'Tis the tweason!

It's another one of those damn times in Michigan.   Daily seasonal changes become a season of their own and happen a couple times a year. The November tweason means it's sunny, cloudy, foggy, rainy and snowy in a matter of hours and we just have to adapt because it will change soon (fifteen minutes according to legend). 

But  real winter is around the corner which turned into NOW this year. It's enough to send the spandex hamsters to their spin classes and video cycling.  I'm spending the Thanksgiving holiday giving the bikes a cleaning and tuneup before putting most away for a few weeks,

The Park Tool Cyclone cleans my chains.  I've seen many internet "experts" claim that this gadget simply does not work.  My question is; If it doesn't work, why is it full of  grease and grit when I'm done?  I don't normally worry about getting my hands dirty but the gloves keep my fingers warm when the garage temps are in the twenties.

The brakes on the Soma needed adjustment and it's a simple method to use a small clamp to hold the pads to the rim.  Then adjust the barrel adjusters to about 50%, loosen the cable bolt, pull the cable taut, re-tighten the cable bolt, remove the clamp and loosen the barrel adjusters until you have exactly the brake tension you like. There is a tool called "Third Hand" to hold the caliper, but I found the clamp works better since it's adjustable, the Third Hand is not.

It seems a bit early, but I'm swapping the regular tires on  the Brompton for the studs.  It's possible we'll have snow and ice on the streets until March, so err to the cautious side. Now I can choose between the winter beater with 50mm studs and the Brompton with it's 32mm studs. the Riv's and Soma will rest in the rafters until we get a  thaw.

That wasn't the best way to spend a holiday weekend, but I am several weeks ahead and ready for any day that gets warm.

 So winter finally arrived in Michigan.  We got what looks like a foot or more overnight but I might be exaggerating.  It will take a couple of days for the roads to be useful

so I did what any reasonable person would do, 

stay inside, don't be part of the problem and 

give one of my bikes a bath.  

Winter had been so late coming 

I hadn't bothered to put studded tires on the Brompton.

Since it was ridiculously cold in the garage I brought it inside where I could bear to work on it.  Like most bikes it's easiest to flop it over on it's back 

 and it's pretty straight forward despite looking strange.

The challenging part about Brompton maintenance is removing the rear wheel.  I'm not belaboring the details, but disconnecting the shift cable from the hub, removing the chain tensioner, getting the wheel off and reassembling the whole thing is harder than origami.  Anybody who accomplishes this without profuse swearing in several languages deserves a degree in engineering or something..from somewhere. I flunk the swear test every time.

Afterwards, the frame pump fits back in it's little spot

The handy dandy toolkit that accomplishes all things Brompton

goes back inside the frame where it hides for next time.

and it's a cute little rubics cube  with spiky shoes, 

 ready for a few weeks of crusty roads. 

More on a winter project

      So I was innocently floating in the emotional delusion of N+0, feeling very comfortable with my collection of bikes all of which have their unique practical qualities while providing a variety of riding styles and options, when my world was upended by Leah Peterson and her obsession with Rivendell mixte's.  Leah was involved in an internet conversation with Michael Downs, a Riv kinda guy in Brooklyn.  During that, he sent her a photo of a bike in his shop and she noticed a Rivendell in the background and asked about it.  He told her he was thinking of selling it since he wasn't using it anymore and sent her a photo of it.   She sent me the photo along with his e-mail address and I told him : "I want that bike!"

     It's a limited edition Yves Gomez mixte which was Rivendell's first foot in the mixte puddle after the Wilbury/Glorious models became waaaay too expensive.  It's in nearly pristine conditon, almost the same size and geometry as my Hillborne and after a couple of weeks wrangling around the logistics there it was on my dining table. 

     Why Grant would name it after a french philosopher is a mystery, unless it's a reference to the extensive use of mixte's in France.

     I touched up a couple knicks, added my personal touch and polished it.    I raided a few parts from my Trek (which I rarely ride), ordered a few and have gotten as far as putting the handlebars on,

 but it's going to be staring back at me for months, because I'm not putting it on the road with winter right around the edge of the door.

So I'll have some fun figuring it out for the spring thaw.

Red bikes are faster...so add some RED!

