[Dorian Gray]

Low tyre pressure and high gears are classic rookie mistakes, aren’t they. Between doing those things and their best impression of a spinnaker on the bike, newcomers expend twice the energy of old-timers doing the same speed.

Saving for a year and getting a really special bike has a few points against it:

• no cycling for a year, when the bug has hit me right now
• when I get the high-end bike I’d have to regain basic fitness (months of work) while looking like a dope on a bike I don’t deserve
• fear of theft at the café

Of course I’d love a fancy bike, but I would feel a bit of a fraud getting one with zero fitness.

My plan instead is to get a cheap bike (by proper bike standards), get fit, and – if I get that far – upgrade the wheels with hand-builts for £200-300 (e.g. by this guy, though I think he only builds for locals in London at the moment). Expertly hand-built wheels in this price range are really, really good. They’re just not the very lightest things in the world (though far from heavy with e.g. Mavic Open Pro rims, Sapim Race spokes, Shimano 105 hubs).

Since these wheels would last forever, and new road bikes often come with poor wheels even in the two-grand region (the assumption being the buyer is going to change them to their preference anyway), I could transfer the hand-builts to any new bike I get in the future.

That said, the bike I’ve chosen has a good frame (the same frame is used on more expensive bikes in the brand’s range). So with hand-built wheels (maybe next summer), and an eventual groupset upgrade, I’d end up with a lovely bike in the future and one suitable for getting fit now. And the upgraded future bike – with my chosen wheels and groupset – would itself be ready for a custom steel frame by some grizzled Italian master. See how I’ve thought this all through?

The Brooks saddles are on my radar too.

[AWR]

Originally Posted by Dorian Gray Low tyre pressure and high gears are classic rookie mistakes, aren’t they. Between doing those things and their best impression of a spinnaker on the bike, newcomers expend twice the energy of old-timers doing the same speed. Saving for a year and getting a really special bike has a few points against it: no cycling for a year, when the bug has hit me right now when I get the high-end bike I’d have to regain basic fitness (months of work) while looking like a dope on a bike I don’t deserve fear of theft at the café Of course I’d love a fancy bike, but I would feel a bit of a fraud getting one with zero fitness. My plan instead is to get a cheap bike (by proper bike standards), get fit, and – if I get that far – upgrade the wheels with hand-builts for £200-300 (e.g. by this guy, though I think he only builds for locals in London at the moment). Expertly hand-built wheels in this price range are really, really good. They’re just not the very lightest things in the world (though far from heavy with e.g. Mavic Open Pro rims, Sapim Race spokes, Shimano 105 hubs). Since these wheels would last forever, and new road bikes often come with poor wheels even in the two-grand region (the assumption being the buyer is going to change them to their preference anyway), I could transfer the hand-builts to any new bike I get in the future. That said, the bike I’ve chosen has a good frame (the same frame is used on more expensive bikes in the brand’s range). So with hand-built wheels (maybe next summer), and an eventual groupset upgrade, I’d end up with a lovely bike in the future and one suitable for getting fit now. And the upgraded future bike – with my chosen wheels and groupset – would itself be ready for a custom steel frame by some grizzled Italian master. See how I’ve thought this all through? The Brooks saddles are on my radar too.

I'm convinced; sounds like good plan, DG, no lark. Still looking forward to some shots, leaning up against some landmarks! If those are the wheels coming on your bike, errr, you should be happy. 105 is great stuff and more than enough for 99.5% of riders (or at least I liked it on my 14 year old road bike when it was new (not particularly light, but reliable with long life).

Yes, the pressure, the gear, and the wind. Somebody should put together a five minute video on these points, super simple, and make the world a better place.

When I was brainstorming the purchase of my bike, I had basically x amount I would spend. So you have to pick and chose what to prioritize. My thinking went first frame, rims, fork, bottom bracket and headset, and seat, and then gruppo (XT is fine for my needs), bar, seat post, pedals, etc. I sprung for nice pair of hand-built DT Swiss rims and they have been flawless over some decent kms on some less than ideal surfaces. Never out of true, which I expected might happen more often with a 29er on trails.

Sheldon Brown (RIP) 's website is a treasure trove. More important than the information even, ALL of it , is the spirit. He really nails it, lives it. Bricolage genius.

Chinney, SpecMode, you're both due for riding updates.

