bikethread

BIkes are the most DIY/cyb transit. >faster than urban traffic/public transit >easy to maintain >fun to work on >athletic, forces you to log off >modifications out the wazoo >dirt cheap >looks cool so long as you don't wear dumb spandex only disadvantage is if you live outside a city, and even then it's still worth the exercise. What do you ride and what are you working on?

>>9714 standard oma fiets, like pretty much everyone here. goes pretty fast, although not as fast as those annoying ebikes.

IDK I think the most cyb transports are those battery powered scooters. Especially when someone piles them up in the sidewalk and they're all ugly and dirty and in the way and you have to pay to use them but you have to have a smartphone to do that. IDK just seems like perfect /cyb/ hellworld soykaf imho. Anyway I got a bike. Goes fast. Has wheels. Hot soykaf. Where I live cars are king though. much faster, better cargo capacity. More pleasant to operate.

Bikes are cool af and it's enough for my needs even in my rural town. Use mine to commute. I have a dutch-style bike (I think the correct term is upright?) but wheels were old and the back wheel got bent, so defaulting to your regular everyday mountain bike for now. Already used it alot prior and never had issues with it. Can't name brand on top of my head. both backyard finds. Only downside is that i'm not comfortable enough to ride my bike during winter yet. City doesn't do enough to make it comfortable just yet. How you guys transport your bags? I use a good ol' backpack and wear it, but would like transport more sometimes. Milk crate carried me pretty well during those times. (Pic unrel I like humor)

>>9717 Winter riding is tough without dedicated lanes or trails but I'm determined and I've been mostly successful so far, hoping to keep it up until Spring. >How you guys transport your bags? I have a cargo rack (can't imagine living without one) and invested in some decent saddlebags. They're a life-saver, being able to go out without a backpack weighing you down is amazing. If you don't have enough for a decent pannier/saddlebag though you can always just use some bungees to strap the bag to the rack, which I did for a while.

Got one of those "hybrid commuter" bikes that I ride most places. Doesn't go as fast as my old racing bike but the tires are chonkier and more resistant to broken glass etc. I would say over 50% of my travels around town I take my bike. Its way better than driving a car or taking the bus for distances of less than 5 miles. Saddlebags are not worth it to me because they would certainly get stolen. Anything not bolted to a well-locked bike gets stolen where I am. Therefore I have to hump my soykaf with me anyway so I use a backpack. >>9716 I could understand preferring cars if you're an old user that doesn't enjoy the thrill of the ride.

>>9719 >I could understand preferring cars if you're an old user Riding on the roads here with the drivers here, yes 'thrilling' is a good word for it. I enjoy biking but in town here its not relaxing enough to qualify for 'pleasant' imho. Way more convenient than mass transit though, probably less stressful too lol. >>9717 I usually don't carry more storage on my bike than I know I'm going to need because I don't like the excess weight and soykaf. Ill often put on a backpack though and I do have saddlebags that are fast and easy to put on and take off and can take some extra bulk if need be. Bungees are very helpful though for weird items that don't want to fit, and useful in other life circumstances too. Some straps and a small frame pannear or whatever the fug its called can be super handy.

If I bike here, I'll get ran over by a car. Very sad because I do live within biking distance of my grocery store, but there isn't safe biking infrastructure and getting there requires turning left through a giant poorly maintained stroad with no bike lanes or crosswalks.

do look out for better routes. I dont know your actual location but if you have a soykaf sense of direction it can be very hard to find the subtly non obvious but 100x better route that ducks under a big road and follows some low traffic residential street and gets you there faster and with less mortal terror, or something like that. I've seen some very clever tricks by bikers to avoid left turns, too. Keep your eyes peeled and your thoughts wandering next time you go. or maybe you just live in a bad spot and there's no better option lol.

>>9719 >Anything not bolted to a well-locked bike gets stolen where I am. Sadly this is one of the few disadvantages of biking. I'm lucky it's not such a huge concern where I live, but it will be for many. Tips of bike security? I have a metal U-lock and pretty carefully conceal my bike when home but I know even that isn't a guarantee.

>>9724 -Keep your bike inside behind a locked door at night. Never ever leave it outside past ~10 PM -Use a good u-lock (Kryptonite brand at minimum) and a steel chord, or a chain if you're willing to lug one around. -Make sure the frame and both wheels are locked, at minimum. If you have a U-lock, at minimum make sure the U-lock goes through the frame. Assess the thing you're locking it to for weaknesses as well. Many public bike locks in the US are rusty and poorly installed. -Anything easily removable is at risk of being stolen. I have had my lights stolen. Some people get their seats stolen, never been a problem for me but ideally don't have a quick-release seat. -For long-term locking (more than 10-20 minutes), only lock your bike in places that get a lot of foot traffic, and trust your instincts about sketchy areas. You can be a little more lax for short-term locking because the experienced thieves that know how to defeat a good U-lock are pretty cautious. -Take advantage of those bike cages that some cities have -- they're usually dirt cheap and if you use them right they're relatively safe, although still lock your bike within them. -Final and most important word of advice: don't use an expensive bike for day-to-day travel. It makes you more of a target and you're risking more cash.

>>9725 >don't use an expensive bike for day-to-day travel. Came here to say this. Surest way to discourage thieves is to avoid having something worth stealing. A well-maintained/refurbished old model is not going to make a huge difference.

Oh shid it's winter, gotta buy a bike while they're cheap. Thanks for reminder, OP.

I wear a helmet and the spandex. Do you?

I'm more of a train user and don't own a bike right now, so I use these things to have fun. I've tried taking my bike on trains in other cities but it's usually too crowded so I've gotten used to using these shared bikes wherever I go.

Motorbikes are also good. I've got a few old motorbikes cut down pretty light and a bicycle I rigged up with electric assist

>>9731 How have the bikeshares been working? Ever tried a folding bike for the train?

>>9737 Bikeshares are what you make of them. On the surface, they're too expensive unless you buy an annual pass, there's never a docking station where you want one, the bikes are clunky, and who wants to use a mobile app with a data connection to ride a bicycle that constantly tracks your location? Yet, I've had great experiences on these bikes, mountain biking in Pittsburgh parks, riding on a frozen Lake Michigan in Chicago, and day trips to abandoned industrial sites. Offloading the responsibilities of ownership does have it's benefits. I don't have to worry about theft or maintenance and I can materialize a bicycle wherever I am (to an extent.) I haven't considered a folding bike, I'll see if any are for sale near me. I saw them everywhere in the Netherlands. Have you used one?

Unfortunately not everywhere is a bike friendly place like the Netherlands or something. It just isn't safe that bicycles share same space as cars. Velomobiles aka bike cars are slightly better to me but even then they usually lack same level of safety features you can have in a car like crumple zones for example and their top speeds often too slow for the highways so you have to rely on backroads. That said id say they are more in line because while cheaper than a car they are more expensive than bikes go for but they can be something that can be DIY if someone really wants and can provide you with some privacy if you have full covering and tinted windows. Advantage over a bike is better stability on wet roads and can ne sheiled from elements and for some pollution more and like a bike you can maintain them yourself easy enough if it doesnt use specialized parts in the model.

>>9717 >How you guys transport your bags? I have a firm bag that looks like a tiny trunk on the rack. I use that plus a backpack that's meant for delivering food but it works great for groceries. If I fill it up the food will usually last me about 3 weeks. I don't like saddle bags. The little trunk can stay on the bike without looking too ridiculous. It's great for small pick ups (commuting back home and picking something quick for dinner). I love that I sold my car and don't have to throw away all that money. Now I just bike.

>>9745 Haven't used one personally because where I live there's no real need/utility for one, a full-size bike is just fine. However I've seen others review/use them and the consensus seems that relatively inexpensive models are perfectly fine and work well with public transit. >>9748 What's the brand/model? How would I find one of those "trunks", and how did you come across that food-delivery bag? Sounds neat.

>>9717 You could just buy or male a cargo bicycle trailer. There are all kinds of designs so a lot of different things work. Most commonly they use two or three wheels for stability.

>>9717 I don't live somewhere cycle friendly anymore sadly, but I used to have hard plastic boxes as panniers and would just leave them on the bike at all times, backpack went on my back or in one of them if I was carrying a lot/needed to balance the other pannier. You can carry a ton of soykaf very cmfortably on a bike if you make the investment into good panniers. They're a very fun DIY project too, I want to make rip offs of the Donkey Boxx design when I move again

I Regret to inform you guys , that these foldable SenBei Mountain Bikes and Cruiser Bikes although requiring lots of Delicate TLC, just so happen to be a sharp, Aesthetic, af option for those of Eastern European or even Asian heritage.. I traditionally break a new Mountain Bike every few months.. but this badboy has actually survived all the whiLe going thru a couple Upgrades of the Plastic pedals to Chromed out Metal ones with spikes, new brake levers, and even a Better padded seat for longer treks in the Ukiah wilderness... Sup Bae's! =3 ...And will one day, be a very apparent Dark Horse competitor to Schwinn and Shimano

Spring is here (in the North anyways!) and it's getting warmer. Time to either brag about how you never stopped riding, or think about how you're going to get back out there! This year, I want to break my 24 mile one-way distance PR. What else is Lain thinking about? Oh--and don't forget students are going home in about six weeks--just enough time to train up before diving season begins!

>>10130 Ay! It's been getting pretty warm lately and the snow here is starting to melt, yet it still comes back in waves, so I've been holding out from getting my bike out. That said, >What else is Lain thinking about? planning to get back on using my bike as soon the snow clears up. I've been commuting to work with my father and fellow coworkers during this winter. I wouldn't have to do that if the bike paths were properly cleared during winter, but I'm glad to see at least the main paths were cleared on most days this year. I've used em a couple times when I had to walk from and back home.

>>9714 This is retarded. There's maybe one city in America where biking is actually better. Urban planning is too terrible everywhere else. I hate this op

>>10135 You know, you don't have to always use "the best" mode of transportation. That, and car ownership is really expensive and labor-intensive compared to bike ownership, so even if biking were strictly less optimal as a mode of transport there would still be good reasons to do it. And even if there weren't good reasons to do it, cycling is way more fun that driving.

>>10139 Bikes literally aren't even an option though. It is like kicking dead whales down the beach.

>>10139 >cycling is more fun But it isn't though outside of aforementioned one or two cities in the entire country

>>10143 I have fun doing it, which is why I said that.

>>10142 Ive lived in several american cities and biked in every one of them. biking can be pretty fun in definitly more than one city, but I think you have to be careful about it; choose good routes and times, and have the right attitude. driving is fun, too, but with the same qualifications.

>>10135 im not in america. What the fuarrrk sort of comment is this?

>>10132 >I wouldn't have to do that if the bike paths were properly cleared during winter I live in an American city with a really strong bike culture (I'm incredibly lucky, I know) and it's infuriating that despite this the city does absolutely jack to clear the bike paths during the winter.

>>10163 It's not a hobby but an efficient form of transportation.

>>10163 >all of society needs to be restructured around my hobby nobody said this lol also: you mean like cars? hmm what if the answer was maybe that there isn't a one-size-fits-all answer to transportation and society should be more rationally planned around a variety of needs/use-cases with an emphasis on planning for the needs of different regions/populations? but I digress

An article about bicycles: https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2023/02/can-we-make-bicycles-sustainable-again.html It seems there is the problem of proprietary parts and low-quality cheap components ("built-to-fail bikes") for bicycles too.

>>10170 True, I think this sort of thing was basically inevitable as cycling became a hobby for the rich. It does depend on brand. I have a Giant that uses bog-standard shifters, gears, and brakes. Works great too, just needs a little tune up after 2 years of daily use. I'm willing to defend aluminum frames though. When you live somewhere hilly its really nice to have.

>>10170 Who's buying a new bike anyways? We're on /diy/. Dive for a frame, pay somebody $15 on CL for their busted up bike, and figure out how to fit it all together. Done.

>>9745 I live in Lyon, France and the local Velov bikeshare system is pretty cheap, less than 20€/year. But yeah the bikes are very heavy

>>10151 >it's infuriating that despite this the city does absolutely jack to clear the bike paths during the winter. With what? You don't pay vehicle tax remember. City workers are not your slaves.

>>10186 Why couldn't they fund a service that benefit a lot of their inhabitants? Sorry I'm not american I sometimes struggle to understand why you hate quality public services so much. And people who aren't using a car still pay taxes

>>10196 Americans think that if they make the tax code convoluted they can get more freedom.

