Hopefully the wind moves out fast for you today. Looking outside my office right now and its sunny and looks like a perfect riding day. Strange how a couple hundred miles can make such a huge difference.

Typically, the wind turns around at midday and I face headwinds on the way home, too, though not as strong as the morning winds. Today could be different, depending on what Hermine does. Last I knew, it was heading west (towards land) or south, though I still don't expect any disasters. Beaches are closed, as the water is quite dangerous now.

Crankset = $$$ relatively speaking but freewheels are cheap. You'd need to buy the tool to get it off, else a shop will charge you double if they do it. After a while I bought a cheap freehub wheel on Amazon, the Shimano cassette tool, and any Shimano compatible cassette.

Compatibility with the shifters is not an issue.

What would happen if the freewheel had say 8 cogs on it when the rear shifter only has 7 indexed shift points? Unlike the front shifter that is friction based, the rear seems to have fixed numbered increments.

You either will only use 7 of them, which would work but you won't have the full range, or get a 7-speed cassette in the first place. It fits on the same wheel and there is a spacer in the cassette.

Was able to hit 38mph on a big downhill my legs must have been a blur and it was not easy. Also hit 220 miles on denali. Did 70 this weekend 2 35 mile rides. Average speed over both was about 16.5 with 650ft elevation gain per ride. Front derailleur needs adjustment rough shifts to mid gear thankfully all I seem to use is the large cog and the back small to 3rd biggest rear cogv (21, 15,1w and 9th) gears but I do need to fix it. And that issue may have been present awhile i just never shift that front shifter. Other than that nothing to report. A

Denali update:

at the 235 mile mark had to bring it it in to LBS for front derailleur tune up as the shifting from large to mid cog was not smooth and impossible to shift into the small ring, thankfully i never use that cog but still should be able to if i choose to, they replaced the cable and lubricated it. While working on that they noticed bottom bracket was not smoothly functioning so they opened it up and greased that for me as well. All told only cost 20 bucks which i felt was more than reasonable.

Took it out for a quick ride after work last night, did 17.7 miles at a 17.3mph pace. Bike was much less noisey and seemed a bit smoother/easier to ride. Still can't wait to burn through the 32c tires and replace them with something a bit higher end and thinner. I think its perfectly reasonable to expect to top out for hour rides on this bike around 20mph average speed once i get a bit fitter and on those 25c tires.

This is good news. I hope the mechanic showed you how he fixed it for you, and it sounds like he did. Most of us here can do most or all of own repairs, and we find it worthwhile. A good mechanic won't feel threatened by a customer who is learning to be self-sufficient.

x3 on this advice. Everybody started out not knowing what they were doing and their choices along the way informed their future choices. Learn everything you can from that bike, including how to do repairs and you'll be better prepared for the next one.

400 mile report:

Hit the 400 mile mark on the bike over the weekend. Last wednesday i was "sick" from work and took advantage of the nice weather headed out for a long ride and ended up crossing the half century mark. Averaged 16mph with 1200' of elevation gain. had to stop a couple times at the convenient stores to top off water bottles. It was a fun ride, paced myself well early on and really only the last 5ish miles did i start to hit the wall.

Last Saturday did a nice 40 mile 1000' elevation coastal loop group ride which was held at a moderate pace with the local club, 16.5mph average speed.

Sunday did a recovery ride of 20 miles and even though I wasn't pushing it cruised along right at 16.2mph decided to finally use the mid chainring for some climbing (was afraid on my long ride and group ride that the shifting would act up but it didn't at all) that does seem to help out a bit on the longer climbs. though my "big" ring on that bike is only 48T and putting it down onto the mid range back cogs can climb most hills without issue with that gearing.

After the ride I cleaned off the chain and lubed it back up and noticed the shifting had gotten even smoother, the small chainring was still very tough or impossible to use even after getting it back from the shop. I should say when i first brought it home it shifted fine into it so i assume it was a dirty drive train preventing smooth shifting, either way problem seems solved for now.

Overall, still happy with the bike. the cost to fun ratio is a tremendous value. If I ever plan on racing (very unlikely) I know I couldn't keep up but for group rides and solo rides i get a great workout and can average a decent pace. I think pushing a hard 20mph pace for an hour is possible, especially once I replace those heavy wide tires. Beyond that i would have to get a lighter, better equipped bike.

