The "Show off your bike" thread!

[TonyHetherington]

rhinochopig said:

Don't bother cleaning it. Just clean the chain, rings, cassette, etc. every other ride and oil it every ride and leave the rest. Repeated washing will kill the BB, headset, the wheel bearings, even if you're careful.

[Justayellowbadge]

TonyHetherington said:

During the summer my bike is clean, crisp, and looks great.

During the winter, it looks like this. I clean it, take great care, then it looks like this in barely a morning's riding...



It's served me well though :

Winter bike.

[TonyHetherington]

That is the winter bike.

Well, my only bike.

But next spring I intend to buy something expensive and carbon, which by default makes my current one the winter one.

[Munka01]

rhinochopig said:

Why on earth would anyone want to venture off road in Aus. Every bit of flora and fauna wants to kill you; hell even the Sun tries its damnedest to do so.

These things are a myth. Been here for 18 months and still yet to see a spider bigger than the tip of my finger.

I swear the Aussie's just make it up to keep us away.

[SkinnyBoy]

Were we ride offroad we have to contend with Kangaroos, sunbathing King brown snakes and massive yellow orb spiders. Makes it more fun! Snake!!! Bunny hop or chop it your choice. On the road it's dheads like Shane warne geeing up the bogans to become bd SMIDSY's.

[TonyHetherington]

Now I'm no David Bellamy, but a king snake and an orb spider sound like they want to kill me.

[rhinochopig]

TonyHetherington said:

Now I'm no David Bellamy, but a king snake and an orb spider sound like they want to kill me.

Me neither but I'm guessing it's called King, because either it has a crown - unlikely - or it is bloody massive, or has some incredibly potent venom. I agree it sounds like it wants to kill you.

And as for yellow orb spider. Anything brightly coloured is typically very venomous; see any city centre pub and the women in brightly coloured mini-dresses for example.

[snorkel sucker]

Having owned my Cube ltd Race for just over two years it has been terrific fun - fast, twitchy, feisty and reliable. ultimately though, it's sometimes more of a hold on and endure it bike on lumpy bumpy trails rather than fluid and enjoyable. I guess my riding - or perhaps thebkind of riding I enjoy - has "outgrown" it.

So after much MUCH deliberation, on Monday this week I ended up buying on impulse one of the first bikes I actually tried a few weeks ago.



Lapierre Spicy 216

I couldn't quite justify stretching to a 316 and found a good deal on a 2011 216 which arrived today.

First impressions after riding it round the block are favorable - it's very plush (still need to sort out the rear shock to make it perfect) it climbs well enough and even the more basic kit is good. In short, I ant wait to see how it rides round my local trail (Llandegla)

The spicy had been my original choce but I wasn't sure about the non lockout front fork and whether 160mm travel is a bit too much. My logic was that if I'm going full sus I may as well go all out - and there isn't much else that is further apart from my light tight 100mm hardtail XC Cube!

I think I've made the right choice

[BaronVonVaderham]

rhinochopig said:

swerni said:

Pobably just play.

Want to get on the Surrey Hills and see how I get on.

I can see they now have XC sportives, may give that a go as well.

Do you race?

You'll be joining the dark side of baggy shorts and a peaked helmet before you know it.

And having fun / enjoying riding as opposed to just 'training'......

[TheFungle]

May I present my new Winter Stealth Bomber.

Due to my carbon frame being cracked back in August due to an RTA I've been without a bike ever since, whilst I wait for the insurance money to come through sometime early next year what better excuse to transfer the groupset over to a generic far eastern alu frame than to create a winter bike/commuter.

For a £200 frameset I'm pretty happy with it, the finish certainly win any awards but with a full Ultegra build should serve me well and help keep the belly off in the coming months.



I need to play around with spacers and also the position of the hoods, it looks a bit 'clunky' at the moment.

[Graykiraa]

2013 Camber 29er

Love it so far!

[Synchromesh]

First road bike and first single speed. Bought on ebay for well under half what it cost new, and picked it up today!

[Gizmoish]

Synchromesh said:

First road bike and first single speed. Bought on ebay for well under half what it cost new, and picked it up today!

That's just essence of road bike, isn't it. Nothing superfluous. Riders from 100 years ago would look at that and love it whereas Di2 would be witchcraft...

Wiiiiide bars though!

[Synchromesh]

Gizmoish said:

Wiiiiide bars though!

It's perspective/distortion in the photo. In reality they're about the normal width.

[zebedee]

TheFungle said:

I need to play around with spacers and also the position of the hoods, it looks a bit 'clunky' at the moment.

Looks like you need to start with rotating the bars downwards and see how that feels, I'm not sure the hoods are too far out from where they should be on the bar, its just that the bar is jauntily tipped up

[Tonypandy]

RenOHH said:

My brand new 2013 Giant Trance X3. Picked it up this evening, rode it home but only on the road. Heading out on it tomorrow into the woods.

let me know how it rides, im still waiting for mine, they told me i would get it around 5 nov

[R500POP]

TonyHetherington said:

That is the winter bike.

Well, my only bike.

But next spring I intend to buy something expensive and carbon, which by default makes my current one the winter one.

You do know it will melt if you use it in the rain?

[TheFungle]

zebedee said:

TheFungle said:

I need to play around with spacers and also the position of the hoods, it looks a bit 'clunky' at the moment.

Looks like you need to start with rotating the bars downwards and see how that feels, I'm not sure the hoods are too far out from where they should be on the bar, its just that the bar is jauntily tipped up

It's actually very comfortable

Bars are level so I can I can either move the hoods forwards or leave them as they are.

I don't even think there is a 'rule' for them!

[Benmac]

Here are mine. Bikes in kitchen? Check. Bikes clean? Check. Cranks at a suitable angle? Check. Wheels arranged so valve stems are at the bottom? Arseburgers. Oh well.

The Fuji (2011 Altamira 3.0) is my "best" bike and what got me back in to cycling after a 10 year break; here wearing the tarty SRAM wheels (please of course pay attention to the colour co-ordinated stickers). Just completely stripped it down and done a mega service, hence cleanliness and pristine bar tape.

The Giant (2012 Defy 2) I picked up for a song and is used as my winter steed; here with the SRAM S30s I bought for hilly rides.

The Raleigh is my old bike, nice mid 90's groupset and a classic Reynolds 853 frame. Lovely thing to ride although it mainly does service on the turbo trainer. Only non "retro" element is the stem as I did a complete rebuild of it and had always found the stem a bit short so I got one of those quill/ahead set adapters and put a modern stem on it.

[anonymous-user]

Tonypandy said:

RenOHH said:

My brand new 2013 Giant Trance X3. Picked it up this evening, rode it home but only on the road. Heading out on it tomorrow into the woods.

let me know how it rides, im still waiting for mine, they told me i would get it around 5 nov

They are hard to get aren't they?! It's fantastic, but I have only ridden it for 2-3 hours so far. A bit on road to get to a small wood with a few light trails, and then I rode it around there a bit. On Sunday I'm going to Cannock Chase to wring its neck

I don't have much to compare this bike to. I rode a 2012 Specialized Camber Comp for 5 minutes and hated the wide bars and riding position, I couldn't ride it quickly at all. The riding position of this Trance is great, it's so nice. The only thing I want is a chain device.