The biking thread

[TB]

I just made some minor adjustments to the Monark. Hopefully I can make it past about 20 minutes with a bit less numbness. At this point, that's what's holding me back from longer rides so fingers crossed.

 

[Omnis]

@Omnis pick yourself up a chain checker, so simple to use and will save you in the long run as a worn chain then leads to worn chain rings and cassettes as I'm sure you know.

Much cheaper to replace chains than rings and cassettes.

Yeah, I agree that I need to check it regularly, but I don't need to spend money on that. I'll just use a friend's or the LBS's lol.

Alright. I give. What's the cream cheese for?

Get it? Cream cheese bagel? Every time I see bar gel I think of how people from Wisconsin say "bagel." Bargle lol

I just made some minor adjustments to the Monark. Hopefully I can make it past about 20 minutes with a bit less numbness. At this point, that's what's holding me back from longer rides so fingers crossed.

What does your setup look like again, and what is it that's getting numb? Hands? Perineum? Get some gel gloves for the former and some bib shorts and/or nose-down the seat for the latter. Look for bibs with pads by Elastic Interface. Sometimes they'll say "Italian" pad, but the chinese pads are generally terrible, especially the "gel" ones. There's a chinese "ali" brand called Hikenture on the big "am" website that makes pretty nice cycling gloves. I bought a ton of them because they were the only ones that had a comfortable XXL/3XL size. The Giro gloves are expensive and the seams inside dug into my hands. Not comfy. The gloves don't solve the numbness but do a lot to help. Make sure you're not putting pressure on your carpal tunnel area of the palm. Generally, you'll want to have the hypothenar area tucked under a bit so that your carpal tunnel is slightly elevated.


Also, since there is so much white pinstriping on the bike, I went ahead and got white replacement hoods in addition to the black ones. What do you guys think of the white-on-black look?

 

[Solo]

@Omnis White hoods may look ok on a spotless bike but after a few rides, gels bursting in your hands, sweaty gloves transferring colour or any poor weather and they'll look pretty tired IMO.

Got out for my first club ride of the year today, a steady 103 km made significantly more difficult with a vicious headwind and chainring deep water across the entire road in places. Clip-on mud guard definitely helped keep me clean-ish but there was no saving the bike. Rides like this make me realise why most of the group have a dedicated winter bike with cheaper components.

Also helped me achieve my 200km a week goal so I'll meet it at least once this year

 

[Shaun]

I'll just use a friend's or the LBS's lol.

Ah cool, as long as you've got easy access to one then good.

White hood wise on a personal level I prefer black but that doesn't matter. I will however echo what @Solo mentioned, they don't stay nice and white for long 😂.

Everyone I know who has had white hoods has swapped back to black at some stage.

I'd hate to think what mine would look like now if they where white . I don't wear gloves and can feel the stickiness and crud on them when I ride 😂.

 

[TB]

What does your setup look like again

Monark LC6

what is it that's getting numb? Hands? Perineum?

The boys.

Get some gel gloves

My first ride out I forgot to grab my gloves from the garage but that's been taken care of now.

bib shorts and/or nose-down the seat for the latter.

I lowered the seat and tilted the nose down just a tick yesterday but I think I'll drop it some more. That and I just need to stand up once in a while, too. A few rotations and the numbness subsides. I do that naturally when on the road but obviously tend to not do that on the exercise bike.

Edit: I have 5 pairs of bike shorts.

1 cheapo pair from Amazon that sucks
1 pair of mountain bike shorts that I haven't worn for a few years so I don't remember how they are
1 pair of Pearl Izumi from the local shop that are fine
2 pair of The Black Bibs shorts that are my favorite.

I'm starting to consider another 2 from The Black Bibs.

 

[Omnis]

Wow, that thing is serious. Does the saddle have a pressure relief cutout? You should definitely start with the saddle in the lowest comfortable position and adjust upwards from there.

