Actually I'm in Melbourne

I just stayed home today. But I did look at the Fuji Cross Town. It looks like I'm going to pass on that bike. He want $600.00 for it. LOL

Any ways I did get a fast Road bike. Yep it's a old Huffy Techtra Lite. I know it's still just a Huffy, But I only gave $35.00. Everything works on it. It even has a front handlebar Bag that is still in good cond. Any ways I think it's a big jump from the MTB. I tried looking it up on the web but found nothing about them. It has a 22" frame, 27"X 1 1/4" tires and 7.5" crank. The front gears are 52 & 39, back is 28, 23, 19, 17, 14. So I run the gears through my Xcell spread sheet to get the top speeds of each bike and the TechTra Lite was 3.5 Miles faster at top speed with a Cadence of 95. If any one needs the spread sheet, just give me your E-Mail and I'll send it your way.

I did a couple of speed test runs. TechTra lite did 23 MPH the first run and I was only in 5th gear. I don't use the lower front gear so I call it a 6 speed Bike. I just got two new tires and tube to put on. So I'll let you guys now how the bike likes the 35 miles commute.

^^^ HUH !!!
You can get a new Fuji for 300.00 or so !!
The Huffy will do just fine though....you will make great time
on it ! I am biased but I love old, 27" tire road bikes.....strong,
comfortable and easy to find parts for.
I like to see old iron being resurected too....Everyone deserves a
second chance, even Huffy's !!
Keep up the great work CigTech!

Go CigTech!! Have fun with that bike. If you have a few extra dollars, go buy some automotive bearing grease (axle grease really) for a couple of bucks, and go to the LBS and buy a couple of cone wrenches. Now, lube those axles on that old bird. I'd describe it but its been overdone elsewhere. A search should turn up a how-to or a gander at park tools website will do it. If they're low on grease, then the 35 mile trip will quickly wear them out. Its not super hard to do (hey, [b]I can do it[/i] lol). With some love, that bike should last you. Congrats!

Edit: Its supposed to snow a few inches on Thursday. Should be fun! Today was nothing but wind and a few snow flurries that lasted just long enough to wet the ground before it was shining sun again...

I pulled it part and relubed everything already. So I guess I'm one spet ahead of you. LOL The alexs where pack with sand and lube. So I'll be getting new bearings for it soon too.

I do have a qustion, How much PSI do I need to run these 27"x 1 1/4" Tires? I ran them at 70 PSI for the speed test. But I felt every small bump in the road. For the Commute I'll try 60 PSI and see what I think about that. Please Let me know what you guys think. The tires I put on it tonight are just run of the mill. There Duro, I never heard of them. There rated at 75 PSI, The old ones where rated at 90 PSI.

Today I put 2.5 Miles on it just messing around. Boy this bike is fast. After 2.5 miles on the MTB I feel it in my legs. But on the Techtra lite it was nothing. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Cigtech -- good call on the Fuji, that is probably overpriced. Enjoy the new-to-you bike. At that price you can't go wrong. I agree with previous posters you need to consider more flat resistant pneumatic tires before you go to solid tires. There are plenty of reviews on the web of airless tires and most find the disadvantages outweigh the advantages by a significant margin.

Thanks for all the advice on rear derailleur pulleys. They are not giving me any problems, so it is not a diagnostic question. As I was cleaning the chain I noticed that there were some slight gaps between the chain and the pulleys. Since I've never looked closely at them when they were new it suggested that they were worn. I agree they shouldn't wear much, but since everything else in the drivetrain seems to wear quickly for me I wanted to be forewarned.

I'm off the commute for one more day, but hopefully by Thursday I'll be back in the saddle.

Personally, I'd run as high a pressure as they're rated for. With narrow tires, pinch flats are a problem at lower pressures. But I'm a heavy guy so its a bigger deal for me. You might be fine at the lower psi. When my sidewall says 85, I run 90. You'd be fine at 75 or 80. You'll get used to the road feel. Its not like the softer lower psi tires on a MTB. But its FAAAAaaast.

I'm with Rykoala on this. Runb your tires at high psi. You will get used to the feel. Like Maryland said, you might consider some pucture resistant tires like flak jackets or armadillos.

Another cold and windy commute in. With the wind chill -6F. For some reason, the bridge of my nose was really hurting form the cold. Can't remember that happening before.

Hi all. It is a nice day for a bike ride....or so my boss said to me on the way into the office. I think he was being a smart ass. It rained on and off all night (-6C) then it snowed 2 inches and rained some more. Not a bad ride in though; it just took a little longer.

Have a great day!

