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Old 25th March 2021, 15:06   #5491
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Re: The Bicycles thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by ringoism View Post
After the fact, started looking into gearing basics as it applies to mtb/gravel/bikepacking, and came across some good resources for anyone else trying to figure it all out. One is this very useful multifunctional calculator:

http://www.bikecalc.com/

Another is this - both the article and subsequent comments contain quite a lot of good info:

https://bikepacking.com/plan/granny-gear-inches/

Putting the final effective gearing in terms of inches per (crank) revolution makes very good sense and simplifies things a bunch.

I'll keep riding mine as-is for a couple weeks, but I see from the chart generated in the first link that (as I suspected) I actually have a lot of overlap in my ratios between the small & large front chainrings, which seems a bit unnecessary.

Importantly, I also read up a bit on the knee injuries common to those riding with too-slow cadences, and so despite my feeling strong enough for it, thought I might want to try for a slightly smaller low-ring on front for steep climbs, maybe a 24 or 26 in lieu of the 28, if the bolt-circle allows for it.

-Eric

Bikecalc has been a go-to resource for me as well as I play around with possible upgrade/replacement options. Or simply cheat options when I'm not feeling particularly strong or fast. Lol

You would know that regardless of if you have a 1x (gravel/x-country) or a 2x (road) or a 3x (hybrid/mtb) drive-train, you will always land up having only 10-11 really unique ratios after all.

So there is a degree of redundancy really built into the extra chainwheels in front, and therefore extra weight being lugged around at all times as well.

Mostly to do with spindly legs, hardware limitations and wanting to keep from cross-chaining too bad, and eventually plain and simple marketing glitz (wow! I got a 27 speed!!!!!!).

What you have currently is very close to a spanking new mucho dinero Trek gravel bike a friend bought which has a Shimano GRX 2x groupset that is 40/30 in front. Basically two teeth more than the bottom two rings of a road hybrid 3x 48/38/28 crank.

Which is what you used and knocked off the biggest ring.

As long as you have the two successive rings, you will have overlap.

If you want to remove the overlap, then keep the biggest and smallest rings alone, and knoc of the center one. If its possible in terms of smooth shifting (and its possible to transplant the biggest ring in place of the middle ring (since you've been handy with a cutter/grinder and a welder - I'm guessing this is the low end riveted crank and not bolt on chainwheels).

Alternatively, look for the plain vanilla easily available mtb small triple cranks which are as low as 42 for the big ring and 22 for the small one. I've seen some with 40 too. That way you can keep all 3 and not knock one off and get the gear range you want - although there will still be a lot of overlap.

Out here in Poona now that my triple on the ACT is wearing out, I'm planning to go in the opposite direction to chase a bit more speed. And go with the Tourney road triple crank that's 50/39/30 instead of the current 48/38/28.

I'm constrained at the rear as I have a 7 speed freewheel hub where the smallest cog possible is a 14 only (Shimano used to make freewheels with 13 as well once upon a time, but they stopped .... ostensibly to move business over towards the pricier cassettes and free hubs.

Cheers, Doc
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Old 25th March 2021, 20:10   #5492
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Re: The Bicycles thread

Guys, how is Veloce as a brand?

Since Trek FX3 shipment is delayed, I tried Veloce-Dynamic and Veloce V100 and I was blown away by the sheer comfort and the top end components on the bike. Anyone has any experience on the same?
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Old 25th March 2021, 20:48   #5493
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Re: The Bicycles thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by drive_angry View Post
Guys, how is Veloce as a brand?

Since Trek FX3 shipment is delayed, I tried Veloce-Dynamic and Veloce V100 and I was blown away by the sheer comfort and the top end components on the bike. Anyone has any experience on the same?
Heard good things about its parent company Meghna Corporation in Bangladesh.

High end and do a lot of imports too.

Heard they are also into carbon frames, which makes them better than any of our homegrown Indian brands.

Go for it.

