The All Things Cycling Thread

#3,976
#3,976
After years of effort, it appears that Knoxville will finally have a BMX track again! Looks like they are going for a national caliber facility too so it should pay off. Projected date is 2018 in the fall, located at South Doyle Middle school football stadium of all places. They will build the school a couple of new fields for football and soccer.

Now we need shops in Knoxville to realize that BMX is more than just freestyle bikes. The last time Knoxville had a track, there were multiple shops in town that were almost exclusively BMX related. Interesting to see how that plays out in the day of mail order everything, but hopefully some will step up to sponsor teams and stock real BMX bikes. Seems difficult to get a retail only exclusive in BMX now, even Redline sells on Ebay.

Not a done deal yet but it looks solid. Here is the piece on WBIR: http://www.wbir.com/news/local/mayor-burchett-to-present-knox-co-budget-monday-morning/435509176
 
#3,977
#3,977
Anyone here have an e-bike? I've been thinking about buying a folding model and thinking about a fat tire model.
 
#3,979
#3,979
Designed, printed, and assembled a laser guide to precisely align stems. Already have 6 people that want to buy one from me, including two bike shops.
 

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#3,980
#3,980
So, in the process of fixing up my bike, some questions have arisen:

How often should one check the air pressure in the suspension?

Where do you go to use a pump capable of generating 160-180 psi?
 
#3,982
#3,982
kiddiedoc said:
So, in the process of fixing up my bike, some questions have arisen:

How often should one check the air pressure in the suspension?

Where do you go to use a pump capable of generating 160-180 psi?
Click to expand...

Not sure on the first, consult your manual.

Bike shop or any website will have a shock pump specifically to pump shocks up to that.
 
#3,983
#3,983
kiddiedoc said:
So, in the process of fixing up my bike, some questions have arisen:

How often should one check the air pressure in the suspension?

Where do you go to use a pump capable of generating 160-180 psi?
Click to expand...

I love the little Fox pumps. You can find them all over ebay for about $25. As far as checking pressure, I only do this if something feels different. I know people that grab the pump every ride though.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fox-High-Pressure-MTB-Bike-Compact-Suspension-Fork-Rear-Shock-Pump-300psi-/322379411327?hash=item4b0f4f6f7f:g:pLcAAOSwnbZYGSos
 
#3,984
#3,984
VOLatile said:
Designed, printed, and assembled a laser guide to precisely align stems. Already have 6 people that want to buy one from me, including two bike shops.
Click to expand...

Team mechanics would probably buy everyone of those you can put out. Constantly doing builds and it has to be right, this would sell I think if the price is reasonable.

Really cool gadget! How much are you charging for it?
 
#3,985
#3,985
sona said:
Team mechanics would probably buy everyone of those you can put out. Constantly doing builds and it has to be right, this would sell I think if the price is reasonable.

Really cool gadget! How much are you charging for it?
Click to expand...

I'm not even to the point that I feel comfortable selling one. This was just a proof of concept and an exercise of my 3d printer to begin with. Developed into a legit design presentation for my prototyping class.

I have a list of 5 changes I'm going to make to the design before I produce the next one. I also want to find someone to CNC a an aluminum body for me. Anyways, I was thinking $40 or so for a plastic one.

Add three more shops in Iowa City that want one after my friend passed it along to them.
 
#3,986
#3,986
VOLatile said:
Don't buy a folding fat bike e-bike. That's dumb. It'll weigh 70+lbs and probably break right away.
Click to expand...

OK. What I've seen in my research so far is they weigh in around 50 pounds or so. Do you have any knowledge of one breaking right away or is that your opinion?
 
#3,987
#3,987
VOLatile said:
I'm not even to the point that I feel comfortable selling one. This was just a proof of concept and an exercise of my 3d printer to begin with. Developed into a legit design presentation for my prototyping class.

I have a list of 5 changes I'm going to make to the design before I produce the next one. I also want to find someone to CNC a an aluminum body for me. Anyways, I was thinking $40 or so for a plastic one.

Add three more shops in Iowa City that want one after my friend passed it along to them.
Click to expand...

If I may suggest a change, shoot another laser rearward towards the saddle. It would be nice to get everything dead straight with one device. There might be an application for leveling brake levers as well. I never seen to get them angled precisely the same. Distance is not a problem, I just use a ruler but the angle is rarely matched precisely.

If you get one you are happy with I will buy it and also take it to every shop in Knoxville and show it off. Probably scare up a few orders.

There is a similar device but I have never seen one in this country. Sells for about 60 Euros. You could undercut that significantly it seems.

Really cool tool. Maybe make a 3D printed version for consumer use and go all out on a CNC'd unit for shop use / abuse.
 
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#3,988
#3,988
VolStrom said:
OK. What I've seen in my research so far is they weigh in around 50 pounds or so. Do you have any knowledge of one breaking right away or is that your opinion?
Click to expand...

Opinion as a bike mechanic of over 6 years. Do you have a specific model you're looking at? In my experience, they're made with cheap parts, of cheap materials. No reputable company is making a folding fat bike, let alone one with an electric motor. The only one I've seen advertised was rumoured to actually weigh 70lbs but they claim 50lbs...
 
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#3,989
#3,989
sona said:
If I may suggest a change, shoot another laser rearward towards the saddle. It would be nice to get everything dead straight with one device. There might be an application for leveling brake levers as well. I never seen to get them angled precisely the same. Distance is not a problem, I just use a ruler but the angle is rarely matched precisely.

