I Love To Ride My Bicycle

(I mean, I get tired sick of wading through discussion of titties and big brother to find threads about computers and archeology and walking, but I don't think there should be a "I Love Digging and Rambling" board because Forest, Emsk and I would be the only people on it!)

NOT ALL OF US HAVE THIS OPTION.

(OK, SGS will hit me for that, but still.)

is that your real name by the way, billy dods? only it's a really cool name i think.

http://lib1.store.vip.sc5.yahoo.com/lib/classic-motoring/CarBra.jpg

Gem, yes it's my real name, glad you like it.

This is a good thing Mark, you do not want to look like Craig from Big Brother!

my back tyre exploded last night! it made me miss the gig :( thought it was a regular puncture (it was one of the noisy ones with a crack and a HISSSsss rather than just a slow quiet expiring) but i took the wheel off and stuff and pulled the inner tube out and blimey, the edge of the tyre - where it tucks inside the wheel rim - was all shot to fuck, all shredded and with METAL BITS STICKING OUT! cripes. not all the way round, just right by where the valve is. i carefully replaced the inner tube and rode home very, very gently (considered getting a new tyre there and then at evans but they were £15-20 and lovely barclay's bikes has them for a tenner and support yer local indie bike shop etc etc) and it was fine but wtf?? is this normal? i thought they just sort of, you know, wore out gradually. have i been doing something terribly wrong?

xpost with ed

nah, at work my bike lives out the back in a tunnel thing with no direct light, and inside the house at home, it had been in the sun on the way to work in the am and it was still nice and hot when it happened. i hadn't let air out, i had actually put a bit of air in the night before cos it had gone a bit squishy though. it wasn't like hard-hard though, specifically cos i feared the increased pressure...

...not because I want to start a new board, but because I want to talk about riding bicycles!

(mod req: can we just change the title to I Love To Ride My Bicycle?)

Also: I had the option to buy a beautiful '80s Italian track frame a few weeks ago for a stupid price. I passed it up because I am sorta poor (but not THAT poor). Did I make a mistake?

I could do with some overshoes or some nice winter bootees.

I'm doing tights under Pearl Izumi EXTREME FREERIDING shorts...as a commuter, it's great. As a "cool guy picking up chicks," it's, uh, stupid.

I can't wait 'till it's cold enough to pull out my ski helmet.

Ok so i went to go put my bike away for the winter and i noticed the rear cogs are beginning to rust. I've been storing the bike outside and rain must of somehow snuck in. I've only had the bike since the summer, can i clean off the rust with some citrus degreaser and then safely put it away for the season? or do i have someone remove the whole gear cluster and give it a cleaning? i do not have much money to send it to a shop.

it is yours to revive any time you please.

see also: Q: Girls in skirts, on bikes, drinking beers thread on nozie board

Yo bike riders, watch your backs, the police are after you:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/26/nsex126.xml&CMP=ILC-mostviewedbox

I've just discovered that what I thought was the thing you change gears with is actually a bell. Me am bike smart.

so how long did it take you to recognize that the gearing wasn't changing and you heard a noise every time?

Never ring your bell, you'll have to push harder! (or less hard, it's a bit of a gamble really)

This guy was done for riding his bicycle.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/26/nsex126.xml

Man who had sex with bike in court

A man has been placed on the sex offenders’ register after being caught trying to have sex with a bicycle.

Robert Stewart was discovered in his room by two cleaners at the Aberley House Hostel in Ayr, south west Scotland, in October last year.

On Wednesday Mr Stewart admitted to sexual breach of the peace in Ayr Sheriff Court, where depute fiscal Gail Davidson described how he had been found by the hostel workers.

She said: "They knocked on the door several times and there was no reply.

"They used a master key to unlock the door and they then observed the accused wearing only a white T-shirt, naked from the waist down.

"The accused was holding the bike and moving his hips back and forth as if to simulate sex."

