Q&A: Mondia badge, rim strips, steam cleaning

Q: Hello Jim
I am looking for a Mondia head badge circa 1980 to replace a lost one on my Mondia. do you know a source?

Thanks,
John

A: Sweet classic Swiss road bike John, and a cool head badge (photo courtesy of Classic Rendezvous). I would try checking eBay.com every week for it. Just search on "mondia bicycle badge" or even "bicycle head badges" or "bicycle emblems" or "bicycle badges." If you keep checking and checking you will see everything sooner or later.

You should also join the free www.classicrendezvous.com newsgroup and post a message to the gang that you're looking. If anyone has one on there they will let you know. They're a great group of vintage bike folks and they like to help others. In case you haven't seen it, CR has a nice page on Mondias too.

Hope you find one! I'd like a nice one for my head badge collection someday!
Jim
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Q: Jim,
I have a new set of wheels for standard clincher tires. They have triple box construction style rims which cause the heads of the spoke nipples to be recessed, each down inside its own well. Not having used such rims before, I'm concerned to know if any special type of rim strip is necessary, as it seems that the pressurized tube could be at risk should it be stressed into each spoke recess.

Roy

A: Hi Roy,
You need a rim strip that fills the cavity in the rim. I’m not sure whether you have a narrow cavity or a wide one, but you’d use the wide one for wide cavities and the narrow one for narrow ones. Most rims today use wide strips, like the Velox 22mm-wide one that you should be able to find at most bike shops. Bring your rim in so you can test fit it and get the right width. If the shop carries a different brand that's okay as long as it fits.

Don’t worry about the tire pressure forcing the tube into the nipple holes. The strips are made of tough reinforced materials that will prevent this. You can tell if a rim strip is the wrong width for the rim because there will be clearance on each side. Then, if you install the tire and tube and ride with it, you might not have any issues for a while if you were sure to align the rim strip to cover the spoke nipple holes in the rim. But, a too-narrow rim strip will usually creep off center after awhile exposing the nipple hole(s) and when that happens, the sharp edge of the hole will usually puncture the tube.

Keep in mind that the telltale sign of a puncture caused by something inside the rim is a hole in the "belly" of the tube. The belly (bottom) is the same surface the valve stem is part of. It's a good idea to always check tubes after a puncture to find the hole and identify whether it was caused by something sharp poking through the tire or from something inside the rim. With a correctly fitting rim strip you can pretty much rule out issues from inside the rim in most cases.

Jim
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Q: Jim,
I hope you won't mind a poorly phrased question from a biking novice. I'm buying a trike for my wife who has a balance disorder. It's a 3-speed foldable trike made by Worksman (from Walmart). We didn't want to invest at this point in a foldable recumbent trike, not knowing how my wife will like getting back into cycling, hence the more economical Worksman trike.

Since I'll be riding a normal bike with better gearing, I'm wondering if it might be possible at least to replace the internal 3-speed hub gearing with perhaps a 7-speed. Is this doable, and would it likely be expensive?

Many thanks for your help! And many thanks for your helpful, extensive website!

Steven

A: Hi Steven,
I’m not sure about the specs on that Worksman trike, but typically, upgrading to a 7-speed hub would be expensive. You’d have to purchase the hub and pay someone to build it into your wheel. This might or might not mean a new rim depending on how many spokes are in your wheel. The new hub has to match the original rim. You would also need to get the new shifter and cable and install and adjust that.

So, you could do it, but I would expect it would cost around $250 depending on which hub you ended up with, and you’d only end up with more gears, not necessarily any easier or harder gears. To figure that out you need to do the math but first you need to know the gearing ratios on the hub on your bike now and then research the ones on the 7-sp hub.

Usually, though, if you compare a 7-speed hub to a 3-sp, you get a slightly lower easy gear and slightly harder high gear, but not that much so. What you really get is more gears in between. So, what it gains you is more adjustability between gears.

Most people do fine whether they have a 3 or 7 speed. Keep in mind that any trike is heavy and harder to pedal than a standard two-wheeler so it’s not like she’ll be zooming around on it. Mostly it’s slow going, especially up hills. Even with a 3 speed, it’s usually possible to change the rear sprocket to a bigger one if you want lower gearing for easier climbing too.

