I almost got creamed by that older messenger dude that rides on a mtb with wire panniers, a backpack, backwards cap and headphones. He came out in front of me from between two busses perpendicular to the road and I had to bust a hard skid to not T-bone him, and I had to swerve around his front tire. He was being rude because I know he saw me.

^^:lol:^^
The messengers OWN the core baby, you were in the wrong, even if he was wrong wayin' it.... just his way of saying 'Happy Holidays', and helpin' you perfect your mad traffic skillz.

hey cam, have a safe ride and seeya sometime in the new year. what's the status of the black-black? :rolleyes:

my kinda thread
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=254731

I need some money.
http://toronto.craigslist.org/bik/251880997.html

Keith and those versed in steel steeds I need your help. Keith told me yesterday that the Miele on CL may be a Beta. Is there any identifying marks I should be looking for (besides tubing stickers, forged dropouts etc) that would identify it as such? I can't find much info about Miele's on the internets and nothing on Betas so any help would be appreciated. I was thinking of trying to pick up the frame for 150 if it IS a beta.

Miele CL Ad

Pictures usually help.

True.

Oof!

Addendum: To those with gears on road bikes as I begin to look to take the plunge the question I must first answer is Campy or Shimano? Opinions welcome...

Speaking of skills.

There is this messenger guy, an older dude who rides some pimped out road bike.
It's got black and orange aero wheels with a low spoke count.
He wears a cap and sunglasses all the time.

I pulled up to the traffic light doing a trackstanding.
He doesn't even look at me, although he knew i was watching.
This guy was across the street doing trackstands sitting down ...
rocking the bike back and forth with his foot on the front wheel like it was Sunday afternoon.

I see him all the time on Yonge. He looks mad serious..
Props to the seasoned veteran.

those san joses are great bikes in my opinion. the rivendell reader reviewed them a while ago and actually had good things to say in terms of quality of contruction / component spec and usability. if something happened to my urbanite it would be my first choice as a replacement.

whatever is cheaper and available. I'd let the decision make itself.

oh boy....

EDIT: it's cheaper to replace shimano components when they break (and easier to get them serviced).

Campy.. so you can gloat about it.

and the brifters are way nicer.

Those DA brifters are freaking sweet as hell though.

You need to choose a level here. Like, I'd totally choose any campy over Tiagra, but I'd choose full DA over record...

Basically Record or Ultegra, Dura-Ace seems to be meant for shaving off every last gram at the expense of durability. As I hate replacing things after I've spent good money on them I want the best combination of durability and weight. I *love* the aesthetics of the record skeleton breaks but I don't have much experience on whether I'll total them after a year or something. But yeah basically looking at Ultegra or Record

If you're concerned about the durablity of DA, I wouldn't reccomend Record. The Record groupset is the most expensive you can buy. Chorus or Centaur is more comparable to Ultegra, and probably better in the long run (Also like half the price).

You should get the SRAM rival groupset. I likes.

Ahh I see, alright then Chorus vs Ultegra

My opinion is to go for SRAM rival then. Its cheaper than both Ultegra and Chorus, and from what I have seen and read is just as good or better.

Campy is made by fallen angels, working under the Vatican. You can't go wrong.
Go Chorus as the brakes have the bearings, Record just adds carbon to everything it seems. Unless it's chunk O' cash drop time.

i don't know if it's any indication, but i saw the bike on tuesday and the guy said all the 105 parts are original, and google says betas came with 105.

it turned out to be a touch too big, but the guy spent half an hour showed me all these cool nervex and henry james lugs he's been hoarding, and a track frame he's building.

Easy to service broken Shimano parts? Bwaa ha ha ha. No such thing as servicing busted Shimano parts...especially the shifters. Campy shifters on the other hand are easy to service, and you can actually get small replacement parts...unlike Shimano. Campy hubs and wheelsets are wayyy better quality than the Shimano offerings in the same price range. The new Campy brakes are uber sexy and lighter than previous models. Same goes for the cranksets and with Campys rep for bearing quality, I would take em over Shimano who have had well documented reliabilty issues with their external cup B.B's.
I know guys who race and put 10's of thousands of km's a year on Record and have had zero reliability issues. Many of these guys gave up D.A. for Record and have never looked back. I have one friend/customer who just switched from D.A. to Sram Force and he absolutely loves it. The different shifter action required a bit of getting used to but other than that no complaints thus far.
While I have a personal bias towards Campy for many reasons, the Ultegra/Chorus debate is a no-brainer for me...Chorus wins hands down. Especially with all the improvements and refinements they have made this year.
whats the old adage?..Shimano wears out...Campy wears in.

Yeah I definitely think its going to come down to Chorus or SRAM, not sure if I want to get in on the SRAM as I don't know if the product line will last and what the availability of parts will be like in a few years. The Chorus stuff looks really nice and the price isn't that bad (Ok it is but I'm trying to make myself feel better about this)