Both witnesses, who were extremely shocked, notified the hotel manager, who in turn alerted the police.

Mr Stewart was placed on the sex offenders’ register but his sentence was deferred until next month.

He is not the first man to be convicted of a sexual offence involving an inanimate object, however.

Karl Watkins, an electrician, was jailed for having sex with pavements in Redditch, Worcs, in 1993.

i do not love my bicycle or any bicycle in that way eeegh

was bike riding today! (b/c am not in snowy mtl but in bike-rideable vancouver.) so totally digging my bro's pink miele 80s roadbike. sleek. tho the roads here are super smooth and bike routes all safety zone in comparison to mtl. also had half-forgotten abt all the hills. cardiovascular system, i salute you, and hope to maintain such contact with you through the winter but apologize in advance anyway just b/c yknow it's supposed to be stupid cold :/ maybe i will find stationry exercise bike somewhere

my bicycle was stolen over the weekend, as dirty theives worked their way from the carpark into the stairway where my poor innocent only-method-of-transport-i-have lay waiting. they did something to the lock I just can't understand, and now it is gone. As Ireland isn't exactly bike riding capital, this is extremely unfair as it is probably under the canal metres from my house & I wouldn't even know! So upsetting. Sob.

what montreal winter and sidewalk snowplows do to bikes:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3140/2382000705_6030842656.jpg

is it not so sad! every year, it makes me sad
but my bike is indoors and safe! and it is spring and i have been riding and i love my bicycle! except that the streets are really dirty and awful and i rode over glass and my tire deflated and then when i changed my tire my (okay pretty old) rim came apart :( so now i need a new rim if not a new wheel... but it is still spring! i do want a more racing style bike still tho

srsly it is just cruel to leave bikes out when this kind of thing is bound to happen:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2200/2368458857_7361d6c2eb.jpg

Are they hidden under snow or are snowplow drivers mean bike-haterz?

the sidewalk snowplow drivers are power crazed freaks who drive really fast and pretty much run you off the sidewalk if you are unlucky enough to be just walking along in the freshly fallen snow minding your own business, so i'm quite sure they srsly do not care abt bikes that are half-covered in snow

that said, i wldn't want to do that job either, esp during the winter we just had

what would not be fun about driving this little guy?

http://www.holder.on.ca/images/inst_snowPlow.jpg

stereo and heater in the cab, bikes a'crunching under the wheels...

actually the ones i'm talking about are even smaller and cuter, tho still powerful (b0mbardier built rite) which makes them almost worse really
http://www.highergroundsales.com/IM000627.JPG

so fun to drive tho i'm sure - mini tanks - and they turn on a dime!

Robyn, can you not take an undamaged wheel off one of the poor killed bikes on the street? Or is that like grave-robbing?

I wouldn't trust a single one of those wheels unless, rrobyn, you know someone who will true and/or rebuild it for you for free. Otherwise you might as well pick up a used one wheel from a bike shop, I would think. Was it the front or the back?

Cute tank is CUET.

Off topic from desecrated Montreal bikes, but I just ordered a set of Shimano PD-M540 double-sided SPD pedals and MT41 SPD shoes to greatly enhance my commuting and everyday cycling experience.

I've been using SPD-SL on my road bike since I got it several years ago, but somehow never got round to taking the plunge on my work-a-day bike until now. I'm excited and greatly looking forward to their arrival, hopefully on Friday.

I am going to buy some Crank Brothers Egg-beaters on the advice of a knowledgeable friend - any thoughts?

They look cool

I go platforms and power grips, which is a good compromise between convience and performance.

it was front wheel (replaced back one 2 yrs ago, phew) so not a huge expense i don't think. tho forgot to bring it to work today to drop off with friend tonight. am missing bike so much :( but it has been making me jog to early morning yoga (yeah crazy) b/c i am somehow totally unable to exit the house before 7:15 am. jogging is not as good as biking no matter how you slice it.

mini sidewalk snowplows are like koala bears. cute but mean little bastards.

xposts
you guys are making me want to build rad bike now

eggbeaters are way cool. superb design, extremely easy to clip into and they don't get clogged with mud - not that that should be a problem on a road bike, but i've always assumed they're aimed more at the mtb end of the market. they're certainly not the most aerodynamic.

