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Strava is a huge pile of self important, childish toss.
It might be my perception but Strava has changed hugely in the way it is used and what it is for.
I used to think of it primarily as a place for dickish KOM point scoring.
Now I think of it as a place to record your riding (and other exercise and adventure activities); a simplified exercise analysis tool like training peaks but dumbed down for non elites; a place to pick up motivational challenges (like the annual festive 500); and a social media style way to keep up with your friends 'sporting' lives to give and take some motivation and share adventures. The KOM element is now tiny and only really a thing if you actively search it out; especially the performance against other people element.
My controversion cycling opinion - those that think of Strava as childish toss are probably stuck in about 2012.
LLS?
Not trying to be rude, but have you actually ridden one?
Yes, numerous. Pretty much without exception the bars are too low, around knee height when stood up. The seat tube angle is a compromise for riding along, it's too steep for comfortable pedaling, your feet feel like they are behind your hips and you're perched on the nose of your saddle. They work for people who are solely out for descending as fast as possible.
I'm not at all interested in going as fast as possible over every part of a ride. Most of the time I'm out it's to be outside, bimbling along, enjoying being outside bimbling along. #controversial
All those moaning about over-population are deflecting attention away from their consumerist lifestyles.
Well I'm not, so not quite "all". And even if someone has a consumerist lifestyle having another 2 people brought into the world to join them is sure not going to help is it...
Strava is a very useful tool.
However, people are now too stupid to ride without mulitple electronic thingies telling them where they are, where they need to be, how fast they’re going to get there and a host of other wildly unimportant* crap. Most people spend longer looking at their various devices than they do actually enjoying the ride.
Yep, I find it very useful. My phone stays in my back pocket with Strava running and I only look at it after I have uploaded when I get home. Keeps a track of my rides and gives me an idea of where I could try harder or even set a goal for a PB. What is wrong with that?
This isn't the "controversial re-cycling opinions" thread.
Map my ride is better than strava if you just want to let it run then look at the ride afterwards.
Dedicated handle bar mounted GPS is pointless, you're in the UK! Not the Yukon.
A few mins planning and you'll have a very good idea of your route.
#controvercial
Gorilla tape has no place on bike rims!
And even if someone has a consumerist lifestyle having another 2 people brought into the world to join them is sure not going to help is it…
If you're that worried then I'd head to Switzerland. It's easy to get to by train.
Well I’m not, so not quite “all”. And even if someone has a consumerist lifestyle having another 2 people brought into the world to join them is sure not going to help is it…
Just start a separate ‘I hate kids’ thread and keep this one on track
If you’re that worried then I’d head to Switzerland
What a pleasant comment
Just start a separate ‘I hate kids’ thread and keep this one on track
FYI - Stating that an increasing population is not great environmentally does not equal "I hate kids"
But yes, no more mention of it on this thread
There is absolutely zero reason for not wearing a helmet when riding. Just like seat belts it should be mandatory to be honest.
What a pleasant comment
You're welcome.
Anyway, back to cycling: people who think that helmets should be compulsory are too stupid to ride a bicycle.
LLS?
Not trying to be rude, but have you actually ridden one?
Yes, numerous. Pretty much without exception the bars are too low, around knee height when stood up.
You do understand that the low part is refering to the BB height not the height of the bars .
You do understand that the low part is refering to the BB height not the height of the bars .
Which conversely can actually make the saddle to bar drop shorter as saddle height is determined from the BB whilst the bar is not. 🙂
Bunny hopping over extending dog leads is all part of the game these days.
Yes, the low is referring to the BB, but I referred to the bar height. Most, if not all, of the bikes I tried the bars were too low.
Semi hydraulic brakes are significantly less hassle then fully hydraulic brakes..barely need bleeding and can use long or short pull brakes(with some cable tension adjustments)..my spyre trp rd/hd going strong after about 10 months with the occasional clean and cable change(even ran with gear cables for a week once...ehhh..never again)..
