Categories: all aviation bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater

Tue, 10 Jun 2008

Some thoughts for new bicyclists

With gas prices rocketing past $4/gallon, I'm seeing more and more folks on bicycles. This is a fine thing, but I wanted to provide some advice that may not appear in some of the "new to cycling" guides out there.

Traffic or not?

For most practical purposes, a bicycle is traffic. We ride on the roads. When necessary, we share a lane of traffic with motorized vehicles. This means we need to act like traffic.

Obviously, you can't keep up motorized speeds, and that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about mutual respect, and predictability. As you probably know from driving a car, the ability to predict what traffic around you is going to do is absolutely vital to everyone's safety -- that's why we use turn signals and follow agreed-upon conventions, whether they're enshrined in law or not.

On a bicycle, you have to do the same thing. The legal ramificiations differ per state and even per city, but generally there's a set of rules to follow which is pretty similar to the rules you follow in a car. In fact, the more you act like a good driver in a car, the safer you'll be.

This means many things. Among other things, it means following the directives of stop signs and traffic lights. It means giving everyone else a reasonable chance of seeing you by using lights and reflective materials. It means signalling your turns. It means, in short, being a predictable and respectful part of traffic. If you're not respectful, your actions reflect poorly on all bicyclists -- so, I ask you, on behalf of all your fellow cyclists, please follow the rules.

If you don't have a good set of lights front and rear, visit your local bike shop. I highly recommend the Planet Bike Super Flash rear light, which retails around $25 most places, and is worth every last penny. For a front light, there are many choices: look for one which uses LEDs (the batteries will last much longer), and which has the widest, brightest pattern possible. If you can, aim your preferred lights at a wall -- prefer the one that lights up more of the wall versus one which has a tight, bright beam. This is the rule for "being seen" lights. If you're getting a light to see with, that's a different category.

Your local bike shop will also have a great deal of reflective and brightly colored clothing. I highly recommend the obnoxious yellow-green neon color as being quite visible. Pair that with some good reflective material, and you're off to a great start. If your favorite piece of bicycle clothing doesn't have enough reflective stuff, buy some SOLAS tape from Ebay or West Marine. It sticks to anything, and is about the most reflective stuff you can get.

Bicycle gear and accessories

Once you've got your visiblity gear sorted out, you still have a few things you'll need. Unless you're very lucky, you'll need to lock your bike up some of the time, so a good lock is necessary.

The best combination I've found so far is a U lock (such as made by Master, Kryptonite, or many others) paired with a stout steel cable. These can be had in a variety of sizes, and all told should set you back less than $50-60. With this combination, you can usually lock both wheels, through the frame, and attach to something sturdy. The cool trick with the cable is that you can loop one end through the other, and cinch down on either your bike or your favorite lamp post, and secure the free end with the U-lock.

The next thing you'll want (if only as a preventative against Murphy) is a flat repair kit. This consists of at least a set of tire levers, a patch kit, and a pump. They make devilishly small pumps, such as the Mini Morph Road (which I carry, and which saw me through a massive rash of flat tires early on) that are still effective. The type that braces one end against the ground is best, then you can use your weight and gravity to do most of the work. Any old patch kit should be good enough, but make sure you check the glue at least once a year, as it'll dry out even if you've never opened the tube. I also recommend getting a spare tube that fits your tire and carrying it with you -- it's often faster to lever in the new tube and worry about patching the holed tube later.

I keep all these spares (except the pump) in a tail bag that straps under the seat. This keeps it handy, and they can be had in a variety of sizes. My tail bag contains a spare tube, a patch kit, two tire levers, a pair of nitrile gloves for dirty roadside repairs, and a tightly folded plastic shopping bag, which I use either for carrying unexpected loads, or covering the seat when it rains.

Do it yourself

Maintaining a bicycle is ridiculously easy. In your home shop, you'll definitely want a good floor-standing tire pump, since the single most common maintenance item is topping up your tires (I always run my tires at the maximum inflation, marked on the sidewall -- it provides less rolling resistance, which makes pedalling easier). Make sure your pump includes a gauge (most do), and that it fits your valve stems. You have either Presta or Schraeder valves, and most pumps will fit both, either right out of the box, or with a little bit of reconfiguration. Avoid using a powered air compressor for bicycle tires, it's too easy to overinflate them.

The next most common thing you should do (and most people don't) is to lubricate your chain. Any time you can hear your chain squeaking, that's its signal that it wants more lube. Your chain should run very quietly. Lubricating a chain is as simple as picking your lubricant of choice (and there's a lot of choice), applying it to the inside of the chain (the surface which contacts the gears), and wiping any excess off with a rag. Ask someone at your friendly neighborhood bike shop for a recommendation on lubricant. If all else fails you can even use motor oil (but use a heavy weight -- 30W or higher -- and wipe it up carefully so it doesn't make a mess).

Note that for these two operations -- by far the most maintenance you'll have to do on most bikes -- you need exactly one special tool (the tire pump), one special supply (the chain lubricant), and a rag.

Beyond these two things, any reasonably mechanical person can do 90% of the maintenance on a bike with a set of screwdrivers, a set of hex keys, a set of wrenches and maybe one or two "special" tools that can be had at any bicycle shop. I highly recommend both Sheldon Brown's website (may he rest in peace) and the Park Tools website for information on the more involved maintenance on a bike. If you can turn a screwdriver and follow instructions, I guarantee you can maintain your bike.

