[n18]

@Sarah Dots 91734 wrote:

And not to turn down cheap labor, but does anyone have experience with BikesDirect? I’ve looked at them and Nashbar, but I hear that mail-order bikes can be sketchy? Is that a lie spread by the big bike companies? Am I a sucker? EBubar suggestd BikesDirect, too. What do you veterans think?

If you order a bike or a wheel online, choose FedEx over UPS if possible. I have read several reviews at Amazon how bikes arrived with the wheels damaged, and in case of heavy fitness equipments that some metal parts were deformed and required a mullet or sludge hammer to put them back into shape. I have heard from eBay sellers(non-bike related) that they stopped using UPS because they generally break things compared to FedEx. So it may be worth the extra few bucks to use FedEx instead.

[n18]

You could search Craigslist, but some ads use “women” while others use “woman”. To solve this problem, use the | character, like this:

(woman | women)

And some terms before or after, like:

(woman | women) road

[n18]

@rcannon100 91689 wrote:

According to its terms of service, it does not. The TOS says “no attorney client relationship” (aka “legal advice”) is established. I sampled one question from one of your links. It was a landlord tenant question from DC, and it was answered by an attorney from Chicago.

I would not say that this is “legal advice.”

WABA has a form where they talk about what to do after an accident. On that form they indicate that WABA can recommend a lawyer for you. You may also want to look at DC Bar Association on how to hire an attorney.

From their TOS item #9 “9. No Attorney-Client Relationship”: “Such Legal Information is intended for general informational purposes only and should be used only as a starting point for addressing your legal issues.”

Some provide sketchy answers, like “contact an attorney”, and some provide more thorough answers. It depends on if the person asking provided enough information or not.

It may not be “legal advice”, but it could shed some light in what questions to ask an attorney later, or what laws are involved. Personal injury lawyers usually offer free consultation and you don’t pay unless they are able to collect. However, in cases where free advice is not available, like non-personal injury, if you pay an attorney $50/Hour, ask him some questions, then go back home, and develop even more questions, and then you find yourself having to pay for another hour. However, if you research it first, then one hour maybe all you need.

[n18]

Besides the excellent advice already, here is a new path option if you want to stick to Gallows RD. During Gallows bridge over I-495 renovation last year, they built a sidewalk on the north side of the bridge, and it extends up to a traffic signal with pedestrian crosswalk just after the hospital emergency entrance. After that, there is only a sidewalk on the west side, and it gets wider near RT 50. Bike lanes on Gallows start at Prescott Dr intersection and end at Prosperity AVE, then resume one block after I-66 bridge.

However, there are few problems with this new path:

1. There is a 100 Ft segment just to the east of the bridge that doesn’t have a sidewalk, but it’s passable by bike. It includes 80 Ft grassy area, and 20 Ft gravel. If you use Google Street View, it’s the area east of the Yield sign. West of that sign is a new sidewalk that is not shown in Google Street View.
2. North of the hospital is a two block residential area with a service road that is supposed to be in one direction only(southbound), but there is a sidewalk to the west of it.

I have used this path only once, about a month ago, so I may not remember the full details. Using the south side of the bridge and trying to stay on Gallows is a bad idea that I have done maybe 10 times, because it requires going to Luttrell RD, then crossing Woodburn RD, which doesn’t have a traffic light at that intersection, and there are many cars trying to do right turns from multiple areas.

Here is a picture that illustrates this new path:

[n18]

There is a race across most of the US, from the west coast to the east coast, about 3000 Miles, and the record time(including resting/sleeping) is 7 days and 16 hours at an average speed of 16.42 MPH:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_Across_America#List_of_overall_winners
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_Across_America

[n18]

This site offers free legal advice. People ask questions, and lawyers respond:

http://www.avvo.com/free-legal-advice

Here is the search results for “Bicycle” in Washington, DC:

http://www.avvo.com/free-legal-advice/bicycle?loc=Washington%2C+DC

And in VA:

http://www.avvo.com/free-legal-advice/bicycle?loc=Arlington%2C+VA

[n18]

I don’t know if this is the site:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenStreetMap
https://www.openstreetmap.org

[n18]

Check out SCOTT Contessa Solace line. It’s close to Straggler 650b geometry. Effective Top Tube length is 5 mm shorter, but standover height is 20 mm higher. I don’t know if it supports wider tires, or if it has mounting points for rack and fenders. Weight is between 15 and 18 lbs.

