Dem bicicletas dos, doe.

[troyguitar]

Uhh yeah. Good tarz are fucking good.

It wasn't apples to apples today since it was more humid and windy and I was tired and there was more traffic/construction/redlights, but with new tires compared to the same ride at the same heart rate a few days ago (in perfect conditions) I went like 8% faster overall and got PR's on almost every segment by 10-20%.

The bike now feels more like how I expected it to feel in the first place. For the same effort on the flats I can cruise at 17 instead of 14 mph, and I can have some energy left to get up the hills.

Mystery solved. I still suck, but nowhere near as badly as I thought.

[D Griff]

Oh, another tip: Always align your sidewall labels with your valve stem.

#1 it helps you find your valve stem
#2 it looks better

Glad the process was easy though, and you’ve noticed improvements already!

I thought about that after I finished and knew that you were going to say something about it.

Sealant is in there and seems to be holding so I'm not messing with it. At least I mounted them up with the rotation right.

Next steps eventually will be to remove all the stickers from the bike and probably get some lights. Then it'll be "done" AFAIK until I kill a wheel bearing.

Needs more purple handlebar tape.

update on the

[troyguitar]

I have some yellow tape to add sometime, been too lazy to

My big question on the tubeless tires is how do you know when to add sealant (and how much)?

[3rdgenfan]

I have some yellow tape to add sometime, been too lazy to

My big question on the tubeless tires is how do you know when to add sealant If it leaks (and how much) Until it stops leaking?

[Apex]

I have some yellow tape to add sometime, been too lazy to

My big question on the tubeless tires is how do you know when to add sealant (and how much)?

If you ride enough to keep it liquid, once a year should be fine. Pull the tires off, clean any Stan's boogers out, re-mount, and re-seal with fresh sealant.

Ride enough to wear out the rubber and you’ll need fresh jizz anyway.

[troyguitar]

If you ride enough to keep it liquid, once a year should be fine. Pull the tires off, clean any Stan's boogers out, re-mount, and re-seal with fresh sealant.

Ride enough to wear out the rubber and you’ll need fresh jizz anyway.

How long do real tires last anyway? My stockers show zero wear after 600ish road miles.

[Apex]

Ride enough to wear out the rubber and you’ll need fresh jizz anyway.

How long do real tires last anyway? My stockers show zero wear after 600ish road miles.

I’m not even sure if Reptar will wear out a set of tires in a year with his mileage?

[D Griff]

Ride enough to wear out the rubber and you’ll need fresh jizz anyway.

How long do real tires last anyway? My stockers show zero wear after 600ish road miles.

From what I can tell, forever. I think I've put almost 1K miles on my contis with zero apparent wear. My MTB tires are four years old with probably 1500-2K miles and zero signs of wear.

[Apex]

I’m not even sure if Reptar will wear out a set of tires in a year with his mileage?

This might be the first year I wear out a set of tires on the CAAD in one year. If I keep my pace up, I'm on track for 5k miles or more this year.

[troyguitar]

How long do real tires last anyway? My stockers show zero wear after 600ish road miles.

Depends on your riding and how much you ride. I've got about 1400 miles on my 32s on the Sacklist and they're smoothing out in the center but they're in fine shape otherwise. I'm expecting 3k miles from those tires.

On the CAAD, I just flipped my rear tire to the front after about 2-3k miles as the rear tire was starting to square off in the center of the tread, so I'd expect about 5-6k miles from those tires.

If you climb or accelerate hard and do a lot of braking, you'll wear out tires sooner. Same goes for rough roads.

Rough roads I definitely have, but I am super easy on acceleration in any direction. Sounds like I should be fine for a summer or two depending on how much rain or cold weather gear I want to buy. Hard to say how many miles I'll really do, it keeps going up but will likely level off soon now that I've made all of the bike improvements. 100ish miles a week or so maybe.

