Looking at various ebike incentives throughout Canada, and I was shocked by how much you could get back. We're talking $1000 in some cases, or more for cargo bikes.

Since Ontario is anti-bike, we don't have incentives like that, but I could see them having a huge impact on ebike adoption.

Do you have ebike incentives where you live? If so, did it enable you (or does it interest you) to get an ebike?

So I comute by bike and this week I ride through fast changing snow condition. It got from completly covered cycle route, to badly cleaned roads, to mushy brown sludge, and today there were loads of frozen bits of snow and ice patches.

I managed to fell only twice - inertia is your best friend and worse enemy at the same time. And I hope that these conditions will be over soon. Most annoying part is that I dont know what to expect and how to prepare because conditions vary from day to day.

Hello! I don't have pictures yet, but I finally finished my mixed road/gravel bike and took it for a short ride (in wet conditions) over the weekend, and I wanted to celebrate a bit. Sorry for the long post!

I bought the frame on sale a few months back from Velo Orange, it's their Pass Hunter model. I had been kind of eyeing them up for years, as they're based near me, for this kind of bike. My eventual goal is to tour the GAP and C&O canal trails with it - my road bike, a CAAD12, would not be up to such a tour. I'll also take it with us when we go camping - we were out west for a few weeks last year, and there were a lot more gravel roads than this east coaster is used to.

The groupset is a GRX Di2 2x11 with hydraulic discs. I know some will disagree with the electronic shifting for a touring rig, but I've read all of the arguments on both sides, and it's what I wanted. In hindsight, I wish I'd realized that the VO Pass Hunter frame isn't really Di2 compatible, because there are limited options for fishing the wires through the frame - a restriction that never even occurred to me until after I had everything. But I can live with it.

This is my first build, my first experience (ever) with electronic shifting, and my first experience with disc brakes (aside from a very short test ride years ago), and my first experience with hydraulic brakes. Lots of learning!

The wheels are from Bikesdirect.com - did you know they have decent deals on wheels, too? DT Swiss rims, Shimano hubs, Shimano rotors, 38c tires mounted, rim and tires tubeless ready, but set up with tubes. I got 700s, but I probably should have gone with 650b for the clearance on the rear wheel. Longer term, I'll pick up a set of 650bs with mixed road/gravel tires, and put pure road tires on my 700c wheels.

I had a bike fit on my road bike (a CAAD12) done a few years ago, so I used the results from that as a guideline for this build. In particular, the top tube on the VO is longer than the Cannondale, so I got a shorter stem to compensate.

I did end up getting wider handlebars (46 instead of 44), but the gravel handlebars feel a LOT wider than the road handlebars. Which, for an all day ride, probably isn't a bad thing - more positions.

I want to test it more, but I'm thinking I'll set the handlebars a little higher than my CAAD12's are, relative to the seat height - because, one, they're wider, so my arms are out farther when I'm on the hoods, meaning I'd be leaning down a bit farther, and two, comfy, all-day touring bicycle.

The bike is all black. I'm not very imaginative. It's like, how much more black could it be? None. None more back. I don't usually name my bicycles, but suddenly I want to call this one "Smell the Glove". (The VO paint is actually black with flakes and a chrome logo, it looks pretty cool.)

It's definitely a slow bike with the weight and tires on it now, but that's okay - the point was to build a comfortable, ride-all-day tourer, not a speed demon. It weighs 24 lbs without water bottle cages, bike bags, etc.

After my test ride, I'm even happier with my decision to go Di2. And that's with repeatedly hitting the wrong buttons to shift on the ride (I have no idea why I was doing that, it's essentially the same as the 105 5800 on my CAAD12, but I kept doing it).

Bar tape: I am terrible at wrapping bars. I have no fear of the mechanical or electronic portions of building a bike, but bar tape...I dunno. It's very stressful for me, I think because it's so visible, and I feel like everyone is looking at it and going, LOOK WHAT THAT AMATEUR DID! But, I think I actually did a credible job on this one, for once. Tip for anyone else that suffers the same phobia: Look for extra long tape, it's one less stressor!