[Dorian Gray]

Yeah, Shimano 105 is great stuff. Above 105 (Ultegra, Dura-Ace) you get into diminishing returns with a vengeance. Useful for actually racing or curing a mid-life crisis, no doubt, but in no way necessary to derail a chain quickly and reliably.

The lower stuff keeps getting better, too. The new entry-level Claris groupset was introduced because Sora and Tiagra had inched upwards in quality and price over the years. (I suppose that’s the sensible way to manage successful brands over time.) Tiagra has been 10-speed since 2011.

I would hate to be a company competing with Shimano. They’ve crushed all comers by engineering out costs and engineering in quality, at every price-point, in all markets. Scary company.

Sheldon Brown is an institution even in death. “Bricolage genius” is the perfect way to describe him!

[Dorian Gray]

This interactive article is a few months old, but I just found it now while trying to learn a bit more about 22-year-old sensation Joe Dombrowski, one of the most exciting Americans in pro cycling at the moment (and perhaps a guy for kscherer to follow if he’s sick of the old guard).

It’s an intriguing glimpse into the young man’s life and pro cycling in general. Cool graphics, too. Love the little video vignettes peppered throughout.

[AWR]

Sweet. I had never heard of him (but that says nothing about his fame or potential! ) Just had a quick butcher's: like the high school mountain bike racing shot. Look forward to checking out the videos. Tx.

[Matsu]

Jesus when did my body change so much?

That guy is 6'2" and 140lbs. I haven't been less than 200 since my last year of high school and I was skinny at that weight. How does he put out the watts needed to run races? I used to play soccer so I could still run, but my knees don't appreciate it. I can still get off 10k in about one hour, but its painful to watch. I think if I lost 50lbs I could get down to 45min, and I'd still be slow.

Not sure if there's a bike out there for my fat ass.

[AWR]

Come on, Matsu!

Start with dropping five pounds.

DG, how's your bike?!

[Dorian Gray]

Originally Posted by AWR DG, how's your bike?!

Not great. I need a shorter reach handlebar and/or stem. I’m too stretched out. This always happens, simply because I have a short torso relative to my leg length (34-inch inseam on height of 5 feet 10 inches, some of which is a long neck to make matters worse). Off-the-shelf bikes are just uncomfortable for me.

I’ve also had interminable problems with the mudguards, leading me to remove them entirely for the time being. I suppose you have to pay a lot to get mudguards that fit closely and hold their position once precisely adjusted.

The problems continued with my pedals and shoes. A new pair of Look Delta cleats (I have old-but-good Look pedals) came with 12 mm cleat bolts, which were too short for my ancient Time Equipe Pro shoes. Ordered 20 mm ones based on internet guesswork – too long, though they sort of work with additional washers. Now looking for 18 mm cleat bolts.

Despite these teething problems I did get out on the bike a bit. Two more problems surfaced. First, I get lost just trying to get out of Paris. Yikes. Honestly looking at a Garmin Etrex 20, since I’m afraid to use my expensive iPhone while riding.

Secondly, my fitness is really woeful. I’m still skinny and boyish, unlike lardy Matsu, but I’m just horribly unfit. This is going to be hard! Can’t wait, though.

May as well mention the bike even though I still don’t have photos – after all, it’s hardly a René Herse. It’s a humble 2012 Dawes Clubman with a butted Reynolds 520 steel frame and carbon fork. Frame looks great in “Polychromatic Beige”, but the finishing components are cheap and cheerful. Dawes is a classic British make with a long history, especially in touring bikes (Galaxy range).

Matsu: get a entry-level bike (they’re tougher and have higher rider weight limits than the expensive stuff) and have some suitable wheels made to order by Peter White in New England. Make sure you read his wheel rant first!

[AWR]

Originally Posted by Dorian Gray Not great. ...

Oh, shit. Despite these teething problems ...

A new stem should be easy enough, and the cleats will get sorted. The mud guards...that'll probably be the tricky part.

I like the look of the bike. And steel. I had never heard of Dawes. When I get into the touring bike market, at retirement (16 years and counting down!) , please remind me.

You'll be fine on the fitness front, especially if you've been fit at some point in your life. Young and light is good. And balance the fitness, as you know already. I do a fitness class once a week when I can, more like twice a month. Excellent core workout. I should do push-ups but I find them easy to skip.

