Bicycle Thread

[mad082]

Don't bother doing too much upgrading, it isn't worth it (this goes for any bike). just get some skinny road tyres (700 x 23c) and if it has an adjustable stem get a fixed stem. if u really must spend money on it get some carbon forks. may be a bit hard to find them with v brake mounts though. they will make the ride a bit smoother

[Nee-san]

http://au.news.yahoo...mputer-printer/

A bicycle made of nylon is said to be as strong as aluminium and steel - and yet it was made using a printer and computer.

The fully functioning cycle weighs 65 per cent less than a regular bike.

"Scientists in Bristol designed the bike on a computer and sent it to a printer, which placed layers of melted nylon powder on top of each other to build-up the machine," The Daily Mail has reported.

"Individual components such as gears, pedals and wheels are usually made in different factories and assembled into a finished bike but the Airbike is a single, complete part.

"The wheels, bearings and axle are incorporated into the 'growing' process, known as Additive Layer Manufacturing."

The Airbike - made by the European Aeronautic Defence and Space group - could be built to the rider's specifications and required no adjustment, conventional maintenance or assembly, The Mail said.

"The 3-D printing method allows products to be made from a fine powder of nylon, carbon-reinforced plastics or metals such as titanium, stainless steel or aluminium," The Mail said.

"They are drawn using computer-aided design and then sent to a printer, which is filled with the powdered material.

"A computer splits the 3-D design into many 2-D layers and a laser beam is used to melt the powder material into the first of the layers.

"This is then covered by a new layer of powder and the process is repeated with the next 'slice'."

The manufacturing process used about one-tenth of the material required in traditional methods, reducing waste.

"The technology is likely to be used in industrial applications such as aerospace, the motor industry and engineering," The Mail said.

Lol 3D printing and that sort of rapid prototyping/manufacturing has been around for ages.

[Nee-san]

Ok cool dudes,

Need new bike, Old ones are shit.

Doing alot of riding now.

say 150km a week.

Want a roadie, IE skinny wheels/tyres ?

Budget, 1K but can go higher if necessary without any worry ?>

Ideas ?

Cheers,

Mitch.

[xALmoN]

Lol 3D printing and that sort of rapid prototyping/manufacturing has been around for ages.

but its only now that its been applied to bicycles.. still interesting nonetheless...

and to 25GTT,

I differ from marc's opinion because i started cycling on a Giant Boulder, i changed everything on the bike, and when it was time to change a bike, i just swapped the parts over to the new frame... and everything was sweet.

[Nee-san]

The idea of RP is that you can prototype anything!!!!

I guess someone finally decided to make a bike ? Lol.

stereolithography is probably the one people find most impressive, prototyping like single piece join-less manifolds without any conventional machining, or a a hollow cube wit ha ball inside that can never be opened

[25GTT]

Nee-san check my posts above. The Giant Cross City 1 is a BEAUTIFUL bike. its a flat bar road bike, so still has the comfort of mountain bike but speed of a road bike. they are going for as low as 1k over here in WA.

Marc - good news is the fork is already Carbon Fibre! sweet! :-) and the stem is fixed from what i can see.

I am thinking of letting this bike last me for say 2 years then upgrading again, so will save the $$$ and put it in a nice savings account for now. In saying that i am going to buy some better handle bar grips today, $65 and the grips are replaced with thicker ones with a small bar at the end of the grip to allow my hands to go forward more (hope that makes sense)

If anyone else though has any good mod ideas let me know.

[xALmoN]

SIXTY FIVE? did you say sixty five for grips???

seriously? what grips are those?

[25GTT]

they are grips with attachments on the end of it, Ummm i will get the brand and model etc, its not just the rubber bit that goes over the bar its also prongs that come off the side as well. Either way i get your point, at $65 they better be F&*kn good :-) ahahaha

[xALmoN]

lol, take some pictures man, when you say prongs, did you mean those like cows horns that you get to hold to get a better aero position?

[25GTT]

very small ones of them that hang off the end of each handle bar grip, so i not only get a grip to put my hands on like a mountain bike..... ahh F&*k it... let me find a link ;-)

[mad082]

I know the grips you are talking about. I think we sell them too. Do yours have clamps built into them to clamp them on the bar? If so then yes we do. Also a tip for if they are, get some torque head bolts to replace the allen key ones.

