Topic: The Cycling Thread

[Cognoscento]

Another AWESOME day for riding!  Did the Red Rock Scenic Loop this morning and filmed it...

Biking The Red Rock Scenic Loop (Ascent)

[pandamonium]

bah, i rode ~7 mi last night and it kicked my ass. unacceptable.

[GodSlayer]

regarding chain lubing...

should I be cleaning it off until it's no longer black with grime?

Bicycle Chain Maintenance Video

in this vid, he just whips through it fairly superficially.

would you recommend doing it any differently? (I was doing it with newspaper, not a rag, and trying to be a little more particular, e.g., applying pressure with fingers to the sides of the chain rather than just a fistful of rag enveloping the chain, in addition to running over the top and bottom while the paper went black (a little upwards or downwards pressure, whichever wouldn't cause it to shift out of gear)))

is there a point at which I've wiped off too much lube? can I get it to the point where it stops leaving heavy black marks in the cleaning paper/rag. if I do, will I have to reapply lube and give it a superficial wipe off of any excess?

my main concerns are
- making one thing worse in trying to make another better
- black marks staining my pants.


edit: oh, and any tips on the sprockets (again, I've kind of held the sides to get grime off, since obviously grabbing it any other way will just get things tangled up on the teeth.

[pandamonium]

I have a brush to loosen the grime, and I use a rag to wipe with. I don't care about black marks on my black pants. I don't ever get the chain perfectly clean, but the trick is to do it regularly. I try to do it once a month, but when you do it depends on how much you ride. I should probably clean my chain more often, actually.

[GodSlayer]

I have a brush to loosen the grime, and I use a rag to wipe with. I don't care about black marks on my black pants. I don't ever get the chain perfectly clean, but the trick is to do it regularly. I try to do it once a month, but when you do it depends on how much you ride. I should probably clean my chain more often, actually.

apparently the sprockets can accumulate some of the grime off the chain, so, should probably do those, too? or even more often than the chain itself?

[jaypee]

I have a brush to loosen the grime, and I use a rag to wipe with. I don't care about black marks on my black pants. I don't ever get the chain perfectly clean, but the trick is to do it regularly. I try to do it once a month, but when you do it depends on how much you ride. I should probably clean my chain more often, actually.

apparently the sprockets can accumulate some of the grime off the chain, so, should probably do those, too? or even more often than the chain itself?

I clean mine at least once a month, and I don't stop cleaning until a clean paper towel run along the chain and sprockets comes away as clean as it was before I started running it along the chain.

Then I re-lube and the whole cycle starts over again.

[WC]

I should probably go clean mine.

[Cognoscento]

Caught a good tail wind on the descent from the Red Rock summit and hit 54mph!  That is "poop your pants" scary let me tell you!

54mph on my bike!!

[khendar]

Caught a good tail wind on the descent from the Red Rock summit and hit 54mph!  That is "poop your pants" scary let me tell you!

54mph on my bike!!

Were you on the aerobars for that ? You clearly have more faith in your tyres than I do

[lonely moa]

Caught a good tail wind on the descent from the Red Rock summit and hit 54mph!  That is "poop your pants" scary let me tell you!

54mph on my bike!!

Were you on the aerobars for that ? You clearly have more faith in your tyres than I do

Looks like the road to do it on. 

[Cognoscento]

Caught a good tail wind on the descent from the Red Rock summit and hit 54mph!  That is "poop your pants" scary let me tell you!

54mph on my bike!!

Were you on the aerobars for that ? You clearly have more faith in your tyres than I do

In the first section of the vid, I was not in the aerobars - I needed the brakes to control my speed in the turns.  In the second, faster, section I was down in the aerobars.  I was hit with winds of 30mph with gusts over 40 and they were all tail winds - it was like surfing a tsunami!

[WC]

Really amazing ride this evening. Going around the Tampa coastilne of the bay, exploring new routes, I ran into a carnival setting up at dusk on the water, lights going on, carnies everywhere, things half up and disarray. And the moon and Venus and Jupiter over the ocean as the sunset was stunning. Here's an odd angle;


What do you think happened next?

WHEEEEEEE!!!

Took a ton of photos as I went along. I'll post any that turned out not shit.

[GodSlayer]

Really amazing ride this evening. Going around the Tampa coastilne of the bay, exploring new routes, I ran into a carnival setting up at dusk on the water, lights going on, carnies everywhere, things half up and disarray. And the moon and Venus and Jupiter over the ocean as the sunset was stunning. Here's an odd angle;


What do you think happened next?

WHEEEEEEE!!!

Took a ton of photos as I went along. I'll post any that turned out not shit.

is that a red ghost orb, or is that your aura?

[WC]

Tail light, and hey, my headlight is there too. But thank you, I've been working on my aura.

[GodSlayer]

I have a brush to loosen the grime, and I use a rag to wipe with. I don't care about black marks on my black pants. I don't ever get the chain perfectly clean, but the trick is to do it regularly. I try to do it once a month, but when you do it depends on how much you ride. I should probably clean my chain more often, actually.

apparently the sprockets can accumulate some of the grime off the chain, so, should probably do those, too? or even more often than the chain itself?

I clean mine at least once a month, and I don't stop cleaning until a clean paper towel run along the chain and sprockets comes away as clean as it was before I started running it along the chain.

Then I re-lube and the whole cycle starts over again.

...the last sentence confuses me. if you're being serious, how long does this persist--until a superficial wipe down of the lubed chain runs clear? ...I've always just assumed some black grease was how it should look. apparently the 'manufacturer's lube' is different to the ones you buy, so I've never really known the difference between 'new grease' and 'gunked up with shit and should be replaced'.