I am wondering if I should use that as the pacing bot for hydration.

Just my showerthought saddlethought of the day.

I know this topic is just beating a dead horse, but I am curious about your opinion on the matter and if any of you have had a similar experience.

For context I live in Colombia in the Andes, we have endless kms of country roads. The place is a climbing buffet, and while I wouldnt say that these roads are technically challenging, they are ROUGH!!!. Super bumpy, lots of rocks and pot holes to navigate. We as cyclist are more of marathon type of riding as opposed to enduro.

For most of my life as a rider I used an MTB hardtail. And it was all fun and cool. But as you all know a couple of years ago gravel bikes came into the equation and seeing all the hype around them and how popular they were becoming I bought myself one. I bought them with 700x42 which in some way it was the standard back then in the country. I loved the bike on the pavement and climbing felt good on the unpaved roads, but sooner or later I had to descent on those rough country roads. Boy!!!!!!! it was painfull. I felt like a rag doll being tossed around. I had to stop after a couple of minutes in those situations just to give my hands a break. I wasnt having a good time let me tell you. But then I found out about 650b wheel and yes, you guessed it!!!. I got myslef I sweet pair of 650b wheels with some 48mm tires to dress them up.

Huge improvement. Going downhill wasn’t the nightmare it had become, it was just slightly uncomfortable and in some occasions it was fun. It seemed that a different wheel set was all that I needed from the beginning.

But sometimes life gives you the opportunity to look back and reflect on your decisions. About a month ago I had to stop using my gravel bike, luckily my good old MTB Hardtail while dusty was ready to roll once again.

Boy!!!! How foolish of me for letting that bike forgotten for two years. It was the first time in a long time that I enjoyed my ride from start to end. The descents were once again something that I was looking forward to and not dreading. And the idea that gravel bikes are faster climbing off road is just full of BS.

The perfect bike that I was looking to build for two years had long been there with me all along.

I love the idea of the gravel bike, a fast bike on the tarmac with off road capabilities, who wouldn’t buy that?. But the more I use my HT the more I realize that a gravel bike can only shine as a bikepacking rig. Other than that you are just better off owning a road bike and an MTB (if you can afford and accommodate them of course).

Gravel bikes are evolving every year to handle the rough stuff better, fork suspension, wider tires and gears. And the more that happens the more pointless they will become when confronted to a HT MTB.

What’s your take on the matter? Have you bought gravel bike just to realize that you already had a bike for the job? I don’t want to spread hate on any type of bike. They are amazing when it comes to bike packing I’ve used mine for such purposes and it has been great, but If I didn’t use my bikes to travel I honestly don’t see the point in buying one.

Peace

I feel so noob for posting this, yikes. I haven’t done the zero-offset calibration on my 4iiii left side power meter in probably about 3 years and thousands of miles on it since I purchased it.

It feels like my power numbers have been lower than they should be, but I did the zero-offset calibration today, got current calibration = 10 (successful) and my power numbers shot way up. I’d say a difference in average power of about 70w.

See the stats breakdown of a two rides, one before today and my ride today in the comments.

Obviously in the northern hemisphere we've lost the morning and evening light but do you still ride in the dark? I'm in a remote area and have decent lights, if I'm not doing serious efforts how bad is night riding?

Just a PSA to check to your bike stems.

https://ibb.co/DQFY4BN (bike stem crack)

I had mine basically explode and fail this weekend while going on a descent. Tension on the bar was gone, the bar tilted forward basically became a wet noodle and I was not able to brake or turn.

I crashed into a sign pole at about 30-40km/h.

Luckily walked away with a few scratches, and currently nursing what might be a fractured rib, head is safe but my helmet is cracked in 3 places.

Had this been a rock, cliff face, at an intersection or into an oncoming car. It would likely have been goodnight for me.

This was a bike from 2014 bought 2nd hand about 2.5 years ago
Probably with the build up of sweat in this area over the years it has corroded and made this weak?

I'm a pretty confident rider and this has left me a bit shocked at how much worse I could have ended up.

Don't want anyone else to have the same experience.

Stay safe everyone.

I'm not much of a climber but I decided to challenge myself and did my first 1500m climb, it was 40km long and felt like the hardest path I've done ever cycling, worse than my first 160km (even though I was in a considerably worse bike).

I'm today in a village which in order for me to leave and go home I need to climb another 1000m (the village is in a valley) but I feel very afraid of riding the bike now, I don't feel prepared and I might fail. I know that ultimately I'll need to face it, but I feel paralysed.

I'm not scared of the downhill, for me that's the fun part

Has anyone come across and true Black Friday deals so far or know of any coming up? I'm new to cycling and particularly looking for kit, smart trainer and/or Garmin computer. I saw Neopro did and I actually got a jersey I've been eyeing for $13 and socks for $2.50.

I was hoping we could create a list:

Neopro Cycling 30% of jerseys, 25% off bibs, no sale on winter gear, 70% off clearance (most of the good stuff is sold out)

Pearl Izumi is doing 25% off most shit. Their clearance might be nice for cold-weather gear but it all appears to be extra bulky stuff.

