[LhasaCM]

@GovernorSilver 165752 wrote:

Anybody deal with Worldwide Cyclery? Their price for the Schwalbes looks a tad better:

https://www.worldwidecyclery.com/products/schwalbe-marathon-gt-365-tire-26-x-2-0-wire-bead-black-with-dualguard-and-reflective-sidewall?nosto=productpage-nosto-3

I’ve ordered a few things from them via their Amazon storefront. No complaints. (Unlike some other shops I’ve seen, it appears they have the same pricing setup regardless of going through their website or finding them on Amazon, which is a good sign.)

[LhasaCM]

@TwoWheelsDC 165786 wrote:

Good point…although looking at the posts about all these bikes, it appears that only Mobike provides a map of the disallowed areas. I guess the others just charge a fee whenever they get around to picking the bikes up.

The Jump app also shows the disallowed areas, along with the “hubs” where you get a $1 discount for dropping off your bike. (The idea being that it’s worth it to them for you to drop off in a centralized area as that reduces their maintenance costs of finding bikes to recharge them.) But yes, all of the providers have a fee for ending your ride outside of the zone.

[LhasaCM]

@Zack 165737 wrote:

My old Trek 7500 finally gave out on Tuesday. The frame cracked after about 16,000 miles. Since I replaced the chain and cassette every 4-6 months, I wanted a belt drive bike. The 11 speed ones were too expensive, about $2k, so I bought a Priority Continuum Onyx. It has been interesting so far, very quiet and shifting is silky smooth thanks to the gearless Nuvinci hub. Anyone else ride with a belt instead of a chain?

Yes – I’ve been riding belt drive bikes for a couple of years now. I had a Breezer Beltway 8+ that worked nicely (Alfine 8 IGH), but the external bearing eccentric bottom bracket eventually just drove me nuts (I think the combination of my weight and the trailercycle’s loaded weight were just too much for it under sustained load), so I upgraded earlier this month to a bike with a Pinion gearbox.

@TwoWheelsDC 165740 wrote:

I’d love to get a belt drive bike for commuting, but I’d want something with drop bars and road-ish geometry since my commute is relative long, with lots of space to ride fast. But such a bike seems difficult to find at the $1000 price point, at least as a complete bike. Building a Soma Wolverine or something would probably be the most realistic option.

Building a Wolverine would be the most realistic option to get what you want, but you’re still going to end up well past the $1,000 price point You figure you’d need to spend $600-$700 on the frame and fork, $150 for the front and rear sprockets (assuming you have a crankset/rear wheel with an IGH that can accommodate the switch), $75 on the belt at a minimum, plus whatever parts you don’t have lying around (you know – the bottom bracket, headset, etc.). Another route to take at that price point would be to get one of the single speed belt drive bikes (both Raleigh and Spot have drop bar models for around $1k), and convert it to an IGH yourself, which could save you a little bit of money.

If you’re looking for a project – you also could consider getting something like a Raleigh Cadent frame from Joe Bike (http://www.joe-bike.com/product/raleigh-cadent-i8-belt-compatible-frameset-2709.htm). The frame/fork/headset/BB shell are $200, which helps make the $1k price point more achievable.

In all of those cases – unless you’re riding single speed – it’ll take a bit of hunting to find shifters that play nicely with drop bars.

[LhasaCM]

Looks like it’ll be a pop up clubhouse.

https://www.rapha.cc/us/en_US/clubhouses/dcpopup

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk

[LhasaCM]

@Daekwan 165604 wrote:

I live in Bowie, MD.. but work in Washington, DC. So Im in DC almost everyday of the week. I dont mind traveling a little bit to get the best service for the money. More than anything I just a shop to go over the bike, get it running like new again and not try to upsell me on bunch of unnecessary stuff. The bike was fine as is on day 1.. and should be fine as is on day 900.. with the proper TLC and service. I’m pretty much open to any shop in DC or off the 495 beltway.

As Jeff mentioned – I think any good shop would start off with a free estimate of what is/isn’t needed to determine if the bundled package is right for you or if you just need a few things from the a la carte menu. Honestly – I think it’s more important to find a place you’re comfortable with and is relatively convenient for you to get to as needed rather than saving a few bucks by travelling around the metro area, but that’s just me.

Closer to home for you – I’ve heard good things about the Family Bike Shop in Crofton – they may be worth checking out.

