[thecyclingeconomist]

I’m staying home with my family on Mon. and Tues., but planning to be without power for a week or more starting on Monday night or Tuesday. We’ll see how it all plays out. I was new to D.C. this summer when the Derecho hit and we were stuck without power in 100+ degrees for 3 days. That was miserable.

At least I have time for this. It’s just like earthquake preparedness in CA, except I can see it coming…

Thanks Dirt for the tips… I have often been called “stupid” for the weather I choose to brave. I often consider it a personal challenge to bike through anything mother-nature can throw at me. The stories you get to tell are great! However, when trees are the things being thrown at me by mother-nature (along with power lines etc) and many spots of my route will inevitably be severely flooded… I consider that a time to swallow my pride and wait it out. I have to think of making sure to be there for my daughter and the upcoming addition to the family (wife is preggers), which will be here in mid dec. :p

[thecyclingeconomist]

@Certifried 34545 wrote:

um, ok, so, you’re saying it’s, like, kind of serious? holy shit batman… I was thinking, “how bad could it really be?”. Even thinking if it wasn’t all THAT bad, I’d ride. The visual of being picked up and dropped in an oncoming lane of traffic has me convinced 😮 I think I would’ve shat myself.

It’s the second most scared I’ve ever been while cycling… Luckily there were no oncoming cars, and I still don’t know how I didn’t lay it down. My panniers (i had front and back that day) acted as a sail, and that’s how it just picked me up (or at least lightened me enough) and pushed me horizontally. My tires just completely lost grip, and away I went…

[thecyclingeconomist]

@culimerc 34522 wrote:

Broke the 3rd spoke in as many months this morning on wheels that are only 6 months old. Good thing I have disc brakes, still its getting old.

Your spoke tensions are too low. You need to have the entire wheel re-tensioned, not just replace a spoke and bring it back to true. The reason spokes break is because they completely de-tension when hitting a bump. I have a Wheelsmith tension meter, and for anyone above 175lbs, you should (on average, and it differs between the drive and non-drive sides on teh rear wheel a LOT) have your tensions higher than most machine built wheels come from the factory. After building all my own wheels for the last decade or so, I originally followed Brandt’s guide and then slowly learned other non-standard patterns and how the tensions are affected.

Are you breaking them on the front or rear? (I suspect front if it happens when hitting bumps, but it depends upon the bike you are on, how many spokes it has per wheel, and the lacing pattern.)

[thecyclingeconomist]

I once weighed my commuter when fully loaded down… it was 98lbs (both back panniers full with clothes and food for a week’s worth of lunches, front panniers filled with my computer and books for teaching). No wonder I had a rough ride in that morning.

Unloaded though: I think it’s about the same as yours… hovers around the 35-40lb. mark.

[thecyclingeconomist]

I guess I could wear my full-face downhill helmet and put on the downhill body armor… However, given that gusts of 50mph are expected, I’ll probably work from home. That’s just not ride-able. (I’ve tried, and was literally picked up and dropped 6 feet from where I’d been… in the ONCOMING lane of traffic when a 50mph gust hit me from the right side. That was the last time I rode in, or will ever ride in sustained winds over 30mph with higher gusts)

[thecyclingeconomist]

@Certifried 34391 wrote:

I needed a fog horn on my bike this morning instead of a bell!

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

http://deltacycle.com/Airzound-Bike-Horn

I have it to “alert” traffic that they are about to kill me… it works.

[thecyclingeconomist]

Thanks for posting… it’s a good refresher even for those of us that feel like we’ve been doing this a long time and are prepared. Being prepared isn’t just gear, it’s a mindset, and that is easily lost when we commute the same route day-in and day-out.

Cheers!

[thecyclingeconomist]

Since many on here like good looking steel with nice lugs… I’m sure many have seen the 2009 Schwinn Paramount that was made of all stainless Reynolds 953. Truly a phenom (and $7K for the frameset). Man I wish I’d won the raffle!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1909[/ATTACH]

Click here for the article that outlines the bike’s details. Yummy.

[thecyclingeconomist]

Congratulations! A quick solute to you with my air-horn… and here’s to another 8!

Cheers! Safe cycling and God bless!

[thecyclingeconomist]

Shift to the left huh? That’s really thoughtful and practical. Why incite conflict? I’m not sure how your proposed action helps anyone (maybe it was a joke). Do you think it would make the real “ELITE” legitimately reconsider their behavior if cut them off on purpose? That doesn’t make much sense to me.

Obviously, I’m not blind to the issue, and felt responsible. I made an error of judgement, but I was trying to pass safely and thought that I had a longer straight section to pass; and had clearly been waiting for an opportunity to do so. I rang my bell, moved over, and basically was stuck in a “HOLY CRAPPOLA” situation, where I’d put all three of us in danger. It wasn’t cool on my part, and I don’t think that an “ELITE” would have posted an apology in the first place…

However, inciting frustration in a rider who is obviously riding at a significantly faster clip than you… how is that helping with safety? If you can wave someone through… do so. If you see an obstruction, or oncoming rider, then indicate so with an outstretched arm with an open palm facing the rider behind you. It indicates “slowing”, and if they ride regularly with others, then it should be obvious that there is a real reason not to pass.

