Who rides bicycles here?

[Corvette.Jeff]

Jody,let me check my bicycle stash,i stripped my gitane to restore it,but i went with a different direction.

I still have everything that went on it,it was a 10 speed.

if not i have a Pacific i use for parts, im not sure how many speeds but its a newer bike.

Jeff

[Smart-Resins]

Very cool.That would be appreciated. Ill need 2-3 weeks to catch up on my bills as things has gone south for a short. I am sure that will give ya some time to look and figure things out. Then we can talk biz. Thanks. Jody

[jbwelda]

jody i did a little research on recumbent bikes uphill, and it appears they do just fine. requires adjusting your riding style a bit but most everything i read said the uphill "problem" is largely urban legend. so there you go. i just dont like them because you are too low to the ground and it is harder to see you from a car than a normal upright bike. but probably if i rode one much i would fall in love with it.

[Deckerz]

This is my bike a barracuda kinsei, tbh i don't really like it but it gets me from A to B, i want to build a custom bike, paint n all, i just need to get my hands on the frame im looking for.

[FORDSVTPARTS]

New high dollar bikes are nice but you can get into a classic steel/aluminum frame 10 speed for under $300.00 for a really nice one.

Here's my finally finished 1980 Raleigh Super Grand Prix, Just did eleven miles this morning on it.

After this mornings ride I noticed the ancient front tire had finally given up the ghost so I picked up a new set of Continental road tires bringing my total investment in this bike to $60.00.

This is my other bike, 1972 Peugeot UO8, I'm considering brining it to an upcoming vintage bike meet and see what it'll bring in the for sale corrall.

[Modelmartin]

Steve, I love your Raleighs and the Peugeot. I have 3 Raleighs and a Peugeot "kit" in my garage. The Raleighs are a 76 Sprite 5 speed with full fenders and a rack that my dad bought new and never rode. It's the one I put the most miles on. I also have an 80s 10 speed Capri that is almost mint as bought off Craig's list for $80. I also have another 80s Olympian 12 speed that I got free. All it needed was air in the tires.

The Peugeot project started when a neighbor gave me his mom's mixte since she couldn't ride anymore. I found a taller men's frame on Craig's list, decals from Australia on Ebay and also handlebars and pedals off of Ebay. I just need to find some cool Peugeot aluminum fenders and I will be ready for the rebuild.

[Corvette.Jeff]

the parts from the Gitane are 10 speed parts,and the pacific is a 21 speed. i have some more stuff layin around somewhere.

[oversteer]

Dept store bikes are an absolute waste of your time and energy.Dept store bikes use the absolute cheapest components,frame material and design.Understand that full suspension bikes are normally for people that compete or the serious rider.You do not need a FS bike for commuting.A"hardtail" is the way to go,they are lighter to get you up any inclines efficiently.Dept store brands just try to emmulate.First of all people need to know what they want,if all ur doing is riding tarmac bike trails then a hartail with a rigid fork will do,you don't even need many gears.

I have a s/s chromoly frame(rigid fork) mtn bike with disc brakes and this serves me just fine for training rides when I don't want to ride my road bike.Those Dept store bikes must be very uncomfortable,especially with the horrible geometry.As for the other end of the spectrum,I once had 5 bikes at once and 3 of them were over 5k at the time.You do not have to spend 5k to get a suitible bike and you certainly dont have to spend that much just to ride on the weekends.I never buy bikes off the rack,I always pice together what components I want on it.The first expensive bike that I bought was a Jamis Dragon man what a sweet ride that was I should never have sold it.

Those Schwinns are very very nice!I love the cranks and the chainrings.

[70elcamino]

Picked up all 3 of these over the years at Goodwill.

The first one is a Sting Ray.

Next another Schwinn with lots of Schwinn accessories, lights,bell,speedometer, mirror, basket and tray.

Next is my daily driver, so to speak, Schwinn Cross-Fit.

I have picked up other cool bikes at Goodwill, racing bikes other Schwinns, ever a VW bike ,but I have sold them.

Russell

[Smart-Resins]

Some nice bikes there. the best bike I ever owned was a brand new barracuda in 94. The most exspensive one at just over a grand with tax. Also the shortest lived bike i ever had. owned it one week and never got to ride it before it was stolen! Man I was pissed. never saw it now any recompensation for it! As for the parts, I think a 21 speed i might prefer, but we will need to talk price before i go deciding. But there is some hills here and changing up and down sometimes happens on a constant occassion! LOL. Jody

[FORDSVTPARTS]

Steve, I love your Raleighs and the Peugeot. I have 3 Raleighs and a Peugeot "kit" in my garage. The Raleighs are a 76 Sprite 5 speed with full fenders and a rack that my dad bought new and never rode. It's the one I put the most miles on. I also have an 80s 10 speed Capri that is almost mint as bought off Craig's list for $80. I also have another 80s Olympian 12 speed that I got free. All it needed was air in the tires.

