Crank Arm Length

On 19/3/21 4:52 am, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 9:40:20 AM UTC-7, James wrote:
On 18/3/21 2:27 am, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Wednesday, March 17, 2021 at 3:33:04 AM UTC-7,
wrote:

+1. For a gravel bike and for me also for a road bike the
default position is on the hoods where you can shift and brake
instantly and at the same time. An exception mayby for people
in Australia where a cue card looks like this: - go straight
for 60 km and then turn right, - after 50 km turn left etc.
;-)

Or of course you have the skills of Frank who can shift and
brake on a bumpy downhill with downtube shifters.

Make sure that you are comfortable in that position for hours
even when climbing. Make a test ride without bar tape first so
you can adjust the shifter without the need to remove the bar
tape. Don't adjust the shifter position by tilting your bar.
The tilt of the bar is determined by a comfortable position in
the drops.

With you there is no way that you can ride with your hands off of
the hoods for any distance without having to slam on the brakes
of shift. a 42 cm bar or even a 40 is plenty wide to retain
complete control even of a gravel bike in heavy terrain.

This was relatively heavy terrain for my gravel bike.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/CKiBRuFMpzgvdz3J9

Possibly even Joerg rated! I didn't see any mountain lions though.

Where was that picture taken James? It looks like it is in Grass
Valley park. They cut down all of the original Redwoods and put those
damn Eucalyptus in there. They have similar sections in Redwood Park.
I rode on terrain like that commonly before deciding to give up that
sort of effort for road riding.


It was taken on a road close to the Queensland border with New South
Wales in Australia, and about 80 km from the coast.

--
JS

On Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 3:28:43 PM UTC-7, James wrote:
On 19/3/21 4:52 am, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 9:40:20 AM UTC-7, James wrote:
On 18/3/21 2:27 am, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Wednesday, March 17, 2021 at 3:33:04 AM UTC-7,
wrote:

+1. For a gravel bike and for me also for a road bike the
default position is on the hoods where you can shift and brake
instantly and at the same time. An exception mayby for people
in Australia where a cue card looks like this: - go straight
for 60 km and then turn right, - after 50 km turn left etc.
;-)

Or of course you have the skills of Frank who can shift and
brake on a bumpy downhill with downtube shifters.

Make sure that you are comfortable in that position for hours
even when climbing. Make a test ride without bar tape first so
you can adjust the shifter without the need to remove the bar
tape. Don't adjust the shifter position by tilting your bar.
The tilt of the bar is determined by a comfortable position in
the drops.

With you there is no way that you can ride with your hands off of
the hoods for any distance without having to slam on the brakes
of shift. a 42 cm bar or even a 40 is plenty wide to retain
complete control even of a gravel bike in heavy terrain.

This was relatively heavy terrain for my gravel bike.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/CKiBRuFMpzgvdz3J9

Possibly even Joerg rated! I didn't see any mountain lions though.

Where was that picture taken James? It looks like it is in Grass
Valley park. They cut down all of the original Redwoods and put those
damn Eucalyptus in there. They have similar sections in Redwood Park.
I rode on terrain like that commonly before deciding to give up that
sort of effort for road riding.

It was taken on a road close to the Queensland border with New South
Wales in Australia, and about 80 km from the coast.

That is exactly the kind of Eucalyptus that they brought here. They were told that we were getting the king that has excellent hardwood but that isn't them. When cut and dried they develop large long cracks that make the wood almost useless except for things like cutting board and flooring narrow enough to use the wood between the cracks.

So we now have Eucalyptus the size of Redwoods that sluff off the materials from which forest fires are made.

On 3/18/2021 6:28 PM, James wrote:
On 19/3/21 4:52 am, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 9:40:20 AM UTC-7, James wrote:
On 18/3/21 2:27 am, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Wednesday, March 17, 2021 at 3:33:04 AM UTC-7,
wrote:

+1. For a gravel bike and for me also for a road bike the
default position is on the hoods where you can shift and brake
instantly and at the same time. An exception mayby for people
in Australia where a cue card looks like this: - go straight
for 60 km and then turn right, - after 50 km turn left etc.
;-)

Or of course you have the skills of Frank who can shift and
brake on a bumpy downhill with downtube shifters.

