bikes

[manysnakes]

If deck wheelbase warps your brain, just wait until you learn about trail measurements on bikes....

If you’ve got a few hours, I can explain stack and reach to you.

[BartHarleyJarvis]

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If deck wheelbase warps your brain, just wait until you learn about trail measurements on bikes....

[close]

If you’ve got a few hours, I can explain stack and reach to you.

talk seat tube angle vs head tube angle to me baby....

[Frank and Fred]

Ignorance is bliss for me. I have a geared adventure bike and singlespeed/ fixed daily driver. I'll often do things with them they are not designed for.

[sometimeperhaps]

Ignorance is bliss for me. I have a geared adventure bike and singlespeed/ fixed daily driver. I'll often do things with them they are not designed for.

Same here. I love bikes and know a little bit, but when I’m hanging out with bike friends and they start talking about brands, measurements or whatever I have no idea what any of it means. I’m happy to avoid the gear madness that goes along with it.

[Skibb]

Bought an old Univega from Marketplace for $50 and met up with my friend for a tour through Croatia, and it was so much fucking fun. What a place. Rode all kinds of stuff, from long stretches of road through fields of olive trees to twisty and rocky descents through forests... Loved it.

Sorry but you are not allowed to view spoiler contents.

Just wanted to share an update of the life of the old, purple Univega-beater... still going strong, but now equipped with both fenders and a rack. My wrists are kinda killing me on longer rides, so will prolly change to some better handlebars. The discussion on friction shifters a couple of pages back got me curious on getting drops and some bar-end shifters... Speaking of madness.

Anyway, here it is in shitty sleet weather, contrasting nicely with the Croatian roadtrip last summer. This thing must be like 30 years old, but it's still live and kicking!

[manysnakes]

[OhioGuy]

Found a Fairdale Express in my area for $350, it looks brand new. Tempted to buy it even though it’s single speed. I’ll probably just ride around the bike trails at my local park before skating (to warm up these aging legs), so it might be good. Just kinda don’t want to pay $1,000+ for a Fairdale Weekender or any bike right now. Who knows, I may hate it, then I’m just out of $350 instead of a rack 😅

It’s the 2021 version of this:

[sometimeperhaps]

Anyway, here it is in shitty sleet weather, contrasting nicely with the Croatian roadtrip last summer. This thing must be like 30 years old, but it's still live and kicking!

Very nice looking ride.

[sometimeperhaps]

Pretty excited for my new bike build. A friend of mine has started building frames, and this is one of the first few. Frame is a mixture of carbon and aluminum, and is a custom geometry. Fully machined from solid aluminum blocks. I've never ridden a bike so light so I'm looking forward to it.

Will be set up with a Campagnolo Chorus groupset. I was tempted to go with something electronic just to keep the build as clean as possible, but I'm conflicted when it comes to adding technology to something as simple as a bicycle. I also hate the idea of my bike needing firmware, and the ever looming planned obsolescence of the device overall. It would have made the build a little cleaner, but the cables will be routed internally so it's not to big a deal.

Just awaiting the wheels to come in and it should be ready to get built up. Went with some open mold carbon ones that were recommended to me.

[Frank]

^

wow, that looks crazy well done to me, congrats!

[Beeda Weeda]

really nice looking frame. I have a sram etap setup 3 years and I have had zero maintenance on it. I have had to replace my shifting cables on my mechanical 105 on my trainer bike  3x in that time frame.
Nothing against the campy, its going to look and ride great, just a little pro electronic shifting input.

[Bigfoot is real]

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I, like lots of other people during covid it seems, took a fascination to 90s mountain bikes and have restored like 5 at this point. I think fixing and cleaning old bike stuff is super fun.

[close]

What have you built?

I have a Diamond Back Axis TT from my racing days in the 90s.  it is too small for me unfortunately.
and a couple of early 90s road bikes - Litespeed and a Merlin.

'95 Trek 7000
'96 Trek 990
'91 GT Tequesta
'94 Kona Cinder Cone

It feels a bit ridiculous to have so many of the same type of bike (steel/ alu rigid 26" mtbs) but it's been fun to tinker on them and refurbish everything. I also really enjoy the idea of saving something from the trash or from being destroyed. One man's trash!

