Commuter cycling thread; No fenders, no care.
 

Baggy clothing, toe-clips, Arcade Fire, disc brakes, riding without a computer, and getting dropped can all be discussed in here.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1384452350
Stay out of the cycling manliness threads, please. That thread is pure and holy.

Um toe clips? That's a bit too hard core there captain spandex.

I've given up on trying to find a rim-brake pad which works well in cold and wet conditions, and have started looking for something with a disc or hub brake. Happened across the Schwinn 411 recently, and I am being seriously tempted by it:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1396016789

It ticks all the right boxes. Disc brakes, internally-geared 5 speed rear hub (thus no derailleurs), looks fairly rugged, and that basket on the front is actually integrated into the handlebar. The space inside the triangle looks too small to accommodate my big U-lock with the stock mount*, but I could easily just hang it from the basket when riding.




The stock mount supplied by Kryptonite- it's quite clever:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1396016778

That front basket looks like a fucking tank. Like hustler could sit in it while you two ride off into the sunset together without bending it.

Good timing for this thread, I should get a road bike for this summer so I can stop borrowing my neighbors.

Around here, beefy is good. The streets of Manhattan would destroy a fancy carbon-fiber road bike, assuming it didn't get stolen or stripped first. Around here, cheap and tough are what's called for. At about $340, the 411 is a little pricier than I'd like, but if that's what I have to pay in order to get usable brakes, then so be it.

What I'd *REALLY* like is to find a kit that will let me cheaply retrofit internal hub brakes into the red 7-speed Schwinn pictured above with the vacuum cleaner strapped to the back of it. Does anybody even make such a thing? Seriously, I love every single thing about that bike except for the brakes.

Buy a wheelset with the brakes/hubs you want and weld/braze/jbweld some caliper tabs onto the frame?

By the time I purchase all the parts and pay someone to braze a tab onto the fork, I'll have spent more than the 411 would cost.

And it'd still be a hack that I can't easily reproduce on the next bike after this one is stolen.

I want a simple, store-bought solution. If I have to pay some money for that, I will. Just exploring options right now. It seems odd that nobody makes a simple front hub brake that I can buy for $25 and take to a LBS to have re-threaded into my existing rim.

Or, is there some other commuter bike out there which is cheaper and less visually appealing than the 411 which has hub or disc brakes already? I've seen a few that have a disc on the front and a rim brake on the rear. That might be an option.

Don't forget the pants clips!

http://image.rakuten.co.jp/jacajaca/...pg?_ex=128x128

That seems like its probably going to cost more than the 2 pieces of velcro that I stapled together to make the same thing.

There's a much less hipster way to solve that problem. Let me show you a picture of my current bike taken from a slightly different angle:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1396034486

Yes, I have a chainguard and a kickstand. Yes, I like them both very much.

FWIW, the 411 comes stock with this:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1396034591

In most of the owner-pictures I see, it's been removed. No idea why people would want to do that; seems like the same mentality that makes people cut their valve cover to expose their timing belt and stock cam gears.

Ironically, the person who I sold my old turbo '92 to just recently sold it to someone else (after fucking it up horribly), and the new owner managed to track me down. He shared with me this picture:

Attachment 239302

The fucker painted the STOCK cam gears purple and cut the valve cover to expose them! (He also removed / fucked up a ton of other stuff under the hood, but that's a different matter...)

Pulling the chain guard off of a commuter bike offends me in much the same way.

Coming this spring to a subway platform near you, the creators of Shіtibiki and Shіtibike Resurrection bring you a riveting tale of cheapness beyond imagination. It's...

Shіtibike II: The Shіtening!



https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...0&d=1396874426

It followed me home.



http://img10.imagefra.me/i546/thradd..._bc9_u77ts.jpg

Not quite identical twins, but close. On the left is the one I've had for about 6 months, which is private-labeled as "Admiral" and sold by WalMart. On the right is the new acquisition, branded as "Wayfarer" and sold by K-Mart. Both are Pacific Cycles bikes imported under the Schwinn brand. Same bike, different colors, and the K-mart one didn't come with a bell.

