Bike advice

eb <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Is it worth getting the wheels rebuilt right from the get go, the rear
one at least?

She'd have to be a really hefty wench to need specially rebuilt wheels.
Bike wheels are very strong so just ask the bike shop to make sure the
spokes are properly tensioned and you'll be fine.

Graeme

Greetings,
Answer is Yes on the rear wheel. Get stainless steel
spokes put in, mine started twanging after a year.
Regards,
Ray.

eb said:

Seems to be the season for asking advice on bike purchasing :-)

My fiancee wants to get a bike (yeah!), thing is she tops the scales,
well a gentleman doesn't get too specific but you get the idea.

She's a preference for a hybrid, any recommendations? Prefer not to go
over $1500.

Is it worth getting the wheels rebuilt right from the get go, the rear
one at least?

eb said:

Seems to be the season for asking advice on bike purchasing :-)

My fiancee wants to get a bike (yeah!), thing is she tops the scales,
well a gentleman doesn't get too specific but you get the idea.

She's a preference for a hybrid, any recommendations? Prefer not to go
over $1500.

Is it worth getting the wheels rebuilt right from the get go, the rear
one at least?
--
Cheers
Euan

Here is some advice from experience:

(1) Don't spend lots of money - it probably won't get ridden that much. If it does, she can upgrade later.

(2) Get a bike that has enough adjustment so it fits you as well - you never know when you might want to nip down to the shops for some milk. Oh yes, you might want to have some kind of detachable basket or something to carry the milk.

(3) Use the existing wheels and spokes, stress relieve and tighten the spokes if they aren't tight enough. Cost = $0

(4) Spokey dokeys and streamers are optional 🙂

A nice new bike, even a relatively cheap one is good fun for the SO, but my SO is too scared of the roads (fair enough), so we tootle about on bike paths once in a while.

Ritch

Graeme said:

eb <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Is it worth getting the wheels rebuilt right from the get go, the rear
one at least?

She'd have to be a really hefty wench to need specially rebuilt wheels.
Bike wheels are very strong so just ask the bike shop to make sure the
spokes are properly tensioned and you'll be fine.

Graeme

i'd have to agree. i weigh around 93 kg and have had no probs with my
wheels over the years, including a year long stint as a bicycle courier
in my younger days.

if her wheels are well made and she learns to stand on the pedals when
riding over major bumps then they should last for years with little or
no maintenance.

my current bike is an avanti hybrid has not had the wheel's trued since
leaving the factory. over the past four years i've done some reasonable
length tours and off road rides as well as general commuting on it. it's
had no broken spokes and the wheels are still quite true.

peter
--
Peter McCallum
Mackay Qld

eb said:

Seems to be the season for asking advice on bike purchasing :-)

My fiancee wants to get a bike (yeah!), thing is she tops the scales,
well a gentleman doesn't get too specific but you get the idea.

She's a preference for a hybrid, any recommendations? Prefer not to go
over $1500.

Hard tail mtb that allows for fat tyres, which you can pump hard.

You would really have to be indiscrete and let us know how much she
weighs to be more specific. I'm now 120kg (unfortunately) and swapped
to 2.25" tyres on the mtb I ride around the street because I also hit
20-40kms in places and my LGA engineers are incompetent; aka pram
culverts with 3" lips, etc. the 1.75" were okay if I restricted my speed
to a crawl.

I would suggest a basic economical bicycle for a start (~$500-$750) then
save rest for a good brooks wide leather ladies, lights and panniers,
etc. apart from the seat, stuff you could use if she doesn't ride. And
good cycling shorts and chafing cream.

If she can easily ride regularly, aka good off road route, then it can
be a really good form of exercise, but as someone else pointed out, SO
that feel it is dangerous can tie up good bicycle hardware {:-).

Quoted message said:

Is it worth getting the wheels rebuilt right from the get go, the rear
one at least?

If you are doing it, then yes. 4x gives a nicer ride.
If you are going off road/bush tracks, then I recommend steel rims for
longer life.
Otherwise, I would just save my money. (I can always use the buckled
ones for trailer wheels {:-)

Terry Collins <[email hidden]> wrote in news:41099840.F0A7B241
@woa.com.au:

Quoted message said:

If you are going off road/bush tracks, then I recommend steel rims for
longer life.