The best thing is probably to have her ride the bike to find out how it is to pedal on the roads you guys normally ride on. If she needs easier gears you could visit a good local shop and ask them if they can switch out the rear sprocket for a bigger one, which should be relatively easy and inexpensive, maybe $30 or so. They may need to order the cog. You could also contact Worksman and ask about this as they are sure to have dealt with it before.

Hope something here is helpful and that I haven’t just confused you. Have fun with the trike.
Jim
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Q: Hi – There are plenty of voices online saying that cyclists should never use pressure washers to clean their bikes (due to the risk of forcing water into sealed units). I understand this.

I’m thinking about getting a small and cheap steam cleaner to clean my bike rims and chain. Being small and cheap, it would be quite low pressure.

I would always thoroughly re-lube the chain after cleaning it. Depending on the pressure of the steam cleaner I would be careful around the chainset and rear hub… I would also avoid paintwork, and wouldn’t leave it to linger on rubber.

If I’m very careful, and avoid any sealed units, am I risking anything else by using a steam cleaner?

Thanks,
Richard

PS – Surely this a great way to clean those bike components? Why aren’t there people doing this?

A: I haven’t tried steam cleaning, Richard, but what would concern me is too much heat. I would worry that steam would open small gaps and I would think that would allow the water to penetrate where you don’t want it, such as inside seals and between small parts meant to stay lubed. Since so many bike parts are like this, it would be nearly impossible to avoid them. You could certainly experiment to test that theory but I’d do it on something you don’t care that much about. I think you’ll find out that it’s easier to just wash the bike with a sponge and bucket of soapy water rather than do it with part steam cleaning and part with the soapy water and sponge.

Hope this helps,
Jim
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Q: Hi Jim,
If you're building a traditional touring bike, is it better to have 135mm spacing for mtb drivetrains or 130mm spacing for road drivetrains? Also, is it possible you can use Shimano Ultegra shifters with Shimano Rapid Rise rear derailleurs?

Thanks,
John

A: Hi John,
You can pretty much make work whatever you want to. It’s just a matter of tweaking until it’s right and works the way you need it to. There are touring frames from custom builders with all kinds of different spacing and steel frames can be "cold set" (a fancy term for bending and aligning) to whatever spacing your wheel is. So, it’s really just up to you on how you want to build the bike to suit your needs. A 135mm rear end makes a lot of sense if you’re carrying a heavy load or riding on rough roads, but I rode 5,000 miles on 120mm spacing carrying 75 pounds over the rear wheel and only broke 1 spoke the entire way. So, it all depends on what you want to do, how good a rear wheel you have, the load you’re carrying and where, the roads, your body weight, your riding style, etc. Compatibility might be an issue too. If you ruin a wheel on the road and can’t find one to fit that might be a bad thing – unless you carry the parts to fix your own stuff. You want to consider things like that too in deciding.

I have not specifically tried STI with Rapid Rise to know if it will work, but I believe it will as I’ve seen plenty of STI bikes with XTR rear derailleurs working fine according to the riders. And Rapid Rise is just reverse action, otherwise it’s the same so you’d just have a different shifting action with each click of the lever. I think it will still shift fine.

Happy bike building,
Jim
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New Cycling Book: Major Taylor

I'm really enjoying this new book and think you will too. It's called Major Taylor, the Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World, by noted longtime cycling historian and author Andrew Ritchie. It tells the story of Marshall W. Taylor, nicknamed "Major," who became the first African-American world champion in any sport other than boxing, and even with the extreme racism then, rose to the top of the bicycle racing game, the most popular sport in the world at the time (Taylor raced from about 1896 to 1910).

There've been a few books about the Major, including his autobiography, a children's picture book, and Mr. Ritchie's earlier effort, Major Taylor, The Extraordinary Career of a Champion Bicycle Racer, published in 1988.

I've never had a chance to read Taylor's autobiography, published in 1929, and which he peddled firsthand walking door to door in New England and New York to help make a living after retiring from racing in 1910. It's now a prized collectible and the only copy I've thumbed through was at the former Bicycle Museum of America in Chicago. Major Taylor had signed the title page and it was a privilege just holding it.

