall a great day on the bike, but only proving to myself beyond a doubt that the gods of cycling never intended me to be a grimpeur…

[Harry Meatmotor]

http://www.amazon.com/Shimano-Acera-28-38-48t-Square-without/dp/B002P71OC4

you can also get the Aceras with a little plastic chain guard that tends to break off after 39 minutes of riding.

that’s going to be as close to replacing the original as possible, based on the bikepedia entry.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@ShawnoftheDread 92974 wrote:

Always ride in the big ring. Problem solved.

sur la plaque!

[Harry Meatmotor]

missed this thread the first time around – all i gotta add is:

knobby 29er tires + mountain bike gearing + mountain bike mass /= 35mph on the flat unless you can reliably dish out more than 800 watts. I suspect some minor fudging of anecdotal speeds (both in this thread, and in similar “i chased down this ELITE guy doing 100mph up the corkscrew on the custis trail just to verbally abuse him!” threads). otherwise, show me the stravaproof!

edit – according to [url]http://bikecalculator.com:[/url] 170lb rider, 27lb bike with mountain bike tires, hands on the tops of the bars, no wind, no gradient, 77 degree air temp, 10ft above sea level = 1236w

yeah… no.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@Steve O 92474 wrote:

Me: Traveling south on the MVT between Memorial Bridge and 14th St. Bridge, going 18ish-20ish mph
You: In cars traveling southbound on the parallel George Washington Parkway, going 3ish-6ish mph
Me: SUCKAS!!

Me: Crossing 14th St Bridge into VA after a quick HP lap, going 18ish-20ish mph
You: In cars on the bridge, waiting in line to exit, going 0ish-4ish mph
Me: SUCKAS!

whenever I see stopped traffic and I’m whizzing by @ 20mph I hope there’s at least one driver in the flock that takes 4 seconds to consider bike commuting. Here’s to hoping!

[Harry Meatmotor]

@hozn 92462 wrote:

I had a fun commute home yesterday. Got stung (by a bee? wasp?) on my lip and while I am thankfully not allergic, I swell up quite extremely. I couldn’t eat or talk clearly until the swelling had subsided around 9pm. On the upside, I had a milkshake for dinner.

Better than a few years ago when I got stung between the eyes (behind my glasses) on a pre-work ride to Leesburg and could barely see the rest of the day.

seems to be what the cool kids are doing these days – i got stung on the lip about 3 miles from home on the tail end of a metric century last monday. my stomach was saying “EAT. RECOVERY. FOOD.” my face was saying “BUMMBA. MUMMBA, BUMMBA MUMMBA.”

[Harry Meatmotor]

If you can’t figure out what size it is (either 25.4mm or 26.0mm) you can pick up a 25.4mm h-bar, as well as a 25.4 to 26.0 shim.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@hozn 91654 wrote:

Why do cyclists do this to cars at stoplights?

’cause I’m awesomer than a car and I get to go first?

[Harry Meatmotor]

@jrenaut 91484 wrote:

Ahh, yes, I distinctly remember my mother warning me about “courtesy accidents” when I was learning to drive.

Never forget the insipid danger of Helpy McHelperton.

[Harry Meatmotor]

I’m averaging about 150 per week.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@vern 91408 wrote:

Same here. I’d be soaked with sweat and I’d get cold from that. My problem in the cold is going home, when I have to ride up the grade. When I leave the sun is still out, so the combo of riding up the grade and the sun warms me up and I start to sweat, even when lightly clothed. Then, the sun retreats, the temps drop further, and I get cold because the sweat can’t wick/evaporate fast enough in cold temps (say, low 30’s). I haven’t figured out how to manage this yet.

Wool! if there’s anything i’ve learned is that a layer of wool between me and whatever windstopping layer is crucial to staying warm when sweaty and it’s below 20 degrees: head (rapha winter cap), feet (wool socks), hands (wool glove liners), and body (2 light wool baselayer long-sleeve shirts).

[Harry Meatmotor]

@hozn 91413 wrote:

snip… I typically build the MTB rims to 100kgf but that still is a lot less than I’d like. ..snip

yeah – that’s definitely wet noodle territory imho, but keep in mind that’s what most machine-built wheels are built to, too.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@vvill 91374 wrote:

Huh, I’ve been considering the 340s next time I get new wheels (that, and the Grails). What’s so bad about them? I heard they made the 400s to have a higher weight limit equivalent. I have a set of the 2013 Iron Cross wheels and love them.

I have a friend who got the Pacentis for CX/gravel duty – seemed pretty happy with them.

the 340’s are just not stiff enough to take tension + pressure in the tire. if you build them up to 115 – 120 kg/f, then mount a tire and inflate it, you’ll see the spoke tension decrease by 20+%. If you try and compensate for this by building the wheel with 130-145 kg/f, you’re getting beyond what Stan considers a “properly” built wheel (read: not covered by warranty). Bill Mould did some interesting tests and found that the diameter of the 340’s shrank considerably (compared to other rims) when a tire was mounted and inflated to 120 psi – i don’t recall the actual measurement, but it was equivalent to something like 2-2.5 whole turns of a spoke nipple on all the spokes. This is also decreasing the BSD (tires won’t fit as tightly as they should), and theoretically, if you were to compensate for the loss in ERD by running 130-145 kg/f, you’re also running a risk if there’s a rapid decompression of the tire, of possibly ripping spoke nipples from the spoke bed or breaking the spokes themselves.

All that being said – Stan’s other rims build up to be some great wheels.

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