Now that I've upgraded to a modern bike, I can actually converse with

the "elite" doing laps around Paris parks.

I am quite impressed by the

number of people riding tubulars with carbon rims. I talked to a 60

year old guy who has been riding tubulars for at least 45 years and he

says he repairs them himself, it takes him between 30 minutes and an

hour, and since he's retired, he has nothing better to do. Maybe he

should start a business. Otherwise, I doubt that the younger guys

(still 40+) are doing that. The big question is: If they're already

riding 1200g aero wheelsets in training, what to they use in racing?

The answer: They don't race, they only ride laps around the park, and

apart from the old guy who rides over from Paris (I asked), they must

drive over to avoid getting flat tires. Oh, and not one power meter in

the bunch, probably too heavy.

After today's ride, I went to nearby Cycle du Tourmalet which supplies

these people with their equipment and leaning unattended on the the

outside wall was a Cervelo R3-SL. Of course that is a poseur frame, I

have the same one, but I don't have Lightweight wheels either. Yes,

the bike had a $5000++ wheelset. The bike also had what looked to be a

Tune quick release http://www.starbike­.com/images/tune/ac1­4_sandstein.jpg

So a real "weight weenie" bike. I did find the fatal flaw: it actually

had a power meter, the one by Polar, so you have a bike with all the

lightest most expensive equipment with a second rate power meter.

Obviously, he thought that SRM or PowerTap were too heavy for hilly

Paris.

So, hardly any retro grouches around here. Mostly a lot of old men

with expensive bikes. In France, most people retire at around 60 years

of age and have very healthy pensions, so they are able to get good

equipment. As I said before, it's funny to see 80 year old guys on the

latest carbon frames.

-ilan

What you describe here is not what I did.

The coffee I brewed was HOT without reheating.

It's "Icon." Icon was Trek's name for house branded

components on their bikes - like bars, stems, seatposts -

before they started using the Bontrager badge for that.

On Jun 29, 8:57 pm, zzfrank...@mac.com wrote:

Okay, I give up... what are you talking about?

I'm replacing a seat post on an old bike. Current seat post is marked

26.6mm. Smallest option for the replacement I want to use is 26.8mm.

Problem?

I have a few leftover bikes (Huffy, Magna, Roadmaster) from my earlier

days of biking when I didn't know what I was buying. Since I have

them laying around, I was wondering if it would be possible to take

the frame and upgrade all of their parts, similar to what you would

find on any low-end Trek or Specialized bikes?

What that then make them decent beater commuter bikes? I was thinking

that maybe bike thiefs probably quickly decide whether to steal a bike

or not based on the brand name of it's frame. These frames would make

much less theft appeal.

Can it be done? Why or why not to?

(I'm not going to be posting here for a while --unless requested--,

but in case you are not protected by the revolution soon, here's some

practical advice so you can survive under the worst conditions)

Well, it seems that self-defense sometimes calls for a gun, and there

are plenty of offenses committed against cyclists out there.

I'm not advocating violence at all, but it seems that, of all places

where the gun may be necessary, the cyclist may have the most pressing

need for it. Almost as much, let's say, as a pump and a multi-wrench

tool.

So let's hear from the pacifists and the NRA people alike...

...

I think a water gun would be a good option. The guy may suffer from a

heart attack, but then you respond with a random act of kindness and

spray his windshield.

That would teach him two lessons: Not to mess with the cyclists and

that we are a friendly bunch! ;)

Looks like the green will be fought for by Thor, Freire, Mcewen and

Steegmans. No Boonen or Benati to make it interesting. Things are

looking bad.

On Jun 21, 10:08 pm, Howard Kveck <YOURhow...@h-SHOES­bomb.com> wrote:

IMO that doesn't apply to you and TK though. The, I want to choose

the words carefully here, brutally hostile, psychopathic maybe,

totally irrational reaction you provoke from him just for living puts

you in a different situation. I'm really surprised that he doesn't

react that way to more people too. I'm not sure what, in particular,

makes you the target since others have been much nastier to him, with

much less provocation.

I guess in this case, in particular, when he is right I feel he needs

to be recognized for it. It's intellectually honest, it sets whoever

does it apart, it validates their integrity.