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Category Archives: bike repair
Clean your bike! I did….
Spring is in the air. Finally. If you are a cyclist there is a very large gap between the start of Winter when you quit riding and the beginning of Spring when you begin riding again.
It’s about two months early for Spring to show its colors out here….and in spite of the calendar, the grass is getting green, trees are budding, and folks are spending time outside. Pretty soon when it warms a bit more there will be clean cars, gardening services rushing from yard to yard, and outdoor fitness buffs will grudgingly show off their lumpy acquisitions of weight gain while they trudge along to some unknown song playing on their music player.
And if you’re me, your bicycle just got a bath. I haven’t been riding lately but noticed a layer of dust had settled on the paint, also saw I had not scrubbed the goo-cumulation from the last ride back in October, and could NOT tell by looking at the dark cluster of grease toward the back of the bike there were gears back there waiting to power the bike on down the road! So I gave CashFlow a bath.
Up she went onto the bike stand and my attention turned to the rear wheel. The cassette was detached and summarily reduced to the parts of its sum with spacers, gears, and the end cap were drowned inside a half coffee can full of Simple Green. The de-greasing had begun.
The bike then received a full wipe-down with a damp cloth. Chunks of road tar were addressed with a toothbrush dripping with more Simple Green and lot of TLC. Another wiping with the cloth and CashFlow was looking like her old self!
Now the wheels. I think you can clean just about anything if you take the time and apply yourself to the task at hand. Greasy spokes and road grime had given the bike an old beat-down look to it and the goal for today’s bath was to remove that layer of ugly and replace it with the look I am accustomed to….this was a Beast-to-Beauty transition, and it would make me a happy man to do the work. I used the toothbrush soaked in Simple Green to remove the layer of grease on each cog and spacer. Only when they looked all bright and shiny would I move on to the next one. And I made a promise this would not happen again! We’ll see how that goes.
After re-assembling the cassette with those shiny new looking cogs, the rear wheel looked great. Of course I cleaned up the front wheel and when they were both put back on the bike, CashFlow looked great. I am so proud of her!
CashFlow is clean now, and with Spring nearly here, I better figure out how to get my newly acquired weight into some cycling shorts and start working it off so CashFlow can be proud of me too.
I still need to clean the chain, but I’ll do that before my first ride….which will happen soon!
Update: New Wheels
This is the revision I promised to the 08/08/2011 post titled: NEW WHEELS
I bought some new wheels for my bicycle, CashFlow. The wheels came from a company named “Neuvation” located in San Luis Obisbo. The guy who runs it, John, has been doing so for quite some time and he is really good at what he does! And what he does is this, buy the parts and pieces overseas, assemble those parts/pieces into bicycle wheels, and make them available to any interested parties.
Recently, I was one of those “interested parties” because my previous, expensive, Bontrager XL rear wheel had been producing flats as frequently as I could finance the purchase of the next one. Some rides would see a single flat while other rides would see two or three. It got to be a real drag to pull over to the side of the trail and show off my repair skills while dripping sweat all over the pavement. So, with great trepidation, I dipped my toes into the pond where new wheels glisten in the horizon like so many oasis glimmering in the desert. The purchase of new wheels seemed so far away! Everywhere I looked the cost was right around $800 a set. For CHEAP wheels. Bottom-fishing stuff. The stuff you buy and wonder why. Discouraged, I wanted to give up, but wanted to stop fixing flats even more.
And right about then, I remembered my friend over in Utah who last summer was sporting some new wheels from Neuvation. I emailed him asking about ride quality, wheel stiffness/response, and his overall impression. His reply? “Love them!”
So, to save you from the headache(s) I suffered while shopping for a new set of wheels, do this: visit the Neuvation site and buy yourself a set. Mine? I love them!
You will too.
Visit the website: http://www.neuvationcycling.com
This is an excerpt from a review about John’s R28 Aero’s:
“The economics behind Neuvation’s business model are simple enough: Product is sourced overseas and then sold directly to consumers. Neuvation’s brain trust has a single Social Security number: John Neugent’s. Neugent was the head of Sachs here in the U.S. and his skill set is unusually broad; the guy has done everything from CAD drawings to sales and marketing, but relationships being what they are, Neugent’s most important asset is his 25 years of experience sourcing product in Taiwan. And if you’ve ever heard anyone haggle with a Taiwanese businessman then you know that garage sales are for the faint of heart.
