Q&A: Brake hoods, if it ain't busted, broken spokes, pain x 2

Q: Thought this might be a good question for your blog, Jim. I’m sure you’ve come across this plenty over the years. I just picked up a nice barn-fresh Miyata 210 that I have put back into commuter service. Bike needed nothing but air in the tires and a little bit of lube here and there to get it back on the road, and it of course still needs a bath… my question is about the gum hoods on the brake levers – they’ve melted and bubbled up over the years, and now have the consistency of gummi bears. What is the best method of removing the old gum so I can get some shiny new ones on there?

Thanks,
Campbell

A: That Miyata is a nice find, Campbell. I’m glad it’s found an owner who’s going to breathe new life into it and use it. Miyatas are sweet bikes that ride great. I sold a lot of those in the eighties. On your hoods, you might be able to slice a cut in one side and then peel them off carefully in one piece. If they fall apart and pieces remain stuck all over the lever bodies, try a benign solvent like isopropyl alcohol. If you wet the hoods being sure to get it beneath as much as possible - and wait a little bit, they should loosen letting you pick them off piece by piece.

You could also try WD-40 which has solvent in it. You’ll just want to clean the levers afterward so the new hoods don’t slip around. You could also get the hood bits off with a wire brush. The levers are aluminum so you’ll scratch them with the wire bristles but it won’t hurt them and you won’t see it when the new hoods are on.

For new hoods, you need to find a shop that has them in stock or you’ll need to ask them to order them. It may be tricky to impossible to find an exact fit, but the distributor named QBP has part #BR1181, which is a pair of Dia-Compe Cane Creek Standard Non-Aero Hoods in Brown and they look right for your levers. They should sell for about $10 per pair. Since this distributor has them, you might search online to see if someone sells them online. Or you might be able to call Cane Creek and ask them for a local shop that has them in stock.

They also come in black, and the black ones sometimes last longer than the brown (gum) ones, and may never get as bad as these did.

Note that for modern hoods, replacements are usually readily available. And, a tip to make new hood installation easy is to soak them in warm water for a few minutes so they'll be more compliant and slip right up and over the lever and onto the brake lever hood. If you can't find the hoods you need or want something unusual like a custom color, try Hudz hoods.

Enjoy that nice Miyata,
Jim
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Q: Hi Jim,
I follow you on roadbikerider.com and appreciate all your information for roadies. I am 55 years old and put 2,000 miles on in the summer here in eastern Wisconsin. In 2007 I bought a custom made ID8 from Seven with Shimano Dura-Ace components. I have 4,000 miles on the bike. When I spin the crank, front and back wheels, the smooth sound is just like when I bought it. I am meticulous when it come to cleaning the chain and such. Should I have the bearings and crank in for routine maintenance even though the bearings run smooth? If it isn't broke should I fix it?

Rick

A: It's hard for me to know whether anything is worn out or not from what you wrote, Rick, but after 4,000 miles and 3 years of use, it would be smart to at least check things. A bike shop mechanic would probably be happy to take a look and let you know. It'll only take about 5 minutes and estimates like this are usually free if you don't choose or need to have any work done.

After 3 years of use and 4,000 miles you'd expect that you might need new tires, brake pads, perhaps a cable and maybe a chain and cassette. But, if someone really is meticulous and keeps the parts super clean and doesn't abuse the bike or ride in the rain, these parts can last a long time and may not need to be replaced yet.

You didn't say whether you had replaced the chain. But, if you're still on the original chain, one quick way you can gauge wear and tear is to measure the chain. If it's in good shape you'll be able to measure exactly 12 inches between 2 pins. If you do this and get 1 1/8 inches or longer, it tells you that you've worn out the chain and that's a sign that you might need other parts equally worn replaced.

Note that the sealed bottom bracket bearing assembly can last a long time. If the crankset still spins smoothly with a slight hydraulic resistance it's probably still fine. One more thing - if you are in the flat part of Wisconsin and don't climb steep hills much, that reduces the wear and tear on a bicycle too.

Hope these tips are helpful and thanks for your kind words about my writing on RBR. I appreciate it,

Jim
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Q: Jim - I ride a Fuji Absolute 4.0, Jim, and am constantly breaking spokes and retruing wheels, especially the rear. I have taken it to two different shops and they both said there are no mechanical defects. I am very careful about bumps, terrain, RR tracks, etc. I have heard that certain rims are rated to handle specific loads but the shops do not agree. I am 6'2"/225lbs. The rims are Alex ID 19.