[troyguitar]

Rough roads I definitely have, but I am super easy on acceleration in any direction. Sounds like I should be fine for a summer or two depending on how much rain or cold weather gear I want to buy. Hard to say how many miles I'll really do, it keeps going up but will likely level off soon now that I've made all of the bike improvements. 100ish miles a week or so maybe.

100-130 a week is about the volume of riding I do, so that's a good solid amount.

Damn so you only ride like once a week and still keep getting better?

[troyguitar]

Damn so you only ride like once a week and still keep getting better?

2-3x a week. Depends on weather and how hard of a workday I had, really. Days where it's going to rain (like today), I'll supplant outdoor riding with an indoor Peloton workout. I've been averaging about 130 miles per week since April.

Wow. I haven't been paying attention then, seems like every ride you post is 80+ miles.

I can't go much more than 2 hrs anyway so even if I ride 7 days I'll have less time in than you guys.

[D Griff]

Rough roads I definitely have, but I am super easy on acceleration in any direction. Sounds like I should be fine for a summer or two depending on how much rain or cold weather gear I want to buy. Hard to say how many miles I'll really do, it keeps going up but will likely level off soon now that I've made all of the bike improvements. 100ish miles a week or so maybe.

100-130 a week is about the volume of riding I do, so that's a good solid amount.

100/week is my sort of unrealistic goal. I get it done sometimes but often don't have quite enough times.

[troyguitar]

Wow. I haven't been paying attention then, seems like every ride you post is 80+ miles.

I can't go much more than 2 hrs anyway so even if I ride 7 days I'll have less time in than you guys.

During the week my max is typically 2-2.5 hours (so 30-50 miles for me). Saturday/Sunday rides are where I put in the big long efforts (60-100 mi).

Ahh must be just that you post the big ones more often.

It seems like 1-2 hrs a day is about all I can really do, and even that is a lot of work. 8 hours simply doesn't compute. That's about where I need to be to actually go anywhere though, the lakes/wineries/etc. are mostly 50-150 mile round trips. Maybe next year.

[troyguitar]

Ahh must be just that you post the big ones more often.

It seems like 1-2 hrs a day is about all I can really do, and even that is a lot of work. 8 hours simply doesn't compute. That's about where I need to be to actually go anywhere though, the lakes/wineries/etc. are mostly 50-150 mile round trips. Maybe next year.

What if you ride south into PA?

Same kind of thing really, nearest "destination" is ~50 mile round trip and a lot of hills in between. I'm thinking probably Watkins Glen will be the first long trip attempt, more like 60+ miles total but a little less climbing and more route options and stuff to do in town, plus I've been there before.

[Johnny_P]

What if you ride south into PA?

Same kind of thing really, nearest "destination" is ~50 mile round trip and a lot of hills in between. I'm thinking probably Watkins Glen will be the first long trip attempt, more like 60+ miles total but a little less climbing and more route options and stuff to do in town, plus I've been there before.

Most “destinations” I pick end up being a park or a scenic overlook or something. But around here it’s easy to swing by a gas station for a mid ride reload or potty break.

[Johnny_P]

I want to do a long stupid pointless ride.

Either to the Jersey shore and back. Get there early enough to ride the bike on the boardwalk.
Or out to the Reading pagoda and back. Never been to the pagoda.

Both options are 120-140 mile round trips.

[Johnny_P]

Ride enough to wear out the rubber and you’ll need fresh jizz anyway.

How long do real tires last anyway? My stockers show zero wear after 600ish road miles.

Probably 3k on the Nanos before you see the side knobs start to tear. Can still ride them though. There’s a lot of rubber on them and they wear nicely.

How you liking the velocitas now that you have a few rides on them? I hate the road tires I have, considering changing them out.

[D Griff]

I want to do a long stupid pointless ride.

Either to the Jersey shore and back. Get there early enough to ride the bike on the boardwalk.
Or out to the Reading pagoda and back. Never been to the pagoda.

Both options are 120-140 mile round trips.

I wish I had friends to ride with out here. I'd love to do something like that with a night camping in the middle or something.

