[TwoWheelsDC]

@drevil 179757 wrote:

… and races!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjNQdIUGP-E

Regardless of what one thinks about e-bikes and what level of power is acceptable or not in various scenarios, it seems like nearly all the bikes these guys sell fall well outside what might be called “legal” in terms of meeting the federal definition of a bicycle. Frankly, this strikes me a huge liability and I’m shocked they can stay in business. Most of their bikes would be classified as mopeds, and several would be full on motorcycles under most state laws. There’s some gray area there, but they don’t even seem to acknowledge that on their website. Like, if people are willing to spend $10k on a 5000w “bike,” more power to them, but you’d expect there’d be some disclaimer like “we can’t actually call this a bicycle; you will probably be breaking the law if you don’t register and insure this thing in your state; you definitely can’t ride it on any bike/ped trails.”

In the interest of making this relevant to this threat and not the other one…make sure you’re buying from a reputable dealer and you have a firm grasp on the laws in your area before buying your e-bike.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@Judd 179753 wrote:

Damn it. Now I’m considering buying a radwagon.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’ll let you know how it goes. Once this forum has a Juiced and a Rad, we can do all sorts of comparisons.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@ebubar 179738 wrote:

Thus far i’ve got two commuting rides on the Juiced. It performs well. Cuts about 30 minutes off my commute each way, so I gain an hour of my day back. Not too shabby. Its worked great for a couple of grocery trips as well. I’ll just consider it my cargo bike. It certainly handles like one (the thing is a tank).

I like the Rad bikes, but none have a big enough honking battery for the distances I need to cover. I’m planning for a pretty big loss in charging power during the cold winter months and have read that keeping the charge between 20-80 is ideal for longevity so a bigger pack was essential. Juiced and Stromer were the only I could find with such large packs.

Ah, yeah, the Juiced does have that bigger battery option.

Soooo….I just ordered a RadWagon. The 2018 models have a 20% bigger battery, so that helps bridge the gap between the Rad and the Juiced. I think if I were going for a normal hybrid style bike, I might’ve gone with the Juiced because they look better. But I figured if I was really getting this for the utility, I’d go whole hog and get the cargo bike.

[TwoWheelsDC]

I’ve considered the Juiced, but looking at the options in the price range, I think I like the RadPower Radcity more. I’ve actually considered going full cargo bike and getting a Radwagon…but my commute is only 25 miles round trip, so I really would only want the e-bike for lazy days or errand days, so a cargo bike makes sense. If I was going to be commuting on it full time, I’d go for a regular frame.

Interestingly, I find the cheaper bikes more attractive because I like the idea of having a throttle, which would greatly add to my ability to ride 25 miles in my work clothes.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@hozn 179448 wrote:

It’s so odd to me that you guys have had problems with the G-Ones. Still by far my favorite serious gravel tire, though I am gonna try some Donnelly Strada USHs or similar for additional perspective now that they make their tires tubeless in larger sizes.

But I have had zero flats on G-One tires and that includes 4 or 5 gravel races in addition to a fair number of single-track miles. This is the larger (700×38/40-622) size and always tubeless. These tires are super easy to setup tubeless. Anecdotally it does seem that Schwalbe tires can be tricky to snap beads onto rim shoulders when using tubes; they fit pretty snug. You can get a bead seater tool (or probably diy one) or maybe use furniture polish or similar lubricant. I just run them tubeless.

I’m sure now I’ll get a bunch of flats on these, but until then this still my unrivaled havier-duty off-road gravel tire (as opposed to Compass tires that are my favorite lighter-duty and large-volume pavement tire).

I thought I posted this, but I actually ended up sticking with the G-Ones. After I had that series of problems, I was going to go back to my Clements. But this was during that insane cold snap this winter and I had trouble getting the Clements to seat, but after fussing with both pairs, the G-Ones did seat and the last puncture I’d gotten ended up staying sealed, so I decided to just not mess with them anymore. I also had one spare, so I figured I’d just keep them on until I used the spare…but I haven’t had a problem since then, which makes me happy because I really do like them quite a bit better than the Clements.

[TwoWheelsDC]

I saw Dread running to work (WTAF dude) this AM, then riding home from work this PM. Crazy day.

[TwoWheelsDC]

Crazy to have station managers nitpicking over this while seemingly ignoring actual, you know, crimes in their stations…

[TwoWheelsDC]

@hozn 179100 wrote:

I’m doing it this year (finally!).

For logistical reasons I’m contemplating of doing it on my road bike (28mm tires) — terrible idea?

