Park Problems

Park Bike Stand LOOKS Pretty Good!

BEFORE I started migrating up to Ocean Shores, my dear wife bought me a Park bike stand. Bless her heart, as people in Texas say. Oddly, despite my advanced educational status and surplus of free time, I’m unable to figure out how to attach ONE piece to that stand in any functional way. Luckily, the thing seems to work anyways.

How Does THIS Plastic Piece Function?

PS: To my loyal reader: it may simply be a function of myself being an old fart, but I think I prefer my own bikes to have at least ONE functional brake, even if riding in fixie mode…

Madeleine/Judy Get a Little Love in the Park Stand...

 

Hot and Not So Hot

It's been a bit seasonably warm around here lately. Today, we hit 31 consecutive days where the high was 100F or higher. It also hit a record high for the day of 107. Since our streak continues and the forecast over the next week is for more of the same, the all-time 100F streak of 1980 looks vulnerable. Kowabunga!

HOT Brake Levers

Pondering things, I considered something that is hot on the bike, and something that is not so hot. First, the hot. Aluminum or steel brake levers can burn one's fingers if gloves are not present. Buddy has aluminum cross top levers, shown above.

ON THE OTHER HAND, on a day such as today, the finer points of carbon brake levers are truly appreciated. In this case, Buddy's main brake levers. It made me want to stop all the more, just to experience the cool-to-the-touch carbon levers. Just sayin'.

Carbon Levers are Cool to the Touch on a Day Such as Today

For anybody with any curiosity, I'll say right up front that I haven't driven my bike to work every day this month. I missed the 4th of July. The last time I drove to work was the the week after the picture at the bottom of this post.

This Picture Looks Pretty Sweet Just About Now!

My First Bike Was a JC Higgins

This Looks like a Worthy Book

This all started with a reminder of “Third Places” at Carbon Trace. Jon Grinder poked at it a little more in “Bicycle Stories,” when he recollected a memorable bike crash he had, here. I’ve only had two really memorable bike crashes, one of which was summarized here. This post is about the other crash. It was in Seattle around 1961 or thereabouts. John Kennedy was President and Ronald Reagan hadn’t yet started hosting “Death Valley Days.” I don’t recall exactly how the red JC Higgins bike showed up. I thought it was great, though some of the sentiments in the book later developed as I got further up in the elementary school pecking order. I haven’t been able to read the book yet, but it has been added to my list. Considering that it is #3,163,675 on the Amazon “most popular” list, I suspect it won’t be available through interlibrary loan or in an electronic format.



Excerpt from the book

Today, the bicycle market has proliferated, with many variations in bike style and usage. In the early 1960’s, bikes were for kids in the US, and they were overwhelmingly much like my bike. Tank bikes were for rich kids. A few people got “English Roadster” bikes. I don’t remember my own bike ever having fenders. That bike was WONDERFUL. We rode everywhere in Seattle. There weren’t any bike lanes or helmet laws. What is now the Burke Gilman Trail was the “Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway.” Heck, nobody I knew had ever even heard about bike helmets. It would be many years hence before I even got a “hair net” cover.



My JC Higgins bike didn't have fenders or a rack, but otherwise it was RED and a lot like this one

NE 60 Street, Looking UP Towards Bryant Elementary

We rode on the street. Occasionally, we’d ride on a sidewalk, but in the days before ADA, the curbs went right around the corners and the blocks were short, so the main reason to ride on a sidewalk was so you could get a little air when you flew off the curb. In my neighborhood, one of the big attractions was the big hill leading up to Bryant Elementary School in Seattle’s Ravenna neighborhood. Actually, the big deal to this hill was not where it led going UP, but the return back DOWN. With a good head of steam, you could apply your coaster brake and skid the bike for most of a block before coming to a stop. Perhaps this is where my love of skiing had its origins. There were no artsy fartsy stop signs or traffic calming circles like those that litter the neighborhood nowadays. What’s more, overprotective parents and school drop-offs by car were so rare as to be freakish. Back then, school crossing guards were fifth and sixth graders who considered being picked a privilege. When I went by Bryant, I was struck by the irony that the crossing guard was older than I am, but I was a crossing guard when I went to school there. I’m really somewhat surprised that all the times I shot down 60th street, that I never hurt myself or even crashed as far as I can remember. I guess cycling really IS pretty safe.

