BIKE VIDEO: Racer's Eye Vid of the 2011 Tour of California

Good morning race fans,
In anticipation of the Amgen Tour of California's visit to Santa Cruz on Tuesday, May 14, I've been looking for good videos to share from last year's race and I found this one. It's among the best TOC movies I've seen because it was shot from within the peloton using a GoPro camera. These mini cams weigh little and mount almost anywhere.

I'm not usually a fan of the typical footage cyclists capture with these ingenious cameras, which is usually geared toward recording your own ride for enjoying it afterwards. But whoever was behind the GoPro in this TOC film knew how to keep it interesting.

Apart from the having to put out 300+ watts all week long just not to get dropped part, it almost makes this professional stage race look like something fun to try!



If you're viewing this in your email and not seeing the video, here it is.

Good rides!
Jim

NEW BIKE BOOK: Must-Read for Classic Hollywood Fans

Love the classics? You need Hollywood Rides a Bike

With all the rain we're having in the Bay Area, I thought I'd tell you about a wonderful new book that's helping me ignore that fact that the riding's miserable right now.

Based on his acclaimed Rides a Bike website, Steven Rea's new coffee-table treasure Hollywood Rides a Bike, Cycling with the Stars is +/- 160 pages of gorgeous, mostly black-and-white photos of the greats of Tinseltown pedaling, beside or around often beautiful vintage bicycles, which were regularly used as free, quiet and fun transportation around the expansive and almost always sunny Paramount, Warner Bros., RKO and Columbia studios.

I can't put this book down, mesmerized by the sensational professionally produced glossies of 190 Hollywood legends on bikes as cool as they are, and in such fascinating settings and poses. Plus, every picture is captioned with film critic and bicycle lover Rea's insightful remarks and trivia (I had no idea that "platinum bombshell" Jean Harlow died at only 26 or that horror star Vincent Price could ride a highwheeler - and no-handed!). Many also include the actual studio notes provided with the photos when they were released to the press way back when.

There's a tanned James Stewart taking a break during the filming of Hitchcock's Rear Window, riding double on a Phillips 3-speed with Grace Kelly sitting sideways on the top tube. There's Lauren Bacall made up to the nines, reclining against a parked bicycle and enjoying a cup of coffee. The studio notes (from January, 1945) read, "She's dynamic, is easily the most photogenic subject who has come to films in many a day. Lauren prefers slacks, sweaters and bicycles to dresses, silk stockings and open cars. She likes to be free and unencumbered, she says." And there on page 60 is a teenage Elizabeth Taylor riding along a sidewalk, as Rea writes, "her whole extraordinary career and all those marriages and tabloid headlines ahead of her."

Hollywood Rides a Bike is a celebration of classic Hollywood and bicycles and one of the most unique and satisfying books to come along in a while. If you like movies as much as I do, you'll love it.

Jim

NEWS: Amgen Tour of California Upcoming Events

There are some local fundraising events coming up for the Tour of California's visit to Santa Cruz on May 14, so I'm spreading the word far and wide. Here's the line-up so far. I've also included one of the race posters. Be sure to click to zoom it. And if you missed it, be sure to watch the video about our stage.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS (lots of good food and cool prizes)

March 13 6 - 9pm - Evening of Inspiration! Hosted by Café Sparrow (great food)

Get to know local superstars and Tour of CA riders Andy and Ben Jacques-Maynes.
Hors d’oeuvres, wine, 3-course gourmet dinner and raffle of signed Tour of California jersey from Chris Horner! $100 per person http://www.tourofcalifornia-santacruz.com/content/evening-inspiration

April 17 5pm - Auction and Dining at Shadowbrook (more good eats)
A percentage of the evening’s sales are donated to the Local Organizing Committee (SCCCC) when you mention “Amgen.” Don’t miss out on the Silent Auction in the Rock Room Bar!
A week in Hawaii, three days on Lake Tahoe, tandem paragliding flights, zip lining passes and much more! http://www.tourofcalifornia-santacruz.com/content/silent-auction-shadowbrook

