Will a 29er work for college campus commute?

On Oct 21, 11:53 am, Andre Jute wrote:
On Oct 21, 6:55 pm, "(PeteCresswell)" wrote:

Per Dan O:

One of the greatest things about riding a bike is that it lets you go
where other traffic cannot.

There's also danger there.

Last year, coming home from a day on the water windsurfing and
half-fried from the sun/exertion; as I pulled into a huge
traffic jam in front of a bridge's toll gates, I almost acted on
a sudden urge to yank back on the steering wheel, jump the curb
next to me, and go around the whole thing. -)
--
PeteCresswell

Mmm. I'm all for living a little and smashing a few icons. But there's
a difference between rolling dice and spinning a revolver for Russian
roulette. Still, these pretty common self-destructive urges should be
of more interest to psychologists. Perhaps cyclists, in consideration
of their relative lack of armourplating, are lucky as a breed to be
such conformists.


But the conformist here is the one sticking to the roads where all the
"bullets" are.

On Oct 24, 9:41 am, Dan O wrote:
On Oct 21, 11:53 am, Andre Jute wrote:



On Oct 21, 6:55 pm, "(PeteCresswell)" wrote:

Per Dan O:

One of the greatest things about riding a bike is that it lets you go
where other traffic cannot.

There's also danger there.

Last year, coming home from a day on the water windsurfing and
half-fried from the sun/exertion; as I pulled into a huge
traffic jam in front of a bridge's toll gates, I almost acted on
a sudden urge to yank back on the steering wheel, jump the curb
next to me, and go around the whole thing. -)
--
PeteCresswell

Mmm. I'm all for living a little and smashing a few icons. But there's
a difference between rolling dice and spinning a revolver for Russian
roulette. Still, these pretty common self-destructive urges should be
of more interest to psychologists. Perhaps cyclists, in consideration
of their relative lack of armourplating, are lucky as a breed to be
such conformists.

But the conformist here is the one sticking to the roads where all the
"bullets" are.

(Sorry for reply to own post, but this subject line changing to suit
Andre's ego all the time is really annoying.)

On Oct 23, 4:35*pm, thirty-six wrote:
On 23 Oct, 16:35, " wrote:





On Oct 22, 12:14*pm, thirty-six wrote:

On 22 Oct, 15:50, " wrote:

On Oct 21, 11:49*pm, Dan O wrote:

On Oct 21, 8:00 pm, Frank Krygowski wrote:

On Oct 21, 6:37 pm, RonSonic wrote:

Hopping while clipped in is much easier. Apparently BMX and trials guys can make
the bikes stick to their feet or something.

I can do it a bit without clips, but not nearly as easily or as high.

It happens so fast it's nearly unconscious, but I think the physics
goes like this: *Rider jumps up, and pulls handlebars up after
himself. *Mass center of the bike rises while the rear wheel is still
on the ground. *Then the rider pushes down on the bars, to rotate the
bike about its mass center so it's horizontal. *The end effect is two
wheels off the ground.

Good analysis, I think. *I've never practiced it. *I think maybe
there's a forward thrust / rotation of the bars component. *Obviously
the rider cannot "pull up" on unattached pedals (it's definitely all
in the handlebars), but does use the inertia of his body to lift the
bike off the ground.

As a former BMX racer, current BMX dirt jumper, skate park and street
rider and someone with a lean toward trials style on the MTB, I'll
chime in here. *I can hop higher on my BMX, no clips, than I can on
anything I have with clips. *The way I do it is entirely weight
transfer and momentum through the handlebars. *It goes something like
lean back, into a manual (wheelie) that you know would loop out. *When
the bike passes the balance point, throw all your weight forward
(which is now 45 degrees from the ground at a minimum, likely higher,
exactly where depends on the bike).

The basics can be practiced in a much more mild way. *Lean back and
pull up on the bars to get your manual (wheelie) and then shove the
bars forward with all your weight and momentum. *It feels more natural
to throw the weight forward in relation to the ground rather than the
angle of your bike, that's fine for starting out. *The only limiting
factor is it will not allow you to hop higher than you can manual. *Be
sure you are transferring your body weight and momentum into the bars
and over the front wheel and not just pushing with your arms with your
weight still back on the pedals. *The reason we're able to control the
rear of the bike so well when doing this on a BMX with platforms is
there is basically no weight on the pedals at this point, we've thrown
all our weight and momentum into the direction we wish the bike to
go. *The pins on the platform provide sufficient bite into our
sneakers for small adjustments.