 

NE 60 Street, Looking DOWN - We Had None of those Round "Traffic Calming" Things to Keep Us from Glorious Braking and Epic Skids

  

Typical Trail in Ravenna Park, Seattle



The OTHER big attraction was Ravenna Park. Ravenna Park was and remains a wonderful place. It is full of trails and trees, and Ravenna Creek runs along the bottom of the ravine. We almost lived there during the summers. Just us kids. The trails were great places to ride. Our bikes, with their fat tires, functioned much as do mountain bikes today. Well, to avoid turning a short story into a long one, one day I was bombing down the main gravel trail, and somehow a stick got caught in my front wheel. A moment later, I was imitating the liftoff of an Atlas rocket as I launched over the handlebars. Somehow, while I got banged up a fair amount, I avoided head injuries and was back on the bike within a week or two. Life is good when you’re young and stupid – and lucky.

 

Scene of My Crash - FLYING Through the Air

 Still, Ravenna Park has many fond memories, one of which was my first memorable bike crash.

Even Ravenna is More Civilized Nowadays - Steps! Whoda Thunk It!





Steve A - Standing ON the Dinosaur (No, He isn't Actually a Dinosaur) With Siblings & Mom. Not Long Before the Crash



Doughnuts Bedevil a Cyclist

Four Sets of Doughnuts Have Slipped in Two Years

I'm sure I'm only one of many that has the problem outlined today. I don't recall the subject being treated at bicycle school. SLIPPERY DOUGHNUTS. The symptom is illustrated in the photo above. No, these aren't the kind of doughnuts you eat, but the kind that are SUPPOSED to keep your exposed brake cable from messing up the paint on your frame. After a ridiculously short period, instead of remaining in place on the cable, they work their way back to the rear end of whatever cable they are sitting on. After only a brief time more, they work their way back within a block of being set where they belong. Before too much longer, they simply disappear from the cable altogether, one at a time.

Buddy originally came with some classy white doughnuts. They slipped pretty much within a month. When I had to change out the rear brake cable, I put the first set of black rubber ones on. THOSE lasted nearly six months. Now, my third set of black rubber doughnuts routinely vibrate to the back of the cable run, even without any brake application.

The question is: does anyone have a practical solution for this other than increasing the cable housing run or simply doing without? If the cable were BELOW the top tube, I'd be inclined to simply give up rubber doughnuts for Lent, but it's easy to damage the paint with a cable running ABOVE the tube. I've considered a drop of super glue on each doughnut, but somehow that seems like it might not be a brilliant solution, particularly if I accidentally glued a doughnut to the frame. A small dab of tire patch glue? I am NOT going to try WD-40.

Prepping to Educate and "THE GODFATHER OF SPANDEX"

UPDATED SATURDAY MORNING REAL EARLY - MOSTLY CAPTIONS -
WE'VE EVEN GOT CYCLISTS FROM ILLINOIS IN OUR CLASS! Right Now I think I ought to go make sure I've got a bike I can ride in front of critics...


Stem-Mounted Barrel Adjusters/Quick Releases are Ubiquitous on Older, Center Pull Braked Bikes
This One Has Less Corrosion Than Many

 Time to get a couple of lectures ready for LCI training this weekend. One of the topics is mostly something I've learned about through many years and dollars of hard experience. That's bicycle braking. I've had most sorts of bicycle rim brakes and learned about leverage and the different ways the brakes get set up. I've even had a LITTLE experience with drum/roller/coaster brakes. When it comes to disc brakes, I know what I've read - and then there are more unusual brakes...