Reflective gear should be on cars not people or cyclists. we should place the responsibility on the most dangerous traffic users. Reflective gear is mearly a product that continues to sell danger and fear, instilling in the general public the profiteers desired perception of .... danger and fear.
So wait, what you're trying to say is that by introducing another complexity into brakes (the cable) you get somehow more reliable brakes? How about, leave them alone, if they're working fine then don't touch them, other than to clean them. If they do need messing about with and your previous experience of this hasn't been a good one, then give your bike to someone who can do it for you.
my spyre trp rd/hd going strong after about 10 months with the occasional clean and cable change
The only thing I've ever done with any of the hydraulic brakes I've ever owned (sram Hayes, Magura, shimano, and hope) is change the pads, the Hope didn't have a fluid change is 5 years, and the SRAM code on my current bike haven't in over a year.
Controversial eh...
< If they do need messing about with and your previous experience of this hasn’t been a good one, then give your bike to someone who can do it for you.>
I can fix them ..never needed too..but ran avid or exilers on another bike..something like that .and they kept going spongy..
Also I'm stuck on square taper cranks and want to keep 9 speed...wouldn't happen to know of a hydraulic 9 speed drop bar shifter right..to my knowledge none exist.. so they are a perfect solution for me plus try fixing your magura brakes at the side of the road...good luck ..I'll take a cable any day..
The tyres on all my bikes are pneumatic. This does not negate the difference in stiffness/compliance or damping/harshness of the rigid components equipped such as handlebars, seatposts, hardtail frames and rigid forks.
Bikeradar is better than singletrackworld 😉
Got a new one
If you feel the need to wear more than an open face helmet and knee pads on a multi use trail (e.g. a bridleway in England and Wales) where you might encounter walkers; then you're riding too fast for the conditions, and not doing the rest of us any favours.
There is absolutely zero reason for not wearing a helmet when riding. Just like seat belts it should be mandatory to be honest.
People who say this have never popped down to the shops quickly to pick up a loaf of bread by bike.
There are many reasons not to wear a helmet. Mainly so you don't have to carry a helmet around everywhere if you're out and about. And at least as many reasons as not wearing a helmet whilst walking.
The helmet debate is an interesting one, but I’ll always be on the side of wearing one. Having raced motorbikes, you were always told to buy the best helmet you could as it’d be the thing that saves you.......and I have cracked one in the garage to remind me how good they are.
Trouble is, as the saying goes, “it’s how you fall, not how fast”. Although you might be out for a pootle to the shops, you could be hit by a car, or you could lose balance for a second and crack your head on a curb, and that could do as much or more damage as a crash on a trail at 25mph.
To each their own, but I’ll never ride without one, and will never let my kids on their bikes without one.
There is no finer Petri dish of cognitive biases than people’s opinions about safety measures that should be adopted when, and only when, a bicycle appears between their or someone else’s legs.
(Eg: “Although you might be out for a pootle to the shops, you could be hit by a car, or you could lose balance for a second and crack your head on a curb, and that could do as much or more damage as a crash on a trail at 25mph”—entirely true of walking to the shops. Also a block of blue ice from an aircraft toilet could fall on your head.)
. Having raced motorbikes, you were always told to buy the best helmet you could as it’d be the thing that saves you…….and I have cracked one in the garage to remind me how good they are.
Not exactly relevant to my 3 mile ride at 10mph (I used to run at that pace) on a tarmac path through parks to Cardiff's city centre.
Psst, I know helmet debates are really good fun, but there's an implicit understanding in this thread that people can vent controversial opinions without repercussions.
But the notion that you could also suffer a head injury while walking is an extremely controversial opinion fact 😉
I only wear a helmet for some of my riding as my wife tells me too. I’d happily ride without one for most rides.
Haribo are nothing to get excited about.
Anono you've gone too far now.
Psst, I know helmet debates are really good fun, but there’s an implicit understanding in this thread that people can vent controversial opinions without repercussions.
