bought an old motobecane road bike off craigslist to replace my clunky schwinn for riding to work and recreationally during the weekend

for you northsiders, is there a particular bike shop you recommend? they all seem to be highly thought of but wanted to ask to give your guy some business.

i want to replace the plain pedals to get combo plain/clips. i'm 99% sure i fucked up and stripped the threading on the crank when trying to put on pedals i bought from craigslist. so maybe will need new cranks? after some research it looks like the french bikes have a different thread size. sacre bleu!

figured a professional should take a look before i cost myself even more money.

separate note, driving irving park at ravenswood last night at 10:45pm and stopped to let a guy with baggy jeans and backwards hat walking a fuji bike across the intersection.

some poor guy/girl is gonna wake up this morning with a really shitty feeling when they realize they got done dirty by a slimeball. hide yo bikes!

half-mile in to my bike ride to work this morning chain snaps

mission aborted. time to rush back home and catch the ravenswood metra.

You are overthinking bike ownership.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

move to Amsterdam if'n you feel the need to locomote in a 19th century manner in the 21st century. next thing yano we'll have horse and buggy lanes.

I've had a $100 bicycle for 5 or 6 years. I also don't need 500 miles of bike lanes, thats what side streets and alleys are for. A more egalitarian mode than sedans, IMO.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

That’s all I have. Bought the used Motobecane road bike for 85 bucks off Craigslist. Wanted a lighter bike than my old Schwinn bc I live on the 2nd floor and it’s a lot lighter to carry up the stairs.

I’m at Lawrence and Ashland so I scoot to Lakefront path to get to LaSalle and Lake where I work.

Unfortunately have had some bad luck

Yup.

You could try Johnny Sprockets - Andersonville
Address: 5434 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60640
Phone: (773) 293-1695

Used to drink with one of the guys that works there. Shop was over on Bryn Mawr and Broadway for a pretty long time. Dude was really really into his job and all of the guys in the shop seemed to be. Don't know if they are sales only or provide bike repair assistance too. Most did iirc.

I've got a Trek that I bought new for $240 in 1996. I've had the bike rebuilt at least three times. The last time it cost $500. Lars at the Pony Shop looked at me like I was crazy for not just buying a new bike, but this motherfucker is like an appendage. I ride it 3000-4000 miles a year. I would hate to buy a new bike and not be comfortable the way I am on the old one.

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Don't take it personally.

2 recommendations, neither are close to you, though:

Pony Shop in Evanston
Cosmic Bikes on 4200ish Milwaukee

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

My wife has an expensive sub-15 pound Trek she bought for when she did triathlons. Thing is sweet as hell. She wants to go on more and longer bike rides this summer around IL/WI/MI but I grew up with basic Wal-Mart/Dick's mountain bikes to ride to school.

I'm not dropping money on a road bike when I don't even know what I want/need. Figured rigging up a cheap craiglist road bike with clips would let me fake it enough when we go out.

I wouldn't hesitate to spend big bucks on a custom road bike if I had a place to put it. I've got storage space for one bike and I ride all winter. It's rough enough with mountain bike tires. I use the Strava app and I'm among the fastest guys in my age group even on my mountain bike. It would be fun to see how quick I could go on a lightweight road bike with skinny tires.

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Don't take it personally.

Doesn't the Peleton that resides in your conservatory have a setting for that?

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

Great call. In and out in 10 minutes. Scheduled service for the Motobecane I butchered for next week.

so as mentioned in complain thread, i popped my back wheel tube on Friday. the issue was my tire sidewall had a gash so the tube blew out in that spot

well, i bought gatorskin tires this weekend to get thicker protection than my cheapy gum sidewalls. no idea what is going on with my back wheel but i blew out 3 tubes swapping the tire. i filled the back wheel to it's recommend 100 PSI and then 2-3 minutes later tube explodes. no issue with the front. not even riding the damn bike; it's just sitting in my kitchen and back tire tube explodes. gonna take it in for a pro to fix this shit. very annoying.

All BYKE tires are the SAME??????

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Of course Kirwood is a cyclist

yup.

takes 45 minutes to get work biking vs 45 minutes metra.

easy choice

I was attacked by a goose today on the bike path. I was looking down at my gears and when I looked up there was a huge goose with its chest all puffed out, hissing and sticking its green tongue out charging at me. I started yelling and it backed off. Then I saw three or four goslings scrambling in the grass.

Also, some fat old guy tried to race with me today. I thought, is this guy serious? No way he can ride with me. Of course, he couldn't. When I came home and told my wife she started shaking her fist and said, "I'm the fastest fat old guy on this bike path!"

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Don't take it personally.

I had a friend who was a Bloomingdale police officer. They got a 911 call one time from a who fell (or jumped) off his bike when he was surrounded by geese on Gary, across from Meijers.. He told the operator the geese wouldn't let him have his bike back.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

This time of year you have to look out for them.

I was attacked a few years ago while running in Indianapolis. Got away by running a few feet, turning and screaming at it, and then repeating. It was a weekday morning in a park. The people in the homes nearby must have thought I was a lunatic.

Also passed one with goslings a couple evenings ago on my bike. It started to hiss at me but I blew past it before it could mount an assault.

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"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

these things are the devil on the lakefront path:


divvy's are slow but at least you can pass them! these monstrosities 10x slower than divvy's and block the whole bike lane!!!!

get rid of them. OUT OUT OUT

I love hopping on a Divvy and blowing past one of those spandex-wearing douchebags on his $2000 bike.

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Don't take it personally.

those guys crack me up. too much money to burn when they should've just gotten a beach cruiser instead.

i wish they didn't make the Divvy's so heavy and slow. just a tad faster would be awesome. steady easy pedaling from Lawrence to LP Zoo exceeded the 30 min limit b/c they're too damn slow. probably would've made it if pedaling like a maniac but that wasn't the goal

Anyone know a good rim guy in the city?

Asking for a friend.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

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I got my back rim replaced at Uptown Bikes. They had a used one and did the cassette re-install as well. So it ended up being a little cheaper. Overall more than the bike is worth ($100+) but it's a beater bike that's perfect for city commuting 20 miles a day.

Kirkwood:

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

A guy in his 70s or 80s threatened to beat the shit out of me this morning.

You know how I hate guys that come through at 25 mph screaming "ON YOUR LEFT!!!!!" I refuse to do that. It doesn't work anyway. Half the time the person reflexively jumps left. It's up to you to control your vehicle. And I can always control mine. If there are kids and dogs and people walking around I slow down. I can always stop my bike in a few inches.

Anyway, this morning I'm riding through the lakefront parks in Evanston and I'm by the lagoon. There's an old couple walking in front of me. I move out to the left to pass them and suddenly the guy just starts dragging the woman to the left without even looking around. I grabbed up quickly and I didn't really come close to hitting them, but I was annoyed. So I said, "Come on!", really more to myself than to them.

The woman started to apologize as they were so clearly and obviously in the wrong for not looking around before turning abruptly. But the guy went into orbit. He started screaming at me at the top of his lungs. "YOU SHOULD HAVE LET US KNOW YOU WERE BEHIND US!!!" I just said, "Watch where you're going. There are others out here too, you know." Then he got really crazy and started screaming, "FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!" He made a move like he was going to chase me which is really funny since I was on my bike and he didn't even walk so well. He kept ranting like a loon. Even when I was about an eighth of a mile away I could still hear him threatening me.

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Don't take it personally.

I like the cut of that guy's jib. you should have pulled over and handed him a CFMB card. "FREE REGISTRATION TODAY!"

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest