I'm a big fan of the colour change. Went from meh to wow.
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Anyone here a cyclist?
- Thread starter MaksTO
- Start date
Arcane Fact For The Day: The Celeste was used as it was (cheap) surplus tractor paint after the war.
And the paint guy at Bianchi was colour blind. The shade/tint changed yearly.
The up side when doing a full paint job is unless you are going for a full on "concours restoration" you get to pick the version you like best!
From a fb group full of gorgeous bikes. I am unaffiliated with the event but it could be fun. For @FullMotoJacket , it may be no different than hanging out in his garage.
What do people like for premium cable housing these days? I currently have flak jackets which were ok but after a decade they are getting tired. It is on a mtb so ideally, the replacement will have straws over the open stretches of cable to keep crap out.
From a fb group full of gorgeous bikes. I am unaffiliated with the event but it could be fun. For @FullMotoJacket , it may be no different than hanging out in his garage.
That would mean going to Toronto. Haven't been there since I picked up my Guerciotti frame at Cam's shop 4 years ago. I don't miss it.
Can't go wrong with Shmoo. Have spools of XTR and Dura Ace. It just works.
Oh, and straws??? What sorcery is this you speak of?
Not my bike but heres the concept. My straws have faded to white and started to crack. Almost no friction, almost no weight, keeps flung schmoo out of housings.
I was thinking drinking straws and scratching my head. I slit shifter housing lengthwise with a box cutter and pull it apart for the inner plastic for that. Just cut the inner part to length and slip it on. Doing it doesn't do anything for dirt migrating into the housings, but it does keep the open cables from slapping your top tube and scratching the paint. Cable donuts do the same thing.
As FMJ noted the "straws" are for paint protection, donuts also work... there are also other paint protection options if it is important.
For cables and housing, I use Shimano housings mostly. If you can find Dura Ace or XTR for a good price (at a good price the premium is not too large) and in stock (COVID shortages and all) in the colour you want go for it. Personally my go to these days is the regular Shimano housings I can buy by the foot at my LBS when I need it in almost any colour I want but I stock a couple bikes worth in black. Cables I usually get at MEC and I stock pile a bunch when I go (house brand, good price/performance IMO) but after the changes there I do not know if these have also changed??? Like anything it is diminishing returns from the premium top end to the regular stuff and most will never notice (or appreciate) any difference--but sometimes premium just must be had for marginal performance gains, placebo or bling, totally get it... In the end routing etc. is more important once you exceed a certain min quality.
I have tried a huge number of brands and combinations, the above just works and works extremely well at that!
With the decent quality regular stuff there is also another advantage, it is easier on the mental wallet to swap it out when there is any decay in performance as opposed to keeping premium on after the performance has decayed because of mental replacement cost... (this is very common BTW, we are not pros).
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This bike is unpainted ti so paint protection is not required. The way avid does the straws, they feed over long nose ferrule so the system is somewhat sealed.
I'll hunt for some good shimano housing and see what I can find. I agree with the diminishing returns logic but good housing is not a capital expense and this bike is my favorite. I've used flak jacket the last three times, it looks nice and works well but I dont have enough in stock to redo the bike and it sounds like shimano is the consensus favorite now.
So this may be a stupid question as I'm a newb with the level of bikes here...
My current road bike has the straight bars, but I was wondering if it would be easier / more comfortable to convert to the drop bars that are more typical?
Is that a complicated process?
Schwinn road bike...nothing special.
My current road bike has the straight bars, but I was wondering if it would be easier / more comfortable to convert to the drop bars that are more typical?
Is that a complicated process?
Schwinn road bike...nothing special.
It's not worth the expense imo. I am comfortable with either. When fighting the wind with straight bars, I put my elbows at the ends of the bars and my hands near the stem. Drops my chest a long way. Obviously not a good position if an evasive maneuver is required.
As for is it complicated, you need bars, tape, brifters (compatible with your brakes/derailleurs), probably housing and cables, possibly a new stem. That's an expensive list unless you can steal the cockpit off an existing bike.
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What shifter do you have now? There may be a poverty path where you reuse your existing brake levers and shifters and just mount dummy hoods (or broken shifters) on the bars
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I converted my cheap road bike.. you just need to be able to adapt the cabling appropriately and also the brakes you currently have may not fit... i used a non-conventional setup (no hoods for brakes, i have them mounted up front) for my cheaper bike... I almost had it but couldnt get the braking wiring done properly because i didnt know what i was doing, so the bike shop was more than happy to do it when i sent it in for a tuneup (ill come back to post a pic of it in a few minutes)
I'm used to my road bike, so its more comfortable for me. And its faster because im more "crouched"
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As others noted, it is complicated (more than you would think...road and hybrid/MTB parts do not play well together).... and likely pricey if you don't have a big bin of parts to use. Depending on the bike the geometry may or may not be odd. Road bars offer many advantages but one of the best is the various hand positions while riding. While no longer fashionable adding some small bar ends to the flat bars can help here (rotate your hands), they even make ones that create drops....
As noted road and MTB/Hybrid group sets don't always play well togther. They have different cable pulls in some cases and different diameters for bars etc.... without that parts bin it can become an expensive scope creep project.
Why.... well because many people said it would not work and I wanted a gravel bike in the stable.
It may be cheaper to just buy a dedicated better bike. Not with COVID pricing...but one day.
Reading the post here is very interesting. How times have changes. I raced 72 & 81 fixed wheel. Toe clips. Track. Rode 72 fixed, no brakes on the streets. Never gave it a thought. I think also back then we, as riders had more respect from the cagers. UK.
Winter training was Sundays. Never had a Sunday dinner for years. Did a few 12 hour time trials, for Summer racing.
Polytechnic Cycling Club Regent Street. London.
Amazing, love the new style bikes and how much work you guys put into them.
I was sponsored by Philips and Maclean cycles. No longer in existence.
Winter training was Sundays. Never had a Sunday dinner for years. Did a few 12 hour time trials, for Summer racing.
Polytechnic Cycling Club Regent Street. London.
Amazing, love the new style bikes and how much work you guys put into them.
I was sponsored by Philips and Maclean cycles. No longer in existence.
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