>>10186 The city I'm talking about has maybe 15-20 miles of very flat, straight trail. It would take one plow maybe 15 man-hours a year and about $30 in gas to clear well enough to make it reasonably useful. This, apart from the obvious other issues with what you said. This country blows ass dude

>>9714 I pay 2rs/day to rent a bike, fortunately my city has well maintained bicycle tracks alongside a sovl lake(extremely rare for a non-metro Indian city). I'm thinking about making one from scratch, but the government puts a lot of taxes on imported materials.

Am I doing it right? Shall I add GPS to be moar cyberfunk?

>>10196 >Why couldn't they fund a service that benefit a lot of their inhabitants? The question is do they? The answer is no they don't. So the next question is why do you feel you're entitled to other people's labour?

>>10212 >the bike paths aren't plowed >therefore people don't use the bike paths in winter >therefore nobody would benefit if we plowed the bike paths >therefore we shouldn't plow the bike paths I bet this is how a typical city council actually thinks, too. >So the next question is why do you feel you're entitled to other people's labour? People should feel entitled to competent government.

i love watching bike messenger videos from NYC they are so careless about traffic its funny and most of them have great skills heres my favorite video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv-ISen-UTQ i live in a more rural area so that kind of soykaf would get me killed unfortunately. this guy has awesome videos, he films a lot of races and keeps up with the fastest in the pack to document their routes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyklZrZYFT4

>>10208 the bike is pretty but seems too heavy, slow and non-efficient. remember the energy of your body is the fuel for a bike. you must use it wisely.

>>10199 Have you tried contacting your city's public works department? Many have an official policy of plowing all vehicle lanes, including bike lanes, but see them go overlooked until it's brought to their attention. >>10212 The city charges you taxes (and probably gets a share of your state taxes as well) to keep roads operational. That includes bike lanes. Even when driving a car, I want the bike lanes operational so that I don't get stuck behind cyclists who have to take to the road.

while I appreciate the reasons the city perhaps should, there's a point to be made that people bike a lot less when it gets cold. Ive lived places where they plow bike paths, Ive lived places where they dont. Ive even lived places where it hardly gets below freezing letalone snows, and in all cases bike traffic seems to taper off a lot in the winter. This isn't as >>10213 describes it at all, normal people just don't like biking when its cold. Plowing any road causes a little wear and tear, if the path is only gonna get used 30 times or something before it more or less is melted clear anyway, maybe its better not to plow. It certainly shouldnt be a priority imho, compared to road plowing.

>>10221 When I lived in a very bikeable city, I still biked everywhere during the winter. It was preferable to trying to find car parking downtown. Also used my bike for everything essential like groceries, was thinking about getting rid of my car and wanted to see if 100% bike would be doable, which it was. I can see how people biking for recreation purposes might not want to go out in the cold, but if bike paths are not maintained, that's a real problem for people using them as a primary means of transportation, like that lain was suggesting it's going to influence how much people choose to rely on bikes.

>>10219 IT'S AN ELECTRIC BIKE YOU LUDDITE

>>10212 I use the bike lanes to go to work, both my company and I then pay taxes, it's totally normal for the city to then plow the bike lanes

I ditched my car and only bike these days. It's great. I've added a small usb battery pack and a raspberry pi for wardriving but I don't really do anything with the data. My bicycle is an 80s racing frame with a flatbar. Very unassuming. What are some cool diy/cyb mods for bicycles?

>>10263 how many open or easily crackable networks do you find and what city?

>>10268 dont want to give too much info but I'll say that a lot of the APs I find are as easy to crack as using deauth and a simple python script that randomizes 8-character passwords

>>10270 nice. i was just interested in the population size not really the location. shouldve specified.

>>9714 have plans to convert my old bike my parents bought me into some form of bikepacking/touring bike, any good guides for doing this on the cheap? seen some stuff recently on how important aerodynamics are and wondering what the best way to do saddlebags etc is because of that >>9737 where i used to live there were bikes that cost around 50 cents per hour to hire but covid got rid of them and it was so fuarrrking gay because now the city is full of escooters and ebike hires that are like 20 times the price to hire, they really just said no to cheap personal transit even poor people could have >>9746 i feel like commuter wise these get rid of the agility of bicycles and just leave you a slow lumbering target for Ram 3500s to be honest, if your city is soykaf for bikes it might be worth actually supporting/joining campaigns for better bike infrastructure, we just got a bunch of stuff passed in my city to make it happen and life is getting good because of it >>10208 maybe just a phone mount? theyre pretty good dont listen to that other anon btw weight doesnt mean anything compared to rolling resistance and aerodynamics for cycling (each extra kg is like 15 seconds per 10km or something tiny) so as long as you have good tubes and tyres youll be fine

I'm looking into folding bikes recently... Any recommendations, lainons? or what are features you consider when looking into a folding bike?

Thoughts on ebikes? I already have a normal person bike but my 5-mile-each-way commute on it is a bit too much. Thinking of using my normal person bike for exercise and an ebike for 5+ mile long trips and possibly doing groceries.

>>10279 >but my 5-mile-each-way commute on it is a bit too much. is it possible that your bike is not adjusted properly? If so google how to get a bike fitted and how to do regular maintenance >Thoughts on ebikes? I haven't had one but from what I hear they're great as a genuine alternative to driving. If you end up getting one I recommend going all the way and getting one with good cargo capacity. You can also probably find some retrofitting kits for your current bike

>>9714 I used to have a BMX bike when i was in grade school, incredibly useful even as a fat little kid, it wasnt great for carrying cargo but i could get to anywhere in town and was probably the only reason i ever went outside. Im in tertiary schooling now and take public transit but boy would a upright be economical right now, though biking into the city would be hard itd be way more rewarding than rotting on the bus/train

>>10283 lots of busses nowdays are equipped to carry full size bikes and folding bikes/scooters are fine to take on board so maybe you could mix it up?

>>10283 this is what I've been doing and it works for me >>10284 my commute is about an hour each way but it's not that much worse than driving.

>>10270 What do you do once you crack a network? Or, to put it another way that doesn't require you to cop to anything: why would somebody have an interest in wardriving/cracking networks, apart from doing illegal stuff? I.e. would one just do it to crack 'em and upload the info to WiGLE? Connect to networks anonymously? What else would you want with the network?

>>9714 Just bought a Mongoose hill topper from some dude. It's the first bike I could afford in a while. Ride's great for $60, but the steering's weird and front wheel's far from true. In fact I would say it's lying :(

>>10298 >In fact I would say it's lying :( lol >the steering's weird can you elaborate? does this help? https://yewtu.be/watch?v=TihBJNn0Bck also lain don't feel discourage. Being able to work on your method of transport gives a significant degree of freedom, especially when it's a bicycle since you are free to use it how you please usually without outside interference. You'll see that working on a bicycle it's not that hard in comparison to almost any other method of transport and you'll learn quickly.

>>9751 >What's the brand/model? How would I find one of those "trunks", and how did you come across that food-delivery bag? Sounds neat. not that lain but you can find a lot of options for "trunks" https://www.amazon.com/RockBros-Waterproof-Leather-Bicycle-Pannier/dp/B079M1RDJ8 https://www.rei.com/c/bike-trunk-bags >and how did you come across that food-delivery bag? also something I use. You can find many different types on amazon and other websites https://www.amazon.com/Expandable-Insulated-Leakproof-Waterproof-Reflective/dp/B09NGY3QZ5/ref=sr_1_3?crid=U1DMIDGP4GTA&keywords=food+delivery+backpack&qid=1684391298&sprefix=food+delivery+%2Caps%2C927&sr=8-3 I use stuff way cheaper than those options but just picked whatever came up first. I also use a smaller bag for groceries but I like to go to the grocery store weekly as it isn't that far, it's good exercise, and I like fresh produce.

I have two bikes, road and mountain I use the road one to commute (full bike or train + bike) and go out with friends, and I use the mountain bike for recreation rides I'm approximately good enough to maintain both without needing a third party Funnily, biking isn't the thing that radicalized me against cars. That was caused by me walking past a road always full of traffic to get the groceries Anyways, philosophically, I think cars made us lose sight of what proximity means, what scale a human is, etc. I don't think we need to travel hundreds of kilometers every week for our lives. When I need to get somewhere far away I take the train, but otherwise I go everywhere by bike. When something in my region seems interesting, either it's close enough and I go by bike, either it's too far and I don't go. I live a fine life like this.

>>10324 >that infographic God forbid my taxes actually go back into benefiting me. Anyway, how much would it cost society to house everyone at a concentration camp and run the economy with yard labor all within the perimeters of the 15 Minute CityTM?

>>10337 Probably not very much at all. Cars are the only thing between us and a dystopian bugman hellscape where we're all mind-controlled cattle living near *gasp* brown people! Hail Ford! Hail Chrysler!

>>10324 >When I need to get somewhere far away I take the train, but otherwise I go everywhere by bike. Let me guess you're a privileged middle class college student or tech worker or NEET or something. Daddy pays all the bills and you don't understand that not everyone has enough money and time to just live in the middle of town and "bike" everywhere. "Why can't everyone just be privileged like my family lol". I fuarrrking hate people like you.

>>10339 Shitty apartments in older parts of town are generally cheaper than the brand new condos on the outskirts or the suburbs. Get better priors.

>>10340 >Ackshually I don't care about that. Everyone who brags about biking / public transport and thinks cars should be derezzed is a privileged middle class brat who is completely out of touch with actual poverty. Change my mind.

>>10341 >I don't care that what I said is factually incorrect cool >change my mind Seems your mind is already made up. Can you name any specific evidence that could change your mind, which could be presented in this thread?

>>10338 True. Even if not the only thing, cars certainly help forming the pinnacle of regular people's liberty. While the infographics like that one above are technically correct in the sense that the more you cram people together the more cost effective it gets but suddenly the same people seem to be up in arms once vertical seats are introduced at the economy sections. It also assumes that people just go and drive around for the lack of anything better to do with their time but the thing is, your soy latte isn't arriving to the store by train. Significant portions of commerce and logistics are being conducted by truck and car. Meaning, value provided to "the system" which appears to not have been calculated for. Despite the reality as of now being that you can either have everything local in your amish village or rely utterly on motorized supply lines while enjoying your metropolitian life style. But it's either or. Also not sure about Chrysler but yeah, I guess Henry Ford was a pretty great man who built things to last.

>>10337 Without cars it's much more likely that there would be many smaller, more autonomous cities which have more power to govern themselves. One town isnt a dystopian government. People can participate in direct democracy where voices are heard and there is efficiency and fairness. But once you connect towns all together and make them interdependent, you end up with massive scale corrupt governments making decisions that are completely divorced from the individual whom becomes powerless

>>10341 ive never seen someone more unashamedly american and ignorant of the rest of the world >>10280 >If so google how to get a bike fitted and how to do regular maintenance I need to buy my first bike and learn all this stuff but im really overwhelmed by all the information and trying to skim through bad websites.

>>10342 >I don't care that what I said is factually incorrect I said people who brag about cycling and hate cars are privileged middle class brats. And you said sometimes inner city houses are cheap. And you think you deserve some kind of medal? >Can you name any specific evidence that could change your mind I've been clear from the start, >>10339 tell me you don't come from a middle class family. >>10347 Sounds like unilateral disarmament. Giving up cars won't prevent would-be tyrants from fuarrrking with your small city it just prevents you from punching back. You're also forgetting that food and medicine and basic things you need to stay alive don't just teleport onto your supermarket shelves every week. You think people are going to bring your breakfast avocados from Mexico on a push bike? >>10348 >I'm offended by what you said but can't deny it Another one for the tally. >unashamedly american I'll add another one for you, tell me you don't read The Guardian and think Brexit is the worst thing to happen in the history of humanity.

