ohhiiamdrew

Congrats on your new bike! I think your brown saddle looks good!

monkeydentity

belgians make the best beer too...just sayin...

monkeydentity

thanks

AdelaaR

Interesting idea to mount the fork backwards.
They mount the brakes behind the fork on TT bikes for improved aeroness ... but I've never seen it done on suspension forks.
For braking performance it kind of makes sense but I doubt it makes an actual difference.

qmsdc15

I have seen brakes mounted that way on MTB forks, but in this case the fork is installed backwards, which reverses the fork's offset. Not a good idea.

rickstermax

Yup! I goofed.. had them backwards! Have to turn the handlebars sideways to hang on the wall in the garage. Grabbed it off the wall took a pic and then posted it and I''m looking at it thinking somethings not right. I fixed it and took a pic of it the right way! That's not all, I put a new set of rubber on it the other day and now I have the tire labels one on each side. No big deal, but I'll wind up fixing that soon.

monkeydentity

the angle is a little biased in favor of the new saddle...pretty happy about the upgrade. I really like how the carbon fiber adds just a subtle accent on the fork and seat stays. Here's another one (sorry for the blurrerr):

irclean

@ monkedentity: I think the bike looks great, but I agree with your roommate... IMO a black Brooks would have looked better. I see you have Ergons - perhaps a set of their new GR2 BioKork grips might add a little balance. Either that or a set of Dapper Dans, but then you'd lose the great Ergon barends. Or you can just tell me to get bent.

monkeydentity

you said it, not me

The cork really isn't the right brown...BUT, next summer I hope to convert to drop bars, then I'll wrap it with brown leather, perhaps that will appease my critics....

also, it's not as red as the pic looks

qmsdc15

Tires that are have directional tread should be mounted with labels on the drive side.

Lining up the labels with the valve stems can make it easier to find the cause of a flat tire. Find the hole in the inner tube, then line up tube to tire to locate small sharp object in tread.

qmsdc15

Brown leather always looks better than black. It's a daring choice but I think you can pull it off. Just don't wear black oxfords while riding it.

giantcfr1

Well bugger me. All this time I've been looking for the freekin arrow. I was wondering why my Kendas have the extra label on the drive side...now I know.

giantcfr1

That's a humdinger!!

i wish

Hi, I'm new to this part of the forum, but am enjoying looking at all the lovely rides...and I decided to post a pic of my own. She's a Trek 7.2fx, and I like her
I've done commuting, joy-rides, and long trips with her, and I'm very happy with the performance!
Here's a photo of my bike, loaded up with the bags I made for long-distance trips.

giantcfr1

Nice bike and one of the bestest photos I've seen on bike forum.

ejschultz

So I swapped out my BB5s for BB7s after I covered my BB5s in sand and destroyed the pads. I also decided to swap rotors. I ordered G2 Clean Sweep rotors from a company and they sent me the lighter G3 Clean Sweeps by mistake. Anyway, I couldn't get the BB7s adjusted for my life so I took it to my LBS and had my regular guy adjust them for me (gotta love free adjustments for life just because I bought the bike from them). On my way back I decided to snap this shot out of the back window of my Jeep while waiting at a red light. I tried to get one in my rear view mirror, but with my dark tint and auto dimming rear view mirror, it didn't work so well. Anyway...

AdelaaR

You actually *made* those bags yourself? Nice one!
They look very professional and huge too.
How much weight do you carry on these long trips?

qmsdc15

Those handmade bags look a lot nicer most store bought ones.

I can't remember If I've posted a picture of my 1998 Cannondale H300 yet.

Er, here's one more view, from the non-drive side, in the small chainring.

AlphaDogg

I believe you have posted some pics of that bike... maybe not in this thread though..

What's it like riding around with all that stuff on your trailer? Is it difficult? Does the trailer make it difficult to maneuver?

qmsdc15

Oh here it is, page 3, post #75. How hard did you look?


I rarely carry that much and when I do it's only for a short distance. How is it? It's slow, like a pedicab. Even though the gross vehicle weight in that shot is only about as heavy as an empty bike cab! And I've seen them hauling up to 500 pounds of live stock, maybe more!

I never carry people. That was a lot of volume (maybe the most I've hauled but not the heaviest). I must estimate the weight and I probably err in favor of the client. One of the black boxes had a UPS tag that said 115lb. They both were almost too heavy for me to get onto the trailer, so I figured 115 each and the cardboard boxes were light so I added 15 pounds each for them.

When I'm running empty, I'm fast but I can get stuck in traffic unlike other bikes which can squirm through.

Yes it is harder to maneuver. Like truck vs.car sort of but still more maneuverable than a car or truck in heavy traffic and much easier to park.

i wish

Yeah...I made them. Thanks!

I have done two trips so far, and carried way too much on the first trip, and more than I wanted to on the second

Actually, with about 60lbs of gear it is manageable. That's about how much I had on the second trip.
I'm hoping to make a trip sometime and see how much of that weight I can cut without increasing cost.

i wish

Wow! What a load! I'm very impressed....

AdelaaR

Travelling is a lot like cycling when it comes to weight ... the fancy stuff is nice but expensive.
I travelled by backpack around France, Spain and West-Africa for years when I was younger and so I know quite a bit about the subject.
I carried a whole kitchen and tent with sleeping matress and bag and clothes and everything ... the total weight was about 44 lbs but that included a number of top of the line expensive mountainhiking pieces of equipment.

catmandew52

1st bike (kinda qualifies as hybrid) is 1980's fuji Absolute with suspension seat post and stem. Mountain bike bars cut down to 22" wide. 27 x 1 1/4 tires. (and for all you C&V guys the original bars and brake levers are still in the garage, if it matters)

2nd picture is Newport K2, bought new in 2006 from LBS, SRAM shifters and derailieurs.
It has spent most of it's life hanging on the wall because I don't really care for the twist shifters as there always seems to be a lag or kinda of a mystery gear when shifting under load. Also, the Kenda Komfort tires seem to be sharp thingy magnets. These are the second set of tires and 4th set of tubes. I do not have this problem with any orther bike or tires.

Doohickie

This morning's ride