[ebonho]

Originally Posted by itisravi

no, you just need to update your app.

Got it.

Its too dark man. Gives me a headache. Why do guys (like my son) like dark mode really beats me.

Cheers, Doc

[itisravi]

Dark mode is mainly for night time viewing as it reduces strain on the eye. I don't use my phone too much but I do have it enabled on my computer for whatever application supports it and on my web browser. If you are spending 12+ hours daily staring at the screen (for work or otherwise), it really is a blessing to have dark mode enabled. My eyes literally cringe when looking at black text on white background - like Count Dracula's reaction to sunlight.

[amitoj]

My new bike has a power meter, which I have never had before. So I have been riding with more data for the past month or so. It has helped me better pace myself on longer rides, like the 142 mile long B2VT ride which had a monster of a climb in the last 5 miles. I also find it useful for the small climbs that I encounter during my commutes. Does anyone else ride with a power meter? What has been your experience?

One additional datapoint that I get now is the power difference between left and right leg. It varies between 46/54 and 47/53. Is that normal? I know my left leg is not as strong as my right one and I am working with my trainer to get my brain to trust my left leg a bit more

Cheers,
Amitoj

[Comskian]

Originally Posted by AnniHilat0R

Thanks a lot for the reply Doc, Amol and Ninja! Truly appreciate it! Helps me with a lot of anxiety.

Maybe a little late reply, but I am not frequent to this forum. Check the airlines luggage policies - I bought my bicycle from Germany to India through Gulf Air, who allowed free carry on of a sports equipment which included bicycle. I had to pack it by deflating the tyres which is mandatory and the size was a little over their unpractical box size restrictions, but there were no issues and I did not pay anything.

Of course if you land in Trivandrum airport be prepared to encounter amazed people at the size of the 'TV' you are bringing. And the customs will also ensure that you are importing only something like a high-end bicycle or a dissassembled Ferrari in your box, not an expensive TV ( in Kerala we are stuck in the 80's gulf culture, thankfully for people like us)

[amol4184]

I often visit random garage sales after seeing posters stuck on light poles and at intersections. More often than not I find junk Wal-Mart or something like that big store bikes but rarely I find gems like this one below : Cannondale CAAD 5 9/11 commemorative edition of which only 1100 examples were made back in 2002. That paint job was reason enough for me. Fairly good condition but almost a decade of hanging on a wall jammed up every movable part on the bike including shifters. The bottom bracket is old Octalink style and was stuck so bad it took about an hours elbow grease. Disassembling bikes is my favorite thing to do so no complaints!

Anyway, once everything was off the bike the frameset cleaned up nicely without any major scratches except chain drop damage near the BB shell. Should not be a problem. The original 9 speed Shimano 105 is fine with really clicky shifts that surprised me. Some good engineering there. Rebuild will start later this month.

[amol4184]

Not sure who needs to see this. It was a slow morning and I did a jugaad to make the bell on my bike more "accessible". I don't like taking my hands off the shifters to ring the bell and this way I don't have to. May be you are like me?

Simple 5 minute job from stuff you might already have lying around. You only need :
1. Bell with clamp style fastener (not rubber straps)
2. Reflector with clamp.
And of course, screw driver or hex keys.

The reflector is the one that comes on most bikes from factory attached to seatpost. Use the one whose clamp will fit your handlebar.

"Raw" material:


Unscrew the reflecty part of the reflector and retain the liberated clamp.


Next up, take your bell and remove the screw from the clamp. Now you have to align the bell clamp's screw hole with reflector's. Your bell will basically be mounted on the reflector. Don't worry if the reflector and bell use different screws. We just need to pass the screw from bell through the reflector clamp somehow. You might get lucky and nothing needs to be done, if not just force your way in and tighten the bell on the clamp.

That's it. Your contraption is ready.



Finally, wrap the contraption's clamp on your handlebar just below the shifter. Mine is for left side but if you want it for right side, you will have to mount the bell on the reflector clamp other way round.
Use the screw from reflector to tighten the clamp. Adjust the angle and height so that it doesn't meddle with your hands while using the drops and also shifter blade doesn't strike the bell.

Definitely use a bell that is smaller in size.



Most convenient way to ring the bell =


I had one more bell and a different style reflector but basic principal is same. See below. The bell's gong is perpendicular to ground.

[amol4184]

Let's talk about now-defunct (circa 2007) American bicycle brand called Klein. While everyone knows Cannondale and their legendary CAD/CAAD alloy bikes, Klein back in the day was actually one-upping Cannondale.

In 1975, Gary Klein an MIT graduate designed a frame that would later change the way alloy frames would be perceived and perform. Most of the frames back then were steel or alloy but heavy and often considered flexy. Klein frames on the other hand were lighter and incredibly stiff. So much so that today, decades later, Klein frames are still considered as way too stiff compared to any other bike on the market. Those frames were also considerably lighter too by around 15% than CADs of the same era.

