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Patched tubes vs. new ones

08.27.2009 by Ray Niekamp // 12 Comments

Last weekend, I flatted on my Saturday morning ride. I was only two miles from home, and was too worn out to change the flat then and there, so I called my wife and had her perform sag duties.

That evening, in the cool of my kitchen, I pulled out the tube and replaced it. The replacement tube had two patches, but they looked pretty sturdy. I generally will patch my flatted tubes and reuse them, so doing this again wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for me.

Sunday morning, I went out to the garage 20 minutes before the club ride was due to begin, and to my horror, found that the tire had gone flat overnight. Yikes! I pulled the wheel from the bike and hauled my tire levers and floor pump into the kitchen again. Then, I grabbed a new tube that was still in its box, fresh from the bike shop.

I scrambled to get the tube replaced and the tire remounted on the wheel. Everything seemed okay, so I quickly filled my water bottles and dashed to the coffee shop to meet the club ride. I got there within five minutes of the start — a record time for me at replacing a flat tire.

Then I proceeded to worry throughout the ride that I had been too hasty, and that the new tube might not be seated correctly, or any of a dozen other things that could cause me to flat again. But the tire performed well, and caused me no problems.

Obviously, I had missed a leak in the repaired tube — the one with two patches. There should have been a third one in there. The question is, when do you patch tubes and when do you replace them?

I’ve got four older tubes hanging from the wall in my garage right now. Each has one patch. Each would be called upon as a replacement tube if I get a flat (although since I’m running a new tube in the tire now, I would probably just go ahead and patch it, and remount it).

But is that a wise policy? Are patched tubes less durable somehow than new tubes? How many patches can you put on a tube and still have it give good service? How do you deal with the question?

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Categories // Equipment, Maintenance Tags // flat tire, tires, tube

Review: Retül 3-D Bike Fitting System

07.25.2009 by Ray Niekamp // 4 Comments

I remember the “bike fitting” I got when I bought my bike. The salesperson put the bike in a trainer, I put on my bike shoes, climbed on, and pedaled a little bit. Then she measured the angle of my knee when the pedal was at the bottom, made an adjustment to the seat, and told me the bike was “made for me.” There are better, albeit pricier, ways. Jeff Hemmel reviews one.

HemmelsRideBike fitting is part art, part science. Traditional fitting involves static measurements and some basic tools, like a plumb bob and ruler. My local shop sized me for my bike; later, another shop graciously fine-tuned things like cleat and seat position. Still, I never felt completely dialed in. Some of my issues may have been due to past injuries, including an ACL reconstruction and herniated disc. Others, however, were just my obsessive-compulsive wonderings, like why I never felt comfortable riding in the drops, or why my left leg often brushed the top tube. Eventually I went looking for an advanced bike fit. After all, even the priciest bike is no good if the owner doesn’t feel comfortable riding it.

Every shop seems to offer a name-brand fitting program nowadays. I chose Retül, a system that’s claim to fame is that it looks at a cyclist’s position dynamically, while the rider is actively pedaling. Small LED sensors are placed at key points of your body — wrist, elbow, shoulder, hip, knee, ankle, heel and the ball of the foot — and then a special motion-capture device tracks these positions in three-dimensional space as you pedal, relaying the info to a computer the fitter uses to analyze the data. In this way a fitter can analyze before and after positions, seeing just what works and what doesn’t as you actually ride, rather than sit stationary atop the bike.

“It’s better information,” explained experienced fitter Paul Williams, who conducted my personal fit at Clearwater, Florida’s Outspokin’ bicycle shop. “I can only make a rider’s position as good as I can with the information I have. The old-fashioned way was static, a tape measure and our ability to work with you to hold your body in the positions we were looking for. Now we don’t have to do that, we can measure you while you’re in motion, and it’s accurate, it’s repeatable.”

Williams began our two-hour session in a decidedly low-tech fashion. He asked about my riding style, experience and goals. He also brought up the subject of injuries or problem areas. Next I hopped up on a padded table, where Williams did a little bending and manipulating to get an idea of my flexibility and body mechanics. He then turned his attention to both my shoes and bike, setting everything — cleats, handlebars, seat, shift levers, etc — in a neutral position, from which we could then begin to tweak the bike to fit my body.

