Hey Beth! Hope you're having a good winter! If you can call it winter with this weather! Great for biking ... not so great for skiing.


I haven't ridden any of the West Chester rides. If you ride any let us know how they are.
And I love Miracle Max! He cracks me up!

Hello all.

I am currently looking for a bicycle club to join and the two clubs that I am interested in are White Clay Bicycle Club and the West Chester Cycling Club. Does anyone have any personal experience with either of these two clubs? I am located closer to WCBC rides than the WCCC one, but I may be able to ride slightly more often with the West Chester club (due to babysitting provided by grandparents while giving the wife some much needed break time).

Thanks,

Morgolf

I don't know about regular club rides, but I can tell you that WCBC puts on a number of nice event rides. The Icicle Metric is only 2½ months away!

It looks like I may be relocating very soon to the Washington County (N. Strabane, Cecil, Peters Twp - between Pittsburgh and Washington PA) area. Anyone know of any group rides in that area?

Thanks.

The club I belong to has various, and many rides around those areas. The ride calendar on the site is basically empty, due to the time of the year. You can look at some of the past circulars on site, that will have past ride listings.
I noticed on your signature, or somewhere that you race. The following three shops as I know are active in racing.

Big Bang Bicycles (West Mifflin, PA)
Trizilla (Sharpsburg, PA)
Dirty Harry's (Verona, PA)

Lots of great riding in the area you have listed as a possible destination. Many country roads can be found in just a short drive, or ride.

Hope some of this helps,

Denny

Hey, I'm going to be in Harrisburg for a week at the end of March. Just looking for some possible rides around the city or surrounding area(i'll have a car) or a place to rent a bike.

The surrounding area either east or west has a multitude of available rides. The obvious urban choice would be the Greenbelt.

I'm not sure what to tell you about bike rentals. Is this something a LBS generally does? And what size/style bike are you interested in?

Any bike is fine with me with drops...the size is the problem. I ride a 63-65cm bike.

Typically the Hbg. Bike club's organized rides begin the first week of April, but I'm in touch with several groups that are out all winter. If you're interested, shoot me a PM closer to the time of your trip - most likely there will be a group going out that I can hook you up with. As for a rental, I'm not sure. . . best I can offer is LBS names and phone numbers. Again, PM if you want more specific info. . .

B

Oh and as to your quote "When fascism comes to America", They've been here for a while. You can usually find them blaming America for every problem worldwide, spitting on our flag, trying to force their ideaology on everyone else, trying to ignore the constitution, race bating, etc. They inaccurately call themselves liberals, but we know them as the far left!

^^^ They love psychotic ranting in Pol. & Rel.
Please take this type of nonsense there.
Inappropriate for this forum.

Hey, its a PA roll call!

Anybody in Lancaster? I need SS parts.

I haven't ridden any of the West Chester rides. If you ride any let us know how they are.
And I love Miracle Max! He cracks me up![/QUOTE]


Whats up folks! I live in Wilmington, DE, used to live in Landenberg, Pa(Southeastern Chester Co.), but I am looking for new places to ride. The main local trails around here would be: 1. White Clay Creek preserve(Pa. and De sections), 2. Middle Run preserve 3. Iron Hill 4. Fair Hill preserve(Md, Cecil Co.).
I just bought a new(used) bike, and it is the first mountain bike I've owned since the 90's, so it would be cool to start out fresh with some new trails! I wouldnt mind driving, say, 35 miles to go for a ride. If it was a really long, great trail with lots of scenery I'd drive further. It is now finally starting to get cold around here, so I'll probably be doing more skiing than biking, but in March-April the weather should be about right for some offroad biking. I am going on a hiking trip with 6 friends down the Shenandoah, Va section of the A.T. in about 2 weeks. That should be a little chilly!

Anyway, if anyone knows of any quality singletrack not mentioned above I'd be most appreciative! Thanks in advance, Patrick....

I only had time to call one LBS and they won't be able to help you. Did you see this thread? This seems to be a fabulous deal in that it's only about $40 more than a domestic ariline would want to transport a bike as luggage. The problem is that the max size is 61cm

You're going to need to shrink...

wow, I appreciate you taking the time to call. I think the demo program is a great idea! I think I might have them send it to the hotel and pick it up when I get there. That would be perfect as I was thinking about picking up an aluminum Soloist. Thanks again, SB

I went to holmes cycling the other day to check out the bikes. They are a great store and very helpful and nice because unlike other stores i felt like they were being truthful because they sold both trek and bianchi. I tried the brava for 629, the trek 1200 for 729 and the ocr3 for 595. I like the fit of the brava the best but the weight of the trek was really sweet. The trek is a bit more expensive and have found it cheaper at other stores so i was thinking about making them match to a 679 price i found somewhere else.

What do u guys think.

Ironic that you mention Holmes, because I just called them to see if they rented bikes...

They rent Lemond Reno's at 25/day; 45/2-day; 75/week. Unfortunately, the largest size that was available was 57cm. Maybe a little small for you, branman1986 (PM sent). If you have additional questions, they are at 717-737-3461.

I know many people who have bought bikes at Holmes and found them to be a great LBS.

+1 They are my favorite LBS in the area. Great - honest people.

You could ask them, but if they can not match it think about the service after the sale. Holmes is (IMHO) the best for service and honesty.

but what do u guys think. Should i rock the brava or the trek. The brava was a very smooth ride and i fit well in it. The trek was a lot lighter. Do you think i will always notice the weight difference? It is cheaper too and I think the brava looks nice.

It's really difficult to say without knowing how much priority you put on a given characteristic. The Brava appears to be made from some very non-descript material i.e. I think you'd like something with a Reynolds tubeset a little more than just cro-mo. They are both carbon steel, but the more expensive tubesets have additional fabrication (usually hardening) that allows thinner cross-sections without loss of strength. They are therefore lighter.

It really seems to me that you have reservations about both bikes. What was the characteristic of the 1200 that caused you to say the ride wasn't as pleasant? I'm certain that you could look at a Lemond Reno for pretty close to the same price as the 1200. It uses similar frame materials (and nearly identical componentry) as the 1200, but has the down-slope top tube that the Brava has. If you found a more upright ride to be more enjoyable, the Reno could be just the ticket. It should be pretty close to the same weight as the 1200.

A little west of Harrisburg (Mechanicsburg, Carlisle, Boiling Springs) is a great area for riding and is mostly flat to rolling. East of Harrisburg (near Hershey) is nice if you like it a little hillier. The Harrisburg Bike Club sponsors many rides in these areas – some all year long but fewer in winter. Visitors (with helmets) are welcome. If you go to their web site where you can view and download their newsletter. It lists the rides and locations. The March Newsletter is not out yet but most of the rides are weekly so you can get an idea from the Jan/Feb newsletter.

As far as a bike – email the club. Someone will know where to rent a bike or who has an extra one you could borrow. This is a very helpful and friendly club.

Your size is going to be had to fit with rentals or loaners.

On long rides, you're more likely to appreciate the comfort of the better fit than any weight differential. Besides, when your budget allows, think about lightening the brava by upgrading the wheels.

Hey everyone,
I'm in Dover, PA. I work in Mechanicsburg.

Hello, and welcome to our little corner of the forum's. Good to see a new friend from PA.