What transforming changes have you made to your bike

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Carlton green
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Joined: 22 Jun 2019, 12:27pm

What transforming changes have you made to your bike

Post by Carlton green »

I’ve cycled for many decades. I’m not a great high mileage rider but it’s a daily part of my life and mostly how I get about.

Yesterday I was out riding off of road in the local woods whilst ‘walking’ my Terrier, me in low gear and the dog trotting happily along. It occurred to me that a few years ago the same bike couldn’t have been used as freely off of road and that the transforming change was a shift from 27 x 1&1/4” tyres to 700 x 35C tyres. The 700’s inflate slightly wider and have a deeper section to them, on the road they roll as well as the 27” ones but off road (on hard soil paths and gravel tracks) they’re a comfy and carefree ride on wheels that no longer feel like they’re being pushed a little too close to destruction.

What transforming changes have you made to any of your bikes?
Don’t fret, it’s OK to: ride a simple old bike; ride slowly, walk, rest and admire the view; ride off-road; ride in your raincoat; ride by yourself; ride in the dark; and ride one hundred yards or one hundred miles. Your bike and your choices to suit you.
Jupestar
Posts: 920
Joined: 29 Feb 2020, 3:03pm

Re: What transforming changes have you made to your bike

Post by Jupestar »

1) larger tires - same as you.
2) hand built wheels. - I'm heavy.
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Audax67
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Joined: 25 Aug 2011, 9:02am
Location: Alsace, France
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Re: What transforming changes have you made to your bike

Post by Audax67 »

Put a hub motor on it.
Have we got time for another cuppa?
Nearholmer
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Joined: 26 Mar 2022, 7:13am

Re: What transforming changes have you made to your bike

Post by Nearholmer »

Tyres again.

I persisted until a few months ago with puncture resistant touring tyres up to 35/37mm while riding for a significant part of my time on fairly lumpy and, in winter slippery-to-muddy, ground, and was "the last of the late adopters" of tubeless.

Having gone tubeless, upped to 40mm, and gone for "small knobbles", the improvement off-road is immense. They aren't the greatest thing on paved surfaces, especially up steep hills, and its taken a while to get the pressure compromise right for 50:50 riding (5psi higher than Silca recommends for their descriptor that seems to fit my off-road use), but it has hugely improved my "bridleway bashing".

As a PS on this: I've had more, not fewer, punctures since going tubeless, but they are "slow" ones, where the casing has been punctured by thorns that the tough old tourers would have shrugged-off, but the sealant has got me home with a pump-up along the way. After a ride on Saturday, I picked about ten thorns out of the back and three or four (one that maybe could have beaten the tourers) out of the front.
mattsccm
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Joined: 28 Nov 2009, 9:44pm

Re: What transforming changes have you made to your bike

Post by mattsccm »

Tubeless tyres.
Sweet spot is 30mm. Same tyre in 35 is noticeably harder work
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Cugel
Posts: 5430
Joined: 13 Nov 2017, 11:14am

Re: What transforming changes have you made to your bike

Post by Cugel »

Yes, better tyres that are also tubeless. Get some that have thinner sidewalls for less rolling resistance. There are sealant variants that are better than others at sealing even the larger punctures albeit at the disadvantage of them being rather more difficult to get in and out of the opened (core removed) valves because they have clagging-fibres in them.

Handlebar end mirrors that work well. I've had Cateye, Sprintech and some inexpensive far eastern ones from Amazon. The latter are by far the best - half the price of the others: clearer toughened glass rather than polished shiny plastic: mountings that suit any angle of handlebar, stick the mirrors out a bit further so you see behind down the road rather than your own thighs and stay put on vibrator rough roads. Far safer than turning round to look, especially for we stiff-necked olescrotes.

A wide ranging cassette. Although I'd prefer 14-34, no one seems to make one. (Or if they do, there's no stock). But most 10 or 11-speed 11-32 cassettes at least have one-tooth jumps in their highest gear (smallest sprocket) gaps for the first 3 or 4 cogs. The 11-34s cassettes all tend to have 2-tooth gaps for their first 3 or 4 cogs. 11-12-13-14 is much better than 11-13-15-17 in the higher gears. It's just a pity that one has to also buy a 46 or 44 tooth big ring for the chainset to ever get to use those 11 & 12 sprockets!

Cugel
“Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence are usually the slaves of some defunct economist”.
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peetee
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Joined: 4 May 2010, 10:20pm
Location: Upon a lumpy, scarred granite massif.

Re: What transforming changes have you made to your bike

Post by peetee »

Getting to middle age and realising that I don’t need to slam my stem down and arch my bag like I did in the ‘olden days’ in order to keep up with my mates on a ride. A comfortable position gives you extra speed too!
Last edited by peetee on 29 Sep 2022, 7:32am, edited 1 time in total.
The older I get the more I’m inclined to act my shoe size, not my age.
GideonReade
Posts: 410
Joined: 4 Jul 2010, 10:46pm

Re: What transforming changes have you made to your bike

Post by GideonReade »

Helmet mirror. So much less grief than trying to fit mirrors to flat bars, STI drops, Ergopower drops, BES drops, etc, etc. Lost count of how many bike mirrors are now in that box of discards. One helmet, one mirror.