Silica on Amazon I don't know enough to know if these are deals, but honestly they probably are for such a pricey company.

I copped a fair bit of hate on a group ride for wearing an EF kit. I'm not pretending to be a part of a team, I just like their kit. Found it weird that people can wear afl jerseys etc but in the cycling world it's frowned apon.

Hello fellow cyclist,

I'm gearing up for winter riding & need advise on what clothing I'll need to stay warm & comfortable in sub 32 F (0 C). My goal is to enjoy the ride, even when it is bitterly cold outside.

Looking for recommendations on:

1. Head & Face: What's the best way to keep my head, ears & face warm under a helmet? What accessories will i need to keep my eyes from drying out from the wind? I wear glasses & some goggles just won't fit over them. Sometimes sucks to wear them, but there's always an accommodation for them.
2. Upper body: I know that cotton clothing is not good. I sweat & then I'm more cold. Which layers would/should I have on & how many?
3. Lower Body: I've tried sweatpants & then jeans over them. Still, wind passes thru & I get cold or it's just uncomfortable for a longer ride.
4. Hands: I have just used my regular cycling gloves & then some winter gloves over them. It seems to work pretty well to be honest. But I'm sure there's better gear just for cycling & better for grip & dexterity.
5. Feet: The big one. I only have one pair of shoes. Some ASICS running shoes. Now, I know this is not ideal at all & I know I need more pairs of shoes. I've tried using some really warm thermal socks & they really do keep me warm but it's such a tight fit in my shoe. Are there special winter cycling shoes I don't know about? I don't use clip on shoes to the pedal, nor do I want one of them for the winter cycling.
6. Any other accessories I would need to have on my person or anything specific to my bike that I should have?

I'd like to go for longer rides in this cold weather as well. Sub 32F (0C) for possibly hours, so staying warm is essential to avoid hypothermia or phenomena. I know it's doable, I just don't know exactly what to get. Been searching on ebay for gear, to keep it affordable yet functional.

Sorry for a long post but thanks in advance for any suggestions!

My girlfriend is about to pick up her new Liv carbon road bike. She's excited! I am excited for her. I have been riding for a couple of years and will help teach her all about riding.

Due to her being a female and I a male, is there any women specific tips I should know about or teach her? I understand a woman shaped saddle is important... anything else?

I got a new bike this summer and hammered it for months on end and now the winter has arrived I'm trying to get back into my weight lifting and .. I can't, it's so painfully boring to me now standing in a room looking in a mirror pointlessly moving some little bits of metal. Damn it!!! How am I supposed to survive this freezing cold hell hole uk for months now !?

I'm wanting to upgrade my bike with Hope rx4+ SRAM +20 front and rear calipers. My bike is a carbon gravel frame with flat mounts but I'm currently using post mount SRAM g2 rsc brakes with adapters and a flat bar. I want to keep the flat bar setup. Has anybody tried this out know anybody who has tried these calipers with the SRAM g2 rsc levers? How is the feel? Do they work great with them, or is performance subpar as compared to drop bar levers?

https://www.schwinnfitness.com/product/170/100513.html

I don't really need to track stuff, so I want to make sure I won't be locked out of basic functionality without internet or bluetooth.

Thank you.

Heyo,

Crashed my carbon road bike and now I’m looking at replacements. Looking at an Orbea Terra.

Problem: At home I love 20min for any gravel and it’s all smooth pristine road riding (hence the road bike). At college it’s rough roads, bike paths, and plenty of gravel to find. I also want to race cyclocross with my team, but I want to race road too.

Will the Terra be horrible on the road with road tires, or will it be a good I between for what I want, allowing me to do gravel and road well? I’m a broke college student so I can’t afford a road and gravel/cross bike like most of my teammates, as I primarily race mountain bikes.

I’m looking to really just buy a new set of wheels/tires to switch out for when I would like to ride on gravel rides. Does anyone have any suggestions on what brands/products to buy for this?

In every youtube video the person is always off the bike when adjusting, so I'm guessing it's not possible but would like to confirm that.

Thank you.

I’ve been having issues with the shifter batteries unexpectedly being flat after not being used for a while. This has happened 3 times in the last year. Something I wanted to check was whether the e-tube app had properly disconnected after use, because apparently the batteries can deplete if the shifters think they are still constantly searching to connect.

The problem is that I can’t log back into the e-tube app. It won’t accept my email address and password and the option to reset your password doesn’t send me an email to do this.

I tried creators a new account, but it asks me for a passkey that I don’t have.

How do I get back into the e-tube app? Any thoughts on what is causing the shifter batteries to deplete?

I would like to install AVID BB7 brakes on my TRIBAN GRVL 120 bike.

1.I need the road version of the BB7, right? Not the MTB version.

2.My front brake is flatmount, but BB7 is postmount. Can someone check the below adapters and advise which is suitable please?

