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

Time to test out the spire or patrol and see if yo uliked it over your sentinel @Gunshot-6A !!

 

I love my V1 Sentinel. I have no desire (or funds) to change up bikes at this point.

 

Yeah, I'm a former Seattleite by blood and by residence. But it sounds like its going to be heavy rain, not the usually misty stuff. Plus I'll have my sister and parents that would want to go along since I've gotten them, hooked, and they're fair weather riders.

Oh yeah, Love the Transition crew, and make bike rentals so easy. Did that last time I was in town, and came home with a Sentinel.

 

Veiled? No, never.

Blatantly overt? Well...

 

hahaha! that's fair.

 

Just found this thread and thought I’d toss up a pic of my short bed loaded down with myself and 3 of the guys, our bikes, and a long weekends worth of camp gear

 

Congratulations!

 

GOOD MORNING.

Looking to talk this out and get some advice maybe.

What I have in my arsenal:

• Road bike Trek 1220
• 26” HT Motobecane
• Hybrid Motobecane on 700c
• BMX

Long of the short, I am buying a new road bike (tonight, actually!) (Used, but whatever). I got the trek for free (thanks to a TW user!) but for a long term bike, I want to get something a bit more modern I can work with, and especially get out of the gooseneck.

ONTO the issue. I can ride my bike to work now, 1.5 miles each way and looking for some advice/ideas on how to set up for it. Right now, I can ride the hybrid and it’s….fine.

I ALSO use the flat bar/hybrid bike for walking the dog - I can hold the leash in my left hand and she runs, it’s fantastic, she gets 4 miles running and I don’t break a sweat.

My options:

1. Convert the hybrid by: disc brakes, 1 by conversion.
2. Convert the HT by: 1 by conversion (maybe, it’s a 3 by), “slick” tires.
3. Convert the Trek by: Disc brakes, 1 by, flat bar

The downsides: Obviously converting a MTB to slicks is silly, but it has a front shock at least. That’s nice, but it’s heavy so I can probably find a shocked gravel or hybrid too, if I had to guess. BUT It’s already on discs (for the rain), and everything else is modern (ish, I know it’s a 26….)

The motobecane hybrid is “too nice”, it’s a 1.5 mile each way shot to work and just bumbling around the neighborhood. I could easily sell that and get something else a LOT cheaper. Also, it’s on v brakes. I ride a road bike, BMX, and MTB otherwise. It’s the ONLY long pull brake, I’m just not used to it. It’s doable, but I’d rather be on short pull. So, convert that to discs or cantis, needs new levers AND has the v brake studs on the frame and fork just ugly.

I’m thinking sell it all. I am getting my new road bike tonight. Sell the road bike, sell the hybrid bike, sell the MTB. Buy or build a new hybrid for work/dog running. Ideally I’d be on 1 by, mechnical disc brakes, gravel bike. I don’t use the MTB much so sell that off for now until I get the itch again, since I’d want a 27.5 HT anyway. BUT it’s modern, and has the front suspension, already on discs. Would just need a 1 by conversion and slick wheels and it’s a fine commuter, but it is a bit heavy.

Anyway. Hoping to get some input and feedback from y’all.

 

I think you are on the right track, sell it all and find something closer to what you want. Converting a bike to disc brakes is not really a thing people do unless the frame has the mounting points.

 

The hybrid has the mounts, but it has V brakes so those stupid studs would be on there still

Unfrotunately I might end up sort of building my own. It’s hard to find a mech disc brake, flat bar, gravel, 1 by. I’m happy to get hydro but for a beater, I’d like to stick to cables.

 

yee, patagonia makes good biking gear. my mom works for them, she gets hooked up lucky MF. I cant even fit into a XXL regular cycling jersey. My fucking shoulders are just too broad. Im gonna try patagonia next. I have literally tried like 10 brands in various sizes.

 

Got in a few rides this past weekend in Durango while visiting my daughter. Fun place to ride for many skill levels. Had a few friends of my daughter take me out on Sunday and climb up one of the ridges with 21 hairpin turns to the top for this view!

 

About 20 years ago I put a “long travel” fork on my Klein, ie 75 mm air instead of 40 mm elastomer, that had a disc caliper mount and removable V brake studs. For the back, I found an aftermarket caliper mount that used the non-drive side dropout and a strut to one of the brake post bosses on the seat stay. Worked well with Avid BB7 cable disc brakes. Of course also needed new wheel set with disc mounts. Not cheap but I recouped most of it when I sold it.

 

Anyone need one? Bought it, installed it, never used it.... Gonna go with the tailgate pad.

 

Anything can be a good commuter bike depending on where you live and what you're riding style is. Here's my take though...

• I personally wouldn't recommend 26" wheels for commuting, it's just too sluggish on the road. You could set up a 29er hardtail for trail and commute duty pretty easily; just get an extra set of wheels/tires to swap back and forth.
• The hyrbid sounds fine to me and would be easy to convert to fit your needs, but it sounds like you're looking for an excuse to build up a nice commuter.
• Sell it all and pick the style bike you want and build it up to fit your needs! You can mix and match most drivetrains on to any frame with the right parts. I've always found touring and mountain bike frames make a good base for commuters as they're designed to take more weight/abuse than hybrid/road bikes, they're a good balance of comfortable and efficient, and often come with mount points for disc brakes.

I have used a 29er mountain bike frame as my commuter for years. I put a rigid fork, beefy gravel tires (700x50), 1x gearing that works for my commute, rear rack for panniers, and mustache bars on it for a more comfy riding position. After many many different types of commuter bikes, I have been very happy with this bike. My commute is about 2 miles but I think this set up would be good for up to 10 road miles easy. best pic I have of it...

 

I grabbed a Trek Sawyer when they came out, mainly because I liked the retro styling and the fact that it was steel, which makes for a much smoother-riding hardtail. It was sold as a mountain bike and has geometry for a 120mm suspension fork, so I found a used fork and rode it as an MTB for a bit. But I didn't want to tear it up, so I put the rigid fork back on and converted it to an urban assault bike with big Hookworms.

 

Gorgeous! On my hit lists of places to ride, gotta get race in shape incase I run into Ned the Lung so I can keep up. Yeh right...

 

@backcountryj https://planetcyclery.com/santa-cruz-reserve-carbon-wheelset-i9-torch-hg-30mm-27-5

 

Can't tell what that is, if it's for a thru-axle and has the basic mounting feet (meaning I can through bolt it to a piece of plywood), let me know what you want for it. I have one now and would like to add a second so I can transport multiple bikes.

 

Shows out of stock but hot damn that's a hell of a deal! Less than I just paid for my I9 alloy setup.