Jaysus cycling! (6 Viewers)

[minka]

Yes indeed, my bike is in bad need of a service at the minute and is an absolute chore to cycle. Did you do yours yourself Maims, or did you drop it in somewhere? Any recommendations for where to go?

cheers

not maims, bu': i did it myself last time, but i've previously dropped it in to my local bike shop (city cycles in fairview/marino) when i haven't had the time, and they've done a good job at turning it back into champion the wonder bike.

additional question: how often should one do a thorough service, o bike-wise folks of thumped? i left it shamefully long the last time, to the extent that the bike was noticeably crap to cycle ("interesting, i didn't think this bit was uphill..."), and i don't want to leave it until it's really annoying me next time.

 

[flashback]

its very easy to make the bike a lot easier to ride.
buy yourself some chain cleaner, (petrol will work) get an old dustpan brush, gently scrape the big crap out of your sprockets with a screwdriver, clean the rest out with the brush and solvent, let it dry, wash it with really hot soapy water, let it dry, horse a load of chain lube.
spray a bit of lube at all the friction points, front mech / shifters / etc.
pump tyres, (probably buy new tyres)
take the bike in for a look over then, ask them to true the wheels, and check your bottom bracket (if its not sealed) and headset.

The lads in bike shops wont do a thorough cleaning, they will do a wipe and spray. Even that will make things feel good, but if you give everything a really nice clean and lube then youre going to like your bike again.

 

[flashback]

how often to do a service... I dunno. Depends on how much you ride.
I bought a bike that I just rode into the ground and never serviced really. Everything was sealed. I just cleaned it and tweaked it to keep it working.
But in the end the bike was just completely worn out. Everything on it appart from the frame was completely knackered. I was just putting loads of really punishing miles onto it so fast that servicing was almost pointless, you just had to replace bits.

.. I suppose it also depends on how you define servicing also. I might have been servicing the bike every other weekend by some peoples definition.

 

[La La]

there was a cyclist fatally injured in an accident in Harold's Cross this morning.

fuck it anyway. Hearing about stuff like this really gets to me.

Ghost bike appeared today (as far as I know - didn't see it before).


Are there any more around Dublin? First I've seen in this city. There's no plaque on it - though I'm not sure if the poor guy's identity was released. Either way, seeing it was pretty sad. And unfortunately, it probably won't be the last time one is put up.

 

[brianoak]

But why are road cleats one way and mtb the other? Is it just another example of Shimano deciding to overcomplicate the relatively simple act of cycling a bicycle, or is there more to it?

MTB shoes are recessed for when you have to get off and walk in muddy conditions, so that the cleat doesn't interfere with the grip on the sole. You will also find mtb shoes have drillings for football studs etc to screwed into the front for the same purpose.

If you are commuting go the spd option but if you are putting in a lot of miles on the road go for Looks or something similar.

New bike time, started riding offroad again so picked this up

Setting it up for more of an XC/Freeride though instead of 4x/DH/.

Roll on the Spring

 

[Space]

Looks really nice. How much?

 

[Pedronimus]

Ghost bike appeared today (as far as I know - didn't see it before).

It was unveiled this morning with a small poetry reading at 10:30. I just happened to be cycling passed at the time so stayed for a bit.

Are there any more around Dublin?

It's the first one.

 

[brianoak]

Looks really nice. How much?

Picked up the frame for 200 dollars off craigslist, they retail about 600 I think?..and I'm building it up at the moment. Good mtb parts are way cheaper here and the choic is amazing. Reckon I can have it finished for about 1200 canadian or so if I pick up some second hand forks. Rest of the parts are new or will be in the next week or two.
You still rockin' the Giant?

 

[flashback]

thats almost one of them street trial bikes. nice one.

Unless you are doing this within the week I;ll be dissapointed.

Danny Macaskill
[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbJ1sseQVbY"]YouTube - Danny Macaskill -Next level street trials[/nomedia]


there is another lad from london who;s name I forget now.
I dont even understand some of Danny's stuff.

Oh yeah. Neil Tunnicliffe.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLOxjdmdguw"]YouTube - zoo video 30[/ame]

 

[Space]

Picked up the frame for 200 dollars off craigslist, they retail about 600 I think?..and I'm building it up at the moment. Good mtb parts are way cheaper here and the choic is amazing. Reckon I can have it finished for about 1200 canadian or so if I pick up some second hand forks. Rest of the parts are new or will be in the next week or two.
You still rockin' the Giant?

Well I still have it although it's not getting rocked too much these days. Really need to make some time for it.

Craigslist sounds like the greatest thing in the world. Good luck with the bike.

 

[rettucs]

Ghost bike appeared today (as far as I know - didn't see it before).


Are there any more around Dublin? First I've seen in this city. There's no plaque on it - though I'm not sure if the poor guy's identity was released. Either way, seeing it was pretty sad. And unfortunately, it probably won't be the last time one is put up.

http://www.ghostbikes.org/


I had never heard of this until La La's post. Its a pretty amazing idea. I lost a family member in a cycling fatality. I only wish I knew about ghostbikes back when it happened.

 

[classic seanc]

Ghost bike appeared today (as far as I know - didn't see it before).


Are there any more around Dublin? First I've seen in this city. There's no plaque on it - though I'm not sure if the poor guy's identity was released. Either way, seeing it was pretty sad. And unfortunately, it probably won't be the last time one is put up.

They were talking about doing this over on Boards in the immediate aftermath of the accident. I assume it was some of them that did it?

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

Decent article about NY biking (though it could be any big city) etiquette/behaviour by Rats author Robert Sullivan (I'm assuming it's the same guy).
Basically cyclists are doing themselves no favours by charging around on their bikes annoying people.
Boo. Hoo.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/nyregion/thecity/08bike.html?pagewanted=all

His main proposals are

NO. 1: How about we stop at major intersections? Especially where there are school crossing guards, or disabled people crossing, or a lot of people during the morning or evening rush. (I have the law with me on this one.) At minor intersections, on far-from-traffic intersections, let’s at least stop and go.
NO. 2: How about we ride with traffic as opposed to the wrong way on a one-way street? I know the idea of being told which way to go drives many bikers bonkers. That stuff is for cars, they say. I consider one-way streets anathema — they make for faster car traffic and more difficult crossings. But whenever I see something bad happen to a biker, it’s when the biker is riding the wrong way on a one-way street.
There will be caveats. Perhaps your wife is about to go into labor and you take her to the hospital on your bike; then, yes, sure, go the wrong way in the one-way bike lane. We can handle caveats. We are bikers.
NO. 3: How about we stay off the sidewalks? Why are bikers so incensed when the police hand out tickets for this? I’m only guessing, but each sidewalk biker must believe that he or she, out of all New York bikers, is the exception, the one careful biker, which is a very car way of thinking.
NO. 4: How about we signal? Again, I hear the laughter, but the bike gods gave us hands to ring bells and to signal turns. Think of the possible complications: Many of the bikers behind you are wearing headphones, and the family in the minivan has a Disney DVD playing so loudly that it’s rattling your 30-pound Kryptonite chain. Let them know what you are thinking so that you can go on breathing as well as thinking.

1 - I don't stop for lights. I stop for traffic, I find it safer.

2 - I generally won't bike against the flow. The biggest concern here is pedestrians, who won't look the wrong way crossing the road.

3 - I don't bike on the path. It's too slow.

4 - Signalling/indicating means freeing up a hand I could use for braking. Sometimes I'll do it, but it's really a luxury.

So, two out of four for me.

 

[flashback]

I'll stop at all lights at intersections where traffic is coming across me, not so much if its just a merge and there's no pedestrians about.
Everything else on the list I do.
I've rode head on into some cunt (who I didn't see in time) riding the wrong way up the road, and I pushed another prick out of my way into the parked cars. Another trick I have is pull in to the curb and make them ride on the outside of me and force them into the oncoming traffic.
Fuck them. I hate pricks riding against traffic.

You can't take one hand off to signal?

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

You can't take one hand off to signal?

I can, sure.
Just the way I bike I like to keep two hands on at all times.

Some mad stuff there in the article there about the Brooklyn Bridge.

 

[classic seanc]

(I'll just mention it again), I was in NYC last week, and the Brooklyn bridge is mental. So mental as to be completely pointless as a cycle track.

Hand signalling is extremely important. That sort of communication shows people that you're actually a human, and that you know that they're actually humans too. And that's important, it makes everyone less inclined to kill each other.

I dunno about that article, it's grand like but I didn't get much from it. Contrary to popular opinion, NYC is not the centre of the cycling universe. I'd say cycling in Dublin is tremendously different.

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

I'd say cycling in Dublin is tremendously different.

Cars don't give a shit about bike lanes here for a start.

 

[flashback]

I dunno what your man is really going on about. I've been riding in the city for a few years, and its a bit hectic alright, but not exactly nuts. I'd say riding a bike in Buenos Aires is nuts. NYC is a bit of rough and tumble, but the traffic is reasonably slow, and I dont really have too many problems.
The bike lanes here are alright, I wouldn't be too keen on them. Taxis pull in on you a fair bit but when you feel them I tend to swing out and accelerate to try to force them in behind me rather than cutting.
The lads sweeping through the red lights generally are decent riders. They stay clear of me and I can normally reel them back in and sit on their wheel.
Nah, the only problem are those cunts who come wobbling down the wrong fucking direction, with three bags of Chinese food hanging off their handlebars on some piece of shit slow mountain bike not looking where they're going.
Those are the boys I fuck with.

 

[classic seanc]

I dunno what your man is really going on about. I've been riding in the city for a few years, and its a bit hectic alright, but not exactly nuts. I'd say riding a bike in Buenos Aires is nuts. NYC is a bit of rough and tumble, but the traffic is reasonably slow, and I dont really have too many problems.
The bike lanes here are alright, I wouldn't be too keen on them. Taxis pull in on you a fair bit but when you feel them I tend to swing out and accelerate to try to force them in behind me rather than cutting.
The lads sweeping through the red lights generally are decent riders. They stay clear of me and I can normally reel them back in and sit on their wheel.
Nah, the only problem are those cunts who come wobbling down the wrong fucking direction, with three bags of Chinese food hanging off their handlebars on some piece of shit slow mountain bike not looking where they're going.
Those are the boys I fuck with.

Aye. I was only over there for a few days, so my opinion isn't worth all that much really, but while there I did take particular time to note what NYC cycling would actually be like. And what I did reckon at the end of my short study was that NY is a gridded, largely flat city with mostly slow moving one way motor vehicle traffic. Motorists are aggressive, and they drive absurdly enormous vehicles, but they are usually paying attention and they do usually know how to deal with shit. So from that I concluded that it wouldn't be *that* hard to make your way around NY by bicycle.

 

[flashback]

Its not. Its also quick.
I regularly rode from west 4th, up sixth ave, to ~40th st in rush hour traffic in less than 10 minutes. The subway would take a bit longer, and by car it took around 40 minutes.
I hate 6th ave, but generally you can merge into and ride amongst the traffic when you need to. Its actually a fairly safe way to ride, on the middle lanes, as there is less traffic pulling across you.
And by traffic I mean cunting taxi drivers.


Buenos Aires is completely insane though. Anyone that does anything there is a brave person. I was staying in a hostel near a one way junction, and you could watch it at night. Regularly cars would drive at around 50mph, the wrong way (as it saved them around 10m), through red lights and a yeild sign, with their lights switched off.
They would turn their lights off as they approached the junction.
This was at night, on weekends, when the rest of BA appeared to be out on the raging tear, also motoring around at 50mph.
The cops were too busy hitting on chicks to notice.