The biking thread

[Greycap]

That's a good looking big boi. Take some pics of it in the snow!

Only took a month and a half, and a full drivetrain rebuild since the original BB was anything but serviceable. The LBS guy said the axle looked like it had been shot with something and the bearings had more rust than steel on them so the hunt for a PF30 fatbike combination was on and it looked grim in the beginning with us considering all kinds of odd things including pressfit adapters for BSA bearings. In the end a miracle happened, there's a SRAM DUB bottom bracket that fits out of the box and a SRAM Fat4 crankset bolted right on. Yes, Fat4 cranks for a bike that has a 190 mm rear end and thus should require Fat5 (the number is basically the maximum tyre width in inches) but it's not the first Specialized I've seen that can take narrower cranks than it theoretically should.

On top of that a Deore 10s shifter and derailleur with a SRAM 12-32 cassette and chain, got to love the compatibility of 10s stuff. I like the feel of Shimano shifting but SRAM had a much better cassette for this application and with the 30T chainring also being their product it'll all play nicely together. All finished with my own old SLX brakes that were removed from my first 29er in January 2015, they've been in storage waiting for a bike to be put on until now.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Only took a month and a half, and a full drivetrain rebuild since the original BB was anything but serviceable. The LBS guy said the axle looked like it had been shot with something and the bearings had more rust than steel on them so the hunt for a PF30 fatbike combination was on and it looked grim in the beginning with us considering all kinds of odd things including pressfit adapters for BSA bearings. In the end a miracle happened, there's a SRAM DUB bottom bracket that fits out of the box and a SRAM Fat4 crankset bolted right on. Yes, Fat4 cranks for a bike that has a 190 mm rear end and thus should require Fat5 (the number is basically the maximum tyre width in inches) but it's not the first Specialized I've seen that can take narrower cranks than it theoretically should.

On top of that a Deore 10s shifter and derailleur with a SRAM 12-32 cassette and chain, got to love the compatibility of 10s stuff. I like the feel of Shimano shifting but SRAM had a much better cassette for this application and with the 30T chainring also being their product it'll all play nicely together. All finished with my own old SLX brakes that were removed from my first 29er in January 2015, they've been in storage waiting for a bike to be put on until now.

Such a good looking frame. How does it do in the snow?

 

[Greycap]

Such a good looking frame. How does it do in the snow?

Unlike many other fatties this actually looks like a normal mountain bike, just with wider dropouts, as far as the frame is concerned. As a result it also rides like one with the added capability from the tyres, some others are more bog crawlers which can be helpful in certain situations but I like the relative raciness of the handling. Fresh snow is yet to be explored, I just got it put back together on Tuesday and it hasn't snowed more than a couple of cm since then so it's basically hardpack everywhere.

 

[Omnis]

Looks like Red Bull is buying a majority ownership stake in Bora and they will be the title sponsor as soon as this year's TdF. Other points: They might try to poach Wout & Remco.

I would love to see a TdF squad built around Wout & Remco as a kind of Super Rouleur duo that runs up the margins on the "easy" stages and limits the gap in the mountains. I wonder if it could ever work. You'd have to run every stage like a classic...definitely not an easy task.

Holy heck I'll be high as a kite on caffeine if they keep the Specialized bikes, seeing that I already like Red Bull and own a small Specialized fleet. Chances are I'll learn to fly with my ears or something.

I wonder if they'd go to BMC since RBR helped design their bike that AG2R is using...

 

[phillgt2002]

I spent a little time running some really thin cloth tape on my drop bars, but decided to get some SRAM cork tape, and man, it's like night and day in terms of comfort and grip..

Then, somehow my chain popped off and it turns out the connecting link failed, so I had to go and buy a new chain and connector.

Still waiting for a chance to get those new rims..