Not according to the mods.
It only took me ~3 years of using Strava to come to the conclusion that showing the world my commutes and popping to the shops rides with no segment pbs is Strava spam others (including any followers) don't need to see.
"Me only" since start of 2020.
1x drive trains are only for those too lazy to set up a front mech, who don't ride up hills (proper ones), smugly feel that weight-saving outweighs usefulness, don't care about chain line or who blindly whatever latest trend is being pimped by Big Bike.
Exceptions are 1x1, 1x2(flip-flop) and the hub geared who are all awesome obviously.
1x drive trains are only for those too lazy to set up a front mech, who don’t ride up hills (proper ones), smugly feel that weight-saving outweighs usefulness, don’t care about chain line or who blindly whatever latest trend is being pimped by Big Bike.
Lol, trying to take the climbing moral high ground cos you have more gears! 🤣🤣🤣
1x is for fashionistas.
93% of 1X deniers still believe the earth is flat
Audaxers are the nicest cycling tribe.
There is no finer Petri dish of cognitive biases than people’s opinions about safety measures that should be adopted when, and only when, a bicycle appears between their or someone else’s legs.
Don’t get me wrong. I get why people don’t and am not going to criticise anyone who chooses not to, and of course there’s risk in everything, but it just seems a simple thing to do.
Christ, at my age, packing the dishwasher has become a dangerous task!
safety measures that should be adopted when, and only when, a bicycle or horse, motorbike, skis, skateboard, roller skates etc appears.
Whilst I'm happy people have differing opinions and all, don't get carried away thinking its a bike thing, it's not.
WD40 and a rag is a perfectly good way to clean and lube a chain.
Bez is not always right.
who don’t ride up hills (proper ones)
Well, my 6 mile (I've got no time, but I need to get out on my bike) route is a smidge under 2000ft in 3 climbs, please do tell me again how my 1x somehow doesn't allow me access to proper hills
Psst, I know helmet debates are really good fun, but there’s an implicit understanding in this thread that people can vent controversial opinions without repercussions.
It's not a debate, it's just a contradiction.
Audaxers are the nicest cycling tribe.
They might well be, but the only person I've met who was a big audaxer was a bit of a miserable self centred git. (Could go into why/how but I won't. He had a "you can tell a happy cyclist by the flies in his teeth" postcard on the fridge. Most ironic fridge adornment I've ever seen. And cycling only seemed to make him more miserable.)
I'm pretty sure my opinion of audax is thus unfair - I really fancied doing one until I met him!
Singlespeeders know the world is not flat.
Your "trail dog" isn't cool, it's a menace.
29ers are turning trails into flat motorways the dutch would be envious of.
It only took me ~3 years of using Strava to come to the conclusion that showing the world my commutes and popping to the shops rides with no segment pbs is Strava spam others (including any followers) don’t need to see.
“Me only” since start of 2020.
"commute" label is surely for this very reason? Miles are miles.
nickc - you have said it yourself. My local low hills are a bigger climb than that 😉
Where the heck do you and nick live that you've 3 (very steep) 200m climbs back to back?
Bealach-na-Ba covers roughly the same ascent and distance as nicks whole loop but it's just one continuous climb.
2000ft in 6 miles is hardknott pass, top to bottom twice. Its an average gradient of +-12.5%
No one watches your GoPro footage. Not even you.
if i want a first person perspective of a profoundly average mountain biker going quite slowly down a trail, i'll go out mountain biking.
E bikes f#ck up the trails when its sloppy much more than pedal bikes. Period.
People riding without mudguard ruin trails - cos they ride round puddles and muddy bits turning singletrack into 3m wide mess
@keir no but 19k people will watch a video of 3 different hubs rotating.
People who say this have never popped down to the shops quickly to pick up a loaf of bread by bike.
That makes no sense.
