u/KRA2008

more info here: https://lroc.im-ldi.com/images/1499

more info here: https://lroc.im-ldi.com/images/1499

more info here: https://lroc.im-ldi.com/images/1499

tldr: affordable XL steel road bike with disc brakes, flat bar, and kick stand plate?

I’m a commuter cyclist but I also carry cargo and I do it in the winter too. For reference I’m in Minnesota. I don’t know anything about brands and I don’t care about impressing anyone with my performance or appearance (including myself). The point of this bike is to do work, not have fun. I’ve been frequently pulling a trailer with my current bike for a couple years now, loading it to probably over capacity, doing it in the snow too, and that’s been fine. However, I believe I’m in need of a new(/new to me) bike. My current bike is a rusty ‘70’s road bike (Gitane Gran Sport Deluxe I think?) that I pulled out of a dumpster that I’ve been maintaining as needed (replace rear derailleur, bottom bracket bearings, cables, chain, several spokes, cotter pins, shifter paddles, add rack, add kickstand, etc.). If it helps, here’s the current setup: https://imgur.com/a/dlI1BKE

I’ve found the following to be things I want that my current bike can’t give me:
- Disc brakes (for effective stopping with heavy load while in rain or snow, and makes warped wheels irrelevant)
- Flat bar (could be swapped in but not worth it)
- Stop breaking spokes (could be due to overloading, or just bad tension hitting lots of curbs on 50-year-old spokes)
- Fresh start on all bearings and gears and bendable things to stop rattling and squeaking
- No obscure/antique tools, parts, or techniques needed for maintenance
- Any additional durability/reliability improvements that have been made in the last 50 years

Things I have that I cannot give up:
- I need to be able to securely mount a double leg kickstand, I cannot reliably load up the back rack and the trailer without one. (This makes, for example, the Surly Preamble a less than ideal option)

The following are options I’ve read about that I’m not interested in:
- ebikes (I can carry my 100+ pounds of cargo uphill on my dumpster bike fine now over the distance that is required - I don’t need the extra cost/depreciation or theft risk or fuss)
- Cargo bikes/longtails (they’re cool looking but too expensive for marginal benefit when I already have a trailer and I will not be carrying kids)
- Special built-in mitts on handlebars (regular mittens are fine)
- Fat tires/spiked tires (I’m exclusively on roads and paved trails, and even with a couple inches of snow on the ground I’ve found road tires pulling a grocery-laden trailer to be *fine*, and not worth the fuss of fat tires)

I have found that with the trailer and rear rack weight my rear tire wears faster than my front, and I’m fine with that. I have broken three or four spokes on my rear wheel over the years which could be due to overloading the back, but as I said these spokes are probably 50 years old and also maintained by an amateur. When the trailer has its load balanced on its own axle the weight at the tongue doesn’t seem significant to me, but I could be wrong. I know a cargo bike or even a tandem would distribute weight better but I’m doubtful it’s that much of a difference.

I’m wondering if there are questions I don’t know I should be asking, or mistakes I’m about to make by just going ahead and buying, for example, this random cheap thing from Erik’s which is nearby. For example, I know I’m going to probably be moving away from friction-shifters on the down tube to indexed on the handlebars, but that’s fine. I’m going to be going from two front gears down to one, but is it likely I’ll lose gearing range or is that just about gearing granularity? I need to keep my current bottom end for hauling uphill. Are there other changes I’ll be going through I should think about?

I would be happy to buy used too, but I’m finding it really hard to find a used bike that has the things I listed above and is also in my size (I’m 6’2”, so XL?) and is somewhat nearby (Minneapolis). Is there a way to make that easier? If I’m buying new, is there a best way to do that?

Thanks for reading and commenting.

I’m a commuter cyclist but I also carry cargo and I do it in the winter too. For reference I’m in Minnesota. I don’t know anything about brands and I don’t care about impressing anyone with my performance or appearance. I’ve been frequently pulling a trailer with my current bike for a couple years now, loading it to probably over capacity, doing it in the snow too, and that’s been fine. However, I believe I’m in need of a new(/new to me) bike. My current bike is a rusty ‘70’s road bike (Gitane Gran Sport Deluxe I think?) that I pulled out of a dumpster that I’ve been maintaining as needed (replace rear derailleur, bottom bracket bearings, cables, chain, several spokes, cotter pins, shifter paddles, add rack, add kickstand, etc.).