The Peugeot project started when a neighbor gave me his mom's mixte since she couldn't ride anymore. I found a taller men's frame on Craig's list, decals from Australia on Ebay and also handlebars and pedals off of Ebay. I just need to find some cool Peugeot aluminum fenders and I will be ready for the rebuild.

Thanks, The Raleigh is turning out to be the find or the century for me since I'm 6'6" it's really hard to find a used bike that fits me properly.

I absolutely love the Peugeot and it rides like a dream but I'm just a bit cramped on it which makes long rides a chore, When I did the eleven miles yesterday on the Raleigh I had no idea I had gone that far until I got home and mapped my ride on Googlemaps.

Did my normal short ride this morning which I just found out is a tick under four miles which is a nice quick ride.

This is another Raleigh I got for free (can't believe my luck) that my eleven year old son has been riding, It's a 1984 Raleigh 12 speed and he stays right with me on it.

This one needed nothing but air in the tires and a seat although I have now replaced both tires because they were the originals when we got it.

[jbwelda]

this thread is way off topic so im going to take it a bit further off topic by swerving into swap meet territory here:

anyone have a 60s or earlier Schwinn brand chrome bullet head lamp that does NOT run off a generator...has batteries inside? and probably a bakelite switch on top? if so please shoot me a PM and maybe we can work out a swap, i have lots of vintage schwinn parts and other stuff.

cool

[FORDSVTPARTS]

this thread is way off topic so im going to take it a bit further off topic by swerving into swap meet territory here:

anyone have a 60s or earlier Schwinn brand chrome bullet head lamp that does NOT run off a generator...has batteries inside? and probably a bakelite switch on top? if so please shoot me a PM and maybe we can work out a swap, i have lots of vintage schwinn parts and other stuff.

cool

How is it off topic? It's a thread about bikes.

[PatRedmond]

I think this is my speed. Fat guy....short commutes......

Here's what i use most of the time. It's a Specialized Globe, set up for commuting. I only drive when I have to.

[Smart-Resins]

Well, went for another good ride today. Bent a front gear, brakes came loose. The derailers are also out of whack now. No to mention just about everything squeeks. LOL. Great cheap bike. LOL. Jody

[Terry Jessee]

I have two. This one:

And this one:

Terry

[Smart-Resins]

I like the first one! But I cant seem to find the pedals on that second one. Too much wieght in the way! Sure would hate to have to pedal that one uphil! ROFLMBO! Jody

[jbwelda]

>How is it off topic? It's a thread about bikes.

its a website about car models.

[FORDSVTPARTS]

>How is it off topic? It's a thread about bikes.

its a website about car models.

You better stay away from the automotive forums then, they go horribly off topic on a regular basis

It's threads like this that really bring a community together, you learn peoples other interests outside just scale modelling.

[Smart-Resins]

I totally agree with that! Its these threads also that help create new online friendships. Also I see it no more off topic then someone buying a new car, or having kids or getting a new dog or girlfriend. But I never seem to see someone complain about those! LOL. Beside, we also already gotten a kahonas approval here. LOL. Anyways.....

Dragged a bike in here to tear apart in the mean time to fix my rider beater up for now so I can keep riding it. First thing is first though, getting my mower deck welded back up after a horrible horrible incident with a unseen rock so I can get back to work! Jody

[jbwelda]

wfe

[Smart-Resins]

Thatoneemokid, PM sent

[Jim Gibbons]

I have a handbike; I'm disabled and this allows me to still ride. Imagine the back half of a wheelchair with a long, steeply angled front fork with pedals where the handlebars would be. I have a bit of work to do on it, though, as I moved a couple of years ago, and it's a bit hillier here than my former neighborhood. It has a 3 speed hub, but it's geared on the high side, so I either have to opt for a 7 speed hub, or change the front "pedal" sprocket. I would like to get it going again, as they opened the old Poughkeepsie Railroad bridge over the Hudson River as a walkway/ bikeway near my house, and that would be a great ride.

[Smart-Resins]

Sounds very cool! Love to see ya get it going again!

