The Bicycling Thread

[bigbadboss101]

I am giving up my spot in the Bow/EnCana. Will drive and bus, drive and ride I think. From Creekside is a long ride to DT especially for someone who doesn't ride regularly.

[pheoxs]

I'm looking at moving closer to downtown once I sell my house, I'll have a 8k bike ride along memorial and really excited about not having to drive daily.

[Brent.ff]

Dropped a minute on the way in today.. Not bad. Already have the desire to get faster bike...

[CLiVE]

Originally posted by Brent.ff
Dropped a minute on the way in today.. Not bad. Already have the desire to get faster bike...

The 'best' for our climate and poor pathway/road conditions IMO is a do-everything Cyclocross bike with Disc brakes. Tough to beat for commuting. Kona Jake, or similar.

[Brent.ff]

I got passed on the only section of the ride that is on the road by a guy on cyclocross....jealously raged

[D'z Nutz]

Originally posted by CLiVE


The 'best' for our climate and poor pathway/road conditions IMO is a do-everything Cyclocross bike with Disc brakes. Tough to beat for commuting. Kona Jake, or similar.

I love my Kona Jake.

I just sold my 2008 on Monday and ordered a 2015 yesterday. Can't wait for it to arrive!

[CLiVE]

Alternatively - I built up a disc cyclocross bike using a cheap nashbar frame.

http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...052_560195____

Great commuter. However I had most of the parts in my parts bin already.

[rage2]

Originally posted by Brent.ff
Dropped a minute on the way in today.. Not bad. Already have the desire to get faster bike...

Originally posted by Brent.ff
I got passed on the only section of the ride that is on the road by a guy on cyclocross....jealously raged

Give it a month, you'll be surprised at how much time you'll drop. I remember my first year riding to work, 19km, all downhill, started off at 40 mins on a hardtail mountain bike. A month later, same bike I'm at work in 25 mins, almost as fast as driving.

I set a goal to not get passed on the paths, and yea, didn't take long where I was passing guys on road bikes on my hardtail.

I miss riding to work, kinda tough when I have to take kids to daycare in my building everyday.

[bigbadboss101]

Hard tail with Double Chariot!

[bigbadboss101]

Scott Comp CX, Kona Jake, Trek Crossrip Elite. You guys have opinions on these? Yes I am searching for reviews and opinions on web, mtbr, bikeradar etc.

The other question is would it be feasible to pull a chariot with cyclocross or best with a non-fancy commuter?

[benyl]

Originally posted by rage2

I miss riding to work, kinda tough when I have to take kids to daycare in my building everyday.

Two options. Front or back.

[roopi]

Originally posted by benyl


Two options. Front or back.

This is more his style:

[lilmira]

So it took me about an hour 10min to get to work, now I just need more day light.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by roopi


This is more his style:

FTFY

Originally posted by Brent.ff
Dropped a minute on the way in today.. Not bad. Already have the desire to get faster bike...

Like Rage said, it'll drop. I started out 1:10, settled to around 45min.

Going home still sucks as I need to tackle both home road and hill up Edgemont.

[Brent.ff]

Down another 2 minutes. Goal is to break the 30 minute mark. Total ride is 10.8 k, so pretty good pace for a old-hardtail. Had my first wicked headwind last week on the way home and got my ass kicked. Also had to take my laptop home so my backpack was a big ol' sail.

Question for you all. How much time would be saved if i upgraded my pedals to clipless, and got street/skinny tires?

[lilmira]

You'll definitely feel the smooth tires with less rolling resistance. Time should improve. Clipless will make your pedaling more efficient. It'll help but not as much as tires. Over a 10k ride, a little tailwind will go a long way.

[soupey]

anyone in the NW willing to tune up or show me how to tune up my bike? i think i messed it up by trying myself. hardtail MB that I picked up a while ago. I think I have new road tires for it somewhere too, just havent taken it out because i cant get it to stop clicking on certain gears. PM me!

[D'z Nutz]

Originally posted by Brent.ff
Question for you all. How much time would be saved if i upgraded my pedals to clipless, and got street/skinny tires?

Realistically? None.

I mean if you were to test this in ideal conditions where all other variables were constant you'd probably shave off a minute or two at best, but in real life scenarios there are other factors that have more impact on your commute time: wind, how much energy you have, traffic on the paths, etc. Sure, the tires and pedals will make more efficient use of your energy, but it's not going to magically shave 5-10 minutes off your commute.

Just for fun, I rode my big, clunky 3-speed beach cruiser to work to see how much of a difference it was compared to my 24-speed cyclocross. To my surprise, my commute time was actually better with the cruiser on some days by a few minutes and worse on others by the same amount, but overall pretty comparable.

benyl posted a good article a while back. For commuting, the biggest factor is a person's endurance and weight when it comes to saving time:

http://forums.beyond.ca/st/383661/bi...for-commuters/

[Strider]

Originally posted by soupey
anyone in the NW willing to tune up or show me how to tune up my bike? i think i messed it up by trying myself. hardtail MB that I picked up a while ago. I think I have new road tires for it somewhere too, just havent taken it out because i cant get it to stop clicking on certain gears. PM me!

The University of Calgary outdoor centre and Bow Cycle both do maintenance classes.

That said, if you find an enthusiast willing to do it privately, I might be interested in tagging along. Can't seem to get the disc brake on my front wheel to stop rubbing.

[D'z Nutz]

Originally posted by soupey
anyone in the NW willing to tune up or show me how to tune up my bike? i think i messed it up by trying myself. hardtail MB that I picked up a while ago. I think I have new road tires for it somewhere too, just havent taken it out because i cant get it to stop clicking on certain gears. PM me!

Sounds to me it's just a simple matter of correcting cable tension or replacing them completely. There's some good videos on Youtube showing you how to adjust your derailleurs.