Joined: 25 Jul 2005Posts: 1466Location: on the lake
fuck that noise, bike, bag, lock, beer, ride. you could have turned pro in the time it took to write that up. theory vs application...
forgot friends, last night rocked! that was a great fire.
Last edited by sekai on Fri Feb 17, 2006 9:34 am; edited 1 time in total
sekai
Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 9:17 am
Joined: 25 Jul 2005Posts: 1466Location: on the lake
henry, nice avitar
dennyt
Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 9:30 am
rocket mechanicJoined: 02 Aug 2005Posts: 2708
seconded on the avatar front :)
If I wrote that much every day, I'd be done with my thesis by now.
lieutenantsean
Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 9:36 am
Joined: 10 Oct 2005Posts: 1255
Damn dude, you sound like a total gear whore. Or an engineer.
You seem to have drinking down, that's a good start.
To summarize.
No matter what Performance.com says, there is no such thing as the perfect gear for all situations.
Here's what you will need:
1) A bike. It should suit your purposes (whatever those may be), gets you where you want to go and doesn't have parts dropping off.
everything else is pretty much optional.
The Brava is a pretty decent bike. The components are of decent quality and should serve well. If you weigh much over 185 pounds, go with 36 spoke wheels. Also, that seatpost looks like carbon fiber. If so, it may not be under warranty if you weigh more than about 180 pounds.
If you are going to be doing much commuting, you'll find 700x25c tires more comfortable than the 700x23c tires this bike is spec'd with.
Fenders. You'll totally want fenders. The good kind that bolt on to your frame and wrap around. Toss in mudflaps too. There are tons of options for mudflaps.
It comes with clipless pedals. Look like SPDs. Make sure your shoes are compatible and you have someone that knows how to install them properly. Otherwise you'll end up with your feet in all manner of ungodly positions.
If you have the scratch to have two floor pumps, you are buying the beer. Topeak Road Morph is a good option for a bike pump. CO2 cartridges seem like a good idea. What happens when you get more flats than you have
CO2? Also, CO2 canisters are considered hazardous material by the FAA, so they can't be transported on commercial aircraft.
And for fuck's sake, keep a couple of extra tubes with you. Patches may sound like a good idea until you have a flat when it's cold, dark and rainy, you can't see what you are doing and the fucking things won't take. Save the patching for when you are dry, warm and have a beer in your hand.
Clothing. Wear what's comfortable. You seem to have this down.
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russellb
Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 10:00 am
Joined: 17 Feb 2006Posts: 3
Last edited by russellb on Mon Apr 03, 2006 6:04 pm; edited 1 time in total
lieutenantsean
Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 10:06 am
Joined: 10 Oct 2005Posts: 1255
I'm a physicist/oceanographer/research programmer. You being an engineer seemed obvious to me.
Keep your floor pump at home. That's where most of your maintenance happens anyway.
Toss the mini-pump. Those things are fucking useless. Get one that attaches to your frame and keep it there. Again, Topeak Road Morph or a good frame fit pump. A pump is useless if it's sitting on your kitchen table when you need it.
I would have rather been riding last night too. But, I did get some drinking in.
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keyholefish
Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:57 pm
Joined: 25 Jul 2005Posts: 268Location: somerville, ma
Don't ever use the palms of your hands to break your fall. Practice not doing this.
Alastair
Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 10:03 pm
Joined: 12 Jan 2006Posts: 475Location: U-district/Ravenna
lieutenantsean wrote:
The Brava is a pretty decent bike. The components are of decent quality and should serve well. If you weigh much over 185 pounds, go with 36 spoke wheels. Also, that seatpost looks like carbon fiber. If so, it may not be under warranty if you weigh more than about 180 pounds.
If you are going to be doing much commuting, you'll find 700x25c tires more comfortable than the 700x23c tires this bike is spec'd with.
Fenders. You'll totally want fenders. The good kind that bolt on to your frame and wrap around. Toss in mudflaps too. There are tons of options for mudflaps.
It comes with clipless pedals. Look like SPDs. Make sure your shoes are compatible and you have someone that knows how to install them properly. Otherwise you'll end up with your feet in all manner of ungodly positions.
I ride a Brava. It's served me pretty well, but it depends what you are looking for. I have a 2004 version, where the only carbon fiber is the fork. Those are SPD pedals, which I've become a decent fan of. One thing to keep in mind is the frame tubing. It is steel, Reynolds 520 to be exact. Keep in mind that this tubing is made for comfort. It's pretty flexy, so it smooths out the bumps like riding a fancy all-carbon frame. However, it sucks at cornering, and if you're mashing up a hill the frame flex is pretty extraordinary. If you want to be doing any racing, or if you don't like having to slow way down to take a corner, it's not the bike for you. For commuting and just getting around, the thing's great. I've wrecked mine twice (once in a high speed collision with a moped), but it's held up. It's durable, but not a sports car.
lieutenantsean
Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 9:20 am
Joined: 10 Oct 2005Posts: 1255
Cornering (or lack thereof) is more a function of frame geometry than frame materials.
Since most CF bikes are made with racing in mind (because they are useless for anything else), they have short wheel bases and fairly steep head tube angles. This, not the frame material, is what determines the handling characteristics of a bike.
For example. My touring bike (steel) has a wicked long wheel base and a fairly relaxed head tube angle. It can't take corners fast, but is rock steady at high speed. My Davidson, (also steel) was designed to be a criterium bike. Very short wheel base and a steep head tube angle. The things corners like it's on rails.
I think the take home point from your post is that no bike does everything well, so what you plan on doing with the thing should determine what sort of bike you buy.
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rocket mechanic
Joined: 02 Aug 2005
Posts: 2708
Joined: 10 Oct 2005
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Joined: 25 Jul 2005
Posts: 268
Location: somerville, ma
