Cruelty to bikes

Commuting, Day rides, Audax, Incidents, etc.
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Vantage
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Re: Cruelty to bikes

Post by Vantage »

That's quite impressive :mrgreen:
Bill


“Ride as much or as little, or as long or as short as you feel. But ride.” ~ Eddy Merckx
It's a rich man whos children run to him when his pockets are empty.
Thomas125
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Re: Cruelty to bikes

Post by Thomas125 »

I had a rusty stretched chain on an old commuter I was always going to get round to changing one day....

One day going uphill it snapped and smashed the rear derailleur in two and bent the cage on the front.

Smashed derailleur then gouged a chunk out of the ally frame.

Lesson learnt. :!:
Was 93.4kg now 78.3kg

Next target 74.0kg

"Life is one long bike ride" :-)
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timdownieuk
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Re: Cruelty to bikes

Post by timdownieuk »

Kenn wrote:What's wrong with downtube shifters?


Um, because you have to take your hand off the bars to change gear creating a period of inferior bike control.

I used down tube shifters for years but once I'd tried relatively humble Shimano Sora shifters I was an instant convert because they make shifting easy when you're out of the saddle.

I use them all the time. They are inexpensive. They never go wrong. They rarely need adjusting. They seem to last for ever. The short cable runs reduce friction. They make stem/handlebar changes and adjustments easier. They need a little practice to make slick changes without looking down, but it's an easily acquired skill.

I believe they initially went out of fashion because racers wanted to change up prior to launching an attack without alerting competitors. Nowadays manufacturers prefer gearing which is complex, expensive, wears out fast and requires every system component to be part of a groupset -all of which maximise profits.


Undoubtably simpler, cheaper and possibly more reliable but the superior bike control and the ability to make quick changes whilst out of the saddle trumps all those advantages for me. My Sora changers have been very reliable and long lived.

For me it's like arguing that giving hand direction signals when driving is cheaper and more reliable. Undoubtably true but rather missing the point about how much safer it is to signal with your hands still on the steering wheel.

Tim
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mjr
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Re: Cruelty to bikes

Post by mjr »

timdownieuk wrote:
Kenn wrote:What's wrong with downtube shifters?


Um, because you have to take your hand off the bars to change gear creating a period of inferior bike control.

I used down tube shifters for years but once I'd tried relatively humble Shimano Sora shifters I was an instant convert because they make shifting easy when you're out of the saddle.

I guess they're not these Sora shifters then http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001L5ZX7S/

Isn't it being out of the saddle that's creating a period of inferior bike control?

And why's it so important to change gear when you're not riding properly? ;-)
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
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timdownieuk
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Re: Cruelty to bikes

Post by timdownieuk »

mjr wrote:
timdownieuk wrote:
Kenn wrote:What's wrong with downtube shifters?


Um, because you have to take your hand off the bars to change gear creating a period of inferior bike control.

I used down tube shifters for years but once I'd tried relatively humble Shimano Sora shifters I was an instant convert because they make shifting easy when you're out of the saddle.

I guess they're not these Sora shifters then http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001L5ZX7S/

Isn't it being out of the saddle that's creating a period of inferior bike control?

And why's it so important to change gear when you're not riding properly? ;-)


You'll have to explain this to me. I can safely shift gears in two riding positions with bar shifters as opposed to only one with down tube shifters. I had never realised that Contador couldn't ride properly.
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squeaker
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Re: Cruelty to bikes

Post by squeaker »

timdownieuk wrote:I had never realised that Contador couldn't ride properly.
Quite
He was reaching for his pocket and the bike was swept away under him, probably because of a bump or hole in the road.
:roll: :shock: :lol:
"42"
Flinders
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Re: Cruelty to bikes

Post by Flinders »

squeaker wrote:
timdownieuk wrote:I had never realised that Contador couldn't ride properly.
Quite
He was reaching for his pocket and the bike was swept away under him, probably because of a bump or hole in the road.
:roll: :shock: :lol:


What amazes me is that even with a broken leg he rode on afterwards far faster than I can do when in prefect health :oops: .

Back to the topic, I was asked to look at a bike that wasn't performing as well as it had been when acquired some months earlier, and as I walked towards it, I asked my friend casually when she'd last oiled it (so I would know how messy my job might be) and when she said 'Oil?' I reckoned I'd got the diagnosis right there. As indeed I had. A bit of 3-in1 and it was all hunky dory again.

I can never understand why people don't listen to machinery. Machines, like people, do try to tell you when they need attention. If a machine starts making a grinding, or knocking, or squeaking noise, it's usually worth a check or two.
drossall
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Re: Cruelty to bikes

Post by drossall »

axel_knutt wrote:It had been ridden with a loose cotter pin for so long that the crank would rotate to and fro by about 30 deg.


I've still got a cotter pin that I took off a friend's bike. He'd left it loose for so long that a notch had been worn in it by the axle, to half the thickness of the pin.
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