Canti Brakes are Common on Touring and Cyclocross Bikes.
This One Has NO Barrel Adjustment at All
to be Able to Pop the Straddle Wire Out,, I Adjust This Brake With As Much Clearance as I Dare

  

Caliper Brakes on Road Bikes are a Dime a Dozen
This Bike Has TWO Brake Quick Releases. The Other is in the Lever



It's TOUGH to Use a Linear Pull Brake With Road Levers.
The LEVERAGE is All Wrong. This Brake Added a "Travel Agent" to Address the Problem - Sort Of
On This Combo, the Quick Release is Where the "TA" Pops out of the Carrier



Once They Understood About Adjusters, My Daughters Adjust THESE Brakes Easily
It Might Save Their Lives Some Day



You Don't Need to Know How a Roller Brake Works to Adjust One

Disc Brakes Have Various Kinds of Adjustment Rules and Methods
(from Wikipedia)

And Then There are Rod Brakes that at Least Look Cool
(from Wikipedia)



Some Brakes are Derivatives of Spoon Brakes
(from Wikipedia, Believe it or Not)



I'll Avoid any Endorsements of Specific Products;
Even the Very Best

The second topic may be a little more challenging. It's "cycling gear for Spandex Mafia types." I'm sure I've seen enough to hum a few minutes worth!

The "Spandex Godfather" - IN PERSON! With High Vis! Gail, Pay No Attention to those Black Things
That Look Like Earphone Wires!

Hopefully, My "Students" Can Resist THIS Reaction



And I WILL Explain How Cycling-Specific Gear Allows More than a Simple Summer Ride...



Houston, Little ABC Problem Here

All Brakes are Equal, but Some are More Equal than Others. I Guess V Brakes are More Equal than Cantis.
The V Brakes Certainly Use Longer Screws to Hold Them in Place.

Not wanting to leave things until the last moment, with the annual "Catfish Head Hunt and Ramble" coming up next weekend, I decided to FINALLY change out the V brakes that came with my Specialized Tricross and install some quality cantilever brakes. The change was due to poor design choices by Specialized (V brakes and road levers are as problematic a combination as people say!) that left a choice between brakes with virtually no clearance to the rims (not good when going through mud) or brakes that wouldn't stop at all. This Hobson's choice was compounded by no barrel adjuster, leading to the monthly ritual of resetting all the brake parameters so that I could have working brakes that actually cleared the rims by full microns.

Knowing that bikes use standard bosses for cantilever and v brakes, I started dismantling and reinstalling. Pretty straightforward. When I cinched back down the holding bolt, it became apparent that "Houston, we have a little ABC problem here." You see, apparently, canti bosses and the accompanying screws come in at least two different lengths, and in the photo, you can see how much longer the screws need to be to accomodate a modern V brake versus the modern canti brake immediately above it. As a result, the screws that came with the brakes bottomed out in the bosses while the washer still was loose. Not good.

Not wanting to emulate the Texas A&M Aggies, who advocate just "sawing them off," (they actually apply this statement to cow horns rather than screws) it looks like a trip to the local hardware store for some washers is in order. Since I doubt they'll have them in "Tektro black," I'll go with the contrasting "stainless steel" silver with black look, which matches the single supplied washer anyway. Things could have been much worse. This COULD be the night before the Ramble or I COULD be discovering I have the short screws and need the long ones. That would be an "oh, poo" moment since the hardware store doesn't carry much of a selection of metric allen key screws in a 6mm size.

Catfish Head Sighting at the 2009 Ramble. Who SAYS Texans Have No Artistic Sensibilities?

ABC Oops

Bar End Shifter Installation

When my road bike derailleur broke, described here, I got another one after I found that some of the simple parts aren't available and others were bent. Then the right (rear) shifter stopped working. Conveniently enough, I decided this was a good time to switch to the eight-speed bar end shifters I already had.

Over the weekend, I changed the various stuff out and did a bit of a shakedown cruise after work today. I dutifully put air in the tires, fulfilling the "A" part of "ABC Quick Check." Then after checking basic brake "B" and chain/changer/cassette "C" operation, I set off for a rather extended check. Can you call it "Quick" if it takes an hour?

