I admit I haven’t been cleaning my chain after every ride recently. Well, I wasn’t riding that much when it was cold. But the weather has improved and as my foot improves, I’ll be out almost everyday. For a long time I did a quick clean and lube after every ride. I found it easier to clean the chain rings if I didn’t let ‘em get too black. Now I’m using ProGold lube which seems to last longer. So after a couple of rides I’ll clean the chain.

David Fiedler provides a list of useful maintenance checks.

Simple Steps Add Up - Make Maintenance Convenient and Easy

Wet. That’s what a lot of my riding seems to be lately. Winter’s last gasp (hopefully) means the tail end of melting snow and but now we’re moving into early spring rain. And that translates into lots of crapola on the bike, from salt spray to road grime to just plain old water thrown up by my tires.

 Read More

We held a special session at Mike’s place to elect officers, plan the awards and details for the Spaghetti feed on March 13th.

Mike dispensed with the reading of the minutes and the financial report and moved directly to election of officers

President: Linda nominated Carol in a bit of a coup so the 2008 President will Be Carol Ellis.

Vice-President: Mike will assume these duties which consist, according to Lance, mainly of keeping the junk. We thank Mike for his many years of service.

Treasurer: I will continue as Treasurer

Auditor: Lance has agreed to check my books for me.

Secretary: Debbie and Linda are sharing the chores of recording and corresponding secretaries.

Safety officer: Linda proposed that along with our focus on health and safety we should establish an officer who would coordinate our efforts.

No one was up to being sargeant at arms. We’re an unruly bunch.

In Old Business we agreed to have a volunteer sign up sheet available at the Spaghetti feed for help with Devil’s Slide. Can’tmake the spaghetti feed. No fears. Just fill out the volunteer form on the web.

 Linda, Carol, and Tamra are working on awards for the year. Mike motioned that they should submit costs to the board for repayment.

We scheduled some rides which you may see in another post or on the calendar. Significant for this year is the Tune Up Ride on March 16th. This is our regular Sunday 1 pm start, but come between 12 and 1 and Sean will give your bike the once over. Does your bike need a visit to the shop. Join us and find out. Non-members welcome.

–Corrie

I do try to put a dab of oil on the cables after riding in the rain, but I hadn’t thought to loosen them enough to really do a good job. The video makes it look easy enough for a non-mechanical type like me to do.–Corrie

How To Lubricate Your Brake and Shift Cables

For steel lined cable housings and wet weather riders.

Most brake and shift cables these days have a plastic lining built into the housing, therefore eliminating the need for lubrication. However, if you ride a lot in wet weather, or have an older bike without the plastic lining, you’ll want to lubricate the cables to prevent rust. I personally believe that well-lubricated cables also improve braking and shifting.

See the video

 I took a quick 20 miler on the Pilot and then wanted to clean both it and the 29er after its tour in dusty Death Valley. The mt. bike wasn’t too bad, but when I cleaned my rims on the Pilot, I found the rear tire had cracks running all along it with a couple of small patches of rubber missing.

Strangely it was this same back tire that never lost much air. The front one loses 10 lbs regularly but is fine. Guess B&L gets to sell me a set of new tires. I found an old one that looks like it has a few more miles in it.

It’s time to bring those bikes off the racks and out on the road. Might do to spend a few minutes checking ‘em over too.

If you’re looking forward to getting your bike out after a long hiatus, don’t forget to take a few minutes to inspect your tires. Here’s what to look for:

Read about checking your tires and more at David Fiedler’s excellent and simple blog. 

Okay, I’m not likely to actually change my bearings myself, but it wouldn’t hurt to listen for worn bearings, would it? Check out the video how to on bicycletutor.com. –Corrie

How To Check If Your Bearings Are Worn

Listen to your bottom bracket, headset, and wheel bearings.

Here’s a handy tip that will help you access whether or not any of your bearings are worn out. You’ll need to have the wheels suspended in the air somehow, using either a repair stand, hanging it from the roof, or by getting a friend to hold it up for you.

Been too cold to spend much time in the garage, but spring’s coming and you want to be ready. My first incliniation is to take it to the shop but some of you like to tinker. TotalBike.com provides this page of links to help you out.–Corrie

Bicycle Repair Guide and Service Instruction Directory

Here’s a maintenance and repair site with video how-to’s.–Corrie

Why WD-40 is Bad for Your Bike Chain

Using WD-40 as a chain lube will actually damage your chain.

