Category: cycling

Repacking Cartridge Bearings

Published December 29, 2012

Not long after a recent bike wash I noticed a pedaling-related squeak when riding my Mukluk. I figured it to just be some seal noise, so after today’s wash I removed the cranks and set about investigating the snap-on seals that came with the crankset, figuring it to be one of those. Instead it turns out that the noise was coming from the non-drive side cartridge bearing, which was also feeling a bit rough.

I had two spare bearings from the last time I needed to do bearing work, so I figured I’d try and salvage these. Pulling the seals off I found that they had a bit of creamy (likely water-spoiled) grease inside, but seemed to be in otherwise good shape. I removed the grease and found them to be spinning very smoothly when clean, so I lubed them up with some ProGold EPX Cycling Grease. This is a nice, sticky grease that seems like it’d be good for bearings in harsher environments. (Disclaimer: I received a free tube of this as part of the large set of stuff donated to MMBA Metro North / CRAMBA in 2011.)

Everything went back together nicely, and now the cranks spin smoothly without any irritating squeak. I hope that this new grease will be a bit more weather resistant than whatever came in the eBay special bearings I’d purchased and these bearings will last for a while. They were nice and clean and spinning smooth once cleaned out, so I’m hoping I caught them before any damage was done.

Here is the general process I used for cleaning the bearings:

Use a sharp T pin to carefully remove the seals from the bearings.
Wipe out as much grease as possible with a paper towel.
Soak the bearings in citrus-based degreaser. (I use ZEP, it works just as well as the bike specific stuff.)
Alternate between rinsing the bearings in hot water, brushing them with a degreaser-soaked toothbrush, and swirling them around in the degreaser bath until they are clean.
Once the bearings are very clean, rinse in as hot of water as possible, then shake dry.
Blow dry with a blower or air compressor, if available.
Submerge the bearings in 99% isopropyl alcohol and agitate to get any residual water off of the bearings and dissolved in the alcohol.
Remove the bearings from the alcohol, shake them out, and set them upright to dry. Occasionally spin the bearings to help the process along. (This will only take a few minutes.)
Liberally apply grease into the ball bearings and cage, then spin the bearing a few times to ensure it’s moving freely and grease is evenly distributed.
Lightly grease the seals then snap them back in place with finger pressure. Spin the bearings a few more times to ensure the seals are properly seated.

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Fat vs. 29er Tires

Published December 25, 2012

When out for a ride this afternoon I grabbed this photo which fairly clearly shows fat bike tire prints vs. 29er tire prints. The top fat print is the Big Fat Larry that I mounted up a few days ago, and the lower one is the Larry pointed backward for increased traction while pedaling. Crossing this is some of my friend Jeremy’s tire tracks, a Specialized The Captain followed almost exactly by a WTB Nano Raptor.

This was taken in the parking lot of Shelby Township’s Whispering Woods Park while en route to meet Jeremy to ride at River Bends. Even though I was turning it still does a fair job of showing that a fatbike’s contact patch is twice as wide (or greater) than that of a typical 29er tire. From beach riding to snow, exploring soft floodplanes to checking out trail conditions in known-soft areas, it’s pretty nifty to see how many riding opportunities tires this wide open up. Sure, they is a big increase in rolling resistance, and most fatbikes are still very much rigid (read: pneumatic dampening with no suspension), but they sure are fun.

There’s a fair bit of snow in the forecast for the next couple of days. I’m really looking forward to some late afternoon (and hopefully evening, via the usual Wednesday Night Ride) excursions in the snow. Maybe this winter won’t be quite as sparse as the last, either. While I didn’t mind all the days of dirt road riding, Michigan is a great state for multiple outdoor activities. I’d rather enjoy having a nice winter for doing winter-y things.

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Big Fat Larry

Published December 22, 2012

This afternoon I picked up a new tire for my fatbike from Trails Edge: an ultralight version of the Surly Big Fat Larry (BFL). While this tire can have chain clearance issues on the rear of some bikes, it’s right at home up front in the Enabler Fork that comes stock on my 2012 Salsa Mukluk 2.