    For the SOMA lovers out there I thought I should share my experience with a pair of their fenders. After two years of enjoying my Buena Vista, I found myself using it more and more.  The best thing I could do to improve it was add fenders and SOMA still had "Rain Dogs" in that color.

They are (almost) exactly like SKS fenders right down to the hardware

and fender stays. Except that the Soma brand has a simpler cap for the stay.

The front stays lack safety releases the SKS have.  But the stays are so much alike they fit right into a pair of unused unused tabs from the parts bin.

Everything else was easy as can be.  The extra bridge on the seat stays of the mixte frame has a boss built in to the underside so drilling a single hole 

allowed  flush mounting with a bolt and washer.

 I happened to have a "Sheldon's Fender Nut" in the bin 

which makes mounting the front a breeze.

The end result is a near perfect fit without fumbling, 

awkward stay adjustments

.  These are the 45mm fenders with 32 mm Panaracer  T-serv tires

 and fit perfectly as I could hope.

Now the bikes redder, I know I'll go faster!

New shoes

     After weeks of gut wrenching I caved and bought new tires for the Sam Hillborne. I loved the Rene Herse 44 mm tires I put on the Hunq, it was a trans-formative experience. The Hunq rode like a different bike, faster, smoother, more nimble and much more comfortable.

  I had to see if the same would be true for Sam. The past year I used Gravel King slicks on the bike and, although they were quick and sturdy, the ride quality is stiff compared to the Panaracer Pasela I've aways used.  After mounting the new Bon Jon Pass tires I took a quick 10 mile ride into a really obnoxious wind and came to no conclusion except that they were seated properly. I'm running them with tubes like the Gravelkings and inflating them between 50-60 psi.

    The next day I took a casual ride around town to test them a bit more. I rode a bit through town to get my hair cut, then headed downtown to have lunch at one of the deli's.  

After a great Rueben I headed across town to the mall to find myself a new pair of shoes and meandered through town to get home before the raindrops fell (just in time in fact). So, I put about 35 miles on the tires the last couple days and they feel really good. Not a game changing feeling like I had on the Hunq, but they are as fast as the Gravelkings on asphalt and a much nicer ride than either the Gravelkings or Paselas. The Pasela gum sidewalls are pretty close in ride quality but the Rene Herse produced no vibrations or chatter to my hands, so they were rolling much more efficiently. Bear in mind that Panaracer manufactures all three tires and if I could compare them I would say the Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass combines the tread of the Gravelking slicks with a refinement of the Pasela sidewall.  

     The dilemma is the price. On the Hunq it wasn't such an issue, I was already spending 50-60 dollars a tire on the Hunq, so upgrading to standard sidewalls on Rene Herse was only a $15 jump for a huge increase in performance and pleasure. Pasela's and Gravelkings go for around $40-45, so that's a bigger jump, but I wanted the extra light casing on the Sam for the luxury ride. Rene Herse tires with the xtra light casings are $94. Ouch! They are a little faster and a bit more comfortable than the Pasela's. The question is, "Are they worth twice as much?" We'll see. Time will come to replace them, but you know the life of a bike addict; once you get a sniff, you're a slave.

Sticker Shock

Sticker shock is a common problem in the bike industry. Everything is more expensive than anybody wants to discuss, but the bicycle pump market has remained pretty stable. The Brompton has caused a dilemma. It is the only bike I have which requires schraeder valves. Every pump I have owned has had a really lame to totally ineffective schraeder capability. At best you have to take the chuck apart move this gadget or that, put it back to gether, hope for the best, reverse the process and hope you got it right. And, three of the four I've owned just plain didn't work. That didn't bother me too much because the nearby Lowe's has a free air pump for their customers. Being the only free auto air pump in 4 counties these days, it got trashed. It really wasn't built to handle bike pressures anyway and the gauge, well...you know.

So I checked out some reviews and it seems that the Silca Pista Plus is a lifetime thing. It looks like other pumps except for 3 feet rather than the normal two, and the fancy wooden handle.

The chuck was the selling point for me. It is all metal, the presta adapter screws into the schraeder for and airtight fit. When I used it on my presta valves it fit more tightly than any I have seen. There is no lever to lock it into place. It simply gets pushed on until the user hears a satisfying click. There is a nifty bleeder valve to release excess air in the hose before removing it. The gauge seems to be more accurate. When I started my tires were about 15 lbs lower than I expected and the bike rolled much easier when the tires were inflated all the way. Hmmm! Makes me wonder how "leaky" my other pump must have been.