Cheers, Doc
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Old 25th March 2021, 20:59   #5494
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Re: The Bicycles thread

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Originally Posted by ebonho View Post
Heard good things about its parent company Meghna Corporation in Bangladesh.

High end and do a lot of imports too.

Heard they are also into carbon frames, which makes them better than any of our homegrown Indian brands.

Go for it.

Cheers, Doc
Thanks Doc, I knew I could count on your speedy reply and your knowledge. I have been quoted the following prices for the respective bikes.
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Old 26th March 2021, 08:33   #5495
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Re: The Bicycles thread

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Originally Posted by drive_angry View Post
Thanks Doc, I knew I could count on your speedy reply and your knowledge. I have been quoted the following prices for the respective bikes.
You are most welcome buddy. Bangladesh is big for cycles. If I'm not mistaken even Fire Fox bikes were/are being built from there. They do a lot if exports of supermarket grade bikes to Europe. That's the mainstay of their industry.

Coming back to the cycles you like, I could not find anything on the Dynamic on their website. Please share details and photos of the bikes. All I can make our from the labels is that it's a 700c bike while the other is a 27.5.

Cheers, Doc
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Old 26th March 2021, 09:33   #5496
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Re: The Bicycles thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by ebonho View Post
You are most welcome buddy. Bangladesh is big for cycles. If I'm not mistaken even Fire Fox bikes were/are being built from there. They do a lot if exports of supermarket grade bikes to Europe. That's the mainstay of their industry.

Coming back to the cycles you like, I could not find anything on the Dynamic on their website. Please share details and photos of the bikes. All I can make our from the labels is that it's a 700c bike while the other is a 27.5.

Cheers, Doc
In the eve of pure excitment, happiness and closing hours of the shop I forgot to click pics however, I am sending the youtube video of the bike. Hope this will help in understanding:

Dynamic:


V100
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Old 26th March 2021, 10:08   #5497
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Re: The Bicycles thread

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Originally Posted by drive_angry View Post
In the eve of pure excitment, happiness and closing hours of the shop I forgot to click pics however, I am sending the Youtube video of the bike. Hope this will help in understanding:
Totally expected! New cycle without excitement would be a very sad thing!!

I would go all things considered with the Dynamic and ask the shopkeeper to swap the ghastly pogostick seat post for a conventional good brand alloy rigid seatpost. And then enjoy the bike!

How much is the weight of the Dynamic versus the V300 (the closest equivalent in specs, components and price)?

The V series bikes are around 15 kilos. Not excellent but not bad either considering discs and front suspension. I'm hoping (expercting) the Dynamic to be a bit lighter due to the frame and components.

You will also loose some 100-150 or more grams with the seatpost swap.

Have the cycles physically weighed in front of you to check.

Most high end shops have a scale.

Cheers, Doc

Last edited by ebonho : 26th March 2021 at 10:10.
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Old 26th March 2021, 14:15   #5498
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Re: The Bicycles thread

An update. So after searching quite a lot of bike shops around me and in the main city areas, I realised finding a better/stronger 29er disk brake type wheel at a reasonable price is a task in itself. Out of the 15 or so shops I enquired at either in person or via call most of them told me that I would have to make do with a rim brake type wheel built with a disk brake type hub. Moreover none of them could guarantee that it would make any sort of difference in strength. The only better wheel I found was at Cycleloggist, Shivajinagar who claimed to have an "LX" wheelset that would hold up well. A Google search revealed that he may be talking about the Spinergy LX wheels which have a good reputation for being reliable, but then he mentioned they were German, and Spinergy is American. Anyways, the price he quoted just for the rear wheel was about 1/3 the price for which I got my bike for. So after deliberation with HQ, I've decided to give my current wheels another chance and got the spokes replaced from Cykler. I've also gotten approval for new wheels if another spoke breaks.

