Hi there
I wanted to share my story. Of course, YMMV.
A few weeks ago, I bought a Pace 500.3 from one of Aventon's dealers.
Right of the bat, the rear brake was noisy. I didn't think much of it - sometimes disc brakes are noisy from the beginning, and it fades away once the pads are broken in.
But it didn't. The opposite happened. It became worse and worse. Like crazy, a huge noise when I was braking, louder than any bicycle bell.
So I returned to the place I bought it. Paid for news pads, got them installed.
Same story. A tad less noisy but still unacceptably noisy!
Problems happen. The reason I bought a $1500+ eBike and not an Amazon "3rd party seller" eBike was to get support and quality. Since Aventon is local, I was thinking they would help me out.
So I contacted Aventon, full of hope that they would help resolve this issue. I saw an article on their website where they say the disc +pads need a replacement. That's all I asked for. I didn't even ask for installation. Just send me the parts to fix my brand new bike.
I never got a reply. Exactly like you would expect/get from an offshore seller. 0 support. Not even a reply, it's been several days.
If they can't take care of this when the bike is new, what's going to happen if I need support later? It's not encouraging. I was looking into getting a Level.2 for myself - I am thinking again, and maybe you should too.
Adding also that the bike had a non working tail light right off the lot. I got the seller to swap it with another bike. This is another sign of poor quality control. And seeing what the bike shop pulled out of the bike, there is no reinforcement whatsoever on these wires, just tiny solder joints on the circuit board. That's pretty poor quality and a cause of concern, too

The videos have stopped so we can no longer see the demise of the Grant Cardon trained, 100M business.
It looks like there is no shop and no one working for TPG other than Onthony.
The cars and bikes are all up for sale.
It looks like the final moments on life support, before the impending flat line. The Bobs lawsuit should be the final nail in the coffin ⚰️
Are we on the home straight ?

I shall now be shopping in towns that want my money. Cambridge can keep the tourists and bikes. I have lived here and around all my life but now I give up.

Hi there!
I have a full suspension bike with a Rockshox Monarch RC3+ fitted. Every time I take the bike out it has a film of oil on it.
I bought the bike second hand so I don’t know its history, yesterday I phoned a bike shop to ask if I should take the shock in for a service and he told me it’s normal for it to have a little oil on provided it’s not dripping out, he also advised me to keep an eye on the PSI to see if it drops - last I checked it hadn’t budged after being sat for a while but I will now monitor it more regularly.
I’ll also add there is only ever oil when the bike is in use, I’ve never seen any when the bike has been sat (I always give it a little wipe after use).
Is the guy right? I mean I would have expected him to tell me to bring it in so they could charge for a service, but I just wanted another opinion as I would like to use it this weekend! Also it’s quite expensive for the service so I don’t want to spend money needlessly but I absolutely will if it’s recommended - as it’s still cheaper than buying a new shock if I kill it!
Thanks!

I have been planning to buy a hybrid bike since a long time. Finally got some time to visit a bicycle shop in Pune. Its a premium shop which deals with major brands including Trek, Giant and all. I am thinking about going with Marin Fairfax1, which is well within my budget of 30-35k (keeping it well below 50k, considering I would require another 10-15k for accessories and upgrades). Please let me know your thoughts guys.

Can you name a shop na sa tingin nyo ang may pinakamurang bike na reasonable naman yung price balak po kasing bumili ng RB sa 15k kong ipon pag nag search aq sa youtube daming nag sisipaglabasan and ano pong ma rerecommend nyong brand for that budget Thanks.

What do people commonly use for half-mask respirators when they need to wear them along with things like a hard hat or bicycle helmet?
I've used 3m 7500 series respirators for years with various filters (usually P100 or P100 + OV) for everything from painting to cleaning cat litter to woodworking to shopping during COVID, but the harder plastic on the harness has made it difficult to use them along with any sort of headgear.
With the recent air quality issues, I'm looking for something that I can wear with either:

• A bicycle helmet while cycling
  • Presumably this is a problem that any workplace that has people outdoors on bikes (like NYPD police) is having to tackle
• A hardhat w/ hearing protection & forestry shield for yard work
  • Again, seems like something that professional landscaping companies should be dealing with right now as well

Are single-use masks with thinner elastic straps the only viable option, or are there good silicone masks that have harnesses with straps soft enough to wear beneath a helmet or hardhat?
While my use cases are personal, I value my lungs and try to set a good example for my kids by following best practices for workplace safety as much as possible while at home.

