08.19.08
Posted in blogging, gear, repair at 12:17 am by Administrator
While waiting for my bike to bike to be serviced the other day, I had some time to walk around the bike shop and browse. I cam across the tools and picked this one out. I just quickly looked at the container, decided that I needed to replace my broken Allen key tool, propped it up on the counter with some Alcis cream and ran off to work. Then I had some time at work to pull it out and look at the instructions and boy was I surprised!! This instrument has 16 different tools on it. Of course there are the Allen keys, one of which is a 5mm Allen Key that has an 8mm head that slides up and down, thus giving you two tools on the one key. There are also spoke wrenches, which I imagine one day I will learn what they are for, especially in an emergency situation. The black plastic sides pop out to become tire levers!! Sweet!! But the super awesomest thing about it is the chain tool. It installs or removes chain pins and loosens stiff links. Also has a chain hook. Double sweet!!
And double good that I have this tool because I learned that day that you cannot change the chain without having to replace the entire cassette as well. The chain and cassettes fit perfectly together as they wear on each other over time. Putting a new chain on an old cassette wouldn’t quite work. I did not really know that. But now I’m glad I do. I have been thinking about changing my cassette anyway, especially getting a gear that gives me more resistance on downhills. Now I have to figure out whether to get road gearing or mountain gearing. OH!! The agony of cyclocross!!
Well anyway, going through the website for Topeak (as I always do for anything I buy for my bike), I came across this glorious thing of beauty that must have been made by god him/herself:
Oh god, just looking at it brings a tear to my eye…. This bad boy, the Bikamper, uses a 26” mountain or 700c road front wheel in place of tent poles. This is a one person sleeper (kind of a bummer), three season and packs down compact enough to strap to the handlebars. How freakin’ cool is that?!?!
Also, I hate to report my poor bike seat is starting to die. I have already started looking for some new ones–again, the mountain or road gear dilemma–and going through said Topeak site, came across the link for another one of their companies called Allay which makes saddles. I was looking at this one as a possible candidate:
We’ll see what happens…
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07.17.08
Posted in blogging, gear, info, repair at 11:05 pm by Administrator
I have often had conversations with many riders who have told me heartbreaking stories of tire flats. I have just even had one myself recently. And I always mention Mr. Tuffy to others and they usually have never heard of it. Well if you don’t know, now you know.
Mr. Tuffy is a nylon or plastic strip that is sized for each tire size that slips in between the inner tube and the outer tire rubber itself. What you have to do to get it in is to deflate the tire, pull the inner tube out, fit the Mr. Tuffy strip inside, then put the innertube back in, inflate and ride!! It’s that easy!!
I used Mr. Tuffy on my road bike after a slew of flats and money down the drain toward patch kits and new tubes. I’d had enough. After using Mr. Tuffy, I have never had a flat again on those tires. I didn’t think I’d need it on the cyclocross (didn’t get my first flat for two years), but all good records must come to an end. I am going to get some Mr. Tuffy soon enough and make sure that I almost never have to buy another tube again.
You can find Mr. Tuffy at any bike store or go online to any bike site and you will find it.
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05.14.08
Posted in blogging, gear, repair at 4:20 pm by Administrator
I came across this site called Crank Brothers and nearly fell off my chair when I beheld this beauteous sight. This is their Cobalt XC wheelset, aluminum, stainless steel spokes, disc brake only, tubeless compatible, and in my favorite color, blue.
And being the bike-head that I am, I love tools. I can’t get enough of the Swiss Army style tools that cycling repair has to offer. I dig the fact that you can carry an array of tools on you in one little space in your bag and whip it out when you or a fellow cyclists need to fix a ride. So imagine the squeal that came out of me when I beheld this:
This too is on the Crank Brothers site. There are nineteen tools on this baby….nineteen!! Dude, I could sit for hours and play with this thing. And it comes with a “flask” to keep it in!! Oh my god, oh my god!! I need this to add to my collection of other fold-away tools, to keep in my bag and admire like Smiegel held on to the Ring of Power…
“Precious!!”
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05.01.08
Posted in info, repair at 4:22 pm by Administrator
I have just learned that your chain can stretch!! Who knew??
But apparantly it seems that if your measure your chain for a full twelve links, if the distance is longer than twelve and one sixteeth inches pin to pin, it’s time to replace the chain. If it is over twelve and one eighth inches, then it is probably necessary to change the cassette as well.
