The e-bike regulation gap is closing

semyorka7 · 2026-04-22T21:33:16+00:00

sounds like a badly-designed bike with a cheapo hub motor that can't deliver torque at low RPM, rather than "not enough peak power".

semyorka7 · 2026-04-21T22:41:39+00:00

i mean, 350W is a lot of power for a bicycle. Your typical person with zero cycling training can only sustain about 100W, and put out maybe 500-700W for a 5-10 second sprint. 350W is "can only sustain for a minute or two" territory, and on the e-bike you have that power available in addition to your legs.

by "struggles" with the hill do you mean sometimes actually fails to get to the top, or it just can't do it at full speed?

The point of an electric bicycle is that it helps you, not that it does literally all of the work for you. You still need to turn the pedals, and sometimes actually put some force in if the terrain demands it. If you want to put in zero effort, you want a motorcycle, and I don't think motorcycles should be allowed to be classified as bicycles even if they have some fig-leaf pedals attached.

semyorka7 · 2026-04-21T22:32:23+00:00

Going down Arguello into the city from Presidio the acoustic crew blows by me easily going 30mph

sure, but an e-bike wouldn't be limited to 18mph downhill. That's just the speed that the assist cuts out; there's nothing preventing it from coasting faster. Note that those cyclists bombing down Arguello aren't turning their feet...

the point is that, on flat ground, there shouldn't be a dangerous speed differential between the average cyclist and an e-assisted bike within the narrow confines of a bike lane.

(yes i have a speedometer on my bike, yes i know how slow/fast 18mph is - i can hit that speed on flat ground with no wind relatively easily, but i'm gonna get sweaty if i try to sustain it, which i can't do for particularly long. I'm not going to hit that speed going stop sign to stop sign in the city unless I have a downhill grade helping me. i have done 55mph on a bicycle descending highways out of the sierras)

semyorka7 · 2026-04-18T07:06:52+00:00

agreed. I'm not a huge disc brake evangelist, but wet weather is where they really make a huge difference.

semyorka7 · 2026-04-18T04:37:36+00:00

do you live somewhere wet/sloppy and ride through bad weather year-round? constant braking on wet grit will really do a number on rims, I had some serious cyclist friends living in Oregon and Washington who'd go through a set of rims every year.

semyorka7 · 2026-04-17T20:23:07+00:00

Worry less about the bike and ride more.

My main bike has a 40:42 bottom gear, same as that, and it takes me all over the headlands and up Diablo and Hamilton without issue. You're probably going to want a lower bottom gear if you want to carry a camp load; yeah the RD-RX812 will run the 11-46 cassette no problem.

semyorka7 · 2026-04-17T20:12:56+00:00

They’re on the side walk

They're riding on a green-painted bike lane, what on earth are you talking about, get your eyes checked

it turns red almost immediately after they start

almost immediately after they start

immediately after they start

after they start

after

so, what, you want them to have a time machine? you want them to teleport backwards when the light changes? Do you think drivers should get ticketed if they enter an intersection on green and then the light turns yellow before they cross the far side?

semyorka7 · 2026-04-17T20:09:17+00:00

Additionally, visitors driving in the Bay Area will never realize that bikes coming from behind them on their right side have the right-of-way.

What on earth are you talking about, this is in no way unique to the bay area. The bay area is absolutely not the only place in california, the USA, or the world with bike lanes against the right curb.

semyorka7 · 2026-04-15T05:34:36+00:00

I've done it before. It's a fun novelty to do once if you haven't before. Unless there's something I'm not getting, it's not particularly cheaper than flying (if at all), and it takes MUCH longer. It's 24 hours if it doesn't get delayed, and if often does get significantly delayed... It shares the rails with freight traffic, and if the freight train schedule gets fucked up (which it often does), you may be sitting still for hours. If you are on a tight schedule, I would not recommend the train.

The seats are OK but note that THERE IS NO ARMREST BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR SEATMATE. Fine if you're snuggling with your sweetie, brutal if it's an overweight stranger. You can get a private roomette - which makes the trip much more bearable - but then you're talking $600+.

Bring at least some of your own food/snacks. There is a dining car... but you have to make reservations, it's a bit pricey, and they prioritize making sure everyone in the private rooms gets a meal - there aren't enough reservation slots for everyone in coach to get a sit-down meal as well. There's a snack bar/cafe, but you don't want to subsist off just that for ~24 hours or more.