Interestingly, the rims on the black one appear to be un-painted, whereas the red one came with painted wheels that resulted in my spending several consecutive long evenings sitting on the sofa with a glass of reasonably-priced whiskey, tediously wet-sanding them down to bare metal. (Protip: even with $40 pads, painted rims are for shit if you're trying to stop in the rain.)


Currently in the process of doing the customary complete teardown / cleaning / re-greasing of all the major bearing assemblies. I've found that the Chinese war orphans who get paid 10 cents a day to assemble these don't bother wiping down all of the metal flakes / diamond dust / etc., that's used during the process of machining the bearing races.

Wheels were surprisingly not too bad in terms of straightness. .056 - .062" total runout front and rear.

The bars on the black one look heinously uncomfortable.

They're not quite as horrible as you'd think in terms of comfort, but they are pretty bad in terms of controllability .

That's the stock handlebar that all of the Admiral / Wayfarer bikes come with- the red one had them too. It's faithful to the style and geometry of the 60s/70s era Schwinn Collegiate which this bike is a reproduction of:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1396877923

(I'm just glad that the new one comes with linear-pull brakes and a twist shifter, as opposed to the suicide shifter and side-pull calipers on the original.)




I've ordered another of the same handlebar I put on the red bike to replace it- fits perfectly with the stock quill stem: Dimension Sweep 600 Riser Bar > Components > Handlebars and Stems > Mountain Bike Handlebars | Jenson USA Online Bike Shop

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1396877923

I use the 45mm rise, 24° sweep version. It yields a nice, wide bar that's slightly more stable and comfortable than a completely flat bar, but still very quick and controllable.

Aaah, the wonderful aroma of clean, shiny balls packed in fresh lube.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1396925623



And the dilemma of the urban cyclist- the missus versus the mess:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1396925623

(I do so miss having a well-appointed garage to work in...)

Wheels look straight and true.

LOL props.

:rofl:

I was assuming it was a panoram gone bad.

Hehe. Low-light panorama shot hurredly.

Not much visible progress. The wheel and crank bearings are all cleaned, lubed, adjusted and re-assembled. This evening as I was heading home, one the pedals on the red bike froze up, so I had to steal one off this bike to replace it. My bad for not attending to it as soon as it started making noise. Protip: when you buy a cheap bike, you really do need to dismantle and rebuild ALL of the bearings- even the very small and seemingly trivial ones.

Still waiting for a few parts to arrive (tires, handlebar), but the most important one showed up on Friday. Decided to try a rigid, top-mounted basket as opposed to the folding, side-mounted basket that I've used on all the other bikes. The folding basket is nice for groceries (is holds one paper grocery bag exactly), but my backpack doesn't fit into it when I'm packed for a weekend excursion. Here it is roughly mocked-up on the red bike (which has the same rack as the black bike) just to get an idea of the fitment:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1397445919

Saw this sign posted this morning on the station pair at Pershing Square:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1398264403

This is kind of a big deal. The stations in question are located right outside Grand Central Terminal (one of the largest and busiest rail stations in the world), and at 120 docks between them, Pershing North and South constitute the largest single-block docking array in the entire Citibike system:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1398264403

So removing the whole thing for a period of 4-5 months right in the middle of peak riding season is going to be a SERIOUS problem. Yes, there are many surrounding stations, but they're all quite small and are no doubt about to be overwhelmed.


Yet another motivation for me to get Ѕhіtibike II completed and moved into the city. It's about 80% done at this point, just gotta re-install the brakes and the accessories. I've been slacking...

Looking at getting a bike for riding around downtown on the weekends. I haven't seen anything I'm interested in on Craigslist, and there doesn't seem to be much under $300 anyway.

I'm considering Target.