 

[Greycap]

After now having tested the Fatty McFatFat -reference- for a couple of weeks, the tyre pressures are a stupidly precise thing with this one. With a normal mountain bike anything from 30 to 40 psi feels pretty much the same and works just as well, but this is a whole new world. The sweet spot seems to be 6,5 to 7 psi, with 6 or less self steering becomes a thing, with 8 and above it feels like riding a basketball with about as much control over bumps. Yes we're talking about a useful range of around 1 psi.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

The Soma I built is somehow freakishly good on climbs. As long as the grade is less than 7%, and ideally more than 3 or 4% the bike simply hauls ass. I think its the combination of the rigid and quite stiff steel frame, the limited drivetrain loss of the single speed, and the geometry just makes the thing feel so eager. I did some single track today and on the way back home (I did ride to the ride) I followed a group of 15 or so roadies. The particular road is very popular with roadies. I was having trouble sticking with them on the flat (spinning out at 15mph) but we got to this one climb thats about 6% for 200m and without trying too hard, I simply went around all of them. I was wearing jeans and flannel. At first I thought they were just slow, but when I got home, I realized I beat my own best time on that bump by 4 seconds, which I set on my road bike, which is about 10lbs lighter and has 25mm tires at 80psi compared to the Somas 27.5x2.4s @ ~20psi. I am genuinely baffled.

 

[Omnis]

I think you're just a mutant

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Not as much as Tadej Pogacar...



80+km out....

Also, this popped up as recommended and it was a fun watch:


"Matt: If you had to choose a classic car, what would it be?
Tadej: Ferrari F40....or Porsche 964"

The man has good taste.

Also the moment when he told the amateur cyclist to not lean his frame against the stone wall because it will scratch the frame

 

[Shaun]

Also the moment when he told the amateur cyclist to not lean his frame against the stone wall because it will scratch the frame

I wish some of his fellow pros would take the same advice especially when leaning their bike up against someone else's.

I had a young rider (don't know who) from Ineos lean his bike up against mine at my local cafe during the Cadel Evans road race week one year. I pulled him up on it and asked to please don't do that. He was baffled at first but when I explained to him that my bike was harder to obtain, never mind more expensive than his which I had paid for myself and not given to me he came around and apologised.

I suppose when you don't have to buy your own stuff it doesn't cross your mind, but I was horrified when I saw him do it.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

@Omnis

You should definitely do this next year:

 

[Omnis]

Absolutely not.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Milan Sanremo this weekend - probably the prettiest day in cycling. Pogacar vs Van Der Poel again. I can't see Pogacar winning it if he is not miles in front by the time they get to the Poggio - that climb is too short, too flat, and too close to the finish for a rider like Pogacar to distance a rider like Van Der Poel enough to hang on for victory, which he has attempted without success in the last two editions:

2022


2023


This is probably the hardest one day race for Pogacar to win, and I love that he keeps trying. I really wonder if he won't try to go solo up and over the Cipressa, which is a more difficult & longer climb. While I don't think he can distance the classics guys on the Poggio, they certainly wouldn't be able to make up time on it. It would just be the flats that Pogacar would have to worry about.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Entertaining finale, as always.

Good to see sprinters still have a chance at closing out some of the classics. Good job Philipsen, that was a strong sprint.
Mad respect for Tadej for outsprinting Mads Pederson for podium, heh
I had a moment of hope for Pidcock, but he just doesn't have the guns to make that attack stick on flat ground.
Julian Alaphilippe hauled in a top 10, which was nice to see. He wasn't really a factor, but for him to remain competitive makes me happy.
MvDP seemed to give up when he saw the sprinters still in the mix in the last KM. A little disappointing...but maybe he was out of gas or riding for Philipsen at the end.
Mahoric almost went for glory on a surprise attack again.

I think Tadej is going to keep having results like this unless he can somehow get a solid break off the Cipressa. He can't do a surprise sneak attack and catch everyone off guard like Mahoric can, and he can't out-drag the big guys in the last KM, and as with the previous 2 editions, the Poggio simply isn't hard enough to shake off the pack.

