[invisiblehand]

@Dirt 1442 wrote:

And you’re right! We should give DDOT a break. This stuff is new. Unfortunately due to people parking in the cycleway, it presents an EXTREMELY dangerous situation.

@Just161 1441 wrote:

I agree they need barriers to fix the parking situation, but I’ll cut DDOT some slack here. This is brand new stuff, and everyone’s just still getting used to it – bikes and cars alike.

Generally, I am a believer that whatever rocks your boat is fine with me assuming you’re not hurting anyone else. While I think riding in contraflow lanes, cycletracks, bike lanes, and so on that put you in weird positions at intersections is highly questionable, everyone is free to make up their own mind. But weaving in and out of these things to avoid debris, parked cars, and such from these facilities is just plain nutty. Now maybe it is because I have actually seen someone get splatted by a car — yes, one’s innards can get knocked out of someone — or whenever I see/read the grief after someone gets seriously hurt or killed I think to myself, why don’t people do more before this happens, but I would argue one should cut someone slack when the problem is a hard one to solve. That is, if their is serious uncertainty with regards to how to solve the problem, I’d give the responsible people time to figure it out.

Cars parking in the middle of a facility you want to use is not a problem that we can’t get a grip on. Everyone knows how to solve it.

YMMV.

[invisiblehand]

@consularrider 1445 wrote:

Thin layer of snow on most of the wooden walkway by Roosevelt Island on the MVT this morning. It didn’t look like anyone had slid out at the 90 degree split going over Roosevelt Bridge. There didn’t appear to have been many north bound riders as of 8:15 am.

I think we need this one in reverse order with most recent post first, or will we have a new thread daily on snowy days to make it easier to read the relevant information?

Hey … for a few reasons I decided to go over the TR Bridge. Other than a few spots immediately adjacent to the outside wall, the path was clear. The MVT was clear going north and virtually clear all the way to Rosslyn after the parking lot.

[invisiblehand]

@consularrider 1445 wrote:

Thin layer of snow on most of the wooden walkway by Roosevelt Island on the MVT this morning. It didn’t look like anyone had slid out at the 90 degree split going over Roosevelt Bridge. There didn’t appear to have been many north bound riders as of 8:15 am.

I think we need this one in reverse order with most recent post first, or will we have a new thread daily on snowy days to make it easier to read the relevant information?

Thanks. I’m heading over the Key Bridge.

[invisiblehand]

I have not gone south of the Treasury Building yet.

Personally, I thought going south is just plain awful. Pretty narrow and you’re pretty close to pedestrians which tend to crowd the path. Especially when it is as cold as it was yesterday and today since they tend to be in a rush. I imagine that leaves and such in the fall will make short run around the building interesting. I went around it today and just rode in the regular lane. Going north, you have an interesting trade off. I can skip two left turns — south side of Treasury to travel lane of 15th ST to north side of Treasury on Pennsylvania Ave — but instead travel contraflow with cycling light and car lights on either side of me. Maybe I’ll see how icy the Ellipse is …

[invisiblehand]

Where are the markings placed laterally?

[invisiblehand]

That is good news. I anyone on the county staff is paying attention to the forum, you just got a big thumbs up from this cyclist.

[invisiblehand]

@seagrave6 1254 wrote:

Yeah it only rubs when riding on the lower chainring,never miss shifts,its a square taper that I plan on upgrading with the new crankset.

If your plans change, you should put a spacer and shift the crank out a mm or two to eliminate the rubbing.

[invisiblehand]

@seagrave6 1251 wrote:

ok now I have test rode the bike with the 39 up front it helps,but now I am going to try 36/50-13/25,by the way I am starting to get some chain rubbing the big ring.
The fun continunes,thanks for all the input.
Ride for fun,live to ride!

That should make a pretty big difference.

Just to be clear, you are writing that when you are in the 39 tooth chainring, the chain rubs the 52 tooth chainring? I assume that this only happens when you are in the small cog in the rear.

You might try flipping the 39t chainring over. Has the chain fallen off when going from the big to small chainring?

What type of bottom bracket do you have? Square tape or octalink/ISIS?

[invisiblehand]

@Mark Blacknell 1233 wrote:

The Rosslyn Death Zone (I heartily endorse that, tho’ we’ve (thankfully) not had any deaths there in recent memory, I think) has been the subject of many a study. The most recent iteration is here – http://www.arlingtonva.us/departments/EnvironmentalServices/cpe/capprojects/page63515.aspx. The lack of implementation is, as you might have guessed, a function of funding. It’s partly funded, but I can’t remember what the shortfall remains.