Schwinn Mens 700c Median 28" Bike - Green : Target

Am I crazy or do you guys think this will get the job done for a couple miles a week?

They weren't kidding:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1398445991




I've been surprisingly pleased with the quality of the current-gen Schwinn bikes, made by Pacific Cycles.

Understand that you will have to dismantle the bike, clean and re-lube every single bearing (wheels, crank, pedals, stem) with a quality lubricant (I use Park Tools PPL-1 Polylube), and re-assemble and re-adjust everything. And yes, all the chrome bits will rust if you operate the bike in the wet. But aside from that, I've found the quality of the parts used to be entirely adequate at the price range, and superior to some of the other brands which are marketed at the same segment (eg: Huffy, Roadmaster, etc.)

Also, replace the tubes. I also prefer to replace the tires with higher-performance slicks, but at an absolute minimum you should install better tubes than what it comes with. Otherwise you'll be airing up the tires once a week or more.

Eh I have to air up the tires on the bike I borrow from my neighbor every time I use it anyway.

Sucks to hear about the citibike station, they are just starting to pop up around Indianapolis. I'm not sure when they are opening but I'll be walking by one tonight on my way to the bars.

I run Slime brand tubes on all my bikes. In my experience, while the slime isn't terribly effective at sealing punctures, it does have the side-effect of vastly decreasing the porosity of the tube and improving the sealing ability of the valve. I only have to air up once every couple of months, and even then it's usually only 5-10 PSI low. (I run Michelin Pilot City tires at ~ 70 PSI.)



That's cool- I had no idea that Indy was doing a bikeshare system. I've never heard of the company building it (B-cycle), but it looks like a decent system.

The Citibike station at Pershing isn't gone- they split it into two halves and re-installed it nearby. One half is on Vanderbilt at 42nd, the other at 41st & Madison. So still within about a block of Grand Central, but both are now even further away from where I work.

Hardly matters. With Spring upon us, availability in the morning around 33rd & 6th (where I come up from PATH) is getting down to nearly zero, so it's time I put Shitibike II into service.

My old steel bike is now setup for commuting.

The downtube shifters mean I will be using it like a single speed with the ability to downshift for the one steep hill on the way home from work.


I really want to upgrade the old brake calipers on it though because they are atrocious. I rode them last year, and they were fine and then upgraded but they went on my new carbon bike, because the reach really wasn't enough.

Im debating trying to find a set of $10 MTB wheels on the used market with discs for the hubs and then cheaply re-lace them to the 27" wheels. cold set the frame and fork and being the welder I am, weld the ISO tabs to the fork and frame for discs. Ideal setup for a commuter bike.

I'd only be wary of that because most non-disc frames usually don't have much structure to attach the tabs, on most modern frames the disc tabs are part of the drop outs. I remember the first disc frame I had broke because the tabs were just brazed on to the tubes and the tubes eventually failed.

That said, NOVA sells the tabs: http://www.cycle-frames.com/bicycle-...TAB-MOUNT.html

Well aware. thanks.


I have started my goal of a daily commute via bike. Its not a bad ride at all... 7km each way (roughly 4.2miles). with only a few long dips in the road.

It just so happens that today will be the will power test. Calling for rain this evening, and its only 7 degrees C(~44F).

I also busted the retaining bolt on my commuter bike seat post trying to tighten it, so im on my carbon bike today.

Finally got Shitibike II finished. One last pose with the twins before they are split up:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1398811743


And now, the same image but with a bunch of stupid filters applied to make it look "vintage," because, you know, the Wayfarer / Admiral is a cheap, badly-made knockoff of a popular 70s-vintage bike:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1398811743

Nah.


Anyway, brought the bike into Manhattan this morning. I gotta say, it feels oddly gratifying riding my own bike through the mean streets of NYC as opposed to a Citibike. Beyond the simple, pragmatic factors (eg: it feels lighter and more maneuverable despite actually being heavier*, it's obviously in perfect tune, etc.) there's the simple fact that you're not a "real" cyclist in the city until you're riding your own bike- suddenly all those folks on the bright blue step-throughs with their pathetic 26" balloon tires seem like second-class citizens to be looked down upon, rather than comrades on two wheels**.


