ultraclyde (Forum Supporter) said:
In reply to 93EXCivic :
It was barely big enough for my lunch and work clothes., but that's not the main issue. I don't have room to run one of the Carradice type support racks, which means it was tied to the saddle loops and the seat post. This puts the bag in a position where the opening faces straight rearward. Add to that the fact that you have to leave it on the bike, you can't easily take it off to pack in the house. Which leaves you carrying stuff out to the the bike one piece at a time and stuffing it in a bag from the rear. It's just massively awkward. The basket bag allows me to pack everything and then load it. It also means I can pull the bag off and take it with me if I do a store stop.
The bag itself was well made and really nice. If I had room to run it on one of Carradice's QR support racks where it was held upright it might have stayed. Or if I could frontload my bike it might make a good handlebar bag.
Gotcha. I was planning on using as a handlebar bag so it doesn't seem like any of that would be a problem for me personally then.
Also since you mentioned you are a bag ho, have you checked out The Spindle ATL? I got one of their Kofta barrel bags and it is a pretty nice little handlebar bag. They are local to you I think.
this bike i bought used with most parts already upgraded.
used bontrager duster 26 wheel i got for 22$
hydraulic breaks that need bled
fox float 34/36? that rides super smooth
raceface bars and stem, also raceface bb and cranks.
shimano drivetrain that keeps skipping and seems impossible to fix....
converted to 1x9 and went the cheapo route (ie used the middle chainring instead of going with a proper narrow wide chainring)
regular alloy/alum seatpost (want to upgrade to a transx skyline and just hack internal routing through the seat tube)
wtb silverado saddle that is uncomfortable af
vuelta mtb 26 wheel on the front
diamondback respone frame from 2014 or so, (you can see it doesn't have very modern geo...)
did i miss anything?
edit: oh forgot to tell y'all. if you want a good bike wiht nice components used get it form a guy who never uses it and will sell it for cheap. i got this thing for 400 from a buddy
In reply to 93EXCivic :
Why no. No I have not. But I will now!
BTW, if you specifically want a handlebar bag, make sure to look at the Swift Peregrine. It's a different aesthetic but I think it would be more functional up front.
In reply to ultraclyde (Forum Supporter) :
I see you are running Gravel Kings, I just spent an hour last night struggling to mount some for my partner on her cross bike. The 700 x 43 went on with a struggle but the 38 for the back is not having it at the moment. I'm going to take another stab at with some soapy water and hopefully get it on. Have you had trouble with them? I've heard they stretch a bit over time so the second time isn't as bad getting them on.
In reply to adam525i (Forum Supporter) :
They were a bitch the first time on. I recently unseated them to refresh the sealant and they were MUCH easier. They've been on about a year. They're the tubeless 700x50.
In reply to ultraclyde (Forum Supporter) :
how is it changing sealant? super big mess or a 5 minute job?
In reply to Dieselboss15 :
Shouldn't be too bad, just a bit of a balancing act to unseat the tire and pour the remaining old sealant into something
Yeah, not bad. I run Stans and after a year there's a just a little watery liquid left and some random latex boogers stuck to the tire. I put the bike in a work stand and pop the bead off one side of the wheel, pulling just the one to the outside of the rim. Use a wad of paper towels to scour the inside of the tire as you rotate it. Once clean, pour in fresh sealant. Keeping the bike upright in the stand means the sealant stays in the tire even if you rotate the wheel. Put the bead back on and inflate until it seats. Took me about 20 minutes to do both tires.
In reply to ultraclyde (Forum Supporter) :
In reply to SnowMongoose (Forum Supporter) :
more questions have arisen after reading yall's posts.
how do i get the tire off of the bead? Is there a preferred method to putting in sealant? i have seen people leave a bit of the tire off the wheel and pour it in that way or put it in through the valve. Also, would pouring it in through the exposed tire and inflating with an air compressor circulate the sealant better?
I usually squirt sealant through the valve and removing the valve core. I'll use Schwalbe Easy Fit on the bead to assist with initial seating, but soapy water works just as well. I seat the tire on the rim before adding sealant, using either my Joe Blow Booster floor pump or my compressor if it's a stubborn tire/rim combo.
Some tires can be really stubborn, but usually you squeeze the beads together opposite of the valve stem and work the tire down into the rim cavity. Then you can usually work the bead onto the rim. My tires usually get destroyed from riding before the sealant dries out...
Tubeless is also sensitive to the rim tape. Any cuts or nicks in the tape can cause a tire to not seal. Be careful if/when using levers on stubborn tires.
Ideally through the valve, YMMV on unseating the tire, especially the first couple times.
If you haven't seated the tire yet, by all means dump it into the bottom then get the tire in place from the bottom on up.
Compressor is nice but by no means required (I've always used a floor pump and have had minimal swearing, even back in the day doing 'ghetto tubeless')
I sold my old bike during the pandemic (mainly because it was a L frame and I really need a M, or else it feels like I'm dating the bike when I stand over the crossbar) and there are NO (zip, none) bikes to be had right now in my price range.
I just want a hybrid bike- Trek FX, Giant Escape, Sirrus X, I don't care. Zip. Nothing. I'm keeping an eye out on Facebook and Craigslist.
What other things should I be looking at? No hard trail riding, mostly greenways but I also guarantee I'll be sometimes fail to hop a curb or hit a root, so skinny dedicated road bike tires are out. I also prefer flat bars.
