Whatcha riding, bicycle-wise?

[Jaybh1974]

I ride a 2011 Raleigh Talus 2.0

[nannahill]

What should I be riding or what do I have? I can hear my DH, XC and SS mountain bikes calling my name. And my roadie too.

[Jeff C]

I ride two bikes actually. My first one is a relatively short haul bike for my 1.5 mile one way commute to the subway. It is a 2007 Breezer Freedom upgraded with 7 speed Shimano Nexus IGH, sprung Brooks wide Saddle, 26 x 1.75 Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires and a nice English 3 (7) Speed look to it.

My other bike is more for my longer commutes all the way to work, 11 miles one way. It is a 2008 Novara (REI House Brand) Safari with trekking bars, disc brakes, SKS chromoplast fenders, Brooks Champion Flyer, 26 x 2.0 Schwalbe Marathon Supreme and triple chain ring and 9 speed in back set up.

I've but about 2000 miles total on both each year, about 10,000 miles total since I started bike commuting in 2007. Here is a photo of the Safari:

[Jeff C]

Ack I need a new bike. Bought my first one a couple of years ago (Trek 7000 commuter bike) and I've grown to hate it. The frame is so big and heavy it's not worth it to me to try and upgrade its parts. I just learned of a local bike shop that deals with used bikes and rebuilds - looks like a cool place owned by a dedicated bike mechanic. Sorry for the long cut & paste, but it's a pretty good read - I'd rather give this guy my business than to go through one of our "upscale" bike shops:

I live like 3 blocks from Bike Club. I've had mixed experiences there, one good, one not so good. They recently remodeled and I have not seen the new setup. There is another new bike store in Falls Church near the corner of West and Route 7 called Bikenetic. I've had best luck at Bikes at Vienna and Papillon. The later is less upscale, Bikes at Vienna has branched out and is designed to do more recumbent, trike business but got my Breezer there and have got great service from them.

[Borked]

Specialized Fatboy 415 BMX
Mongoose ??? MTB

[p.m.a.]

I live like 3 blocks from Bike Club. I've had mixed experiences there, one good, one not so good. They recently remodeled and I have not seen the new setup. There is another new bike store in Falls Church near the corner of West and Route 7 called Bikenetic. I've had best luck at Bikes at Vienna and Papillon. The later is less upscale, Bikes at Vienna has branched out and is designed to do more recumbent, trike business but got my Breezer there and have got great service from them.

Thanks for the info, I'll have to check those out. I live next door to Vienna, and have driven by Bikes several times. Maybe I'll ride over there via W&OD trail one of these weekends.

[BrewCommando]

I've had a Trek Liquid 55 for a long time and am recovering from a brief Strava addiction. Ready for an upgrade, but have re-prioritized lately and a new bike is lower on the list than it was.

Specs:
- DT Swiss XMM 140 forks
- Manitou Swinger 3-way shock
- XT groupset
- LX brakes
- Mavic Crosstrail wheels
- Nobby Nic tubeless tires



One of these will be in my life next year. A Cotic Rocket. Will be in orange, of course, and appointed with Bos Deville forks and a Bos Vip'r shock, then thoroughly drizzled in XTR thank you very much.

[Jawaburger]

I have a Trek 8000 that I picked up about 11 years ago. Over the years I have replaced just about everything but the frame and the front wheel. I usually tried to buy upgraded components when I needed to replace a broken/worn part.

[p.m.a.]

I have a Trek 8000 that I picked up about 11 years ago. Over the years I have replaced just about everything but the frame and the front wheel. I usually tried to buy upgraded components when I needed to replace a broken/worn part.

Cool. I plan to do the same with my Trek 7000, purchased about a year and a half ago. So far I've done the saddle and grips, and I recently got nice new tires which have made a humongous difference. The stock "hybrid" tires were not very good for either asphalt or dirt. Looking forward to ugrading other components in due time.

[Basil]

I just picked myself up a masi UNO.

Put it through 50k so far today and I love it.

Plan on getting some new tires and upgrading some parts if need be.

[ingrownhair]

Oh, where to start...
1) Guru Praemio Ti
2) Indy Fab Planet Cross
3) Cervelo P2 sl
4) Cannondale CAAD 9
5) Merlin Extralight

I like bikes....and put lots of miles on them training and racing.

Need to sell off one of the road bikes and get a mountain bike soon.

[Wade Patton]

I got a WadePatton.

2.5 actually-the CX bike is "on the bench" nearly ready for main triangle brazing. paul brakes, ss.