I was going to go with Eggbeaters, as they seem pretty popular, but the Shimano M520 and M540 are arguably more so, and are a wee bit cheaper and very well regarded too.
All of them are supposedly good for urban cycling as the double-sided Shimano and 4-sided Eggbeaters make it easy to clip in without having to flip the pedal round the right way.
I'll report back on my Shimano M540's once they get here and I have a chance to brave Glasgow traffic with them.

I've had eggbeaters for 2 years and I love them, simple design, low maintenance and easy clipping.

yaaay i got a new wheel! and slicks! my old tires were ollld and like a cross btwn slicks and burly tires, so kinda annoying, tho tuff.
oh i love my bicycle
also cuetest bike mechanic with cuetest eyes+smile
oh it is springtime

i like my eggbeaters. esp since work just BOUGHT them for me

As hoped, my new pedals (Shimano SPD PD-M540's) and shoes arrived yesterday. It was surprisingly my first order from Wiggle, and I was very impressed, especially with the wee packet of wiggle-branded jelly sweets they sent with the order.

Anyway, there was some serious huffing and puffing to get my old pedals off (they were around 8 years and ~20000 miles old (I'm such a maintenance slacker) so they were severely seized up), resulting with my eventual giving up and taking the bike to a helpful LBS where the job was done properly. I didn't feel bad about paying £5 just to swap a set of pedals after the guy ended up having to apply a blowtorch and some serious frame bending effort to remove the stubborn left-hand pedal.

Only a quick 10 mile commute home so far, but they were great - much easier to clip into than my SPD-SL's and I really felt like I noticed the difference between clipless and my previous cages in terms of pedal power, it felt very satisfying. It's added a wee frisson of excitement to my commutes, at least for the next few days.

I just got my bike converted to singlespeed (not fixed).

I've only had a single spin home from work on it so far, but it was great. Thankfully it was a lot more manageable than I'd been worried about, in terms of hills and inclines, at least for now. The weight saving compared to my previous fully geared set-up was quite noticeable and I found that without the option of easing off and shifting down, I was forced to maintain a higher, steadier cadence and consequently a higher speed, so as to maintain my momentum. Early days yet, but I'm currently really pleased with and excited about the change.

My M540 SPD pedals are still going great too. They seem perfect for urban riding as they're very easy to clip in and out of, but do still provide a definite feeling of being connected to the bike.

It's all very hoorah for cycling chez krakow at the moment. Shorts all the way too, now that the weather is halfway reasonable.

what ratio ya running?

I'm running 38x16. According to Sheldon's gear calculator, that's about a 64'' gear on my 700Cx32 wheels.

I'm currently using the middle ring of my old chainset up front, which is a very basic 28/38/48 triple set. My plan is to replace that with a dedicated singlespeed chainset when it starts to play up, which would give me the opportunity to change the gearing a bit if needed once I've settled in to the whole thing a few months down the line. We'll have to see how my legs cope.

I'm gonna revive this...

This morning I saw a little girl, maybe 8-10 years old, very nearly get her head chopped off by a car because she was, under full guidance of her father, riding on the pavement.

Her, at least one other little girl on a bike, and (who I presume to be) her dad, also on a bike, with another, even littler girl on his handlebars, were all riding down a busy pavement where the bulk of pedestrian traffic was in the opposite direction to them, on the side of the road where car traffic was going in the same direction as them.