I hope that Remco does this race one year...I think it actually may suit him a little better than Tadej. We've seen annoyingly few head to head match ups between those two...I honestly can't think of a single instance of them battling. It should have been last year at LBL (I think) but Tadej crashed out.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

So in my quest for a new wheelset for my mountain bike, I hit up my local charity store which is called trips for kids / re-cyclery. This place is awesome. You walk in and its just old bike parts everywhere. You need a single screw for a 6-bolt rotor? They've got it. I picked up a 27.5 non-boost wheels for $150. They are a mid-grade set of giant-branded DT Swiss wheels in fairly decent shape. The first guy said 250 but the guy that rang me up was like nahhh I'm gonna charge $150.

I get home, and throw the front wheel on. No problem. Fits perfect. Then I put the rear wheel in the frame, and all is good. But then I go to put the axle in, and it goes in about 1/2" and then gets stuck. That's weird. I instinctively get a crescent wrench and just start hammering on the axle (I was overcome with the urge to do this) and it slowly goes through the hub. Of course, then it's really stuck in there...obviously. So I get a screw driver, and start hammering it out the other way. Obviously this 12mm axle is not a match for this 12mm hub. So I head back to the re-cyclery and tell them whats up and they were like "that's impossible". I explain the situation over and over and eventually they pull out a box of old axles and they've got a 12x142 x1.0 pitch QR axle which I grab (as well as some mismatched brake rotors). I go home and test fit it - perfect fit. I've never in my life experienced a tolerance issue with axles, but the axle that came with my frame simply does not fit in that hub - despite the fact that it worked perfectly fine in my other 27.5 x 142 wheelset...which is also DT Swiss. Anyways, I just need to pick up some valves for the new wheelset and I should be good to throw the 2.4s on the Giants, then throw my Renne Herses back on the other 27.5s for the gravel bike.

I'm still not certain what I want to do with this bike. I enjoy it as a single speed bike, but the simple truth is that this is the topography around me:

Other than riding along the bay in the marshes, literally everything else is steep AF. I think I need gears - but it will ruin the purity of the bike. Ugh. Maybe I just need to retrofit a IGH.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Update - so I had a sneaking suspicion that the rims I bought were kind of pre-tubeless. I took one of the wheels to my LBS and he confirmed that they are not really tubeless compatible, but he said it might work if I took off the existing rim tape and installed some tubeless rim tape, though he advised its probably not the best idea. The rims are only 21mm wide and I have 2.3" tires. Anyways, I figured I could either try it for $12 (cost of rim tape) and if that didn't work I would run the bike with tubes until I get new rims to install on these hubs.

So I got home, put the rim tape on based on my LBS instruction, and cranked my air compressor up to 75psi and lo and behold - the tires sat on the bead. I was pretty shocked. I dumped a good amount of sealant in there and none of it was coming out. Left them for 30 mins and they didn't go down, so I'm gonna call that a win. Pretty sure these are like 2014-era wheels, but they are actually pretty good quality for what they are. I took the bike for a spin and none of that play I had with the 12mm axles with converters was evident, so that's good. Overall, I'm pretty satisfied as I was able to get it back running for very limited cost.

I think this bike is too small for me (notice the saddle slammed all the way back) and so I think I'm going to leave it as basically a kind of rad townie / pub bike. Even if I put a fork on it and big cassette, I don't think it would be all that great as a proper mountain bike. It probably makes sense to get something like a Scalpel or Epic that has proper modern geometry and features and just let this thing be a quirky little run-around bike. I think I'm gonna put a front rack on it if I can find one that will work and see if I can figure out how to get a Shimano Alfine to work with a through axle frame.

 

[Greycap]

I think this bike is too small for me (notice the saddle slammed all the way back) and so I think I'm going to leave it as basically a kind of rad townie / pub bike.

I wouldn't be so sure. You have a zero offset seatpost to begin with, with a 20 mm offset post (which is what most MTBs come with) the saddle rails would just about right in the middle. The saddle nose isn't much behind the BB when measured vertically which is more or less where it should be. It's more that you have a very short stem and a lot of backsweep in the bar, put on a longer stem and a normal MTB bar and the situation would change noticably - from the picture it looks like the grip ends are actually slightly behind the steerer tube line, whereas I have mine around 30 mm ahead of it even with just a 60 mm stem.