April 29 8 am - 1pm - Slow Coast Green Fondo Ride by Velo Cruz.
A beautiful 56-mile ride, prizes awarded: Calfee Bike Frame, ride in Team Type 1 car from SF to Aptos, VIP passes at Aptos finish line. 3:30 - 6 pm dinner at Main Street Garden and Café is included. http://www.tourofcalifornia-santacruz.com/content/slow-coast-green-fondo

Get involved and keep checking the website for updates as more activities will be added:
www.tourofcalifornia-santacruz.com


Thanks for supporting the race everyone!
Jim

BIKE VIDEO: Amgen Tour of CA Returns to Santa Cruz!

Calling all race fans!

It may take place a couple of months from now, but it's never too early to start planning your ride or trip to experience one of America's greatest cycling events, the Amgen Tour of California, an 8-stage, 750-mile professional road race from Santa Rosa to Los Angeles that will thunder over Santa Cruz County's challenging and famous climbs and descents during Stage 2, Tuesday, May 14.

Already the many local group rides are buzzing about sending the boys down crazy-steep and twisty Jamison Creek Road and then making them scale 2,250 feet in about 5 miles over more-vertical-than-Bonny-Doon (which has decided the race in previous visits to Santa Cruz) - Bear Creek Road, before the fastmen careen down Old San Jose Road at highway speeds and sprint for the win at the Cabrillo College finish.

Watch the video and click the course profile beneath it to learn more about what could be one of the key stages in this year's TOC. And if you get a chance, say thanks to Santa Cruz County Cycling Club's Maura Noel, who almost single-handedly, and with her own money (!), brought the race back to Surf City. Yay, Maura!!

Click to zoom!

I'll see you on the course May 14th! For those of you viewing this in your email here's a link to the video.
Jim

Bike Art: Do You Know This Cycling Sculpture?

Happy February spokesfolks,
My friend Bob Gelman just found this sculpture and he and I know little about it. So I told him I'd post photos here and ask you all to take a look and comment if you can offer any clues. Beneath the three photos of Bob's statue, I put pics and a video of a few more well known works you might enjoy.

About this mystery piece, Bob says,

"I asked the eBay seller and all he knew was that he got it at an estate sale and that it was supposedly orginally purchased at an upscale gift shop in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and was supposedly, titled The Peloton in Full Flight.  He also said he could not find a signature or other ID marking on it (I'll certainly look it over carefully when it arrives... maybe I'll find something.... I've watched Antiques Roadshow on TV!). From the pictures it seems like the faces and entire bodies could be identical molds in different shapes. It seems of much higher quality than most of the usual shoddy cycling "statues" one sees offered. It measures 12 x 12-inches and is comprised of resin and metal. Any and all help is appreciated, and if I find out more I'll let you know."

Please take a look and comment if you know anything more about Bob's find. Thanks!

Front

Side

Back

And, here are a few other notable cycling statutes. The first is of Major Taylor and one I hope to view in person the next time I'm back in New England. Having read two excellent biographies of Taylor, and knowing that he was almost forgotten, it would be wonderful to see it. 

Photo by Chris Kostman. Statue dedicated in Worcester, Massachusetts in 2008 

I have seen the next statue, which stands on the top of a pass above Lake Como near the Italian shrine to cycling, the Madonna del Ghisallo. But the day we were there it was so foggy and cold I could barely make out the details unfortunately.

Statue near the Madonna del Ghisallo cyclists' shrine

This may be among the largest of cycling statues and I bet it's impressive in person. I know some people pile up, or stack or weld together recycled bicycles in the name of art and that makes a large "statue," but I wish they would instead repair the old bicycles used in these creations and give them to needy people.