This pathway is busy at the time of year - it's a main route from some big halls of residence into the university campus. The little girl crashed into a pedestrian; he didn't have a walkman or anything on, and appeared to be paying due attention - she just seemed to lose control because, well, narrow pavement, lots of pedestrians, lots of cars, and she's about 8-10. She fell sideways after bashing into him, into the road; a blue car coming up behind her had to swerve and only narrowly missed her. Her dad, if it was her dad, didn't stop, just kept on riding and encouraged her to keep on riding too. We were a few minutes later then we'd normally be, so it would have been ten to nine; presumably the girls were all about to be late for school.

The girl had a helmet on, but I doubt it would have been much use; had she gone a bit further into the road, or the car swerved a little less, its bumper would have hit her head full on at 30mph. The little girl was noticeably upset and nearly crying after the incident. I didn't see much more because of how busy it was, and we had to turn off at the junction for the university (only a few metres behind the girl).

So... just how irresponsible is the father? What are the cycle-politics re; riding on pavements? At rush-hour? I felt really sorry for the guy the girl bashed into, as it didn't appear to be his fault at all, and he tried grabbing her to stop her falling into the road, but it all happened rather quickly. A shitty "what if?" start to a Monday morning for him.

That sounds shitty, for sure. Seems like this post is better suited to a parenting thread than one on biking. Clearly the girl should not have been cycling in the condition you describe.

I've seen grown-ups riding toddlers on their handlebars on Bedford Ave, with no helmets on either of them and in fast traffic. Actually, haha, one of them "tut-tutted" ME when I almost ran into a little girl who was walking in the middle of the street alone, and against the light, and who walked right into my path as I was riding. The father with the toddler on his bike said something mean or disapproving about me, I think -- it was hard to tell in that crazy 3 seconds.

So in conclusion: people do stupid shit.

Yeah on my commute I now have scallies firing bottle rockets at me.

god bless guy fawkes

If you will ride a Penny Farthing whilst wearing what can only be described as Knickerbockers then what on earth do you expect?

In all seriousness though, crumbs. I trust you're not too traumatized.

On the upside scallies have notoriously bad aim.It's the malnutrition.

I've had myriad projectiles launched at me, some more successfully than others sadly. Cycling in Glasgow is basically war, both with the drivers and the pedestrian neds etc.

Highlights include:

*Being temporarily blinded by a snowball/rock combo a few winters ago in Maryhill (which is the main inspiration behind my year-round clear cycling glasses nowadays).
*Being hit on the (thankfully well-toned) arse by a full bottle of Lucozade thrown from a car as it sped by down by the old Glasgow zoo recently.

Neds also seem to like using themselves as projectiles, running out into busy roads to try and knock me off. Nasty little blighters.

I've been biking to work for about two months and came the closest yet today to an accident: Some idiot woman stepped off a curb right in front of me, against the signal, while I was in the bike lane travelling about 20mph. She couldn't have been more than 12 ft. away when she stepped off, and between hitting brakes and turning handlebars I came thisclose to dumping the bike, stopping about a foot from her. Then, when I yelled at her to pay attention, she had the temerity to yell as if it were my fault. **sigh** I doubt it will be the last time, but wtf?

You are on a bike == you are sub-sub-human.

My wife just called to tell me she ran over my bike with her car!

Apparently the front wheel is completely bent - I'm not sure what else might be broken.

;_;

:(

Another guy did the same thing to me on the same street, in the same place, on my way home yesterday! This time, I screeched to a halt and said, "Hey, thanks for checking for traffic dude, I appreciate it!" Everyone else standing at the curb laughed at him.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-earl-blumenauer/no-seriously-republicans_b_164822.html

>:(

http://bikeportland.org/2009/02/06/senators-look-to-strip-bike-funding-from-stimulus-bill-blumenauer-responds/

Apparently the amendment didn't make it, but still... can someone explain to me what is wrong with these people

a q for mpls ilxors: when the greenway went in, was there legit public outcry over the expenditure? because when the weather's nice that thing is busy as hell.

Is this the right thread? I am going to buy a bicycle! :D

today was the best bicyle day of the year. I rode through the park with my helmet off, that's how stupid the sun made me.