Category: cycling

Pretty, Pretty Metal

Published January 12, 2010

With today’s arrival of a Thomson X4 stem the handle bar on my new bike is now secured properly with a really wonderful looking stem. Well-machined parts are really beautiful. The stem also feels to be the right length and the black stem cap looks really good. And it’s made in the US! (Here’s a photo of the stem itself, just sitting on the workbench.)

The order that I’d placed with King Cage for some friends and I also arrived today (photo). In this order is a Iris cage, which is of a slightly different design than the standard water bottle cage. I’d purchased it for use with the previously mentioned Klean Kanteen, but it appears that the side loops don’t reach up to the shoulder of the bottle, so it’s only held in with friction (photo). I hope this isn’t a problem, but if it is I can always fall back on using a normal-ish bottle, which the Iris does hold quite securely around the indentation (photo). Or, worst case, I’ve got a spare regular King Cage-brand cage.

Now to wait for the pedals (should have shipped Monday) and the bike should be complete. I’ve also ordered a rather unique handlebar (Ragley Carnegie’s Bar) to try, but I’m not sure if I’ll fit that prior to the first single track ride this spring or not.

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Snow Storm Ride

Published January 7, 2010

Wanting to get some exercise and ride a bit I set out on my bike at about 8:30pm. While originally intending to ride around the neighborhood and just see how well the Nokian Hakka WXC300 tires perform in real snow, I found they worked well and instead headed towards River Bends. Taking the usual routes I logged 11.39 miles over 1:17:39, for an average of 8.8 MPH. That’s slow, but considering the super-studded tires and riding through 3″ of powder over packed snow and ice, I don’t think it’s too bad. (In case you don’t know we’re actually in the middle of a snow storm; one which is potent enough that riding a bike is almost easier than driving.)

The tires work out really well, and their large knobs do a very good job of sticking in snow. When riding on somewhat-packed residential roads they felt a bit squirrly, but that’s to be expected as there wasn’t much for them to bite into, but it was too deep for the studs to be of any use. While on the paths/sidewalks and on the trails where the surface was snow/ice they were outstanding and I’m really glad I purchased them. While they are of obvious limited utility being for one particular season, it would be much more difficult to ride now without them.

One of the other interesting events of the night was getting made fun of. It’s been a while since I was last shouted at by people in cars, but maybe the snow brings out odd people. While riding along, just as I was crossing some train tracks on the path, someone in a black Chevy Avalanche driving slowly past yelled something out the window. Later on when heading back home it passed again, the driver honked at me. Further on still while waiting for a it passed another time, slowing so the passenger could yell “nice light, yo yo”. This whole time I was 20′ – 30′ from the road, on an adjoining path.

I get made fun of in the strangest places. Flipped off from the road which I’m 40′ above on a pedestrian bridge… Yelled at from people below me on a highway while I’m in a bridge… People are strange.

Anyway, here’s some photos from tonight. Any cloudy bits (such as seen above) are condensed breath and sweat from my arms hanging in the air, as it wasn’t windy enough to carry it away:

· My Specialized hard tail, in River Bends, while riding in the middle of a snow storm which had already dropped 2-3″.
· After a bit of riding I stopped in the park pavilion to eat a gel. Riding in 3″ of snow is hard work.
· My bike after getting home snowing snow packed into the rims and other bits.
· Rear triangle showing snow packed into the cassette, chainrings, etc.
· Another view of the rear triangle, this time from a higher angle. Lots of snow is packed into the bike. Note how clean the tires from riding in snow.
· Detail of the bottom bracket / front derailleur area showing packed snow.
· The fork, front wheel, and brakes showing how much snow is packed into this end of the bike.

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Defective FSA OS-190 Stem

Published January 5, 2010

While working on my new bike I realized that a slightly shorter stem would be good, so I ordered an FSA OS-190 from Price Point. When the box of parts arrived it had been opened (photo), but as the thread locking compound on the screws was unmarred and there were no marks on the stem it appeared to be brand new. Unfortunately, after installing it I found a small crack in the stem cap, right near one of the bolts. Here is a photo of the stem on my new bike, with an arrow pointing to the cracked area.

Having torqued the stem bolts (cap and steerer) to FSA’s published 78 inch-pounds (FSA’s Stem and Post Torque Specs – PDF) I don’t believe this was caused by me during installation. This is also a particularly inopportune place to have a crack, as it could easily lead to stem/bar failure, which would likely result in a pretty bad crash. Even though it was relatively cheap and looks good on the bike when I request to return the item to Price Point I’m tempted to get a different stem, as I don’t want to risk there having been a bad batch.

