[n18]

If anyone wants a sealed bearing square tapper bottom bracket, here is one that costs around $14 plus shipping, and some sellers offer free shipping. They come in several sizes, like 68×115. The first number is the bottom bracket diameter, or shell width, which is mostly 68 mm, but some use the oversized 73 mm. Turn your bike over and try to measure the bottom bracket diameter.

The second number is the overall length of the bottom bracket in mm, which varies from bike to bike. It’s almost that you need to remove the cranks by a crank puller to measure its size. You also need this tool to mount it to the frame.

Not all bikes use square tapper bottom brackets. Some newer ones don’t even require crank pullers, they require either common or special tools. See “Shell width” column here to see which one you have. See also this video about the various types of cranks and bottom brackets

[n18]

The thing in the front with 4 holes is probably for 4 cable housing, although that bike has only two cables. The orange tube probably connects to the first tube to limit steering like the OP suggested. The cylinder thing seems for tool storage. Here is another bike with similar or newer cylinder. See the rear end of the rack to find it.

[n18]

@Judd 161646 wrote:

If you know a guy with one of those signs, I know a guy with an impact drill and some masonry screws.

I believe that a permit is required to post traffic related signs, either from VDOT or the county, but I am not sure. Here is VDOT’s FAQ page about signs. Here is a relevant quote:

Can I Purchase a Sign from VDOT?

VDOT does not make signs for sale to the public. There are a number of sign fabrication companies that can supply highway signs. Owning such signs are legal.

However, posting signs on public highways or streets by citizens is against the law, whether they be standard highway or simple cardboard signs.

One can buy traffic signs from Amazon, but I think they are meant for places like apartment buildings, etc.

[n18]

Yes, it’s annoying. It happened one minute apart in my case. I started walking so nobody asks me anymore.

Next time I might respond with “Excuse me I am on a break.” or “Excuse me I am enjoying the view before you stopped to ask me that question.”

[n18]

@ursus 161368 wrote:

I have been wandering around the website from the original post in this thread. Is there something that discusses or illustrates what happens to the bikepath at vehicular entrances/exits to I-66?

From the maps, it appears that they all will be tunnels, or whatever “Shared Path Structure Box” means.

If you want to see the maps, go here, then download the last map first and work your way up, so you would see them from east to west. The trail is not one straight line from west to east. Some segments detour to nearby Bike-Friendly Roads. It ends at Gallows RD at Dunn Loring Metro, and from there you would continue on Gallows to join the W&OD.

Here are the list of detours from Centreville to Dunn Loring metro:

Vienna metro: Exit at Black Lane, then use Sutton RD/Country Creek RD to get to the tunnel at Nuttly ST. See Google map here.
Rt50/Fair Oaks Mall: Get to West OX Rd, Post Forest RD, Random Hill RD. There is a trail segment from I-66 tunnel that needs to be build by others(County, etc.) to connect it to Random Hill RD. See Google map here.
Rt28/Braddock/Sully RD: Requires a trail segment from I-66 tunnel that needs to be build by others(County, etc.)

I don’t see any trails west of Centreville.

[n18]

My main problem with the trail is how much Sun exposure it gets so any snow would melt faster. Ideally it should be to the south of I-66 including the south of any noise wall. However, the current design puts it to the north side of I-66, and the noise wall is north of it.

Here is the current design:

<-- Gets full Sun here

If they just switch the noise wall so it’s between the trail and cars, then the trail doesn’t get sun in the winter months:

<-- No Sun here

What I prefer:

<-- Gets some Sun here because of possible trees and building to the south

And after seeing the video, I don’t like it. We are blocked from seeing trees and birds with tall noise wall, so it’s not enjoyable, and only 2 feet tall barrier between us and cars, so it’s not safe. However; on the plus side, car drivers would be able to see us going faster than they are. Unfortunately, I can’t get to the meetings either.

[n18]

Kmart at Herndon just started closing(the only one in the area that is closing). Store wide 10-30% off. Bikes at 20% off. There are about 20 bikes left as of earlier today. The store will close in July/August. It’s about 2 to 3 blocks from the W&OD. Bike racks are in front of Big Lots store next to it if you want to go there.

