Ultimate Bike Thread....

[CurtEgerer]

I'm watching some news coverage of the jewelry theft at the Louvre and spotted this in the crowd - looks like my old 1985 Gitane Professionnel (complete with corncob freewheel). Dude also looks like he's got some sort of rangefinder camera ...

[David]

I got a wild hair and bought a hard tail MTB frame to replace my full suspension frame. Since I broke my neck several years ago MTB'ing I've sworn off any difficult trails so full suspension seems a waste. Plus I'm a weight weenie and wanted a lighter bike.

[CurtEgerer]

^^^ Very nice. I'll bet you'll love it. I went full rigid and single-speed and it was a game changer (I don't ride any crazy stuff at all).

[CurtEgerer]

[look 171]

Originally Posted by CurtEgerer

Ho-lee-siht man. My home track is Encino Velodrome and its only 28 degrees. I know some go upwards of 35 or more. That looks crazy steep. I wonder how fast is he going? Photochoped?

[look 171]

Ii had to look at that closely. The speed needed to stay up upright and having to deal with the angles transition on the velodrome and the banner would be enough to scare the hell outta me not to mention the segmentedbanners. I can only assume he looked at the thickness of the plywood on the banners before he had his rum at it. No reason to go way up there but to screw around between races.

[David]

The Niner’s built. XL frame looks bigger than my 62cm road bike! This will be for pretty sedate riding so I wanted it stable and comfortable. Weight is a little over 21 lbs with aluminum bars. Once I decide on bar rise I’ll get carbon bars and it’ll be below 21.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

[herr_oberst]

[CurtEgerer]

^^^ It used to be you could sneak a few hundred or a thousand here or there for new bikes or parts. Today, sneaking $15,000 for a new bike can be a bit tricky.

Picked up this Park mechanic's stand at the local Habitat for Humanity thrift store for $10. They didn't know what it was - found it in the plumbing section. I've had one identical to it for many years.

[CurtEgerer]

This is interesting.

[CurtEgerer]

EF Education (and probably some other teams too) is having their annual team bike sale! Not many left. Every year I'm tempted to pull the trigger Screaming good deals.

EF Bike Sale

[David]

Originally Posted by CurtEgerer

^^^ It used to be you could sneak a few hundred or a thousand here or there for new bikes or parts. Today, sneaking $15,000 for a new bike can be a bit tricky.

Yeah, I was working on my 2019 Trek Emonda last week and realized how worn much of the components are. Rear hub, derailleurs, brake calipers all show corrosion from sweat. 6 years old, time to get a new bike. Now how to justify $14K to the wife? I'm sure it will cost me some jewelry

[herr_oberst]

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by CurtEgerer

This is interesting.

That's great!! Best of all worlds that right there.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by CurtEgerer

This is interesting.

I really don't understand that.

Saw that some time ago and someone decided that they dislike or anti STi levers and came up with this ugly, contraption that makes no sense. I know, I know, some people will go to the end of earth just to proof a point or just leave the shifter on the down tube. Done.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by David

Yeah, I was working on my 2019 Trek Emonda last week and realized how worn much of the components are. Rear hub, derailleurs, brake calipers all show corrosion from sweat. 6 years old, time to get a new bike. Now how to justify $14K to the wife? I'm sure it will cost me some jewelry

I think with inflation or tariffs, its up to about 18k. My buddy just bought an S work with full Dur Ace and a set of zipp wheels. Neighbor pulled out without looking up the street as he's was coming home (down hill). Broke his S work in half as he went over the hood of the car. Nice bike

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Originally Posted by look 171

I really don't understand that.

Saw that some time ago and someone decided that they dislike or anti STi levers and came up with this ugly, contraption that makes no sense. I know, I know, some people will go to the end of earth just to proof a point or just leave the shifter on the down tube. Done.

^I saw that and was thinking it could have been some 1970-80's forerunner to the brifter. (But I really have no idea).

I agree with you though. Go down tube, or go brifter, or maybe even bar end shifter on a classic touring bike, but not frankenstein stuff

[greglepore]

Originally Posted by look 171

I think with inflation or tariffs, its up to about 18k. My buddy just bought an S work with full Dur Ace and a set of zipp wheels. Neighbor pulled out without looking up the street as he's was coming home (down hill). Broke his S work in half as he went over the hood of the car. Nice bike

You can break an sworks sl8 or atheos by dropping it against a doorframe. The 700g frame weight comes at the expense of hyper thin toptubes and center downtubes.

I have a non sworks sl8. Its appliance common, but it is as vibrant a ride as a bunch of halo bikes that I've had. Mine has cheap chinese wireless (wheeltop) set to 12spd and uber light chinese wheels with carbon spokes, so less than 1/4 of the sworks DA number.

The current trend towards top end rides that approach 18k or so is just silly. Colnago just released a steel 18 lb bike (steenlnovo) that is 18k. Oddly, the frame itself is cheaper than an sworks sl8, but the SR13wrl and the Bora wheels etc drive the price to nosebleed.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by LEAKYSEALS951

^I saw that and was thinking it could have been some 1970-80's forerunner to the brifter. (But I really have no idea).

I agree with you though. Go down tube, or go brifter, or maybe even bar end shifter on a classic touring bike, but not frankenstein stuff

That another from that era of anti lever shifters. A bunch of angry old dude that can't get away from the glory days. I have to give them this much, the willingness to engineer and ugly, useless, heavy thing like it. But then again, that's how ideas come to life.

They just keep adding or modifying existing levers jsut to avoid buying Shimano or campy shifters.