If you do decide to let a shop do some work for you, ask if you can watch. Spend the time watching what the mechanic does, and hopefully you get a friendly mechanic, and he or she will explain as they go. This is a great way to learn how to do things you might have thought were difficult or impossible before.

Riding in more than sun

If you're in Seattle, then you're well aware that riding only when it's sunny will limit you to a handful of weeks and a smattering of days, particularly this year. Riding in the rain doesn't have to be an awful experience, though.

My favorite piece of raingear is my Carradice Pro Route rain cape (I got mine from Peter White cycles). It's this big obnoxious neon yellow-green tent that stretches from your hands, over your shoulders, down your back. The thing is, it actually keeps you quite dry without needing rain pants (although you have to have fenders on your bike), and since it's open on the bottom, you don't have to worry about collecting as much sweat inside your waterproof gear as you would have taken on in rainwater.

For fenders, the best thing I've found is the plastic Planet Bike fenders (again, check your local bike shop), which run about $40. They're light-weight, easy to install, and very effective. The one addition I made to mine was to add a 10" long flap off the back of the front fender, to catch more of the splash off the road before it soaked my shoes. I cut it out of a cat litter bottle (but any heavy plastic will work) and riveted it on, but even an office stapler would have it attached pretty effectively.

Making it comfy

If bike seats give you a pain in the rear, replace yours! There's a huge variety available, and they range from lightweight racing torture racks to huge, padded, spring-suspended comfort saddles. Don't be shy about picking the one that actually looks (and is!) comfortable.

If, like me, you find certain very important parts of your anatomy getting tingly (and not in a good way) because of your bike seat, look for a new saddle with a groove down the middle. Humans have sensitive bits right where a basic bike saddle hits us, and the ones with a groove make space for the bits of your body that really don't want to be squished. Most of your weight should be resting on your ischial tuberosities (your "sit bones" at the bottom of your hips). If your weight is resting elsewhere, adjust your saddle so it's not.

Hopefully you picked a bike that fits you -- ie, it's long enough from handlebars to seat, and from seat to pedals. If not, it's never going to be really comfortable. You can fake it with a longer or shorter handlebar stem, or a longer seat stem, but you really owe it to yourself to get a bike that fits properly. They make them in sizes for a reason.

In any case, one of the most critical measurements on the bike is the distance from your seat to your pedals. Ideally, that distance should have your knee nearly, but not quite, straight at the bottom of the pedal stroke, and should not be so long that your hips are rocking. This is easily adjusted, so experiment with it until you've found a good height. If you don't know how, have your favorite bike shop point it out. They can also help you get it about right to start with.

After riding for a while (or possibly right away), you may find that your handlebars don't fit you very well. In particular, the straight mountain-style handlebars can twist your wrists the wrong way. Don't be shy about looking around at handlebars until you find one you like. The biggest problem you'll have with swapping handlebars is likely to be cables that are too short. This is easy enough to fix yourself, but a shop can also do it for you if you're worried about messing it up.

A word on safety

Of course, no beginner's guide would be complete without information on safety gear. The biggest thing is a helmet. Go get one. Wear it every time. When you wear your helmet, it should be "flat" on your head, not tilted back -- too many people wear their helmet tilted back like a sun bonnet. The bit you really need to protect is your forehead, so keep that helmet tilted forward. The thing about helmets is, you don't have any control over anyone but yourself, so even if you're a perfect rider, you can't affect whether you're falling over today. Any of those cars, pedestrians, dogs, or other cyclists might knock you over. Wouldn't you rather have a nice cushion around your noggin if you fall off?

The same argument goes for gloves. I consider a helmet and gloves to be the minimum safety gear on a bicycle. When you fall, you'll instinctively reach your hands out to break your fall. Even fingerless cycling gloves will go a long way towards keeping all the skin on your hands, where it belongs. Stick some reflective tape on your gloves, and you've got a handy turn signal enhancer. Any gloves will help, but the best are leather gloves sturdy enough that you wouldn't mind your hand slipping toward a running belt sander (hint: that's what the pavement is when you're riding across it).

Bicycling requires a compromise on safety gear. Ideally, you'd be wearing motorcycle gear, which will keep you perfectly protected in the event of a fall, but you'd also die of heat exhaustion. I've seen folks bicycling around Seattle with knee and elbow pads on -- it looks a little goofy, but they'll be laughing after a fall.

For myself, I picked a Bell Citi helmet, which came away from a Consumer Reports test with good marks, and isn't very expensive. They also make it in safety-freak yellow with reflective straps (guess which color I have). I ride with a variety of different gloves to suit the season, and lately have been riding with a pair of Carhartt work gloves with heavy leather palms and neon orange fabric backs. They're medium weight in terms of warmth, but sturdy as heck, and very visible. Available most places Carhartt gear is sold.

More information

There's a wealth of new-rider information out there. If you haven't found it yet, Bike Forums is a great place to learn and ask questions. Just be aware that like everywhere else in life, there are helpful people and jerks, and try not to let the jerks get you down.

You can also use Google to your advantage (that's probably how you found this, if you're not one of my regular half-dozen readers).

I'm not going to condescend to you about why you're riding a bike. You're doing it for whatever reasons you have, and I applaud you. Go to it, and do it in safety and happiness.

Posted at 21:31 permanent link category: /bicycle

Categories: all aviation gadgets misc motorcycle theater

Written by Ian Johnston. Software is Blosxom. Questions? Please mail me at reaper at obairlann dot net.