Well got home from the first commute for the Techtra Lite. It cut my ride time down by 40 min. The MTB would take 1hr 55 min to go 17.5 mile. The Techtra Lite took 1 hr 15 min. Man that bike is fast. I even stop on the Tampa Bay bridge for 5 min. just to took a look. I hope to cut the ride down to 1 hr after I get used to the bike.

I of my co-works offered me $300.00 for the bike after he rode it around the parking lot at work. I told him no but thinks. He has like 7 bikes.

Well, Saskcyclist, it must not have snowed nearly as much in Regina as Saskatoon. There was a solid 6 inches of snow this morning for the bike ride and it wasn't the fluffy stuff. I carried my bike for a block or two, got fed up with it and settled into a driving groove for the rest of the way to school. A little intense at times with traffic but all good. They had plowed the roads by time I came home so the ride home was much better. The temp was only -12 C though, so not cold at all.

Well a very un-extereme commuting week in the DC area. Hopefully next week will bring the same.....

You guys must have a huge amount of snow but now. Seems to me you received alot in early Feb as well. There is barely enough here to cover the ground. Good for the cycling...not so good for the sleding.

I kept some accurate stats over the last couple of thouseand commuting miles, so here's the bare bones truth of it....

Overall average speed............................27.7km/hr (17.3 mi/hr)
Fastest single commute, no wind..............33.2km/hr (20.75mi/hr)
Slowest single commute into headwind.......17km/hr (10.6mi/hr)
Highest speed........................................79.9km/hr (49.9mi/hr)

My fastest commute was on a Monday morning, the slowest was an evening late in the week, into a howling southerly (I live due south of work)

Awesome stats.

How often do you have to stop for lights or cross streets? That is what brings my speed down drastically. My fastest single average is 30.0km/h, in the morning; my workplace is slightly lower in altitude than my home. My highest speed is about 72km/h. About 50% is on bike paths. Oh yes, my average does not include stopping and waiting, the computer stops accumulating time when the wheel stops, and that's the figure that comes up. I can add about 5 minutes' worth of waiting.

Very impressive stats. Would you care to tell us some of your tips for such high averages?

I thought they'd be ballpark figures for any reasonably fit commuter on a road/touring/recumbent bike. The only thing that makes a real difference is aerodynamics which is why I use aerobars and a trunk bag - panniers are like pulling a parachute. Different tires, full fenders (closely fitted), lights, all that sort of stuff doesn't seem to make any significant difference.

I don't stop, I treat them all like a 'give way'

my computer also doesn't count stopped time, I probably have no more than 5 minutes of stopped time, probably less as I spend about an hour on the freeway.

Cyclo, you need to slow down mate, you are making us all look bad

I can hold 35 km/h if i want to be stuffed after 5 mins.

You did 30 miles at almost that speed!

In other news, my rear axle crapped itself last night. Time to fix her up. Along with a new spoke which died about 5 mins after i realised the axle was gone. I'm putting aero levers on her too. $20 for the pair from Europa. Excellent... Oh yeah, forgot to tell you all that i bought an old roady to replace my 4000 kg monster of a mtb.

Back to Cyclo, i'm all booked up from the boss over the next 2 weekends. But i'm keen for a ride soon, you'll be a dad soon won't you? We'll have to beat that i suppose

My latest homebrew is getting into the bottle this weekend, should be ready in a couple of weeks

Mars, you said that you were a professor on here somewhere. What in mate?

There is about a foot or more in Saskatoon right now. These is a lot of snow to melt before the trails open up. It could be a late season for riding the trails in Saskatoon.

23 kph is my average, no matter what i eat or how much crap i put in my panniers. Lotta lights, traffic, bridges and hills. Highest speed each day is 60 kph if the light half way down the hill is green when i go thru (usually not).

33 kph, not on this body, next life when i come back i'll try it when im in my 20's again

Excellent ride in today. I forgot my boots at work yesterday (I caught a ride home.) So my feet were a little chilled in hiking boots. -20C and calm. The sun is up by the time I get to work now....whooho.....spring is around the corner.

Cycla - You really fly. My speeds average about 24kph in the summer and about 17kph in the winter(no computer in the winter).

This mornings commute was a bit on the extreme side for me. It snowed overnight with the temp just below freezing, so I was expecting pretty nasty roads. I switched to the studded tires this morning and didn't put tons of air in them. I could've put alot more, really. Most of the time it was just slush or in some cases half frozen slush on the shoulder. Over all it wasn't too bad

Holy Kiwi Juice BATMAN !!!
Wow !...
I guess you utter the little sentance under your avatar quite often ?

While I did not commute this past week, I did see some extreme stuff. Here's a photo of a neat bike, taken on Wednesday morning.