Tell me about your Bicycle

Observe & Report

Observe & Report

Well-Known Member
After not getting any flats on a ride in like a year and a half I got three this weekend. One on saturday and two on monday. Still beats a good day at work...

Also got a new (to me) bike to be my touring/city bike. Full suspension and folds in half, video below. Rides like a dream and has an unbeatable view. One guy driving by yelled "you forgot your bag of popcorn!" Dogs hate it, got chased twice on a 30 mile ride up to my cabin and old farts were coming up and asking me about it whenever I stopped. Like one I had to explain what Craigslist was and that people buy and sell shit on Facebook. Plan is to replace the 3x8 with the Rohloff hub from my old upwrong tourer.

 
farmingfisherman

farmingfisherman

Well-Known Member
Observe & Report said:
After not getting any flats on a ride in like a year and a half I got three this weekend. One on saturday and two on monday. Still beats a good day at work...

Also got a new (to me) bike to be my touring/city bike. Full suspension and folds in half, video below. Rides like a dream and has an unbeatable view. One guy driving by yelled "you forgot your bag of popcorn!" Dogs hate it, got chased twice on a 30 mile ride up to my cabin and old farts were coming up and asking me about it whenever I stopped. Like one I had to explain what Craigslist was and that people buy and sell shit on Facebook. Plan is to replace the 3x8 with the Rohloff hub from my old upwrong tourer.

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Who is this Craig you speak of and what is his face doing on the cover of a book? Seriously though nice score! Good luck with the Rohloff, considered installing one on my monkey but went with a alfine instead. Install was mush easier for this hack wrench.
 
Observe & Report

Observe & Report

Well-Known Member
A friend is coming to visit so I told him to rent an e-bike and he can go riding with us on Sat. morning. Gonna do an easy loop from the bike shop, one of my usual quick rides: about 21 miles and 1100 feet of climbing. Well my friend, whom I don't know to be a cyclist or even in good shape, didn't think that sounded too tough and I'm guessing he didn't like the looks of the touristy utility e-bikes. So instead of the e-bike he reserved their top of the line roadie with Ultegra DI2 (that's electronic shifting that costs about $2500 for just the gears, shifters, brakes, etc... it's probably an $8,000 bike)

It's not a tough ride. After a 5 mile warmup on the flat MUP, there's a mile climb of 4.5% (max 8.1%), then a beautiful 4.5 miles of rollies through a wooded canyon averaging 1.3% up with some short bumps ranging up to 7.5%. Then after a break there's a 1.5 mile push up to the top at 5.3% (up to 10.4%) before descending the areas biggest butt-kicker which is a mile of 12% (I could use a drag chute for that.)

Still, I think he's going to get his ass handed to him.
 
Metasynth

Metasynth

Well-Known Member
Observe & Report said:
A friend is coming to visit so I told him to rent an e-bike and he can go riding with us on Sat. morning. Gonna do an easy loop from the bike shop, one of my usual quick rides: about 21 miles and 1100 feet of climbing. Well my friend, whom I don't know to be a cyclist or even in good shape, didn't think that sounded too tough and I'm guessing he didn't like the looks of the touristy utility e-bikes. So instead of the e-bike he reserved their top of the line roadie with Ultegra DI2 (that's electronic shifting that costs about $2500 for just the gears, shifters, brakes, etc... it's probably an $8,000 bike)

It's not a tough ride. After a 5 mile warmup on the flat MUP, there's a mile climb of 4.5% (max 8.1%), then a beautiful 4.5 miles of rollies through a wooded canyon averaging 1.3% up with some short bumps ranging up to 7.5%. Then after a break there's a 1.5 mile push up to the top at 5.3% (up to 10.4%) before descending the areas biggest butt-kicker which is a mile of 12% (I could use a drag chute for that.)

Still, I think he's going to get his ass handed to him.
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Yeah if he doesn’t bike on a regular basis, and he’s not particularly athletic…but if he’s athletic, he can probably make it alright as long as his ass holds up!
 
Observe & Report

Observe & Report

Well-Known Member
I was riding my 65-lb trike (velomobile) on Saturday and dropped some "pro" cyclists on a training ride, giving them a lesson in aerodynamics. It's a local team sponsored by a powder/goo company, some are former national champs. I got to the bottom of a long descent and saw them riding in a pace line with their white shorts and shoes. They had come down the road on the other side of the mountain and the two roads meet at the bottom. They were about 100 yards behind me and going fast. I knew they would chase me so dropped the vape I was about to hit (hahahaha) and started pedaling hard.

It's about 4 miles to the highway. The first 2 miles go around a lake, rolling but overall flat with half a dozen 2.5% bumps that sap your momentum on a regular bike but I can practically sail over them if I pedal hard. Even though I had to pull over a couple times to let cars pass they couldn't catch me though I was surprised by how fast they were going when they came around a corner and popped into my mirror. After getting around the lake to the half-way point I got to a straight half-mile of -2.5% downhill and it was over. I hit 52 mph and the rest of the way to the highway is about a mile and a half of gentle -0.5% downhill where I went 45 down to 35 mph. I started my stopwatch when I got to the highway and waited for my riding buddies. Beat the pros by a minute and a half. Felt great! They gave me the nod/thumbs-up as they passed by to continue their ride.

Of course, I don't always beat these guys. Sometimes they spend all day going up and down another mountain in the area. It takes me an hour+ to get up the 3.7 miles of 5% (up to 12.5+%) in my velomobile whereas they are doing it in <20 minutes (KOM is a bit over 14 minutes.)
 
farmingfisherman

farmingfisherman

Well-Known Member
Observe & Report said:
I was riding my 65-lb trike (velomobile) on Saturday and dropped some "pro" cyclists on a training ride, giving them a lesson in aerodynamics. It's a local team sponsored by a powder/goo company, some are former national champs. I got to the bottom of a long descent and saw them riding in a pace line with their white shorts and shoes. They had come down the road on the other side of the mountain and the two roads meet at the bottom. They were about 100 yards behind me and going fast. I knew they would chase me so dropped the vape I was about to hit (hahahaha) and started pedaling hard.

It's about 4 miles to the highway. The first 2 miles go around a lake, rolling but overall flat with half a dozen 2.5% bumps that sap your momentum on a regular bike but I can practically sail over them if I pedal hard. Even though I had to pull over a couple times to let cars pass they couldn't catch me though I was surprised by how fast they were going when they came around a corner and popped into my mirror. After getting around the lake to the half-way point I got to a straight half-mile of -2.5% downhill and it was over. I hit 52 mph and the rest of the way to the highway is about a mile and a half of gentle -0.5% downhill where I went 45 down to 35 mph. I started my stopwatch when I got to the highway and waited for my riding buddies. Beat the pros by a minute and a half. Felt great! They gave me the nod/thumbs-up as they passed by to continue their ride.

Of course, I don't always beat these guys. Sometimes they spend all day going up and down another mountain in the area. It takes me an hour+ to get up the 3.7 miles of 5% (up to 12.5+%) in my velomobile whereas they are doing it in <20 minutes (KOM is a bit over 14 minutes.)
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I've been dropped by a cloth enclosed recumbent rider, regular recumbent rider. Don't think I'd bother trying to stay with a person riding a velo mobile.
 
Metasynth

Metasynth

Well-Known Member
Observe & Report said:
My visiting friend smartened up and switched his rental from the Tour de France rig to the e-bike. He got to go with us on a real ride through the hills instead of being confined to the boring path, still sweated plenty and a good time was had by all. At our rest stop he busted out a fatty of lemon cherry gelato.
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Sounds like my kinda ride
 
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