I cleaned my bike today.

I've only cleaned a bike once before, and it didn't make a difference. This time, when the bike wasn't 25 years old to start with, you could actually see improvement. I was polishing away for a solid half hour, it's shiny as fuck now.


yeah...

I have no bike. Don't even know how to ride one. I'd probably lose weight if I did.

No pics no bike

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Curved handlebars = instant 30% speed increase. Also, +1 awesomeness.

Quote :

I have no bike. Don't even know how to ride one. I'd probably lose weight if I did.

That's odd. That's sad. Yes.

Why does it give you more speed?

My girlfriend said she was going to teach me to ride one. Actually, everyone says they're going to teach me how. No one has. I've tried learning myself, but where I live it's just grass (aside from the little country road) and I feel that's probably not a good place to learn to ride. Hell, Leslie doesn't even have a bike. I don't know how she plans on teaching me how to ride one.

being a fixed gear bike also add a billion% increase in coolness

Loxx O))) wrote:

Why does it give you more speed?

Aeorodynamics.

Ancient Rune wrote:

being a fixed gear bike also add a billion% increase in coolness

Yes, as well as bonus hipster points and a hell of an increase in "likelihood of dying on account of not being able to ride a fixie".

This bike is a flip-flop hub, with a free-wheel cog on one side, and a fixed one on the other. Which means I just flip the wheel to make it a fixed gear bike. It didn't really factor into it when I bought it, it was the best deal in the shop and I really liked the look and it was a great ride. I figure I'll put it into fixed gear mode sometime next summer when I'm not dependent on it to get me to work so I'll have some time time to fiddle with it and learn the proper technique.

The thing is, I haven't had a factory new bike since I was a kid. I've been biking on second hand (or more likely fourth/fifth hand) bikes for the past dozen years or so. Getting a new bike that actually works, that doesn't creak and that runs smooth has made cycling a lot more fun, I actually look forward to taking my bike downtown just because I know how smooth the ride will be. I'll also push twice as hard as I used to just because I'm not hindered by having an old, slow-spinning bike. That fact, that I actually enjoy the cycling itself, makes me want to try riding fixed gear. If nothing else, it could be a fun experience. But I don't believe in half of the supposed benefits.

Loxx O))) wrote:

Why does it give you more speed?

Aeorodynamics.

Loxx O))) wrote:

My girlfriend said she was going to teach me to ride one. Actually, everyone says they're going to teach me how. No one has. I've tried learning myself, but where I live it's just grass (aside from the little country road) and I feel that's probably not a good place to learn to ride. Hell, Leslie doesn't even have a bike. I don't know how she plans on teaching me how to ride one.

Get a shitty used bike for $30. Country road might not be the best surface to learn on, but it should be far from impossible. I can see how learning as an adult might be pretty harsh, but it's a skill well worth knowing. Even if you don't have a need for it now, it's worth learning. It's only going to get harder the older you get.

As long as you live within 5 miles from work/school/places of interest, biking is always an option.

Ancient Rune wrote:

being a fixed gear bike also add a billion% increase in coolness

Yes, as well as bonus hipster points and a hell of an increase in "likelihood of dying on account of not being able to ride a fixie".

This bike is a flip-flop hub, with a free-wheel cog on one side, and a fixed one on the other. Which means I just flip the wheel to make it a fixed gear bike. It didn't really factor into it when I bought it, it was the best deal in the shop and I really liked the look and it was a great ride. I figure I'll put it into fixed gear mode sometime next summer when I'm not dependent on it to get me to work so I'll have some time time to fiddle with it and learn the proper technique.

The thing is, I haven't had a factory new bike since I was a kid. I've been biking on second hand (or more likely fourth/fifth hand) bikes for the past dozen years or so. Getting a new bike that actually works, that doesn't creak and that runs smooth has made cycling a lot more fun, I actually look forward to taking my bike downtown just because I know how smooth the ride will be. I'll also push twice as hard as I used to just because I'm not hindered by having an old, slow-spinning bike. That fact, that I actually enjoy the cycling itself, makes me want to try riding fixed gear. If nothing else, it could be a fun experience. But I don't believe in half of the supposed benefits.[/quote]

In Washington this summer we walked everywhere. If we had bikes, it would have made things go much faster. Everything in the town where we were was within walking distance. When I'll have my car up there early next year we'll only be using it for when we go grocery shopping or going out of town.

So yeah... bikes would be nice. I'd probably go riding every day up there just for the exercise if I knew how. And I really should start losing weight.

I internet taught him to ride a bike but it didn't work.

Best bike I ever had was a late '70s VolksCycle (German design and engineering and Japanese built)...solid steel frame, double-butted forks, Dura-Ace components, 10-speed. Thing was such a fucking boss. So god damn fast too.

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Those are pics of after I had it for almost a year and gave it no maintenance and was just trying to sell it since I was moving, so that's how it looked at its worst.