Any ideas on why the spokes are breaking and the best fix?
Kent

A: Hi Kent,
Yes. When you break spokes, the issue is almost always bad spokes. I would recommend having the spokes replaced with quality spokes. My favorite are DT 14-gauge stainless steel spokes. You’ll want to find a shop that has a good wheelbuilder and just have him rebuild your wheel with these spokes. Phil Wood and Wheelsmith also make quality stainless steel spokes, but go with one of these types, and I prefer DT (from Switzerland) just because I've been using them the longest.

The other way to deal with broken spokes is to fix the spokes one at a time as they break, replacing them one by one with the DT stainless spokes. That will work too, but it will mean that you keep breaking spokes. So, you will keep having to bring the bike in, or learn to fix the spokes yourself and carry some spokes on longer rides so you can fix one if it breaks. It’s pretty easy to do it if you have the tools to remove the cassette so that you can put in the new spoke.

Here's a tip that makes it so easy you can almost do it blindfolded: Once you have the broken spoke out and the new spoke in, to true and tension the wheel, just tighten the spoke nipple and pluck the spoke to listen to the sound it makes. When it makes the same pitch of ping when you pluck it as the spokes next to it make (on the same side of the wheel), the rim will be reasonably true and tensioned and the wheel ready to ride on.

Happy wheel truing,
Jim
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Q: My name is Kraig and having started riding 3 1/2 years ago I am having some mid-upper back problems after cycling. I found your website through a friend and saw your email address and thought I'd drop a line to see if you had any suggestions. I am riding a Specialized Tarmac that was fit by my LBS (Specialized dealer). I experience no discomfort while riding but usually later in the day or more often the next day I notice my mid-upper back is stiff and my rear right calf has discomfort. I have seen a sports med Dr and he said the calf issue is related to the back. Without having fit me do you have any suggestions?

Sincerely,
Kraig

A: Nice to E-meet you, Kraig. Why don’t you start by taking a look at these two articles on my site. They are designed to make it relatively easy for anyone to fit themselves on a bike or find basic fit problems:

This article is a step-by-step bike fit. By reading the steps you should get a feel for whether you got a good fit or some steps might have been missed. This article is more basic. It’s problems and solutions for bike fitting.

In my experience, mid back issues after cycling can be because the distance between your seat and your handlebars is too close. This will cause you to crunch, or bend too much, sort of putting a kink in your back. Ideally when cycling you will have a nice, straight, relaxed back, no curvature except what’s natural for your back.

So, the fix might be as simple as getting a longer stem that lets you stretch your back out to its natural position.

One no-cost way to test this theory is to put your bike on a trainer and then ride with your hands way out on the brake hoods as if they were the handlebars. If this feels more comfortable it’s an indication that your bars may be too close because of too short a stem.

That’s just one idea, but it is a common cause of middle/top-of-the-back pain. Check out my bike fit articles and think about this and let me know what you find and I’m happy to suggest other things as needed.

Hope this helps get you riding pain-free!
Jim
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Q: Hello Jim,
I ride a Specialized Roubaix road bike and have a problem. No matter how I adjust my saddle, fore/aft, height, tilt, I always seem to get skin irritations in the perineum area after about 20 miles. Even when I change saddles (Fizik Aliante, Selle Italia Prolink Gel Flow) I still have the same problem. However, the redness and discomfort spots are only on the left side of my body.

I recently had my chiropractor measure my legs and found my left is 1/8-inch shorter than the right. Would saddle rotation from center correct the problem and if so which direction should I turn the saddle nose and how much?

I don't use a chamois cream but have thought about Bag Balm but am afraid that it won't wash out of the chamois with machine washing. Do you have any other suggestions to correct the problem? I'd prefer to fit on the bike correctly rather than use a cream to cover up an existing problem. I have been professionally fitted, explained the problem, but never received advice that corrected it.

Thanks,
Richard

A: Since it’s the one thing you haven’t tried, Richard, I would recommend trying the chamois lubes like Chamois Butt'r. Many road riders swear by it and apply it before every ride. Many won’t ride an inch without it, too. And, I’m talking about regular century riders and even pro racers. It washes out of the chamois, but it’s antibacterial and usually made to soften and preserve the chamois, not harm it in any way.

