BikeToFeel.com

Over my more than 20 years of cycling I’ve had a lot different portable bike pumps. For the most part, they’ve sucked. Most bike-mounted or pocket pumps leave your arms burning and your tire partially inflated. Other pumps have lost parts due to vibrations from being mounted to a bike frame. Many others have been tossed in the trash with broken handles or destroyed seals.

So far, I have had very good luck with the Blackburn Air Stik 2Stage. If your rockin’ the Prestas, this is the way to go. Mostly, I’ve used the AS2S to inflate MTB tires but recently I flatted twice on my road bike. The AS2S is the first pump I ever had that was able to inflate a 700C tire to a pressure which didn’t make me nervous about the potential for a snake bite. I’ve tried with other pumps to inflate 700C tires to a reasonable pressure only to find myself giving up with arms burning, mouth cursing and chest heaving. The not-unique but very effective two stage nature of this pump allows you to get the tire up to a good pressure rapidly on the “LOW” setting and perfect the pressure with the “HIGH” setting — with much energy to spare. In fact, following the first tire I inflated with the AS2S, I expressed to myself, “Is that it?!”

Based on my experience thus far, I recommend this pump.

Rating: 4 UDVs (I need more time to evaluate durability)

I’ve been biking in Memphis for more than three years now. One thing is for certain when commuting in Memphis — you’ll get lots of flats. Street cleaning is minimal, broken bottles abundant and invisible shards of shredded steel-belted radials are everywhere. When I was using my road bike to commute I chose the expensive yet very tough Specialized Armadillo tires. The Armadillos were a pretty good tire and prevented most flats. They once even deflected an 1/8 inch drill bit which lodged in the rubber of the tire and spun around a few times scoring my frame — but no flat. However, the Armadillo was no match for the shredded steel-belted radials.

I switched to my mountain bike after a year on the road bike so I could take to the sidewalk on the busiest road I traveled. Slicks were out of the question since I often road in wet weather and in grassy areas. Nobbies were the answer for me. It allowed for good traction in all conditions and kept the casing and tube further off the ground and away from the road cacti. Despite the choice of nobbies, flats were still a common occurrence. That’s when I decided to switch to a Slime-filled tube on the rear tire.

I have not had a flat with the 26″ Slime tubes after about 2500 miles of commuting on them. I did have a puncture once that I heard and for which I stopped. It didn’t appear that the tube was sealing so I passed my finger over the hole as the Slime was seeping out. Upon doing this, the leak stopped and I haven’t done anything with it since.

It is noticeably different riding the Slime tubes. Mostly, they make you noticeably slower. These things do not roll well. However, since I’m so tired of flatting after 3 years, I’m willing to sacrifice the performance. And, I only use the Slime tube on the rear wheel as it flats far more frequently than the front.

I’ve also recently started riding a 700C Slime tube on my road bike. My first long distance ride in a while resulted in two flats on the Slime tube. One flat resulted from a small, sharp unidentifiable object. After several attempts at reinflating the tire, I was able to get about 80psi in the tire — just enough for me to reach the half-way point stop. However, prior to arriving at the stop, the tube flatted again. This time it was an all-to-common steel-belted tire shard. Although only a pin prick hole, I could not get the tube to hold pressure and I was forced to install my spare tube. Pulling the Slime tube was fun to say the least. First there’s the green goop everywhere, which happens, burns like hell when you get it in any open sore. Then, trying to fold the Slime tube up into a reasonable size to stuff in my Camelback proved almost impossible since the Slime seals the valve rendering it impossible to fully deflate the tube.

Conclusion: Slime-filled tubes work well for lower pressure tires like MTB tires but they do not suffice for high pressure tires. Thus, don’t buy the 700C Slime-filled tubes.

