I mean their marketing/product description copy has this fun, undefined caveat, "The new, even more resistant material makes punctures impossible during normal use."

Once I can ride again I guess I'll run these through Cunningham and see how they hold up.

I've been running tubeless but considering picking up a tube to put in my saddle bag, just because they roll up so small. Not sure if Murphy's law would cause my $30 tube to pop first try or if it would prevent me from getting a flat because I could get them replaced for free. 

 different genres (i.e. road, CX/gravel, and MTB) use wholly different TPU formulas,” explained Tubolito’s US media relations agent, Logan Vonbokel of Haute Route Media. “The X-Tubo also uses a wholly different TPU formula when compared to other models


Not sure Cunningham qualifies as "normal use" commuting 

But like Cunningham is my commute through life on my quest for inner peace, man. Where's the TPU formula for that??

RobertMullen said:

I've been running tubeless but considering picking up a tube to put in my saddle bag, just because they roll up so small. Not sure if Murphy's law would cause my $30 tube to pop first try or if it would prevent me from getting a flat because I could get them replaced for free. 

Let us know how this goes. Heard of tons of people that do this. Bet you $2 that the tubolito in the saddle bag will be flat/broken before you ever need to use it.

Haha true. This reminds me I should probably check how the tube I currently have in the saddlebag is holding up as it has been a few months since I’ve needed one. 

As soon as they're back in stock I plan to put those foam cores in the wheels of my gravel bike. Now that I'm fat & old I have to be honest with myself about where weight matters.

RobertMullen said:

Haha true. This reminds me I should probably check how the tube I currently have in the saddlebag is holding up as it has been a few months since I’ve needed one. 

put the butyl tube in a small ziplock bag with a little talcum powder shaken in.  or shake some talc onto the tube, roll it and wrap it in plastic wrap.  

Jules said:

As soon as they're back in stock I plan to put those foam cores in the wheels of my gravel bike. Now that I'm fat & old I have to be honest with myself about where weight matters.

Never.

eloy said:

Jules said:

As soon as they're back in stock I plan to put those foam cores in the wheels of my gravel bike. Now that I'm fat & old I have to be honest with myself about where weight matters.

Never.

I know. 

Had to service my SPD-SL pedals for the first time today after my right pedal basically seized up and cut my PP laps short. Pretty surprising as the pedals only had ~1,700 miles max

Pretty easy process to clean and regrease them. Hoping that this solves the creaking noise I am encountering when I pedal out of the saddle.

eloy said:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CQTvYr6hyJg/?utm_medium=copy_link

So I bought a Sram GX 12 speed chain around March and it snapped yesterday when I was pedaling uphill. I wasn’t doing anything crazy so I’m not really sure what happened. It wasn’t the quick link either, it was just a random link in the chain.

What are people’s thoughts on adding another quick link to re-connect the chain for future/ back up use? I don’t use my MTB as often as my road bike so I don’t think this chain is shot yet. I think I saw a video of a guy who made a whole chain out of quick links and he didn’t die, so I feel like it would probably be okay? Or is it not worth trying to squeeze a few more miles out of the chain.  

RobertMullen said:

So I bought a Sram GX 12 speed chain around March and it snapped yesterday when I was pedaling uphill. I wasn’t doing anything crazy so I’m not really sure what happened. It wasn’t the quick link either, it was just a random link in the chain.

What are people’s thoughts on adding another quick link to re-connect the chain for future/ back up use? I don’t use my MTB as often as my road bike so I don’t think this chain is shot yet. I think I saw a video of a guy who made a whole chain out of quick links and he didn’t die, so I feel like it would probably be okay? Or is it not worth trying to squeeze a few more miles out of the chain.  

Generally ok. I have done this once or twice when I cut the chain too short, or some other silly mistake, where I added a second quick link or pin.

That said, your chain broke without obvious cause or explanation, put it in the trash, and put a new one in place.

don't quite love this was Armstrong's, but the bike is a total beaut.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuaXp0Pzcv8

I mean the bike didn't pump itself full of PEDs and orchestrated an international conspiracy involving nearly the entire sport of professional road cycling to keep it hidden and used it's fame and power to destroy anyone who tried to expose it....





...or did it?

https://youtu.be/y8Kyi0WNg40

Not sure if this is the right forum.

A friend is thinking of a paint job for his bike, anyone has any recommendations??

DiegoSanchez said:

Not sure if this is the right forum.

A friend is thinking of a paint job for his bike, anyone has any recommendations??

Diego,

Paul Carbonara is a local rider who does fantastic custom paint and repair work. He also upgrade to Cat 1 when he was 50 so he's a bit of a legend.

DiegoSanchez said:

Not sure if this is the right forum.

A friend is thinking of a paint job for his bike, anyone has any recommendations??

