Originally Posted by
puddinlegs
Im not suggesting that everyone should be doing race paced downhills. Most riders will never ride a race, but in my experience over 35 - 40 years on road bikes tells me that most people like going downhill on them.
If you climb faster than you descend, you must be blowing through an awful lot of brake pads and not getting very far on your rides. And sadly, if you don't ride in the mountains in Japan, you're missing huge amounts of absolutely stunning riding. Very little traffic, great road conditions, amazing scenery, etc...
( The irony is the long stem you like is very much something you see on bikes with high strung handling.... like those bike Sheldon Brown isn't very fond of. And yes, the industry is of course out to make money, but thankfully with some knowledge and patience, there's absolutely no need to pay top dollar for anything. I don't think I've ever paid full retail for anything cycling related. Close outs are your friend.)
First of all in retrospect, in response to your last post, I am sorry I did not ask you to point me in the direction of economically priced bikes with a geometry similar to mine or a vintage bike. And also where "closeouts" are available. I did consider a change to a bike that has the geometry of long and low but (1) I am very happy with my bike so I have it in its third incarnation (2) John Cobb, advisor to Lemond, seems to have his rider on a large frame shorter seatpost, but with a variable angled stem at about -60 degress. I hear that variable angled stems can creak. (3) I realy do like "goodly flex," though with risks, provided by the long attachments.
I like riding in the mountains, and down them faster than I go up, at up to about 45 to 50 km/h. I get up to about 44km/h on the flats with a bit of tailwind, but much above that I feel a bit unsafe. At these speeds my stem does not seem to have any drawbacks that I am aware of. The long stem makes the handling very un-twitchy if a little slow to corner, but then I rarely go around corners quickly either.
There is a criterium near me (at Ajisu) and I watched but hated the thought of joining in. All those super thin, full-on Japanese guys going around a 2km track at 40km/h plus into the 90 to 180 degre turns? Not for me. I slow down for 90 degree turns. Strava used to amuse me with its shallower turned segments. Now I rarely do it due to my wife's concerns.
My competition of choice is a yearly 10km run which is going rather well as a result of my "cyclo-stretch-running' technique. I started streching to improve my running. It has done wonders for my bicycle form though. The stretching is done at karate club. There are some videos of me doing really bad Karate somewhere if anyone is interested!
Cyclo-Stretch-Running (CSR) by
Timothy Takemoto, on Flickr
I have lived in provincial Japan more than half my fifty years and love cycling in its rural areas. But I do not do *fast* descents.
Originally Posted by
BillyD
Of course you realize that insulting people is not tolerated on this forum, right?
That is very kind of you, and more than that, entirely appropriate *of course* (not that I any kind of judge, whereas you are) for a moderator. But while I would not like anyone to be insulted, Campag may know who I am, know that I will not be insuled and also, be right about my childhood. Not that I took LSD, but I became desensitised to slights. All the same though, as a general idea, being nice and friendly on this forum is good, as you say. Thank you very much again! I love this forum. m(_ _ )m that is an emoticon of me bowing
