The biking thread

W3HS
Echoing what Shaun said, it’s hard to go wrong with DT Swiss budget rims. For $100 you could get a good set.
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Are you referring to used? I'm not seeing anything that cheap..

I dusted off my old Giant Roam today to hit some dirt. It was a lot of fun but man the road I picked was brutal. A relentless 15% slog up really loose dirt & sand. I don't have clipless pedals on it...but it actually kind of highlighted something. There's something wrong with my pedal/cleat setup on my Cannondale. Normally if I'm putting any sort of power through my road bike, my feet start to hurt. I've been running SPD pedals (Shimano M530 + Giro Privateers) on the road bike for over a year now, and I'm starting to think that the contact area of the pedal is just too small and it's creating big pressure point on my foot...I just cannot get comfortable riding it, particularly when climbing. On the Giant today, my feet didn't bother me at all even though I did 1500ft of climbing in 2 miles, and that was with me wearing squishy trainers. Has anyone else dealt with foot pain? Last year it got particularly bad and I had to take a month off from riding. I have to say I greatly prefer the SPD cleat system to the SPD-SL because I use the bike for commuting and exploring, and the SPD-SL shoes/cleats are just awful for walking, much less hiking. I'm wondering if I should try an SPD pedal that has a platform and not just the spindle...theoretically that would seem to distribute the loading much better. I question how much actual contact area you gain from those types of pedals though.

For the record I've put my cleats in all different positions and I don't seem to be able to get rid of the pain. It feels like my arch is being strained, if I were to describe it.
 
Eunos_Cosmo
Are you referring to used? I'm not seeing anything that cheap..
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A new set. I’ve had several riding buddies pick up DT Swiss rims for 5,000 Thai baht (which is about $160 these days according to Google).
Saying that, perhaps they’re that price because of our location. Things tend to be much cheaper here. Let me check some local sites…

These are about that price…https://www.bikeinn.com/bike/dt-swi...JOQepq7IKqXUI6mF0GQaAl6lEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Edit: looks like that’s just one wheel. :dunce:
 
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To follow up on my previous post, I have ordered a set of Look X-Track Enrage (wow, what a name!) pedals with the hope that they will offer substantial more pedal contact area (and therefore theoretically more support/less pressure for my foot) vs my Shimano M530s which are essentially just cleat receivers. Hopefully this will make pedaling fun again!

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So Pro's Closet had a pretty great deal on Mavic Aksium Elite wheels (which is pretty much what came on the bike)...wheel + tire + tube for $87. Considering it would match the rear wheel that was still in good condition and save a bit of weight while retaining a quality, durable wheel....I couldn't pass it up. It's amazing how much a difference riding a bike with true wheels feels. I didn't swap over my gatorskin to the new wheel, so I'm a bit mismatched there, but overall, the bike feels awesome again.

I still haven't bottomed out on my foot discomfort totally. The new pedals are certainly an improvement though, they have noticeablely more stability side-to-side. Outside of going back to road cleats, I think I need to solve it with insoles. What I'm finding is that if I put in insoles with a lot of arch support, I tend to shift my pedal effort to the outside of my foot as a result. I thought it might be a biomechanical issue, but with flat pedals, I notice that my effort goes through the ball of my foot as it should. So I'm going to go back to the specialized blue (++) insoles. I had tried the greens (+++) and I think it's just too much. Today I tried some more generic cheapo insoles and they were fairly effective, but could start to feel some strain towards the end of my 20 mile ride. I've noticed that if I pedal toes-down I don't feel as much strain on my arch...I think I've become bad about dropping my heels which would theoretically crate a pretty big moment that my arch has to resist in order to get power out.
 
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Eunos_Cosmo
So Pro's Closet had a pretty great deal on Mavic Aksium Elite wheels (which is pretty much what came on the bike)...wheel + tire + tube for $87. Considering it would match the rear wheel that was still in good condition and save a bit of weight while retaining a quality, durable wheel....I couldn't pass it up. It's amazing how much a difference riding a bike with true wheels feels. I didn't swap over my gatorskin to the new wheel, so I'm a bit mismatched there, but overall, the bike feels awesome again.

