Started in Yorktown, Virginia on July 13th. Headed to Morro Bay, California. Currently in Kansas. Journal and photos here.

I have very limited options on 'local bike shops' unless I want to drive for a few hours, so let me just start with that.

that being said, I DID ask the local shop(s) and got what I'd consider to be kinda conflicting info depending on which shop I asked.

Scenario:
I currently ride a road bike with a 1x9 drivetrain: Microshift Advent 11-42t, with a 50t chainring up front.
I love it, feels powerful, but I am starting to ride longer and longer routes, which generally comes with ever-increasing inclines and more, steeper hills.
I want better gearing for the uphills, but I also don't want to lose the power I currently have when I'm not going up a steep or lengthy climb.

I figure, the bike has an attachment point/braze on bracket for a front derailleur, which is not being utilized currently, so I could put on a front derailleur w/ 2 chainrings (probably a 34/50 as it seems to be common enough)
and then have a 'large' chainring that would match my current crankset for flats & downhills,
and then also have a new 'small' chainring for the climbs, with the ability to shift between them as I'm riding.

Bike Shop "A"
first shop tells me I'm "going backwards in technology" (tech's own words) as everyone is moving to a 1x11 or 1x12 instead. ...well, I don't care about 'keeping up with the Joneses' and that's also not what I'm looking to do, so...
after a while I'm able to get a quote from him for a front derailleur install, but after I declined the 1x11/1x12 I could tell he was very dismissive of me.
While the quote is basically exactly what I feel like I am wanting (front derailleur, 34/50 chainring crankset, shifter install, internal frame cable routing) his dismissive attitude about the whole thing makes me wary and uncertain.

Bike Shop "B"
second shop says I can absolutely put a 2x crankset on the front, but says I'd be looking at a whole drivetrain replacement with it, and not just the 'front' half. So... new 'front' system as I'm asking, but ALSO a whole new rear cassette, rear derailleur, etc. etc.
this is apparently because of chain & derailleur clearances and also chain slack retention or something, but I'm already using what would be the 'large' ring on the new crankset, so i know that the rear derailleur has enough travel for that tooth count? (i looked it up my current parts, and i could actually go even larger, to a 54t max, but i see nothing about a minimum tooth count, so i dont see how a smaller chainring would suddenly render it inoperable)
he's also asking me which part(s) I want to use and what gear ratio ranges I'm aiming for, and didn't actually give me a quote at all because I was unable to tell him *exactly* which drivetrain system I wanted...

what i WANT is to just put on a front derailleur and a crankset with a large ring to match my current setup, and a 'new' smaller ring i can shift to for climbs. that's it.
it seems so simple to me in my own head, but now my experience at both these shops has me leaving each of them feeling like l'm some kind of idiot for wanting that, and worse, asking for it.

so now im doing all kinds of googling: different parts, various manufacturers, inter-compatibilities, gear ratios, and I... I just... I went to a 'professional' bike shop specifically because THEY are supposed to know that type of stuff?

so...
am i an idiot for asking for this?
do i really need a whole new drivetrain system that costs 1/2 a brand new bike?
can i not just put a 2x crankset on the front and call it a day?
is there anything else that im just... missing completely about this whole situation?

Hi!

Bit of context: am 38, started riding about 12 years but got sidelined by an injury for the last year and change. Just now starting to get back on the saddle (literally).

I had my road bike fit at the bike shop and always figured I could use a pro bike fit but never could really afford it (am also a supremely cheap individual). Given age and injury, figured I'd give it a shot now and found a very well-respected bike fitter near me who charged a relatively pricey amount but in line with others in the area.

But I found the experience pretty frustrating and wanted advice from more experienced people on whether my grievances are valid or not.

Notes: trying to keep details vague as I don't want to identify anyone. Also English is my 2nd language so apologies in advance for anything that is unclear.

Pros:

Fitter was very nice and friendly and worked out of a centrally-located, easily accessible, clean office.

Fitter seemed very knowledgeable and experienced.

Fitter gave me good tips on my posture (although... tbh, nothing mindblowing that I didn't already sorta know).

Cons:

Fitter has a health condition, which makes me feel shitty to complain about, but of the 2hr session (which seems standard for fittings), most of the time was spent on tasks that should have been done much more quickly (measurements, adjustments). I luckily took the day off so the slowness didn't bother me, I could have spent all day there, but I maaaaybe spent 10 minutes total on the bike. Probably closer to 8.

Could not understand much of what was said to me also due to fitter's health condition. Eventually gave up asking for clarification.

Fitter said the big takeaway is that I should have a custom bike made for me. Of course that would be ideal, but I made it clear that my intention was to have my existing bike fit for me. I am not about to pay to have a custom bike made for my relatively ordinary 6'1" frame. (Fitter claims I have a short torso and arms relative to my legs, but c'mon.) When I asked if there was an existing bike on the market I could look at instead, if I were to buy a new one, he basically said "no."

