Seattle Forrest

​​​​​​Long time ago, I got this really bad, weird knee pain after a long ride. It didn't even occur to me at first that the pain and the riding were related. I had done so many thousands of miles on that bike, with those toe straps, it couldn't possibly be it. And then it happened again, also after a long ride. I don't know what changed, I guess sometimes I had my leg in a position that didn't bother me in the moment but was stressing it and adding up to tendon damage.

I took a week or two off from cycling to let it heal, then I bought clipless pedals and I've never felt that pain again. I use ones with zero float, they keep me in a good position and prevent me from going into a bad one.

Seattle Forrest

Is that the power you're putting into the bike, or what the motor is delivering? I'm guessing it's you?

fooferdoggie 

thats me. the first pic I was on turbo so the bike was doing about 300% so to get to 25mph 800 or so watts. then the second its 150% or less so the bike was doing a little over 1/2 the work. on a really good day I can average 189 but thats a real workout for me. anymore I only go by my watts average it tells me far more then speed. the more I want to work I either have to go in eco to get a workout and thats about 20 or so mph max or go a lot faster in other levels. I need a little more power in eco so I can go a bit faster or less power in the next one up. but I would have to spend 500 on the controller to adjust the levels so I doubt I will do it. but on days I feel like crap because of my wacky body I can still go fast and shut put put less watts. what I am really crappy 100 wats is the max.

smashndash

I'll respond to the original prompt. I think roadies have a weird obsession with not storing things on the bike. Bikes ship with 2 bottle cage mounts and 0 storage for your CO2, food, tube(s), levers, multi-tool, tire boot etc.

Yes, world tour racers don't need to carry all that stuff. But practically every single person who actually buys these bikes puts an ugly saddle bag on them. It's a joke. Only a few bikes have broken out of this. The BMC TMR and Trek Domane are two good examples. And yet, I have - no joke - seen someone TAKE OFF the integrated storage on their BMC TMR and use a saddle bag instead. Blew my mind. I've also seen people shove giant ziploc bags into their jersey pockets which is just... why.

I'd also appreciate the ability to store at least one or two extra bottles if necessary. To be fair, you can do this with saddle mounted bottle cages - if you get rid of the saddle bag.

I have other things too but I'll leave it at that.

Leinster

This is an old review, but it looks like the Vittoria 1976 shoes are still available on Amazon. That’s what I’d be going for if I was tied in to clips n straps still; https://road.cc/content/review/16701...ria-1976-shoes

I totally get the toe clips thing. I did it myself, and have ridden them at time in recent years even. I just prefer the clipless for ease of getting in, more than ease of getting out, tbh.

Kimmo 

Nah, go on...

rwh 

Pain while climbing is caused by glycogen

Steve B.

I recall a plethora of posts from some guy re-inventing the clipless pedal, some steel shaft with a huge cleat on the shoe. Really stupid design that he made all kinds of claims on how good it was and how much power you could put into the pedal. It went on and on endlessly.

MoAlpha

Never heard that one. Pain while climbing is caused by saddle sores which, in turn, are caused by failure to shave your crotch and wash with turpentine.

rwh 

I read the Joy of Cycling in the 70's. They didn't shave crotches in that edition. Never tried turpentine either.

znomit

If your saddle sores are the thing that hurting while you're climbing you need to htfu.

Also you forgot about scrubbing with a wire brush.

Seattle Forrest

The commuting forum could benefit mightily...

woodcraft

I guess KOPS could be considered one...

and saddle height formulas that don't account for shoes, pedal stack height, or even crank length.

MoAlpha

Had to see if there really was such a thing and lo! Pretty funny for those who remember.

gios

I always want a second bike when I'm in lulls between riding (winter penalty box). Then when it warms and I start my need melts away.

N=1

burnthesheep

46 to 40cm bars, probably not.

TT bike with forearms nearly touching.......yeah, it can matter.

List of bollocks:
-training with a heavier bike (or inferior equipment in general and on purpose)

-racing on Gatorskins to save time for a flat (time saved is more than time I spend changing a flat)

-the purchasing of parts or creation of silly theories to resolve poor bike fit

-thinking everybody is your buddy and that they should act that way (I sympathize, but you set yourself up for disappointment)

hubcyclist

This is going to be a scorcher of a hot take. However, it's not that it makes no sense, but it's something that's overblown.

