checoles

thats actually brilliant squidpuppet hahah!

SquidPuppet

If this is their plan, it makes no sense to me. It makes it worse. It's like saying, "We only lost 3 cents on that transaction, but we'll make up for it on big volume."

When I shop at amazon without PRIME I have to "pad" my order up to $25.00 in order to get free shipping. I have to be a little organized or patient. PRIME customers have the luxury of being able to satisfy their urge to impulse buy, regardless of total order price, because shipping is "Free". So they (we) do it. A lot. I can't tell you how many times I've ordered an $8.00 Blu-ray on a whim because the price dropped, or a $1.50 part to repair a bathroom ceiling fan, or two inner tubes for $10.00, or an $8.00 tub of grease. I know Amazon pays a special bulk rate to their carriers, and I'm sure the discount is very deep. But come on, 2nd day air freight on a $10.00 item? Even if they pay only 1/10th what you and I would pay at a UPS store, that's still a loss.

I guess it must be covered by high dollar items or big volume orders.

prooftheory

Even though Amazon started making a profit a couple years ago, I'm convinced that most of it is on the AWS side rather than the storefront. I think they are still dedicated to killing Walmart at the storefront and if that means losing money, so be it.

Leukybear 

Speaking of the devil, Amazon just charged me $109 last week for prime renewal!
I've been a prime member for 9 years. At this point, I don't know what I'll do without 2 day delivery.

Also, Amazon is going to probably integrate prime into whole foods market for additional savings.
They just put out a discount coupon for prime members to use at check out for 20% off turkeys.

scoho

Well, at least you're in good company.

seau grateau

Rear tire on my road bike somehow flatted while I was asleep, so I went for a little single-speed spin.

ggpepper

Hahaha....sorry I find this so funny.
My little 35 lb pup and I were playing in the backyard last week when I bent down to pick up the toy she was chasing. She jumped up at the same time with her skull catching me on the bridge of the nose. I went down like a sack of potatoes, so I know what you mean.

SquidPuppet

There is some serious ouch in the third one.

seau grateau

Went out for 30 miles, tried to go up hills fast, did better than past me. I cleaned and lubed my road bike's drivetrain last night and it's soooo quieeeeet.

TenSpeedV2

Today I did something completely unrelated to bicycles. I partially debadged the rear of my car. Looks a lot better now.

johnnytheboy

today i’m debating going back to disc brakes. for no good reason, really. i ran discs for years without issue (minus the occasional warped rotors / turkey warble) but my last few “adventure” bikes have been rim brakes. i’ve never ran into an issue with rim brakes- it’s very dry where i live and i’ve never personally ran into noticeably decreased braking when it’s wet anyway.
i actually think my paul canti’s stop as well as any mech disc brake i’ve ever ran / setup. these guys will stop on a dime. the (perceived?) issue is my rims wearing out prematurely vs a worn out rotor. that being said, i’ve had rim and hub failures unrelated to brake track wear, anyway.
it’s not so much the lust for something new and exciting, it’s more of the whole “i never have to **** with these things again” thoughts. but i really don’t ever mess with my rim brakes either. they stay adjusted, work really well and look good and classic.
i would imagine i’d get about 15,000+ miles out of a rim before it failed anyway, based on what i’ve seen in real life. which is ~5yrs or so of my riding (since i’ve got multiple bikes and don’t ride the same one daily).
am i insane?

ThermionicScott 

Sounds like you're just bored and want to shake things up.

johnnytheboy

also, today i checked my strava stats. for 2017 i’m at:
days ridden: 322 (every day of 2017 so far)
rides: 573
time: 389hrs
distance: 5,131 miles
elevation: 99,000’ <———lol don’t judge me.

seau grateau

36 miles today, met up with some buds from track which is always fun because the climbing pace is super chill.

Leukybear 

For the past weeks I've been riding a prototype santa cruz stigmata that a buddy loaned to me.

Being my first road/ cross bike with discs that I've had long term, I couldn't help but notice that brake fade/ loss of braking power with heat generated on the rotors is pretty significant compared to rim. Especially under prolonged braking downhill. No rim brake can beat a disc's initial bite when rotors are cool though.

It's not really noticeable with MTB due to much larger rotors and slower speeds.

TimothyH

Something is wrong or the rotors are not sized adequately for brake fade to happen.

Some of these ultralight spider web looking rotors are pretty but lack of mass to absorb heat scares me.

This is why I went with 160 mm rotors on my build instead of the 140 mm rotors which come on the factory build versions of my bike.

bonsai171

Today rode the singlespeed/fixie road bike off road on some smooth paths near the Chattahoochie river (yes, that's the name :-p lol). Realized the back wheel was out of true, and took it off the bike. My kids decided they wanted to help clean it with baby wipes, which worked out pretty well. It's nice and true now, but the paint came off the black nipples on the wheels. Are there any nipples that don't do that? Of course it's a function of the paint, so are there power coated nipples? Or maybe some kind of baked on finish? Fyi, sharpies do wonders for touching up the paint, just don't want to have to do that all the time!

Dave

Leukybear 

Nope, I actually swapped out the pads and rebled the brakes to no avail.

140mm r8000 freeza rotors, standard equipment on the ultegra trim. I could throw on 160mm which should help a bit but it's not my bike unfortunately.

From my previous post, it's not that I lost significant braking power, the power just seems to gradually wane as heat from the friction builds during a stretch of braking. Braking power/ modulation becomes a lot more variable than rim. Basically by the bottom I'm squeezing harder than I did at the top.

It's probably just me paying too much attention to them considering there's less to think of off the trail.

TimothyH

OK. You are probably right, but I do wonder how long your descents are.

Are you dragging the brake or do you release occasionally to allow them to cool a little? I try not to drag the brakes. One of my routes has -12% average grade for two miles.

It is often a fine balance between the need to slow down and the need to not exceed the heat capacity of the rotors. More mass = more heat capacity. That means bigger rotors. I'll bet 160 mm rotors will help a lot with the fade you are feeling. Finned pads might help too, if you don't already have them.


-Tim-

SquidPuppet

Definitely. With bike speeds and weights, there should be zero fade.

I always kinda chuckle that the bicycle industry is so many decades behind the motorcycle and auto industries when it comes to basic design and working the bugs out of stuff. There is a wealth of R&D that has already been done, and there to be tapped into.

TMonk

Road El Tour de Tucson this year with a personal best time. It's a fun ride and a memorable event. I have family in Tucson so I always make an extended weekend out of it and generally have a blast.

This year I was able to make the lead selection out of each wash/river crossing and finish in the lead group of ~40, behind a breakaway of 6. We came in at 4:10 for the 106 miles w 3,200' of elevation - so mostly flat. The leading 6 came in at 4:03.

TenSpeedV2

That is a pretty damn impressive pace for 106 miles.

TMonk

Thanks man. Key to that was the "group of 40" part

Still, I did my fair share of pace making and was pretty heavy in the rotation at the front for the last ~25 miles or so.

TMonk

Here's Friday morning from the (lovely) Starr Pass JW Marriot:





Wild Javelinas - very near-sighted

I might enjoy my stay here and ride on Friday morning through the Saguaros as much as El Tour!

johnnytheboy

a javelina wondered into my campsite in the ft davis mountains in west tx one evening. those things don’t **** around.