There's really no "destinations" around here I can bike to other than non-'VID approved thing like breweries. I really don't miss going to bars and shit at all

[Gberg2119]

First ride in a loooooong time. Was nice and so much better than a stationary bike. It looked like the trail ended in manayunk though. Or at least I couldn't find where it picked back up.



Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[troyguitar]

WOW.

So, to back up to last year when I got my bike. First "real" bike, hadn't really been on one in 20 years.

I got everything adjusted into the right ballpark but it seemed like there was a lot of drivetrain noise. Not just noise, but I could feel a grinding sensation through the pedals. I re-adjusted and re-re-re-re-readjust everything and cleaned and lubed the hell out of the chain. No improvement.

Figured maybe the stock bottom of the barrel chain was just crap, so I bought a new good one. No improvement.

Figured maybe the pedals themselves were crap, the bearings in them felt like sand anyway and I wanted to try "clipless" clip-in pedals. No improvement.

Figured maybe the stock lube on the "good chain" was crap so I cleaned the hell out of that and then lubed it like crazy. No improvement.

Figured maybe the stock bottom of the barrel rear hub was crap so I took that all apart, cleaned the individual ball bearings, lubed the hell out of everything, got the tension on the cup&cone setup perfect... no improvement.

OK maybe the stock bottom of the barrel Shimano rear cassette is crap. When I switched to indoor cycling on Zwift I put a brand new highest end 8-speed cassette still in production on the new wheel with the trainer tire. No improvement.

Well... I rode inside for awhile and built a tiny amount of fitness but I still can't get up the damn hills here and my front chainrings are not replaceable, so maybe it's the crankset+BB combo that's causing all this noise and yucky grinding feeling. So I bought a new XT BB and crankset. Way easier to get up the hills now, but still no improvement on the drivetrain noises+grinding front.

Next I got new tires and those are way faster and way less noisy but still didn't make pedaling feel any better.

What the fuck? I've replaced everything that transmits power from the pedals through to the tires now.

...I'd read in a few random interwebs posts that an N+1 speed chain can work well on an N-speed drivetrain, so I thought what the hell it's $25 I'll try a 9-speed chain on my 8-speed bike, so I ordered a 9-speed version of the exact same chain that I had been using - KMC X9 with their "missing link" setup which I think is super nice and easy to work on. I installed that today and went for a ride.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT.

NO REALLY, WHAT THE FUCK.

IT'S ALMOST PERFECT NOW. NO GRINDING FEELING, AND ALMOST TOTALLY SILENT IN EVERY GEAR.

Apparently this is how a bike is supposed to be. Almost no noise and almost no rolling resistance. It's amazing.

[Apex]

on the persistence Troy!

[Johnny_P]

First ride in a loooooong time. Was nice and so much better than a stationary bike. It looked like the trail ended in manayunk though. Or at least I couldn't find where it picked back up.



Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

It goes on street for a portion until you get past the movie theater and bus depot at the Wissahickon trailhead.

[Johnny_P]

WOW.

So, to back up to last year when I got my bike. First "real" bike, hadn't really been on one in 20 years.

I got everything adjusted into the right ballpark but it seemed like there was a lot of drivetrain noise. Not just noise, but I could feel a grinding sensation through the pedals. I re-adjusted and re-re-re-re-readjust everything and cleaned and lubed the hell out of the chain. No improvement.

Figured maybe the stock bottom of the barrel chain was just crap, so I bought a new good one. No improvement.

Figured maybe the pedals themselves were crap, the bearings in them felt like sand anyway and I wanted to try "clipless" clip-in pedals. No improvement.

Figured maybe the stock lube on the "good chain" was crap so I cleaned the hell out of that and then lubed it like crazy. No improvement.

Figured maybe the stock bottom of the barrel rear hub was crap so I took that all apart, cleaned the individual ball bearings, lubed the hell out of everything, got the tension on the cup&cone setup perfect... no improvement.

OK maybe the stock bottom of the barrel Shimano rear cassette is crap. When I switched to indoor cycling on Zwift I put a brand new highest end 8-speed cassette still in production on the new wheel with the trainer tire. No improvement.

