/n/ — /BQG/ - Bike Questions General

File: trek.jpg (73 KB, 861x585)

>>2073581 (OP)
looking to get a new bike. I can't decide if I should go with a road bike or gravel. I want to get into road riding. I would be getting a trek. So it's between the checkpoint alr and Domane AL. The al 2 gen 4 looks so sexy. Can road bikes go on gravel bike paths or will it pop the tires?

>>2073596
Don't buy a bike with cable disc brakes. Most modern road bikes can take 32-34mm tires easily and that's more than adequate for most gravel riding. Is it "optimal"? Maybe not but if you go much fatter it's going to feel very sluggish on pavement.

If that's your target bike I imagine budget is a concern. I suggest you continue your search and find a bike with brakes that don't suck. Even if it means buying used or a less famous brand. Canyon has a low end road bike with full hydraulic braking.

>>2073598
I'm willing to spend around $2000 but I want to stick with trek. I know very little about bikes I currently just have a hard tail I go a few years ago for $500 from a bike shop.

>>2073596
>I can't decide if I should go with a road bike or gravel

Translation: I need a gravel bike or cyclocross. Just my opinion, but unless you are an elite rider you will be wanting more using a road bike on gravel than a gravel bike on the road.

>>2073603
I liek trek too because their stores are convenient and they stand behind their shit, but you're shooting yourself in the foot long term if you refuse to consider other brands

>>2073604
Cyclocross bikes are just aggressive road bikes with knobbies and should never have been memed on civilians, the entire purpose of the sport is to make a spectacle of yourself struggling through mud on an artificially obnoxious circuit. The concept of a non-competitive cross bike was just invented because normies are too insecure to be seen buying a "hybrid" even though that's what most cyclocross buyers really wanted and needed.

>>2073613
People should ride what they need. I agree, nobody needs a "cyclocross bike" (which doesn't really exist since any bike can and should be a cyclocross bike) but what is/was marketed as a cyclocross bike is pretty much the ideal hybrid/commuter for enthusiasts. Most come with rack and fender mounts, clearance for a wide range of tire sizes, and plenty of room for cleaning fork and rear triangle without removing wheels. All while being strong and relatively light weight with geometry for good performance. Which is why I recommended it to someone who is clearly a cycling enthusiast who wants to ride on and off road. I wouldn't recommend one to some college girl who wants to ride to school from the bus stop.

>>2073598
This. Rim brakes are the only way to go. mech DICKS are for retarded people who don't understand brake modulation.

NEVER buy a bike with disc brakes. Even if you >neeeeed them you should have them done by a qualified mechanic at your LBS, not the wagie at the factory.

>>2073616
That style of bike was in most respects fine (and wasn't really a true CX bike in the first place), except for one fatal flaw: it peaked during the nadir of cable disc garbage. So buying a new one is unlikely to happen (you're getting something that is more suited for competition, missing the rack mounts and fender mounts etc), and buying a used one means you're buying someone else's regrets (a cable dick monstrosity)

>>2073596
both are a huge meme but if your city isn't glass flat roads that are dry 24/7 the "gravel bike" is a better option. but really a "gravel bike" is just a road bike with wider tires on it, MAYBE a suspension. and even with those wider tires you might not get any tread on them with the stock tires, and having a suspension is considered to be unracer fred garbage by the "engineers" at those companies, and probably your wheels will be some slightly-wider-than-700C retardation to trap you into a Product Ecosystem where you need their specific "gravel bike" tires (likely toobless, but not actually sealed! enjoy buying 15.99 rubber bands and something that definitely isn't just Slime but 3x the price!!) instead of just having normal ass 26/27.5/29 x 1 inch wheels

>Can road bikes go on gravel bike paths or will it pop the tires?
thanks to modern made-to-fail engineering for rent-seeking corporations, neither can go on a road without popping the tires, let alone a trail

>>2073629
This strawman again. Rim brakes are great. Hydraulic disc brakes are great. Cable disc brakes are an abortion that arose from consumers demanding something that didn't exist at the prices they were willing to pay, and bike manufacturers buckling and giving them a bad solution just to make a few sales.

