Bicycles

Always wanted a Zaskar in Bronze ano. Came close to buying a chromed Pantera for a steal, but it wouldn't have scratched the itch. And I already had like 5 bikes at the time, I literally had no space to keep it without a divorce.



 
i put some cork grips on my wife's bike as the plastic grips were hardened and uncomfortable. i think i'll order a new tire for the front as it still has the factory miyata tire and the 30+ year old rubber is pretty stiff and unforgiving. trying to make that thing ride like a cadillac for her; the swayed angle on those front forks seems like they would ride like a cloud with a decent tire.





rode the alameda creek trail/bayshore trail on saturday. got some decent top gear 3/4 mile to 1 mile sprints in on the trail as she did her 7 mph thing. it's really the first time i've had solid straightaways sans traffic lights/pedestrians/etc on this bike and it's definitely quick. nice efficient pedal-to-go action. dug it.





the fenders are still sitting in a corner in my apartment because i'm lazy and busy with truck repair shit, but i'll have to give mine a clean and lube today because it's covered in filth... maybe after this waylon/willie record is over.
 
The list price for the 105 Alloy is ~$1600, seems you can find it online for around $1300. I'm paying $875 all in, so I guess not quite 50% of actual retail prices.





I don't know the specifics of the swooped up rear hub. Perhaps to increase the pedal-to-saddle length? So the saddle can be a bit lower and thus reducing the saddle-to-bar drop??





I'll be sure to post a detailed review of the bike once I am riding it! So pumped!!
 
I picked a great winter to take off from holleuring at snow. Our mountains are bare. I am out of physical therapy, looking to get a little back into shape before hitting the trails. I have been skipping rope, eschewing Coke, and easing back into bikes. Ebike across town, some non-assisted pedaling in the past week.





My mountain bike is now psycho:





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Only two rides on that superfork, I've forgotten how rad it is. Stoked to rediscover it and try my new additions: XX1 drivetrain and insane-o SRAM wheels. With these swap-outs, my bike feels a couple pounds lighter, and it's very quiet.





I will ride gravel bikes for a few weeks before I actually put knobbies on loam yahurdme...but I'm feeling pretty close! Going to be 60 again today, look for me on the bike path y'all.
 
Super lucky this weekend - $20 GW find (not my pic, but same exact bike with all the trimming)





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this thing is so heavy heavy compared to my 80's peugot...but its a fun solid ride.



 
Hi bikestrutt!

Been riding mountain bikes, it is still quite very much super awesome.

World Cup DH is back with a vengeance! First race in Lourdes was phenomenal. Seriously check it out if you're even halfway interested. It's old school Nurburgring downhill skiing gnarly man shit, where crazy can still beat smart. The format makes for good teevee too. One run, fastest time wins.

Seattle has finally replaced the 520 bridge. Floating hunk of doom from the 60's that sees some ridiculous amount of traffic above its intended capacity. Almost up and running now. My 71-year-old father joined me on a ride on the bridge deck before it opened, it was rad. Ride route also took us on the deserted express lanes of I-5 through downtown. It was surreal. Loved i

Today is Kelly McGarry's birthday. Go rip around on a bike in his memory!

 
I am riding more on this gig than in the last couple of years. Keep a bike at both client locations, blast it at lunchtimes. Currently running my 29" Merida (hardtail) and my 26" Bontrager Privateer (rigid). I don't think I have cleaned them once this year, just keep the vital bits lubed. Wow, those last few sentences are ripe for double-entendre.

Getting less precious and just riding the fuckers. Even on Strava :breakface: Wow, there are some serious folls on Strava. Sponsored folls and all that. The beauty of being in your forties and on a mountain bike is that they are not my competition, and I don't need to wear lycra.

Part of the Coventry route is through a University campus, last week helped a dude back to his feet after he had failed to negotiate a cattle grid - the route goes all rustic and cattle are a feature. I don't know what he was doing but he was on the floor with his teeth through his lip (no helment (sic)) and his bike was over there with a taco'd front wheel. I can only assume he'd tried to gap it and come short, with his front wheel somehow angled enough to lodge at 90° down into the grid and flip him.

Flip him for real, as Fred Fenster would say.

He was groggy but me and a couple of joggers stayed with him until the medics arrived. These crazy kids.



