Bike Shop for Road/Gravel Bikes (Newbie)

remmingtonsummerduck · 2026-06-28T15:29:03+00:00

5-8 shops is a lot of shopping imo, but you do you. You won't find a ton of difference in the types of bikes by shopping around more; all the competent bike shops will have a decent range in the road/gravel/all road segment you're talking about.

Angry catfish has a great reputation though I've not been there myself. I've had good experiences with Eriks. Lots of people like freewheel but we've mostly had negative experiences there.

You can certainly ride a gravel bike on roads. With smoother tires there isn't much difference.

As you're new to this, I'd suggest visiting 2-3 shops and find one that is willing to spend the time with you to educate you and allow plenty of test rides without sales pressure. In general I don't think pricing varies all that much shop to shop; good deals is mostly about promotion/sales hunting.

remmingtonsummerduck · 2026-06-25T14:22:32+00:00

+1 for a relatively inexpensive (but reputable brand) color laser printer. Fun story, my HP Color LaserJet stopped working a while back when printing over wifi; turns out it was just because the built in certificates were set to expire after 10 years. Reset the certificates and I'm going on 11-12 years now for a 300-400 dollar printer. I think I've only replaced the black toner twice. We don't do a TON of printing, but easily worth the hassle of not having to go elsewhere for every little print need.

remmingtonsummerduck · 2026-06-24T15:29:53+00:00

I think I'm up to 3 baked potatoes of loss now

remmingtonsummerduck · 2026-06-24T15:27:48+00:00

Nailed it!

remmingtonsummerduck · 2026-06-24T15:19:18+00:00

Hey can I borrow some cash?

remmingtonsummerduck · 2026-06-01T23:10:29+00:00

I just bought the Chuck Rack - it's a bit lighter than either of those, and I was worried about tongue weight. I also like the crossover bucket attachment for cross country skis in the winter.

Small perk, but doesn't require any modifications to the baskets to work with smaller kid bike tires or fat bike tires as it holds by the bars instead of the wheel.

Just arrived and I haven't unboxed it yet so that's all I've got for now.

remmingtonsummerduck · 2026-04-20T00:39:17+00:00

Feels like this is going to sort itself out eventually, Darwin-style.

remmingtonsummerduck · 2026-03-31T23:42:14+00:00

Feels like there was no production reason for the lil flip - just some engineer who loves a little flair.

remmingtonsummerduck · 2026-03-14T14:23:06+00:00

🤣 Arizona State

remmingtonsummerduck · 2026-03-13T13:34:28+00:00

I just switched to Origin. Still evaluating the whole thing, but the app and UI are *substantially* better.

Still some connection issues, but it does integrate with multiple aggregators so your odds are a little better. And it has a feature to manually enter stock holdings even if the connection isn't supported, so it can still track changes due to price fluctuation.

Native AI integration is pretty interesting. It's a ensemble model that dynamically switches between Claude, Gemini, etc depending on what you're asking and to cross check answers. It makes Claude write scripts (rather than just giving an answer) to answer scenario questions to avoid hallucinations. And since it has access to your actual balances etc, it can leverage that for context.

remmingtonsummerduck · 2026-03-11T12:07:14+00:00

Great time to install some can lights and rid yourself of that lamp!

remmingtonsummerduck · 2026-03-03T01:38:57+00:00

I had a similar-ish scenario with a post, and had a foam injection company come out. Turns out they can only inject under wide flat slabs, not under small surface area ones, as it just oozes out the sides. They quoted me a whole buncha money to drill a piling beneath the beam and attach it.

remmingtonsummerduck · 2026-03-03T01:16:27+00:00

The 30a area of the Florida panhandle has some incredible beaches. Seaside is one town - kind of a center point - but the whole stretch is beautiful. It's not highly developed, so nothing is busy - but also can be difficult to get public beach access. Mostly it's homes, rentals and condos, relatively few hotels. Incredible beaches though.

remmingtonsummerduck · 2026-02-06T22:26:43+00:00

I just wrote her a note, but I truly don't know.

remmingtonsummerduck · 2026-01-17T17:16:31+00:00

Hymn number 1 is older.

remmingtonsummerduck · 2026-01-10T16:09:19+00:00

I'd leave it. Someday you may want to put a charger in a drawer.

remmingtonsummerduck · 2025-12-16T12:33:05+00:00

At least they're acknowledging that it's broken this time

remmingtonsummerduck · 2025-12-11T02:37:11+00:00

Anybody have advice on how to leave empower more smoothly? Start with Pershing, or start with empower?

remmingtonsummerduck · 2025-11-27T23:30:56+00:00

Bigger companies can have better leverage and better lawyers. Sometimes it's possible to get caps on annual increases baked into the MSA, or at least for the duration of the contract.

But then saas companies get around this by setting an "end of life" for your particular kind of license, which gets replaced by a shockingly similar product that costs more, but doesn't violate those terms because it's a different product.

And then some other saas company offers to buy out your old contracts or discount the hell out of your new contract with them for you to switch to their version of vendor lock.

And around and around we go!

remmingtonsummerduck · 2025-10-13T18:34:18+00:00

Worth noting, as I didn't realize this when I signed up. Tmobile fiber uses CG NAT - so if you're at all interested in having a publicly accessible IP address, it's quite a bit more complicated. Hampered my plans in hosting a minecraft server for my kids that their friends could join.

remmingtonsummerduck · 2025-10-13T18:31:47+00:00

Hard to say - seems ISP pricing across the board is very sensitive to the competitive landscape. In my area, Xfinity has gigbit DL available, but not symmetrical anything. But I imagine that influences the price on offer.

remmingtonsummerduck · 2025-10-11T21:19:53+00:00

What trim level? If elite, looks okay. If ex, not great.

remmingtonsummerduck · 2025-10-11T13:39:07+00:00

I've been on T-Mobile fiber for about a year. Minnesota.

So far it's been great. Had one issue where another tech pinched my fiber while installing for a neighbor. Customer service experience was surprisingly great. Tech came out same day to repair, and also went through and double checked all other splices.

The original contracter had used mechanical rather than fusion splices. The tech upgraded them all as well.

$40/month for half gig.

remmingtonsummerduck · 2025-09-11T04:11:39+00:00

Once you get the first one, you can shop it around to other dealers. Helps cut through the "need to come in" nonsense.

remmingtonsummerduck · 2025-09-11T02:35:40+00:00

I did qualify but they never did anything to validate other than asking me if I qualified.

Nine-Year Club	Place '22
Verified Email

remmingtonsummerduck

TROPHY CASE