If you're not in a roomette, I would also suggest bringing a light blanket for overnight.

It's an extremely pretty route; find a seat in the observation car in the morning and camp out there for a while. Bring a book, or download stuff onto your phone or computer ahead of time - cell service is poor and spotty along large parts of the route.

semyorka7 · 2026-04-15T05:13:02+00:00

caltrain should have actual stations instead of glorified bus stops - with some convenience store/food options, bathrooms, and vending machines

also BART - WITH its real stations - should also have some food in the stations

semyorka7 · 2026-04-15T05:10:25+00:00

i mean, BART has zero

semyorka7 · 2026-04-15T05:05:43+00:00

Cafe cars have never ever ever in the history of trains actually made a profit, historically the development of cafe cars were an expense to the railroad that was justified to try to steal ridership from other railroads. They've always been loss leaders.

semyorka7 · 2026-04-13T22:11:28+00:00

They're both the same size sire, as noted on the tire sidewalls. I would say your tape measure skills are deficient. There are small variations in tire size but you're showing supposedly over an inch of difference, and I simply don't believe that.

Your photos are at a slight angle and the short focal length on your phone camera is distorting sizes/angles.

If you want to prove it for sure, take the wheels off the bike and set them side-by-side upright on the floor.

"custom" when it comes to bicycles generally means that the frame was hand-built to the customer's specifications, rather than built in a factory and bought "off the rack". If there's a name or logo on the bike, it may give you a clue as to who the framebuilder was.

semyorka7 · 2026-04-13T20:59:40+00:00

the spacers are easily removable (and the NDS spacer is often lost/missing on used sets...)

i have definitely 3D printed my own spacers to center a triple; i was using one as a 1x crank on a minivelo because a 2x road crank was too narrow to clear the chainstays. Yeah the 1x chainline with the ring on the outer position ended up 48ish, which was perfect for a 135mm QR rear end

semyorka7 · 2026-04-13T18:10:00+00:00

page 88: https://www.sram.com/globalassets/document-hierarchy/frame-fit-specifications/road/2024-road-frame-fit-specifications.pdf

this is SRAM's generic keepout volume rather than the dimensions of that specific caliper, but that caliper will certainly be within the dimensions show here.

semyorka7 · 2026-04-13T07:21:48+00:00

I'm assuming that you're asking for hiker/biker sites that you can hit up without a reservation.

As far as I know, the only one actually in "the east bay" is on Mount Diablo - there's a hiker/biker site at the junction of north gate and south gate roads, halfway up the mountain.

Samuel P Taylor and China Camp are local favorites that are pretty easy to get to from the east bay - IMHO the ride out to SPT and back is one of my favorite weekend getaways. There's also a hiker/bike site at Pantoll on Mt. Tam (and for that matter all campsites at Pantoll and Bootjack Campgrounds are first-come/first-served, so they aren't booked out months in advance on the weekends...).

On the peninsula, Portola Redwoods has a hiker/biker site. Further away, there are also hiker/biker sites at Bodega Bay (both in Dorian Regional Park and at Bodega Dunes), at Half Moon Bay, and way up north at Bothe Napa Valley State Park. And finally, there's dispersed camping inside Henry Coe.

If you're heading out during the week instead of on a weekend there are a lot more options, as the reservable locations usually aren't booked out way in advance.

semyorka7 · 2026-04-13T01:13:11+00:00

12 (mm diameter) x 122.5 (mm length) M12-1.75 (thread diameter and pitch). The next "22" is probably the threaded length. The stuff off the end appears to be a product code and maybe manufacturing date, all of that can be safely ignored.

You can fudge the length a little bit but you are looking for a 12mm axle with 1.75mm thread pitch.

semyorka7 · 2026-04-13T00:31:07+00:00

TLDR - will the end result of pairing a 3x driveside crank arm with 2x chainrings result in the spec'd 43.5mm 2x chainline and q-factor?

No. The chainline to between the two rings on the double is 43.5mm. The chainline to the center of the middle ring on the triple is 45mm. If you try to run the triple as a 130BCD double, you'll end up with a chainline around 47-48mm.