Good read. I was surprised by this: If wheels are properly built, they will need little if any truing ever. Whoah. At least it has been true (sorry) for me, my previous bikes (decent enough) needed a true every year or so. The present set was hand made and haven't budged in three years.

Is Paris a good city in the dedicated bike lanes/paths department?

[Dorian Gray]

Dawes might be almost unknown beyond British shores. It’s odd how parochial these brands can be despite the web. But within the UK the Dawes Galaxy is the quintessential touring bike. If you’re doing a Land’s End to John o’ Groats ride (that link says someone ran it in nine days! ), chances are your sore bum will be perched on a Dawes Galaxy.

The Clubman is saddled with a bit too much retro baggage for my liking, but it’s functionally sound and I anticipate replacing the brown saddle and brown bar tape with black items (a Brooks saddle, maybe, or a San Marco Rolls?) to get the aesthetics into my comfort zone. The frame is timelessly pretty, no complaints there.

The Clubman has good geometry for fast sportive/audax rides, and it has places to mount mudguards and carriers if you want to carry up to perhaps 10 kg of stuff. I like the idea of doing a long ride (500 km in three days?) with a bare minimum of luggage, but it’ll take me a while to get fit enough to seriously contemplate that. I fancy this ride, for instance.

Incredible as it seems to me now, I was really quite fit just a few years ago. I cycled a lot and played football frequently, plus several other sports intermittently. But in Paris my activity over the last four years has amounted to playing badminton three times. And having a Vespa meant I barely even walked anywhere – I just rode from door to door using any available space for parking. Desk job, too.

Paris is better for cyclists than London was (I hear London’s improving, though). There are a few cycle lanes, but most importantly, the drivers are good at not killing cyclists. I think this is just because Paris has been full of cyclists for over a century. In London, cycling has exploded in the last few years and drivers haven’t yet figured out that bikes move quickly and are hard to see. Cyclists aren’t killed by being clipped by cars passing too close to them, as the uninitiated imagine, but by cars pulling out in front of them or turning across their path, usually because the drivers don’t see the cyclists – because they don’t look properly. Parisian drivers look, to their credit. They’re otherwise awful drivers, of course.

[Matsu]

Shit, is it time to start counting down to retirement already? I guess I have 30 years to get myself sorted. It's really amazing how much damage you can do in just a decade. I was in good shape until I got my first degree and have been getting worse ever since. Too many lazy nights when not at work. Too much eating and drinking the rest of the time. Two years ago I went on a health kick and lost about 60 lbs, then I found 40 of them again. What's really different from when I was young and boyish is how my strength has changed. I never had great upper body strength growing up, I played soccer, I swam, and dabbled in wrestling and arm strength held me back in all of those. It just didn't match my height weight. I could run for hours and had great endurance, but my upper body fatigued quickly. These days it's the opposite. I find I can lift tons of weight and have good, but not great, recovery time, but my legs and abdomen are weak by comparison, and I've got a generally much lower threshold for pain throughout my lower body.

[Dorian Gray]

Sounds like you’re actually a lot fitter (and obviously stronger) than me despite carrying a bit of extra weight, Matsu. People look at me and think I’m joking about being out of shape. But after that last badminton game I could hardly walk for three days.

My lack of fat must be down to diet. I do eat healthily. Three square meals a days, moderate portions, fairly low fat (well…), and not much sugar. I don’t have a sweet tooth at all: I make my own fruit yoghurt from plain yoghurt and a teaspoon of homemade jam* because I find most fruit yoghurts too sweet. I rarely eat fast food and I rarely snack – if I do, it’s from the fruit bowl, because we hardly ever have biscuits or industrial snack-foods in the house. My last packet of crisps was in the UK. Unlike every Frenchman alive, I can have lunch at a restaurant and skip dessert. I love dark chocolate but never buy it.

As for alcohol, I’m pretty sure it’s good for you in moderation. I drink a little wine most days, bucking the trend here. Rarely get drunk.

The fact that I do have a healthy diet, don’t smoke, and am naturally slim, makes me all the keener to get fit. I have no real excuse for being pathetically unfit at my age. Hence the bike. Let’s hope AWR is right about fitness returning more easily than if I’d never been fit. It seems a bit far-fetched from where I’m sitting, but we’ll see.



* We have a reliable supply line via my girlfriend’s Romanian family. It’s wonderful!