While I've liked all these books, Mr. Ritchie's new one is unique in that it's more of a coffee-table book measuring 8 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches. And, unlike his first work, which has the photos grouped midway through, this new release is lushly illustrated with photos on nearly every page, the result of new research in France where Taylor is still celebrated as one of the greatest cyclists ever.

Unfortunately, Taylor remains less known in America, so this new work is nice to see. And, it's a fascinating story of a gifted, determined and disciplined cyclist who starts as a young trick rider for an Indianapolis bicycle shop and then takes up racing and conquers the world even though his competitors put every obstacle possible in his path.

Mr. Ritchie's hope is that his "new edition of the book continues to focus attention on Major Taylor and helps to elevate him to his rightful place as one of America's greatest sports heroes." Interestingly, the book mentions that the long rumored movie about Taylor might come to pass, too, which could make all the difference.

Major Taylor, The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World is available for $39.95 from Cycle Publishing. For more on Major Taylor visit the Major Taylor Society or the Major Taylor Association. You might also be interested in the Major Taylor Velodrome and the Major Taylor Statue (video below).

Cars Videos Part 3

My friend Peter pointed me to this video and he comments,
"There's a European Union initiative, Shared Space, to study making road users more aware of each other. Best article I've seen is this one, from a professor of civil engineering and transportation.

Seems every article mentions the Laweiplein intersection in the Dutch city of Drachten, de Kaden, where highway engineer, Hans Monderman, removed lights, crosswalks, curbs and most lane markings. He did install a big roundabout to control traffic. At another intersection, they did away with the roundabout. This video shows the traffic flow - said to be the "purest example" of Shared Space. Perhaps, we're finally getting back to 1906, in our most advanced traffic flow experiments."

Cars Videos Part 2

Now, here's another old video. But this one is real footage, 7-minutes of traffic in San Francisco in 1906 a few days before the earthquake. What's cool here is how cyclists, cars, public transportation, horses and pedestrians all share busy Market Street equally. What makes this work is that they're all traveling at about the same speed - a nice example of how lowering speed limits on busy streets and roads makes them much safer and more pleasant to use for everyone.

Cars Can Turn Good People Bad

While it might be 60 years old, this Disney cartoon is still a fitting commentary on how getting behind a steering wheel changes some people. Pretty funny too.

Q&A: What's That Clicking Noise? and more

Tech Q & A: What's That Clicking Noise? Spokes, Shifters and Tricycles

Q: Jim -

I have a Diamondback Deluxe bicycle and as it rolls it goes click, click, click, click. It has 21 speeds and has Shimano components. If you pedal it does not click. As soon as you stop pedaling and coast, it clicks. If you pedal backwards the amount of clicking increases. If you go faster it clicks faster too. I assume it has something to do with the gears? Is there any way to stop it from doing this?

Thanks,

Tim

A: Great question, Tim, and you're not the first to ask me how to stop this noise. To help explain, here's a photo I took of a disassembled freewheel to show you what makes bicycles click (click to enlarge). Almost all bicycles with gears do this. And, it’s an important part of the bike that’s making the clicking so you don’t want to try to stop it.

If it really bothers you, it's possible to lubricate the bearings inside the freewheel/cassette (the mechanism that clicks) with slightly heavier oil to make the clicking quieter. But it's a little tricky to get the oil in there as freewheels and cassettes are usually semi sealed at the factory. So, it's usually not worth the effort just to make it a little quieter.

Hope this helps,

Jim

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Q: Good morning Jim,

Hello from a sunny but cool Costa Blanca. I have just dug my mountain bike out of mothballs (been working in UK for 2 years). All seemed fine except whilst riding up a slight incline the rear derailleur seems to be jumping a cog every 3 or 4 revolutions I have tried altering the settings, but to no avail. I should point out that it only does this in 3rd to 6th on each of the gear settings Hi through Med to Low. Any ideas what I am missing (apart from a brain!)?

Your assistance would be appreciated,

Peter

A: Hi Peter,

Have you checked to see if the shift lever is loose and not holding the derailleur in gear? That’s a common cause of what you describe. Depending on what type of shifters you have on your bike it might be as simple as tightening a tension screw on the shifter clockwise to keep the shifter from moving and allowing the derailleur to shift out of gear.

