A new addition to the bicycling stable

[grcamna2]

Riding Saturday in a hilly area again. Was making my way up a medium grade hill and breathing pretty hard when two guys a few years older than me came buy without much effort riding electric assist bikes. They were chatting and looked to be enjoying themselves. Wish I was that fast.

I've seen a couple different types of electric assist bikes;here in Davis most electric bicycles look heavy and I imagine the electric motors are doing the 'lion's share' of the work.Do they make bicycles that let the operator adjust just how much work they do and then let the motor do like 5% ?? I'm not a big fan of electric assist(I've never actually ridden one) because my thinking is that the motor is stealing my work-out and keeping me more passive rather than pumped.

I have my little 1981' Honda CB125S w/ the XR185 engine and I have it set-up now with folding footpegs which can now be pulled-up so my legs can walk-along without bumping into them as much.I like to turn the bike off and walk alongside it to get a bit of excersize as just sitting on the seat all the time gets me too lazy.I also do the 'sit on the seat and use my legs to push-scooter my way along' for excersize at times.When I turn off the engine and slow down it's amazing what I see peripherally to either side of me which I had missed before because I was previously 'motoring' and feel better as I push my way along in the bicycle lane.I do look in the mirrors/am aware of bicyclists coming-up behind me and stay out of their path.

I have the nice option of getting some walking excersize while on my small Honda motorcycle.I enjoy getting in shape on the bicycle also but really Do need to learn to improve my diet to give me the most energy and the least 'bonk'.

[salty_monk]

I ride that loop regularly on the GS.... I’m riding a bit, not loads, trying to do the Rosarito Ensenada run in September that loop would kick my butt too!
I rode up that way last weekend too but not Marymont.

are you on Strava? I use their free one, I like it for tracking but not for on the bike, use my watch to record and upload to it, thinking of getting a Bryton GPS at some point.

The Giant is loads better than the borrowed box name Aluminium thing I was on before that’s for sure. I have 25’s on it and some compact “adventure” bars. But more comfort. Also the first time I’ve really played with Crank length too, put 165’s on this one after doing some research and like it a lot so far.

Hi Dan,

I've heard good things about those Giant's. No doubt it's light and stiff! Fun! How much are you riding these days?

There is a small industrial park near me that I do laps around. I rode there for a couple weeks, and some days after work, but more recently been going up the hill into PV. I ride from my house up to Marymount collage, then back. Some days I'll ride the extra leg from Marymount to the radar towers. Yesterday I went all the way around the big PV loop; up PV East, down to the ocean, along the coast and then back home. Kicked my butt. I tried to ride easy but you just can't because of all the hills. I was on the verge of glycogen depravation but made it home just in time. Give me another month to improve my fitness then we should hook up for a ride.

My weight loss is coming along but it's getting harder. I'm going to try to shift towards a more Keto based diet. We'll see.

[dorkburger]

Why oh why must my son ride a MTB? When I was his age we were fully into BMX / freestyle bikes and they accepted heaps of abuse from us.
His bike has a broken bracket that attaches the rear derailleur to the frame - direct mount type. I can’t find a replacement as everyone seems to be out of stock. Are there any sites that do cross references or anything of that nature?

[oldGSfan]

What MTB is it? I have been able to find for my son's YT Capra, just a bit of searching. He crashes a lot less now and the parts purchasing is way down since about the first year. I do all his repairs and it was crazy, like a 2nd job.

Why oh why must my son ride a MTB? When I was his age we were fully into BMX / freestyle bikes and they accepted heaps of abuse from us.
His bike has a broken bracket that attaches the rear derailleur to the frame - direct mount type. I can’t find a replacement as everyone seems to be out of stock. Are there any sites that do cross references or anything of that nature?

[Sandy]

Why oh why must my son ride a MTB? When I was his age we were fully into BMX / freestyle bikes and they accepted heaps of abuse from us.
His bike has a broken bracket that attaches the rear derailleur to the frame - direct mount type. I can’t find a replacement as everyone seems to be out of stock. Are there any sites that do cross references or anything of that nature?