A couple weekends ago I went up to Chico for a weekend and my friend brought two of his bikes. The one he let me ride was an early '90s Cannondale that he restored...that thing was a fucking beast too. Way lighter than my solid steel VC lol, and also pretty fast and with pitch-perfect shifting.

And riding a fixed gear is cool, regardless of the whole "culture" behind it being a bunch of hipster bullshit. I like it, but I don't do it often, and I would never have a fixed gear as my one and only bike. I'd have to have a nice 10 or 12-speed or something as my primary bike and then a fixie as a second. The best thing about a fixed gear is the improved efficiency, since the chain doesn't have to be derailed to switch gears it's a tighter link and you get the most wheelspin for the footpower you put out.

Did you only clean it, just for a polishing? No tune-up or component tightening or anything?

I've only had it for three weeks, so there isn't much to do yet in terms of tuning it up . I cleaned and re-oiled the chain and tightened the bolt on the front break, but that's about it. Oh, and I changed the position of the lock-holder (I really don't want it there, but my insurance requires one of those big-ass locks)

I'm gonna hand it in to the store in a week or so to get the handle-bar connection replaced (they got a temporary black one for me, since the original was too low, I'm getting a silver replacement), and I figure I'll let them do the tightening for me first time around.

I can tell that the cable to the rear breaks has been stretched a bit over these first few weeks, but I've heard that's normal. I'm still not that comfortable doing adjustments on it, figure I'll have to learn now that I've got a solid bike so I won't be dependent on the shop.

About the whole fixed gear efficiency-thing, though: if a bike is already single speed, and the chain doesn't have to be loose in order to switch gears, that'd eliminate the possibility for any real gain in efficiency, right? Logically, having a single speed freewheel with as tight a chain as possible would be the same as a fixed gear?

My old bike was a Crescent World Champion bike (the one pictured isn't mine, but it's roughly the same):
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I've been told mine, which was my dads, was from somewhere between 1975-1980. It hadn't exactly been taken care of, and when I got it at 15 it was pretty much all rust. But the damn thing worked like a charm. You just had to break half a minute in advance of when you needed to. The gears were completely manual, meaning you didn't have any slots to shift into, but rather changed gears by feel. Took getting used to but it was fun. I loved that bike. But after having to replace the rear wheel since it had gotten crooked the thing started acting up. Whenever I had a gear higher than 3rd (it was a 5 gear bike) and pedaled uphill or put pressure on the chain it'd slip up. It was almost like the chain wasn't tense enough, but I checked and that wasn't a problem. I replaced the chain, tuned up the gears, and that didn't help. I figure it was the cogs themselves that were worn down. So I took it in to get an estimate on how much it'd take to fix that and to check if anything else needed to be done. The verdict was that they'd essentially have to switch everything but the front wheel and the break mounts and it'd cost 2500SEK while still keeping the old cogs which I was sure were a problem, if they replaced those too it'd cost 3400SEK. In comparison, this brand new Nishiki cost 4600SEK (before adding some fluff in terms of lighting, etc). At first I thought that maybe they were just doing what shops do, and creating "problems" where there weren't any. But then I realized that I myself had had it for a decade, not changed any component except some break pads, lubricated maybe three times a year, and prior to that it'd been in our moldy garage for a decade more. I mean, the only reason the break cables haven't snapped is because they're so loose they don't actually put enough pressure on the wheels to stop the bike. They were more "make the bike travel slightly slower"-grips than breaks. I've stored it for now, and I'm thinking that somewhere down the line, when I've got the time and the cash, I'll restore it myself.

Someone recommend me a bike to get that isnt fucking stupid expensive.

it's worth it to save for one. Or, you have to search on Craigslist and garage sales and get one relatively cheap, but then it'll probably require some work/money be put into it.

You can have a REALLY nice bike for under $300. Don't know if that fits into your realm of "stupid expensive" or not. But if you go to Target and even just buy the most expensive bike they have (which would probably be $300 I would guess), you'd just be bummed. It definitely takes some work/effort, or willingness to save a little extra.

By stupid expensive I mean like the 800 dollar ones. I asked a friend of mine who's really into biking (rode across the entire country once) for a reasonably priced recommendation, and the one he showed me was 1400 dollars.

The thing is, I like the idea of finding bikes that used to be $1,000+ for ~$250 or something and fixing them up. Anybody can go to a new bike shop and drop two grand on something that's yeah, nice, but not really worth anywhere near that amount unless biking literally is your life.

BTW I HOPE A NIGGER STEALS YOUR BIKE

I thought instead of "cleaned," the thread title said "clenched."

"I clenched my bike today."

As in, clenched it (the frame, the seat, the handlebars, I dunno) with his buttcheeks.

As in, riding it like a fag.

Title: Not as gay as Grocermagries

I DON'T THINK SO, TIM

I'm just here to point out the severe gayness of the rest of you.

"the gay pointer"

lol

I should get my own show by that name.

Sorta like The Snuggler.