If this is what’s wrong you should be able to see the shift lever move about the same time the derailleur skips out of gear. Take a look at that and maybe it will solve the problem. You can also check this page on my website that provides a step-by-step on rear derailleur adjustment.

Hopefully something here will help. I’m happy to offer more help if needed,

Jim, from now, windy, chilly and wet Northern California
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Q: Hello Jim,

I came across your website and am looking forward to referencing your bicycle workshop book! Question: Is it possible to order one and two spokes rather than a whole box? I am looking for spares, but find that most online stores only carry full boxes, varying in quantity. Seems like a headache for a sub-dollar item to be shipped I suppose. And then my LBS's only had misc spokes on hand and some had none, but could order for me entire boxes of a given size. Curious as to your experience. Thanks for the online reading and expert insight!

Justin

A: Thanks for the email, Justin. Any good bicycle shop should be happy to sell you however many spokes you need. They might be out of stock of a certain size sometimes, but most good shops should have spokes in most common sizes in order to fix wheels. Some top shops even have the precision +/- $3,700 Phil Wood spoke cutting/threading machine that lets them "make" spokes in any size they want (photo).

Still, I know it isn’t like it used to be and that there are some shops that don’t even do any wheelbuilding since they buy all their wheels already built and don’t do major wheel repairs. But you should still be able to find a shop with spokes and they should be happy to sell you what you need. I’d just call around until you find a bicycle shop with spokes. Since you're somewhere in Wisconsin, have you tried Yellow Jersey in Madison?

FYI: Online places can’t make any money selling individual spokes so they require you to buy the whole box in most cases. Hope you can find the right shop for those spokes.

Happy wheelbuilding,

Jim
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Q: Jim, don't know if you can help, but here goes -

I work for a city in Arizona and recently we were given a Mead Cossack tricycle by a man who was throwing it away. The man told us it was his 84 year old wife's bike as a child and she no longer wanted it. The tricycle is in great shape for its age. missing only the fabric off the seat and the right pedal. The rubber on all the tires is still there, only cracked on the main wheel. The body is in great shape, just faded. The questions we have are: is it worth anything and if the city wants to restore it for the city hall, where do we begin? Any history would help!

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide,

Scott

A: Hi Scott,

I’m not a tricycle expert, but I can give you a link to a site that seems to be helpful, though they don’t list the Mead you have. It’s http://www.tricyclefetish.com/

You’ll see they claim to answer questions so maybe you can send a photo and get some help with your bike. You can also check eBay.com, look for trikes similar in age or style to yours and watch auctions to get a feel for value. In my experience, vintage trikes go for $50 to $75 if they’re excellent, original, all-there examples, but they have to be pretty special.

Sorry I can’t offer more help but I hope this gets you started,

Jim
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Q&A: Old Pedals, What's Upright, Chaindrag, Holy Bars, The Deal On Steel

Q: Hi Jim!
I was directed to your website by someone who works in my local bike shop. I recently purchased a pair of 1970's vintage Lambert pedals in gold. I was planning on using them on a kind of retro mountain bike commuter build-up. I am using brand-new 2010 Race Face cranks. I bought pedals online, and I was told by the seller that they were 9/16-inch, which is standard mountain bike size. They indeed look to be 9/16, but will not thread into the cranks or into several other older mountain bike cranks I have tried them in.

The threads look to be the same pitch (I think this is the correct term for spacing of threads) when compared to another mountain bike pedal which will screw in. The threads on the Lambert pedals look to be thicker and not as pointed. It seems like they have a`flat' on top. Lambert had their own cranks, and it has been suggested to me they might have cut their own style of thread to be specific to their cranks; or are these threads damaged? Unfortunately I've provided a photo. Any insight you can shed would be appreciated. I'd like to sound intelligent if I need to contact the seller.
Roy

A: Hi Roy,
There were some unusual things about the Lamberts but the pedals should have standard threading (9/16 x 20). The weird one is French but you wouldn’t expect to see that on a Lambert. There is a difference in thread pitch (the angle/shape of the thread) between British and Italian and Japanese 9/16-inch pedal threads but it doesn’t prevent them from going together. It can make screwing them in tougher though.

