The R3V Bicycle Thread

[LateFan]

So, a guy crashed my kid in the end-of-season championship crit. Broke a spoke, bent his wheel, jambed his front brake. Everyone single file banked into a turn, this guy was on the outside and came into the line at 30 degrees mid-turn…… Mistake? Misjudged the turn? Stoopid?

Then a girl teammate crashed after two bikes in front of her went down - she doesn't remember any of it. Unconscious, convulsions, ambulance, ER, CT scan. She's OK, bad concussion.

shit

[BlackbirdM3]

So, a guy crashed my kid in the end-of-season championship crit. Broke a spoke, bent his wheel, jambed his front brake. Everyone single file banked into a turn, this guy was on the outside and came into the line at 30 degrees mid-turn…… Mistake? Misjudged the turn? Stoopid?

Then a girl teammate crashed after two bikes in front of her went down - she doesn't remember any of it. Unconscious, convulsions, ambulance, ER, CT scan. She's OK, bad concussion.

shit

Oddly enough, my very last collegiate race was the conference championship. I had already made it pretty obvious that there wasn't anyone in the field who could give me a run for my money in a sprint. I had already won a couple Primes. On the last lap, 2 corners from the end, a UCLA rider T boned me mid corner. He blew both of my feet out of the pedals, and I made hard left turn (in a right hand corner) hopped a curb and ended up in a parking lot off the course. I finished dead last. I didn't go down. I went looking for the guy who took me out, but he had jumped into his car and left. I was SO pissed. My last chance to win a conference championship gone. The worst thing was that the guy was a lap down. It turned out to be the beginning of the end of my serious racing career. I had qualified to go to road national championships, but didn't have the money for the plane ticket, lodging, food or entry fee. (I had no support, it was all out of pocket for me). The following weekend I had State ITT championships and had a lousy ride there, followed by another crit where I just flat out sucked. Other things in my life weren't going well and so I called it quits. I was burned out, bummed out and broke.

I hope your kid keeps with it. Crashes suck, but skin heals, wheels can be repaired, and the feeling of accomplishment and victory is the best feeling ever.

Will

[LateFan]

Thanks. He says he's not stopping, he really likes it. But the whole crit thing is in his head I can tell. Riding in the ambulance with a teammate who didn't know where she was was an experience. No ID of course, the EMTs didn't know who she was or any medical info. He's since put that little med ID sticker inside his helmet.

He went through the concussion thing in HS soccer. He had two bad ones. Spent two weeks at home "without any stimulation" as the doc said - no reading, no screens, no tv. He wasn't making any sense 3 weeks in, although he went in to take a calc test and did fine - brains are so weird. Doc cleared him, his mom very reluctantly said OK, he went back out to play in the state championship, and went down again after a mild hit. He wasn't healed. NOT fun as a parent.

It's only collegiate club, so the overall points aren't critical to these kids. People skip weekends because of homework or whatever. People skip crits Sunday because they need to get back or they rode a grueling road race on Sat.

I feel bad for his teammate - 3 weeks to go in the semester and she's at home in the couch.

[LateFan]

Y so srs?

[stickerrebel]

any cheap fixie recomendations?

[leegf]

any cheap fixie recomendations?

My recommendations:

Fuji Feather
Mercier Kilo TT (http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/trackbikes.htm)
Little more expensive: Wabi Classic (http://www.wabicycles.com/classic_bike_spec.html)

[shameson]

Got my Mizutani tuned up with new pads, brake and shifter lines, tires and tubes and new wrap on the handle bars. Had my local bike shop tighten the spokes and true the wheels as best as they could, but at some point the steel wheels will need to go. Has typical rust on the spoke nipples. Still need to pick up a new freewheel for it too.

I took it out for its first ride last weekend in the morning to see how she felt. Only rode 7 miles to downtown as I was still recovering from a bad cold and was coughing up crap the whole ride but she did wheel.

[beta14ok]

New Frankenbike project
I got tired of lugging my road-bike up and down the stairs to use with the trainer, so I re-purposed an old Schwinn frame to serve as a permanent spin-trainer. No brakes and no front derailleur needed. The drive train is a bit of a Frankenstein mix of Campagnolo 8-speed on a American classic hub & wheel, Shimano Ultegra crank w/ a single 53t, and a Suntour friction shift rear derailleur. I works amazingly smooth after a little persuasion. The frame would be pretty wimpy for the road, but the fit is great and the drivetrain works perfectly for a spin-trainer. Using a Cateye Strada for cadence and odo.

[BobombETA]

This is what I bomb around on... 2013 Scott Aspect 950. 29er, hardtail, lockout fork, disc brakes.

Bought it new and it's been stock ever since. Probably going to change the grips on it soon and it needs a new rear tire soon too. All and all it's pretty solid bike for my level of riding which is mostly bike path and trail riding. No crazy downhill stuff or jumps.

[M-technik-3]

New Frankenbike project
I got tired of lugging my road-bike up and down the stairs to use with the trainer, so I re-purposed an old Schwinn frame to serve as a permanent spin-trainer. No brakes and no front derailleur needed. The drive train is a bit of a Frankenstein mix of Campagnolo 8-speed on a American classic hub & wheel, Shimano Ultegra crank w/ a single 53t, and a Suntour friction shift rear derailleur. I works amazingly smooth after a little persuasion. The frame would be pretty wimpy for the road, but the fit is great and the drivetrain works perfectly for a spin-trainer. Using a Cateye Strada for cadence and odo.

How bad does the bottom bracket sway on that sucker... Yipes Least a Mixte has twin horizontal supports.

[beta14ok]

^ LOL....yes it is a tad loosey-goosey as compared to any of my regular road bikes. Absolutely fine for spinning, but would fairly suck for any real-world-out-the-saddle climbing or sprinting. I'm ok if this mongrel never sees real pavement.

[LateFan]

^^^ Great idea on the trainer.

Pics -



Local top notch bakery. Every morning this 'bike' delivers to the downtown markets and restaurants for the day (they also have trucks for farther / bigger deliveries).

I rode this once - it is a handful to just go straight!

[LateFan]

[ATTACH]97087[/ATTACH]

[leegf]

^^^ Are you building one?

[ATTACH]97087[/ATTACH]

[LateFan]

Nope, I just liked the graphics.