You can try to match it up here. They've got pretty good photos of a bunch of different styles. Maybe you can match it up with something. They're in Ireland so you might not want to order with shipping the way it is right now but I've used them in the past and with great success. Got my stuff in about a week and free shipping over $99.00.

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/derailleurs

[dorkburger]

Thanks Sandy, I’ll take a look. The derailleur looks ok, it’s just the not so robust bracket that connects it to the frame is broken. I’m hoping that the bracket may be used across a few different Shimano models.

[dorkburger]

What MTB is it? I have been able to find for my son's YT Capra, just a bit of searching. He crashes a lot less now and the parts purchasing is way down since about the first year. I do all his repairs and it was crazy, like a 2nd job.

its a GT Aggressor that was given to us. Seems like a decent mid range bike.... and free.
I've been letting him ride mine. I certainly don't want to have to find parts for a 25 year old bicycle so I need to get his fixed.

[bonanzadave]

I picked up this TREK Navigator off CLs a few months ago. Got tons of paved bike trails around here and this is a pretty comfortable way to explore. Bike is like brand new and I gave the guy all the 250 he was asking for. Rack, Bag and helmet. Smooth ride and easy on the back......side.

[Sandy]

Got to pound away on the MTB yesterday on one of my favourite local forested trails to a small lake. Nothing scary or weird and didn't come back bleeding so that was good. LOL. I put on about 800km so far this year for a total of about about 4,000 on the bike. I was thinking time to change the cassette and chain but they actually seem fine. Still shifts fine and derailleur angles look alright ....have to take a closer look at the sprockets and maybe measure the chain. I love this Kona, it's been a solid ride and no issues at all since new other than one rear flat (snake bite) and a set brake pads (they got noisy) and a few tires.



Kettle Lake and bike by soates50, on Flickr

[GS1150Pilot]

That is gorgeous!

[dorkburger]

I found the part! I looked up my son’s bike by model and the derailleur bracket came up on eBay with the option to buy multiple. I bought two.

[timebombprod]

What do you guy think about a 24 inch bmx bike to go on trails, I used to ride bmx and the bike was very smooth had sealed hub bearings aswell as the crank and forktube, I do love a quality bike but feel like a bike will fall apart if I get it from Walmart.

Screenshot_20210612-212059_Chrome.jpg

Been thinking about one of these for a while now, but I dont know how practical itd be for dirt trails, maybe a good all around bike though.

[GS1150Pilot]

Those trails had better be pretty flat. Without gearing, and with those small wheels, you'll be spinning like a mad fiend to make good progress. I built up a 19 pound single-speed mountain bike about a decade ago. It was a hoot, and its light weight was glorious, but it did have its limitations when a ton of climbing was on the agenda.

[timebombprod]

Those trails had better be pretty flat. Without gearing, and with those small wheels, you'll be spinning like a mad fiend to make good progress. I built up a 19 pound single-speed mountain bike about a decade ago. It was a hoot, and its light weight was glorious, but it did have its limitations when a ton of climbing was on the agenda.

I am in florida lol, but yeah that wheel weight will be a problem going any amount of uphill. I'll sleep on it for now, do a little research. What I really wish i could do is ride a 24 inch bmx bike, they do have 26 inch aswell.

[salty_monk]

You can try to match it up here. They've got pretty good photos of a bunch of different styles. Maybe you can match it up with something. They're in Ireland so you might not want to order with shipping the way it is right now but I've used them in the past and with great success. Got my stuff in about a week and free shipping over $99.00.

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/derailleurs

One of my favourite bike stores going back to the 90's. They started by buying full bikes & stripping and parting them out - you could get a cheap brand new part, just no box. That and some inventive accounting to do with the tax laws at the time really gave them the boost they needed to become pretty much the UK's premier online part supplier... Unbelievably sometimes it is still cheaper to get parts from them here in CA (even though Jenson is only 2 hours away... my "local" favourite.)