Now starts the winter of our discontent

On Nov 13, 5:58*pm, "(PeteCresswell)" wrote:
Per Andre Jute:

I don't understand the point of the fixie. I'm never out of the
saddle.

I built up a fixie a few years ago.

Surly 1x1, 55/55 tires, 180 cranks, BMX flats, fifty-some inches
of gear.

Still ride it - mainly on local trips and when riding with my
neighbor to give myself enough handicap to make it not boring.

It's also easy to throw on the back of the car in case of a
breakdown or just wanting to get somewhere without driving to the
next parking lot.

The simplicity of it has an undeniable appeal.

But, IMHO, it's primary benefit to me is reminding me how
thankful I am for gears when I get back on my regular bike.
--
PeteCresswell

Sounds like your fixie is of pretty marginal utility, Pete.

I bought my current fave bike specifically for its 14 Rohloff gears,
to help me get up the steep hill on which I live. Wherever I go, to
get home I must ride up the hill. I already had two very fine bikes (a
Royal Dutch Gazelle Toulouse and a Trek with Cyber Nexus automatic
gears, both eight-speed Shimano types; the idea was that I would ride
them occasionally. But, in fact, I ride the 14 speed Rohloff bike all
the time, primarily for its gears but also because it is so
comfortable and versatile.

I was pleased to hear two reasons for fixies: for riding in icy
weather, and to handicap yourself. I don't get icy weather that often,
and its the pedalpals who need handicapping, not me; I should get an
age-related start, say a mile for a mile.

Andre Jute
Visit Jute on Bicycles at
http://www.audio-talk.co.uk/fiultra/...20CYCLING.html

On Nov 12, 2:43 pm, Andre Jute wrote:

snip


I'm never out of the
saddle. (Oh well, maybe once every third year, just out of pure
exuberance.) The whole point of the sort of bike that I ride (Dutch
city bikes with the tiniest overlay of sporting pretensions) is that
you, snuggle down comfortably into your Brooks, and glue your butt
there.

What is the point of paying for 14 well-spaced Rohloff gears if you
have to stand up to use them? That's like buying a Mercedes with the
biggest engine and then pushing it around by humanpower.


Climbing long and hard out of the saddle builds amazing abs. Chicks
dig it ;-)

snip

On Nov 12, 2:43 pm, Andre Jute wrote:

snip

I don't understand the point of the fixie.

My 21-speed wheeljie bike has horizontal dropouts. Hmm... wheeljying
would be much easier with a 36-18 fixed gear... (hmmm... ) ... but
using the 48-14 (big ring, second smallest rear sprocket), I can
usually get a seat on the engine at the fire station 3/4 mile across
town - without spinning my legs off.

snip

On Nov 12, 4:37*am, Peter Cole wrote:
On 11/12/2010 12:49 AM, Michael Press wrote:





In article
,
* Andre *wrote:

On Nov 10, 8:08 am, Dieter *wrote:
Andre Jute wrote:
3 degrees Celsius outside, ice on cars, road with little icy buttons..

****!

My cycling target isn't high: 50km a week, 2000km for the year or at
least as far as I rode the previous year.

Last year I rode 2127km. This year so far 1906km but it has stood
there for weeks with constant heavy rain, and now, when the rain
passes, freezing weather.

When I was a young professional sportsman, I would take every
opportunity to sit on my ass in intellectual or at least elegant
company, and I thought nothing of lecturing jocks whose sole sense was
kinesthetic on the pleasures of repose, the dangers of becoming an
exercise junkie. I apologize to all the meatheads who heard that story
from me. I know now how it feels to NEED the exercise.

What keeping you inside? Here in DK we have this sort of weather for
about 4 months, and I just use wider tyres during that time. What I
can't cycle on is slick ice after one of those mild rainfalls on
frozen ground. I tried that once and after the third slide gave up.
But dry ice is OK. I was in Norway once and saw a bloke ride on that
slick ice. I asked him how he did it, and he showed me the spiked
tyres he had. They cost more, and here they are not needed, but if
you're really keen on riding, you can no doubt get them where you are..

Not enough depth of ice here, and no consistent coverage. The one time
I even rode onto a stretch of black long enough to qualify as 'cover',
it was no longer than thirty feet. Studded tires would have been
destroyed just getting there...

No, they will not.
If you get icy roads that interfere with your riding
you want studded tires. Do as Andrew does. Build up
a fixed gear bicycle with studded tires. Take it out
when there is danger of ice on the road. If you do
not want a fixed gear, some other simple, inexpensive
gearing system. Nobody who has ever installed studded
bicycle tires has regretted it.

There were some cheaper bike tires on the market with hardened steel
studs. Those did wear out pretty quickly on pavement. The better tires
(e.g. Nokian) use tungsten carbide studs, which last forever. Studded
tires are expensive, heavy and slow (RR). It's also true that ice, black
ice in particular, is a fairly rare thing to encounter. It's also
virtually impossible to predict, detect or ride over without crashing.
My philosophy is to just put studs on at the beginning of the black ice
season and off at the end -- then I don't have to think about it. Even
avoiding a minor injury is worth it, and minor injuries are almost a
certainty when there's ice around.

I usually have my studs on my fixer, but I'm not sure that's a
particular feature. It's nice to have a simple drivetrain that's immune
to icy buildup, but getting out of the saddle is not such a hot idea in
slippery conditions. Around here it's flat enough (at least winter
routes) that it isn't a problem, but I don't know if fixers, hills and
ice is the best combination.- Hide quoted text -

Ice and hills are a crappy combination all by themselves, particularly
coming down. Nothing like a sled run on a bike. I was doing a spring
ride up Larch Mountain on skinny tires and hit snow at the top and
kept riding -- I mostly walked down. http://www.flickr.com/photos/lmangan...n/photostream/
(not quite this deep for me, but still in May) . I have cheap studs,
but only use them when we get a big ice or snow storm, otherwise, I
just cope with the periodic morning ice. I put on the fat tires and
ride a straigh line. -- Jay Beattie..

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick...21& map.y=282

On Nov 15, 9:45*pm, kolldata wrote:
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick....25&zmy=1.25&m...

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick...cs tType=text

noted for ugly winter weather

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick...cstType =text

not global warming even

On 11/16/2010 1:37 AM, kolldata aka AVOGADRO V wrote:
noted for ugly winter weather

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick...cstType =text

not global warming even

Snow plowing:
http://www.joe-ks.com/archives_dec2005/VancouverSnowPlow.jpg.

--
Tom Sherman - 42.435731,-83.985007
I am a vehicular cyclist.

kolldata writes:

noted for ugly winter weather

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick...cstType =text

I read this one when feeling discontented weatherwise:

http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/24688.html

On 11/16/2010 10:48 AM, Radey Shouman wrote:
writes:

noted for ugly winter weather

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick...cstType =text

I read this one when feeling discontented weatherwise:

http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/24688.html

Thanks for that! Although it can be -40 here, it's not often and never
(AFAIK) in November.