Old school Look bike pedals

[m. wohlwend]

Hey Fixer! Check out the white Look pedals! I inhereted some bike stuff from a gentleman who father was a bike rider for 40 years. He passed away while in surgery. The pedals were his and I think they have a few thousand miles on them...I keep'm going in his honor!

 

[KFU]

Mark, I have an old set of clipless I had on my mountain bike I coul send you if you could use them. They are in great shape but you might not need them now. Shoot me up on my email if you are interested.
Bowdenknxvll@gmail.com

 

[raylaconico]

Hey Mark, My wife, father-in-law, and I rode 16 miles the other day. We averaged 11mph on mtn bikes and a cruiser. Not fast but we're just starting out. Our goal is to get to 30 miles.

 

[m. wohlwend]

Hey Mark, My wife, father-in-law, and I rode 16 miles the other day. We averaged 11mph on mtn bikes and a cruiser. Not fast but we're just starting out. Our goal is to get to 30 miles.

Let me know! I will come ride with you sometime... 11 mph on a mountain bike would be like 15-16 on a road bike like mine. In the next month or two I am going to get another bike. I am looking at the Cannondale Bad Boy with disk brakes. Check it out on Cannondale website.

 

[fixer]

very cool! but those look like a later model than my old school first gen Looks. the early ones were very angular and boxy and had white dust covers.

not that it makes any difference, they work well and to continue to use them is the proper thing to do.

i've got one leg that's about 3/8" shorter than the other one because i broke it when i was 5. actually i suspect the one i broke is longer... but nobody can remember. so i've got a stack of washers under my left cleat. had to use washers when i couldn't find urethane skateboard truck pads any more.

just an observation, but your brake leveres look like they're mounted REALLY high up on the bars. i always set the levers up so that the hoods provided an extension to the top of the bars... that way you could ride on the hoods and stretch out.

not an easy thing to search for images to show, but something more like this-

but with the top of the bars and the top of the levers level and on the same plane.

but there's not really any right or wrong about it... it's all personal preference.

sorry, my folks are coming to visit next week and once they leave i've gotta paint the office and bedrooms here. THEN i'll be able to tear into the garage.

if you decide to play with the positions you'll need to rewrap the bars, but that should be it. there should be enough slack in the brake and shift cables to allow you to move things.

 

[m. wohlwend]

I think my handles set up little bit high anyway, I was thinking about taking the bike down and have the stem dropped, might be the time to address the brake handle too...

 

[fixer]

bar height all depends on where you're comfortable.

and IIRC, the old rule of thumb for stem length is that the bars should hide the front hub... i think that's supposed to be when you're on the drops... because different positions will change your position and view slightly.

it's been a while, i forget some details.


i'm assuming that by "take it down" you mean down to the LBS to have them do the work. you should be able to wrench on this yourself. but it will depend on the spacers the stem has under it. all my stuff is old school with threaded steerers and no AheadSets. except for the Cannondale Delta V.

 

[m. wohlwend]

My LBS has been good to me, lotsa free adjustments, Serria Bicycle Werks here in Visalia. My bike is a CAAD9 2009 model. The last year they were handmade in USA I was told. Looks like there are just spacers under the stem, and when they set the bike up, they rotated the stem up cause I wasn't comfortable bending over too far. That was over 700 miles ago, and I think I am ready to try a lower position...

 

[fixer]

In the next month or two I am going to get another bike. I am looking at the Cannondale Bad Boy with disk brakes. Check it out on Cannondale website.

checked out the Bad Boy. looks nice, but it's on 700c wheels so there's a limit to how fat a tire you can run.

with disc brakes you might be able to swap wheels so 26"s with fat tires, but i don't know if that frame will have the mud clearance that a dedicated MTB would have.

if you get a full on MTB, you can always switch tires and tubes.... should take 15 minutes or less with a floor pump. there are some skinny 26" tires that aare probably close to the size of the fat tires for the 700s on the Bad Boy.

now, fat 700s will work for dirt trails and rough roads... but not what you want if you have any really gnarly, rock strewn trails because the skinnier tire won't protect the rim as much.

i'm not telling you what not to buy, just giving you something else to think about.... the 26"s will be more flexible in the tires you can mount on them.

speaking of tires... i don't see a frame pump on your road bike. do you have a pump that you take with you? some of the little ones mount on the water bottle bosses and let the bottle cage mount over them... or fit in a Camlebak. you could have Co2 in the wedge pack, but i've had days where i would haave chewed thru a lot of CO2, more than i ever carried when i tried it.

but a spare tube and pump, AND a patch kit are a very good idea. the spare tube is faster, the patch kit is for if you run out of spare tubes.

 

[m. wohlwend]

From what I understand the Bad Boy is designed to run 700's and 26's, I have seen some on Craigslist with both sets of wheels. This is part of the appeal of it to me. I don't have a close area in which to moutain bike so the bike would be running the 700's most of the time, until I got a chance to go about 45 miles up to the mountians.

I am carrying 2 co2 canisters and a patch kit and carrying a spare tube and running slime tubes cause were I run is "Goathead Alley". My tires look like pin cushions and when they set for a couple days, you can see the slime leaking out ! It's getting close for new tires I am sure, but I am not a racer, I just ride hard solo most of the time. I have never rode more than 25 yet, cause the seat starts getting to me, even with good bibs...lol

 

[fixer]

From what I understand the Bad Boy is designed to run 700's and 26's, I have seen some on Craigslist with both sets of wheels. This is part of the appeal of it to me. I don't have a close area in which to moutain bike so the bike would be running the 700's most of the time, until I got a chance to go about 45 miles up to the mountians.

I am carrying 2 co2 canisters and a patch kit and carrying a spare tube and running slime tubes cause were I run is "Goathead Alley". My tires look like pin cushions and when they set for a couple days, you can see the slime leaking out ! It's getting close for new tires I am sure, but I am not a racer, I just ride hard solo most of the time. I have never rode more than 25 yet, cause the seat starts getting to me, even with good bibs...lol

yeah, you can swap wheels... no problem... just don't know if it will have the clearance for mud that a dedicated MTB would have. now... that's not usually a problem, but on those times when it is, it can become a big problem.

i'm not saying that something with fat 700s is a bad choice, especially with the option of changing wheels that the disks give you.... just that you can get nearly the same flexibility for less money with just 26s and two sets of tires.

if you just started riding frequently/seriously when you got the 'dale 700 miles ago you will probably need more time to firm up your glutes which will make more saddle time easier to bear.

shorts or bibs with the polypropylene pad in the crotch and no cotton skivies will help keep things dry and unchafed. occasionally standing to stretch can help too.

and sometimes you need a different saddle. i can't tell what that is, but it looks like a Flite, a very thin saddle. since you're still toning up, you might find something with a little bit more padding and a little wider more comfortable. it's a personal preference thing.

and it's really hard to tell from the pic, but the nose of the saddle might need to come down just a touch. id "the seat getting to you" means that Mr. Happy is getting numb then i'd suggest lowering the nose of the seat.

if it means that you get pain at your Ischial Tuberosities or "sit bones" then i'd try another saddle or more saddle time.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/saddles.html

the only thing worse that goatheads is aluminum chips from a CNC mill.