Hydraulic brifters have been available at the "affordable bike" price point for a good 4-5 years now and there is no excuse for cable disc unless it's something you were stuck with because you didn't know better. And I guess that's you, and rather than admit the truth you will just try to argue against a person that doesn't exist.

>>2073633
Oh hi wound collector guy, just to translate this for noob anon, "hi I'm angry about everything to the point of being wrong often" (not to be confused with Often Wrong, the father of Lt. Cmdr. Data)

The fact is, tires are much better now than they used to be.

>>2073635
This. Cable dicks are for the factually disabled and physically retarded. They have no reason to exist. Much like the ""people"" using them. It is an abomination against the Lord. The only thing that should be actuating disc brakes is SM-LV Oil, not a fucking cable. Grant Forester didn't die for us to be wasting grams on brake rotors without getting optimum Modulation.

>>2073596
The Domane has clearance for 38s, which is plenty for the kind of riding you probably want to do. Don't get the 2, cable dicks are retarded and Claris fucking sucks. The 4 is fine but 5 gets you Shimano's current best mechanical group and is a full pound lighter. You'll want to change the tires regardless of where you're riding because Bontrager tires are garbage.
Get a Checkpoint if you can't figure out how a front derailleur works.

>they're still using fluid to brake when wireless brakes exist
Enjoy losing podium because you're a fat pig riding an even fatter sow.

>>2073639
>>2073645
With the time you spend crying about brakes on 4chan you could have sold enough plasma to afford a bike that doesn't suck

My morning commutes are better when I ride my bike with cable actuated disc brakes to work, due to autistic rage here.

>>2073649
Mech dicks suck because they mess with cycle computers. That's why wireless hydro brifting is the only real option on a proper bike made this century.

>>2073659
I remember that thread and it's sad that you're still mad about being wrong, 6 months later

Mech dicks do nothing good for a bicycle. They ruin your cadence, they have no modulation, and they disrupt your PAN. Anyone still riding mech dicks in 2026 should be banned from their peloton.

Name even one reason to use mech dicks in 2026. Go on. Try.

>>2073663
>>2073659
>>2073639
>>2073654
On a whim, I checked one of the other threads where "someone" is having a very public mental health episode today.

To my great surprise, snow pose anon appears to have a bike with cable disc brakes >>2064508

Curiously, he seems to have a recurring problem with getting IP purged >>2064504
for what reason we can only speculate. Certainly not his behavior.

>>2073596
Disc brakes are so fucking disgusting.

real men brake with their knees

T E D

S H R E D

>>2073629
anyone replying to this post is getting trolled.
except me.

>>2073642
Claris R2000 is perfectly good, that being said I still would not get it as 8speed is getting holocausted by the industry.

my girlfriend has a fat ass, im trying to get her into biking.
what is the best seat for a large women's butt??
I got a Marlin 5 just for her.

>>2073706
>marlin
Seems like an omen. Report back with the first saddle sniff.

>>2073706
>Marlin 5
the lever action rifle ??

>>2073706
>what is the best seat for a large women's butt??
my face

>>2073706
My pp

File: 1632640074496.gif (7 KB, 317x246)

>>2073706
assuming she'll want to ride a lame bike with an upright posture, probably one of those tractor-seat-looking abominations.
the more athletic, proper posture leads to widths approaching the sit bone width, where triathlete/time trial full aero is right at sit bone width.

File: 1000023784.jpg (1.29 MB, 3072x3072)

They didn't frickin tell me this would happen. Can I just want to get rid of this crap now. Can I take it off myself?
Also I just washed my bike but didn't rinse it thoroughly as I've been told that you should por water over your bike because it'll wash the grease off of everything you don't want it to like bearings, what's the best way to fishin it off after washing?

>>2073706
just make her use the stock seat with a gel cover

>>2073721
What's "this crap"? The bike isn't pristine but what am I looking for? Who is "they"?

