Show "Bicycle"

20 mile river ride this morning on a newly opened rail trail segment. The cool morning weather brought out the crowd. I saw 7 people walking along the trail at different times.

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This bike is almost enough to drive a man crazy. The SA rear hub laced pretty quickly, but truing it was another matter. Even without tension, the rim had a pronounced ovoid shape, and it took several hours of back & forth to even get close to true. Both the LBS owner and I worked on it, and it was stubborn. It's about 97%, and he said I likely won't be able to tell when I'm riding. But now I can't get the 3-sp hub operating properly. The gear shift lever works fine when the wheel is off the bike, but as soon as I mount it to the frame, the lever locks in place. I can't find anything about it on YT, and SA's printed instructions are sparse, at best. SMH

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I figured out the gear shift mechanism, but it seems my first (and likely only) experience with an IGH is a total failure - I cannot get a straight chain line between my chainring and the IGH cog. There is no way to adjust the cog in or out; it is in a fixed location on the shaft. After working hours to get the IGH laced to my rim, and truing the wheel (with a lot of help from the LBS owner), I cannot ride the bike as it is.

My original plan was to ride the bike as a SS, but I got the genius idea to buy the 3-sp hub. I'm just going to relace the original hub and try to recoup some of my lost $$$ on eBay. But not tonight; I'm pretty disgusted with myself and I think I'm just going to sit down with a book and chill.
 
I'm a glutton for punishment! I rode my bike with no set route and just started riding. I ended up doing a hard 27+ miles on both road and off-road. Not sure what I was thinking riding in 90 degree weather! Oh well, I got into my rhythm listening to old school Don Ho Hawaiian music! :D

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I figured out the gear shift mechanism, but it seems my first (and likely only) experience with an IGH is a total failure - I cannot get a straight chain line between my chainring and the IGH cog. There is no way to adjust the cog in or out; it is in a fixed location on the shaft. After working hours to get the IGH laced to my rim, and truing the wheel (with a lot of help from the LBS owner), I cannot ride the bike as it is.

My original plan was to ride the bike as a SS, but I got the genius idea to buy the 3-sp hub. I'm just going to relace the original hub and try to recoup some of my lost $$$ on eBay. But not tonight; I'm pretty disgusted with myself and I think I'm just going to sit down with a book and chill.
Awww man. This breaks my heart.
 
Awww man. This breaks my heart.
Thanks. I possibly could have made the chainline work with a different BB and or crankset, but I really didn't want to throw any more $$$ at it. Had I done my due diligence, I would have known beforehand SA has published an online tech sheet - complete with chainline measurements - for their modern hubs. I just assumed chainline would be adjustable just like it is with my SS setups. No one's fault but my own.
 
On my end, I'm slowly getting the use of both wrists back (broke right wrist May 5th, let wrist has had crippling tendonitis since February from all the home construction). And in a twist I didn't see coming, the bike that hurts the least to ride is a ladies' medium road bike I share with my friend Jenn. Something about the drop bars, allowing me to keep my wrists straight, and move between different hand positions, eases the strain. Have been riding it down to work and back, which feels wonderful.
 
I was up in Oregon last week visiting my family and we did a day trip in and around Seaside, Oregon. I couldn't help but admire all the glorious road and off-road routes everywhere I looked! There were also some beautiful gravel logging roads, not to mention perfect weather for cycling. It was warm, but with a nice chill ocean breeze and the sweet smell of forest pine. Also in the second photo, I was just thinking how supple it would be to ride my bike on a damp peet moss covered trail. All we have here in LA, is that dusty soft pack dirt that makes you loose traction and spin out if you aren't careful!

No pictures of bikes, but just imagining riding these routes was stimulating just thinking about it!

