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Did Surly ever really have a road bike?

Anyway, yeah, I kind of agree. I ride on the open road a lot less than I used to, drive to ride a lot more, and I don’t keep mental notes of my annual mileage.

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@Sunyata 145232 wrote:

The last little bit of advice I am going to give, you are not going to like. But on your days off of the bike, go for a run up some hills. Cross training really helps increase your overall fitness and will make you faster. Add in some core exercises and you will only get stronger and be able to transfer more power from your core to your legs (this helps considerably when climbing steep hills). I started running again to get ready for cyclocross season, and it has only made me stronger on the bike. Now I just have to practice running while carrying my bike and maybe I will end up somewhere better than mid-pack!

This is one of the reasons I like riding off-road and/or SS/fixed as well. There’s a lot more variety to the workout – standing out of the saddle, absorbing bumpy surfaces, angling your body, riding at more extreme cadences, etc. I do actually enjoy running somewhat, but nowhere near as much as riding, so mixing up the riding is a good excuse for not hitting all my cross-training/running goals. (Though I’ll admit to owing a chin-up bar at home. You just can’t get enough upper body stuff purely on a bike.)

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@hozn 145131 wrote:

Oh, I thought you were asking about how to ride faster; you can ride slowly/casually on a bike without doing anything at all.

Yep. There’s a reason bicycles are such a popular method of transportation in big cities around the world. They’re just so darn efficient and convenient!

If you do want to easily ride faster than the casual utility rider/commuter, that is the 8-12mph? averages of those folks, you do need to become at least somewhat “athletic”. Although there are many folks here who ride much faster and further than the typical casual rider in a densely populated city, they don’t do it overnight and I wouldn’t say they are representative of typical bike commuters (at least not globally – a place like DC… maybe moreso).

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Sharing this here (partly because I don’t want anymore fbook notifications), but also because… Harry Meatmotor
Cat 4/5 lap 1 of many

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Sharing this here (partly because I don’t want anymore fbook notifications), but also because… Harry Meatmotor
Cat 4/5 lap 1 of many

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@lordofthemark 145070 wrote:

I am running Ryder Freedom tires, 700×38. ” an off-road tread at heart, tempered with a road going attitude.”

Perhaps it was a mistake to replace my OEM tires (which were at the end of their useful life) with these, instead of something narrower and slicker?

Dang, so I have to admit I actually hate those [urban] tires. I had a set in 32mm that was stock on my CX bike, and I quickly switched them out. They wear slowly but they’re heavy/slow. The kicker for me was that the tread pattern would actually pick up small pieces of gravel that you’d have to then pick out!

FWIW I’ve run 32mm Ritchey Speedmax Pro tires for salty winter roads and general gravel riding and they’re < 400g each, and inexpensive. Can't corner too sharply on pavement with the side knobs, but I don't think you're doing that anyway. Really you can run whatever you want, and as long as you ride harder, your body will [or *should*] try to adapt. But I think above 28-32mm for paved riding (especially with that amount of rotational weight) is a little overkill unless you are specifically trying to make your ride harder than it needs to be. And making your ride feel smoother and faster will make you want to ride more. (I’ll also insert an old tale here: when I first moved to this area I tried a commute on a weekend on a 30+ lb 26″ MTB. It was exhausting, and I gave up on the idea of commuting for years after that attempt, until I brought over a 700c flat-bar road bike I previously owned and joined a BTWD convoy.)

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I wouldn’t bother trying to reduce the weight of the bike, but I agree with Vicegrip that riding position and tires can help. You could have someone look at your riding position. Generally: the more forward your saddle and the lower your bars, the faster you will go. But obviously you need to more flexible and it can be also harder to see as far ahead, and there’s more of your weight on your front wheel so handling is a little different.

If you’re running knobby MTB tires, slicks or urban tires or even a gravel tire will be quite a bit faster.

But obviously also just ride more and ride harder. Go to Hains Pt (or similar) and do a loop as fast as you can. Then do another. etc.

