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Schwinn vs Huffy



 
 
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  #41  
Old December 30th 04, 01:55 AM
Tom Sherman
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Mark Weaver wrote:

...
I bought one of those for my kid. Heck of a deal, IMHO. Frame seems fine,
components are the same as on low end LBS bikes. My kid (like a lot of
13-year-olds) doesn't take care of things very well, leaves the bike out in
the rain, often forgets to take a lock, etc, so I was happy to be able to
get a pretty decent bike for such a small sum....


When I was 13, my bicycle was a Peugeot P-8 purchased new from Andrew
Muzi/Yellow Jersey that cost ~$260 (IIRC). This was a small fortune (for
me), and you can be assured I took care of it.

When I outgrew it in my late teens, I passed it on to a relative who
commuted on it for 10+ years, until it was destroyed by a pick-up truck
driver running a stop sign. Otherwise, I expect it would still be in use
2+ decades later.

This was the low-end of the Peugeot range, but the ride, handling,
weight, braking and shifting performance made it much more enjoyable to
ride than the ~$80 hardware store "10-speed" it replaced.

--
Tom Sherman - Near Rock Island

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  #42  
Old December 30th 04, 02:17 AM
OliverS
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PSB wrote:
Ron Hardin wrote:

I generally get 6 years before that happens, and the current one
looks to be going strong for more years yet.



I was hoping you would ring in Ron.

The thing about the Huffy I was looking at has knobby tires. The Schwinn
didn't have knobbies.

What do you recommend Ron, knobbies or slicks?

Thanks.

Rolling resistance comes from distortion of the tire and the surface. A
steel wheel on a steel rail has the least rolling resistance.

Knobby tires have significantlly greater rolling resistance than a
smooth tire. Likewise high pressure tires have less rolling resistance
than soft tires. The most important thing is to get a bike that fits.
If it has knobby tires, change them to something smoother. I love
Avocet Cross tires 700x35 for general purpose riding and touring. The
inverted tread has low rolling resistance on a smooth surface, and has
some grip on dirt roads and paths. They are a little bit on the
expensive side though. If you are commuting, you do not want knobbies,
unless you are purposely trying to increase your calorie burn.

Oliver

--
Cheers! OliverS
When replying personally, remove "_nospam_"

"When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of
the human race." HG Wells
  #43  
Old December 30th 04, 04:03 AM
A Muzi
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Ron Hardin Wrote:
Every 10k miles or so, replace BB chainwheel chain and freewheel
together, when the chain finally starts popping off the chainwheel
startups. Huffy sells replacements over the phone.


meb wrote:
Uh, when you replace that many parts at once isn't that approaching the
price of a comparable new bike? Sounds like unless you've got a cheap
source of parts, at 10k miles it's time to put Huffy to pasture and get
a new Huffy/roadmaster/schwinn unless the faithfull steed has become
part of the family. Might even be cheaper to buy a second as a parts
bike.

Nobody else has chimed in on this issue, but often with a commuter you
have to deal with rain, salt, snow so it's nice to have a bike on hand
that you don't dread getting weathered on. Also, there may be
locations you travel in wherein you want a bike the theives don't
target.

-snip-

Yeah. I was spending way too much time, attention and money
on that sort of thing until I built myself a winter fixed.
Now it's a chain a year, brake pads every 3-4 years, tire
now and again, but no angst. Just celebrated ten years last
month.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971
  #44  
Old December 30th 04, 04:46 AM
A Muzi
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Mark Weaver wrote:
I bought one of those for my kid. Heck of a deal, IMHO. Frame seems
fine,
components are the same as on low end LBS bikes. My kid (like a lot of
13-year-olds) doesn't take care of things very well, leaves the bike
out in
the rain, often forgets to take a lock, etc, so I was happy to be able to
get a pretty decent bike for such a small sum....


Tom Sherman wrote:
When I was 13, my bicycle was a Peugeot P-8 purchased new from Andrew
Muzi/Yellow Jersey that cost ~$260 (IIRC). This was a small fortune (for
me), and you can be assured I took care of it.

When I outgrew it in my late teens, I passed it on to a relative who
commuted on it for 10+ years, until it was destroyed by a pick-up truck
driver running a stop sign. Otherwise, I expect it would still be in use
2+ decades later.

This was the low-end of the Peugeot range, but the ride, handling,
weight, braking and shifting performance made it much more enjoyable to
ride than the ~$80 hardware store "10-speed" it replaced.


That series was robotically fillet brazed and successfully
sold in good volume at $199 to $259 - a price where European
lugged frames were prohibitively expensive at the time.
(Production later moved to ProCycle Canada)

These are sought out by the thrift store cognoscenti. Their
unfiled joints don't look all that sharp but since Peugeot
used a heavier down tube and a much lighter top tube ,
combined with a classic geometry, the handling and 'road
feel' are exceptional. A 'category killer' new at $259 and
once again among the '$20 used ten speeds'.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971
  #45  
Old December 30th 04, 05:21 AM
Mike Kruger
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A Muzi left his web site link, and I wandered over to his
photo of the day.
http://www.yellowjersey.org/daily.html

It's quite the winter cycling photo!