~

The state of Custis paving is less than ideal, for sure. The only really dangerous spot (and I’ve not checked it out, lately – I’d love to know that it’s been repaired) is near St. Ann’s School/N. Frederick St. Last I saw it, the buckle against the wall was growing, and could do some serious damage to an inattentive cyclist heading east.

The Roslynn Death Zone!

I’ve never heard of a cyclist getting killed nor seriously injured there. Assuming that it is true, I speculate that it is because just about everyone knows how nutty those intersections are and exercises more care. Wouldn’t it be perverse if Lynn and Lee Highway was statistically safer as a consequence? Just curious, are these intersections considered dangerous due to an increased incidence of collisions or just our common sense?

Looking at the diagram, the proposal makes some small improvements for Custis Trail users. But fundamentally, the conflicts remain the same.

(1) I see that the wall/bushes/trees separating the I-66 WB exit ramp to Lee Highway and the trail coming from Teddy Roosevelt as they both approach Lynn St is supposed to be removed. That is a big plus.

(2) Unfortunately, at that same intersection you still have two lane of right turning traffic crossing the Custis Trail there. I see the trail is widened there. Presummably to increase distance to give everyone more time to react. Although I suspect that it will lead to cyclists crossing faster … especially those travelling EB on the Custis Trail.

(3) I also see that trees are planted between the Custis Trail and WB Lee Highway. I understand that making roads seem more residential is supposedly correlated with slower vehicular speeds; although I don’t know how well this translates to a three lane arterial. My concern is that trees and such could obscure the vision of drivers and cyclists alike as they approach the Lynn St and Lee Highway intersection. Especially with EB cyclists that might be coming down the hill very fast.

(4) I see that the “intersection” between the walkway and entrance rame from the GW PKWY is circumvented. That is nice too.

(5) Anecdotally, the Lynn St bike lanes heading towards the Key Bridge are typically blocked about 1/2 the time by something. Moreover, I believe that there is a garage, loading/unloading area, or something similar prior to the I-66 EB entrance ramp. Cars tend to pass in the through lane and cut across to pass slow traffic heading to the garage or unloading people on a regular basis. So pretty frequently, I slide over into the through lane all the way across the bridge when travelling northbound on Lynn St.

I think that a bike box would be appropriate for the I-66 entrance ramp referenced at (1) above since there is no way to merge early and get to the left side of Lee Highway without interferring with traffic in the pedestrian crosswalk. It would also keep right-turning traffic further back and better able to observe cycling and pedestrian traffic at the Custis Trail waiting to cross Lynn St.

I also recall that others mentioned raising the crosswalks at these intersections to slow motorized traffic. That might help; but I understand that it comes with other costs.

As for the pavement on the Custis Trail, I think that the section of St Ann’s church/school has been addressed. But more generally, the trail is still bumpy enough that when I ride my recumbent there my neck is usually fairly irritated by the extra jarring relative to simply riding on Fairfax and Wilson. And I ride with 40mm wide tires pumped to 60/70 PSI on a flexy steel frame. So I rarely ride the Custis Trail any long length. I find the WOD heading towards Shirlington much more tolerable.

[invisiblehand]

@seagrave6 1201 wrote:

I forgot to mention that it has a 13/25 in the rear,now I am starting to think I may be able to get by with 39/52-13/28.Any thoughts?

Changing a chainring and a cassette — you do have a nine speed cassette in the rear … right? — will almost certainly be cheaper than a crankset and a cassette. High quality 39-tooth chainrnigs are readily available. A 13-28 cassette would be a custom job. If you go custom with the standard road double, you might consider something like a 13-30 which your road derailer will almost certainly handle.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/k9.shtml
http://sheldonbrown.com/deakins/lowgears.html

Now that Captain Bike is gone, I’ve had lots of good experiences with Tom Deakins if you decide to pick up a custom cassette.

BTW, regarding swaping your 42 for a 39, you should be forewarned that the shape of many front derailers are designed for a specific combination of chainrings. So you might get finicky STI shifting up front once you swap the 42 for a 39. Lucky for you, front derailers are relatively inexpensive. But you should consider this additional expense before modifying the bike.

[invisiblehand]

@Dirt 1183 wrote:

Good perspective, Invisiblehand. You’re right that a lot of gearing is a matter of riding style and personal preference. It also makes a big difference what bike you’re riding. I ride smaller rings and bigger cogs on my 22lb steel bike than I do on my 14lb carbon bike.

