The R3V Bicycle Thread

[BlackbirdM3]

^^^ How do you do that where it's all black & white except for the yellow?

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I use photoshop Lightroom. I desaturate all the colors aside from yellow. I then pushed the yellow level up to where I liked it. Its pretty easy if you have control of all the main colors.

Will

[LateFan]

^^^ How do you do that where it's all black & white except for the yellow?

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[BlackbirdM3]

I caught the Men's Pro race at the San Rafael Sunset crit a couple years ago. This is one of the hardest races I've ever done (Cat 3). These guys were flying.
A couple guys from Mikes Bikes lapped the field about half way through the race so everyone was racing for 3rd place.







I also just scored a set of Mavic Cosmic Carbone SLR wheels. No they aren't the lightest thing, nor the most aero, but I lost over a pound of rotational weight off the bike. It might sound funny, but I can't wait to climb a good hill on them. They should be great for coming down the hill as well.

Will

[leegf]

Can you guys shed some info or good places to learn/read about these fixie bikes I keep seeing. I'm oddly drawn to them for some reason, I think its the overall simplicity of them. My Cannondale is an 88' with a 27" wheel. I was thinking about getting into a newer road bike next year once I've put down a few more miles. After I did that I wanted to have some fun with the cannondale, maybe convert it over to a 29" fixie or something. Seems like it might be a cheaper hobby then building racecars.....

This is a good place to start:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/fixed.html

Click around on that website and you'll find information on how to do the conversion as well.

[IronFreak]

Can you guys shed some info or good places to learn/read about these fixie bikes I keep seeing. I'm oddly drawn to them for some reason, I think its the overall simplicity of them. My Cannondale is an 88' with a 27" wheel. I was thinking about getting into a newer road bike next year once I've put down a few more miles. After I did that I wanted to have some fun with the cannondale, maybe convert it over to a 29" fixie or something. Seems like it might be a cheaper hobby then building racecars.....

[LateFan]

...realized how out of shape I am!

^^^ oh shit yes... I was hurting!

[IronFreak]

^ That's pretty rad! I'm just getting back into bikes after a LONG hiatus... I picked up a 1 owner 1988 Cannondale ST700 from a doctor here in town. It's my first road bike but I'm really enjoying it. My wife decided she wanted to start as well. We looked around but I was having a hard time finding anything used that fit her. We ended up getting her a new Cannondale Quick hybrid.

Been fun pedaling again....realized how out of shape I am!

[LateFan]

This is how it looks in late spring when they start to dig it out. Sometimes it doesn't open until early July.

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They'll dig parts of it out and then it'll slide again.
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This is along the "Weeping Wall." Very rare, but it has happened.
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[LateFan]

Going to the Sun Road

My son and I rode up this pass Friday night on the full moon. Glacier National Park. It was just completely nutty and fantastic. It's a regular thing people do 3 times a summer on the full moons. Sometimes a few people, sometimes a couple hundred. They said last year there was a wedding up on top at midnight.

We rode from Avalanche Creek, so 16 miles up at about 6% for the last 10 miles. Sunset, everything in shadows, just beautiful. Then it gets really dark and there's still traffic up there with cars blinding you now and then on curves. The moon is lighting up all the peaks and the floor of the valley below, but you're in the shadow of the cliffs so still pretty dark. As you get to the saddle and cross the valley at the top..BOOM...moonrise! And it's really bright.

He humored me and rode slow, but it was quite a pace for me. But you slow down and chat with people as you pass. Lots of nutty lights and glow sticks and a couple of little kids.

Maybe 100 people at the top milling around the visitor center and talking, resting. We helped fix a couple of flats for people with group tools and lights, dried out, had some food, bundled up, headed down. Fast and CHILLY! Switchbacks come up out of nowhere so you have to be on your brakes all the time. Got down at 2AM, campgrounds all full, slept in the back of the car.

Next morning took the free shuttle bus back up and did some amazing hikes off the top of the pass. We saw goats, baby goats, a bighorn sheep, lots of little varmints, and a grizzly way across the meadow - everybody was watching with scopes. Rangers weren't worried, he was plenty far away.

It was a great experience - if you haven't been to Glacier Park, it's worth a trip. You use words you never use, like stunning, immense, vast...

The road crosses that shelf below the peak in the center of the pic. Couple of switchbacks and then you're in a saddle at 6646 feet. Seems way higher than that when you're up there.

(Not our photos)




All of this was built in the early 30s as a WPA project. There are big drop-offs, a couple of tunnels, and places where the cliff above you overhangs the road. They don't allow big campers to go over. The shuttle busses just clear.


Maybe one of these was the guy we saw! This is when the road is partially cleared in late spring, but note no guardrails installed yet - the snowslides just rip them off, so they engineered removable rails.

[shameson]

I ended up doing just that. Took my old GT mtn bike and put slicks on it. I did track down an old road bike from a garage sale and will switch back and forth. The road bike it an old (from 80s) Nishiki Gran Tour 15. Replaced the tires on it and rides pretty good

I picked up an early 70's mizutani to have as a secondary to my mountain bike. After new tires, tubes and cables it rides like a champ.

If you were still considering a new bike, I picked up a 2015 specialized hardrock for $400 (they're $650 normally). Was a custom special order so they wanted it gone. Flat bar with thumb shifters, it's a great bike.

[jakeb]

I ended up doing just that. Took my old GT mtn bike and put slicks on it. I did track down an old road bike from a garage sale and will switch back and forth. The road bike it an old (from 80s) Nishiki Gran Tour 15. Replaced the tires on it and rides pretty good

[318kid]

I am looking for suggestion...

I would like a hybrid flat bar bike that does NOT have twist shifters.

That's a bit tricky. there is not a whole lot of options when it comes to that style. If you are wanting something that's fairly inexpensive and is comfortable I would look at buying a mountain bike and swapping road tires on it. That would probably give you a decent hybrid for a good price. You could look on Craigslist and find one a couple years used and then pick up tires on the cheap. I picked up a Hardrock a few years back (upgraded since) for $250. The guy rode it once. The geometry would be a little more slack but I think you'd find it more comfortable on longer rides.

[jakeb]

I am looking for suggestions... I have been riding more and would like to get a more road oriented bike. Right now I am using my 20 year old GT outpost trail. It works for what it is but I got it when I was 15 and is a little small. I really only use it on the road right now so would like to get something lighter, faster, and more road oriented.

I would like a hybrid flat bar bike that does NOT have twist shifters.

Looked at a couple fuji's last night but they did not have anything in my size assembled that I could ride. I did ride one of the road bikes and liked it but not into the drop bars.

I would like to spend under $500. More like $300 would be ideal. I am going to go look at a specialized sirrus at a different shop if I have a chance today.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I was looking at bikesdirect.com and the Gravity Avenue FX is tempting at the price. Or some of their other off brand hybrid fitness bikes.

[yungmike]

Slowly re-building my track bike to become a dedicated velodrome crusher again and retire it from burrito hauling duties. Looking forward to riding the black line again!

[leegf]

^^^ That's awesome. As a former colony of Italy, Eritrea has a rich cycling heritage as this video shows:



It's about fixed gear cyclist Patrick Seabase - which may or may not be your thing - but there's a lot of good footage of and information about Eritrea as well.

(Better quality link here)