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We have a bike. I finished truing the rear wheel with the original hub this morning, and finished all the other bits after lunch and took it for a short test spin. I ended up using a chain tensioner for now because I couldn't get enough slack out of the chain with the adjustable dropouts. I'll go back and shorten the chain and adjust the dropout location after I've ridden it for a bit; I'm sort of tired of being a bike mechanic right now. I also need to swap out The World's Most Uncomfortable Seat. My derriere is going to be most sore if I ride that seat for the 20-30 mile cruise I'm planning in a couple of days. 3rd bike on which I've used the Jones bars, and the tires are 650Bx47 Specialized Pathfinder Pros.

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We have a bike. I finished truing the rear wheel with the original hub this morning, and finished all the other bits after lunch and took it for a short test spin. I ended up using a chain tensioner for now because I couldn't get enough slack out of the chain with the adjustable dropouts. I'll go back and shorten the chain and adjust the dropout location after I've ridden it for a bit; I'm sort of tired of being a bike mechanic right now. I also need to swap out The World's Most Uncomfortable Seat. My derriere is going to be most sore if I ride that seat for the 20-30 mile cruise I'm planning in a couple of days. 3rd bike on which I've used the Jones bars, and the tires are 650Bx47 Specialized Pathfinder Pros.

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Looking good! So you've opted not to go with the IGH...single speed seems to be more your style! ;) Are those Avid BB7 brakes you're running?
 
Last night I did a roundtrip 15 mile night ride with a weekly bike group. They had a mix of roadies, gravel grinders, MTB'ers and fixed gear cyclists. While it wasn't a crazy pace, it was something different and there was comfort riding in numbers through some busy Hollywood streets. On top of that being able to ride faster through peloton just felt easier to accelerate even through the more challenging sections. Lastly we rode by a bicycle self-repair business that handed out free lights and stickers...I'll definitely be coming back to check them out!

I have to give props to the guy who brought his own mixed alcohol and cocktail glass at the end of the ride! :D

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I’ve got a friend with ALS, about 4 years into it now, so he’s lost a lot of muscle and nerve control in his upper body. Fortunately for me, he’s needed a few things done that I could help with – I know it’s selfish in a way but I feel a MILLION times less depressed when I can help him and his family out with something, anything. So yesterday I popped over in the cargo bike with some tools and did a little electrical job for him.

Standing in the driveway after, a neighbor came over with 20 minutes’ worth of questions about the big bike. During that conversation, I pointed out that the thing that makes these bikes worth the tradeoffs (cost, size, weight) is the one big magic trick they do – “you can be just biking down the street, pass a yard sale, go ‘hey that’s a cool chair!’ and take it home. Can’t really do that on other bikes.”

1 minute later, I rounded the corner of their street and passed an old Kona flatbar roadie from the 90s with “FREE” taped to it. And by god I snagged it. Tonight it goes to the nonprofit I work for, to get fixed up and donated to somebody who needs a bike. w00t!

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I did 14 miles today mainly uphills in Griffith Park here in Los Angeles. I rode smart conserving my energy while sealing off my two lowest gears for endurance training and maintaining cadence within 60-70 rpms...never going above or below that number. I found by taking it easy, I was actually faster!

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Amazingly I had more gas in the tank when I was close to each summit checkpoint, being able to switch to high gear and sprint to the top! I even sprinted pass two lanes of uphill car traffic to LA's Griffith Observatory! :D

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I did 33 road miles just riding in random directions and tried going up a mountain, but was stopped due to road closures due to previous fires! I then circled back and realized my legs were pretty sore especially dealing with the late afternoon winds. I still don't get the allure of road biking, it's just going really far on regular roads. I'd rather be doing shorter, more scenic uphill climbs!

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At the LBS I frequent, the owner and his daughter are frequent road riders. Their idea of light traffic is very different from mine, and they frequently ride roads around where I grew up that I'd never ride, ever. Same with the rural roads near me; I've seen far too many people driving those roads who give no thought at all to occupying both sides of the road at once. I imagine to them, a cyclist would be invisible, or worse, a target.
 
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