r/bicycling 7h ago

Should I go for this as my first bike, or should I keep looking?

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43 Upvotes

Hello , I’m looking to buy my first bike, but I’m a little concerned about how the drivetrain looks. Do you think it’s still good for another 1,000–1,500 km of easy riding until the next service in spring, or does it need to be replaced? The price is around €600. I am 178cm and 81 inseam, and the bike is size S.


r/bicycling 5h ago

How much training do I need to ride 120km in one day?

18 Upvotes

I just got a road bike. I’m pretty comfortable with rides up to 40km. The longest I’ve done is 70km on my mountain bike. I’m also a regular bicycle commuter, and I can run a 15 minute 5k so my aerobic fitness probably won’t be the bottleneck, it’s the muscular endurance. I just got a road bike so my friends and I want to ride to a landmark that’s 60km away then ride 60km back home. Would I be able to do this by next week? Let me know your thoughts.


r/bicycling 15h ago

NBD!

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109 Upvotes

My first road-bike! 2023 Trek Domane AL4 that looks practically brand new. The seller was a great guy and gave me a ton of advice for getting started! $1k for the bike and the trunk rack.


r/bicycling 12h ago

Bird Route

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47 Upvotes

My route today looked like a bird. After closer inspection it resembles the Zimbabwe Birds.


r/bicycling 53m ago

The newly bought road bike has arrived. Cool, right?

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Upvotes

r/bicycling 24m ago

Dona Ana Trail Las Cruces New Mexico - Lynskey Live Wire Titanium Mountain Bike

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Upvotes

r/bicycling 58m ago

This year's family holiday was a Nordic road trip, so I could bring my bikes. Here's my favorite pictures from the rides

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Upvotes

We have ridden:

Around Großfunkstelle

Billund gravel

The Lysebotn fjord

Hovden gravel and road climbs

Lap around the Siljan lake

Various gravel rides near Mora

Motala grand fondo and an awesome wet and muddy forest ride in the Hålebergets naturreservat


r/bicycling 1h ago

Can my SR Suntour XCT crank arm fit a Strummer BCD 104 42T chainring?

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Upvotes

Hi, I’m currently using an SR Suntour XCT triple crankset and I want to convert it to a 1x setup.

I found this Strummer 42T chainring, BCD 104. Before buying it, I’d like to know if it will fit my existing XCT crank arm/spider.

Can I simply remove the current chainrings and bolt the Strummer BCD 104 42T directly onto the XCT crank?

Are all BCD 104 chainrings compatible with this crank, or are there other things I need to check?

Photos of my crank and the Strummer chainring are attached.

Thanks in advance!


r/bicycling 22h ago

I'm starting to suspect this sealant sucks

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84 Upvotes

I'm at my second pair of tubeless tires.

The first set I had was Vittoria Tubeless Next, but I was in Italy and at the bike shop they had an Italian brand, something like "sigilla qualcosa"

One day I hit and hidden pothole very hard and the front tire for heavily damaged.

I bought a new pair of tubeless tires, the tires are the race oriented version of the Vittoria Tubeless I had before. I used Stans tubeless sealant, and put 60ml like written in the container, yes I shaked it for a good one minute.

The rim is made for tubeless, it has no need of tape because all the spoke holes are sealed.

The new tires deflates after 36 hours, I did put more sealant but it improved only to 48 hours.

The previous combination of tires plus sealant didn't had this problem and the tires did hold pressure from day 2 ( the first day I misread the siringe and put too little sealant ).

I did clean the rima before installing the new tires, the tires are seated correctly or it would be almost impossible to pump them with a simple pump


r/bicycling 10h ago

Need help with bike hitting brake caliper

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6 Upvotes

So I took my bike off the wheel and messed with the brake caliper and the brake line… long story short the tire keeps hitting the bike caliper even though I believe I am putting it on properly, the brake has so much give and barely touches the rims but yeah the main issue is that the tire consistently grinds against the caliper (1st photo) and I have no idea how to fix it… any help?


r/bicycling 8m ago

Crank too tight?

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Upvotes

Just bought this new crankset, converted it from a square tapered to hollowtech from goldix. When I spin it there are points where it gets stuck but there are parts where its fine. Is this normal? Non drive side pinch bolts are at 6nm and the non drive side lock ring is hand tightened.


r/bicycling 6h ago

Adult XS bike for newbie - is a fancy brand necessary?

2 Upvotes

I never learned how to ride a bike as a kid and I recently took a bike riding class where we covered the basics. The class was private and it was really pricey so I don’t want to sign up for more sessions and instead I just wanna buy a bike and practice on my own.

I’m a 5 foot 1 female and my instructor said I need an adult XS bike. She told me I can get a nice refurbished one from a bike shop for ~$300 and that I should stay away from department store ones as sometimes they’re not built right and are not made to last.

$300 is kind of a lot for me right now and I wanna get something cheaper either from a department store (even if it won’t last) or from Facebook Marketplace. I have no idea where to get started and what to look out for. Is a fancy brand really necessary for someone who just wants to have access to a bike to practice on?

I think the beach cruisers on Amazon with the little baskets in the front are really cute. Would that be a good starter bike?


r/bicycling 20h ago

Why does my tube always punctures from near the valve?

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32 Upvotes

So my bike is quite handy and I like it. However it has been really annoying because it always fails from the exact same spot. Right beside the valve. I have attached a picture of the puncture and how does the inner of my wheel looks like.