[Dorian Gray]

Levi Leipheimer going like a train in his famously aero time-trial position. Wait for the pass… and for the camera guy to get dropped!

Oddly hypnotic with the music and all.

[adamb]

I had an interesting weekend of cycling:

On Saturday (whilst very hungover) I headed up Divis mountain again to watch a local bike race which was utter misery with the cold and rain. Standing around on a mountain after being soaked through isn't much fun at all, but good to see proper cyclists struggling up the steep section I struggle with too (though a bit faster than I manage it. As they say the rides don't get easier, they just get faster!)

Then on Sunday I had a 100km cycle with about 1000 others, nice and flat and quick, although I made the mistake of jumping out of a slow group to try and catch a faster group ahead which resulted in me and a friend riding alone for about 20km. It was my first proper group ride and was great to feel the difference a group makes. Hit some pretty decent speeds on the homeward leg when I accidentally got caught up in a break with some proper club cyclists. Really put me in the mood to join a club for more of that sort of thing.

[Dorian Gray]

Originally Posted by adamb As they say the rides don't get easier, they just get faster!

Greg LeMond?

Originally Posted by adamb Then on Sunday I had a 100km cycle with about 1000 others, nice and flat and quick, although I made the mistake of jumping out of a slow group to try and catch a faster group ahead which resulted in me and a friend riding alone for about 20km. It was my first proper group ride and was great to feel the difference a group makes. Hit some pretty decent speeds on the homeward leg when I accidentally got caught up in a break with some proper club cyclists. Really put me in the mood to join a club for more of that sort of thing.

Ha! Getting stuck in no-man’s land is pretty brutal, isn’t it, though at least you had your friend. One of the best things about riding in a group is looking down and seeing the chain way over to the right – even though you’re spinning at 100 rpm. Looks good.

Man, I need to get fit.

Do you ever use your Edge 500 for navigation, adamb?

[adamb]

Yea looking down at the speedo and realising I was going 45kph with little effort was pretty fun.

I haven't used the Garmin for navigation yet. That might be an idea for France though I think it's very basic, and I've heard some people have mixed results with it (as with any technology I guess).

The way I have it set up is I have 2 pages:
Page 1 for general flat riding showing current speed, average speed, distance, and time of day
Page 2 is my climbing setup with cadence, heart rate, elevation, and grade

Even with that minimal use of its features I still rate it amongst my best cycling purchases to date.

[Dorian Gray]

Since getting lost in Paris, its environs, and beyond is a real impediment to my cycling enjoyment, I ordered a Garmin eTrex 20 and City Navigator maps. Plus a bike mount. Set me back over 200 euros.

(The maps are idiotically labelled: City Navigator is actually a road map for a country or countries depending on the version you get. Most – but inexplicably not all – of the geographical regions are available on DVD, MicroSD card, or download. The download, since it costs the least to Garmin, is naturally the most expensive. Which format to choose is up to you: Garmin’s documentation on the merits of each format is hard to find and anyway incomplete and even inconsistent. The licensing terms are complicated and fiercely old-fashioned. I took a punt on the MicroSD version.)

I don’t know why I keep giving Garmin another chance. Maybe it’s because Garmin hardware just looks reliable (i.e. conservative but competently designed) and feels good in the hand. Maybe it’s because Garmin’s competition is also inept (though I’ll now be looking very hard into whether that’s universally the case).

In any case, the eTrex 20 is without doubt the worst piece of technology I have ever had the misfortune to spend money on – and that’s saying something! Its flaws are scarcely believable. It has two strengths: a tough, ergonomic, waterproof shell, and power by AA cells (useful on a touring holiday with intermittent access to AC power). Everything else about it is a disaster:

