You are currently browsing the archives for the 'February 2006' category.
14 February »
Tech tips »
Cory
Well, it looks like it’s drivetrain week on the web and everyone’s searching for flawless shifting on their rides. Following up on Ashwin’s piece on a quick cable lubing technique and Velorution’s thoughts on worn drivetrains comes a short entry on The Steeps about misaligned derailleur hangers.
Most bikes use cheaper derailleur hangers (ie. under $20), so it’s a reasonable idea to carry a spare hanger around in your hydration pack when you’re heading out for a day on the trails. I’ve found that it’s much easier to replace a tweaked derailleur hanger than it is to eyeball the alignment and try to bend the thing back into position. Remember, you can always check the suspect hanger once you get back to civilization.
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Good shifting is dependent mostly upon the condition of your bike’s cables and cable housings. In a perfect world, you’d always have clean shifting parts but, in reality, dirt and grit get inside the housing and can cause excess friction, something that makes it difficult to get the shifters to engage and causes problems when moving your chain down the cogset. While the best solution to imperfect shifting is new housing and a new cable (or a new drivetrain), this isn’t a realistic option for most people, especially if you ride in a wet/gritty environment.
This article will help you prolong the length of time between your housing changes and it’s easy to do too — you never remove the cable or undo the cable anchor bolt. Read the rest of this entry »
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13 February »
Gear shots »
Cory
When I started testing this pump, I wasn’t convinced that it was a necessary addition to the tool ‘kit’ packed away in the corner of my garage. Why? I’d survived for years without anything more than a $10 Planet Bike pump that I purchased during the late ’90s and it had done the job just fine. However, over the last few months, I’ve come to appreciate the usefulness of a floor pump, and I’ve used it to inflate my kid’s soccer ball, add air to a leaky car tire, and, most importantly, I’ve used it to keep a closer eye on the air pressure in the tires of my bike.
The Axiom Propel-Air DLX floor pump isn’t the cheapest pump on the market but it’s nowhere near the priciest out there and it provides decent value for the asking price. MSRP for the pump is around $35 cad and, for your money, you get a decent package that should cover the ‘inflation needs’ of most mountain bikers. Read the rest of this entry »
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There was a time not long ago when if you wanted a stand to work on your bike your only real option was a high quality and high priced piece of hardware from Park Tool USA. While Park Tool is still the choice of many shop mechanics around the world, other companies are starting to stand up and give Big Blue a run for its money with well designed, well built, and well-priced products for consumers and pro shop use.
One of these companies is Ultimate Support, a Colorado-based company that has been growing in popularity over the past 10 years. I have used a few of their stands over the years, and if there was one complaint I had of Ultimate’s equipment, it was that they just weren’t built as well as the Park stands.
However, over that past couple of years that reputation has been changing in a big way. Last year I had great success using the BRS-70B Consumer Repair stand, and then with the 2005 unveiling of the Pro Elite Bicycle Repair Stand Ultimate Support seems poised to take a big piece of Park Tool’s pie. Read the rest of this entry »
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12 February »
How tos »
Cory
Velorution has a post discussing when to replace the chain on your bike. It does a good job of explaining why and how chains wear, how worn drivetrain parts influence your ride, and what it’s going to cost you to repair.
If you’re having problems with your shifting or your drivetrain is skipping, head on over and check it out.
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Things were fairly quiet on the news front this past week but we did manage to get you one or two items each day.
Original content
Dan started the week with a winter tire shootout that saw the Nokian Hakka 300 come out on top. Next up was Ashwin, who wrote about a professional bike fit and how it has helped his riding. Greg finished up his series on the mountain biker’s road trip on Wednesday, and I followed up on an earlier article that discussed serious bike-related injuries.
Elsewhere on the ‘net
Current TBH favourite Patent Pending continues to post up old bicycle designs — this week saw a cool bike from 1875 that featured a curved fork and some funky ways of moving yourself along. Easton Sports and Riddell Bell merged, forming a company that will continue to produce biking helmets, protective gear, and bike components like handlebars, stems, and wheelsets. BikeMagic has a review of the Nicolai Helius CC. Treehugger introduced me to Bike Furniture Designs. GoClipless has some photos of a Trek Top Fuel 98 that is identical to the one that George W. rides.
Scientists in Alaska realized that sperm whales hone in on fishing boats and then scoop up the fish on the boats’ lines. The National Geographic website has some video of ‘vampire birds’ of the Galapagos Islands.
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A few months back, I mentioned that Kona was involved in the Bike Town Africa project. Now, the Africa Bike — the bike design that will be used — has been unveiled on the internet. Check out the Africa Bike image gallery at the weblog that follows how things are going.
Hat tip: Spinopsys.
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A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about some of my worst mountain bike crashes and asked some of you to describe your most painful bails. The severity of the crashes varied although most of the outcomes weren’t too bad — there was a nose case, some cartwheels, a big blast of wind, some road rash, and some hurt pride — any of the crashes could have caused serious injury had the rider made one wrong move too many. For me, my wrong move has kept me on the shelf for almost four months, although I’m expecting that I’ll be back on my bike shortly, just before I’ve been off of it for four months. What have I done during my ‘time off’? Read the rest of this entry »
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8 February »
How tos »
Greg
“The road trip was spectacular: there were miles and miles of single track, loads of technical terrain, some stuff that was wide open and let you go as fast as you could go, and some unbelievable ‘North Shore’-style stunts and drops. I never want to forget it.”
These are the type of things that I always want to say after a biking road trip. There are a couple of things that I do to make sure my memories stay fresh long after the trip is over and to help give me the best opportunity to look back fondly on my trips. Read the rest of this entry »
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Normally I save my best links for later in the week but, since it’s only Tuesday and I’ve already got a good collection of material, I thought I’d do a quick, midweek link dump.
As the Turin Olympics approach, I’m starting to see a bunch of funding announcements for Canadian amateur athletes. The latest is Louis Garneau Sports’ announcement that the company has stepped up its sponsorship of the Canadian Cycling Association (CCA), with an official supplier agreement that will see the manufacturer provide cyclists with clothing, protective gear, and frames (!) until after the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that Walmart was headed to court as a defendant in a Tennesse lawsuit involving an allegedly-defective bike. Now, there’s a verdict expected in another bike-related suit involving the company, one that alleges that ‘Walmart conspired to cover-up defective quick releases‘.
In the ‘blogosphere’, Ashwin has a couple of preliminary thoughts about the relationship between on-bike performance and a rider’s fitness level. It’s a worthwhile read and I can vouch for the veracity of Ashwin’s words; I’ve stepped up my level of fitness in the past couple of years and have noticed a distinct increase in speed and bike handling ability on the way down.
When BikePortland publicized a cease and desist letter sent by Specialized to Mountain Cycle regarding Mountain Cycle’s use of the name ‘Stumptown’, it created a little bit of a stir around the Web. Along the way, the news elicited comments that hinted at what some perceived as heavy-handed tactics by Specialized. Since then, Specialized responded to any inquiry from Jonathan Maus, and it looks as though the big ‘S’ is standing firm. It’ will be interesting to see how (and if) this issue goes any further in the realm of public opinion (via cyclelicious).
Elsewhere, Carl Buchanan has a good set of photos showing a rebuild of a Fox F80x fork, Bike Magazine made some tweaks to its front page, and The Steeps has a quick overview of a Crank Bros. Eggbeater rebuild. There’s also a neat little independent video about the mountain bike trails on Vancouver’s North Shore over at Commute by Bike and a discussion of high end bike parts over at RogueMechanic.
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