Category Archives: Equipment

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Of Taps and Snakes

For want of a nail…

IMG_0721My step-daughter is riding in the Real Ale  this weekend. She asked me to look at her bike to make sure it’s ready.  It was in good shape, just needed a few minor adjustments, some chain lube and air in the tires.  Everything was going well until I got to the rear brake. As I was tightening the cable anchor the bolt stripped.  Don’t know if I over torqued the bolt or it got cross threaded during last maintenance.  When I removed the bolt to investigate a bunch of aluminum thread came out with it.

I removed the brake and headed to the nearest local bike shop.  On the way I was entertaining myself with thoughts of worst case.  What were the chances that the LBS had a stock of piece parts for various brakes?  I could just hear the  service representative suggesting purchase of a new brake.  Now what are the chances that they had a the right brake in stock?

I was pleasantly surprised when the service representative turned out to be a bike mechanic.  We’re in luck.  He pondered the brake for a few minutes and then walked into the parts area mumbling something like “let me see.”  He came back out with a set of taps and proceeded to rethread the anchor.  Found a new bolt and presto…operational brake.  I thanked him profusely and headed back to the house to reassemble the bike.

On the return trip I began to ponder why I didn’t have a set of taps in my toolset.  Have to put that on the wish list.

Texas Wildlife

IMG_0720When I got back to the house I found this fellow sunning himself on the driveway.  Don’t know if he was just hanging out or wanted to offer bike fixing advice.  He didn’t stick around long, slithering off into the bushes, probably in search of things to eat.  Or maybe just some peace and quiet away from annoying bike mechanics.

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Good Vibrations

Exploded bicycle

IMG_0719One of my wife’s friends recently obtained a used bicycle and asked if I could take a look at it.  Never one to turn away from a chance to tinker with an old bike, I said why not.

Huffy Beach Cruiser.  Classic.  Steel everything.  Simple.  Nice big fat 26″ tires. Comfort seat.

Did a complete overhaul, including repacking hubs, headset and bottom bracket.  Also did a little general cleaning to remove the patina of disuse.  Although the bike wasn’t in bad shape.  Just a little dirty and needing grease, lube and adjustment.  Looks like this had been stored inside somewhere.

Keep your stupid carbon

DSC_0002Simple bicycles.  Durable, inexpensive and  easy to repair.  No throw away components.  No leading edge space age technology.  Give me this kind of bicycle any day.  The other stuff merely looks like high priced fashion accessories for “fitness.”

 

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That’s the future…

…What a fascinating modern age we live in. – J. Aubrey 

Boing Boing

loopwheel

A friend sent me a link about this new bicycle wheel.  He offered it “without endorsement or commentary,” knowing I would more than likely make comments about it.  The loopwheel replaces spokes with springs.  Springs made of carbon fiber.

Interesting concept,except for the obvious drawbacks:

  • made from expensive carbon fiber. Haven’t seen a price point for these yet but I can almost guarantee it will be well above a standard aluminum rim, steel spoke and hub wheel.
  • not repairable.  Well, actually there are methods for repairing carbon fiber, but highly unlikely these methods will apply t springs.
  • failure modes. Spoked wheels tend to fail gracefully.  Well except for the spectacular folding failure of front racing wheels with stupidly low spoke counts and radial lacing.  How will these spring wheels fail when the carbon fiber goes crack!!?
  • inefficient.  Significant power will be lost to the springs when pedaling.  The wheel will flex more than spoked wheel and absorb a lot of power.
  • unstable.  What dampens the oscillation inherent in spring systems?
  • throwaway. Aluminum and steel have mature recycle and reuse streams.  To my knowledge, carbon fiber cannot be efficiently recycled.

Meet George Jetson

130509142450-flying-car-tfx-terrafugia-story-topAnd then there is the never ending question of when do we get our flying cars?  Apparently, feasibility studies are underway. Once again we see people trying to invent and build something because they can without asking the question of whether they should.

Set aside that the idea that this will be horribly expensive to buy and maintain.  Ignore the glaring issue that this is a solution looking for a problem.  Are we really going to sanction this insanity?  Far too many motorists can’t even control a vehicle in two dimensions, let alone three.   What will the mishap rate be for these?

Here’s a hint.  General aviation (private airplanes) has the highest mishap rate of any segment, including very risky military aircraft.  The leading cause of crashes of small aircraft is engine failure due to fuel starvation.  Yes, private pilots run out of fuel. It happens all the time.  And these are people who get far more training and scrutiny than your average joe driving a car.

