[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by Mi10

First time riding with my Dad (who is 67 year old retired academician) ! He took to cycling upon my insistence about a year back - brought himself a Firefox 7 speed and been riding 2-3 days a week. He has so far covered close to 1800 kms !

Well done buddy. Kudos to your Dad that he has taken back to cycling at this age, when most of the senior citizens thank God even if they can stand on their own feet. That smile on your Dad's face is "priceless".

I won't dare ask my Dad to get back to cycling because currently he is running 80 years. He regularly goes for a morning walk (3km) & occasionally rides his scooter. I could not ask for more from him. On my insistence he has started Yogasanas and Pranayam, twice a day.

I would urge all the cyclists in this group to encourage senior citizens at your home or in your near relations to get out (of course with all precautions necessary in this pandemic). Go to nearby park, hill, just get a breath of fresh air. That itself will bring in a lot of positivity and the added benefit of keeping them healthy and fit.

On a side note, I could achieve an average speed of 25 kmph during today morning's short ride of 17km. I realized that the more you ride on highway, the better average speed you can get

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by alphadog

Attachment 2197870

Interesting placement of the rearview mirror. Doesn't your body block the view when you are on the bike?

[amol4184]

Did the first 50km ride by going to a small town that I had my eyes on for some time now. At around 33km mark I felt like I need to stop and rest. Making me realize that I'm far away from from 100km ride. The poha at the tapri felt like heaven.

[MANE]

Did my first longest ride of 36kms to Powai after a couple of 15-20kms short rides.

[mh09ad5578]

A few recent ones clicked on morning rides.

[ebonho]

Old Highway spinner to Somatane and back.

2 days left in the month. And we are short of the 1250 target by another 220 km.

Can we do it? We shall see. It's a real shame to wash out a month's worth of efforts, by not pushing that little bit more on the last few days.





That's the new Metro at Nashik Phata all lit up. A couple of days back they invited cyclists with their bikes for a trial run. Cyclists and their bikes will be allowed on the Metro. I don't know how it's going to help me but a lot of junta is pretty excited so I guess I'm happy for them.

Cheers, Doc

[ebonho]

Bypass Lone Wolf today morning (there is a team of very fast pro riders in Poona called the Wolfpack ... and a number of TT Strava segments naned after them .... so a couple of years I created my own TT loop and called it .... Lone Wolf ). Feeling some beans, but sadly had a slow puncture in the rear that dropped my pressure to 30 psi by the time I got home.

As I always say, we take what we get. Que sera sera.



160 km to go now ...

[ebonho]

Old Highway spinner. 70 km to mop up now. 1 day in hand.



And 17,000 km up for my brilliant ACT!!!

Cheers, Doc

[Ironhide]

Went up to Mussoorie yesterday, & cycled all the way up to the highest point - Lal Tibba. Cycled most of the way, except for the extremely step inclines. Thankfully these were few and far between.

The weather was just perfect for cycling . And thankfully it held up, for most of the ride anyway!

Cheers !

[alphadog]

Originally Posted by Jaguar

Interesting placement of the rearview mirror. Doesn't your body block the view when you are on the bike?

Yes, I agree it is a non-traditional placement of the mirror. For some reason I find this position of the mirror is ok for me and my body does not actually obstruct the view behind. In fact, when I place it upright, my arm tends to come in the way.
Also, I might have inherited this placement from the placement of the mirrors on my erstwhile Harley motorbike, where in it was fixed similarly.

Cheerio!

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by Ironhide

Went up to Mussoorie yesterday, & cycled all the way up to the highest point - Lal Tibba. !

Cheers !

Beautiful photo, second from the top!

[ringoism]

The photography in this thread must be some of the best on T-Bhp... quite awe-inspiring scenes that point to how beautiful the country is, and how much of it is accessible on cycles.

My more modest contribution from this morning:



Apples getting ready now all along my usual morning loop. This is right near the Palchan Transit Camp.

Was up late finishing assembly on both the Thunder MTB and the Riverside, and was eager to see how they rode. Picked the former for today.

Someone had given me a Mavic 217 rear rim with DT Swiss spokes and a cassette-style hub, so trued it up and put an 11/32T Shimano back there. Was concerned the 28/38/48 front rings would yield excessively high gearing for my usual inclines, but it was fine, I actually managed most of the worst with a 28/26 combination, keeping the 32 for that last little stretch before home... On a couple downhill gradients it became obvious that I am NEVER going to need the 48 ring; and even the 38/11 combo gives me more speed than the typical 42/14 MTB top gear, so will probably cut that big ring off and save another hundred or so grams...

Besides the very prominent and continuous center blocks on the Schwalbe Blackjacks (best I could do till thinner proper hybrid tyres become available again), I think the modest heft of this cycle helps a lot - weighing in, as it sits, at a pretty respectable 12.5kg.

Tomorrow (or next day) the Riverside... which has come together nicely - weighs a kilo more (still scope for reducing that) but has those "propah" skinnier tyres - so stay tuned.

