Hipcycler

Okay, we all know the long-standing list of what to do when posting a picture of our bikes here, including things like:

--Make sure the bike is standing with the cassette toward the camera
--Have the chain in the big ring
--Lean it up against a white garage door
--Remove "Dork Disc"

Someone in another thread posted the following and it got me thinking...

You're still a Fred: valves on your wheels are covered with protective caps.

Oh my.

Is this the case?

Lets discuss before we update the mandatory 'Bike Pose' list!

spiderbike

wow, never heard that one...I must be a fred..oh well I can still drop my share of OCP members

substructure

I was told to take mine off.

edit: as well as the valve nuts.

Little Darwin

I would like to take this opportunity to challenge the Dork Disc restriction.

I agree that the plastic pretenders are indeed an abomination, but a nice chrome disc is a piece of personal flare that we in the OCP should encourage. And if we can get someone to make a nice carbon disk, it would go well with a carbon bike.

I believe that the disc should be exposed to intense criticism for any imperfection, as with any other component on a bike, but it should be embraced as an optional piece of OCP with appropriate restrictions and rules for usage.

Steel is real!!!

Oh, and I do support the shunning of valve caps unless they are of unusual or special significance or material. We must explicitly ban smiley faces, 8 balls and other plastic abominations.

Hipcycler

I DO remember at the start of a SuperWeek race this summer how many of the riders started to press their valves to let a little squirt or two of air out right before the start. They couldn't do that if there were valve covers on.

And once one or two did it, they all started doing it.

We really are a bunch of monkey see monkey do'ers aren't we?!

wahoonc

The removing valve covers and nuts from presta valves was/is a necessity on the racing tubulars, if the tire blew and rolled off the rim you wanted it to leave completely not be pinned by valve nut (major crash it if didn't). Dunno why all the guys were blowing air off their tires...when I put mine at pressure that is where they are going to stay Maybe someone was using it as a psycological/physiological ploy...they over pumped their tires deliberately then blew off a bit of air in hopes some "monkeys" would follow suit and be riding on under inflated tires thus increasing rolling resistance and making them slower

Aaron

garysol1 

-Cranks must be positioned so that the Dura Ace or Record on the crank arm can be read.
-Make sure the stem is flipped....even you must flip it back after the picture.
-Remove seat bag.
-Remove Cages unless Carbon or color coordinated.
-If said garage door is dirty, for god sakes clean it.
-If automobile is worth more than most of our's yearly income, make sure it is included in the background of the picture.

Drag

LOL! Okay, these were funny.

WCroadie

"-If automobile is worth more than most of our's yearly income, make sure it is included in the background of the picture."

That's a good one!

badkarma

Yep

Drag

I think for the bike posing pic, we need to add:

- tire labels and wheel rim stickers must be positioned identically for both wheels
- valve stem on both wheels must be in similar position for photo

Grasschopper

Ok lets play the name all of the OCP issues with this VERY OCP bike:

botto 

man that head tube & stem still gives me the creeps

acape

I thought you were supposed to position the wheels such that the valve stems were behind the fork and seatstay, out of sight altogether.

StalkerZERO

Funny what. I'm taking notes.

superdex

Grasschopper, I see:


* dork disk --especially if that rear hub is red
* too much shadow (hence the white garage rule)
* While you've lined up the tire labels with the valve stem (good job) the caps and nuts are still on
* I prefer to have the crank follow the line of the seat tube
* the single red spoke on each wheel aren't in the same orientation

what else?

Grasschopper

I deserve no props for the tire valve alignment, that was all Cannondale. I also deserve no ridicule for the dork disc or the valve stem nuts/caps as I was told not to do anything to the bike other than ride it.

I will take the blame for the valse stem (Red spoke you pointed out) alignment...I was in a rush to get out on a ride on that beast and let that slip.

Hmm see I like the cranks in this position...each to their own I suppose.

botto 

garage doors are not immune to direct sunlight.

merlinextraligh

The rotational weight savings alone are enormous. Think of accelerating that weight out of every corner in a crit. And if you're climbing, you might as well have a boat anchor as keep those things on.

superdex

Then it's the photog's job to do what s/he can to eliminate shadows. Sheesh. Someone post some of Rad's pics please

caligurl

you're kidding... right?

Grasschopper

Eh I am an OCP Fred not a photog...and my garage door has a dent in it so I use the cement retaining wall instead...plus the angle of the light when using the garage door as a back stop is bad as it is generally into the sun so direct light will wash it out. Bright sunny day was perfect for the ride but bad for the photo shoot.

CyLowe97

Yeah, we can't all afford to have Annie Liebowitz photograph our bikes, like Rad....

iab

You mean OCP not down with these?

timmhaan

crap - now i have to leave work early so i can go home and remove the caps from my valve stems. thanks for bringing it to my attention.