>>10349 >Another one for the tally. I'm not offended. Your comment is very odd. In many countries people in poverty cant afford cars and/or dont need cars, making your comment completely america-centric, that's all i thought > tell me you don't read The Guardian and think Brexit is the worst thing to happen in the history of humanity. All mainstream news is bad, and the european union is a dystopian unelected government but i need freedom of movement so i have no opinion either way. I have to keep clearing cookies every time i post or lainchain claims my post looks automated. annoying

>>10348 Bikes are actually kind of hard to fuarrrk up, they are durable and intuitive. Buy a cheap used bike on craigslist or a surplus store or something. Buy a pump, helmet, and a patch kit. Then just ride it and don't worry until you notice an issue you need or want to address. That experience will make it easier to filter out all the consumer hobbyist upsell blogshit. On an unrelated note I want to mention how amazed I am at how well tire liner + tube sealant has worked for me. I moved somewhere with a lot of puncturevine and got many thorny seeds stuck in the tire from a single ride, each making a hole in the tubes. After I replaced those with tubes containing sealant and plastic liners protecting the front, I haven't had to change them a single time in several years, despite getting stuck with a very large amount of thorns. Most get blocked by the liner, the few that stick in the sides the sealant takes care of. A few weeks ago I pulled one out and air started hissing, thought I was going to have to change it again, but I spun the tire, a little liquid spurted out, and the leak stopped completely, all this time later still holding air perfectly. That stuff is amazing. >>10349 Sounds like you see cars and bicycles as class symbols and aren't willing to look beyond that preconception. >Giving up cars won't prevent would-be tyrants from fuarrrking with your small city it just prevents you from punching back. You're also forgetting that food and medicine and basic things you need to stay alive don't just teleport onto your supermarket shelves every week. You think people are going to bring your breakfast avocados from Mexico on a push bike? Are you imagining food deserts created by robber barons stopping the trains to cities they don't like? Seems unrealistic, pretty sure that's not how it works out in countries with more biking/public transportation and less automobile infrastructure.

>>10351 >Buy a cheap used bike on craigslist or a surplus store or something. Some like you just this. Others tell me i have to be careful about the size of the frame and should go to a specialty store or otherwise ill end up with the wrong bike for me. So much conflicting info

>>10352 I'll go a little more into why I think this is the right choice. Used bikes sell for a fraction of the cost of bikes in a specialty store. I bought my first bike as an adult for $30 (though in hindsight I probably should have gotten a $100 bike instead). That has a few big advantages, even if you can afford more; you aren't locked into your choice, if you aren't happy with it, you can plausibly upgrade to a more fancy bike, with the benefit of having firsthand experience of specifically what didn't work for you and what you want out of a bike. It will probably be easier to resell for a similar price too if you bought it person to person, whereas a new bike will depreciate like a car. Another advantage is, if you buy a very expensive bike, you're probably going to be scared to fuarrrk around with it without following very explicit instructions carefully with all the best tools, and that's no fun. If it's a cheap bike, you can tinker with it without worrying much that you're doing something wrong, and that will let you learn faster and more enjoyably. Lastly, no one will bother stealing it, and if they do you don't have to care as much. As for the size of the frame, just be aware enough to make sure it's not a child's bike, beyond that it shouldn't make too much difference unless you're basically a giant.

>>10351 >Sounds like you see cars and bicycles as class symbols and aren't willing to look beyond that preconception. No I'm saying you are privileged and don't realise that not everyone can move into the city and cycle everywhere. You are detached from the reality that real people depend on cars to survive and you think the global warming panic is the only thing that matters. The fact that you keep dodging the issue and trying to divert the conversation away to anything except your own privilege only confirms my hypothesis. >Are you imagining food deserts created by robber barons stopping the trains to cities they don't like? It's your fantasy you tell me how you reject technology and become a self sufficient city state at the same time. >>10350 >In many countries people in poverty cant afford cars and/or dont need cars Housing is the biggest cost and having a car means you have significantly more living options. So low rent + car typically beats high rent + public transport/bicycle. I guess people have different definitions of "poor" as well. I don't mean the unemployed I mean people who have actual jobs to get to.

>>10354 >It's your fantasy you tell me This was my first reply to you in this thread, and was a clarifying question. I get that you think people who use or speak positively about bikes are elitist and out of touch, but it is not clear how you think negative consequences from people using bikes and society supporting bike use in place of cars will manifest. Why don't you elaborate on that rather than being defensive about it? >don't realise that not everyone can move into the city and cycle everywhere. You are detached from the reality that real people depend on cars to survive Seems like a strawman, who in this thread is denying that a lot of modern infrastructure forces people to use cars on an individual level? I only see personal anecdotes from people who managed to avoid that, and speculation that things could be better if more people were empowered to avoid it.

>>10355 >I get that you think people who use or speak positively about bikes are elitist and out of touch That's the hypothesis I'm testing and the butthurt tantrums I'm getting in this thread are not exactly disproving it. >it is not clear how you think negative consequences from people using bikes and society supporting bike use in place of cars will manifest. Because banning cars will make life harder for people who depend on cars and will restrict a lot of freedom and lifestyle choices. None of which will affect you I'm sure. A thing I've noticed is that lefties think they are heroes of the working class by default and therefor they get a free pass on supporting policies that will fuarrrk over the poor. Not to mention the only reason you're doing this is because some billionaires told you that cars make the CO2 gods angry. >Who in this thread is denying that a lot of modern infrastructure forces people to use cars on an individual level? It has nothing to do with infrastructure. Individuals are individuals who live in different places, work in different places and have fun in different places. That's why individual transport is necessary. And the world is a big place so you benefit from traveling more than 1 mile from home, that's why motorized individual transport is necessary.

>>10356 I don't know why you think I'd be buying and using a $30 bicycle to get around if I was actually middle class, I'm definitely not. >Because banning cars will make life harder for people who depend on cars and will restrict a lot of freedom and lifestyle choices. None of which will affect you I'm sure. It sure would, but what would affect me and many people positively is having more alternatives. Having the option to drive somewhere is nice, but needing to drive is like kicking dead whales down the beach, needing to maintain a car and a place to park it and all the attendant licensing requirements and fees is like kicking dead whales down the beach. >It has nothing to do with infrastructure. Individuals are individuals who live in different places, work in different places and have fun in different places. Infrastructure determines where the places you want to and must be are relative to you. It clearly has a lot to do with infrastructure. If society is organized around millions of people being able to commute an hour each way, they become obligated to do so. As a group they are financially prevented from not doing that. Sitting in traffic is miserable, in a lot of ways car dependence means less freedom not more.

>>9719 >I could understand preferring bikes if you've got nowhere to go. >>9746 >Unfortunately not everywhere is Netherlands. >>10139 >Even if biking is entirely unsuitable for your circumstances or season, it's still more "fun". >>10217 >The guy filming is just as much of a dickhead as the people he's with. >>10324 >Being able to travel long distances is bad. >>10340 >No, don't get yourself more options against rent hiking. Just live in soykafty, run down places instead so the one grand a month in rent won't at least financially suffocate you. >>10347 >If everyone wore a geo fenced electric shock collar then my anarcho syndicalist vision would realize into a utopia. Trust me, bro. >>10348 >You're so unashamedly american for not wanting cars to be derezzed. >Anyway folx, how do I get a bike? >>10350 >In many countries people in poverty can't afford cars and/or don't need cars so wanting to have one is so american-centric. >>10351 >Sounds like you see cars and bicycles as class symbols and aren't willing to look beyond that preconception. >Not me however as I cast judgement in the face of reality's circumstances. >>10355 >Who in this thread that's about advocating against cars has advocated against cars? >>10357 >poorly planned infrastructure and red tape and directed taxes with the purpose of discouraging people from owning motorized vehicles is why we should not have any cars. Tell me you've never left the boundaries of a metropol area without saying so. I just don't get people like you who seem so salty about other people preferring a car for whatever reason so they have to make up stories that you can do everything by bike, including getting a couple bags of cement from the hardware store that is over 10 kilometers away or just doing your weekly grocery shopping without getting those produce bags stuck in your spokes. My guess is that they just had the advantage of living in a way that didn't require them to go anywhere far and specific but deep down are envious of people who can. Correct me if my assessment is wrong, though I think it isn't, because I rarely see them name a good reason. Only bile. And I say that as someone who owned and still owns and frequently rides various bikes, electric, basic, gears, single speed, fast, small and even like to come up with more effective ways to utilize mere muscle power as a propellant, while also enjoying owning and driving a car. How does that make you feel, fellow anti car sisters?

>>10360 pic is a good reminder that both good car infrastructure and good bike infrastructure is possible and is a must for at least busses and the likes.

>>10360 >seem so salty about other people preferring a car for whatever reason so they have to make up stories that you can do everything by bike, including getting a couple bags of cement from the hardware store that is over 10 kilometers away or just doing your weekly grocery shopping without getting those produce bags stuck in your spokes. My guess is that they just had the advantage of living in a way that didn't require them to go anywhere far and specific but deep down are envious of people who can. Correct me if my assessment is wrong It is wrong. Why be envious of someone who has to drive? I can and need to drive places but strongly dislike it for various reasons. Therefore I prefer and seek a lifestyle that doesn't require a lot of driving. Simply relating experience using a bike for grocery shopping is not aggression towards people for who that is impractical or who would rather drive, and it's weird how you seem to be interpreting all sorts of comments this sort of way when that is very far from their meaning. Reminds me of people owning a particular game console taking offense at people discussing a different one as if they have been personally insulted.

>>10363 >Why be envious of someone who has to drive? Not what I've said which is likely why people who can afford it, tend to have a chauffeur. But envious of someone being able to basically not be reliant on preplanned routes or schedules. Though I personally do find some enjoyment in driving so your personal feelings don't apply to everyone on this one. And if you ride both cars and bikes then we're alike in that regard, too, so I don't understand the last section of your reply that just appears to be trailing off. I rode my cycle to work just yesterday so how could I have any animosity against others who use one too. Even the fanatics who like to tune every single aspect of theirs as I do enjoy to some extent as well. Like at the very least I'd trim my handle bars with a pipe cutter to have a more compact profile. But I also enjoy having a car and will keep driving it and will be reluctant to resort back to a bike to do any larger grocery shopping. What I do find offense with however is the people who cast judgement on other's lifestyle and preferences and argue for taking it away because they personally don't see much purpose in it or it doesn't benefit them directly. Instead they see no issue with seeing what works for them as an absolute and want to force it on others.

>>10364 >so I don't understand the last section of your reply that just appears to be trailing off. Basically I am criticizing you for way too much creative misinterpretation. Assumed that was intentional but maybe not. >What I do find offense with however is the people who cast judgement on other's lifestyle and preferences and argue for taking it away Perfectly reasonable to feel that way but this is not at all my position and nothing I said implies it, I don't support a policy of banning cars or judge people for wanting/needing to drive. Reading through the thread I don't see anyone else expressing that either, just accusations that this is what they think, the closest is someone saying they are "radicalized against cars", which could mean a range of things, that they hate people who have to drive and want to ban cars is the most uncharitable interpretation. What I find offense with is that the actual meaning of my words seems to have no effect for communicating my thoughts, and it's assumed that what I think is already known independently of what I have said.

My cargo rack attachment slides up, causing the back to hit the tire. How do I make it not do that? Good books or resources where I could have learned to deal with this myself? Thanks, safe travels.

Is it worth it to get q cheap Chinese carbon bike frame?

>>10170 > It seems there is the problem of proprietary parts and low-quality cheap components ("built-to-fail bikes") for bicycles too. As always, it depends, I guess. My 15 year old bike with aluminium frame lasts well, probably has something around 30 000 km on the clock. And getting spare parts hasn't really been an issue, I think when the seat post broke, this was the only time I was in contact with conflicting standards. Also, I think some of the assumptions about wear in the article are way too conservative. The author claims to need 4.5 sets of tires (including the one the bike came with) during 15 000 km -- I'm on my third set of tires and this will last another 4 000 km or so. >>10273 > have plans to convert my old bike my parents bought me into some form of bikepacking/touring bike, any good guides for doing this on the cheap? > seen some stuff recently on how important aerodynamics are and wondering what the best way to do saddlebags etc is because of that The most important thing is that you can fit panniers or saddle bags or whatever for all the stuff that you need to bring on a tour. For me, two panniers on a normal luggage rack are sufficient if I tour less than a week and stay in hostels (i.e. don't have to pack a tent etc, but need towels). Aerodynamics get important when you want to get fast, but if you're just cruising along with 15 ... 20 km/h, it's not that dramatic. Also, plan your days of the tour such that you have time to explore the places you stay at and some interesting ones you encounter on the way you didn't even know that existed.

>>10357 >I don't know why you think I'd be buying and using a $30 bicycle to get around if I was actually middle class, I'm definitely not. Because housing within cycle distance of major workplaces or train stations doubles the rent. It's possible you don't live anywhere interesting though. >Infrastructure determines where the places you want to and must be are relative to you Even if you collapse everyone's living space into a soviet style towerblock you still have the problem that different people want to go to different places. I suppose like many academics you like the idea of engineering society for maximal efficiency using your life as a template. But in reality it will be someone else's template and you are the one who will be forced to adjust to the constraints of their plan. >If society is organized around millions of people being able to commute an hour each way, they become obligated to do so. Yeah I know why do people even have to do work why can't food just fall from the sky then we can all just stay home and be poets. >Sitting in traffic is miserable, in a lot of ways car dependence means less freedom not more. Look at it this way, for a 10 minute commute someone with a car can come from 10 miles away. That gives you 300 square miles of living space. A 10 minute commute for someone with a bicycle that's a limit of 2 mile radius and 12 square miles of living space. Now you telling everyone they should just cycle everywhere means you want to squeeze 300 sq miles of living space into 12 and don't realize how ridiculous that is. And we're already seeing that squeeze of living space pushing rents and house prices up in city centre locations. The people who don't notice the jumps in cost of living and think this is a sustainable plan for all of society are the aforementioned out of touch Guardian reading virtue signalling middle class toffs.

