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[OM] Re: [OM][OT] Bicycle advice

Subject: [OM] Re: [OM][OT] Bicycle advice
From: "Daniel J. Mitchell" <danmitchell@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 18:05:19 -0000
>Yes, I'm going for the convenience of dealing with a bike shop that
>sells used bikes and new parts so they'll get the parts and build it
>for me. Probably a bit of expense but given my lack of knowledge on
>the subject I suspect it's the way to go.

 Fundamentally, if you have a nice bike shop, then your best bet is
to ignore everything you hear on the internet and talk to them.
They're the people that'll be building it for you, they're the people
that you'll go to for service, they can see how the bike fits you in
person when we can only guess, etc. 

 Now, that said, here's some things for you to ignore..

>Here's what I'm thinking so far:

>Frame - probably cromolly seems a good balance of lighter and more
>rust-resistant than steel but not as expensive as aluminum. 

 More importantly, used steel frames are much less likely to have
hidden cracks than used aluminium. (also, aluminium frames tend to be
on newer (=more expensive) bikes). Exactly what the frame is made out
of may be difficult to tell, so take a magnet along and if it's steel
and not super heavy, you're probably okay.

 Note that you'll have a hard time buying a cheap second-hand frame
-- cheap second-hand _bike_, yes, but any time someone's gone to the
effort to strip the parts from the frame, it's because it's had
expensive parts on it and so is probably an expensive frame too.

>Where I'm
>building a hybrid I'm still debating on whether to start with a road
>frame or a mountain frame. I like the lighter weight of a road frame
>but I'm a little concerned about durability. Although I mainly plan
>to ride this on the road with some trail use. This will be a used
>item.

 Durability won't be a huge issue unless you're hitting potholes a
lot of the time -- more important is that mountain bike frames a:tend
to give you more space for mudguards, but b:take 26" rather than 700c
wheels, and it's much easier to get road tyres in 700c size. On the
other hand, if you want a bit more comfort, a decent set of 26"
slicks will work just fine and Town&Countrys are pretty much
bulletproof and roll okay.

>Brakes - definitely going new here. Other than that I have no idea as
>to the relative merits of cantilever vs. v brakes vs. disc or other
>brake options other than knowing that the frame may or may not
>accomodate certain types of brakes.

 You probably won't be able to find a frame that'll take disk brakes
cheaply enough. Disc brakes are better if you're going to be riding
through lots of mud/water, because the disks are high enough that
they don't get gunged up like the rims do -- otherwise, there's not
much of an advantage. V-brakes are "more powerful" than cantilevers,
or at least easier to set up powerfully -- but they're also easier to
knock out of alignment and need re-adjusting. 

 Again, the frame will probably decide for you here; almost all road
frames will have center-pull mounts of some sort, so you'll almost
certainly be getting caliper brakes.

>Debating between road diameter and mountain
>diameter, leaning more towards road diameter (700cc?). Figuring a
>wider than road tire but not as wide as a mountain bike's tires. Like
>to be a used item.

 Used wheels aren't that hard to come by, but they'll probably come
with the bike you buy. The only thing to watch for is shifter
compatibility, really cheap wheels tend to have freewheel hubs on the
back which limit the number of gears you can have.

 [off-off-topic -- or you could just go for one gear.. I commute most
days on my fixed-gear and love it, but it depends on how many hills
you have to deal with]

>Shifters - some kind of indexed shifter, never liked friction
>shiftng.
>Given that I've only used friction shifters before anything would be
>an improvement so this will likely be a cost driven item. Probably
>new but hard to say.

 This is another tricky thing about road -vs- mountain bikes; road
shifters are almost all STI now, which means you're getting shifters
and brake levers in one. Mountain bikes you have more options for
getting levers and shifters separately. 

 Do you want flat bars or drop bars? Basically, that'll decide for
you, because road (drop) bars and MTB (flat) bars are different
diameters, so you'll be getting parts to match whatever shape of bar
you want.

>Saddle - Planning on a springer seat. The ancient 1 speed (with belt
>drive, no chain!) bike I was riding in Laos had a springer seat and
>it
>was by far the most comfortable seat I've ever riden. Since I'm
>looking at a bike that's going to predominantly see road use I figure
>this is the only suspension I'll need (I took the lao bike on some
>pretty interesting "roads" and wouldn't want to ride on any worse
>terrain). New item.

 This is a very personal thing. I personally like rock-solid narrow
saddles, but I know other people who don't. Sometimes bike shops have
a bin of cheap take-off saddles that came with a new bike and have
been changed for something else by the customer. 

 It also depends on how long you'll be riding for at one stretch --
if you're just going to be doing short half-hour rides or so, then
you can probably get away with something wide and squishy, but if you
want to do longer rides then something more solid would work better.

>Gears - Defnitely mountain bike gearing due to the hills in my city
>(Halifax, NS). So likely 21 or 24 speed. Not sure if this should be a
>new item or not.

 That's not a problem; road bikes can have triple chainrings on the
front, but those are more expensive. 

 Again, see what's on the bike you start with -- it may well be okay
out of the box and need other things.

>Handlebars - definitely bars for an upright position, my back does
>not like leaning over on a bike. New or used with new grips.

 Okay, so ignore my points about drop bars above, you'll be wanting
MTB shifters/brakes. There's no reason not to get used ones, but
again, if you start with a used bike it'll have bars on it which will
probably do what you need.

>Where this will be a commuting bike I plan to have fenders and a rear
>rack as well.

 MEC for cheap ones of those. You don't have lights listed, but those
are cheap. 

 I think your best bet may well be just to go to the bike shop you
have in mind and see what they have available used, then go from
there. 

 Second-hand, your best bet is _definitely_ to buy an entire used
bike and replace the bits that need work -- there's a lot of fiddly
little extra things that you'd need if you started with just a frame,
and those add up if you're not careful. (bottom bracket, headset,
stem, cranks, pedals, etc). If you start off with a complete bike,
then maybe the brakes will need some work, so replace those, and
maybe the saddle won't be comfy, so replace that, but you'll at least
have one of every part you need, even if it's not the ideal part. 

 It's also less labour costs getting parts replaced than building an
entire bike from scratch.

 -- dan

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