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Pet peeve: Helmets are a tool. You can use reasonable judgement on whether that tool is appropriate for the conditions you are riding in. If you are riding at slow speeds and/or are not interacting with motor vehicle traffic it is often reasonable to skip the helmet. So I will often not wear...

With regards to foul weather and cold temperatures. I've found there is quite a bit of overlap between cool-weather cycling clothes and clothing for cross-country skiing. At the same time, kit that keeps me warm and toasty skate skiing at -10C just barely keeps me warm enough at 0C on a bike...

Even if you aren't competitive (and I'm certainly not) those apps can be useful. Tracking your activity over time and setting goals for yourself is a great idea even if you don't care how fast or slow others are compared to you.

I don't think the app was running in a car, because even driving 1000km requires too much effort. I suspect they hacked a .GPX file somehow. Yes, stupidity is the simplest explanation. But sometimes people have to work to be as stupid as they appear to be. Back in my younger days I was part...

This.

Maybe I am very naive. I just don't get what someone thinks they are accomplishing by cheating on a fitness app. Apparently on Strava there is a whole subculture built around detecting cheaters, and there are a lot of them. What I do not understand is what anyone think they were accomplishing...

No, because typically much of where I ride looks like this (for about four months of the year) and cross-country skiing is a better way to get around:

Headwinds! https://www.relive.cc/view/veqz18GZj76

I'd say 80 percent of the e-bikers I see are just using the throttle or ghost pedaling.

Those are both good tires, but for a 25kg bike like the Ultimate I'd argue they aren't very stout. You can get the Schwalbe Hurricane in the same tire size and a lot of folks, myself included, find it to be a fine e-bike tire.

Bandon, OR to Gold Beach, OR: https://www.relive.cc/web/view/v8qV3LGyy3v Nehalem Bay State Park, OR to Pacific City, OR: https://www.relive.cc/web/view/vrqo54L2oyO

I first off have a story that you can't possibly imagine: Some years back during an ugly rainy evening in North Seattle, I saw a lady and a young girl (probably about 8 to 10) with a sign at the entrance of a Home Depot. I saw them and waved and then went to the Burger King a bit past them...

My opinion has been that with the common availability of suspension seat posts and suspension stems the remaining justification for suspension forks and full suspension really is only for riding janky terrain. If most or nearly all of your riding is on roads, even atrocious unpaved roads, you...

I'd love to see teardowns of popular e-bikes pointing out some of the shortcuts manufacturers are taking. I'd also love to see a series where they show how a DIYer can fix some of those shortcuts. But you often can't really fix a cheesy lame bottom bracket.

I agree a lot of the high-end brands (e.g. R&M and Stromer) cut corners for no good reason. Some acoustic bike brands (Surly) also cut corners, again for no clear reason. There is really no excuse at all about inadequate brakes and lame wheel builds. And on lame wheel builds, there is...

I'm an old fart and I still much prefer sleeping in the dirt. That's not me, that's Fred Beckey. Probably the greatest mountaineer that ever lived.

Just as a PSA, some pet peeves about inexpensive e-bikes that I really do look down upon: Inadequate brakes. E-bikes are heavier. E-bikes usually have heavier operators. E-bikes go faster. Logically e-bikes need better brakes than the typical bicycle. The vast majority of low-end e-bikes...

Some of us don't burn dinosaurs for our electricity.

Also you don’t need carbon fiber to make an expensive bike. Custom Ti and steel frames can run $4500 or more for just the frame. And any steel frame will be way more comfortable than aluminum or carbon.

If I were riding only 20 miles a week in Florida I doubt I’d own a $10k e-bike either. But I ride many more miles and there are steep hills and atrocious roads I ride and a $2000 e-bike would be scrap in a week.