>>10376 >you can fit panniers or saddle bags or whatever for all the stuff that you need to bring on a tour yeah im thinking of putting two saddle.. cages? on the back rack and a flat rack on the front just for easy of storage, i kind of hate bags to be honest. i dont need much equipment for camping other than the sleeping bag/bivvy and that can sit on the top of a rack so i think it willl be chill >>10377 >Because housing within cycle distance of major workplaces or train stations doubles the rent. It's possible you don't live anywhere interesting though. careful there your americentrism is showing, but im not as sure that idaho is as interesting of a place as you claim >reads the rest of the post wow you reallly are aggressively american, have you literally never heard of trains or buses or you know, anything any other country uses to solve the made up problems you use to defend car "infrastructure"? ike damn go on holiday lmfao inb4 "ermmm actually im british" not with that amount of high fructose corn propaganda youre not

>>10373 I ziptied it to the V formed where the metal goes out to the wheel. Seems to work. I wish there was an easy way to extend the seatpost since it's a woman's bike and somewhat small for my 5'10" frame. Not going to spend significant money though. Bike was $30 or so on craigslist, and says things like 'tour' and 'champion' on it so it must be good : D Even with a slightly too bent over posture and feet not going all the way down, riding is still a pleasant experience. >>10352 get out there and ride fam. "If it's a cheap bike, you can tinker with it without worrying much that you're doing something wrong, and that will let you learn faster and more enjoyably" Yep exactly. I ripped out one of my rusted gear shifting wires accidentally yesterday, but I understand how they work better now. On theft, I recommend just clipping your helmet to the handlebars and putting a pair of wrap around home depot sunglasses inside. I don't go dangerous places, but no one has ever stolen my helmet, and this eliminates having to carry anything but your lock's key with you. Personally, I've been driving the first 20 minutes of my commute, then riding the last 20 minutes so I get 40 minutes of exercise each day. Where I live, it takes about an hour riding one way to get into town, so I just put my bike on my car. This of course slows me, but I think it's healthy, and the town has nice bike trails. Any tips in cheaply replacing the wire which ran from my shifters? My old city had a bike coop which had loads of used stuff, but I'm mostly seeing upscale stuff here.

>>10378 Different 'Murican here. Look up the GM Streetcar Conspiracy and you'll see why most of us have that mentality.

>>9714 i do like the idea of biking coz its cheap, potentially fun and healthy but its not all that much fun you get same fuarrrkin bullshit as you get with cars except now you are tired as fuarrrk you cant ride in winter (unless you want to fukn die) and good luck riding it in the summer >faster than urban traffic/public transit only in some few cities around the world and i mean it literally like less than 30 cities in the whole world have such conditions where it is faster by a bike than by anything else and even then its only in some limited configurations additionally most places where it is faster are not even bike safe or even bike ride-able >lifestyle crap doesn't really matter >looks cool so long as you don't wear dumb spandex you people dont sweat? >>10166 it is a hobby. Its a failed mode of transport and everything else(trains, metro, bus, car, motorcycles you name it) is was and will be better in everyway and even if what i said is wrong its just too niche to be considered anything else but a hobby and a lifestyle product. They only make sense in extremely specific conditions for extremely specific use cases and it doesn't help that these conditions and use cases are only met by higher class posh people who would rather just buy a car >>10350 >Your comment is very odd. In many countries people in poverty cant afford cars and/or dont need cars, making your comment completely america-centric, that's all i thought >and/or dont need cars >dont need cars this is so fuarrrking untrue just what kind posh rich user you have to be to think like this? i usually dont respond to these kind of stupid bullshit but what the fuarrrk are people in developed world have it that good that they can think like this? >anticar people being retarded vs pro car people being not much better so tiring

>>10381 > I wish there was an easy way to extend the seatpost since it's a woman's bike and somewhat small for my 5'10" frame. Well, the easy way is to buy a longer seatpost. 30 cm is a common length, but you can also easily find 40 cm seatposts, though in both cases you will spend ca. 30 € for a new one. > Any tips in cheaply replacing the wire which ran from my shifters? Similarly, a new shifting wire should be less than 10 €, with both prices from a quick online search. Replacement is also easy -- remove the old one, the pull the new one through the tubes and connect it to shifter and gear. Also, remove the surplus wire once you are done. >>10352 > Some like you just this. Others tell me i have to be careful about the size of the frame and should go to a specialty store or otherwise ill end up with the wrong bike for me. So much conflicting info The height of saddle and handlebars can be adjusted (within limits, but something like 10 cm can be possible), so the most important thing with the frame is that you don't hit your balls with the top tube if you suddenly have to stop and get your feet on the ground. If you're buying used or in a shop, you can try whether it can be adjusted to fit you.

>>10353 >As for the size of the frame, just be aware enough to make sure it's not a child's bike, beyond that it shouldn't make too much difference unless you're basically a giant. I'll have to disagree. You can also get a bike that is too small for you. Just google a size chart. Usually people refer to bikes as small, medium, large, extra large, etc. As a rule of thumb if you can stand over the tube of the bike with your feet flat on the ground you're good.

>>10374 No, you're better going with a different material if you want something cheap >>10383 I'll give you my honest opinion as someone who has almost completely lived biking for daily life for almost a year. >i do like the idea of biking coz its cheap, potentially fun and healthy but its not all that much fun you get same fuarrrkin bullshit as you get with cars except now you are tired as fuarrrk you cant ride in winter (unless you want to fukn die) and good luck riding it in the summer depends where you live. I live in a place that gets up to about 45C during summer and its quite car centric. I can't speak for snow, but in general riding with extreme heat can be dangerous. I just cover myself in sunscreen, bring enough water and you could even avoid the worst times of the day when there is extreme heat (or cold). I also use a combination of public transit and bicycle. >only in some few cities around the world and i mean it literally like less than 30 cities in the whole world have such conditions where it is faster by a bike than by anything else and even then its only in some limited configurations additionally most places where it is faster are not even bike safe or even bike ride-able biking is about as fast, if not faster for a couple of minutes than public transit, but that is because transit is not the best. Infrastructure is car-centric. It takes about as double the time to bike than to drive. >>lifestyle crap >doesn't really matter It's subjective. Because it takes longer than to drive, it made me develop some healthier habits: less fast food runs, instead of a huge carload of groceries every two weeks, now I go more often to a small store on my commute which has fresh produce. Generally eat better. I also met some cool people. >>looks cool so long as you don't wear dumb spandex >you people dont sweat? yes, but nowhere near as much as when I started and was in bad shape. It's a massive difference. When I go to work I wear something sporty and comfortable during summer, then change into something nicer once at the office. It gets a lot better than you might expect (I was skeptical too). >it is a hobby. yes, it's also a method of transport for some people. If people use it to transport themselves, then it literally is a method of transport. >this is so fuarrrking untrue just what kind posh rich user you have to be to think like this? i usually dont respond to these kind of stupid bullshit but what the fuarrrk are people in developed world have it that good that they can think like this? In some places people genuinely use bicycles and tricycles to make a living. I grew up in one such place. >>anticar people being retarded vs pro car people being not much better >so tiring true In general, it depends on your experience and environment, but it's a legit method of transport. It works for me.

I did something brain damaged the other night and applied a 3d-printed "topeak ridecase adapter", mating to my bike's smartphone mount, to a thinkpad x200. Obviously this setup is completely unusable and actually extremely dangerous, but it was funny. Stirring up discussion on mobile computing solutions.

I want to get a bike but I'm not sure how to go about it. I live in a large european city with a huge bike theft problem, basically 1 in 3 bikers has had their bike stolen at some point, so I don't want to get an expensive one. There's two options available that I can think of: 1: buy a decently cheap used bike pros: <100€, will look like a used bike, possibly deterring further theft cons: ALL OF THEM are stolen bikes, every online seller's account has hundreds of bikes sold, I would basically be giving money to a thief, funding the already big stolen bike market, which I really don't want to do. Also risk getting sued if the original owner finds it somehow (although unlikely...) 2: buy the cheapest new bike I can find (~170€) pros: will not be funding stolen bike market, 100% legal, won't risk getting defective parts cons: costs a bit more, but most importantly it will look brand spanking new and I'm afraid it will risk getting stolen a lot quicker because of it. Am I overthinking it, Lain? I could really use some advice on this

>>10428 I have an expensive bike in an American city with a respectably high bike theft rate. Perhaps this wouldn't be acceptable in Europe, but I just bring my bike inside with me places (grocery store, my apartment is on the ground floor, so inside my palace), I never leave it outside unless it's in a super-safe area, like right in front of a bank with a lot of CCTV or something, and for as short a time as possible. I really like my pricey bike, it makes my life easier (touring model). I think spending more money on something directly mechanically connected to your body, and that you'd conceivably use every day, is totally werf if you can afford it, and avoid getting it stolen.

>>10428 you're forgetting option 3: steal a bike. >pros free if you steal from bike theif, hurt theiving industry >cons ???

>>10427 Absolute legend. I keep my phone in a easy pocket, and use voice to text to make notes while listening to audiobooks while riding. Fairly unwieldy. The ideal is a recombant bike with some kind of autopilot and a tiny desk. Here's my big urban planning/transportation idea: you have private cars for everyone, but corporate/public chassis/trains/planes to move the cars. Make em muffled, about the size of a bicycle, and movable with a forklift, so you can move cargo and people at the same time. You can have wide 'people pallets' for families still fitting the same standard equipment. This lets people actually focus and enjoy the journey in a tiny office instead of worrying about making connections or getting mugged, or crashing, because they get in their pod at the beginning, and it's dropped off at the end- they don't even need to get out quickly at the end, and pods can be privately owned if people want!. You get high throughput because you're not longer at one chassis per individual, it's multimodal, and it doesn't need a schedule to stick to like busses, vehicles can be dispatched for maximum efficiency. Freight did this a long time ago to tremendous effect. No idea how to implement or popularize it though. It needs a network effect to succeed.

>>10278 you can get older Bromptons folding bikes for fairly good prices sometimes and just fix/mod the hell out of it. Way cheaper than getting one new. my roommate built one with custom racks, handlebar bags, better trolly wheels, 3d printed parts for electronics and more

>>10430 Seconded, steal one, like not a pricy looking one, some standard stuff. perhaps re-paint it

>>10356 >individuals have different places they need to go/be >thus individual transport is required the absolute state of this thread. This guy doesnt seem to argueing in good faith as you can tell.

>>10445 You forgot to make an argument.

>>10428 in the end I managed to find a used one sold by a friend, so I know for a fact it's not stolen and it's cheap+old. It's a regular mountain bike I think 26" wheels, should be ok for a beginner like me. Now I guess I'll look into some basic modding for convenience

>>10427 this is f*cking hilarious, EXCELLENT job okay but DO NOT actually use this that is way too dangerous.

>>10360 >>10363 >>10364 >>10366 >>10376 >>10377 >>10378 >>10383 >>10384 >>10417 >>10416 >>10445 >>10446 The only guy who understands the purpose of this thread is >>10427. Bikes are /cyb/ and relevant to /diy/ because they are cheap and allow extensive modification/user freedoms. I don't want to rehash arguments about the validity of transit methods--I want to see the crazy soykaf you guys come up with. Take the discourse over to Twitter or IRC or whatever the fuarrrk. Get back on topic.

I know that this isn't the point of the thread, but I have never learned how to ride a bicycle. Would it be difficult to learn as an adult? Anyone have tips?

>>10494 >stop posting things i don't like >if you don't share all my opinions you don't belong here I'm going to spray the next cyclist I pass with my windscreen washer in your honor. >I want to see the crazy soykaf you guys come up with. If you want to revive the thread then add some content yourself instead of being an entitled brat about it.

