RM170 for Maxxis DTH? each right?

Think we are talking about the Maxxis DTH tyre. (bmx tyre, not cheap stuff)

Great Job !
Wow, so nice and thick tyres!! 20 x 1.95!

Sure will absorb all the minor road bumps and holes quite good.. mean more comfortable ride..??


And yeah, I really like the knog blinders road 2... got two lights can switch between the two or get the two light on together, somemore got extra strong light (but will drain battery faster), some more got energy saving mode, by blinking the two lights alternating...

Change to thinner tyre whereas I want to change to big fatter tyres.... he he.

My bike comes with Schwalbe Kojak, really botak and smooth but with high pressure, it can get sometimes to be a bit bumpy.

I am hoping that if I change to fatter tyres like Big apple or Maxxis DTH, the ride quality would be more comfortable...

Yes, You are right, theotheryun.

The Kojak tyres are designed to make it very quick to pick up speed as there is little rolling resistance due to the skinny design and high pressure - 60 to 80 kpi.
That is the marvelous thing about it being so skinny, as there is very little contact with the road, smaller than a 10 sen coin surface and the tires are supporting about 80 to 90 kg.
I think the Duranos would be even faster with 100 kpi.

But on dirt tracks and trails in the forest, the skinny tires are not able to grip much and will be dangerous to ride fast. The front wheel can slide when cornering in the sand.

During one of the weekend mornings I was riding my bike tern P18, and with 20 inch wheels like a small children's bike, I am at times overtaking or keeping level with some of the cars on the roads as I could be doing about 22 kph. Then in the cars, most of the children will perk up and put their hands on the windows and stare at me riding, pedalling quite slowly but moving quite fast.. Then the parents will slow down and try to look at me as well.

Then another time, during a week day, it was an evening rush hour to get home in the heart of town, and all the cars were not moving. I had left the office with my office long sleeve shirt and long pants and with a bagpack on by back with a bike helmet on. I was just moving slowly when suddenly a car pulled up closer to my bike and the lady driver inside bent over to the passenger side window and gave me a thumbs up sign and a wide smile. I give her back a thumbs up sign.



And later leaving KL on Jalan Tun Sambanthan, on my way back to PJ, a motorcyclist with a lady passenger, give me a toot and give me a thumbs up sign as well as I was moving quite fast. (i pedalled fast actually to avoid breathing in too much of the bus fumes).
I waved back.

These are the some of the human exchanges which I will not encounter when I am behind the wheel of a car stuck in a traffic jam somewhere.

RM600 + only. I also want. This is online website purchase? which one?

Wow, nice! You have any idea what's the price like? RM1,000 RM 1,500 or RM2,000

By the way, do you know whether the Novatecs is better or higher range that the American Classic hubs?

So Renminbi 850 is about RM445. hmmm..... so compared to over RM1,000, savings of more than RM500 if buy online.

So some of the online sellers can make some good money by buying and selling.

I found an online seller for bicycle accessories. Anyone bought anything from him before?


https://www.facebook.com/MikeBicycleShop

Saw some nice things like the Selle Royal Seta at a very nice price.. others like Avid brake levers, cassettes... hmm.. looks very very interesting..

This post has been edited by budgee: Jul 19 2013, 12:03 PM

I am now looking at how to improve the "engine" better, meaning the leg muscles, body fitness... .

We don't have unlimited cash, so the best way is to get the good basics at a fair price that will ensure a comfortable, fast and enjoyable bike. The next thing is to improve our fitness and strength. I think in the beginning, the aches and pains were there, but after riding more and more, i find it gets easier to go longer and longer distances.

So far, with the Tern P18, and having bought some additional accessories to go with it, I found that the following really helps in giving a great riding experience.

- Selle Royal Dardo saddle - comfortable long rides
- Schwalbe Kojak tyres - fast pickup, low rolling resistance
- cateye micro wireless computer - speed, distance travelled, average speed, time taken (shiok sendiri mostly)
- Shimano Tiagra RD and Microshift - great gear shifting, very smooth and always lets me pick the right gearing for the existing road and traffic conditions (but the Front Derail seems to be a bit problematic - shift down to the small gear is ok, especially when approaching the traffic lights, just press and it goes to low gear, nice)
- Biologic Arx handlegrips - really, really useful to keep my hands comfortable, I can rest my palms on the flat ends when cruising, so helps me enjoy the ride more for longer periods.
- Kinetix speedstop V brakes - good brakes when needed is a good feeling that is always in the back of my mind when I am speeding downhill.
- Avid FR5 brake levers, gives a responsive feel to the brakes, giving more confidence to the bike's braking ability.
- Knog headlights 2 - got highlight beam, got low light, got energy saving alternating lights, comes with helmet mount too and it will shine wherever I look at. No need buy batteries, chargeable via USB, upfront expensive but save money in long run and waterproof too. ...
- knog blinders 1 rear - constant red, flickering fast and then slow, flickering like a star, slowly blinking light.



So far as I can tell, the things that matter most to me on my rides are the following:-
- Saddle comfort
- Gear shifters are fast, accurate and positive
- Handlegrips comfort
- Good brakes are a must
- Riding position - slightly forward but still upright, no stress on the hands/palms too much, don't like the race like crouching position - neck will be stiff, back bones too old, arms will ache... etc...


- And when pedalling, the length between the pedals at the lowest position and the saddle should be just about let the legs extend until its just slightly bent at the knees with the ball of the foot rest on the pedals and not the middle part of the foot or the heel. So far the standard pedals seems plasticky but no problems so far..


I am now on the lookout for a good mirror to mount, maybe get some front panners bags, - dunno how much its going to cost but not much money left after I got all the above...


perhaps also change the pedals but they still work fine. no point throwing away good money.

Nevertheless, its been a great experience so far. Riding and greeting people along the way, nodding and waving at fellow bikers who pass by.

And in the process, get a lot of exercise too..

This post has been edited by budgee: Jul 19 2013, 11:40 PM

Wow! thanks for the mirror tip. I would like to do that too. !!
I normally go a bit fast and when approaching a roundabout, where I want to go 12 o'clock, I almost got hit by a fast car going 9 o'clock... so definitely a mirror will help..

cheers...

From the time I bought the bike I have been wondering what is a good way to transport my Tern bike onto the LRT or train without putting it in a bag and carrying it on my shoulder where it will more or less break my back.

I have seen the Brompton with the small transport wheels cleverly mounted onto the top of the rear wheel, and when the rear wheel is folded, the small wheels act like its a trolley and can be wheeled around while holding the saddle on the seat post. So ingenious.

So for the Tern, there is a Trolley Rack with wheels solution, with the small wheels mounted vertically and the bike can be covered with a built in bag as well. Another nice solution but looks a bit odd with small wheels like that, not to mention its going to be expensive. See below picture bottom left.

Also I don't really want the rack mounted all the time and it may be a bit heavy too.


What I do have is the Biologic Portage Postrack that is mounted onto the seat post via quick release lock, did not cost too much too. See below picture top left.
If I don't want the rack just take it off, and the bike is free of the Rack and lighter too. If I need it, just mount it on.


So I was just thinking how I could put small wheels on this Portage PostRack, like maybe ask someone to weld some wheels onto it or something.... heh heh... sure won't work... some more don't look nice.

Then tried to put some more creative thinking, I think I found a good way to wheel my Tern bike onto the LRT without putting it in a bag and carrying it on my shoulder. See picture below, on the right side. I took the picture where it will be in the position that I will use to push the bike. The bike is like upright and takes very little space in the train. I am like walking with the bike. If there are not many people in the train, I will let the bike rest as per the normal way, that is on the two wheels and the seat post.

My right hand will hold the PostRack at the top and my left hand will hold the saddle. With two hands, I have a very high degree of control of the bike's direction and movement. I will only let the bike roll on the rear wheel, the front wheel will be off the ground. In this way, I can control the direction of the bike wherever I want it to go. The only thing is the bike cannot be wheel backwards because the pedals will move against the frame, so the only way is to move it forwards.

Of course the other way is to leverage the bike on the front wheel rather than the back wheel and you can go forward and backwards, BUT the PostRack is fixed solid to the rear wheel frame, while the front wheel is a bit wobbly, if it were the one to be used to wheel so I rather not take chances of it going out of control.

So once I want to go to the LRT with the bike, I fold it up, rotate the Seat towards the other way, then use some strong cloth / protective cover to cover the crankset where there are sharp teeth with grease to avoid any trouble with the LRT Subway security people. Also you don't want people on the train standing next to you to stare at the sharp teeth on crank and wondering wah, this fellow ah, so inconsiderate. Anyway the crankset will be near to my body and the handlebars will be on the outside facing the other people, so there is little danger of getting grease onto other people's clothes. So I just walk and wheel it upright like that. I have done it once yesterday. Will continue to do so in the future to see if there is any problems with the LRT subway train staff or not.

(I think this will work if you have any seat post mounted device that is strong and solid like a child seat holder or bag holder )

Anyway, for those without this PostRack, you can still wheel the bike on the wheel, just don't put the seat post all the way down. The seat post/saddle is your steering device. However, you only have one thing to hold /control the bike's direction, so a bit more difficult to move the bike around the LRT station and elevators..

Anyone got any suggestions how to improve this is most welcome. Feedback, good or bad, let me know.
All this in the interest of boosting cycling - LRT - Trains to save parking / petrol... is good.




This post has been edited by budgee: Jul 20 2013, 11:06 AM

I got some things from Daiso, all RM 5 each, got the tyre repair kit with 2 tyre levers, bells, lights-front and rear, . Quite worth it , think a lot of Japanese ride bicycles, so maybe that's why they stock these things.

But definitely no cycle computers there.

Did you ride on normal roads or off road? If you fixed the puncture, could you find any sharp nail?


Since I ride to KL from PJ every now and then, I am also concerned of getting punctures.

I was examining my tires yesterday and guess what? I found very small sharp glass fragments embedded in the Kojak back tire. Took a small screwdriver to dig them out. Then there was another small cut on the tire but could not find any metal object. Guess the Schwalbe kevlar is working.


Wow, I am so very lucky.

I now have got a puncture repair kit as well as spare tube. If in a hurry, just replace the tube first, can fix puncture later.

The schwalbe tubes are advertised as lightweight high performance tubes. Could that be the reason the rubber is thinner?

It'll be good if you can post a photo of the two big apples here... lots of people will be keen to buy ...
Do you also want to sell off your dahon mudguards? can I have the mudguard price? Thks..

Woowee, add a bit more and I can buy the tyres for MyVI....

But Rodalink is the main Bike shop for these quality tyres.... So if you want the best, then there is a price to pay...

I was at Johnny's MB Shop yesterday and bought some brake pads that he recommended. All I can say is that after changing to the new pads, I could immediately notice a big difference in the braking power. The bike can now stop within a shorter distance... The standard Tern P18 brake pads are not so good!

This post has been edited by budgee: Jul 25 2013, 12:11 PM

Nice bike! You put the camera on the ground?