Bicycles
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Found this old friend while rummaging through my parents' garage. Might be time to rediscover what life was like before engines.
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Wednesday morning me and 6 other guys will start a 400 km ride from Helsinki to Kuopio. Since it gets hillier towards the end of the ride we'll start with a whopping 180 km on wednesday, 130 on thursday and 90 on friday. And as usual I'll be riding fixed and brakeless
I hope I get some pics along the way so I can post them here afterwards.
Oh yeah, did indeed build my first wheels and it was surprisingly fun - way easier than I had anticipated. Considering giving the Bareknuckle a brand spanking new set as well
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We had great tour, did 450 km in three days (18,5 hours ride time all in all) and had zero technical issues (not even one flat tire), great weather (which is highly improbable in Finland in may) and all in all a superb time! 6 guys, 1 geared road bike, 1 singlespeed, 4 fixed gear bikes of which 2 were brakeless. I rode brakeless and had no problems whatsoever, indeed it got a bit spinny at times though
Here's a video of the ride a friend of mine put together. MAMIL (Middle aged men in lycra) warning though :).Plans are already on their way to ride to Oulu in may 2014, that would be approximately 700 km in 5 days.
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I caught the bike travel bug for real. Got some real life experience regarding packing and load distribution on the earlier trip. Already ditched the front rack (a whopping 1,6 kg), got an Ortlieb handlebar bag and am in the process of fitting a lightweight rear rack which I'll attach a dry bag to with lighter stuff (sleeping bag, towel, hammock etc). If that doesn't work I'll fit panniers - seriously trying to avoid that though, because with more space you pack loads of unnecessary stuff. Light weight means light riding
Going to give the new setup a go later this month (going to a friends cabin, 260 km round trip) and hopefully in august I'll do my first 200 km brevet. Planning to ride the 130 km or so to the start of the brevet, camp the night, do the brevet, camp another night and ride back home. All in all 460 km in three days.
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My Frankenstein bike, I tried to spend as little money as possible.
White tires and white handlebar wrapping was on sale for dirt cheap, Women's brook seat used off eaby for $26… I couldnt resist.
I took off the front derailleur and chain ring since I never down shifted.
Really good bike, and doesn't hurt my ass every time I go over a bump like my aluminum cannondale
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Here's what I'm currently riding. I've gotta get some real photos of it soon.
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The new road bike is now complete. It is a Cippolini logos which is billed as their most relaxed geometry bike. It is still pretty aggressive though as the spacer stack under the stem pays testament to.
This was pretty much a no holds bar build for me. Lightweight wheels, Super Record EPS groupset, Clavicula M3 cranks, EE cycleworks brakes etc etc.
Ridden it quite a lot now and must say I am very pleased with, just needs a better engine I am sad to say but we are working on it.
The bike accelerates really quickly and allows you to push a higher gear than on my old bike.These are the first tubular tyres I have ran, watched a bunch of you tube videos and read 140 plus pages on the "weight weenies" forum before giving it a go, that was hard going. The tyres are on solid and have not come off ( mops sweat off worried brow, the first descent on the glued wheels was a worry! ) so I must have done something right with the glueing procedure.
Here is a shot of the "man cave" with a few more bikes lined up ready to go.
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Nice build for sure. I've always wanted to try some Lightweights.
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Lightweights have always been at the top of my "want list" for a while now. I picked this pair up from a German Ebay seller. The major selling point was that they still had 2 years remaining on the "service up" warranty replacement service that Lightweight offer.
If you are looking at Lightweight wheels then I would recommend buying the extra cost "service up" option. When you a buy a new set you are offered this package, however if you decline and just buy the wheels then there is no way you can buy back in, should you have any issues or need a crash replacement etc.
I am no lightweight rider, 85kg, and so far the wheels have been spot on. I have treated them like any other wheel and use them pretty much daily. Long may this continue!
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So, we had a burglary in the cellar of our building earlier this month and my mountain bike got stolen among other stuff.
Had to get a new one and went for this, a Trek Rumblefish Elite 2013:
120 mm of suspension both front and rear, but it certainly feels like more - I'd say 130-140 mm. Still dialing in all the shock setups but I'm getting there, did a long ride on my trails on saturday and I have to say that I'm quite impressed by the handling of it. Very plush for being air sprung and a very nice progressive stroke rate - didn't even bottom the back out once on my last ride. Upgraded the seat post for a longer Thomson number and have a new stem and bar incoming (need a little less upsweep and a slightly wider bar and a straight stem so went for the Renthal Fat bar and a 90 mm Thomson to match the post), switched to 2,4" wide Ardents (running them at 1.5 bar with NoTubes and LOOOVE them - so much better than the 2,25" version, much more predictable and grippy when cornering and they certainly add to the plushness of the ride) and replaced the big ring with a e-thirteen bashring. Otherwise it's factory spec which is quite refreshing for a change (I've only owned two off-the-peg bikes before and quite enjoy the fact that I don't have to think about all the details of putting together a bike).
A superb bike for the money if you're not looking for a big hit ride. So happy! Can't wait to get out and ride tonight again - my trails are super dry (=fast!) at the moment!
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Awesome bike there Jii, great choice! Sorry to hear your other one was stolen…
