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Today August 2022

Working on getting this bike shipped from the US...
Mine will be GRX 810 vs the SRAM pictured.
My Sage will become my road bike and this will take over gravel duty.
The Why R+ can take a 27.5x2.1 or 700x50 - so there is the ability to handle a much more aggressive off road setup than my Sage.

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Out of curiosity, @bloaker, you seem to be pretty drive train agnostic. How do you pick and choose? I mean you have so many bikes that a bit more commonality amongst drive trains and brakes could be useful. How do you pick and choose?

PS That's my kind of titanium bike.
 
I do own Campy, Sram, & Shimano bikes - but I do have a preference.

I find Campy hoods on the 11 speed cable actuated to be the most comfortable of all. This is what I run on my ritchey and at one point, I was looking into options on what cable disc brakes work best with Campy just to use it again on a gravel build. I ultimately decided against it. But for rim brake, this is my 100% preference.
For MTBs - I feel SRAM has a clunky feel. Some think it is positive feedback of your shift - but to me, I will always prefer the smooth Shimano XT shift over X9/GX drive trains. I have ridden other's AXS bikes and X01 - but ultimately I feel at home on Shimano. I really prefer the downshifting on Shimano vs Sram as well. All of my MTBs are running Shimano at this point.
For dropbar dirt I am less biased, however I still lean to Shimano a bit. I prefer dual lever to the single lever of Sram. Sram is a little more clunky in its shifting to me on road groups, but not as bad as the MTB side. I can live with it and don't hate it or even dislike it, I just prefer the Shimano shifting.
I try to pay attention to what is interchangeable, not only drive train, but wheel standards.

Boost vs non-boost, QR vs thru axle, freehubs etc... I would love all my bikes to be interchangeable, but lately it has been hard.
I avoided the new 13sp campy due to having a different freehub (even tho my heart is pulling for this group). I am not converting all my wheels.
I even looked at the AXS stuff, but again - 12 speed would require the XDr freehub and I am not making those changes.
So now I am looking at 1x & 2x 11 with a clutch system of some sort. Shimano vs Sram - I could be happy with the SRAM on my Sage - but I want to run it semi loaded for some CC touring. So ultimately it will be a 2x. The new bike is a $200 different from Rival to GRX810. I paid the extra 200 and will have GRX on both bikes. Hopefully things will be fairly interchangeable. At least I only need to by one kind of brake pad!
 
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I really wish I would like Campy's shift lever setup, then my road bike would have an Erkar setup. Gear range-wise, that'd be the best setup — apart from Rotor's 13-speed groupset. But the latter is super expensive and Gerard Vroomen told me not to buy them. Who am I to argue with a legend. The Magura brakes (on both) have a great reputation, too, once they are broken in. (I had Magura Julies back in the day, and was super happy with them.)
 
Working on getting this bike shipped from the US...
Mine will be GRX 810 vs the SRAM pictured.
My Sage will become my road bike and this will take over gravel duty.
The Why R+ can take a 27.5x2.1 or 700x50 - so there is the ability to handle a much more aggressive off road setup than my Sage.

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I'm in the market for a ti bike and made the mistake of going to the Sage page after seeing this delightful creature. I suspect I will continue to be in the market for a ti bike for a considerably longer time than I had initially thought!
 
I'm in the market for a ti bike and made the mistake of going to the Sage page after seeing this delightful creature. I suspect I will continue to be in the market for a ti bike for a considerably longer time than I had initially thought!
This one is a "Why Cycles" brand. The one I have been posting here and on FB/Strava is my Sage.
The Sage is considerably more expensive!


 
so my son's MTB got a flat rear and I finally found time today to fix it. I got it 2nd hand, and wasn't too familiar with all the details of the setup from the previous owner. boy I was in for a lot of surprises.

1) tubeless?! there was sealant all over the rear end of the bike and a small puddle under the rear wheel. having lost that much sealant, I knew there's no chance it would seal over now, so I ordered a couple of inner tubes the other day. I'm not gonna bother with tubeless. that's a decision I made a long time ago for my bikes, much less this kid's one, which only sees light city use of a few km at a time

2) so the tubes arrive and I decide today's the day to work on it. surprise 2: open the wheel and actually find an inner tube inside

3) another surprise: a valve cap inside the tire! the valve had a cap outside, so I guess this was a leftover from a previous tube. I conclude that the previous owner must have had an emergency fix or something, where he put in a tube after the sealant wouldn't fix his puncture or something probably

4) I establish conclusively that the valve cap was to blame for the puncture, as there was a circle shape scar around the hole area, and the cap was also bent in a way that indicated it was under some pressure, i.e. probably caught in a snake-bite like puncture between the rim and the tube on some external impact. but surprise No 4: the tube won't hold air when patched, even with multiple patches. I'm sure I dried it, but it seems like that sealant is everywhere and maybe messing up the patches

5) decide to throw away the old tube and use a new one instead. I got a pair anyway, so there will still be a spare one left over in any case. I wanna cut up the old tube and save the rubber for various usages (I'm sure everyone does this..... riiight?) surprise No 5: insides of the tube are full of some green slime-like sealant-wannabe (see the pic below). looks like it wasn't a tubeless setup ever to begin with. just a tube full of shit, which I can only guess is a thing in the MTB world

final surprise, or a minor annoyance really, is that I can't get the rear wheel back in perfectly to align with the rear brake caliper. have to loosen and align the caliper instead. luckily it works at the 1st attempt. so, live n learn I guess

proudly presents, the green slime from hell:

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Another months of cycling adventures.

