The R3V Bicycle Thread

[lambo]

I have gone through 3 tubes, at least 8 patches and I have broken 2 tire irons in the last week or so. I am about ready to light this fucking bike on fire, throw it off a cliff and take a shit on it.

I just want to ride my bike...fuck me, right?

[M-technik-3]

Support your local bike shop. If they're halfway decent they'll be there to help you when shit goes wrong/wears out on the bike, which it will if you ride it regularly. You won't get that from an online dealer. All the people that buy online are surely but slowly killing the small business owners out there, and one day you might have to wait 3-5 business days for a tube, because you won't be able to buy one locally.

^ thanks for the info guys!
I went to the local bike store and bought this toy!!!
Should have it by friday in my size!


Its a 2012 . Got it on special!

Made in Taiwan alongside all the other bikes. Trek and it's group plus diamondback and the likes force dealers to buy bikes they know they can't sell.

Bike shops have become extreme cut throat much like grocery stores.


Want to support your local shop? Have your bike serviced there, that's strictly man hours and some misc parts.

[quikveedb2]

Made in Taiwan alongside all the other bikes. Trek and it's group plus diamondback and the likes force dealers to buy bikes they know they can't sell.

Bike shops have become extreme cut throat much like grocery stores.


Want to support your local shop? Have your bike serviced there, that's strictly man hours and some misc parts.

I'm not sure what you're getting at. Only the highest of the high end bikes are manufactured in the US by hand when it comes to Trek, and and Taiwanese built frames are as good of quality if not better than what we'd produce here in the US in high volume anyway. I'm talking about supporting local business, and those that are underpaid for a skill set that few possess, not the US industrial economy as a whole. How does buying a bike from your LBS not support that business, exactly? Diamondback is not where near the scale of Trek, so what is the correlation? Yes there is more money to be made off service & parts, but the fact of the matter is that if you're buying online, regardless of whether you're buying complete bikes or parts, you're killing your LBS.

As far as big box companies forcing shops to buy "bikes they know they can't sell" wtf are you talking about? A dealers' devoted full time buyers pick & choose their order depending on the demographic they're selling to. Trek eats it when their bikes don't sell, and sell them to shops at discounted rates, and the discounts rise until the product is gone. The whole bike industry strives to completely sell out of it's inventory every year, because as soon as the next years product is shipped, the old stuff loses value.

I have seen no "cut throat" behavior in the cycling industry, only a drive to grow the sport from all involved. I've seen competing team mechanics, engineers, and racers all sit together and drink and eat, happy to be amongst like minded people. I've never worked in a bike shop or shop employee that wouldn't sell a "competing" shop a part for a repair, lend some knowledge, or steer a customer to another shop if it'd be a better fit for their needs. I have friends working for Fox, Rock Shox, Shimano, Trek, Giant, Specialized, Kenda, Yeti, and so on that are all devoted to their sport first, and the money a distant second. But I've only worked in the cycling industry for nearly a decade, so I could be misinformed.

One last thing, I'm employed by for the biggest Specialized dealer in Colorado, Trek is our competitor, and I still congratulated him on the Trek he purchased. Cutthroat, indeed.

[lambo]

Every time I fix a hole in my tube, another one appears... I try to be super careful about not pinching the tube with the tire iron when I put the tire back on... Is there some trick that I don't know about??? It's frustrating because I have taken the fucking tire off at least 6 times in the past 2 days... I just want to ride my bike....

[kway]

Stupid question, but is your rim tape intact? Any burrs inside the rim?

When I got my deep v's I got a couple mystery flats on the front before noticing that I had to file down some rough spots. Between doing that and running some Mr. Tuffy liners Ive gone the rest of this season without a single flat.

[lambo]

Stupid question, but is your rim tape intact? Any burrs inside the rim?

When I got my deep v's I got a couple mystery flats on the front before noticing that I had to file down some rough spots. Between doing that and running some Mr. Tuffy liners Ive gone the rest of this season without a single flat.