Anyway, shifting and braking functioned well, as would be expected from new cables and housing, but before I'd gone a couple of miles, I noticed a disturbing rattle from the back end of the bike. Stopping, I looked things over and didn't see anything. I decided I'd give things a thorough going over when I got to the coffee shop. It really wouldn't do for a distracted cyclist to ride along and trying to look at his rear wheel and associated hardware. "Officer, I really DON'T know WHAT was wrong with that guy, he just kept looking back until he ran right into that pole!"

Anyway, when I stopped, the FIRST thing I noticed was that it looked like the cable for the front derailleur had been installed by a drunken sailor. FAIL the "C."

The Cable is SUPPOSED to go THROUGH That Hole!

It's Dried Mud on that Chainstay, Not Corrosion

THEN I saw the cause of the disturbing rattle. That shows up below, where the rear brake nut backed off until the seat stay stopped it from going any further. FAIL the "B."

This NEEDS to Get Snugged Up a Bit!

At least I managed to put AIR into the tires without any problems, and it illustrates why it is a good idea to ride around a bit after fooling with the shifting and braking on the bike. Imagine how I'd have felt if, on the way to work, my rear brake had fallen apart and the shifter cable cut into the frame. Instead, all is well, or it will be if the NEXT shakedown ride reveals no further problems. By the way, what LOOKS like corrosion in that middle photo is really dried mud. The road bike needs a bit of cleaning/waxing action before being put back into service.

The New Brake Levers DO Look Nice

Newfangled Brakes

V Brakes Get Clogged With One Trip Through the Mud Pit!
Buddy, my Specialized Tricross, came with V Brakes (technically, they're "direct pull cantilever brakes" since V Brake is a Shimano Trademark). If you have a mountain bike, you may have them as well. I kind of liked the idea, knowing how strong V Brakes are, and not realizing that Specialized was actually letting their marketing people foist off a benighted and poorly engineered product off on unsuspecting public. You see, they coupled these excellent brakes with even better brake levers, the SRAM Rival. This is unfortunate because that combination is much like attempting to carry the racehorse Seabiscuit in a Jaguar XJ220. Both are among the very best, but they just don't go together. The V Brake has a LOT of mechanical advantage for the pads. With enough cable pull, you can bend your rims if that is what is needed to stop. The SRAM road brakes, on the other hand, do not pull very much cable. They're designed for fine modulation of the brakes at speed. What this means is that I run with virtually no pad clearance, so that I have brakes before the levers bottom out on the bars. In their wisdom, Specialized did not include any barrel adjusters in the system, making the monthly brake fine tuning even MORE fun (he says sarcastically). This was not just on their low end bikes, either. The S Works bike was set up exactly the same way.

At left, you can see how the brakes look after a few cross laps, when initially properly adjusted, so that you actually HAVE a token braking capability. I did not add any debris for added drama. It wasn't necessary.

There is a very good discussion on cyclocross brakes, here. You'll note that one team DOES use V brakes in competition. They combine their use with a little gadget called a "Travel Agent." The Travel Agent allows you to double the cable pull, allowing those massive V Brake pads to work with a reasonable amount of clearance using the amount of cable pull that is possible from road levers. This raises a couple of questions. First, if this is such a good idea, why didn't Specialized just do it themselves rather than making owners have to buy obscure items the LBS hasn't heard of to make the brakes work properly? Second, those pulleys rub the cable, leading to at least one report of a brake cable snapping. Am I fooling myself by making my brakes fail completely when I will need them most?

I'm going to try out the Travel Agent. I'll just keep a careful eye on the cable for signs of fraying. Conveniently, I already have one that I bought to jigger the shifters on Frankenbike, and my LBS now knows how to get them.

