Cycling?

[WiK]

After some of the posts in the Gas Prices thread, I thought I'd start a separate thread for any other cyclists here, I know there are at least a couple...

So what do you guys ride, and where do you ride it?


I managed to put a new layer of mud on my mountain bike this afternoon D), after spending most of the winter off it for the usual reasons (being ill and useless, mostly). It used to be a fairly cheap Mongoose hardtail, but I think I've replaced just about everything on it over the last couple of years, except the wheels (which need swapping soon) and frame.

I also have a PlanetX cyclocross bike that I built the other year, which spends most of its time with slick tyres and a rear rack for commuting and general running about town duties. Though as the picture shows, it does occasionally get to wear knobbly tyres and get taken for a ride offroad.

And just to make you jealous, here are some pics from last year's MTB holiday to Slovenia with andytherocketeer - https://picasaweb.google.com/wikrok/Slovenia2010

I'm looking forward to seeing some more pics!

Cheers,
Phil

 

[UPscaler]

I'd love to start cycling for real. I could use the excercise :wink:

I don't even know where to start. not to mention it's another thing I don't have money for :grin:



Braden

 

[jadebox]

I'd love to start cycling for real. I could use the excercise.

People who know me know probably can't tell that I used to bicycle about 50 miles a week. When I lived in Ft. Walton Beach, a friend and I used to ride down to the beaches and over the bridge onto Okaloosa Island.

Unfortunately, when I moved to Orlando, I discovered that the weather is almost always too hot or too cold. At least that's the excuse I'm using.

I still have my bike, a nice-quality "hybrid." Cycling is one form, one of only a couple of forms, of exercise I enjoy. So, I really need to try to get back on the saddle. But, I'm definitely not going to wear those skin-tight cycling shorts if I do!

-- Roger

 

[WiK]

I don't even know where to start. not to mention it's another thing I don't have money for :grin:

In theory, cycling is fairly cheap once you've got a bike. Shiny, shiny bike parts, online bike stores and trips to go ride other places usually screw that up, though!

Unfortunately, when I moved to Orlando, I discovered that the weather is almost always too hot or too cold. At least that's the excuse I'm using.

"There's no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing."

 

[n5wd]

I'd love to start cycling for real. I could use the excercise :wink: I don't even know where to start. not to mention it's another thing I don't have money for :grin:

Getting started is usually pretty easy, and often, cheap. You can often find used mountain bikes (bigger frame, good for off-road with the knobby tires, or streets with slick or semi-slicks) or a cross or touring bike (light frame, skinny tires for road work) for little or nothing on Craig's List, or through the free-ads that most places have. You don't need anything fancy until you find out whether your butt likes bicycling as much as your legs do.

Go down to your local bike shops... look for Diamond Back (steel frams, heavy duty but take a licking!) or Trek or... well, lots of brands. They'll be relatively inexpensive for the low-end, which really are good to get started.

If you wanna do it, don't let $$$ stand in your way. Get off the couch and go riding!

 

[n5wd]

So what do you guys ride, and where do you ride it?

Before my back became such a problem, I used to ride either a Trek530 touring bike on the road, or my 820 mountain bike, outfitted (when I was still working as a paramedic) as a mobile emergency room. I started our bicycle EMS unit at MedStar in Fort Worth back in 1990 -we'd do special events, charity runs, rallies, riots, and just about anything else that needed a high mobility quick response team. Between the two riders, we carried about 40 pounds each on the rear panniers and backpack, including all of the IV fluids, meds, cardiac monitor, bandaids, etc. It was a hoot! We could do just about anything except transport the patient. We could put the patient in just about any vehicle, or call in a helicopter, if the ground ambulance couldnt reach us (which happened more than a couple of times). And someday, I'll tell you about how one of our teams got cross-wise with the Secret Service during a Presidential visit, and damned near got hauled off to the hoosgow!

I even commuted to work for about a year, when I worked at one of our 24-hour stations that was about 11 miles away from home. Best shape I've been in since my service days.

