What a day ;-)

On 2005-09-06, Jules (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

Just went for a quick "clear the head" sprint up Yarra Boulevarde.

"Currently 19.50°"

Noice. Can't wait for summer ;-)))

Shudup shudup shudup! Yesterday was beautiful, today was too sunny.

Evil! Bright! Yellow! Daystar! My eyes!

Quoted message said:

I'm still on a 80psi shod MTB with toe clips. Wondering how long I can
resist before I get a roadie and/or cleats. Never actually ridden with
either but they look kind of tasty and fast.

Should I just ignore them to avoid falling down that slippery slope of
accessory desire?

Falling down said slope is fun!

Look at the speed you pick up!

--
TimC
I've told them and told them: Temporal anomalies are different from
spatial anomalies. But the kittens know better. They laugh at my
feeble attempts to fool them. -- barbara in ARK

nothing like headlong into the blinding rising sun along Crown boulevard with yellow tints.
Time to pop-in the UVs methinx.

I get along Yarra Blvrd every now & again on my MTB, but it's over the side through the singletrack.
It's hard to know who's having the more fun, but what I do know is that I definately need a cold shower afterwards.... 😉

Jules wrote:

Noice. Can't wait for summer ;-)))

I hear you! Except for those 40 degree days. They suck a bit.

I'm still on a 80psi shod MTB with toe clips. Wondering how long I can
resist before I get a roadie and/or cleats. Never actually ridden with
either but they look kind of tasty and fast.

Get a roadie with cleats. Giant do a nice looking roadie with Shimano 105 for $1,800. That'd be my choice if I was in that price range... or in the market for a bike for that matter.

Should I just ignore them to avoid falling down that slippery slope of
accessory desire?

No. That slippery slope is great fun! And besides, if you buy a good bike it'll last for years. It takes me several years to go through a set of riding shoes and my bikes seem to last around 5 years no problems (cheapest retailing at around $1,500, most expensive [my current ride] retailing around $4,800).

Felt great leaving the huge lock that normally hangs off the frame at home.

I know what you mean. I LOVE riding when I'm not commuting. That's not to say that I don't like commuting, but 70km lugging a backpack around aint much fun.

Lotte

LotteBum said:

Jules wrote:

Noice. Can't wait for summer ;-)))

I hear you! Except for those 40 degree days. They suck a bit.

I'm still on a 80psi shod MTB with toe clips. Wondering how long I can
resist before I get a roadie and/or cleats. Never actually ridden with
either but they look kind of tasty and fast.

Get a roadie with cleats. Giant do a nice looking roadie with Shimano
105 for $1,800. That'd be my choice if I was in that price range... or
in the market for a bike for that matter.

Kathys OCR zero with pedals and ultegra was < 1600

Quoted message said:

Should I just ignore them to avoid falling down that slippery slope of
accessory desire?

Quoted message said:

No. That slippery slope is great fun! And besides, if you buy a good
bike it'll last for years. It takes me several years to go through a
set of riding shoes and my bikes seem to last around 5 years no
problems (cheapest retailing at around $1,500, most expensive [my
current ride] retailing around $4,800).

So.. you're looking at about $1000/year spent on the bike alone?

Sheesh.. my $300 Shogun is 6 years old with daily use and going strong.

My housemate is a bit of a nut when it comes to flushing money away on
all sorts of bike bits. I gave up on that behavior when I sold the
motorcycle ;-)

But of course - to each their own!

Jules

TimC said:

On 2005-09-06, Jules (aka Bruce) was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

Just went for a quick "clear the head" sprint up Yarra Boulevarde.
"Currently 19.50°"
Noice. Can't wait for summer ;-)))

i can't wait for that horrid headwind to bugger off!

Quoted message said:

Shudup shudup shudup! Yesterday was beautiful, today was too sunny.

Evil! Bright! Yellow! Daystar! My eyes!

it burns! my eyes! it burns! etc

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'm still on a 80psi shod MTB with toe clips. Wondering how long I can
resist before I get a roadie and/or cleats. Never actually ridden with
either but they look kind of tasty and fast.

Should I just ignore them to avoid falling down that slippery slope of
accessory desire?