It looks somehow at home in its native environment, crammed into the rack at 23rd & 6th right next to the subway entrance, along with a few other cheap, fender-and-basket-equipped commuter bikes.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1398811743

Hopefully it'll be there in the morning.

After today, I get having fenders....but in no way am i ever going to do it.


If its nice enough to ride to work without getting wet, I will ride. Riding home getting soaked is fine. Fenders would only make it minimally better... and then the rear fender keeping the spray out of your pants would really be the only concern. Im not using it as sole transportation, so everything goes into my backpack.... which can hold my lunch, keys, wallet and phone in addition to the bladder.

Getting a seatpost tomorrow i hope if the LBS has an oddball 26.8mm post for me so I can do these wet rides on my version of the "shitbike".

Commuter bikes? Meet the grad school special. Gear shifting? Lol. Bent front wheel? Check. Rust? VW guys are jealous. Brakes? Why yes they make a ton of noise. Will it get stolen from campus? Hell no.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1398841826

I've found that there are two basic types of fenders.

Refer back to the third image in post #29. See that bike with the green bag over the saddle? It's using a crappy, ineffective rear fender. Incomplete coverage, flimsy and flip-floppety... At best it'll keep your ass dry while your legs still get wet.

See the bike just to the right of it? The one with the chrome fenders that hug the tires and provide full coverage? I can literally ride that bike through an inch of standing water and not get wet. I've found this style of fender to be relatively uncommon in the aftermarket (they come as OEM on the Schwinn Wayfarer / Admiral / Collegiate), but there are a few sources out there for fenders that provide nearly full coverage and anchor to the frame at multiple points for rigidity. Example: Planet Bike Speedez Hybrid Fender - Locks, Mirrors and Fenders


Irony: No sooner have I pressed Shitibike II into service than Shitibike I decides that it needs some love. Admittedly, I have neglected it just a tad, but holy cow, the front wheel bearings feel like they were packed with a mixture of carbide dust and rat semen.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1398912342

It's salvageable- actually cleaned up pretty nicely. Though, of course, I managed to drop one ball down the sink while rinsing them in acetone, so now I have to walk to the train station tomorrow and hope that I can find a replacement somewhere in the city.



Hahaha. Oh, man- that takes me back.

I started college with an old three-speed steel beach cruiser back in '95. It went through numerous wheels, forks, handlebars, freewheels, etc., but the bike just kept on rolling. It finally developed a crack in the weld between the top tube and the steering tube just a few weeks before I graduated, and, I shit you not, it completely fell apart on the very same day that I got my diploma, literally as I was riding home from the ceremony.

I abandoned it on the side of the road and hitchhiked the rest of the way.

That bike was a fucking monster. I wish I had a picture of it, but it exists now only in my memory.

shouldn't be hard, if you know what size ball it is.

Yeah, I mic'd it at 4.75mm, and will stop by a shop this evening.

Update: not impressed with the Kool-Stop salmon pads in the rain.

not sure if your trying to decent a mountain in the rain or not, but on my wet ride the other day I was more worried about tires having enough friction than brakes.

You might want to consider it as a shitty braking surface on the rim and not the pad.


Are they a machined braking surface or just flat finish rims like come on the ultra low grade bikes?

No mountains, just NYC streets filled with busses and taxis.


They started as a shitty, flat-finish surface, and then I spent a few hours wet-sanding them by hand with 220 grit to produce a nice, machined-like surface.

I would put my money on the wheels being the culprit... being that I stop more than fast enough (will skid) in the rain with my bike on Tektro brake calipers and pads (cheap) with good wheels with proper machined surfaces.