Used to do primarily rec riding (besides the EMS work) with my son - we've both still got a bunch of bike-ride T-shirts that haven't been worn. My favorite was the Hotter' N' Hell in Wichita Falls at the end of summer. My best there was 60K... was working up to a metric century when I busted a hernia, and the doc restricted me from riding for about six months. Never did get my distance riding back, after that... and then the back started acting up.

I keep telling myself that I'm going to look at investing in a recumbent sometime soon. Who knows.. maybe this summer'll be the time!

 

[jim fustini]

My bike has been setting in my basement for about 3 years now since a back injury. I have about $2500 invested in it

 

[Scotty Dog]

Started with a Specialized Hardrock , Wore that out and got a Gary Fisher Marlin. Used to go out alot. Not so much now. Guy down the road opened a bike shop. I want to get a cross bike /more road and start ridding again. Some really nice spots/trails to ride up here in NH. The guy I ride with (life long friend) bike has a custom built frame from "Ted Wojcik" at the price of$1100.00 outfitted with (at that time) top end Shimano components. Rock Shox shocks. Cannt remember what the wheels are.You can pick this bike up with your little finger with ease. Went to a few Pedro Fests ,wicked good times and people. Something to be said about after 3 days of partying,events and hundreds of people gathered and when your driveing out, you dont see any trash left laying around. One reason I may not ride the MNT bike is, the last bike I bought has 750 cc driving it

 

[bytesiz]

So what do you guys ride, and where do you ride it?

Well, let's see. I have a handmade carbon fiber road bike from Aegis. They were made right here in Maine but unfortunately closed a couple of years ago. Very comfortable riding frame.

I have a handmade steel cyclocross bike from Co-motion. Just finished building this bike up and looking forward to riding it.

I have a steel Gunnar single speed mountain bike. It's a twenty-inner. I primary ride this at lunch time up a down the little ski slope in town. Great training.

I have an aluminum full suspension mountain bike from Turner. It is also a twenty-niner and it's a perfect bike for the trails around here.

Then a have a cheap steel tandem that I ride with my daughter. We will be doing the Trek Across Maine together on it in June.

Aaron

 

[dave carver]

WalMart Mongoose Paver with a highly modified Happy Time(actually it's a boy go fast kit) Chinese two stroke motor. Top speed about 30 mph, Fuel economy 130 mpg.

Not fast as some motorized bikes go but it accelerates up hills

 

[andytherocketeer]

Used to be a mostly road cyclist once, but eventually defected to mountain biking (about 6 months before moving to the Netherlands, where the highest hill was the man made one for the local fort).

Now in Germany, so got plenty of MTB terrain to play with

Got 2 ye olde worlde bikes still (531c road bike, Scott Vail MTB). And 2 that I built up from frame + parts:

• Cotic Soul reynolds 853 steel hardtail - had that about 3 years now, and use it in Germany, UK, Slovenia, but where next?

• Droessiger (really cheap) Cyclocross bike - designed to allow me to go by road or by trail to cover greater distances.

Even in this age of CF, Titanium, and 7005 Al, there's still something about (decent quality) steel.

(remind me to trim those brake hoses down some time!)

(First ride out - making sure it all works)

 

[fox_racing_guy]

Even in this age of CF, Titanium, and 7005 Al, there's still something about (decent quality) steel.

I totally agree, my favorite bike is my Cinelli Capitano Nemo.
All Race Face & XTR

All of them together.

 

[cbrarick]

Did the Raid de les Alpes 2 years ago on my latest bike:
Custom Serrotta Mevici (carbon fiber)
Zipp ZED 3 tubular wheels (more carbon)
Zipp SL2C carbon bars and carbon stem
SRM FSA carbon cranks with watt meter
Zipp carbon cages
Campagnolo Record gruppo
Conti Sprinter 250 tires

bike weight: 13 pounds!

oh, yea, only one of 14 bikes, but I'm a criterium & cross racer! You can tell I'm no climber, but a sprinter!
Cost at retail: if you gotta ask you can't afford it!