Another way to practice is to find a small rise, say 4", that is not
sharp enough to pinch your rear wheel. *Ride up to it and manual your
front wheel on, then throw your weight forward into the bars and lean
forward, lifting your rear wheel up onto the rise. *Once you can do
this, it's just a matter of speeding it up to hop up the same rise.
Then you can work on height. *BTW, practice on things/times/places
that won't get you really hurt or damage your bike (i.e. if you think
you are hopping 5", don't try to hop a 4" curb at an angle in front of
traffic). *You're never going quite as high as you think you are. *The
only way to know is to clear obstacles. *You can start with 2x4's on
their side, if you're not getting the 3.5" you'll knock it over. *Then
2x6 (for 5.5"), etc. *Once you can clear a section of 2x12 (11.5")
consistently you're ready to start looking at larger obstacles. *My
current challenge is a downed trash can, it was easy-peasy in my real
BMX days but these days I tend to clip the things.

snip

With a touring/racing bike the handlebars are lower and more stretched
out. *The usual procedure is to set the pedals level and jump off them
while giving an extra bit of lift on the front which you then level
out the bike when actually airborne. *I wonder if the fore-aft heaving
on the bars is actually as effective on a drop handlebar bike when
optimally set up for distance riding. *I understand that you are
simply kicking off the back wheel and you need to get your c-of-g
behind the axle so as to be able to push against the ground.

The type of hop I describe is fairly hard on the bike. *Most bikes
will take it no problem, and the higher you get the easier it is to
soften the landing by absorbing it with your body, but I still cringe
a bit doing it on my road bike due to the low spoke count and CF fork
and rear triangle. *I don't mind hopping up onto a curb or something
as I'm essentially hopping to the height I'm landing, but I don't like
hopping over things (i.e. pothole, debris) just because I'm
uncomfortable with landing hard on low spoke wheels. *They're probably
stronger than I give them credit for, but I know a broken spoke on
them would be an issue. *On my BMX, which has Peregrine HP 48 superpro
48 spoke wheels, broken spokes don't matter. *I've been abusing these
same wheels for 12+ years and while they both started as 48's it's
probably 47/46 or 46/45 at this point, and they still both run
perfectly true. *The beauty of such a small diameter wheel, a high
flange hub and 48 spokes...

What boggles my mind is people who can hop them well from the drops.
I have to go to the upper bar section to do it.

You have little time to move your hands at over 30mph. *Jumping up 4"
is generally little trouble if you practise the procedure on a daily
basis. *The 12" high jump I'm not sure can be perfomed without prior
warning. *But practicing this would definitely help in avoiding injury
should the need arise to use it in an emergency. *If you had more
trustworthy wheels what height do you think you could clear on a
'racer'.

I honestly don't know. Maybe 12", maybe a bit less. I'm fairly sure
I could not clear a 16" regulation cross barrier on it. It may just
be that it's a far different feel than I'm used to, I've only been
riding road bikes a couple seasons. On my BMX, or even my MTB, such a
hop would be easy. On the road bike I don't think I could do it, and
certainly not from the drops. This thread has me curious to see what
I can do on it, but the low spoke wheels and CF forks and rear
triangle are keeping me from going outside, setting up some boards and
finding out.

rode 27" converted to 700c total HD touring several years. now own a
Monocog cyclocross geomnetery converted to 7-8 spped triple as trek
bike on dirt roads. Have schwalbe apple rear larger halo front.

geometry is totally incroyable. The Monodog is fast on dirt two track,
a real dog on hard surfaces not onl;y for position to pedal straight
on with power but the tire drag is DOA. Off course, the classic 27"
sport touring geometry is no go over the nabs lawn but a far better
compromise than the Monodog on asphalt or whatever. The dog is way
faster tahn Wal geometery, off course it won stupid !

position here is the 700 street is an easier commute than the cross
lawn 9er on fat tires: faster takes less energy and staying on tar
keeps the nabs from thrpwing rocks - which will be thrown if yawl
persist.

On Oct 18, 8:49*am, Chalo wrote:
thirty-six wrote:

Chalo wrote:

If the load
rating of the tire is a factor, maximum load capacity will typically
be reached at the tire's maximum rated pressure.

Load ratings on bike tyres? *Such as?

Such as 160kg for the 700x60 Big Apple we were discussing:

http://schwalbe.com/gbl/en/produkte/...ndex.php5?flas...

orhttp://tinyurl.com/yhv6gd4

Chalo

350 pounds per wheeel ? Yo Jobst ? are wheels supporting 350 pounds
or are the Chinese pulling our legal leg here ?

