Post Punk Kitchen Forum

My Kona is orange and black, and I love it.



It matches my SF Bike Coalition sticker perfectly. It's going to clash horribly with my pink and blue team kit, though.

Yesterday I rode my bike for the first time since my baby was born 7 weeks ago. Damn it is awesome to ride my bike again.

I have a u-lock now too so people can stop telling me my lock's going to get cut off now. YOU WIN, other cyclists!

Just took my Ridley out for a quick little ride on the flat bikepath it feels good but there are a few things I need to change up. I feel really rundown from flying and not being able to eat properly while in CA, so hopefully I'll feel better in a few days and really reef on it to see what it can do.

That is one beautiful bike.

I was just thinking of getting one of these back in Boston where I don't have to worry as much about theft. This photo is enabling me. Gorgeous.

Thanks, guys! I really do love my Jake, though I wouldn't mind swapping out the triple chainring for a compact double and swapping the Tiagra shifters for 105 ones. I actually might well have gone with the Jake the Snake (which has the double and the 105 levers), but I really liked the orange and black. Superficiality, thy name is jordanpattern!

Anyway, it is super fun to ride and is a great commuter. I may even ride it on an 80 mile spring classic ride in April!

Spring is pretty much here. Gonna pump my tires and head out once it's the weekend!

My bike needs a new seat and chain before I can ride it again, but soon I'll be able to bike to work. I can't wait!!

my mate's gone away for a few weeks and gifted me his Avanti roadie (not sure the model, it's in the garage ;D but it's carbon frame, 105s). nothing too fancy, but I'd totally forgotten how nicely a reasonable roadie feels. hell, I'd even forgotten what freewheeling felt like for the first few corners/stops :)

it's a ~62cm frame, and I normally ride ~58cm, so it's a bit unwieldy. and to top it off, 175mm cranks make me feel like a toddler

so good though. finally something to do in this city in between meals ;D

riding that much larger of a frame must be interesting for sure~!

it's actually not completely terrible. the saddle is low, but I can just ride in the drops and it's reeeeasonably comfortable (considering). the reach is somehow pretty much fine though when I'm up on the hoods.. almost feels all relaxed and long like my touring rig :) just with much lighter/pointier, and cleaner shifting ;)

I have saved up and I will be buying a racing bike sometime this or next week. Oh yeah.

What kind? What kind of races do you do? Dish!

It's rainy and crazy windy here today. Looks like I'll be riding the spandex to work and doing my superhero quick change once I get there.

Are any of you guys BSNYC fans? He's coming out with a new book, and he's doing a book tour. Here in SF, he's doing a ride and then a talk/book signing, and I am stoked.

I don't race - yet. I like to take leisurely trips, away from the big city where I live and into the country.

I borrowed the bike of a friend for a while last year, and upon the first trip fell in love with the pleasures of being on a race bike. I love cycling very fast, so I was instantly hooked. Being outside, getting to know the place where I live so much better than when I run. (I don't run distances long enough to actually get very far away from home.) Turns out, I seem to be pretty much a natural at it. I was able to do 60 km on one night, the second time I was on a bike. (Leaving a panting and sweating s.o. behind, who's been cycling for ages.)

But then, I had to give that bike back at some point, I've been really broke, and it got really cold. But I've been longing for spring and my own bike ever since. And now it's going to happen. 8-)

the stiffness/weight with the added 'comfort' of carbon fiber can be addicting. watch out :)



what bike are you thinking?

Something basic. I was thinking of spending between 300 and 400 euro. So either a B-brand new one when a discount bike store has a good offer on, or a semi-fancy second hand one. Just found out that my frame size is 52.

I'm not particularly interested in all imaginable ins and outs - yet. I just want something that doesn't break down and allows me to ride to the horizon without having to read about it too much. Does that sound silly? I'm totally open to tips on buying a (second hand) bike, by the way. Not wanting to write a book on bikes is one thing, but I'd like to avoid silly pitfalls of course.

Oh and I have to get over my crippling fear of busting a tire on a deserted country road with when I'm out cycling on my own. I hate hate hate replacing or fixing tires with the fury of a thousand fires.

Also, allow me to show off my normal daily use bike:

Badass cargo bike.

(This is an old picture. It has a lime-green cargo basket now.)

So, I gather "race bike" = road bike? Man, getting my first real road bike was such a revelation for me. I hope you find one you love!

As far as the tire thing, I think it gets to be less and less of a big deal with practise. I'm still not great at it, but I no longer live in fear of flats (though I do need to get a frame pump...)

oh I know ;) all too well. I'm itching to settle somewhere long term so I can actually own what I want, rather than what's strictly practical :( though it's probably better this way for my bank account :)

The bike on the pic on the top of the page is what I call a 'racing bike'. And I'm about to purchase one of those.

And the one I showed above here, is what I'd call a 'grandma bike'. (Which refers to the specific oldfashioned way the frame is shaped.) But then again, I'm Dutch, so we do have plenty of words for bikes. We have city bikes, mountain bikes, cargo bikes, but also have bikes-that-can-seat-4-small-children and bikes-you-can-fold-to-the-size-of-a-small-crate and bikes-for-extra-tall-people and so on.

Is there a lot of offerings in the 3-400euro for a new road market over there? As for used, at least over here ive found forums are the best place to find good deals especially local ones. But if you don’t like to work on your own bike this might not be the best idea as you can end up spending a lot to get the bike in running shape.

Love the cruisers over there! I was amazed that all the bikes in Amsterdam where more or less like that/the same. It seemed tough to tell whos was whos. Also when you say tire are you talking about puncturing the tire itself or the tube inside?



Hard to say if that’s good or bad. You might get a place and end up with 10+ bikes and a 1 bedroom apt for no reason at all :)

Yeah. I'm looking for something that doesn't need to much work, because I don't want to invest that time and energy at the moment. So I might just get a cheap new one. My s.o. bikes as well, and he came up with some possibilities.

But yeah, these cheap new ones, are what they are: cheap and new. And they are cheap for a reason. But then again, that's always the case with stuff like this. You can always spend double the money and get something that's way more awesome, but I don't have that money. So just finding something basic, that is not too vulnerable, would be nice.



That's why I bought the neon-green crate. That helps recognizing my own bike.

And I'm afraid of any type of flats tyre, really. I don't fancy having to change or mend my tire all by myself on a country road far away from home, just because I misjudged the depth of a hole or rode through a thistle.

I got a Garmin Edge 500 today. I upgraded my Strava account, and you could get the Garmin + a year's premium Strava membership for $278, which was a pretty good deal, so I sprung for it. I'm stoked! I currently use my phone to track rides, and it makes me worried the battery will die when I'm miles away from anything, and then I'll have an emergency and die 3/4 of the way up a mountain or something, so the Garmin should help with that quite a bit.

yah no one likes it but unless your going to run solid rubber tires not much you can do. Alot of people these days are running tubeless even on the road though...



Nice! I noticed when a friend added on strava this morning that you had a pro account and wasnt sure if you always did. I really like my edge 500 and do some 'training' with it based on heart rate. I havnt used many of its functions for training other than that though.

From many posts ago: Thank you Jordan and Eric. It has been a process recovering, but I am grateful for my process and prognosis!

I've been off my bike; traveled to FL for over a week visiting with an ailing mother-in-law. Did as many walks as possible but Florida is FLAT. Going on a decent hike tomorrow and riding this weekend if it doesn't rain.

Gorgeous bike, Jordan! I have Tiagra brakes with 105 shifters and love this combo. I also have a compact double and am glad I went with that.