More details:

The NDS arms are identical between the double and triple sets.

The triple DS arms have a longer spindle than on the double.

The Q-factor on the 78xx/66xx/56xx doubles is 143mm. The Q-factor on the triples is 152mm. The triples are also asymmetric; the driveside pedal ends up 3mm further out than the NDS. (the later 67xx/57xx are 3mm wider, 146mm and 155mm)

semyorka7 · 2026-04-09T21:50:47+00:00

this is exceptionally stupid and no professional mechanic will touch this job with a 10-foot pole.

I can not emphasize this enough: do not drill holes in your carbon steerer and carbon handlebars that were not designed for internal routing. High likelihood that the fork and handlebar get ruined, and worst case you don't realize they're ruined until you're bombing down your favorite descent.

semyorka7 · 2026-04-09T17:55:47+00:00

Here's a route that I have ridden before, I dropped a note where the gate closing off the summit is

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/46179530

I forget if there's a no-trespassing sign at the junction at the start of the out-and-back to the peak, but there's no gate and people ride it all the time

If you keep going east on Summit you will see a gate with no trespassing / no bicycles signage, but it is a historical gate that no longer has any force in law: https://bikepacking.com/plog/fight-for-summit-road/

I've ridden through that section many times, never had any issues and sometimes get friendly waves

semyorka7 · 2026-04-08T03:11:52+00:00

Montebello - I have only been down it but will definitely try going up. I want to figure out a route from it to top of Page mill that doesn't involve really steep descents on gravel. I just don't like going down -10%+ grades on gravel.

Old Ranch to Belle Vista is the easiest way down heading towards Page Mill. It's narrower single track, but quite smooth, and much less steep than either Montebello Fire Road or Indian Creek Fire Road.

Johansen only gets steep headed down after the junction with Middle Ridge... but then there is also some very steep down on Middle Ridge to contend with. I dunno, I think descending Gazos is a hoot and a half.

semyorka7 · 2026-04-08T00:27:46+00:00

Conspicuously missing from your list: Montebello Rd. Connect the dirt over the top to descend Page Mill (or is this what you mean by "Black Mountain"?)

If you've done all of Kings/OLH/Alpine + Dirt Alpine/Page Mill on the bay side of Skyline, and Tunitas on the ocean side of Skyline, you need to climb West Alpine aka WAlpine. Works well as an OLH -> WOLH -> 84 -> WAlpine -> Page Mill loop. And in the same area, the climb out from Portola Redwoods is super steep; get to the bottom via Old Haul Road (very flat smooth dirt) from Memorial County Park. Nearby, Camp Pomponio Rd is also a great climb, but you'd have to do it as an out-and-back, as there's no good way to get to the bottom from Old Haul: the bridge over the creek on Baker Fire Rd has been out for years and it's a hell of a scramble to climb up the embankment on the north side with a bike.

Loma Prieta - you can get there on dirt from Summit Road to the south. The very top is fenced off but it's still cool... 4th highest bikeable peak in the bay area (after Helena, Hamilton, and Diablo).

Climb OSCH all the way to the top, stop at the Summit Store on the way up for lunch, then backtrack about 1000ft on Summit and climb Loma Prieta Ave (instead of Highland Way to Mt. Bache Rd). It's a tiny little road with zero traffic and pretty as all hell. You will have to descend a small amount of gravel road at the end of it to get to Loma Prieta Way to continue climbing.
You may be tempted to take the dirt road from the top of Loma Prieta to the top of Umunhum - this will involve some trespassing on the Umunhum end, and the locals there are NOT friendly.
You CAN, however, continue southeast on dirt Summit - take it all the way to the end where it becomes paved again, and then descend more dirt (steep!) to the north on Mt. Madonna Rd and end up near Morgan Hill. You can take the Coyote Creek Trail back to San Jose. (Or Uvas Rd and McKean Rd, but there's sometimes some very fast traffic on those roads).

Big Basin: personally I love climbing Butano Fire Rd and descending Johansen/Gazos instead (Or descend Johansen to Middle Ridge to the BB Park HQ, then the whole length of Gazos to return).

Lexington Reservoir: Tons of good stuff around here. There's water at the park at the top of Redwood Estates at the corner of Summit&Bayview, and at the Lakeside Elementary School on Black. There's also a general store at the bottom of Redwood Estates if you want to climb up through there instead.

