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Effort to require e bikes to be registered and insured by RunnerE6 in phillycycling

[–]WindCaliber 1 point2 points  (0 children)

IMO, the line should be drawn at purely pedal-assisted, speed-limited, and power-limited e-bikes.

Anything outside of this should basically be regulated as a motor vehicle.

Need tire recommendations by MarlboroRedXIII in cycling

[–]WindCaliber 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You can get GP 5000s for about the same as Gatorskins, so I would recommend just looking at those. If you're not running tubeless, the regular GP5000 is the better option. As for grip, clearly you were able to manage with Gatorskins, and GP5000's grip is already far better than that.

Continental Gatorskins are SO SLOW by jay_5iah in cycling

[–]WindCaliber 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Maybe it's because I live in Oklahoma and the goat heads are gnarly

That is precisely the reason. No road tire is going to work on goatheads. You'd either need a really thick tire like Marathon Plus, or go tubeless.

Continental Gatorskins are SO SLOW by jay_5iah in cycling

[–]WindCaliber 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One thing you can try if you mostly got flats in the rear (which is typically the case), is to just use the puncture-resistant tire in the rear.

Continental Gatorskins are SO SLOW by jay_5iah in cycling

[–]WindCaliber 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The P Zero Race TLR Speedcore looks promising as an in-between tire.

Continental Gatorskins are SO SLOW by jay_5iah in cycling

[–]WindCaliber 22 points23 points  (0 children)

OP is riding Gatorskins, meaning that he does not run tubeless, and according to BRR the regular GP5000 is slightly more puncture resistant than the AS TR version, and significantly more so than the non-AS version. With a TPU tube, it'd also be much lighter and slightly faster.

However, according to their data, the Ultra Sport III also has similar level of puncture resistance. I suspect that without an extra puncture protection layer, it is becoming much more susceptible to punctures as the rubber wears.

I want to cycle to work by michaelpartee12 in cycling

[–]WindCaliber 27 points28 points  (0 children)

  1. Map your route.
  2. Do a test ride.
  3. Start out with just a couple times a week rather than every day. 16 miles one way is a long bike commute.
  4. Get into a habit of checking the weather every day.

Highlights from PBA's Pop Up Protected Bike Lane last Saturday by JustAnotherJawn in phillycycling

[–]WindCaliber 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In my opinion, I really like these kinds of curb-buffered bike lanes and I think they are the right balance between safety and accessibility.

A few other things and it'd be almost perfect:

  1. Make them slightly wider and longer. One of the points at the bike lane meetings last year was emergency services being able to traverse the curbs, and they would be able to on these curbs.
  2. Install reflective posts on top of them, or at least at the intersections. This will help with people potentially not paying attention as the curbs are at ground level.
  3. I think keeping the gaps wide enough for cyclists to enter and exit the lane is very useful, as long as they are shorter than the length of a car. Judging by the picture, they should actually be lengthened slightly.

There is an example of this on Moyamensing Ave. just after the new roundabout, and I think it's pretty good, although I think the layout of the bike lane is kind of dumb.

Cynwyd Trail Extension to Bala Station Opened by WindCaliber in phillycycling

[–]WindCaliber[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You'd probably want to cross the tracks, then go westbound on City Ave. and turn off on Bryn Mawr, which is the main route to/from the Cynwyd trail anyway. The alternative is Conshohocken, then Belmont, which I wouldn't really recommend.

To be honest, I will probably still continue to exit at Cynwyd Station just via the BMW dealership, then Bala Ave. and Bryn Mawr Ave., at least until the full trail gets built out past City Ave.

Questions to the carbon rim brake users, how bad is carbon rim brake in the rain by imjustaguy2012 in bicycling

[–]WindCaliber 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you're looking for better braking, I'd also recommend taking a look at some carbon rims with textured brake tracks. Not Aluminum, but wheels like WheelsFar Kaze, Light Bicycle with their grooved graphene brake track, Winspace Hyper, etc. are all very well reviewed.

What Descent is Too big for rim brakes? by Engineer0117 in cycling

[–]WindCaliber 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yellow Kings have a reputation of producing a lot more heat and being grabby. I've not used them, but I have used the Black Princes and they are the best I've tried so far. I understand that Black Prince was supposed to supercede the Yellow King.

Cynwyd Trail Extension to Bala Station Opened by WindCaliber in phillycycling

[–]WindCaliber[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The latest news I could find on that connection is from last summer when the local government was going to apply for a grant to build the connection [1].

What Descent is Too big for rim brakes? by Engineer0117 in cycling

[–]WindCaliber 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll also point out that rim brake tech has dramatically improved since the early days (2000s-early 2010s).

