It ran smooth and didn’t collect a lot of dirt. It also put up with some Pacific storms I had to ride through. I had to re-treat it (with the wax) about once every month to three, depending on weather. I’m just curious, what you think goes into a good lubricant, under what riding conditions, etc. (Could probably be it’s own thread.)
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I’m a heathen on my commuter: I use Phil’s Tenacious.
Christ that stuff can make a mess. But it lasts bloody FOREVER and works regardless of conditions. It would be terrible in the dusty dry.
These days I use dry teflon lubes on the road bikes, and wet lubes on the mountain. Because.
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I need to play more with Phil’s Tenacious. The green Phil Wood grease goes into hubs and bottom brackets though, by default. ETA: Not the sealed bearing sort.
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At bikeforums.net, in the mechanics subforum, there’s thread after thread on that subject; there’s a drawn-out argument over it every couple of months. And there’s a bloke on there with more clues than just about anyone else, a septuagenarian bike mechanic from New York, FBinNY. After hanging out there for a few years, I decided it was pretty safe to just go along with 99.5% of whatever he says…
And he makes his own lube - the aforementioned Chain-L #5. It’s like a heavy gear oil, with additives to help it resist the weather. Works a bloody charm.
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Yeah but have you seen some of the hills in Seattle? Those mother fuckers go straight up! Cars struggle on some of them.
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It’s like you read my mind. And there’s rain. 
What happens when you want to visit your friend on Queen Anne? Pedal harder, make sure there’s a fender and wear a slicker.
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On of the reasons I don’t worry too much about the junk food the kid eats (on top of the healthy stuff as a base) is his walk to and from school. About 1 mile of steep hill.
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when i was 12 years old, I went from my BMX to my first geared bike. Since it was '87, this was an MTB (a cheapie Murray, but then a Raleigh and a Barracuda with an LX group–so sweet.) After the Barracuda was stolen, I was bike-less for a while until I was visiting my uncle around 2001 and I told him about the theft when we were talking bikes. He kicked me down a bike from his stable; my first road bike, a very old Specialized frame.
It weighed like a tank. Coming from MTB, I didn’t notice, just took it at face value until much later, a friend picked it up and he looked shocked. then I picked up his nothing-particularly-special old road bike and I realized. mine also had DT shifters, which all my mom’s friends’ road bikes had when I was a kid. so I took that at face value, too. The mech in the RD shift lever was borked, so the shop just flipped it into friction mode. Again, I just took it at face value.
The funny part is that this was the bike that I was a messenger for ~2 years in Atlanta with. I logged more miles on that bike then I probably ever will on any bike.
And yes, the only time I realized friction being a disadvantage was racing a fellow messenger with integrated shifters. we seemed pretty well matched physically but he was overtaking me on the shifts.
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a lot of the internet arguments I’ve seen boil down to that dollar-per-dollar, a 50cc moped (which in the US you don’t need license or insurance for, either) is a better value with better power. I think if you really take it on as a project and build one up from scratch you can get a favorable deal. I saw a build from a guy who knew bikes already and he figured out the motor/battery combo and laced the motor into the wheel himself and ran all the wiring. It was a cool bike but I don’t think the pre-bought ones are “there yet.”
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Thank you. That’s not different from my nonexpert impression. There may be kits around that are worth trying, but there’s a lot less tech/environmenalist community ferment around the projects than I’d expect to find.
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Pretty sure that the power thing is down to regulation of the electric bike market. Certainly, in the UK they are limited in speed and power relative to ICE mopeds and scooters - but then again, you don’t need a license for compliant electric bikes whereas all mopeds require some kind of license (even if it’s just a provisional license and a one-day course).
Without artificial constraints, the problem for electrics is range (although you can conserve range by pedaling a lot more, and this is generally easier than pedaling a moped).
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There’s this amazing cargo bike with electric assist I really, really want, but won’t buy for a couple of reasons:
- I don’t actually need such a thing.
- It’s… expensive. ($5-10k)
I still want one.
http://www.yendrabuilt.com/thebootlegger/
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These used to be really common in the city I lived in China (I think they tended to have the cargo part at the back in Beijing):
Some friends of mine bought one, and we used it to transport two or three bikes and their riders across the city. I guess the handling on the Bootlegger would be a lot better, but I found these ones terrible at anything more than a crawl. They do carry a lot of weight though.
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why… didn’t they just ride their bikes, and by your own admission, at a better pace? they were drunk?
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We were taking our bikes to the repair shop to get fixed. We took turns cycling there, then I rode the cargo trike back with my bike in the cargo area and they rode their own bikes back. It wasn’t my cargo trike, but I could think of a number of improvements that would have made it much more effective. The bike itself needs to be strong enough to handle that much weight (the bottom bracket and gears were worn and needed to be replaced) and the brakes weren’t really up to the job either.
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Yeah, that bootlegger I linked above deals with most of those issues. Nice big front brakes, huge rear wheel, electric assist, etc etc. There are some short videos on the page of it being hooned pretty good- it looks super fun to ride.
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If I had stayed in China for longer, I would have had a custom cargo trike made that would have been something like that. I got on well with a bike mechanic near our home and it would have been fun to design and build it together.
Apart from the apocalyptic air pollution, homicidal drivers and huge potholes, China was a fun place to cycle. I would go out on rides to the country with a semi professional cycling team and pay about $2 for someone to clean and oil my bike on the way home while I took a break by the river. Repairs and parts/accessories were pretty cheap and with a reasonable knowledge of the language you could get to know people who could teach you different skills (it was a novelty to have a westerner who could speak Chinese, so I did things like learn some Chinese recipes in a restaurant kitchen or bike repair skills in a workshop).
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There are a lot of choices in 26x2"
Continental Town and Country
Schwalbe Big Apple/Fat Frank/Marathon
Kenda Kwick Roller
You can order these online or from any bike shop.
I’ve ridden the Conti T&C a lot and am currently riding Schwalbes. Would recommend either.
Lube - waxy lubes are good for dusty conditions. Otherwise you can also hit up a hardware store for any bar and chain lube or use auto oil as well. A lot of bike grease and oil is just rebadged automotive product in an easy to use bottle at a higher cost. Just apply it with a 10 mL syringe from the pet supply shop.
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reposting from the main page
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“Philip Foogle is no longer bored.” So creepy and macabre.
Also, all those bikes look super heavy. Jeez.
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