Detail your Setup

~promise~

"are you not worried about them getting ripped off while you're in there?" i said

i think he had a 'lightbulb' moment

gbx u got some handbults, what did they cost? if kenan is riding in the city, a more trad wheel is probably a good idea to protect against potholes and the like.

i spent ~$400

kenan could def do cheaper. apparently marcus @ yojimbo's builds the best wheels in Chi but a) he takes forever (lol w33d!) and b) i'm not sure kenan would really enjoy the yojimbo's "experience"

lemme guess -- unchecked bike snobbery? It's not like I'm going to pull up in my SUV or anything.

I submit that quality of bearings is most important for in town riding. Bottom bracket and hub. Removing winter from both made my commute significantly better.

New bearings on hubs feel awesome.

if you're doing city riding you definitely do not want lightweight wheels as they probably would not last very long. The probably the most popular upgrade are (for good reason) mavic open pros rims laced to ultegra hubs with decent spokes (dt swiss?). In cycling, like most things, the 2/3 rule is in effect: cheap, light, strong (pick 2).

And no offense but initial acceleration is not a big deal compared to potholes, steel grates, rail tracks, shitty roads, etc. So yes, you may lose that precious 0.5 second on your commute to work but hey, at least your wheels will stay true year round!

I AM OFFENDED!

Yeah, I don't hit too many honest-to-betsy potholes, but there are always roads that have been patched way too many times.

Also, accelerating is less about losing time on the way to work than it's about getting the hell out of the way. You ride in city traffic much?

Only about 2500 miles in the last year.

Yeah, I anticipated that answer. It's tough riding. I will never understand people riding down Broadway with earphones on.

If lighter wheels will be worse in the long run, then I've learned something new. I was just thinking that getting through intersections and up what few hills we have in the road a bit faster could only do me good.

Bike: yep. Ridgeback Comet 2004 (maybe 2003? Bought it new July '04 anyway)
Frame: Aluminium, I guess.
Forks: Yep.
Gruppo: SS conversion with a Surly Singleator. The bike's original 48T chainring, and an 18T on the back.
Wheels: Shimano R500. They were on offer and I thought they'd look cool, and be a bit faster, also spokes kept breaking on the originals.
Tyres: Schwalbe Marathon Plus, 700x25. These are great.
Pedals: Shimano PD-M520
Handlebars: Yep. Flat ones, at that.
Stem: Yep. The old-style kind.
Computer: Nup.
Also SKS mudguards and a Topeak luggage rack.

Can now add the following mod:
Frame: Massive crack all around the base of the seat tube. RIP bicycle.

On the plus side, it's time to go shopping for a new frame! There are always awesome deals on frames, and they're a LOT cheaper than full bikes.

6 years out of an aluminum frame seems pretty good. Sorry to hear about your crack though.

A tasty 80% off?

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=50178

Hmm. Really hadn't thought of building a bike like that. Was too blinkered by prospect of cycle2work goodness. Which bits would be worth keeping from the old bike? The wheels are half-decent, not sure if I'm going to stick with single-speed or not atm. I'd need new forks, stem and bars I guess. Also apparently Ridgeback have a lifetime guarantee on frames, so I might not even need one. Right now I'm still a bit distraught and can't even think properly about where to go next. Will hit ILTRMB for advice.

keep all components and transfer to the £35 frame mark posted above then use C2W goodness to bag a nice wee road bike : )

I think almost everything's worth keeping from the old bike, certainly the wheels, tyres, guards, drivetrain (if sticking with SS), pedals. Do you have the space to have two bikes? Rebuild this one for cheap as a hack/pub bike, and then C2W something shiny and lightweight for longer rides.

full carbon + sram red for just over £1k oooft
http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/CBPXSLPR/sl-pro-carbon-sram-red

ah it's £1k for rival, £1.4k for red

Ridgeback are replacing the frame. Am pleasantly surprised, as I thought my singlespeed conversion would lead to some sort of small-print warranty-voiding, but they've said they'll give me a frame with horizontal dropouts instead. Presumably a Ridgeback Solo. So, not so bad, hopefully (I reserve the right to be too overjoyed until I have a working bicycle with all the bits I had before).

Meh. Replacement brand new Ridgeback Comet, they kept my pedals and lock, lost my rack (am picking up a free replacement later), tensioner and wheels.

Am going to flog this as soon as I've located a nice steel ss that will take rack and guards.

like the look of this ss as a commuter
http://www.evanscycles.com/product_image/image/2dc/d13/944/33633/large/ridgeback-solo-2009-road-bike.jpg

Yeah, that's the Solo isn't it? Evans have them on sale at £400, but I think they're out of my size, and I'm pretty loath to use them again (I swore I'd never use them again after I bought my bike there back in 2004).

There's really nothing else that comes close to my wants without being a Condor Tempo, and I don't actually have £900.

Gah, if they hadn't teased me with the promise of a nice replacement bike I could've just bought one of those already.

I'm almost back on the road. Some bits still to arrive, have raided E's bike temporarily, will slowly substitute back

Condor Bivio frame
ITM vista forks
Chorus 9 speed levers (from merckx)
Tektro CR720 cross levers (lucky dip at Kraynicks)
Tektro CR720 brakes
Kraynick's mystery cable housing and cables
TTT alloy bars (from merckx)
Gossamer Triple chainset (from E's bike) (also I get to pick two out of three rings, this needs to go, quickly)
Miche campy compatible 9 spee 13-28 cassette
Chorus 10 speed front mech (from E's bike)
Champ triple rear mech (from E's bike)
90s campy chorus wheelset (from merckx via E's bike)
big fat schwalbe marathon plus (from E's bike)

this puts me in a bit of a bind. I either put all the campy back on E's bike and have to get a whole gruppo when I replace, or put shimano/SRAM on E's bike and keep the campy on mine (not a problem as she is on bar end shifters anyway). The difficulty is new wheels and mainly because E would not be happy if I didn't give her back the yellow merckx v's. So either I spring for campy compatible hubs (expensive over here) or get her yellow velocities.

None of this is too much of a problem, just annoyed by the cost of campy and general incompatibility.

Right now? 8 speed mongoose rigid bike shaped object. Heavy and slow as he'll, but not bad for pottering around center parcs. Didn't bring the felt in the end as we found that our borrowed bike rack didn't play nicely with our car.....about 10 minutes before we set off..... So bang went le tour de Lower Trent valley.

i am getting the bartape re-done tomorrow. chrome tape looking rather un-chrome in various spots, time for a spring clean! (also need the brifters aligned a bit better, they're all over the shop atm.)

I just ordered glow in the dark bar tape, I hope it is actually cool rather than somewhat disappointing.