[trailrunner]

@GB 119613 wrote:

This blowout talk has made me wonder if I should rotate my front tire to the back, retire the back as a spare and put on a fresh front tire. Does anyone do this?

If I’m only replacing one tire, this is what I do.

[trailrunner]

I have taken a lot of self defense gun classes. As others have said, the best strategy is to avoid bad situations. That’s not always possible, and we want to live our lives. The next step, no matter what self-defense method you choose, is good training, hopefully with real scenarios. Do not just buy a can of something and throw it in your jersey pocket and expect success. When I’ve taken my training, I’ve constantly been amazed at how quickly a situation can go from good to bad, and how quickly you can lose the advantage of distance. The better classes I’ve taken also taught us the warning signs of a potential bad situation, which really opened my eyes.

[trailrunner]

I’m a little late to this, but regarding being on NVRPA trails after dark – I used to run around Lake Accotink with a small group. We would do this run from around October through March, and would start around 6pm. We gat hassled a few times by park workers for being in the park after night. I used to commute (bike and run) through there in the dark in morning and was concerned that one day I would get in trouble.

I also used to run a lot on the Bull Run – Occoquon trail, and often wanted to run it at night, but felt certain that if I was there at night that I would get cited. The policy of parks being closed when the sun goes down is a bit of a shame, since some of us want to enjoy them even when it is dark. One of the neatest things to do is to run through the woods on a snowy night.

[trailrunner]

@PotomacCyclist 119083 wrote:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]8981[/ATTACH]

Dean Wilhelm Memorial Park.

This is the entire “park”. At 6th & D St. SW. Apparently it’s named for a former manager at the nearby Holiday Inn.

Perhaps this is the park equivalent to the 15 minutes of fame that everyone is supposed to get.

[trailrunner]

I did the Seagull century many years ago. Nice and flat. Good time of year. Great support and rest stations. Lots of riders.

My friend and I did not have a hotel, so we got up ridiculously early and drove over that morning. I’m normally a morning person, but that was early even by my standards. I was sleepy by the time we reached the Assateague rest stop in mid-morning. It was a beautiful, mild fall day, so I found a patch of grass and took a nice nap.

[trailrunner]

@thirstyman 118303 wrote:

3. The 3rd and most complicated detour is 4.7 miles long and begins 7.4 miles further along the trail. The FCPT overlaps the Gerry Connolly Cross County Trail at this point on the left side of the Fairfax County Parkway, but suddenly and without warning the trail seems to end at the parkway intersection with Stream Way. However, though there are no signs, you take a left here and follow straight uphill on the Connolly trail .2 mi passing through a housing complex. You will be on a paved path that ends at Rolling Road. Make a right on Rolling Road for .1 mi, then cross the road and follow straight onto the continuation of the Connolly trail as it runs along the left side of Hunter Village Drive. After about .5 mi, the trail will cross Hunter Village Drive, at which point you follow the path as it veers to the right alongside the Franconia-Springfield Parkway, follow .9 mi, then cross the parkway at the Bonniemill Lane intersection. Make an immediate left onto Hooes Road. Follow about .7 mi on Hooes Road until it dead ends, then continue straight on the trail to Backlick Road. Make a left, then take the pedestrian bridge over I-95 to Loisdale Road. Follow Loisdale Road south for 2 mi, then make a left to get back on the FCPT at Fairfax County Parkway. The FCPT ends 3.4 mi south of this point, roughly .5 mi north of US 1.

This section is about half of my daily commute.

I’m familiar with this route because I’ve lived near this section for 25 years and have ridden it many times, but to someone who is unfamiliar with the trail, it would be very difficult for them to know where to go, and illustrates how poorly the trail is marked.

[trailrunner]

@Jason B 118146 wrote:

Just thought I read somewhere it was a meh, cosmetic part, but wasn’t sure.

The stem cap (the green part) is cosmetic after you preload the bearings and install the stem.

The star-fangled nut (the piece that looks like a star with the two ridges of black things) gets pounded into the inside of steer tube (although it is backwards in your photo). When you tighten the bolt on the stem cap, it draws the star-fangled nut and steer tube up into the head tube, which seats the headset bearings into the cups (this is a general description, and there are some minor differences in headsets, but this applies generally to all Aheadsets).

Then you clamp the stem onto the steer tube, and tighten the bolts on the stem. At this point, you do not absolutely need the stem cap. You could unscrew the bolt and take the cap off if you want, and it should all stay together.