Make sure that you are comfortable in that position for hours
even when climbing. Make a test ride without bar tape first so
you can adjust the shifter without the need to remove the bar
tape. Don't adjust the shifter position by tilting your bar.
The tilt of the bar is determined by a comfortable position in
the drops.

With you there is no way that you can ride with your hands off of
the hoods for any distance without having to slam on the brakes
of shift. a 42 cm bar or even a 40 is plenty wide to retain
complete control even of a gravel bike in heavy terrain.

This was relatively heavy terrain for my gravel bike.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/CKiBRuFMpzgvdz3J9

Possibly even Joerg rated! I didn't see any mountain lions though.

Where was that picture taken James? It looks like it is in Grass
Valley park. They cut down all of the original Redwoods and put those
damn Eucalyptus in there. They have similar sections in Redwood Park.
I rode on terrain like that commonly before deciding to give up that
sort of effort for road riding.


It was taken on a road close to the Queensland border with New South
Wales in Australia, and about 80 km from the coast.

So roughly 5000 miles from Tom.


--
- Frank Krygowski

On Thu, 18 Mar 2021 10:52:47 -0700 (PDT), Tom Kunich
wrote:

On Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 9:40:20 AM UTC-7, James wrote:
On 18/3/21 2:27 am, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Wednesday, March 17, 2021 at 3:33:04 AM UTC-7,
wrote:

+1. For a gravel bike and for me also for a road bike the default
position is on the hoods where you can shift and brake instantly
and at the same time. An exception mayby for people in Australia
where a cue card looks like this: - go straight for 60 km and then
turn right, - after 50 km turn left etc. ;-)

Or of course you have the skills of Frank who can shift and brake
on a bumpy downhill with downtube shifters.

Make sure that you are comfortable in that position for hours even
when climbing. Make a test ride without bar tape first so you can
adjust the shifter without the need to remove the bar tape. Don't
adjust the shifter position by tilting your bar. The tilt of the
bar is determined by a comfortable position in the drops.

With you there is no way that you can ride with your hands off of the
hoods for any distance without having to slam on the brakes of shift.
a 42 cm bar or even a 40 is plenty wide to retain complete control
even of a gravel bike in heavy terrain.

This was relatively heavy terrain for my gravel bike.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/CKiBRuFMpzgvdz3J9

Possibly even Joerg rated! I didn't see any mountain lions though.

Where was that picture taken James? It looks like it is in Grass Valley park. They cut down all of the original Redwoods and put those damn Eucalyptus in there. They have similar sections in Redwood Park. I rode on terrain like that commonly before deciding to give up that sort of effort for road riding.

(I can't resist) James lives in Australia... no Redwoods there :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

On Thu, 18 Mar 2021 11:45:50 -0700 (PDT), Tom Kunich
wrote:

On Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 11:38:42 AM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/18/2021 1:52 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 9:40:20 AM UTC-7, James wrote:
On 18/3/21 2:27 am, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Wednesday, March 17, 2021 at 3:33:04 AM UTC-7,
wrote:

+1. For a gravel bike and for me also for a road bike the default
position is on the hoods where you can shift and brake instantly
and at the same time. An exception mayby for people in Australia
where a cue card looks like this: - go straight for 60 km and then
turn right, - after 50 km turn left etc. ;-)

Or of course you have the skills of Frank who can shift and brake
on a bumpy downhill with downtube shifters.

Make sure that you are comfortable in that position for hours even
when climbing. Make a test ride without bar tape first so you can
adjust the shifter without the need to remove the bar tape. Don't
adjust the shifter position by tilting your bar. The tilt of the
bar is determined by a comfortable position in the drops.

With you there is no way that you can ride with your hands off of the
hoods for any distance without having to slam on the brakes of shift.
a 42 cm bar or even a 40 is plenty wide to retain complete control
even of a gravel bike in heavy terrain.

This was relatively heavy terrain for my gravel bike.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/CKiBRuFMpzgvdz3J9

Possibly even Joerg rated! I didn't see any mountain lions though.

