cycling and century rides -

[Slime Tube]

It doesn't work in terms of specific distance. Think of it like a choice between a wooden dining chair and a well padded sofa. You could sit on both for twelve hours. You are much more likely to be sore and experience a greater level of soreness from sitting on the dining chair for twelve hours, but there's a subjective element to how comfortable any given object is. High end endurance stuff tends to be pro-level gear that's been weight weenied like mad.

Why are you after a new ride, anyway? What do you want from it?

Your saddle soreness could be because of your pelvic tilt. A saddle with a pressure relief channel might help too, if you're not already using one.

 

[Diet Coke 4 Life]

I'll say that while both my gravel bike and my old '86 race bike have identical steel round tubes, the degree of slack in the seat post and the degree of slack on the head unit along with the more forward-kicked fork of the gravel bike make it a far more upright ride and considerably less aero. It's also stupidly comfortable for many, many hours and for being an idiot in rough terrain.

Now take into consideration that my vintage racer shares its geometry with modern enduro race bikes rather than aero race bikes. Just shows how slack and lazy my gravel bike's angles are, hence why it wallows in turns like a drunken beluga. Jeremy Powers of GCN had a great video demonstrating just this when he put his adventure bike (very much like my gravel grinder) up against his CX machine to show the difference between the two in handling based on geometry.

Not to say my old vintage racer isn't comfortable - I have clocked rides in excess of 100 miles - but the gravel bike is even moreso. To limit the differences, I actually use the same saddle at the same height and with the same tilt on both bikes (simply because my nether regions love that saddle, and I want to treat said nether regions nice for those long rides). So really, any comfort difference is due to angles - my feet aren't as under me on the gravel bike as on the racer, and while that can be tiring on climbs, the superior gear ratios make up for it. I also sit much more upright even though my stem's as slammed as it can get on the gravel bike - its slack angle puts it only a couple centimeters below the bottom of my saddle, whereas the racer's considerably more differentiated in height even with the stem not completely slammed (slamming it utterly did give me considerable amounts more speed (we're talking a solid 3mph for same effort under identical conditions), but also murdered my back something fierce).

Yes, I'm rambling. A lot. But what I'm thinking I'm trying to get at is aero is fantastic for speed, but not necessarily for comfort on long efforts (but to each their own - perhaps it'd work for you!). Having seen the angles that aero frames have you at, I can guarantee I at least will be staying far away with my back being the demolished piece of shit that it is.

Now my next bike? Yeah, getting a Bianchi Impulso, likely with the 105 group set owing to being a cheap bastard. Because I salivate every time I see that lovely machine. Except I'm getting one that's 1 cm smaller than my '86 in frame size, because I'd like the headset just marginally closer and if that's uncomfortable I'll go for a longer stem to the drops. Why do I want this? For speed on the open road. And because my goblin has informed me that one said goblin is tall enough, my Panasonic will be property of said goblin and there's apparently nothing I can do about it. So I'm going to need a speedy road bike if I want to keep up with said goblin, and the gravel bike won't cut it.

Edited to add: YES. The pressure relief channel in the saddle. Best thing to happen to saddles. Ever. Even my goblin rides on a saddle with one, and adores it.

 

[Meriasek]

I like vintage cycles. Got an old Puch Mistral SLE (metallic pink, because that's manly) with a Shimano 600 set.
But I'm not really a cycler in any way, I just like riding those from time to time. Maybe one day I'll go for a L'Eroica race, because those are awesome. First I gotta exorcise the gremlin in the front tire that keeps eating the tubes, though.

 

[Diet Coke 4 Life]

@Meriasek Do you have quality rim tape down in the rim? Ensured there are no crimps in the rim? And have you ensured it's true?

Rim tape solved my continual flats I had on my vintage bike. Truing relieved my gravel bike of its 'look, I mysteriously have blown a tube with no defects in my stupidly thick tires' issues.

Edited to add: Metallic pink is the most manly color.

 

[Meriasek]

Yeah, the rim tape is good and there are no crimps. While I am pretty sure that it is true, the repeated flats tell me something else.
Although, funny enough: Two years or so ago I went on a week-long tour, and the last day had so much rough gravel that I ended up with three or four flats in the front. It was fine, and sometime later I did a smaller tour with a friend, and it was still fine. He had a flat during the tour, though
Anyway, after that tour the tire was flat. I fixed it again with a new tube, did a quick test run, and it was flat the next morning. I couldn't find anything in the old tube and I had pumped a bit of air into it and it seemed fine, but I didn't think about it. So I thought my pump had ruined the valve, so I put the valve from the old tube in the new one, didn't work, and I realized then that the new tube was already punctured. I put back in the old tube and it seems fine. Maybe the gremlin was on holiday and his substitute didn't do a good job. I'll see what happens now, maybe it was just the valve coming open.
/edit: I want a Selle Italia Turbo saddle. And a Puch race cap. And various other old bikes. A higher tier Puch, a proper classic italian bike (Bianchi or something like that), and a Hercules.