[BigBull]

I live at the beach, so I get my excercise surfing, kiteboarding and running. We use bikes to cruise the bars in the summertime...

[Groat]

I got a WadePatton.

2.5 actually-the CX bike is "on the bench" nearly ready for main triangle brazing. paul brakes, ss.

Neat! How did you get into frame building? In the photograph, the welds on the headtube look amazing.

[Wade Patton]

Neat! How did you get into frame building? In the photograph, the welds on the headtube look amazing.

wasted 14 years getting a "higher" education when i should have been thinking about what i really could/want to do forevermore, then discovered hand-made, fitted frames and a few fellows making a living at it (via internet-and later bike shows). been pursuing it at a snails pace ever since (all the money ran out trying to do other BS). turning the corner soon. plan to exhibit at TX handmade show this year in October.

as to the "welds", the bike in the foreground is silver-brazed lugs and the ATB is fillet-brazed with brass(bronze-technically). Steel (4130) has many wonderful characteristics and one of those is the fact that it can be joined so many ways.

That particular ATB is slated to be replace with a 650b, but not until i can afford a new suspension fork. it will be fillet brazed and i'm thinking (because of my fitting requirements) of curving the seat tube. it will be fillet-brazed as well, but possibly with Fillet Pro-a silver-based alloy.

I really love fillet-brazing, but also dig lugs and carved-lugs as well. so the rule here is Road/tour/commute/CX=lugs, ATB/specialty=fillet-brazed.

as to frame-building:
designing is enjoyable-once you get a grasp on the finer points of fitment/function. (the learning never ends)
shaping the parts to fit the design-quite enjoyable albeit tedious at times.
joining the parts with a torch is fantastic when it goes perfect (time seems to stand still whilst making the flux and filler and flame do their things), and only slightly less fantastic when a join becomes troublesome.

the hassles and paperwork of small business...effing nightmarish hell with my organization skills and practices and add.

the people i've met-the builders and the enthusiasts who support "us" absolutely priceless!

[BrewCommando]

Good luck with your venture Wade Patton - framebuilding is a wonderful skill and you have my respect I've read some great articles recently on the resurgence of hand made bicycles. Dirt Rag had an article on the NAHBS in Sacramento and http://singletrackworld.com/ often cover small framebuilders. Shoot Chipps at singletrack an email and you may get some coverage in the mag or online. They really appreciate craftmanship.

[Wade Patton]

Good luck with your venture Wade Patton - framebuilding is a wonderful skill and you have my respect I've read some great articles recently on the resurgence of hand made bicycles. Dirt Rag had an article on the NAHBS in Sacramento and http://singletrackworld.com/ often cover small framebuilders. Shoot Chipps at singletrack an email and you may get some coverage in the mag or online. They really appreciate craftmanship.

Thanks. I've been to each NAHBS since 2008 (Portland). Way too expensive for me to show there (DW is a pal too), but i generally get comped to help my friends participate. It's where I get to hang with the FB pals once per year. The FB's know me, i've got to "break out" to the Cycling Public. If all goes well, TX in October will be it. Built my first one in TX in order to have access to the specialized tooling...and that guy owns the TX show. MOF we met at the Portland NAHBS and then he started the TX Show-which is tiny next to NAHBS, but it's a step. It won't take many for me to become profitable as i'm very very low-maintenance with just two dogs to feed.

Plus i'm toying with the repro-black-powder arms thing*... flintlock, long-rifles of the late 1800's specifically. but that's another thread.

*the idea of making some for sale. these don't _have_ to be fitted (to the customer, but should for optimum performance-just like a bicycle). i won't build an unfitted bicycle.

[Jeff C]

My 2008 Novara Safari now has a cracked fork after about 6500 miles on it. REI is replacing it for free although the color won't match. Glad I uncovered the cracked fork before a catastrophic failure.

[CyclingFool]

I got a WadePatton.

2.5 actually-the CX bike is "on the bench" nearly ready for main triangle brazing. paul brakes, ss.

Hey Wade, good to see you here. Make sure you hide away your credit card, browsing here gets expensive after you see all the cool soaps and razors

(I'm the guy that sent you some blades through VS).

[ingrownhair]

My 2008 Novara Safari now has a cracked fork after about 6500 miles on it. REI is replacing it for free although the color won't match. Glad I uncovered the cracked fork before a catastrophic failure.

REI's return policy is second to none. I'll pay a premium every day to have access to a no questions asked return policy!