FIXING AND MAINTAINING YOUR BIKE FOR AN OPTIMUM RIDE!

I haven't posted in a while and I guess you can figure out why. Especially if you live in the snowbelt, it's summer and riding is a major part of my agenda. I can't write and ride at the same time now can I?

This year I decided to ride a single speed coaster brake cruiser. The decision was first based on looks (They do look cool!) and also on the fact that I was tired of hauling all the tools necessary to fix a busted derailleur or brake calipers everytime I go for a decent ride. A coaster brake cruiser requires very few tools and it lightens the tool bag big time. A cruiser also builds a good pair of legs!

A one speed cruiser bike is very demanding on hills and it's pretty heavy. So everything you can do to help yourself to move forward with less effort helps. These tips apply to any kind of bike. They are things that most people overlook or don't know about that robs them of a very enjoyable bicycle ride. Let's face it, the easier and more comfortable a bike is, the more you ride. So here it goes:

1. TIRE PRESSURE: Buy a floor pump with a gauge and check your tire pressure on a regular basis. Rubber tubes are porous to a point and you do lose air over time. A low pressure tire will slow you down a lot. Pump it up to the prescribed pressure and you will see a huge difference.
2. WHEEL AND PEDAL AXLE BEARINGS: The bearings in your bike are what makes everything turn smoothly. Make sure they are greased properly by doing a simple check, turn the front and back wheels to see if they turn freely. Get the chain off the front chainring and see if you can turn the pedals without feeling any resistance.
   
3. LUBE THAT CHAIN: It sounds crazy, but a badly lubed chain will rob you of some power. I noticed this when I ran a recumbent with a chain 2 and a half times longer than a regular bike. The thing ran a lot better when the chain was properly lubricated.
4. IS ANYTHING RUBBING?: If you are riding with a brake pad rubbing on the rim all the time, this will take away a lot of your pedaling power for nothing. Again, spin the wheels to see if they turn freely. Check also if the wheels are sitting properly in the frame and that the tires or not rubbing on it.
5. SEAT POSITION: If your seat is too low, you will have a hard time pedaling and you might even hurt your knees. I have seen people riding their bikes with their knees sticking out sideways countless times and somehow they don't seem to enjoy themselves.
6. GEARS, USE 'EM IF YOU HAVE 'EM: Give yourself a chance and leave from a dead stop on a lower gear. I often see people leaving a traffic light on the biggest chainring in the front, pedaling hard, looking in pain and hurting their knees. Use the middle or small chainring and learn to shift that bike or get a one speed cruiser!
   
7. PUT YOUR BIKE ON A DIET: Do you have any kind of junk on your bike that you don't use or that is there for no purpose? If so, remove it. A heavy bike will show it's bad side when climbing hills or going against a hard head wind. You are the only thing powering that beast, so every ounce counts.

Bike maintenance not only preserves your bicycle, but it also makes for a more enjoyable ride and like I said before the more fun it is, the more you do it.

'Til next time, ride safe and Godspeed.

Gerry :)

DIAGNOSIS: SEIZED BACK BRAKE ON LADY'S BIKE

This ever happen to you? You squeeze the rear brake lever on your nice woman's frame bike to find out that absolutely nothing moves! You check everything, the cable routing, the lever, the pads. Everything is OK, where and how it should be. Yet you are perplexed at the fact that nothing wants to move so that the rear wheel can come to a stop. The culprit hides it's ugly face deep inside the cable housing, corrupting that seemingly perfect and healthy looking rear brake cable. Yes, rust has decided to dwell inside and has fused the cable and housing together. No amount of oil will solve this problem permanently. When rust decides to elect domicile inside a cable housing, it becomes as difficult to get rid off as a colony of cockroaches. You will have to trash the cable and that part of the housing to regain full enjoyment and use of your rear brakes.


The cause of this problem is very simple. The step through frame usually has a lower cable routing that goes underneath the brake caliper. This exposes an opening to the elements and water can seep in. May it be a casual ride in the rain or the bike being stored outdoors, the water will sit there and create rust that will weld the cable and housing in one single piece of rust. To prevent this, insert a few drops of oil down the housing at the same place the water gets in or cap it off with a dab of grease or do both. Do this once a season or more if the bike is exposed to rain on a regular basis.

Some of you have asked me why does a woman's bike have a lower top tube. It would seem more logical that this would be more practical for men! We have to go back in history to find out why. Back in the late 19th century when the safety bicycle (that's the name for the current rear chain driven wheel bike design) was invented, women rode their bikes with big skirts and dresses. This was not an option for the ladies of the time, it was the everyday dress code. It was very unladylike to throw a leg over the back wheel to mount and a dress over a top bar would have been just as bad. So bike designers of the time solved this problem by making the step through frame. To this day, for some odd reason, most bikes for women are still made that way. But a real woman's frame is one built to accommodate their shorter torso and longer legs compared to the men's frame. Ask your local bike shop about a real woman's bike. If they are any good, they should know what you're talking about.