  

"Le Tour de France dans les Pyrenees sculpture - 1995

There are lots of whimsical bicycle statues out there and oddities like bicycle trees, but genuine sculptures of bicycles and cycling are pretty rare in my experience and it's always rewarding to see them.

Good rides!

Jim

BIKE REPAIR: Our Epic Quest To Find & Silence Every Bicycle Noise!

Hello Spokespeople,
I hope your 2012 is off to an exciting start with fun rides and bike projects. I've kicked off the new year by updating my Keep It Quiet, Finding and Silencing Clicks, Squeaks, Clunks, Rattles and Other Annoying Noises webpage. This comprehensive encycleopedia of all those blasted bicycle noises that drive us nuts has grown and grown since I first made it live about 10 years ago.

Maybe the best bike noise webpage going
Today it's among my longest, most visited and most helpful webpages and I don't know of another resource like it online. You might want to bookmark it on your computer and mobile device for easy access the next time you're frustrated by a click, tick, pop or clunk on a ride.

And you helped
While I wrote this page and steadily add to it and improve it, many of the tips came/come from you, the readers. So I like to think of it as our page - sort of a low-tech wiki on quieting noisy bikes. You've provided some excellent bike noises and clever solutions for them. Please keep them coming and I'll continue adding them to the page and slowly but surely maybe we'll fix every ride-ruining noise!

3 great noise-busters from you
Here are a few helpful bike shutter-uppers that you sent in.

First is Josh Naylor's elegantly simple solution for a noise that a lot of cyclists pedaling to work and around town usually just try to ignore, figuring there's nothing they can do about it.

Rattle, rattle
Even if you realize where it's coming from you might just accept it as inevitable, since it's built into the design of your U-lock (and you've got to have a lock to prevent your bicycle being stolen so you're willing to put up with it). The crossbar fits loosely and as you ride over bumpy roads, the U-lock shakes and makes a loud, distracting rattling noise.

U-locks are often carried in mounts/brackets/holders attached to the frame where the lock rattles away over bumps. And they'll rattle worse if they're hanging on your handlebar or rack. Tuck them in a pack and they'll quiet down but that's not convenient for every rider.

Ingenious fix
Josh realized what was making the noise and came up with a nice fix: wrapping elastic bands around the ends of the U (photo). This looks simple but it's actually pretty ingenious engineering and an idea that the U-lock companies might want to consider. In essence, Josh added rubber ends to the U so that when the lock is closed the separate pieces are held apart and kept from moving by the way the rubber elastic bands compress and expand. It's a clever solution, quick to add to the lock and completely free. Thanks, Josh!

Creaking on every pedal stroke
The next one is from Chris Watkins of  Adelaide, South Australia who writes,
 
"My noise happened on every right pedal stroke - a creaking noise driving me and my riding buddies nuts. They could hear me 200 meters away! 

It only happened when I was sitting, not standing!!! Bloody annoying and it got worse as the bike "warmed up!!" It sounded like it came from the bottom bracket/seatpost area so I got that overhauled. $130 later the creaking was still there. I checked the seatpost, cleats, pedals and it did no good.


Finally, I tried removing the bolt in the seatstay/dropout intersection (photo) near the rear wheel axle (I ride a Fuji Team carbon road bike). I took it out, greased the bolt and mating surfaces, reassembled and tightened, and voila, no noise. I'll now do it again but use Locktite to ensure the bolt stays tight and my bike stays creak-free!"


Thanks, Chris! Your noise and solution provides one of the best tips when trying to find and quiet bicycle noises, which is to realize that they can travel and sound like they're coming from a completely different part of the bike. So don't be surprised if your first guess doesn't turn out to be the source and you have to keep looking.

Try to isolate the noise
There are a lot of basic tips for tracking down noises in the beginning of my webpage so be sure to read that part first. A super helpful one is a way to isolate the noise so you can be sure it's coming from the part of the bike you think it's coming from. For example, if you think it's from the rear wheel, to be sure, ask a friend if you can borrow their wheel, replace yours with theirs and see if the noise goes away. If it does, you can be pretty sure the noise is coming from your wheel and you only need to inspect the wheel to find and fix it.