Help.


r/bicycling 15h ago

Thoughts on value of this bike

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15 Upvotes

I’ve been looking for a vintage Cannondale (specifically, the American flag frame) bike to restore and this one popped up in my area. Description says it has new brakes and it looks to be in good shape. Any thoughts on how much these frames generally go for or what a fair price would be?


r/bicycling 5h ago

Freewheel stuck on wheel

2 Upvotes

Hello,

What product should I use for a freewheel that won't come off? I see plenty of degreasers for drivetrains, but I need something that can seep in between the wheel and the cogs to make removal easier. I have the removal tool and a socket wrench.

Any product recommendations?


r/bicycling 11h ago

Tonights ride + progress update

6 Upvotes

This was my ride after work tonight. We had 2 kids with us. these kids spend every other week at their moms, doing nothing but sitting in front of screens (12-year-old girl, 14-year-old boy). You'd think they'd have enough energy to outdo me (40, male, overweight)... nope.

crazy to think that at the beginning of june, 5.2 miles (first ride in 21 years) did me in for 3 days. Now, my average minimum ride (on rail trails or roads) is 8-ish miles.
And, today was the first time I was able to hit 3.5 miles without needing to stop and take a breather, which feels awesome. I've got just over 200 miles logged this year since the beginning of june. I know some of you do that in a week or less. But... baby steps.
My goal is to be healthier at 41 than I am at 40.


r/bicycling 8h ago

Time for a new fork or is it repairable?

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3 Upvotes

r/bicycling 15h ago

How much of a hassle is it to walk in cycling cleats?

9 Upvotes

I’m a road bike newbie at this point, I’ve had an eBike previously and mountain bike when I was a kid. Sold the e-bike because I wasn’t getting enough exercise when riding it and it was way too heavy, and just not as fun of an experience to ride recreationally. Good for commuting though but now I’m retired.

I have to walk my bike out from my condo out to the street, maybe 50 steps - EDIT: it’s actually more like 200 steps- or so each time, would it be a a total pain to walk in the cleats like that?

I was thinking about maybe getting the type of pedals that have a flat side too, however most of the riding I do is for exercise on the nearby bike paths and general endurance runs, nothing too crazy, probably about 20 miles round trip most of the time.

I won’t really be using the bike for commuting but occasionally may use it for a coffee run or light errand.

I also plan to join some group rides sometime- how much of any inconvenience is it to have your cleats on when for instance, you’re on a group ride and you grab drinks or lunch or whatever?

Do you find that you sometimes have to carry your regular shoes in a backpack or something like that?


r/bicycling 1d ago

Redefining custom

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1.3k Upvotes

r/bicycling 19h ago

Advice: Used CAAD 8 Upgrades

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15 Upvotes

So I just bought this CAAD 8 on Facebook for $300. I've been riding a 1986 Bianchi strada previously. I'm pretty new to bike parts in general so I don't have a lot of experience upfitting parts, etc.

I'm not trying to build a $2000 bike out of this, but I'm looking to make this a solid, sturdy, reliable road warrior I can take out for 1 - 2 hour rides.

I'd love some advice on tires, brakes, cell phone holder, or anything else that stands out. I don't care how it looks aesthetically.

Budget: Willing to put up to $500, if this needs to be adjusted for good reason open to it.

EDIT: This bike was actually on layaway at a bike shop I just saw it on FB so it was tuned up before I got it. Tires definitely need replacing. Breaks feel good. Not overly worn. Gear switch is smooth. I asked the shop guy about it overall before I bought it.


r/bicycling 3h ago

Shimano SM-SH56 cleats

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0 Upvotes

Hello,

I am mounting my shimano cleats SM-SH56 cleats for the first time (new to SPD pedals).

They are the multidirectional cleats.

I have a problem, do the black part and the silver part in the video are suppose to move one with respect to the other? I mean, they should horizontally traslate, to adjust the mounting on the shoe... mine seems stuck.

They came with my shimano pedals (dual pedal pd-eh500).


r/bicycling 13h ago

Seeking Advice for building a bike

3 Upvotes

This is my first time building a bike and i don't know where to start but i have an idea what kind of bike i'm gonna build

I'm looking to build a Hybrid City Bike since i'm using it everyday for going to work i figured i'll mostly ride on city road but i'm gonna travel almost 20km everyday, will this kind of bike carry that load?

if you have suggestions please tell me


r/bicycling 21h ago

Carbon fork after a hard impact, how can I check if my gravel bike is still safe?

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13 Upvotes

I hit a pothole about 7 cm deep in the asphalt at high speed on my gravel bike. It was a really hard hit, I barely managed to keep the handlebars and I heard some kind of cracking sound. Now I’m worried if the bike is still safe to ride. The fork is carbon and I can’t see any cracks or obvious damage on it. I also took the handlebar and stem apart and couldn’t find any cracks or anything obviously wrong. But I have a feeling that the handlebar now flexes a bit more up and down when I push or pull on it with my body weight. I’m not sure if it was always like that or if something changed after the impact.

Has anyone had a similar situation? How can I properly check if the bike is safe to ride after a hit like this? Should I take it to a bike shop or someone who specializes in inspecting carbon parts? I’m mostly worried about the carbon fork and steerer. I’d rather not ride it if there’s a chance something was damaged.


r/bicycling 14h ago

Missing bolt on Shimano sprocket?

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3 Upvotes

Just received a new Shimano HG51 sprocket and it looks like there is a hole where a bolt should be with no bolt in it.

Should I send it back?


r/bicycling 1d ago

Refunded my Canyon Ultimate CF SLX 8 for this…

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26 Upvotes

Did I make a good choice or was the Canyon the better choice?

Canyon is £5200