With everything set, the bike was locked in a trainer, I was bombarded with Velcro tabs for the various LEDs, and the LED-equipped wiring harness was attached to the left side of my body. After a good warm-up, Williams started recording the data.

RetulHemmel, wired.

Every so often, we’d stop to make a change. Following each and every adjustment I’d once again start pedaling at a decent cadence, the improvement, or lack thereof, shown in the data being collected on Williams’ laptop. Many positions and angles had known “target” numbers Williams was trying to achieve for best results, and the computer could record how I measured up during repeated revolutions. Some changes were dramatic. My saddle was shifted rather substantially, and my stem was flipped from its former positive to a new negative angle. Others were rather subtle, like a small repositioning of a shift/brake lever or minor tweak in cleat position. The data being generated, however, displayed a quantifiable difference. Still, the information was just a tool. It took an experienced fitter like Williams to put it to best use.

Once everything seemed good, the platform my bike was loaded upon was spun 180 degrees, sensors repositioned on my right side, and the process started anew. Amazingly, I was quite symmetrical. Both Williams and I expected problems thanks to my knee complications on the left-hand side, but apparently I’ve done some self-correction. A tracing of my left knee from the front showed a more pronounced wobble than the right, but it was within limits. A few more subtle changes followed until both of us were satisfied with the results and I hopped off the bike.

“Every fit is different,” explained Williams as we looked over the results. “We’re just working with you, the athlete, to make this the best possible fit we can so you can enjoy your bike, not get injured, ride fast, and be aero. We’re trying to create the perfect storm of all those things.”

He next produced a very cool tool called the Zin, a wand-like device that essentially digitized my bike’s geometry into the Retül program, where it would be combined with my biomechanical fit data. As he touched the Zin to various points on my bike, a stick-figure representation was being formed on the computer’s screen. With the exact measurements of these reference points, I could now exactly reproduce my position should something get changed or I decide to experiment down the road.

probePaul Williams with the Zin.

The proof of the system’s value would be proven not in the shop, but on the road the following day. My primary concern was comfort. Everything felt good, with no pain or problem spots. I also felt faster and more efficient, a feeling that was verified during a familiar 30-mile ride. The most-welcome change was that I was now comfortable riding in the drops; before, I avoided it like the plague. The change gave me an additional option on the bike, letting me generate more power and be more aero when desired.

Like most advanced fittings, Retül isn’t cheap. Average cost is around $250 for a two-hour session. Most dealers slash that price with the purchase of a new bike. As to whether the investment makes sense for a noob, Williams offered a compelling argument, beyond simple comfort. “I would rather have a new rider go through the fit before they’ve acclimated to a poor position, so that you don’t have to unlearn bad habits,” he explained. “A good position can help you learn good habits. Your body will do what comes naturally if you just give it the opportunity.”

My final take? Retül doesn’t make the difference, a good, experienced fitter does. What Retül offers, however, is a quantifiable, real-world look at how you measure up on your bike. In that way, it just may be one of the best instruments currently in a fitter’s toolbox.

For more information on Retul, or to locate a Retul fitter in your area, visit www.retul.com.

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Categories // Equipment, guest post Tags // bike fitting, guest post

The Bontrager Inform saddle (review)

07.09.2009 by Ray Niekamp // 9 Comments

The new Bontrager Inform saddle has been getting a lot of attention in the cycling press lately.  Guest poster Jeff Hemmel has been riding one  for awhile now, and provides this look.

HemmelsRideI’m somewhat obsessive about fit and comfort, so it was no surprise that I was ready to ditch the stock Bontrager saddle that came with my Trek 2.1. I briefly tried the comfy Terry Liberator from my hybrid, but quickly found it too big and cushy for my road bike. One of the Specialized Body Geometry models followed, before I settled on the Bontrager inForm RL that has topped my seat post for the last four months, or about 2000 miles.

