manual_overide

I was degreasing and lubing my chain tonight, and realized that I have never posted my bike here. So here is some freshly cleaned bike porn for your viewing pleasure! Sorry about the quality, but the patio in my apartment isn't very large and I'm on the 2nd floor, so can't get much farther away or get better angles.

krazyderek

very nice, i've always liked blue and white bikes... mmmm blue..

but;
a) egg beaters still crack me up
b) wtf, reflectors**********?? get your self some 3m reflective tape man!!!!
c) what stretched out cross gear are you keeping that poor bike in???

ed073

ROFL.....


Reflectors....lol.

manual_overide

a) really, why is that? They are light, work well, and are fairly "aero" because there is almost nothing there to provide wind resistance
b) I could probably take those off as I don't really ride at night, but I'm sort of lazy.
c) while cleaning the chain, it moved around a bit on the rear and the chain came off the front. I just put it back on to keep cleaning, and left it there for the pics, but put it in a normal gear when I put the bike away for the night.

jitteringjr

Why two different type bottle cages?

manual_overide

When I got my bike, I had originally bought an ATB. They threw in the white cage for free w/ the ATB. I thought I had a water bottle somewhere, but I lost it, so I went to target and picked up a cheapo Bell waterbottle, and it came with the metal cage. I just left that cage in my room for a while. I rode the ATB for a week and realized, that I'd never ride off the road, so I took it back and exchanged it for the roadie. They let me keep the white cage. When I started cranking up the miles on my roadie, I really wanted to have a 2nd water bottle, so I bought another bottle from the LBS, and put that other cage I had laying around on the bike.

veneer

how u like the crankbrothers? i've been debating on getting those for my bike...

manual_overide

I haven't had any issues at all with them, other than the post I made about not unclipping in time and falling over! They work fine with my road shoes and Crank Bros. has road cleats to wear with them. These are my first clipless pedals, so I have nothing to compare them with, but as someone who is mechanically inclined, I can appreciate the way they work more than the standard SPD or LOOK style pedal. Speedplay is a different beast, and I really like how their cleat system works. I just don't like the price. Eggbeaters do it for me. They have mechanical superiority and an asthetic aspect that I really like. And mine were affordable!

Plus I get to be all nerdy when someone asks how I can pedal with those little things, and I get to explain the shoes, cleats, clamping and release mechanisms, and why I use them.

veneer

sweet... but where do you get the road cleats for them? i don't think performance carries it.

manual_overide

Nashbar does. https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...109&brand=0350

It's really just their standard cleat with "pontoons" on the sides so you can walk around a bit off the bike and not grind up the cleat.

cryogenic

ah... I've never actually seen the road cleat Interesting. They're neat pedals and I considered a set but went with the Time RXS instead.

Ostuni

pretty bike. gives me chain envy. but agree that the reflectors MUST go and the bottle cages MUST match...

veneer

yup.. nice clean chain.

ah-ha.. don't forget to remove the dork disc... as well!

Body2big

OK newbie questions whats the dork disc? Since my bike is brand new and I have not removed anything from it yet. I still have the reflectors too I just looked at the pics of your bike veneer and see no reflective tape either no night riding?? just curious.

Shawn

hmai18

dork disc is that plastic spoke protector behind your casette.

I also use Eggbeaters on my roadie and have no complaints about them. Simple, light, and effortless to click in and out.

jbonus

SUPER job on the cleaning. Just look at those teeth!

manual_overide

OK, you animals. To keep you happy and to score a few poseur points, I stopped at the LBS after work and picked up another white cage. I took the reflectors off and put that new cage on. I left the dork disc on because I didn't feel like taking everything apart for some silly piece of plastic. Plus it's barely noticeable. Maybe next time I'll take it off

hmai18

You can cut it off with a pair of wire cutters or something that'll go through thin plastic. If your RD is properly adjusted, you shouldn't need it.

veneer

i rarely ride at night. if i do.. i have all those blinking thingys... as well as my cateye led headlights. but the place where i live is pretty well lite.

douchebagonwhlz

I can't believe you caved and changed water bottle cages just because of what some people on this forum said. pull your skirt back up.

germ

I prefer my cages to match also, but I refuse to give up the dork disk or reflectors I'm just safety orientated, I guess

veneer

but loosing the dork disc and the reflectors will increase ur speed by 10mph...

dork disc.. just use a plier and crack it off. u don't need them.
reflectors.. if you ride at night.. better to keep them on regardless of what others say. safety first!

manual_overide

yeah, i don't ride at night. If i did, I could put lights on there. I've been meaning to take the other reflectors off anyway. I had the rear off since I put the topeak bag on. As far as the water bottle cage, I never really liked the el cheapo setup I had, but I used it anyway. On sunday the water bottle that came with it started leaking gatorade everywhere (that stuff is hard to clean once it has dried on the bike), so I needed a new bottle. Perfect time to pick up a matching cage.

Waxbytes

The "dork disk" is called a spoke protector because that's what it does. If your rear derailler is misadjusted or the hanger gets inadvertently bent you could shift the derailler right into the spokes.
Yes, it does happen. Leave the spoke protector on. It weighs so little and could save so much.

jitteringjr

Ignore this. (Sorry Wax)

I had a steel 's'-shaped hook grab my rear derailleur once and the other end got caught in my spokes. The result was a RD that was shredded and the only damage done to the one spoke that took the entire brunt of the assault was that it needed a slight adjustment to tighten it up and re-true the wheel.

If you are keeping your RD that far out of whack that you need a dork disk, I suggest getting to know your LBS mechanic more intimately. Keep in mind that even a catastrophic failure of the RD where the cable snaps, will pull the RD away from the spokes to the stop at the smallest sprocket.