Comments on: iBike 2012: Tools, not toys

By: Charley

Charley — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 10:09:03 +0000

Interesting reading all the comments;youth is running away from all of us. Sometimes our brain catches up with our bodies and we get smarter for a short while..

By: Larry T.

Larry T. — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 19:52:27 +0000

No grazie on the BMW…if I was tempted by a motorcycle it would certainly be Italian and get ridden in Italy where you can still (for now at least) have fun with them on great roads. But I decided years ago, after winding up my pro racing career that I could get some of the same enjoyment with a bicycle on a twisty descent, with far less risk and while getting some good exercise on the climb. When I think of motos now all I can imagine is the cops chasing me around as soon as I start to have fun…something pretty unlikely on a bicycle! As to getting run over, as an ex-moto pro I subscribe to the fatalist theory – when your number’s up, your number’s up, whether you’re having fun on a bike or at home sitting on the can.

By: Derek

Derek — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 23:36:22 +0000

Somewhat?

By: Khal Spencer

Khal Spencer — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 21:38:09 +0000

We recently had a hit and run up here. The cyclist was badly bruised from a sideswipe but she is OK, and the motorist was chased down after calls to the P.D. and arrested. The guy seems to not get it–I heard that a week after he was conditionally released to await trial, he was arrested again for violating his release conditions. Back in the Hoosgow he went.

You are right-the failure to render aid part is unacceptable.

Violent deaths of all types are too high in the USA. Whether killed by car, gun, or whatever. We seem somewhat uncivilized.

By: Derek

Derek — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 19:10:50 +0000

You are right about the odds, although I did get rid of the ZX-11. You could be killed on your couch when someone drives through your living room. Most of my anger stemmed from the running part. You don’t leave someone to die in the street. I have no intention of stopping my bike rides of either type but I do try to pay attention. It is the other guy and you will always lose the argument with the car, I spent a couple years in a wheelchair after a motorcycle/car argument. So yeah, let’s be careful out there.

By: Khal Spencer

Khal Spencer — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:15:07 +0000

Both my Cannondales will take a 28 but just barely. Currently, the CAAD-5 is shod with 700-28 Conti 4-Seasons in honor of the recent chipsealing of NM Route 4. I have the Open Corsas back on the Six-13 because as Larry said, they take some of the edge off the bad road surface. If they were more worn down, I would look for some of those open tubulars with 24 or 25 mm sections used Over There on pave.

On the commuter bike side, the Long Haul Trucker has 26 x 1.5′s and I’m about to take off the Specialized 700-23/25s on the La Cruz and put back the 700-32 Panaracer folding Paselas. They rice very comfy and are reasonably light. I’m open to suggestion as to other good commuting tires that can fit under fenders.

By: Larry T.

Larry T. — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:57:29 +0000

The wider rim “aero advantage” seems to be behind the pro embrace of wider tires but they seem to have noticed how the fatter rubber with larger air volume takes some of the sting out of the ride of their super-rigid plastic bikes as well. The bike makers seem to be noticing and offering frames and forks with more room for ‘em. Great idea! Most of my bikes won’t take anything larger than a 25 but a high TPI open tubular tire in a 23 (as in Vittoria’s Open Corsa or Torelli’s Arezzo) offers a nice ride – but then I’m NOT riding any of those super-rigid plastic bikes. These tires pumped up to 90 psi work just fine for me, even on the frost-heaved slab pavement we have here in Iowa. In Italy of course, they ride like, well, butter I guess. Challenge has a 25 open tubular called Strada that I want to try next.

By: Derek

Derek — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 13:18:50 +0000

yes it was and I am glad they got them. It is rare, I once was ticket for causing an accident on south Tejon after a woman hit me I managed to stay up, bunny hop the curb and some parking blocks get back on the road chase her down and yell at her. She then swerved off the road, drove over the curb causing some damage to the vehicle. I was stupid to stay but I thought the cops might like to know about her hitting me several blocks earlier and continuing to drive. Won’t be doing that again.
I didn’t know Kyle but he dated my friends sister for years. It is a great loss. Thank you for your thoughts.

By: khal spencer

khal spencer — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 03:07:10 +0000

Its good that the bike biz is finally building and marketing stuff that doesn’t reek of skinny guys climbing European mountains while turbocharged on EPO. Maybe the rest of the country will take cycling seriously.

Sorry about the fatal, but it is easy to amplify every death into a holy terror due to our ability to transmit every fatal across the Intertubes. Actually I have not seen any data to suggest cycling is more dangerous than driving, on a death per exposure hour basis. Its easy to think it is deadly because we all amp up the concerns, esp. given its a small world, but no one has put out numbers to support that anyone is at high risk compared to say, driving or living. including Steve Magas in his most recent posts. If you want to live on the edge statistically, I’ll sell you the K1100RS (Larry??). Now on that thing I do feel like I am living closer to the edge compared to cycling. Or I can leave the wreckage to you in my will….

If you don’t live in Florida, you are probably OK–chances are, some lunatic will get you in a movie theater first. Besides, every one of us probably knows someone who has been greased while driving. Its not what you are riding in or on, but the fucking idiot you run into.

By: Patrick O'Grady

Patrick O'Grady — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 01:36:50 +0000

Damn' right, Patti. And don't forget baskets. I have a nifty made-in-USA Wald wire basket that I can zip-tie or toe-strap to any of my bikes equipped with racks. But I mostly use it on the Vespa for beer runs. You wouldn't believe what the scooter crowd will pay for bits of this and that which add carrying capacity. Twenty bucks plus a couple of old toe straps from an elderly pair of cyclo-cross pedals and I was good to go.