I need to ride my bike. Why does time hate me?

 

Looks fine to me.

 

you should see my Mom's road bike (she's 62)... +45 degree, 80mm, all the spacers. She rides like a champ though.




If you make the bike comfy, won't she be more willing to ride and stay fit?

 

Tonight's weather is too insulting to ride. I stayed in.

 

It's not.

 

Paris-Roubaix is on NBCSN right now, bros.

 

Help me out, my fellow spandex-wearing brethren.

I'm thinking about getting back into mountain biking. I was heavy into it back in the day; had a Rocky Mountain hardtail that I outfitted to do everything, including downhilling (3.6 lbs frame, Mavic wheelset, long travel Marzocchi, Time ATAC pedals - it was a mutt, but a good one at the turn of the millenium), I worked for several years as a bicycle mechanic, but my bike product knowledge peaked somewhere around when RockShox introduced the Hydracoil and Shimano came out with 9 speed drivetrains (ca. 1999). What kind of stuff do I want to be looking at for a versatile, tough all-mountain bike at around the $2,000 price point? 26", 27.5" or 29er? Dual suspension?

Miata-related: Anyone use theirs to transport your bikes? Taking out the passenger seat takes less work than mounting most bike racks, and I'm thinking about whether that might be a viable option if I take one or both wheels off the bike.

 

If you have a 26'er it'll fit in the car without pulling the seat and without pulling the wheels off you just wont be able to put up the top.

 

You should read about the pro/cons of each wheel size- see a few pages ago.

Plenty of nice hardtails in that price range, you can get a screaming deal on used 26" full suspensions right now as everyone is dumping theirs and buying 27.5" bikes. If you are just getting back into it and don't care, you might get a killer deal.

1x10 or 1x11 drivetrains are cool, there are wide/narrow chainring teeth that allow you to run sans chainguide or front derailleur and not lose your chain. cassettes got huge, allowing you to not need a front derailleur at all. Dropper seatposts are also sweet. SRAM brakes are to be avoided. Tubeless works now. suspension got better/more reliable. Everything is lighter/better for the most part. Umm not sure what else.

1x11 is boss:


$2k will get you a killer used FS bike or a really nice new hardtail. Just an OK new FS rig...

 

And was epic, as always.

 

 

So Andrew, power histogram yet?

5s
1m
5m
10m
1hr

 

Possibly next week. I'll post numbers for the 5s/1m/5m first, just in case I die attempting the 1h.

 

Coincidentally came across a 2011 Trek Remedy 8 for sale in my building. Guy wants less than half the original retail price for it, so seems like a good deal if it's still in nice shape. Given that my current bike is a '97, I'm sure it would feel like a spaceship to me. Excited to check it out this evening.

 

Nice... I put a ton of time on one of those frames- awesome 'do-everything' bike.

Low-ball on the price. tell him 26" bikes are pretty much worthless these days. haha

 

And it's bought. The frame and fork look virtually brand new, the shock is freshly rebuilt, and it's altogether in great shape. No rattles, creaks or anything untoward during my brief test spin. I just need some nice pedals and a shock pump for it now, and while they work fine, I think there's not much pad material left on the brakes. I paid $1700CAD. Up here, a new one of these goes for nearly $4000CAD.

 

As an old timey cyclist, it blows my mind what great technology and performance is available now on the used market for peanuts. In 1990, that bike would cost $25k if it even existed.

 

I like these games, but 20 min is more important than an hour. Go do Old la Honda and report back.

Golden Cheetah is where it's at. WKO+ is garbage for what they charge.

 

Wood:

Too bad about SRAM.

 

Deep dish Enve wheels ride sooooo nice, my brother in law picked up a set for this season and has no regrets.