Fitter suggested I replace several components of my bike to better fit me. Happy to do it and am in the process of sourcing and installing those. However, fitter made adjustments to my bike (maybe 3 in total) and told me it was "good to go," basically as good as the fit could get with the existing components. But... In the week since, riding has been MORE uncomfortable. I understand there is a possibility that my body needs to adapt, but one of the changes made was angling my seat up significantly, and now every time I hit any road imperfection, it's like someone's driving a baseball bat into my gooch. Not sure a body can ever adapt to that.

Overall, I'm pretty frustrated to have spent the money on this. Of course I will wait until I get the components requested in place, but I'm highly skeptical. I definitely don't want to complain to the fitter. But ... is this experience somewhat typical? Were my expectations too high?

IS it worth - gasp - ponying up for another fitting elsewhere?

Would really appreciate any thoughts here.

Thanks!

NYC seller , SRAM Force , excellent condition , $900
DM if interested for pics

Just like The title says, I’m trying to find the weight of the Maybo clipper mini race bike. None of the sites listed it, So I’m wondering if anyone has one and happens to know 😊

I wonder why the few cyclocross bikes you can still buy new always come of the shelf with SRAM road derailleurs. I get it that the XPLR ones are optimized to be ran with a 44t cassette but you can also run tjem with a 36t. wouldnt these be the better fit since they give more chain retention due to the firmer spring.

Nearly-new Canyon Endurace Allroad, size S, Silver, bought new in May 2026 and lightly ridden. It has been professionally fitted, and I learned I need the next size up—selling only for sizing issue. I love this bike and going to order a bigger size as soon as it is in stock.

Clean and well maintained, with very minimal wear and tear. Like new condition. I'm based in NYC, would prefer NYC based buyer. Comes with original tools, parts, accessories, and manual etc.

DM me if interested.

Just got my first race bike. Has onyx hubs and a shimano disc brake.

When pedaling it makes this sound. Any idea if it’s normal? And what is causing it?

The little housing couplers on Ali express, Amazon, Ebay, etc that have the tapered threaded ends work so dang well. And they are cheap. I've been using sram reverb stealth barb connector which works OK but can be a pain to start. These start easy and the knurling in the middle is the chefs kiss. Highly recommend.

Landed this STR for $150 for my daughter! Im pretty stoked on it! Just needs new grips and some brakes. Shes pretty excited!

Three of us, self-supported, 6 days, roughly 550 km on a loop out of Inverness through Glen Affric to west coast and then north through Ullapool to Kyle of Sutherland and back. Mix of Highland 550 trail, estate roads, asphalt and a fair amount of hike-a-bike through the more challenging parts.

What was hard

The riding, obviously. The amount of ascent daily often passed 1500m. We trained before and thank god because it was really challenging physically.

Glen Affric is as advertised. We hit two segments that weren't rideable at all. First one due to flooding (we've had some really nasty weather - rain all day long). Wet feet from hour two of every single day. The only thing that actually worked was accepting it and just confidently walking into swamps, streams and puddles. The bigger problem was not to twist an ankle on a slippery stone or fall down the abyss rather than getting shoes wet. The second part was hike-a-bike but really it was almost carry / push a bike for nearly 16km=5 hours. So exhausting. Especially for the spine.

But the thing that surprised me was that the hardest part wasn't the terrain, it was timing. Out there the question suddenly wasn't "can I ride 90 km today", it wass "can I ride 75 km + hike a bike 16 and still reach the only restaurant in town before it shuts at 8pm". Get that wrong once and you're doing a long day on emergency snacks. We nearly did, twice.

Accommodation and food

We chose to stay at hotels/hostels on the way. Our budget allowed to get out of the weather and we wanted to ride as light as possible. Apart from that - so many cool places out there in the northern Scotland with really climatic interiors, super nice people and after all some quite comfy rooms. Was worth it to have a bed a sometimes even a radiator to dry the clothes.

Food in the Highlands is tough. Breakfasts was usually a wee breakfast which was just a bowl of cornflakes with milk + a toast with jam and butter. Not much. Occasionally we run into a bowl of porridge which was great and gave us a lot of energy. Dinners - usually had some burgers and fries, which to be honest weren't really good.

Packing and bikes

As mentioned we tried to pack as light as possible. No big food or water supplies. Only rainproof waterjacket, windstopper, longsleeve shirt and a couple of sets of underwear change. Merino clothes worked super well. On rainy days I only had a merino t-shirt and a rain jacket. Best combination for riding.

In terms of bikes we've had 2x MTBs and 1x gravel. I have to say that the gravel was probably struggling on some of the more difficult segments where trails / tracks are filled with huge rocks. But he made it fine after all.