Of who? The wheels or the rider? Steel wheels (in my experience at least)
seem to bend at the rim easier than aluminium alloy (hitting rocks/kerbs
wrongly), plus they are useless in the wet for braking (which is reasonably
likely if you go off road).

Graeme

Graeme said:

Terry Collins <[email hidden]> wrote in news:41099840.F0A7B241
@woa.com.au:

Quoted message said:

If you are going off road/bush tracks, then I recommend steel rims for
longer life.

Of who? The wheels or the rider? Steel wheels (in my experience at least)
seem to bend at the rim easier than aluminium alloy (hitting rocks/kerbs
wrongly),

Well, that is counter to my experience. If a steel rim buckles, it
usually does so over 4+ spokes, which means it is possible to work the
buckle out and get another use out of the rim. Whereas aluminium rims
buckle over 1 spoke which gives you no way of pulling the buckle out.

The information was given in the context. If it is your bicycle, you
will do what you want to. I doubt his fiance is going to go rock
hopping, or bunny jumping through the bush.

Terry Collins <[email hidden]> wrote in news:4109F6B3.AC265D22
@woa.com.au:

Quoted message said:

Well, that is counter to my experience. If a steel rim buckles, it
usually does so over 4+ spokes, which means it is possible to work the
buckle out and get another use out of the rim. Whereas aluminium rims
buckle over 1 spoke which gives you no way of pulling the buckle out.

I was thinking more of "rim dings" than buckles, the kind that make your
brakes catch at one point on the rim. However my personal experience with
steel versus alloy may be down to improving technique, i.e. I had steel
wheels as a kid/teenager and I could almost certainly have treated them
better and when I got alloy wheels I was better at unweighting/jumping
over obstacles.

Quoted message said:

The information was given in the context. If it is your bicycle, you
will do what you want to. I doubt his fiance is going to go rock
hopping, or bunny jumping through the bush.

:-) True. But it's not the rock hopping I'd be concerned about, it's the
"There's a small rock/kerb. Never mind, my fancy new bike is built to
handle them." *WHACK* "Oops. Darling, is the wheel meant to look like
that?" - type of situation. It happens, I've seen it a number of times
with rather hacked off looking cycling partners riding slowly alongside
someone pushing their bike saying something like "But it was only this
tiny wee rock!"

Really, either way, it's a case of ensuring that a little bit of
education is given on the way to approach such hazards before it ever
becomes an issue.

Graeme

Peter McCallum said:

Graeme <[email hidden]> wrote:

my current bike is an avanti hybrid has not had the wheel's trued since
leaving the factory. over the past four years i've done some reasonable
length tours and off road rides as well as general commuting on it. it's
had no broken spokes and the wheels are still quite true.

peter
--
Peter McCallum
Mackay Qld

If this is the case, in all probability the wheels had a fair looking at in the shop when they assembled the bike. Bikes of <>$1000 usually come out of the box a little wonky, and need a tweak. Avanti are probably the only company making bikes around this price that use decent spokes, guaranteed not to go twang in a year or two. 🙁 🙁

mfhor said:

Peter McCallum said:

Graeme <[email hidden]> wrote:

my current bike is an avanti hybrid has not had the wheel's trued
since
leaving the factory. over the past four years i've done some
reasonable
length tours and off road rides as well as general commuting on it.
it's
had no broken spokes and the wheels are still quite true.

peter
--
Peter McCallum
Mackay Qld

If this is the case, in all probability the wheels had a fair looking
at in the shop when they assembled the bike. Bikes of <>$1000 usually
come out of the box a little wonky, and need a tweak.

Don't imagine so, I reckon "adjustments" by the local bike shop would
more than likely end up worse, based on past experience.

Quoted message said:

Avanti are
probably the only company making bikes around this price that use
decent spokes, guaranteed not to go twang in a year or two. 🙁 🙁

Oh, I wouldn't agree with that, the Avanti I bought was identical to
other bikes available under different brand names apart from colour and
slightly different handlebars.