I didn't ride today, except for some shopping. I bought a small digital thermometer cum hygrometer to check the temperature readouts at home and of my cycling GPS. 35 deg C is nuts.

I'm looking forward to my first Century ride this month, which will complete 10 consecutive years of "Century a Month". I would like to go back to Chichibu, haven't been there for a while.
I have always loved your dedication Joe. I tried for a while but couldn't maintain it, but I would like to reset this as a goal for myself.

Lately I tend to get night shift before my days off then earlier shift after a day off making getting up early to reduce the sunburn hard. Did a 100km last month and reached 38°c, ended up taking a few days off thinking I had covid but was just heat stress.
 
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In August 2012 I visited Taiwan with my family. It was a great trip and I would like to back there, but between that trip and some typhoon I didn't do any long rides that month, which I had started doing in March of 2012. I resumed Century rides in September 2012 and kept it up ever since. Last Saturday I did another ride of 163 km (on Strava), completing 120 consecutive months (10 years).

I chose to go to Chichibu, one of my favourite places to ride. That's despite it being a bit hard to get to, but that's probably part of why it's so special as the remoteness has preserved its rural "lost in time" character.

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I began with a late start, getting out of bed only at 06:30. Three hours later I unloaded my bike from the car at Ogawamachi Michi-no-Eki for the ride to Chichibu.

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Near Nagatoro I cleared one Veloviewer tile and saw a paraglider.

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The clockwise Mitsumine loop climbs above 1,200 m and it was an overcast day so I knew I wouldn't get too hot.The top of Mt Buko next to Chichibu city was covered in clouds and I could see mist rising from the forest elsewhere.

I didn't bring any rain gear as I wasn't expecting more than drizzle and that was a good bet.

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After turning off the main road I climbed the Ochigawa rindo which was closed to traffic beyond the fishing center. I passed about four barriers. Some short sections of the rindo were under reconstruction with exposed gravel surfaces and in other places there was debris from rock slides but everything was perfectly rideable.

With all the recent heavy rain the streams and waterfalls were beautiful.

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The lower part of the climb is steep, mostly around 8 percent (in the 6-12 percent range) but there is so much too see that as long as you pace yourself and have good gearing it never feels too hard. Higher up it becomes less steep. There you either get to enjoy views because of the elevation or because it becomes very atmospheric as you're riding in clouds (i.e. fog and drizzle).

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I met several deer that were not shy at all. One was just standing there looking at me from 5 m away, not scared at all. I was beautiful to watch its graceful moves as it finally got out of the way, lightfooted like a ballet dancer.

The two tunnels at the top were very dark.

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Once I got up to 900 m it felt chilly with the lower temperature and drizzle. I could see beads of water collecting on the hair of my exposed wrists as I cycled through the fog.

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I was glad when I had passed the second tunnel and the descent to Mitsumine shrine started as it got a bit warmer again. I had to descend slowly because of the sharp-edged debris on the road.

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The long descent on the main road back to Chichibu was fun.

I stopped for dinner at Chichibu de Tandooru (ちちぶdeタンドール) before cycling the last 50 km back to the car in the dark.

How long will I continue "Century A Month" after 10 years? I have no intention to stop but I also feel no pressure.

I think it's a good incentive to maintain at least a minimal level of fitness and never get too lazy. What I enjoy most about it are the views though.
That is an epic ride Joe. Thanks for sharing.
 
So the dreaded "natsubate" feels like it's hit me around the head with a cricket bat this year.
Last year I was off work for about 11 months dealing with depression, started 2021 strong with lots of riding but summer last year also took it out of me.

This year with work, a variety of weird and wonderful start times, lots of late shirts finishing as late as 10:30pm and some funky sleep combined with the usual summer fatigue my planned "go out riding early morning" idea has gone out window most days. I managed to get a 45km city ride in today, after setting a goal of a certain coffee shop as my motivation for ice coffee.

I had Trek Ikebukuro (new store) set up my Domane SL5 tubeless with my IRC road tyres, on a lighter set of wheels from a SL6. Noticeable drop in weight added to me losing 8kg this year, almost ready to hit the under 95kg leaderboards on Strava. Goal is at least 91kg, 89kg would be better. Slow and steady, as dropping calories & weight too fast was really tiring.

Hoping to be able to get at least another century ride in this month, with some rides other than my commutes in as well.
 
So I did a thing! Traded in the cursed steed for a second hand CAAD Optimo 2018 Sora at Buychari. Took it for a run tonight and it rides real nice, but I've also never ridden a road bike before so I'm not feeling super secure on the hoods or the drops.

