Education We Like to Ride Bicycles

Not me, I have been slipping and sliding through the snow and ice this winter.
The only time I won't ride is when there is black ice everywhere. But that is usually just one or two days each winter.

As far as I can see most people here ride mountain bikes don't they?
Any tourers, or even just regular commuter bikers around here?

 

You will me saying the earth is round next.

Do you not have fair weather cyclists in your country? I'd say 75% of UK riders are and you see the difference working in a shop. It starts to brighten up weather wise in late Feb to mid March and you see a significant rise in services as people think they can just pull their bikes out and jump straight on them forgetting that they had a puncture or that they put their bike away wet and it's now a big pile of rust.

 

Don't forget that the majority of the forum users are from the northern hemisphere so there will be a reduced number riding during the winter, me i'd of loved to have gone out riding but i'm still building my bike so couldn't Just hope I can get it finished as soon as funds allow

 

I ride a mountain bike, but i am solely a commuter cyclist now!
Every day 8 mile round trip, through wind rain and shine, all i've done so far is fit some slicks and a speedo to keep me entertained.

Looking still at hybrids / road bikes, but as i still like to jump around / up curbs etc i think i should just get a lighter MB

 

Have you thought of a 29'er? Wheels the diameter of a hybrid / road bike but on a mountain bike frame. If you are clever enough to be able to change tyres you can run slicks monday to friday for commuting, then swap to knobbly on the weekend to go silly.

The compromise is the chainset, it's not as big as a hybrid / road bike so top speed is the sacrafice.

 

You mean something like this? Or with suspension?

 

I bought and built up a LHT last year and I'm seriously hoping to do a good few 200+ kilometre weekends this year (I live right next to the Rocky Mountains, after all). As well, I do commute back and forth to work: 12k round trip in winter, 60k round trip in summer. Lots of fun, and should be even more so once my new road bike is built up!

Well, the earth isn't exactly round...

Yes, most riders here are of the fair-weather type (remember: we get tons of snow and temperatures down to forty below freezing in winter), but there is a very strong community of winter cyclists here, and I am one of them. It's just a bit disappointing to see the temperature drop a few degrees and everybody just forgets about their bicycle - it's like a five month amnesia.

Right now at the shop we're getting hit hard with people coming in, which makes my day rather fun as I'm the only full-time mechanic in the second biggest bicycle shop in the city. The two single-day part-timers don't really pull their weight either, meaning when the people on the front lines book for three people, I end up having to do well more than my fare share. But I'm not there for the people; I'm there for the bikes and the people who ride them. So it is worth it in the end.

 

Cue supermodel pose:


Was a properly lovely day outside today, forcing me out for a solid three hour rip up at the hill, getting myself and the GT right muddy. Was passing a group of three at one point during the ride, and the trail got super thick and heavy - nearly impassable - so I just started cranking as hard as I could, throwing mud everywhere, completely forgetting about the people just behind and beside me... Unfortunately I ended up hitting them with several large chunks of mud and snow, which solicited some rather unpleasant remarks... Was fun though! Ended up seeing a good fourteen deer at the hill as well, complete with a couple juveniles.

Hopefully we'll get more days like today (twelve degrees above zero) and the snow will be totally gone before next weekend, as there were still many of my favourite areas that were still completely inaccessible due to two foot deep snow that you couldn't ride through (walking wasn't much of an option either).

 

Never thought of 29" wheels really, i do have another mountain bike more suited for fun-ness (cannondale chase) but i haven't been on that for a year or so now due to some major chain slip when i crank it hard, its just unreliable / scary to hammer down some power knowing that i may slip.

I manage about 22-25mph on the flat currently and as i travel at peak times, thats usually as fast / faster than the traffic!

This is what i would like, but with gears. If i worked in the city a single speed would be awesome, but at the moment i have half of my journey made up of hills!

edit; reading that site it states the cube hopper has 11 gears? Where are they?

 

In the hub, which means ultra low maintenance.

 

How does this witchcraft work?!

 

Sheldon has a fantastic write-up on it over here, which I've briefly quoted below for you:

The basic 3-speed hubs have a single "sun" gear solidly attached to the middle of the axle. 3 or 4 identical "planet" gears mesh with and revolve around the "sun" gear. The "planet" gears are surrounded by (and mesh with) a"gear ring" with its teeth on the inside (an inside-out gear).

The hub on the bike quoted above is quite a bit more advanced than that, but you get the idea (and Sheldon does go into depth about the eight-speed Nexus hubs on the link provided).

 

I'm hub gearing it up at the moment, I moved my Alfine 8 from from Genesis iOiD to my Commencal Flame Ti. It's quick on or off road (with Kenda Small Block 8's F+R) and nice and quiet and comfortable. I'm waiting for the Alfine 11 speed and some other bits to finish it off.

@Malvolio - That cromo Allez looks pretty smart. I reckon Dura-ace mechs and Sti's, Ultegra cassette, KMC chain.

@Jamie - Did you race the 4x at Lemmington Spa?. I quite like the track there, can ride as full on or laid back as you want with that track and it's always fairly quiet and people are friendly. I find 4x racing looks fun but pretty tough and unforgiving, either win or loose (or faceplant). With DH you can either race against other people or just yourself (time wise etc) and can take it as seriously as you want or just have fun.

 

Just a heads up, if you want to see some AMAZING racing bike pron from smaller manufactures, I recommended you check out Pure Motion Cycles in West Byfleet, Surrey.

I just had them service my Trek and they are very reasonable on that front as well... but the bikes... oh the bikes..

 

As other said, it's all in the hub.

I am currently riding an earlier version of the Gazelle Orange Excellent, which has an 8-speed Shimano hub. Mine has better colours though.
Works quite nice. Even though it's quite a heavy bike at 21.4 kg. I can still get it up to 40-45kph if I work at it.

Personally I am a bit concered about the open chain derailleur gears, since I wear my regular clothes and it stands outside a lot of the time. It can rain a lot here, especially in autumn and winter.

 

^^ I love my omafiets so much I've now got one for riding about in London.

When im cycling to uni I really do miss the cycle paths and the 'cyclist is always in the right' mentality. - Well, in Den Haag at least.

 

Omafietsen (or grannybikes for the non-Dutch speakers ) are still the starter bikes for pretty much everyone here.

That mentality is the same all over Holland. So yes, the cyclist is always in the right.
Did you live in Den Haag (or 's Gravenhage) Mankz?

 

My parents live there, near the Vredespaleis

 

Saw an awesome t-shirt today, had a picture of a bike on it, and the words 'put the fun back between your legs'

 

Tis a good tshirt, also like the infinity mpg ones
This thread has certainly made me want to cycle, might try making a daily thing other than just to and from lectures