Suppliers: Frame came from VO, obviously. I got the Di2 setup off eBay - oddly enough, that seems to be the easiest way to buy a groupset, if you need the whole thing. Bikesdirect.com for the wheels. I went to Biketiresdirect.com for a lot of the parts, and when I couldn't find what I wanted or needed there, I went to Amazon. I ordered a few random parts from other places, too - I think the handlebars came from another bike parts supplier.

Costs: I expected this to cost more than a pre-built bike would, but if I wanted that VO frame, building one was my only option. But now that I think about it, I might have actually saved a little money this way. This bike, the first result on google for "Di2 gravel bike", is $3495 with 2x, and I'm pretty sure I have less than that into my build. And I included pedals and a good saddle that fits me in the cost, neither of which comes with most pre-built bikes.

Plus, I probably put a few better components on than would be stock, like softer bar tape, and Easton stem and seat posts, and so on. And, I got the parts I needed - such as the correct stem length for me - so I'm not replacing parts that came with a pre-built bike, either.

So, while it doesn't feel like it, I probably did actually save some money over a pre-built bike. Of course, I spent hours working on it, and I bought several new tools at the same time - strangely, I never had a bike stand before, so I bought one as part of this build. (I don't count the tools as part of the build costs, as I'll very likely use them again.)

To do yet:

• Ride it and adjust the handlebar height as desired, then eventually cut the steerer tube, again. I did an initial cut to get it in the right ballpark, but there's likely another inch or so that could come off.

• Check the rear brake - it engages a lot lower than the front brake, so it might need to be bled. I adjusted the engagement point, but it's still quite different compared to the front. It doesn't feel spongy, and I can lock up the wheel, it just travels a lot farther back. I'd rather it be more consistent with the front brake.

• Adjust the clipless pedal tension. I'm used to SPD-SL cleats, and I've used SPD before, but I was having a miserable time with these at first, so I loosened the tension. I'll want to crank that back up.

• RIDE IT!

Mistakes I made:

• My biggest was the Di2 wiring thing. The frame was really intended to have cables, so I have bosses for shifters or cable mounts that I'm not using (they're covered with caps that are the same color as the frame, at least). I wonder how hard it is to remove that thing - I had to repair similar downtube bosses on my old aluminum bike, and that just had a metric threaded rod running between the two sides. Maybe cut a rubber plug for the holes...hmmmmmmmmm.

• I bought a second band clamp because I thought the first one was interfering with one of the water bottle cage bolts...but while I was waiting for the new clamp to arrive, I figured it out with the original clamp. Not sure what I was going wrong at first.

• There are a few spots I could switch to shorter Di2 cables, but the necessary length is extremely hard to predict, I've learned, and those cables are not cheap. One that's too long is the one for the rear derailleur, and that one would be very easy to change and could be done whenever I feel like it. The other is the cable from the junction near the bottom bracket to the shifter - I have a 1200 mm cable, but a few cm shorter wouldn't have hurt. But neither one is so long that it's a major problem, either.

Total ride was around 70 mi or so. Had to do a bypass because some of the bridges are closed. Got chased by a couple dogs. Got down to about 35° or so. Camped at Foster Falls in the middle. Pretty good time overall.

No mud, no ice, no insects, no spider webs, hard ground, not too hot, not too cold, not too much snow. My only complaint is the lack of daylight.

This past Sunday's ride, a view across the water from Alki Beach in West Seattle.

Was real good.

I swear to god, motorists are behaving just like the lunatic “don't take our guns” extremists these days.

This being a kickstarter makes it a non-starter for me but it looks pretty promising: Hopefully they work great and become popular.

Don’t take this list too seriously - it was only a week. But it felt like a long week.