Last year, it rained the night before, but even with that the gravel was not bad and mostly solid and smooth. Given your skills and setup, you could be okay. There was one downhill section toward the beginning though, that my G-Ones really struggled with….it’s basically a fast descent on wet grass where the soil is soft and muddy, and if you’re toward the back, it’ll be super rutted from the front riders. Slicks would be very sketchy.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@lordofthemark 178752 wrote:

So I need a new chain. The best outcome is I remove the chain (quite confident doing that with the standard chain breaking tool, since I will replace the chain anyway). Leave bike in the bike room, go to a bike shop (or REI) by car, get a new chain, and replace the chain myself (never done that, but the logical next step in my evolution as newbie amateur bike mechanic)

But. Everyone says with a worn chain, you need to check the cassette and crankset for wear.

So. Next step, look at the cassette and crankset for wear.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]17989[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]17990[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]17991[/ATTACH]

The crankset is the one that was on the bike when I received it from Karen, and I have ridden it almost 6,000 miles since then. Not sure how many miles Karen had on the crankset. When I replaced the cassette last, I kept the crankset, in part because the least worn ring was the middle one, which is the one I usually ride (and almost always commute) in. Karen and I appear to have different riding styles, which turns out to have been good. As it happens, this Saturday I was riding in high gear on the crankset instead of middle gear (to bomb down George Mason, for my own meaning of bombing) and then, I guess, for whatever reason, went into low gear on the crankset going up the grade on North Hampton – which may have had an impact on what happened to the chain, I guess?

So I am resigned to a new crankset.

The cassette was new with the chain, so just under 3,200 miles. I would be somewhat more disappointed in needing a new cassette, especially if its my own fault for not checking the chain more often. OTOH I do shift the cassette a lot.

I MIGHT consider replacing the cassette myself, that’s easier than replacing the crankset, right? But I don’t think I want to mess with the crankset. I think I will need to take the bike into a shop, but would appreciate any advice (consensus preferred of course) before I go.

Replacing a square taper crankset is super easy (replacing most cranks is easy). Takes maybe 5 minutes once you figure out how to use the crank puller, and assuming you have a torque wrench. If replacing a cassette is a 3 on the difficulty scale, the crank is a 3.5.

YouTube will teach you….

[TwoWheelsDC]

@hozn 178688 wrote:

For rim brakes V-brakes are about as good as it’s gonna get.

Mini V’s though, right? Regular v-brakes have a different cable pull and require a stupid adapter for STI levers, which make them worse than cantis in my experience.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@lordofthemark 178687 wrote:

We do not seem to have a consensus here. I guess maybe try the crank arm first (I think the bike room has one of those taper things) and then go ahead and break the chain – using pliers if I can find them in our general purpose tool chest, or the regular chain break tool otherwise (and worry about the rivet later). BTW, the chain has 3000 miles on it.

If you pull the crank arm, you won’t need to break the chain. The converse isn’t necessarily true.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@jrenaut 178682 wrote:

The TRPs look like what comes on super low-end garbage bikes so that’s a surprising recommendation from you.

[TwoWheelsDC]

Whenever you get the chain fixed, I would also suggest making sure that the lower limit screw on your front derailleur is properly set. It’s possible to drop a chain no matter how well your FD is adjusted, but if the lower limit is set too far inward, it makes this type of thing much more likely.

[TwoWheelsDC]

Per Amtrak, you can check bikes on the Carolinian at Alexandria and Richmond-Staples Mill. I assume the same is true for the Palmetto, since they offer the same bike service (train-side checked). With a bike, I’ve personally done Fayetteville to Union Station on the Palmetto, and Union Station to NYP and back on both the Carolinian and Vermonter. I think I actually prefer the trainside check of the Palmetto/Carolinian to the self-load of the Vermonter.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@Steve O 177768 wrote:

From what I’ve heard, the pbl has been pretty much completely appropriated by people walking during the busy evening hours.
I’m thinking it might be fun for a group of 10 or 20 of us to ride up and down the bike lanes politely ringing our bells. Not as one big clumpy group, but as a steady stream, with a cyclist or two or three coming by every 15 or 30 seconds. After an hour or two I wonder if the walkers would get the idea?

Sent from my LGMP260 using Tapatalk

It seems to me that the fault of the PBL being overtaken by pedestrians lies in its poor design/placement rather than with the pedestrians. I think the PBL should’ve gone on the north side of Maine. It might require some users to make an extra crossing of Maine, but it avoids the mess that is the de facto drop-off/idle area directly along the Wharf storefront areas and would almost completely eliminate bike/ped interactions. It would also provide a more direct link to Banneker Park.

If it were up to me, the bike route would go along Maine from Ohio (as it already does), cross Maine at the Fish Market to the newly refurb’d area at Banneker park, then turn into a PBL along the north side of Maine that would extend to at least 6th/M SW.

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