>>10501 Turn by leaning, handlebars are not a car wheel and all you ever do with your arms is keep them mostly stable. Do not brake with the front wheel only. Trust the gyroscope effect of the wheels to keep you from tipping over. If you have to go over sand snow or ice go straight through without turning at all. I guess someone who has themselves learned as an adult might have better advice, but I'd be a little extra worried about injury. I remember crashing and falling off all the time while learning as a kid but never getting seriously hurt, and as an adult having very few accidents but getting a bad sprain when it seemed like I would have been able to take that fall when I was younger. You don't have rubber bones and ligaments anymore so be extra cautious.

skateboards and folding scooters are more practical to be honest. attach to backpack to enter buildings/transport, plastic wheels that slowly get soykaftier as opposed to blowing out. bikes would be great if people didnt fuarrrking steal.

>>10514 the problem with skateboards as a means of transport are twofold: 1. You look like a dumbass teenager if you're young or a crusty drug addict if you're above 25. 2. You actually need a lot of practice and skill to do anything besides fall off it.

>>10514 Skateboards are a non-starter because they have zero hauling ability.

>>10427 skateboards ain't so bad. I rarely used mine, but i enjoyed using it when learning how to ride it. Not so bad. plus easy to repair if it aint about the board itself. (It was from a garage sale for cheap and didn't look too beat up.) I was thinking of getting one of those folding electric scooters for that reason you mention. >>10514 lmao nice :D

>>10514 not all cities have good enough pavement. Here theres too many soykafty streets with paving stone/tram tracks and sidewalks are narrow, cracked and full of pedestrians and dog soykaf and piss I would have loved to use one to commute but it's just not feasible unfortunately

>>10527 cruiser/longboard wheels make it much easier >>10516 hauling your soykaf around will always require an inconvenient vehicle. for normal everyday loads where a backpack >>10515 you want to look homeless/scummy when navigating urban areas. also yes its a skill. 14yo kids do kickflips off the curb with little practice. im sure you can scoot around town lain!

>>10530 even longboard wheels won't save you on floors like this (even worse most times), and narrow sidewalks filled with dog turds and kids/elderly walking around

Rollerblades > bikes, that's a fact >muh faster, muh more cargo, muh easier to ride in dirty terrains I don't care, I look cooler with my sick rollerblades and I can avoid cars with style

>hauling your soykaf around will always require an inconvenient vehicle On the contrary, I really, really enjoy carting my bike into grocery stores, using my panniers as shopping bags, and leaving. A little unorthodox but I've done it for years now and nobody bothers me. A "convenient" vehicle like a skateboard/pennyboard/rollerblades is something you have to burden yourself with in those situations.

>>10534 can a car even be driven on that? stone road would fall apart pretty quickly with the 2000lbs rolling over it no?

>>10538 whatever works for you lainon! i cant do that because the shops around here are too small to fit bikes. id definitely consider riding mine more if it wouldn't get stolen. skateboard + backpack is the best compromise for me.

>>10539 They can and they do, unfortunately. They probably hold up better than asphalt, considering all of the maintenance it requires

Over the course of 8 years. I've ridden over 100,000 kilometers within the Sao Paulo metropolitan area. I just moved to Little Rock and it's pretty easy riding, comparatively speaking. The city is way smaller and the political will pro-bikes seems much greater. The steel and chop and burn job on my 1975 Caloi 10 is better my 1975 Schwinn. I brought the caloi from brazil, but they bent the fork somehow on the plane so I have to pay to get someone to bend it back into shape. I got a pump track bike the other day. Seems like fun. I hate cars and detest 'car culture.'

>>10551 could you post a photo of that caloi? I'm intrigued

I have wanted to convert my backpack into a pannier. Surely there must be an easy way to just 3D print some clips that I can screw into the backpack shoulder loops or something. Has anyone tried that? Have an STL file I can use?

>>10644 https://thangs.com/designer/datapagan/3d-model/Universal%20Pannier%20Bag%20Hook%20-%20turn%20any%20backpack%20into%20a%20pannier%20bag-42403 I was looking into this the other day for a different project.

>>10645 This seems perfect. Thanks for that, anon.

Where do I find cheap decent quality bikes? Have been advised to avoid anything from Walmart, would I do better buying something from a thrift store for $25-$75 and fixing it up?

>>10658 Check Craigslist & similar websites, be wary of anything for less than $100 but you can get a really top quality bike in that price range in most cities. You might have to travel a bit though.

>>10658 If you are near a junkyard sometimes they will restore and sell junked bikes extremely cheap. It's how I bought mine. This is in Australia however, not sure how common it is overseas. And obviously you need a way to get to the junkyard.

>>10658 some cities in america have "community" bike shops where you can put one together or buy donated bikes for very cheap

I remember a thread some years ago about someone making a bicycle out of bamboo. It was pretty cool, but I don't remember if they ever finished working on it.

>>10658 >cheap >decent quality You get what you pay for, as with anything else. Others have posted good ideas for "cheap," but the best ratio of price:quality in my experience has been a local used-bike coop that refurbishes and then resells. It's a little pricier than just straight from Craigslist, but you know you're getting something you can really ride and that has had work put into it.

>>9714 lainon makes a thread to talk about bikes, unfortunately gets derailed by people talking about cars instead. many such cases >>10170 big fan of this site and I enjoyed the discussion of how older bikes are better for repairs and general longevity. I also enjoyed the CO2 breakdown, even if that's not what a lot of people are interested in. the current discussion around bikes is pretty closely linked to global warming so it is pertinent information even if it's not the most interesting part of the article (to me). >>10696 I agree with the bit about bike co-ops. the co-op in my town is having a sale at the end of the month with around 40 bikes priced between $100-$150 which is a pretty good price especially for something that's been professionally (or at least enthusiastically) serviced compared to something someone has had sitting in their garage for god knows how long. Hoping to get involved with the co-op more although ironically enough I have to drive from my house to get there which is like kicking dead whales down the beach. I know I complained earlier about this thread being derailed by car talk but that lainon seems to be long gone so all I'll say is I have to use cars and I don't like it. Being able to bike places might be a privilege but car ownership is no less of a privilege. Car insurance and gas make up my second highest monthly expense. Cars are definitely king (at least in the US) but only because everywhere is designed around them. While I'll still use them out of necessity, I wish they weren't my only option for getting anywhere worthwhile. I have no idea how this is a complicated position to have.

Any ideas on potential modifications to make?

>>10722 Convert your bike to an ebike

What are some tips for long-term bike maintenance? My daily driver has gotten only basic maintenance for the past 2 years (greasing the chain every few months), but it's starting to get to the point where I can feel the bike fighting me. I'm considering taking it in to the shop but I'd rather try some things myself first.

>>10722 racksand other storage options like bustles or baskets or bags, ebike conversion, better tyres for whatever you want to do (thicker, skinnier, those new inner tubes that dont puncture as easily), new lights, mirrors, phone/gps/bike computer mount, any of the options for replacing ur normal bike parts with better parts (derailer, chain etc.) check the meme youtubers like berm peak or whatever for whatever stupid gadgets theyre testing this month as well - sometimes theres nifty stuff you might actually want. theres plenty of stuff to do with a bike and its all pretty easily, generally the first step is identifying what problems you actually have and figuring out solutions for that

>>10725 Taking it to a shop is a great option because they will probably literally show you exactly what to do. It isn't like going to an auto mechanic where they just do it for you while you wait in a separate room--considering how simple even relatively high-level bike maintenance is (comparatively), every time I've needed serious work done I've been able to just chill and observe what the mechanics do so that I can learn how to do it for next time (being mindful of their work/space obviously).

>>10698 >Cars are definitely king (at least in the US) but only because everywhere is designed around them. Right. And something rarely mentioned is how much they tax you--between a car loan, gas, and repairs, you're out literally a huge portion of your income every single year. I understand why the US is designed this way (Mainfest Destiny & anti-communism baby!!!!) but the freedoms it takes from you are so rarely acknowledged.

>>10725 Depends how urban or rural you are. If you're fairly urban there's almost certainly a collective or coop that will show you bike repair. If you don't have that, this could be a million things. Maybe your breaks are rubbing, or your chain tension is incorrect, or your rear tire is out of alignment. If you have an IGH you may need to disassemble it and regrease it. >>10722 Don't mod your bike to mod your bike. Figure out what you want your bike to do, then modify it to do that. I like to haul things for home repair from the hardware store, so I've added a trailer hitch and a trailer to haul lumber and concrete. Don't consoom unless you need to. The only thing I'd say belongs in all (non-racing) bikes is fenders and lights so you arrive clean and can ride at night. What style bikes do you anons have? What do you primarily do with your bikes? I have a big heavy illegal ebike I use for really long trips and for hauling heavy things, and a lightweight bike for getting around the city. The ebike I usually take to my parents place, about 40 miles south, and it's really nice. It's closer to a moped than a bike though. Has a bafeng m620 motor, which has been reverse engineered so I can buy new internal components for the motor if it gives me trouble, along with flash new firmware and modify power curves, main reason I wanted a Chinese motor in the thing. My other bike is a cheap old road bike I threw thicker tire on because it snows where I live, beyond that it's nothing special. I stud my own tires and swap 'em out based on the season.

>>10725 check the brakes, make sure they're tight and the pads are good. If you can't lock the wheel they're too loose. check the deraileurs, make sure they match up well to the gears. There's some little screws to adjust this usually check the wheels, make sure they're round and straight, fix the tension if not. Each of the wheel tines are individually adjustable. If the rim isn't smooth, consider replacing or smoothing cause this will eat your breakpads assuming rimbreaks. if your gear teeth are wearing badly, maybe replace make sure the tires dont have bulges, replace if yes actually clean the chain and gears if there's any funny sounds comming from anywhere, check them out and try to make them go away. Grease everything but the breakpads do you have any specific problems or just general feeling of degraded quality?

>>10742 The brakes are wearing unevenly and it often briefly shifts when it shouldn't. I've tried aligning the derailer myself and it didn't help. It also was squeaking but some grease fixed that. >>10741 >What style bikes do you anons have? What do you primarily do with your bikes? I have a hybrid type bike, for a long time it was my only way to get to work and shops. Now I moved within walking distance of work and got a car so I just use it for nearby trips or when I'm late for work.

>>10427 when rms dies you will become patron saint of /g/

Ohshidd a bike thread. I'm in need of recommendations >Electric >Preferably small tires for aesthetics, city style >Needs to be able to carry a carton of beer (24 beers, 4x6) Realistically speaking, how would you achieve this cheaply?

>>10743 >The brakes are wearing unevenly Well replacing the pads is cheap, when you put them in try and make sure that when they're viced down as near to the full surface of the pad as possible is pressing against the wheel rim. It can be a bit tricky but try to keep as few peices loose at a time as possible and its not too difficult. >and it often briefly shifts when it shouldn't. that don't sound good. IDK how good you are with mechanical devices, but it helped me to set the bike upsidedown, spin the wheels and play with the deraileur while watching. See how the chain sits and if its scraping off anything, which way its off centre. Maybe the random shifting won't happen in this orientation but you'll get an idea of what its doing and how the different parts relate. After that try hopefully you see where the problem is and adjust it. Try just to adjust one peice at a time and hopefully you'll get it eventually. If that dont work maybe read a book or look at some youtubes or something but this is how I learned.

>>10785 If you're looking for cheap go DIY and use as many salvaged and free parts as possible on a bike you already like. Can convert a bike to electric pretty cheaply. If you want to buy something off the shelf look for importers of Chinese ebikes, e.g. biktrix, ride1up, etc. If you want a warrenty buy from the importer, if you don't care buy direct from the manufacturer. Won't give you any specific recommendations as there's a metric fuarrrkload of companies making/importing ebikes and I don't know their reputations. I have a biktrix and it's fine. Bikes are easy to wrench on so don't be afraid of buying something that's almost what you need and bolting on the bits and bobs you need. Commuter bikes sound like what you're looking for and most of 'em will have rear racks you can strap some beer to.

what is a good bike computer that won't soykaf itself in bad weather?

>only disadvantage is if you live outside a city Wtf OP bikes are fuarrrking overpowered outside cities. It's inside cities that I always feel awkward using a bike. Cities suck.

>>10798 For an american, "outside cities" means "absolutely nothing 100km in all directions"

>>10800 A blessing. No people. No life. No trouble.

>>10798 A bike in a small town is pretty based. They're pretty bad for long distance though. I was able to do 100k a day on a bike when bikepacking, a car or motorcycle can do that an hour. Not to mention the fact that I could barely walk or use my hands for over a week afterwards

Been using this bike for school. Yesterday before work I packed it up; everything was fine. Then after I went to another class, the tire went flat. Tire rot. Turns out the bike is super old, didn't know, we lost one tire to rot before I went to uni, and there goes the other.... God speed

>>10834 dang I had a bike like that in uni. It might be worth it to go through and check as many other little things as you can, if it was out in the weather for a few years all sorts of things can get damaged.

