[Harry Meatmotor]

@PotomacCyclist 90310 wrote:

I pointed out earlier that I sort of get burned out mentally from following the 3-week Tour. I don’t have much mental energy to devote to following the Vuelta, even when I still had Universal Sports. I also noticed that many of the top cyclists tended to focus on the Tour or the Giro, which takes some of the luster off of the Vuelta. There are still a lot of great riders at the Vuelta, but it just feels different when you know that some of the top athletes in the sport choose to focus on a different stage race instead.

I’ve always looked at the vuelta as a way to watch some of the domestiques get their shot at a major stage race win. it kinda lets you learn more about the riders who did the work during the tour or the giro – those guys riding themselves inside out for whoever the GC candidate is get a chance to bolster their palmares in the vuelta.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@PotomacCyclist 90312 wrote:

Cancellara is dropping out of the Tour too, but not because of injury. Apparently, he had planned a potential early departure all along. His focus is on the world championships later this season. Mixed reactions to this on the Webz. A pro athlete has to do what’s best for his overall goals, but it’s disappointing to lose yet another big name from this year’s Tour.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2014/07/news/fabian-cancellara-will-start-stage-11-tour_336461

I get the feeling this season has been a bit of a wash for Faboo – once the UCI decided to change the rules regarding the individual hour TT, which he had been training for all season, he was kinda left with nothing to shoot for. I kinda got the feeling that his efforts during the spring classics were more to stay upright and not break any bones than to get any wins. Same for stage 6 in lay tewer day frains. The WC is probably the only big race he’s capable of winning, so he might as well focus his efforts.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@americancyclo 90208 wrote:

I tend to think of the rules similar to skiing or snowboarding. If you’re coming down the mountain, you can see ahead of you and have responsibility. Also, as a more experienced or faster user, you have more responsibility. Yield to those less experienced, and pass with care when it is safe.

I always thought it was the exact opposite: downhill yields to uphill, slower yields to faster? at least, that’s what a snowboarding instructer told me 15 years ago…

[Harry Meatmotor]

does this mean i’m gonna have to get my snow wheelset/tires and bar mitts back out again? holy wtf.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@APKhaos 89880 wrote:

Building up two kids bikes. Found two nice Al frames on CL, one which had the rear canti brake and mounting studs removed.
Just discovered that the stud mounting holes are M10 x 1.25mm. The new studs I have are M10 x 1.0mm.
Will be out searching the local shops for the right studs Thursday AM unless anyone has a pair of M10 x 1.25mm in their parts box.
Question is which LBS is the most likely to have that size. Hit Spokes in Vienna tonight and no luck.

My guess is that you’re going to have to special order the studs if you want new ones. Typical rule of thumb is that AL bikes/forks use the coarse M10 x 1.25 and steel bikes/forks use the finer M10 x 1.0. Sometimes some dumpster diving on old frames at Velocity Co-op or Phoenix might net you some useable studs.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@skins_brew 89410 wrote:

The googles is telling me that the ball is “self lubricating plastic.” What the heck is that? Maybe my ball ran out of lube or something because my ball/hitch is squeky as hell!

Anyone have any idea what I should use without damaging the plastic?

Thanks!

Here’s your TMI for the day. Typically the material used in bike trailer hitches or seatpost mounted trailabike connections is called “self lubricating” because it has a very low coefficient of friction. Most likely, the actual material is polyoxymethylene (POM) also usually known by the Dupont trade name Delrin. It’s naturally a white-ish with a little bit of yellow color and is very hard and durable. It does tend to oxidize (turns more yellow) and it’ll get dry and brittle over time. I’ve found either using a good molybdnum grease or any other waterproof grease on larger bushings/fittings is fine – for smaller pieces a little TriFlow goes a long way. just wipe off any excess to mitigate contamination with road grit. Hope that helps!

[Harry Meatmotor]

@Dickie 89536 wrote:

I know I’m a horrible person for thinking this, but before I read the post I immediately thought “oh – cool, an Integra with a JDM front clip conversion!”

[Harry Meatmotor]

possible solution? States need to start requiring a safe cycling course for 13 year-olds that includes on-street/in traffic riding before any motor vehicle driver’s licensing curriculum begins.