I’ve found the following to be things I want that my current bike can’t give me:
- Disc brakes (for effective stopping with heavy load while in rain or snow, and makes warped wheels irrelevant)
- Flat bar (could be swapped in but not worth it)
- Stop breaking spokes (could be due to overloading, or just bad tension hitting lots of curbs on 50-year-old spokes)
- Fresh start on all bearings and gears and bendable things to stop rattling and squeaking
- No obscure/antique tools, parts, or techniques needed for maintenance
- Any additional durability/reliability improvements that have been made in the last 50 years

The following are options I’ve read about that I’m not interested in:
- ebikes (I can carry my 100+ pounds of cargo uphill on my dumpster bike fine now over the distance that is required - I don’t need the extra cost/depreciation or theft risk or fuss)
- Cargo bikes (they’re cool looking but too expensive for marginal benefit when I already have a trailer and I will not be carrying kids)
- Special built-in mitts on handlebars (regular mittens are fine)
- Fat tires/spiked tires (I’m exclusively on roads and paved trails, and even with a couple inches of snow on the ground I’ve found road tires pulling a grocery-laden trailer to be fine, and not worth the fuss of fat tires)

I have found that with the trailer and rear rack weight my rear tire wears faster than my front, and I’m fine with that. I have broken three or four spokes on my rear wheel over the years which could be due to overloading the back, but as I said these spokes are probably 50 years old and also maintained by an amateur. When the trailer has its load balanced on its own axle the weight at the tongue doesn’t seem significant to me, but I could be wrong. I know a cargo bike or even a tandem would distribute weight better but I’m doubtful it’s that much of a difference.

I’m wondering if there are questions I don’t know I should be asking, or mistakes I’m about to make by just going ahead and buying, for example, this from Erik’s which is nearby: https://www.eriksbikeshop.com/products/national-bicycle-company-2026-fb-1-flat-bar-road-bike-pr5a21913
For example, I know I’m going to probably be moving away from friction-shifters on the down tube to indexed on the handlebars, but that’s fine. I’m going to be going from two front gears down to one, but is it likely I’ll lose gearing range or is that just about gearing granularity? I need to keep my current bottom end for hauling uphill. Are there other changes I’ll be going through I should think about?

I would be happy to buy used too, but I’m finding it really hard to find a used bike that has the things I listed above and is also in my size (I’m 6’2”, so XL?) and is somewhat nearby (Minneapolis). Is there a way to make that easier? If I’m buying new, is there a best way to do that?

Thanks for reading and commenting.

blah blah test

Moose and Luna

I made CrossCam and made this with it.

iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1436262905

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kra2008.crosscam

Moose and Luna

I made CrossCam and made this with it.

iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1436262905

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kra2008.crosscam

Moose and Luna

I made CrossCam and made this with it.

iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1436262905

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kra2008.crosscam

this is my BODY TEXT

I wanted to be able to make all the crap on my car’s infotainment screen disappear as much as possible for easier night driving and maybe other times too when I’m feeling overstimulated. I could not find any solution online but I cooked up my own. I’ve found a way to do it cleanly without any third party apps or mods, right in vanilla CarPlay. If your infotainment system comes with a way to do this for you stock, I’m happy for you, but mine did not (2023 VW ID.4). The result is the first image in this post’s stack.

Here’s the one sentence setup that maybe is enough for some people to just run with: just set your widgets screen to display black pictures and disable “Show Wallpaper”.

Here’s a more detailed step-by-step:

1. Use your phone’s camera to take a completely black picture by turning off the flash and covering the lens tightly with your finger.
2. Put this single black image by itself into a new album on your phone and call that album something helpful, such as “CarPlay Black Screen”.
3. In the Settings app on your phone, go into General, then CarPlay, then select your car(s), then go into Widgets.
4. In each of your stacks, add a new widget, and select the Photos app, then swipe over to tell it to shuffle through a chosen album, and tap “+ Add Widget”.
5. Tap the little “i” icon on the new widget to configure it, and tap on “Choose” next to Album to choose the album, and select the previously made “CarPlay Black Screen” album. Once that is chosen hit the “X” up in the corner to go back to the widgets screen.
6. On the bottom of the widgets screen, flip the switch to off called “Show Wallpaper”.
7. At this point you could go ahead and remove all the other widgets in the stacks if you want, or just move your new widgets to the top of the stacks, but you don’t have to, you’ll just have to swipe through widgets on your infotainment screen later if you don’t rearrange them here.
8. Get in your car if you’re not already and get CarPlay initialized on the infotainment screen.
9. On your infotainment screen, swipe over to the screen that’s all the way over on the left side. If you removed all other widgets from your stacks you should have your black screen! Otherwise, just swipe up or down through the widgets there until you find your black pictures.