I certainly haven't died, or had any catastrophic failures as some people have tried to warn me about would happen with a cheap store bike...

You are what bike snobs would call a real cyclist. That is some excellent riding you're doing, even if what you have what the snobs would call not a real bicycle. If you don't have the money for a better bike, it won't matter, as you're already putting in some great miles. Once you do have the money, it won't be wasted, as the better bike will be easy to justify the money.

If it still comes with those Kenda tires, I wouldn't count on wearing those out before you feel like replacing them. Mine came with 700x32 Kenda and I think I still have them somewhere - it seemed like they'd never wear out so I finally just swapped them out. I put about 12,000 miles on mine before getting another bike btw, and I still ride it occasionally. The main thing that I hated was the grip shifter on front, and that mostly because it eventually broke and was hard to shift.

Haha thanks. The club people I ride with are very supportive they don't seem to care that I don't have a "real" bike or that I don't have cycling attire. I wear my running clothes which are not as tight or aerodynamic as cycling shorts/jersey would be. The group leader Bill was shouting encouragment at me to stick on the back wheel of the faster group for a large chunk of the last group ride, we had a nice idk 7-8 person train going for a few miles on the coast, I i felt bad as only a couple of the fast guys pulled I didn't get to take a turn on the front before we hit some hills/narrower roads and the line broke up. Hopefully over time i will acquire the gear and eventually move on to another bike. I have more important things to spend my money on right now once the baby gets here.

Maybe I will ask for some new tires for xmas, that wouldn't cost toooo much...

I actually have gotten used to the grip shifter, especially the rear one the index shift points work smoothly. I just wish i had a bit more room for my hands on more leisurely upright riding positions, when i get tired with the drops or hoods. The left/front gear shifter is taking longer to get used to but i barely use it...its weird it doesn't have the indexed set points like the right one, but still clicks when you shift it and you just have to feel when the chain moves to the next ring. I find that i have to give a couple extra clicks to get the chain to move over then back up a click or two to get the chain running through the derailleur without any rubbing.

My next bike will have STI shifters though...non negotiable haha.

actually, I bought a $200 bike from bikes direct (that doesn't include the shipping fee of $40), which is an excellent beginner bike and I would highly recommend over a "walmart" bike... and in fact I have upgraded it from stem shifters to sti brifters and now that I have bought a high end road bike, I use the bikes direct bike for winter commuting (solid chromolly frame but lighter than a trek 7100)

You have a great attitude.

Don't ask me. I had a NEXT Sierra Key fall apart in short order and got a 40 year old Western Flyer. When that was stolen I bought this grey bike on eBay for $50, and my ID was born.

noob here: FWIW I'm with the peeps who say to keep it until it falls apart and save up for a nicer one - if you can afford it. My experience is that cheap bikes aren't unsafe per se, but it really is a world of difference to a 'low-end' 'proper' one. Just make sure the steering is TIGHT and the brakes actually work. But if my mtb is any indication the bearings will wear out in somewhat short order and not be economical to replace.

I did a Kent single speed once, from Walmart, closeout $69, The owners manual was all wet so they took $10 off

I took It home not to compare It to my multi thousand dollar bikes but just to see how good I could make it without spending more than $25, the goal was to keep the total Investment under a C-note.

The tires were like plastic, slippery hard things, I did not change them.

The wheels took forever to true up, they were a mess but I got them there.

The brakes just did not work, Pulling with all my might only slowed me down.
I sanded the 'PAINT' off the rims sides and roughed them up, I could stop, safely,,, kinda.

The things that spin, chain ring and rear sprocket were turning with such an out of round wabble I had to set the chain tension rather loose so It would not bind up on these,,oval gears.

The Crank was so tight with the chain off It would only turn with my hand on it, the people who built It did this.

Ok so I got it working as best I could and put about 100 miles on It, the thing was still road worthy and was not causing me any problems. Riding a single speed was kinda cool...

I did spend $20 on the bike, the stock handle bars made me feel like a circus clown they were so narrow, the new bars were six inches wider and felt right...

After I was confident the bike would not Injure a rider and was apparently holding together I donated the thing to a church thrift store.

The Lady there said a poor kid got it for $10 and Loved It !