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Thread: The Lounge of Terrestrial Wheelmen

  1. #5001
    High Plains Luddite George's Avatar
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    That's pretty cool, FaF.

    Congrats to SportWagon for being promoted to a new age category. It's better than the alternative, right? I have seen your frequent West Montrose Classic! rides on Strava. I once joked about a ride that was a little short to be a West Montrose Classic! and you informed me that a covered bridge is a requirement, along with the distance (and the exclamation point), and I'm still hoping to do that just for grins. I like having a reason to ride rather than just getting on the bike with no idea where to go or why (other than fun and exercise). There's a covered bridge in a nearby town that's probably about right for the halfway point of a 40 km (24.8 mile) ride and one of these days I'll post a picture from there.

    Anyone else up for the challenge? I don't know how common covered bridges are these days. I remember seeing them as a kid in Vermont, but I only know of one around here and can't remember any in other places I've lived.

    I've been on three rides so far with my new wheels and tubeless tires (700 x 42). So far, so good, except the when I look down at the rear tire while riding, it looks like it's about half flat. I've even stopped a couple times to pinch the rear tire, but I guess I'll get used to it. I've always inflated my tires to the maximum pressure listed on the sidewalls because I'm over 200 lbs, but the LBS explained that tubeless tires are different and they'll blow off the rims with too much air pressure. I guess time will tell how these work out.

    They trued the original AlexRims wheels for me and I intend to put some smaller road tires (with tubes) on those so I can swap for all-pavement rides that are long enough for tires to make a difference, but I'll have to get another 9-speed cassette first. It didn't occur to me that they'd pull the cassette off my old wheel to put on the new and leave me with no cassette on my old wheels. It makes sense now that I think about it, but I didn't consider that. It also didn't occur to me that my new wheels would be entirely black. Black rims, black hubs, and even black spokes! Weird. I assumed they'd be silver, like all our other bikes. Oh well; it's just cosmetics, but I'd have preferred silver. Yeah, I know - first-world problems.

    And I'm back on craigslist looking at bikes again. Our kids keep growing and my son, who rides often with his friends, has pretty much outgrown his 15" frame. Despite the worldwide bicycle and parts shortage that I read about on bicycle forums (and experienced with my bike being in the shop for three months), I have been pleasantly surprised to see that used bike prices on CL haven't skyrocketed, for the most part.

    Quote Originally Posted by Freude am Fahren
    ...the handlebars are too low...
    Problem solved!

    Specialized Cruiser - Medium - ProTuned/Refurbed - $100


  2. #5002
    High Plains Luddite George's Avatar
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    And more proof that you can do anything in Grand Theft Auto V.


  3. #5003
    Senior Member G'day Mate's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SportWagon View Post
    G'day keeps racking up his commuting miles....
    Not like I used to. Today should have been a ride-from-home day (which includes the hill) but due to my running I've been skipping out on that a lot lately.

  4. #5004
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    My former work went public and I made some decent scratch from that. I'm debating getting a Brompton.

    EDIT: Just checked. All but three models are sold out. I forgot about the Covid bike boom.
    Last edited by Tom Servo; July 5th, 2021 at 09:08 PM.

  5. #5005
    High Plains Luddite George's Avatar
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    More first-world problems; thankfully nothing serious. Just blathering on again...

    In most aspects of life I am a detail person, as opposed to a "big idea" person. You guys know what I mean, right? Well, I thought I was a detail person. Maybe I'm getting senile.

    I missed the detail that I wasn't getting two cassettes back. I assumed a new wheelset would come with a new cassette. Silly me.

    And it didn't occur to me that anyone would build an all-black wheel. Everyone likes the classic beauty of silver/chrome rims, hubs, and spokes, right? Oh well, at least the rear hub (Shimano 105) is silent, unlike some mountain bikes I hear going clickety-clack on the trails. That noise would drive me nuts! So I'm happy with the wheels. They don't wobble and I can ride hands-free easily.

    But we did talk about tubeless wheels and tubeless tires and "going tubeless". Of this I am certain! I've read the positives (very few flat tires) outweigh the negatives (dealing with messy sealant occasionally). I figured as long as I was going to get a better wheelset - one in which the rear wouldn't go out of true under my fat ass while bombing downhill on some teeth-rattling washboard gravel like the stock one did - why not try tubeless? The LBS owner agreed and so I ordered them.