I toppled over while almost stationary by putting my foot down onto a small round rock. Cracked my temple on another rock. Only when I got home did I realise I'd completely split the inside of my helmet from one side to the other. Could have been my skull, at nearly zero mph. Not worth the risk to me. Can't understand why anyone would chance it.
Your “trail dog” isn’t cool, it’s a menace.
And three are a bloody liability, especially when you don't bother watching what any of them are doing on a busy trail.
If you don't use mudguards because of "looks" you are a bit of a pleb. If you think a brown streak up your arse looks better then you are deluded.
The rules are not sacrosanct..
Could have been my skull, at nearly zero mph. Not worth the risk to me. Can’t understand why anyone would chance it.
Closest I've come to serious head injury was either falling down a flight of stairs or being in a car crash. But I assume you can understand why anyone would "chance it" in those situations.
Bicycles are magical super-dangerous devices for giving you brain damage: for some reason, a bafflingly non-controversial cycling opinion.
26ers are where it's at!
And, yes - not wearing a helmet on any ride, however short, is....not very sensible.
Nobeerinthefridge
Member
........Lol, trying to take the climbing moral high ground cos you have more gears!
Not really. I ride slx 1x11 on my rigid because:
1x is for fashionistas
Rubber_Buccaneer
Subscriber
93% of 1X deniers still believe the earth is flat
Naw. It's got hills and that, innit.
Also, this is a thread for opinions. Statistics and opinions are different things until we are talking politics...
Additionally: MBUK officially became not worth reading at the same time as the adverts for "fear of a flat planet" tee shirts disappeared.
"Closest I’ve come to serious head injury was either falling down a flight of stairs or being in a car crash. But I assume you can understand why anyone would “chance it” in those situations."
No one I know has fallen down any stairs.
Several people I know have been involved in car crashes, however the injuries were not the sort that would have been prevented by a lightweight crash helmet.
All my family ride bikes and over the years both myself, my wife and my two children have fallen off. The only person who was hurt was my wife (a head injury) when a bar bag fell off its fitting and went into her front wheel. She wasn't wearing a helmet (she's Dutch.....) and she was very lucky.
My friends ride bikes and most have fallen off at some stage - some mtbiking but some just riding along for various reasons. There have been broken and dented helmets. I'm sure they have had other accidents but no head injuries that I'm aware of.
Its very clear that if you fall off a bike you are quite likely to hit your head.
In my opinion you are reasonably likely to fall off a bike at some stage in your life if you ride them a lot.
My controversial opinion is that it is sensible to mitigate the risk of striking your head whilst riding a bike. However I am not always sensible.
latest Dutch thinking:
The mental gymnastics people will go to to try and justify wearing a helmet whilst cycling but not whilst participating in other "normal" activities is stunning.
(note this is an opinion, not a direct response to any particular post. 🙂 )
if i want a first person perspective of a profoundly average mountain biker going quite slowly down a trail, i’ll go out mountain biking
I agree. Wait for me at the bottom.
In my opinion you are reasonably likely to fall off a bike at some stage in your life if you ride them a lot.
It's an oddity, but now I think of it, in 30-odd years of mountain biking, I've only ever trashed one helmet (hit head on a rock), and thinking back, I don't think I've otherwise crashed in such a way that a helmet would have really prevented an injury. I've only been road riding for the last 3-4 years and feel way more exposed here. Again, I'm yet to have an off serious enough to trash a helmet, but I feel far more exposed riding at speed in a group than I ever do battering down off-road trails and rock gardens. Certainly the one road ride I did where I forgot to take my helmet felt, at once, very liberating and very scary. I rode home far more carefully than I would normally have!
My kids wear helmets and my son has definitely bounced his helmeted-head off the tarmac more than once (yey for U12 circuit racing!) and even managed to knock himself silly in a CX race (a fair achievement!) They wouldn't think of putting a leg over a bike without a helmet, and I reckon this is a good thing.
Ebikes are the future.
I was the only non ebiker of 8 last night, despite being the fittest there, I had the least fun.
Fact.