Well, it was my initial thoughts too but the particular geometry of this bike ( it have very short rear base tube and is overall relatively aggressive frame design for 29" wheels) take advantage of the material. If it had been carbon or al frame it would have been much less confortable imo.
30 years old ( or older) good bikes... are still good bike after all this time imo. A bunch of diy gravel i've tried were based on those good mountain bike frame design from mid 90's.
Fixed gear are fun i agree ...until you live in a not flat area! I'm not in mountain but the place i live in is not belgium or netherland at all and i need gears more than often and i'm not an hardcore rider.
400$ on Shimano shifter: electronic type?
30 years old ( or older) good bikes... are still good bike after all this time imo. A bunch of diy gravel i've tried were based on those good mountain bike frame design from mid 90's.
Fixed gear are fun i agree ...until you live in a not flat area! I'm not in mountain but the place i live in is not belgium or netherland at all and i need gears more than often and i'm not an hardcore rider.
400$ on Shimano shifter: electronic type?
Down tube shifters save a little weight, but then so does grinding off the down tube shifters noses whilst converting to single speed - D'oh !
I was looking at SRAM electric shifting and I see that for a 2x system they have a mode where, when you shift chainwheel, the cassette is also shifted to the gear that'll get you closest to your pre-shift ratio. Which is kinda neat.
But what fun and games when the software won't cooperate or the battery goes flat while you're in the middle of nowhere...
Another scenario that happens often enough to be a PITA - you go down and the handlebars get rotated forward. With electronic shifters you rip the control cables out and you’re dead in the water, or whatever gear you were in. Then you spend a ton of money fixing it after a very hard ride back in the wrong gear. Old cable shifters just get over-tensioned and it clamps the brakes shut. Put the bars back, make at least a crude derailleur cable adjustment, and you at least have most of your gears all the way back. Then you can go home and fix it right for the cost of new bar tape and 4 new inner cables.
Well the earlier ones were cabled, and we had some guys from the club end up tearing them up 35 miles from home base. Gravel in the corner, resulting in an MVA. And a lot of profitable repair work for the bike shop that day.
Someone may have mentioned it - thinking of barbed wire - anyone remember when a France TV car took out Johnny Hoogerland and he barreled at 30mph into a barbed wire fence? In the 2011 Tour. Luckily he did not damage the crown jewels or his face. They patched him up as best they could, and he pedalled to the finish inside the time cut. He was taken to hospital and got 33 stiches in his legs, and with no sleep at all, turned up at the start - and completed the tour.
Tough guys. Very very tough guys.
https://mpora.com/road-cycling/tour...gerland-2011-barbed-wire-car-crash-one-worst/
Peugeot was mentioned upstream. One of my bikes is a OU12 purchased new in 1982 and converted to fixed in the 1990s. Reynolds 520 frame, a gentleman Jim ride if the front wheel hadn't taco-ed in, surprise, another crash. After using that word so many times, in my own defense the left bullhorn bar caught the rail at the exit of the bridge below. If you look closely the hand rail really does extend over the path. When it became scarred with bar tape residue Parks leapt into action and painted it grey.
The third fixed is a custom Marinoni, Columbus SLX Improved. Their street 'ciclo' with pista rear dropouts. Also a lovely ride. Put many miles on both steel frames over ten years in Vancouver, on typical rides a ~275 foot climb home.
Nope on the shifter guesses, just a regular cable Ultegra 6800. Price included installation and taxes. I was fortunate enough to find a vendor with old stock, otherwise it meant replacing both sides. Closer to $700 locally. It's not a cheap hobby.
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Sram are wireless, Shimano electronics are not .
From the both examples i've seen they are fairly reliable and battery saving. Anyway if i used this for a long travel i would not save on a battery spare set.
I found myself prefer regular mechanical gear. Grx 400 (2x10) on my main gravel ( mountain bike carbon frame initially 26" wheel converted into road friendly with 27,5" with Hutchinson's Touareg tyres). Not the fancyest gear system in the world but good enough for my use. It needed a deflection pulley implemented on the seat tube though. Fun build.
Peugeot bike were very nice. In my teenage they were highend bikes. We still see some 30 years later in good shape around here. As Talbot ( my girl still have the one she had as a gift for his 14).