I would love to have a more modern, disc brake, 700c gravel bike for more comfortable touring, but it seems stupid to spend a grand on something redundant when I have everything I need.

[manysnakes]

Pretty excited for my new bike build. A friend of mine has started building frames, and this is one of the first few. Frame is a mixture of carbon and aluminum, and is a custom geometry. Fully machined from solid aluminum blocks. I've never ridden a bike so light so I'm looking forward to it.

Will be set up with a Campagnolo Chorus groupset. I was tempted to go with something electronic just to keep the build as clean as possible, but I'm conflicted when it comes to adding technology to something as simple as a bicycle. I also hate the idea of my bike needing firmware, and the ever looming planned obsolescence of the device overall. It would have made the build a little cleaner, but the cables will be routed internally so it's not to big a deal.

Just awaiting the wheels to come in and it should be ready to get built up. Went with some open mold carbon ones that were recommended to me.

That's wild. Haven't seen a new carbon/aluminum frame since probably 1999.

[Blue Fescue]

Yeah the old Trek OCLV's though Atherton bikes is doing something similar but with 3d printing the lugs so that every bike is custom.

[sometimeperhaps]

really nice looking frame. I have a sram etap setup 3 years and I have had zero maintenance on it. I have had to replace my shifting cables on my mechanical 105 on my trainer bike  3x in that time frame.
Nothing against the campy, its going to look and ride great, just a little pro electronic shifting input.

I hear ya. I do like the simplicity of electronic and the benefits of less maintenance is nice. I guess I’m lucky in the sense that I like fiddling with stuff, so mechanical lets me do that. I am mechanically inclined so that does help.

I know there’s some PNW lurkers in here. The company is called Framework Bicycles and will be at Made.Bike this summer in Portland.

[Skibb]

Thinking of switching to drop bars and getting some combined brake/shifting levers to save my wrists from completely disintegrating... Y'all think a Shimano Claris 3x8 setup will work with an old-ass Shimano Tourney 3x7?

[Jowiththeflow]

No, you'll have to switch the cassette to 8-speed. No biggie.
BUT: the Brake levers are not designed for Cantilevers. This is the part where it might get complicated.
(Here's a rabbit hole:.https://www.sheldonbrown.com/cantilever-geometry.html)

I'd try barends.

[manysnakes]

No, you'll have to switch the cassette to 8-speed. No biggie.
BUT: the Brake levers are not designed for Cantilevers. This is the part where it might get complicated.
(Here's a rabbit hole:.https://www.sheldonbrown.com/cantilever-geometry.html)

I'd try barends.

The exact opposite is true. Road calipers and calipers are both short-pull. You run into issues when you try and run V-brake or mechanical mountain discs with road levers, because those calipers are long-pull. But that's irrelevant because we don't actually know what sort of brakes they have, because it wasn't mentioned.

As for the OP, I don't have any details about your bike or what's on it, but something I can tell you from more than a decade working as a bike mechanic is that converting hybrid or mountain bikes to drop bars is very rarely as cheap or as simple as you think it's going to be. If you want to save your wrists, I'd look at wide, swept-back mountain bikes as made by SimWorks, Velo Orange, Nitto, etc.

[notinternetfamous]

I recently got this 1983 made in Japan Miyata three ten for mad cheap. Got it tuned up, new tires, new chain, new brake and shifter cables, and swapped out for a shorter stem. Not shown here but also upgraded to a Brooks B17 saddle.

For those who ride and work on vintage bikes, what is the best method of finding a vintage style bike fork?? The previous owner threw on an aluminum fork (I assume he bent the original), but I prefer the look of the thinner vintage steel forks.
Do you guys try to find it in the same color as the frame (if that is even possible lol)? Or just buy one in silver/black and repaint the fork to a similar color as the frame or just repaint the entire bike?

[manysnakes]

I recently got this 1983 made in Japan Miyata three ten for mad cheap. Got it tuned up, new tires, new chain, new brake and shifter cables, and swapped out for a shorter stem. Not shown here but also upgraded to a Brooks B17 saddle.

For those who ride and work on vintage bikes, what is the best method of finding a vintage style bike fork?? The previous owner threw on an aluminum fork (I assume he bent the original), but I prefer the look of the thinner vintage steel forks.
Do you guys try to find it in the same color as the frame (if that is even possible lol)? Or just buy one in silver/black and repaint the fork to a similar color as the frame or just repaint the entire bike?