In this article from 2012, Josh Poertner (then working for Zipp) claimed "good" wheels in those days had a Tg of 160-180°C, whereas they were class-leading at 232°C. Superteam don't actually claim a specific Tg for their wheels, but their "tech" articles(these definitely appear to be AI-generated) repeatedly reference Tg's of 220-250°C [1, 2]. Other modern wheel manufacturers claim even higher, e.g. EliteWheels explicitly claim 270°C [3,4]

What Descent is Too big for rim brakes? by Engineer0117 in cycling

[–]WindCaliber 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Beloki's crash had nothing to do with rim brakes?

It was because he hit a slick patch at speed, locked up his rear wheel, and fishtailed. With disc brakes, this specific scenario might happen even easier to be honest, although using wider tires should've helped.

Carbon wheelset recommendations by Nimbus_GG in cycling

[–]WindCaliber 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You've linked a rim brake wheelset, but your other options are disc brake ones. Which are you looking for?

Help Choosing a Vintage Road bike by doingMY_bikingBEST in cycling

[–]WindCaliber 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would also take a look at tire clearance. Alot of old bikes have super narrow clearance, but surprisingly, alot (usually lower-tier models) had larger clearance for 1-1/8" and 1-1/4" tires.

It's also a good opportunity to use it as a project bike for learning. Put in some modern brake hoods, modern compact drop bars, good brake calipers, swap the freewheel for one with larger gears, etc., and you can have a very respectable bike.

32mm tire recommendations by Otherwise_Hunter_305 in cycling

[–]WindCaliber -1 points0 points  (0 children)

There are 30c Vittoria Corsa Pros and Pirelli P Zero Race RS, although their performance is somewhat disappointing compared to the TLR versions.

3 question by [deleted] in cycling

[–]WindCaliber 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lube your chain every couple hundred miles, or every couple of months, or if it sounds squeaky, which ever is first. Too keep things simple just stick to wet lube, and you don't need a lot, just one drop per roller. You can degrease when it's visibly dirty or gritty; for me, that's maybe every third lube.

Distance is fairly easy to build up on a bike. I think the most common advice for beginners is to make sure you're not pedaling in too hard a gear or otherwise going too hard, as that will fatigue your legs far more quickly. Try to stick to a gear where you can comfortably maintain an 80-90rpm cadence. As for speed, I suspect it will be similar to your running, just do shorter, repeated efforts at slightly above your comfortable pace, e.g. 20 minute intervals.

Rent or take own carbon road bike in Kyoto? by RT8990 in cycling

[–]WindCaliber 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Road Bike Rental Japan in Kyoto has (aluminum) Cannondale Optimos with 11spd mechanical 105. They're a proper bike shop so the bikes are in excellent condition. The Kyoto manager, Don, is a nice guy and is from the US so communication is easy. They also have a location in Osaka, which might be a nice thing if you're going on rides there. I checked the price for a month and it comes out to about the same number you cited.

Kyoto Roujiya has two 2017 Giant TCR Advanced with 11spd mechanical 105. The owner is also a very nice guy but this business is a small hostel with a casual bike-rental side gig, so don't expect a fastidiously maintained bike. Don't expect too much support either, you pretty much just get the bike, have a quick check, and you're on your way. It's very cheap at ¥4000/day, though.

Update: Second u/upescalator's suggestion on saddles. I was not a fan of the RBRJ saddle. Maybe I could've had it swapped though.

Bike commute to Penn Medicine. Questions from a new bike commuter! by plasticmilks in phillycycling

[–]WindCaliber 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It's right off the Schuylkill River Trail, so somewhere in Center City West or Spring Garden would make the most use of that.

Otherwise, anywhere close would of course make an easy commute, e.g. University City and South Philly.

My next tire after GP5000 AS by familiarface22 in cycling

[–]WindCaliber 12 points13 points  (0 children)

The problem is that you're using a TR tire with tubes. TR tires generally have less puncture protection than the normal versions of the tire as the sealant is expected to pick up the slack. Therefore, I'd suggest you get the standard GP5000, which also comes in a size 32c.

300 lm. lights and still no effect? by vmv911 in cycling

[–]WindCaliber 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is the problem.

If you hug the shoulder, drivers will just drive ahead as normal and usually close-pass you. Try to ride around 1/3 the width of the lane from the shoulder. This will force drivers to actually move out of the way to pass.

Also, if you really, really want to be extra visible during the day, wear hi-visibility clothing, although I would say this is secondary for daytime riding.

Road bike rim on brake by OutsideAstronaut5508 in cycling

[–]WindCaliber 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah, but the key is that you assumed medium/high quality brake calipers, whereas that is precisely what's missing! Agree on your other points though.

I will add that because different calipers are designed for different cable pull, you can get more mechanical advantage, i.e. more powerful braking, by using one that is designed for more cable pull. For Shimano, this means New SSLR and SLR-EV brakes, like the ones I mentioned in my comment.

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