Painful sholders

[Tom Kunich]

All of the bikes I have have a reach of about 82 cm to the levers. But the Aerolite has 87. The difference this makes is rather surprising. You could think that this would just stretch you out a little more but what it does after 40-50 miles is that it makes my shoulders so painful that I have to stretch my arms at every stop sign and they can get so painful you almost scream to straighten them.

I've ordered a new stem to alleviate that problem but it will take a month to come in. But I just put the Douglas Vector back together and tomorrow I will take out the gravel bike again. Thursday being Thanksgiving I probably won't be able to do my usual 50 mile ride. It is a bit surprising that the Merlin has an 82 cm reach when it has 3 cm longer wheelbase than the Aerolite.

Now direct comparison of the 16 1/2 lb bike with the 22 lb Merlin show me that the Merlin rides all hell and gone better. When you stop pedaling it holds its speed quite a bit longer and the Douglas Vector has Speedwell wheels on it with very good DT Swiss hubs, while the Merlin has Chinese hubs with all aluminum aero wheels. https://www.ebay.com/itm/124882822241?hash=item1d1398a461:g:V2sAAOSwXY5hMX9f

The DT Swiss hubs roll smoother but the Prolite aren't bad. You certainly can't tell the difference. After I get the Aerolite riding comfortably. I will probably put the Vector up for sale though I'll put another set of wheels on. What was very noticeable is that the Speedwells do not have any reaction to side gusts. Which would be nice come summer again when the wind often blows 20 mph or more with violent side gusts. My other wheels aren't bad but the Speedwells have no noticeable reactions.

I would not have believed the amount of pain in my shoulders for so little difference of reach but I must pull pretty hard on the bars climbing without even feeling it. On a flat ride I don't have the same problem. But flat rides are becoming harder and harder to accomplish because the traffic is returning to 2019 levels. And illegal aliens tend to think that bicycles don't belong on the roads and take close passes at you. Sure this is a small percentage of them but between them and little old ladies it is nerve wracking.

[Tom Kunich]

Well, the Douglas Vector worked absolutely flawlessly. Usually something isn't right - the handlebars aren't quite straight or the seat post isn't tight enough because you have to be careful tightening carbon fiber seatposts and it slips. This bike only has 25 mm tires on it and I have only pumped them to 80 psi. Yet the bike felt better than the other bikes with 28 mm tires on them.

But that was probably because they were Michelin Pro4 tires which I've found to ride better than other tires by quite a way. Vittoria Corsa G+ tires are supposed to have the lowest rolling resistance but they sure as hell never felt that way to me. In fact virtually every Michelin tire in their line is supposed to have better performance with the Pro4 supposedly having TWICE the rolling resistance of the Michelin Power TT which has a tire tread depth about half of the Pro4 but can always go faster on the Pro4. I find the Pro4 faster than the Continental GP5000 to be slower and wear a lot faster as well.

Another really weird oddity about the Vittoria Corsa G+ tires is that they wear out from the inside out. The tread remains on the tire until they are so thin that you can almost tear them with your hands. It isn't as if these longitudinal lines are very deep but they never disappear. So it is really easy to think that they are still good long after you'd have trashed other tires. And then the damn things will tear open and they will be unrepairable out on the road somewhere.