(because this may not be the picture at some later point, I
will describe it: an upside-down iron is substituted for the
saddle. The iron is connected to an auto battery, which is
where the rack trunk would be on my bike.)


  #46  
Old December 30th 04, 05:38 AM
Tom Keats
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In article ,
OliverS writes:

Rolling resistance comes from distortion of the tire and the surface. A
steel wheel on a steel rail has the least rolling resistance.

Knobby tires have significantlly greater rolling resistance than a
smooth tire. Likewise high pressure tires have less rolling resistance
than soft tires. The most important thing is to get a bike that fits.
If it has knobby tires, change them to something smoother. I love
Avocet Cross tires 700x35 for general purpose riding and touring. The
inverted tread has low rolling resistance on a smooth surface, and has
some grip on dirt roads and paths. They are a little bit on the
expensive side though. If you are commuting, you do not want knobbies,
unless you are purposely trying to increase your calorie burn.


Knobbies do make a pleasing 'buzz' on asphalt. Sure, they'll
slow ya down and (heaven forbid) allow other riders to pass ya
sometimes. But if you don't care, it doesn't matter. And there
may be some shortcut scenarios where knobbies come in handy.
Even in urban environs.

One of the worst thing about knobbies is not being able to
run a sidewall generator on them. They can interfere with
fenders, too, on a commuter bike.


cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca
  #48  
Old December 30th 04, 10:21 AM
Ryan Cousineau
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In article ,
(Tom Keats) wrote:

In article ,
OliverS writes:

Rolling resistance comes from distortion of the tire and the surface. A
steel wheel on a steel rail has the least rolling resistance.

Knobby tires have significantlly greater rolling resistance than a
smooth tire. Likewise high pressure tires have less rolling resistance
than soft tires. The most important thing is to get a bike that fits.
If it has knobby tires, change them to something smoother. I love
Avocet Cross tires 700x35 for general purpose riding and touring. The
inverted tread has low rolling resistance on a smooth surface, and has
some grip on dirt roads and paths. They are a little bit on the
expensive side though. If you are commuting, you do not want knobbies,
unless you are purposely trying to increase your calorie burn.


Knobbies do make a pleasing 'buzz' on asphalt. Sure, they'll
slow ya down and (heaven forbid) allow other riders to pass ya
sometimes. But if you don't care, it doesn't matter. And there
may be some shortcut scenarios where knobbies come in handy.
Even in urban environs.


But slicks are soo much nicer to ride on! And better cornering grip. And
better wet-pavement grip. I have a set of Tioga City Slickers, which are
pretty cheap, available at MEC, and they even have gumwalls to satisfy
the purists. The tread is a minimalist road pattern.

Even on packed gravel, I would opt for the slicks over knobbies. About
the only urban surface a knobby can traverse that a slick cannot is a
muddy slope long enough that you can't just power through by
accelerating before you hit the hill. That's a pretty rare thing, even
when making shortcuts.

One of the worst thing about knobbies is not being able to
run a sidewall generator on them. They can interfere with
fenders, too, on a commuter bike.


I love knobbies when I'm playing in the mud. But one of my Boxing Day
finds was a nice rear wheel for $15, which will soon hold the slicks for
my mountain bike, causing quick-change happiness for planned urban
stupidity.

--
Ryan Cousineau,
http://www.wiredcola.com
Verus de parvis; verus de magnis.
  #50  
Old December 30th 04, 01:49 PM
Tom Keats
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In article ,
Ryan Cousineau writes:

Knobbies do make a pleasing 'buzz' on asphalt. Sure, they'll
slow ya down and (heaven forbid) allow other riders to pass ya
sometimes. But if you don't care, it doesn't matter. And there
may be some shortcut scenarios where knobbies come in handy.
Even in urban environs.


But slicks are soo much nicer to ride on! And better cornering grip. And
better wet-pavement grip.


I agree so much, I opt for slicks, myself. All I'm saying is
knobbies aren't totally unusable on pavement.

I have a set of Tioga City Slickers, which are
pretty cheap, available at MEC, and they even have gumwalls to satisfy
the purists. The tread is a minimalist road pattern.


I finally parted ways with my Cheng Shins, after 8-10K kilometers.
I went looking for a new pair of the same, but ended up instead
with IRC Metros, from The Bike Doctor. $11.69 each. They at least
look similar to the Cheng Shins.

....

About
the only urban surface a knobby can traverse that a slick cannot is a
muddy slope long enough that you can't just power through by
accelerating before you hit the hill. That's a pretty rare thing, even
when making shortcuts.


IME knobbies traverse wet, grassy fields better than slicks,
which can go kind of sidewindery. But there might be the
matter of divots.


cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca
 




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