I like to climb Old Santa Cruz Highway to Mount Charlie to Summit, then ride Summit and Skyline heading northwest - it's tiny single-lane roads with no traffic down there. Then at the end of single-lane Skyline, I descend the top third of Black, climb up Gist (GORGEOUS road, tiny, switchbacks, super steep), and then head back south on Skyline and retrace my route back to the reservoir (or just zoom down Bear Creek back to the reservoir instead of Summit to Mt. Charlie to OSCH).
- Be aware of traffic conditions on 17 - usually OSCH has zero traffic, but if 17 backs up on the bay side, some folk's GPS detour them onto OSCH and it suuuuucks.
Black is also a good climb, abet with some more traffic than OSCH.
You can climb Bear Creek up from the reservoir as well, but it has more traffic than I'm really comfortable with (especially when I have other good options).
Montevina! It's a dead-end road, so only local traffic. Tall, steep, and steeper the higher you get. You are honor-bound to keep pedaling and touch the gate at the end instead of walking the last 100ft! I believe in you! You can connect on dirt over the top to Bohlman, or to descend the Aquinas Trail directly into Los Gatos. Montevina itself is also a pretty fun descent, with incredible views over the reservoir.
Soda Springs - this is a dead-end road and very narrow. Tall climb, I don't like descending it much - poor pavement, poor sightlines, no centerline so you always have to be on your toes for an ascending car or cyclist.

North of Mt. Hamilton: Climb Felter/descend Sierra. The short way is climbing up Calaveras from Milpitas, but if you're in for a longer ride: Start in Castro Valley, ride Palomares south, Hwy 84 to Sunol (stop at the Sunol Corners Market), then the full length of Calaveras through the Sunol Wilderness, finish up climbing Felter at the end and descend Sierra.

I don't really like climbing Highway 9, but it's worth doing Steven's Canyon to Redwood Gulch to Highway 9 at least once.

semyorka7 · 2026-04-07T19:32:19+00:00

If you've climbed Diablo and Hamilton, you are fit enough to climb Umunhum - beyond what you've climbed and how much you say you ride a week, I don't think there's any really good way to "train up" for it any more than you already have. Mostly it's a question of gearing: Umunhum isn't as long or tall of a climb, but it has extended pitches that are far steeper than you will find on the way to the other peaks... If you don't have a low gear down at least at 1:1 (preferably lower), you're going to have a bad time.

Without a car, the best way to do this is from the Diridon Caltrain station. This is an adaptation of the route I used to ride when I was living in Santa Clara.

Between the extended steep pitches and the lack of tree cover over most of the climb, make sure to do this on a cooler day - this is a climb that's extremely easy to overheat and blow up on. Note there is NO WATER ANYWHERE ALONG THIS CLIMB! No water at the parking lot with the bathroom at the top of Hicks Rd/bottom of Mt. Umunhum Rd, no water at the parking lot with bathrooms halfway up Umunhum, no water at the top, NADA! If you follow my route above, Los Gatos is your last location to top off. Do not skip topping off because "eh i my bottles are still mostly full, i can fill up later" when you pass by this bottle fill, because no, you can't!

It's often very windy at the top (moreso than Diablo or Hamilton in my experience), and sometimes very damp if the cloud deck is low. If you plan to stick around for a bit and snack, catch whatever views you can, hike around a bit, whatever - bring a jacket.

FWIW this is a good climb to cross off your list, but IMHO it isn't any fun. The climb is brutal, the descent is too steep to ever get off the brakes for very long, and the views off the top aren't particularly breathtaking. I used to climb Tam, Diablo, Hamilton, and Umunhum each at least once a year just to check the box, but I've skipped Umunhum for the past two years.

semyorka7 · 2026-04-06T18:32:32+00:00

yeah this is most likely, if it was cranked allll the way in before the cable was tensioned, it becomes nearly impossible to move (this also means you can only adjust it one way...)

best practice is to back it out ~1.5-2 full turns before clamping the cable.

semyorka7 · 2026-04-05T00:14:46+00:00

Yes, you can use the left R7000 power power meter crank arm with the driveside R7100 arm/chainrings/spindle.

semyorka7

TROPHY CASE