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Chain Joinery – Fixing stiff links
I’m still working on getting everything working smoothly with my old ’93 Specialized Rockhopper, after replacing the chain, cassette, front cranks and sprockets. To compensate for larger chainrings, I ended up having to add a couple of links to my chain, and I thought I’d pass on a tip. I have always found it frustrating…
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Ironic Flat
It’s been a sloppy start to May. Almost every day has been cloudy with off-and-on drizzle. Plus it’s been warm and muggy. Not exactly ideal biking weather, but it hasn’t kept me out of the saddle yet. Yesterday I was all set to ride my mountain bike to work, when I discovered the rear tire…
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Two Fish Bikeblocks
I’m finishing up October with 14 rides, tying with July and April. In keeping with this somewhat off-year of riding, it’s fewer rides in October than I had in 2008, 2009 or 2010. I’m at 130 rides on the year. My goal for the year is 150, which should be doable. A couple weeks ago,…
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Beep. Beep. Beep.
So. We were without air conditioning in our building for awhile today. Fortunately it’s a nice day out with unseasonably low humidity and a breeze, so I was able to open the window to make it tolerable. It’s amazing how much beeping you hear in populated regions (like college campuses) nowadays. Seems like all day…
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Back on the bike after ice storm
I rode my bike to work today for the first time since the ice storm that hit the Baltimore/Washington area this past Tuesday and Wednesday. My usual commute takes me through Elkridge, Relay, and Arbutus, MD, including a short trip through the Patapsco State Park Avalon Area. Today, the roads were fine for the most…
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Fenders on a Road Bike, Part 2
This is part 2 of my story about how I put fenders on my road bike. Read about my motivation for doing this in the first installment. There are a couple types of fenders made for road bikes. “Full” fenders cover the back wheel all the way down to the bottom bracket, and the…
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Fenders on a Road Bike, Part 1
I’ve been an occasional bike commuter for a little over three years. My commuter bike is a 2001 Giant OCR-1, a road bike with an aluminum frame and a carbon fork. Back in the big 1980s, I spent my teen years delivering newspapers, and went through a seemingly-endless string of cheap 10-speed beater bikes. I…
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New road bike tires
Last Friday I broke a spoke on the back wheel of my road bike. Murphy’s Law #1 of broken spokes says that they will always happen on the back wheel, so you have the extra fun of removing the gear cassette to replace the spoke. But that’s not really my point.. Since I had to…