How will these vehicles interact with the surface transportation system?  Will they be required to land at an airport and then transition to car mode?  Or will be eventually allow takeoffs and landings direction on our highways?  Who certifies the operators?

Progress?  Not too sure.

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Sad News

IMG_0708It always makes me a little sad when a bicycle shop has to close.  Even sadder when it’s an awesome shop like Freewheeling. After over 40 years, this shop is closing.  The land will be developed into a multi-story condo. While we need dense in-fill development, especially in the west campus area, this still strikes a nerve.  Fortunately, there are a couple of good shops nearby that can pick up the slack and all the brands that Freewheeling carries are covered by at least one shop somewhere in town.  Warranties and service shouldn’t be an issue.  It’s just a little depressing when an icon like this goes away.

Headed down there this morning to pick up a couple things for Thorpe.  After finding what I needed I spent some time looking at mountain bikes.  There is a Trek spring sale going on and it looks like the owners have marked things down from there.  Not sure I have the cash for yet another bicycle but there were several entry level hard tail mountain bikes with some very attractive price tags.  Temptation.

A small, dim ray of hope

IMG_0709With the installation of this accessory, my recovery from the racing sickness is complete.  I’ve been wanting to put a kickstand on this bicycle for some time.  Today’s shopping trip removed the last bit of procrastination.  I can now park my bike and load it without having to find something to lean on.  The trivial amount of weight is worth it.

Got the Esge double kickstand.  When folded both legs store on the non-drive side under the chain stay.  Stability and utility.  

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A Sunset Is To A Wheel…

…as tension is to __________

Yes.  Flashbacks to SAT and ACT study.  Or just silly blogger trying to be clever and failing miserably.

Austin sucks

Don’t move here.  After life-giving rain from a cold front, we get incredible sky paintings as the sun slips below the horizon.

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Heal the wheel

Finished fixing the latest wheel project.  Customer had a spoke break on a ride.  Replaced the spoke, balanced the tensions and trued.

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Not a big fan of radial lacing.  These wheels tend to be less resilient as they are susceptible to lateral loads.  Radial lacing also puts more stress on the hub flange.  Depending on quality and type of manufacture, the load can cause the hub to crack between spoke holes.  The literature also indicates that the angle of the spoke at the rim can allow the nipple to unwind.

Benefits of radial lacing are that the wheels are  lighter and a little more aerodynamic.  Both of these “benefits” are trivial for the vast majority of riders.  But I’m not judging.  Just giggling a little at racing snake-oil.

Time for ride.  The weather is beautiful here in central Texas.  Such a burden we carry.

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Learn Something New Daily

Something New

Taught myself how to disassemble a Bontrager rear hub.  Fortunately, the Internet was helpful with a detailed user manual.  This included removing the freewheel body to diagnose why it was frozen (Old Guy post 4/7/13).  Turns out it wasn’t the freewheel but the damage the chain did to the hub flange.  So I salvaged as much as I could:  freewheel, rim, spokes, axle, sealed bearings, QR skewer.  Too bad.  This could have been a good wheel.

Relearn

Had to re-acquaint myself with SRAM grip shifters and how to route the gear cable.  Was showing a new volunteer how to install cable and adjust rear shifting.  All grip shifters are not designed the same:  some are easy, some require you to disassemble to put the cable in.  SRAM falls into the later category.  She got to see me drop the little spring clip several times while my big fat fingers fumbled around trying to put it back in.

We also had to hunt for barrel adjuster for the rear derailleur and I guided her through adjusting shifting.  Somebody had tightened both limit screws almost all the way in and I had to explain how to fine tune indexed shifting.  I’ve got the how part down, not so good explaining the why part.  Some users ask, some don’t care.  She seemed interested in understanding so I gave it a try.

Shopping List

Also made my first shopping list for supplies:  hand cleaner, Simple Green, etc.  So that means I get to freak out the SUV moms with my cargo bike tomorrow.

:D

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Sagacity

Sigh

Another month, another copy of Bicycling magazine I have repeatedly cancelled.  When will they stop sending me this?  Normally, I just take this down to the shop for our library (where they sit unread and unopened).  This time something caught my attention.  Breathless exclamation at the top of the cover:

THE 101 BEST MAINTENANCE TIPS EVER PAGE 57

101tipsWait.  Where is the exclamation mark?  OK, maybe not breathless.  But flirting with hyperbole.  Best?  Ever?  I skeptically opened to page 57, averting my eyes from the tiresome advertisements for carbon and lycra.  Glossy enticements featuring all things racing.  Meh.  So much for an open mind.

Pleasant surprise.  Some of this is not bad.  Some blinding flashes of the obvious.  Some things I take exception to or think could have been stated differently.  Very little technique — mostly what with a little how.

