people are always jealous of what they can't have

If you go to Freiburg, look for my 1972 brown mens Raleigh Sports 3 speed. My daughter left it near the HauptBahnhof when she left Freiburg and Germany in 2002 after 2 years at the University. This is it in use twenty years earlier hauling around her brother and sister.

Note: It cost $82 new including the Brooks B72 saddle.

How do you like the "bad azz dropz" so far? Seems like you had some skepticism of drop bars and the people who use them in the past.

So let's hear some narrative! How do you like the ride, how does it compare to commuting your other bikes? Have there been any challenges that you didn't anticipate? Any pleasant surprises?

I predict that you'll easily reach your target £/km (or whatever). It's a nice bike; shoot for a couple of years and halve that!

And didn't even change the knobbies!!! That's hardcore!

Interesting. They're actually quite badly designed for commuting. For example, it would be nice to throw some hoods and brakes on there to see how that would be. They're inexpensive and kinda low-quality but I do naturally find myself putting my hands where the hoods would be and on the top bar. I guess want I have currently is like an interrupter brake lever which is quite nice when riding in moving traffic.

In synopsis, they're interesting enough to get me to try a real drops setup at some point with hoods/brake levers and interrupter levers.

Also of interest is that difference in geometry compared to the MTB. I feel that more of my effort is put to the ground compared to the MTB.

Overall, it's been quite fun and I think the bikes will end up being split like this:

in UK, just the "BSO" FGSS
in Germany, keep the MTB there so we can shoot into the alps when visiting family/friends
in CPH, keep the city bike locked outside of the flat so the couple of trips there per month
in Hungary, keep the on city bikes at the lake house because no one will steal them

so, maybe i'll take the FGSS across the country (UK) when it warms up a little

It's quite interesting as I've never had a road bike (if it's seen that way on BF is a different question) with drops and narrow wheels and tires. I've never had a FGSS bike before (besides a Haro freestyle bike in the 80s). So, it's been quite fun. It's a different riding experience, it's much more challenging but more relaxing as I don't have to think when riding at all, especially in traffic.

As stated above, the geometry is interesting as the power gets to the ground and I like the drops as they're something different. New country, new living standards, so why not a new bike at the same time?

I'm definitely out of shape after getting the bike (Sep 2013) compared to when I left Germany (Apr 2013) because I essentially travelled for the whole period in between and didn't really work out as I was either on holiday or sleeping on people's sofas/spare beds, which made me quite fat as everyone always wants to eats and drink a lot when they have guests.

It's been good for getting me into shape as it's quite uncomfortable to ride when going below a certain speed, so I really need to maintain the speed.

It will also be interesting to see how the components last as FFGS seems quite cheap, both in cost and quality. The surface of the freewheel is already rusting for example, as are the pedal threads into the crank arms.

However, I think it will be a fun experiment to see how much use I can get out of it

acidfast, remove your pedals and grease the threads generously. Then screw them back in tightly. You may want to do this every six months.

i did grease them generously, but i'll pull them out on do it again this weekend.

thanks for the tip

just did it with again with generous grease ... seems to just be the end of the pedal stud that is rusty ... cheap pedals!

back from Denmark and had an interesting dinner with some ex-colleagues

four Germans
two Ukrainians
me (American)
with a working knowledge of English, Spanish, German, Swedish, Polish, Ukrainian and Russian and we think Danish is messed up as you don't say all of the letters ... and it made me think of this Norwegian show making fun of the Danes ...



never mind that there's two Norwegian languages (+ high Norwegian!) ... lol

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_language

just noticed that the little bumps on the centre of the rear tire are beginning to wear.

will be interesting to see how much mileage I can get out the tires ... my prediction is 1100 ± 100 out of the rear.

here's a shot of the tread pattern new (from the web):

great however the roads now have frost so I try to be careful:

stats:

406km/252mi
£395/$633 total
£0.97/km
€1.15/km
$3.05/mi

goal is to catch up to the ratios of bigbenaugust:

6900km/4287mi
£267/$438
3.8p/km
5c/km
10.2¢/mi

photo:

interesting ride tonight:

windy and just got over a cough after 4 week ... first ride without it and i was quite faster than usual

in addition, the was water on the street and it really felt like the bike rolled better (maybe i need some grease in them thar bearings)... it was also +6C warmer than rest of the past week.

good ride:

stats:

425km/264mi
£395/$635 total
£0.93/km
€1.12/km
$2.40/mi

goal is to catch up to the ratios of bigbenaugust:

6900km/4287mi
£267/$438
3.8p/km
5c/km
10.2¢/mi

photo:

same as last evening, kinda crazy, must have a slight head wind in the morning and a slight tail wind in the evening.

good ride:

stats:

443km/275mi
£395/$638 total
£0.89/km
€1.07/km
$2.32/mi

goal is to catch up to the ratios of bigbenaugust:

6900km/4287mi
£267/$438
3.8p/km
5c/km
10.2¢/mi

photo:

*yawn*

Go Acidfast, GO! Hipster power!

why the pessimism. you hurt my feelings. not really.

Kids.these days ,, cant leave the phone at home.

let alone in their pocket for more than 5 minutes

??

I'm working on a manuscript in front of the computer ... it's only 22.05 and I just finished eating Should do some German before going to sleep.

Du bist kleine in der hosen!

....not at all sure about spelling that right.

Deutsch ist sehr schwierig

HOW DARE YOU MENTION MY MOTHER?!?!

Yes, I know - teen humour

No more yawn inducing than most of the 3700+ posts on the "How Was your Commute Today?" thread. At least Acidfast7 doesn't provide the day's weather in every post.

fishing is good here , Crab season .. shellfish licence only $7.

well it was bound to happen. was riding home from a dinner after work (after wine) to the pub and it was late at night around 0C/32F and the very last road to the pub was frozen.

i saw the glistening street and tried to stop but i couldn't get out the toe clips fast enough.

ouch.

so i ended up ripping the bar tape and banging my knee quite hard

stats:

462km/287mi
£395/$640 total
£0.85/km
€1.02/km
$2.22/mi

goal is to catch up to the ratios of bigbenaugust:

6900km/4287mi
£267/$438
3.8p/km
5c/km
10.2¢/mi

photo: