Working again! Cannondale SM400. New tires and tubes, and rim tape. Must be from between 1987 and 1990 or so? Will also need to lubricate the shifters. Actually my son's bike, which he was riding in college (only a few years ago). When his tires were not exploding, LOL. Apparently no one thought to change out the rim tape at his college bike repair shop. 🤨 #BikeTooter
@ai6yr Rim tape? blink-blink I worked on my bikes for years and never encountered this term. Now I know the correct name and that it needs regular replacement. Thanks!
À tous les matins que je dépose les enfants à l'école, nous chantons dans nos barbes une 'tite toune que nous avons composé il y a un certain temps déjà :
Liebe #FahrradBubble: wenn ich eine kleinere #Fahrradtasche suchte, die man an den Gepäckträger anhängen kann UND sonst ALS #RUCKSACK tragen kann (beides zusammen!) – nach was müsste ich da vom Begriff suchen?
Oder hat gar wer eine konkrete Empfehlung? Am besten wasserdicht. #Biketooter@fedibikes_de
(Zum besseren Verständnis: Ich habe 2 große super Ortlieb -Packtaschen zum Einkaufen, die ich über der Schulter tragen kann. Suche aber etwas alltagspraktikableres als Rucksack zusätzlich.)
I bycycled all the way to the island of Singö, the most northern point of my tour. I spent the night on the shore of the Baltic Sea. I talked with a man about bicycling in the Netherlands, which he considered top-notch. I countered his opinion: To me, this part of Sweden I am bicycling right now is by far better. Best roads, virtually no traffic, and enough bakeries and food stores. Finally, let's not forget the freedom to roam in Sweden. Top-notch!
It's car registration time, and I was surprised to find that I've driven less than 1,500 km in the last year.
On the other hand, I'm now averaging about 500km per month on my #bicycle.
When there were jobs in the mix, petrol was about $60/week, then post-work about $60/month. Now that I've become a middle-aged guy who rides a lot but refuses to wear lycra, I spend about $60/year.
($60= a tankful)
So, the $ spent on a bike < petrol savings.
Therefore I need to spend more on #AliExpress#cycling goodies. 🤪
Also, I've discovered low-km, or pay-as-you-drive car insurance.
Initial investigation looks like my premium will drop by about $1,000 🤯
So, I'll be able to afford another bike.🎉
Also also, despite my weight staying exactly the same as it's been forever, my resting heart rate has dropped from 85-ish, to 55-ish over the two years in which I've accidentally become a bike rider.
🚴♂️
Thanks to a couple of mastodon folk who contributed at pivotal moments - a technical point which got me into doing my own maintenance, and an attitudinal one which has helped habituate riding.
@arose62 congrats for switching to a bike, good news for your wallet and your heart rate!
Also, it's very likely that you've lost fat and gained muscle in the process.
Ted Rogers who writes BikingInLA could use some $ to pay med bills
"I’m just trying to get through one day at a time, while devoting myself full-time to caring for my injured wife, our uninjured dog and our ultra-messy apartment, while still trying to squeeze in enough time to write about bikes and do the work I love.
Ted does amazing work not only staying on top of LA cycling news, but rounding up news on cycling from all over.
He was also diagnosed a couple yrs ago with a type of diabetes that has really deeply impacted his ability to keep working. Had to go to the ER a month ago and then his wife was injured & there are more med bills on the horizon.
Finally DT Swiss has wheels I can recommend again!
Super nice specs. Can't fault it. And their data suggests that it works splendid. Who'd knew that a sufficiently wide (external) rim could result in this? (Oh wait - some of us did... since years).
The rim is crotched style (hooked), too. Awesome!
Now the only thing left to reach perfection: you'd need to offer customers the choice between those silver/white DT Swiss typo and a stealth black one.
Years ago, I struggled through a challenging 40km mountain bike loop that left me exhausted and discouraged. This time, I revisited the same route with better preparation, fitness, and a new bike. The result was a surprising and rewarding experience. Check out the video to see how it went!
Hmm, random cycling/BikeTooter opinions wanted -- I have two bicycles in need of new tires/tubes... mountain bikes... rotted... which are NOT currently ridden (but every so often someone gets the urge to ride them). The (adult) kids occasionally would ride them.
Buy "any old tires"? Whatever the LBS carries? Opinions? Thinking they ought to be maintained in rideable condition, vs. a last minute go-buy-new-tires-tubes and then whoever it was that wanted to ride them loses interest. What would you do?
@ai6yr bike shops often have takeoff tires they may sell you cheap if you’re buying other items. These usually get thrown out. The key with tires is to keep them out of the sun when not riding. Sun = rapid rotting. All quality brand tires have cheaper models that will do just fine for what you want. A $100 tire is not 5x longer lasting than a $20 tire. Online stores like biketiresdirect.com have good prices on tires.
@ai6yr If it's a last second "oh let me fix this for you", though, the bike will certainly never be ridden. So get it set up and keep the tire from going totally flat and you should be fine for a long time.
The thing I hate about evacuation plans is that they always assume you'll be leaving in a motor vehicle. Sure, there are places where that might be a more or less valid assumption; but in many areas, a substantial percentage of the population doesn't have access to a car. I'd be evacuating on a bike because that's the transportation I have.
I think it's kinda funny how Mercer Island is assembled from three different maps
Seattle's map provides a flag grey expanse they barely bothered to label, King County's says "yeh there's some roads and a couple of parks I guess" and 2 Line says HERE IS EVERYTHING WE CAN FIND xD
seattle wanting you to know that they do not give a single solitary fuck about mercer island is hilarious to me
It is #BikeNite again this Friday at 4pm Pacific time!
Our question queue is pretty healthy, but reply with questions you'd like me to add to the discussion either this Friday or a following one! You can add the BikeNitePQ hashtag so it's easier to find a Proposed Question.
(BikeNite is a Q&A type discussion on the Fediverse.)
Learned how to jump my bike and how to sprain my wrist. The trick for the first one is to actually jump with your body like you would standing, and pull the bike up with you. As for the second one, just accidentally land with the handlebars turned, although I don't recommend this technique
It's probably good I did not snag this free vintage bicycle in time, because I have no need for more projects, LOL. Looks like it would be fun to restore, however! Good luck to whoever got it! #BikeTooter
@ai6yr you know you’re getting old when someone says see this vintage bicycle, and you think: that colour picture of a ten speed shows a vintage bicycle?
