dtret7

I would hardly call this stalking.

I specifically didn't take pictures of him because that would be kind of creepy and this should be kept about the jackass bike.

And yes you cannot have a functional brake during races. Brakes are easy to unhook however if you want to ride to and from the track in a 103" gear. You also aren't allowed to not run end plugs.

To be fair I didn't know who you were when I took the picture I just saw the hilarious tarck bike and knew it had to be you.

Carleton's nice and all but he's really new to track racing. I think I was relatively nice at the beginning of this thread and originally in the granny gear thread. You still insisted that you do what you want and that you new better that us. Why would I talk to you anyway. I've pretty much given up on you learning anything except by your own mistakes. I even offered to help you in procuring your ill advised wheel. Maybe next summer you'll have wised up and we can laugh at this thread until then don't expect me to introduce myself.

devilshaircut

Responding out of politeness, but keeping it short:

- They threw them away and being a nice guy about it, I wasn't about to tell them to fish it out of the trash for me.

- I flipped the stem later. You are right, it was INCREDIBLY uncomfortable riding like that on the track. But you took that pic as SOON as I got to the velodrome, before I had made any adjustments. How is ANY of this for fashion??? That bike is EXACTLY how I purchased it off eBay (cept the pedals).

- Since you care, here is the exact eBay listing I purchased this bike from: https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=330326753300

- The pedals are crap, I agree. As you can see though, the bike did not come with pedals and I have not found a good deal on used Speedplays yet. I know you think I am an impulsive buyer but I actually wait until I find exactly what I want for what I believe is a fair price. Same deal with the wheels I am buying for the bike. If you check the threads I've posted in the past asking questions about gear, they go in order of purchase. First the post about Speedplays, then the post about wheels.

- Putting a brake on THAT bike is silly. I did it for Charleston and I took it off immediately after. I barely even used it and besides, cross brakes don't even FIT on those bars and I wasn't about to get a new stem and bars.

- OR I could just throw on the $8 hipster cyst (which isn't even a Knog, it was just the cheapest thing that would fit the bike). Sorry you read a bike snob article and now you have a grudge against these types of lights.

- I have a brake on my other bike, clearly I don't have a problem with brakes in general. I've said many times on this forum that if someone wants to use a brake, please do. I think for me on this particular bike, it is not a bad thing to go brakeless. I think it is a track bike, meant to be ridden brakeless and that this is within my capabilities to do safely.

- What tarck uniform? I was wearing a plain t-shirt and plain shorts that weren't even cutoff shorts. In fact, in my opinion, I was looking pretty rough, but hell, it was early on a Saturday morning. I am not posting about spandex because it is simple compared to wheels. Jerseys ordered? Check. Do I need to write a thread about that? No, I really don't.

- I've already been looking for helmets. Just because YOU don't know I have doesn't mean I haven't. I had been borrowing that Bern helmet so I wasn't going to rush the purchase. If you don't believe me, fine, but any of my friends will tell you I have been fretting about the purchase for a while. I don't really care if you think I am full of **** or not.

- I didn't say the track was the only place to train, please show me where I said that. I said I don't do solo training because it is boring. I do however do weekly fast rides in groups with my friends several times a week, which, imo, counts as strength training.

- The only time I "won" (came in first) was in the 200m sprint against two people who were geared lower than me in the 84-86 gear inches range, which I believe is considered appropriate. I am not saying they are wrong. Certainly they had adhered to general advice. I don't even think I won because of my gearing. I think I won out of luck and the fact that we were all new to it. Anyhow, I don't see your point.

devilshaircut

Please don't bother to introduce yourself next season or any subsequent season. Frankly, I have no idea who you are and perhaps I will end up introducing myself to you. But *clearly* I not the kind of person you want to get to know. You've already determined exactly who I am and what I am like, so why bother? You've made that completely clear in every post you've made in this thread. So please, save yourself the grief and pass on meeting this stupid, superficial hipster.