If you want to find an original, you are either going to get extremely, incredibly, unbelievably lucky at your local bicycle co-op or at a shop which specializes in used gear, or you can troll eBay for the next decade until one turns up. In either case, you are left hoping that the fork you get will have enough steerer tube to work with, which is far from guaranteed.

Alternatively, yeah, just get a new fork. Soma makes a whole range of high quality steel threaded forks which would look great on there. Many are black, but a lot of them are shiny chrome which would look pretty good on there without painting or modification. A used fork of similar vintage is also a possibility, and that would be probably be cheaper and less painful to have painted, although I would expect getting it painted to match perfectly will be rather difficult.

[breezer]

Stooge Scrambler incoming......picking it up next week, will post pics soon. 

[Síota]

My local bike shop as in besides my appartement building has a mint 98 Trek 830 Single Trek for sale... holding out for an earlier stumpjumper thou

[manysnakes]

My local bike shop as in besides my appartement building has a mint 98 Trek 830 Single Trek for sale... holding out for an earlier stumpjumper thou

I’ve got a 97 830 frame in my shed, where it has been for like six years now. Should probably do something with it.

[BartHarleyJarvis]

Pulled the trigger on a Pinarello, excited for it to arrive. Will post some pics after the maiden voyage.

Ended up going up wth a less expensive model than I was originally eyeing. Decided to buy a bike that met my needs, not my wants (and saved a hefty chunk of money). Can always upgrade down the road.

[KoRnholio8]

Last week I finally bought my first new bike since elementary school. It is a modest entry level MTB Cube Aim Ex 2022, but it ticks all the boxes.

I now live in a house "in the country" in a valley, surrounded by fairly steep hills (most 200 vertical meters, but up to 500 in some places) on two sides. There isn't much Street View available and OpenStreetMaps (and thus Garmin maps) only have the local paved roads mapped. Basically 95% of forest roads and trails are missing. I've already started mapping those close to my home on my walks with my dogs. Strava Heatmap shows a lot of potential forrest roads as well.

Gotta say, I am very excited for this season. Hopefully, I'll have a lot of time to ride and map these gravel roads. Unfortunately, to get to serious climbs, I have to do some medium hills before, but other than that, this area looks like it is going to be a lot of fun (and painful uphill, but I like that aspect as well).

[Pasta Monster]

State Bicycle Co. x Notorious B.I.G.

I mainly bike in the high 50s to low 60s on this single speed. As much as I want to buy something nicer, it would be a waste of money and space, at the moment.

[Frank]

nothing wrong with getting a state nowadays, i heard they are a notch better than they were when they started out. not much different to buying something similar from fuji.

i'm the opposite of you and it's a problem. i have 2 working bikes and 2 others basically in parts with some basics like bottom brackets and stuff missing, and i've been switching parts and shit, and apart from my newest bike, which is pretty much stock, it all got very convoluted to the point where i dread to go through all those parts again.

[manysnakes]

There was a time when I had sooooo many disassembled bikes. Eventually I sold or traded in everything, but I recently acquired a sweet vintage low-trail steel road frame and a thrifted lugged Trek 950, both in my size, so now I have gotta find the energy to do some building.

[Síota]

EU pals ok looking for a 1996 Specialized Stumpjumper M2 Comp. The light blue Stumpjumper from that year.
I think shipping from across the pond will be too expensive but open to look at it.
I raced 24h solo at a ski resort in Canada on mine and did well considering I did almost no training and was hungover lol. Not even sure what happened to the bike...
If anyone happens to see one hit me up. Think it was a 18" no clue thou I'm 173cm so prob that or 17"

[breezer]

EU pals ok looking for a 1996 Specialized Stumpjumper M2 Comp. The light blue Stumpjumper from that year.
I think shipping from across the pond will be too expensive but open to look at it.
I raced 24h solo at a ski resort in Canada on mine and did well considering I did almost no training and was hungover lol. Not even sure what happened to the bike...
If anyone happens to see one hit me up. Think it was a 18" no clue thou I'm 173cm so prob that or 17"

post up on Retrobike......someone will have one. I could maybe help with shipping too