• the display is an ultra-low-res (176 × 220 pixels) transflective LCD, neither bright enough with the backlight on nor visible with the backlight off. The colour is anaemic, the contrast is negligible, the pixels are large, the refresh rate is sluggish, and everything – except the pixels – is microscopic on the 1.4” × 1.7” display.
• the joystick data entry is painfully slow. I expected it to be slow, but didn’t take into account that the processor wouldn’t be able to keep up with scrolling through a virtual keyboard via the joystick. Multi-second delays are apparent throughout the user-interface.
• the processor is unbelievably slow. To calculate a shortest-distance route to my friend’s house 80 km outside Paris takes 14 minutes. I timed it. This doesn’t include the 2–3 minutes required to laboriously enter the address via joystick and wait for it to recognise the address components (road name, etc.). Calculating a route to my nearest post-office takes about 30 seconds. I can almost walk there in 30 seconds!
• when calculating routes longer than about 140 km, the unit gives up after about 20 minutes of grinding, eventually displaying an out-of-memory error.
• access to the 1.7 GB of free internal memory is via USB 1.1. This isn’t even the noughties, it’s the nineties all over again!
• updating the firmware (which was necessary out of the box) required me to register a new account with “myGarmin” (shudder) and install an intrusive browser plug-in. The installation process was archaic. I immediately encountered bugs with the new firmware – bugs that were widely reported for the old firmware.
• good luck figuring out what Mac software you need to view the MicroSD City Navigator maps on your computer – you know, to plan a trip. I gave up after about two hours of Googling and false leads. BaseCamp only works in very limited circumstances. There is something called MapConverter that converts maps and unlock codes on your Windows PC to “the Macintosh format” (?). It runs on a Windows computer (!). There is another thing called MapSource, but it’s Windows-only and widely reviled. There is Trip and Waypoint Manager, but it’s 30 bucks and I have no idea what GPS devices it’s compatible with. Etc.
• worst of all, at least 80 % of the time the unit wouldn’t boot with the City Navigator MicroSD card installed. There is no way to hard reboot it via buttons, either. You have to dismantle the device – its back comes off with a pop-up butterfly screw, exposing its innards to the weather – to remove the batteries, reinstall the batteries, and try again. You might have to do this many times to get the device to boot.

I wish I had seen this Amazon review before I bought it – though like 12 out of the 53 people who’ve rated that review for helpfulness, I probably would have suspected exaggeration or incompetence from the reviewer. Not so. Garmin is taking the piss here.

Amazon.fr mercifully accepted it back and refunded me eight hours after I sent it to them in the post. How the hell can they be that efficient? I’m shocked they even received it within eight hours.

The Apple Maps iOS app, for all its flaws, is lightyears ahead of this stuff.

[Matsu]

Maybe just use your iPhone. There's got to be an app and some sort of protective mount rig thing...

[Brave Ulysses]

Originally Posted by Matsu Maybe just use your iPhone. There's got to be an app and some sort of protective mount rig thing...

There are many apps.... and many are very good. I haven't found what I would consider to be a very good bike mount yet though. Any advice on that would be great.

[Dorian Gray]

Sorry for the Garmin rant above. Cathartic for me, but of zero interest to anyone else.

The iPhone has a few things against it:

• poor battery life with screen on full brightness and GPS and data running. Certainly not good enough for all-day rides
• costs more than my bike. I’d be worried about it being destroyed in a tumble
• I have to ride through 10 km of dodgy outskirts if I want to get out of Paris towards the north. Personal safety isn’t an issue, but having an iPhone snatched at a red light might be a realistic risk
• the mounts are typically clumsy – made worse by the large size of the iPhone – and low quality, despite being surprisingly expensive.

But I’m now considering this option, along with the Mio Cyclo models and even mapless GPS units capable of displaying a pre-programmed route.

[Matsu]

I drive more than I bike and didn't think of all that stuff. When my GPS unit died, I thought of replacing it until I got an iPhone. The phone works very well for navigation purposes, but then again, I just have to plug it into my car charger when I'm in navigation mode. I don't have to think about the battery life, damage, and theft issues you mention.

I don't think you have to worry about crash damage if you put it into something like an otterbox. Charging, however, that's a harder problem to solve. I'm surprised no one has come up with a good quality USB bicycle charger yet.

[Dorian Gray]

Originally Posted by Matsu I'm surprised no one has come up with a good quality USB bicycle charger yet.

I couldn’t point you towards one off the top of my head, but I think these do exist. However, good means of generating electricity on a bike are expensive, since the generator hub has to have a wheel built around it by a skilled mechanic.

A generator hub, USB charger, mount, and iPhone add up to a lot of clutter.

I think you're right about the OtterBox, but by the time you’ve bought one of those, plus a bike mount, and maybe even invested in a charging solution, you start to wonder whether it wouldn’t have been a better idea to put the money into a dedicated bike GPS unit.

