rbent Forum - What a thingy-up.

aikigreg

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recumbent ninja

Posts: 3685

What a thingy-up.
Jul 12^th, 2007, 9:12pm

What could go wrong, did go wrong, or just about anyway.

Tonight was my first thuirsday night ride since being back from my vacation. Here's the list of what went wrong:

1. Forgot my gloves - can't shift into the big ring without them - too sweaty. Spent the whole ride in the middle ring.
2. Forgot my retractable hose holder - had to hold the tubr under my arm the whole 32 miles.
3. Noticed the ride had started when I saw the paceline zooming down lake ridge poarkway - D'OH!
4. Realized I didn't have enough hose, and promptly pulled the bite valve off the hose.
5. Started feeling weird and having trouble breathing on the first hill. Realized I was feeling what Bud felt last week. Soon had a massive cramp in my side and had to coast the first bunch of downhills to relieve it and got majorly dropped.
6. STILL couldn't shift into the small ring in spite of all Bud's assistance and thinking we'd gotten it.
7. Thinking I'd fixed my helmet but no - it still slid way down in back and made my neck sore.

*sigh* In spite of this I:
1. Caught up with the pack and passed them within 3.5 miles of the start.
2. Overtook 6 riders before coming down Texas Plume.
3. Was only 3.5 minutes off my fastest time Finished with 20.0 mph avg and in 1:33:30

Oh, and as an aside - on the same route Tuesday when I rode my DF, I was buzzed to close about 10 times, and nearly squashed 3 when cars tried to pass me with oncoming traffic WAY too close. Tonight, even on the "Oh man I can't see you" lowracer, NO ON came CLOSE to me when passing, and in fact many even stayed behind me for a mile to make sure they had plenty of room before trying to go around me

Bents are safer, period!

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aikigreg

Moderator

recumbent ninja

Posts: 3685

Re: What a thingy-up.
Reply #1 - Jul 12^th, 2007, 9:16pm

Oh, one other thing - I love the Tica

. Coming down a hill at 33mph, I was playing around and seeing if I could take my hands off the tiller. Turns out I can coast no-handed with this thing, it's so stable at speed. That Rawks! (not that I'll be doing it again, though!)

And lastly, I'm getting a set of thumbies. I'm sick and tired of dealing with twist shifters. End of story.

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« Last Edit: Jul 12^th, 2007, 9:17pm by aikigreg »

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Kwijybow Five Star Member mostly a commuter Posts: 1026	Re: What a thingy-up. Reply #2 - Jul 12^th, 2007, 11:29pm Man I'm so jealous, I gotta get a lowracer! Also I finally got disgusted with my twist shifters on the Corsa and ripped them off. I'm using bar ends, but still waiting to get a pair of paul thumbies to make them less intrusive into the leg space. Take Care, Nelson.
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FooRider

baccheater '06
Corsa

Posts: 255

Re: What a thingy-up.
Reply #3 - Jul 13^th, 2007, 7:20am

One of these days, I'll have one of you explain to me how you can ride with those things. I shift gears quite frequently, and I think I'd find it intensely annoying having to release my grip on the bars during a hard climb to fumble around, find the nubbin at the end of the bar, find the right gear, and then get my hand back on the bar. All without swerving into a passing car or another cyclist, preferably.

I'm perfectly willing to accept "We're just more coordinated than you are" as an explanation, but I suspect there may be more to it than that.

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« Last Edit: Jul 13^th, 2007, 7:21am by FooRider »

Lie Back. Ride hard. Grin like a monkey.

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FlyingLaZBoy Moderator '16 ICE SprintX fs, '16 Rocket, '12 KHS Mocha Posts: 5803	Re: shifters Reply #4 - Jul 13^th, 2007, 8:43am Ken's Catrike has bar-end shifters... sure is different....
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Bud_Bent

Moderator

Posts: 3310

Re: What a thingy-up.
Reply #5 - Jul 13^th, 2007, 9:45am

Picky shifters seem to get more picky when you add q-rings to them. I really like trigger shifters like I have on the Nimbus best, but they don't work at all on tweener bars like the Corsa has. There just isn't enough leg clearance for them.

I've read all about bar end shifters on the Bacchetta bars, but I have to admit, I really like the twist shifters on those bars, in spite of the fact that I hate twist shifters on most anything else. They do get tough to shift, though, if your gloves don't give you a good grip.

I didn't ride at all Thursday, having done easy rides Tuesday and Wednesday. I still don't seem to be completely recovered from last week's breathing troubles, and after so many miles last week, I figured an easier week was in order.

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« Last Edit: Jul 13^th, 2007, 9:48am by Bud_Bent »

Bud
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Richard

rbent member

Posts: 480

Re: What a thingy-up.
Reply #6 - Jul 13^th, 2007, 9:46am

Old fashion thumbies can be positioned so that you don't have to take your hand off the grip. You can place them on the handlebars just in the crook of your finger/thumb. I just move my forefinger third knuckle around and can flick it all the way down. Going up takes a little more leverage so I put my thumb on it and press, still dont have to let go. They are indexed and cost me $9.00 bucks!
These a bit more.

Description: Thumbies thumb shifter mounts, blk pr
Manufacturer: Paul Components - (Part No. PC5000)
Item No.: PC5000 In Stock? YES

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Kwijybow

Five Star Member

mostly a commuter

Posts: 1026

Re: What a thingy-up.
Reply #7 - Jul 13^th, 2007, 10:03am

With them on the bar end you can downshift with your palm while still gripping the bar, and upshift with your pinkie also still gripping so not too bad. I have them on my Lemond too after the right ultegra lever stopped functioning. I didn't feel like spending big bucks for something I couldn't even repair. There they are a little harder because you do have to move your hand, and the last 2 fingers do both the up and down shifting. My grip shifters developed alot of friction that made it difficult to twist and grip the bars, plus they got so the most used gears just would not reliably index.

Take Care,
Nelson.

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Commuter 1 Cheesy

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Commuter 2: Motobecane Fixie
Commuter 3: Salsa Journeyman
Recumbent 1: Schlitter Encore 20
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aikigreg

Moderator

recumbent ninja

Posts: 3685

Re: What a thingy-up.
Reply #8 - Jul 13^th, 2007, 12:01pm

I've NEVER been able to deal with twist shifters. My arthritic hands have always been too weak to turn them well. Trying to torque them enough to get to the big ring is what nearly sends me into oncoming traffic. So on my Baron I switched ASAP to mountain click shifters, but if I do that, I'll have to change the entire drivetrain over to SRAM, which I haven't the money to do.

But as for coordination and such - climbing is all about being in the right gear. If you're in a gear you can spin to begin with, you should be doing lots of shifts on the way uphill that let you keep your cadence - that's the secret to being a good hill climber. Because you're not torqueing the bike, you have more stability to do whatever. That's why I can ride one handed on the p-38 up hills.

On the tica of course, EVERYTHING is within a few inches of each other since the bar is so small, that it wouldn't matter anyway

Quote from FooRider on Jul 13^th, 2007, 7:20am:

One of these days, I'll have one of you explain to me how you can ride with those things. I shift gears quite frequently, and I think I'd find it intensely annoying having to release my grip on the bars during a hard climb to fumble around, find the nubbin at the end of the bar, find the right gear, and then get my hand back on the bar. All without swerving into a passing car or another cyclist, preferably.

I'm perfectly willing to accept "We're just more coordinated than you are" as an explanation, but I suspect there may be more to it than that.

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« Last Edit: Jul 13^th, 2007, 12:02pm by aikigreg »

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aikigreg

Moderator

recumbent ninja

Posts: 3685

Re: What a thingy-up.
Reply #9 - Jul 13^th, 2007, 12:04pm

Quote from Richard on Jul 13^th, 2007, 9:46am:

Old fashion thumbies can be positioned so that you don't have to take your hand off the grip. You can place them on the handlebars just in the crook of your finger/thumb. I just move my forefinger third knuckle around and can flick it all the way down. Going up takes a little more leverage so I put my thumb on it and press, still dont have to let go. They are indexed and cost me $9.00 bucks!
These a bit more.

Description: Thumbies thumb shifter mounts, blk pr
Manufacturer: Paul Components - (Part No. PC5000)
Item No.: PC5000 In Stock? YES

I assume you bought them used for that price? If not I need a link quick!

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aikigreg Moderator recumbent ninja Posts: 3685	Re: shifters Reply #10 - Jul 13^th, 2007, 12:05pm Quote from FlyingLaZBoy on Jul 13^th, 2007, 8:43am: Ken's Catrike has bar-end shifters... sure is different.... I wouldn't have any other shifter on a trike, after having raced a greenspeed last year. They're so intuitive and instinctual almost.
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Richard rbent member Posts: 480	Re: What a thingy-up. Reply #11 - Jul 13^th, 2007, 4:15pm Mine are Shimano http://www.bikemannetwork.com/biking/p/LD8837 I have 7 speed on the rear. You can still get both 3 and 7 speed indexed for about 9 bucks each. I did not see a 9 speed, but didn't search too long cept for the paul ones.
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catroad254

rbent member

Posts: 239

Re: What a thingy-up.
Reply #12 - Jul 13^th, 2007, 8:40pm

I've tried them all and the trigger shifters on my mountain bike were the best of them all. I wish I could figure out a good way to use them on the Corsa. The bar ends on the trike were second best but weren't as smooth. The twister's are the worst but I can live with them as long as it's not raining or hot(sweating). Kind of a pain recently.

Ken

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