And it was bloody horrible riding into the wind. Forecast for more of the same for this weekend :(Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark
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And it was bloody horrible riding into the wind. Forecast for more of the same for this weekend :(Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark
I'm trying jogging again first time in five years. :) I'm trying to be sensible at it and do very limited distances at first to protect knees and other body parts. Luckily my bad shape comes quite handy in limiting the run time. :D
I think I'll give this service a go http://blog.endomondo.com/2014/04/01...ers-look-good/ it'll make me look a bit less lazy :D
Yep, jogging is a high-impact activity so the joints take a beating (I know :uhoh: ). Take it slow at first and gradually work your way up the distances :) . Investing in a pair of good shoes helps.Quote:
Originally Posted by janneppi
Good for you BB!Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Ben
After a couple of months of semi-hibernation, I'm gradually getting back into it. Ran a couple of 10k's during the last week. Felt moderately comfortable but have no plans for anything close to a marathon :erm: .
Question for the cyclists...
I’m planning on ditching my well-aged mountain bike for a new one in the next couple of weeks (thankfully my company benefits package will reimburse a good portion of the cost :) ).
It seems that a 29in wheel size is the norm these days, although the 650b is also popular.
What do you all ride? Having never ridden one, why would I want a 29in vs. a 650b wheel size?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Can of worms!
Ok I'm a roadie so I don't profess to know much about MTB perhaps Jamie can add something.
But 29er isn't the standard they are still pretty niche I think they are for more open terrain when you want to blat along pretty quickly. I'm thinking upland moors etc. it's the same sized wheel as road bikes I think.
But the standard if there is one is still 26" which is best for the technical trails.
650b is half way between the two so professes the best of both, or worst of both depending on your point of view!
I still don't do a lot of exercise but, thanks to changes in my diet (mainly cutting back on beer!), I've managed to go from 16st9 at the start of the year down to 15st7 now. Even though I'm 6ft I'm still well overweight but hopefully into the summer that I'll have more free time (been crazy busy at work) to actually start being active too, my aim is to be down to 14st9 by the end of the year. In theory I could crash diet to get there but I'd far rather be in a position where the weight that I lose stays off, so it's more about adjusting habits and lifestyle :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by schmenke
I have a 26" full suspension bike with 160mm of travel in both ends, for my riding it's intended for xc rides and the occational enduro/bike park riding. The terrain in my area is quite technical with lot of roots and rocks. If I was looking for a new full susser, I might give a 27,5" bike a try. I probably wouldn't buy a 29" bike unless moved into a area with smoother trails.
My thoughts on the different wheel sizes.
I'm talking about bikes that are intended for actual offroad use, not the occasional ride in a smooth gravel path around the fish pond or downhill racing. :)
26" bikes nowadays are marketed for "fun" riding
- travel mostly 140mm-180mm (hard tail or full suspension).
27,5" (650b) is the between the the two, nowadays getting quite a lot of manufactures on board.
- travel mostly 120mm-160mm (hard tail or full suspension). Not as much choice is in tyres at the moment but increases if the standard catches on.
29" Most of them are intended for xc use or for longer rides, the geometry is a bit steeper than 26" which makes it a bit sketchier on steep downhills but works better on uphills.
- suspension travel around 120mm
- tyres roll better over small obstacles but isn't as nimble as a 26" around tight stuff.
The most important thing is to pick a wheel size and be a Richard about it. ;)
Mapmyrun is $h1t. I went on Saturday for a long run (28-29km) and it was too much for it. Again. At first it went fine but when it got a little cloudy and it started raining the measuring went berserk. My pace jumped from less then 6 minutes per km to 8. I know I lose pace as I add km but not like this. And by the 25 km mark it stopped working altogether. Only God knows what this crap measured so far. Maybe some of the km ran thus far have only been ran in my imagination :rolleyes:
Quote:
Originally Posted by janneppi
The hard part for me is finding a good way to do some direct comparisons. At some point I need to get rid of the POS I've been riding, and being most of my riding is in milder terrain, I'm leaning toward the larger wheel sizes. But I really don't want to trade off if it results in sketchy handling.
I don't do what I would consider any hard core off road riding, but what I do is more rooted up, with quite a few logs here and there to cross as well. I really don't know if going to a suspended front end will ease the body beating on this riding enough, or if the larger wheel size would ease the beating even more.
I wouldn't think most people would find the change in tire size is enough to really make handling seem slow in the really tight stuff, as it's still not a very big wheel really. I guess this would be more affected by the rider size.