[Harry Meatmotor]

to the awesome dude screaming obscenities at the wind on the way southbound on eads: thanks for the chat – you made my day. i only scream obscenities at the wind headed northbound at 0545 in February.

[Harry Meatmotor]

outlier here: I only eat dinner. srsly.

context: i used to weigh 250lbs and I’ve been at 165-170 for the last ten years keeping my calorie intake to one meal @ ~1200-1500 calories.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@acl 88892 wrote:

I don’t remember too terribly specific details, but yes I replaced the rear derailleur on my hybrid a year or two ago, due to what the mechanic says was wear plus he felt the derailleur wasn’t ideal for the gear range, or I guess being used at the edge of the acceptable gear range. The bike had started to make horrendous noises in the lowest couple of gears. Something about extra play caused by wear plus the borderline mismatch of gears-to-derailleur was allowing enough movement for something to make that terrible racket? (sorry, this is probably way too vague and not-well-remembered to be helpful). Anyway, he gave me several options at the time, one of which was to just live with it. Whatever exactly was going on he did not consider a danger to me or the bike. I did not go that route, as I couldn’t stand my bike sounding like it was going to fall apart any second now whenever I climbed a hill. Replaced it with what he felt was a better choice (deore is what is on there now, i don’t remember if i ever knew what the original was). The horrendous noise went away and did not return.

I’m gonna go with a dead b-tension spring. so yes, it’s something that can wear out. the b-tension spring keeps the upper derailleur pulley from contacting the cogs, especially in the lower/larger cogs. most derailleurs have a max cog size capacity, measured in the number of teeth on the cog. in order to run a larger cog at the edge of the derailleur’s capacity, you’ll need to increase the tension on the b-tension spring, which can eventually wear out the spring. the horrendous noise was likely a very grumbly noise, as the upper pulley was making contact with the cogs. the mechanic was right, you could probably live with it but it’d eventually wear out the upper pulley.

other ways that inexpensive derailleurs can wear out are in the pivots, especially the main knuckle pivot (also where the b-tension spring is located). if there’s play in that pivot, the derailleur will likely have trouble staying in adjustment.

[Harry Meatmotor]

any big burly ‘murrican football fans who think pro cycling is for nancys needs to watch that. oh – and all that 35+ mph pushing and shoving is going on after they’ve ridden 180km at a full race pace.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@hozn 88857 wrote:

Good question about the chain rings. There’s no skipping, but they do have 11k miles on them. Maybe time for new ones? (These are Shimano rings — whatever comes on the CX50 crankset.) I figured worn rings would let me know with skipping, but maybe they’re letting me know by trashing my chains. (But going 1500-2000 miles on a chain before it gets to 0.75 wear seems about what I had been getting before?)

I would be happy to use 105 cassettes but using those meant I had to replace my freehub body after a few cassettes. Maybe they’ve improved the design so the freehub contacts more than 3 splines?

Try the “pull the chain from the chainring @ 3 o’clock position” thing and you’re probably gonna be able to expose a full tooth.

The 5700 stuff is basically the same as the 6700 ultegra, except for the amount of machine work to lighten the cogs and the finish on the cogs. Shimano did a bang-up job with the 5700 105 gruppo. The bottom 3 cogs are on an aluminum carrier and the rest of the cogs definitely contact more than 3 splines.

One little trick for worn/notched freehub bodies is to take a file to the largest spline on the freehub body and file it down (decreasing the length of the spline around the freehub body by about 1 mm), enough to squeeze a trimmed down spoke between the cassette (male) spline and the freehub (male) spline. takes some fooling around, but it’s a good fix for freehub bodies that are difficult to track down replacements for.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@hozn 88851 wrote:

Maybe I would get better mileage from higher-end chain or cassettes?

what shape are your chainrings in? nothing will wear out a new chain and cassette faster than using it on a worn set of chain rings.

as far as brands and specific component groups, my recomendation for regular 10sp road is shim 105 for cassettes and whatever is cheap for chains.

I’m generally not a big fan of SRAM road cassettes, durability-wise, either.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@ejwillis62 88324 wrote:

I am just going to have to learn to like riding in the rain I guess.

it’s worth it – think of it like training wheels for riding in the cold. then, remember, BELGIUM.

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