Autechre Bikes

[Guest iep]

the older specialized rockhoppers are pretty awesome. duno about new ones, but if you can find one of these used, they're great.

 

reasonably light, aluminum frame, handles winter riding with ease...

 

kewl, you got studded tires on that thing in winter? it looks like it's fitted with some beefy wheels already from that picture..

[chaosmachine]

the older specialized rockhoppers are pretty awesome. duno about new ones, but if you can find one of these used, they're great.

 

reasonably light, aluminum frame, handles winter riding with ease...

 

kewl, you got studded tires on that thing in winter? it looks like it's fitted with some beefy wheels already from that picture..

 

that's not mine, but it's close. mine is slightly older than the one in that picture. and huge (i'm tall).

 

i have a pair of schwalbe ice spikers for winter:

 

 

and specialized crossroads armadillos for summer:

 

 

they're armored, which makes them kinda heavy (same weight as the ice spikers!), but they never get flats.

[Guest fiznuthian]

I have a Torker U-District.

 

 

It's a single speed, and I changed out the handlebars from straight to bullhorn style.

 

 

It's my main mode of transportation. I've been getting sick recently, so I haven't been riding as much as usual, but I ride it quite a lot.

 

sexy bike dude.

[Guest Franklin]

I have these two

 

I recommend both if you can handle aluminium frames.

[Guest iamabe]

 

got this for $150 a few years ago. I ride in Boston so I hate riding December-March and I ride sparingly when its fucking humid as shit out in July. April May June Sept Oct November are glorious though.

[Braintree]

I have a Torker U-District.

 

 

It's a single speed, and I changed out the handlebars from straight to bullhorn style.

 

 

It's my main mode of transportation. I've been getting sick recently, so I haven't been riding as much as usual, but I ride it quite a lot.

 

sexy bike dude.

 

Cheers

 

It's the second one I've owned because my other one got stripped.

 

 

 

[Guest fiznuthian]

ouch :(

the thought of someone stealing or stripping a bike makes me furious.

[Guest fiznuthian]

how do you like bullhorn handlebars?

i am looking to purchase or fix a road bike soon and am considering bullhorn style bars.

can you still get low to cut headwind like drops? i envision myself arching, extending my arms and it feels like it might be an aerodynamic position..

 

but i dont know.. drops are sweet, its so thrilling staring down and slicing through the breeze

[Guest fiznuthian]

 

got this for $150 a few years ago. I ride in Boston so I hate riding December-March and I ride sparingly when its fucking humid as shit out in July. April May June Sept Oct November are glorious though.

 

that bike looks like BoC HEAVEN!

 

*queue kid for today*

 

i must acquire a vintage raleigh for my beach vacation bike.

riding to the beach fuck it all y'all

 

im salivating over this bike jesus christ

[J3FF3R00]

I have a Schwinn Crosscut that looks a lot like this one...

 

 

It got a bit fucked when I got in that accident (when I broke my face). I'm not sure if I'm going to fix it up or get a new one.

 

I also have an 80s Redline BMX. It is all tricked out with Odyssey Black Widow 3 pc cranks, Elf Blast Bars, Araya RB-17 racing rims and a bunch of other goodies. No pic. I hardly ride it anymore, though it is a prized possession of mine.

 

I cant wait til my hands and foot heal so I can get back riding.

[Guest Coalbucket PI]

In Burn After Reading theres a joke where Malkovitch calls Brad Pitt’s bike a Schwinn and he laughs and says something like ‘You think that’s a Schwinn?’… I thought Schwinn made good bikes?

 

Schwinn

[Guest fiznuthian]

Schwinn used to, supposedly the quality of their bikes dropped since they started outsourcing manufacturing long ago.

Now they cater the the low end bike market mostly.

[Guest AcrossCanyons]

damn this thread is making me jelly. my piece of shit bike is on its last legs and for some reason my bike lock has broken and i cant unlock it from my bike (its pretty heavy duty so i can't break it off either), so at the very least i need to get a new lock. ugh. i want to go ride so bad.

[Guest fiznuthian]

do it

do it

do it

[Guest fiznuthian]

fuck i really need a cargo trailer..

 

trying to haul a 3x3' incubation chamber 8-9 miles to the neighboring town,

but with no trailer i'm not sure how go about it.. perhaps tighten 2 straps on it like and wear it like a backpack?

its a lightweight chamber, mostly aluminum.

[Guest iep]

the older specialized rockhoppers are pretty awesome. duno about new ones, but if you can find one of these used, they're great.

 

reasonably light, aluminum frame, handles winter riding with ease...

 

kewl, you got studded tires on that thing in winter? it looks like it's fitted with some beefy wheels already from that picture..

 

that's not mine, but it's close. mine is slightly older than the one in that picture. and huge (i'm tall).

 

i have a pair of schwalbe ice spikers for winter:

 

 

and specialized crossroads armadillos for summer:

 

 

they're armored, which makes them kinda heavy (same weight as the ice spikers!), but they never get flats.

 

bitchen!

[ghOsty]

I got a Trek 3000 series, I fucking love it especially cause I got it free! Kinda funny story too... I didn't steal it, but a friend may have, or one of his friends may have then stashed it in his garage after a drunken night. Or something like that, the details were shady and I'm pretty sure he was too drunk to remember exactly how they acquired it anyways. He owed me a bike though after accidentally letting my previous one get stolen, so I was just happy he managed to replace it. It needs a new tube tube for the front wheel though, popped it on some glass last time I took it on a downhill trail. I'll probably get the new one on this weekend and go for another ride through the state park around here.

[markedone]

The only thing I have to add to this discussion, is to please wear a helmet when riding your bike. I have had 2 too many reminders in the past year that bike accidents can and do happen.