[Art Anderson]

Dept store bikes are an absolute waste of your time and energy.Dept store bikes use the absolute cheapest components,frame material and design.Understand that full suspension bikes are normally for people that compete or the serious rider.You do not need a FS bike for commuting.A"hardtail" is the way to go,they are lighter to get you up any inclines efficiently.Dept store brands just try to emmulate.First of all people need to know what they want,if all ur doing is riding tarmac bike trails then a hartail with a rigid fork will do,you don't even need many gears.

I have a s/s chromoly frame(rigid fork) mtn bike with disc brakes and this serves me just fine for training rides when I don't want to ride my road bike.Those Dept store bikes must be very uncomfortable,especially with the horrible geometry.As for the other end of the spectrum,I once had 5 bikes at once and 3 of them were over 5k at the time.You do not have to spend 5k to get a suitible bike and you certainly dont have to spend that much just to ride on the weekends.I never buy bikes off the rack,I always pice together what components I want on it.The first expensive bike that I bought was a Jamis Dragon man what a sweet ride that was I should never have sold it.

Those Schwinns are very very nice!I love the cranks and the chainrings.

I agree with you about "Department Store" bikes--as a rule they are little more than kid's "sidewalk" toys, often very cheaply built, down to a price point. Not only the mechanicals can be the lowest level, but all too often, the frames themselves are subject to cracked welds and the like--I've even seen my share that aren't even in alignment. While I denigrate "Chain Department Store" bikes as a general rule, my Iron Horse Maverick 4.2 came out of a very large chain sporting goods store, but it was the top level off-roader there, and easily matches the best of them out there IMO. At 24-spds, disc brakes, and fully sprung, it is one great commuter bike, especially on the streets & sidewalks I ride daily to and from work.

Some observations: For most people, an off-roader or cross-trainer makes perhaps more sense than an ultralightweight road or touring bike, depending of course on the riding environment. If one has access to really clean, smooth paved roads of dedicated paved bikeways, the lightweights with their skinny tires make a lot of sense. However, in a city such as this one, the frequently dirty streets (patches of sand and gravel seem to spring up from seeds here), chuckholes and such can be not only hard on the bike, but also on the rider as well. Even wet asphalt can be hazardous with the very small contact patch between a smooth tread and pavement. The wider tires of an offroader, hard or sprung, do go a long way to alleviating the hazards of road debris, and the newer Kevlar corded tires are almost tougher than any nail of shard of glass I might encounter as well. In addition, the cleated tread does minimize the chance of a spill should I encounter a ridge or crack in the pavement that is even close to parallel with the direction I am going. Disc brakes you say? with long hills on either side of the river valley here (it's downhill for a quarter mile, then uphill for a quarter mile every commute I make) and discs work infinitely better with that than any caliper-on-wheel rim I have ever had over the past 55-years. In addition, while I try never to start out if I know I am gonna get rained on, in the event that I do, rain absolutely does not affect my braking one bit (Last winter, I got surprised by a wet, slushy 2" snowfall, and nary a worry about wet slush in the brakes either!), where caliper brakes are always negatively affected to at least some degree by water (alloy rims and modern composite brake shoes have reduced that, nothing nearly as bad as rubber shoes on chrome-plated rims of only a couple of decades ago) On the downside, modern bicycle disc brakes do require a good bit more maintenance, in the form of regular adjustments, as their sintered bronze pads not only wear, they also glaze over, are subject to the occasional infiltration of grease or oil (with potential disastrous results) but nothing that an allen wrench, a can of lacquer thinner and a clean rag won't cure. Even so, those pads, in hilly situations like mine, do require replacement at regular intervals--for me, it's about every 2,500 miles or so (about 9-10 months of riding) and I will be replacing the rear rotor by this time next year (Yeah, sintered bronze brake pads will wear hard, polished stainless steel brake rotors, creating a channeling effect that makes it impossible for new pads to seat properly--but even that is a fairly small price to pay for really good, reliable braking).

Some thoughts on bike riding: Wear an approved helmet always--God gave you but one brain, and it doesn't like being injured, helmets worn are lots less expensive than a hospital stay with a brain injury, and your memory banks will love you for it as well!. And, for God's sake, if you are going to ride at night, GET A GOOD HEADLIGHT AND TAILLIGHT and use them! No need for generators anymore, and no need for changing out flashlight batteries every couple of weeks either--there are all manner of high brilliance Light Enhanced LED lights for bikes out there now, most of them with attention-grabbing strobe settings available (and I maintain that I would rather grab a motorist's attention a couple hundred feet AWAY from the front of his vehicle!), and these give as much as 400 hours of lighting from 4 AA batteries--not bad if you ask me! And, it goes without saying, obey all traffic laws and signals religiously--the body and life you save will most likely be yours.

Bike on!

Art