The schraeder chuck is a machined metal fitting which should last for years and more.

It screwed on nicely and fit in the tight clearance of the Brompton's little wheels without a lot of wrangling around. That is a big plus. It looks like a forever pump like most reviewers claimed and I should, I hope I will, be pleased with the purchase over time. It's an impressive piece of craftmanship, but I'd like to kick myself square in the face for spending one hundred and sixty five f@#%ing dollars on a goddamn bike pump. That's all I gotta say.

Not even me!

     Last year in April I missed a day riding my bike and could honestly say I had ridden every day for 6 years straight.  Now there was a lot of bad weather and it can be said that I do learn stuff.   During that past 6 year period I had gone out to ride when in -30F wind chill.  I realized it was the 2nd stupidest thing I had ever done on a bike.  I only rode about 5 blocks (strictly for bragging rights), the snow conditions were rough enough that I actually worked up a sweat, while locking my bike outside Panera I unzipped my coat and my shirt froze solid instantly.  Then I realized the danger.  If anything had gone wrong on that little journey I could have died quite quickly.  This week, when we were polarized to death, I stayed inside and did some cleaning and painting that I had been ignoring.

     I hope nobody else risked it on the streets during that freeze over.  

     The day after, when the temps got into the balmy teens, I took a ride through the streets caked with packed snow.  It was more like riding an MTB trail.  Of course I got a puncture, but since I had Flat Attack tubes I didn't go flat, just lost a little air.  I stopped, added some air, gave the wheel a spin and rode on.  It's good to know that the Flat Attack sealant is still viable after -41F temperatures.

 Yep, that is a shameless plug. 

      I really appreciate using sealant in the tubes.  It's been over two years since I had a real flat on the road.  I know that tubeless is probably the tech turn of the future, but right now the only tires available are a limited selection of  high quality (expensive) competition quality tires.  Not the type an everyday cyclist can use to his advantage.

If you want something worn out or busted, I can get it done.

        For several weeks I was having some newly discovered pain in the nether regions and couldn't figure it out.  The saddle on my Hunq would not seem to stay in adjustment and it was really irritating (in more ways than THE one).  Every couple of days I was tightening the bolts , THINGS got more and more sore.

      I figured it out after the lower plate on the seat post broke.  Oh, we  need that?  So that was a bit of remedial education for me.  It is a Velo Orange Gran Cru seat post and I wrote to see if there were replacement parts available.  I told them when I bought it and sent a photo, unfortunately they no longer have parts lying around for those.  I was stuck with having to replace the whole seat post.  As a consumer I've had experience with this system.  When somebody doesn't support their product, I buy from somebody else.  That gets complicated.  I am an American.  It was an opportunity (spelled "excuse") to spend much more than I needed to fix the problem.  There are a lot of seat posts out there and I could have bought a new one for $55 dollars from VO.   This was the first problem I had had, I am still happy with the one on my Hillborne, but what a great excuse to upgrade.  All this temptation to spend money dangled in the face of an experienced consumer was too much to bear.

     I sprang for the Nitto/Rivendell lugged seat post which is reputedly the strongest on the market and has 40mm of setback as well as the double bolt design which allows true micro adjustment of the angle.  Wait!  There's more! 
     I also thought of getting a black saddle for the Hunq since I had changed the color scheme.  I was tempted to try the new Brooks C series saddles because several tourists I've met really love them.  It is the "latest, greatest and most revolutionary" thing that Brooks has thought of in decades.   I was skeptical since artificial saddles made me unhappy in the past, but here I was with every excuse to spend more money than needed.