Continue to photograph my bicycles if you want though. Someone has to do it. Must have been fun waiting for me to turn my back so you could snap a pic of it though.

Geordi Laforge

take a deep breath devilsheadband - everything is going to be ok.

devilshaircut

You'd better watch out Geordi or I will come to your hometown and photograph your bike when you aren't looking.

dtret7

-get bar plugs it's dangerous to ride without them also tape. If you were trying to be nice to the people at the shop you should have bought new tape and plugs when you saw they threw yours out.
-You've been talking like you've been riding the bike for weeks. It never occurred to you that it didn't fit with the stem like that? It's not like this will only be a problem at the track.
-There is nothing silly about putting a brake on any bike that your going to ride around on the street. Especially if it's drilled and you own a brake and especially if you are going to use some crazy steep ratio.
-I guess everything else is just you going from polo and beer rides only to track, road and cross racing bikes in a month or two. There is really no excuse for not having a helmet at this point though, it's not hard to find one and you should anyway. Since all this squid stuff is such a sudden obsession maybe hold off on the wheels and get some cheap times right now you can use on a regular basis instead of worrying about finding a deal on speedplays. You just don't have the experience yet to make good decisions about that type of stuff yet as your bike is evidence of.

Once again if you want to race gear down to 70s for your daily rides. You're never going to do well until you comfortable spinning.

devilshaircut

- They must have forgotten, but honestly, I didn't really care. My friends in Atlanta will give them to me for free so I wasn't concerned.

- No, I stated before, I've had this bike for a matter of weeks. It is new. Before that, I was riding either my conversion (well, one of them) or my Mercier. Actually I still avoid riding the Cervelo on the streets coz it is overkill.

- I KNEW it wouldn't fit with the stem. I had to ask them for a road brake.

- There's nothing silly about riding brakeless either, if you have the skill. And as I say every time, I haven't met a person IRL who couldn't handle a brakeless bike without a little practice.

- Your assumption is wrong about my bike riding habits. I don't own a car, man. I ride my bike *everywhere*.

- When I get a helmet, I still will not ride with it. Call me dumb for it. You're probably right about that at least. But I'm just one of many dumb people not riding a helmet in the streets. Sorry, they are hot and ugly. That's no justification I know but I'm not here to impress you and this argument has been had a billion times.

- About the wheels, I don't see why you care if I skip intermediate wheels and go ahead and get something nice. If I decide I hate them, I will resell them. It's not like I am buying anything new, where they would lose a lot of value.

- That quote is taken out of context. I was talking about how if you wanted to have the perfect routine you would do EXACTLY what you were training for. But the reality of the situation is that often times we can't make it to the track to train because of rain, or because some event is happening there. So we do other things to get better. In fact, I was illustrating why I have to "settle" on doing other things as training.

- I never said spinning wasn't important to doing well at the track. In fact, everyone I know who can race has said this to me and in fact I have passed along the advice. But contextually this conversation about gearing wasn't even ABOUT the track. It was about my regular rides in the streets.

EDIT:

Actually I think that is kinda creepy to find someone online, find out where they are going to be for the weekend, go there without telling them, photograph their stuff, don't introduce yourself, then return to the world of the internet and tell them they are a crappy cyclist. Kinda weird. Just my opinion. Frankly, I don't even remember talking to you before the weekend but evidently you did and made plans.

(Also, I am still not seeing how the Cervelo is a jackass bike. I'll give you the bar ends despite the fact that the pics show clearly that the bike DID have them until those mechanics removed them. But since you ride in the drops on the track, it is unlikely your hands would slip out due to lack of bartape. Anyhow, it takes all of $1 and 30 secs to put bar ends in.)