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04.15.08
Posted in blogging, info, repair at 5:29 pm by Administrator
So I got the brakes fixed on my sweet little Jake yesterday. I went back to Recycle-A-Bicycle in DUMBO. And as there is really no place to kill time as they fix your bike. I just stood there watching the mechanic work on my bike. I noticed that he cleaned the rims before adjusting and replacing the brakes. Novel idea!! I did not think of that in terms of having the brakes work more effectively, much less keeping Jake looking as close to new as he can look.
The brake pads in the back were changed, but not the front ones. He swore up and down again that the pads in the front were still good, but I gave him the look like just-change-them!! I explained the accident, and for some ungodly reason, he didn’t seem that phased about it. Really. Usually I get the look all the time: Awww!! Accident? You poor dear!! Does it still hurt? This guy was like, “Oh…..that sucks.” Yeah dude, it does suck, now change my pads!! They didn’t have another new pair to put in the front so all he did was adjust the tightness.
Which brings me to my next conundrum.
It seems there is some weird design flaw on the braking system vs. wheel equation. If the brakes are adjusted to the proper tension, you can’t get your quick release wheel off!! So I guess those that design the bikes don’t live in a city like, oh, I don’t know……NEW YORK, where you can turn your head for a nanosecond, and parts thereof or the entire bike itself is gone. So that just totally confirms it for me. I have to change the brakes often so that I can brake properly, but yet still keep the front brake tension loose enough to chain up my bike with the front wheel chained to the body. I bet there are other braking systems that could work for the cyclocross and I will look into that.
Also, remember I mentioned that my derailleur hanger was bent and I could not shift down to the bottom two gears? Well, first, I got Jake to shift down to the next to last gear. How? I hit this ginormous pothole on the street one day and dude, it fixed my derailleur!! I could then shift down to the next to last gear. I think that may be the first time a pothole has some usefulness!! So carry on I did, pedaling downhill on a gear that gave no resistance and I kept telling myself that I had to get it fixed. The problem is, I was told that I’d have to go back to the original store I purchased the bike in order to get the proper hanger. And my bike store is all the way down in Bay Ridge. I haven’t had much time to get all the way down there, although I really should to check out what’s new in the store. Anyway, so this morning when coming out of the elevator of my building, I looked down and saw how the mechanics knew to point out the derailleur hanger–it really did look bent. I don’t know why I didn’t notice before, but I noticed this morning. The mechanics at Recycle (two of them) told me that you can’t just simply bend it back to make it work again. But I know my baby. I looked at that hanger for a second or three, set the bike down, bent the hanger back out and when I got out onto the street….voila!! With a little patience, I could shift back down to my bottom gear!! Do I know my baby or do I know my baby? It’s as if Jake hath sprung from mine own body…..
Unfortunately the street that I power down in the morning is under construction, so I stayed on the sidewalk. I do not recommend riding on the sidewalk because of course, there are people walking, but also it’s kind of illegal here in the city. But I like to weave in and out of obstacles and since my brakes are spakin’ new, I rode on the sidewalk.
Also when you ride close to people and brush right past them, they have little mini heart attacks. I swear–try it if you don’t believe me. But only if you are a seasoned rider my dear….
I also wouldn’t recommend trying to bend back your own bent hanger. You could probably do worse damage if you don’t know what you’re doing. Not that I really do, but I had a feeling that it might work and I went with my instinct.
I am glad that I have this running record of the work that I am putting into maintaining Jake. But now I am starting to realise that maintaining a bike you ride every day takes as much maintenance as a car you drive every day. It’s all moving parts that need to keep moving. And they break down constantly. However, it is far less cheaper to maintain a bike than a car. But if you have a nice bike……
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03.26.08
Posted in repair at 6:23 am by Administrator
I mentioned in the previous post a local bike shop near me in DUMBO called Recycle A Bicycle. It is way more than just a bike repair shop. They actually recycle old bicycles, repair old or new ones, and the very interesting thing about this worthy organization is that they mentor young kids and teach them all about bicycles and repairing them. The mechanics in the DUMBO location are friendly and very Brooklyn chic. Thus they get the mention as one of the bike stores I regularly visit. Please check out their website.
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