      I ordered a C-19 version which is a little wider and modeled after the legendary B-67 saddle which has been making butts happy for generations.  My first impression of the saddle was that it was really hard.  I thought "this can't change, the leather saddles would conform to our bodies and this plastic/fabric thing will not."  Now that I have a few weeks behind me and have compared the ride to the B-17 on my Hillborne, the C-19 is really comparable, it doesn't feel much different than the leather.  The first impression seems to have left and may have been my own defense against change, but I really do like the design, the feel and the fact that it's a weather proof Brooks.  Don't get me wrong, I think the hand wringing worry about getting leather wet is a bunch of nonsense.  Cowboys never came in from the rain and my Brooks saddles have all been sopping wet at one time or another without any ill effects.  I feel good now.
       I made my American heritage proud by spending 6 times what was necessary to effect a repair.

This is exciting!

Really, it is.

   Last year after a failed attempt at tubeless conversion I decided to try Stan's sealant in my tubes.  I just found the selection of tubeless tires to be lacking any practical choices.  The ones out there are made for competition, in which I proudly do not participate, and were damned expensive.  Besides that, I would still have to carry a tube in case I was in SW Buttheadistan and had a puncture too large for the sealant to conquer, and my imaginary sag wagon was busy at the donut shop.  Anyway, tubeless doesn't make a lot of sense to the commuter and tourist market.
    Using Stan's sealant in the tubes worked out quite well last year.  I had a total of eight punctures that I know of, a number of suspected slow leaks and zero flats to change.   The most I had to do was remove a little wire or tiny piece of glass from the tread, add air and ride.  Easy Peasy. 
    This year I had a lot of tires to replace so I did a little research.  As good as Stan's product is, it has to be refreshed from time to time.  It will harden and congeal in the tube if you  don't.  I found another product called Flat Attack which is supposed to have a useful life of 6 years.  I bought some of their pre-filled tubes to use when I replace a tire.   I have replaced the tires on all my bikes now that it's August and am just as happy as I was with Stan's but look forward to leaving them alone until I change tires again.  I expect to add a new tube with each new tire in the future because the old tube will probably be glued to the old tire by the sealant, but hell I bought new tubes for new tires anyway.  These are a buck or two more expensive than normal tubes but if I don't need to replace them 8 times a year it's a net savings.  The sealant is also supposed to be environmentally friendly.  I feel all warm and fuzzy using it. 
    There is a bit of a learning curve to all this.  The one possible drawback is that you can get the sealant into the valve.  All you have to do to prevent it, is set the valve at 8 or 4 o'clock position (using your wheel as a clock face of course) so there is no sealant trapped in the stem or a pool of sealant underneath when you are filling it.  That's so simple even I get it. 

Lookee there!  Perfect form already, eight o'clock on the nose and no flats in nearly two years.   No, I don't know what the sealant weighs.

A shout out to Velo-Orange

    I've been using Velo-Orange products for a long time and have been really happy with most of them.  I like the design of their anti-theft skewers and put them on both of my Rivendell's since I use those bikes for so many things.  Just recently I discovered that they really work!   

    The skewers are a really simple design with a freely rotating nut around a bolt that requires a special hollow allen wrench tighten or remove.   Using them, I feel pretty comfortable leaving my bikes with nothing but the frame locked up or using a ring lock on the rear to prevent the snatch and grab ride off.  If a frustrated thief tries to take off with the front wheel, he gets a more frustrating surprise.

Normally the nuts for the skewer look like this.  A simple knurled nut.

    When I got back from  a couple of days at the Lake shore, I noticed my front bearings seemed a little out of whack.  When I took a good look at the hub I realized that somebody had really worked it over with a Vise Grip or pliers.  You can see how the nut is pretty severely flattened out in several places.  It probably happened when I stopped outside a grocery or a convenience store for a few moments.

A big HOORAY to Velo-Orange.  

Preventing a cycling specific allergy

     My predictably disappointing experiment with converting to tubeless tires left me with little confidence in bicycle marketing, but also a bottle of Stan's sealant.  The reviews and videos I have seen have been extremely positive when it comes to flat prevention.  It's an important part of cycling because as you grow ahh..."more mature" in the sport you will  develop sport specific allergies.  Flat tires make me break out in embarrassing obscenities.  If a couple ounces of this obnoxious looking chemical can prevent these outbreaks then it's worth the experiment.

       The procedure is rather straight forward.  Using an inner tube mounted in the tire, remove the valve stem.  That is the little threaded knob sticking out of the big threaded thing.  Usually unscrewing it with  needle nose pliers is easy.  Stan's does sell a special tool, nice of them, but I've never needed anything more than pliers.  The only risk is ruining the threads on the little knobby top which means I might not be able to use the plastic cap I normally forget.  So there's really no risk.