 

[Slime Tube]

Checked you don't have something embedded in the tire? I take it you are not using a bald tire and are avoiding pinching the tube when seating the tire on the rim.

 

[XYZpdq]

this is a dumb question, but seven miles over an hour is less than sixty miles over five hours right?

 

[Diet Coke 4 Life]

Sure is. 7 miles over an hour is less than 12 miles over an hour (which is what your 60 in 5 amounts to).

 

[Cactus Wings]

Ive moved and gotten a huge-ass balcony with midday sunlight, where shit dries out in 10 minutes. Ive got no dummy stick for the rear wheel, so I was considering how Id go about actually cleaning my bike in the shower, which should be possible if I remove the front wheel.

I was thinking degreaser on the chain, pull wheels off, clean them (the chain will get a bit of muck from the cassette), throw rear wheel on, shower, lubricant, done?

Is there anything to look out for when hosing down a bike? Something that needs greasing? I've honestly not once looked into greasing the bolts or cables or anything yet. I was mostly just thinking of hosing the crank area, not so much else.

/Ever-useful GCN said they basically jetwashed the bearings point blank before it took any damage, so I assume my shitty light breeze of a shower shouldnt be able to do anything.

 

[Grand Fucktard]

I like vintage cycles. Got an old Puch Mistral SLE (metallic pink, because that's manly) with a Shimano 600 set.
But I'm not really a cycler in any way, I just like riding those from time to time. Maybe one day I'll go for a L'Eroica race, because those are awesome. First I gotta exorcise the gremlin in the front tire that keeps eating the tubes, though.

Hey downtube friction shift is kind of in style again -- TBH it's a real practical system. I used to tour in some pretty gnarly conditions and DT friction is nice b/c you can break it free if it freezes in sleet, etc - since it's friction it doesn't suffer from index misalignment (and it's kind of nice when you get the feel of fluidly shifting it), relatively short cable runs and you can fix it with a rock!

I mean you are kind of committed in a sprint, and you've got to make sure you have it down if you are in a tight pack (so that you ride dead straight while shifting up a hill for instance) but if you are riding tight then you are probably already there.

I mean I have Di2 on one of my rides, and I still think DTF has an elegance to it

I went out today and did 30km. Absolutely destroyed me, whereas I used to never go below 50km. Guess I used to be in better shape than I gave myself credit for. I did however, once again, feel all the saddle pain further forward than my sitting bones. I can't tell if it is from just being out of shape and thus out of energy faster so I slump down, or something I could fix. I did 100km with this setup relatively easy in terms of saddle soreness, so probably just being out of shape.

What used to be a warm-up is now an epic I hear that

this is a dumb question, but seven miles over an hour is less than sixty miles over five hours right?

the over is literally the dividing line. lke "per"
so all you have to do is
take your distance and divide by the time

miles Per (divide) hour

120 miles over 2 hours

120 miles / 2 hours = 60 miles/hr

 

[Diet Coke 4 Life]

Ive moved and gotten a huge-ass balcony with midday sunlight, where shit dries out in 10 minutes. Ive got no dummy stick for the rear wheel, so I was considering how Id go about actually cleaning my bike in the shower, which should be possible if I remove the front wheel.

I was thinking degreaser on the chain, pull wheels off, clean them (the chain will get a bit of muck from the cassette), throw rear wheel on, shower, lubricant, done?

Is there anything to look out for when hosing down a bike? Something that needs greasing? I've honestly not once looked into greasing the bolts or cables or anything yet. I was mostly just thinking of hosing the crank area, not so much else.

/Ever-useful GCN said they basically jetwashed the bearings point blank before it took any damage, so I assume my shitty light breeze of a shower shouldnt be able to do anything.

There should be absolutely no harm to your bike. Just ensure you pat things dry after a good scrub down prior to applying your lube. And as you stated, you can jetwash a bike without doing damage as long as you aren't doing it point-blank, so your shower will be safe.

Shower's going to be dirty as hell after, though.

In other news, just acquired a bike - 1983 Cannondale ST-500. With downtube shifters. And a Scott 3ttt vintage handlebar set (the a-shaped enclosed TT bars). Sports 700x19c tires, weighs less than UCI limits at 5.9 kg (even with flat pedals - I'm in a location where I don't have my cycling shoes, so I ride in tennis shoes, therefore had to change the pedals over), and features a 52/42 chainring set with a 22/13 6 speed cassette in the back. Terrible for climbs, fast as fuck on the flats, and I think I'm in love. It's a bitch on rollers, though, because I'm not used to those handlebars yet. Fallen a few times already.

 

[XYZpdq]

Back tire was old, wore out, went to get a basic replacement from walmart and their bike section was a disaster zone, barely anything of any type left.
Ended up going by target instead, had to settle for a slightly less cheap and more off-road ish one.

 

[Diet Coke 4 Life]

Yeah, Walmart has been hit hard in their cycling stuff thanks to Coronavirus. It's disheartening. Went to look for a new bike for my goblin, as goblin wants one permanently mounted onto the smart trainer that is designated for shrimp-use, only to find the bike section pillaged at ever fucking Walmart in a 50 mile radius. Blast.

Found some shit online that'll be great for Christmas presents. Just doesn't help in the here and now.

Thanks for the reminder to check tires, though. Gotta order some new slicks for my gravel bike. Those are damned near shot from all the roller riding I've done on it (over 1500 miles).

 

[Slime Tube]

Not a fan of friction shifting, here. I don't like taking my hands off the brakes. Still, anything that gets more people riding is good.

 

[Diet Coke 4 Life]

Friction shifting is a special beast. I love index shifting myself, but on my perma-trainer back in my house the friction shifting is fine. On the new (old) Cannondale... I am just unwilling to do many modifications to that bicycle. I bought new pedals for it that will be affixed when I finish my final permanent relocation (I run Shimano SPDs and got SPD-sticks for the bike), and I intend to strip the paint and redo it so it's a flawless black once more. But that's it. It's lovely as is.

Downtube shifters are a terribly touchy beast on rollers, though. I have taken to the philosophy of 'set it and forget it'. But hey, I've managed to stop dumping myself off the damned things thanks to the handlebars - I can finally get into all positions on them without tempting death.

 

[Sonichu-choo trainwreck]

Not a fan of friction shifting, here. I don't like taking my hands off the brakes. Still, anything that gets more people riding is good.

friction/index shift isn'tin-and-of itself position related.
sountour commands could be set to friction, cunninghams used little booms in the 80s that put the shifters to be used near the brakes
there were some bartop shifters for flat that were frcition

and downtube, barcons (which puts you on the bar ends or on aero) , etc could be run index as well on shimano just turn that D ring

downtube never made that much a doff in the pack b/c the last thing you want to do is brake.
it's why you can't canve brakes in the drome

I general indexing has pretty much supplanted friction, but for hardcore touring especially outside the 'states it's a simple system
one thing you can to (depending on pull) is get a collar mounte set of downtubes and some cable as a backup and throw em in a ziplock (or install them without cable)
but then again, at that point you are probably running a rear-on-front system too

Friction shifting is a special beast. I love index shifting myself, but on my perma-trainer back in my house the friction shifting is fine. On the new (old) Cannondale... I am just unwilling to do many modifications to that bicycle. I bought new pedals for it that will be affixed when I finish my final permanent relocation (I run Shimano SPDs and got SPD-sticks for the bike), and I intend to strip the paint and redo it so it's a flawless black once more. But that's it. It's lovely as is.

Downtube shifters are a terribly touchy beast on rollers, though. I have taken to the philosophy of 'set it and forget it'. But hey, I've managed to stop dumping myself off the damned things thanks to the handlebars - I can finally get into all positions on them without tempting death.

I switched over to inside ride rollers a few years back for more sprint training, etc and I do like it better for that stuff. I could ride rollers without hands, but yu can tell the diff that you are more actively comensating b/c my dick falls asleep if I ride without hands on rollers for a significant time (means I'mplanted too hard on the saddle and not floating the bike)

then again. I ride the track mostly now - no gear, no brakes allowed

 

[XYZpdq]

>tfw you ride past the homeless guy like every day and he suddenly he's like "heh heh yeah you can tell it's warm today ha ha because mumblemumble something" and you're like "uhh, yeah, brah"

 

[Sonichu-choo trainwreck]

I switched over to inside ride rollers

just to clarify, inside ride, is the brand they may those emorion rollers (no, I didn't spend 9 bills - though bike stuff can get expensive, so not dissing anyone training for the next season)

http://www.insideride.com/

the floating subframe makes them significantly different in terms of how they ride.
you really can jam on them without riding off the rollers

 

[Diet Coke 4 Life]

just to clarify, inside ride, is the brand they may those emorion rollers (no, I didn't spend 9 bills - though bike stuff can get expensive, so not dissing anyone training for the next season)

http://www.insideride.com/

the floating subframe makes them significantly different in terms of how they ride.
you really can jam on them without riding off the rollers

Those are cool as fuck. I want them. Unfortunately I'm also a cheap bastard, and will stick with my traditional rollers until I die.

Because what fun are rollers if you can't ride right off of them?

 

[XYZpdq]

So I wasn't careful enough about inflating my goop filled tires and the air valve got gooped.
So far I've seen online that soaking it in soapy water may help, but if anybody has personal experiences it'd be helpful too.