[trailrunner]

For metal steer tubes with a star-fangled nut (the parts in the top part of your photo) – Once you preload the bearings and tighten the stem to the steer tube, you can, in theory, remove the stem cap and bolt. However, I’ve never seen anyone do this.

(Note that in your photo, the star-fangled nut is upside down relative to the green stem cap.)

Also – as others have noted – you have two different systems shown in your photo. Don’t mix the parts between these two.

[trailrunner]

@Tania 117950 wrote:

I’m slowly building a list of components and then I’ll throw them into a spreadsheet with weight and cost etc. Gotta say, the Kings R45’s are looking better and better weight-wise. There are just so many options it’s making my head spin. So far on my preliminary list are DT Swiss 440’s, Kinlin XR-270 (light and CHEAP!) and Mavic cxp 33. 28 spokes in rear, 24 in front.

I have a wheelset with CK hubs and CXP33s. in fact, I commuted today on my old Lemond Zurich with those wheels, which I built up around 12 or 13 years and about 12k miles ago. That is a very solid combination, although I think I have 32 spokes rear, and 28 spokes front.

[trailrunner]

My favorite wheelsets are those with Chris King hubs. I’ve hand built most of my CK wheels myself. They last a long time and are serviceable. They are not crazy light, but they are not the heaviest by any means, and for the durability they provide, they are pretty light. However, they are not cheap (remember – pick two out of three: cheap, durable, or light), and you have to be a bit of an amateur mechanic to service them. And, I can’t really justify their cost based on their longevity: I could buy several 105 hubsets for the price of a CK hubset, but I won’t claim that a single CK hubset will outlast several 105 hubsets. But I appreciate good engineering and the ability to service them.

On the other hand, on my old commuter bike, last fall I bought a cheap factory-built wheel that I picked up on sale from Performance or Nashbar. I couldn’t justify the cost of a nice wheel for that bike. I just wanted the cheapest wheel I could find.

Regarding your wheel – what exactly went wrong? It should not have failed after only 1,000 miles, unless you used it in severe conditions.

[trailrunner]

I also prefer to use a light lube (ProGold ProLink) and apply it more often. Whenever I’ve tried heavier lube, or the wax-based lubes (including White Lightning), my drivetrain got gunked up.

But chain lube is one of those subjects where everyone has their own preference. To each their own.

[trailrunner]

Here are some things that I consider to be routine maintenance:

Lubing your chain is important. I prefer light lube, such as ProGold ProLink lube. But everyone has their own preference.

Fenders help keep water and crud off your bike, including the bottom bracket and headset.

Lubing the cables once is a while is a good idea.

Once in a while you should take the seatpost out of the frame and let the frame air out. Do this more often if you’ve been riding in the rain,and consider turning the bike upside down to let any water run out.

Try to clean off the rear derailer and cassette if you notice that they are gunked up.

Also keep an eye on brake pads and rims, since they seem to wear more in wet weather.

[trailrunner]

Perhaps the most important thing about buying a bike is to get one that fits well. The modern women’s bike models are supposed to address this by having a slightly different geometry to account for the typical difference in body geometries, mostly the longer leg length for women compared to men of the same height. Otherwise, women who buy a men’s bike have to resort to using a very short stem to be able to reach the bars. There may be a few other differences, such as narrower bars, and maybe a women’s specific saddle. However, there are plenty of women who have been able to get a comfortable fit on a men’s bike, so if she finds one that fits her well, then she shouldn’t worry too much about it.

[trailrunner]

Nice job.

I still have my 2000 Lemond Zurich. That one had the yellow and blue paint job. I had it repainted around 2005, but went with the functional and affordable all-black. I still ride that bike, and in fact, commuted on it last week.

[trailrunner]

@CWJW 116673 wrote:

What rain gear do you recommend over the summer for really bad down pours? Would something like a Patagonia torrent shell jacket be ok combined with DWR (durable water repellent) pants that that the legs roll up?

Also, do you happen to know if a messenger bag (not one specifically designed for bike, but I have a really large one that I use daily that I prefer to carry my stuff in. It’s huge) is harder to bike around with than a backpack??

As others have suggested, in the summer just don’t wear any sort of rain gear. If you do, you’ll just overheat and get just as wet on the inside as if you were wearing nothing. But I dunno – your commute is pretty short, so maybe you can get away with a shell.

I’ve used backpacks, messenger bags, trunk racks, and panniers. All of these can be made to work well. Messenger bags made for cyclists will usually have an extra cross strap in the front to help stabilize the load and keep it secure.

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