From everything I've read I think I'll end up going with a 29er if I buy new. Being I've beat up my back over the years the possible trade off in low speed tight stuff handling should be overcome by the larger tire soaking up transitions and obstacles a little better. I'm still torn between buying full suspension or hardtail. Most of my miles would actually be on trails and paved stuff, but as I said anything off road around here has tons of roots and small stuff that shakes you to death at anything above a crawl on a non suspended bike. I'd hate to lose efficiency in the road stuff due to rear suspension, but it would be nice to have something to soak up some of the quick jolting transitions at curb cuts and such as well.
I’ve never had an issue with the app, other than it’s simply not as accurate as my GPS watch. Mapmyrun consistently reads my mileage too high, consequently providing an overly optimistic pace. For example, during my run last evening, when the app read 10km my GPS watch was reading only 9.5km. Doesn’t sound like much of a difference but it’s significant in that Mapmyrun resulted in an average pace of 4:53/km whereas the GPS watch I was wearing at the time read 5:04 :s .Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Ben
From the few timed events I’ve done, the official time is always closer to what my watch reads.
Same issue here, although I’m leaning towards the 650b as it sounds like the better compromise. Most of my riding consists of XC with a few cruising trails from time to time.Quote:
Originally Posted by airshifter
I’m worried that with the larger frame of the 29er will be less stable over the bumpy stuff. I'm not looking to break any time records, I just want a comfortable and stable ride.
Airshifter, get yourself a hardtail, you won’t regret it, especially considering that nowadays they are available with a suspension that you can lock out.
what GPS watch do you use?Quote:
Originally Posted by schmenke
It's not just the wheel size that affects handling, 29" forks have a different rake to 26" forks which affect the steering input.Quote:
Originally Posted by airshifter
The difference isn't apparently very massive.
If I hadn't tried a good full suspension bike three years ago I probably would be riding a 29" hardtail with a longish fork. Something along the lines of Kona Honzo. If you don't want full susser, don't try one. ;)Quote:
From everything I've read I think I'll end up going with a 29er if I buy new. Being I've beat up my back over the years the possible trade off in low speed tight stuff handling should be overcome by the larger tire soaking up transitions and obstacles a little better. I'm still torn between buying full suspension or hardtail. Most of my miles would actually be on trails and paved stuff, but as I said anything off road around here has tons of roots and small stuff that shakes you to death at anything above a crawl on a non suspended bike. I'd hate to lose efficiency in the road stuff due to rear suspension, but it would be nice to have something to soak up some of the quick jolting transitions at curb cuts and such as well.
I used one of these:Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Ben
https://secure-nikeplus.nike.com/plu...s/sport_watch/
Pretty basic GPS watch. I purchased it only because it was cheap :mark: .
Maybe I'll invest in one of those but not right now :P:. I've tested a few apps and they all have their own measurements (on the same track of course).... so I know now not to take that info too seriously. The thing with mapmyrun is that its measurements vary quite a lot sometimes.... up to 10%... So if we go with the most pessimistic numbers then some 130km out of the 1300 measured last year were imaginary.... quite a sad thought actuallyQuote:
Originally Posted by schmenke
Agreed, that’s why I bought the watch. It’s far more consistent and accurate. It comes with a Nike software that’s very similar to that of Mapmyrun. The only negative is that it doesn’t automatically sync your workouts through wifi like my phone does (you have to physically plug it into a USB port). Also, because it uses satellites (unlike your phone that uses a cellular network) it takes a minute or two to sync up to the satellites at the start of each workout. But, like I said, this was a cheap watch and there are other more expensive ones out there that probably work better :mark: .Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Ben
Definately time for a new bike :( .
Went for a ride the day before last and the rear thumbshifter is no longer working - can no longer downshift to a lower gear. Uphills were a challenge :rolleyes: :dozey:
In better news, I managed a 10km run in just under 50 minutes yesterday. Not a personal best, but not bad considering the less-than-ideal conditions yesterday :mark: .
Phone GPS does not use the cellular network. It uses the same satellites your GPS watch uses. The only difference is that phones have a better idea where they are in the world so the first fix is faster.
Quote:
Originally Posted by schmenke
Of course there's always a good reason to buy a new bike but chances are your fault is easily fixable by a bike shop. You might just need a new cable.
Hmm... I was under the impression that the phone uses cellular data to triangulate position and reverts to GPS only where a cellular signal is not available. This is why the phone doesn’t have to take the time to “sync” or acquire a satellite signal prior to a run (unlike a GPS watch).Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark
No, it’s not the cable. It’s definitely the shifter mechanism. Hard to explain the lever simply freewheels with no resistance at all. It’s like the internal ratchet mechanism is not engaging. I re-indexed the gears with no improvement.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark
The bike is simply old and needs other fixes, not the least of which is new tires. I no longer want to invest in fixes/upgrades to keep the thing road worthy :mark: .
Besides, as mentioned, my company will reimburse, at least a good portion, of the cost of a new bike :)
The phone uses Assisted GPS which uses a combination of cell tower positioning and downloading the current satellite position data in order to get the first fix. But this is literally only the very first position point. From that point on it's exclusively satellite reception based.Quote:
Originally Posted by schmenke
If I worked for a company that would reimburse some of a bike, I'd have already made a choice and be riding new. That's really hard to beat.Quote:
Originally Posted by schmenke
As for the shifter, I really don't mind fixing stuff myself. It's just that my bike is so old it won't take the abuse I give it. I actually have Shimano grip type shifters on my bike, and love them. I prefer them to thumb shifters as they are so seamless you don't have to even think about it. On the front rings the twist angle is more than should be needed, but for the rear gear selection it's great. They are also firm enough that I've never accidentally shifted due to grip position changing over obstacles or such, but when you want to shift it's instant.
I'm often amazed at how anyone other than a cycling maniac could possibly justify the cost of some components when the WalMart level cheap stuff works just fine even when 15-16 years old with probably at least a couple thousand miles of wear on it.
I'm still torn on what direction to go, though at the moment having other financial priorities is giving me more time, which is probably a good thing. I wish I had a way to test various frames with different wheel sizes.
If you've ever ridden top line kit you'll realise why it's better than a Walmart bike.
I'm not talking about the overall bike, but simply individual components that people go crazy over. Here in the US it's almost become trendy to overspend just to have bragging rights. Regardless of the budget I have available, I don't find paying 400 to 500% more for a component that works the same something to brag about. I've owned and ridden much better bikes than I have now, I'm just boggled at the trend of spending thousands for something that is no better.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark
In the case of the shifter I was speaking of, I've seen people spends hundreds and hundreds on rear derailleurs and various thumb shifters that just don't.... well... shift very well. These are simple devices, and people over complicate them thinking throwing money at it makes it better. Proper adjustments and simple parts keeps these things working great for a long time. There are trigger shifters that work well, but most simply aren't very ergonomic when you change grip position from sitting vs standing, which you do more frequently on a mountain bike. With a grip shifter, shifting is easy and natural regardless of grip position.
Don't get me wrong, as I understand that overall quality often costs some money. But for the bikes most buy, there are really only a few companies in the world making the majority of them. Often branding and minor component selection differences changes the prices to the extremes. One of the mountain bike forums I was using for some thoughts seems to have a crowd that thinks more cubic dollars will always buy better gear. Some of them were quite disappointed when they found out that their $1800-$2000 bikes were built by the same company that sells almost the exact bike under another name for $400 or so. There was one example where a "big name" bike had the exact same frame, and research showed it was designed by the parent company. This the "big name" had little at all to do with making the bike... they were just clicking order buttons.
I actually get a good laugh out of it when people spend huge money on the equipment hoping it will overcome their lack of fitness or ability. I often see people riding bikes in the thousands of dollars, that they drive in with specialty racks on their cars, only to ride at the levels of people that bike to the trail areas on much cheaper bikes. The same seems to hold true with many street riders in my area, and it's actually rare to see people riding hard, but they want to put on the impression that they somehow justify the money they spend. In reality I don't think half of them know the difference.
I also talk to a lot of people that can't do the most basic adjustments on their bikes. If you ride any decent amount, it only makes sense to be able to maintain your equipment.
The big difference comes from the 400$ walmart bike and the proper bike shop 700$ bike, after that the difference decreases. But there's no point comparing that 400$ to a 4000$ bike. They aren't meant for the same people.
My mtb would have cost around 4000Eur new(I bought it second hand) and my new "road" bike cost around 1600 Eur to build. I'm not really that fit or skinny, certainly compared to people who usually would ride them. But after riding mtb's and road bikes for 18 years I'm not going to buy a poorly performing or uncomfortable bike just to make the training harder. I value my pleasant time on the bike more. :)
Bike's are my money pit, I manage to justify the cost to myself and don't look back. ;)
I was looking for chairs on my apartment balcony today and was shocked at the prices, 70 Eur for a chair, 500 Eur for a table and four chairs. WTF? I'm sure some one else would think that's a small price to pay. :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by janneppi
With the direct sellers now, I find that often the bike shop bike comes with a much greater price, and local support. Not much more in a lot of cases. Naturally they have to make their living and local support is very important for some who don't do their own work, or those that do but might need parts support and not want to wait for an item to ship.