-Eric

[ebonho]

Rainy ultra mucky three and a half hour Toll 2 Toll ride. August is now officially done and dusted at 1264 km. On to September!





Cheers, Doc

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by ringoism

Apples getting ready now all along my usual morning loop. This is right near the Palchan Transit Camp.

Was up late finishing assembly on both the Thunder MTB and the Riverside, and was eager to see how they rode. Picked the former for today.

Someone had given me a Mavic 217 rear rim with DT Swiss spokes and a cassette-style hub, so trued it up and put an 11/32T Shimano back there. Was concerned the 28/38/48 front rings would yield excessively high gearing for my usual inclines, but it was fine, I actually managed most of the worst with a 28/26 combination, keeping the 32 for that last little stretch before home... On a couple downhill gradients it became obvious that I am NEVER going to need the 48 ring; and even the 38/11 combo gives me more speed than the typical 42/14 MTB top gear, so will probably cut that big ring off and save another hundred or so grams...

Besides the very prominent and continuous center blocks on the Schwalbe Blackjacks (best I could do till thinner proper hybrid tyres become available again), I think the modest heft of this cycle helps a lot - weighing in, as it sits, at a pretty respectable 12.5kg.

Tomorrow (or next day) the Riverside... which has come together nicely - weighs a kilo more (still scope for reducing that) but has those "propah" skinnier tyres - so stay tuned.

-Eric

You are living in paradise man!

I'm surprised that the Thunder fits you since you are a tall guy. But 12.5 kilos is really light.

If you remove the big ring, will you be able to set the limit screw such that the chain does not fall off the middle ring?

Cheers, Doc

[ringoism]

Originally Posted by ebonho

12.5 kilos is really light.

In the cycle forums you sometimes hear people taking about "weight weenies" in a negative sense, but all the little things do add up.

One thing I have learned recently after fooling with the household digital food scale (might also post about on the tyres thread) is how big a difference in weight tyres and tubes can make.

So I have some Indian Hartex nylon MTB tyres here in the shop which weigh about 1.1kg each in 26" size. Same (disappointingly) with the smooth hybrid-ish Ralson 1.95 I received from Omobikes.com. Moreover typical Ralson / other desi tubes can weigh 300-350g each, some maybe more. So in that scenario you've saved a bundle of money but have potentially about 1.5kg on each end tied up in rubber. 3kg total sounds heavy and it is - especially when you consider that my old Bontrager or Kenda "Welter-Weight" tubes weigh only 160g, and tyres from those brands in the region of 650g.

Beyond tyres: Some basic/cheap Shimano shifters weigh 60g more/ pair than other cheap Shimano shifters. Some cheap bottom brackets +/- 50-100g, and same with cranks, freewheel/cassette, calipers/discs/ brake arms, derailleurs, hubs, saddle, etc, etc... and I am NOT talking about the difference between the low and (pricey) higher-end... just varying designs of relatively entry-level components that can be more different than you'd think. Get access to a bin full of scrap parts and an accurate scale and what you discover can be surprising. If 1-2kg's in the hills makes a big difference in terms of loop times and especially bodily strains, I figure it's worth a little effort and hasn't really cost me much but time for these two bikes.

Point being that likely the Thunder as equipped from the factory likely weighed at least a kilo more than it does now with good quality imported rubber and different front/rear rims and the (used/free) Syncros saddle. I am a cheapskate and hate paying excessively for anything. One Schwalbe Blackjack was taken in new condition from another cycle I bought, other was ₹900 new here in Manali last year... three times the price of desi tyres, but half the weight for components that on an MTB could account for 20% of the cycle's total weight. As such seems worth it if the budget is there. The Mavic was a freebie and the Giant rim on front came with the cycle, so the purse hasn't been hit too hard.

Originally Posted by ebonho

If you remove the big ring, will you be able to set the limit screw such that the chain does not fall off the middle ring?

I have done it on the ACT108, and am assuming that most 3-speed derailleurs can work for two-ring setups. Possibly a longer stop-screw could be required in some cases?

Originally Posted by ebonho

I'm surprised that the Thunder fits you since you are a tall guy.

Techically it may not be an ideal fit, but the upright frame member is considerably extended by design, and if I'm using the measurement from crank center to top of that tube, the Thunder is actually a bit taller than any of my others.
I can get the seat high enough for correct amount of knee-bend; Handlebar had quite a bit of rise, so I twisted that forward, and slid the seat back, so I can stretch over it a bit more. Feels okay to me but I should be aware of any bodily warning signs and probably consult with someone on this... Good thing is that I'm not trying to do hundreds of km's per month... Will mind my knees and whatever else.

Besides cutting off that 48T ring, the only remaining work is a thorough cleanup (aluminum corrosion creeping through the polish and clearcoat), and figuring out how to make that vintage Sunrace twister-shifter work for all 8 gears (have forfeited the 11T cog for now)!!!

-Eric