I’d never really cared for the Endomorph tire that came as the stock rear tire on the bike. While it was fine on sand and hard pack, on even marginally slick surfaces it’d unexpectedly jet sideways if even the slightest bit of power was applied, so I wanted to do away with it. As a possible solution to this I decided to try a BFL up front, and move the original Larry tire from the front of the bike to the rear, fitting it backwards for increased traction while pedaling. With this tire acquisition I was able to do so (photo).

One common trick on fatbikes is to put a very knobby rear tire on the bike to ensure that it doesn’t lose traction in the rear. This would be appealing for pure snow and trail riding but I frequently ride this bike on paved and hard pack surfaces, so I’m not sure this would be good for me. The super-grippy Nate would work well for this, but I can only imagine how quickly paved surfaces would wear on it, not to mention the tremendously increased rolling resistance. The Larry tread seems to be good for all around use, so I went with it.

When moving tires around to fit the BFL I was surprised to find that the original tires from the bike were both wire bead. At ~1370g the BFL isn’t a light tire, but the ultralight 120 TPI version with a folding bead ends up being a bit lighter than the narrower wire bead 120 TPI Larry’s ~1430g that had been on the front of the bike. The Endomorph which ended up getting removed from the bike is ~1420g, which makes the overall loss from the bike a whopping 50g, with 10g being transfered from the front to the rear. While it isn’t much (0.3% of the overall mass of the bike), I’m not going to complain about losing mass when going to a much larger tire.

Fitted to the Mukluk’s Rolling Darryl rims I measured the BFL at 4-3/16″ when inflated to 20 PSI just after installation. The BFLs are known to stretch quite a bit as they sit at higher pressures (in three hours it was up to 4-5/16″) so I’m not sure what the final size will be, but this is already quite a bit more than the original Larry’s 3-5/8″. It’ll be interesting to see how much it stretches overnight.

Here’s a few more photos of the bike and Big Fat Larry tire taken today:

· Surly Big Fat Larry tire, ultralight version (folding bead), as shipped from QBP.
· Surly Big Fat Larry on a Rolling Darryl rim at 20psi in a Salsa Enabler fork. There is plenty of room to spare.
· With the Big Fat Larry on the front of the Mukluk I moved the regular Larry to the rear, and reversed it hoping for greater traction in the snow.
· Current state of my Mukluk, with a Big Fat Larry front tire, reversed Larry in the rear, bash guard, trigger shifters, and lights. Weight is 35.38 pounds as shown.

Since I had the scale out I decided to weigh a few parts of the bike and see how it adds up. Here’s what I came up with:

Front Wheel w/ ultralight (folding bead) Big Fat Larry Tire: 7.62 pounds
Rear Wheel w/ wire bead 120 TPI Larry : 9.2 pounds
Tube: ~450g
Larry Tire (120 TPI, wire bead): ~1430g
Big Fat Larry Tire (120 TPI, folding bead): ~1370g
Endomorph Tire (120 TPI, wire bead): ~1420g
Complete bike as seen here with front and rear lights: 35.38 pounds
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Damaged Craftsman Hex Wrench

Published December 19, 2012

When working on Danielle’s old bike a couple days ago I ended up damaging my 6mm Craftsman ball-end hex wrench. I was attempting to remove her old pedals and the wrench simply spun, then was pushed out of the fastener. After this the ends of the wrench were damaged.

Hopefully Craftsman’s lifetime warranty will apply to this and I’ll be able to get a new one, since this is now pretty useless.

UPDATE: Turns out that Sears’ replaced the entire set. I was missing a 3mm too, so this is a nice benefit.

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Motobecane Fantom 29er For Sale

Published December 16, 2012

Up for sale is Danielle’s old bike, built around a 15″ Motobecane Fantom 29er frame. (Geometry can be found here.)

I’ve listed it over here on the MMBA forum, but for those interested the highlights are a Shimano 9-speed drivetrain, Rock Shox Tora air spring fork, and BB7 brakes. This is quite a nice bike, but it didn’t fit her so we want to be rid of it.