And in your case, just the posts I've seen on this thread indicate at least moderate use, in various conditions, and working on new bikes as well as obvious maintenance on your older bikes. I remember mentions of boulder fields, commuting, etc... actual use of the equipment you pay for. What I don't recall is any chest thumping over what your purchases were, only mentions when asked, where appropriate, etc. Many of us have money pit hobbies of some sort (ours tends to be concerts) but to me there is a huge difference between tossing money at something you actually enjoy, and those doing it just to say they did it.
The people I'm referencing are often spending this money based on what they heard, as none of them even rides enough to make their own decision. I see bikes for sale locally that advertise mileage of maybe a couple hundred, on bikes that are 4-5 years old. On top of that, they reduce the price only 5-10% over what they paid retail.
In a vain attempt to keep my bike roadworthy I dismantled the dodgy thumb shifter in hopes that I could find something obviously, and easily repairable, in the innards. All I saw was a multitude of tiny levers, screws and springs, not too dissimilar to a Swiss watch. Well, thinking myself somewhat mechanically apt, although by no means a watch maker, I proceeded to disassemble the bits for a thorough degreasing and lube, making sure I kept track of the reverse order for reassembly.
Well, that was the original plan :uhoh: . A couple of beers along the way may have somewhat hampered quality control...
To make a long story short, it’s debatable if the reconstructed shifter is now any better off… :erm:
I tried dismantling the STX "Rapidfire' shifters from my 94 Trek with no success. There are a lot of soft plastic bits in the ratcheding mechanism that just wear out and can't be reached. I bought a pair of slightly older Deore LX thumbshifters from craigslist and they're nowhere near as complex and look even more retro. Plus they can switch from index to friction like the bar end shifters on my normal bike.
Having been back out on my bike a couple of times recently, after hearing a few creaks and groans that weren't produced by myself, I fear that I'm going to have to read up about 'maintenance' as apart from oiling the chain and giving the whole thing a wash every few months (whether it needed it or not!) Ive not done a thing to it at all. I kept on hearing about brake pads that ran out every couple of rides but seem to be fine after a year - I guess I'm not going fast enough to wear them out.
I suspect that any part that I touch will end up with the same result as schmenke, is it more or less cost effective to take it into a bike shop?
My new ride. Unfortunatley the weather is not cooperating :( . Wet and snowing since last night.
Kona Cindercone, aluminum, 27.5", Rockshox air, Shimano SLX. More than sufficient for my cruising :D .
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5185/...3c09c4d8_k.jpg
I normally wouldn't have splurged this much on a bike, but like I mentioned, my company "fitness account" is reimbursing a good portion of it :)
Hopefully the weather improves tomorrow!
Quote:
Originally Posted by J4MIE
Washing: Spray all over with muc off and then hose it down. Pretty effective!
Chain and cassette: try some some spray on degreaser on the chain and cassette. Then hose off. Then get some chain oil and put one drop on each link and then wipe clean.
Other than that a spring service at the bike shop isn't a bad plan.
Last week I was on holiday in the North York Moors and tried a spot of mountain biking. Blimey it was hard work! I did a couple of practice rides when towing our two year old which was hard enough and the nerd day did a 20 mile off road loop. My legs were hurting 2 days later!
The previous week I had done 60 miles on my road bike and felt no effects afterwardshttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/04/4y8uvasy.jpg
Good job! That should work for you for many years.Quote:
Originally Posted by schmenke
During my last mtb ride the free wheel stopped working properly on my bike, yesterday I finally thought that I'll take it apart and re lube it. Much to my surprise the cassette/freewheel body dropped to the floor when I took the axle quick release off.
The hub axle had broken in two. :(
After a quick search I discovered that i's a quite common thing with the Hope hub and Maxle axle.
A design flaw in the hub and a unfortunate axle shape.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11791273/maxel.jpg
Any idea how many years or much distance was on the axle before it broke?
The bike is 2011 model, it doesn't have that much ride in it, as also the the first owner was fat. :D In 2011 there was enough talk about it to make Hope switch to regular Maxle. I talked with bike dealer who has Orange in their line-up and he recognized the issue. I'll propably get them to inspect the hub and and straighten the rim as well.
Did 106 miles today. My legs hurt now!
May was a bit of a poor month for me, getting the bathroom refurbished as well as family engagements etc., 227 miles cycling,. although that's flattering a bit because 105 of that was in one ride! I'd done 307 the month before.
Walking has been the worst, after doing 111 miles in a month in I've managed only 15 miles in both April and May, and I can feel it hurting my overall fitness as I feel rather lethargic, and I've put on 10lbs during the period.
I need to get things together!