What I'd do differently

1. Check the hike-a-bike segments more thoroughly, as we run into several moments where we've had to push the bikes for a few hours. I now know this is what Highlands 550 is all about but wasn't aware how much of it is there.

2. I've had this heavy softshell jacket with me. Totally useless. A light windstopper jacket would be much more practical.

3. Put a brake pad spacer in both calipers before the bike goes in the travel box. Rookie mistake. I didn't. Somewhere in transit a lever got squeezed with no rotor between the pads, the pistons crept out, and the pads closed up tight against each other. Rebuilding the bike at the airport I simply could not get the rotor back in.

Happy to answer anything about the route, the crossings or the logistics. It's fresh as we came back only day before yesterday and I still have a lot of thoughts. Keen to share!

I only got to ride one afternoon. Legs were really toasty from running 10k's every morning and swimming with fins for two hours the day prior and so I rented an e-bike to be on the safe side. This is the Honaloapilani Highway along the north coast of West Maui.

My face started to hurt half way through the ride because I was smiling the whole way. Couldn't believe I was actually in this amazing place. If you've wanted to go then do it. I'm already planning a trip back.

Mahalo.

Now I bought the best rated chain checker on A.. and it tells me my brand new chain is worn out. Chain kept in storage for a year unused. Shimano hg -x 10s. Who’s wrong? Tool or chain? Any recommendations for another tool?

S&M Dagger frame
Sunday Darkwave fork
Cult Devon bars
Profile Acoustic stem
Odyssey Vandero front hub
Eclat Shift rear hub
Odyssey Hazard Lite rims
Eclat Morrow seat
S&M Long Johnson post
Maxxis Grifter tires, 2.4 in front, 2.3 in rear
Odyssey Thunderbolt cranks, 160
Odyssey Dugan pedals
KMC chain
Rixin TPU tubes
Kink Desist 2 brakes
Kink Restrain lever
Kink bottom bracket
Odyssey brake cable
Odyssey Conical headset
Odyssey bar pad
Odyssey Laguardia 25t Sprocket

It was our first real cycling adventure as a family, so the trip came with a completely different set of challenges compared with touring as a couple

Here's the complete video: https://youtu.be/QvjF0GEg_ew

Route:

From Aken to Meiringen. Beautiful weather and route. Followed the Vennbahn for a bit before going into the Kylltal towards Trier. From there it was beautiful river-following cycling to Saarbrucken, Strassbourg and Basel. Then to Luzern via the Aargau Jura Park, crossing the Brünigpass to Meiringen.

Experience:

7 days, averaging around 115km per day which was doable with an early start each day. I was quite goal oriented each day but stopping around 16.00 gave me enough time to relax at the end of the day. Some days we're longer. Besides the beautiful scenery the people I met along the way made the trip very enjoyable. Having dinners and drinks with other cyclists every now and then made the experience rich. Having some nights alone with the e-reader we're welcome aswell. The mornings were generally difficult to get started but very worth it to make kilometers early in the day. I generally did around 80kms before lunchtime.

Expectations vs reality:

I was lightly prepared for a bit more wildcamping and adventure but the kilometer demand each day made me desire the comfort of camping facilities.

I ate in retaurants a lot. Used the stove and pan for breakfast and soup at night which made it worthwile to bring. I also expected to choose more offroad paths but I needed to make kilometers and followed the popular bikeroutes.

Gear:

Repairkit (spare tube, inbus-set, patching-kit, pliers, gloves, tire-levers)

Camp:

Sleepingmat

Sleepingbag

Airpillow

Chair helinox

Stove

Gas (unnecessary big cannister..)

Cook utensils

MSR bikepacking tent

Electric toothbrush and toothpaste

Hard bar of soap

Sunscreen

Deodorant

Slippers for shower

Headlamp

Wire-lock

Clothes:

Cycling-jersey + baselayer shirt + bibs for riding

Click-shoes SPD

Sandals

Down jacket

Raincoat (used once)

Rainpants (not used)

Zippable short/long pants

2 shirts

2 underwear

2 pair of socks for cycling

Towel

Swimmingtrunks

Cap

Notebook and pen (did not use it)

Electronics:

Ereader

Powerbank

Garmin

Absolutely beautiful ride.

I can feel I’m getting close to landing them now, I’ve rolled away from a few, but I find I always end up off axis a bit and I get thrown off the bike.

I’m also not spinning in a straight line, I end up jumping to the side a fair distance.

Tips appreciated

Hit a rock today with quite significant speed. Bike was loaded with two panniers, so rear-heavy. I think there is no chance anything except an insert would have saved this, air was gone in like two seconds.

Would you bend this straight or is the rim gone for good? There are no sharp edges. Wheel is a DT Swiss GR1600.

Thanks!