Where was that picture taken James? It looks like it is in Grass Valley park. They cut down all of the original Redwoods and put those damn Eucalyptus in there.
I think you're off by something like 5000 miles, Tom. (There's that
memory problem again.)

Tell me Frank, where is mileage being discussed? You don't even appear to be able to keep track of who is saying what. Is there something else wrong with your mental state?

Well, reprehending on where James lives, but from Sidney to San
Francisco it is about 7,416 miles that he'd have to ride (on the
water) to get to your Grass Valley park.
--
Cheers,

John B.

On Monday, March 15, 2021 at 10:56:03 AM UTC-5, wrote:
I have been using crank arms of 175 mm forever. One of the problems I have always had to put up with is that my knees always hurt for the first half hour of a ride until everything loosens up. I was looking for a Campy Ultradrive crankset and the only one I could get had arms of 172.5 mm. After using these things for a couple of months my knees no longer hurt for the first or any part of the ride. Conventional wisdom is that someone with 36" legs should use 175 arms but perhaps it has more to do with the geometry of your ankles and knees than a broad statement,

I have had the same problem with handlebar width. My shoulders are 44 cm wide but I get sore shoulders on long rides. Dropping down to 40 cm bars makes a huge difference in the tiredness leading to pain in my shoulders. This also extends the distance I can ride because a lot of the fatigue and pain isn't there.

Stem length is also a problem. Bikes, especially the latest carbon bikes have long top tubes which means that the 120 mm stems are not the "standard" I have experimented with stem lengths but it has to be fit to each bike individually. 62 cm bikes used to all have 58 or 59 cm top tubes. Now a 58 cm bike is likely to have a 62 c-c top tube. Now this does have a certain advantage: the longer top tube places you more directly over the center of gravity of the bike and between the wheels. But this also means that you have to be careful with saddle placement and stem length. When this is correct, like on my Colnago, you tend to set your fastest average speeds.

Yep. I wear pants inseam of 26 inches. I have to buy 30 inch inseam pants and cut 4 inches off. After about 8 years of riding including Ragbrai 2007, my left knee started swelling up requiring on 3 occasions a trip to the MDs. Started using crank shortners designed for adult / child tandems and just had high rpm slow speed problems, so ended up getting a motor then electric bikes.

On 19/3/21 9:34 am, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 3:28:43 PM UTC-7, James wrote:
On 19/3/21 4:52 am, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 9:40:20 AM UTC-7, James wrote:
On 18/3/21 2:27 am, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Wednesday, March 17, 2021 at 3:33:04 AM UTC-7,
wrote:

+1. For a gravel bike and for me also for a road bike the
default position is on the hoods where you can shift and
brake instantly and at the same time. An exception mayby
for people in Australia where a cue card looks like this: -
go straight for 60 km and then turn right, - after 50 km
turn left etc. ;-)

Or of course you have the skills of Frank who can shift
and brake on a bumpy downhill with downtube shifters.

Make sure that you are comfortable in that position for
hours even when climbing. Make a test ride without bar tape
first so you can adjust the shifter without the need to
remove the bar tape. Don't adjust the shifter position by
tilting your bar. The tilt of the bar is determined by a
comfortable position in the drops.

With you there is no way that you can ride with your hands
off of the hoods for any distance without having to slam on
the brakes of shift. a 42 cm bar or even a 40 is plenty wide
to retain complete control even of a gravel bike in heavy
terrain.

This was relatively heavy terrain for my gravel bike.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/CKiBRuFMpzgvdz3J9

Possibly even Joerg rated! I didn't see any mountain lions
though.

Where was that picture taken James? It looks like it is in Grass
Valley park. They cut down all of the original Redwoods and put
those damn Eucalyptus in there. They have similar sections in
Redwood Park. I rode on terrain like that commonly before
deciding to give up that sort of effort for road riding.

It was taken on a road close to the Queensland border with New
South Wales in Australia, and about 80 km from the coast.

That is exactly the kind of Eucalyptus that they brought here. They
were told that we were getting the king that has excellent hardwood
but that isn't them. When cut and dried they develop large long
cracks that make the wood almost useless except for things like
cutting board and flooring narrow enough to use the wood between the
cracks.