Here is the list of stores closing(May, 2017):

http://www.businessinsider.com/list-of-sears-and-kmart-stores-closing-2017-5

[n18]

Radio Shack is selling a bluetooth heart rate monitor for $9.00. I think they are closing all stores in the area, but I am not sure. As of last Sunday, I think they have one, perhaps more at Annandale location. Herndon location has 5 as of 2 PM today.

[n18]

I ran into the same problem and I was able to fix it without getting new tubes or drilling wheels. I was only able to get the top part in, part of the rubber around the valve was sticking out microscopically. I tried again and pushed hard, while trying to rotate the valve around, and it worked. Here is something for you to try: get an electric tape or a piece of paper or sheet of plastic, and wrap it around the valve, essentially making a cone like the following picture:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]14431[/ATTACH]

This should get the rubber part through the hole.

[n18]

Lighter tires and tubes make climbing hills easier. It’s not the weight saving(although it’s nice), but lighter tires have less rolling resistance. Think of spinning by hand a car wheel vs a bike wheel. Which one resists rotating more? Lighter tires take less energy to spin. You could carry extra weight in your pannier bags that represents the tire weight saving, and you could still go uphill faster despite the total bike weight being the same.

For example, I changed the tires on my bike from Vera CityWide 700×35 with 60 TPI, which weighs about 500 grams each, to these tires(Continental Grand Prix 4000S II 700×25 with 330 TPI puncture protection), which weigh 225 grams, and the difference was easily noticeable. I noticed that I could accelerate faster on flat roads, and when going south/east on the W&OD from Hunter Mill RD to central Vienna, which is a steady slow uphill, that I could keep a steadier, faster pace. With heavier tires, any time I get tired and slow a bit, I waste energy to get back up to speed again, and this could become accumulative. With the new tires, I almost don’t slow down, and there are even lighter tires, but they don’t have much puncture protection.

Obviously, if you could manage going uphill at an exact constant speed with heavy tires, then rolling resistance doesn’t matter except for the initial spin, but in practice, “most” riders can’t keep a constant speed, and rolling resistance kicks in because there is a change in speed. This is the rotational equivalent of Newton’s first law of motion, which says that an object moving at a constant speed would remain at that speed unless acted upon by an external force. Likewise, a wheel would keep spinning forever at the same speed provided that there is no friction or air resistance or slowed down or sped up by an external force.

[n18]

My guess is that no leg hair means air flows closer, smoother, and faster around the skin and that means it cools the legs better, which translates to more speed. Think of laying on your back on a windy day on a tall grassy area, would you feel the cool breeze better without grass?

[n18]

Car traffic seems bad today around Vienna and along RT123 near I-66, so expect angry drivers today. To add insult to injury, at 3:00 PM, a traffic signal lost power at Maple AVE & Courthouse RD and police was directing traffic, but that is not all. There is also a 4-Mile traffic jam on I-66 heading west, so this affects other roads as well.

[n18]

@Steve O 93888 wrote:

All right. So for those of you who use the 15th St. cycletrack more frequently, are the lights always ALL red going southbound? I’ve made three trips southbound in the afternoon/evening in the last couple of months, and it seems my Strava feed always looks like this:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]6556[/ATTACH]
Every single frickin’ light.

May the green lights be with you!

[n18]

Just in case you need cheap as eBay MicroSD cards that you can buy locally:

Class 10 MicroSD 32 GB $12.99($8 for 16 GB):
http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.aspx?Ntk=all&N=4294966791+4294965736+4294944346&cat=0008%3C%3E%3C%3EMicro-SDHC-%3a-Micro-Center-%3a-Flash-Memory-%3a-Flash-Memory-%26-Card-Readers-%3a-Electronics-%3a-Micro-Center

These you find them at the checkout counter, may not be fast enough for some high quality videos. If so, you need to look for UHS-1 MicroSD cards.

[n18]

@jabberwocky 93751 wrote:

Recumbents (generally) have a smaller frontal area than an upright bike, and therefore a higher potential speed when air resistance/wind is the determining factor. You can’t get weight over the pedals for sprinting and climbing so they tend to suffer on uphills and accelerating.

That and lower body position mean vegetation would block their view, so they have to go slow.

[Author]

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