Bike Noob

Because I'm Always Learning Something New

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Partners

Breaking Out the Mountain Bike

05.20.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 5 Comments

The other morning, my road bike was out of commission. I had taken off its handlebars in anticipation of replacing them with a different pair. As the previous post mentioned, that didn’t happen. And when Pat suggested we get out for a short morning ride, I thought I’d have to decline. Then I remembered the mountain bike.

Why would I forget I have a mountain bike? Because this is the way it spends its time.

It’s not exactly at top of mind. But I did remember it, and realized it would be an excellent way to ride with Pat, and stick close to her. Usually when we ride together, I’ll get way ahead, and stop and wait for her.

So we rode. The fat knobby tires and the squishy front suspension really slowed me down from my usual speed. Several times, Pat pulled ahead of me and stayed there for awhile. Because she had to take a work-related call, we couldn’t ride long. But we did 40 minutes on a favorite neighborhood route, and I got a nice reintroduction to the bike. It has some possibilities.

The first thing that came to mind was that I have to get serious about using it for an errand bike. I’ve run errands on it from time to time, like going out to our community mailbox to pick up our mail. But the supermarket is only a mile from the house, and I should be taking the bike. It’ll just be for the small, occasional items we always seem to need, like milk, bread and cookies.

The second thing to come to mind was modifying the bike. Those knobby tires suck on pavement. I’m going to have to get some narrower, slick tires. Then a rear rack of some kind — and maybe a milk crate to mount on top of the rack to carry larger bags of groceries.

The third thing was — this bike needs help. It will be a great opportunity  for me to develop my repair skills without messing with the road bike.  The mountain bike won’t shift out of the middle ring, and only has use of five cogs there. So over the next few weeks, as the spirit moves me, I’ll be getting some derailleur adjustment time in.

And back when Pat gave me the bike as a birthday present, I never bothered to get a fitting. Time to fiddle with the seat height and fore-and-aft position.

Hey, this ought to be fun. It’s almost just like getting a new bike.

Like this:

Like Loading...

Categories // Bikes, Maintenance Tags // mountain bike

Hybrids

04.22.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 16 Comments

Lately, doing organized rides as training for the MS 150, or just to ride with a group on a different route, or in the MS 150 itself, I’ve been noticing lots of people riding hybrid bikes. My mindset has mostly been that hybrids are great for tooling around the neighborhood, riding easy bike trails, and are for older folks who want a more upright riding position than they can get on a road bike.

A hybrid bike waiting to be ridden in a 29-mile group ride.

I guess I’m surprised when I see them at these events, because I don’t see hybrids riding the roads a lot in my area. Except for my wife. She’ll tackle our regular Mopac route on her 1992 Trek 700, and she’ll turn out for group rides as well. She’ll take the shorter route option, but she’ll put miles under her.

Mrs. Noob crests a hill on a summer morning ride.

At the MS 150, lots of riders rode hybrids. I assume these are people who were riding for a cause, and were willing to suffer a little in order to do their part to fight MS.

I’m also betting a lot of them are getting to be pretty good riders on their hybrids. One thing I noticed on the MS 150 was that I kept passing them. That means they got out in front of me somehow — whether it was by getting a jump at the start, or taking less time at rest stops (probably). And I’m not too proud to say that some hybrids passed me on the road during that ride. Not that many. Always ridden by athletic young women loaded with energy.

The hybrid for them might be their first bike, or their reintroduction to riding after years off. And getting good on a hybrid means they might take the next step, and buy a road bike. But I’ll bet most of them keep their hybrids, too.

Like this:

Like Loading...

Categories // Bikes Tags // hybrid

Bike fit

10.13.2009 by Ray Niekamp // Leave a Comment

Now that I’ve had my bike about a year and a half, I’m trying to figure out how to tweak it a little bit more to get a little bit more out of it. One of the things I’ve been thinking about is bike fit.

Like most of us, I had a cursory bike fitting when I bought my bike. Saddle height, leg angle, seat postion were all calculated in a short time, and I was sent on my way. It’s worked out well for the most part, although I have fiddled with fore-and-aft position of the seat and seat height a bit.

Jeff Hemmel’s guest post over the summer about the Retul bike fitting system got me thinking. I’m not ready to drop a couple hundred on a fitting session where I’m all wired up to electronic machines, but I want something that will give me a better idea of how to set all the variables on the bike. A couple of sites have come to my attention recently.

A friend pointed me to the Park Tools website. It’s a place I visit from time to time anyway, because of their excellent tutorials on bike repairs of all types. But they also have a page dedicated to fitting your road bike (and a separate page dedicated to fitting your mountain bike, if you are of that persuasion). Park suggests 17 different measurements to take, from bottom bracket to seat, saddle to handlebars, handlebar angle, etc.

Picture-4The Park Tool Road Positioning Chart.

Park says the chart is most useful as a record of your various measurements, and if any change in performance results from a change in the bike’s setup. It gives details instructions on how to take the measurements, but makes no suggestions about the ideal range.

A second site is for the Accufit bike fitting system. This one involves purchase of a product, the Accufit system itself. It’s a Windows-compatible program that promises the best fit by “computer modeling your measurements and establishing the correct relationships between you and your bike.” The program costs $29.95 and can be purchased online.

Accufit

A screenshot from the Accufit web site. Bill Boston Cycles. (http://www.billbostoncycles.com/)

Accufit is geared toward bike shops and offers them a way to fit their customers. It claims to work on people of all sizes, not just adults within certain height parameters. But for $30, some of us might consider buying a copy for our personal use.

What other options are available out there? Have you ever made use of either of these sites? Have you had a proper fitting done at your local bike shop, and if so, what system did they use? Finally, did the bike fitting make a difference in the way you ride your bike?

Like this:

Like Loading...

Categories // Bikes Tags // bike fitting

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • …
  • 17
  • Next Page »

Get Email Updates

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 257 other subscribers

Categories

  • Accessories
  • Bike fit
  • Bikes
  • Blogging
  • Books
  • clubs
  • Cold weather
  • Community
  • Commuting
  • Components
  • crash
  • cycling
  • Equipment
  • Favorite rides
  • fitness
  • food
  • guest post
  • Heat
  • Injury
  • logs
  • Maintenance
  • Mental
  • Nutrition
  • Odds 'n ends
  • People
  • Poll
  • Racing
  • Records & stats
  • Review
  • Rides
  • running
  • Safety
  • soreness
  • Specialized
  • Technique
  • Technology
  • Tips
  • tires
  • training
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Partners

Recent Posts

  • Getting Back on the Bike: Road Cycling Tips for Older Cyclists
  • Are BCAAs and EAAs Good for Cycling?
  • How to Fix Numb Toes When Cycling
  • How to Find and Vet a Bike Club
  • Celebrate Pearl Izumi with Big Savings in the Memorial Day Sale

Categories

  • Accessories
  • Bike fit
  • Bikes
  • Blogging
  • Books
  • clubs
  • Cold weather
  • Community
  • Commuting
  • Components
  • crash
  • cycling
  • Equipment
  • Favorite rides
  • fitness
  • food
  • guest post
  • Heat
  • Injury
  • logs
  • Maintenance
  • Mental
  • Nutrition
  • Odds 'n ends
  • People
  • Poll
  • Racing
  • Records & stats
  • Review
  • Rides
  • running
  • Safety
  • soreness
  • Specialized
  • Technique
  • Technology
  • Tips
  • tires
  • training
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized

Archives

  • May 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • March 2022
  • October 2020
  • November 2018
  • May 2018
  • September 2017
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • January 2016
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008

Copyright © 2026 · Modern Studio Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Go to mobile version
%d