In the dark with fog on glasses in the AM or PM… its very helpful if you use regular signals for riders around you.

[thecyclingeconomist]

It’s been said… but please don’t use them at all. You put others in danger, as well as yourself and those around you when you make it nearly impossible to hear bells, shouts, or air-horns as others try to safely pass…

Ninja’s with earbuds are the most dangerous form of trail user…

[thecyclingeconomist]

My wife is a PA and she said the codeine stuff works… but I don’t want to have to go to the doctor to get a prescription. Such a pain!

Netty pot or Afrin is a good idea… she said that too. I’m just lazy and haven’t gone to the store yet.

Time to ride home now!

[thecyclingeconomist]

@KLizotte 33703 wrote:

Cyclingeconomist:

I don’t consider FreshBikes to be a chain like Performance Bike and most of the bikes they sell are at the really high end (my purchase was definitely at the low end of their inventory); that said, I haven’t enough experience with them to know how good their mechanics are. Really keeping my fingers crossed.

If the owner isn’t the primary mechanic, or trained the primary mechanic, and they don’t do full-customs, then they are more likely to be more of a chain than not. If their primary line is a big-brand, then the shop doesn’t control and awful lot of the aspects of their store (and few do anymore).

That doesn’t mean that you won’t find a great mechanic (someone that’s been wrenching since steel was the only option), but the likelihood diminishes quickly. Within the brick-n-mortar bike business, mechanics don’t last if they are really good because the owner simply cannot pay them enough. So, what happens? They either leave the business, or they open their own shop. It’s what happened to me (and I am by no means the greatest mech at all.) I couldn’t hack working for $9 an hour, even though I truly loved the gig and the shop. We made our own line of steel-carbon custom road bikes. It was awesome to learn the craft from someone that really knew what they were doing (I didn’t build, simply because I am not a good enough welder to mess with the really high end tubesets that my boss was using; especially when he fillet-brazed most.)

I hope that Dirt or others on this board will read this and make some recommendations of shops where really good, knowledgeable mechanics can be found around here (and maybe it is FreshBikes… I hope!)

Best,

Justin

[thecyclingeconomist]

@KLizotte 33486 wrote:

Hey there and thanks for the advice. I was going out of town this wknd and in a hurry to get this fixed so I dropped it off at FreshBikes while enroute to PA (esp since my six months of free service is coming to an end). Curtis took a quick look and said my wheel is slightly bent (I shoulda guessed that), that my headset appears to be fine (pending further inspection), and that my fork can’t bend because it’s carbon (it would have broken otherwise so he says). He didn’t quite seem to believe my story of a poltergeist taking over when I go hand’s free. Anyway, I requested a fine tooth lookover whatever it costs so we’ll see what they find. Keeping my fingers crossed. I don’t want to have to worry about a death wobble while going down hill. There are also some shifting issues that needed to be looked at.

Apparently I am not as skilled as I thought at breaking my bike’s fall with my body. I hope it appreciates the sacrifice I made!

If your carbon fork has an alloy steer (which your bike model comes with normally), then it most certainly can get bent. No, the arms of the fork can’t, they would simply break, but the crown-junction with the steer tube can get bent. It’s why I (and now another) have mentioned it. Even a couple millimeters of tweaking at the steer can lead to a large change at the bottom (changing all the handling characteristics of the bike.) A simple way to check: swap out the fork with another, and go test ride it. If you dropped $1K+ at FreshBikes, they should be willing to at least let you do that.

When you say a “bent” wheel, do you simply mean it was out of true? It would have to be SERIOUSLY out of true, or have a severe flat spot to cause a wobble like you are saying. I would get a second opinion. As I stated above, I do NOT trust 95% of chain store mechanics. They are usually young and have never actually built a bike. Yes, they maybe up to snuff on the latest tech, and be able to compare SRAM Red with Dura-Ace in grams, but that doesn’t mean they understand the engineering within the bicycle. Most people don’t know (and I certainly didn’t until reading and being taught by a master mechanic) how a wheel even really works. Then, only after building from scratch dozens of wheels with a standard 3-cross weave did I ever venture into other modes of wheel building.

Your fork should be taken off the bike, and then the measurements compared with the factory specs. I feel very strongly that your bike shouldn’t have a speed-wobble. It’s too nice a bike, too new, and the geometry (from what I read on the spec sheet) is meant for predictable at-speed handling. The wheel base isn’t particularly short at all (which can lead to a wobble).

Please feel free to contact me via email if you would like to chat about this further. I hope that they fix this issue (or have already done so) at FreshBikes.

God bless and safe cycling!

[thecyclingeconomist]

I hate thread hacking… this isn’t helping people learn about lights anymore. Start a new thread? Also, as a husband and son of avid marathoners, black top is SIGNIFICANTLY softer on joints; especially when you consider the additive damage over years and thousands of miles of running. Just yield to the slower person, just as autos should yield to you. Karma… Do unto to others as you would “___________”…you fill in the blank.

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