Probably the wrong thread, maybe the following is going to have a question:
I rode a metric century yesterday on my Grand Bois- 31mm tires, 40cm 25.4 tires, standard tubing… and I felt so beat up! Narrow bars, non-aero levers…
Is it my newbaum’s tape? Is it my narrow tires? Is it my narrow bars? I spent the last few weeks prior riding more upright, on some wide bars on my Gryphon with 2.35" tires, so maybe I just got too comfortable?
All of the above?
Those kits look sweet. I appreciate the Euro small shops that can do stuff like this and have been thinking about it every now and then over the years. I guess it is easier to get a little business like this up and running when you have guaranteed health care and the whole regulatory landscape of business isn’t designed to annihilate the little guy in the cogs of million/billion dollar corporations 
IMHO you’re just not used to the position etc…
Oh no the European style was explicitly designed to disallow small or disruptive companies — but in favor of established regional old money family-owned companies Mittelstand - Wikipedia (largely as suppliers to each other and to the international gigacorps)
Well I think it is the case both in Europe and the US that the system was primarily designed for the people who had the power to influence its design.
But because of factors like universal healthcare, American litigiousness, and our insane patent law system, to name a few off the cuff, I see it being significantly easier to be a small business in the EU or UK. One related example that also influences my uninformed thinking on this is the plethora of silly British auto manufacturers. Mostly vibes-based thinking thrown out there for someone to tell me otherwise. I just can’t imagine starting a business in the USA and then wanting to employ people if I grew, for example. It seems borderline impossible to do it ethically.
Does anyone use wide foot straps? The current fixie style. Looking for tips to set them up. I’ve ridden spd since I was a kid and never feel safe riding them. Are these always going to be less secure and annoying to get into.
That’s exactly the rub though, in the EU it’s near-impossible to employ non-service-industry workers At All unless you’re already an established business.
It’s nominally in the best interest of the workers that their employers can’t run out of money or do layoffs, but in practice it massively depresses both wages and entrepreneurship. My coworkers in Germany working on the same “all the profits” stuff would get paid 3-5x more if they moved to the US, not counting the differences in tax rates+structure.
On the flipside, they’d be living in the US.
i have some on the olmo. they’re never going to feel like clipless. they’re always going to be more annoying to get into. i really just use that bike to ride places for errands or for fun with my kid so it’s nice to be able to use whatever shoes I already have on.
i could put brakes on but then I’d have brakes on my track bike and that doesn’t seem right
I’ve used hold fast straps a lot in the past. I wouldn’t say they’re less secure at all. I’ve pulled out of Spd’s but never accidentally slipped out of hold fasts. They can be harder to get into though if you accidentally squash them down but the big D ring does a pretty good job of keeping them open enough to get your toe in there.
What’s a good portable pump that does both presta and schrader? I learned today that my MTN Morph only does presta.
I was gonna say morph till I finished reading your post. I thought they all had the kind of head that could be disassembled and reversed to fit Schrader.
I’ve liked the Blackburn Anyvalve pumps if you don’t mind not having a hose on the pump. It also pumps in both directions.
Going against tarck opinion, the Lezyne micro floor drive has worked out pretty well for me so far with both Presta and Schrader valves.
Before you buy a new pump, check yours to see if the components of the head can be reversed to fit Schrader. The Topek website says the MTN morph fits both types of heads.
I will check right now!
edit: it totally does! Thanks Kyle!
kyle beat me to it. mtn or road morph is an s tier pump atmo
Would be a shame to have to move away from just about the best mini-pump out there.
shit tier?