I completed the handlebar + stem project. I took the bike for a slow careful spin around the block after putting everything together. Even if there's more pressure on my hands from this posture, the difference in the level of comfort with the new bars is night and day. I'm really happy everything worked out. I was able to salvage my same bar tape and re-wrap enough of it to make it work. I realized that I'm missing the butterflies that come with the Silca tape, however, because my bikefitter wrapped the Vibe bar with a figure-8 technique. Sadly, I don't have any spare tape to cover some of the exposed bit towards the bottom of each hood. Hopefully people will be too distracted by my sweet pinstripe job to notice. It matches my shoes, people!

I also noticed that one of the white hoods doesn't fit quite right. I'm not sure I'm in love with how they look, so I might just return them and stick with black.

 

[girabyt3]

Much cheaper to replace chains than rings and cassettes

I'm curious, how long does a chain last?? Because mine is almost 3 months old and since I use it to commute, I want my current setup to last as long as possible 🙂... Also talking about setups...



"Cityzen Kane" went to the local trails for the 1st time this year and this one is special since its debuting not only the FSA headset I bought a while back, but also the main reason why I bought it!! 😁



Finally swapped the horrendous stock fork and got a "new" 160mm Rockshox 35 Gold RL!! Passing from 100 to 160mm may sound bonkers but the frame accepted it well, now it passed from 68° to 64.5° and its plushy as hell since it has the same debonair as the pike 😁. Here's the info from the Rockshox app (I set it up according to my weight, and the app, as well, 115 psi/-8 rebound clicks) 👍



I say "new" because I bought it from a bike mechanic who had it laid arround since it was from a client's girlfriend who had it in a Marin but didn't like it so it changed it to a Fox fork (a 36, I guess) and kept the 35 as an exchange, and judging by the looks of it, she just rode it a couple times before swaping it.

You know what they say! "A person's trash is another person's treasure!" 😁



I case you ask... Yes, I had to change the front hub to a thru-axle since I had a QR one, and the both the brake rotors and pads to make it work, but it all worth it since "Cityzen Kane" feels better than ever!! 😁 😁

 

[Shaun]

I'm curious, how long does a chain last??

Lots of variables.
Biggest killer of chains is dirt. Keep them clean and well lubed and you should get a good life out of them.
A chain normally lasts around 7,000km for me but that's a road bike so is doesn't really see any dirt apart from when I get caught in the rain.

 

[Greycap]

The chain also seems to matter. Years ago I bought a Dura-Ace chain, having always used Deore quality since then, and rode it on the "daily driver" hardtail for perhaps three years. Got a whopping 0,3% wear during that time, and now the same chain is in my "winter beater" other hardtail and it's still showing the same 0,3%. Not a lot of wet mud or other abrasive stuff, and a good clean and lubrication every 200 or 300 km, and it's starting to look like it never dies.

 

[TB]

Halfway through the ride I just finished I was running out of gas but talked myself into keeping going.

Three-quarters of the way through I was REALLY ready to quit, then it occurred to me that if I was out riding, not making it the last 5 miles home wouldn't be an option. I took a few breaks and finished but that wasn't nearly as clean a ride as Saturday's.

Also, I think I'm going to register for the Cyclothon in May. At a minimum, it will be interesting to see how I compare to the one I did in 2017 (I think).

 

[Omnis]

I usually do 13 to 15 miles in a 45-minute spin session. Riding at the park nets an easy 30 miles in around two hours. If you're able to ride in a good paceline, I feel like you get about 1.5x the bang for your buck whether it's speed or mileage for a given effort. Keeping yourself motivated, especially on a stationary bike, is really, really hard. It's totally mental. Your body can handle it, no problem. Keep on hittin' it, TB.

 

[Greycap]

Three-quarters of the way through I was REALLY ready to quit, then it occurred to me that if I was out riding, not making it the last 5 miles home wouldn't be an option.

My yesterday afternoon says hi. I had a feeling that it might be a bad idea to go for a 15 miles ride on unplowed roads with some three inches of snow but I had business to be taken care of, using the car wasn't an option, so there wasn't much choice left.

