SWEden No universal OPa/OMa bike that every one has ridden for 100 years like NL?


One of My friends (80+) has twice yearly visits by his Wife who still lives around Stockholm,

she flys over to MN first where there are Their children abd grandchildren to visit.

Then out here .. when she flies back He has more food prepared in a thaw and Eat larder. to cook for a few Months.

almost no commuters in northeast England. everyone rides drops :( it's like being back in the states :( and it's all in ENGLISH so I understand every benign word of every conversation

:cry:

Well at least the Slang is a little different..

^this.

We did this a couple of years ago. My wife's crosshairs in a 54 frame comes in at 19lbs including pedals (most bike weights don't include pedals). That's with tubular tires (aluminum rims) using the Tufo system.

The biggest thing for getting that bike to accelerate is having light wheels. You can save a couple hundred to three hundred grams on wheels by going with aluminum tubulars over clinchers (aluminum). Our experience with the Tufos is 1/6th to 1/8th the flats - where we would get multiple flats before, we now seldom get one until the tire is down to the threads.

J.

Okay, OP -- you rode an $11K roadie, now you're dead set on a $3K cross bike to use for utility/commuting/training for some unfocused purpose. Have I got that?

I'm HALF-tempted, from the way you approach the other posters here, to tell you to put slicks on your Trek and just man up. I ride a full-suspension Kona for everything, and any ride under 10 miles can be done at an average speed of about 14mph. WITH fat knobby tires.

But, I'll be nice.

Surly Long Haul Trucker.

Yeah, but knobbies make it difficult to perform on-road structured training. Every commute is a race ;)*

Maybe if you're in NOLA with a video camera*

LOL. Caught your "fine print", too -- just don't associate me with that rolling hemorrhoid, I have him on ignore.

The knobbies have less impact on structured training than the suspension does! Kona rides better with some squish dialed in.... Seated pedaling is glass-smooth, but standup is like waves on the shoreline. (But it HOPS SO nice....!)

Ok, got it; but is it possible for you to make a single post on BF without ranting, sneering or casting aspersions on "wannabes"?

You too must have listened to a radio show to know so much about cycling. :)

BTW, my NSA decoder ring outed your Top Secret hidden message :thumb:; not only is every commute a gosh darn race, it is an opportunity to count coup on unworthy riff-raff who only think themselves Real Cyclists™.

I'm actually surprised he didn't get called out on this:

I know several good female bike mechanics,including a Trek store manager and an owner of an independent shop.

That's kind of offensive to those of us who ride fixed 85% of the time yet recommend that one rides their geared bike is one gear for awhile before they go with a single speed.

I had something constructive to say...............I think that I will keep it to myself and back out.

He was raised by a woman so he does not know how to hold a tool, he does not take seriously anyone who has ridden for years and has more than one bike, he rode an $11,000 dollars bike and know knows everything about absolutely nothing. Oh well.

Seriously, I do wish you luck, we all need to learn our lessons, sometimes hard, sometimes easy. I been there, still there, learning things the hard way. You may have been raised by a woman but you got that male behavior down pat.

Buy whatever you want, we are not talking about life changing amounts of money, do it, learn from it and someday you too will not be taken seriously by anyone under 30 :).

LC

That's 90% of your problem right there. Just spend $22 on a pair of these and spend a little more time researching.


There's the other 10%. Cats suck to begin with, but a cat that prevents you from buying a bike, that's a cat that's gotta go!

More constructively, for your relatively large budget, take a look at the Volagi Viaje. It's not a cyclocross bike as much as a Rando/endurance bike, but it's steel, it's got rack&fender mounts, it's got disc brakes, it's got tire clearance (up to 700x42), and it's beautiful.

I took another look through this thread, and a few things stood out to me on the re-read.

Okay, unskilled with his hands, not a crime. . .but misogynistic on top of it.

So he is the sole exception to the 'trap' of wanting structured training without being a Lance wannabe -- well, I'll be........

Folks, Cycling 360 Podcast is the new bible! And a Trek 6000 is the WORST thing you can ride...even worse than a Huffy Cranbrook cruiser.

Doesn't want to be a racer, but knows all about what it takes to win a race. And anyone who has more bikes 'just doesn't get it', are just like the legions of SS'ers who also own a fleet, but want everyone else on their own SS..............

Believes he will catch more flies with vinegar than honey; and all these riders who have experience, have been riding for years, LOVE it to the point of building up a STABLE of bikes, are delusional about what it takes to find the right bike.