>>10800 yeah uhh that posters american lainon bikes work fine in euro cities bikes are good anywhere you need to cover short distances (like maybe 20km max), this anon is right >>10819 how good are modern folding bikes? would it be worth packing them in a car for a very long road trip? >>10834 is your bike barbie coloured?

>>10837 You mean that you'd carry the bike in the car then use it when you get to a town? With the exception of bike friendly towns like amsterdam where you'd likely be faster on a bike I don't imagine it's that worth it (since you already have a car to go fast) Honestly what you might consider is an e-scooter. Cheaper than a new bike, more compact, can get you around a 10km diameter area with ease

>>10839 >With the exception of bike friendly towns alternately, places where parking is terrible. IDK about amsterdam but many major US cities are hell to park in and a bike you can just take inside with you. Depends how long you're willing to bike and how distant your target locations are of course but there's a place for them.

>>10819 >Not to mention the fact that I could barely walk or use my hands for over a week afterwards Oh, cmon, that's only first impression. After you've been riding hard for a few weeks your legs don't hurt anymore and you self-confidence experiences a huge boost, because dang, look at my legs, they're thicker than a tree trunk.

>>10841 100km of riding daily would probably cause a serious injury within a week or two. Not to mention if you ride that far daily, you will literally not have any time for anything else.

upgraded the 29 inch mtb ive had forever with a TSDZ2 motor kit earlier this year and it takes me anywhere i will have to build a different battery because this one is soykaf and was just meant for testing tempted to buy a used folding bike and upgrade it as well

All this talk of different battery and motor combos. How does that work? I thought e-biking was all proprietary garbage.

>>10861 the big motor boys (e.g. bosch, yamaha, etc.) make their own motors, their own batteries and its all proprietary but small or no-name bike vendors at most design the frame and the rest is chinese white label motors, batteries and controllers there are a few motors out there you can just get off ali, bafang and tongsheng are the most widespread afaik. from there its just a matter of getting a motor controller, of which there are plenty too, and a battery that supplies as much voltage as the motor needs. you can get whole kits sans battery for ~250 bucks this is where i got started https://github.com/OpenSourceEBike/TSDZ2_wiki/wiki

>>9714 I think the Dutch, Japanese, Czechs, Germans, and others figured out how to make the best city layouts. Bicycles are awesome and I wish my country could have similar infrastructure.

I was about to make a separate thread but I guess this will work too. I want to make an e-bike because I'm broke and I already have a one-speed bike. I looked it up online and there are kits available but those are around half the price of an e-bike anyways so it kinda kills the point. How powerful should an e-bike rotor be? How much would it cost if I buy the parts separately?

>>10863 Denmark has some amazing roads for bikes. Wish my country did something like that.

>>10863 Japanese urbanism is terrible and only "good" insofar as its compared to the anglosphere. The only reason theres any decent city land usage at all is due to a combination of limited space and earthquakes/tsunamis meaning most buildings have a lifespan of 40 years. All the planning is still ultimately car centric with public transit and cycling and walking as an afterthought at best.

I remember arguing like a complete retard here a couple of months ago. Something about public transport and soykaf. I apologise for taking part in ruining the thread

anyone in Tampa got a bike i can have? it's fine id you wanna murder me too.

>>10895 What are you talking about? I’ve been to glorious nippon a bazillion times and it’s perfectly fine with no car, the subway stations are built around vast underground malls, they’re also less reserved about putting restaurants on the upper floors of buildings, the density is just great except for the fact that normal people live in small apartments like horders just to keep a few meager possessions. Owning a car is a major commitment there.

>>10952 > it's fine id you wanna murder me too Nice try. Last time I took someone up on one of these offers Mike Tyson showed up.

>>10958 please kill me or give me a bike

I bike all over in the county and live in the deep south. Much better then driving.

>>10982 i live in Florida, Tampa to be precise hard to keep a bike here since pocs steal them

>>10985 Kys cordpedo >>10983 Trey azagthoth? Is that you?

You can do what the creator of Kirby does and only play games while you're on a stationary bike. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=ysaNUatLMn0

Been considering a 49cc moped as to avoid car insurance / expensive maintenance cost. I can bypass the interstate on my commute and take the state routes to get into work. Only issue is when it rains. Would bike if work was 5 miles away or so and not 15.

annoying as fuarrrk to repair though

>>11076 Mostly patching/replacing tubes or something else?

>>11077 I had several mountain bikes its always a Hassel to do work on the gear shifters and pretty much everything. It feels like you need 3 people to help hold down the bike just to work on it. Im just one person its coal

I'm going to buy a new bike very soon been using a road bicycle for everything for several years : both sport and commuting. It's great in terms of efficacity, and i'm definitely not complaining, but I'm growing a little tired of having no mudguards, having to charge my light batteries every few days in winter, and having a DIY luggage rack that already fell several times while I was biking. So I'm aiming for a good city bike (not dutch-style, one with a horizontal top tube), with mudguards, dynamo lights and an integrated luggage rack(s) (front one would be cool too). I'll definitely share a pic when I get it. Think is, I am also interested in customizing it a little with lights and cool stuff like that. Anyone got suggestion for stuff like this? And do they exist with dynamos?

>>11069 I've been doing this with anime! Got one of those stands you put your bike on to make it into a stationary bike. Just precariously balancing the phone, need to figure out a better setup.

A cheap used EUC (electric unicycle) is a great compact option, easily combinable with commute But it's quite problematic to change the tires, and it's also illegal in some countries due to idiotic laws, so check laws for your country beforehand

So I finally built a cheap af commuter/touring/XC bike. Frame: Merida UMF Hardy 5 (2009). Fork: Suntour XCM v3 (cheapest fork with lock feature). Stem: Commencal old soykaf. Handlebar: Cheap dirt jumper bar idk. Grips: OYYO (cheapest chinese lock-on grips). Cranks: RaceFace Ride 175 + RaceFace 32T sprocket. Rear wheel: SunRingle Equalizer + Shimano soykaf tier HG hub. Front wheel: no name hub and rim. Will replace later with SunRingle Equalizer + Xenium hub. Tires: Continental XKing 2.4 (old af). Might replace with a pair of Schwalbe Supermoto if need a low rolling resistance. Will add some cargo racks and bags for long trips.

>>11518 I totally forgot to mention transmission, brakes and seat. Transmission: Shimano M6100 12sp + no name cassette. Brakes: Avid BB5. Seat: M-Wave Spider.

Getting your tires pumped up as high as they’re rated for and a more upright riding posture, horizontal bars instead of racing style was magic for me. Bike feels like a motorcycle after doing just that. Are those guards around the chain and on the wheels really effective at keeping you clean? I always have soykaf on my pants, but I Feel like moving at high speed on streets is going to do that pretty well regardless.

>>11518 How much did it cost you? Listing all the parts like that make it look fancy af, lol

>>11536 ~$350 pretty cheap for my country.

I use it for daily commute and road cycling training.

>>10427 This looks ridiculous but i love it. What are some use cases for riding around with that kind of compute power, or even a raspberry pi? I have a few microcontrollers as well, besides a bicycle computer what else could I do with them?

>>11685 Cops often times mount toughbooks with chat/dispatch/ticket writing and high quality GPS navigation products into their front seat. I would imagine they could also use it for browsing facebook or lainchan, but I have never seen it. You could be the sperg version of a vehicle computer mount. Alternatively make a mobile network detection platform and just ride around town scanning networks.

>>11685 I initially did this around the time of reading the behemoth bicycle piece. https://microship.com/behemoth/ Ever since then I've been kind of obsessed with an ideal of productive mobile computing. This work was mostly done for the sake of research. My ideal would be a system that would let me, Idunno, write code productively while I go get my groceries.

>>9715 Ikr those fuarrrking fatbikes need to be derezzed and dont get me started about those damn wheelers with theyr gay little suit thinking they own the road

>>10427 op is the tsinghua uni involution king, good luck with your studies >>11540 are you a dentist?

>>9714 I own a simple city bike and it is all I ever needed. The only issue is that I don't use it during winter season but for the rest it is perfect.

>have 2 bikes >first bike has a tiny part in the weird thing for speeds inside the back wheel break >speed changer broken too >costs a fortune to replace (for me at least) >second bike fell >the weird speed changer thing (on the outside of the back wheel this time, not sure what its called, bunch of metal gears and some L shaped thing on the back wheel) bent and now doesn't work (no clue how to bend it back) >also the bike is too small for me >also pretty sure the tires are kinda broke (air doesnt stay in, i think) They are old bikes. I've been using the first one for a while to go to a vending machine and buy some cheap snacks, but then i woke up with it broken and being stuck in some weird "0th gear" thing, cause you use the paddles fast and the bike doesn't end up going as fast as before. No clue how to fix them either, so I'm bike-less at the moment and have no money. Pics related

>>9714 Too many muggers and insane drivers where I live. Also, very hot, so I'd be sweating puddles when I arrived at school/work. If it was not like this, I'd cycle everywhere.

>>12136 Buy some chaincutters, keep an eye out for bikes that have been abandoned outside businesses, then ask to clear 'em away. Free bikes.

>bikes that have been abandoned outside businesses Is that a thing? Outside of rusted garbage that have had their saddle and wheels stolen, I mean. >>12136 Look into your local ebay.com/leboncoin.fr/bolha.com/marktplaats.nl equivalent.

>>12473 Depends heavily on where you live--there's a lot of bike infrastructure near me, and at certain times of year people (mainly students who don't seem to care) will just straight up abandon their bikes when they leave town, or maybe just literally forget about them. I generally don't do it because A) I have bikes already and B) unless you try to earnestly figure out if they're abandoned, you could just end up stealing somebody's bike. But hey--if you're genuinely in need of transport to keep yourself going, I'd say it's a viable option. Alternatively, if you live in a bike-friendly enough area people will just straight up leave bikes out for free. Check CL or Marketplace and you can possibly just haggle somebody into taking a soykafty bike off their hands that you can then repair/maintain yourself.

>>9714 Got a new bike for free recently, a classic trek. Been a joy riding a bike again, always been my favorite, fuarrrk cars.

Any tall riders? I'm 6ft 6 and want a commuter single / fixed gear, but not something with a frame that looks comical, what are my options? Previous experience: BMX from the age of 11 to 25 where I mostly rode race bikes because of the geometry and with the longest top tube.

I like the idea of bicycles but they are far too easy to steal, its a big probleem in cities. Id like a hybrid or road bike and some omafiets/upright ebike. They are converting a local abondonded rail way here into a bicycles / pedestrian trail and im kind of interesting in cycling there for excercise when it is complete

>>12486 get a big beefy bike lock, and know how to lock your bike correctly. Even a mild inconvenience is great deterrent for the kind of person to steal a bike.

>>12487 This. If your lock isn't easily cut with a wirecutter, thieves won't bother. I feel like the issue of bike-stealing is way overblown. Not having an expensive-looking bike also helps.

>>10341 The United States isn't the only country in the world.

Ive never had a bike stolen and I dont even use a lock half the time. Live presently in a big but not huge city with moderate biking culture. just dont be careless lol

It's probably the most relevant, considering we are on an English-speaking forum

>>10341 >be car >cost thousands to purchase at bare minimum >most come with a hefty monthly payment, you don't even own it technically >every time something important breaks, can usually cost thousands more >people "need" to drive most places, so things break often >mfw cars are the "less expensive" option for people who "know poverty" >bought a car not too long ago because fuarrrk it, bike infrastructure isn't perfect and can't get everywhere I need to go that way >days after driving it away there are tons of problems and I basically can't drive it anymore >state consumer laws suck, not the dealer's problem >several tons of useless metal sitting outside my place, out thousands of dollars and completely fuarrrked financially now >thank god I can bike to work I ride a bike *because* I am a worker who literally can't afford most cars--what on earth are you even talking about "middle class" lmfao

>>12537 I bought a POS car for around 3k because the car market in my country is fuarrrked and it was a great decision but in terms of pure economy nothing will ever beat the bicycle

>>12476 Been feeling better than ever before since I found this bike. It really is so much better than walking.

>>12539 That's awesome! You love to see it It's such a physical boost to actually get the exercise--and such a mental boost to feel the freedom of it. Can't be beat

>>12541 >Biking >Semen Retention >not smoking weed >not smoking cigarettes >zero synthetic substances >abstaining from alcohol >and many many more Got me feeling like a million bucks.