At first I was bringing my helmet inside rather than leaving it on the bike to keep it clean. But then I noticed people are surprised that I biked, in the office or stores or whatever. My favorite is when someone is wondering how am I ever going to fit a shopping cart of groceries on a bike...
So I started always bringing the helmet inside. I just leave the helmet somewhere out of the way, but I'm wondering if it gives people an idea that their peers also bike, not just some "others."
Anyone else does this? What reactions did you get?

Basics

My wife and I spent 14 days in Japan in May 2023, our first time in Japan (or anywhere in Asia). We usually got between 8-12 miles daily, though some of that was somewhat by choice, as in places like Hiroshima the transit within the city takes nearly as long as walking, and walking is preferrable to see and experience the city.
All the tips on here and those answering questions on Discord really helped plan things.

What I learned

Pay attention to the square footage of your room. We got a room at an APA in Osaka where it was literally impossible for both of us to stand up simultaneously. Luckily all of our subsequent hotels had room for us both to get dressed at the same time.
Get hotels with onsens/spas. We booked exclusively hotels with onsens/spas. This was crucial. It’s such a great day-ender to go up there for a soak in the hot/cold pools and sauna. They give you robes/lounge clothes and slippers to wear up there. It’s just incredibly cozy. Made me wish it was winter.
Japan is super easy to travel, the easiest country I’ve been to. It seems the country as a whole and everyone in it is extremely detail oriented and considers every possible issue. I’ve never seen workers tasked with holding up a screen for pedestrian protection around a man trimming the lawn until Japan. I’ve never seen a tour bus driver feather-dusting his bus until Japan. Everyone is so calm. I think I heard one person yell in two weeks. Everybody was super patient with our lack of Japanese and general lack of knowledge of their culture.
Note: We’re not really foodies. When traveling we usually just eat whenever we get so hungry that we must, plus the Japanese cuisine doesn’t mesh with our tastes, so this will be light on food.