Falling down said slope is fun!
Look at the speed you pick up!

the beauty of that slope is ..um.. there is not bottom.
the speed is indeed dizzying =)

cheers,

kim
~ roadie and cleats and loving it =) have vistalight for non-daystar ation =D

Jules said:

Just went for a quick "clear the head" sprint up Yarra Boulevarde.

"Currently 19.50°"

Noice. Can't wait for summer ;-)))

'twas indeed a bloody nice day to be on a bike.

Quoted message said:

I'm still on a 80psi shod MTB with toe clips. Wondering how long I can
resist before I get a roadie and/or cleats. Never actually ridden with
either but they look kind of tasty and fast.

Go try one out. If you fall in love, you know the answer.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

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

Jules> Just went for a quick "clear the head" sprint up Yarra
Jules> Boulevarde. "Currently 19.50°"

Jules> Noice. Can't wait for summer ;-)))

The one thing I don't like about summer is stepping out of 20 degree
air conditioning in to 40 degree heat. That really hits you.

Jules> I'm still on a 80psi shod MTB with toe clips. Wondering how
Jules> long I can resist before I get a roadie and/or cleats. Never
Jules> actually ridden with either but they look kind of tasty and
Jules> fast.

Well I've got a road bike, an entry level one, but it's got so much
commuting paraphernalia on it that you wouldn't know it.
--
Cheers | ~~ __@
Euan | ~~ _-\<,
Melbourne, Australia | ~ (*)/ (*)

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

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

TimC> On 2005-09-06, Jules (aka Bruce) was almost, but not quite,
TimC> entirely unlike tea:

Jules> Just went for a quick "clear the head" sprint up Yarra
Jules> Boulevarde.
Jules>
Jules> "Currently 19.50°"
Jules>
Jules> Noice. Can't wait for summer ;-)))

TimC> Shudup shudup shudup! Yesterday was beautiful, today was too
TimC> sunny.

TimC> Evil! Bright! Yellow! Daystar! My eyes!

Prescription sunnies, you really need them if only from the cancer
prevention angle.

I went through a summer with no sunnies and I'm not going to do it
again.
--
Cheers | ~~ __@
Euan | ~~ _-\<,
Melbourne, Australia | ~ (*)/ (*)

"Jules" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Just went for a quick "clear the head" sprint up Yarra Boulevarde.

"Currently 19.50°"

Noice. Can't wait for summer ;-)))

I'm still on a 80psi shod MTB with toe clips. Wondering how long I can
resist before I get a roadie and/or cleats. Never actually ridden with
either but they look kind of tasty and fast.

Should I just ignore them to avoid falling down that slippery slope of
accessory desire?

Felt great leaving the huge lock that normally hangs off the frame at
home.

Jules

You don't ask whether you should buy a bike here if you actually want a
balanced repsonse. You ask if you should buy a bike here for the
overwhelming level of justifying consensus that invariably results.

That said, absolutely buy the roadie. I did nearly a year ago and it was
easily one of the best things I've ever done.

Euan said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

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

Jules> Just went for a quick "clear the head" sprint up Yarra
Jules> Boulevarde. "Currently 19.50°"
Jules> Noice. Can't wait for summer ;-)))

The one thing I don't like about summer is stepping out of 20 degree
air conditioning in to 40 degree heat. That really hits you.

must admit i live in the server room at work suring summer...
only goes down to 17c. my last job, the bunker in winter went down to 4c. =)

anyhow, more server room tinkering calls...

kim

Resound sacredchao@ said:

"Jules" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm still on a 80psi shod MTB with toe clips. Wondering how long I can
resist before I get a roadie and/or cleats. Never actually ridden with
either but they look kind of tasty and fast.

You don't ask whether you should buy a bike here if you actually want a
balanced repsonse. You ask if you should buy a bike here for the
overwhelming level of justifying consensus that invariably results.

That said, absolutely buy the roadie. I did nearly a year ago and it was
easily one of the best things I've ever done.

Seconded. I find the road bike (with the drop bar style handle bars,
rather than "flat" handlebars) much more comfortable to ride than my
hybrid. Although I do take the hybrid out if I'm going for a pleasure
cycle with friends; it means I can take it more casually, and see the
scenery as I go past.