Rdf, when you talk about single speed you have freewheel or direct drive implemented?
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I should try it.
But i fear possible consequences after seeing pictures of a mechanic's finger being cut when working on such bike...
But i fear possible consequences after seeing pictures of a mechanic's finger being cut when working on such bike...
So far at least the SRAM wireless I have has worked well and is economical. Difficult to be sure but I think I'd get at least 750km between charges of the main derailleur battery.
It's seems a bit odd doing firmware updates on a bike though.
I have seen the end result of a new track rider reaching down to adjust a pedal. Digit went missing.
Also a Velodrome in South Louisiana introduces new hazards when someone wants to track stand. Hitting a cockroach while attempting track stand may result in you sliding off the track. Poor race officials never had to deal with that. So as a kid I once had to stand by the track and pull the roaches and grasshoppers from the track when possible.
I also know someone who crashed when hitting a mould spot on the apron. Just a little too much water there. Saw him out the next day with Clorox to clear that up.
Also a Velodrome in South Louisiana introduces new hazards when someone wants to track stand. Hitting a cockroach while attempting track stand may result in you sliding off the track. Poor race officials never had to deal with that. So as a kid I once had to stand by the track and pull the roaches and grasshoppers from the track when possible.
I also know someone who crashed when hitting a mould spot on the apron. Just a little too much water there. Saw him out the next day with Clorox to clear that up.
It can be a chain saw, especially the rear cog. My hand is always at the exit end when wiping the chain. The other is always on a pedal directly working the wheel slowly. Free spins only when standing well clear with both hands off the bike. Nearly thirty years on and I can still count to ten with shoes on.
For me fixed was revelatory about pedaling technique. Plus there really is something special about a very light, dead silent bike that does nothing to hide the road. Some years they were the only bikes ridden.
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From the beginning of the 80s I went velo camping in France, cursing that I hadn't started in the 60s'. In 85 I bought a first generation mountain bike, a Motobecane - long wheelbase (bad idea) heavy rims and tyres (two more bad ideas), triple chain set and cantilever brakes. Every campsite I used attracted attention from Frenchmen who had never seen a mountainbike, equally amazed that it was a Motobecane French made. It had a brilliant Huret long arm rear changer, mostly made of titanium. The problem was that there was one part that had to be tightened counter intuitive, if you didn't do this it literally unravelled. I did 3000K on this trip. I had meant to ride down through NW Spain to the Picos de Europa mountains but hit a heatwave, over 100F.
My idea, about 10 years ahead of the time was to start up a mountain biking holiday centre. Initial outlay didn't require too much money and keeping the bikes in good shape would be cheap. I have to say that the mountain bike concept came about because the Americans based the design on the crap American newspaper boys delivery bike. There was an English guy called Geoff Apps who had been a trials rider who badly smashed a knee and his medics said that if he didn't want to be crippled in old age he should take up cycling, which he did. By 1981/2 he had produced his first version of the Cleland Aventura - across country bike using 650B Nokia tyres which you could add tungsten studs in winter to use on ice. It had hub brakes, a double chainset, much higher b/bracket, sloping top tube and straight handlebars. the second innovation had a bash plate to protect the chainset. It made the mountain bike look like a bad joke - which it was and is. I've ridden the third iteration in 86 - the balance was incredible, you could literally stop still and decide what direction to take. With hub brakes you didn't have to think about cantilever brakes wearing out the rims with off-road riding. I saw this bike in action in the first European mountain bike event at Small Dole motocross course on the Downs in East Sussex. It was promoted by Shimano. Geoff should never have been allowed to take control of promoting, he hadn't got a clue. This idiot expected his team of 6 riders to ride 30 miles on a blisteringly hot day from Horsham to Small Dole on low pressure off road Nokia tyres.
Geoff had been a trials m/bike rider and he couldn't let go of this mentality. Any real cyclist would have hired two small coaches, one for his team and one for the bikes. Because of this one of his riders was too knackered to take part.I think he is probably too old to ride these days but when he did he used a car to take him and his bike to go off-roading - a great designer but never a real cyclist. The motocross course is on the side of the Downs which is bare chalk. The weather had been dry for weeks and course was bone hard chalk with of course a chalk powder surface - just like riding on ice.