Good Rules of Thumb

Started off pretty good.

No. 1 Never loan tools to friends.

No. 2 If it’s threaded grease it.

No. 3 You can’t properly adjust a bicycle that is dirty and not lubricated

No. 4 Perfect the art of changing a flat. No excuses.

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No. 7 When disassembling something, keep track of the order in which you remove parts.  It takes the mystery out of putting it back together.  

OK, they won me over.  I see people learn the lesson of number 7 time and time again.  However, number 2 is likely to kick off debate between mechanics.  Some people believe there are important exceptions to that suggestion (check out tips number 12 and 16 about cranks).  And can I get an Amen! for number 4?

Respect Your Mechanic

No. 21 Don’t be a hero. Whether it’s due to lack of knowledge or experience, or not having the proper tools for the job, you are not capable of every repair. Sometimes you have to take your problem to a professional.

No. 22 Find out what your shop mechanic’s favorite afternoon munchie is, then bring it along the next time you stop in for a repair.  (mine is beer, just saying)

No. 23 It doesn’t matter how you broke it. Just don’t lie to your bike mechanic.

No. 24 Never roll your bike into the shop and expect an on-the-spot repair. You don’t what your mechanic is up against on any given day. (or roll into a community bike shop with a complex repair and expect to roll back out)

Chains

No. 34 Do not use a solvent to lube your chain.

No. 70 Chains and cogs wear together.

No. 71 If you don’t have a chain checker, go find a ruler. When 24 links of your chain measure more than 12 1/16 inches from rivet to rivet, it’s time to replace your chain. Once that measurement reaches 12 1/8, your cogset is likely shot as well.  (well maybe…be careful of dogma)

No. 79 When breaking a chain with a chain tool, do not push the pin all the way through (unless you’re using a special replacement pin). You won’t be able to get it back in. 

No 82. Not all chain lubricants are the same. Choose the one that best suits your riding conditions.

No. 85 Apply lube to the chain’s rollers, not its side plates.

No. 88 Never clean the greasy film off a new chain.  It’s better than what you’ll put on later. Start your lube habit after the factory grease has worn off, which usually takes about two rides. (YES!)

And Much Much More

Lots of other tips in there.  A pretty good how-to on wrapping handlebars. And an acceptable primer on how to true a wheel without a truing stand.  Hint: you use your brakes.  My problem with this kind of advice is it can trivialize wheel maintenance.  Spot truing is one thing; diagnosing and fixing more insidious issues is another.  But it’s pretty good for simple truing.

Check out the article.  Good stuff here (but if you ever tell the magazine staff I said that, I’ll deny it).  And remember:

No. 15 If your bike makes a noise, it’s trying to tell you something.  Don’t ignore it.

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Guardians Against Entropy

Commonly referred to as a work party. Each month we try to schedule a work party at the shop. Various clean up and organization tasks. Sometimes we try to undo the work of the unsort gremlins (who visit the shop each night to foster chaos).

Today we concentrated on the outside. Some trimming and landscape chores. Then we turned to cleaning up the scrap metal and organizing wheels.

Timmy, Destroyer of Wheels

A little known diety in the pantheon. Scrapping wheels to make room for those that actually have a chance of being part of a bicycle again.

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Important lesson learned: clip the spokes someplace where it is easier to pick them up.

Wall of Wheels

Had this on my to-do list for some time. Need to triage the wall of wheels. Pull out those that are scrap or future art and sort by size. One of these days…

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LMAO

Bike Snob always makes me laugh. Well almost always. But at least this morning there was spit my coffee at the monitor response to his latest Fred attack.

Who would buy an $1800 wheel set but a Cat 3/4 Fred-dork. For that much dough I could buy two really nice Linus town bikes and still have change for monthly groceries. Or I could buy a full toolset and 10 bicycles for an after school bicycle program.

Then there is the marketing speak written by somebody that doesn’t have a clue about how wheels work.

…Under normal loads, deflection in the wheel is limited by the traction-resistant nature of carbon fiber. Unlike traditional spokes that flex under greater loads, Tracomp spokes compress to continue supporting the rim, preventing further wheel deflection so you your wheels don’t feel noodly on descents and you don’t lose power in a spring finish.

First of all, if your spokes are flexing under normal loads then you need to find your wheelsmith and beat him senseless. And never buy wheels from that person again. In all properly built wheels the spokes compress. Mavic hasn’t made a galactic-shattering discovery/invention. They just have a sleazy advertising writer.

But Freds continue to entertain, so I guess it’s not all bad. Thanks Snob!