Hey you guys like bikes?

  WhoNeedsElectricity said:

  abracadabra said:

im thinking of converting my 10-speed to a fixie...but i dontknow yet. i also need new rims, my rear one is bent.

Definitely a good idea.

i don't get it, sounds like a downgrade? i guess a fixed gear is more reliable though, reckon there's less to break down?

i'm building a cx at the moment, using a kona jake frame and am thinking of a 10-speed shimano 105 groupset though am considering starting out single-speed, so i can splurge on the wheelset now and upgrade to 105 or ultegra later. won't be doing hills till autumn.. so purely for monetary reasons... what other merit would a fixed offer? i've got downtube shifters on my '84 mercier road bike so i guess i already have the masochistic side covered??

nice! a bike thread on watmm...

question: if i want to build a commuter bike for riding in the city, should i start with a roadbike frame for it's lightness or a bigger frame for it's strength and ability to take a jolt?

I want to get a motorcycle

  marf said:

I want to get a motorcycle

take a motorcycle safety class (if you haven't already). they're surprisingly fun and you learn a lot.

im still on the same bike, still lovin it. the brakes are broken now but im not too arsed, i mainly just go on the wirral way rather than the roads these days.

Today, I rode my bike from the ocean to the bay and back. Those hills are a bitch. I would like to build a new bike, though. A five speed is all I need and would lighten my load immensely.

  maantecaaa!!! said:

nice! a bike thread on watmm...

 

question: if i want to build a commuter bike for riding in the city, should i start with a roadbike frame for it's lightness or a bigger frame for it's strength and ability to take a jolt?

I would go with a light frame. You'll be able to peddle faster and longer without tiring as quickly.

  iep said:

  WhoNeedsElectricity said:

  abracadabra said:

im thinking of converting my 10-speed to a fixie...but i dontknow yet. i also need new rims, my rear one is bent.

Definitely a good idea.

 

i don't get it, sounds like a downgrade? i guess a fixed gear is more reliable though, reckon there's less to break down?

i dunno. Whenever i visit my friends who ride fixed gears, several of them always need something done to their bike. Though that might be because theyre always buying and swapping their parts. But it just seems to me all that pedaling breaking and skidding would wreak havoc on the chain, but what do i know.

In 4 years My geared bike's never given me any trouble except those times when it got ran over by a car or that time i left it out in the rain.

im fixing up quite a nice (found!) 750g hard atm!

i LIKE riding around brighton playing the game where my feet dont touch the floor getting to and fro from friends houses, clubs, pubs etc.. bouncing along and balancing along etc.

i DO NOT LIKE my bike geting stolen every 0.76982564895642895 seconds

my brother used to work at a nashbar warehouse and he used to get his choice of all the returns that they couldn't resell so he decided to make me a nice little road bike out of these parts, completely FREE. i absolutely love this thing.

  Charles Nelson Reilly said:

my brother used to work at a nashbar warehouse and he used to get his choice of all the returns that they couldn't resell so he decided to make me a nice little road bike out of these parts, completely FREE. i absolutely love this thing.

 

that is a nice bike!

like duh lala state the obvious. lol

im actually at a stage where im looking for ingenious ways (maybe ill start a thread) to make my bike look like its not worth stealing. brightons ridiculous. my worst was about half an hour in the pub and came outside to see a d-lock in 2 bits on the floor,.

<<< fixie fags represent nigga

i just got a sweet cheapish used girls' hybrid bike and we are in love

  lala said:

im actually at a stage where im looking for ingenious ways (maybe ill start a thread) to make my bike look like its not worth stealing. brightons ridiculous. my worst was about half an hour in the pub and came outside to see a d-lock in 2 bits on the floor,.

My bicycle got stolen last night. I had it for about a year and a half and this was the first time I ever locked it at the metro station (cuz I was meeting mates in the city to watch the match).

So now I'm without my primary means of transportation.

there she is, waiting for me to ride her, pump up her tires, grind her down to look like shit so no-one touches her, stick a chastity belt around her waist etc

I spray painted my bike black on monday, and I didnt feel like dismantling the whole thing so I just masking taped and newspapered her up, and it actually worked pretty well

  Braintree said:

  maantecaaa!!! said:

nice! a bike thread on watmm...

 

question: if i want to build a commuter bike for riding in the city, should i start with a roadbike frame for it's lightness or a bigger frame for it's strength and ability to take a jolt?

 

I would go with a light frame. You'll be able to peddle faster and longer without tiring as quickly.