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@hozn 144822 wrote:

Yeah, as far as I know. I’m happy with my 15mm TA. But another factor I forgot to mention when choosing 12mm was that I kinda wanted more material (carbon in this case) around the dropout. I don’t know what that means in terms of additional strength, but figured more is better here. Road forks like to be slimmer, so having a smaller-diameter axle does make some sense.

Interesting! Never thought of that reason before, but it makes sense.

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@pdubs 144774 wrote:

A WTB Cross Boss (35mm) is $50 online at various sites and a Schwalbe X-One (33mm) is $53 from merlin.

Thanks. The Cross Boss has gotten high praise in many parts but I’ve also heard mixed things about WTB tubeless on Stan’s and even Stan’s website says not to use WTB TCS. Maybe I’ll try the X-Ones.

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It probably will be a very tiny bit more aero, and lighter, but I have to agree I think it’s probably just “new road thru-axle standard” bike industry stuff. After all, 15mm came about from 20mm DH to XC, I think?

I ran a 32mm Kenda Kommando last season for a few races. It was ok but not quite grippy enough for my mash-y pedaling style and poor cornering skills. Maybe need wider than 32mm, but for an all-round tire I’d want more knobs regardless.

I think any potential “next” bike for me would be more gravel grinder than CX/road, as I just do more miles of gravel than CX (and don’t race road), and they seem to have remained on 15mm TA for that market so I’m going to stick to that I think. But as you say, with end caps or even just a “well-machined sleeve of metal” adapter you can switch easily. I have one of those ebays adapters that lets me use either of my 2x 15mm TA front wheels with my 9mm DT Swiss thru bolt, or a 15mm TA (which means they can be used on 4 of my different forks/bikes).

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@hozn 144549 wrote:

My new 12mm thru-axle road disc fork has arrived. Hongfu (aka “Avenger”) has gone decidedly upscale with their packing. Other than a little layup/interface imperfection around the axle “dropouts”, the finish quality is also very nice. I’ll use this when I buy new flat-mount hydro brakes (for my hopefully-soon flat-mount ti frame). Until then I’ll stick with my Whisky No 9 15mm TA fork.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]12296[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]12297[/ATTACH]

Edit: 405g w/ uncut steerer. Quite impressive. (Whisky claims the No 9 weighs 375g, but mine actually weighed around 430g if I remember right.)

So – why 12mm? Just so it’s lighter?

I’m still in the land of “should I upgrade my geared CX bike”? “maybe/not really”. Haven’t bought a new bike for almost 12 months now.

More seriously I’m trying to decide on a pair of allrounder tubeless CX tires that aren’t >$50 ea. (Clement PDX/MXP are $70.) To be mounted on Iron Cross rims, for a SS CX bike.

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@hozn 142534 wrote:

Hey, something has come up and I won’t be able to do this after all. Too bad! — But if anyone wants to pay the $10 transfer, you’re welcome to my registration [for free]. First-come, first-serve. Hopefully I’ll find another gravel race to give this crazy new fad a try later in the year

Edit: registration has been transferred.

boooo!

video of an April recon here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJmtmo_u8WI

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I like my Chrome shoes for walkability. Not particularly wide or anything, and I assume the Chrome store carries them. They have laces though, and are also pretty heavy, if that matters. I use one pair specifically for winter riding (1/2 size larger to accommodate thick socks, and they’re my warmest shoes – I don’t own any cycling specific winter boots).

I’ve always wanted to try DZR Shoes but don’t own a pair. Bilsko did I think, he might have some feedback on them.

I also have a couple of pairs of Shimano touring-style shoes. Also very walkable but they definitely look less stylish than Chrome shoes.

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@SlopeSurfer 141423 wrote:

If you are a Gmail user you can use an alias such as username+alias@gmail.com

I do this every single time I give out my email on a form. Then when I get a spam email I can see who it is addressed to and it tells me exactly who gave out my email.

You can also adds dots/periods in your username: user.name+spam@gmail.com will resolve to username@gmail.com

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I get so confused nowadays in my old age that I often just think about spelling it “graey”, or maybe I should make it a proper diphthong… græy.

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