Sizing flat-bar roadies & opinions on Avanti Blade 8



suzyj wrote:
> Hi guys,
>
> I dropped in to Northside Cyclery last night and bought a medium Blade
> Eight.


---- SNIP ----

> All in all, I'm awfully close to commuter nirvana.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Suzy
>
>


Well, that should put paid too any desire to
to r*nning then!

I've got a bit of a break from racing so I thought
I'd do some upper body weights this week. Still
can't completely straighten my arms after Tuesday.....

DeF.


--
e-mail: d.farrow@your finger.murdoch.edu.au
To reply, you'll have to remove your finger.
 
> Well, that should put paid too any desire to
> to r*nning then!
>
> I've got a bit of a break from racing so I thought
> I'd do some upper body weights this week. Still
> can't completely straighten my arms after Tuesday.....
>
> DeF.
>

Duncan, does that mean you're not riding the Bibra Lake 16km TT on Good
Friday? Was looking forward to comparing times with you. This'll be my
first TT in over 25 years!!! I must have forgotten what the pain of riding
a TT can be like. :eek:)

Graeme
 
Grazza wrote:
>> Well, that should put paid too any desire to
>> to r*nning then!
>>
>> I've got a bit of a break from racing so I thought
>> I'd do some upper body weights this week. Still
>> can't completely straighten my arms after Tuesday.....
>>
>> DeF.
>>

> Duncan, does that mean you're not riding the Bibra Lake 16km TT on Good
> Friday? Was looking forward to comparing times with you. This'll be my
> first TT in over 25 years!!! I must have forgotten what the pain of riding
> a TT can be like. :eek:)
>
> Graeme
>
>


Oh, I'll be there alright and I'll be giving it
a red-hot-go. I want to improve on last year's
effort (my first ITT for "many years"). It's just
down the road from where I live so it was a shame
to see the regular Tuesday night TTs disappear a
while back.

DeF.

--
e-mail: d.farrow@your finger.murdoch.edu.au
To reply, you'll have to remove your finger.
 
suzyj said:
Hi guys,

I dropped in to Northside Cyclery last night and bought a medium Blade Eight. They also had a Specialised Crossroads there, but I don't really go for super-wide tyres, and I thought the pushbutton gear levers were a bit on the cheesy side, so I went with the Blade.

They swapped the seatpost for a Kalloy non-suspension one (the suspension seatpost it comes with can only be described as dinky), and I got them to put Shimano PD-M324 SPD/cage pedals on.

All-up cost was $980. Once I got home I put a Flite saddle on, and removed the plastic chain-guard.

It's geared 38/18, which is a touch low - when the chainring wears out, I'll replace the cranks with some nice Miche or similar track ones, and run a 42 odd tooth chainwheel. The cranks it came with are about an inch wider than they need to be.

It's a real hoot to ride. I bought the medium, which is 57cm long. The geometry is quite close to what I'd do if I were designing the frame. The wheels are pretty good, the quality of finish on the frame is extraordinary, and the parts (with the exception of the seatpost) are of good quality.

I've got a little money left over, so I'm going to order a Nexus dyno hub for the front. I also need to get new mounting hardware for my rack, as the frame is quite compact, and the rack mounts are a long way down. I'll probably take a few inches off the handlebars on the weekend, as they're on the wide side.

Riding it to work this morning was a blast. It handles really well. I keep reaching down to the downtube to change gears, as well as looking at the cog to see what gear I'm in. The gear range is reasonably wide, but it's lacking a tad in the top end.

All in all, I'm awfully close to commuter nirvana.

Cheers,

Suzy

Excellent. be interested to read on your dynamo and Inter8 hub trevails over the next years+...

PS what colour? I'm betting they didnt have one in white!!! :D
 
FD wrote:

> Excellent. be interested to read on your dynamo and
> Inter8 hub trevails over the next years+...

> PS what colour? I'm betting they didnt have one in white!!! :D

They only do it in matte black. So far it's been pretty good. I took it on a Bikenorth group ride on Sunday and managed to keep up with the roadies, but spent almost the whole time in 6th, 7th, and 8th gear. It comes with a 38 tooth chainwheel and an 18 tooth cog, so the gear range is 30"-91", which is way low. I've got a spare Record track crankset with a 47 tooth chainwheel that would give me a 37"-113" range, which should improve matters, except that the bike is stealth black, and fitting _shiny_ cranks might look a little weird. I see that I can get Sugino 75's in black though...