I need a fit. Don't have money for a fit. My neck hurts but my legs feel so much better then my old bike. I think I might need to rotate the bars up a little to make the levers a tad easier to reach when riding the hoods. But I also have no idea what I'm dooooing.

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Goal is at least 91kg, 89kg would be better. Slow and steady, as dropping calories & weight too fast was really tiring.
Slow and steady is the way to go.

I have been going the other way for a while, with a slow but steady weight gain. Too much of a fondness for wine and cheese, I guess. The plan is to cut down though not totally give up on these two vices and also to do more of my own cooking again. I found that very helpful before for losing weight.

Centuries are not so hard if you have all day and start and finish at home, i.e. no time spent on a train or in a car. It gets much more difficult when you're constrained for time because of family, work, etc.
 
I need a fit. Don't have money for a fit. My neck hurts but my legs feel so much better then my old bike. I think I might need to rotate the bars up a little to make the levers a tad easier to reach when riding the hoods.

When I got my second bike I just copied my fit from the first bike, i.e. same seat height, same reach, same seat to bar drop, etc. On the first bike I had simply experimented until I felt comfortable on my kind of rides. When I did a professional bike fit on the second bike it basically just confirmed that I already had it dialed in.

If you neck hurts, it can indicate your upper body is so low your neck has to be quite angled to keep looking ahead. Same if you get sore arms and shoulders.

Professional racers don't spend so much time looking ahead and more looking down to minimize drag, which is why they don't have that neck issue. They also have stronger legs putting down more torque onto the pedals, which means the arms carry less weight, hence no issues with arms and shoulders despite low handlebars.

The bottom line is, if you're not a professional bike racer, don't copy their seat to bar drop because your requirements are different.

I find for long distance rides and touring, keeping the seat and bars more or less level works well.

If your steerer is so short you can't raise the bars with spacers, there are angled stems that raise the bar relative to the steering tube. You can also rotate the bars up to raise the tops, but that may cause you to stretch out more in the drops or for the bars interfere with the wrists in that position. So I would recommend trying different stems.
 
When I got my second bike I just copied my fit from the first bike, i.e. same seat height, same reach, same seat to bar drop, etc. On the first bike I had simply experimented until I felt comfortable on my kind of rides. When I did a professional bike fit on the second bike it basically just confirmed that I already had it dialed in.

If you neck hurts, it can indicate your upper body is so low your neck has to be quite angled to keep looking ahead. Same if you get sore arms and shoulders.

Professional racers don't spend so much time looking ahead and more looking down to minimize drag, which is why they don't have that neck issue. They also have stronger legs putting down more torque onto the pedals, which means the arms carry less weight, hence no issues with arms and shoulders despite low handlebars.

The bottom line is, if you're not a professional bike racer, don't copy their seat to bar drop because your requirements are different.

I find for long distance rides and touring, keeping the seat and bars more or less level works well.

If your steerer is so short you can't raise the bars with spacers, there are angled stems that raise the bar relative to the steering tube. You can also rotate the bars up to raise the tops, but that may cause you to stretch out more in the drops or for the bars interfere with the wrists in that position. So I would recommend trying different stems.
So this was my first plan. How expensive are stems? I'm pretty cash poor at the moment getting back on my feet after the surgery and unexpected taxes, so I'm going to try and keep things cheap and then in a month or so if I'm having issues find somewhere to get a proper fit.

It seems to have 3 spacers on it already I think, but I'll need to check in tomorrow. I'm not sore after I'm off the bike, but I definitely wasn't reaching the bottom of the brake levers on the hoods and didn't feel super in control. So I'll start by rotating them I think.
 
I need a fit. Don't have money for a fit. My neck hurts but my legs feel so much better then my old bike. I think I might need to rotate the bars up a little to make the levers a tad easier to reach when riding the hoods. But I also have no idea what I'm dooooing.
A few stupid questions, and don't take offense if I'm asking the equivalent of "Have you switched it off and on again?"
  • How tall are you, what is your inseam and arm length?
  • What is the size of the frame you have?
  • Do you know your frame size? Has that been determined by a professional? Have they measured you or just eyeballed your size? (As far as I know Japanese have shorter limbs and longer torsos, which means they tend to ride smaller frames at the same body size.)
  • Have you transferred the measurements from your old bike to your new one (saddle height, etc.)?
  • Does the bike feel too long or do you feel squeezed into the bike?
  • How flexible are you?
The bike itself looks like it is in excellent condition, and could be a good, dependable partner … if it is the right size. From the picture it seems to me that the saddle is all the way backwards and you are maxed out on spacers. The length of exposed seat post doesn't seem very extreme, perhaps a bit on the shorter side, but nothing too extreme. Overall, that indicates to me you are not very flexible (the drop between saddle and handlebars is small), but that you might be squeezed in (your saddle is all the way to the back). That is exacerbated by your high handlebars, for if they were lower, you'd need "longer arms" to reach them.

The other question is what kind of fit you want to attain: do you want a very relaxed fit? If so, you might need a longer stem. If you can deal with a more aggressive fit, you can manage otherwise. Also, for what position do you want to optimize your position on the bike? Hoods, aero hoods, drops?
 
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