General Cycling Discussion - I have to say that this forum has been a great resource of information and tips

Aside from the bickering - that is normal to any internet forum :p - bikeforums.net has been a great source of information. I stumbled upon it few weeks ago while looking for some tips on bike building and I ended up learning how to properly protect my goggles from fogging, how to protect my feet from getting wet, lots of winter riding tips, the dual stem trick for mounting extra gadgets and bags, I learned about Magic Shine! I found new great vendors and links to other great sites and a lot more useful stuff. But I also found it to be a great inspiration to continue riding and expand. I think I will try my first tour this year and get back to road riding in general thanks to stories and photos on the forum. Thanks and kudos to all who took their time to share their knowledge and experiences!

Adam :thumb::D

Glad to hear our forum has helped you! Thank YOU for being a member here!

Watch our for that Blue Wind, Adam. She thinks a lugged bike is one that is so heavy you had to lug it up the hill.

Glad you found the Forum of use and that you are now enjoying cycling. But remember that this is a "General" cycling section. Depending on your particular needs- there are more specialist forums here that may help you "Like" when you want to buy the lighting set up- clothing for winter- need help on preparing for your first double century ride- or when you want to buy that $5,000 bike from the LBS and need more information. But for your sanity- stay away from A&S. They do get a bit intense over there.

Too confusing for me.

Glad you found the Forum of use and that you are now enjoying cycling. But remember that this is a "General" cycling section. Depending on your particular needs- there are more specialist forums here that may help you "Like" when you want to buy the lighting set up- clothing for winter- need help on preparing for your first double century ride- or when you want to buy that $5,000 bike from the LBS and need more information. But for your sanity- stay away from A&S. They do get a bit intense over there.

Oh yeah, I've read other ones too: commuting, bike mechanics, touring, gadgets and lights, regional, winter cycling.

Adam

Oh yeah, I've read other ones too: commuting, bike mechanics, touring, gadgets and lights, regional, winter cycling.

Adam

I see you've ignored "Road Cycling", go ahead, broaden your horizons :innocent:

I ended up learning how to properly protect my goggles from fogging, how to protect my feet from getting wet, lots of winter riding tips, the dual stem trick for mounting extra gadgets and bags, I learned about Magic Shine!
Adam :thumb::D

Wait, tell me more about this dual stem thing, not really sure what you're referring to but it sounds interesting...

I see you've ignored "Road Cycling", go ahead, broaden your horizons :innocent:

I'll get there eventually too :D



Wait, tell me more about this dual stem thing, not really sure what you're referring to but it sounds interesting...

I think it was somewhere on the touring forum. Basically, he used another stem mounted upside down below his main stem, so this extra stem is angled down, below the handlebar. Now you can use a piece of aluminum tubing or a piece of old handlebar with that stem to mount stuff on that extra handlebar, good for bags, lights, etc. Of course your steerer tube needs to be long enough for two stems but then you won't need any spacers. You can play with the length of that stem so it will reach forward past your cables. I hope I explained this, it's kind of hard with a picture :D

Adam

I think it was somewhere on the touring forum. Basically, he used another stem mounted upside down below his main stem, so this extra stem is angled down, below the handlebar. Now you can use a piece of aluminum tubing or a piece of old handlebar with that stem to mount stuff on that extra handlebar, good for bags, lights, etc. Of course your steerer tube needs to be long enough for two stems but then you won't need any spacers. You can play with the length of that stem so it will reach forward past your cables. I hope I explained this, it's kind of hard with a picture :D

Adam

Nope, I think I gotcha. If not, well, I have a concept of an idea that would work haha...

Aside from the bickering - that is normal to any internet forum :p - bikeforums.net has been a great source of information. I stumbled upon it few weeks ago while looking for some tips on bike building and I ended up learning how to properly protect my goggles from fogging, how to protect my feet from getting wet, lots of winter riding tips, the dual stem trick for mounting extra gadgets and bags, I learned about Magic Shine! I found new great vendors and links to other great sites and a lot more useful stuff. But I also found it to be a great inspiration to continue riding and expand. I think I will try my first tour this year and get back to road riding in general thanks to stories and photos on the forum. Thanks and kudos to all who took their time to share their knowledge and experiences!

Adam :thumb::D

Adam, I too have found this forum very useful. If one rides on a daily basis, they'll find out quickly what information will or will not work for them. After observing many local cyclists I'd say that few, if any, frequent this forum.

I'll get there eventually too :D




Not to worry, my horizons must be limited as well, though the Road Forum is the most popular, I probably can count on one hand the number of times I visited it.

