Took my old race bike out today. I am not in shape to climb with it that is for sure. I can hammer away on the straights though like no tomorrow.
53/39 with a 12/23 rear is not the right gearing. It looks like I can do a 11/32 or 12/29 cassette through pretty cheap that will fit with the rear derailleur and give me much better climbing. Not sure if I will need to swap out for compact cranks.
In reply to Brett_Murphy (Ex-Patrón) :
Saddles are such a difficult thing. The super wide, soft seats suck when you are actually riding distance. They rub and chafe. Narrow seats are better, but they have to be the right narrow to fit your bones. Then you have to find the right combination of shape, material, and padding to fit your butt. Some shops have measuring pads you sit on to get a starting point. Great shops have a stash of loaner saddles in different design and sizes they'll let you borrow and audition. Good saddles can be pricey so it sucks if you have to buy several to find the right one. But you can often sell the lightly used ones for decent money if they are high end.
I know several hard core riders that have bought multiples of a saddle once the find THE right one. They hoard them against the day the manufacturer discontinues the model they like.
ultraclyde (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to Brett_Murphy (Ex-Patrón) :
I know several hard core riders that have bought multiples of a saddle once the find THE right one. They hoard them against the day the manufacturer discontinues the model they like.
Yep. I hoard Selle Italia Flite saddles. I've run them on my bikes for almost 30 years and my butt is unhappy when I try any other saddle. I even have one on my BMX bike (although that one was actually trash-picked from a shop because the cover was destroyed, so it's only the plastic shell).
In reply to wearymicrobe :
For my racing career I would have fought getting a compact tooth and nail. Don't need no granny low. After a 10 year hiatus, all the new bikes in my price range came with a 50/34 and 11/28. I dealt with it and have found I can hold a good cadence up pitches that had my knees creaking back when I was in my 20's. Can still spin up to 45mph on the downhills, so almost nothing lost there.
travellering said:In reply to wearymicrobe :
For my racing career I would have fought getting a compact tooth and nail. Don't need no granny low. After a 10 year hiatus, all the new bikes in my price range came with a 50/34 and 11/28. I dealt with it and have found I can hold a good cadence up pitches that had my knees creaking back when I was in my 20's. Can still spin up to 45mph on the downhills, so almost nothing lost there.
I really want to do the compact and the 11/28 but with the age of the bike and how many miles it has on it its not worth the effort. My digging online says I can go up to 12-32 with the rear deratiler I have and a new chain so I am going to start there.
Returning to the topic of saddles, I went to a fitment guide and found out that my saddles is to narrow for my sit bones. Additionally, it seems to be designed for a drop bar bike position, not the upright, flat bar position I'm currently using.
No wonder it was aggressively cleaving into my backside.
I also learned a bunch of stuff about bike setup. Pretty much the only thing I knew about was getting the seat height correct, so I learned about bar angle, grip shape, lever angle and so on.
The bottom line is that:
1. I need a bigger seat with a different shape.
2. I need to adjust my bar and brake/shifter angles
3. I need larger grips.
I don't remember cycling being this complex when I was a kid. You just got on whatever bike you had and rode around all day long.
In reply to Brett_Murphy (Ex-Patrón) :
Yeah... as kids we had a lot more flexible and resilient bodies.
Brett_Murphy (Ex-Patrón) said:
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.
oh, yours too?
In reply to Dieselboss15 :
Badly. I got measured at the bike shop, and it turns out my seat was 30mm too narrow. I picked up a new one immediately, and some biking undies.
Bike fitting is a real thing, especially for a road bike where you maintain the same position for hours on end. For mountain biking I find it less millimeter-critical because you are up moving around on the bike so much more. A lot of nagging pains while riding can be traced to improper fit setup.
I had friends back in the day who dropped several hundred bucks ( plus parts, if needed) on a pro fit session and swore by it. Last time I bought a road bike the shop had a trained fitter and I spent over $2k on a bike. I still had to spend a couple hundred bucks on parts to get the fit right though. I recorded all the measurements and use them as a guide for new bike setup now.
for larger grips, check out Ergon brand. I love their wide flat grips on my mountain bikes.
In reply to Brett_Murphy (Ex-Patrón) :
You will enjoy the biking undies! I couldn't tell if it was a Bontrager saddle on there but the models of theirs I have tried in the past always seemed narrow (WTB saddles as well), I'd imagine they have improved though in the last few years.
Edit - on the new bike setup front I have found a large drywall T-square makes things really easy to transfer between bikes (or to measure stack and reach on an unknown frame). I set it on the floor like an upside down T with the vertical part centered on the bottom bracket, from there I take measurements to the saddle and bars.
Just finished a job and the guy pays, then asks, "You know anyone who wants a bike?" And points to a red bike hanging from hooks.
So I pulled it down and made sure my short legs will work. "How much do you want? I don't have any cash on me."
"You don't need any."
Free road bike! I'm very unfamiliar with brands, models and values, but it says Japanese made and it's got frame mounted shifting. Ten speed. 80s? Idk. Needs a good cleaning and tires, but that's easy. Now I can ride with my boy (who doesn't know he's getting a new bike for Christmas)
Stoked!
In reply to barefootskater (Shaun) :
I'd buy that for free!
In reply to EvanB (Forum Supporter) :
I figured it's got to be at least worth the price of new tires and a couple hours maintenance.
