Commuting - I resisted... (summary of first week commuting)

I resisted the urge to drive my truck in to work today! Glad I rode.

Today makes 3 consecutive days I've commuted to work via my new Sirrus.
In fact, since I bought my bike last Friday, I drove my truck twice. Once to go to a bike route I wanted to try out down along the Harbor (next time I'm biking to it).
The other time, I drove my truck to the local mini-mart 1/2 a mile away to get some eggs.
I took the truck out of habit, remembered the bike half way there, and felt bad the rest of the night.

So, 3 days of riding my bike to work. 2 short trips in the truck. Not to bad already.

Estimated miles on truck since buying bike: 14
Estimated miles on bike since buying bike: 26
Gas money saved: $8.52 ((26mi / 10mpg) * $3.279gal)

So, it's already been a good week!

Good for you! but don't feel too guilty for using your truck occasionally. this is supposed to be fun, not-guilt-making! I have settled into riding three days a week (MWF) with two days driving ... works for me... already cut my gasoline bill in half...

Way to go, Sailor. Keep it up, it just gets more fun and easier. Given time, who knows, you might find yourself visiting Keck on that thing. Man, that would be a fun ride down.
--A

Yeah no matter what, don't feel bad. It's a positive thing, every mile you do on the bike is one less in the truck. If you didn't have the bike, you still would have taken the truck on that half mile trip, so it's not like you did anything worse than you would have anyway. On the whole you're way ahead.

Good for you!

Good job! How do you like the Sirrus?

Good job! How do you like the Sirrus?

So far, lots! Love it!

Here's my 1 week critique:

1. My hands go numb. It came with some kind of bg (body glove?) grips. I can't get my hands comfortable on them. Looking at horned thingy's (bar ends?) and maybe wrapping gel tape over the bg grips. I think they were made for average sized hands, not hands attached to a 6'4" guy riding the XL (61cm) bike.

2. There's a weird clicking noise when I'm pedaling. Not coasting, only pedaling. It only started a day or two ago, and wasn't bad - but riding home tonight it was noticably worse. Gonna ride it a few more days and see what happens before taking it back to the shop for an inspection. I gave it a once-over and couldn't find anything obvious (sticks, leaves, something bent, etc.).

3. Both pedal reflectors broke off within the first three days of riding the bike. I think the right one went on day 2, and the left on day 3.

That's it. I'm still working on getting the saddle adjusted, but that's not a bike thing.

If your hands are getting numb then it's very likely your bike wasn't fitted properly. Did your bike shop do a fitting?

bloodhound,
Check the pedals for the clicking, see if the sound happens under load or all the time. My son is 6'4" around 280#. He has a Haro MTB and had a noise in the drive line that no one else could find. It has bugged him for almost a year, I finally rode the bike the other day and "felt" the noise in the pedal, replaced them and no more clicking. I am not familar with the Sirrus, but pedals seem to be a place where a lot of manufacturers drop the ball and use something cheap. But pedals are realtively inexpensive to swap out. And many people do, usually for a clipless.

Aaron:)

For grips that should fit your larger hands, take a look at the Ergon lock-on grips. They even have a model with a built bar end. I got a set for my dad to try (relatively large hands and and numbness issues due to an injury many years back). He loves the new grips. They give a very large platform for your hand. He described it like resting his hand on a table. At $35, they are inexpensive enough that if don't love them, it's no huge loss.

You might get some Specialized Body Geometry gloves as well to help with the numbess (granted your not already using gloves). When I first bought my bike my hands were bothering me. Within literally a day or two I bought a pair of riding gloves and my hands have been fine since.

Your new bike should come with a warranty which includes free adjustments. In case you dont know, a new bike will have the cables stretch a bit as it is used, which results in gears coming out of adjustment, and brakes not working as well as they should. Take it back to the store you got it at and ask for an adjustment. Every LBS I have ever been in includes a free "tune up" with each new bike to sort that sort of thing out after a bit of riding. Based on how far you have ridden, the cables might not have stretched much yet, but after a while, get it checked. The least you can do is ask:)

Check the pedals for the clicking, see if the sound happens under load or all the time.

I flipped the bike onto it's back at work, went through the gears, rotated the driveline... etc.
I could not reproduce the noise.

Didn't even think about the pedal. I'll check it out. Thanks!!!

B.H.

Did your bike shop do a fitting?

ummmm.... no.

Every LBS I have ever been in includes a free "tune up" with each new bike. The least you can do is ask:)

I did, and they do. They recommend riding it for about 30 days. I'll probably give it another week to 'break in' before taking it in for adjustments, unless the noise gets worse.

Though, I am going to check out the pedal thing mentioned earlier.

B.H.