Posts Tagged ‘blog’

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.

I’m never one to follow fads. I was always reasonably popular in school but never really ‘cool’. I couldn’t wear the right clothes or shoes or drive a cool car or act cool. Thus, when I started learning about the fixed gear movement, about two years ago when I moved to Memphis, I thought that seems really stupid and dangerous. Plus, even if I had a fixed gear, I wouldn’t be cool.

After a couple of friends and I attended the Bicycle Film Festival when it came to Memphis, I figured I’d give it a shot. I had an old Peugeot Monaco frame hanging in the garage which was left by the previous owner. I actually put it in the purchase agreement that the frame had to stay, I forgot about the refridgerator. Dohhhh! So, this summer when my wife and kids went to Haiti for 5 weeks, I made it my project.

I flipped the handle bars and cut them to make bull horns. Bought a set of road rims, tires, seat, seatpost, handle bar tape, chain and pedals. I re-greased the headset and replaced the bearings in the bottom bracket. I couldn’t find a seatpost to fit so I bought a 22.Xmm seatpost and shimmed the heck out of the seat tube. I also added a front brake as I am married with two children.

Peugeot Monaco Fixie

I took the first few rides pretty slow. After riding a aluminum mountain bike and city bike exclusively for almost two years, the feel of the steel frame was inspiring. While still rigid, almost no vibrations made it through to the seat our my hands. I also relish the fact that bike makes virtually no sound. I hate the hum of tires and engines which is pervasive almost anywhere there is the slightest bit of civilization. It feels good to ride something so quiet.

Probably my tenth ride on the fixie, and after a few beers, a friend and I were headed on a trek to find him a fixie frame. While trying to turn left across a busy road, I caught my left pedal on the ground. I came down sideways on the rear tire, which rolled and blew out. That sent me to the ground, hard. I skinned both elbows, my left hand, left knee and right foot (I was wearing sandals). A couple of weeks later after truing the wheel and putting on some new rubber, I discovered that I had also bent the heck out of my saddle rails and seatpost such that by looking at them you wouldn’t notice but once you got on, wow, ef-ed up. Since the seatpost was on back order, at least a month went by before I had the bike ride-able again.

I recently started working from home so I don’t need to take my mountain bike to work anymore — I had to hop curbs and navigate oft-wet grass. However, I go to a local gym, about three miles away, every morning. Since it’s not to far and the route is void of major roads, I take the fixie. While I’m still getting the hang of it and once and a while forgetting that I can’t stop pedaling, I thoroughly enjoy the bike. I look forward to mounting it every morning — don’t tell my wife. So, while I’m being a bit faddish, I have to say it’s well worth it.

PS: I can’t lock up the back wheel to slow down. I think the bend it the fork and the short run of the stem doesn’t allow me to get my weight far enough forward to take enough weight off the back wheel. Anyone had a similar issue?

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!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was on my bike train with my two children. A gentleman in a brand-spanking-new hybrid crossover leaned over and said, “I really appreciate what you’re doing.” “Riding in Memphis is so dangerous with so much traffic.” I wanted to say, “Have you ever ridden a bike around Memphis?!!!!!” “What the hell do you know about riding in Memphis?!!!!” But I’ve been tempered by age, experience and I gave the guy a break ’cause he actually shut his vehicle off while at the bank, unlike most of the bank patrons. So I said, “Memphis is a great place to ride. Of course, I don’t take Poplar or Union. I take to the backstreets. In Midtown, there’s very little traffic.” He said, “Well, I appreciate what you’re doing. Be safe.” To which I responded, “Always.”

I wish people like him and his family would get out and actually check out the scene. They may realize it’s not so bad and the more we’re out there the more comfortable the undesirable vehicle drivers would be. Again though, a few things temper my feelings here: 1. Bikes are high maintenance. (see my blog later this month). 2. Fellow bike advocates think we have to have bike lanes for people to start riding (I think more expensive gasoline — around $10 — would be more helpful and warranted as far as sustainability is concerned). 3. This is the south. It ain’t cool to ride a bike unless it’s a Harley Davidson. 4. Most people make their decisions based on fear. Many times this fear is groundless. If people didn’t have airlines and automobile companies telling them it was safe to travel in their vehicles, few would. Think about how much money the auto companies spend to advertise safety features. Despite that, if you die prematurely, chances are you’ll be in a car.

Cheers,

Mason