On the flipside of things, I was simultaneously enquiring about thinner tyres and tubes with the various shops I got in touch with, and picked up 700cx38 tyres for a steal deal. I swapped the tyre and tube myself at home and went for a ride on them today, and boy oh boy! Does it make a difference. Even more so when my previous tyres were 29x2.1 inchers. I shaved off almost 20mm . The bike feels great now, looks a bit weird from certain angles with the huge front fork, but I can live with that.

The Bicycles thread-img_20210326_084935.jpg

The Bicycles thread-img_20210326_084921.jpg

Another thing to note, almost all the shops I visited told me that 700c tyres would not fit 29er rims, however both 29" and 700c are one and the same size of ETRTO 622. So if anyone wishes to do this swap, you can go ahead. Only thing to look out for is to not go too thin, specifically thinner than the rim and if you're upsizing to wider tyres, to check for frame clearances.
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Old 26th March 2021, 23:01   #5499
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Re: The Bicycles thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by ebonho View Post
Totally expected! New cycle without excitement would be a very sad thing!!

I would go all things considered with the Dynamic and ask the shopkeeper to swap the ghastly pogostick seat post for a conventional good brand alloy rigid seatpost. And then enjoy the bike!

How much is the weight of the Dynamic versus the V300 (the closest equivalent in specs, components and price)?

The V series bikes are around 15 kilos. Not excellent but not bad either considering discs and front suspension. I'm hoping (expercting) the Dynamic to be a bit lighter due to the frame and components.

You will also loose some 100-150 or more grams with the seatpost swap.

Have the cycles physically weighed in front of you to check.

Most high end shops have a scale.

Cheers, Doc
Yes doc, dealer told me that the seat post can indeed be exchanged.

The V100 I had bought for the wife as she found that much more smooth as compared to Rockrider ST100. Dynamic I was looking for my 6’2” frame.

Doc, sorry to bother you but your views about this bike as well please? I found it very well accommodating and it’s clean triangular frame, no dangling wires and quick on its feet very tempting to buy such that I had asked dealer to hold this for me till Monday.

The Bike name is Jawa Veloce and dealer said it’s manufactured in Indonesia and exported to all over Europe.

Price is 50k

Link: https://www.choosemybicycle.com/en/bicycles/java-veloce

Website: https://www.javabikes.com/en/Bikes/743.html
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Old 26th March 2021, 23:18   #5500
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Re: The Bicycles thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by drive_angry View Post
Yes doc, dealer told me that the seat post can indeed be exchanged.

Doc, sorry to bother you but your views about this bike as well please? I found it very well accommodating and it’s clean triangular frame, no dangling wires and quick on its feet very tempting to buy such that I had asked dealer to hold this for me till Monday.
The further away from.tge 20k mark you go for a local brand, and Veloce is a local brand, make no mistake, the less exciting the value proposition becomes.

30k mark you were already flirting with the outer limit, which could probably only be explained away currently due to supply and availability issues.

But 50k, no way!

General rule is you can ride and get away with a local build on a MTB or a hybrid, especially when within a certain price band. But not so with a roadie.

I vote a definite no on this. And urge you explore availability in other brands as well.

Try Convolution cycles. A Pune based brand. Polygon. Marin. Giant. Even offerings from Montra and Firefox. Or The 25k level ST series MTB from Decathlon, since you don't mind front suspension. The ST520.

For a roadie the RC120 offers a lot.

Cheers, Doc

Last edited by ebonho : 26th March 2021 at 23:28.
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Old 27th March 2021, 12:02   #5501
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Re: The Bicycles thread

Any bikepacking / cross-country experts here......need help deciding on my next bike.

Planning on doing some extensive bikepacking / some trail riding in North and North-East......would have loved to go for a Gravel bike but all the ones sort of available are heavily north of my budget (50k-60k). So deciding to go for a Cross-Country / Hardtail.

Option 1 is the Trek Marlin 6:
Trek Marlin 6 - Website Link

Which is a 2x8. Been using my brothers Scott which is a 2x9 so kinda used to drivetrain (Altus).