And might I just add that I've been riding that 49:14 for like a month as opposed to having ridden 46:15 for over a year, which I believe is just over 80 GI. Mentioned that before in other threads but thought I'd just throw that one out there since you seem hung up on the big gear. I really do like the big gear though and everyone (including myself) has noticed how much faster I've been going having geared up. I'll also add that I have no aspirations of ever being "good" at the track. I just want to achieve my personal best. I know I will never have the time to be competitive there or in any other cycling realm and I know I also don't have the genetic predisposition toward being athletic. But that is fine with me, I just do this because I enjoy it.

dtret7

-This is really the last time I'm going to try to explain this to you. If you want to achieve your personal best you need to work on your spin. It clearly sucks otherwise you wouldn't think 49/13, 49/14 or when hills are involved 46/15 was a good gear. Since you seem too short on time to actually train the only way you're going to accomplish this is by working on it during your normal rides. That means you have to gear down. -You can fit a cross lever on those bars. - ok add commuting and riding to the bar to polo and alleycats. The point is you're going from a pretty standard hipster bike regimen to wanting high tech road, track and cross stuff and all the goodies that come a long with it at once. -You shouldn't skip intermediate wheels because those are the ones nice track bikes are most often ridden on. Also you don't know which race wheels will work for you and you shouldn't really be riding on them in lower cats anyway since it's not worth it and you probably don't have the best bike control yet. -Doing exactly what you are training for all the time is not the best way to get good.

pitboss

dvtret (the autofilter in this joint stars out "d-u-t-r-e-t", what the hell...) - ever vigilant. brilliant

don't forget that girlpants can be used as compression tights. that is definitely one overlooked aspect of fashion meeting function in the world of tarck bikes

queerpunk

^advice worth taking, and one of the few times that poster is going to package what he's got to say in a way that's in any way easy to receive.

he's right.

devilshaircut

Please, I don't really care about your "advice" at this point. I don't need someone to flame me for not wearing spandex and having a hipster cyst on my bike all to make the point that my gearing is about 8 gear inches larger than it should be on the track. I can, and have already researched the topic. I'm sorry I ride 92 gear inches on the street because I like it and that it angers you. I never recommended this ratio to anyone for the street OR for the track. I know you'd like to make it seem like I was boasting about it, but never did that happen. I have a bike with what you would consider a "reasonable" ratio. So your advice is just preaching to the choir. You think I am ignorant but everything you've said thus far is nothing new to me. I actually have 2 bikes with what you would consider a "reasonable" ratio. And 1 bike with more gear inches than that, and 1 bike with fewer gear inches than that. Sorry not all my bikes have exactly the same ratio. I have ZERO plans to change this bike. If I want to ride a 46:15, I will ride my other bike (and in fact it was this bike I road for the entire week prior to the DLV training I did). If I want that bike to have fewer gear inches, I will flip to the 17t cog.

The original topic was, what is a good suggestion for aero wheels. Somehow that degraded into you following me to the velodrome over the weekend and photographing my bike. You could have offered genuine, constructive advice when I asked for it (and it would have been appreciated), but you waited for an opportunity to try and make my bike look tarck instead and then somehow disguise that as advice.

I know you'd like to think I am a stupid hipster who just got into track bikes yesterday although I rode a road bike for 2 years before I ever tried a track bike. In fact, I avoided track bikes for that time because I thought they were silly for road riding.

Anyhow, I asked 2 bike stores for cross levers and none had any with the right diameter. I enjoy bikes in general. I am going to ride at the track. I am going to ride on the road. When I can use wheels for both, I am going to do it. I've ridden the mid and low end gear. I'd like to get some stuff that is considered high end. How many bike fashionistas want to ride carbon? Not many. They want steel. I am, honestly, baffled at the caricature of me you have created.

I really don't know what you want me to tell you. I am not going to apologize to you for the bike I ride or the way I ride it. I never claimed that my way is *the* way and in fact when I offer cycling advice to those asking for it, I typically answer with the "generally accepted" answer you'd probably find on a site like Sheldon Brown's.