 

The first one was myself, I got thrown over the handlebars when a small piece in the front axle (old wheel, vintage road bike) broke and the front tire locked. I was lucky and landed on my chin, but cut it open a good 4cm, got stitches. I maintain my bike better and wear a helmet now.

 

The other event was less fortunate. Just last week, my friend and I were biking home from campus and she hit some debris in the bike lane, lost control and went over onto the sidewalk. In the previous days I kept reminding her to get a helmet. In retrospect I should have been much harder about it. She fell on her side/head and wasn't wearing a helmet. Ambulance had to rush her to the emergency room, and she spent the next 5 days in ICU. She is going to be oksy, but she was just released from the hospital yesterday, she has a skull fracture which they said could impact her job/studies for the next 1-3 years. She can't hear out of her right ear right now. She has to visit a specialized doctor this week to determine if she will get hearing in her ear back. Terrifying stuff.

 

learn from this, please. if you bike on the roads, it can happen to anybody, use a helmet

[markedone]

Actually, on a lighter note.. check out my bike! This is a picture before my accident last year, so it's different now. I have a new fork that is straighter, put on nice new bar tape, and got a new pin for the brake lever, so that black tape on the left brake is gone. I've also got a snazzy bottle cage and bike lock. LOVE this bike now. I ride it everywhere. It's a 1981 Fuji Gran Tourer

 

 

but srsly,read my words of wisdom in the last post

 

 

[Guest Coalbucket PI]

this is my girl whos in the shop today. Apparently the rear mech that was on it is not for road bikes so that’s probably why it fucked up. Didn’t realise they were different but I suppose the distance between the forks and the spokes is probably different enough. Really hoping they don’t say I need new shifters but I'm fairly convinced that the left one is busted. Rear mech is only £27 but shifters come in pairs and looks like £150 or so, that's not going to happen so this might have to be a 5 speed instead of 10.

 

Ideally I want to get new wheels but I’m strapped for cash so I won’t unless I have to. They are slightly buckled but I don’t know how much that matters apart from being a bit of an uneven surface for the brakes to contact. I think I will get some new tires though, probably these schwalbe marathons all the bike geeks seem to be talking about, should allow me to survive these shittier bike tracks.

[EdamAnchorman]

my brother used to work in the warehouse for performance (back when it was nashbar) and he would get his pick of the returns pile. he was able to build me this bike completely from returns, and then he gave it to me for free. i absolutely love it. about to do a metric century ride next month so i'd better get training.

 

[TechDiff]

this is my girl whos in the shop today. Apparently the rear mech that was on it is not for road bikes so that’s probably why it fucked up. Didn’t realise they were different but I suppose the distance between the forks and the spokes is probably different enough. Really hoping they don’t say I need new shifters but I'm fairly convinced that the left one is busted. [/img]

 

There are a couple differences, Generally road bikes have a much smaller cassette, with smaller differences between gear sizes. As a result the mech cage (bit that holds the 2 jockey wheels) is shorter. They also tend to have a stiffer spring in them too.

 

that said, I used to run a road bike mech And cassette on my trials bike. Much lighter, and the mech acted as a chain tensioner as well. Mind you that bike never got out of 4th or 5th. quite a lot of XC riders do it too, weight obsessed people. Maybe there are issues when you try running a mtb mech on a road bike, but it kinda surprises me tbh.

 

Unless they are broken you shouldn't need to change the shifters, the mech is not dependent on how many gears you have, it just moves forwards and backwards. the ammount it moves per step is governed by the shifter, and its total range by 2 small adjustment screws on its body. So long as your shifter is for the same number on gears as your cassette it should be fine.

[TechDiff]

Edit kinda..

 

Just did a double check, what I thought tbh..

 

Most shimano stuff is pretty interchangable, the only time you might run into trouble is if you tried using a short cage mech with a large range cassette. Running a mtb mech on a road bike wouldn't cause any issues at all, from the pics it looks as though you have a mtb cassette on there too.

 

not quite sure why you're having problems, only thing I could think of is that your shifter is for a different number of gears than your cassette.

 

just be cautious because some bike shops (not all) can be pretty sneaky in making you pay more than you need. I used to work in a shoo for a few years, a good honest one :) but we'd get people coming in asking for quotes on repairs. other shops having told them that they need new things all over the place, when all they needed was a new cable and a setup.

 

if it's the case that your cassette and shifter are different gearings, you'll need to change one or the other. Changing the cassette will be a lot more expensive, and ideally you'd change the chain as well. Running an old chain on a new cassette can cause really shitty changes.

 

Not saying your local shop is trying to rip you off, but just be alert. A lot of shops do take advantage of peoples ignorance.

[Guest Coalbucket PI]

I think you're probably right about the rear mechs being interchangeable as it did actually change perfectly well apart from something about the positioning was wrong, whether that could have been adjusted I don't know.

 

I think I might have confused you with the shifter stuff, but thanks for the tips anyway. The shifter problem is completely separate to the rear mech problem. The shifter for the front mech was fucking up and wouldn't switch to the smaller cog. I disconnected the cable to remove the tension and it then did switch to the smaller cog automatically, which I believe is the default position, which makes me think that the problem is in the shifter somewhere. Unless it could be the cable getting jammed or something? I basically just can't afford new shifters so they can't screw me over on that even if they try lol :(

 

I think my shop seems cool as they've checked over bikes and given me advice for free before, but I'll keep my wits about me. All these problems are things that were wrong when I bought it off ebay so I'm a bit worried if the previous owner has done some odd replacements then he might have messed some stuff up.

[Guest fiznuthian]

when you guys say "mech" are you talking about the rear derailleur?

 

and my god Marked is right, wear a helmet. most decent helmets now are pretty stylish and super comfortable anyway.