Tag: tips

November 12th – I’ve been lucky enough to get my hands on a Hope R2i light to test, and I’m very impressed with it.

I’ve been looking for an integrated, one-piece rechargeable front light for a while, as I’m fed up with using external batteries. I have been using a Lezyne thing, but it’s just not up to the job on long commutes.

My favourite light maker, Hope of Barnoldswick have produced an integrated version of their R2. It’s no lightweight, but the body is machined aluminium, and it’s well sealed from the elements. The twin LED elements are bright enough to ride unlit lanes fast, even on the lowest of the five constant settings.

The mount is the same as the hope R4, and is a solid, sturdy bayonet action with all parts made in metal.

Fitted with a handy barograph charge indicator, if this lasts a working week on a charge (and Hope claim 30 hours on low power) I’ll be a happy bunny and buy one.

A nice product with a solid look and feel – but man, it feels heavy next to the Lezyne unit it’s replaced.

November 11th – As bike gear gets cheaper and the drive to reduce weight continues, lots of stuff is getting crappier. I’ve always liked Sigma bike computers – cheap and well engineered. However, the last one has a particularly loose twist-lock mount. Today, it spun from the holder on the bars in traffic, and before I had chance to recover it, it went under the wheel of a car. This is the result.

From lights to GPS units to bike computers, bike mounts are getting crappier. Can we stop weight shaving and cost cutting please?

October 29th – As I noted a few days ago, Autumn is a beautiful, but hazardous season. The leaf littler on the cycleways is wonderful to look at but very slippery, and is now turning to a very soapy, lubricant mulch. Added into this are small twigs, various needles and fallen berries and fruits, often concealing potholes and other hazards. 

I normally mash up here hard and come back downhill even faster, but with conditions as they are, I take this route very gently at the moment, and avoid using the front brake as much as possible.

October 23rd – Here’s a security tip for cyclists with disc brakes. The other day I noted that you can’t make your bike theft proof, but you can make it fiddly and a pain to steal, hopefully putting off all but the most determined thieves. 

Some of the best deterrents lie in novelty; professionals will come with tools usually to smash D locks or cut cables, not both. You can make your D lock more effective by ‘filling’ it with as much bike as possible (thieves often use bottle jacks to break them open – they can’t if there isn’t room for one).

This yellow item probably isn’t that secure, but it’s effectiveness lies in the way it works: they’re sold online as disc brake locks for motorbikes and they have a plunger that latches through your brake disc, rendering the wheel unable to turn. In addition, there’s a piercing, vibration-activated alarm inside – so if the bike is handled roughly, it screams the place down.

It’s small, compact, thieves probably wont want to bother with it coupled with other locks, and it costs less than a tenner. What’s not to love?

October 19th – At Telford, the cycle rack at the place I was visiting had this bike locked in a corner. When inside, I found the owner and warned them about their locking technique; the cable lock only secures the rear wheel to the stand. A sharp thief would just pop the quick release, leave the wheel in situ, and nick an unlocked rear wheel from a nearby bike. Hey presto, complete steed ready to go in seconds, no tools required.

Always use two different locks. Always secure through the frame. Nothing will make your bike thief-proof, but you can make it time consuming, or bothersome to steal. 

June 17th – So help me god, I’ve been asked how you know if your bottom bracket needs replacing (see last entry, 16th June) – so I made a quick video. The old part is held in a vice over white paper for clarity. I’m wobbling the other end, out of shot. There should be no wobble at all.

Hope that helps!

(Source: https://player.vimeo.com/)

June 16th – Bottom brackets are a pain in the arse. I can’t believe that after more than a century of cycling technological innovation, they’re still so rubbish.

The bottom bracket is the spindle that the cranks mount on through the bottom of the frame, which spins freely allowing your pedals to rotate. As a mechanical component, the bottom bracket experiences the worst abuse – epicentric, unbalanced point loading, muck, water and corrosion. My bottom brackets take my full weight, plus that of the bike and load. They work hard.

Several solutions exist for bottom brackets – the component axle and loose bearings – the old way and fiddly to adjust and maintain; the ‘sealed cartridge’ (above) – a disposable insert designed for easy changing; the external – a frankly daft idea that’s gained traction in the last five years; the thoroughly insane press fit, preferred by the weekend Wigginses with plastic bikes.

All are rubbish, really.

On Sunday, I noticed the cranks on my bike had alarming play within the frame. The non-drive side bearing had collapsed in the cartridge. It’s done about 20,000 miles. Removing it is easy if you have the right tools and the person who fitted the last one did it properly. 

Cranks are removed with a special extractor, and the cartridge is removed with a special socket tool from the DRIVE SIDE. It is a left hand thread, meaning the unit is turned clockwise to unscrew it. That fact escapes many, and has led to loads of skinned knuckles and damaged frames.

The cartridge is left hand threaded to prevent it loosening in use due to precession.

There is a support bush on the other side that unscrews normally using the same tool. The threads are cleaned with a small wire brush and degreaser, dried, greased with anti-seize paste and the new one fitted. Half an hour tops.

If the threads are not greased, the unit will be very, very hard to remove in future.

A replacement is about £15-£20. I’ve tried expensive alternatives – they make no difference.

See you again in another 15-20,000 miles.

April 25th – A recovery day, mainly resting and pottering around attending to mechanical issues with the bikes. Long-term readers will remember my bizarre crank failure last spring, and at the time I suggested I’d never see it again: well, I was wrong. 

This is an identical Lasco crank from my other bike. There are clear cracks growing either side of the pedal mount bore. Thankfully, I had a spare so changed it over on discovery, hopefully forestalling an unexpected failure.

I‘m not sure if this is a poor design, manufacturing failure or a sign that I should lose some weight…

April 10th – Cycling the Netherton Tunnel is a genuine challenge. The towpath is now deteriorating badly; it’s full of wheel-snatching potholes filled with obfuscating water that conceals their depth and severity. Water continually drips on you, and occasionally pours. Although you can see daylight, it’s a long time away. And then, the relentless, unforgiving task of riding for twenty minutes or so in a 4-foot gap between a wall that curves closely over your head and a corroded, week handrail.

The relentlessness of it, the eyestrain and psychological effort of keeping alert enough to keep everything flowing is a real challenge.

But I love it every time I do it. I’d say it’s for the experienced cyclist only, and take a hat, jacket and good light. But it is fun.

April 9th – Whoops. The bike I’ve been riding over the past few days has been having an issue with the front brake pats just lightly touching the disc. The noise was irritating me, so before I set out today, I got down to realigning the caliber, and then noticed the pads were a bit worn. Having spares on the bench, I whipped the old ones out.

Oh dear. The bad set, for those not in the know, are on the left, the replacements on the right. The pad on the one side is so worn, it’s to the metal, and the spring is mashed, too.

I also had an issue with the piston sticking. Hopefully that’s sorted.

Hydraulic brakes wear pads quicker. I must remember that.