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@peterw_diy 179890 wrote:

I suppose you have an idea what streetsmarts’ commute is like? A lot of y’all have lovely commutes that are > 80% car-free MUP, but some of us have commutes that are 100% surface streets with traffic controls every 250 feet, and we go through brake parts (and tires) more quickly.

My, someone’s grumpy.

Those were meant to be ballpark averages. There are obviously lots of variables. Do you ride in rain? Do you ride off-road? Are you using scintered metallic or organic brake pads? How heavy are you? How much elevation in your route?

But if your pads are wearing out after a thousand miles, you might want to consider switching pad materials or brands. TRP was notorious, at least with their early pads, of spec’ing organic pads that did not last long at all if ridden in wet conditions. If Tektro is spec’ing those same pads, that would be a reason to switch. And if your calipers are breaking within a couple years, they’re probably not very good.

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@streetsmarts 179859 wrote:

Thanks Hozn. But $150 to 175… sure seems pretty high. Not as high as some car repair but still… and that’s not including labor, though maybe I could figure it out myself.

We’ll see how the next bunch of miles go. Still, it’s hard to believe that after only 18 months of riding regularly, a major part needs to be replaced.
Of course, I suppose, an experienced person wouldn’t have left the shop with these brakes on the initial purchase.

I’ll start saving my pennies!

Heh, I guess it’s all relative. To me replacing a major part after 18 months (or even 12 months) sounds reasonable. But in mileage terms, I’d think you should be getting at least 3,000 miles out of your pads and I’d hope you’d be getting over 15k miles of the calipers before things start falling apart (ideally much more than that). If you’re not getting a few thousand miles out of pads, you probably want to buy a different brand next time (e.g. Kool Stop and Jagwire probably make some compatible pads — and they probably cost less too.)

I’m sure mstone is right and that with proper adjustment these will last forever, even if the single-sided adjustment is more fiddly than dual-sided.

(You could also get a set of TRP Spyres that are the more expensive siblings to the brakes you have and pull from both sides. I don’t personally think there would be enough difference in performance to warrant the upgrade, but it does greatly simplify adjustment — just turn barrel adjust to bring in pads as they wear; eventually you also need to dial in the pads from each side with a 3mm hex.)

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FWIW, Tektro Lyra brakes have a reputation for being pretty bad brakes. It would probably save you some hassle in the future if you replace them (when they next fail or you reach a breaking point) with something better. There’s no comparison to hydraulic, but that is an expensive proposition with the integrated brake/shift levers. In the meantime, my recommendation would be TRP Hy/Rd which are a hybrid system (you can keep your existing levers) will auto adjust for pad wear and will stop you better than other pure mechanicals — and probably especially better than the Lyras. Or if you want to save a bit of money you could get a set of Juin Tech R1 or Yokozuna Motoko (also hybrid system, but not quite as nice since you have a screw for adjusting for pad wear) for around $150-175. I definitely wouldn’t pay money for another Tektro Lyra caliper!

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@dasgeh 179791 wrote:

I don’t see how NVRPA can violate state law, so W&OD is fine (and ACPD agrees).

DC law says:

If a bike lane is a “bicycle route”, ebikes aren’t allowed, but I don’t see that in the law. Otherwise, a bike lane really seems like “part of a roadway designated for the use of bicycles.”

Well, you’re the lawyer. Though it would seem odd to me that they would specify that they are disallowed both on “off-street bikepaths” *and* on “bicycle routes” if you’re implying that “bicycle routes” are also off-street bike paths.

This is also contrary to what the DC gov’t says in their synopsis. https://dmv.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dmv/publication/attachments/May%2017%202013%20Non-traditional%20Motor%20Vehicle%20chart.pdf

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Except the MVT, right? And the NVRPA-run W&OD is certainly open to interpretation.

But it’s good you can at least use the bike lanes in VA. Of course, TwoWheels is in DC, so that’s not gonna help him too much. @dasgeh 179780 wrote:

In Virginia, you can ride on all the trails and such, so there’s plenty to do. With Jump being associated with Uber, I’d expect more changes on the horizon.

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While I agree with that sentiment, it doesn’t sound like there’s much you can do legally with an e-bike on DC-area cycling infrastructure. In which case, I say embrace the road and go all in with 9,000 watts!

