Cycling Thread 2

[Icantwhisper]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Aside from CP buy/sell, kijiji, FB marketplace, is there is a place in Calgary where people post classifieds for bike items/components to sell? About to get a new bike but I'm going to swap a bunch of the OEM components out (2 by crank to 1 by etc.) and have a bunch of brand new leftovers like a cassette too as well as things that have collected over the years.

Pinkbike

[Fuzz]

Ya, Pinkbike is the only one I can think of.

[Flames0910]

Anyone doing or have experience with the L’etape ride out near Edmonton? Thinking of booking a last minute ticket before my bike fitness goes to #### in the fall lol.

https://www.letapecanada.com/course

[Deegee]

Flames0910 I think it was a different route last year as they tried to do it in the City. The roads are in pretty good quality out that way - I ride them often. I have a really hard time paying that fee to ride those roads, however, as the club I'm a part of rides them every Saturday. So, I'm skipping it.

A good experience for those wanting to ride in Edmonton is the Urban Fondo, they shut the roads down and it's multiple laps and some of the fastest riding I've ever experienced. It was hard for me to start my last lap before they pulled people - if you don't start your last lap by 3 hours 20 minutes in you get pulled and it had two good climbs. It happens in June.

[RichieRich]

Looking for largest volume cycling water bottle... anyone know if there's a 32oz/950ml (or larger?) that fits it most frame bottle holders. I realize the bottle won't fit in some/many smaller size frames or MTB frames w/ shocks. Open to recommendations. These 750ml ones aren't enough for some of the long and/or hot days in Calgary, BC, or long spin classes.

[Wormius]

If you don’t object to backpacks, maybe look into camelpak / platypus if you need a larger capacity? I have a 3 litre platypus, usually fill it with 1/3 ice and the rest water.

Maybe just go with a large Nalgene for spin classes.

[Icantwhisper]

Become a tri athlete and get one of those buckets between your tri bars

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Wormius

If you don’t object to backpacks, maybe look into camelpak / platypus if you need a larger capacity? I have a 3 litre platypus, usually fill it with 1/3 ice and the rest water.

Maybe just go with a large Nalgene for spin classes.

Foam dome's would also work.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

Looking for largest volume cycling water bottle... anyone know if there's a 32oz/950ml (or larger?) that fits it most frame bottle holders. I realize the bottle won't fit in some/many smaller size frames or MTB frames w/ shocks. Open to recommendations. These 750ml ones aren't enough for some of the long and/or hot days in Calgary, BC, or long spin classes.

Best I've managed to find at a reasonable price are about 880ml: https://www.amazon.ca/Polar-Bottle-B...%2C1012&sr=8-2

I've been happy with them...I leave them about 1/3 full in the freezer

[Ryan Coke]

https://www.amazon.ca/Zefal-Magnum-P...g%2C144&sr=1-9

I’ve heard good things about the zefal. There are some different options on Amazon.

[RichieRich]

Did the backpack thing w/ bladder for years on the MTB. Went with a hip belt and it's been MUCH better, but it's not for everyone. Moreso though I'm wanting the larger volume for the road bike and also my MTB has enough room for those extra volumes (and less on the hips then). Have more than enough 750ml bottles that are nearing end of life so time for "upgrading" to 1-2 big volume bottles. Gotta say I just love the Polar lids which you can lock closed so they don't leak.

[RichieRich]

Zefal for the win!! (I think)


dagnabbit... no speedy Prime delivery...

[Deegee]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

Looking for largest volume cycling water bottle... anyone know if there's a 32oz/950ml (or larger?) that fits it most frame bottle holders. I realize the bottle won't fit in some/many smaller size frames or MTB frames w/ shocks. Open to recommendations. These 750ml ones aren't enough for some of the long and/or hot days in Calgary, BC, or long spin classes.

https://www.trekbikes.com/ca/en_CA/e...ottle/p/44780/

These fit on the diagonal cage, but are too tall for the vertical cage. I usually refill it up from the vertical bottle when it runs out on longer rides. Fits snug with no issues.

Was able to pick them up in local stores here.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

Looking for largest volume cycling water bottle... anyone know if there's a 32oz/950ml (or larger?) that fits it most frame bottle holders. I realize the bottle won't fit in some/many smaller size frames or MTB frames w/ shocks. Open to recommendations. These 750ml ones aren't enough for some of the long and/or hot days in Calgary, BC, or long spin classes.

That's the point where you look at the other mounting points on your bike (common on some MTBs, many gravel bikes, many endurance/bikepacking bikes) and add another bottle cage. If not, there are add on bottle cage holders that are part of a saddle bag, or clamp onto your seatpost.

I was looking at this last week: https://www.mec.ca/en/product/6024-7...e?colour=Black

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Ryan Coke

My checkpoint I am happy with, and it is a fairly flexible on types of usage. Fairly fast, but still has the ability to add a bunch of mounts. If I bought again I’d probably move farther into the racier bike though, as I don’t have any desire to bike pack.

I finally got my Trek Checkpoint SL5 after the warranty replacement of the crank from The Bike Shop (I had to pay for half). They had substituted a different crank instead of GRX during pandemic shortages.

The checkpoint is plenty fast! I feel more comfortable pushing fast speeds on the checkpoint because of the gravel tires than my light but twitchy road bike.

The only thing with all the mount points is I've already lost one or two of the plastic plugs that go into all the mount point holes.

This is my first real gravel bike, not sure where to take it yet, I don't have any friends that do any gravel biking.

[Ryan Coke]

Agree, it is fast, I won a gravel race on mine a few weeks back. And the way bigger tires smooth out the road and give more confidence in corners it gives more confidence at high speed. It doesn’t match my road bike for pure speed on pavement, but it really only matters if you’re competing. And while one of the Trek’s selling points is it’s versatility, if I were to buy again I might move right up against the racing side of the spectrum of gravel bikes as that’s what much of my use case is, as opposed to riding single track or bike packing. But the Checkpoint is still a race capable bike, for sure.

Those stupid plastic boss plugs though! That’s a fail by trek. It’s a chronic issue for everyone with that bike. The plugs on the forks seem to stay in fine, but a bunch of the ones on the frame are terrible. You can get plastic nuts that weigh almost nothing, but they still have heads that stick out which I don’t like. The bike shop gave me a bunch of extra plugs they had laying around of different styles, and some of them did a better job of staying in. Trek really should just provide some better ones that don’t fall out.

[Ryan Coke]

https://gravelmap.com/#_=9.67/51.0128/-113.9813

Here is a map of gravel areas people have marked out, it’s a great resource to help plan some rides.

[Deegee]

http://www.ertc.org/crokenclassic - Plug for the club I'm a member of. They put on this gravel event yearly. It's not a race, but you can ride it like one I guess. It's pretty cheap at $50.00 entry and there is a 63km route and a 103km route.

Ride with GPS has some gravel routes too, and you can download GPX files without a premium membership.

https://ridewithgps.com/find#search/...%5Bsort_by%5D=

Thanks for link above Ryan, I've been trying to get my road buddy (who lives in Calgary) to take his gravel bike off the trainer some time, some route ideas will help if I can convince him and come down for a rip.

[Ryan Coke]

Have you done the Kroken? I am considering doing it. How bad is the gravel? I’ve read some stuff about how deep and loose it is along there. Not that it would keep me from doing it, just curious.

It looks like a fun end of season ride.

[Deegee]

I have not done it, but I have read the same that there are some parts with challenging gravel due to the gradient of the climbing. That said, I'll be signing up for the full distance and worrying about those details later.