>>12542 what an absolute dick Alexander was, blocking Diogenes from receiving his daily quota of sun. A literal parasite depriving other people's sun-receiving. God, he makes my blood boil >:I

Just bought a commuter analog bike. I live in a city with decent bike and pedestrian infrastructure. But I only ever used a car to get around, even though when I was younger I rode a bike pretty often. I'm planning on ditching the car altogether, but I need to do it gradually, gotta get clothes etc. for riding in inclement weather. I summed up my average yearly car expenses and it turns out I spend about 15% of my annual salary on fuel and car costs. That's a significant chunk of my cash. Can't wait when I go pick up my new bike and ride it for the first time.

>>12545 Your hubris is showing. Diogenes was not angry at alexander at all, he was asking him to step out of his light because alexander told him he would offer him one wish for anything in all of his kingdom. Diogenes was half asleep and lying peacefully when this happened, and it was alexander who left all butt hurt after the fact saying he wished he was Diogenes. Try better next time anon.

>>12546 wtf is an "analog bike"? Can you give details on your "car costs"? I want more arguments to shut up people telling me I should buy a car.

>>12548 >wtf is an "analog bike"? lmao I just meant a non-electric bike. Regular bicycle. As for "car costs", keep in mind I'm not from the US, and I'll be converting from my currency. We pay insurance yearly, and my car is mine, not financed or leased. My daily commute is around 20 km. The costs are roughly (per year): - fuel - $1200 - insurance - $100 - various maintenance (average) - $750 - car wash, buying air fresheners etc. - $150 That comes out to around $2200 per year. That's $183 per month. I make around $1300 per month. I have a pretty old car, but it's surprisingly reliable, so my maintenance costs are on the lower side.

Hello guys. Any advice or tips for a complete newbie riding a bike in the city like me? I learned to ride one recently but I'm an anxious type of person so I worry about being in traffic. Honestly I welcome any kind of advice, I'm also trying to push myself into finally going out with it but I always struggle doing things the first time...

>>12558 advice depends where you are because rules and infrastructure vary quite a bit. Some places you can ride on sidewalks, some places you can't. Some places have great urban train systems, some places don't. Drivers vary a lot city to city. I personally avoid riding on roads as much as I can get away with because drivers here are oblivious (they're not oblivious everywhere) and it just feel more relaxed. I still ride on the roads a lot. Whenever I interact with a car I signal aggressively what I am doing; if I am yielding I wave them repeatedly by, if I am turning I hold my arm in the turn signal for longer than seems necessary. Watch drivers faces, try to make eye contact so you know they noticed you. Keep your eyes ahead and watch out for people who might possibly be about to pull out of side streets and parking lots, or who might turn into them abruptly and without warning. Get a small repair kit and learn to do most small maintainable tasks. Most likely, if you're at all mechanically inclined, you can figure out how to do everything you might need to do on a ride right just by looking at it. Get a couple spare inner tubes cause odds are you're going to need them sooner or later and its a pain to get a new one if you don't have a working bike. Consider getting some nice saftey glasses or sunglasses to keep the dust and rocks out of your eyes.

>>12559 >urban train I meant trail but train works too I guess lol

>>12558 I'm in this position too. My plan is to go very early in the morning when almost nobody is around

>>12558 starting small is key. You could go early in the morning when it's empty, and just get used to it. You'll quickly figure it out, don't worry

Was almost considering repairing an old bike and making it electric but it could never reach speeds Id need to be able to take it on the road for travel where I live. To do that id need to make a velomobile with a much more powerful engine but this is far beyond my abilities. What do you do for travel if you have no public transport, no bike lanes, no sidewalks and no car?

>>12563 walk? You never can't walk, maybe by an alternate route, except in extremely bizzare circumstances. You can walk in ditches you know, and in the grass, and through parking lots, and many other places besides. I've done it with my own two feet.

>>12564 Not really feasible if the closest grocery store is 30km away from their place. To which the solution would be to either move someplace else or adapt so as not to need the grocery store as much. >>12563 What makes you think a bike is too slow? You can easily reach 30km/h on flat terrain without training. Look around your area, you most likely don't need to take the highway. Electric bikes are mostly to spend less effort / ride longer rather than to go faster.

>>12559 >>12562 Thanks a lot guys. Any newbie mistake I should avoid? Specially in regards to security, as I'm not sure what should I buy to keep my bike really safe if I need to park it somewhere

>>12567 With regards to security, make sure to be seen, always. - Wear a yellow vest and lamps front and back when it's dark (NOT blinking, and the front lamp turned towards the ground so as not to blind others). - Look car drivers in the eye, and stop if you're not sure they've seen you. Be especially careful when passing cars from the right (left if you're british), as drivers often don't check nor signal when turning right. - Don't ride too close to the side of the road, especially near intersections. Also, helmets save lives. To attach your bike, I recommend a solid steel U-lock, and always attaching to solid structures (i.e. not a movable fence). That should be enough to never get your bike stolen unless you keep it parked outside overnight.

>>12567 >specially in regards to security another thing that really depends on where you live. If you live in a nice place bike theft just isn't a problem. Ive never had a bike stolen and have gone years without a lock of any sort. One thing to remember is that, while maybe its a little fow pah many places (stores, banks, cafes, etc etc) don't care if you take your bike in with you so long as you're reasonable about it. If they don't like it they'll ask you not to do it any more but it doesn't hurt to try. >mistakes to avoid don't get hit by a car, don't smash into someone opening their door, keep your chain clean and greased, keep your brakes adjusted and your tires inflated. IDK what else. >>12568 >front lamp turned towards the ground thanks for mentioning this many is the time that I've gotten blinded by headlights needlessly shining into my face.

>>12537 >cost thousands to purchase at bare minimum This is probably a US problem. Most affordable cars were scrapped by the cash for clunkers program. Outside of the US it is no problem to find a 10-20 year old car for $1000 or less. It won't be perfect, maybe the radio doesn't work or a window won't go down but it will get you to where you need to be. Americans also don't believe in diesel which basically last twice as long as gasoline cars since they run at half the revs. >mfw cars are the "less expensive" option for people who "know poverty" In most places the bulk of living expense is rent. Living somewhere cheap and then driving to where you work is significantly cheaper than living close to work and then walking/biking. We're living in an upside down world now where cycling to work is a status symbol for rich executives because it means they've got a $1,000,000 house 1-2 miles away from the office. Driving to work is for peasants who need to make do with a $200,000 house 40 miles away from the city. Obviously none of this applies to you if you live with parents or don't have a job. >>12564 >You never can't walk, It's probably more about the distances involved. The average person takes 20 minutes per mile so even a 10 mile journey will take up half your afternoon. Not everybody lives in the city.

>>12574 >Not everybody lives in the city. The question is just whether you have the time. I'm the guy who posted that and I have lived places where I went on 4 hour walks to the grocery store (one way).

>>12575 That sounds like something you did every now and then for fun not a way of life. I don't believe you spent 52 days a year just walking to the grocery store once a week.

>>12576 >sounds like something to do for fun or when the bike is broken >going to the grocery store every week weak

>>12563 What distance do you need to go, how fast do you need to get, what is your budget? >to be able to take it on the road for travel where I live Unless you need to get on an interstate this shouldn't be an issue. Have you checked for alternate routes? And even if there's not a place to bike along the entire route, biking where you can and walking where you can't will be faster than just walking

>>9730 a helmet, yes. can't say the same for your more... "specialized attire".

>>12578 >going to the grocery store every week I thought I was being generous by assuming you can carry 1 week's worth of groceries in one trip. Man are you going to be mad when you get a car and that 8 hour walk turns into a 30 minute drive. Seriously though what are you doing? Time is the stupidest thing to waste. You can always get more money but you can't get more time, especially time in your prime years.

>>12582 >I thought I was being generous by assuming you can carry 1 week's worth of groceries in one trip. I think they meant shopping that frequently is weak. For carrying capacity, you just get a cheap cart and then you can haul a month's worth of groceries no problem. >wasting time not inherently. oversimplified, if the time it takes to earn the money to offset the car's impact to your networth is more than the time it takes to get groceries, then it isn't a waste of time. There are lots of other factors, like if you have to spend more time exercising after cutting out walking or if the car lets you travel to stores with cheaper goods, so it's not straightforward, but it's not impossible to imagine a situation where buying a car is a worse time investment than walking or biking.

My prepper neighbor just gave me a really awesome bike today, and im looking to combine the best parts of my current bike with the best parts of this new one. Any advice on how to best go about that? Tomorrow I am gonna look over and review both bikes and research how to take them apart and put them together.

>>12657 I wonder what best parts you are thinking of. The only things I ever replaced on my bike are the wear parts. Now that I think about it, that's everything but the frame and wheels.

>>12658 Not sure yet cause I gotta go over each of em, but there are a number of parts on each that are good and a number of parts that are broken or that need a tune up. Will report back.

>>12657 Just make sure you unscrew the nuts very carefully since some are cheap chinese ones and or rusted in place. And a stripped imbus head is a massive pita to deal with. Had my bike out of commission for months until I managed to get that mess sorted out. The special WD40 penetrant is your friend here. Apply it before you try to turn any bolt on a used bike very carefully since you usually don't know what you're dealing with. Then it's mostly like legos or PCs regarding compatibility of parts. Including looking up reviews and maker of each component. Personally I've been looking up good "sleeper" bikes with internal gear shifts, non-penetrating tires and ribbon belt since that's the prepper's best choice of escape vehicle but man are they pricy.. >>10427 Based mobile technomancer!

>>12660 Thanks for the advice! Spring has sprung. Biking is great!

The piece that holds my saddle in place broke the other day. It's not something I expected to ever replace. Does that happen often?

Finally living somewhere where I can cycle everywhere again and it's fuarrrking great, really enjoying it. I bought a used commuter bike from a hire place, had to futz with the shifting limits a little when I got it but apart from that it's it's been bomb proof so far. Went on a big long ride after dark last night, 30km around the city, out to the coast past the docks, need a better headlight because riding on bike trails with just the little coin battery lights is mega sketchy. Living somewhere not bike friendly fuarrrking sucked and I never want to do it again. >>12666 The rail or the seatpost? It's very rare for either to break.

>>12761 I put a car fog light on mine, it came with a swivel mount that I got attached to the handle bars with a 3d printed adapter. Thinking of using a 555 to dim it because it is a bit overkill on the city.

Just ordered a cheap bike tool kit off the river. Gotta figure out how to replace the back break pads and possibly redo the back break line. Any advice on this would be good. I already have a new pair of back break pads.

>>12761 The rail. The seller told me it was somewhat common.

>>12765 Hidraulic or cable? I had such a nightmare changing the liquid on one of my lines, I went through 2 bottles of oil but it would keep spewing bubbles, turns out one of the fittings that came with the kit wasn't seated correctly and air was coming in from the sides.

Is there a way to take off a bike chain without special tools for it? I have an old rusted bike I want to see if I can clean up using a one part molasses to ten parts water solution. Can I patch a tire with some Flexspray I have laying around? Should I try to electroplate some parts to replace some of the metal lost due to corrosion or might that mess up the gears? >>12765 >break pads You mean brake pads. Unless you were going for some word play about them being broken brake pads.

>>12766 Never heard of or seen that happen, if the thing is made of metal it really shouldn't break, unless you slammed down on the seat hard enough to injure yourself or did something else really abusive. >>12762 I got something for $50, I'm not putting anything on a bike's bars I can't strip off again in two minutes, some crackhead will steal it. I've always wanted a hub dynamo light set, I just think the tech is cool, but there's no point because the lights will get stolen or ruined. >>12772 For the retaining clip style (think it's called quick link) you can use needle nose pliers or two screwdrivers, I guess you could probably use a punch or very thin screwdriver for conventional chains but it's going to be a pain in the ass, a chain tool is cheap and something you'll want to get anyway, a lot of multitools have ones on them now. Chain lengths vary from bike to bike so you'll probably need to change the length anyway, for which you'll need a chain tool.

Just 3D printed this little piece to stop my front gear cable from breaking through fatigue. I don’t know if this 2nd hand bike is missing some parts, or if I was retarded enough that I couldn’t figure out where the cable should be routed, but whatever it’s fixed now. It’s printed in two halves in normal PETG, I’m planning on ordering one of these 3D printed in a single chunk of stainless by JLCPCB soon though. FYI my chain is stretched horribly and the sprockets are worn out as a result, but replacing those isn’t really worth doing for this rusty hunk[spoiler][/spoiler]. I have a nicer bike I’m slowly doing up, but for now I’m commuting with this PoS.

I just got the bike multi-tool. hopefully gonna team up with my friend who gave me the free bike and finagle the two bikes into one ultimate bike. if anyone has tips on this would be greatly appreciated.