Asking price is US$400 and more photos can be found here.

Please email c0nsumer@nuxx.net if you are interested.

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45NRTH Wölvhammer Winter Cycling Shoes

Published December 16, 2012

These shoes may just be overkill, but since I love riding in the winter I wasn’t able to pass them up. This afternoon while stopping by the Northville Trail’s Edge shop to pick up Danielle’s new bike I saw that the 45NRTH Wölvhammer boots were in stock and I decided to try them on. For the last year or two I’ve been using a pair of Pearl Izumi Barrier GTX shoes that I bought used from my friend Bob for a very good price. They work okay, but aren’t quite as nice as I’d like, and after an hour or so without chemical warmers my toes still end up cold.

I wasn’t intending to purchase some of these boots, but after trying them on and looking them over I was sold. Retailing for $325 they aren’t cheap, but I think they’ll be worth it. I haven’t had a chance to try them on the bike, they seemed quite comfortable and rather warm while trying them on, very much like heavier normal cycling shoes. They are heavily insulated and even have an aerogel insole to cut down on heat transfer through the metal cleat. (Much more tech detail here.) So, if everything goes as I expect they’ll be perfect for longer cold weather rides this year. Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll be able to wear then on a cold weather ride to my parents house for the holidays, just as with last year.

To cut down on sole wear I fit all of my shoes with Crank Brothers Shoe Shields beneath the cleats. For these boots I had to file one corner down on each shield (photo), but this wasn’t hard to do and allowed everything to fit nicely. This was a bit of a surprise, but it’s a much better option than trimming the soles themselves.

Now that I might still hang on to the PI shoes for not-that-cold-of-weather rides, but that remains to be seen. If they don’t get worn it wouldn’t be terrible if I were to sell both these old PIs and my old Sidis. There’s no point in keeping functional (albeit worn) bike shoes around the house when someone else can make good use of them.

Here’s a few photos that I took of these shoes:

· 45NRTH Wölvhammer winter cycling shoes, side view.
· 45NRTH Wölvhammer winter cycling shoes, bottom view.
· Crank Brothers Race Cleats along with Shoe Shields on the bottom of the 45NRTH Wölvhammer shoes. The Shoe Shields needed some filing to make them fit.

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Finally, a Daylight Ride

Published December 14, 2012

Being so close to the solstice the days are getting mighty short, and finding the magic combination of daylight, decent weather, decent trail conditions, and available time has been quite difficult lately. Everything worked out right this afternoon and I was able to head out to Stony Creek for a daylight ride. The El Mariachi felt like a rocket after a few weeks of riding only the Mukluk or trainer, and it was really good to get out.

I rode one lap of the 6/12 Hour Route, then rode the paved path over to the Fitness Trails, through there, then back to the trailhead. Most of the trails were in great shape, with only a few greasy corners and uphills. Some of the two track had its normal wet spots, but it was all quite acceptable for a 50°F day in mid-December. I was able to ride comfortably wearing only summer time gloves, normal shoes and socks, a short sleeve jersey, and knickers. It wasn’t bothersomely cold until I spent ~20 minutes standing around in the parking lot talking with someone.

The photo above was taken while moving, looking southwest along Stony Creek Lake from along the gravel path which comprises the Fitness Trail route. While it’s just basic, flat, wide gravel trail I think it’s one of the most scenic parts of Stony Creek and wonderful looking year round.

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Another Poor Riding Choice

Published December 6, 2012

About once per season I make a poor riding choice, resulting in a need to do a bit of drivetrain maintenance. Today was another one of those days.

I set out after work to ride at River Bends, and after finding almost the entire old (existing as of two months ago) single track to be in fine shape I headed into the newest section. Jeremy had warned of the conditions there, but his post was from yesterday, we’d had some dry weather since then, and I had a fatbike, so I figured it would be okay. I was wrong.

There seemed to only be around 500′ of real problem trail in the whole 0.7 mile section, but this was enough to get clay sticking to my tires and sending everything going wrong. Conditions weren’t of the sort which would cause a problem for the trail but it definitely caused some bike problems. There was no rutting and no sloppy mud; just sticky clay which was a bit worse in places where the surface had been churned during recent trail construction work.