EDIT: in doing some research I also hear about "Early geometry" frames vs. modern frames. I'm not going to be doing really long rides on this thing- maybe 20 miles, tops. Is the geometry really that different?
In reply to Brett_Murphy (Ex-Patrón) :
The biggest geo changes have been in MTBs, everything else has stayed fairly static.
If you were less than several thousand miles away I'd try to sell you my too-small-for-me flat bar CX/bar bike
Dieselboss15 said:
In reply to ultraclyde (Forum Supporter) :
In reply to SnowMongoose (Forum Supporter) :
more questions have arisen after reading yall's posts.
how do i get the tire off of the bead? Is there a preferred method to putting in sealant? i have seen people leave a bit of the tire off the wheel and pour it in that way or put it in through the valve. Also, would pouring it in through the exposed tire and inflating with an air compressor circulate the sealant better?
Popping the bead loose is pretty much just like a tubed tire. Deflate, push in on the tire at the rim until it pops off the bead. It just takes more force. Then use a couple tire levers to work the loose bead over the rim. I usually bring the entire bead over the rim all the way around the tire since I want to clean out the old sealant. It's easier and quicker to pour the new sealant in the tire at that point than to take the valve core out and put it through the valve. Besides, presta valve stems are tiny and I always make a mess. Once the sealant is in, work the bead back over the rim and inflate to seat. I always use a compressor. In the past I've had to use soapy water and over 120PSI to seat a MTB tire. Plus the volume hit from the compressor helps push the bead against the rim and get an initial seal, something that can be hard to do with a hand pump.
The air compressor doesn't circulate the sealant. Rotating the wheel does that.
In reply to Brett_Murphy (Ex-Patrón) :
Old MTB geometry is closer to what you's see in a "hybrid" bike. Newer MTB geometry uses slacker head and seat tube angles, shorter chainstays, shorter stems, and longer front-centers. The newer geo works great on trails but can make them feel slow or sloppy on the road.
It sounds like an old geometry (say pre 2010?) hardtail MTB would suit you as well as a hybrid if you stumble on one. Don't forget, department stores are going to be stocking up on bikes for Christmas these days too. A hybrid bike from a big box store isn't the worst place to start IF it fits you. You may be able to get one of those when the local bike shops are still out of stock.
Update on the Gravel kings, I ended up mounting the 38 on another wheel for now, hopefully it will stretch a bit on there and allow me to put it on her wheel at some point. The 38's were noticeably tighter than the 43 which was already pretty tight.
So, I found a bike: a 2019 Trek FX Sport 4.
It's quite easily the fanciest bike I've ever owned.
-Carbon fork
-700c wheels with new Maxxis Speedterrane 33c tires
-Completely new Microshift AdventX Drivetrain
11-48 alloy 10spd cassette
Advent X derailleur
Advent X Trigger Pro Shifter
-New Wolftooth 42t dropstop 1x chainring
-Shimano hydraulic disc brakes
-New Raceface Next Carbon Seatpost
-New Raceface Next Carbon Handlebar
-80mm Fizik Stem, will include stock 110mm Bontrager blendr stem
-Bontrager Lock-on Grips
Quite honestly, I don't know what half of that means. The bike is light and rides well. Besides a fast test drive, I've not had a chance to do anything with it other than get it home and adjust the seating position to fit me a bit better.
The pictures are from the for sale ad. I don't have a clean garage or a bike stand.
That'll move along nicely!
In reply to Brett_Murphy (Ex-Patrón) :
Nice!
In reply to Brett_Murphy (Ex-Patrón) :
but... but... it ain't a mtb :(. kidding of course. nice bike
Got some custom brazed 16deg backsweep, 6 deg upsweep, 2in rise handlebars from Doom Bars. Attached them with an FBM (RIP) stem.
Dieselboss15 said:
In reply to Brett_Murphy (Ex-Patrón) :
but... but... it ain't a mtb :(. kidding of course. nice bike
I had a mtb when I lived in upstate NY. Now that I live where it's flat, this'll be more way useful.
I was able to take this out for a 16.8 mile ride yesterday after not having ridden a bike for anywhere near that distance in... years. I need to adjust it a bit more before the next ride.
In reply to 93EXCivic :
Those look pretty cool. It seemed like 10 years ago some of the bigger brands were pushing more sweep (my 2011 Trek/Gary Fisher Paragon came with Bontrager Big Sweep bars), are you running them for comfort? Where does it put your hands with regards to the head tube/steerer tube? Are they behind it with a short stem or still in front a bit? Just curious really.
adam525i (Forum Supporter) said:
In reply to 93EXCivic :
Those look pretty cool. It seemed like 10 years ago some of the bigger brands were pushing more sweep (my 2011 Trek/Gary Fisher Paragon came with Bontrager Big Sweep bars), are you running them for comfort? Where does it put your hands with regards to the head tube/steerer tube? Are they behind it with a short stem or still in front a bit? Just curious really.
Yeah I was struggling a bit with handpump and I had heard good things about more swept back bars so I decided to give them a try. Three rides totaling 41 miles they have been great. I was running a 35mm stem but swapped to a 53mm stem. Also the bars a bit higher now between going from a no rise stem with 40mm rise bars to a top mount BMX stem with 2in rise bars.
I have no idea what handpump is.
The seat on my bike is killing my backside. I've put in about 32 miles on the bike, plus some work on the stationary bike during the week. The stationary bike has a wide, padded seat and it didn't seem bad. The real bike has a narrow, hard seat and my glutes are protesting it.
I'm hoping I get more used to it, but if not, I might need a different one.