Im 185lbs and the combined bike/rider is just over 200lbs plus a few lbs for gear/clothes.

Yeah its got to be your wheels, since even those gray pads didnt work for you. Though mine normally only lock in the rain when the pads get caught on the seam in the rim.

How does it have to be my wheels? What characteristic of bare, well-sanded aluminum is different from my wheels to yours?

They GreyMatter pads were worse than the stock black ones. I seriously question how that company is still in business.

The wheels I have on the black bike are the same as the ones on the red bike, on which I'm still using the SwissStop greens. Those work ok.

I'm not saying that the Salmons are horrible or that they don't work at all (they're better than OEM), only that they're not as good as the SwissStops, and that I keep hoping to find a pad that gives me something which at least vaguely resembles the sort of all-weather consistency that I experience with disc / drum / roller brakes.

The gray matter people stay in business because they're made by cane creek, who sell revalved ohlins for bicycles among other high end products.

It's official- I have a new favorite bike shop.

Stopped by Zen Bikes on my home yesterday, to locate a replacement ball bearing. They game me one for free in exchange for my promising to tell people that "Zen Bikes saved my balls," along with a sticker:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1399037022

I find it amusing that Zen Bikes' slogan is essentially a confirmation of Wheaton's Law, and I shall proudly display this on my top tube.

So, two weeks in and Shitibike II has been doing well. Barely been vandalized at all, and the only thing stolen thus far has been the water bottle holder, but they removed it cleanly and didn't strip the threads, so I can't complain too much.

Interestingly, I've noted a trend whereby people treat the basket on the rear of the bike as a trash can. Thus far I have collected an empty Snapple bottle, the May 19 issue of Time Magazine with Vladimir Putin on the front, and Naima Ritter's visitor badge at the UN General Assembly building.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1400074562

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1400074754

(I didn't get a photo of the Snapple bottle , but you know what they look like.)

What was the message under the Snapple bottle? Did you return it for the 5 cent profit? Tell us more about this Snapple.

I have a carbon BMC roadie weighing under 7kg, worth more than my car I think. Anyway I recently got given this MTB for free, and I am loving it:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1400135395

Riding up gutters, jumping over shit, going where I want. It's a 17" with 26" wheels, the rocks in the background are just really big! :giggle:

Cheers

Message? I have no idea. I didn't see any messages. I just placed the bottle on the ground next to the police box.




I think that this thread might be what you were looking for:

https://www.miataturbo.net/insert-bs...no-care-72705/

:giggle:

budget bike builds
 

I have an appreciation for quality bike parts after living through the junk that came on a Chinese MTB, but I don't need a bike to do more than get me and my junk from A to B in reasonable comfort. Though I'm in Atlanta, everything in the neighborhood is easily within walking distance so a bike works well to shave the time off any destination.

A couple of years ago I started riding the beach cruiser I bought over 33 years ago- before I had a drivers license. :loser: Based on the original RollFast tooling, it was manufactured in my hometown of Jacksonville, FL. I rode it as bought until I left Jax. for good in 1987. My Dad rode it for awhile and then it was stashed in the back of his shed.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1400165183

Four years ago I got it back and removed everything but the Wald handlebars and Tange forks, stripped and painted it. I picked up a craigslist china mtb for parts to get it rolling.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1400165183

I have slowly been upgrading those junk parts since. Proper rear der, brakes and seat installed. Also made a relaxed seat post and cargo basket that serves dual purpose as a seat for a passenger. I can tow both my kids as it is set up now.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1400165183

I helped my neighbor install a new sewer run and in return he gave me all the bikes in his basement and filled my beer cooler. Among the cheap mountain bikes was his sister's 1969 Schwinn Hollywood.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1400165183

I used the wheels/tires and brakes to make a commuter for my daughter. There are big hills around here so the gears are needed. The fender clearance in the original design provided the space needed for brake calipers - just had to weld in some mounts. Have since upgraded the rear der and gone to a grip shift that made for some effortless shifting. It's unlike anything in the school bike rack and all the parents remember the old Schwinns.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1400165183

I really dig that seatpost- very cool idea.

