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Archives for June 2010

Bike Mods In Place – Let’s See If They Work

06.03.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 1 Comment

Back in April, I had a bike fitting, which I’ve already talked about here. One of the conclusions that came from the fitting was that I needed to make two equipment modifications to the bike. I needed wider handlebars — 46 cm, although the fitter said 44 would do — and I needed shorter cranks.

In each case, the mods were not urgent, and he told me to get them when it was convenient.

They’re here, and they’re on the bike.

Our resident club mechanic, David,  posted that he had some surplus gear he wanted to get rid of — and one item just happened to be a set of 44 cm handlebars. Not only that, they were Ritchey Biomax, which have a shallow drop — something I thought I could use. He was willing to let them go for a song.

New bars in front. Only 2 cm wider, but you can still see the difference.

Of course, nothing ever falls into place without some kind of glitch. I pulled the old bars off my bike — which also involves peeling off the bar tape and removing the brake levers — and found out the new handlebar is a different diameter than the old one. They wouldn’t fit.

A bike without bars is a sad sight.

Bike mechanic David said I was in luck — that a shim was available that would let me fit the new skinny bars into the fat stem. Technical aside here: Handlebars used to have a diameter of 26 mm, but that’s been replaced by a new standard — 31.8 mm. At Mellow Johnny’s bike shop in downtown Austin (the one where Lance is part owner) one of the mechanics said he’d have to order the shim. “You’d think these would always be in stock,” he said. “It’s a reasonable request.” He ordered the eight-dollar part, and I had it in a week.

Step one done. New bars on, bar tape wrapped neater than before.

I could feel the difference right away, and I'm already used to it.

Meanwhile, our frequent guest poster Don Blount had switched to a new crankset, and offered to send me his old one. It had the 172.5 mm crank arms I needed (I had to replace the 175 mm arms that came with the bike). After a series of delays, I finally got the bike and the new crankset over to David, and he put them on today.

Ready to roll. If the weather cooperates.

Both Nelo, who did the fitting, and David told me the shorter cranks will improve my hill climbing. I’m stoked.

But it rained much of last night and today and the roads are wet. I have to pick up Mrs. Noob’s car from the shop, and then pick her up when she comes back from a business trip this evening.

I’ll climb tomorrow.

Ed. Note: Did 18 mi. one day after this post, including three intermediate hills. Hills seem to be easier. Will post in more detail after I’ve done a variety of rides with the new setup.

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Categories // Equipment Tags // Equipment

Low Water Crossings

06.01.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 2 Comments

During spring, rains bring high water in rivers and creeks. Sometimes, these streams rise above the level of roads and make a wet spot in the bridge area. Because the water is so shallow in these spots, however, it’s tempting for cyclists to ride across them.

My advice? Don’t.

I was on a ride with some acquaintances southwest of Dripping Springs, Texas. I’ve mentioned this area a time or two before. The rural roads are usually devoid of motorized traffic, and they’re hilly enough (and rough enough in places) to be interesting. A number of small creeks run through the area, and after the spring rains, the water runs across the road for weeks. In Texas, we call them “low water crossings,” because the water is quite shallow — maybe just enough to wet the surface, and usually less than a half-inch deep.

Anyhow, one of the cyclists who rides these roads more frequently than the rest of us told us about one spot in particular that was still covered with water. She warned us that we might want to walk our bikes across that bridge. Since it came just before we turn to go up a challenging hill, the temptation was to keep up our momentum and ride through it.

The lead rider shot across the bridge, splashing through the water. I thought I might do the same thing, but stopped just short of the wet part. There was algae on the concrete, and that makes the difference between a wet road surface and a slippery road surface. I dismounted and walked my bike across several feet of wetness.

As I was crossing, the third rider in line decided he would ride across. He got even with me, and I saw his wheel slide out from under him. His momentum carried him across the water, but he went down hard on the dry pavement.

After the crash. The rider, in the green jersey, is okay.

He wasn’t badly hurt, but did have some nasty road rash. “I just rode across that Friday [two days before],” he exclaimed.

We got an early introduction to low water crossings. My wife encountered one on her first organized ride, three years ago. She couldn’t clip out of her pedal fast enough, and went down on her side when her front tire hit the water. We’ve been leery of them ever since.

Even very shallow water, if it’s moving, can knock your tires out of line and cause you to go down. Couple that with algae in the water, and the road surface become as slick as ice. Walk across the wet spots. If you’re concerned about losing time, you can pedal faster on the dry parts.

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Categories // Safety Tags // water

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