Scroll through this thread and the 'new bike' thread as well.  I'm pretty sure Mark Taylor found someone at a pretty good price in Brooklyn.

@DiegoSanchez
Is it a steel or aluminum frame?

Carbonara also famously used to be a guitarist for Blondie.

Since my bike was stolen I was looking at a couple other options... thoughts?

https://newyork.craigslist.org/brx/bik/d/bronx-monkey-mini-clown-bike/7346932511.html

That suspension would probably be good for some gravel 

Im starting to look at new bikes and would love some advice if anyone has any thoughts...
Ideally I'd love a more aggressive geometry and one that leans more towards road than gravel that I could also put 35/38's on and do some gravel here and there; time wise the split would be 90-95% road and 5-10% gravel but I want the option ideally. I'd use the bike for road races, etc. Not open to having two bikes as I already bought a steel 80's beater and don't have room for a third bike.

I was looking at things like the Allied Echo, Litespeed Ultimate Gravel with a road gruppo, Mosaic GT-1 with road gruppo, Specialized Crux. The used market is ROUGH right now so options are limited. I'm also open to building something from frame up. Thanks for the help all!

StephenAschkenes said:

Im starting to look at new bikes and would love some advice if anyone has any thoughts...

Talk to redbeard.

@eloy - Yes Im going over there tomorrow to talk with Ilya

Ive spent a lot of time searching for the one bike quiver killer. I’ve been riding my Crux with road tires pretty much full time these days and it’s the closest I’ve come. It is great, pretty competitive weight-wise and feels plenty aggressive for fast riding (more so than a gravel/endurance road bike might). It’s good on the road and very fun off road. 

 The biiiigest limitation to do-it-all builds is gearing. Ideally, you’d have 2x but I’m not sure how that would work out on the Crux or these other builds. If you stick with the 1x, the standard 40x11-32 will get you through 90% of group rides and p much all gravel or cross races (obv). You probably wouldn’t have a big enough gear to be comfortable in a park race or any sustained rides over 24mph or so. You could toss on a bigger chainring for road races but that is pretty inconvenient.

StephenAschkenes said:

Im starting to look at new bikes and would love some advice if anyone has any thoughts...
Ideally I'd love a more aggressive geometry and one that leans more towards road than gravel that I could also put 35/38's on and do some gravel here and there; time wise the split would be 90-95% road and 5-10% gravel but I want the option ideally. I'd use the bike for road races, etc. Not open to having two bikes as I already bought a steel 80's beater and don't have room for a third bike.

I was looking at things like the Allied Echo, Litespeed Ultimate Gravel with a road gruppo, Mosaic GT-1 with road gruppo, Specialized Crux. The used market is ROUGH right now so options are limited. I'm also open to building something from frame up. Thanks for the help all!

The market is rough.  There's a global bike shortage.

That written, you might want to hone in on what you thought of your stolen bike, as a way to think about your next.

"aggressive" is actually an elusive term, meaning many different things, depending on the person and the situation.  

find a geometry chart of your stolen bike.  know your stem length and angle and how many spacers you had underneath.  Knowing where your handlebar was in relation to the bottom bracket of your old bike can inform you as to positioning on the next.  (that's assuming you were happy with the position).  Look into stack and reach numbers.

I'll toot my horn here a bit.  I wrote a four-part series on road bike geometry.  It might help you understand what you were experiencing on your old bike and give you some insight into what geometry to consider for your next bike.  It starts here: https://jralong.com/2018/10/03/making-sense-of-bicycle-geometry/

Now as for a road racing bike that can handle tires up to 38mm, there's good news and bad news.  Good news; you can race anything, as you'll adapt to whatever you have.  Bad news; expecting a bike to feel like a 'road racing bike' that can fit 38mm tires is a tall order.  Right now 'road racing' bikes that have rotor discs can probably handle 30-32mm tires at most; chances are they built the bike around the user riding 24-26mm tires.  Allroad bikes can fit up to 35mm tires, and these bikes probably have a sweet spot between 30-35mm.  There are a few places where these things impact the ride.  First is chain stay length.  the longer they get, the more you're likely to notice the bike not feeing as 'responsive' from accelerations.  the second is trail.  Depending on how the bike was designed, the trail numbers could end up feeling 'twitchy' with narrow racing tires.  The  third is bottom bracket height.  The narrower the tire, the lower the BB.  This might not be a big deal--until it is.  

And a general thought--All road bikes, not 'allroad' bikes are gravel bikes.  I think for 10% gravel, you could get away with a bike that could fit 30mm tires, which is where most rotor disc equipped road racing bikes are these days.  

How many miles are people getting out of GP5000s?

I had only one flat in 1900 miles of riding, and in the past week, I’ve gotten three, two on my front wheel and one on the back. Wondering if 2k miles is typical.

Also, anyone know where I can buy the new tan sidewall version of the GP5000s?