On Oct 24, 4:46*am, thirty-six wrote:
So Dan, if you had more trustworthy wheels what height do you think
you could clear on a 'racer'?

BTW, I'm slightly bothered that thirty six took the time to ask me
this question _twice_ and never replied to my answer. Curious, 36,
why did you ask? What is it you were trying to determine? I'm not
out to start a debate, at least not in relation to this, I'm just
genuinely curious why you cared how high I thought I could hop on my
road bike, which is by definition a "race" bike or a "racer". (the
fact that I've never entered a bicycle race that took place on
pavement, and don't plan to, withstanding)

On 28 Oct, 17:23, " wrote:
On Oct 24, 4:46*am, thirty-six wrote:

So Dan, if you had more trustworthy wheels what height do you think
you could clear on a 'racer'?

BTW, I'm slightly bothered that thirty six took the time to ask me
this question _twice_ and never replied to my answer. *Curious, 36,
why did you ask? *What is it you were trying to determine? *I'm not
out to start a debate, at least not in relation to this, I'm just
genuinely curious why you cared how high I thought I could hop on my
road bike, which is by definition a "race" bike or a "racer". *(the
fact that I've never entered a bicycle race that took place on
pavement, and don't plan to, withstanding)

Sorry, newsreader did not mark posting as unread and I didn't see it
which I can now. I was trying to get a specific answer for the reason
that I was unsure when you speaking of a bmx or road bike. I would
like to determine is there anybody who thinks that they can clear a
milk crate on a road bike when riding at 20mph. "might do, if I was
lucky" seems to be the best answer I got from our little group on
Sunday including ex racers.b

On 28 Oct, 17:03, Jobst Brandt wrote:
Gene Daniels wrote:
If the load
rating of the tire is a factor, maximum load capacity will typically
be reached at the tire's maximum rated pressure.
Load ratings on bike tyres? *Such as?
Such as 160kg for the 700x60 Big Apple we were discussing:

*http://schwalbe.com/gbl/en/produkte/...ndex.php5?flas....

or

http://tinyurl.com/yhv6gd4

350 pounds per wheel? *Yo Jobst? *are wheels supporting 350 pounds
or are the Chinese pulling our legal leg here?

I think you need to get a closer look at how this load is determined.
Classically bicycles carry far more than rider weight when striking a
common road obstacle or dropping off a curb onto a smooth street.
They do even worse when striking a pothole in a paved street.

Where to look?

datakoll wrote:

Chalo wrote:

thirty-six wrote:

Load ratings on bike tyres? *Such as?

Such as 160kg for the 700x60 Big Apple we were discussing:

http://schwalbe.com/gbl/en/produkte/... nt=Tour/City

or http://tinyurl.com/yhv6gd4

350 pounds per wheeel ? Yo Jobst ? * are wheels supporting 350 pounds
or are the Chinese pulling our legal leg here ?

Well, it is the fattest tire available in one of the biggest bicycle
tire diameters. ISO 60-622.

I weigh 350 pounds, and I'm not the heaviest rider out there, and I
like to carry things on my bike. I used to have an electric bike,
with a 50lb battery pack supplying a 22lb motor. And I weighed 400
pounds at that time, and the bike had panniers.

I have friends who use 26" Big Apples or Maxxis Hookworms on their
pedicabs. That's three tires supporting a 185lb trike plus a
hypothetical three adult humans-- which in practice often turns into
four, sometimes five.

It's good that some bike tires are rated to do such things.

Chalo

On 28 Oct, 18:31, Chalo wrote:
datakoll wrote:

Chalo wrote:

thirty-six wrote:

Load ratings on bike tyres? *Such as?

Such as 160kg for the 700x60 Big Apple we were discussing:

http://schwalbe.com/gbl/en/produkte/...ndex.php5?flas....

orhttp://tinyurl.com/yhv6gd4

350 pounds per wheeel ? Yo Jobst ? * are wheels supporting 350 pounds
or are the Chinese pulling our legal leg here ?

Well, it is the fattest tire available in one of the biggest bicycle
tire diameters. *ISO 60-622.

I weigh 350 pounds, and I'm not the heaviest rider out there, and I
like to carry things on my bike. *I used to have an electric bike,
with a 50lb battery pack supplying a 22lb motor. *And I weighed 400
pounds at that time, and the bike had panniers.

I have friends who use 26" Big Apples or Maxxis Hookworms on their
pedicabs. *That's three tires supporting a 185lb trike plus a
hypothetical three adult humans-- which in practice often turns into
four, sometimes five.

It's good that some bike tires are rated to do such things.

So, are you confident the load ratings that Schwalbe give are
continuous axle ratings?