Obviously only valid as I (almost) always wear one.
rjb
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Joined: 11 Jan 2007, 10:25am
Location: Somerset (originally 60/70's Plymouth)

Re: What transforming changes have you made to your bike

Post by rjb »

Put a Tongsheng Tsdz2 mid drive on the tandem. It has transformed our rides, flattening the hills and increasing our enjoyment following a bout of illness by Swmbo. In our 70's so should keep us on the road for another decade. :D
At the last count:- Peugeot 531 pro, Dawes Discovery Tandem, Dawes Kingpin X3, Raleigh 20 stowaway, 1965 Moulton deluxe, Falcon K2 MTB dropped bar tourer, Rudge Bi frame folder, Longstaff trike conversion on a Giant XTC 840 :D
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SimonCelsa
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Joined: 6 Apr 2011, 10:19pm

Re: What transforming changes have you made to your bike

Post by SimonCelsa »

Hub brakes front and rear on the commuter bike. Never have to worry about the rims/discs abrading away, brake blocks/pads wearing, grey paste gunk over hands when fixing punctures or changing tyres. I recently opened the front hub brake for a quick annual check and the internals looked as new, just a tiny bit of black dust from the brake linings. OK, only does 250-300 miles per month but I think the pros outweigh the cons with these brakes.
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geomannie
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Joined: 13 May 2009, 6:07pm

Re: What transforming changes have you made to your bike

Post by geomannie »

GideonReade wrote: 21 Sep 2022, 6:30pm Helmet mirror. So much less grief than trying to fit mirrors to flat bars, STI drops, Ergopower drops, BES drops, etc, etc. Lost count of how many bike mirrors are now in that box of discards. One helmet, one mirror.

Obviously only valid as I (almost) always wear one.
I'm intrigued. I like using a mirror but they are hard to fit to all my bikes. Which helmet mirror do you use? Does it fix on with Velcro?

Thanks
geomannie
GideonReade
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Joined: 4 Jul 2010, 10:46pm

Re: What transforming changes have you made to your bike

Post by GideonReade »

geomannie wrote: 21 Sep 2022, 7:52pm
GideonReade wrote: 21 Sep 2022, 6:30pm Helmet mirror. So much less grief than trying to fit mirrors to flat bars, STI drops, Ergopower drops, BES drops, etc, etc. Lost count of how many bike mirrors are now in that box of discards. One helmet, one mirror.

Obviously only valid as I (almost) always wear one.
I'm intrigued. I like using a mirror but they are hard to fit to all my bikes. Which helmet mirror do you use? Does it fix on with Velcro?

Thanks
Hi, they can be a bit hard to find, for sure. We got some we liked, used them hard until they died. Then found the UK supplier gone. Got more from the US (eBay item 291549275869). These have self adhesive pads, but actually we tape them on for long term reliability. Same mfr has other models, possibly with velcro, I can't remember. Some of these are available in UK, Google should find them, if not poke me again.

They look fragile, but in about 5 years and maybe 50,000 miles between us, we broke one arm (on tour, matchstix'n'glu fixed it for months). The self adhesive is imperfect, but the finger pad lends itself to insulation tape. After many miles the ball joints get loose, a splodge of UHU or other not-too-strong glue fixes that for months.

I find the situational awareness much better than with some of the smaller bar end mirrors. And, oddly, it doesn't need to be on your offside, choose whichever eye suits you, and leave it there abroad.
Mike Sales
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Joined: 7 Mar 2009, 3:31pm

Re: What transforming changes have you made to your bike

Post by Mike Sales »

geomannie wrote: 21 Sep 2022, 7:52pm
GideonReade wrote: 21 Sep 2022, 6:30pm Helmet mirror. So much less grief than trying to fit mirrors to flat bars, STI drops, Ergopower drops, BES drops, etc, etc. Lost count of how many bike mirrors are now in that box of discards. One helmet, one mirror.

Obviously only valid as I (almost) always wear one.
I'm intrigued. I like using a mirror but they are hard to fit to all my bikes. Which helmet mirror do you use? Does it fix on with Velcro?

Thanks
Wearing a helmet is not the only way to gain the excellent utility of a head mounted mirror.
I use a spectacle mounted mirror made by Third Eye and find it very good.

https://www.castlecycles.co.uk/third-eye-mirrors/

Finding the right position and getting used to the view takes a little experimenting.
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
GideonReade
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Joined: 4 Jul 2010, 10:46pm

Re: What transforming changes have you made to your bike

Post by GideonReade »

Same mfr, I think the mirror is the same. I imagine a spectacle mount is just as good. Slightly different issues with which glasses/helmet is used for what aspect of life/cycling.

Sorry this is wandering off a bit.
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geomannie
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Joined: 13 May 2009, 6:07pm

Re: What transforming changes have you made to your bike

Post by geomannie »

GideonReade wrote: 21 Sep 2022, 9:14pm Same mfr, I think the mirror is the same. I imagine a spectacle mount is just as good. Slightly different issues with which glasses/helmet is used for what aspect of life/cycling.

Sorry this is wandering off a bit.
Thanks GideonReade, thanks Mike Sales,

I'll investigate both helmet & spectacle mounted mirrors.
geomannie
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