Halfway through the first six mile leg it became already apparent that it indeed was a bad idea, at the end if it I was convinced that it was a very bad idea, halfway through the second six mile leg comprised nearly completely of uphill sections the situation began to suck in a very major way and it wasn't getting any easier. There was enough snow for the tyres not to actually cut through it to the road so I was basically stirring snow and using a lot of energy to do it, added with the resistance of pushing through it. When I got to the last checkpoint I was already just about finished having spent an hour and a half at a heart rate above 150, but there was still the last three mile leg home. It was way more willpower than anything else but indeed quitting wasn't a possibility.

 

[Omnis]

10 miles today before coming home and giving everything a nice cleaning. Took the whole drivetrain from black and gritty to silver and bright by alternating WD-40 and degreaser scrubs. Cleaned the rest of the frame and then gave it a ceramic coating. My rear derailleur is totally out of alignment now hahaha. I need to get some chain lube now. Since everything is pretty clean, I went ahead and bought some Silca wax. Apparently, you can just boil the bag to not have to worry about getting wax everywhere. So I'll give that a shot.

As far as the handlebars go, they're awesome. No hand numbness or buzzing whatsoever. I don't feel ridiculously stretched out, and now the drops are actually quite comfortable to use since they actually extend back and level with the ground. I also ditched the white hoods. Here's the last pic before cleaning:

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Kind of a repeat of my latest strava post, but I've been dealing with some shooting pain in my ankle & calf (right leg only) and ended up seeing a PT specialist. It appears I have a mild case of Tarsel Tunnel Syndrome (kinda the foot version of Carpel Tunnel). I don't think it is necessarily aggravated by riding the bike (I don't get the pain on the bike, only walking) but I think any swelling can trigger it...and lots of low cadence efforts (like climbing, which I've done quite a bit of lately) do tend to make my feet/arches swell..itself another problem. So I'm taking time off from high torque low cadence efforts and keeping it spinny until the situation improves. In the meantime, I was recommended to get these recovery slides by the doctor (himself a very avid cyclist) to wear around the house and I'm going to see an arch expert for some insoles in my other shoes. Lastly got some resistance bands to work on ankle flexibility & strength which will help preventing this in the future.

The good news is the doc called me "quadzilla"

 

[TB]

@Eunos_Cosmo - I bought some Oofos flip flops when we were in Hawaii. Those things are absurdly squishy and have tons of arch support. Hope it helps with the recovery.

My new shoes were delivered yesterday but, coincidental timing, I'm fighting through some carpal tunnel issues so I stayed off the bike.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

@Eunos_Cosmo - I bought some Oofos flip flops when we were in Hawaii. Those things are absurdly squishy and have tons of arch support. Hope it helps with the recovery.

My new shoes were delivered yesterday but, coincidental timing, I'm fighting through some carpal tunnel issues so I stayed off the bike.

Pretty excited about the Oofos TBH

 

[W3H5]

What's the cream cheese for?

Sandwiches?

 

[W3H5]

White hoods may look ok on a spotless bike but after a few rides, gels bursting in your hands, sweaty gloves transferring colour or any poor weather and they'll look pretty tired IMO.

First thing I replaced on my Trek was the white hoods.
The bike has white accents and the hoods were one of them.
Easily switched with black 105 silicone replacements.
The white ones looked like filth after a few wet rides.

I'm curious, how long does a chain last?? Because mine is almost 3 months old and since I use it to commute, I want my current setup to last as long as possible 🙂... Also talking about setups...

If you’re commuting and not chasing numbers, a chain can last as long as you maintain it.
I had a chain on my giant for donkeys years. I think it was about 5 years of heavy use (cross countries and such) before I replaced the chain and sprokets.

 

[Omnis]

Finally completed my latest project:

 

[TB]

As of my ride last night, I'm at 5 hours and 107 miles for the year.

Slowly, but I'm getting there.

 

[TB]

Opinions, please.

The padding in my gloves isn't padding particularly well any more so it's time for a new pair. I'm thinking the linked-to pair below but am interested in what everyone else has had success with.