Fitting my rack (a tubus stainless one) was a challenge, as the rack mounts are a long way down (it being a compact frame and all). I ended up having to make some attachment pieces for the rack from 10mm aluminium rod.

According to Australia Post, my Nexus dyno hub and light (I splurged and bought a Schmidt E6) arrived in Sydney this morning, so I should have them in my hot little hands any day :)

Cheers,

Suzy
 
suzyj said:
They only do it in matte black. So far it's been pretty good. I took it on a Bikenorth group ride on Sunday and managed to keep up with the roadies, but spent almost the whole time in 6th, 7th, and 8th gear. It comes with a 38 tooth chainwheel and an 18 tooth cog, so the gear range is 30"-91", which is way low. I've got a spare Record track crankset with a 47 tooth chainwheel that would give me a 37"-113" range, which should improve matters, except that the bike is stealth black, and fitting _shiny_ cranks might look a little weird. I see that I can get Sugino 75's in black though...

Fitting my rack (a tubus stainless one) was a challenge, as the rack mounts are a long way down (it being a compact frame and all). I ended up having to make some attachment pieces for the rack from 10mm aluminium rod.

According to Australia Post, my Nexus dyno hub and light (I splurged and bought a Schmidt E6) arrived in Sydney this morning, so I should have them in my hot little hands any day :)

Cheers,

Suzy

mmm. matt black. the NEW black... :rolleyes:

PS i saw in C+ a little while back a nifty lil' thingamabob that was basically a seatpost collar with rack eyelets in it for just such scenarios

cant find link/info at the mo ...
 
suzyj wrote:
> They only do it in matte black. So far it's been pretty good. I took
> it on a Bikenorth group ride on Sunday and managed to keep up with the
> roadies, but spent almost the whole time in 6th, 7th, and 8th gear.


Hi Suzy,

Which ride did you do on Sunday? The "medium fitness ride" or the one
out to Parramatta? If you did the former, what was the route? The Bike
North web site doesn't have any details about it.
 
Petulance wrote:

> Which ride did you do on Sunday? The "medium fitness ride"
> or the one out to Parramatta? If you did the former, what
> was the route? The Bike North web site doesn't have any
> details about it.

It was Keith's fitness ride. The website is usually vague about the fitness ride entries as they can go anywhere. On Sunday, we started at the junction of the M2 and Pennant Hills Road, and simply trundled down the M2/M7 to the M4 and back again.

Cheers,

Suzy
 
In aus.bicycle on Wed, 5 Apr 2006 11:01:17 +1000
suzyj <[email protected]> wrote:
> It was Keith's fitness ride. The website is usually vague about the
> fitness ride entries as they can go anywhere. On Sunday, we started at
> the junction of the M2 and Pennant Hills Road, and simply trundled down
> the M2/M7 to the M4 and back again.


So how fit to be on a fitness ride?

I've been looking at the rides on BNSW site, and they seem to come in
"very slow" and "don't even think about it" with not much in between.

Zebee
 
Zebee wrote:

> So how fit to be on a fitness ride?

> I've been looking at the rides on BNSW site, and they seem to come in
> "very slow" and "don't even think about it" with not much in between.

In general, Bikenorth medium rides are relatively easy. A typical medium ride would be 40-50km, at a pace of about 22-25km/h, with maybe four or five stops.

The fitness ride on the weekend was slightly faster and longer, but was quite flat.

Cheers,

Suzy
 
suzyj wrote:
> Petulance wrote:
>
> > Which ride did you do on Sunday? The "medium fitness ride"
> > or the one out to Parramatta? If you did the former, what
> > was the route? The Bike North web site doesn't have any
> > details about it.

>
> It was Keith's fitness ride. The website is usually vague about the
> fitness ride entries as they can go anywhere. On Sunday, we started at
> the junction of the M2 and Pennant Hills Road, and simply trundled down
> the M2/M7 to the M4 and back again.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Suzy
>
>


Thanks. Without actually having ridden on the M2/M4/M7, I have to say
it sounds pretty boring from a non-fitness ride point of view.