Not one m/bike finished the course they all went **** over tip - all the Clelands finished with ease. The Japanese Shimano man was pulling is hair out BUT because only 5 Clelands competed not 6 he gave the prize to the crap mountain bikes all equipped with Shimano gear. I'm not knocking Shimano gear, just the crap mountain bike design. If Geoff had realised his limitations (ego has no place in business) he would have found someone who knew how to promote and had a pro photographer there to take stills and a video of the event. He would have had a world beater and the world would have two types of off road bikes - the mountain bike for head bangers and a real cross country bike. If anyone in the UK can find a Cleland Aventura in good shape, buy it and be amazed at just how good it is in any off road situation - through mud, woodland, across rock and boulders, through sand. The upright riding position with a sprung saddle is better for the spine.
I always thought that for bad roads, try Belgium, it used to have roads that would have been excellent for tank testing or off road riding like France's brilliant Grand Randonnees then suspension in the front forks was a must. Cannondale developed a system in the head tube but I thought about visiting Germany because they have lots of bike makers with open minds to use a single big industrial spring in the head tube. Indeed by 1990 I thought about creating a bike for all uses based upon a re-working of Geoff's basic design - high b/bracket, hub brakes, 6 speed Shimano hub gear with a double chainwheel and chain tensioner giving 12 useable gears - chainwheel, chain and tensioner totally enclosed (maintenance free), Triangulated handlebars/adjustable on the move for uphill/downhill/wind and with aluminium hand shielders and shaped at the ends to make life easier for the hands (the TdF boys now have these) Brazed on low riders and rear rack with st/steel mud clearers, front and rear - you shape the st/steel plates for particular tyres. The best panniers are probably still the German made Ortliebs. With narrow rims you could use road tyres for commuting/shopping and change to off road low pressure tyres when nec. This will give you a bike for commuting/shopping/off roading/ long distance/world trekking. Such a bike is for comfortable riding, day in and day out. Carbon bikes are not comfortable, good quality steel/chromium steel are responsive and durable both the Brits and the Italians have excellent examples to choose from. I agree with Krivium, the kind of money people are willing to part with is crazy.
The GRs in France are incredible, you can experience just about all terrains - forests, mountains, flatlands, coastal and hardly ever have to cross roads, wild camping is great, only the sound of the real world = brain massage. I well remember meeting two young French women on a tandem in 85 north of the Perigord we wild camped for 3 days - it wasn't only the camping that was wild, afterwards - completely knackered - those were the days.
My idea, about 10 years ahead of the time was to start up a mountain biking holiday centre. Initial outlay didn't require too much money and keeping the bikes in good shape would be cheap. I have to say that the mountain bike concept came about because the Americans based the design on the crap American newspaper boys delivery bike. There was an English guy called Geoff Apps who had been a trials rider who badly smashed a knee and his medics said that if he didn't want to be crippled in old age he should take up cycling, which he did. By 1981/2 he had produced his first version of the Cleland Aventura - across country bike using 650B Nokia tyres which you could add tungsten studs in winter to use on ice. It had hub brakes, a double chainset, much higher b/bracket, sloping top tube and straight handlebars. the second innovation had a bash plate to protect the chainset. It made the mountain bike look like a bad joke - which it was and is. I've ridden the third iteration in 86 - the balance was incredible, you could literally stop still and decide what direction to take. With hub brakes you didn't have to think about cantilever brakes wearing out the rims with off-road riding. I saw this bike in action in the first European mountain bike event at Small Dole motocross course on the Downs in East Sussex. It was promoted by Shimano. Geoff should never have been allowed to take control of promoting, he hadn't got a clue. This idiot expected his team of 6 riders to ride 30 miles on a blisteringly hot day from Horsham to Small Dole on low pressure off road Nokia tyres.
Geoff had been a trials m/bike rider and he couldn't let go of this mentality. Any real cyclist would have hired two small coaches, one for his team and one for the bikes. Because of this one of his riders was too knackered to take part.I think he is probably too old to ride these days but when he did he used a car to take him and his bike to go off-roading - a great designer but never a real cyclist. The motocross course is on the side of the Downs which is bare chalk. The weather had been dry for weeks and course was bone hard chalk with of course a chalk powder surface - just like riding on ice.
