Brendan Rigby said:

@jim_nelson what is that dynamo front hub in your lovely waterford i saw at redbeard earlier today?

Schmidt Son28

http://www.nabendynamo.de/produkte/son_28_en.html

crank arm length for track?  I ride 170's on the road....anyone?

twoyacks said:

crank arm length for track?  I ride 170's on the road....anyone?

short answer: stick to the same length.  

slightly longer answer: there used to be a 'track consensus' to go with cranks 2.5-5mm shorter.  The premise has been tested.  It doesn't make you any faster on the track.  And in terms of adaptation, if it makes you feel less comfortable, you probably won't go as fast.

I used to run 170's on my track bike and 172.5 on the road.  This year, I tried 172.5 for the track, and my moving back-and-forth was much easier.

thanks

I run 175's on my CX bike and 172.5's on the road. Mostly because I hate it when life is too easy.

my experiment with larger tires on the commuter begins.  comfortable but potentially slower commutes await!


curious to see how it works out.  

edit: FYI the tires are technically rated as 30mm tires, but on the wide rims they become 32mm wide 

Brendan I commuted on 27" wheels with 32mm tires for a year. Youll notice the comfort with barely any difference in "speed" especially if you're using a rack with panniers.

David Yang said:

Brendan I commuted on 27" wheels with 32mm tires for a year. Youll notice the comfort with barely any difference in "speed" especially if you're using a rack with panniers.

day 1 ride 1 confirms this.  commute time nearly identical but much more comfortable.  feels much better while hitting all those potholes with 20 pounds of stuff on the back of the bike

Not sure if you have separate "commuting" wheels, but my favorite tires were Vittoria Randonneuring.  I really abused those things and never once got a flat.  By the time I sold the bike/wheels they were on, those tires were still in excellent shape.  Probably not the most plush with thick sidewalls, but I recommend them if you don't want to deal with fixing flats on the road.  Schwalbe Marathon series have also treated me well.  Over 8 years and many thousands of commuting miles on my Brompton, I caught exactly one flat, coincidentally while I was cat 6 racing up the Manhattan bridge against another random Brompton rider (he was cheating - had a titanium frame and custom gearing!).

http://cyclingtips.com/2016/08/cyclingtips-podcast-episode-9-rethinking-road-bike-tire-sizes-and-pressures/

The gist: our perception of speed is skewed, and wider tires at lower PSI are faster for everything except the most aero and perfect pavement situations.

I did build separate commuting wheels.  32 spokes! Was going to post about them at some point. Very happy with them so far. They are I think somewhere in the 1500g range and only cost about $300. Disc brake tubeless

I love a good cat 6 commuting race. It's a win win: if I drop them its because I'm so fast. If they drop me its because my panniers are so heavy! An excuse for every outcome 

need mtb pedals....haven't ridden a mtb in about 10 years so what are all the kids riding these days???

Shimano PD M540 is cheap, reliable, and rebuildable, easy to get cleats for if yours break (apparently it happens to JPow?).  They make a more expensive version, similar but lighter and more awesomer, the PD-M9000

thanks...and don't this thing look purdy....
http://www.raleighusa.com/bikes/road/cyclocross/rxs

@Dan Reiners listened to that podcast on the drive home tonight and it pretty much convinced me to get fatter tires and run them at loooow pressures on latex tubes.

Did I ever talk about how freaked out I got on the CT Challenge charity ride on lower pressure tires and latex tubes this summer?  I was bombing down a giant hill, steeper and longer than after state line on 9W, and it felt so eerily smooth like when your tire is deflating.  Had a mild panic attack thinking how bad it would be washing out due to a flat going that fast.  So I carefully slowed, stopped and found no flat tire, just the buttery smooth feeling of lower pressure and latex tubes.  It is still a weird feeling when I'm out on those wheels and going fast.  Feels like I'm rolling around on marshmallows.

twoyacks said:

thanks...and don't this thing look purdy....
http://www.raleighusa.com/bikes/road/cyclocross/rxs

OOH YEAH! YAK'S BACK!



(but seriously f*ck you in ear for waiting till after I leave town to come back to CX - and I say that with love)

twoyacks said:

need mtb pedals....haven't ridden a mtb in about 10 years so what are all the kids riding these days???

+1 on the Shimano M540 - redbeard can probably get them for you at a killer price

eloy said:

twoyacks said:

need mtb pedals....haven't ridden a mtb in about 10 years so what are all the kids riding these days???

+1 on the Shimano M540 - redbeard can probably get them for you at a killer price

oh and because we know that yacks is so delicate with hsi equipment, he could also consider making them lighter through aftermarket titanium axles.

and while that raleigh is purdy, this giant would cost you less and wouldn't be SINGLE SPEED

twoyacks said:

thanks...and don't this thing look purdy....
http://www.raleighusa.com/bikes/road/cyclocross/rxs

the guy who complains of knee issues is going single speed?  Makes sense.

I know there's some serious Shimano love here, but I'm a fan of Crank Brothers.  the first few generations of pedals needed more care, but the past few have been excellent (I use eggbeaters, but the Candys have the same cleat mechanism)

yeah the more i look at it the more i cannot understand why that single-speed raleigh with few parts worth writing home about is ~$200 more than the giant with 11-speed shimano 105...  wow.  economies of scale?  the raleigh looks nicer, sure, but the bike offers so much less

Nvm its carbon and ze giant is aluminum.  Pricing makes more sense now 

Yacks

+1 for the Crank Brothers pedals. either the Candy or the Eggbeaters are great. I have both and they're both amazeballs. You can get them anywhere on the spectrum of So-cheap-must-be-hot to spend-money-like-hedgefund-partner.

They're rebuild-able so when your corrosive sweat eventually seizes the bearings you can slap brand new ones in and ride away like nothing happened.

But like all contact points, these are just my opinions and YMMV. 

Also why does Yacks want a carbon CX bike? He doesn't like it on the road, why would he want it in a crashier discipline?

Brendan Rigby said:

eloy said:

twoyacks said:

need mtb pedals....haven't ridden a mtb in about 10 years so what are all the kids riding these days???

+1 on the Shimano M540 - redbeard can probably get them for you at a killer price

oh and because we know that yacks is so delicate with hsi equipment, he could also consider making them lighter through aftermarket titanium axles.

and while that raleigh is purdy, this giant would cost you less and wouldn't be SINGLE SPEED

Singlespeed keeps it fair for you pikers to keep up with me.  Peeps be getting all exciteballs...but no I'm not prepared to don a leotard and pirouette over obstacles...not yet anyway.  I'm just gettin my old Santa Cruz mtb functioning again.  A carbon single speed cross bike with discs is the antithesis of everything i likes about bikes...

Why is that fairy not bunny hopping the barriers?* 

*This is a guess that it is a fairy, I cannot tell without a magic wand to confirm.  

does that even qualify as a barrier ???

I think that's a low curb...

Anyone have experience with the Crud MK3 fenders? 

http://www.crudproducts.com/roadracer-mk3/

jim_nelson said:

Anyone have experience with the Crud MK3 fenders? 

http://www.crudproducts.com/roadracer-mk3/

The mounting seems like a solution (mostly) to the problem of paint getting abraided under any contact point.

The Crud fenders look easier to pop on/off than the usual SKS race blades that use the rubber stuff.  I'm assuming it attachments are more in line with the EZ pass mounts than plain old hook and loop velcro.

Also like JP said, you don't have to wrap your fork and stays with electrical tape or whatever if you don't want paint rub.