MTB Slime Tubes Rating: 4 Disabled UDVs
700C Slime Tubes Rating: 1 Disabled UDV

A few weeks ago, a work buddy, with whom I regularly ride, had three bikes stolen out of his garage early one morning (You have to love Memphis, TN. I topped him a couple of weeks ago by witnessing a drive-by shooting on my block as my kids played in the front yard). Of course, he filed a police report, knowing that they would not nor could not do anything to recover his bikes. Once he received the completed police report, he contacted his insurance company, in this case State Farm, to determine if he should file a claim. Here’s how the math came out:

Bikes’ Worth: $1495

Deductible: $500

Loss of “No Claims”
Discount x 3 Years: $1131

Net Insurance
Payout: -$136 dollars

Yep, that’s right. My friend would have to pay the insurance company $1631 over three years to buy replacement bikes worth $1495, netting my friend the loss of 3 bikes plus $136 to the insurance company. After rejecting their offer to file a claim and pay them more money while still having lost his bikes, he asked what kind of insurance should he have had to protect against the loss of the bikes. They stated that he could purchase Personal Insurance on any item in the house but that the value of the item would have to exceed $3000 in order to qualify.

Take-away Message: Your homeowner’s insurance does not cover your bikes. If you rely on your bike(s) as transportation as I do, lock it up in your home or garage to an immovable object just as you do on the street.

I started thinking about this a lot over a year ago. The economy had gone south and I, like most people, lost upwards of 40% of my retirement funds. While I’m a long way from retirement, I don’t like handing back 40% of my money. I started thinking about in whom and in what am I investing.

I couldn’t answer my own question. The nature of mutual funds blinds us from where our money is going. The investment gurus tell us that it’s a blended fund to minimize losses and optimize gains — lower risk. So why is it I lost 40%? The most recent market downturn was obviously a result of improper lending. Lending to people who had no business borrowing what they were borrowing. The execs making the decisions on who to lend to don’t care — they’re millionaires who receive millions when they get fired for poor company performance. I wish I could do shitty, careless work, get fired and, as a result, win the lottery.

I quickly realized I was part of the problem. These companies survive on investments like the ones I make through my 401k and Roth IRAs. Unwittingly, I was, and still am, investing in many of the corporations I despise like the automobile industry, the oil industry and shady financial institutions.

Not long after realizing my mistakes, I talked to my financial advisor and long-time friend. Of course, he was a little hesitant about moving my money to socially-responsible mutual funds — funds that choose companies based on their track records for making socially- and environmentally-responsible decisions in their business activities. Apparently, this is a fairly new area for my old friend because it was clear from our conversation that he didn’t have anything readily available from which I could choose to re-invest. Apparently, he still doesn’t have anything over a year later because my money is still sitting in the same places more than a year after telling him I would like to pursue these types of investments. This also makes clear that no one else is asking about these sorts of mutual funds.

As a bike commuter, one of the main reasons I ride is because I’m eternally sick of the automobile and oil companies feeding us lies about how they are working in our best interests. Remember the Saturn commercials which said, “I get tired of these pundits telling us that we don’t make cars that Americans want. Saturn makes cars Americans want.” They went out of business shortly thereafter.

Many of the companies we are investing in do not have mine, yours or our country’s best interest at heart. They are simply trying to make a buck whatever the cost to our health, livelihood and future.

Please, talk to your financial advisors, human resource personell and legislators. Let’s start demanding a higher standard and better visibility to what we are spending our money. Only by making large corporations accountable can we ensure that we maintain and grow the ideals we hold personally.

This was passed along to me by my sister.  I like it and try to follow it (although it’s very difficult  — I need to do another blog about mutual funds using these questions to guide my discussion).  Questions 2,3 and 5 fall directly in line with the purpose of this website.

 
1. Does the item bring either usefulness or beauty to my life?
2. Does it cause me to grow closer to those around me or does it bring alienation?
3. Was it made by people who were paid a fair wage?
4. Does it fall in line with my religious beliefs?
5. Does it fall in line with my beliefs about conservation?
6. Would it cause people envy?
7. Would I be devastated if it were lost, stolen or destroyed?
8. Do I have to go into debt for it?
9. Would I freely loan it out?