Day by day

Day 0: Arrived at Haneda in the afternoon, got PASMO cards and caught train to Shinagawa. Then we took the Nozomi to Osaka, purchasing tickets in advance via Smart-Ex. All went smoothly despite the jet lag.
Day 1: Osaka. Mini-pig café, Don Quijote, wandered the neighborhood to the northeast of Umeda Station checking out shops, finished the day in a small bar in Dotonbori.
Day 2: Osaka area. In the morning, we rode out to Nara to see Todai-Ji and the bowing deer. The temple was stunning. In the afternoon, we went to a Hanshin Tigers game, which was great, though we were baking in the sun. It’s crazy how many beer vendors Japanese baseball games have. I didn’t go 30 seconds without a beer girl passing by. We ended the day with dinner at Snow Lion, a Nepali restaurant that was extremely tasty.
Day 3: We activated our JR West Sanyo-San-in Area passes and headed west on the bullet train then a slow Sanyo Line train, bound for Onomichi. I rented a bike from Trek, took the ferry to Setoda and rode the Shimanami Kaido. I rode a bit south after I got off the ferry in Setoda, across the next big bridge. Then I turned around and biked back to Onomichi. It was a beautiful ride, but the parts near the Onomichi end could be skipped. Too much traffic and development. While I did this, my wife wandered around Onomichi, visiting Cat Alley and taking a ropeway ride. After that, we met up and headed for Ōkunoshima, aka Rabbit Island. This was a cool little side trip, but not sure it was worth the time expenditure. Finally, we ended the long day traveling to Hiroshima to check into our hotel. Family Mart was our main meal, because the restaurants in Tadano-Umi were all closed on Monday, and we had time to kill before the next train back to Mihara.
Day 4: We took a train and ferry trip to Miyajima and took the ropeway to the top, then walked the rest of the way to the top. It’s a beautiful island, but pretty tourist trap-ish. Later in the day we picked up Carp tickets for a future date, then checked out the Atomic Bomb Dome at night. The main meal, at Okonomiyaki Teppan-yaki Momiji-Tei, was extremely good Okonomiyaki.
Day 5: Day trip to Hakata, with a stop for the Hello Kitty exhibition at a hall near Shin-Yamaguchi Station. After Hello Kitty, we headed to Nanzoin, the reclining buddha statue and temple. It’s a wonderful place, the nice ladies at the train station will loan you some cover-up cloth if you have tattoos or your shorts are too short. After Nanzoin, we got some Hakata ramen at Ramen Stadium in the giant mall, then wandered the streets of Hakata a bit, stopping at Kushida-jinja Shrine. Back in Hiroshima that evening, we visited Sam’s Café, an American-themed bar with more memorabilia than you’d think possible. The proprietor is a wonderful older gentleman who loves America.
Day 6: We started the day at the Peace Museum. This is an extremely moving visit. A late breakfast here featured the fluffiest egg souffle I’ve ever seen. Later, we went to the Carp game.
Day 7: Shinkansen to Himeji Castle. We scheduled ourselves a four-hour layover, which was just about perfect to walk up there, see the castle and walk through it, check out the garden, and walk back without feeling rushed and with time to grab train snacks. Then we caught the Super Hakuto to Kurayoshi where we met a friend and ended the day with some onsen time at Izanro Iwasaki in Misasa Onsen.
Day 8: Tottori Sand Dunes, Sand Museum and a trip to Refresh park Yumura, which is a very nice onsen with the standard indoor, gender-separated areas, plus some cool outdoor spots for all genders, including a little cave. You wear a swimsuit for the outdoor parts.
Day 9: I wasn’t feeling great, so I did nothing while my wife and friends went to Lake Togo area near Kurayoshi for a waterfall hike. Then we boarded the Super Hakuto for Kyoto, where we stayed.
Day 10: We got an early start to see as many temples as possible in Kyoto before our 1pm train to Tokyo. We were able to get to Kiyomizu-dera, Ginkakuji and Shimogamo-jinja before time ran out. We used the city bus, which wasn’t that bad. They weren’t quite on time and we had to let a couple pass by at the very start of our day because they were too crowded. We added our PASMO card numbers into the Smart-Ex app so boarding the Shinkansen was super easy. In Tokyo, we stayed in Ueno, which was a great spot with good accessibility to the rest of the city and lots of action and places to eat and drink.
Day 11: We started with a trip to Sanrio Puroland, which took even longer than planned due to some train delays. Our train went out of service at some point on the trip. Puroland is kind of odd. But it wasn’t too expensive and my wife loved it. On the way back we stopped at Gotokuji Temple, the waving cat temple and later caught a glimpse of the waving cat train at the nearby Miyanosaka Station. For a nightcap, we checked out Asakusa Rockza.
Day 12: Shopping/sightseeing in Akihabara. Yodobashi Camera is absolutely massive. I preferred it over Bic Camera. After some other miscellaneous shopping near Tokyo Station, we later walked from our hotel over to this cat-themed bar.
Day 13: Near Nippori Station there’s a cat-centric neighborhood, Yanaka Cat Town. We stopped at a cat store or two as well as a cat art gallery. I got a great foot massage in this area, as well. This area was so cool we skipped out on our tickets to TeamLabs. For a nightcap, we went to one place in Golden Gai. That area is absolutely overrun with tourists.
Day 14: It was super rainy, and we didn’t have all that much time to kill before our flight, so we checked out the Tobu train museum. Definitely worth a visit if you like trains. Though kind of hard to figure out how to drive the trains if you don’t speak Japanese. Then we proceeded to Narita on the Skyliner. Note, there’s a slight discount for foreigners if you buy online.