       Next a special proprietary syringe is threaded onto the remaining threaded post.  The plastic line from the syringe needs to be clamped shut (use vise grips) in order to fill the syringe with the right amount of sealant.  If it's not clamped, fluid will immediately drain into the tube and the measurement won't be accurate.                        

                                             
         After filling the syringe with the prescribed amount of milky stuff, release the clamp and use the plunger to force all the stuff into the tube.   Once that's done rotate the tire so the valve is not at the bottom of rotation, wipe off any excess stuff and screw the valve stem back in place.  I usually need to give the valve stem a little tweak with some pliers to make sure it's seated.  I did 5 bikes in a little over 30 minutes.  Now if this stuff works I will probably not know until I wear out a tire.  I suppose any small puncture will be sealed at the tube and I won't see the stuff come out as shown in those dramatic You Tube videos.  When I replace a tire I expect to see little white smears on the tube and inner casing, but we'll just have to wait and see...I'm so excited.

Dipping my toe into the morass of the future

       It's pretty obvious to everybody that I have trouble letting go.  Most people think I am just an irrational retro grouch who simply won't accept innovation.  Well I am here to tell you that I installed a threadless headset once.  So there, I know what this modern stuff is about.  I just like to see that the things I do are somewhat practical.  After all, I use my bikes to go somewhere different than my car and I'm not afraid to ride alone without some bizarre social network attached.  Let's face it, most of the improvements in cycling revolve around competition.  If it ain't your interest there is no reason to buy all the carbon fiber underwear, electronic brifters and personal heart rate powermeters to compare your metabolism with your Facebook buddies.  I just ride my bike and wonder if index shifting is another fad.  

         Occasionally the commercial world brings something that hits home--no flats.  I mean shit!  It has to make you think.  As little as I do, I wrenched my head around the idea of tubeless tires.   Enough people are talking about them and changing over that there might be something like a derailer at the bottom of this.

                   

         Videos like this from a confirmed, sadistic tire beater excited me even more.

If I could only abuse my tires in such manner without disturbing the quiet reverie of my afternoon communions with clouds, blackbirds and roadkill, I would like it.   I need new tires for the Hillborne so I bought what I needed to make the conversion.  

My first attempt failed rather predictably.  According to internet legend, just about any tire and rim can be converted, but a powerful air compressor is usually necessary to force the tire to seat on the rim without a tube.  I tried a CO2 cylinder but there just wasn't enough mojo there to make the tire behave.  I searched for alternatives with the most reliable documentation I could find--

You Tube.  

                
    There I found a few examples of DIY compressors which would fill the gap.   I'm not brave enough nor poor enough to take the risk of building one by myself so I bought a Specialized Air Blast from a friendly e-tailer.

The sturdy metal container was much more reassuring than a Coke bottle and duct tape.  It's a well manufactured gizmo which can be charged up with pressurized air from a normal floor pump and is made specifically to zap the tires onto a tubeless setup or conversion.

Taking the old tape off and putting on the new rim tape is a simple exercise.  The valve is just molded into a giant rubber band.  It's like a cut out part of a tube, but fits tighter.

           After installing one bead of the tire and partially installing the other, I dribbled in the requisite 2 ounces (1/4 cup)  of Stan's Sealant into the tire, twirled the tire around and mounted the rest of the tire bead.  It was fun, I pumped up the AirBlast all excited for this new adventure in a flatless cycling career.  I was both disappointed and amused.  Yes it looked like the casting room for bike porn (I had to get that out of the way).  Now matter how I turned the wheel, or what position the valve was in the bead would not budge, the tire would not hold air or the amusing ooze.

              I suppose that a tire with a more rigid bead and sidewall would be more likely to convert, my studded snow tires are candidates.   Unfortunately, I like the Pasela tire with supple sidewalls and reasonable price tag, I just want flats to go away.  Looking through the Schwalbe, Panasonic and Continental websites, I found no reference to tubeless mounting on any tire I would like to use.  There are a few 23mm road tires, lots of MTB racing tires and one "gravel racing" tire which might be usable on a future build I have in mind.  Once again the industry is patronizing racing, creating products to benefit the high priced impractical market and leaving us with a product that amounts to snake oil for any practical application.  Right now I'll take the more passive approach and inject some sealant into the tubes and hope for the best.

