When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
A little follow up. 4k' of climbing is starting to feel mundane and easy. Time to move up into the 5k range and keep pushing the envelope. I have no idea what I did to deserve riding scenery and trails like this, but I'm so freekin happy that I get to experience stuff like this. 10 years ago when my wife and I made the decision to roll the dice and move from Tennessee to California, I could have never expected things would turn out this good.
Gonna continue whoring out this thread for a minute. I got turned onto (cycling boner) bibs with storage pockets lately. I've become very anti hydration pack and have turned more to bottles in general to help monitor fluid intake. Part of my problem is that I hate road biking jersey's and the pockets. No matter how much I try to adjust, I can't get used to the weight hanging off the jersey. I can tolerate it on a road bike, but I can't deal with it on a mtb where the weight is shifting and distracting me.
The pro version is lycra and can be worn by itself without baggies over top. I cannot honestly say enough good things about it. Onto the reason for this post... I also have the regular version which is mesh/vented, has a bit thinner chammy pad, but the same awesome rear pockets. The only drawback to the less expensive one is that you have to wear baggies over it. The other drawback is that these are expensive. I just happened to stumble on a crazy deal from a website i've never heard of, I bought two because I always want to have clean ones around.
Bike dudes... I need tire suggestions for my new tandem bike. Was thinking about Michelin PRO4 Endurance tire but second guessing myself.... Fork is limited to a 28C tire on my wheels and the frame can fit pretty much anything so I was thinking a 28c front 32c rear stagger or something like that.
Bike will be ridden with different people and if any of my friends hop on the back the rider weight will be into the 400's.... plus it may have a Thule behind it.
Last year I ran Continental Ultra Sport 25C tires on my other tandem with no real issues outside of the normal, but they had to be ridden pumped to roughly 120psi since the "25c" isn't the same as the 25c of the pro4.
I have been riding the Pro4 Endurance all winter. It has a max pressure of like 109, FYI. It is a good tire at a great price. Its main weakness is glass. I am not sure about its sidewall strength (critical on a tandem). I recommend the gp four season or gatorskin.
I would determine what you value most about the tires on your tandem, and make a decision based on that. Don't just look at rolling resistance. I think 28c should be adequate and I prefer to have matching tires front to back. If you need to swap tires back to front on the road (best to put a booted tire on the rear), it is an option.
I was looking at the Panaracer Gravel King tires at the bike shop today. Thoughts on those? they have a pretty good max pressure at 107psi. we shouldn't need any higher than that if the tire is true to size since that's what we ran on the narrow continentals.
Did another FTP test- this time outdoors and only for 20 min (OK- 18:00 but I ran out of road not powah). I made sure to stop and calibrate my power meter 5 minutes before starting the test...
my calcs: 346*.95 (for the 20min test) = FTP= 329 watts
average altitude of 7,000 ft 1.07*329 = 351.7 when normalized for altitude?
4.5w/kg = 9mph, damn that's some hill. Impressive! I'll eat my breakfast muffin in your honor haha.
I got my Van Dessel together after replacing the notchy BB bearings in the 'new' frame.
Took her out for a quick ride yesterday, I was so excited I forgot to pump up the tires.
Negatives: 1. she felt a little twitchy, but that may be the tires or the lower stem height I moved to.
2. cockpit feels flexy. I noticed it on the trainer before I put the bar tape on. I never paid attention to it on my other bikes though, I will have to see if the bars on the tarmac move as much when I'm sprinting in the drops. But I do love the shape of the zipp contour SL's though.
3. front derailleur cable routing is sorta lame around the bottom bracket. The molded-in tubes aren't tangent enough to the guide, so the cable kinks a little when it enters the thru frame tube. This causes stiff shifting in front. I may make a new guide to fix this.
Positives: Everything else. DA7900 rear shifting is dreamy. Praxis chainrings shift nice once you do push the lever hard enough to move the FD. Zipp bar shape is wonderful. Fouriers calipers brake like woah. 2lbs less than the tarmac, but with the same components on both bikes they would basically weigh the same. If I keep it I will trim the steerer tube and seat post.
To everyone who runs shimano hydraulic brakes: if you are on the basic BH59 hose, spend the few bucks to get bh90 hose.
I just set up the tandem brakes and its the most firm engagement I have felt with the r785 drop bar lever. The hose is absolutely an upgrade and gets rid of some of that "squish" I have felt with the lower group hose.
Its a thicker walled hose, so the insert is different for it if you have existing parts for the cheaper hose.
I have "Saint" downhill calipers so I used the BH90 SBLS hose to match the caliper.
well then... how quickly things change. I ended up re-injuring my back (old injury from 2010) and it has resulting in some insane sciatic issues. I now can't feel anything in my right leg below my knee. I have 24/7 pins and needles in my foot and I cannot lift myself up onto my toes in my right leg. I'm in the process of scheduling surgery in an effort to salvage this and get back on a bike, some day, some how. I'm praying the the damage to my nerve is not permanent. Oh well, good thing i'm in the best shape i've been in for a while, gives me a good chance of recovering.
:( :( That sucks, dude. Hopefully surgery goes well. I have a friend who did it ~18mos ago and just got back into a shifter kart successfully. Take the time to do it right.
03-16-2017, 10:18 AM
1
