Bicycles?

[Ballenxj]

Anybody have them? Do you actually use it? I suspect a lot of us are older now, and don't do a lot of the things we used to.
 I recently decided to chase the spiders out of mine and air up the tires, while threatening to actually use it again. I used to be an avid cyclist, putting an average of 30 miles a day on mine. That was a long time  ago. I'm wondering how many out there still ride?

 

[ArtW]

I've considered getting one, 40 mile round trip to and from work would get me fit PDQ!
Of course then I'd have all the worries about rain, etc, and carrying things, so not sure it'd be worth it

 

[Ballenxj]

One thing I remember about when I rode is that I never got sick.

 

[rvpopeye]

I was on a bicycle till I was 23 , still have it but also have a mtn. bike now. I don't use it as much as I'd like.

Commuting more than 10 miles or so to work would be a bit much IMO. How many hours a day are you going to want to ride. (Even on a bad weather day ?)

 

[minimotos95]

My excuse is the rear hub blew up on my bicycle last August when I was riding offroad everyday.
I've been telling myself I would take it to the bikeshop since then, but haven't. Right now it's sitting in my high-top storage, waiting for me to do something.

 

[hepcat]

I'm thinning the herd and selling off my up-wrong diamond-frame bikes. I had a Bike Friday NWT for several years and loved it.

Now I have an HP Velotechnik Grasshopper fx recumbent folder that goes with me in the B-van and my moho when I travel. I have both the OSS and USS setups for it, but have it in the OSS configuration currently. It's dual suspension with touring racks. It was stupid-expensive, even buying it at 40% off list as a NOS bike from a dealer... but it was worth EVERY penny as I can literally ride it all day long if I want.

Grasshopper fx by Roger H, on Flickr

hp velotechnik grasshopper fx composite by Roger H, on Flickr

 

[XFILE36]

I got new expensive tires and tubes several months ago, now I am regretting it. I am going either sell or store it.  Too much extra trouble and I have a mini-folding scooter I plan to take with.  You don't get any exercise with the scooter but it goes about 8 miles per battery charge. What about a folding bike?

 

[hepcat]

One thing I remember about when I rode is that I never got sick.

I figured that at my age,  I could either throw money at doctors and hospitals or I could throw money at bikes and do my best to keep my health.  The bikes won out...

I've posted this before, but it's my "other" camping rig.  The trike also folds and fits in the B-van's "rear dinette" very nicely.
P1030793 by Roger H, on Flickr

 

[Ballenxj]

I was on a bicycle till I was 23 , still have it but also have a mtn. bike now. I don't use it as much as I'd like.

Commuting more than 10 miles or so to work would be a bit much IMO. How many hours a day are you going to want to ride. (Even on a bad weather day ?)

I started out serious riding on an old Raleigh 10 speed. I went to a mtn bike because of all the idiots on the road that almost hit me. I wanted something that would be able to jump a curb if need be without flattening a tire or bending the rim.

minimotos95, is your rear hub a cassette, or an older style race with ball bearing setup?

 

[minimotos95]

It's ball bearing, single speed with a disc. The bearings are normal off the shelf at any bike shop but on the brake side of the wheel the dust cap and maybe inner race are not and both need replaced I think. The Specialized dealer in Durango CO didn't have the parts when I went there last summer.

 

[ArtW]

I don't think I'd choose to ride to work in bad weather, that's what an enclosed vehicle is for
Hell, I used to walk over 2 hours to get home from one job I had, because I was on the bus back then, getting a bike was a great thing at that time

 

[Ballenxj]

It's ball bearing, single speed with a disc. The bearings are normal off the shelf at any bike shop but on the brake side of the wheel the dust cap and maybe inner race are not and both need replaced I think. The Specialized dealer in Durango CO didn't have the parts when I went there last summer.

Most were moving away from ball bearing to sealed cassette when I was involved, and that was why I asked. Hopefully yours will be an inexpensive fix.
 Now get to it.

 

[hepcat]

Most were moving away from ball bearing to sealed cassette when I was involved

I got back into bikes at the dawn of sealed bearings, sealed bottom brackets, and 9speed cassettes... all were REAL advances in both longevity and ease of service.  I toyed with some of the splined bottom brackets and cranksets, and some of the two-piece setups, but I've returned to square BBs and square drive cranksets, again for ease of maintenance.

And, I'm still stuck in the era of 9speed drive trains with touring triples in the front.  The later 10 and 11 speed stuff and the electronic shifting stuff are all trick, but I think you pay a penalty in reliability.  I suppose some day I'll have to come out of the bronze age and enter the electronic age... but for now, I can't see any reason to switch.