 

[andytherocketeer]

Cost at retail: if you gotta ask you can't afford it!

haha - mine are in 2 currencies, and I purposefully never calculated the exact total price. Didn't want to shock myself, or feel guilty for overspending by 20% of my initial guesstimate. One should be about €1000, the other 2x that.

No idea about bike weights, since I don't race, but the place that could do with a trimming of weight is me.

 

[chanstevens]

I was on a business trip at Lake Tahoe a few years back. Thought I was in decent shape from jogging on treadmill for a few years, so on a whim one afternoon at the hotel I rented a mountain bike and asked for a trail guide to go up the mountains to catch the sunset. The guy did his darnedest to talk me out of it, basically saying I'd never make it. I remember making after grunting and groaning most of the way up, often moving more slowly in the lowest gears than I could do if I were walking it, a couple hikers coming down saw me, laughed, helped adjust the saddle height and it made a huge difference. I called my wife from the peak and said I was probably about to keel over from a heart attack but at least I'd die looking at a magnificent sunset.

When I got back, I commandeered the mountain bike my son left behind when headed off to college and decided to bike for fitness. Mainly 10-15 mile rides on pavement and trails. After about a year, I started commuting (11 miles backroads each way) every other day during spring/summer, plus changed most errands under 5 miles each way to biking. Even when I changed jobs to 14 miles each way, including some busy roads I stuck with it. Last summer I changed jobs to a plant only about 7 miles from home, so decided to try daily commute, even in single-digit temps, rain, etc. As long as there's no ice on the road, I'm riding.

For Christmas, I decided to treat myself to a "comfort bike", basically a lighter model, thinner tires, but handlebars for upright riding versus bent down in the racing tuck position. It was $700, discounted down to $450, and I was really sweating whether or not to blow that much money for the thing. Then I realized I'd converted about 5000 miles of driving a car to bike each year. That's over $800/year in gas savings, not to mention oil changes, tires, brakes, etc. Sure, I've spent another $500 or so over the year buying gear (warm or waterproof clothing, headlight/taillights, tools etc.) but it's been well worth it. Of course, the guy that tipped me off to the bike shop where I got the great deal also spend about $4k for his ride...

I tell my puzzled coworkers I do it first for fitness, second for economic benefit, third for the environment (my kid's majoring in environmental sciences). I tell my puzzled neighbors who are sure I'll get run over some morning that I'll be the healthiest corpse in the morgue.

With the spiffy new bike, I can move along at a decent clip, so have decided to go for a "century ride" sometime this year, the bike equivalent of a marathon. 100 miles, roughly 5.5 hours of a fairly aggressive pace for me.

I don't consider myself a serious cyclist, don't want to be "biker dude", but can certainly see the appeal. It's about the most efficient people-powered means of transportation ever invented, and when you look at most of the car trips we take, it's amazing how many are short trips, single driver, fine weather, that could easily be replaced by a brief bike ride.

 

[UPscaler]

WalMart Mongoose Paver with a highly modified Happy Time(actually it's a boy go fast kit) Chinese two stroke motor. Top speed about 30 mph, Fuel economy 130 mpg.

Not fast as some motorized bikes go but it accelerates up hills

Nice! That's a MPG number that hits the sweet spot.



Braden

 

[1974_Trident]

I got back into riding my bicycle seriously late this past summer after around twenty or so years away from riding. I still have the Cannondale Black lightning I bought in the spring of 1989. That is the bike I ride the most. I also have a Cannondale 29er which I bought just under three years ago. My boys both race BMX and my daughter wants to start BMX racing this spring. I may get myself a 26 inch single speed dirt jumping bike and race in the cruiser class.

I was an avid road cyclist and BMX racer when I was young and I blame getting a car on my having left the sport. I began riding my mountain bike when I first got it almost three years ago but I never had the time to ride a lot. With a job change last winter came a whole bundle of time to ride. Just two weeks into an intense riding regimen last March I aggravated an old back injury while riding one morning. I've had some nasty inflammation of the three herniated discs in my lumbar spine but nothing like what I experienced this past spring and summer. I was in excruciating pain and partially paralyzed for a little over two months. For another three months I still suffered from debilitating muscle spasms. In late August I gave up on letting my back get better and I went out for a trail ride. I was pain free for the next 24 hours. I got back into regular intense riding and strength training and I've been asymptomatic of back injury ever since. Well aside form the crackling of fragments of cartilage and bone fragments in my lower back.