Currently I’m thinking of a Thomson Elite X4, but now I have to decide on 0° or 10° rise. The aforementioned FSA is 6°, so 10° shouldn’t be too different…

UPDATE: Thinking about it, I wonder if follwing the FSA directions, which I followed, to “[l]ightly grease the bolt threads and under bolt heads” caused the problem. It’s my understanding that greased fasteners, particularly under the heads, are easy to inadvertently over torque, even with a wrench. This is because the fastener slips along much more than normal, and doesn’t provide the resistance that the torque wrench measures.

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Sunday Morning Winter Ride at 10°F (-12°C)

Published January 3, 2010

Starting a bit after 11am a group of us headed out for some biking at Stony Creek. With temperatures bounding between single and double digits Fahrenheit it was definitely a cold day. With a double-layer of sweat pants and BDU pants, boots and toe warmers, thermal layer, fleece, and jacket I was almost a bit over-warm, but some armpit venting and selective undoing of layers made things rather nice. We ended up riding one course of the single track, visiting The Pines, The Snake, and The Roller Coaster before heading back to the car. This was a rather slow ride, with my middle of the pack average somewhere around 8.6 MPH.

Wanting to wear boots I also fitted my bike with platform pedals, which turned out to be an interesting experience. Since these pedals have a bunch of sharp pins to ensure good traction my foot had no float, meaning that whatever position my foot contacted the pedal in was the position I had to pedal in, unless I was able to lift up my foot and replace it. This doesn’t sound like a problem, but compared to a normal clipless setup where one can pivot a foot at will, it’s a bit uncomfortable. There were also times where I’d inadvertently come off of the pedal, not due to slipping but forgetting that I had to provide continuous, but ever so slight downward pressure while on the upstroke of the pedal. Thus, I’m really not sure I like platforms for riding single track. At one point I had to duck around a tree that I almost hit, and the familar motions that I’d make with my foot to move the bike sideways a bit didn’t work and I ended up clipping the tree.

All said, it was a very nice ride. Having studded tires I had no problem staying upright on icy patches, even if I did have to walk a couple glazed switchbacks in The Snake. With the frequent riding of others and the snow being as cold as it was, everything was packed into nicely gritty flat areas, as seen above.

Here’s a couple of the photos that I took today:

· Standing in the bathroom at the Stony Creek mountain bike trailhead getting ready for a cold winter ride.
· Regrouping at the end of The Pines.
· Heading towards The Snake on a cold single-digit Sunday morning.
· Bob’s icy mustache in the field after The Roller Coaster at Stony Creek on single-digit early-January ride.

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Debadged Klean Kanteen

Published January 2, 2010

My sister got me a an 18oz. plain stainless steel Klean Kanteen Classic for Christmas, along with a Sport Cap 2.0. This will eventually be fit to my new bike with a stainless steel King Cage Iris for holding drinkable things (water, HEED, juice, etc) while biking. Being made of stainless steel the cage won’t leave any marks (save for scratches which can be polished out as needed) on the bottle, and it should look nice for years. It’ll also be easy to scrub out, should any unexpected funk develop.

Not being fond of having too many logos on things I removed the Klean Kanteen branding from the bottle with a No. 96 Scotch Brite pad, whose grit perfectly matched the existing finish of the bottle. A solid rubbing over the logos and a quick wash with a bit of soap and water later and the bottle is now nice and plain, ready to match the logo-free bottle cage.

I’ve been using the bottle and sport cap to drink from while writing this post and it’s really quite nice to drink from. With a silicone check valve on the top to let in air while drinking liquid flows quite quickly. The use of this check valve means that its not completely leakproof, but it should be sufficient for bike riding when the bottle is generally kept upright in a cage.

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Acquired in Trade: WTB Laser V

Published December 30, 2009

Through a very timely trade with someone on the MMBA Forum I was able to swap my ill-fitting WTB Rocket V for this new and (very? overly?) shiny WTB Laser V. I’d already ordered a Laser V to try out, but unless this one’s appearance ends up being beyond reproach, I think I’ll be returning it. As can be seen here the chrome and yellow bits aren’t too terrible when taken in context with the yellow bits on the computer and the various silver things on the bar.

Being cloth the cover of this one is also a bit rougher than I’m accustomed to, but that should be okay for now. If it’s not there’s always plenty of other options. At least this one will only cost the $7 or so to ship back the unwanted saddle when it arrives.

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Bonding Cut Bicycle Cables

Published December 30, 2009

After installing a bicycle cable and crimping on an end cap, removing it usually results in a frayed cable which is difficult to remove and reinstall. For maintenance reasons I want to be able to do this, so I’ve begun looking at methods to seal the end of a cut bicycle cable as is done with factory cuts.