    When I went to pick up the bike, I reminded the owner that I haven't ever had tubeless tires before and now that I do, was there a patch kit I should buy to carry with me? I knew there was, from researching this online, but I figured I'd buy one at the LBS when I picked up the bike. He handed me a tubeless patch kit and advised me to cut the "bacon" in half so I'd have twice as many patches, since the full-size patches were generally used for wider mountain bike tires. He also showed me how the bottom of the little carrying case was a valve removal wrench and we discussed how to remove them to add more sealant every four or five months. I probably should have bought some sealant and a syringe too, but I figured the patch kit was enough for now and there was a line forming behind me, so I quit pestering the man with questions, paid, and left.

    Yesterday I got a later start than I wanted, but I was determined to go for a nice, long ride - twenty miles or more. Two big water bottles' worth of a ride in the summer heat. I thought it was a good day to ride to the covered bridge and back. All was well until the paved trail (like a sidewalk, but through a grassy field rather than next to a street) I was on narrowed due to uncut clumps of vegetation growing over both sides so they almost touched in the middle. No big deal, I see that all the time and blast right through without slowing down.

    But this time, I heard POP and then PSSSSSHHHHHH from the front tire. Oh no, not the dreaded goathead thorns that are everywhere here and used to bedevil me before I bought heavy-duty tubes for my other bikes...especially when I was commuting. But, not to fear...I have some of those fancy new tubeless tires that are supposed to seal small punctures by themselves!

    I found some shade under a tree and inspected the front tire. Yup, there were a few thorns in it. I pulled out all I found in both tires and noticed the front tire was about halfway flat. I pumped it up with the pump I still carry and spun the wheel to let the sealant slosh around in there and do its thing. It still seemed to be losing air, so I kept pumping and spinning and pumping and spinning, kind of like bicycle CPR.

    This went on and on, but the tire just didn't want to hold air. At some point, I noticed the seal between the tire and rim was loose and I looked inside to see the white, gooey sealant I've seen pictures of online. Strangely, it was black and dry inside the tire. Well, if it's not all that messy, I thought, I guess I'll just take the tire off and see what I can see in there. Maybe there's still a thorn that I missed pulling out that I couldn't see from the outside. Maybe there's a larger hole than I thought.

    It wasn't what I thought at all.



    I pulled out the tube and pumped it up some more and found the hole. No problem! I had not only a spare tube but a patch kit, too. Even though I thought I had tubeless tires, I didn't empty out my under-seat bag and still had all my usual gear. I opened the old but never-used patch kit and found it was missing the little bottle of glue. No, they weren't glueless patches - the tube just never got in the box from the factory, I guess.

    So, I installed the new tube in the front tire, pumped it up, and crammed the old tube back into my under-seat bag with the useless patch kit and tire irons. I was all ready to start riding again when I realized the rear tire was now flat also. There was no sealant in that tire, either.

    When I pulled out my phone to call my wife for a ride, I remembered to turn off Strava.



    I'm sitting here at work today and I keep thinking I should call the LBS, but I haven't yet. It's a reputable shop, as far as I know, and I figure they'll just say I asked for tubeless wheels and tires but didn't specify a tubeless setup. They gave me a detailed quote to review and accept and maybe, once again, I made an assumption and was wrong. Maybe tubes are their default setup and they did what they always do. I'm thinking I just didn't understand the details.

    It could have been worse. I was in a neighborhood instead of on the trails where I'm sometimes a long way from a road. I could have had to carry the bike a couple miles past runners and other cyclists and people walking tiny dogs on long leashes and big dogs on no leashes. My wife might have been somewhere other than home and not able to answer her phone. I could been hit by a car.

    So, like the Todd Snider song says, I can't complain.

  6. #5006
    High Plains Luddite George's Avatar
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    Not quite the Epilogue yet, but getting closer...

