1st Gen. Lunch Table - General Discussion

I love my surly steamroller. Fixie is fun. Just not that much fun on hills. But mostly flat is killer.

 

If I wanted single gear, I'd buy a golf cart. I like options. And I also like bikes that don't force you to pedal, and most fixies I've ridden aren't SS-FW.

 

We aren't that different on many topics but this one would be one of them. There's something so pure about a fixed gear that is impossible to describe, it's a unique experience for me. It really does help me avoid laziness and work on high rpm pedal efficiency.

Powercranks, on the other hand, while a fantastic training tool, aren't nearly as much fun to ride around with.

Fixie isn't terribly different from a spin bike, you don't coast on those.

 

It's like ... like ... it's almost like BMX, but on a big kid bike frame! And with no chainstay brake for safety!

It'll also kill you if you don't have supplemental brakes and need to stop promptly. I don't think I've ever seen a fixie with a chainstay brake. And forget resting your legs to coast unless you've got SS-FW on the thing, at which point you lose your ability to apply reverse force on the pedals.

Spin bike isn't a moving object, you're not going to die in a collision on one.

To each his own though. I'm not judging, only tossing out there why I think it's silly.

 

On the track, brakes are not allowed. You can only accelerate or decelerate with leg power. It doesn't take long to get very comfortable riding inches away from others in this scenario. Granted, your primary concern as I read it is an automobile? Having ridden my fixie in heavy traffic, it's fine once you're skilled up. I do have a front brake on mine, it stops as good as any other bike. Nobody reasonably advocates riding fixed gear on the road without a front brake.

Rest is for the weak? Hah. I mean, powercranks are way worse in this regard, you can only coast with both pedals at the bottom of the stroke and then it's all of the road vibration straight to your sit bones so that gets old. And it looks dumb. But man they do work those hip flexors.

I've crashed maybe a dozen times on the road, been hit by cars maybe 3 times? At least 2. I've hit a parked car on occasion too (my fault). I wouldn't say any of them are super scary with a proper helmet and gloves. Road rash sucks but outside of high speed descents, 20-25 mph is not typically life threatening and most crashes are in the 15 mph range. Getting run over, though, that's a different story but you really have to be contributing to wind up in a situation like that (no lights at night or riding aggressively in high traffic or just not paying attention).

With a fixie you can pop out of pedals just like any clipless bike (or use cages) so if you need to GTFO you can.

I'd say fixed gear is comparable to MT, some love it, others think it's outdated. I'm in the former camp.

 

What's MT?

 

^^
AKA the primary reason for my Tacoma love.

 

What’s wrong with this picture? 8 degree temp differential?? Definitely feels like 82F.

 

You have your house set to 65? Damn that must be awesome haha $$$

 

Actually, it’s set to 60F (heater only). That’s just the effect of outdoor temps on the inside since it’s not perfectly insulated.

AC is when the windows units get installed when it’s over 90F.

 

We live in completely different worlds. AC is on always, unless it's cold lol
But we also don't set the AC below 74 for cost efficiency. I'd prefer to keep it at 68 if it wouldn't cost a fortune and be more likely to break more often

 

I’d highly doubt you’d need AC December through February. If you did, you may want to think of moving underground to keep cool July and August.

I could see an underground garage with vaulted ceilings to work in being pretty cool.

 

Tell that to Florida

 

44/9 when i was commuting.

 

The water table is too high for them unless they want to dig a hole and submerse a giant fishbowl to live in for their basement. Instant ant farm and views inside your local gopher home.

Realistically for Texas clay soil you could have a floating basement where the basement walls and floor would move with the expansion and contraction of the soil.

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/WKgnR5QQ1Mg?si=xvc4A-UmOVRU2FYt

Whenever someone is attempting to justify their snap-on tool box.

 

Two gears are definitely the way to go...front gear and back gear. Here’s my bike that i’ve raced in quite a few different venues over the years...short track mountain bike, cyclocross, criterion, duathlons, triathlons, plus any other sort of local fun rides on the weekends...or midweek training rides. I did the 200+ mile seattle to portland bike ride last year on it. There’s just something about both racing and riding a BMX at non bicycle motocross events.

 

how about a plastic inner fender liner with a broken clip. car gets to just the right speed, that liner starts moving (thumping) from wind/vortex action. Get outside "the zone" and the plastic liner regains it's shape & sets back in place.

 

If you can find clay under your house. My house has maybe 2ft of usable soil/clay. It then turns into solid rock. Atleast that's what my house has under it

also A/C at 76/77 seems to be the sweet spot as far as coolness in the casa vs not wanting to just end myself when I look at my bill.

 

You have any issues with radon, or is it limestone or some shit?

 

Maybe lime?? Not a geologist but I do know they gotta clear some massive boulders to build on the side of town I'm on. There's multiple quarries around me as well

 

Like a liiimestone cowboyyyyyy….

 

In pasadena we hit the watertable digging down for a basketball goal. & i saw people float their in-ground pools just trying to clean em.

i'm on rocks now. & the deepest ive gotten by hand is about 4ft.

 

Only one Limestone Cowboy in Texas

 

Here if you run into a large, unwieldy granite boulder building a foundation they generally split it into smaller pieces with explosives and haul it away. I don’t think it’s cheap but anything is possible.

https://youtu.be/7Xz4RPR9P9o?feature=shared

 

Water table here is pretty high. Dug a hole today checking on my septic system.

 

Y'all see this video???

https://youtu.be/JJ5OrSu79Ck?si=jiNWWntLO6-mq6FG

around 14:40. He says it. And a pic a first gen pops up

"BEST GENERATION TUNDRA"

 

Do you need one of those above ground septic mounds for the high water table? I’ve seen a few. Not really asthetically pleasing.

 

14:32, he says what we already knew. I’m rhyming and stealing.