And if you honestly think my setup is that bad, you should consider doing a little more urban riding, because you will see far worse.

pitboss

yeah - two years of urban riding pretty much puts you right in line with the deserving some sort of title. maybe you should make one up and have tshirts made. or hold an alleycat.

If you want Aero wheels for the track, check the Track Forum. You will actually find useful velodrome/track suggestions taht are focused more on the discipline of track racing and less on whatever it is that people do when they feel the need to get aero wheels for a track bike ridden on the streets. And if sidewinds are a huge concern to your velodrome career, don't buy into "aero" wheels.

devilshaircut

Somehow, I predicted SSFG was wrong for the question (since this question involved something high end), but I wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt. OP:

Anyhow, I don't really understand your first comment. I wasn't commenting on the length of time I spent on the bike, but the fact that it was on a road bike, and not a track bike. It doesn't give you street cred but I am pretty sure 2 years on a heavy steel Schwinn road bike cinches the "not cycling for fashion" title.

pitboss

drop it then - it was meant as sarcasm.

if you really want to know more about wheelset options.usage, etc for the velodrome, I highly recommend reading through the Track Cycling subforum. Most folks in this subforum are more concerned with color matching and other associated nonsnese. You can also talk to the senior riders at the velo - they know the environment and the recommended gear as well.

best wishes

devilshaircut

Yeah, I had actually asked people there already over the past few weeks but I was hoping to get some general advice online that wasn't as regional. Most people at the velodrome are going to offer the same perspective and I was hoping that the internet would give less regional bias. I also asked Brian at DLV and he gave me some helpful advice. Trust me, I will post in the Track Forum for questions about aerodynamic equipment in the future. I had posted there before but the drawback is that so few people actually post in that forum, whereas SSFG has a huge audience.

Gyeswho

Salsa Crosstops Levers come in OS to fit your bars if you want so you don't have to buy a new bar and stem:
https://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/bik/1174048139.html
When you're riding with a ration that high, it would make more sense to ride with a brake, but if you're really that set on keeping the bike "pure" then do so. Also, the set up you have (with the flipped stem now) is not overkill because your wheels are not super expensive and make sense for the road.

The whole helmet thing is kinda dumb because when you're riding you shouldn't be concerned with how you look to others when in motion. The minute you get off the bike you can take the helmet off so you don't look dumb. Helmets do come with good ventilation now, so you can find one with large holes and high hole count. I'm only stressing this because I've heard of a lot of people getting saved a lot of issues due to wearing a helmet. But at the end of the day, do what you want.

devilshaircut

Thanks for the heads up on those brakes ... I will definitely get some. I like to fit my bike with a brake for alleycats so I don't have to ride as slow. Generally I don't ride that brakeless track bike in the streets ... but the other bike I ride in the streets is also brakeless ... although it has a lower ratio. Yeah, I don't think an aluminum bike is overkill for the streets ... most of my friends will tell me it is. But I think it is as durable as any of my steel bikes. Mostly I think the aero shape is overkill but even then I don't really care either way. My steel rig has a more compliant ride so it's a bit more comfortable.

When I get these nice wheels, they are DEFINITELY not going to see the urban streets, where they would get trashed. I will take them out for longer rides on a road bike (swap the front) or just ride them on the velodrome.

I admit the helmet thing is dumb.

pitboss

so you want non-regional advice on aero wheels? ok, you are overthinking it all. there is no reason to roll a disc wheel outside of a velodrome imho. the potential wind disadvantage and the additional millisecond of time it would give a novice rider is not worth the cost. if you want a good all-around "aero" wheel option, Zipp 404s are a great place to start off for track-specific "aero" carbon wheels. They are tubular.
Clinchers would be nice here since your bike tenure indicates a high interest with low experience - so look for something that is flexible - budget and function-wise. As you carve out your niche in cycling over the years, look to something specific to your focus.

devilshaircut

People favor different brands (and wheel types, i.e. disc/spoked) in different places, in my experience. I was thinking Zipp 404s too, most people seem to like these, and obviously they are very popular.

