Considering handlebar covers/mittens for doing #OpenStreetMap updates in cold weather. They're quite pricey though. Would they help?
It's fairly slow travel, with frequent stops near the footway=sidewalk to record data on the phone. Are they any good for that sort of thing, if I use them with a pair of insulated fingerless gloves underneath? #BikeTooter@bikes@mastobikes@cycling
@achadwick@bikes@mastobikes@cycling They work very well, especially with thin liner gloves on. Look for mittens for motorcycle/atv, usually a lot cheaper and work just as well.
@achadwick@bikes@mastobikes@cycling I get about 10-15 degrees C of protection (translating from F, where my dry-bare-hands limit is 45F, but bare hands in bar mitts gets me to 20-25F). The first few minutes of bare fingers on cold grips takes a little getting used to.
I have upright bars, and once or twice when I needed to brake quickly with a hand out, I just grabbed the entire mitt and squeezed, you might want to try that once or twice before you need to do it in a hurry.
@achadwick@bikes@mastobikes@cycling I also make my own pogies for both drop bars and flat bars and am happy to share the template. They take me about 3 hours per pair, cutting and sewing in bulk and probably cost $30 for materials (buying in bulk) but 1/3 of that is the reflective tape. I do an outer shell and an insulated inner shell with flannel. You can make them faster and cheaper upcycling a winter coat or raincoat if you don't care about reflectivity.
I've had good experience with http://barbra.ca/ - protects from wind/cold/snow, but easy to take hands out and back in. I assume you do have good insulation grips on handlebars too? Also, depending on what/how you map (and how vehemently against postprocessing you are), audio mapping & handsfreeset might be an alternative to stopping and typing.
I have both types on road bikes, and there is a definite improvement in stopping distance, which can be a selling point for faster riders in cluttered areas. I haven’t quantified it nor have I seen studies, but surely someone has done them.
I highly recommend trying out Swissstop BXP blue brake pads. They are night and day better than a standard pad for far less than the cost of a new scooter.
Won’t argue that a bit. But … discs require less hand force on the brakes and are much easier to stop quickly in a panic situation.
And I say this as a rim brake advocate. I have both types and appreciate them both for different reasons.
And I agree that for the average recreational rider on flat ground, disc brakes are mostly unnecessary and a rim brake would actually be better from an all-in utility standpoint.
@LabSpokane@hughtaylorscifi@v_perjorative@cycling@mastobikes maybe, but it’s almost certainly an effect of rider modulation of those braking systems (and not a result of the power of those braking systems). Unless we’re talking about very unusual circumstances (extremely high speed, carbon rims with rim brakes, wet, etc).
Once a brake has sufficient power to lock a wheel, the limiting factor has to be tire/road friction. #biketooter
As long as we’re talking the average road bike rider, the average rider rides on the hoods, not in the drops, and disc brakes make a world of difference in the amount of force that can be applied and modulated in that case. Discs can also be appropriate for those with weaker hands/arthritis & make things safer.
But once again, a higher performance or even just a fresh rim brake pad can close a bit of the performance gap.
What makes you think that these are "quite chewed up"? That missing millimeter of brake track is probably well within spec for rim thickness. Comparing with my rims these have easily another three winters in them. Wouldn't worry too much about them.
@robertmx Probably because winter where I live lasts for maybe 2-3 months and they look like that after 13kkm in total (including nice weather). That’s not confidence inspiring. For comparison, my carbon wheels did a lot more but mostly in nice and dry conditions and still look spot-on. So IMHO it is chewed up for how much those actually did.
I still use and love that bike (it’s been around 8 years), but the next one will be disc and electronic shifting…🙈🤷🏻♂️
@ssamulczyk@robertmx@raucao@cycling@mastobikes FWIW, the decent alu rim manufacturers I dealt with used to specify something like 0.5 mm wear max (if it isn't manufactured with a wear indicator / drill spot). Beyond that the rim is beyond design limits. Mavic specs 0.4 mm for alu rims without an indicator, etc.
@jond That is actually Mavic and I just measured it with the vernier. It lands somewhere around half a milimetre. It’s an analog tool, but it’s very near… I mean, no one is forcing anyone to go disc brakes… Stick with the bicycle you like. But for me, having an expensive wheel set in a pretty bad weather - it’s just such a waste of money with rim brakes. DB do plenty for wheels longevity… @robertmx@cycling@mastobikes
@nothingfuture
I feel like this is the crux of the issue: while rim brakes are just as capable of locking up the wheel as disks, disks give better modulation—they're easier to use without locking them up, particularly in the wet, or on older wheels that have seen some bumps. You don't have to keep your wheels as precisely true—I've been riding on a back wheel with a broken spoke for a month now because I'm too lazy to fix it, but with disks it's not an issue.
Another thing in their favour, particularly for time-poor commuters like me is that apart from replacing the pads, hydraulic disc brakes are maintenance-free. I wish I could get back the time I've spent adjusting, tightening, loosening, lubricating, and repairing my rim brakes and tweaking spoke tension to stop the wheel rubbing. But the hydraulics have been set-and forget.
@LabSpokane
If you are talking about the average rider, they take their bike to the shop to get the pads replaced, but only at the point where they are making grinding noises or not working properly. Hydraulic discs self-adjust through the life of the pad, so they stay close to as-new performance right up until they're almost completely worn out, while rim or cable discs require constant adjustment to stay at optimum performance. @nothingfuture@hughtaylorscifi@v_perjorative@cycling@mastobikes