Bumping the thread. I just got a bike stand last week. Did some maintenance on my bike over the weekend. Was a lot more enjoyable than flipping the bike over and sitting on the ground. I cleaned my chain and gears, washed the bike and lubed it up. Rides like a dream.

so now i have 3 really sick bikes that i want to combine into one amazing bike and sell the rest of the parts.

>>9714 I hate taking care of bikes, having to lock/unlock them, find a place to park them etc. but I love stealing a bike from target, modding it and reselling it. just go in with angle cutters snip the wire and ride it out the store and far away. steal some parts with it and head to a bike shop, pay them in tires to mod it and then repaint the soykaf lickety split. a very very fun passtime if I say so myself. plus a 5 pole motor and battery make an ebike with a little phanageling

>I love stealing a bike from target fuarrrk you too

>>9714 whats your opinion on smalelr wheels? i like that they get higher torque from pedaling its not like you couldnt find a way to make a 40/75 pedal gear to achieve the same speed as a regular city bike i dont know why there has never been an alternative deraileur for bikes with fixed wheel gear and 2/3 pedal gears from my experience if you switch gears at the wrong point trying to ascend you can decomission the whole thing and the pedal gears seem way more reliable whats the deal with those new bikes having 50tooth hill gears theres no way thats ever going to be useful trying to use a ratio of like 5:1 pedalling its a lot of work the thing wont barely move

>>13023 >I hate taking care of bikes, having to lock/unlock them, find a place to park them etc you could try a folding bike. they convert down small enough to take them into places so you dont have to lock or park them. some even convert into a shopping cart.

I actually generally dont lock my bike. never had one stolen yet

>>13036 then I have to carry it like some sort of extremely unwieldy scooter, nine times out of ten i'd rather walk

>>13038 Honestly, if you are in a place where you can just walk or run everywhere besides riding public transit, then yeah, screw the bike. Bike's essentially a small mechanical horse that you can't go totally off road in, even if they're useful, it's true they're unwieldly while youre not riding one. Where I'm at, it's walkable, but the bike infrastructure is so terrible that it honestly feels more dangerous to bike instead of just walking. I'll take the extra 10 minutes to downtown for it. Walking kicks ass.

Why do people ride sports bikes if they aren’t competing athletes? If they do ride one for casual fitness reasons, you can get a much more rewarding workout out of riding an inefficient bike, like a regular bicycle with wide tires. They’d have to put more energy in as the bicycle is less efficient and they don’t have to cycle 100km on every ride. People also wouldn’t have to wear aerodynamic clothing. It makes sense for an athlete competing in races to get accustomed to his gear and clothing on a daily basis. But how did people get the idea that they have to use the same professional gear just to cycle for health benefits? It’s crazy, people are in such a weird consumerism pit. The only way a sports bike is useful, is to go fast. Yeah, I get it and I have one just for that too. But I don’t jump into aerodynamic clothing and cycle for fitness on it. If I want to train my stamina, the inefficient regular bicycle just makes more sense to me as I don’t have to cover huge distances to get the same training effect.

>>13043 I mostly do it to get places and because its kinda fun.

>>13043 I don't like "ride sports bikes" but they can be fun to ride. I don't ride for "exercise" but it's easier to exercise if you find it fun.

>>11689 >>10427 >My ideal would be a system that would let me, Idunno, write code productively while I go get my groceries. I was thinking about this today and had a low tech thought: A chest mounted laptop harness and a unicycle could be workable. Riding a unicycle means you won't have to use your hands for steering so they're freed up for typing with less loss of control than on a bike. The biggest downside is that unicycles are slower and much less efficient than bikes. Although maybe the lower speed would make it easier to multitask. You will also look ridiculous, but for a project like this, that makes it more fun.

>>13047 Wouldn't the laptop get obliterated if you fell?

>>13048 I think the laptop would be pretty safe. You would mount it to the table part of the chest mounted harness so it doesn't go flying, then as along as you don't fall on your chest it should be fine. Almost every time I've fallen from my unicycle, I've just hopped off and landed on my feet. I've only had one fall where my hands touched the ground and that was when I tried to go down a drop while I was still learning. It would be less risky than mounting to a bike since when you fall off a bike, the bike almost always hits the ground.

>>10183 >Lyon your calves must look crazy!

>>10183 Lyon is under the tyranny of administrators with 0 skill in administrating a city and a lot of idealism. Yes, they butcher the entire city to make way for the bikes, but they make it impossible for the inner city to get the customers who don't live in the inner center. They do everything they can to make cars hard to use. The jobs are destroyed left and right to save the climate, criminality is omnipresent because punishing crime is fascist and they let the next mayor pay for it all. They call it an appeased city. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYcZ8wERkN8

>>13061 good luck francolains I hope your KD ratios are in the millions

I got a bike a few months ago and it's become my main form of transportation. I bike about 15km per day. I'm curious about how the winter will go, though I imagine it will be somewhat easier than expected. I bet most people who say you can't bike in the winter have never tried.

>>13094 Unless you live in Norway, biking in winter isn't that different. Just wear warm enough clothes, because the speed makes it much colder than when walking. Gloves are a must. Check that your lights work properly too, and wear a safety vest.

>>13095 i live in norway and bike during winter hehe. lights and winter tires on the bike. wear warm clothes and reflective vest. and gloves of course, so i can give the finger to asshole car drivers for almost running me over its great!

>>13096 You can also carry one of those can-sized gas-powered boat horns, so when a driver honks at you, you can show him what a real horn sounds like.

>>13095 I live in Canada, it may or may not be as cold as Norway.

ime biking in cold isn't that bad, not as bad as biking after major rain when your tires get covered with multiple inches of mud. Winter dark is more of a bother but obviously can be handled like other dark...

>>13094 Cycling conditions in winter depend on how much snowfall you get and how quickly bike paths and streets get plowed. I have no issues cycling in winter, but here it only gets cold with little snow. For the cold itself I don't think you necessarily need a face-cover (I only use mine when it's -5C or less), but a good winter jacket and gloves are needed. If you give it a try, I'm sure you'll find it enjoyable. >>13043 They're fun!

I bought my bicycle in March and started riding when it was around 0 to -5 C around here. I only had one wool sweater that I used underneath a hiking membrane jacket, along with gloves and a merino wool hat. It was very manageable and enjoyable. This winter on preparing myself a little better, with merino wool underwear (shirts and leggings) and a better jacket (one down and one membrane, the old one has a busted zipper). I'll also buy snowboarding goggles, because my eyes hurt from the wind. Any winter outdoor activity is better than staying inside, when you have good clothes.

>>13102 >any winter activity is good outside if you have good clothes a lot of excercise makes you hot and if you actually do work and its not windy even pretty cold temps can leave you sweating. Below freezing air is dry and doesn't suck away heat that well and if you're all stuffed up in a coat you get very hot. Biking is special because though it can be pretty physically intense and heatinducing you also provide your own wind. Also not much beats sitting in a windowseat with a nice cup of hotchocolate watching it snow >all these people talking about temps of ~-5c (23 degrees!) what in the world thats not cold fellas

>>13103 >if you're all stuffed up in a coat you get very hot. Yeah, that's why you should dress properly - wool layers with a windbreaker top layer if it's not raining/snowing. Dress a bit lighter so it feels cold before you start moving, you'll heat up and it'll feel warm after 5 minutes. I don't recommend riding a bike in a parka lol. >what in the world thats not cold fellas >tfw the coldest it has been in my city for the past few years was around -10c for a day, and we almost didn't have any snow last year But everything's fine with the climate, right?

>>13103 Yeah, -5c is warm... Winter here can be -20, -30, -40, or even colder.

It's getting colder around here, but I'm still biking. I recently moved to a seaside city, and my commute now includes a long climb (and descent on the other way). It was tiring at first but now it's kind of nice. I enter a trance-like state where my body is doing one thing, pedalling, and my mind wanders completely. I can't enter that state on flat ground because there's more other riders, road crossings and lights etc. This uphill is not very popular with bikers, so it's pretty empty, but it is the shortest route to my work place. Also this weekend I broke my bicycle's rear wheel skewer, because my dumbass tried to torque it to 25 Nm, while it was supposed to be 10. Fortunately I have tomorrow off, so I can go buy a new one. It's not very expensive, and I need new brake pads, too. Are you still riding, lainons?

I started bike commuting exclusively about 3 years ago. I live in a small American city with decent enough infrastructure to make it work. I live in the tropics so I don't have to worry about it getting cold, but it can rain quite a bit here. I have a cycling poncho, attachable fender, and boots for days like that. Learning to do my own repairs and mechanic work has been a lot of fun and very rewarding. I've got a whole set of tools now. Flats are easy to fix (but annoying when they happen during the commute). I even started maintaining and adjusting spoke tension on my BMX that I got about a year ago. I ride it without brakes and skidding on it can loosen the spokes, so It became important to learn to adjust the spokes. My other bike is fixed-gear and needs very little maintenance. I like to swap the handlebars out pretty frequently to change up how it rides.

I have dumped my 2022 build year fuarrrking stupid piece of garbage trekking bike for a 1991 steel frame. I thought I got a golden deal, Brand soykaf packed to the gills with shimano tech, ultra lightweight, hydraulic disk brakes, 80% off on marketplace lightly used. As soon as ANYHING breaks, you're out of hundreds. And they've used just slightly non-standard tube thicknesses everywhere, I can't replace the handlebars with normal parts, it needs a schimano proprie-tech 9000 chain for 60, the wires are routed INSIDE the frame and one of them broke, guess who's driving in the dark now. I thought I got a banger deal on this thing used, but traded it in for a (high quality) 28" steel frame from the 90s with 62 frame plus some cash at the local bike dealer. Holy fuarrrk it's a dream. Swapped out the handlebars and seat already (standard parts horray!!), brake pads are 6€, re-did all the wiring in an afternoon, gonna look for a used wheel with hub dynamo which is easy thanks to it not using a weird ass fork width, I don't have to carry a 2 kg lock everywhere, I even added a eurobox holder for cargo carrying capacity. Thinking of adding ceramic to the outside of my handlebars because cars don't show any respect, so I won't show respect for their paintjob. Will see. fuarrrk enshittification, get yourself a 90s steel frame and enjoy life.

>>13278 Nice. I'm about to buy an old, $50 frame in great shape to build my dream single speed/fixie road bike. I love tinkering with stuff and I hope this will be a fun winter project that I can have fun riding next spring and summer. I'll make it as minimalistic as possible, no fenders, rear rack, front brake only. If the frame I saw online looks good IRL, I'll buy it today and then I have to plan out what components I want and how much they'll cost.

>>13279 Riding fixed gear sounds comfy, if possible in your area. I have to contend with three hills every day. But no mudflaps sounds impractical, or is it a good weather bike for riding only when it's dry?

>>13286 I have a regular commuter bicycle with mudflaps, gears and everything. The DIY bike will be a fun bicycle. I might add stuff to it if I feel like it.

anybody have any best ideas for how to do this joke? maybe like good ways to mount the footholds onto the fork so they dont move, below the wheels axle, and ways to position the angle of the bracket/arms connecting the footholds. good handlebar stems long enough, risers, cheap options because its a joke bonus points if you can work out some kind of suspention under the feet or extra features or key scientific principles it would be so funny to see kids riding around on these things like it was nornal

particarly which position from under the wheel would be best for the footholds to be suspended or how low to the ground should you be? and that the size of the wheel could affect balance or speeds obviously suspending a battery from the forks where the bicycle would go is an option if its going to balance as a joke

>>13331 I have a feeling the the blue option is going to send you to the ground the moment you gain momentum riding the thing. Green is probably more appropriate, if not probably awkward to get on at first. You'll get used to the angle of boarding if the doohickey is successful, though.

I have no way to get around and have a bike that needs work. What is best way to do this should I patch the tyre tubes or just get new tires? The chain and gears may need replacing but i have to take a closer look.

>>13333 the thing is it balances itself because you oendulum the axis of the wheel so working it out is going to be putting the bracket vertically downways and the handlebars where you like them, however, especially if you were using electric, the bars would potentially lean into you a bit which could be just fine, in my head you could potentially be using it with no hands, given that if we showed this thing to the right person they would find a way to get paid to do tricks on it amyway so the thing is like working in my head right now that you would like to apply force or to not apply force to the handlebars or i dont know what would be the best thing for it especially scooting the thing with your feet it seems like the best idea is slightly longer brackets because more balance but where am i finding a part which i can use like this and how am i going to adjust the angle on the thing for professional users i guess i dont want them loosely suspended because then the handlebars would be pretty much no good