1st Gen. Lunch Table - General Discussion

$8900, S.C. 4x4 not bad! not mine

 

Had a gravel “race” yesterday.

47.8 miles, 51°, rainy, 20+ mph winds, 22 grades over 5%, 3600ft of climbing total. Absolutely brutal- especially considering that my bike is not a gravel bike. My total time was 4:36, 5 of those minutes being stopped. Not terrible, I think?



At least I won the skinniest tire award.

 

IDK…I’ve done 28 miles leisurely in a little over 90 minutes but that was a paved flat bike trail in ideal weather so mostly considering the grade and elevation on gravel, it sounds really good.

 

Thanks. I think if I had been on an actual gravel bike my time would’ve been under 4 hours. I usually love descending but I couldn’t go fast safely.

Have I told you guys about my bike before? It has a cool story.

 

I don’t recall. I bought my no name 26 lb hybrid mountain bike at a bike shop. Nothing special.

 

So I bought it from a family friend for like $350 a few years ago. I knew it was a Trek 5200 or 5500, and that it had been raced semi-professionally when it was new, but that was about it. It’s a cool bike- all carbon frame, Dura-Ace groupset, can’t weigh more than 14lbs.


But I recently realized that I’d never seen another Trek 5000 series bike with the same paint or stickers as mine. I couldn’t find any results at all online. I ended up calling the Trek corporate offices in Waterloo, Wi, and my serial number didn’t come up in their system.

I sent them some photos of the bike, and it turns out that it’s a 2003 Trek 5500 Series One. Trek’s Series One program allows a very limited amount of customers to pay an obscene amount of money to customize a bike exactly how they want it, down to the paint, stickers, and whatever parts Trek can get their hands on. This bike is one of about 14 made that year, and is probably worth $5-6000. I was absolutetly losing my mind for a couple days when I found that out.

 

Nice! Sounds like a great buy. I’ve only ridden an all-carbon fiber bike at least once to try it out. It was great for the weight but a little beyond what I was willing to pay new.

My $300 no-name bike is probably worth less than zero but at least it has a comfortable seat which is primarily why I bought mine. Still have it for when I need to occasionally use it.

I did own a $2500 2002 Cannondale Jekyll full-suspension MB for a few years that I sold after I got out of mountain biking regularly with a couple friends for about 1/2 of what I paid. I kind of miss it but couldn’t justify keeping it around.

 

Looping back on this one for input if anyone has it, while I reach out to two other people I know more familiar with 10ish year old Jeeps.

My buddy's Cherokee Laredo with 46k miles on it, mostly city ... helped him change the rear diff fluid today. 80w90 dino out back, with a couple oz of slip modifier, per advice from two aforementioned Jeep nuts. No change to the weird floorboard thump feeling.

While on a test drive after fluid change, I paid a little better attention. The thumping is tapered, i.e. it's usually less than 6-8 thumps, going from quiet to louder, back to quiet. It only happens between 2-10mph. It's coming from the right rear, it's worst & loudest on right-hand turns. It also seems to show if he is at a full stop, starts to accelerate, then lets off the gas.

It's not the typical popping you'd hear with a front CV, but I've never owned or worked on a car with rear CVs, so maybe it's the CV? But, seriously, a CV going out at barely 10 years and less than 50k miles? Maybe it's a "Jeep thing"?

Two other things I noticed while he was driving, other than it having warped rotors:

• Popping/hissing (expansion sounds) coming from behind the dash when the A/C is on
• A "wet finger across glass" or "rubber across glass" whining sound at slow speeds - imagine someone dipping their finger in water and rubbing it forward across a pane of glass, that's the sound

I think he's just going to run it to the local Goodyear chain store and have them check it out. I feel bad I can't tell the guy what's wrong with it. The SUV is in mint condition other than the issues I just pointed out.

 

This is my favorite kind of bike sometimes. It works. It gets the job done. Would it suck if it got stolen? Yeah, but it’s not like it’s $1000+.

Before I got my nice road bike all of my bikes were like that. The only reason I have to keep my road bike around is because I really like it.

 

I was going to tell you, you'd probably fare better with some 700x35 or 700x38, but I highly doubt you'll be able to squeeze em in between those DA calipers

But in all honesty, just don't. I wouldn't use a carbon bike for gravel. One wipeout and that frame is potentially cracked/fucked and you have a bike that's worth the sum of its parts minus the frame, i.e. the group, basically. Not what you want out of a collector's item! That's on in tens of thousands for the year.

That's pretty awesome. Honestly, you'd be well-served to sell it to a collector. Someone out there will want it. 2003 is on the edge of vintage, and you may have some luck with it at BikeForums or listing on fleaBay for "local pickup only".

Then turn around and buy something suited to gravel, if that's your thing. Something CrMo like Bill said, or Ti, and move on.

I recently picked up a fun find. Pretty sure it's a '96 Cdale M500 rigid fork. I legitimately don't think this thing weights much over 20lb as equipped. It's on par with my 90s-era all-Ti (Reynolds 753) road frame with an ultra light saddle and extremely light wheelset that weighs in around 18.5lb. I need to see if I can stuff some 700c in it, if so I may convert it to gravel. It's so damn light, I can bunny hop the damn thing about 14-16" with little effort. So light I'd be scared af to bomb anything substantial with it.