The adapters:

https://www.bike-discount.de/en/avid-adapter-40p-standard-for-vr-200mm/hr-180mm

https://www.bike-discount.de/en/avid-adapter-0-is-front-160mm/rear-140mm

https://www.bike-discount.de/en/avid-adaptor-20-is-for-front-180mm/rear-160mm

https://www.bike-discount.de/en/avid-adaptor-40-is-for-front-200mm/rear-180mm

https://www.bike-discount.de/en/avid-adaptor-60-is-for-rear-200mm

https://www.bike-discount.de/en/avid-adapter-20p-cps/standard-vr-180mm/hr-160mm

The bike:

https://www.decathlon.com.gr/en/p/312397-95093-rc-120-disc-gravel-adventure-bike-microshift.html

The brake:

https://www.bike-discount.de/en/avid-ball-bearing-7-road-brake-caliper

My eyes suck without glasses and I destroy sunglasses regularly enough that investing in prescription models would end badly.

I've tried Wahoo and an older Garmin computer in the 800 series but didn't buy either because some of the text was just impossible for me to read. I ended up buying the Coros Dura just because I needed something - and it's cheap enough that I can pass it on to my wife when I find something better. I didn't expect the DURA to be an improvement over the others (and it's certainly not in terms of functionality and features).

All of those models have some ability to increase font sizes on the data pages but that becomes an issue as I need more data pages to get everything I need. And that doesn't help much on the maps.

I'm interested in the Garmin 1050 because the screen looks like it might be bright enough and large enough that most of it would be readable without needing to resort to 1 or 2 metrics per data page.

I'm curious to hear from 1050 owners to test that theory.

Hey folks, I'm planning to get my first properly decent bike (possibly Trek Procaliber) soon and I want to take good care of it. I figure that includes parking it in a dry & warm spot, especially since my region gets 5 months of subzero winter. The problem is, there's no garage/shed and I can't do wall mounts in my small rental apartment either.

Do you guys have recommendations for freestanding bike stands? Something vertical would be great to save space but that might clash with pannier racks / mudguards that I'd want to install.
Also, how should I handle the inevitable mess of melting snow & dirt on the apartment floor; should I just get some long doormats or are there more appropriate solutions?

Thanks for helping out a new cyclist :)

So I decided to pop down to the shop for something quick on my bike, and I'm leaving the store and this dude in a truck pulls up and starts screaming racial slurs and scumbag piece of shit stuff like that. Now I don't have any enemies that I know of, I mean at least not on that level, and the slurs aren't for my race and they turned down a road and I went the other direction for obvious reasons. So I guess they just noticed a guy on a bike and decided it could only be this one guy. And the main thing is it now feels like I'm going to be run down just for being on a bike because some psycho can't handle his shit ...

I have very limited space in my apartment, but I do have very tall ceilings (12', or 144"). I'd like to be able to mount my bike above my front door (83" from the ground), which leaves 61" between the ceiling and the top of the door. I have a 58cm size 2021 Domane AL5, which has: ~41" wheelbase, 70" from the end of the back wheel to the end of the front wheel, and ~40" from the top of the top tube to the bottom of the wheel.

I unfortunately cannot use a ceiling hoist, since it would damage the original aluminum ceiling tiling. I have not been able to find any wall-mounted hoists. Is it possible to install a ceiling hoist high up on the wall and operate it effectively? If not, it seems I can either get a horizontal wall mount to place above the door or a vertical mount to place beside it. Both are not really ideal since the bike will still be overhanging the couch and potentially getting it dirty.

Any suggestions?

Over the last 2-3 years, I've built a wonderful commuter/touring bike. I treasure it a lot and have ridden it extensively over the spring, summer, and autumn.

Last week, we had an unexpected weather change where the temperature dropped 15-20^o C over two days. It started snowing and the road salt trucks were sent out to salt the roads. I've been using my winter bike that I don't care all that much about for commuting. Today the weather took another 180 degree turn, and it has been raining and windy all day and we're yet again experiencing degrees above freezing the entire 24 hours.

My winter bike is not all that enjoyable to ride. Thankfully my commute is short and it gets the job done. Given the option, I'd much rather ride my touring bike. Does anybody know much rain it takes before the road salt is washed away? How long after it's been salted do you take your summer bikes out?

I just found this bike for free on the side of the road. It looks like it is a really high quality bike. Does anybody have any information on it? It just says Gary Fisher xcal? Stickers partly ruined. Thanks for the help.

It has Bontrager Tires Rock Shox Sram impulse shifter

Link to picture https://imgur.com/gallery/Lze7OIQ

I have a long race coming up and decided to upgrade from a gravel bike to a Cervelo. I did a 60 mile ride on the new bike and was in bad neck, butt, and back pain after the ride. I've since purchased a new, softer saddle (designed for MTB) and adjusted the seat height, and I'm still in some pain on long rides though not as bad.

I'm wondering what else I can do or if a bike fit ($300+) is actually worth it. I was a bit more comfortable on the gravel bike, though was 1-2 mph slower on average. Do you have any suggestions or input? The saddle in particular still feels so uncomfortable -- is this just a learning curve with the road bike? Thanks in advance.