The Garmin eTrex 20 I tried wasn’t a dedicated bike model. Maybe those are better.

[Matsu]

Trying to add this stuff to a bike after the fact has always struck me as a bit kludgy. Seems like the perfect opportunity for someone like Shimano to just build it into the crankset. Best location IMHO, leaves room to run wiring inside the downtube and have this stuff come out near the handlebars where presumably people would want to mount phones and GPS units, etc...

[Mugge]

So, after having used the same bike for twelve years, I recently decided to get a new one. Since my old bike hasn't been worth insuring for many years I was in for quite a surprise when I called up my insurance company. My new bike is going to cost me DKK 5.000 and the lock another DKK 495. But the insurance is going to cost me a whopping DKK 1.000 a year (full coverage) or DKK 870 a year (DKK 1.000 less than full coverage). Fucking hell, that's a lot of money compared to what the bike is worth! I knew Copenhagen was a paradise for bicycle thieves, but this is the first time I've actually tasted the consequences. I have now revised my opinion on the death penalty; all bicycle thieves are to be flayed alive!

Aside from that, I'm looking forward to see my new ride. I ordered it online, though a company that fixes our bikes at work, while we work, so I haven't actually seen it IRL yet. However, it's basically same type as my old bike, which has served me to great satisfaction, so I'm really worried about it not fitting me.

Originally Posted by Matsu Trying to add this stuff to a bike after the fact has always struck me as a bit kludgy. Seems like the perfect opportunity for someone like Shimano to just build it into the crankset. Best location IMHO, leaves room to run wiring inside the downtube and have this stuff come out near the handlebars where presumably people would want to mount phones and GPS units, etc...

The crank set is not an ideal place to put anything as delicate as a generator. The reason why the crank box itself is such an expensive component, considering that it's just a bearing with a spindle, is because it has to be engineered to withstand the constant strain of converting your uneven stomping in the pedals into smooth rotational force. Hub generators might look a bit clumsy but at least they are easy to get at. One of the reasons why I got fed up with my old bike is because the crank bearing has been worn out, but nobody has been able to get it out. After twelve years in place, the force required to remove it will probably just crack the aluminium bottom bracket.

[Mugge]

Got my new bike delivered at work today, but I can't say I had much fun with it.

On the way home the gear (Shimano Nexus 7) went out of sync and upon closer inspection the little coloured alignment marks on the gear were no longer aligned at 4th gear as they were supposed to, but at 5th. So I started turning the adjustment knob thing (or whatever it's called) on the gear selector, but I couldn't turn it far enough over to get the gear back in alignment. Which was really weird because I made sure to check that it was aligned at 4th when I took possession of the bike. Nexus 7 gears always seems to be fiddly in this respect.

Anyway, long story short; I ended up turning the lock ring loose on the hub gear and now it's stuck in 1st gear with it's lock ring and other things rattling around on the rear axle. I could probably fix it if I took the rear wheel off, but I have no idea how to deal with those newfangled roller brakes that it also has, so I'm leaving it to the seller to fix this.

Hub gears are great for reliable everyday driving, but damn they can be a pain in the ass when they fail.

Luckily my old bike is still drivable.

[adamb]

Just back from a week in France, cycling around a couple of Alps and watching the pros do the same at much higher speeds.

Did Alpe d'Huez from Grenoble on Wednesday (accidentally doing Col de Poutran as well whilst looking for the finish line), then half of it again on Thursday to watch the tour. Friday was a loop from Grenoble to Chamrousse which I would almost say was as tough as AdH but that could have been tired legs talking. 302.6km with 8,209m climbing in 3 days!

Spent Sunday on the Champs-Elysees waiting on and then watching the final stage of the tour which was fun.

Possibly my favourite part of the trip though was on the way back to Grenoble after the race on Thursday. There was a thunderstorm with torrential downpour and I found myself at the front of a group of about 30 pulling home. It's quite a nice long steady gradient so was able to put down a decent pace through the driving rain. It must have been decent enough anyway as there wasn't anyone coming past to take a turn at the front. Fun times!

[Wrao]

I just bought a rode bike. It is the first proper bike I've ever owned as an adult, and really, in my life since the only other bike I had when I was a kid was just some cheap department store sort of thing. I've never 'liked' bikes, I've always thought cycling was a weird activity for weird, masochistic sorts of people, but those impression were largely built on simply not understanding that a well fitted, lightweight road bike can work _for_ you and not against you as I had always been accustomed to experiencing whenever I rode a random bike over the years.