 

[Ballenxj]

I got back into bikes at the dawn of sealed bearings, sealed bottom brackets, and 9speed cassettes... all were REAL advances in both longevity and ease of service.  I toyed with some of the splined bottom brackets and cranksets, and some of the two-piece setups, but I've returned to square BBs and square drive cranksets, again for ease of maintenance.

And, I'm still stuck in the era of 9speed drive trains with touring triples in the front.  The later 10 and 11 speed stuff and the electronic shifting stuff are all trick, but I think you pay a penalty in reliability.  I suppose some day I'll have to come out of the bronze age and enter the electronic age... but for now, I can't see any reason to switch.

I spoke to a guy last month that has a tricked out bike with remote wireless shifting mechanism on his bike.

 

[hepcat]

I spoke to a guy last month that has a tricked out bike with remote wireless shifting mechanism on his bike.

I understand that they're getting more reliable all of the time, but I honestly just don't have a problem using cable shifting.  Once you set it up, it's not fiddly at all.  It's easy and inexpensive to repair when it needs it.  And I can repair it on the side of the road if necessary.   Electronics... not so much.  One of the reasons I enjoy bikes so much is that I can see how they operate... they're one of the last truly mechanical, non-computerized, non-electrical devices left in our world

 

[lenny flank]

I was a bicycle commuter for a few years (till I started in the book biz for a living and began working from home). Alas, I was in St Pete FL, which is probably the Bicycle Death Capitol of the World. Barely a week went by that somebody didn't come close to running my ass over. (And I carried pepper spray on the handlebars for all the unleashed dogs.)

My most useful equipment? A pair of kitty litter buckets with lids that I hanged from my rear cargo rack with bungee hooks. Lightweight, waterproof, and held a lot of stuff.

 

[ArtW]

That's a great idea, honestly
i've definitely had my share of motorist induced 'supermans' over the handle bars, seems like I'd be off bicycles forever, but nope lol

 

[Ballenxj]

I understand that they're getting more reliable all of the time, but I honestly just don't have a problem using cable shifting.  Once you set it up, it's not fiddly at all.  It's easy and inexpensive to repair when it needs it.  And I can repair it on the side of the road if necessary.   Electronics... not so much.  One of the reasons I enjoy bikes so much is that I can see how they operate... they're one of the last truly mechanical, non-computerized, non-electrical devices left in our world

I don't have a problem with cables either, but that guy was telling me that he could tune his shifts on the fly, and for each gear. He said there was a little plus and minus button on either side of the shifting button, and when he got it where he wanted it, he hit another button to save it.
My reply was, Nice! But your bike is now battery dependent?

 

[hepcat]

 Barely a week went by that somebody didn't come close to running my ass over. 

i've definitely had my share of motorist induced 'supermans' over the handle bars

My only claim to fame in the world was that, for two years before I retired, I was the oldest LIVING certified bike cop in Iowa.  I went through the certification training at 53 and did it off and on among my other duties until I retired at 55 in '10.   I've jumped off 3' retaining walls, ridden up and down stairs... jumped curbs...  all that crazy stuff.

I have become a recumbent bike evangelist.  When I was riding, both working and for pleasure, I can't count the number of times I was 'buzzed' on the streets... nearly hit by mirrors, the whole gamut.  One of THE most interesting side benefits of riding a recumbent bike (or recumbent tadpole trike) is that you're different enough that people give you wide berth.  I've been riding them since '08 and have never once been 'buzzed' or come close to being run off the road on a recumbent.  During that time, still riding diamond-frames... I can think of four episodes where I was nearly crunched.  

I think it has to do with the concept of "just noticeable difference."  Despite peoples' fears that recumbents are "too low" and therefore can't be seen, the reality is that because they're just enough different from diamond-frame up-wrong bikes that people DO in fact notice them in traffic.  Regular diamond-frame bikes are so ordinary and part of the scenery that, like street signs, people just don't see them any more.  

When I'm riding rural highways on my recumbent tadpole trike towing the Burley cargo trailer, cars tend to move clear over into the other lane to pass like I was another car.  The difference is astounding.

 

[Ballenxj]

My most useful equipment? A pair of kitty litter buckets with lids that I hanged from my rear cargo rack with bungee hooks. Lightweight, waterproof, and held a lot of stuff.  

I used to have a set of panniers mounted on a Blackburn rack, but I think your kitty litter buckets would probably carry more. Good idea.