theunartist

Yes!!! They haven't figured out how to make a soul out of carbon...

theunartist

Best set of pedals I have. Used to ride with toe clips but in the city with stop and go traffic that just wasn't working. These are inexpensive but for me work like a charm, the "gripping" power of the little "nails" is superb!!!

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01ILX7O..._GTrZzb3FBSC8A

jskash

My new 2018 Giant Escape 1 Disc

timgriffin2

My new Crosstrail Sport on a 90 degree Florida day. I moved over the tail light, water bottle holder and under seat repair kit from my 10 year old Trek 7.2FX for now until I figure out what it needs to best suit my needs

aricc24

Took her out for a spin today....
Ended up grabbing a cheap seat pad because the colors matched. Kinda like it

Pops1959

It has been a while since I've been able to post a photo of my bike due to issued with the photo hosting services I've tried. However, it looks like I've solved the problem.... I hope.

rumrunn6

beefy tires you ever carry 5 water bottles?

Kevsumac

My new baby

Kevsumac

rumrunn6

very nice, BTW, you can edit a post & add photos. you don't have to do another reply ...

Skipjacks

I took my Crosstrail out for a test run today around the neighborhood to test my new pedals.

It really is a quick and nimble bike when I don't have all my work stuff on the back weighing it down. I do like it as a commuter but I also like being reminded of what a really fun bike it is to ride without all the extra gear (panniers filled with a change of clothes and often my computer)

hokiefyd 

@Skipjacks, your Crosstrail looks great! I'm sorry if I missed it earlier, but it looks like you have a super small pannier bag setup at the front of the rack -- does it straddle the rack mount and have a compartment on both sides? Could you perhaps take a closer picture of how that's setup? Thanks.

dslteck

:d

Skipjacks

Yeah I do! It's my own little creation.

It's where I put my phone / keys / wallet / cash / whatever else might be in my pockets / etc. I like having it because 1) it keeps that stuff organized and separate from anything else and 2) I don't always want to take my full sized panniers or a trunk bag. Sometimes I just want to go for a joy ride with little gear. But I still want my basic stuff protected.

First off I used this bag (Type 1 in the options)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PRRHI92
The right bag for your bike will vary based on how much room you have to work with.

I removed the cell phone case in the middle. (It was just velcro'ed on)

It's supported by the forward arms of my rear rack. I got lucky in that the arms for my rack are relatively horizontal on my bike. Different rack or different bike and those forward arms could be sitting at a very steep angle. If you look at the post above this one of a different Crosstrail with a different rear rack, you'll see different support arms for the rack that my mini pannier set up wouldn't work with. So I lucked out with a set up that was conducive to this. (This was NOT pre-planned. I set up the rack THEN realized the tiny pannier would fit there)

Anyway it's supported by the rack's forward arms. And it's kept off the rear tire by the bike frame. It took some patience to get to properly strapped down and stable but after some trial and error I got it to work.

The left side pouch is just an empty pouch. That's where I put my keys and wallet and stuff.

The right side pouch is a dedicated smartphone bag. I took an block of foam rubber and cut it to the size of the bag's interior then sliced it down the middle. Then I wrapped the foam in a piece of self adhesive felt for softness. So I can just toss my phone in there and it's nice and protected from bumps on both sides. Behind the foam I store a zip lock baggy too in case it rains. I can toss my phone in the zip lock bag for extra protection.

And I keep a shower cap tucked under my seat that I can pull out and cover the whole set up with in under 10 seconds if I suddenly get caught in the rain. It balls up really small under the seat and stays out of my way. Again, it's by dumb luck that a shower cap my wife happened to have is the perfect size to fit over this.

Also I don't have it pictured here but I have my spare tire tube folded up and wrapped in a velcro strap and then I just sit it on top of the mini panniers where the velcro felt from the cell phone case used to be. It sticks to it like glue but is easy to access and remove.

The front of the bags sit about even with the seat post so the back of my upper pegs bumps them if I straighten my legs on the down stroke of pedaling, but that serves as a reminder to me not to fully extend my leg and lock my knees out. As long as I don't lock out my knees I don't hit the bags.

If you ask why I would go to all this trouble instead of just using it on the top tube as this kind of bag was designed for the reason is because I didn't want to

First off I didn't like how it looked. I liked it on my last bike. But I thought it looked bad sitting up front on the Crosstrail.
Second it didn't fit right on the Crosstrail because of the gap between the tubes. It's designed for a smaller frame bike.
Third it was in my way of reaching forward to lock/unlock the suspension fork.

hokiefyd 

Thank you for the pictures. I, too, would probably not want it on the top tube, and I like where it sits at the front of the rear rack like that. Nice work!!

Skipjacks

You're only like the 3rd person who's noticed it since I put it on back in April.

One guy on a rail trail I ride on thought it was awesome.

But one guy I was stopped next to on a street corner on my commute to work was somehow offended by it. He asked what it was and when I told him he started ranting something about how no one respects tradition and wants to change everything that already works great. He peddled off in a huff still yammering on about how mad he was that I'd use something other than exactly as intended.

I just stayed on that corner for about 5 minutes to let the dude get nice and far ahead of me. He seemed like one of those guys who wasn't biking for fun, but because the court said he couldn't operator a motor vehicle anymore.

You meet some weird people when biking. Most people are nice and interesting folks. But you do meet some oddballs now and then.

hokiefyd 

I realized, after looking at one of my bikes yesterday regarding this, that my rim brake setup would probably conflict with a small pannier right there. Your bike has disc brakes which means the seat stay area is nice and clean; and I have brakes there.

CC driver

Here's a pic of two hybrids that are 22 years apart. The new (red) bike is of course a true hybrid by today's definition (urban friendly geometry, flat-bar, road worthy drive train, etc.). When I bought the older bike in 1995, I was living in Chicago then, there were no hybrids at the time. As I recall, there were road bikes, mountain bikes, and comfort bikes. Living in the city the knobby tires the bike came with weren't really practical, so I switched them out for a pair of 26x1 3/8s road tires. Perhaps this was the first 'hybrid' bike?

andrei_r

Cool!
Could you post another pic (90deg side view) showing both bikes one behind the other so that we can better see the geometry differences/similarities?

Do you still ride the old one?

hokiefyd 

Yeah, that's a great perspective!

By the way, the Crossroads was Specialized's hybrid bike at the time your Hardrock was manufactured. 1993 is the earliest Crossroads model that BicycleBlueBook.com notes, and that's likely about when they first came out. There are a bunch of cool '90s hybrids in this thread. At the time, they were basically mountain bike/touring frames with 700c wheels and flat handlebars. Cool stuff.

tengtengvn

My free Diamondback.

ColonelSanders

Why was it free?

tengtengvn

I bought the black bike while the bike shop had 30% points back promotion. Just enough to pay for a set of pedals and the Diamondback bike. Also no sale tax for the DB since the balance was $0 after they appied the points as discount.

ColonelSanders

Well done.

fire

Not on yours perhaps, but it shows up just fine on my phone.