As for cleats: best thing I ever did. I can't ride a bike nowadays
without toe clips at a minimum, and even toe clips I find awkward. I
just need a couple of hundred bucks to get two matching sets of clipless
pedals, and another hundred or so for the shoes to match. My old shoes
have well and truly done their job, and desperately need replacing.

--
My Usenet From: address now expires after two weeks. If you email me, and
the mail bounces, try changing the bit before the "@ to usenet".

I have just bought a road bike for those longer trips of 100-200k. I still have a preference for the MTB, maybe in time it will swing the other way.

The MTB gets used for the majority of work, cummuting etc. I normally put about 200k a week on that bike. Some weeks I might put 300-400k on the MTB, depends on where I am riding.

I suppose the preference thing comes from when I was younger and rode motor bikes. I was never fond of riding road motor bikes even though I had one, my liking was always to the trail motor bike. The trail motor bike and mountain bike are simialar beasts etc.

When looking around for a bike, try not to become a hardware [censored], you can waste lots of money this way. On the road bike I wanted 105 and needed a rack mount. The only bike that had that was a specialized sequoa at $2500. I opted for the Giant OCR2 at $1250 with tiagra. Life is always a compromise.

Resound said:

"Jules" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Just went for a quick "clear the head" sprint up Yarra Boulevarde.

"Currently 19.50°"

Noice. Can't wait for summer ;-)))

I'm still on a 80psi shod MTB with toe clips. Wondering how long I can
resist before I get a roadie and/or cleats. Never actually ridden with
either but they look kind of tasty and fast.

Should I just ignore them to avoid falling down that slippery slope of
accessory desire?

Felt great leaving the huge lock that normally hangs off the frame at
home.

Jules

You don't ask whether you should buy a bike here if you actually want a
balanced repsonse. You ask if you should buy a bike here for the
overwhelming level of justifying consensus that invariably results.

That said, absolutely buy the roadie. I did nearly a year ago and it was
easily one of the best things I've ever done.

So, I've been on the lookout for a helmet to match my bike (something in yellow, with a bit of black would be perfect), but of late have been starting to think "maybe I should get a new bike to match my helmet?" (something in red, again with some black) 😄

But then, I've just ordered the black and yellow tyres for her...

decisions, decisions... 😉

ali

alison_b said:

So, I've been on the lookout for a helmet to match my bike

A friend of a friend is determined that he's going to see one of
Victoria's state birds: the helmeted honey eater.

I suggested that I should put on my bike helmet, and grab a slice of
bread, smothered in honey ...

--
My Usenet From: address now expires after two weeks. If you email me, and
the mail bounces, try changing the bit before the "@ to usenet".

Quoted message said:

As for cleats: best thing I ever did. I can't ride a bike nowadays
without toe clips at a minimum, and even toe clips I find awkward. I
just need a couple of hundred bucks to get two matching sets of clipless
pedals, and another hundred or so for the shoes to match. My old shoes
have well and truly done their job, and desperately need replacing.

Went into the Uno shop today and tried on some shoes (now I know what size I
take, yay!) Shoes (AXO MTB set up to take SPD cleats) $95, Matching Shimano
pedals, missing cleats, $70. Trying to tell myself that I can afford them,
really.

alison_b said:

So, I've been on the lookout for a helmet to match my bike (something in yellow, with a bit of black would be perfect), but of late have been starting to think "maybe I should get a new bike to match my helmet?" (something in red, again with some black) 😄

But then, I've just ordered the black and yellow tyres for her...

Do both! And get a black bike and helmet to match your black tyres.
And if you have a favorite jersey get another bike to match that.
More bikes, more good!

alison_b said:

So, I've been on the lookout for a helmet to match my bike (something
in yellow, with a bit of black would be perfect)

Met do one that might be OK - it's about 50-50 black and yellow. Just
don't do what someone I know did - buy the matching helmet the day you
forget the bike is on the roof racks...

Now she needs a ridiculously dark brown helmet.

Dave - whose commuter is getting to the stage that I need to buy blue
knicks - blue frame, anno blue cranks, anno blue bar...

aeek said:

Do both! And get a black bike and helmet to match your black tyres.
And if you have a favorite jersey get another bike to match that.
More bikes, more good!

I *knew* this was the place to voice such a dream! 🙂

So, something in 'powder blue' too?? 😄

I hope the taxman stutters when typing numbers onto my return...

cheers,
ali