So not a too small frame, just built up with a very unorthodox cockpit setup.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

I wouldn't be so sure. You have a zero offset seatpost to begin with, with a 20 mm offset post (which is what most MTBs come with) the saddle rails would just about right in the middle. The saddle nose isn't much behind the BB when measured vertically which is more or less where it should be. It's more that you have a very short stem and a lot of backsweep in the bar, put on a longer stem and a normal MTB bar and the situation would change noticably - from the picture it looks like the grip ends are actually slightly behind the steerer tube line, whereas I have mine around 30 mm ahead of it even with just a 60 mm stem.

So not a too small frame, just built up with a very unorthodox cockpit setup.

I appreciate the generosity here.

I may try a 75mm stem to see if that helps.

 

[Greycap]

I appreciate the generosity here.

Yours is still in the "unusual, but works" camp. It's not like I haven't seen things I'd rather have not during my travels.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Yours is still in the "unusual, but works" camp. It's not like I haven't seen things I'd rather have not during my travels.

I'm trying to imagine how this would handle. I'm guessing twitchy AF.

 

[W3H5]

I’m getting my passion back.

All it took was a mild psychosis and some guy at work who were looking to get into cycling. I told them I’d show them all the best routes around the north of Thailand.

And the hell with the rules. Yesterday I went a got my bars wrapped red to match my frame.

Next I’ll be painting the stem and bottom spacer black to match.

Then, on pay day, I’ll go back to the shop to consider some fresh rims.

 

[Greycap]

And the hell with the rules. Yesterday I went a got my bars wrapped red to match my frame.

Next I’ll be painting the stem and bottom spacer black to match.

The only way to go with the rules... I've broken them all and who cares. But think twice (or a lot more) before painting, everyone - including myself - has boring black. At least the spacer looks very good in white on a white-on-red frame, the stem cap too.

 

[W3H5]

The only way to go with the rules... I've broken them all and who cares. But think twice (or a lot more) before painting, everyone - including myself - has boring black. At least the spacer looks very good in white on a white-on-red frame, the stem cap too.

I’m going to replace the stem and cap with black because this one is a little too long for me. I’m keeping the white rims though.

 

[Omnis]

The white rims with black spokes looks sick though. I like the white headset pieces but the white stem has gotta gooooo

 

[W3H5]

The white rims with black spokes looks sick though. I like the white headset pieces but the white stem has gotta gooooo

Agreed. As soon as payday rolls around next week, it’s getting blacked.

 

[Greycap]

The mother of all weird builds has been let free from the winter vault again.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

First Wout and now Jonas. Visma's season has all but ended with their two stars both crashing heavily and breaking multiple bones. I was really hoping for a 4-way slugest at the TDF with Remco, Tadej, Primoz, and Jonas all going for glory. Suddenly, three of them are in question.

The descent risks are getting a little out of hand, IMO. Last year it was Gino Mader - and there's been enough crashes this year to make me think another death could happen on any given race. Some descents are inescapably part of various events (there is no Milan Sanremo without the descent down the back of the Poggio) but I think there should be some kind of moderating force on the downhills. These super aero bikes with 30mm tires can hit some crazy speeds.

 

[Dennisch]

Anyone watching Roubaix? Van der Poel is so untouchable lately that it is bordering on ridiculousness.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Anyone watching Roubaix? Van der Poel is so untouchable lately that it is bordering on ridiculousness.

Yes...his form this season is well beyond his even typical stellar form.

 

[daan]

New bike time.

It's a Specialized Turbo Vado SL 4.0 EQ. A lightweight ebike to replace my mega chunky Carrera Crossfire ebike and co-exist with my normal Ridgeback Three6five. It's just under 16kg compared with the 24-ish of the Crossfire. Only ridden it back from the shop so far, into a 40mph headwind, so I'm sure it'll get more fun!