My goal is to use the bike to motivate myself to get back into the gym, my gym is 7 miles away and I've been driving that for 5 years which seems kind of pointless when 7 miles by bike is completely doable, even for me.

My two concerns at the moment are 1) that I am not entirely familiar with or comfortable with riding with cars around and all of the specifics regarding the rules of the road for bikes. 2) I just got a shiny new bike and a lock and I live in a pretty low crime area but still, having to look after an expensive thing like that when I go places is new to me and I hope I don't make some boneheaded mistake.

Cyclists are still weird people though.

[tomoe]

Congrats on the bike purchase! What did you end up with?

Originally Posted by Wrao 1) that I am not entirely familiar with or comfortable with riding with cars around and all of the specifics regarding the rules of the road for bikes.

Check if there's a bicycle coalition in your city or nearby. Most of them these days offer Bike Safety Classes that are either free or have a nominal fee.

Originally Posted by Wrao 2) I just got a shiny new bike and a lock and I live in a pretty low crime area but still, having to look after an expensive thing like that when I go places is new to me and I hope I don't make some boneheaded mistake.

So long as you have a modern U-Lock from either Kryptonite or OnGuard, you should be fine. Here's an example page on a proper locking technique. If you don't want to carry a separate lock for your front wheel, there are a few options. The balleur (read: expensive and best) option is a set of Pitlock skewers, though those are overkill if you're locking up in low crime area. Though it's pretty awesome they have security bolts for just about every part. Slightly cheaper are the Pinhead skewers. I had a set on an old bike and hated them. The keys were awkward to use and for some parts it was difficult to get proper torque on the bolt (in particular on the seatpost). The simplest and cheapest (that I've found) for locking wheels are these Zefal quick release skewers. They don't require a special key and are cleverly designed such that they can only be opened when the bike is upside down.

Originally Posted by Wrao Cyclists are still weird people though.

Indeed. I present to you George Hincapie's leg.

[Wrao]

I got a Trek 1.5 2013 model 62cm size, not knowing much about bikes overall I can't say much of it other than everyone I've told who does know about bikes seems to think it is a solid first bike, in the sense that it's properly built enough to actually get you going with cycling as opposed to some cheaper beginner stuff that can take a lot of the fun/excitement out of it. It's Aluminium with carbon forks and it is very light overall which I like though I guess Aluminium isn't always the strongest, I doubt it should matter much for the types of riding I'll be doing.

I live in a cyclist mecca and just about every major road is streaming with cyclists at all hours of the day so I may try and ask one of them for tips.

How important are cycling clothes? I can understand that chaffing and rashes can occur pretty easily on a bike when you're riding for a long enough time and that proper clothing can help with that, also at higher speeds it helps with being slippery and stable, but ideally I'd like to just wear my basketball clothes so I won't need to change when I get to the gym, maybe compromise and wear a tanktop and bike shorts, but then I'll look like a total burke.

[tomoe]

That Trek 1.5 looks great for the price and Trek is on point when it comes to speccing their bike geometry. Shimano has made Tiagra (and even the most recent iteration of Sora) into a really functional group over the past few years.

Cycling clothes are really a personal preference, methinks. If you're racing or seriously training, then yes, wear a full kit. I have friends who won't go on any non-commuting ride without a full bibs/jersey kit. There are other friends who have an iron taint and never wear full kit, except for 100+ mile rides where they wear some chamois underwear. The main thing is making sure you're wearing some sort of technical fabric versus something that is going to smother you (i.e. avoid cotton like the gatdamn plague for the most part, unless it's a cycling cap).

There's at least one company, Outlier, that sells really awesome clothes that are cycling specific (i.e. great materials, fit designed for riding bikes, and as a bonus they're normal looking clothes). Very expensive, but they are nice and their customer service is great IME.

If you want a bang for you buck entry into cycling clothing, Performance's house brand is, IIRC, made by Castelli and they have really nice bibs/jerseys from what I've heard from friends. Don't own any myself, but were I to buy bibs now that's what I would get.

Really though, for a 7 mile commute I wouldn't worry too much about apparel. If you live somewhere hot, maybe get a cheap jersey to wear while commuting and change into your work shirt once you're there.