So, I think the threads are probably slightly different, the pedals being old, the crankset being new. What I would do in the shop if I was troubleshooting this is run a tap through the crank to make sure the threads are in perfect shape. Then I would try the pedals again. If you can get them started, they should go in. Be sure to grease the threads liberally and don’t force them in until you’re positive that the threads are mated well and the pedal is going in straight.

Also, I’m sure you know this but just in case, be absolutely certain to put the right pedal on the drive side and the left pedal on the non drive side, the former gets turned clockwise and the L gets turned counterclockwise. I see people ruin so many pedals and crankarms that I have to mention that. For more tips, you can read all about pedal installation/removal here.

If you don’t have pedal taps a shop should be happy to run them through your cranks to clean up the threads for next to nothing. It only takes about 5 minutes.

Lastly, I don’t want to jinx you but the Lambert bicycles were notoriously poor quality. I would be very careful riding those Lambert pedals. Lambert frames and forks broke, their cranks were as soft as butter and bent simply when you shifted the front derailleur, and there were numerous other problems. Lamberts are interesting history pieces for sure, but in my experience it’s a mistake to depend on them or the Lambert parts. That’s just a caution. Classic Rendezvous has a lot more about Lamberts. (The photo shown is theirs.)

Hope this is helpful,
Jim
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Q: I'm shopping and considering two different road bikes, Jim. One is more upright than the other. What does that mean? Which bike dimensions are the most important?
Thanks,
Steve

A: Boy that’s tricky to answer, Steve, because “upright” can mean a few things and I don’t know which you’re talking about. But, I’ll take an educated guess based on what’s going on in road bike design and say that what you’re probably comparing is a true road-racing bike and an upright version of the same bike, for example Cervelo’s S3 versus their RS (visit www.cervelo.com to compare them if you want).

Basically the former is a true road racing bike because it’s built for every possible competitive edge, no holds barred. This means a low, aero rider position, pretty extreme and best for flexible, fit athletes. This is decidedly not right for an awful lot of people, but still probably the majority of people who go shopping for road racing bikes and want the “best” end up with a bike like this. It’s a little like wanting a dream sports car and ending up in a Formula 1 race car.

Recently some companies are realizing that you can get 99% of the performance of this bike and heck of a lot more fun for the average sport rider if you just make it a little more “upright,” by designing the frame with a taller head tube that raises the bars an inch or so. Sometimes you’ll find a very slightly longer wheelbase. And, on some bikes, like Specialized’s there are even vibration damping elastomer widgets in the fork and stays to eliminate a lot of road shock.

But, essentially it’s a different rider position that’s a touch more upright that makes most people feel far more comfortable so they can enjoy all the excitement of road riding without any of the suffering of the super low aero position – and the best part is that other riders can't tell the difference unless they really, really know their bikes.

Hope this is helpful. Oh, FYI, the other upright is the old use, which was simply talking about how steeply pitched the seat tube and the head tube on the frame was. This affects comfort but is mostly used for dialing in the handling for the bike’s stated purpose such as criterium racing, road races, spints, climbs, etc. That’s why I assumed you were asked about the other.

Cheers,
Jim
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Q: Hi Jim,
On my rear derailleur, when the chain is on the highest gear (smallest sprocket), the chain coming into the pulley loop "rubs" with the chain exiting the pulley loop. I've had the bike just over a year, and the chain has never been taken off, or even the back wheel, as far as I know. But it must not have been like this when I bought it. How can I fix this?

Thanks in advance,
John

A: First, John, you want to make sure the chain doesn't need to be this long. To do this, shift onto the big/big combination (large chainring/large cog). You want to make sure your bike will shift up there and that there's a little slack when it's in that position. If so, you can remove a pair of links and see if it shortens the chain enough to prevent it rubbing.

Keep in mind that you probably wouldn't ride in the gear that causes it to rub. That's the small chainring/small cog combination and that's a "crossover" gear that causes wear and rough pedaling. Since you never/rarely ride in that gear it doesn't matter if the chain overlaps on it. And, if you have to shorten the chain so much to prevent the rubbing that your bike won't shift onto the big/big, that's a worse problem. It's a problem because it's relatively easy to forget and shift onto the big/big. Even though you don't want to ride in that crossover gear either, if you mistakenly shift up there and the chain is too tight, it's possible for the chain to get stuck up there so bad that you have to get off and remove your wheel to get enough slack to get the chain off the large chainring.

