Can anybody talk me down from buying a bicycle?

Whatever, racists.

I'm totally just trying to get Mary up and running on the road so she can get into more accidents ride her new bike.

In retrospect, I apologise. I'm clearly being overly h4r5h.
Mary needs a bike because her tiny ankles can't support her massive bulk and what good is a housebound mature student.

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Originally Posted by ckrit

Oh. Yeah. Unless you've got a quill stem or something, that's all the stem there is. It clamps to the steerer tube. Or the stem raiser, when that arrives, which in turn then clamps to the steerer tube, which is part of the fork.

Quill stems, in contrast, go into the head tube (the part of the frame the fork is attached to).

Other parts of the frame are the top tube or tt (the upper tube behind the head tube), the down tube (below the tt), the seat tube (where the seatpost is attached, using the seat clamp), the bottom bracket shell (bb shell) where your cranks (also called crankset or chainset) are attached, often via a separate bb, and the stays, behind the seat tube. You probably know what's what, but just in case.

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He said head. giggles like school girl

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ckrit

Btw: If you think you'll end up doing a lot of adjustments to your bike, a torque wrench which comes with allen key sockets (and others, ofc) might be worth it. I generally wing it, but if you're gonna do it absolutely properly, different parts often have different tolerances stamped on them, in nm, which you can follow when tightening them.

Other useful things would be a set of allen keys, or maybe two - one with mm measurements, one with inches, and then wire cutters (for gear- and brake cabling), a tube of grease (when joining metal parts together, say pedals to cranks, you put some in between to avoid creaking) and cables ties (useful for all sorts of things). That generally does it for most things bike related. You want tyre tools and a spare tube too, ofc. It's annoying as hell getting home with a puncture and having to walk back and buy new tubes. Also, new tubes aren't expensive, so don't bother with puncture repair kits, imo. And get a pump that works with presta valves.

Another tip is to switch out quick releases for allen key, or similar, ones on the seat clamp and wheels, if you leave the bike locked outside in the city a lot. You shouldn't do that, but still.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUD81N_TlS8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNGhKhFoOhs

Thanks to the inclusion of a jetpack, this thread is now approximately 125% more awesome.

We probably should make a srs bike thread in sportsworld at some point, though.

Now with added violence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5PZfEDnvzM

Didn't they see the no parking sign?

Anyways, now that you racists have driven mary off, I'm going to have to start grooming some other girl.

All that effort, wasted.

This is a serious sports thread. It can be duplicated in the sportsworld, just remove all of the posts that are mildly entertaining.