If you get one you are happy with I will buy it and also take it to every shop in Knoxville and show it off. Probably scare up a few orders.

There is a similar device but I have never seen one in this country. Sells for about 60 Euros. You could undercut that significantly it seems.

Really cool tool. Maybe make a 3D printed version for consumer use and go all out on a CNC'd unit for shop use / abuse.
Click to expand...

That's a great suggestion, I'll look into the saddle laser, too.

That would be awesome for someone to show it off and scare up orders.

The Tune one I found was $95 and I couldn't find it for sale in the US. It was my example of "competition" for my presentation.

The aluminum version for shops was exactly what I was thinking. A much more robust design. I'd also like to make the plastic ones out of a stronger plastic like ABS.
 
#3,990
#3,990
VOLatile said:
That's a great suggestion, I'll look into the saddle laser, too.

That would be awesome for someone to show it off and scare up orders.

The Tune one I found was $95 and I couldn't find it for sale in the US. It was my example of "competition" for my presentation.

The aluminum version for shops was exactly what I was thinking. A much more robust design. I'd also like to make the plastic ones out of a stronger plastic like ABS.
Click to expand...

Well I will be happy to rep it in Knoxville when ready! I saw the Tune one but yeah, never in the US. Overpriced as well.

This would be great for people who transport their bikes in crappy conditions. I rarely use my rack, just throw a couple of bikes in the back of SUV and go but *if* I didn't have to fuss with aligning everything when taking them out to ride I could fit another bike back there just by loosening the stem and turning the bars.

Want to make a killing? Get it dialed and sell it to Park :D Sell me one first though I don't want to pay what Park inevitably charge for a shop quality tool.
 
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#3,991
#3,991
sona said:
Well I will be happy to rep it in Knoxville when ready! I saw the Tune one but yeah, never in the US. Overpriced as well.

This would be great for people who transport their bikes in crappy conditions. I rarely use my rack, just throw a couple of bikes in the back of SUV and go but *if* I didn't have to fuss with aligning everything when taking them out to ride I could fit another bike back there just by loosening the stem and turning the bars.

Want to make a killing? Get it dialed and sell it to Park :D Sell me one first though I don't want to pay what Park inevitably charge for a shop quality tool.
Click to expand...

Yeah, one of my good friends travels for work and takes his bike all over the southwest. He's really interested and will probably get my first one for practical testing. He'll give me some valuable input for sure.
 
#3,993
#3,993
So, now that my fork is fixed, I'm thinking about upgrading my dinosaur. Ordered a new saddle. Changing to disc brakes seems the logical next move. West Bikes has a pretty decent set of Mavic wheels that will accommodate rotors and a kit of hydraulic Tektro brakes, all installed out the door for around $400. A dropper post seems nice too, but they said the cabling can be an issue in an older bike.

Thoughts?
 
#3,994
#3,994
Do you intend to keep the bike long term? I love older bikes but the standards keep changing. It can get to be a pain finding parts for some bikes, not sure on the Cannondale you have though.

$400 sounds reasonable, but if you are not in a hurry keep an eye out for 26" wheels online. Used ones go for very little on places like Craigslist, 26" isn't in demand any more. I will NEVER stop riding my 26 bikes though :D

I would suggest riding a bike with the brakes you are looking at. Braking is so subjective and I disagree with the consensus on they should feel anyway so my opinion is probably not relevant. For instance, people rave about Shimano XT brakes but I hate the lever feel personally.
 
#3,995
#3,995
sona said:
$400 sounds reasonable, but if you are not in a hurry keep an eye out for 26" wheels online. Used ones go for very little on places like Craigslist, 26" isn't in demand any more. I will NEVER stop riding my 26 bikes though :D
Click to expand...

That's a good idea. I would just want to make sure they weren't damaged at all.
 
#3,996
#3,996
Bought a new floor pump.
Product-floorpumps-Alloy-zoom1.jpg
 
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#3,998
#3,998
kiddiedoc said:
This seem like a decent option?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DT-Swiss-34...nch-Wheelset-/262957958376?fromMakeTrack=true

Eh, after thinking, that's $100 with shipping. For 100 more, I can be in new wheels.
Click to expand...

DT Swiss hubs are awesome but that one is a 20mm thru-axle hub. They probably have an axle conversion for it but that is something else to buy and track down.

It is a tough call updating a classic bike. You could keep it original and grab a bike off of CL for the same $400. Kind of the best of both worlds, nice classic bike and something with more modern geometry and parts.

If this is one of several bikes, I would just leave it original.
 
#3,999
#3,999
Tried my first ever crit race this week. I about died haha. Averaged 21 mph which is way out of my comfort zone, and was dropped by the main group within about 10 min. They had to of been averaging 25mph. I guess I need to start pushing myself more and doing less hills.

Pretty sure I didn't warm up enough either as I am unfamiliar with how to prepare. some people mentioned I should spend about 20-30 min warming up
 
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#4,000
#4,000
bigeasy said:
Tried my first ever crit race this week. I about died haha. Averaged 21 mph which is way out of my comfort zone, and was dropped by the main group within about 10 min. They had to of been averaging 25mph. I guess I need to start pushing myself more and doing less hills.

Pretty sure I didn't warm up enough either as I am unfamiliar with how to prepare. some people mentioned I should spend about 20-30 min warming up
Click to expand...

It's difficult, for sure. I've only ever finished a handful of crits with the pack. I never trained or really warmed up, either.
 
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