So, you want to experiment a little bit to make sure you have the slack to take some links out to solve the rubbing but not lose the ability to shift onto the big/big.

Hope that makes sense,
Jim
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Q: Hi Jim,
I recently bought a pair of CLB brake levers, which require the brake cables to be routed through the handlebars. I've already done the drilling, but now I'm getting nervous as I haven't really found anything other than old photos on the internet that tell me conclusively whether or not this is safe.

The handlebars are upright bars, the swept back type you see on most dutch bikes for instance. Fairly new, not really used but quite a few scratches. It's made of aluminium. The holes are 5mm in diameter but drilled at an angle so it's more of an oval. They are about 4 inches from either side of the stem (and there are also holes at the ends of the bars to secure the levers). I've filed the edges of the holes as well.

What do you think? I'm still finishing the build so haven't ridden it yet, but before I do or before I let someone else ride it, I'd like some reassurance they won't fail while I'm pumping up a hill (or sloping street, rather) in the midst of London traffic. I'm rather small if that matters- 52kg, but I'll have mates riding it occasionally as well, who could weigh as much as 100kg.

Looking forward to your advice.

Regards,
Jacque

A: Boy, that's a tough one, Jacque. The only way to know for sure is to know more about the handlebars. For example, if you had a second pair of bars you could drill them too and then see if you can bend or break the bars, maybe hanging from them or having a heavy friend hang from them (after attaching them overhead somehow).

Aluminum bars like that definitely aren't made to be drilled and with wide bars like that you have a lot of leverage. But then 5mm is a very small hole. If the bars were steel, I probably wouldn't worry about it, but it's the aluminum that worries me. Even if you just put a deep scratch in aluminum it can lead to a crack over time.

Can you see inside the hole to get an idea of the wall thickness of the aluminum? And, how far from the clamping section did you drill the holes? Right next to the clamp is where most of the stress is centered. If you were inches away from that and if the bar is 3 or 4mm thick aluminum, I'd feel a lot better about it than if it's 1mm thick and the holes are close.

I wish I could give you better news but you're doing the right thing being safe about it. When handlebars break it almost always leads to a crash, often a serious one. I would go with levers that don't require drilling maybe.

Hope this helps,
Jim
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Q: Jim,
From your experience can the average rider tell the difference between the different steel tubing grades used in modern bicycle frames? I know the cheap low-end stuff in WalMart bikes is dead and heavy, that is not the question. I have a 4130 chromoly Bianchi that really rides nice. I have a 631 Reynolds Jamis that rides excellent and is rather light at 18.5 pounds as a complete bike. So, when you move up to 853, 953 or the high-end Italian tubing, other than weight is the ride that much different? Also I understand the construction methods used such as TIG welding and lug and tube, but other than asthetics is there really any difference? It seems that you pay an awful lot for these upgrades.

Many thanks,
Bill

A: You sure know how to ask a tough question, Bill. Whether different quality steels ride differently is what riders have been debating since about 1886. The classic experiment would be to build identical bicycles with different steel and see if YOU could feel a difference. Some people say they can, some people say they can’t. In my experience, as long as the builder uses a great-riding geometry, and uses quality double-butted steel tubing, any steel bike will ride really nicely. I’ve ridden impressive Reynolds, Columbus, Tange, Champion, Ishiwata, Vitus, True Temper frames. If they get the best geometry and high quality tubing the bikes should all impress you with the ride. Actually that’s one of the limitations of steel – pretty similar characteristics from tubeset to tubeset. Which is why carbon has become so popular. Unlike steel, carbon can be manipulated almost to the molecular level by the builder. It starts as a thread, so by how it’s woven and laid up, much more can be done to fine tune the ride.

But, steel is still a wonderful choice for ride quality, durability, repairability, classic style, economy, and on and on.

If you are interested, I believe Jan Heine at Bicycle Quarterly recently did a test of similar steel bikes. You might visit his website and see if he’s offering it online. You may need to buy a back issue of his magazine to read it, but make sure it’s on the right topic first. I remember a test of identical bikes, but I’m not sure what all the parameters were. Still, it’s a very interesting magazine that not enough people know about so maybe you’d like to receive it.

Jim
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