bradtx

I couldn't practice that kind of self control.

Brad

alexaschwanden

update: today my biking friend and i rode about 50 miles and i had a flat through the boot i made long ago (remember the hole in the tire?) so i place another two layers of inner tube square boots on top of the other ones and hopefully that will work for a well before i swap out for the new tires. i do this to get as much wear use on what i have, and the rest of the ride was still fun. Nothing much has changed, i found a odd noise from the rear of the bike and later found out it was a lower rack bolt that wiggled lose.

alexaschwanden

Update: I finally got around to swapping out the front chain-rings for a lower gear ratio. I replaced the stock 26-36-48 with 22-32-44 today and took it on a small 10 mile test ride with some hills and long flat areas. The results are amazing, the low end is a lot easier to seat and climb and the top end i can actually sprint pretty hard. Also i swapped back the original saddle because its more comfortable compared to the black edition one.

Niles H.

Thanks for the update and photos.

Nice setup.

It would also be great to see some video highlights of your trips, if the spirit moves you.

LeeG

The big ring on my cross check is 44 teeth and it's just right

DW99

From the first photo at the LBS to today, have always thought that was a good looking bike. Love that color.

Changing all three chain rings is something for me to think about also, was planning to change the shortest one to a 26 or 24, whatever will work smoothly, but all three would allow a more practical setup from the 48,40,30 that I have now. For my purposes the 48 is too long and the 30 is way not short enough.

Thanks for the updates alexaschwanden.

bradtx

alexaschwanden, I have a NOS 28-38-48 that I thought I'd rather use on my T bike because I'm in a pretty flat area most of the time. The 22-32-44 has won me over, in combination with the 11-30 cassette. I can spin out on a long downhill, but that's been the only, and very minor negative experience. I think you'll enjoy your new crankset.

Brad

alexaschwanden

Update: today i got the last of the parts for my flatbar touring bike project. i converted from drop bars to flatbars(it took 3 hours start to finish). I learned alot through a few mistakes, cables are not easy to cut, measure twice cut once, listen to music it keeps you calm. i still have a few little things to do like, put my NEW tour plus tires on, derailleur refinements, go on maiden voyage. tell me how you like it so far.
Before:

After:

Niles H.

Very nice looking cockpit. I like it.

bradtx

Not to be negative, far from it, but I think there is still some room for house cleaning to take care of WRT trimming the cable housings and cables on the brakes. Here are photos of my mountain bike's cables for reference:




Brad

alexaschwanden

Update: I did a 57.9 mile ride with different terrains like, sand,gravel,tarmac,trails and a bit of off road mountain climbing, it handled quite good and it was a bit faster. i dropped by the LBS to address the long cables and shortened them. i still need to dial the fit in some more and put on the tires, get real grips because i am using the bar-tape as a temperately solution. thanks for viewing and commenting, stay tuned.

Niles H.

Thank you for the updates.

bradtx

In general, when replacing a drop bar with a flat bar a longer stem is required for the flat bar.

Brad

LuckySailor

Envious! Nice bike. Like the handlebar bottle holder. Haven't seen one of those before. REI sells a Safari that is brown-but the rootbeer color is sooooooo much nicer!

Piratebike

I have really enjoyed reading this. I only hope to get as many miles on my New 520.

alexaschwanden

To Bradtx: i did do some research on what to change for the conversion, and i had a 80 mm stem that i changed to a 100 mm plus i need to move the seat back a few mm's to be more comfortable. Right now my back is not feeling so well, so the changes will take place once it heals. My guess too aggressive of a riding position or climbing some hard hills and jumping off of them.

bradtx

Excellent.

Another fitism concerns the new crankset. If the crankarms are longer than the previous crankset's you'll want to lower the saddle equal to the difference, which may also require moving the saddle rearward.

Brad

clasher

Nice setup! I like those deore shifters, they've treated me and few friends well over the years.

alexaschwanden

Update: I rode the flatbar configuration for about 180 miles this week and learned a few things.
pros
-------
a little bit better climbing
faster shifting/braking

cons
-----------
ability not that comfortable as i thought
no aero position(drop bars)
limited hand positions

Also i learned how to convert flat bar to drops and vis-versa, not all bikes will work perfectly with your riding style but experiment and see what happens. so i changed it back to how it was before. It was an interesting project to start and test out.

LeeG

Great thread Alex, the Bay Area is where I did most of my riding. You really do have the perfect bike.

alexaschwanden

thanks i try to keep it simple and use it for everything. I really enjoy using these small 1380 cu. panniers, they are quite practical.

bradtx

alexaschwanden, Too bad the experiment didn't work out as planned from a cost standpoint, but in the end you've learned what works best in most situations for you. My panniers are about the same size as yours, perhaps a bit smaller, and I've found them more than enough for my day tripping. I still plan on buying a small platform rack for the front for over nighters.

What fenders do you have, I need a new set?

Brad

alexaschwanden

I have the Planet bike fenders on the front and back, they work quite well but the front does vibrate from side to side when hitting small bumps no matter how snug the mounting bolts are. I noticed i have a crack on the rear fender near the mounting bolt at the kickstand, i plan on fixing it eventually.

bradtx

Thanks for the info and review.

Brad

alexaschwanden

Tour of Marin headlands 72.6 miles plus Caltrain
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Today I rode 72.6 miles from Palo Alto to Hawk Hill on top of the Marin headlands and then rode to Cal train and took it home. I had a bowel of cereal and a zip lock bag of honey nut O's with some pita sea salt crackers that lasted the whole trip and water, so about 600-700 calories for 72 miles not bad huh?. also i saw a basketball, soccer ball, and volley ball all toss a side along my trip, it weird how they get out in the middle of nowhere. In San Francisco the weather was quite nice but moderately windy and a lot of human traffic plus tons of new construction so aware.