Still, I like to keep a step ahead of my brakes instead of adding to my list of ways the "B" in "ABC Quick Check" can snag a cyclist. When I took Buddy in for its 5000 mile overhaul, I had the mechanic add a cantilever brake hanger at the front. The bike already had one in back which I use as a supplemental fender support. Unfortunately, clearance between the hanger and the stem is very tight. There's about a finger's width clearance between the top of the hanger and the stem. Hmm. Durn newfangled bike stuff! I would have thought they'd get this stuff ironed out with nearly 200 years of experience.

Front Cantilever Brake Hanger is Very Tight - Yes, the "Specialized" Printing is Upside Down on the Bike

Rear Canti Brake Hanger

BY THE WAY, Specialized has now abandoned this approach in their new Tricrosses and they have gone back to cantilever brakes just like almost all other cyclocross bikes. Any you see at your LBS this way are old models you might get a good deal on. Just figure out how you're going to make the brakes work BEFORE you take it home!

Lest I come across as negative, please know that these are the strongest brakes I've ever had. I LIKE strong brakes. And they stay that way for at least a couple of weeks of heavy use, before they need to be adjusted again.

SUNDAY UPDATE:
Comments can be the best part of these posts. I tried the travel agent on the front brake and I can't say I'm impressed. OTOH, I now have one of the bad boys below on order. I think I'll get a set of Tektro CR720 Cantis and we'll see how THOSE work. What can I say? I just want brakes, even if Specialized thinks I don't need more than the appearance of brakes.

B is for Brakes

There truly is harmony and psychic unity – sort of – in the narrow world of blogs that talk about bikes and cycling. On Tuesday, Lizzylou talked about stopping without using brake pads. The same day, Rantwick decided to ride his fixed gear to work without any brakes at all. Ironically, on Monday, I had my own braking experience and it wasn’t pretty.

V Brakes on a Cross Bike are Powerful - and Touchy. For its Second Set of Pads, Buddy Uses Kool-Stop Salmon "Thinline."
We Shall See How THEY Last. The OEM Pads Went 3400 Miles, I Don't Jump Off My Bike at Stops to Stretch Their Life.

In bike school, they talk about “ABC Quick Check.” The “B” Means you are supposed to check your brakes – as in you don’t want to go zooming off, only to discover at the bottom of the first hill that they aren’t working right. Well, that’s a good principle, and one I subscribe to. As a matter of fact, I’d just adjusted Buddy’s touchy V brakes. In bike school, they tell you that with full brake application, there should be two fingers’ worth of clearance between the lever and the bar. With Buddy, full application with freshly adjusted brakes is at most one finger, and I wind up adjusting brake pads once every month or two. I suspect that Specialized reached the same conclusion about V brakes on cyclocross bikes, since they have now returned to traditional canti brakes.

Anyway, as soon as I got on the bike Monday, I knew something was amiss. A brake was dragging – not a whole bunch, but it was definitely dragging. The front brake - the wheel dragged a little when I spun it. My first thought was to roll back in the house and either adjust it or drive in. Sometimes we should go with first thoughts. My second thought was that the drag wasn’t all that bad and would get better with time. Plus, I had a tailwind. That seemed reasonable for the first couple of miles. However, as I went on, I noticed that speed fell off a good 5 mph from typical. What’s more, when I finally got in to work, twenty minutes slower than usual, I felt tired, a bit “down,” and a couple of people wondered why I looked flushed.

Going home, it all came together. A dragging brake AND a headwind. It was a SLOW trip home. I even got off the bike and walked up a couple of the hills. That isn’t something I ever do. I kept thinking – "I feel a little ill and that’s partly why I’m going so slow." In the final analysis, it took 40 minutes longer than usual to get home.

The moral of this little lesson is that it isn’t enough just to CHECK, you actually want to ACT based on the results of the check. The OTHER moral is that, while cycling may be fun and safe, it’s MORE fun if you don’t ride around with a brake applied all the time. It is also an argument in favor of barrel adjustors, which the Tricross lacks. As a matter of fact, there WILL be some modifications made to those brakes next time I have to change out brake cables. If I get really irritated at the things, I may even go as far as changing them out for canti brakes.

Good Brakes Don't Keep You From Adjusting Them Too Tight!