Yeah, get a road frame & then just throw some sturdy wheels on it - you'll be much happier than if you'd gone with a heavy-ass mountain frame. Also, shock absorbers (like you'd find on a MTB) are not good for commuters - every time the springs compress you throw away some of your momentum, which equals more work for you. I know roads in the city be full o' holes, but just stand up when you go over them (or better yet, go around). Good, strong wheels are a necessity here; plus some tires that won't puncture the first time you find some glass (I use Specialized Armadillos - expensive but invincible).

  bronchuseven said:

  Braintree said:

  maantecaaa!!! said:

nice! a bike thread on watmm...

 

question: if i want to build a commuter bike for riding in the city, should i start with a roadbike frame for it's lightness or a bigger frame for it's strength and ability to take a jolt?

 

I would go with a light frame. You'll be able to peddle faster and longer without tiring as quickly.

Yeah, get a road frame & then just throw some sturdy wheels on it - you'll be much happier than if you'd gone with a heavy-ass mountain frame. Also, shock absorbers (like you'd find on a MTB) are not good for commuters - every time the springs compress you throw away some of your momentum, which equals more work for you. I know roads in the city be full o' holes, but just stand up when you go over them (or better yet, go around). Good, strong wheels are a necessity here; plus some tires that won't puncture the first time you find some glass (I use Specialized Armadillos - expensive but invincible).

Thanks for the advice, guys! I'm looking up roadbike frames and those armadillo tires...

road bike frames are huge, weak, and have a very high standover height. mountain bike frames are much more compact, stiffer and stronger, and can be almost as light as road frames (around 3lbs.).

also, i'd agree that urban commuters don't need suspension, but it's just as easy to build a MTB with a rigid fork as a roadie. also with MTBs you get wider, tougher tires that ride smoother, and stronger wheels that will take a pothole or curb or two without buckling. oh and the ability to use disc brakes, which are much better, especially in the wet.

but yeah road bikes have the ultimate edge on efficiency (weight and skinny tires), and of course they are much more fashionable these days.

i don't mind giving that little bit of efficiency up for the ability to cut through non-paved areas and the general toughness that comes with a MTB-based commuter.

  Bob Dobalina said:

My bicycle got stolen last night. I had it for about a year and a half and this was the first time I ever locked it at the metro station (cuz I was meeting mates in the city to watch the match).

 

So now I'm without my primary means of transportation.

That sucks, dude! What kind of lock were you using? I use a Kryptonite U-Lock to put around the front tire and frame. A lot of those chain locks can easily be defeated by a pair of large cable cutters.

http://www.slate.com/id/2140083

this article is kind of old and the guy's ranking scheme is kind of bullshit but might be worth a read.

luckily, i am able to bring my bike inside at work, and thats really the only place i ride to, other than recreational rides out and about

  Braintree said:

That sucks, dude! What kind of lock were you using? I use a Kryptonite U-Lock to put around the front tire and frame. A lot of those chain locks can easily be defeated by a pair of large cable cutters.

thanks man, that's exactly what happened, I'll definitely go with a u-lock in the future... too bad I had to learn the hard way thanks to some opportunistic knackers, but goddamn if that wasn't the first (and only) time I locked it up somewhere semi-questionable at night. Definitely need to think hard about my next move because I need a decent enough bike for the distance of commuting I do, but I don't want to fork out a lot of money nor get something too attractive to said knackers

  Al Hounos said:

road bike frames are huge, weak, and have a very high standover height. mountain bike frames are much more compact, stiffer and stronger, and can be almost as light as road frames (around 3lbs.).

 

also, i'd agree that urban commuters don't need suspension, but it's just as easy to build a MTB with a rigid fork as a roadie. also with MTBs you get wider, tougher tires that ride smoother, and stronger wheels that will take a pothole or curb or two without buckling. oh and the ability to use disc brakes, which are much better, especially in the wet.

 

but yeah road bikes have the ultimate edge on efficiency (weight and skinny tires), and of course they are much more fashionable these days.

 

i don't mind giving that little bit of efficiency up for the ability to cut through non-paved areas and the general toughness that comes with a MTB-based commuter.

thanks for the advice, now i'm back to square one. this is going to be used for commuting and general riding around in nyc, so maybe i should go this route.

  maantecaaa!!! said:

  marf said:

I want to get a motorcycle

take a motorcycle safety class (if you haven't already). they're surprisingly fun and you learn a lot.

Sounds like a plan. I don't have the balls to ride on the freeway. I was thinking of just riding in town under 40 mph.