Word-up, OP. This forum's been very helpful to me too. I've met some terrific local riders and been up Palomar a few times with them--mighty nice folks.
The greatest tips I've gotten out of here this year:
~Use a hair-dryer to dry your junk after showering. I had a recurring saddle sore for nearly a year and thought it was going to require surgery and weeks of bike-less recovery time. Crotch-zit gone without drugs, topicals or surgery.
~Someone in here referred me to Nate Loyal (http://www.nateloyal.com/), a meticulous pro-fitter at Helen's Bike Shop in Santa Monica. He slid my seat forward two cm and my cleats back one full cm, completely solving my knee problem. And his spin-analyzing computer led to another breakthrough for me this year.
~Someone referred me to Nitto Technomic bars & stem for my beloved '84 Masi, making it possible for me to get comfortable on the bike AND it's much, much stiffer than the Cinelli bar-stem set I had on there before.

BF been bery, bery good to Chico tambien...
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii52/heymustangsally/garrett-morris.jpg

Nope, I think I gotcha. If not, well, I have a concept of an idea that would work haha...

Here, I found something like this, it's not on BF, I just googled up someone's blog, the idea is the same:

http://thelazyrandonneur.blogspot.com/2008/09/marks-lht-brevet-light-setup.html

Adam

Word-up, OP. This forum's been very helpful to me too. I've met some terrific local riders and been up Palomar a few times with them--mighty nice folks.
The greatest tips I've gotten out of here this year:
~Use a hair-dryer to dry your junk after showering. I had a recurring saddle sore for nearly a year and thought it was going to require surgery and weeks of bike-less recovery time. Crotch-zit gone without drugs, topicals or surgery.

BF been bery, bery good to Chico tambien...

Yup, hairdryer is great for more than just drying your hair. Particularly in summer, I have problems with skin peeling off between toes, sometimes leading to painful cracking. Someone told me to dry between toes very thoroughly with tissue and a blow dryer and use small amounts of baby oil, works great. It turns out that leaving skin wet in areas prone to heat accumulation or rubbing will cause problems for some people.

Also, on long club rides I was introduced to the "dark secret" of cycling: the butt lube!!! No more sores and painful zits after hours in the saddle.

Adam

Also, on long club rides I was introduced to the "dark secret" of cycling: the butt lube!!! No more sores and painful zits after hours in the saddle.

Adam

Adam, I was reintroduced to leather saddles on this forum which greatly reduced my friction burns in the groin area. I used to not have friction burns years ago with a bike that had a leather saddle, but didn't connect the two until just recently. Leather when treated properly is much slicker than the more textured saddles that I have tried, plus being that my leather saddles are slicker, they are much easier to mount and dismount than the textured versions. Plus now that I found the seat positioning that is right for me, now I know the expression of the "disappearing" saddle.

Adam, I was reintroduced to leather saddles on this forum which greatly reduced my friction burns in the groin area. I used to not have friction burns years ago with a bike that had a leather saddle, but didn't connect the two until just recently. Leather when treated properly is much slicker than the more textured saddles that I have tried, plus being that my leather saddles are slicker, they are much easier to mount and dismount than the textured versions. Plus now that I found the seat positioning that is right for me, now I know the expression of the "disappearing" saddle.

I agree, take a look at some of the Brooks line. I found the "Swift" model worked best for me. YMMV. I recently completed a century with regular running shorts. Just to see if it would kill me or not. It did not. Was ready to get off the bike afterwards for sure, but it wasn't bad at all.

Here, I found something like this, it's not on BF, I just googled up someone's blog, the idea is the same:

http://thelazyrandonneur.blogspot.com/2008/09/marks-lht-brevet-light-setup.html

Adam


yep, just what I had pictured. That's a cool idea and something that I think I may look into when I finish my build if I have the room for it... - since I put cross brakes on my bike, I have eliminated the possibility of mounting a bag on my bars & dont have a lot of room for a light.

BF has been a good resource for me as well (we have been around for about the same time) and here we go, I keep learning more...

This is great for touring: if you have extra gear to attach. But I'm also thinking about the Nashbar touring handlebar, it may have enough room for couple of light, a computer and a GPS.

I've been also reading and thinking about the leather saddles. I may bite the bullet and get one later this year. Up to 50 miles I have no problems. 75 and 100 mile rides usually ended up with bad rash. But I wasn't using any lubes back then.

Oh, another cool thing I learned: soldering cable ends! You can pull them out and run through the housing again easily.

A.

super glue works pretty good as well
it takes a second
well, 7.6 seconds
every couple of loosenings re-apply
it does'nt work every time,but I try to have a cable or 2 around if it splays