I will have about a week on my own to leisurely make my way from Savannah, GA back home to Maine, and will have my road bike with me. I will likely take a route along the lines of:
Day 1: Savannah, GA to Charlotte, NC Day 2: Charlotte, NC to Norfolk, VA Day 3: Norfolk, VA to Yardley, PA Day 4: Yardley, PA to Hartford, CT Day 5: Hartford, CT to Portland, ME
I was thinking I'd try to get in rides in the Savannah area on Day 1 before I leave, and then something in the Winston-Salem and/or Raleigh-Durham area on Day 2, and along the Delaware coast (Dewey Beach area?) Day 3. I have ridden around Yardley before and like the area. I have not ridden in the Hartford / neighboring suburbs much, but have driven lots of it.
My question is, if I'm going along this route (ish) are there any must-ride areas for scenic / iconic / enjoyable rides? Please let me know any / all thoughts!

I've been known to be an exceptionally hard worker in some aspects of life. However in other areas, I am way behind the curve due to constant avoidance & procrastinating.
The things I avoid are never that bad if eventually get it done, and I feel a great sense of relief after. Yet I continue to torment myself by putting it off, missing deadlines, creating a bigger mess to cleanup etc.
Has anyone overcome this, and if so any suggestions?

• If you need more specifics, I am very fit. I can workout / run / ride bikes for hours. I've been an athlete for nearly my whole life and I have excelled in physically demanding jobs.
  
• Yet "life chores" such as paying bills, going shopping, taking car for an oil change, any paperwork / registration etc. overwhelms me to the point of being paralyzed with anxiety.
  

If anyone actually sees this and replies, big thanks in advance!

I'm sure this has been asked a thousand times and I'll delete this post if someone can point me towards a relevant post or web article.
I'm torn about what kind of e-bike to buy. In my younger years I spent about 5 years working in a couple different bike shops, and big brand names were more likely to mean quality. Now when I see people on e-bikes they're all brand I've never heard of.
Should I choose something like the Kona Rove or Kona Dew (don't know whether to go hub drive or mid drive either), or should I go for something like the Aventon Soltera?
Below is my list of wants:

• decently light
• won't rattle and clunk all day
• reasonably quick
• something with a good range
• cheap enough that I won't have to sell a kidney (preferably less than $3k CAD)
• can handle hills (roads and pathways, no off road)
• good quality frame and components

What would you suggest for something that would be best for my list?
Thanks in advance, and I'm sorry if you're all sick of seeing these posts.

On April 22nd I went to a local bike shop and asked them to order a new GRX drivetrain, DT Swiss wheels, a seat post, and stem. It took them until May 4th to track down the parts and place the order. Additionally, they were unable to find the wheels I was after, but said that if I was ok with a little extra cost they could build them for me. I went ahead with the order and wheel build. On May 27th I received an email stating that the shop had purchase spokes that were too long so there would be a delay. On June 5th I reached out to ask how the bike was coming along and the shop said that they were working on it and did not provide an ETA on when they would complete the work. At this point I'm feeling a bit frustrated. I went into this with the intention of supporting a local shop instead of ordering the parts online, doing as much of the work as I could, and then taking it to the shop to finish. I feel as though I went out of my way to support this shop, agreed to pay more to have them build wheels from scratch, and they are not being timely or responsive. It has been about 6 weeks since first visiting the shop and my bike is still not done. Am I justified in my frustration?

Hey guys, I've been trying to get more physically active lately. I started running and would like to get a bike to move around. Do you happen to know any bike shops? Also, do you have any bike-related recommendations or anything I should know?

I currently have a Rad Runner Plus and due to the issues they are having with their support right now, I'm considering selling it and getting a Tern GSD. I was searching in google shopping for the bikes and see several sites that have the S10, S10 LX, S00 LX for less than $3k and in some cases less than $2k.
Does anyone know about or purchased from these sites? Are they legit? Am I missing something?

Hello guys, can anyone recommend me markets or shops where I can buy a bike? I've had a swapfiets until now but I want my own. Budget is 170/190€. Thank you!