Option 2 is the Trek Marlin 7:
Trek Marlin 7 - Website Link

Its a 1x10 which I have never ridden and sadly due to the way things are out there, no chance of me able to get a test ride as well.

Could someone with cross-country/bikepacking expertise help me out as to which would be a better option to go for ? Will help me big time
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Old 27th March 2021, 14:23   #5502
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Re: The Bicycles thread

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Originally Posted by AnniHilat0R View Post
Any bikepacking / cross-country experts here......need help deciding on my next bike.
There is a bhpian "adc" who has done multiple bike packing trips. Of late I haven't seen him very active on the forum. You can try sending him a PM to ask questions related bikepacking.

Below are the links to a couple of logs he posted.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...mmit-trek.html

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...r-la-mahe.html

Last edited by shipnil : 27th March 2021 at 14:31.
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Old 27th March 2021, 15:34   #5503
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Re: The Bicycles thread

I'm looking to upgrade from my MTB to road bike and have shortlisted the following bikes. Please help me to decide on a good bike for my requirements.

I am specifically looking at bikes with Shimano 105 groupset and endurance geometry. I would be riding around 100kms every weekend for which I think 105 is the best match for performance and cost. I ride around 50-70kms on the alternate weekends currently.

The bikes with 105 groupsets that I have considered are,
  1. Scott Speedster 10
  2. Merida Schultra 400
  3. Trek Domane Series with 105
  4. Giant Contend 1
  5. Cannondale Synapse 105
  6. Polygon Strattos S5
  7. Ridley Damogles 4.1 or Fenix A
  8. Fuji Sportif 1.3 (Tiagra groupset)

Not a single bike is available in TN with 105 groupsets with stocks expected to arrive by the last week of April. Scott dealer is a couple of minutes away from my home but Scott weighs a bit more than Merida. My preference is inclined towards Scott speedster 10 provides value for money and is easier for me to service.

I'll be upgrading from Cosmic Entourer 29 which is quite a heavy bike.
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Old 27th March 2021, 20:37   #5504
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Re: The Bicycles thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by shipnil View Post
There is a bhpian "adc" who has done multiple bike packing trips. Of late I haven't seen him very active on the forum. You can try sending him a PM to ask questions related bikepacking.

Below are the links to a couple of logs he posted.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...mmit-trek.html

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...r-la-mahe.html
Thanks a ton for your reply shipnil
Just checked the links which you posted and he has done some amazing backpacking trips! Will definitely dm him and check. Thanks once again.
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Old 28th March 2021, 16:55   #5505
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Re: The Bicycles thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by gasinveins View Post
I'm looking to upgrade from my MTB to road bike and have shortlisted the following bikes. Please help me to decide on a good bike for my requirements.

I am specifically looking at bikes with Shimano 105 groupset and endurance geometry. I would be riding around 100kms every weekend for which I think 105 is the best match for performance and cost. I ride around 50-70kms on the alternate weekends currently.

The bikes with 105 groupsets that I have considered are,
  1. Scott Speedster 10
  2. Merida Schultra 400
  3. Trek Domane Series with 105
  4. Giant Contend 1
  5. Cannondale Synapse 105
  6. Polygon Strattos S5
  7. Ridley Damogles 4.1 or Fenix A
  8. Fuji Sportif 1.3 (Tiagra groupset)

Not a single bike is available in TN with 105 groupsets with stocks expected to arrive by the last week of April. Scott dealer is a couple of minutes away from my home but Scott weighs a bit more than Merida. My preference is inclined towards Scott speedster 10 provides value for money and is easier for me to service.

I'll be upgrading from Cosmic Entourer 29 which is quite a heavy bike.
Personally I prefer the Scultura - it’s more a all round bike even though it is billed as endurance model.
Scott speedster 10 is also very good option. Very comfortable over long distances.
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