Finally struck gold on Craigslist. $40 for a Schwinn Sidewinder MTB with 2 extra sets of tires (one set new, the tires on the bike which are sort of worn, and some almost-bald ones which I'll probably use primarily). It sounds like the guy had a better/newer bike to ride so I bet he took pretty good care of this one.

Anyone else "dropbar commuting"? I cut my 8.2 mile commute ride from 40-45 minutes down to 32-33 minutes when I switched the MTB out for the road bike.

Predictably, climbing speed is way better with the road bike. The way in has a climb right at the end, and so on the way home the route kicks off with a sweet downhill run. The difference in time between the ride in and the ride home was around 10 minutes with the MTB, but only 2-3 minutes with the roadie.

I believe that I've found the perfect bike:

Novara Arkham Bike - 2015 - REI.com

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1438383163

Disc brakes, belt drive, internally geared hub with twist shifter, fenders, rack... Short of built-in lighting it's literally everything I could possibly ask for.


Any reason I should be convinced not to buy it?

Grip shifters.

Grip shifter. Singular.

But yes, after all this time I still vastly prefer them to trigger shifters. The latter are all fine and well for downhill bikes, but on flat pavement, a grip shifter is just so much more ergonomic and easy to use.

<p>Joe, I thought you were out of the market due to location. That aside, seems like a good commuting package. In years past, I had reliability issue with internal gear hubs, but that was a long time ago.&nbsp;</p><p>Would the 3 speed work well for you (huge jumps), or might you want a 7 speed?</p>

What? No. Trigger shifters are superior in all cases, and those who prefer grip shifters probably never learned to write in cursive.

I was. But I've grown tired of spending four hours every day commuting, and am moving back to Manhattan. UES, most likely.

Anybody want my car?



Reviews on the hub (SRAM i-3) say that it makes an annoying clicking sound when coasting, but is reliable.

Anyone who has ever cycled in NYC will tell you that you that an annoying clicking sound is the last thing you'll notice.

That said, I don't need a huge gear range. Manhattan is mostly flattish, and for the 6 months that I was commuting by Citibike, I never found the gearing on them to be inadequate (also 3 speed internal.) There are times when you find yourself coasting down a slight incline and can take advantage of the highest gear, but on my Schwinns (7 spd rear, solid front) I very rarely hit the tallest gear when actually under power.




I've owned several bikes with both designs over the years, and I have a personal preference for grip shifters. On pavement, I just don't have a need for the trigger shifter's resistance to white-knuckle bumps, and when coming to a stop, I like to be able to slam the shifter all the way down to the lowest gear in a single motion, rather than having to move my thumb into a weird position and then go "click-click-click-click-click-click" until I finally hit the bottom.

Every grip shifter I've ever tried felt like the mechanism, composed of broken glass, poorly molded plastic, and small pieces of rusted metal, was shredding itself to pieces every time I shifted, in contrast with the precise click and release of a good Shimano trigger. The trigger position falls quite naturally within thumb and index finger reach for me -- never had a problem or felt like I had to adjust my hand position.

Grip shifters are sometimes less precise, I'll grant you.

I simply prefer the convenience of having the shift actuator underhand at all times, rather than having to stretch to locate one of two different levers depending upon whether I wish to shift up or down and then repeatedly click it until I get there. I find that about as annoying on a commuter bike as a sequential-shift transmission would be on a DD car.

<p>Argument about sequential is invalid because&nbsp;it is only a three speed.&nbsp;</p>

Get an REI membership if you don't already have one. Pays for itself on that bike.

When my DD was a Giant Revel MTB, I converted the rear shifter from trigger to grip for the same reason. That was an 8 speed. Left the front shifter alone mostly because I very rarely took it out of the middle ring.



Was not aware of this- will definitely do that.