Since I got back into riding I have lost a lot of weight and gotten a lot stronger. I am gradually erasing the damage of having sold my soul to Corporate Amerika.

 

[WiK]

Well, let's see.

Oh man, how can you post a list like that without any pictures?!


Where are you guys riding? Got any pics, GPS tracks, maps, stories, anything?
Cycling for me is much more about getting out and seeing places than it is about the bikes, or even the riding. I love getting out whatever the weather, and exploring more of the local area, or somewhere further afield. Seeing how a well known trail changes month by month, year by year is also really cool.

Here's one my favourite local loops. Quite a sandy climb up St Martha's Hill, to the old church at the top, followed by a bit of singletrack descent past the odd WW2 pillbox, then down to the remains of a 17th century gunpowder mill. Then some bridleway through the woods, and a blast up the river towpath back into town. Great fun, especially if you get up early and make it to the top of the hill in time to watch the sun rise.

I'm also a big fan of night-riding offroad. Call me antisocial, but there's something special about riding trails alone at night through one of the more crowded bits of the UK for 15 - 20 miles, and not seeing a single person. You also see a lot more wildlife around here at night: foxes, badgers and deer, along with unknown pairs of eyes glowing in the undergrowth. It's particularly cool when bats or owls start flying along the trail in front of you - the only times I've ever seen owls in the wild have been while I'm out riding at night.

Cheers, and more pics please! :cyclops:

Phil

 

[dave carver]

Nice! That's a MPG number that hits the sweet spot.



Braden

I've thought about riding it out to a launch, the road out to Swan Falls is in great shape after they fixed the paveing. Only problem is the 2 miles of ugly Idaho back road where the pavement ends and rocket country begins...guess I could hitch hike in from there

 

[dave carver]

It's particularly cool when bats or owls start flying along the trail in front of you - the only times I've ever seen owls in the wild have been while I'm out riding at night.

I have a owl story; Went out to an early morning launch at our old low power launch site on Plesant Valley Road. Along the way out in the desert I saw an adult pair of prarie owls or Burrowing Owls. The had their fledglings outside hopping into the air flapping their wings, strengthing them for future flight. These are tough little birds, rattlesnake is on the menu..

It just looked so funny, them hopping and flapping. :cyclops:

 

[cjp]

I knew that rockets and cycling had something in common.I have been cycling since 1980,do 3000 to 5000 miles a year.Average around 40 miles a ride 4 to 5 times a week.Got into rockets big time in '09 and only did 1000 miles last year.Things will change this year,getting in shape now and will make time for both hobbies.Have a Trek Modone 5.2 rode bike and a Gary Fisher Cobia 29ER. hardtail.Got to love both hobbies.:wink:At 58(May 3rd),it takes forever to get in shape and you seem to lose it overnight.

 

[cjp]

I knew that rockets and cycling had something in common.I have been cycling since 1980,do 3000 to 5000 miles a year.Average around 40 miles a ride 4 to 5 times a week.Got into rockets big time in '09 and only did 1000 miles last year.Things will change this year,getting in shape now and will make time for both hobbies.Have a Trek Modone 5.2 rode bike and a Gary Fisher Cobia 29ER. hardtail.Got to love both hobbies.:wink:At 58(May 3rd),it takes forever to get in shape and you seem to lose it overnight.

It's early in the morning,the Modone is a road bike,not a rode bike

 

[SwingWing]

I'm also a big fan of night-riding offroad. Call me antisocial, but there's something special about riding trails alone at night through one of the more crowded bits of the UK for 15 - 20 miles, and not seeing a single person. You also see a lot more wildlife around here at night: foxes, badgers and deer, along with unknown pairs of eyes glowing in the undergrowth. It's particularly cool when bats or owls start flying along the trail in front of you - the only times I've ever seen owls in the wild have been while I'm out riding at night.