So we now have Eucalyptus the size of Redwoods that sluff off the
materials from which forest fires are made.


Exactly that kind? I'm not sure how you know. There are hundreds to
choose from by the looks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...lyptus_species

There are quite a number of species in the local area. Brush Box, for
example, is used in a variety of applications.

https://www.woodsolutions.com.au/wood-species/box-brush

There are a number of operating timber mills in town, and I don't hear
them complaining about large long cracks that make the wood almost
useless. I don't hear their calls for the planting of Redwoods either.

--
JS

On Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 6:21:07 PM UTC-7, James wrote:
On 19/3/21 9:34 am, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 3:28:43 PM UTC-7, James wrote:
On 19/3/21 4:52 am, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 9:40:20 AM UTC-7, James wrote:
On 18/3/21 2:27 am, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Wednesday, March 17, 2021 at 3:33:04 AM UTC-7,
wrote:

+1. For a gravel bike and for me also for a road bike the
default position is on the hoods where you can shift and
brake instantly and at the same time. An exception mayby
for people in Australia where a cue card looks like this: -
go straight for 60 km and then turn right, - after 50 km
turn left etc. ;-)

Or of course you have the skills of Frank who can shift
and brake on a bumpy downhill with downtube shifters.

Make sure that you are comfortable in that position for
hours even when climbing. Make a test ride without bar tape
first so you can adjust the shifter without the need to
remove the bar tape. Don't adjust the shifter position by
tilting your bar. The tilt of the bar is determined by a
comfortable position in the drops.

With you there is no way that you can ride with your hands
off of the hoods for any distance without having to slam on
the brakes of shift. a 42 cm bar or even a 40 is plenty wide
to retain complete control even of a gravel bike in heavy
terrain.

This was relatively heavy terrain for my gravel bike.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/CKiBRuFMpzgvdz3J9

Possibly even Joerg rated! I didn't see any mountain lions
though.

Where was that picture taken James? It looks like it is in Grass
Valley park. They cut down all of the original Redwoods and put
those damn Eucalyptus in there. They have similar sections in
Redwood Park. I rode on terrain like that commonly before
deciding to give up that sort of effort for road riding.

It was taken on a road close to the Queensland border with New
South Wales in Australia, and about 80 km from the coast.

That is exactly the kind of Eucalyptus that they brought here. They
were told that we were getting the king that has excellent hardwood
but that isn't them. When cut and dried they develop large long
cracks that make the wood almost useless except for things like
cutting board and flooring narrow enough to use the wood between the
cracks.

So we now have Eucalyptus the size of Redwoods that sluff off the
materials from which forest fires are made.

Exactly that kind? I'm not sure how you know. There are hundreds to
choose from by the looks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...lyptus_species

There are quite a number of species in the local area. Brush Box, for
example, is used in a variety of applications.

https://www.woodsolutions.com.au/wood-species/box-brush

There are a number of operating timber mills in town, and I don't hear
them complaining about large long cracks that make the wood almost
useless. I don't hear their calls for the planting of Redwoods either.

Again, there is that language problem. Why is that? I said that we were supposed to receive a species of Eucalyptus that didn't do that and was good for hardwood lumber. But they did not supply that species. https://www.kqed.org/news/11644927/e...ee-took-root-2

On 19/3/21 11:53 am, John B. wrote:

Well, reprehending on where James lives, but from Sidney to San
Francisco it is about 7,416 miles that he'd have to ride (on the
water) to get to your Grass Valley park.


Where is "Sidney"?

--
JS

James wrote:
On 19/3/21 11:53 am, John B. wrote:

Well, reprehending on where James lives, but from Sidney to San
Francisco it is about 7,416 miles that he'd have to ride (on the
water) to get to your Grass Valley park.


Where is "Sidney"?


Just north of Victoria, on Vancouver Island, Canada.

I get a bit confused every time I see video posted of somebody riding
around Sydney and I think “I should hop on my bike and check that out�,
then I see the spelling and think “Well, maybe another day...