It’s true that his web design isn’t too exciting and the graphics on the wheels aren’t exactly sexy, but that’s really the point: You purchase Neuvation wheels not because they have the allure of a Victoria’s Secret model, but because anyone gainfully employed has the coin for a set.”
Read the full article at: http://www.belgiumkneewarmers.com/2008/05/neuvation-r28-aero4-wheels.html
New Wheels
How can I not tell you about this? I have some new wheels rolling their way down the street to me. And man oh man, I cannot w8 for them to get here!
This is what happened: I have been flatting lately. Not just a flat every once in a while either. It was one flat on the way out, and one flat on the way back. One ride saw three flats, one right after the other. Ugh.
Imagine yourself pedaling down the road, happy as a clam (are clams actually happy? I’m going to need to do some research. Click here to view its origin. Interesting.), heart rate booming along around 140 bpm, and you realize your tire is going soft. Bother! It needs to be fixed. So you dismount, break out the tools and a new tube, and go about the business of changing the tube out. Inflate the tire, clean your mess, and you are back to business. As you hop on you are secretly congratulating yourself on having mechanical skills sharp enough to get this done. And you quickly forget about the sweat that burned your eyes as it streamed down your forehead, and you don’t remember how quickly your jersey fills with sweat as you do your repairs this Summer day….and off you fly, only to do it again about ten minutes up the road. BUMMER!
So I repaired something like 12 flats in 6 rides. And that got me to thinking about a flawed mechanical technique during the tire mount. Am I pinching the tube? Or not filling the tire enough resulting in a pinch flat. Or I got ahold of some bad rubber. I don’t know. But I can tell you it was getting frustrating, and kind of got in my head too. A fast, sweeping turn that ends up on the rim can be bad for the wheel, the bike, and the rider….and I kept looking down to see if the tire was inflated every time I went around a curve. Talk about distractions!
So I went to the Local Bike Shop (LBS) to talk with a mechanic. Dude and I went over my technique (and yes, I was checking the inside of the tire for something protruding each time) and looked at BOTH of the tubes I had changed on that ride, and there wasn’t really anything common about the rupture. It was in a different area of the tube and kind of gave a clue that the wheel side of the tube was at fault. And do you know what the mechanic asked me? “How many miles do you have on these wheels?”
Huh? That led to a discussion about wheel “flex” and how age can cause wheels to flat more often than before. And I left shaking my head, and thinking he was trying to make commission on a new set of $1200 wheels.
Until I checked with the all-knowing “internet”. You know what I found out? Dude wasn’t fibbing! Some manufactures say you should expect wheels to last 10,000 miles. WUT? I did some thinking about my wheels and realized they had more than 25,000 miles on them. 25,000 miles! Wow.
So this morning at 7:10 I ordered some new wheels. They are from a company named Neuvation Cycling and come highly recommended from a couple of riding buddies. At 2:29 this afternoon I received an email telling me the wheels had been shipped via UPS and would show up TOMORROW! Today is Monday and I’ll have my new R28 Aero wheels on Tuesday. Fantastic!
You want to know the best news about this transaction? The total cost is $369 for the set. Shipping, handling, and tax included. Not $1200. Three hundred and sixty nine bucks. Super nice!
Naturally, I’ll keep you up to date on their function. In this you-get-what-you-pay-for world we live in, I could be sorely disappointed or completely satisfied with the purchase. Stay tuned.
Wow!
Bicycling: first ride
I got in a bike ride over the weekend. Here it is Super Bowl Sunday and my day involved nothing about watching a football game. wow, am I demented or what?!
This is the first time I have been on a bicycle since October 9th of last year when I had a kidney stone. This was a huge ordeal where, after 2 months, I ended up having surgery to have the darn thing removed. Ugh. Learning moment: drink your water. Don’t add protein.
Back to the weekend ride; preparation included installing my new saddle, cleaning the major chunks of goo from the ride last October, and pumping up the tires. After that, it was all about getting my riding gear on and mentally preparing for the upcoming effort. Then, I headed out the door and off to the American River Bike Trail, just 4 miles away from home.
