Originally Posted by seypat

If your bike has a TurboSpoke, you don't have to worry about being seen or not seen. You'll always be heard. It'll keep you from zoning out as well. Win win.

https://youtu.be/lkor-DErceM

Originally Posted by urbanknight

I prefer to feel as if the bike and I are one. The ride becomes smooth and secure when I can treat the handlebar and wheels like an extension of my body.

Originally Posted by PeteHski

Pretty much all that you mention above are mostly subconscious actions for me. I did a fairly challenging timed century ride on Sunday and the only thing that I consciously noticed about my bike was a little bit of excessive drivetrain noise in the lowest rear gear (like maybe the low limit screw was slightly too tight). Apart from that niggle, my bike was pretty much invisible in a positive way, like an extension of my body. Leaving me to concentrate on pacing, hydration, fuelling and the group dynamics. There was one guy flapping about erratically in the group I was riding with, that I consciously kept away from! Some of the road surfaces were very poor, so that was on my conscious mind at times too. But not really the bike itself.

I think a lot comes down to what is conscious thought vs subconscious auto pilot? Most of the bike interaction happens subconsciously as it does with driving. That's one of the reasons why learning to ride or drive is difficult from scratch as everything has to be learnt consciously, which is a much slower process. Once an action becomes subconscious it is effectively performed automatically with a much faster and precise reaction. Like your example of cornering on the bike. I would think all that happens subconsciously in the moment. Or are you really thinking about all those individual factors in real time? I would bet not.

Originally Posted by Carbonfiberboy

I don't care for conscious and subconscious

Originally Posted by PeteHski

The distinction is critical though. Anything involving conscious thought is a relatively slow process. The more of the workload that is dealt with subconsciously, the more capacity you have for conscious thought. I've studied this a fair bit through working with professional racing drivers. Pretty much all the driving technique occurs on a subconscious level. Things are happening way too fast for conscious thought to be of any use. But this frees up their conscious thought to evaluate their position in the race, radio communication, adjusting car settings etc. All that thought goes on while they are driving flat out effectively on auto-pilot. It must be the same with pro bike racers. I'm pretty sure the bike will be invisible to them unless they have a mechanical. It may be very different when riding in a less stressful environment, where your mind can wander and you may consciously choose to think about your technique and interaction with the bike. That sounds like what you are doing here. Others might focus their mind on something completely different. It could be the scenery, the upcoming cafe stop or whatever!

Originally Posted by Carbonfiberboy

They say that great drivers can tell which tire is a few pounds low and exactly how the suspension needs to be adjusted.

Originally Posted by SoSmellyAir

a perfectly setup front derailleur.

Originally Posted by yaw

Can you go into more detail as to where the difficulty in that lies, or what kind of nuance you are after? With the latest bike I picked up, I put it on the stand and set the Ultegra FD up from scratch based on the Shimano manuals (which is evidently different to how mechanics at the shops do it, and how most video tutorials approach it) and it has worked perfectly since, only some tiny adjustments to realign the cable tension indicator after a couple 1000km.

Originally Posted by yaw

The only gripe I have is that the cage is awfully close to the crank, like 0.5mm, to properly clear the chain under load in the 11 cog.

Originally Posted by SoSmellyAir

I also follow the steps described in the Shimano dealer manual (DM-FD0002-05-ENG) for my FD-5800. These two scenarios are impeding my quest to attain oneness with my steed:

(1) Slightly noisy chain when cross-chained between big chain ring and physically biggest rear cog (even in T-trim position); and
(2) Slight rub when on small chain ring and fourth physically smallest cog. According to page 4 of the Shimano dealer manual this phenomenon should only affect the 3 smallest cogs.

I also find that I don't really need to use L-trim (the innermost position), but I am not sure whether that is related to the two issues above.



< 1 mm lateral distance between outside of FD cage and inside of right crank arm when in the physically smallest cog!?

Originally Posted by Carbonfiberboy

So whether you have doubles or triples, just care about the gears you need to use, not all the gears you have. Adjustments get a lot simpler once you decide to do that.