1 - Spurcycle mini bell (not an aliexpress copy) looks good also sounds nice when getting hit by branches and other foliage 2 - Aeroe bags pricey but tough 8l each. 3 - focus dry bag rack. Had to use p clips to fit to my seat stays. Was fine 4 - sea to summit straps. Better than voile for me - the 60cm straps fit round the Aerobags with plenty to spare 5 - race king tyres. Good tyres on mostly varying gravel sizes and some sand, and a little made road. 6 - wolf creek chain pliers. The little valve core cutout bit saved the day 7 - nemo tensor long wide - tiny quiet comfortable quiet and quiet. And comfortable. 8 - old timey triple chain ring. Used biggest and smallest. Grateful for the range. The winner - mont bell carry bag. See other post for updated pictures

Things to do better: The chain wax I was trying was fine for commuting but wore out too fast with day after day of mud and dust. Def using a dry lube next time and suffer the black gunk on everything. Sadly as the wax is great, clean and quiet.

Things I thought I’d love but were meh: SQLabs bar inner ends. Next time I may try the ones that sit on the outside more like riding on the hoods.

Just look at the speed that the RV was going! The driver was given a $500 ticket for almost killing 30 cyclists. Insane that they're even allowed to drive after that.

I didn't even need to bring front panniers, or a rear basket in place of my trunk bag 🤭

The trailer is a Wike City Cargo.

Was a good time.

If they can have handicap parking, wheelchair ramps, and other accessibility features (rightfully so!), what's the problem with helping businesses to make their stores accessible by bike?

Everyone wants to support “buy local”, and there's no better way to do it than by bike!

Seems like installing a simple bike rack would be a win-win-win all around. What exactly is the difficulty?

I don't believe for a second that it's a "they don't know unless you tell them" problem, because I've contacted many, MANY stores and plaza management to let them know that they are losing business. Nothing changes.

And it's not like they can't see people locking their bikes to signs, trees, fences, or cluttering up the walkways because they have no other options when visiting their business.

Backstory: Over the last two years, I've been adding cycling infrastructure to OpenStreetMap. Stuff like bike lanes, bike parking, repair stands, etc. I've spent dozens of hours checking plazas in a 30 km radius, local storefronts, malls, etc., to see what options they offer. It's SHOCKING to see how many have absolutely no bike parking. Large stores, post offices, coffee shops, or even gyms. I try to contact as many as I can, but almost never receive replies or acknowledgement. Contacting local representatives is even more futile, as they have no control over what these businesses do. This means I'm either going far out of my way to visit stores that have bike parking, or I take a car, which seems like madness either way.

cross-posted from: https://beevibes.net/post/28433

The New York Times published a pair of articles this weekend highlighting the rising number of deaths of cyclists riding electric bikes. However, in one of the most impressive feats of victim-blaming I’ve seen from the publication in some time, the NYT lays the onus on e-bikes instead of on the things killing their law abiding riders: cars.

Over the last few months, there has been a steady stream of photos and videos showcasing the world’s largest bicycle parking garage that opened in Amsterdam. This facility, which is completely free for daily use under 24 hours, and this massive investment by the municipal government, is not simply to benefit those who ride bicycles.

I'm hoping someone can offer some advice.

I love long distance cycling, and plan to do a 200 km brevet within the next year (with plans to do 300 km, 400 km and beyond as my schedule allows).

I've done 180 km+ and regularly ride 80 - 100 km+ at a time (multiple times a month).

My ass, hands, and legs are totally fine until around 130 km, then saddle pain creeps in.

I will admit that doing these distances on a folding bike with 20" tires isn't ideal, and perhaps that's just the limitation I have to work with. I do have a suspension seat post and wear padded shorts on those long rides, but again, everything is quite comfortable until around 130km.

Is this a bike fit issue? A padded shorts issue? A small tire issue?

I honestly can't even imagine what kind of scumbag would take the time and effort to deliberately try to put people in harm's way by doing something like this.

“We talk about these collisions and then nothing happens so it has to change,” a spokesperson for the organization, Séverine Le Page, said.