Locks? There's an app for that!

     It's the holidays and there I was minding my own business when a sale popped up on my computer screen.  I had seen the Ellipse U-lock (Skylock) advertised since they began crowd funding a couple of years ago. It promises to be a geeked out improvement on bike security.

  It's a solar powered lock which can be operated from a cell phone and has a motion detector which notifies the owner of any unusual tampering.  Cool, but expensive.  A couple of hundred dollars sounds excessive but, I rationalized it by considering that I ride around on 3-5K bikes all day and a cable is  not the best choice.  They offered another 10% off for the holidays and I bit.  A few days after being charged there was no notice of fulfillment or shipping so I wrote and asked.  I was reminded of a notation on their website that orders taken in November would be shipped before the end of January.  I wrote back to inform him that the notation said January 2016 which had long since passed.  They said;  "OOps!  Thanks for pointing that out."   I had them return my money since that was the second questionable thing I found in their pitch.  The other was the software.  It's supposed to be compatible with Apple and Android Jelly Bean 4.4.  I use an Android phone and there is no "Jelly Bean 4.4"  it's 4.3.  The 4.4 version is nicknamed Kit Kat.  I wasn't too concerned at that because those operating systems are constantly upgraded and my phone should have all the necessary features.  "Should" is the important word here.  Somebody launching and marketing a  new technological revelation in cycling security "should" know what year it is.  Not only that, I wasn't talking to Waterford about a made to order custom bike, it's an accessory.  If they want to sell it they "should"  keep a few lying around in case somebody wants one.  I have severe misgivings over the quality of product produced under those circumstances.  Such is the promise of crowd funding; your customers assume the risk while you get the profit.

     The experience did motivate me to continue my search for a better alternative than the cable and ring locks I had been using.   My arsenal of security ranges from extremes.  I have a cable lock, a cable I use in conjunction with a ring lock, and the extreme "better be ready for a wrestle" Abus Bordo Link Lock (which weighs about 5 1/2 pounds).  

I had tried the Kryptonite U-Lock pictured, but found a couple of things about it I didn't like.

The keys kept breaking.  It was no problem getting them replaced, but it happened over and over, and  it was also difficult to use.  Being as narrow as it is, it barely fit around the substantial tires and frame of the Hunq.

                                      

 I finally trashed it.

    I was unhappy with the geeks and dissappointed by my experience with Kryptonite and looked at Abus locks to see if they would continue to make me happy.  I didn't want to compromise security and wanted something lighter and easier to lug around than the Bordo.  I parsed through their array of U-Locks until I found the Granite mini 54.  Nicknamed the "San Francisco Lock."   It is made a full 1" wider than other U-Locks to fit around the fat parking meter stands in The City.  It has a weird square shackle that is tough to saw and almost impossible to cut with bolt cutters, and has a security rating as dependable as the New York Forgetaboutit while weighing less than half as much.  

I couldn't find one at a local LBS and found that QBP was out of stock when I tried to order one.

So, I was stuck with the internet rather than patronizing local merchants.

It took a week to get it from a vendor in England who offered the best price.

It arrived as gloriously as a lock can make an entrance.

Two keys and the requisite code card for ordering replacements.

One of the keys has a nifty led light which won't help you find your way home 

but might save a few frozen moments at a dark place. 

 I'm not asking for my money back over that useless frivolity,

but I have learned not to park my bike in dark places.

                                                      

The extra size, although only 1", proves to help tremendously in the real world.

I couldn't have gotten the Krytonite lock anywhere near that position.

I could lock the wheel and frame together but not around a bike stand.

 Despite the extra width the lock still fits neatly into the hip pocket. and

if you are a genuine retro grouch using a Pletscher rack, 

they provide a handy clamp for carrying them around.

So far I am pleased with the decision.  Thanks to Ellipse for inspiring me to action.

Maybe someday they will get their act together.

Until then I will not have a gadget to wake me up and tell me somebody is fiddling with my lock,

but I will sleep better knowing my babies are as save as I can make them.