$1000 on the CAT? Didn't he say something about 'frugal'...?

A limited test ride is a trap, to make new riders buy parts they don't need.

All I can say is..........WOW.

I USED to talk smack about the customers I dealt with, who shrieked in horror at a $149 price tag for a complete bike; I now think I PREFER them.

Thrasymachus,

I started riding a lot a few years ago with a heavy, old Trek 800 that I had bought in the early 90's. I eventually replaced the stock wheels with much nicer rims and hubs and thinner road tires (with a less aggressive tread pattern). That made a big difference and was a relatively in expensive upgrade.

An expensive cyclcocross bike would be nice, but you might also want to consider something middle of the road/less expensive. Trek, Giant and the other big manufacturers have nice "fitness" bikes which have light aluminum frames, decent components, and 700C wheels and these bikes would be faster than your mountain bike, good for commuting (they have eyelets for racks and stuff), and would be good general purpose bikes. You might be able to get a less expensive bike that would meet your requirements. I bought an inexpensive Hybrid after riding my mountain bike a lot and it was significantly faster than my mountain bike, yet affordable and comfortable to ride.

I would definitely test ride the bike before you bought it (or something very similar to it in the correct size). Also, try out some other bikes. I commute on a touring bike (trek 520). it has a steel frame but it is very ride-able and I go much faster on it than my mountain bike.

Actually, on this theme - I was fooling around with a bike I built up almost 30 years ago: A classic Basso road racing frame complete with 6 speed Dura-Ace when the very first index shifting came out. My son rides it now and we were looking at putting larger tires on it. Funny but it would handle easy 28c (what we were looking at) but it would also likely go to 32c. It's a beautiful bike and fun to ride but it's not worth a whole lot today. Something like that could work well, be really inexpensive compared to what you actually get. In fact, I think that might have been the thinking behind cyclocross when it started.

Both of my kids inherited the old road bikes that my wife and I used to ride several decades ago. They are beautiful bikes, with campy components, classic french frames, hand built custom wheels of the day etc... They've become their university bikes and their transportation. Again, these bikes really are not worth much but they really punch above their weight in terms of performance and utility. Given the quality of the components and frames, they hold up extremely well and make great commuter bikes. At some point, both bikes will probably get made into single speeds to keep up with university bike fashion - nothing cooler than a classic racing frame now made into a single speed for use around the university.

That all said, I have a road carbon frame bike (circa 2007) and I have my Gunnar Crosshairs. The Gunnar is surprisingly versatile - it's my adventure bike. I have a pair of tubular alloy rims for road use and a pair of clincher rims that I use with some 38c tires (Kenda small block 8) for fire trail and "adventure" riding. It's a great bike and I'd pretty much recommend it to anyone as a "first" bike for it's versatility. Given that I don't do heavy mud riding though, if I were to do it again, I might go for the Gunnar Sport (toss up, really). It also supports racks, tires to the same size but has caliper brakes and is probably a bit lighter and more peppy. Either way, with the Crosshairs, it's got that sort of all day long ride quality. Very compliant ride, accelerates well and climbs well. Very comfortable and I like it very much. It's really made me re-think my coming upgrade to my carbon frame and electrics - I may be looking at a custom steel frame for that as well. That's how good the Crosshairs really is.

J.

http://salsacycles.com/bikes/warbird_ti - but no mounts for a rack. When you want lighter weight I think you eliminate the rack option in many cases. Maybe a backback?

For what its worth I think you have been very clear about your needs/desires and have expressed yourself well. No need for anyone to take offense at what you have typed. I'd go back to "our regular programming" and get you the information you need.

The OP appears to have been banned.

new word for the day is gotta to be meckerer. I like it. Danke.

And it describes this op to a T; perfect word.

Oh, I'm late to the game - thanks for the update. It was starting to derail midway through. Hard to get it back on track from there. Also, we don't get to see those posts that were sent in but intercepted by the moderators, so it might have gotten worse had they not pulled the plug.

Anyway, I hope the OP continues to inquire, and gets the bike he wants.

The mods seem to be wielding the ban hammer often lately.

This is brilliant; thanks for sharing.

Check out the Norco Threshold; alu, eyelets, but only come stock with shimano (easily swappable to SRAM). Im waiting on the 2014 stock because they be lookin fine. Range from 1500-900(new sora)

Ride quite nicely too!