Men's Body Geometry Dual-Gel Short Finger Gloves | Specialized.com

Our Body Geometry Dual-Gel gloves are all about comfort. They feature strategically placed gel pads throughout the palm to alleviate hand fatigue by relieving pressure on the ulnar nerve. This design also comes with the added benefit of minimizing hand numbness, as well as reducing many other...

www.specialized.com

 

[Shaun]

Opinions, please.

Haven't worn gloves in a long long time but the linked Specialized ones should do the trick I imagine.

I used tho wear Castelli mitts back in the day that looked very similar and they were fine.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Haven't worn gloves in a long long time but the linked Specialized ones should do the trick I imagine.

I used tho wear Castelli mitts back in the day that looked very similar and they were fine.

I have a pair of Giro gloves like these that have withstood 5,000+ miles of abuse. They are near the end now but they've been fantastic. Not much padding, but I never leave without them.

 

[Shaun]

I have a pair of Giro gloves like these that have withstood 5,000+ miles of abuse. They are near the end now but they've been fantastic. Not much padding, but I never leave without them.

Those actually look very similar to my winter gloves, no padding in the palms but purely for the wind chill factor.

 

[Omnis]

I hated the Giro gloves (the ones for road, not the linked MTB ones) because the padding didn't seem very good (quite firm) and the seams dug into my snuffbox. I use these Hikenture gloves, an $11 China special...

The colored part is a thin dri-fit poly/elastane type of fabric and the long part that covers your wrist is great for wiping sweat or a runny nose. No seams. I wish the gel pad extended all the way around the medial aspect of the hand, but it does a pretty good job of at least giving your carpal tunnel a bit of a gap so you're not bearing right down on it.

 

[W3H5]

I haven’t worn gloves since I got a carbon fork.
I’d say pad your bar tape with an old tube rather than your hand.
Of course, if you’re wearing gloves anyway because of the weather, gel padded palms alway help.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Yeah I rely on bar tape for padding. The gloves are purely for protecting my hands in the event of an unscheduled dismount.

 

[Greycap]

Yeah I rely on bar tape for padding. The gloves are purely for protecting my hands in the event of an unscheduled dismount.

100% my style. I used to wear Body Geometry gloves, first thinnish padding and then thicker as the psoriatic arthritis got worse, but since it was got under control I've moved to unpadded ones as there's enough cushion on the bar itself and the feel is much nicer. Of course there's a ton of variables involved, now I ride a MTB with 32 mm grips and my cyclocross bike had some foam filled bar tape so a thin tape on a rock hard road bike may well need more comfort.

But about the protection, I've never understood short finger gloves. If you're going to wear gloves in the first place, there's no reason to not go full fingered as unscratched palms don't sooth the mind much when your fingers look like exploded hot dogs.

 

[Shaun]

But about the protection, I've never understood short finger gloves. If you're going to wear gloves in the first place, there's no reason to not go full fingered as unscratched palms don't sooth the mind much when your fingers look like exploded hot dogs.

I think the thinking behind short fingered gloves is most cyclists immediately put their hands out as a natural reaction when falling off and the palm of the hand takes the brunt of the initial damage. I fully agree with you though, if you are wearing them for protection long fingered is the way to go.

As for a road bike I feel it's more about how well the bike fits you. If the bike is a perfect fit you really don't put that much pressure on your hands so I feel the need for padding isn't really needed on the palms.
My bars are covered in a thin leather with zero padding and it's never been an issue.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

I think the thinking behind short fingered gloves is most cyclists immediately put their hands out as a natural reaction when falling off and the palm of the hand takes the brunt of the initial damage. I fully agree with you though, if you are wearing them for protection long fingered is the way to go.

As for a road bike I feel it's more about how well the bike fits you. If the bike is a perfect fit you really don't put that much pressure on your hands so I feel the need for padding isn't really needed on the palms.
My bars are covered in a thin leather with zero padding and it's never been an issue.

View attachment 1224387

Casually posting high end magazine studio shots of your bike to show the bar tape.