I still haven't bottomed out on my foot discomfort totally. The new pedals are certainly an improvement though, they have noticeablely more stability side-to-side. Outside of going back to road cleats, I think I need to solve it with insoles. What I'm finding is that if I put in insoles with a lot of arch support, I tend to shift my pedal effort to the outside of my foot as a result. I thought it might be a biomechanical issue, but with flat pedals, I notice that my effort goes through the ball of my foot as it should. So I'm going to go back to the specialized blue (++) insoles. I had tried the greens (+++) and I think it's just too much. Today I tried some more generic cheapo insoles and they were fairly effective, but could start to feel some strain towards the end of my 20 mile ride. I've noticed that if I pedal toes-down I don't feel as much strain on my arch...I think I've become bad about dropping my heels which would theoretically crate a pretty big moment that my arch has to resist in order to get power out.
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Cleat position also plays a big part in foot comfort and power delivery. I remember watching a GCN video years ago of all the pros at a tour talking about their preferred clear location on the show. Some of them even rode on the arch of the foot which I found weird.

I’ve always ridden with the cleat towards to ball of the foot, like as you say, it seems to offer more comfort and less strain on the arch.
 
Pretty excited for this years TDF...its shaping up to be a slugfest. Team Ineos is fielding a crazy team, Roglic and Pogačar will be bringing the heat, Alaphilippe should provide some swashbuckling and even Chris Froome will be back...though in hardly any serious form. Then there's the sprinting field which seems a lot more competitive than it has been in recent years. I'm almost certain that Bora will be pummeling the front of the field to get Sagan one last green jersey.

I'm hoping to see somebody on the EF team wear yellow, just for a change of scenery. Uran had a really strong run at the TDS and my hometown favorite, Nielson Powless showed some real chops last year at the TDF and has had a pretty decent season this year.
 
Time to dig old hardware into the daylight! While my "daily driver" is the blood red Chisel seen on the previous page I've also dragged this one with me for the last nearly ten years. Specialized Camber Comp '12 with very little of the original Comp spec left - it's on its second full set of brakes, fourth drivetrain revision (wide range 3x9 to narrow range 2x9 to narrow range 2x10 to wide range 1x10) , tyre set number I have no idea anymore, at least fourth pedals, fifth saddle, probably fifth or sixth grips... and still going strong!

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I could use some advice regarding the replacement of my bottom bracket!

So my Specialized Sirrus X 2.0 is a year old, in fact it was the day after I made my last payment on it that the bottom bracket started clunking. I know it's definitely the BB because it's only repeatable by applying downward force to the bottom pedal when the cranks are at 12 and 6 'o' clock (which means it clunks twice per revolution when I'm accelerating, which is very annoying and it sounds awful).

The BB is a VP-BC73T2, but this raises questions:
  • The other markings on it are "BC1.37x24T" and "68x122.5" - what exactly do these refer to, and is this enough information to order a replacement, or do I need to pull it again? That could be an issue because my cheap BB tool with stupidly rounded spline ends slipped while reassembling the non-drive side cup and rounded off the "tighten" side of the splines, so I think I can take it off one more time but won't get it back on ever again!
  • I can't find a BC73T2 anywhere, just a BC73. I can't find any info on how the T2 varies, but from the photos I've seen I suspect it could just be the bolts - the non-T2 is pictured with pretty standard-looking flanged hex bolts whereas the ones on mine are socket bolts with a plastic dust cap that you can loosen with an 8mm hex key. Is this likely to be accurate, or is it unlikely a model sub-code would solely reflect the bolt design?
  • Is there a good go-to replacement for this BB? I've read Shimano UN55 a few times. I get the impression, mainly from the fact that it died after only a year/2,000 miles, that the BC73 is a low cost item that doesn't necessarily last too long...
  • If I do order a BC73 with hex bolts, am I OK to reuse my old bolts or is that a bad idea in terms of possible fatigue and bolts snapping under torque when reinstalling the cranks?
  • I found two threaded holes in the bottom of my BB shell so the BB itself was covered in sand and dirt (which I imagine is possibly why it's failed after just one year and 2,000 miles), I assume that's very bad and I should use a couple of small grub screws with thread lock applied to plug these holes up?
  • What kind(s) of grease should I apply to the BB, assuming it does need greasing? I've read copper grease is good to use on the threaded cups but my BB has a mixture of two types of grease; thick yellowish grease on the body of the BB itself and a much more watery, graphite-coloured grease on the cup threads. Just wondering if there's actually any point in applying the former to what I'm pretty sure is a sealed BB, I mean what does it achieve?
This job has also raised a couple of questions about the cranks, namely: is there any value in switching to a BB with a splined shaft, and my front chainring is apparently inseparable from the drive side crank, so what do I do when the chainring is worn? I'm guessing I need new cranks with a bolt-on chainring?