A nifty tool for finding and fixing bike noises
Speaking of ways to isolate and find noise-causers, I'll close with this tool tip from Steve Bales (I haven't tried this yet, but it sounds very promising). Steve uses an inexpensive auto mechanic's stethoscope, resting its tip on the part he thinks is making the noise. If it is, it will sound off loud and clear. In this fashion he has found and fixed squeaking (from a dry derailleur pulley), clicking coming from the rear axle locknuts against the frame dropouts and ticking (from his seatpost). One of these stethoscopes might be a good tool to add to Your Home Bicycle Workshop.

Calling all suggestions
As helpful as my webpage is, I'm not entirely happy with it, though. And maybe you have some ideas how it can be improved. The problem is that, as it's gotten longer, with more and more noises and solutions, it's become an awfully lot to read. Yes you can always use your browser's search/find function and type in the component that you think is making the noise, or the word that describes the noise your bike is making.

But I keep thinking there has to be a better way to present this information to make it more readable, easier to find solutions and hopefully even more fun. Edward R. Tufte would probably be able to help. Seeing as how he's probably way too busy, feel free to offer suggestions and maybe together we can pump up the volume on our great online bike noise resource. Thanks for all the help so far.
Jim

BIKE REPAIR: The Penny Trick

Hope you're all getting ready for a fun New Year's celebration,

Here's a bicycle repair trick that I wrote about last week in my Jim's Tech Talk column. In case you missed it, here it is with wishes it comes in handy sometime in 2012. It has sure saved me some frustration and skinned knuckles over the years.

I didn't mention this in my column because I didn't remember until the other day, but the trivia on this nifty tip is that one of Santa Cruz's cycling visionaries, Ross Shafer taught it to me. He's the bike guru that created the company Salsa that you're probably familiar with. Great guy with an amazing bicycle background you can read up on.

Remove/install that part the easy way

With no further detours, here's Ross' Penny Trick - or how to outsmart ill-fitting parts (rather than them outsmarting you!

This trick is a cool way to deal with annoying fits, like a seatpost binder (the binder is the clamp built into the frame and used for tightening the seatpost) that’s so tight you’re afraid you’re going to scratch your pristine seatpost inserting or adjusting it, or a modern 2-bolt Shimano crankarm that’s stuck on the bottom bracket axle, tempting you to break out the big hammer and teach it some respect.

Don’t do it. Use this elegant trick. It works on single-bolt stems that are so tight you can barely get the handlebars in, too.

The photo shows the basic setup you want to achieve. It’s not possible with every component, but often you can remove the bolt(s), reverse one of them (see tip below) and thread it into the other side of the part. Just thread it in partway.

Then take a penny (or a dime if a penny is too thick - washers will work, too) and place it beneath the bolt to give the bolt something to push against. Make sure the edge of the penny doesn’t protrude to the inside or it will get in the way when you install/remove the component.

Now, by tightening the bolt little by little, it pushes on the penny and that opens the crankarm, stem or seat binder wider making a formerly impossibly tight part into an easy slip-on!

Tip: This is a little difficult to explain and with different components you’ll have to look at them and figure out whether it will work and how to make it work. Please study the photo to understand the principle. If there are 2 bolts, as on the Shimano crankarms, be sure to fully loosen or remove both bolts and don't drop and lose the little plastic keeper that's held by the inside bolt!

UPDATE January, 2012: Since writing this tip about the penny trick for installing tight-fitting bicycle components, Jan Heine of Bicycle Quarterly (one of my favorite magazines) has posted an excellent article on the penny trick (he uses a quarter or dime) for installing handlebars into stems. Yes, it's a no-brainer to put handlebars into modern road and mountain stems with removable faceplates. But the penny trick is for one-piece stems that are sized exactly right for the handlebar and can't be taken apart.