All Things Bikes and Tacos! (...and every vehicle imaginable)

I'm no corner carver, or techy climber (yet). So not much to lose/ relearn.

So that 15mm made that much of a difference, huh? Same backsweep on those 20s & 35s?

 

Pretty sure same sweep. Went from oneup 20mm bars to oneup 35mm bars and felt a difference.
Feels better on the down hill in my opinion

 

I think you would be an ideal candidate for one of our Intermediate Coaching Classes. If you ever come north give me a shout and I'll hook you up with one of our coaches

Weird. Also why. And I want to ride it

 

Dipping the heals makes a big difference.

 

Lil baby jumps from yesterday.

 

Too nice not to ride yesterday. The weather has been brutal... And more brutal weather coming.

Around here there are tons of country roads but they're all gravel. The gravel roads are barely passable in a 4x4 right now so I threw the slicks on the gravel bike and hit the road. We only have a few paved roads and they're all highways so it's never the best but at least I was out there and not on the trainer.

10-12hrs/week on the trainer is killing my soul.

 

Sweet ride...how many rides/hours are you getting out of your battery on the AXS system?

 

such a sick bike! I have a bike fitting for my gravel bike on may 19....kind of hoping they recommend a smaller frame so I have a good excuse for a new bike haha

 

I've only been able to get out on this thing three times so far but the derailleur battery is still at 90% or so. The shifters run on 2032 coin batteries and last a super long time.

I'm liking the electronic shifting a lot more than I would have thought.

 

I justified getting a new one after I broke a shifter in August and was still waiting for a replacement to come into stock. Ha. Figured fuck it... A whole new bike comes with shifters.

 

Ive built this truck out to be the perfect road tripper! I carry 4 bikes regularly with the option do to up to 10 or 11 with a hitch rack. It isn't the best shuttle rig since not many of my team mates know how to drive stick, but is perfect for my needs.
Originally my dad and I built the rack system so we could keep luggage and bike gear dry during the always rainy fall NICA seasons. looking forward, Im hoping to put a RTT offset to the passenger side and still keep two of the racks on top of the bed.

 

Hell yeah Man! NICA for the win, has my daughters so excited to ride! That’s Maddie on the top step Sunday!

 

Nice.

Been using the GX AXS for about six months now, and I'm charging the der batt about every two weeks...not because I need to, but it salves the inner OCD. Looks like the battery (through the app) is at 50% each time after two weeks of riding 3X a week.

LOL...thanks, now I need to clean the coffee off my laptop...

 

That's where I'm at, I have mechnical disks brakes on mine right now and I'm like, upgrade the drivetrain or the whole bike haha. I'm waiting until the bike fit to decide.

 

Nice! Where do you ride around Albany? We've been to Monroe State Park and Gurney. Monroe was a little rough, Gurney was a lot of fun.

 

I just took my wife for the first bicycle ride in 30 years!

It was just 2 miles around a flat suburban neighborhood, but it got a little windy at the end and I found myself shifting down a gear. (You gotta remember, I am a senior citizen.)

This is a Manhattan Green, that I bought from craigslist, which has clearly been recovered from a canal. There was mud inside of everything and the lower bearings were shot. I don’t like derailer bikes. I only bought this bike because it has the Sturmey-archer three speed hub with coaster brake. Because of that I paid too much for this bike, but the hub turned out to be in perfect condition once it was cleaned.

I could not get the crank arm off with this puller, but I got it apart from the drive side with the Park puller. I really shouldn’t have worried about beating on the bearings.


I bought a sealed bearing set for the crank and a new chain, tires, tubes and grips.

Except for the clip on pedals, this was a Dutch style bike with all the garbage on it. I stripped it all off and tossed it. It is a lot lighter and faster now.

Of course a snail is faster than a bicycle with a nearly frozen crank!

The frame is straight and relatively rust free and it seems very sturdily built for its weight. I thought it was a little odd that the upper stays connect to the seat post clamp instead of to the frame itself.

It also had some huge ugly stickers on it which I stripped off with a heat gun.

I managed to save all of the bearings except for that crankset. I bought a new sealed set. I also bought a total of $200 worth of bicycle tools: the special crank socket, 12 genuine Park cone wrenches, the Park 22mm arm puller, and the Giant chain breaker.

I stripped the old seat, bought a gel seat cover for it, and stitched it on by hand.


The aluminum rims cleaned up very nicely and they are nice and straight as well.

The worst part was a broken plastic roller that guides the shifter chain into the hub. I took a couple of tiny ball bearings out of an old computer hard drive, and a skateboard screw, and placed the roller. Now I am Shifty McShiftface.

 

No canal can defeat a Sturmey Archer.

 

holy shit what an incredible job you did. never would have thought the bike in the first picture was in the bottom of a canal.

 

I am fighting this urge as well. Mechanical disks on my Cannondale CAADX barely pass as brakes, I would like to ditch the front derailleur and there are lots of nice shiny new gravel bikes out there. But it is 2x10 Ultegra and other than the lack of brake power (which is probably could be fixed with new pads) there is nothing wrong with it. But new bikes sure are pretty. Damn consumerism...

 

It took a lotta scotchbrite.
The pic in my garage was after it was pressure-washed then sat outside in the rain. It was covered in dry weeds and mud.

Someday, I will strip it again, polish the headgear, sand the frame, and paint it.

Right now I'm looking for a donor bike(s) for the Rat Rod Bike Build, which goes from this Sunday May 1 thru Sept 10 IIRC