Hmmm, I have a choice of the "Three Gorges Pie" or "Pie in the Sky
Ride" this weekend.

I want to give my 12-27 cassette a work out (but I really should look
at the chain/deraileur first as it is making a clunking sound in 5th
gear)
 
I've also bought an Avanti Blade 8, fitted with the same pedals (Shimano PD-M324 SPD/pedal cage). Picked it up Saturday, then fitted the mudguards, rack and lights from another bike. I've still got the original seat, and like Snuffy I find the surface a bit grippy.

Rode it to work yesterday, 26km from Glen Waverley to the City, using mostly roads for the first half, then Gardiners / Yarra paths for the second half. Took about 2 minutes off the journey time of my MTB. It felt odd going back to the narrow tyres I used to use on my old 10 speed. The gear range is good for what I do - only occasionally do I use the top or bottom gears.

Next step is to buy some SPD shoes.

Chatted with a guy on the way home who told me about a small group who travel in together, a few minutes earlier than my morning commute. I should meet up with them, check out their alternate route and see how much faster it is in a group.
 
Ghostgum wrote:

> I've also bought an Avanti Blade 8, fitted with the same pedals

Awesome stuff. I built my new Shimano DH-3N71 dynamo hub on the weekend and fitted it and a Shmidt E6 light to the bike. Last night was my first after-dark commute with a hub dynamo, and I've gotta say, I'm impressed. I can't perceive any increase in effort with the dynamo hub, and it's totally silent. I just get a really good, beautifully focussed beam of light down the road.

I think the blade eight with a dynamo hub is a really fantastic combination for commuting. minimal fuss, no need to remember to charge batteries, minimal maintenance, and it works a treat.

Cheers,

Suzy
 
suzyj said:
I built my new Shimano DH-3N71 dynamo hub on the weekend and fitted it and a Shmidt E6 light to the bike.

How much did the hub and light cost? Did you build the wheel yourself? Could the dynamo be used to power an LED light?
 
Ghostgum wrote:

> How much did the hub and light cost?

I bought the hub and light from Sheldon Brown. The light was US$100, and the hub was US$90. Since then, I found out that they can be had from St.Kilda cycles as well.

> Did you build the wheel yourself?

Yup - for reference, the rims that come with the Blade eight (alexrims DH-16) have the same ERD as Open-Pros (605mm). I used 290mm spokes, and ended up using a spare Open-pro that I had kicking around, so that I can swap the normal front wheel back for Summer.

> Could the dynamo be used to power an LED light?

Yes. As a quick and dirty, one can simply rectify the AC from the hub and connect a Luxeon-III. You'll only get about 1.5W though, as the hub puts out about 500mA RMS. I managed to get a spice model for a Schmidt hub (very similar to the Shimano one, but slightly more efficient) and am currently working on circuitry to drive my 3W LED.

Cheers,

Suzy
 
suzyj said:
Ghostgum wrote:
> Could the dynamo be used to power an LED light?

Yes. As a quick and dirty, one can simply rectify the AC from the hub and connect a Luxeon-III. You'll only get about 1.5W though, as the hub puts out about 500mA RMS. I managed to get a spice model for a Schmidt hub (very similar to the Shimano one, but slightly more efficient) and am currently working on circuitry to drive my 3W LED.
A fellow engineer it seems. Please let me know how it goes.

My searching found a review of several dyno hubs, performed at a competitor's facility.
http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com/VBQgenerator.pdf
 
On 2006-04-11, suzyj (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> Yes. As a quick and dirty, one can simply rectify the AC from the hub
> and connect a Luxeon-III. You'll only get about 1.5W though, as the
> hub puts out about 500mA RMS. I managed to get a spice model for a
> Schmidt hub (very similar to the Shimano one, but slightly more
> efficient) and am currently working on circuitry to drive my 3W LED.


Tee hee hee. Nerd.

I wonder what symbol a hub would be in a GUI interface to spice?

--
TimC
Obviously, "Mother Nature" disagrees with your assessment that money
equates with success. I wonder who will win the argument? -- someone on /.