File: 1000023785.jpg (973 KB, 3072x3072)

>>2073721
Sorry, only after your comment I realised it isn't obvious. I got it wrapped and now only this part has come away from the surface and looks horrible and dirty

File: 1000018946.jpg (1.69 MB, 3072x4080)

My bike actually is pristine, it's just a terrible photo, I've posted before. I take care of my stuff that's why I got it wrapped

>>2073727
great one to see again
10/10 would overtake and humiliate Bianchi road bikers with

>>2073733
He said he likes your bike and would ride it.

>>2073734
Oooh sorry fren >>2073731
I read the entire comment in a sarcastic way. That's what this negative website does to you.
Will delete comment

>>2073726
I figured that's what you were talking about. I put racing tape on my bikes. The only thing you can do is remove it, clean the frame, and re-apply more.

File: Dolan2.jpg (357 KB, 1280x960)

>>2073735
kek
got your back, fixie fren

>racing tape
Do dentists really?

>>2073745
As I have gotten older I've come to realize the whole dentist meme is just cope from poorfags

>>2073721
You NEED to bring that shit into the LBS. You are losing watts from how fucking aero this ISN'T. It's a wonder you can even get moving at all, that shit is like a sail.

>>2073721
wtf is up with that wheel gap lmao

your tires are a mess too

>>2073581 (OP)
are carbon bikes really that fragile

>>2073747
>>2073747

your bike is going to degrade. your body is going to degrade. you will age and die. whats the idea behind trying to keep a bicycle pristine? only argument ive heard is resale value which is jewish af

>>2073781
no

>>2073786
>take 2 minutes to put 4" wide tape on underside of downtube
>14 years of gravel later, no paint chips
Problem? This is too boring for me to debate further by the way. The tape looks like the day I installed it.

File: poverty.gif (1.35 MB, 342x316)

>>2073797
>14 year old bike

just here to say that lock nuts are BULLSHIT and when i am MAYOR OF EARTH i will ban them forever. sure they hold fine. but you wanna take it off ever? enjoy destroying your threading and probably the nut too. anti-consumer unmaintainability masquerading as "security"

and fuck SAE too. metric for lyfe

>>2073629
>unc brakes
>current year

File: 1760629537849966.jpg (89 KB, 1015x607)

>>2073781
shopping carts are tougher than carbon

>>2073834
yeah fuck that

>>2073834
People with steel bikes get dents in them too, they just keep riding them and usually nothing bad happens. Usually. Plenty of carbon frames with damage that are getting used every day too, and usually, it doesn't result in catastrophe. The difference is carbon symbolizes "nice" because it used to be expensive, so when shit does go wrong, everyone gets excited and tucks it into their quiver for the next internet argument about how "nice" things are a scam.

>>2073840
steel/ti/alu won't fail catastrophically like carbon can unless you ignored it far past anything reasonable. the smallest damage to carbon and you need to get it x-rayed to see how far the damage goes. it can be repaired in a lot of cases, for a price of course.

under perfect conditions carbon is pretty cool. anything less than perfect and it can be an expensive repair or catastrophic accident. just not worth it imo

>>2073841
You don't need an xray to see damage to an exposed part, this >>2073834 is clearly damaged. Just about any real world crash that will cause damage to the underlying fiber will cause damage to the surface finish. The concerns about insidious damage failing "totally out of nowhere" are almost always either a manufacturing defect or a very specific kind of user error (most common one that comes to mind is the "ring of death" phenomenon on a steerer tube).

Manufacturing defects happen and when they do it's usually on a product that's pushing the limits of strength and lightness, this is something you find on small-batch, prestige/boutique products aimed at competition. So of course retards see some unobtainium set of $14,000 hi-mod wheels made by one guy in his basement, that weigh 500g for the set, and there was a problem with the heat treatment and there's only like 2 layers of fiber and some fat fred wrecks them in front of a crowd of spectators, and inevitably all the salty poors who can't even afford a full 105 cannondale go on the internet and say they would never buy an "expensive carbon bike", it's tradition at this point