Wheels are meant to be upgraded

I see really conflicting stuff on the amount of real world changes in speed in videos where they compare wheels. It may be a couple of mins over a really long ride, but for me (your personal calculus may vary) I think the amount of money required to cut a small amount of time in a non-race scenario

burnthesheep

Most are fine with what came with the bike.

One thing to point out though. Lots of bikes come with wheels basically for shipping and test riding. The wheels that come on "race" bikes like a Propel, Evo, Emonda, or a TT bike like a Trinity are literally for training or shipping. Cheap, basic, functional.

Probably same even for mtb or gravel bikes that are really expensive.

In no way are 30mm alloy round spoked wheels an intended wheel of choice for a time trial bike. There for shipping/test rides only pretty much.

Sojodave

Garmin software really sucks for cycling...Oh wait, that one is true.

Trakhak

Respectfully disagree with the viewpoint that stock wheels are disposable placeholders. If you're racing, sure, upgrade away. Wheel-sellers can certainly use the money.

But the stock wheels currently supplied with almost any bike-store-quality bike are vastly superior to those on the bikes that were available 20 or 30 years ago. In particular, they're built to better tolerances and have measurably higher spoke tension than they used to. I'd be happy with the stock wheels on pretty much any bike I'd be interested in buying, unless I were planning to race, and maybe even then, for amateur racing.

Leinster

I think the point of the "disposable placeholder" opinion of stock wheels is that generally, at most price points, the wheels are the low-hanging fruit on the upgrade tree, outside of disposable wear items like tires, tubes and chains. The Shimano/Aksium wheels that might come stock on a 105-equipped road bike would be very solid, reliable wheels that will run true for years, and at 2kg will be lighter than what would have been state-of-the-art not too long ago. But someone with a severe bout of upgradeitis and a budget of $500 could make a significant weight saving again and improve their ride more by buying a new set of wheels than if they spent that money on almost any other area of their bike.

caloso

True. The OEM Fulcrum wheels that came on my Tarmac have been super reliable, and not much heavier than the Open Pros I had handbuilt years ago. But, like most racers, I use them as training/commuting wheels and ride my deep section carbon wheels on race day.

base2 

On the wheel thing: Yeah, I agree. So much is made of wheelsets that came with this bike or that. The truth is that for the most part, OEM wheels are reasonably decent.

There has so far only been one single wheel set I replaced because the bike needed it. They were Swift Arriv's. Heavy, deep-ish double wall aluminum. Über strong & durable. Stupid heavy. It was the Formula hub that finally succumbed within 3000 miles. TBH: I was actually kind of glad I had a legitimate reason to upgrade.

The rest, so far are all extras, spares, or in-service on other bikes that for whatever reason lost their originals. Having a spare recent & decent OEM wheelset around really lightens the outlay when rehab-ing an older bike.

MoAlpha

The Hed Ardennes+ GPs which came on my R3 are great wheels...on my commuting bike. The DT Swiss PRC 1400 Spline 35s I replaced them with are just great wheels.

hubcyclist

To continue on the wheel thing, because I think about it off and on. I ride an Allez with stock axis sport wheels, which are as basic as one can get. I consider myself to be pretty fast, just recently I was visiting my parents and did a 13mile loop on a couple of days. The first time was 36:39 and averaging 255w (np of 262 I think) and the second time I did it I did it a minute faster at 35:36 averaging 266w (271np). On one hand I’m super curious to know for example how much I could shave off that time with a better set of wheels (for context, the same loop is used for an annual triathlon and the fastest times are about 31mins with what I’m assuming are tri/tt bikes). But based on videos I’ve seen it seems that at best one could save maybe a minute an hour. I’m not sure if that is really worth it, esp for recreational riding. Even in a competitive setting riding in a pack, wheels might matter less unless one is always riding in a break.

anyhow I need to make some friends or something to do an A/B comparison between basic wheels and nicer wheels lol