rjones28 

Not all e-bikes have throttles.

My average heart rate, while commuting, is generally in the mid-130s.

Velo Vol 

I'm not a mechanical historian, but I think there was some promise in the early 1900s with Henry Ford, and others, of a movement toward standardizing machines/manufacturing/parts. But it obviously didn't last as every company, including for simple machines like bicycles, had to come up with their own dumb "special" parts/systems.

So we are where we are today, with bike shortages, people spending thousands of dollars on tools, and countless hours spent trying to match this or that knickknack on their bikes.

Congratulations everyone!

Give me a black Model T.

rjones28 

Are Model T parts plentiful? I haven't checked lately.

Koyote

I can do it all with a hammer.

big john

I have several Snap-On ratchets and they are durable but their action isn't the best. My favorite 3/8 drive ratchet is a Blackhawk. Very fine ratchet action, like a wristwatch. I also like Mac ratchets and my favorite 1/4 drive is a Mac, after I broke my Blackhawk, (they don't make them anymore).

Velo Vol 

Hoo boy, I've got handlebar tape wrapping woes.

Velo Vol 

OK, I've got this tape with decorative stitching 1/3 of the way across, so it matters which side it's on.





Wrapping the right bar. I'm going clockwise and it looks good until the lever, but then it seems I need to somehow reverse direction so the polkadot side is closest to the shifter when I wrap the top?

Trsnrtr

That reminds me, my wife wants her bar tape changed. Maybe I’ll time myself.

big john

The guy got one because he has an issue with his heart and the e-bike allowed him to join our ride. I thought this was great because he's a great guy and just rode with us as he did years ago. Then his wife got one which was not needed because she has always been a strong, fast rider.

The other lady on the ride has also been a great climber for years but has lost a bit of her fitness lately because of time constraints and now she is convinced she needs an e-bike, too, after seeing them drop us on hills.

To me, it's as if some pro racers showed up on a group ride, or at least some top cat 1s. They may be pedaling, but they aren't doing the same thing we are doing.

big john

Spoken like a true retrogrouch. Take your Model T out on a superhighway on a hot day and tell us how nice it is.

LAJ

Bad idea. He will be that "one" in the fast lane doing 40.

genejockey 

Figure 8?

Velo Vol 

Maybe? I'm terrible at spatial visualization. It's kind of thick tape so I wasn't planning to do that.

genejockey 

Get a bigger drawer.

Hell, I have 9 screwdrivers just for watchmaking.

big john

I thought you were going to say "You must be new here".

genejockey 

If you do Figure 8 right, you can skip the piece of tape behind the levers, which reduces the bulk.

genejockey 

I dunno. There's a point in gain or loss of fitness where how far you can go under your own power comfortably (or even UNcomfortably) is less than how far you want to go.

genejockey 

If you weren't going to do Figure 8, how were you planning to get past the levers? The advantage, to me, is that it covers the back of the levers, AND the exposed side of the tape is the same above and below the levers.

LAJ

Naw. Even Velo Vol will agree with your thinking.

Velo Vol 

See 8:13

BillyD

They could do 40?

LAJ

Believe it or not. Should you choose to get it up that fast

genejockey 

But note that your tape is now being wrapped the other way. So it will leave the other side of the tape exposed.

big john

I have nothing against e-bikes themselves and they do seem like a great commuting option. I even considered one for club rides when work took away what little fitness I had.
As one of the older, fatter, slower riders on some rides I do, if a few e-bikes show up it changes everything. A few years ago I did some rides with an old guy on a speed limited e-bike. It was a non issue because the fastest riders were still the same riders and e-bike guy was not confident pulling or mixing with fast riders, plus we could drop him on the flats because of the speed limiting, I think 21mph.
These newest e-riders are experienced racers on road bike style machines and it is as if they are suddenly in their prime again with extra watts to spare. I find myself in a group I have no business being with. I'm working and sweating and running out of water and they are just cruising along chatting. I stopped trying to ride with racers because it's no fun bleeding out of my eyes and red-lining my heartrate on every ride. If I'm going to work that hard at least I don't want to be dfl every time.

end/rant for now

genejockey 

When I reworked all my bikes (and got a bunch of new ones) last year, I watched at least half a dozen videos on wrapping bars. The big Take Home Lesson, for me, was that people who do it for a living do it a bunch of different ways, some of which are completely the opposite of others, and everybody always has very good reasoning for why you HAVE TO do it their way, and ONLY their way. SO, in the end, that means you can do it a bunch of different ways and it will work.