RonH

... and bought some fenders.

It's been raining for 40 days and ... er... wrong story. It's been raining all weekend (sure screwed up the holiday weekend) and the weather guessers are talking about rain on and off all week. So I decided what the heck. What's a few more ounces on the bike? Picked up some Planet Bike fenders and installed them this afternoon while I watched the rain. At least I'm ready for tomorrow when I go back to work.

AndrewP

When you get to work let us know how many seconds they added to your commute time.

RonH

Since I haven't ridden in a few days I hope I'm well rested and will ride to work in record time --- or not.

operator

My fenders added negative 10 minutes to my commute.

bostontrevor

A set of fenders on a bike says, "I'm made for going places."

Good job.

My favorite bike has no fenders, but sometimes when I'm riding the rain bike in all it's fixed-gear-covered-with-tape-and-nail-polish-conversion glory, I just look at the simplicity of a bike plus the purposefulness of a set of good fenders and think, "Yeah man, that's the best bike in the world." It hurts me when I refer to it as a beater and others agree. They're just ignorant.

djbrod

"Work Horse" always seems more fitting to me.

Dchiefransom

"OL RELIABLE"

Map tester

Glad to see you finally joined the club! Now, about next winter.... :-)

RonH

I rode all last winter, except when it was pouring before I left home.
It seems that most of my rainy riding has been after a shower or when it's only sprinkling. The roads are wet enough and the spray gives my shoes and legs a good soaking.

Hmmm, will I get wet today? I live inside the circle and the rain is moving in the direction the arrow is pointing.

BraveSpear

Yeah, look down in the lower right corner.. just northeast of all the yellow and red.. thats where I live.. got my rain slicks packed in my messenger bag today..

RonH

BraveSpear
Not sure if I've mentioned this but I like your signature. It always makes me laugh.

BraveSpear

Thanks.. I always wonder who understands it.. I have the same tagline on my work email and not one of the sale force has ever understood what it means

vrkelley

So! How'd those fenders work out today???

RonH

The fenders were great.
Only light sprinkles on the ride in. We went out for lunch and I was a little worried about getting soaked, fenders or not. But the rain held off until we got back to work.
The ride home was a little wetter. Half way home I removed my rain jacket. I was getting wetter from sweat than rain.
I like the fenders. No spray from the tires to get my legs and shoes wet.

JohnBrooking

How come it took you so long? To say "I finally broke down" implies there was some idealogical reason you were holding out, as opposed to mere laziness.

Nice bike, by the way. I especially like the reflective tape strips.

TheDL

Don't let the fenders get ya down. I was flyin' by roadies and tri-bikes on my century a couple weekends ago, ridin' my commuter sportin' 60mm fenders. I'm sure if I had a rearview mirror I would have seen some priceless expressions. Hehehe

RonH

I just never got around to buying fenders. But I finally got tired of the road spray soaking my shoes, socks, and legs even when it wasn't raining, just wet roads.
My panniers aren't waterproof (we're not going there) and there's no place to dry off and clean up at work, except at the sink in the one and only bathroom. So I generally don't ride if it's raining when I leave for work.



They don't get me down. I paused briefly to say hello and comment on the rain to a commuter (dressed in his team kit and carry a back pack) riding a road bike on Tuesday afternoon. Then I took off because I hate rain. The image of him in my handlebar mirror kept getting smaller and smaller.

RT

I have been fortunate - the Colorado summers are like clockwork. Big, menacing clouds which do nothing but spit (we've been in a drought for a while), or if it DOES rain, it's at 3:34 p.m., lasts for 20 minutes, then dries up by 4:17 p.m. I'd like to get some detachable fenders for those days when Mother Nature decides my luck has run out.

bostontrevor

Ugh.

So last night I picked up a used bike to add to the stable (Panasonic, vintage 105 with indexed downtube shifting...I'm giddy though I'm not sure the frame isn't a hair to small--also my only shifter apart from the mtb I'm going to sell)... anyyyhow, so I decide I'm going to ride it to work today and see what it's like on the other side of the fence. Beautiful day, supposed to get more beautiful, you know.

a) I don't know how you people with gears do it. Don't get me wrong, I definitely felt some serious serotonin juicing every time I shifted, but I never felt like I had the right gear (ironic, given that my other rides are all fixed gears and I feel so much more comfortable there) and I was constantly shifting based on traffic, hills, lights, etc. Besides, no trackstanding means I gotta run my clips loose which means I don't get any power on the upstroke. It just felt weird in a way that I wasn't comfortable with.

b) As I'm clocking down the street after just leaving my house, I crest a little rise only to see that there's a work crew doing some sewery stuff on Mission Hill just on my left. Wouldn't you know it, the entire street width is covered with shallow puddle of effluent. And it smelled terrible. I slowed way down as I went through, but I could feel it spraying off the tires onto my legs. Sure wished I had some fenders.

PS: I really do love this bike, but I don't think I'll commute on it. I think it's going to be my long distance rider for weekend rides out of the city. There's just too much thinking involved to make it worthwhile in Boston, particularly given my origin/destination.

RonH

Shifting may have been easier with STI shifters. I remember my old '85 Schwinn LeTour with downtube shifters. What a pain compared to todays shift levers.



Hey, you're not getting my fenders if you're going to be riding through that stuff.

I think I would have turned and gone over to another street to bypass that stuff.

bostontrevor

Bah, I want that retroshifting action. I almost put it in friction mode last night, but I decided I'd play around with SIS for a bit first. STI may be easier to shift but it's also more expensive, less durable, and honestly, not shifting at is what's truly practical on my commute.


That's not how things usually work here, even though there was actually a parallel street just a block away (unusual) it's one way the wrong way (typical). Besides, the only street I could have turned up was the one where they were doing the work, so it was also covered.