But stiffness wasn't the only parameter that Klein improved. His frames were ground breaking in many other ways.
Oversized tubing? Check. Ultra smooth welds? Check. Internal cable routing?(!) Check. Press fit bottom bracket? Check.
My 2014 Cannondale CAAD doesn't have internal cable routing. It was only in 2016-17 period that Cannondale offered ICR in their alloy frames so you can imagine how far ahead Klein went for his time.
So yes while Cannondale gets the blame for bringing press fit bottom brackets on masses, it was actually Klein that had them way before C'dale. Fortunately for Klein they ceased to exist before press fit bbs started receiving almost a global hate.

Now we come to even more interesting bit of Klein. The color schemes. Kleins are known to have some of the best paint jobs ever and even today those paint jobs are considered bench mark. While not all Kleins came with insane color shifting paint jobs, even the standard single color jobs were incredibly deep and supremely well finished. The paint jobs became an ace card for Klein as no one else had those type of colors.

Here are a few remarkable paint jobs that Klein offered back in the day and are unmatched today:

A sample of 1992 colorways. I wish today's bike makers had such colors available.



Incredible green to blue to yellow


One tone deep purple


two tone red-orange


beautiful ice cap blue


jade fade


my favorite of the lot, purple haze - changes from purple to brown to pink to green etc


teal fade


another of my favorite, orange to red to yellow and what not


As you can imagine, the color is what makes Klein a Klein. Today, good condition Klein frames command a premium in general but if it also has one of those beautiful shifting color jobs, the price goes up considerably.

Fixing or replicating the paint is not easy either. A good paint shop will charge you upwards of $1500 all the way up to $3000 for moonrise or purple haze color ways and even then its not guaranteed to match the factory color 100%.

Gary Klein was also known to listen and entertain custom paint jobs for customers who were not satisfied by the standard colors offered. So you could get a custom painted frames directly from the factory. There are instances where, Klein not just painted a frame in one off color but also matched bottle cages, air pumps and other accessories - those frames/bikes are super expensive and rare especially if you have the paperwork.

Klein, despite all its innovation and paintjobs found it hard to compete against bigger player. It was a small operation to begin with in a small sleepy town. So in 1995 they got bought by Trek, a behemoth then and a behemoth now. Trek kept the brand alive but moved the production from Klein's home to another state - this is the pivotal point in Klein's history as many people consider Kleins made in their original factory in Chehalis, WA were better.
If you go to eBay and search for Kleins, Chehalis made frames demand a premium.
After kicking for another 10 or so years under Trek's ownership, it was curtains down for the brand and the name was retired as Trek absorbed much of its tech into their bikes.

The reason for this history lesson? I finally found a Klein bike in my size, in the color I wanted and at the price I could afford! At the first glance, the bike looks to be in fairly good condition but its not pristine. However after searching for almost year I gave up and bit the bullet. There are still a few things in the pipeline but for now it is fairly complete. Did a complete overhaul with 11 speed groupset and new wheelset.

[nilbox3963]

Why do we not have a team-cycling blog yet!

[deetee]

Originally Posted by amol4184

The reason for this history lesson? I finally found a Klein bike in my size, in the color I wanted and at the price I could afford! At the first glance, the bike looks to be in fairly good condition but its not pristine. However after searching for almost year I gave up and bit the bullet. There are still a few things in the pipeline but for now it is fairly complete. Did a complete overhaul with 11 speed groupset and new wheelset.

Wow! the bike looks very very good in the photo. Welds are so seamless and frame looks almost like a steel/titanium alloy made. Color job also stands out quite well. And an informative history lesson, btw

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by deetee

Wow! the bike looks very very good in the photo. Welds are so seamless and frame looks almost like a steel/titanium alloy made. Color job also stands out quite well. And an informative history lesson, btw

Spot on with the welds. You can fool a noob into believing its carbon fiber composite and not alloy.

its easy to see how welds on high performance alloy bikes became worse over time. The 2003 CAAD 5 is smooth but not a spot on Kleins.
After Klein, Cannondale was holding the fort of beautiful welds but in 2009 they sold their soul and moved manufacturing to Taiwan. That is when real American Cannondale died, enthusiasts would say. The change in weld quality is quite apparent in CAAD 10s of 2010s. CAAD 12 is worse and 13 even more so.

The newer bikes are lighter, faster, comfier but fine workmanship details like these uber smooth welds and interesting paint jobs are long gone at least on cheaper bikes.

Take a look.

Chehalis WA made pre 2000 Klein welds:


2003 Cannondale CAAD 5 welds:


2013 Cannondale CAAD 10 Black Inc, slowly going downhill:


2014 Cannondale CAAD 10 welds, getting worse


2024 Cannondale CAAD 13, from Cannondale's website (I don't own it)


off topic but look at these hideous 2018 Fuji welds:

[strawmUnkey]

I'm surprised to see a cycling thread on team-bhp.

I've been an budding cyclist for over a decade now. What started off as an exercise to improve my breathing, lung capacity(health issue) turned into a passion for riding around town on two wheels. Let me share the bikes I've had during this period.

2014

Firefox Road Runner Pro V

Sorry about the angle. Don't have any other pictures from back then.

Bought this bike with 10k from parents and the rest from my pocket money for the next few months(didn't tell them until later). This was during the last year of college. I managed to ride everyday for 6 months with avg distance of 20-40kms/day. It was a massive boost to my breathing and lung capacity. This consistency gave my parents the confidence to sponsor a better bike at my request.

2014 - 2018

Fuji Nevada 1.7D


2015 - 2018

Giant Defy 1 CD20

Bought with savings from the first few months of salary

Both of them together parked in my living room(shared apartment)

I sold them both when moving cities. Didn't have the time, space to ride both. Replaced them with a single gravel bike

2018 - now

Specialized AWOL Poler

Grocery, shopping & office commutes



Moving cities post COVID.

2024 - now
I started to itch for a new bike. Something I could take to office without being treated like a 3rd class citizen for parking.

Brompton C-line Explore 6 speed

[RiderZone]

Originally Posted by amol4184

Spot on with the welds. You can fool a noob into believing its carbon fiber composite and not alloy.

Saw your post about your Klein, the very next day a Quantum Race came up for sale near me. Tried negotiating a bit, but it was too pricey for me at 700 Euros. Saw this post of yours, next day a CAAD5 Saeco comes up for sale near me. Picked it up today for 450. Need to ride it a bit before giving a full opinion, but those welds are certainly special. Please post more often

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by RiderZone

Saw your post about your Klein, the very next day a Quantum Race came up for sale near me. Tried negotiating a bit, but it was too pricey for me at 700 Euros. Saw this post of yours, next day a CAAD5 Saeco comes up for sale near me. Picked it up today for 450. Need to ride it a bit before giving a full opinion, but those welds are certainly special. Please post more often

Love the colors! This is a beauty and the price seems good if there are no dents. These lightweight alloy bikes are very prone to dents (Klein and Cannondale both) because how thin the tubes are. The Saeco 'dales are a darling of Cannondale enthusiasts. This one appears to be from 2002 model year. Later they had a different shade of red, more maroon-ish which also looks fantastic and gets rid of some the decals.

I have no doubt you will love this legit race bike. am I seeing Flight Deck shifters there? are the electronics working on it?

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by RiderZone

Saw your post about your Klein, the very next day a Quantum Race came up for sale near me. Tried negotiating a bit, but it was too pricey for me at 700 Euros. Saw this post of yours, next day a CAAD5 Saeco comes up for sale near me. Picked it up today for 450. Need to ride it a bit before giving a full opinion, but those welds are certainly special. Please post more often

Love the colors! This is a beauty and the price seems good if there are no dents. These lightweight alloy bikes are very prone to dents (Klein and Cannondale both) because how thin the tubes are. The Saeco 'dales are a darling of Cannondale enthusiasts. This one appears to be from 2002 model year. Later they had a different shade of red, more maroon-ish which also looks fantastic and gets rid of some the decals.

I have no doubt you will love this legit race bike. am I seeing Flight Deck shifters there? are the electronics working on it?

Re: Klein. 700 euros sounds about right if it was in *really* good condition. But it also depends on the color type (fade paintjobs are $$$ more) and where it was made. Chehalis WA made bikes command higher prices v/s those made in Waterloo. If you are still looking for a Klein, look for one with "made in Chehalis WA USA" badge on the seat tube. There was a period when Klein did press fit BB and proprietary headset - those are hard to work on, hard to find parts and thus low in demand.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by strawmUnkey

I'm surprised to see a cycling thread on team-bhp.

Don’t be. You’ll be surprised at the sheer range of topics once you start exploring every nook and cranny of TBHP, specially once you get to the Shifting Gears forum - this is still in the main section.

Replaced them with a single gravel bike

2018 - now
Specialized AWOL Poler
…
2024 - now
I started to itch for a new bike. Something I could take to office without being treated like a 3rd class citizen for parking.

Brompton C-line Explore 6 speed

Interesting choice of bikes having a gravel one with that awesome touring / luggage carrying setup and a Brompton to combine it with. Also nice to see a fellow Brompton owner. I got one myself sometime just after Covid hit and absolutely love it for small commuting every now and then. Linking a post below which has some pics of my flaming orange one.

Originally Posted by Axe77

Sunday was a rest day after a (relatively, compared to last 15 months) hard week of running. Decided to take the Brommie out for some easy cruising around the Bandra area. It’s a really FUN little ride and surprisingly capable for such a compact package.