Not one m/bike finished the course they all went **** over tip - all the Clelands finished with ease. The Japanese Shimano man was pulling is hair out BUT because only 5 Clelands competed not 6 he gave the prize to the crap mountain bikes all equipped with Shimano gear. I'm not knocking Shimano gear, just the crap mountain bike design. If Geoff had realised his limitations (ego has no place in business) he would have found someone who knew how to promote and had a pro photographer there to take stills and a video of the event. He would have had a world beater and the world would have two types of off road bikes - the mountain bike for head bangers and a real cross country bike. If anyone in the UK can find a Cleland Aventura in good shape, buy it and be amazed at just how good it is in any off road situation - through mud, woodland, across rock and boulders, through sand. The upright riding position with a sprung saddle is better for the spine.
I always thought that for bad roads, try Belgium, it used to have roads that would have been excellent for tank testing or off road riding like France's brilliant Grand Randonnees then suspension in the front forks was a must. Cannondale developed a system in the head tube but I thought about visiting Germany because they have lots of bike makers with open minds to use a single big industrial spring in the head tube. Indeed by 1990 I thought about creating a bike for all uses based upon a re-working of Geoff's basic design - high b/bracket, hub brakes, 6 speed Shimano hub gear with a double chainwheel and chain tensioner giving 12 useable gears - chainwheel, chain and tensioner totally enclosed (maintenance free), Triangulated handlebars/adjustable on the move for uphill/downhill/wind and with aluminium hand shielders and shaped at the ends to make life easier for the hands (the TdF boys now have these) Brazed on low riders and rear rack with st/steel mud clearers, front and rear - you shape the st/steel plates for particular tyres. The best panniers are probably still the German made Ortliebs. With narrow rims you could use road tyres for commuting/shopping and change to off road low pressure tyres when nec. This will give you a bike for commuting/shopping/off roading/ long distance/world trekking. Such a bike is for comfortable riding, day in and day out. Carbon bikes are not comfortable, good quality steel/chromium steel are responsive and durable both the Brits and the Italians have excellent examples to choose from. I agree with Krivium, the kind of money people are willing to part with is crazy.
The GRs in France are incredible, you can experience just about all terrains - forests, mountains, flatlands, coastal and hardly ever have to cross roads, wild camping is great, only the sound of the real world = brain massage. I well remember meeting two young French women on a tandem in 85 north of the Perigord we wild camped for 3 days - it wasn't only the camping that was wild, afterwards - completely knackered - those were the days.
I wouldn't bother, I used to do track riding and, IMO, that's where fixed wheel bikes belong.
I'm planning to watch the TdF Femmes stage that finishes on top of the Tourmalet this afternoon.
I missed this thread previously so the TdF conversaton passed me by - in many way's this year's TdF was great but it would be nice to not have a two-horse race next year.
My own cycling started more than 50yrs ago when I got my first 'racer' when I was about 14yrs old (I'll be 66 in September) and quickly joined the local cycling club. After working hard I eventually bought myself a beautiful Bob Jackson frame, which I think was equipped with an early Shimano groupset and mavic wheels (with tubs of course). Anyway, I got fat and lazy in my 30s and 40s but got back into riding as a result of the physiotherapy after an accident in 2010 and I've not looked back since - I've lost 5stone (70lbs/32Kg) and got my resting pulse down to 53. In May this year I took part in the RideLondon cycling event (100miles (161Km) on closed roads) and completed it in 5hrs 19mins, an average speed of 19.2mph (>30Kph). I rode the event on my 3T Strada, carbon aero frame with a 1x drive train...
My own cycling started more than 50yrs ago when I got my first 'racer' when I was about 14yrs old (I'll be 66 in September) and quickly joined the local cycling club. After working hard I eventually bought myself a beautiful Bob Jackson frame, which I think was equipped with an early Shimano groupset and mavic wheels (with tubs of course). Anyway, I got fat and lazy in my 30s and 40s but got back into riding as a result of the physiotherapy after an accident in 2010 and I've not looked back since - I've lost 5stone (70lbs/32Kg) and got my resting pulse down to 53. In May this year I took part in the RideLondon cycling event (100miles (161Km) on closed roads) and completed it in 5hrs 19mins, an average speed of 19.2mph (>30Kph). I rode the event on my 3T Strada, carbon aero frame with a 1x drive train...