Education We Like to Ride Bicycles

Riding is riding, getting out on you bike is the main thing, it doesn't really matter what it is

Looks like everyone has been riding, i'm jelous . I'm booking some time off work soon so might go somewhere for the day.

Building something at the moment, Ti based

 

That's the top of 4-2-3 at Aston Hill, I ride there a lot, but my DH bike is out of action for a few weeks as my Boxxer is being warranty repaired. How often are you there?

Here is a video of me and a friend in Pila last month.

Embed vimeo video

I'm the one with the white helmet, the fork camera and the forward facing helmet cam are on my bike. Orange jersey is my friend.

 

I pretty much gave up riding in 2005, sold my Giant 2002 Team DH and got on with other stuff.

However riding is something that you never get out of your system so I dug out a project for me to work on. Tucked away in the back of my parents garage was this 1992 trek 970



Some new tubes, tyres, cables and a bit of work and bingo, retro ride

I've never really ridden it, I bought if off a guy who thought he'd use it after he lost his license for drink driving. Needless to say he didn't. His loss my gain.

From memory these were around £900 new, I think I paid £200 for it.

 

Hey, good to see a local on here, I ride there quite often at the moment, about once a week, but unfortunately I have to go back to uni in a month so I will trying to squeeze in as much as possible now, I'll be racing next weekend on it which should be good, my first race in over 2 years after breaking my knee at Fort William.

How often you there, what kinda bike bike you got?

 

Another local here, I used to live in Tring and rode Aston in the early days, before it got as good as it is now.

Now I'm too old for it

 

I have a 2010 Trek Session 8. I was going to Aston Hill almost every weekend in June/July before my 3 week tour of the Alps. Got back at the start of August and my bike has been in bits waiting for the fork to be repaired. I also need some new wheels but might wait until winter to build them up. Unfortunately I'm going on holiday next week so wont be able to do the race.

This month I've just been bombing around on my 4X bike which is great fun.

 

Just finished building my single speed. Took me a while to get it all together then paint the frame which isn't perfect but i like the character it gets.


(Excuse the complete accidental poserness of the photo. Only one i have of the bike so far.)
Been getting alot of comments already due to paint.

Chris

 

What's the point of a fixie apart from hipster points?

 

Simple, nothing goes wrong, silent and incredibly groovy. Has to be said, my knees can't take fixed gear riding so I'd just go for a lovely single speed.

And I don't mean to be a kill joy, but your bike appears to have a severe lack of cranks. No biggy, but I thought you might like to know!

 

The picture was taken just after building the bike when i was on my way to the shop to buy cranks so there are now cranks on it.

Another advantage of fixed is that it can helps develop a smoother cadence and riding 'technique'.
Main reason i went for it was i wanted a bike for taking to uni that was light and wouldnt have much to go wrong on it. I can also use it for a bit of a work out as being fixed you are made to constantly work rather than taking a break by coasting.

It's also just kinda more fun.

Chris

 

They are arguably the best way to train on a bike. They force you to utilize the entire four-part pedal stroke, give a better workout per kilometre, are very much simpler to maintain, and give a very unique connected feel to the bike and the road.

A good few of the top professionals in road racing either had their start on a fixie, or do a good part of their training on one because of the benefits they can offer.

For myself though, I enjoy my little fixie because it is a good way for me to learn balance, technique, and high-cadence endurance. Plus it is bucket loads of fun. There is also the fact that if you're not used to one, or not very skilled with riding one, you're going to crash, and most likely get seriously hurt. Thus, they are a good theft deterrent (this is especially true as I have a set of Eggbeaters on it, so no way some inept thief will steal my fixie).

If you're serious at all about training on two wheels, pick one up and give it a shot. They're so cheap as to be silly not to own one (I've got about two hundred dollars into my beater).


[EDIT] To avoid a double post, here is a new picture of my fixie, as taken on this cold, rainy day after a brief little section of muddy single-track:


I do rather a lot of off-road travel with this bike, and it's certainly taken a toll on it. But all in all, it's holding up rather well for how much it gets bashed about (just friday I jumped up a rather large curb by using the chain ring as a bash guard).

In addendum to what I and others have already said about fixed gear bicycles, I'll mention that they typically are just as much art as they are utility.

 

New Bike GT aggressor xc2 , Taken her for a few rides , handles superbly Love it

 

Noooooooooooooo, you bought a Halfords GT just as GT are pulling out of Halfords

 

A brief message to winter: just you try and break this bike!











This is my yearly reboot of my winter bike, which gets more and more money thrown at it every year it seems (nearly $1000 in parts this year). Surly 1x1 frame, Halo SAS hoops with a Halo hub up front, and an Inter4 out back (four speed internal, with coaster brake), Halo Twin Rail tyres, Brooks saddle, Brev bar, Race Face stem, Axiom wooden racks, Pig headset, MRP Bones cranks on FSA Euro Pro bottom bracket, Wellgo B065 pedals, Oury grips, full-brass domed bell, KMC Z710 chain, Gusset ring.

35lbs of beef.

Font wheel is laced in a "snowflake" pattern, and the rear is a "crows foot", if anybody is interested. This is my first attempt at either pattern, so we'll see how they hold up! At the moment they are stupidly solid, so I don't think there'll be any issues.

 

Can't decide whether to make my dirt bike a single speed or not. I only ever really use the fourth gear, but.. but...

 

Malfoleo, should you not have mud guards on that?

actually that reminds me, need to get my mud guards fitted its getting proper wet up here.

 

Fenders are tempting, but with the large snow drifts, sticky snow, super cold temperatures (down to minus forty Celsius at times), and the fact that I like to bash my winter rigs around a lot (hence why I'm using mainly downhill parts), fenders just wouldn't stand up to much, and they're likely to get clogged up with stuff causing more issues then they're helping to solve.

If I can find the right set, I may get some. For the time being though I've just placed an order today for a new FSA post (white), Gusset seatpost collar (white), Lezyne metal water bottle cage (white), and low-rider racks for up front (silver). Will post pictures when my parts are in next week!

 

http://www.facebook.com/v/595862222168

All I can find ight now is a vid of me falling off my bike.

 

sorry, but I lol'd.

How did you manage to fall off there?

 

Hit someone's wing mirror on the way to work the other day....alls ok, the speed i was going if i had broken it, it would have been enough to twist my bars and end up with me face plating the floor...