--
Peter McCallum
Mackay Qld AUSTRALIA

Graeme said:

Quoted message said:

Is it worth getting the wheels rebuilt right from the get go, the rear
one at least?

She'd have to be a really hefty wench to need specially rebuilt wheels.
Bike wheels are very strong so just ask the bike shop to make sure the
spokes are properly tensioned and you'll be fine.

I dunno, I broke rear spokes on my rear 700C wheels
($1k hybrid). After 3 times, (the last time was 2 spokes)
I had some wheels hand-built, eyletted rims etc, and never
snapped a spoke since[1] (including lots of loaded touring).

IMHO the machine built wheels aren't much chop for tall
solid people, or fat [censored] like me. The guy in the
LBS kept telling me I was applying too much power with
the very low gears... uh-huh.

I'd get a set of wheels factored into the cost of the bike,
that way the LBS might be able to resell the un-used wheels,
and offset the new wheel price. If the budget's tight, just
go the rear wheel, but both wheels the same looks nicer 🙂

-kt

[1] I did put the rear derailleur into the spokes, sheared
two outright, gouged and bent another half-dozen or so.
But I'd class this as a special occasion.

kingsley <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

IMHO the machine built wheels aren't much chop for tall
solid people, or fat [censored] like me.

Fair enough, I was forgetting just how [censored] some of the machine built
wheels can be, but $1500 *should* get you something with reasonable wheels.
I guess it all depends on where the money has gone on the bike, e.g. you
sometimes see good groupset/bad wheels rather than a more balanced
approach.

Graeme

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

>> "graeme" == graeme <[email hidden]> writes:

graeme> kingsley <[email hidden]> wrote in
graeme> news:[email hidden]:

graeme> Fair enough, I was forgetting just how [censored] some of the
graeme> machine built wheels can be, but $1500 *should* get you
graeme> something with reasonable wheels.

I had no end of trouble with the rear wheel of my Trek 1200 which cost
about $1500. After the fourth trip to the bike shop due to a bust spoke
in as many weeks, I got the wheel rebuilt and haven't had a problem
since.

I'm 84 kg, my luggage weighs in close to 15 kg which makes about 100 kg
all up. Maybe I just got a lemon but that's pretty much why I thought
getting the wheels rebuild might not be a bad idea.
--
Regards
Euan

[email hidden] wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I'm 84 kg, my luggage weighs in close to 15 kg which makes about 100 kg
all up. Maybe I just got a lemon but that's pretty much why I thought
getting the wheels rebuild might not be a bad idea.

100kg isn't much, mind you the 15kg luggage is effectively dead weight
whereas you are a bit more active at ensuring that any force you put on
your bike is dissipated over a longer period. It does sound like you got a
lemon though, I've done some very silly things on my stock Cannondale
wheels and they've stood up fine, but that may be partly down to the bike
shop's "retune" before they let any bike go. The wheels on my wife's
Specialized Hardrock however only lasted about 2 weeks before needing
replaced. The bike did come off the roof of the car at about 90km/h, but
that's not the point, okay! Look, don't go shouting at me because you
didn't check the bikes were tied on... erm, oops, sorry, bit of a flash
back there :~]

Graeme

Graeme said:

The bike did come off the roof of the car at about 90km/h, but
that's not the point, okay! Look, don't go shouting at me because you
didn't check the bikes were tied on... erm, oops, sorry, bit of a flash
back there :~]

Fsck! I did this last weekend, we're hurtling down the expressway,
then it was ohshit!-ohshit!-ohshit!-PULL-OVER! (Larissa was driving)

I forgot to screw the top of the clamp onto the rack, the bike was
just hanging there. I tied it on with the bit of cloth we use
to stop the front wheel turning about. Decieded to keep some rope
in the car after that, oh, and to remember to screw the clamp on
at all. Lucky it didn't end up underneath someone's car at 110 -
I mighta lost some paint off it or something.

's what happens when you're too excited about goin' for a ride, you
end up forgetting to dot the Ts and cross the Is.

-kt