1) I have the Apex cluster with a 32t biggest cog (forget if it is 11 or 12 for the smallest) on my cargo bike. Works great.

2) Biggest cog is definitely a personal preference. I rarely use the 25t in this region and really love the much closer gear ratios of the 11-25 or 12-25 (I have a few of those too).

Thanks. I think one can generally work out a decent guess by playing with a gear inch calculator. My guess is that we’re recommending a pretty big drop in gear inches for the OP assuming a standard rear cluster. 36/42 –> means about a 15% drop. 34, of course, will be a bit more. Although now I’m wondering what is the Cannondale’s age. If it is really old, the OP might want to check the OLD and whether it is 130mm instead of 126.

If my memory is right, I’ve seen the Big Dummy with pink bar tape a few times ride past my house. I was really disappointed to miss out on the Big Dummy frameset sales last year, but it would have been a risky purchase for me since it still isn’t clear what my future is with uprights.

[invisiblehand]

From my perspective, a better formulated question would involve what you have in the rear now, what you intend on using the bike for, and your riding style.

Personally, I have learned to spin at a relatively high cadence. I’ve had a ~90 RPM cadence for a few years but recently noticed it regularly hitting 100-110 since riding on the recumbent. So unless I’m going downhill and feel like keeping my legs warm, even a 50/11 is pretty silly.

Now the problem with the typical compact crank — 50/34 — is that there is more shifting with the big chainring in my experience. But the overall gear range is much more useful. Perhaps a 48 or 46 tooth big chainring would be better theoretically, but if you use non standard chainring combinations your front derailer performance typically suffers with index shifting. Pick your poison.

I’m speculating that you’re talking about road/race/performance bikes here with little to no loads. Pre-recumbent, I would sit and spin up hills as opposed to mash and I tend to carry a decent stash of supplies for my 60-100 mile rides. So my compact crank is mated with a 12-32 10-speed cluster in the rear. Personally, I think any narrow cluster with 10 or more cogs is a phenominal waste of metal — the additional granularity would only come into play while pacelining at a very competitive level. But the selection of hi-grade brifters with less than 10 speeds is pretty close to zero now; so I’d get a cluster with a 27 or 28 big cog since they are more reasonably priced than what I have. If you’re a strong ride and like to mash a bit, chances are that you will rarely use the big cog, but when you need it you will be grateful. With the setup listed, I would spin up the 41ST hill regularly.

You could be a much stronger rider too. You didn’t mention how often you find yourself in the big chainring now and how often you’re bonking on long climbs. So it is hard to give specific advice to your situation.

P.S. I read that SRAM has an 11-32 (12-32?) cluster for their entry road groupo (Apex?). That might be reasonably priced and I would consider that.

[invisiblehand]

I think that there is enough variation for a given height that by far the best way to get the right size is to go to a dealer and sit on the bike.

Here are some general tips.

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/fitting.htm

[invisiblehand]

I never had a problem with cold hands. I wear a pair of “waterproof” winter gloves with a thin liner under them effectively creating layers for the hands. Works great during winter centuries where the temperature can change during the day. In a pinch, I also carry chemical warmers that skiers typically use.

[invisiblehand]

@Tim Kelley 1042 wrote:

My commuter bike self destructed this week. The rear wheel ate the derailleur, messed up the spokes, and bent the frame. Conveniently this happened right in front of Revolution Cycles so I didn’t have to walk far. Unfortunately, the cost to fix it with parts and labor is about $250 (the bike was only $150 off Craigslist). I suppose I could take it to Phoenix Bikes to see about inexpensive parts, but even then it wouldn’t be guaranteed that the frame would hold up being bent back into shape…

So…I’m looking for inexpensive road bike. Craigslist isn’t much help at this point, and last time it took a couple months to find something in my size (62-64 cm). Any recommendations? New or otherwise? The cheaper and less attractive to thieves the better…

I don’t want to go the fixie/singlespeed route because I’ve got a few hills along my everyday commute (Rosslyn and Courthouse), but I suppose I could be convinced, especially because I’m seeing those are the cheapest new bikes…

Thoughts??

Tim,

Used is the way to go. I’d look at the iBob list. For whatever reason, I’ve seen more large sized bikes on that list than anywhere else. If you want a steel all-rounder road bike, then there is no place better than that group of steel curmudgeons. Since I know those guys well, I check the list regularly. Drop me a line if you want me to keep my eyes open.

I also have a bud that is thinking of selling an 80s Schwinn Paramount touring bike. Probably too good to regularly park on the street; but I recall that he rides a 62cm bike.

-G

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