Bridgestone made some nice bikes back in the day. I'd guess that one is late 70s or early 80s. Sweet score!
I refurbed and sold a Bridgestone Kabuki a while back. As I recall it was a pretty solid, if slightly heavy, bike. Never rode it more than a test ride, so I can't really comment on it in any meaningful way. But good tires will make a significant difference for just about any bike, and I'd say those are well past due for replacing.
In reply to 02Pilot :
It is pretty heavy. But it looks completely rust free and the front tire even has air still in it. Chain and cables need cleaned and lubed but they all seemed to move fairly well. I'm excited to get it home and give it a more thorough inspection. But it shows all signs of being stored very well. The guy I got it from was fairly elderly and his garage was very clean. It'll make a great winter project.
Been doing mods and maintenance, getting ready for when it'll be warm enough for riding in mid/late April...installed a slightly shorter and taller stem for much improved comfort, rotated tires and cleaned out the old sealant, made a DIY tire insert for the rear from a section of piping insulation for an order of magnitude less than the cheapest off-the-shelf option, now I'm thinking about gearing upgrades. I've long wanted a lower bottom gear for wheelie-limited climbing and a higher top gear for hill bombing (bike currently runs out of gears around 55kph). Right now the bike has a 28-14t 7spd cassette in the rear, I'm thinking I'll put in a cheapo 32-11t 8spd cassette, although it could be pushing the limits of the Tourney TZ rear derailleur. The 2nd highest gear would be 13t so still better range than what I have now. Later I can get an 8spd rear shifter to unlock the new top gear and then an upgraded rear derailleur (Alivio?) if necessary.
The cold has finally broken here so I've been on the bikes too. Neighborhood rides after work and one trip to the local trail on the dual sus. If it wasn't raining the rest of the week I'd be riding to work a couple days. Man, it's been so long since I've done group rides or ridden with friends at the trail that I am massively out of shape. Gotta get moving again.
I've done a few rides over the past week. Road rides Tue and Thur afternoons after work. Mtn bike rides on Sat and Sun. The first rides on dirt I've done since I separated my right shoulder back in Oct. I'm sore as hell today. And while with DST we have longer riding time after work, it looks like the weather isn't going to cooperate this week.
I think I've figured out what might be bothering me about my gravel bike. Bars are too wide. The bars on my old road bike are 42cm center-to-center (C-C) or 44cm edge-to-edge. Euro bars tend to be measured edge to edge (similar to how the frames are often measured center of the BB to the top of the top-tube. In the US we tend to measure C-C, and when I ordered bars ages ago, I order 44cm bars without thinking about it. While 10mm on each side doesn't sound like much, it's apparently enough to really make a bike feel strange to me. So now I have to go searching for new bars...
I just did the 2nd rendition of my KHS. The first was a SKYWAY reproduction, Now I made up some random name and cut out the decals with my laser. Oh and did a 1x11 conversion
I call the new color "mannequin" brown 
How it came stock
SKYWAY
The new "BLACK LABEL" look
My Bridgestone is still sitting on the porch where I parked it several months ago. Needs even more cleaning now. With the upcoming job change I'll be commuting on it fairly regularly so tires/tubes and all that should happen this weekend. Gotta dig my high visibility helmet out of the basement too. Weather is still a little iffy. Saturday we woke up to snow on the ground, today's supposed to be in the 60s. Rain again tonight/tomorrow. And I'm not as hardcore as some. If the weather isn't good, I'll take the Mercury.
Been looking forward to getting back on the bike, but it's still been too cold here, and on the warmer days, the wind has been insane. I haven't been for a ride since late November! Going to be a struggle at first, but it will be worth it. I lost almost 30lbs with consistent riding from August to November last year, so I'm interested to see how much I can do if I start in about a week or so.
We were lucky here in Southern Ontario with a very steady winter temperature wise, the dumping of snow we got right at Christmas laid down a nice base and the snow after that until into November was never too much to shut down the fun on our trails. We don't groom so we are totally at the mercy of people snow shoeing, hiking and riding to pack them down but we had a solid 10 weeks of amazing winter riding. It was neat to ride some of our more technical trails too as all the hard stuff was covered under snow and you could just roll on.
I picked up a Giant Yukon 2 in the fall, it was the last fat bike my local dealer had and just happened to be an XL so my size. These bikes are an awesome value, 27.5 x 4.5" tires, 1 x 12 Deore drivetrain and Sram Level T brakes. I got in some decent riding in the fall on the dirt and this bike is a blast in those conditions as well, to the point I was considering selling my full suspension 29er.
I've been sorta looking for a bike for the wife recently. I'd love for her to come out and ride with me, but her Walmart Schwinn Sidewinder is a POS that is barely rideable, even after a major service last year. The big problem is that she's 5ft tall. Finding small or extra small frame bikes has been difficult. Bikes Online, who I got my bike from last year, sells this thing which looks nice: https://www.bikesonline.com/2020-polygon-cleo-2-27.5-inch-mountain-bike
They do make it in XS, but I was hoping to find her something better suited to street and path riding. Her biggest problem is climbing; her old bike is impossible to ride up a hill due to friction shifters and the heavy steel frame. Not sure if 27.5 wheels and beefy tires will help with that. Also, the wide bars will likely be uncomfortable for her. I know I can change tires and bars, but having a turnkey package would be nice. All the local bike shops are still sold out of everything, otherwise I'd just bring her there. Blah.
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