Nee-san, a flatbar road bike will get you a better bike than a roadie for the same money. That giant cross city at $1200rrp is a pretty good buy. Runs 105 10 speed, which comes on a roadie from about $1800 to $3000.

Xalmon, it always works out much more expensive to build a bike than to buy a complete. To put it into perspective, when i got the missus her road bike, it was cheaper for me to buy a second bike with all the gear i wanted (since she didn't like the colour of the bike that had the better spec on it) than it was to buy the groupset and wheels by about 30%, and that was at wholesale, so once you take into account the extra mark-up put on parts compare to complete bikes and it would cost about 50% more. Plus if you get a complete you can sell the old bike off and get some money back. You don't get as much back on individual parts. The only advantage of doing individual parts is that you can do it slowly over time as you get the money.

[skins]

Awesome Bike

Can you get this in oz?

[25GTT]

Ok so going to upgrade the rims and tyres, have ridden my new beast only twice and have already punctured the front tyre!!! Grrrr!

So looking at getting "Mavic Aksium" wheels and Gator skin tyres 28width on them as recommended by LBS. anyone have thoughts on these? I want a good wheel and tyre package for less than $400.

Marc, how much can your shop do em for?

[mad082]

Probably not much different, especially with freight. Why change the rims though? Won't do shit for stopping flats (if that is why you are wanting them). Cheaper, more flexible rims actually get less flats, from hitting bumps at least, than stiff rims since the rim has a bit of give in it

[xALmoN]

.

Xalmon, it always works out much more expensive to build a bike than to buy a complete. To put it into perspective, when i got the missus her road bike, it was cheaper for me to buy a second bike with all the gear i wanted (since she didn't like the colour of the bike that had the better spec on it) than it was to buy the groupset and wheels by about 30%, and that was at wholesale, so once you take into account the extra mark-up put on parts compare to complete bikes and it would cost about 50% more. Plus if you get a complete you can sell the old bike off and get some money back. You don't get as much back on individual parts. The only advantage of doing individual parts is that you can do it slowly over time as you get the money.

I concur on that point, but a complete bike never ever comes with what you want totally, isn't that the truth?

[mad082]

That's why you find a bike that is as close to what you want and then try and do a deal with the shop to upgrade the parts you want to change and have them keep your old parts, or just a discount on all the other parts you want to buy as they will usually do a better deal if you buy it all at once.

[25GTT]

yeah true on what you said, but the standard tyres i have are crapola, apparently the gator skins are a much better way to go as they have an extra layer inside to prevent flats.

Also there were saying the hubs have much better bearings than the ones i currently have??

[mad082]

The hubs will be longer lasting, but no point looking at new wheels till the old wheels are stuffed, which if they are adjusted and lubricated properly shouldn't be for quite a while.

Yes the gator skin tyres are a more puncture resistant tyre, as long as the punctures are from glass, thorns, etc. They will still get pinch flats like any other tyre as they have more to do with tyre pressure

[25GTT]

Ahhh ok, might just go the gator skins for now, my tyres are a 32 and gator skins come in a 28 thickness so that should also be a bit nicer as well having some thinner tyres.

Yeah i think its glass on the foot paths near my work that has done it to be honest

[25GTT]

Gang,

I bit the bullet and went for the mod, i no longer have a skyline to mod so i have to mod something.

I ordered some MAVIC AKSIUM with 28' Gatorskin tyres.

My ride to work is 18 kms which on my MTB used to take me 54 minutes on avg. I bought the flat bar road bike and the time is now averaging 45 mins. Massive difference, really its approx 15% time saving just by swapping over a bike. If it makes that much difference, i wonder if the better wheels and tyres will make a big difference. Would be nice to crack the 40min mark.

Anyone know how much a local bike shop should charge to change my wheels over? no way i am good enough yet to change the cassettes etc on to the new rear wheel.

As excited as i am I have already started to eye off my next bike, i recon i will go with the Scott Speedster S20FB. I have only had my bike for 4 weeks so will let it crack at least the 12 month mark, take these nice wheels off and whack em on the new bike :-)

The bike bug certainly has hit me big time, in Perth 3 weeks ago the freeway was shut for the annual freeway bike hike. Did 30km in an hour 15mins on the mountain bike, I am going to the 60km one next year all things going well!