As for tubulars, I don't feel they are a bad option actually ... I only ride clinchers because I haven't ridden much at the velodrome, but I've ridden thousands of miles on the road which equates to many flats. Low track experience, high road experience although nothing professional obviously. These wheels are going to be ridden a little more conservatively than my clinchers, so I am not afraid of them being tubular. Flexibility is actually my least concern for these wheels since they will be used specifically. I don't wanna be the guy riding Zipps downtown.

dtret7

This is an example of why you should wait. 404s or cane creek enduro 50s are probably the best choice if you are going to be going on recreational road rides with them(though normal wheels would be better still). They also may be the best for longer tts. If however you end up deciding you like sprints and short tts better something more aero with respect to head on wind would be a better choice. Even then you can't really know what to buy however. If it's going to be track only an older zipp or hed disc will be a good choice. If you're using it for road tts you'll need something newer. Aero wheels aren't that great to ride on in most circumstances. They aren't very comfortable, are harder if not impossible to true and really really suck when it's windy.

If you keep coming to the track your going to want some nice training wheels anyway. Why not get them now, race on them for a year or two and then if you still want something fast and carbon when you can actually use it and will know better what you want. Maybe in 2005, look at the other jackass bike aka pista concept thread.

devilshaircut

As I said before, I have zero plans to use this nice wheelset for recreational rides. I am happy riding my Velocity rims for that. I would only be trashing good quality equipment otherwise. I want to use the nice wheels strictly for when I am at the track, and the front I will probably use on the road too (but likely not in the city).

I'll give you the thing about the Concept explosion but still, I don't see much carbon. I've seen one dude pimping a SS carbon bike on the streets and he works at a bike shop and got the frame for free because it was slated for destruction. Anyhow, I was talking about carbon wheels. I don't think people concerned about fashion ride carbon wheels. I think we can all agree that Deep V's are obviously the rim of choice for that.

dtret7

uhhh hed3s? So you're going to start racing on the road or you just don't consider rides that leave the perimeter as recreational for some reason? Seriously aero wheels pretty much suck unless you are racing at fairly high speed. Even when you're at the track you'll quickly learn that it's nicer to be on some xxx/reflex wheels than your race wheels. Buy those now and let the aero wait.

devilshaircut

I don't really see people with HED3's cept online. And even then it's been a while.

What I meant before is that I typically do not leave the Perimeter when I do my rides. And obviously inside the Perimeter, the roads get pretty rough. Why practice on nice wheels when my Deep V's will work just fine? I've no desire to wreck them on railroad tracks, potholes, or steel plates you see everywhere in Atlanta. I'll ride something like the Silver Comet with those rims maybe ... but honestly I don't see the point. I'd feel much less paranoid riding my cheap wheelset.

I don't really want to buy a *lot* of gear for the track. I am going to get one nice wheelset and let that be that. The consensus has been to get 404s, so that is likely going to be my purchase when the right deal comes along.

EDIT: Remember, I don't have a car, so getting OTP necessitates me riding out there. That area is less familiar to me and I'd rather avoid a night ride back, especially given how Atlanta has so few desirable roads that lead OTP. I've ridden out there before past Doraville and Dunwoody, but I didn't like it. Considering I can easily just ride around Midtown and Downtown for 20 or so miles.

dtret7

you've never ridden out east ponce?

devilshaircut

Toward Stone Mountain? Yes. Generally when I go in that direction though I stop at the Farmer's Market though coz that's my destination. Jason Kofke does a group ride out there weekly though. I've actually been west near Cascade Heights before and north of that by Chattahoochee before as well, but I'd say most commonly my riding puts me up near Doraville or Dunwoody. I have friends that live out by Dunwoody and I go to Doraville to get Korean food coz it is delicious.