Last summer I learned this lesson. The click wouldn’t go away. I had Scott true and glue but I didn’t let the glue set long enough. The click was back and all the twisting I did just made things worse almost to the point of being unrideable. Once I figured out I’d do a better job of adjusting the spokes by looking straight down on them, I got home alright. But it is still a good idea to perform a spoke check when you are cleaning your bike. –Corrie

Your Spokes - Ain’t No Jokes

The way I’ve got it figured, your spokes are kind of like the doorknobs at your place. You know they’re there. You see them all the time and they get used all the time, but you probably don’t spend a lot of time thinking about them. Most they ever get noticed is when there’s a problem. Like if one is really loose or falls off.But spokes do play a really important part in your bike’s smooth functioning. They bear your weight and the weight of your bike plus any cargo you may be carrying. They are an essential step in the transfer of power in your legs out through your wheels to make your bike go. So, it’s definitely worthwhile to pay attention to your spokes and understand how they work.

The Spoken Word (get it? heh heh)

• All About Your Spokes
• Spoke Maintenance
• Common Spoke Problems

Just one more reason you don’t see me on those night rides! –Corrie

Now get out of that! By Mike Davis
Paduang-style headset assembly This week’s reader-contributed bodge repair clearly represents some sort of karmic balancing for last week’s. Our previous offering featured no zip ties at all, with the inevitable consequence that this one uses nothing but the nylon wonders. Read the rest of this experience at the link above. For more tales of “bodge” cleverness (It’s a UK site) visit the Know How page.

Steve sends this piece from Sheldon Brown at Harris Cyclery

Top Tube Length: More Important Than Seat Tube Length!

When people speak of bicycle frame sizes, they generally speak in terms of the seat tube length. As mentioned above, this used to be the only variable, but with proportional sizing it no longer is. I would submit that seat tube height is no longer the most important frame dimension. More determinant of the actual way the rider will sit on the bike is the top tube length. It is obvious why you shouldn’t have a bike that is too tall to stand over with a reasonable safety margin (although even this sizing practice was not universally accepted for the first 30 or 40 years of the diamond frame.)

On the other hand, why shouldn’t you ride a “too small” bike? “Because the seat and handlebars will be too low!” That was a good objection ten years ago, when tall seatposts were a rarity and quality handlebar stems were available in a variety of forward extensions but only one (short) height. All that was before the mass production of the mountain bike. Now 250 mm and 300 mm seatposts are stock items, and a variety of excellent handlebar stems are available

There are a number of sizing systems available today, which require various measurements of the cyclists body and reccommend frame sizes on this basis. Probably the best known of these is the New England Cycling Academy FitKit. I use this system myself, but not in a blind, rote manner.

The FitKit makes recommendations for a particular seat tube length, and a range of top tube lengths with corresponding handlebar stem extensions. For instance, for a particular rider, it might suggest a 58 cm seat tube with a combined top tube and stem extension of 66 cm. This 66 cm might be from a 61 cm top tube with a 5 cm stem, or a 54 cm top tube with a 12 cm stem, or any other combination that adds up to 66 cm.

Any of these combinations will give an equivalent posture on the bike. One or two combinations are particularly recommended because the more extreme variations of stem length can cause a bike to handle strangely because of the positions of the hands relative to the steering axis. The “by-the-book” fitting method would then be to select a suitable bike with a 58 cm seat tube, measure the top tube, and install the recommended stem.

I would submit that this approach is due to the old fashioned fixation on seat tube heights. Better, in my opinion, to find a bike with the ideal length top tube, fit the recommended stem, and not worry about the seat tube size, within reasonable limits.

Jim Langley provides tips on bicycle repair from the quick release to repacking your bearings. Wrench

One of the coolest things about bicycles is that they’re darn
easy to fix; fun to fix, too. Everything’s right there, easy to see and figure out. With basic hand tools you might already have around the house, you can make many common repairs. Just by riding the bike, you can usually diagnose problems. And, with a little practice, even advanced bicycle repair such as wheelbuilding is well within your reach… continued

One in a series on Langley’s great web page.

–Corrie