​

 

Trust me- I did not want to use this bike for this race. I was told that it would be pretty flat actually, my dad signed me up for it. I was planning on using my hardtail mountain bike, but there’s no way that was going to happen.

I swapped out the 23c road race tires that were on it for some 25c commuting tires and ran them at 80psi. It worked okay, but never again.

I’ve thought about selling it, but I ride on the road significantly more than gravel. My dad also has a Project One 5200, it’s got his name and stuff on it. Having matching bikes is honestly so much fun.

And that Cannondale is awesome- that era of late 90s/early 00s is by far my favorite era of bikes. I love how even mountain bikes are light as a feather. This summer I’m hoping to build something like that into the ultimate commuter bike for school.

 

Sounds somewhat like a wheel bearing. It can also cause that warped rotor feel.

Could be the differential as well.

 

If I were to describe the thumping, imagine someone was taking a 5lb hammer to the sidewall of the tire while driving. Only at low speeds. Especially while turning right from a complete stop. It feels like it's at the rear passenger tire specifically.

I've never experienced a bad wheel bearing to do that, but I probably haven't seen nearly as many as I suspect you have. I'm accustomed to wubwubwubwub drone and occasionally vibration at specific speeds. But again, I have zero Chrysler/Jeep/Eagle/Dodge experience, and I dunno, maybe they're different somehow, in ways I'm ignorant. I trust your judgment waaaaay more than mine on this one.

 

Brake job on the Wife's Edge coming up. NAPA wanted nearly that total for just the front (Premium) rotors and pads.
I've been happy with the powerstop stuff I used before. I even spoiled myself with some fancy purple grease
ANY tips on those twist in calipers would be appreciated (foreshadowing?)

 

Oh and fun story. I've been loving that ICON light you recommended, and today I left it magnetized onto my buddy's rear passenger spring after swapping diff fluid. Buttoned everything up, then test drove it to see if it stopped the noise. We probably drove 5 miles, bumpy ass roads, all over the place. We got back and about 15 minutes after he parked on the street and I walked back home, I realized, "Ah fuck, my light!"

Little bastard was still clinging to the rear passenger spring when I crawled under the bumper. Relieved I didn't need to buy another one. I do wish the brightest light output lasted more than 30-45 minutes, but grateful the lowest setting lasts for hours. Great reco!

 

I've got one of these that gets the job done.
https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/BK_7769037

 

Thanks, Love a tool that isn't $100 too

 

Got a wide road with little/minimal traffic nearby? Try weaving left and right fairly hard while going 5-10mph, while its making the noise. If it goes away with the wheel unloaded and/or gets worse with it loaded, it'll tell you more about where it's coming from.

If no change, it's probably not a wheel bearing.

Yeah, great little lights. I typically only use the low setting and don't charge for weeks at a time. But I only need it occasionally.

 

It's weird because it never lasts for more than 6-8 "knocks", basically 2-3 quiet, increasing to 2-3 louder, then fading out with 2-3 more. I'm curious what a rear CV would feel like, since I've never had a vehicle with a rear CV. CV shaft on passenger rear is clearly rusted more than I'd expect, which I thought was weird, but boots are intact. No evidence of slign.

 

Nice bike @FiatRunner !
My good friend, an ex bike racer, does gravel racing on his hardtail. Sometimes you run out of gear on road descents but otherwise he crushes it. Especially on dirt but that’s where there is a decent advantage.

I have some 2” slicks on a cannondale which I love for mixed road / dirt riding. That bike is my do-everything option. Helps that it has a triple chainring setup.

Then I have a real hardtail 1x mountain bike which is used less.

carbon bikes are wonderful to ride. I’m all steel now, then the one aluminum canondale. Just prefer the durability. But, unlike shifty, If that Trek fits well I’d keep it for your road bike.

gravel bikes are easy to find now. Decent value. But a regular hardtail is still a great bike and lots out there used with near zero use. Lazy people are going full suspension or e-bike to dumb down the hard stuff for ‘gram points.

 

Rigid all the way. I just sold a late 90s Cdale F500i to a guy in the DC/VA area a week or two ago. With the RockShox Indy or Judy or whatever, not their HeadShok or whatever it was called. That suspension fork lone probably added 5lbs to the thing. Granted, it was still comparably light to what's out there today, but this M500 is liiiiiiiight.

 

Speaking of bikes. Any of y'all ride fixies??? My friends got into that like 10years ago. I never did, but watching the wipe out vids and dudes flying down the highways on fixed gear bikes is still some of the coolest footage over ever seen.

 

I'm not a hipster, I'm a curmudgeony butthole who rides anything 20+ years old, without newfangled mechanics, and some semblance of gears. Closest I get to fixed is IHG.

 

My first bike was a 12" fixie. I kept it long after i outgrew it, because i was the only one that could pedal backwards.

 

What kind of bike? I almost hydrolocked my Honda yesterday. Good times.

 

44/13 rings in my head for my racing bike...

 

fixed gear not seized gears

 

I'll never be one of those triple chainring haters. Both of my bikes are set up with one- I love it. My road bike actually has a triple setup- it's obvious that it was raced in hilly Wisconsin.

 

Single speeds are cool. But fixies? Nah. Sounds like a hospital ticket to me.

 

The bike couriers on fixies are either superhuman or super stupid, not sure which