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@josh 179573 wrote:

Still haven’t actually ridden them, but hozn’s old wheels with Compass tires are finally on the bike. Can’t say much other than that they look good right now, and I’ve learned how to do a little bit more bike maintenance type stuff. I did cause a leak dropping a wrench adjusting the front brake, but pumped it up, plugged the leak with my thumb like a little Dutch boy, and ten seconds later it seemed to have fixed itself. Definitely a little worried what that says about the sidewalls.

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Yeah, they aren’t very thick, though that hasn’t been a problem for me in practice riding. (Similarly, I had a thorn that punctured the sidewall but then sealed up and was no further problem.).

Those tires work well tubeless on those rims (which are a bit tight with other tires). I’m having a real struggle getting Compass tires to re-seat tubeless on my carbon rims, so I am slumming with tubes in those same tires right now. I’ll try another couple tricks to get my Snoqualmie Pass tires to seat. They are just crazy loose ony rims.

I am resisting getting a compressor. I feel strongly that it shouldn’t be needed. But I like the Compass tires enough to consider it.

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The real benefit to the G-One is the pavement performance. If I was riding 100% gravel, I would go for a knobbier tire (probably the Rambler, actually). But I always end up with a fair bit of pavement on gravel rides, and the G-One makes that fun. I wonder how they compare to the Strada USH.

Not as nice as the Compass tires, though. Those are so fast on pavement but don’t have much traction on gravel. Today I climbed a small mountain with Compass that had a few sections of gravel; steep climbs on loose gravel don’t pair well with Compass but it worked out ok. They are still easily my favorite “pavement plus” tire.

The only caveat to the Finish Line stuff is — reportedly — it won’t seal up porous sidewalls. So probably not a good choice for some tires (e.g. Compass). Apparently you can also get it much cheaper when sold as a sealant for auto/motorsport use on (e.g.) Amazon. There are MTBR threads. I am intrigued to try this out on my road tires.

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Yeah, sorry; it sounds like my sarcasm actually sounded like reasonable advice to my fellow Arlingtonians. You should not call the police. As my well-trained kids would say: woman up. Talk to the owner or f*king deal with the great inconvenience this causes you.

I do love Arlington. But holy f*k. And get your bike off the sidewalk.

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I was being sarcastic. If there is a legitimate accessability issue caused by the sidewalk being restricted, I would think this would be pretty “not awkward”. If someone just wants to be a dick, then it’s probably appropriate that it be a bit awkward. @dasgeh 179469 wrote:

Hence the note

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Talking to the neighbor sounds awkward. I vote you call the police.

Easiest, though, is probably to just F’ing take a step the side when you walk past their house. I’m sure they’ll trim their hedges eventually or one of their more socially functional neighbors will talk to them if they don’t know the rules.

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Yeah, the singlespeed field was insanely fast. I was riding with them for the first third (or maybe almost half) of the race and it was tough keeping up.

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It’s so odd to me that you guys have had problems with the G-Ones. Still by far my favorite serious gravel tire, though I am gonna try some Donnelly Strada USHs or similar for additional perspective now that they make their tires tubeless in larger sizes.

But I have had zero flats on G-One tires and that includes 4 or 5 gravel races in addition to a fair number of single-track miles. This is the larger (700×38/40-622) size and always tubeless. These tires are super easy to setup tubeless. Anecdotally it does seem that Schwalbe tires can be tricky to snap beads onto rim shoulders when using tubes; they fit pretty snug. You can get a bead seater tool (or probably diy one) or maybe use furniture polish or similar lubricant. I just run them tubeless.

I’m sure now I’ll get a bunch of flats on these, but until then this still my unrivaled havier-duty off-road gravel tire (as opposed to Compass tires that are my favorite lighter-duty and large-volume pavement tire).

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This is awesome!

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@Sunyata 179422 wrote:

The longer route is more suffery due to more pavement and a section on Route 33 that just sucks the life out of my soul. BUT… There is a really sweet downhill section after Route 33 that I really missed this year.

That paved downhill was the probably my favorite downhil on the course. (Had I dropped my tire pressure, I might have liked some of the earlier gravel downhills too.)

That part on Rt. 33 sucked because my chain dropped (on 1x — I feel betrayed!) right before it, so I lost the group I was with and had to ride it by myself into the wind I caught up to the tail end at the top of that climb, but that was the least fun part, I agree.

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