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Archives for March 2013

Sign of a Caring Bike Shop

03.21.2013 by Ray Niekamp // 1 Comment

What makes a good bike shop? In the past, we’ve noted some qualities, such as taking the time to learn your needs, treating you like a regular person rather than someone to sell something to, and knowledgeable mechanics.

A member of my bike club had one of the good experiences the other day, and let the rest of the club know about it. This particular bike shop is one of our club’s sponsors. We wear their logo on our jersey sleeves, and enjoy discounts at the shop. But it’s easy to take them for granted. My friend Buddy wrote that after about 12 to 14 miles on the bike, his foot went numb. Buddy picks up the story here:

“[It] has now progressed to foot pain anterior/superior to my arch. It was getting to the point where pain was not subsiding by the next day.

I finally decided I needed new cycling shoes. I took my current pair in to Bicycle Sports Shop this past Saturday expecting them to sell me a new pair, but I experienced quite the opposite. The sales assistant inspected my shoes and he quickly observed my insole was not optimal but there was still plenty of wear remaining on them.

He went into a full length discussion about the importance of proper fitting of shoes. He measured where my my instep was in relation to my shoe fit and marked it, he measured the type of arch I have using a thermal sensor, he measured how my feet pronated/supinated and whether their natural position was vargus or valgus.

Then he reset/repositioned my cleats, fitted and installed a proper Specialized arch insole according to my measurements, and inserted the proper wedge shim based on how my feet align under my knees. All this and the store was really busy. He could have easily just sold me a new pair of shoes and I never once mentioned that I was a member of [the club].

I figured it would take at least two or three cycling evolutions to see if I gained any benefit, but I tested them out today first time doing about 25 mi and OMG!  Just experienced slight numbness in the foot, no pain, and the apposing chronic slight knee pain and nagging lower back pain that I thought were just age related did not even occur!  I will definitely continue my patronage there for any future cycling needs.  And I will not mention any other competitors by name,  but the previous establishment I went to  basically just told me to ‘Match my shoe size and leave a little extra room in case your feet swell.’  Glad I shopped around.”

When your bike shop goes the extra mile for you, don’t take them for granted. Take your return business to them.

 

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Categories // Equipment Tags // bike shop

Bicycling In Large North American Cities

03.19.2013 by Ray Niekamp // 2 Comments

What is it that prompts people to ride bikes more in some cities, while in others, biking lags noticeably behind? Two academics did a report on the topic for the U.S. Dept. of Transportation, and it comes up with an answer that we’ve heard before.

By the way, the report is fully two years old, so I’m not trying to call your attention to new findings. But it’s likely most Bike Noob readers haven’t heard of or seen the report, so its results could be of interest.

The two researchers, John Pucher of Rutgers University and Ralph Buehler of Virginia Tech, aggregated cycling data from nine major North American cities over two decades, roughly 1990-2010. The cities in their study were Chicago, New York, Minneapolis, Montreal, Portland, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, and Washington. Those were picked because they already had a strong biking culture. Other major cities such as Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Detroit and Memphis were deliberately left out, because of their low rates of bicycle commuting and cycling facilities.

The rate of cycling was higher in these cities than in the rest of the U.S. or Canada, at least doubling over the two decades of the study. But the percentage of female riders was down, falling from 32 to 23 percent in the years between 2001-2009. The age group that showed the largest increase in the rate of cycling was the 40-64 year olds.

Bike commuting was up in those cities, by 64 percent in the U.S. The percentage of commuters who use bikes rose from 0.4 percent to 0.6 percent — a less impressive number.

Bike fatalities dropped in both the U.S. and Canada — by 66 percent up North, and 21 percent in the States. In fact, the researchers found the fatality rate in Canada to be a third of that in the U.S. Serious injuries also fell. Canada was down 40 percent, the U.S. 31 percent.

Perhaps the main finding of the study was that levels of bicycling positively correlate to the availability of bike lanes and/or bike paths. When cities have those amenities, cycling is three to four times higher than cities that do not. In surveys, cyclists indicated that they prefer segregated bike paths to bike lanes. Most cities have built both, and combining the two gives cyclists more flexibility in planning their trips. But cyclists were split on whether they prefer bike lanes or paths.

All nine cities in the study have been adding to their networks of bike lanes and bike paths. The study notes that bike lanes are growing at a faster rate than paths, by as much as ten times more in Chicago and New York, but even three times as fast in Washington and Minneapolis. “The increased focus on bike lanes,” write the authors, “might also reflect a shift toward promoting daily, utilitarian cycling, and away from the previous emphasis on recreational cycling.”

Cycle tracks, which are popular in Europe, are just starting to be built in North America. Cycle tracks are on-street bike paths separated from motor vehicle traffic by barriers. They’ve been built along some streets in New York, partly as a response to motorists who block bike lanes.

However, it’s the off-street bike paths that get the most use. Most of these are multi-use paths, and are mainly used for recreational cycling. Other bike amenities noted in the study are residential streets with traffic calming features (street narrowing, chicanes, speed humps) and bike boulevards, which give priority to bikes over cars.

The study is subtitled, “Lessons for New York,” and concludes that although New York has built the most bikeways in recent years, it has failed at integrating bicycling with public transit and bike parking.

The report concludes that while biking is enjoying growth, its growth is limited to the few dozen cities that have policies to promote cycling. In the U.S. South, from Texas to North Carolina, cycling rates are still extremely low. The cities that are undergoing a biking Renaissance offer great examples for other cities to follow.

 

 

 

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Categories // Commuting, cycling, Safety Tags // infrastructure

Letting Maintenance Slide

03.17.2013 by Ray Niekamp // 3 Comments

I was looking forward to this morning’s ride. It would be my longest since the crash last weekend, and while I knew my hip would be able to handle it, I still craved some longer than usual road time.

I went through my usual procedures prior to a ride, topped off the air in my tires, and pulled out of the driveway. And about a mile down the road, it hit me — I hadn’t lubed my chain.

bike-chain-lube-162f48Now, I’m pretty good about doing that. I try to lube it once every two weeks. But there are times when it just doesn’t get done. This time around, I think it’s been about a month.

My problem is, I’ve never really set a routine for maintenance of the bike. Often, I’ll grab a few stray minutes before the Sunday morning club ride and run the chain through a rag, then apply the lube. What I really need to do is set a time, like Saturday afternoon, where I give the bike more attention than just the chain.

Besides the chain, the bike could use a thorough washing. Last week’s wet weather left lots of grime on the wheels and tubes, and while I flicked a towel over them to get the worst of the gunk off, I can’t honestly call my bike clean right now.

Luckily, my indifferent maintenance hasn’t caused any problems yet. The bike performed well on today’s ride. Okay, sometimes the shifts weren’t as smooth as they could be. But overall, I’m satisfied with the way things are. They just can’t keep going along this way.

It looks like we’ll be having nice weather for the rest of the week. I’m sure some day I’ll set aside an hour and give my bike the kind of attention it deserves.

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Categories // Maintenance Tags // chain, lube

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