It was a little windy with the gusts kicking up over 20mph, and I resolved to go against the wind early to enjoy the fruits of my labor and an easy return trip home. This ride was only to see what kind of shape I had deteriorated to, not as a normal ride which would tell me how long it took to get from point A to point B and give me an idea of my level of fitness. Good plan? It sure turned out that way!
So off I went; wind in the face, pavement rattling under the wheels, feet spinning wildly, and that familiar feeling of freedom tweaking my emotions. The thousands of bicycle miles I have logged in the recent past help me easily contol my expectations. And since this is the seasons First Ride, I expect to go about 25 miles, experience much discomfort (new seat and unused squishy muscles) and hurt when finished. And by “hurt” I mean the hurt is everywhere. And by “everywhere” I mean deep, inside pain in every muscle group that only goes away with time. And for the record, I was not disappointed in either catagory.
I ended up riding 34 miles and learned a few things:
- the new seat needs to be re-positioned forward about an inch
- my old butt needs about a month of riding before it is going to feel okay after a ride
- I have gotten very good at changing tubes on the rear tire
The first two points were pretty well known. I knew the seat was not perfectly set. I could see it lined up properly and had the correct angle, but sitting on a saddle for a few minutes and actually riding on it is very different. You learn things when you sit for a while, and you know what I learned? Riding a bicycle is hard work and you best get yourself as comfortable as possible! So the seat is going to be tweaked until it is just right, and that might take a few rides to until it is perfect. The part about “my old butt” needing some time in the saddle is pretty much self-explanatory. I’m just lucky to have not gained a bunch of weight while I was off eating and drinking for the past 4 months. So there’s that…..
The bullet point above: “changing tubes on the rear tire” is a bit of a quandry. Going back to the last time I rode the bike it was giving me trouble. During Levi’s Gran Fondo, which is a difficult 103 mile ride put on by road racing superstar Levi Leipheimer, and was the last time I was at a really good fitness level able to enjoy such an event. Anyway, I had two brand new tires on the bike and suffered two rear-wheel flats during the ride….with one of them happening while speeding down an 18% decent to the ocean! Yep, that is a scary time to have a tire go soft and could have caused major damage to me and CashFlow (my bike).
Out on the bike trail having a flat is only “inconvenient”. You don’t really have a problem unless you are in a pace-line with other riders or are pushing the limits of centrifugal force inside a turn. Get a flat during this time and you will find it can really hurt! Other than that, you have to stop, get out of the way, and change a tube. No big deal.
On this little trip to the town of Folsom and back, I had to do this not once, not twice, but thrice (is that how you spell it?). The first tire change came at mile 6.5.
“OK” I thought, “the bike has been sitting, waiting for four months, this is expected.”
The next one happened on the way back somewhere around mile 25. Since I used an old tube from last season I was not surprised. Not happy about it, but not surprised. And I promised myself I would look at what is causing the problem when I get home.
The third malfunction happened at mile 35, and really annoyed me. The ride began sometime around 2:30 and here it was almost 4:30, the sun was going down, and there was about 1 hour of sun remaining in the day. And, there were mosquitoes flying about….and I HATE mosquitoes! Especially early in the season when they can be especially ravenous.
So, flat #3. Clock ticking. Sun going down. Mosquitoes. And I am beat. The ride has given me great pause. Here I am riding at about 17 mph and not feeling particularly well after just 30 miles. I have been feeling “not strong” for about 15 miles. I mean, what kind of shape was I in to enjoy the previous ride? Wow. Anyway, back to this repair. The wheel is off, I am swatting at and/or getting bit by flying adversaries I can pay little attention to, the inside tire has nothing poking inside to cause a flat, and I am only interested in finishing this thing out. Now the new tube is seated, tire is hooked to the inside rim, air is going in, and that all familiar 90 pounds of air is holding the rubber taut once again. The wheel is back on the bike and adjusted to the middle of its track, and off I go down the trail again.
For the record, I did not complete the ride as expected. With the sun casting its yellow/orange hues all around, I used the cell phone to call the wife for a pickup at the park. She complied and I was comfortably inside a car after just 34 miles. Heckuva way to start the season!
The bike is now back in the rack and will receive my full attention before the next ride. Might be a couple of days though….I still hurt!
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