I have watched a lot of the Park Tool repair videos but I think these are maybe slightly more specific questions than they would answer. You're my last hope before I sign up for Reddit again which I'd really prefer to avoid, but I know I'm asking a lot! Thanks for reading, if you made it this far that is.
 
I don’t know many people who business with BBs. It’s easier to take it to the shop and let them deal with the headache.
If you really want to do it yourself, this might be helpful:
 
W3H5
I don’t know many people who business with BBs. It’s easier to take it to the shop and let them deal with the headache.
If you really want to do it yourself, this might be helpful:
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I ended up spending most of my working day (please don't tell) researching these questions and came to the conclusion that I was overthinking a lot of this stuff, so I ordered just under £100's worth of parts, grease (lithium and copper) and tools from SJS Cycles.

I am in a bit of a "money where your mouth is" situation though because I remember telling my girlfriend, back before I even had a bike, that she was mad for not wanting to learn how to service her own bike because they're not mechanically complex machines at all... I realise now that was arrogance and Dunning-Kruger talking, but at the same time, if I do learn how to service my bike myself maybe that redeems that stupidity?
 
neema_t
I ended up spending most of my working day (please don't tell) researching these questions and came to the conclusion that I was overthinking a lot of this stuff, so I ordered just under £100's worth of parts, grease (lithium and copper) and tools from SJS Cycles.

I am in a bit of a "money where your mouth is" situation though because I remember telling my girlfriend, back before I even had a bike, that she was mad for not wanting to learn how to service her own bike because they're not mechanically complex machines at all... I realise now that was arrogance and Dunning-Kruger talking, but at the same time, if I do learn how to service my bike myself maybe that redeems that stupidity?
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Sounds like you've dug yourself a hole 😆
 
neema_t
not mechanically complex machines
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Not on the surface at least. I think anyone with some mechanical knowledge is able to do most jobs on a bicycle, however, those few tricky ones are what the bike shops are for.
 
I worked for three months as a bike mechanic in the local bike shop in summer 2019 and anything that isn't an internal gear hub is mechanically easy. Sometimes extremely finicky to adjust properly (looking at you, SRAM Eagle) but still easy. It's the special tools that usually necessitate a trip there, I for one still don't have a square taper bottom bracket crank extractor as I need one perhaps once every two years when fixing someone else's, usually my mother's, bike.
 
Greycap
anything that isn't an internal gear hub is mechanically easy
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In 2007 I gave up on a restoration project of a vintage BSA Shopper because I got the gear hub disassembled and couldn’t for the life of me figure out how it went back together.
 
Stage 1 of the Tour delivered. A couple of nasty wrecks, one thanks to a dumb fan. Thank God Tony Martin had a helmet. I hope the riders are okay. It looked like a couple may have been hurt in the second crash.

With that said, Alaphilippe!!
 
I’d hate to think it was deliberate. Absolutely retarded thing to do, but I couldn’t imagine she purposely caused the incident.
She must certainly be held responsible and face the consequences.
 
Just stuck on the last 15 km of Stage 3 and there's been two crashes already.

One of the tour favourites Roglic crashed and is currently playing catch-up.

Then, there was another crash with at least one rider badly hurt, but fortunately he looked to be conscious.

