Best (and Worst) Cycling Doo-dads

[AmpedCycle]

The worst would have to be the specialized water bottle cage that rattled off of my frame. The little velcro strap that holds my framepump that got torn. The "sigma" cyclocomputer that started reading the numbers in chinese and couldn't be fixed. The little tire levers that got bent.

 

[mikesbytes]

Probably a bit of a dumb question, but what's so bad about Biopace chainrings?

Instead of having round front chainrings, they were oval, so that there was more chain pulled during part of the stroke and less at the rest of the stroke.

 

[xxamr_corpxx]

Instead of having round front chainrings, they were oval, so that there was more chain pulled during part of the stroke and less at the rest of the stroke.

What was the supposed benefits of that?

 

[mikesbytes]

What was the supposed benefits of that?

The theory was that you have different strength at different positions in the stroke, so it applied more force when you are stronger in the stroke and less force where you are weaker in the stroke. Haven't seen them for sale in years.

 

[PeterF]

Best: Sram Powerlinks, Jtek shiftmate, zip ties, lock-on grips, dualco grease gun, dremel tool, Loctite brand epoxy, Kool stop pads, rock-n-roll extreme chain lube

Worst: normal grips, t9 chain lube, white lightning lube, presta-to-schrader converter thingies, bontrager tires, nokon housing, patch kits, cable cutters

there is more, just can't think of anything else for now

I agree about the Nokon's. Expensive, a royal pain to install, the front derailleur housing crimps and looks terrible, the shifting on my Record group has never been sloppier and all for what? A few grams in weight savings. I'm going back to Record cables and the Nokon's are going on my b-bike so I can watch them tarnish and not care..

 

[tetsuryuu]

The theory was that you have different strength at different positions in the stroke, so it applied more force when you are stronger in the stroke and less force where you are weaker in the stroke. Haven't seen them for sale in years.

Can't remember the company who makes them, but these are definitely still around; Bobby Julich has been using them to seemingly good effect...

 

[AmpedCycle]

Can't remember the company who makes them, but these are definitely still around; Bobby Julich has been using them to seemingly good effect...

I saw these cranks on a TDF bike... can't remember the rider. I think it was CSC.

 

[John M]

I saw these cranks on a TDF bike... can't remember the rider. I think it was CSC.

The oval chainring concept has been around for decades and the latest resurgences are in the form or Rotor rings and in the Harmonics (which Julich used).

I used Shimano's road biopace rings back in the 80's because they came on a bike I bought. I used the rings until they wore out and couldn't tell much of a difference between them and the round rings that I had used before or since.

 

[Rcyc58]

Best

• Girvin Flexstem, Vibration damping benefit of shocks without the weight.
• LED lights

Rcyc58

 

[sansabar]

Maybe not the best but one that I miss. I have a long dirt driveway and choose to carry my bike to the road. I was once able to use a small pack that attached to the seat tube and top tube which allowed for a shoulder pad (actually what it was made for). My LeMond with the exposed cables does not allow for this so I had to say "bye".