Yeah I checked the rim tape and the inside walls of the tire. I'll check the bead area also, though. So frustrating...

[quikveedb2]

Every time I fix a hole in my tube, another one appears... I try to be super careful about not pinching the tube with the tire iron when I put the tire back on... Is there some trick that I don't know about??? It's frustrating because I have taken the fucking tire off at least 6 times in the past 2 days... I just want to ride my bike....

A faulty rim strip is usually the cause of the chronic flats you're describing, barring road debris. I assume you checked your tire thoroughly for goat heads, bits of glass, etc? Goat heads are particularly common in front range CO at this time of year, installing a sealant like True Goo or Stan's can help with those kinds of small punctures. Ideally you don't use a tire lever to reinstall a tire, only to get it off. It can be tough to get the tire back on, especially with road & downhill tires, but it is possible with some gloves & elbow grease. You can also get away with using levers to reinstall the tire, you just need to be sure the tube is tucked well inside the rime & out of the way.

Edit; Are you patching the tube when you flat, or replacing it? Patches are a get-you-home kind of solution, I wouldn't trust a patch to hold air in a high pressure application like yours for more time than it takes to get you where you need to be to replace the tube.

[lambo]

A faulty rim strip is usually the cause of the chronic flats you're describing, barring road debris. I assume you checked your tire thoroughly for goat heads, bits of glass, etc? Goat heads are particularly common in front range CO at this time of year, installing a sealant like True Goo or Stan's can help with those kinds of small punctures. Ideally you don't use a tire lever to reinstall a tire, only to get it off. It can be tough to get the tire back on, especially with road & downhill tires, but it is possible with some gloves & elbow grease. You can also get away with using levers to reinstall the tire, you just need to be sure the tube is tucked well inside the rime & out of the way.

Edit; Are you patching the tube when you flat, or replacing it? Patches are a get-you-home kind of solution, I wouldn't trust a patch to hold air in a high pressure application like yours for more time than it takes to get you where you need to be to replace the tube.

Thanks for the tips! I just replaced both tubes. I only use the tire irons for getting the last bit of the bead into the rim and I do tuck the tube up into the tire as much as possible. I'll look into the sealant but I just put on some tire liners, don't know why I waited so long to do that, and I'll see how it goes.

[j0oftheworld]

Did my first Crit Saturday...
Dropped from the pack after 20mins.. finished the 30min race w. 23mph average speed and 32mph max. After not riding much I was under prepared but this type of racing is very fun/exciting. I'll be doing these more in the future! :)

[Tamataz]

I bought this bike that's $200 dollars new from wallmart, from Craigslist for $80 bucks, hardly used. Its got 29" rims on it. Pretty cost effective.

[e30evolution]

Been back on the road bike the last few weeks since my tri season is over... Went for a ride with Jo, a woman who races track for the New Zealand Olympic team... she said my bike was "flash"


I should be spending more time on this bike, two races into cross season, but the weather has just been so nice.... and the road bike had been neglected all summer.



This is from the series final race where I was honored with the gold cow bell in honor of winning the series.



First place on the run up



Getting ready for the Tri season... I spend way too much time on this thing and my handling confidence for cross has suffered.... Got to get back in the trails.



Just heading out of transition at Lake Stevens... mile 0.1 Got my world championship slot at this race



My bike racked up in Vegas at the world championships.... super fun, and miserable at the same time.



The booze cruizer (from last year)... don't have any photos of this years one though sadly, when they turn up I might post them



Buy me

[Mr. Burns]

spent the weekend with the fam @ the Laurentians...mightaswell hit up their world class XC/Marathon trails.

Love my new Norco Fluid DX

[BUDNUNTA]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aahtm3PXQs&feature=relmfu

[kid325e]

Must see that in HD at home. Can't wait!

[lambo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aaht...feature=relmfu

Awesome! I would totally do some bike messenger thing in Denver over the summer if I had the chance...