My first experiments with cyanoacrylate glue (aka Super Glue) seem to work well, and when Erik suggested that I solder them, I decided to give that a go. Some research online indicated that a silver-bearing solder works well, so after acquiring some plumbing solder (with silver in it) I gave that a try, and it wouldn’t wet the surface nor wick into my test cable. Normal lead/tin solder for electrical work didn’t work either. I next tried a blowtorch, and while fun it only resulted in ablating the wire resulting in what is seen on the right.

So, right now I think that wetting the ends of the cable with cyanoacrylate glue is the best solution. This is what is shown on the left, and it results in a rigid, solid piece of cable. Disappointingly the cable could be crushed (and promptly frayed) when squeezed with locking the pliers that I use to pretension cables, but this should be acceptable.

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UHMW Tape Applied

Published December 29, 2009

Today I did a bit more work on my new bike, applying UHMW polyethylene tape to various places where cables are observed rubbing the frame. Thus far it seems to have worked pretty well, although I have to place one or two more pieces to deal with cable rub on the fork. I also spent some time today wrapping the chainstay in an old scrubbed-clean tube tube to protect it from (and silence it during) chainslap. Photos of all of this can be seen under the following links:

· UHMW tape on the left front of the down tube to protect against cable rub.
· UHMW tape on the seat tube to (hopefully) keep the front derailleur housing from damaging the finish.
· A thin strip of UHMW tape on the Fox Float RP23 shock just in case the cable hits here.
· UHMW tape behind the computer wire-wrapped brake line on the fork crown.
· The drive side chainstay has been wrapped with part of an old tube to both protect it from damage and cut down on chainslap noise.

Now that the bike is almost complete (only waiting on a new saddle and stem) I’m becoming anxious to ride it. It’s too bad proper outdoor riding on it won’t happen until spring, when I can be reasonably sure that a bike won’t be stuffed with saltwater after riding around the block. Until then I’ll just keep riding my current bike.

(No, there are no complete photos of the new bike yet… I’m waiting until it’s wholly fitted out with the proper parts before this happens.)

Also, I scanned the piece of UHMW tape seen above along with its mate and the seat tube / rear derailleur cable piece before applying them so that I could reproduce them easily in the future if needed. These scans, at 1200dpi with false color to aid in cutting, can be found here:
Down Tube / Front Triangle Template · Seat Tube / Front Derailleur Housing Template.

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Incorrect Hours

Published December 27, 2009

Today I saw the above post-Christmas sale advertisement on Macomb Bike and Fitness’ website. Even better, unlike many other local shops they are listed as being open on Sundays. Needing a different saddle and stem for my new bike I figured that I would head there and try to pick up some cheap parts, hopefully pulls from bikes or demos. This would both support a local shop and get me the parts quickly. Unfortunately, when I got there a printed sign on the door indicated that they are closed on Sundays.

While I understand that many bike shops are closed on Sundays, it’s really frustrating to waste a bunch of time because a shop can’t get its posted information straight. I think at this point I’ll just order the stem and a likely-fit saddle online from somewhere.

UPDATE: I should note that I contacted Macomb Bike and Fitness after this and they apologized profusely and promptly changed the listed hours. They’d also offered to make it up to me with something reasonable, but in the mean time I was able to trade someone for saddle (which seems to fit) in trade, and acquire appropriate stem from another local shop.

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Measuring My Sit Bone Spacing

Published December 26, 2009

Using a spare aluminum plate^†, some leftover cheap cardboard^‡, a chair, and a ruler I was able to measure my sit bone spacing. This was done by sitting on the assembly with my legs bike pedal spacing apart, then grabbing the metal plate and pulling it against myself to ensure good dent formation in the cardboard. I then looked and felt for the dents in the cardboard, marked the centers with dots, and measured. I then rotated the cardboard and repeated the process to get a second measurement. Both measurements were ~122mm, so I’m happy with the result.

Some research into how sit bone measurement should translate to saddle size uncovered the Specailized Body Geometry recommendations for saddle widths, which are supposedly as follows:

· 130mm saddle for sitbone center to center width of 100mm or less.
· 143mm saddle for sitbone center to center width of 100mm to 130mm.
· 155mm saddle for sitbone center to center width of 130mm or more.

The WTB Rocket V saddle which came with my new bike (post forthcoming once it is complete) felt a bit narrow in the few test rides I’ve taken, and at ~130mm measured width these measurements confirm that it likely is the wrong size for me. The Specialized OEM saddle that came on my old bike is ~140mm and matches the aforementioned recommendations. As it has been comfortable for two years now, I think I’ll be looking at a new saddle somewhat along these lines.

Now to figure out which one to try…

† Former Power Mac G5 and Mac Pro stand.
‡ Twelve South BackPack box.

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