[n18]

I hope it’s not this cable lock:

[n18]

Here are some electronic locks options:

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-05-30/to-catch-a-bike-thief-locks-get-smart

[n18]

Besides what others suggested, insurance by lock manufacturers is useless for the following reasons:

1. It doesn’t cover the use of power tools(including portable ones), hydraulic tools, or torches to break the lock.
2. It requires that you send the broken lock back to them, so if the thief took it, or threw it away, you don’t collect the insurance.
3. The U-Lock could rust if you leave your bike outside at home or at work, particularly if the U-Lock keyhole doesn’t have a cover to protect it from rain and dirt. So if you are paying for several years of insurance, your U-Lock may not last that long. My OnGuard U-Lock; which didn’t have a keyhole cover, lasted 4 months. It started taking 5 minutes just trying to unlock the bike, so I replaced it before it locks my bike for good. Grease/WD40 at this stage helps to unlock the bike, but it won’t make it fully operational again. My current U-Lock with a keyhole cover lasted a year with applying Park Tool grease every now and then.

So look for another type of insurance rather than relying on lock manufacturer insurance.

[n18]

I am not sure how many road bikes out there with 26″ wheels and drop bars(A quick search at Performance Bike web site for road bikes shows none), but if you are avoiding 26″ wheels because they are slower, then you can compensate for it by changing gear ratio like others said. Changing gear ratio has a bigger speed advantage over switching between 700 and 26″ wheel. This page shows wheel circumference of most wheel types and tire sizes. You can use it to see how faster or slower a given wheel is compared to your current wheel. A 700cx35mm is 10% faster than a 26″x35mm wheel, for example.

If the smallest gear on the back has 14 teeth, and you switch to a gear cluster with 11 teeth, you could get a speed advantage of around 30%, that’s much higher than wheel or tire change.

This web page shows speed at different cadence levels and gear ratio, you can use it to compare different gear and wheel setups at 60 RPM cadence for example, and how it affects speed. Here is the same link, but with values loaded for Surly Straggler 650b. At 60 RPM cadence and the fastest gear setup(48×11), your speed would be 20.22 MPH. If the Straggler came with 14 teeth minimum, then your speed at 60 RPM would be 15.91 MPH, a 27% decrease in speed.

[n18]

Guess #1: It sounds like there is a screw loose inside the wheel, and it’s rotating with the wheel, creating the noise. The rim is long and aerodynamic and has an empty space inside. It could be one of the nipples that hold the spokes fell off inside and created that noise. Did you do any flat repair, or rim tape replacement recently?

Guess #2: Bottom bracket. Regular bottom brackets last about 500 to 700 miles before making noise, but it depends on a lot of factors. Sealed bottom brackets last thousands of miles. This is easy to proof with a multi-geared bike as you can rotate the wheel without rotating the cranks, but not with a fixie.

[n18]

This Strava heatmap for the area shows where people bike more often, but it represents only those who upload to Strava:

http://labs.strava.com/heatmap/#12/-77.01185/38.94262/gray/bike

Also, Google Maps shows biking directions, and I think only the desktop version shows elevation profile. There are some web sites that show elevation profiles, but they are hard to use. Here is one, but you have to switch to the bike symbol first(It’s the third button from the left), then click the starting point, and any points along the route, or the final point. It doesn’t show dots where you click until you click on a second point.

[n18]

Bike room membership costs $75 for the first year, and $60/Year afterward. It looks like you have to be a member to use the Fix-it stand. I wish it was outside.

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/fcdot/bike/wiehlebikeroom.htm

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