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@dasgeh 148063 wrote:

Au contrar! I find ebikes make cold and wet weather biking a lot easier, because you don’t have to worry about generating much heat. So you can bundle up with reckless abandon, and you can know when you walk out of your house whether you’ve found the balance between comfortably toasty and too hot. And it’s one less excuse in bad weather.

Glad you replied on this! I’d assumed one still generates enough heat to make raincoats/etc. impractical but perhaps not. Wouldn’t you still need enough freedom of movement in your legs to pedal? So rain pants and boots, etc. are still annoying? And you still have to deal with salt on roads, icy conditions, bad drivers, etc. from the seat of a relatively small, vulnerable two-wheeled vehicle. I guess I’m comparing biking to say, getting in climate-controlled car: e-biking is still a lot closer to biking – that’s what I meant by “all that much easier” (especially over the course of 44mi in a day!)

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@hozn 148067 wrote:

… Sure, I’ll always take more braking!

Thanks for the feedback on the 1x so far!

I also liked the idea of the C1 but sounds like it’s not quite there. Between that, and other things (like smallest ring being a 36T) it’s off the table. I liked the idea of the PowerTap pedals too except that they’re heavy, different cleats, and not fully transferable across all my bikes, but more importantly – there seem to be reports of quality/reliability issues there too. Perhaps PowerTap were rushing to market with these lines, as their hub has been super reliable.

I like to have BT as sometimes I won’t bother with a Garmin and I’ll just use my ‘phone (also – if the Garmin dies or something it’s nice to have a backup always ready in my pocket). It seems like it’s not hard to implement BT and I got used to having it on my Stages (and Scosche HRM). Earlier this year when I was looking at the PM market I settled on P2Max but with Quarq’s new offerings, and the GXP BB on the Warbird (and my own inflated sense of “now I want a carbon crankset”) I think they may have the edge. I have the Stages as a backup and it’s fine but agree left-sided isn’t ideal, and if I’m going for accuracy I might as well go with Quarq’s newly improved higher accuracy model (according to them). Other than power spikes and low battery life I also seem to get stranger data at more extreme cadences with the Stages.

Funny about the hoods. My 1×9 folding bike has different hoods (one Shimano, one Tektro) and it used to drive me nuts even though it really has no significant effect on my riding.

Yeah I ditched 140 rotors when I sold my CX bike (which was 160/140 F/R, stock was 140/140). My beater and 29er both have 160 rotors and I don’t really see enough advantages of 140 to bother having a second rotor size.

@Vicegrip 148059 wrote:

3 to 6 months for a power meter seems reasonable to me considering the miles and frequency we ride.

That’s the thing for me – I don’t ride that many miles or that often anymore, and I’m using brand new brand name batteries now. I know with Stages there are known issues with the battery not being in there tight enough (esp. on gravel rides etc.) resulting in power spikes and perhaps also bad battery life. I’ve wondered if the power meter is also on when the bike is say, on a vehicle bike rack, or even when I reshuffle my bikes between my basement rooms (which happens more often than I’d like). There’s probably enough movement and vibration to trigger it.

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Your test run sounded good and reasonable. I remember from bottom of Rosslyn hill to home I’d be working to average 15-16mph on my road bike. Anything more than that would be a serious effort.

Double locking isn’t a bad idea since you have an e-assist for the extra lock weight. You could maybe CaBi between buildings in DC and just lock your e-bike at one place that’s more secure?

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Assuming you want to bike every day (I imagine e-bikes don’t make bad weather all that much easier), I’d say it’s a sound decision. Having to bike 44mi every single work day is a lot, but an e-bike will make it less taxing. It’ll still take quite some time to commute with the lights/crossings/etc. but you’ll stay fresher and it’s still better than Metro or driving.

My concerns with an e-bike would be the initial outlay, and of course storage/locking-up if you don’t have a good spot at work/home since they’re heavy. (And I assume battery life may be somewhat affected by temperature too.) That said, if I had an e-bike I think I’d be more tempted to use a bike for getting groceries, etc. so you may find more usage beyond just commuting.

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@chris_s 147890 wrote:

I think the existence of a slacker team is fully justifiable (as above) and what/whom does it harm?

Agreed.

Also, e-bikes: yes.

On participation – I think just have the first two weeks or so (14 days as jrenaut suggests) without team assignments. After two weeks, assign teams based on those who’ve actually registered successfully and logged rides. (Of course you could “underachieve” for the first two weeks and then suddenly ride a lot – but you’ll already have sacrificed two weeks of riding points by then.) Don’t need to worry about seeding from previous years/newbies who actually ride a lot/etc.

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@TwoWheelsDC 147883 wrote:

I’ve also been annoyed by the battery life in my Stages, but my main source of Stages batteries was CR2032s scavenged from free blinkies….I’ve since switched to legit batteries (Duracell or Energizer) to see if there’s a difference in battery life (particularly in the cold).

I did the same (switching to legit batteries), but I think with the first-gen Stages the battery cover just doesn’t stay on tight enough. Even with the battery cover replacements that I’ve had sent to me, I end up putting a dot of paper between the door and battery cover to keep it tighter.

I still like my (used) PowerTap – rarely need to change batteries, and it just works. Shame it’s tied to a (10-speed, rim brake, heavy ass) wheel .

