all purpose gear thread

gbx hows that brooks mod/clone you got doin?

Dude it's great

My seat isn't super special, but it's brown with contrast yellow piping that matches my bike, and the saleslady maintains that it if is stolen I won't be able to replace it.

I want this bespoke rapha suit quite seriously:

http://bikehugger.com/2009/09/david-byrne-bicycles.html#more

fancyman!

got rapha 'bonk bag' on clearance the other week, handy on the long rides when i've despatched the rack and bag.

I love my rapha jacket so very much. I am hoping one of my family deems my 30th birthday a worthy occasion to buy me their cross jersey. (I am a fred for rapha, if I had the money I would so drop it on the Rapha-Condor team bike).

i cant afford rapha, and treat it with the same jealous disdain that i like to think PC users used to feel for mac snobs ie i want it

lol that's why i bought the bag, 30 bucks was do-able! 240 for a long-sleeve jersey, not so much.

reading an article in which the president of rapha goes on at length about "experiential marketing" made their line less appealing to me.

tested swix lobsters today in 27 deg for one hour ride in. these are pretty good. my hands stayed quite warm, no sweat. they are very thin. i was able to get in and out of pockets well, even work my mp3 player. that was not even close to possible with my old pi's. the swix could have a slightly better flex tho.

ffs all I want is xs long sleeve wool baselayers

You'd think that biking stuff would be the one arena where my size wouldn't make shopping utterly impossible.

im such a dork, but there are rare days when i actually could use this. on sale and shipping is 13cents today. nashbar ffs ;_;

http://www.nashbar.com/bikes//Product_10053_10052_166278_-1___

oh man there are like two days a month I could use that I think

recs for smallest/portable flat kit, plz, including pouch or DIY pouch workaround

or basically: which C02 thing is smallest/best? and will they get you up to road PSI or is this like the bike equivalent of the trunk donut

I am a big fan of the planet bike pocket rocket pump, which will take you to 120psi and fits nicely in the back pocket. Park self adhesive patches fix 90% of punctures in my book.

i've got the topeak road morph, so i'm slightly hesitant to get another mini-pump, but if it's really backpocket then i will have to check it out

i want something small enough that i can carry it in my jacket or easily put it under the seat. also gotta be able to carry a tube because fuck dealing with a patch when its snowing/raining imo

for proper training or where i anticipate being out the back on my own, the most minimalist is best, i think i have an innovations thing. for commute i have a quickshot thing that accepts any style of cartridge (threaded, unthreaded, 12g or 16g). even a 12g will get me rolling on 28s at like 75 i think.

one thing to know is that imu co2 goes through butyl tubes over time, its soluble or something. youll lose psi over days. so refill with a pump when you get home. maybe this is a myth, but it seems to match my experiences.

I have an under seat wedge that fits the pocket rocket, tube, pump, patches. (actually I have two, the second one fits a rain jacket and chocolate as well)

can u leave bag on bike safely?

i mean w/o theft?

In Pittsburgh, yes. Anywhere else I wouldn't risk it.

Since moving here I bought a frame pump and I leave it on my bike along with lights and the wee wedge and still have all these things. I can't imagine this working in London, Chicago or new york. The worst that's ever happened was somebody turning my lights on.

american pranksterism from the sounds of things

i wouldn't worry about leaving a wedge here in mpls, either, though i think i'm maybe too cavalier about not locking my wheel(s)

i never used a wedge on racing bike b/c i hated fiddling w it during racing season, on/off on/off. fuck that carry shit in jersey. and never use a wedge on commute b/c i wanna keep my shit, so i stick it in a little bag in pannier. so i don't have any saddle bags. *shrug*

treating myself to some gear from the new decathlon store this weekend: shoes, bibs, whatever else takes my fancy...

^^^new bibs, silk under-gloves, raincoat, multitool, lube

sounds like a recipe for a good night out.

lol

explain me cycling caps

imo they are good things when worn properly, in the cold under a helmet, or in the rain. off the bike they are dire.

i wear mine when it's rainy or misty, but also when it's sunny to give my cheeks and nose some respite from the sun. also, hats with a little browpad are better at sucking up sweat that would otherwise sting my eyes.

they are surprisingly effective against the sun

my new bibs are the shit

holy cow guys last night i worked on an old schwinn world tourist, a 12 speed cruiser style bike that had the free hub in the bottom bracket.
that was funkytown!

I can't even figure out how that would work!

if its what im thinking of, those let you shift gears while coasting right? i remember when i was a kid around 1980 a friend had a panasonic that could do that. when you coasted, the drive train kept rotating. weird.

yea, the chain keeps moving even tho yr pedals don't. it's supa-freaky

dudes, INSOLES

so i bought xc skiing boots yesterday (my ex-racer buddy is hooking me up w/dope skis/bindings/poles) and opted to throw in some superf33t insoles because my dogs are sensitive like that (at least in performance footwear ie my alpine boots). put them in my bike shoes when i got home just because there isn't any snow yet and it was like daaaaaaaaaaaamn

like noticeably affected my pedalstroke and everything---i could feel a mechanical difference in my ~hips~ it was crazy

superfeet are the absolute business but I don't have any for my bike shoes. I should get some.

srsly, i didn't think it'd make much of a difference, but wow

also, i am that dork that wears his bike shoes all day (shut up) and it actually made them totally fine for walking and everything, it was crazy

CRAZY

dudes
ok so i realize that clicking on a freewheel cassette when coasting is normal, but lately when i'm in one particular gear and pedaling there is this excellent "gaga-daga" clicking. so 1. why is this happening? and 2. should i continue to think it's cool or go to the bike stand and fix this mofo?

nobody got any ideas abt this ^^ ??

While pedaling? Trim your derailleurs, and stop riding in gears where the chain has to cross over at an extreme angle.

the angle is not extreme at all. it's the 15 tooth (3rd of 7) sprocket in back and the big one in front.
derailer in back is adjusted fine for the range of motion i need it to do . . .

i think naus is right, your derailler is not indexed properly. if you cant adjust it so it goes away, check the alignment of your derailler hanger. you can sometimes do it by eye, but it can be tricky.

i don't understand. i have no click stops in my shifters which would correspond to the index . . .
i am referring to this
maybe i am not explaining this adequately. the sound kinda reminds me of how a 3-spd clicks at different rates in different gears, but this clicking only happens on the 15 tooth sprocket. other gears are quiet when pedaling. hanger looks straight

Try adjusting the tightness of the derailleur cable - if it's gone a bit slack this usually shows up most obviously in the middle of the cassette.

Otherwise, "gaga-daga" isn't all that helpful so sorry if we can't pinpoint it! Make a recording?

Looking for a recommendation on saddle bags: does it matter which or are they all the same? Does anybody have a preference? Basically looking for something that can hold a spare tube, patch kit, tire levers, 6" adj. wrench, pliers, allen keys, house keys, and phone. It would be nice if it could hold a small pump too, but that's not essential as they can clip to the frame.

I'm looking to do more frequent, longer solo rides, and (esp. with it getting dark before 5 these days), would like to be able to have some confidence that I won't be stranded dozens of miles from home due to something that could have been helped with a basic roadside fix.

got SPDs and some decathlon road shoes for my xmas, woot!!!