I would try that and see if it solves your problem. You are riding a really nice bike, and nice seats, so I don’t think the problem is equipment based. Sometimes the shorts are the culprit but I assume you’ve tried quality shorts and had the same issue. If not, try a premier brand like Capo. They’re way expensive, but it’s like sitting on a cloud.

I wouldn’t worry about leg-length discrepancy unless it was a lot more than 1/8 inch. Your body can easily adapt for small differences and 1/8 inch is nothing to worry about in my experience. If you were an inch off, it might make sense to experiment. One very quick check is to look and see if your seat is wearing away on one side and like new on the other. That’s a classic sign of one leg reaching while the other leg is bending. But, I’ll be surprised if you have this issue with one leg just slightly different. I’ve been told that almost everyone has some discrepancy.

Here, also, is a link to a page on the website roadbikerider.com, for which I also write. This page has a bunch of proven solutions for saddle sores that might help you too:


I hope the lube solves the problem,
Jim
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NEWS - Matt Langley's Lawn-Mowing Trike

I couldn't attend the Shimano North American Handmade Bicycle Show this year because it was held across the country in Richmond, Virginia. But, I followed the online coverage and found a nice surprise on the cool cyclelicious site: photos of my brother Matt's pedal-powered recumbent tricycle lawn mower (I had only seen prototypes up until now - and heard from Matt that they worked great)!

So that I could share the news about Matt's clever invention, Cyclelicious was kind enough to let me use their story here. The nice pics are by photographer Ed Ip who covered the show for cyclelicious. Here's their story...

"Ted Wojcik of Ted Wojcik Custom Bicycles talked with us on the first day of the 2010 Shimano North American Handmade Bicycle Show about a unique trike he brought to the show.

Cyclelicious - You’re sitting on a pedal-powered lawn mower. Can you tell me about it?

Ted Wojcik - It was made for Matt Langley of Portsmouth, NH [editor's note: Matt actually lives in Eliot, Maine]. His brother is Jim Langley, the chief Technical Editor of Bicycling Magazine from 1989 to 1999.

Matt says he has the world’s greatest talent for blowing up gasoline-powered lawn mowers. Matt had been dragging this reel mower behind a mountain bike. The reel mower part of this is marketed and sold to be pulled behind a wheel chair. We forget that people in wheelchairs need to mow their lawn too.

Jim said to Matt, “hey there’s a guy up by you who makes bicycles, go see him and see what he can do.” My son Cody is a recent graduate from Worcester Polytech. He’s a Mechanical Engineer. It was interesting working with my son and seeing what $200,000 worth of education gets you.

He did the whole thing, with my input, in SolidWorks and it was functioning in animation in SolidWorks before we cut a piece of metal. So, this was a very contemporary design and engineering project that an old Yankee like me got drawn into. This is the result. I’m very proud of Cody. I was a little bit pessimistic, but we put it together at the shop and took it outside. It’s been mowing grass since August.

C - Do you think that the process you used on this pedal powered mower will influence how you design bikes in the future?

TW - I’ve actually been using a simple CAD program for making bikes since 1990. One of my customers gave me a very simple CAD program and I used it to document all of my bike designs and categorize them. One bike transitions to another which transitions to another. So the computer part of it I was very open to. But I’m an old dog and new tricks are hard. It was easier to have my son use SolidWorks; he’s very competent with the software. It was neat to witness it.

This is the first public showing. Although whenever we had it outside of the shop, cars pulled in off the street to see it. You can also take the mower off it if and ride it for fun, though that’s not really the intention.

We’re getting reading to make the second version of it which will be a little different. We’re going to make it a little shorter so it turns tighter. It has a multi-speed rear hub with a coaster brake, but we’re going to put a fixed gear ini it so you can back up. It really doesn’t need brakes. If you stop pedaling, it stops. With fixed gear, you can hold it back with the pedals.

We’re going to go ahead and make some. We’ve had so much interest in it here at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show, we’re optimistic it will work out well for us.

This was very expensive to make. We’re shooting for between $3,500 and $5,000 for it. Hopefully it’ll work out. We paid $500 for the seat. By the time you add everything up, it was a lot of money to build this bike. Buying parts in quantity will help lower the cost.

We have some Wooster Polytech mechanical engineer students who are interested in interning. We’ll set up a production facility and try to make a couple of them a day. We’ll separate it from the bike business, but they’ll be associated. This will be a start up that we’ll go ahead with."

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.