Posts Tagged ‘bike commuting’

I don’t think bike commuting helps make friends in every city or community but it sure helps here.  Using my bike almost exclusively for transportation in the city of Memphis makes me a bit of a novelty.  Given that midtown Memphis is a pretty diverse place and there are a lot of bike commuters, I’m also not hated for being one that impeeds traffic.

Almost everywhere I go, people talk to me about commuting on a bike.  I have people at intersections roll down their window, usually to ask me a question about why I’m out on a bike.  I just started at a new gym and while very few people want to talk at 6:30am, the fact that I walk in wearing a bike helmet seems to be a great conversation starter.  Sure, most conversations center around the weather for that day but at least people feel compelled to interact with me.  These situations just confirm my belief that bike commuting makes for stronger communities by stimulating people to interact with each other.

In short, save your money boys and girls.  While sleek and sexy, functional it is not.  While I took the Flea, its charger and instruction manual out and examined them thoroughly before my purchase, I missed several things that would have, in hindsight, kept me from purchasing the finicky little bug.    Here’s a list of the things that should have been included or were included and should have served as warning in the instructions:

1.  The ‘Charging’ section of the instructions use the words ‘carefully’ and ‘do not force.’  They should say, ‘Warning:  If you’re going to use this product on a regular basis, it’s doomed to fail shortly after you buy it.’

2.  It also says blinking will stop once charging is complete.  Great.  One time it stopped blinking during charging and the light and then, in blinking mode, it didn’t last the 35 minutes to work.  Thanks.

3.  No claims about runtime are provided.  Performancebike.com’s description says that the Flea will have 3-6 hours of runtime depending on the mode chosen.  These claims are bullshit.  I’ve never gotten more than 2 hours out of flashing mode.

4.  There are no instructions about what milliwatt output your battery should have in order to charge the light.  I use rechargeables for all my biking needs as its the right thing to do when you use batteries as much as I do.  How do I know they’re working correctly for this light? (Rechargeables typically have a lower milliwatt output than Lithium ion or other standard batteries.)

5.  No indication of charge time is given.  Typically, with something that has an internal chargeable battery, this information is provided.  Typically, batteries with shorter charge times have a shorter life than batteries which charge via a slower or trickle charge method. Maybe Blackburn should talk to SigmaSport about how to provide battery-related information.

When charged and flashing, this light is impressive.  Drivers of undesirable vehicles definitely notice you.  However, due to the unpredictable nature of the runtime, I had to attach a backup light which I use more than the Flea.

Pros: Great illumination for something so small

Cons:  See above, Dainty charger which does not lend itself to multiple uses or transport, poor instructions/product information

Overall Rating:  Two Broken-Down Undesirable Vehicles.

Update:  The Rattleback tire failed after about 2500 miles.  The mechanism of failure was quite disappointing.  About .75 miles from work the sidewall blew out (And no, it was not from the brake rubbing, I checked).  I had to hoof it the rest of the way in a downpoor.  It was good to find out at I can run that far with relative ease.  But it meant that I had to catch a ride home with a friend in his undesirable vehicle — not something I like at all.

Sidewall Failure

After the Rattleback tire failed, I contacted Sweetskinz and showed them the blowout.  The representative said that that tire wasn’t really designed for how I was using it and said he would send me a couple of more tires.  He sent me the Eclipse.  After about 6 years on the front and well over 5000 miles, my Hutchinson Python had had it.  So I through the Eclipse on the front.  It looks cool but that’s about it.  In tight corners, it feels like you have the brake on due to the tread pattern.  The tire also feels squishy and rolls to the side easily even after I replaced the rim with a wider one.  The compound is also weak, at best.  I burned through the red compound relatively quickly and found the ugly cream colored compound beneath.  After about 2000 miles on the front the tire is virtually trashed.  I would not recommend these tires unless your a very casual rider and only put in about 1500 miles every few years.  Sorry, Sweetskinz.  Good concept, poor durability and performance.