Cheers, and more pics please! :cyclops:

Phil

Night off-road (singletrack) riding is by far my favorite type of riding. what type of lights do you use, WiK? I have a homebrew LED set-up on my helmet and a L&M Stella on the bars. I only ride with about 600 lumens, so I am nowhere near the "brightest" guy on our trails. one guy has a 9-up XPG helmet light that is some rediculus number of lumens.

I am the un-official assistant coach of the local Jeuvenile Diabetes Research Foundation ride team. (my son is a Type I daibetic). My wife is the official coach. Each year we do a century ride, usually at some "destination" site. Last year I rode 105.25 miles in Death Valley CA. The ride is in October, when the temperatures are supposed to be 80*-90*. Unfortuneately, they had a little heat wave on ride day, and the temp in Furnace Creek was 109* officially. Park rangers took temperature readings out on the course, and they reported 118* to 126* in various places. That ride was quite a challenge to say the least.
I love to snow ride my MTB on the local singletrack, and have since ridden a ride at 5* below zero, so I have experienced quite a temperature differential in my rides this year.

 

[WiK]

I've got an AirBike P7 Everlight on the bars, ~650 lumens with a nice wide beam. And a Fenix L2D Q5 flashlight on my helmet which puts out about 180 lumens in a spot, which is handy for picking out details and looking round corners. It worked out a bunch cheaper than 'proper' MTB lights with a similar amount of power too, which is nice.

Do you have any details on your homebrew setup? I've always wondered about how you go about casing up a homebrew light into something which is tough and weatherproof enough to take mountain biking.

 

[UPscaler]

I've thought about riding it out to a launch, the road out to Swan Falls is in great shape after they fixed the paveing. Only problem is the 2 miles of ugly Idaho back road where the pavement ends and rocket country begins...guess I could hitch hike in from there

you got a rocket rack on that bike? :tongue:


Braden

 

[rattmanndoo]

I got a Elliptigo about a year ago I have so much fun on this thing, I burn over 1000 cals per hr. Did 23 miles yesterday with the bike club and burnt 2050 cals.

Check out this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZs-cc2YTas

Dave

 

[SwingWing]

I've got an AirBike P7 Everlight on the bars, ~650 lumens with a nice wide beam. And a Fenix L2D Q5 flashlight on my helmet which puts out about 180 lumens in a spot, which is handy for picking out details and looking round corners. It worked out a bunch cheaper than 'proper' MTB lights with a similar amount of power too, which is nice.

Do you have any details on your homebrew setup? I've always wondered about how you go about casing up a homebrew light into something which is tough and weatherproof enough to take mountain biking.

Well, if you're looking for info on homebrew lights, the MTBR Lights-DIY forum should keep you busy for a while. https://forums.mtbr.com/forumdisplay.php?f=124 Candlepowerforums is a good place, too.
My homebrew helmet lights are a couple of generations old as emitters go, but they are XR-E Q5 emitters from Dealexterme, buried in 3/4 x 1/2 copper plumbing reducer fittings, using the DX optics, and each emitter has it's own driver (also from DX). They are powered by my old 7.2V NiMh packs (12 series/parallel AA Nimh cells) that I used back in the day of over-volted halogen headlights. I use R/C tamiya style connectors between the batteries and the lighthead. I get 2 1/2 hours or more runtime.
My set-up is pretty ghetto, but it has served me well for several years.
I carry a P7 flashlight (torch on your side of the pond) in the camelbak for backup if anything fails, or if I have a mechanical, but I've never needed it.

 

[SwingWing]

It's early in the morning,the Modone is a road bike,not a rode bike

And it's a Madone, not Modone....

 

[cbrarick]

Soo, first picture is from the cime de le bonnet - the highest paved point in Europe. The second is my last trip up Ventoux...Can't find my picture of the time trial of L'Alpe d' Huez....all classic cycling destinations... I've ridden most every col in the Alpes and the Pyrenees.

 

[ScrapDaddy]

https://tinyurl.com/y7o3x2a
Braden, this link is for you.