[LhasaCM]

@Daekwan 165594 wrote:

Good morning fellow riders,

I have a Trek FX 7.4 that was bought new in 2015. I use it weekly to commute 5 miles roundtrip to the metro station, where its locked up in a bike locker during the day. The first year or two of ownership was bliss.. but now in my 3rd year the bike just feels slower, heavier and bulky. I have no doubt many of these issues can be fixed with a tuneup by a good bike shop or mechanic.. but I’m also hoping not to pay $100 or more for this service. Ideally I’d like someone to go over the bike and adjust the drivetrain and brakes, a quick cleanup and let me know if anything has been broken or needs to be replaced. Rather than fool around for hours on youtube guessing how to do this myself.. I’d like to pay a professional.

Just hoping to keep the price reasonable!

Did you have a particular location/part of the metro area in mind? That pricing is pretty typical from what I’ve seen at area shops (including the great folks at Bikenetic Judd mentioned), so a better question might be “where’s a good shop to get service close to _____?”

[LhasaCM]

@TwoWheelsDC 165564 wrote:

I have thoughts…not coherent thoughts, but sort of vague outlines of thoughts about this, and they are mostly dark and negative.

Anything along these lines?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15483[/ATTACH]

[LhasaCM]

If weight and cost are no object – why limit yourself to a device that is just a speaker? The Coolest Cooler blends drinks and music with a passion for quality. With more features and fun than any other, you’ll be looking for excuses to get outside and turn good times into great memories.

[LhasaCM]

@Kitty 165325 wrote:

Similarly, I do want to invest in something to recharge my phone as we go so I can Strava and post photos etc. from the ride. What do you guys use to stay juiced?

The short answer is “a battery pack.” The longer answer is dependent upon the overall setup/infrastructure/etc. Are you looking for something small/compact that you can keep in your jersey pocket with your phone to maintain its charge during the ride, but that you can plug in at the campsite to recharge each night, something a bit beefier that you’d keep with your camping gear to primarily recharge your phone at night each night, or both? An example of something a bit on the larger side (but not too bad) would be https://smile.amazon.com/Anker-PowerCore-Ultra-Compact-High-speed-Technology/dp/B0194WDVHI/. https://smile.amazon.com/Jackery-10050mAh-Portable-Charging-External/dp/B071DW9CP5/ is another alternative that comes with built-in cables (USB C and MicroUSB). For something a bit smaller, there’s something like: https://smile.amazon.com/Anker-PowerCore-Lipstick-Sized-Generation-Batteries/dp/B005X1Y7I2/ or https://smile.amazon.com/Lauco-Ultra-Compact-High-speed-Flashlight-Smartphones/dp/B01KUVLMPK/ (which looks close to what SteveO showed you Saturday in Takoma).

Depending on your phone, you also can get a battery “case” to make it more of an all-in-one package, which has its uses. I had one of those for my Note 5 that worked very well on longer rides, but the tradeoff for something more integrated and specialized tends to be a higher price for a given battery capacity. For example – for a Pixel XL, something like https://smile.amazon.com/Pixel-XL-Battery-Case-ZeroLemon/dp/B01MQIO6DA/ would work.

Basically – whatever form factor/size/capacity you want, you can find something. For a price…

[LhasaCM]

@ian74 165161 wrote:

Super cool! I love the idea of the pinion gearbox, First, I wish they were more commonly available without going through boutique builders and Second, more affordable. I’m really interested in hearing how the ride feels and the shifting. Also, when you make such a large purchase from overseas, do you have to pay any duty fees on it when it comes into the states? Does customs give any grief about these types of things?

I agree on the availability issue – it would be nice to see more builders using them. From the tradeshow roundups on places like Bikeradar.com, there is a little bit of momentum, but the need to customize the frame to accept the gearbox is a big drawback, as it was when belt drives were introduced for bicycles by Gates 10 years ago. And this is a much bigger change than just adding a way to break the rear triangle for changing a belt. And on affordability, it looks like Pinion’s been building out its product line the past couple of years to at least hit a few more price points

I’ll have to retrain my brain a bit more to give a solid report on the shifting. I’m used to the IGH “pause the pedal stroke to shift” mindset (which is only needed when downshifting here), so that’s not an issue – but getting used to the twist shifter and losing the “on this hill I shift to this number gear” habits from my 8-speed bike will take a bit. That being said – so far so good. The shifting itself has been quick and precise, and the ride definitely feels more balanced compared to the rear-heavy IGH.

And yes, I had to pay duty fees when it came into the states. Fortunately, Rose used DHL for shipping, and while they’re a mess sometimes for domestic shipments, they are really good with international. Their setup is that they pay the duty fees when it comes into the country, then bill you for payment (which has to be paid before they will deliver or release the item). So in this case – the bike left Germany on Wednesday, arrived in NY Thursday, cleared customs in NY Thursday, and arrived in DC Friday AM. I got a text and e-mail with a link to pay the bill Friday AM, and was able to pick it up from the DHL facility Friday afternoon (since the payment calculation came in just after they loaded up for Friday’s deliveries).