I came across the Sweetskinz website while searching for different styles of tires for bike commuting and bike commuting at night. I thought the tires looked pretty cool and thought they would be especially eye-catching at night. About two years later after wearing out one knobby while bike commuting, I thought about Sweetskinz again and was determined to give them a try. I bought the Rattleback Semi-slick as I thought it was the least dorky of the patterns offered. When I received the tire I was surprised at the weight – these things are a big chunk of rubber. Of course, I also tested the reflectivity of the tire which appeared to be pretty good. I have been riding the tire for over 4 months now (about 1500 miles). I do like the tread pattern and I have only had 2 flats over this time. This is pretty good for a back tire in Memphis given the abundance of road cacti here. I have not had anyone comment on the night visibility of the tire which I had expected. The reflective material is only a thin covering so it immediately wears off of the tread and thus is not visible from behind. Being visible to undesirable vehicles traveling perpendicular to me doesn’t really seem all that necessary. I would much rather be visible to vehicles approaching from the front or rear. I don’t think the Sweetskinz really help with that. The most reflective portion of the tire, the sidewalls, quickly become coated with brake dust and other road filth, especially in the wet winter months when you need visibility the most. You can wash them with soap and water but I’m too lazy and it’s too cold for me to do this.

The Sweetskinz Rattleback Semi-slick receives a 2 Broken Down Car Rating

Best Uses: Drawing attention to your bike, bike commuting, street riding
Likes: Good tread pattern
Dislikes: Expensive (~$45), heavy, poor tread pattern (Eclipse model), poor durability

I love the ease of use of my Crank Brothers Eggbeater pedals.  I’ve used them extensively for off- and on-road purposes.  Mud clearance, ease of engagement, ease of clipping out and range of motion are incomparable.  Customer service has also been responsive and informative.  However, I have experienced numerous failures with Crank Brothers pedals.  I have had the spring break, end-bolt disappear, cage bent, cleat fail and other miscellaneous failures.  I’ve even started to have a collection of old pedals where one broke and I keep the other for replacement of future failures.  It isn’t always the same-side pedal so it’s not something funky I’m doing with one leg.

I believe the cleats are designed to fail before the pedal as they’re made of a pretty soft metal.  However, in my experience, they tend to last as long as the pedal.  Overall, I think Crank Brothers pedals are very comfortable to use but have average or below-average durability.

Here are several tips if you use Crank Brothers pedals:

1.  Don’t buy the Smarty pedal.  It’s worthless.  It may fail almost immediately.

2.  Inspect your pedal and cleats regularly after 1000 miles (assuming your an urban commuter).  You don’t want a catastrophic failure to occur when you’re hopping a curb.

3.  Only buy the pedals which have forged cages.  The Smarty and others have a stamped cage that is weak at best — must be built in China.  However, don’t blame it on China.  The designer, in this case Crank Brothers, tells the manufacturer what to make.  The design responsibility lies with Crank Brothers.  They only make what Crank Brothers tells them to make.

4.  Save your old pedals.  You’ll likely want to buy more Crank Brothers pedals because of how easy they are to use but if you ride a lot, the pedals will fail and you’ll need a spare.

A User Need for Crank Brothers:

I want pedals and cleats that will last  5 grand of urban commuting yet are still as comfortable to use as your current designs.

A lot, I think. Following is a list of the repairs/maintenance I performed during 30 days in July and August:

Monday 7/20: Repaired tube. 15 minutes.
Tuesday: Cleaned both brake cables and replaced cable housing on front brake – 45 minutes.
Saturday 7/25: Repaired three tubes – 40 minutes.
Sunday: Repaired tube with two punctures – 30 minutes.
Tuesday: Puncture. 5 minute road repair, 15 min. patching work
Sunday: Trip to bike store, Replaced brake calipers, mounted new light, tightened bottom bracket on the fixie – 2.5 hours $25
Tuesday: New seatpost – the old one was almost 12 years old – 45 minutes $19
Saturday: Rebuilt front wheel – rim was almost 12 years old and out-of-round. $70 rim and spokes. – 2 hours
Sunday: Switched out rear tube to a Slime tube – other tube had six patches: 15 minutes
Friday 8/14: Fixed cable and adjusted internal hub shifter cable that was completely not functional: 20 minutes (still need to zip tie the cable to the frame and I noticed the cable is frayed at the shifter – will need to replace.)
Saturday 8/15: Biffed it on the fixie. Lots of time doctoring wounds. Have a nicely bent rear wheel. Will need 45 minutes to true. (Not included in the calculation)

For July/August 30 days: 8.25 hours of repairs.

This seems like a lot of time to be spending maintained a fleet of bikes as my primary form of transportation. I don’t wonder long about whether many of our current population would be interested in spending this much time repairing their primary form of transportation. We need more dependable bikes with more durable components!!!!!!!!!!!!