Brent’s Bike v1.1
Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007Now that I’m a more experienced bike rider, I decided to upgrade a couple components for this season. At first I thought, “I’ll just get clipped shoes”, but then I went on a spree and yeah…. I ended up getting new pedals with clips, a new seat (my old one was actually broken), and a new seat post.
The clips (below) are cool because they allow me get an extra 50% torque on my pedaling by being attached to the pedals and pulling up when you are resetting for the next push. Instead of mashing the pedals, you do a circular motion with your feet because you are always attached, and it’s very even. The only caveat is that you MUST CLIP OUT when you stop, or you will fall on your side and look like an idiot.
It’s even worse when you go over your handlebars with clips on. I saw a guy catch his bar ends on a tree last year, go over his handlebars with clips on, and land on his face with his bike still attached to his feet. It was not pretty. Believe me, I will be keeping that in mind when I’m riding.
Fixing my broken seat was a no brainer, but I wanted to solve the sore ass problem at the same time. My bike has a front suspension but not a rear one, so wasn’t able to go over bumps sitting down, which required a lot of energy to do over and over on very technical courses. Plus, when you’re standing, your center of gravity is much higher, making you vulnerable to the endo. Along comes the flexible seatpost to save the day.
The flexible seatpost (seen below) actually flexes when you go over bumps to absorb the shock. Instead of being a pogo stick, which would amplify turbulence, it actually flexes horizontally, which is much easier on the old back.
To further protect myself, I actually picked up biking shorts, which have a padded ass, to protect from the wear of the seat on a long ride.
I took my new toys out for a 6 mile ride yesterday, which was nice, but now we got snow again. Stupid april in Minnesota!!!
April 4th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Clips are a great addition to biking, but indeed make sure you can unclip
Which clip do you have?
April 4th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Time Atac Z’s
April 4th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
I use SPD from Shimano, but that is mostly because every gym uses it for indoor cycling/spinning.