And then a crash during the sprint with Caleb Ewan and Peter Sagan just yards from the finish line, just a few seconds ahead of both the Green and Yellow jerseys. Ewan has stayed down too, though he is conscious but looks to be hurt.

Crazy day, though none of the crashes looked like they involved any spectators.
 
Yeah, this has been a gnarly tour so far. Shame to see some of the favorites like Roglic, Ewan, and Pogacar losing substantial time due to crashes.

Aside from the crashes, it's interesting that the Ineos Grenadiers team hasn't been anything like dominant in the tour so far. I remember last year when Bora would sit on the front of the Peloton and just grind everyone into the ground to try to get Sagan in green...not seeing that kind of aggression with the IG team.

Uran seems to be patiently and carefully navigating these early stages. Hoping to see some fireworks from the EF team later on in the mountains.

I read that spectator who caused the big crash in stage 1 has actually fled the country. 😲

edit: Caleb Ewan may be out of the Tour with a broken collar bone. He technically finished the stage, but his injuries seem pretty serious.
 
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Aside from Le Tour...

Haven't had the best year for maintaining fitness (pandemic closed gyms, really bad fires here last year, a foot injury, being distracted by buying a house) but I've finally started to get back on the horse. I've been "training" a lot more recently and was able to do 20 mins above 220w today and my HR didn't even get into threshold, pretty sure I could do 250w or so in an all out 20 min effort. Directly after that effort I wanted to test how long I could hold 300w and I held on for almost 5 mins, which I think is a personal best for me...I figure this somewhere around my V02 max at the moment. I'm finding that I'm most efficient at 110rpm! A sweaty mess, for sure...
 
What an emphatic performance by Pogacar in the TT. Are we sure this guy isn't doping? 😂

At this point...does anyone really have a shot anymore? Primoz seems down on form and really down on time, Alaphilippe is still technically there but will surely fade over the next 2 weeks. Who else is really still in contention? The Ineos squad seems to be missing in action. Maybe Rigoberto Uran?
 
Anyone else remember the old Tour De France music from the 1980s on Channel 4...?

I always loved it, and had no idea what it was until now.

I'm amazed to find out that it was written by Pete Shelley of The Buzzcocks...



and it's based on his song he wrote with them:

 
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I've only been watching the TDF with interest since 2019...but damn does this one seem like a standout. The dynamics of the riders is just incredible to watch - Alaphilippe, Van Der Poel, Van Aert, Pogacar, and Cavendish all have this enthralling charisma about the way they ride and compete, and watchinng Van Der Poel and Van Aert slug it out is awesome. It's a shame Caleb Ewan is out and Primoz Roglic is so banged up. One rider who seems kind of uncharacteristically absent is Peter Sagan, who seems to be off form.

For people who have been watching longer than me, have the last few years been more exciting than the preceding decade? It seems like it hasn't been since the late 1980s has bike racing been this entertaining.
 
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Eunos_Cosmo
For people who have been watching longer than me, have the last few years been more exciting than the preceding decade?
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Yeah absolutely in my opinion.
For too long Sky/Ineos dominated and just sat on the front controlling the tempo. Lowering the team members to 8 from 9 has probably helped slightly there too. The less team members you have the harder to control the race.
 
That was one hell of a ride for Wout. Rigo is up to 2nd overall in the general classification, and I believe 6th is less than a minute behind him. If only it wasn't for Pogacar...:P
 
Dolph Drago
That was one hell of a ride for Wout. Rigo is up to 2nd overall in the general classification, and I believe 6th is less than a minute behind him. If only it wasn't for Pogacar...😛
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Rigo is the only GC contender left who hasn't badly crashed and hasn't appeared to blow himself up trying to chase Tadej or stage victories - we haven't see any big moves from the EF team. I wonder he truly is being patient and saving his legs for the last 10 stages or he's given all there is to give already. For the sake of keeping things interesting, I sure would love it if it were the former. Would like to see a little more out of Nielson Powless before the race is over...you know other than streaming off into the woods.
 
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