C
-
Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.
If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!
To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
C
CaptainGoat
Guest
C
CaptainGoat
Guest
For me I prefer a good 531 steel touring bike with a 7 speed freewheel and a triple chain set. This I've found to be the most reliable that also keeps a rather good gear range. A touring drop bar with cantilever brakes... I would not have disc brakes. Too many issues with them.
C
CaptainGoat
Guest
Well... the one where I live is pretty large. There is one down in Bullit County called Floyd's Fork, and it is made up of 4 different parks. It is beautiful there. It is centered around Floyd's Fork Creek. Its huge, actually.
C
CaptainGoat
Guest
Nice. Parks here... Well. The common term usually refers to a small piece of land where children's swings and a roundabout are kept. We call what you may have "Country parks". There is a small one near here. In WW2 there was a works there to make the bombs and bullets they needed. After WW2 it was used for decommissioning the vast amounts which had been produced that were surplus after the war.
It is a lovely area with interesting remains, and has a nice long beach with fine grained sand.
It is a lovely area with interesting remains, and has a nice long beach with fine grained sand.
C
CaptainGoat
Guest
That's a practical everyday general bike. Good for on and off road trails. Its rather nice. I still prefer a good tourer as you can take a tourer on off road trails (As long as there is a path to follow!) and it is good for carrying things, along with it being a comfortable long distance road bike.
It is hard to get a decent touring bike today though as most have turned to aluminium (Great for short distances but lacks "Give") or changes to a more direct compact frame style which may increase seated performance, but it loses its edge for comfort and get out of the seat hill climbing.
The other thing with today's tourers are they come with the dreaded cable disc brakes. Near the hub is the worst place to generate a stopping force on the wheels. OK, the dirt and wet goes onto the rim of the wheel, but unless all ones cycling is off road, a rim brake is lighter in weight and has greater braking force so less brake force is needed to actually stop. Those who have tried hydraulic rim brakes will certainly understand what I mean, though I'd say get aa decent cable rim brake. Flat bars...Go for a V. Drop bars... Either a good cantilever or a decent caliper brake. The old centre pulls are good if you can get the cables for them.
Parts! Well. Here is another reason not to go for disc brakes. It seems like every manufacturer has several uncompatable diffent designs of brake pad. The last shop I was working in we counted 43 different types and there were more!
Rim brake blocks come in just a few different types so you are almost certain to find a new pair when you need them!
The one place I rate disc brakes superior is in extreme conditions like heavy thick mud or clingy snow where rim brakes get in the way, and they do have the advantage that if one has damaged the wheel rim, you still have braking to continue your journey. This can be a godsend for extreme conditions. However I conclude overall, for economy sake, and ease of maintenance regarding spares, the rim wins.
A quick note. Drop bars and cable disc brakes. Many manufacturers were bringing this set up and the brakes were aweful! This was because the leverage is not compatable between the lever and the brake caliper at the disc side. To explain this you need a brief bicycle history lesson...
When I started in the trade most of all the bikes I sold or repaired had caliper brakes. The centre pull types used on tourers had just been superceeded by the cantilever brake which touring bikes and they were fitted to the new craze of the mountain bikes and the early street bikes which were later called hybrid bikes. (I remember the first hybrid bike I saw...The Peugeot Concept 18...They didn't have a category back then. When Dawes copied the idea with a range of 4 bikes, they called them street bikes which used touring frames and wheels but MTB handlebars).
Forward a few years from there and the early STI gear levers were in (Aweful!) That tried to replace the thumbshifters that came in friction or SIS form. After STI was developed further to make it work better, the V brakes came in. Here is where the problem started as V brakes need a different leverage at the brake lever due to the difference in travel needed at the cable to operate the brakes. New lever design came out to cater for this for the mountain bikes and hybrids, but as the majority of drop handlebars had caliper brakes there was little market to change from cantis to V brakes for the touring bikes. So they stayed with cantilever brakes.
Forward a few years to disc brakes. The first were all cable disc and were designed to operate via using V brake levers. Nothing has changed since then, except a craze of fashion to fit all other bikes with discs which the manufacturers love as they get more profit as one has to get the bike shop to order new pads from them either directly or indirectly... Hence over 40 different designs! Now drop handlebar levers and the disc brake calipsers are not compatable. The last I hears that only one manufacturer changed their disccaliper design to be used specifically with drop bar leverage, and as it was at the top of the range in price, the bike manufacturers put profits first, and the drop disc braked bikes we sold were truely aweful. And they were not cheap bikes! One or two had such bad braking I refused to pdi the bike and asked if they could be withdrawn from sale which they refused to do as it meant the large UK retail chain store would lose sales. Not long after I left the store so I do not know if things have changed. As so few in the trade have been around long enough to know this history, most new "Qualified" (Usually a week or sometimes even a days course! It took me a few years and there were no qualifications back then... I still am not qualified... It means nothing!) cycle mechanics won't even know where the issue stems from so won't consider there is a problem in selling the bikes as few of them are allowed to ride them!
So if you want t discs for now, make sure the bike has flat bars. You prefer drops, go for a cantilever or a caliper brake. No doubt in a few years time after many cyclists complain there will be a rethink! Sadly the process takes time as fashions are followed for profits!
C
CaptainGoat
Guest
Very comfy bike ideal for short distance fun!
That bike would not be allowed for sale in the UK as under the UK law the bike has to have two working brakes. A fixed wheel or a back pedalling brake counts as one brake. Cycle paths here come under the same laws as our roads.
Never forget a beautiful old fashioned imported bike through Raleigh that a customer had ordered via the chain stores website. It was intended for sale in another country. As it only had the single rear reflector and the single back pedalling brake I refused to sign the PDI form. One of the sales staff said "I will sign it". I told him if he signs it he is taking responsibility for an illegally sold bike. He decided not to sign. I said to get a front brake caliper and lever and we will fit a front brake and fit pedal, wheel and front reflectors to make it legal. It had a bell. Bells are needed for a new sale but dont have to be fitted for the road.
Anyway. They didn't sell it. It stood on the shop floor for a year after I left and someone sold it... It didn't have two brakes or the reflectors needed when on the shop floor!
C
CaptainGoat
Guest
I have one bike with a Sachs Elan 12 speed hub gear, though just for enjoying the simplicity of aa fun ride I'd go for a single speed. Three speeds are good, but there is something relaxing and good about a single speed. I had an old roadster that I rescued as it had been dumped. I straightened wheels, crank arms and forks etc. A weeks work later with a replacement brake cable.... It gave such a lovely ride. As these bikes were the cheapest of the cheap back in the '80's I never bothered with them. But this had some go to it! Very surprising! I later gave it to a man and his sons borrowed it and wrecked it. 
When I was a kid and owned a bicycle, you might have had three choices, the largest of which was a 26" bike. When your parents bought you a 26" bike, you felt grownup.