There’s a lot of research behind the design of the inForm saddle, far too much to go into here. I’d encourage anyone interested to check out the data at bontrager.com/features/saddles. The basic conclusion, however, is that most riders don’t actually sit on their so-called “sit bones,” but instead their pubic arch. The more evenly you support that pubic arch, the less chance of compressing the pudendal nerve and artery, and the greater chance you prevent numbness and pain.

Inform1 Some saddles try to address the latter problem with cutouts, but according to Bontrager, that simply focuses pressure on specific areas, and may actually increase symptoms, rather than alleviate them. Bontrager uses two different densities of foam in the inForm saddle to increase comfort, a stiffer foam in areas that support the skeletal structure, and a softer foam in areas that come into contact with soft tissues. With this method, and each size of saddle’s unique curvature, the company claims to support the skeletal structure properly, distributing the pressure evenly over soft tissue areas, rather than concentrating it in specific spots.

Getting sized for the proper saddle requires a visit to a bike shop that carries the inForm line. As Bontrager reps explain, getting fit is essential, as saddles are sized according to pelvic structure, not the size of your derriere. Evidently, some big arse guys have small pelvises…and vice versa.

At the shop, I sat down on the “saddle sizer,” a simple bench with a gel-filled top pad that records pressure-point impressions. Once I sat for a few seconds I hopped off and the salesman adjusted a built-in slider on the pad until corresponding colors lined up under the two impressions left by my buttisimo. I measured out to be a medium in the inForm line (saddles come in 128, 143, and 150mm widths), which is a notch up from what I measured in the Specialized line. I have heard this comment from others, however, so it may be a common trait. I’m only about 5’ 8”, 155 pounds, but evidently I’ve got a medium-sized pelvis…at least in Bontrager’s opinion.

Once my color (size) was known, I just went to the wall and picked out a saddle with the matching color label. I put the saddle on my bike, adjusted several times to get everything level, and hit the road.

Inform2Saddles are one of those personal preference things, but I quickly discovered I liked the more rounded curves of the inForm. Previously I had been trying a Specialized Avatar Gel, which I found too flat for my taste. The Specialized’s cutout seemed to keep away any numbness, but I developed some weird back pain. That went away with the inForm RL. There is a short break-in period, but after that, I found the saddle relatively comfortable.

No, it wasn’t the Holy Grail; I still long for that perfect saddle that will “disappear” beneath me on long rides like some riders promise. But overall, the shape seemed to work for me. The top cover was also slippery enough to allow me to slide back when I wanted, or scoot forward, without undue effort.

One quirk? The saddle’s plastic base has two pronounced ridges under the nose. I found my cycling shorts occasionally brushed against them as I rode, never enough to snag the fabric or cause a tear, but enough to be noticeable. With time I’ve gotten used to it, and haven’t found it to be a problem.

End of story? Not quite. While I can’t say I ever loved the inForm, I liked it enough to stick with it. About two months ago, however, I suddenly began to develop the very numbness that Bontrager claimed to prevent. For a guy who never really had any problem with numbness in the past, it was a little disconcerting to reach down there to make an adjustment and, well, touch something before the body part in question noticed it was being touched.

The sudden change makes no sense to me. My body position hasn’t changed. Most of my rides the past few months, however, have been quite windy. Perhaps my position changes fighting the wind, and I’m placing pressure on different areas of the saddle. I asked Bontrager reps about the problem, and they seem as puzzled as I am. I guess I’ll continue to experiment slightly with positioning to see if I can solve the problem. I recently had a bike fitting, and the fitter changed the position of my saddle. But while I didn’t notice any numbness during the fitting, it returned again once I hit the road. I’m living with the problem currently – I periodically get up out of the seat to restore some blood flow — but I don’t like it.

That makes it hard to draw a definitive conclusion. My initial reaction was quite favorable. I liked the saddle’s support, it didn’t cause numbness, end of story. Recent problems, however, have me questioning how long the saddle will last. Still, I’d suggest trying one out. Bontrager offers a generous 90-day unconditional comfort guarantee, so you can try it for several months and return it if you don’t like the ride.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to find some of that chamois cream with the cooling sensation. I’m hoping a little party in my pants will keep my privates awake until I can figure out what went wrong.

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Categories // Equipment, guest post Tags // saddle

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