Curt, that looks like fun but I will kill myself in the dirt. CAn't and don't know how to ride it and during the mtb times, I was dead last on the trail coming down while eating everyone's dust. How much little rocks do you get in your shoe. That was the one things that killed me those damn little rocks that grind my ankle into pieces.

Dang Scott, what happened to you, hope you don't mind me asking? Good news is that you are out from a walker to riding a bike. Last I heard you were moving back to San Pedro somewhere. I am currently working on a house in Palos Verdes, and another in Torrance and should be done by mid spring. We should get lunch sometimes. My treat.

Jeff

Despite taking a shower, I seemed to be brushing sand off of me hours later :D Chain was FULL of sand. So it looks like I'm going to wind up putting a cassette and rear derailleur on this thing. Single-speed would be fine for gravel only, but I've got to get to the gravel and transition between gravel sections on pavement. Max speed on pavement is a whopping 14MPH. And I've got to coast down hills because I can't spin it fast enough. The frame has track drop-outs so I'll need an adapter to hang a derailleur. And then I need to rig up a shifter somehow.

I love riding the loose surface stuff. Reminds me of rallying and ice racing. I'm sure it will sharpen my overall bike handling skills. I was already pushing much harder this morning, Day 2 :) What I've come to realize in Florida is we all basically live on one gigantic pile of sand.

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Started restoring some campy/ambrosio rim combo I got on a bike built in 1985. I've never liked them, because 700c tire beads were too tight to fit. 27 inch were too big. What was this mystery wheelsize???Some french arse weirdo size? I dunno, but frustrated, and needing some new wheels for my pizzashiki, I tightened each spoke a full turn- and viola! The rims compressed and the 700 c tires now fit reasonably well. I've spent the last two nights cleaning, and will do more cleaning, redo the bearings and break the suntour freewheel off here soon for some "old man" 13-28 gearing. The other issue was the 36 hole spoke count. These things are windmills, no good for modern road riding, but will work perfect for my tweed arse randonneuring party rides! :D

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^^^ hmmm, that's interesting that tightening the spokes made a difference. I've had wheels like that over the years. Next time, I'll give that a try!

Came across one of these 'Little 500' bikes FS. I was at the race some time in the 80s. Apparently Schwinn supplies the bikes to all the teams (most years) and they pop up for sale occasionally.

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I want 1-4. I identify as 5.

Interesting e-motorcycle from Specialized. I think e-motorcycles are great for people with some type of issue that prevents them from riding a bicycle. But the rational described for this $11,000 e-motorcycle is, well, it reeks of wearing a fake Rolex watch :cool:

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Look ma, I climbed Alp D'Heuz just as fast as Tadej!

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:D

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Amen brother!

Once they can figure how to stop that god awful wet weather squealing, I won’t be so anti disc, but lordy that is annoying.

For my normal casual riding, rim brakes are plenty good as I hardly use them anyways. Discs were great to have on my commuter bike as the dirt, snow and heavy traffic made my rim brakes ineffective in short order.

I got my first bike with hydraulic disc brakes this year. What a game changer. I've had mechanical discs for years, and yeah, they're most likely better in the wet than rim brakes, but in the dry a good rim brake setup is just as effective as a cable disc setup.

But hydraulic brakes are so confidence inspiring that I'm able to ride downhill much faster and have more fun than I have in years - I'm not young and I'm not that brave, but just knowing I can slow down quickly and safely makes the higher speeds so much easier - wet or dry.

(But I love the tee shirt. That's a good one.)

I laughed, but was skeptical so I fact-checked it with my friend who works for Specialized and that description does not appear to be from them. Although, the description is still pretty cheesy..."It's lightweight, smooth, capable, and lively—all with the power to flatten mountains, laugh at headwinds, and go farther than you ever thought possible. It's you, only faster." They know who's buying these and how to market to them.

Here's a link to the bike: https://www.specialized.com/us/en/s-works-turbo-creo-sl/p/170237?color=261000-170237

It's a cool bike though, I'd love to try it out.

I googled and found it. Appears to be from an article on bikeradar.

https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/bikes/electric-bikes/specialized-s-works-turbo-creo-sl-review/

Now that we've solved the brake dilemma, let's talk derailleurs.

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^^^^^Now THAT's what I'm talkin' about!!! :D ^^^^

I bought my gravel bike in 2018. Front derailleur wasn't shifting so hot last week. I told a guy in the ride "I think my cable's fraying in the hood, if I suddenly start riding little ring- leave me for dead."

His reply "You should join the 21st century and upgrade to DiII (or whatever)"
My response "Dude, I'm old school. I'll spend $8 bucks on a new cable and go for 5 more years" :D

The cable turned out fine, the bar wrap was interfering with the shifter mechanism in the hood. If I ever lose shifting on a ride again, I will emphatically state "Don't make me get all Henri Desgrange on yo' arse!!! " "You won't like me when I'm Henri Desgrange!" They will look at me like WTF?!?!

Im already practicing- https://www.pronouncekiwi.com/Henri%20Desgrange

I'm sure Henri's grandfather was appalled at Henri's easy adaptation to the use of pneumatic tires.

Who will come up with a save the friction shifter or better yet, save the toe clips.

I was one of those bone heads that refused to change over to clipless. It took me three more years before I bought my first pair of Look pedals. I had those Cinelli Death Traps where you must release the lever to get feet out just like clips. My shoe came apart with those Cinelli pedals but so did my first pair of Sidi on Look pedals. Yep, it took me some time to finally get down tube indexed shifters or clickers. 27 or 28 tooth large cogs? That only happened for the past 3-4 years. I did have to change out to a 27 for those long rides to Crystal Lake. 26 miles straight up and 26 back ball buster.

I like my disc brakes but have no issues with rim brakes but like West said, who the heck use their brakes anyway. I do mostly group rides and rarely touch 'em.

https://www.bikemag.com/pavedmag/5-reasons-why-he-was-henri-desgrange-and-you-couldnt-have-been

p.s.-I like the rim brake T-shirt btw....

And for pleasure trips, I've changed back to platform pedals on 3 bikes and toe clips on one.

For business trips though- strictly clipped in.