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@hozn 147879 wrote:

Yes, I got the quarq crankset second-hand. I will definitely get another Quarq when this dies. Not the cheapest option, but it just works, isn’t left-only, battery lasts much longer and has features like temperature compensation etc. (unlike the 4iiii which seems to vary a lot with temps and is slow and finicky to zero out).

Yeah – I want something that isn’t left-only for road/gravel rides, and I feel like I’m constantly replacing batteries on the Stages (in reality, every 3-6 months – but still too often!). And yeah, carbon cranks!

FWIW I looked also at Power2Max (ANT+ only…), Pioneer (limited crankset options), and PowerTap C1 (kinda ugly, limited/expensive chainring compatibility/replacements) but Quarq seems to make the most sense for a nice SRAM crankset.

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@hozn 147754 wrote:

[IMG]I am very excited about the hydro brakes (and larger hoods, honestly).

For the record the 1x weighs 170g less than the 2x; I was actually expecting it to weigh the same or a little more. I suspect the weight savings is mostly due to lighter fork/axle and getting rid of the flat mount to post mount adapter.

Nice! Will be curious to hear feedback once you’ve ridden it for a while.

Is that a Quarq pm on there? I’m thinking of getting one for my Warbird, so I don’t have to swap my Stages back and forth (first world problems…). (Also, the newer SRAM carbon cranks look great.)[/img]

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I prefer to be clipped in but like flat pedals for certain situations:
– practicing MTB skills
– really cold winter rides where I may have to suddenly put a foot down, and where I like having a waterproof winter boot (I don’t own any winter cycling shoes)
– short casual rides

I do use pinned pedals for the MTB practice/winter rides.

I do keep all my pedals at lightest setting (if adjustable) and when I run road pedals on the fixed gear, I use the “light action” SPD-SL pedals.

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I think with a 40 and your commute, I’d say a 18 is too low really – that’s closer to a CX/gravel SS ratio. I’d go with a 40-16 (as huskerdont suggested), although 17 or 15 would probably be fine too.

FWIW: Dirt, OneEighth and americancyclo ride 48/16. It’s a good road ratio esp. for flatter places like W&OD, Hains Point, etc. if you don’t mind mashing on the Custis and don’t intend to carry cargo, go up 41st St, etc. I’ve used it as a SS ratio for the Tuesday FreshBikes route and it gets a little challenging at times. I ended up settling on a 46T up front and switch between a 16, 17 and 18 fixed cog in the back.

Shorter cranks do make it easier to spin (and reduce the chance of pedal strike) but don’t really factor into gearing for most people. If you happen to ride significantly shorter cranks on a fixed gear, then I’d say you could gear down a little, but otherwise wouldn’t worry about crank length.

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Righty, left foot down rider, goofy foot, find tight right turns more difficult than left. I do wonder if some of that could be attributed to the fact I’ve had surgery on my right shoulder (pre-dates my “serious” cycling) – I subconsciously avoid danger more on the right side and take it slower, but take more risks and crash more on the left but learn how to turn better that way. I’ve brought up the question with other mountain bikers before and heard it’s fairly common to be better at turning in one direction than the other.

And yeah it’s left-right-left here, because I remember the jingle that taught me right-left-right when growing up in Australia.

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@Judd 147439 wrote:

Overall the current paint is in good shape and I somewhat like the color.

Cool. I was just curious because I like that original color too.

I agree with Dismal on the other points. On gearing it depends a little on how much of a masher vs spinner you are, and how hilly it is. I started SS at around 70-80 gear inches but fixed gear around 63 until I got more used to it – right now I’m in the high 70s but once winter hits I’ll probably go back down to around 70. I wouldn’t worry too much about spinning out – there’s always a steeper downhill somewhere, and it’s easier to spin faster with a fixed gear (on a downhill you’re almost not really pushing the pedals, you’re following them). Besides, you’ll need to learn how to control your speed (and therefore your spinning), either with brakes or backpedaling (or both). It’s more important to be able to get up all the hills you want imo.

On the hub, if you want to look realllllllllll legit get a fixed (on one side only) hub. Or just get a fixed/fixed. FWIW, you can comfortably put a single speed freewheel on a fixed hub (but you can’t put a fixed cog on the “free” side of a fixed/free hub).

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Nice! Ok, if you can disassemble a bike and strip and repaint a frameset, I don’t think you’ll have too much trouble building a fixed gear.

Are you repainting because of the small nicks/oxidation?

The next question is… 3/32 or 1/8th? :rolleyes:

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@americancyclo 147318 wrote:

Riding in heavy traffic is also good practice. It forces you to extend your awareness a bit further and plan your cadence and power. I found that trying to minimize my time stopped at lights helped my pacing once I got on a fixed gear. You’ll also probably think “What have I done!?” for the first 500 feet of your first commute, but you’ll settle in pretty quickly I bet.

Yeah I think generally since riding a fixed has more “flow” you tend to be hyper aware of everything around you, which is actually a good thing for urban riding/commuting.

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@Drewdane 147319 wrote:

From frustrating experience, I can say any rain pants you want me to buy need to be easily put on and removed without having to take off my shoes – a zipper going all the way from ankle to thigh, for example, and no stupid mesh liner to snag on my feet!

That’s the whole point of this product (I think) – if you click the latest link there’s an animated GIF showing it being put on.

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