With a fatbike because the chain is so close to the rear tire, mud hanging off of the side often gets scraped off on the chain. This in turn gets carried into the chainrings, then on to the derailleur and into the cassette, and soon enough the whole thing is a mess. Combine this with a greasy corner in which I fell and laid the bike down packing the derailleur full and I was done. I rode one pass through the entrance trail afterward, but shifting wasn’t working right.

I’ve rinsed off the bulk of the clay, scrubbed the chain, and now it’s sitting in degreaser. This weekend I’ll have to find some time to properly clean it, as I’m hoping to ride the fatbike quite a bit this winter and I want to keep it as it was. With the forecasted rain it looks like cleaning time won’t be hard to find, though… Most of my riding will probably end up being on the trainer.

Beyond the one above, here’s two more pictures showing the build-up from the chain cleaning off the tire: build-up on the rear derailleur and chain-packed dirt in the cassette.

(…and yes, I realize how much this post seems to contradict the message in the one right before it. Ruts weren’t left, the trail wasn’t damaged, and the rest of it was fine for riding. I’d just lifted a bunch of crap from some select sections of trail and packed them into my drivetrain. I’m rather looking forward to things freezing solid so this will no longer happen.)

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Leave It To The Professionals

Published December 4, 2012

For years the MMBA has distributed posters cautioning riders to stay off of trails during the spring thaw, as riding in the mud (and through what are essentially pools formed by frozen subsoil) can be damaging to the trail and is often difficult to repair. (Examples: 1, 2, 3) After talking with Dave Schall about difficulties with people riding muddy trails at the Stony Creek Skills Park, we got to thinking that it’d be good to make a sign asking riders not to ride in mud during all seasons.

I started to throw together some text, and in talking with Wiggee from Reddit /r/bicycling IRC channel on Freenode came up with the Ride Dirt Trails, Not Mud Trails title. I then tried to put together a design based on photos I had and one Dave had sent me of the Skills Park, but after coming up with this draft I knew that I was going to have a very hard time coming up with something nice looking, if I even could. I contacted my friend Kristi Heuvers, who has done a bunch of CRAMBA‘s artwork, including many race t-shirts and logos, and along with whom I’m on the CRAMBA Board. She quickly came back with this excellent design. (She even went so far as to create an InDesign template of this poster, CC BY-SA licensed, so that other MTB organizations can build on our work and help share this message.)

Needing them printed to hang up along trails I threw around a couple ideas before Marty Shue (another friend, the CRAMBA board chairperson before me, and now the CRAMBA treasurer) pointed me to Printing by Johnson, located in the old Prieh’s Stamp, Coin & Hobby Center location in Mount Clemens. When I first visited them I mentioned that I was interested in laminated, laser-printed cardstock, but they had the idea of using digitally printed Coroplast with a UV coating. I ordered 32 of these (at $5/ea) and upon picking them up today I was extremely happy with how they came out.

I like doing many things myself, but both the design of this flyer and the printing are very good examples of why it’s sometimes best to leave things to professionals like Kristi and the print shop. Doing things for the sake of learning them is great, but sometimes what’s best is to get the task completed and save the learning and experimentation for when there’s a bit more flexibility available.

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CamelBak Setup for Trail Sign Hanging

Published November 28, 2012

With the dusk coming so early, doing trail work hanging signs at River Bends practically requires a bike. I can’t reach the outer portions of the park on foot before the sun sets, so I have to ride out there. Since I normally carry a milk crate to use as a step stool I tried clipping it to my old (now only used for trail work) CamelBak and stuffed the bag with the other requisite tools.

This setup worked great and I had no problems riding my Mukluk out to all the places needing signage work and getting it all done before dark. It was even comfortable enough that I was able to take a slow ride through the single track back to the trailhead, watching the sun set through the leafless trees.

Now, if only I had an easy way to carry a Pulaski, Rogue Hoe, rake, and saw with me on the bike as well…

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