Well... I rode inside for awhile and built a tiny amount of fitness but I still can't get up the damn hills here and my front chainrings are not replaceable, so maybe it's the crankset+BB combo that's causing all this noise and yucky grinding feeling. So I bought a new XT BB and crankset. Way easier to get up the hills now, but still no improvement on the drivetrain noises+grinding front.

Next I got new tires and those are way faster and way less noisy but still didn't make pedaling feel any better.

What the fuck? I've replaced everything that transmits power from the pedals through to the tires now.

...I'd read in a few random interwebs posts that an N+1 speed chain can work well on an N-speed drivetrain, so I thought what the hell it's $25 I'll try a 9-speed chain on my 8-speed bike, so I ordered a 9-speed version of the exact same chain that I had been using - KMC X9 with their "missing link" setup which I think is super nice and easy to work on. I installed that today and went for a ride.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT.

NO REALLY, WHAT THE FUCK.

IT'S ALMOST PERFECT NOW. NO GRINDING FEELING, AND ALMOST TOTALLY SILENT IN EVERY GEAR.

Apparently this is how a bike is supposed to be. Almost no noise and almost no rolling resistance. It's amazing.

Hah. Weird. 8 and 9 speed use the same chains.

[troyguitar]

WOW.

So, to back up to last year when I got my bike. First "real" bike, hadn't really been on one in 20 years.

I got everything adjusted into the right ballpark but it seemed like there was a lot of drivetrain noise. Not just noise, but I could feel a grinding sensation through the pedals. I re-adjusted and re-re-re-re-readjust everything and cleaned and lubed the hell out of the chain. No improvement.

Figured maybe the stock bottom of the barrel chain was just crap, so I bought a new good one. No improvement.

Figured maybe the pedals themselves were crap, the bearings in them felt like sand anyway and I wanted to try "clipless" clip-in pedals. No improvement.

Figured maybe the stock lube on the "good chain" was crap so I cleaned the hell out of that and then lubed it like crazy. No improvement.

Figured maybe the stock bottom of the barrel rear hub was crap so I took that all apart, cleaned the individual ball bearings, lubed the hell out of everything, got the tension on the cup&cone setup perfect... no improvement.

OK maybe the stock bottom of the barrel Shimano rear cassette is crap. When I switched to indoor cycling on Zwift I put a brand new highest end 8-speed cassette still in production on the new wheel with the trainer tire. No improvement.

Well... I rode inside for awhile and built a tiny amount of fitness but I still can't get up the damn hills here and my front chainrings are not replaceable, so maybe it's the crankset+BB combo that's causing all this noise and yucky grinding feeling. So I bought a new XT BB and crankset. Way easier to get up the hills now, but still no improvement on the drivetrain noises+grinding front.

Next I got new tires and those are way faster and way less noisy but still didn't make pedaling feel any better.

What the fuck? I've replaced everything that transmits power from the pedals through to the tires now.

...I'd read in a few random interwebs posts that an N+1 speed chain can work well on an N-speed drivetrain, so I thought what the hell it's $25 I'll try a 9-speed chain on my 8-speed bike, so I ordered a 9-speed version of the exact same chain that I had been using - KMC X9 with their "missing link" setup which I think is super nice and easy to work on. I installed that today and went for a ride.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT.

NO REALLY, WHAT THE FUCK.

IT'S ALMOST PERFECT NOW. NO GRINDING FEELING, AND ALMOST TOTALLY SILENT IN EVERY GEAR.

Apparently this is how a bike is supposed to be. Almost no noise and almost no rolling resistance. It's amazing.

Hah. Weird. 8 and 9 speed use the same chains.

As it turns out, it's 6-7-8 that are the same. 9 is narrower. My new crankset is "9-speed" so I was fighting an impossible battle trying to get it adjusted properly. In hindsight I could have shimmed the chainrings, but I didn't know that was even the problem until tonight after I'd already done the chain swap.