    The REAL reason I haven't called the LBS is because I cannot find their detailed work order that they emailed me before they did any work. I may have accidentally deleted it. So, I figured I wouldn't call them until I found it. I want to check my home PC when I get there because my personal email seems to be saved on whatever device I read it on...my work laptop, my phone, or my home PC and unavailable elsewhere if I didn't mark it as unread after reading it.

    Anyway, I just remembered this:

    Quote Originally Posted by George View Post
    I've always inflated my tires to the maximum pressure listed on the sidewalls because I'm over 200 lbs, but the LBS explained that tubeless tires are different and they'll blow off the rims with too much air pressure.
    It was the LBS owner who said that - he was the guy I talked to every time. So, still without their work order, I'm now pretty confident the owner and I agreed on tubeless but maybe one of the three techs I saw working there didn't get that message.

    So I just called. Wouldn't ya know it...they're closed on Sundays and Mondays.

    (not really angry; I just like that smiley)

  7. #5007
    Subaru Unimpreza SportWagon's Avatar
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    I had wondered what had happened to G'day since his usually regular Strava activities (rides interspersed with running) had stopped for about a week.

    But then he posted a brief run walking his dog, indicating in his title that he had been out-of-commission with a cold.

    Actually, as I reread parts of the Pandemic thread, I see he did mention having a cold which might prevent him getting his second vaccine dose, and do recalle reading it previously, but I didn't register that mentally as something which might cause Strava absence.
    Last edited by SportWagon; July 26th, 2021 at 11:15 AM.

  8. #5008
    High Plains Luddite George's Avatar
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    Have you guys seen the 40-mile, 3-hour rides that SportWagon has been riding lately and posting on Strava?

    Those are mighty impressive to me, and they have honestly inspired me to go riding twice now on days when I thought I had too much stuff to do around the house and other mostly legitimate excuses. I am always glad I went but it's an easy thing to put off until "later" becomes "tomorrow" and then it's Monday again. Part of the reason I spent some money on my new-to-me bike is to inspire me to get out there and ride. I guess I shouldn't have underestimated my own laziness. Thankfully my wife is always pushing me out the door to go riding also. So far, the tubeless tires are fine, I guess. I can't tell a difference other than the rear one looks more flat when I'm riding than I'm used to.

    For anyone who was eagerly following my very exciting plans to ride the local covered bridge, I did it yesterday and discovered that's it's just a covered section of road that looks like a bridge. Why it's there I do not know. It looks very nice when I drive by it, but I had never looked closely enough to see the road is on solid ground. It's more like a wooden tunnel than a covered bridge. There's one picture on Strava if anyone cares.

    I'd post a couple pictures here, but now that I've been carrying a separate digital camera, it's a pain to get the pictures from the camera to the phone and then to a PC. First the long-range camera on my iPhone 7 Plus went fuzzy a couple weeks months ago and now a PC won't recognize it when I plug it in. The phone also doesn't ask for permission to connect to a PC as it usually does. I've tried two different PCs and four different cables and no luck. Now I need to figure out how to get my pictures and a couple important-to-me voice mails out of the phone so I can reluctantly buy another. I might not, except the battery won't hold a charge for very long these days, either. And once it hits 20% and goes into Low Power Mode, it jumps down to 10% within a minute or two - no exaggeration.

    Maybe I should just carry a pocket full of dimes so I can use pay phones instead...

  9. #5009
    Ask me about my bottom br FaultyMario's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SportWagon View Post
    Is Faulty Mario the "Sergio" we see on Strava?
    No. My real name is Mario. I think my Strava is either Faulty(something) or my real name.

    Sorry for only finding that post like seven years too late.
    acket.

  10. #5010
    Senior Member G'day Mate's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SportWagon View Post
    I had wondered what had happened to G'day since his usually regular Strava activities (rides interspersed with running) had stopped for about a week.

    But then he posted a brief run walking his dog, indicating in his title that he had been out-of-commission with a cold.

    Actually, as I reread parts of the Pandemic thread, I see he did mention having a cold which might prevent him getting his second vaccine dose, and do recalle reading it previously, but I didn't register that mentally as something which might cause Strava absence.
    It was all that plus a pretty strict week of Covid lockdown. We were only allowed to exercise within 2.5kms of home and only for 90 mins, but yeah, I was sick anyway.

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