[LhasaCM]

Saturday’s 40* States ride was the debut of my new commuter (and every other type of ride) bike. It’s a Rose Activa. I got it to replace my Breezer Beltway 8 whose bottom bracket was starting to get to me (it was a weird externally bearing ecccentric, so was very creaky), as was the rear hub. Since the majority of my mileage is with a trailercycle attached, I wanted something that had a bit more range, and with the whole drive train a bit more solid and able to cope with the load I put on it, without getting into eBike territory since this still is my one and only bike for all occasions. Here it is sitting in our garage (before I put the car back in).

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15444[/ATTACH]

I opted for the Rose because, once I settled on getting a Pinion gearbox (I started looking at a Rohloff as an upgrade for my Alfine 8 – but then got smitten by this), it was the most affordable and most accessible option of the various companies that sell Pinion bikes, even with the cost of shipping it from overseas. It was probably 2 months of obsessive research/reading reviews/watching reviews/etc., and literally looking on the websites of every company listed on the Pinion website (relying heavily on Google translate) before I made the decision. I still need to fiddle with a few things to get the fit just right (maybe change the stem length if the microadjust isn’t enough), but fortunately, I picked the right size

All in all – it was about 2 weeks from placing the order to the bike shipping, and it arrived 2 days after it left the shipping center in Germany. There really wasn’t much assembly involved – rotate stem and adjust handlebars and seatpost, ensure everything is properly torqued, install the pedals, and add air for a usable bike. One minor issue with the purchase – while they got my other substitutions right, they did not heed my request to swap the standard tires (2 inch wide Schwalbe Mondials) for something slightly less suitable for off-road and slightly lower rolling resistance (e.g., 1.6 inch Marathon Supremes). Since I did not want to attempt the 50 States on the Mondials, I got some 1.5 inch Panaracers from Bike Rack just before they closed Friday, which I’ll probably keep on for the foreseeable future. As a result, there’s a bit too much fender clearance right now for my liking, so that may be an upcoming weekend’s project. I also need to look at replacing the front thru-axle or front rack since, as currently setup, I cannot remove the front wheel without also disconnecting the front rack (the “handle” can’t turn because the rack is in the way).

* I only made it to 40 before the guilt from my daughter for being gone so long (and driving my wife crazy) was sufficient to convince my tired legs to throw in the towel before the rest of the hills of NW. I’m hoping to finish on Wednesday so then I can wear the t-shirt honestly (since it just says that one rode the 50 states; it says nothing about how long it took over how many different rides).

[LhasaCM]

@Judd 165134 wrote:

The challenge I face is that most of the state named or themed songs I know of are by bands that few other people have heard of.

I’m partial to the theme from hit Broadway musical “Oh yes Wyoming” as seen in the Seinfeld/Superman AMEX commercials back in ’04(?).

[LhasaCM]

@dasgeh 164982 wrote:

Maybe, but ours is 100% electronic (you scan receipts, and don’t need them if no items are >$75). And no check boxes for every day. That’s silly. So not much hassle.

Agreed – we just have to state (under penalty of fine/imprisonment/etc.) that we biked more than half the time for whatever month we’re claiming the benefit, though we need receipts for everything. And since it’s handled like a local travel voucher, while the transit subsidy coordinator had to approve my application, it’s my manager that has to approve my reimbursement claim.

The bigger issue is the underlying IRS regulations (based on the laws Congress passed) that only allows $20/month for bicycling, but $255/month for parking a car. 😡

[LhasaCM]

I made the switch earlier this year, just to remove the possibility of taking Metro unless I really needed it. For (Labor), the sign up was pretty simple…just a form checking each month I opted to take this options. Days don’t matter because it is one benefit or the other in a given month. The reimbursement​ is treated like a local travel voucher, so comes out of our travel budget instead of where the transit subsidy hits and requires receipts. And we are supposed to file the claim in January, which seems odd. We’ll see how that goes.

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[LhasaCM]

@creadinger 164689 wrote:

Holy moly. I can’t believe it’s finally happening!!! Sadly, it’s about 10 years too late for me…..

In the late 2000s I used to commute from Silver Spring to Bethesda everyday. Partly because I was tired of all the grit and grime from the GBT and because I knew sometime in the future the trail would be closed for Purple Line construction I optimistically developed my own road route commute (below).
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/24756861

It’s a tad longer and hillier, but it’s not too trafficky. A lot of times I even rode the 1/4 mile on E-W HWY to Beach Dr instead of just crossing it. Once I developed this route I rarely ever took the trail again.

That’s not too different from the unofficial detour route; looks to be just a bit more scenic and more in the neighborhood between Connecticut and the park.

[Author]

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