 
Been spending most of this winter in the snow, holleuring at that, as it's been a good one. Currently sitting here waiting for it to officially be raining, pretending to be getting ready to ride bikes, but honestly I don't feel like getting muddy so I'm stalling. And I don't want to spend any effort cleaning up. Let's be honest I have no plans to ride today. But I'm looking at all these bikes in my apartment. There they are.

Rode a lot of lift-served bike park last year. DH bikes. Went to Whistler twice, which was as many times as in the previous five years. They figured out that building less-psycho tracks will make them more money than the super gnar. They still have the jaw-dropping bullshit for maniacs, but there is so much for gnar-adjacent old dudes now. Love it. I'm probably better than I used to be, and the bikes certainly are, but there are 25mph swoopy berm runs with tabletops that go forever now, and holy shit it's more fun than should be allowed. It is an absolute riot.

There's only one chairlift operation in the state, surprisingly. Stevens Pass. It's built by the same crew from Whistler, Gravity Logic, so it's dialed. They're in their fifth year of operation now, got a couple tracks that are worth riding all day (especially when work has free passes).

I'm not huge on drop bar bikes anymore, but I have been riding a ridiculous Raleigh Stuntman gravel bike around town. It's all brown everything, colors and logos lifted from the TV show Fall Guy (nobody gets the reference, changing the color for 2018). Reynolds 631, hydro discs, 1x11 cross drivetrain, and 50c tires. 50c! Been killing it on neighborhood shortcuts and potholed skreetz. I'm keeping it.

Whagwaan with the bikemans dem?






 
Not ridden this month! I know, right?

Both bikes were previously at the client sites, where riding was good and plentiful. Client now has me working at one site next to Birmingham airport. It's devoid of anywhere to ride other than lapping the business park. The roads around here are all motorways or places where you would be frankly insane to engage the level and speed of motorised traffic. Shit, even driving the 56 miles here can be a white knuckle-ride (it is the time where it's still dark and wet for the whole trip), And there is a ghost-bike at a particularly dark junction. I am not surprised, and yet still I encounter foll and foll cycling in the pre-7AM void in dark clothes with no lights.

At such times, I think of the one GAFFLER AKA STACKSWELL AKA GEEKS and mentally pour a Staropramen on the kerb for the fallen biking homie.

I therefore thought now would be a good time to get both bikes stripped and serviced which is where they are. And now the client has told me I'll be free to pursue opportunities on the free market as of the end of March.

So, every cloud, and all that.
 


dukeofdelridge said:

I have been riding a ridiculous Raleigh Stuntman gravel bike around town. It's all brown everything, colors and logos lifted from the TV show Fall Guy (nobody gets the reference, changing the color for 2018). Reynolds 631, hydro discs, 1x11 cross drivetrain, and 50c tires. 50c! Been killing it on neighborhood shortcuts and potholed skreetz. I'm keeping it.
PICS OR YOUR (sic) SOFT.

b/w

SNOW ENVY.
 
I'll be staying in the village Quorn (outside Loughborough) next month for a few days and the AirBNB host has a MTB for me to ride around. I'll commute to the local Uni on it too. Can't wait.
 
I ride my bike to work and home, that's about it. Miss me with that below 25F weather though, can't feel my feet. Commuted in the snow a couple times-- slow & slick. The streets are a mess. Mexico has better roads than Seattle. Especially Delridge & W. Marginal, yikes. Moved up here w/ a road bike, so can't squeeze anything larger than a 28x700c on that thing and keep the fenders, which unfortunately are necessary.
What's up Duke? I'm still buried under home improvement projects most weekends, but I'm around. Hit me up for an Alki cruise n booze. BBQ weather can't come soon enough.
 


JimBeam said:

I ride my bike to work and home, that's about it. Miss me with that below 25F weather though, can't feel my feet. Commuted in the snow a couple times-- slow & slick. The streets are a mess. Mexico has better roads than Seattle. Especially Delridge & W. Marginal, yikes. Moved up here w/ a road bike, so can't squeeze anything larger than a 28x700c on that thing and keep the fenders, which unfortunately are necessary.
What's up Duke? I'm still buried under home improvement projects most weekends, but I'm around. Hit me up for an Alki cruise n booze. BBQ weather can't come soon enough.



Yeah man freeze/thaw cycle and pretty wet: Seattle's roads are pre pretty gnarly. Head to the east side of the lake for better surfaces but bigger assholes. Daylight savings time is soon, that's when I ramp up my bike modes, definitely down for a w Seattle cruise!