Til next time ride safe and Godspeed.

Gerry

PIMP MY BIKE VIDEO!

Ok, this is a bit on the lighter side of things. A group of guys and gals from the UK put these videos together and manage to make some pretty cool bikes. I'm in grease up to my ears these days and more how to's are soon to follow. Enjoy the vids.

Gerry

BEST RIDE EVER! MONTREAL CRITICAL MASS

I always wondered what it was like to ride in a critical mass. Critical mass was created 15 years ago in San Francisco when a bunch of cyclist decided to reclaim the streets on their own by just getting on the streets once a month and taking as much space as possible. Now there are critical masses all over the world, including Montreal. I was contacted this winter to check out there site and this Friday I decided to join in.

Now these rides are notorious for being very unorganised affairs in some places. The one in New York City is, from what I hear, a monthly clash between cyclist and the very well manned NYPD. The Montreal ride as also it's extremist elements, but being Montreal it's in a civilized manner. The morning before the ride I was watching the weather on a regular basis and I was hoping for the rain to vanish so I would be able to take part. Mother nature decided otherwise!

I was about to call it at around 3 O'clock and it made me realise that I was getting soft. I used to ride to work 12 months a year in way worst weather and here I was being held back by a little rain. Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead. Out came the high-vis raincoat and I headed downtown with the 45 lbs cruiser. The ride down to Phillips Square was a blast and when I got there I was surprised to find at least 50 people who had gathered in spite of the rain. I even met a reader of this blog who put together a trailer from one of my articles. Riley used the trailer to carry the music for the ride, sweet!

With no Police escort, we took to the street and rode for at least 30 minutes without any trouble. The rain was on and off but that didn't affect our spirits. Pedestrians on the sidewalks cheered us on and motorists were cursing the very fact that we were alive! Then somewhere on Park Avenue, we crossed a Police car that was waiting in the oncoming lane and by the look on the officers face, I knew we had just ruined what must have been a very quiet shift.

We had three Police cars join us after that in no time. We were intercepted at the corner of St-Laurent and Mont-Royal were they tried to escort us. One car was preparing to open the ride up front, but the mass decided to turn on the street before on Drolet to start a game of cat and mouse. The cruisers caught on pretty fast and the mass was boxed in within 2 minutes. The officers from station 38 were pretty ticked off. You could see it in their face, body language and deployed straight batons! They really didn't won't to mess around. But station 37 came behind us and the sargeant on duty from that station managed to calm things down on both sides. Great work on his part prevented things to go ugly. The ride was over, this was confirmed once we were advised that it was an illegal demonstration. The Police took down the names of 4 people without advising them of why I was told. The group broke up and we ended up at the Mont-Royal metro station for chat and snacks. I rode back home at around 8H30 pm and that ride was a blast.

What made this ride enjoyable for me was not the mere fact of riding in the streets in a spate of what might be interpreted as civil disobedience. The people I met there, the ride-in in traffic, the ride-out in the darkness were even more fun. Meeting a reader of this blog that actually put together one of my crazy ideas was also a great kick I must admit. Almost as exciting as a brush with the law.

So if your bike riding or your life is getting too boring, get to Union and Ste-Catherine at 5H30pm every last Friday of the month and go for it. For the readers of this blog that are out there in the world, just google critical mass to see if there is one in your town. If not, start one.

Til next time, ride safe and Godspeed.

Gerry

THE CRANK OR PEDAL ARM KEEPS FALLING OFF! A DIAGNOSIS

One thing that I've seen often in bike repair and experienced myself was to have a crank arm just falling off the bike. Now if that doesn't ruin your day, imagine a few days later riding along all proud of having fixed the problem, riding with joy, birds singing in the trees, life is good....and the darn thing falls off again! Of course this happens in the middle of nowhere with no handy tools at hand. Option A: Pedal with one leg Option B: walk and push the bike home.

To prevent this from happening in the first place, take the time to tightened the nut attaching the crank arms to the axle at least once a year. This can be done with a 14mm socket ratchet wrench. If your crank arm just keeps on falling off, even after you've asked your muscle building neighbour to tighten that nut as if his life depended on it, there is one simple reason. When the crank arm is loose and you pedal with it, you damage the four corners of it's socket that rest in the axle. Somehow this damage causes the crank arm to wiggle enough to unscrew the nut little by little until it just falls off again. You will have no choice but to replace it. You can try locktite, but I've had no success with that either. Bring the old crank arm with you to make sure you buy the same size, that's unless you have a leg shorter than the other!

Til next time, ride safe and Godspeed.

Gerry