Finally! The wedding/valentine's day/sorry the commuting bike you bought three years ago was not a great success gift has hit the road! 

Dorothe is an even more committed bicycle commuter than I am, which is really great except for all of the brake shoes I have had to put on her old reliable.  The mountain bike experiment ("this is the bike that I ride to work, I want the slowest bike you have!") was not a success other than putting the two of us in touch again, so I knuckled down to build a bike for Dorothe along the lines of the bikes that Roger has put together for Ruth and himself.  The goal is lowest possible maintenence--the last thing I want to do after work is more work!  So internal gears that allow a heavier guage chain that always runs a straight path, disc brakes which don't go through brake pads and rims so quickly and a generator light so no batteries to replace.  The single chain path allows for a super cool chain guard and matching fenders of course.  Such a simple bike, but the frame had more braze-ons than anything else I have ever built!

So as the snow has built around Charlottesville and Blue Wheel, I've been doing some frame building again this winter.  A new 'cross frame for myself and a new commuter for Dorothe to get back into the swing of things and now the tandem to replace the wedding tandem built for Arch and Cindy in Spokane.

If nothing else, there is nothing quite like an acetelyne torch for keeping warm!

Coming up this February 26-28 is the North American Handbuilt Bicycle Show in Richmond.  This is truly a must see for people who love bicycle craft!  Mor information at: http://www.handmadebicycleshow.com/2010-info/

Something often overlooked is the little bit of water that works into every little space.  As you get ready to head back out into the post blizzard weather--give your bike some time in a warm dry place.  If your bike has ice water in its veins--the shift and brake cables--they may function poorly or not at all.  New lube where the cables run through their housings will slow down the onset of frozen cables.  For bikes with cable routing under the bottom bracket, don't forget to lube that little guide at the bottom of the bike.  Stay safe out there!

Chain lube is a little like ski wax—the right one to use may change with the weather. Lighter lubricants like Finish Line Dry or Ceramic Wax run cleaner. A cleaner chain will last longer, so use the lightest lubricant that the weather and riding conditions allow. Lighter lubes, though clean, have poor staying power in wet conditions. Your choice, then, is to use a heavier 'wet' lube, like Finish Line Wet or Ceramic Wet, or to use the lighter lube more often—which is really any time the bike gets wet. 

Cleanliness is key to proper lubrication. Road and trail dirt and grit will build up on the chain and begin to work into the sliver of space between the chain's inner and outer plates causing accelerated wear. The lubricants themselves become sticky as they dry out and actually hold onto more of this abrasive junk. Ideally, re-lubricate and wipe down your chain every four or five rides or after any wet.  Go ahead and be generous with the lube, but then, after letting the lubricant penetrate into the space between the plates, wipe agressively to remove the surface lube.  This cleans the chain and gives you a chance to feel if there are any stiff or damaged links.

Is it time to lube? Nothing works better to figure this out than getting your fingers a little dirty and feeling the chain. A chain should feel clean and slick, but not too wet. Too long between lube applications and the chain will be totally dry. In this state, you might even hear a metallic sound as you pedal. Too much lube, and you will feel a gritty, black build up of old lube and dirt between your fingers. For the best results, here a few key things to know: 

• Avoid lubricants like tri-flow that, though not a oil lube, is in a petroleum ‘carrier.’ Petroleum products are the worst for becoming sticky as they dry. Most lubricants for bicycle use are a synthetic base as well as teflon or wax in the lube itself. Personally, I think that most of these are the same products in different labels. One thing to stay away from entirely is WD-40. W and D stand for ‘water displacing.’ It is a petroleum rust proofing agent that became a popular lube. It is one of the stickiest things you can put on your bike. The wax lubes are mixed in a carrier that also works as a great cleaning agent. The new Finish Line Ceramic Wax and Ceramic Wet lubricants are great choices here. Pedros Ice Wax and White Lightening lube are also popular. They work well for mountain bikes as well, but put the lube on every ride. 

• Some wax products really build up, leading to the term here at Blue Wheel: “White Lightening Abusers.” The wax, if the user doesn’t wipe the excess off—the cleaning procedure described in the instructions on the bottle—the wax keeps building until the individual cogs become hard to find!

• All of these different lubricants need to be applied generously, but then scrubbed off aggressively. Take an old t-shirt or rag and, after letting the lubricants soak in for 10-15 minutes, try to work all of the surface lubricant off. This way, the lube stays between the plates of the chain, but the surface is dry so that it won't get sticky.

Here are a couple of sales pitches that will tell you more about the lubricants:

http://www.invodo.com/Finish-Line-Ceramic-Wax-Lube/p/7D837LBE

http://www.invodo.com/Finish-Line-Ceramic-Wet-Lube/p/UGV5AXBU

http://www.invodo.com/Finish-Line-Dry-Teflon-Lube/p/63SLTZ6D

http://www.invodo.com/Finish-Line-Wet-Lubricant/p/FAMYEUT8

There have been requests for text versions of the fix-a-flat video published below, so here you go!  Feel free to print out.  I'm cribbing this down to key items to print on a 3 x 5 and will have them laminated in the store.  I'll post when that is ready.

I’ve lost count of how many flats I’ve fixed only to have the bit of thorn or glass that got left in the tire puncture the new tube. Be sure to diagnose what caused the flat!  Start by taking the offending wheel out of the bike (I'll post those details next), and then:

• Dig your tire levers from your tool kit (remember your tool kit?)

• Using the tire lever, or levers if necessary, remove one side only of the tire from the rim. Remember that if the tire is an especially tight fit you can hook the first tire lever to a spoke to hold that section of the tire while the next lever is put into play.

• The valve stem of the inner tube is somewhat more fragile than the rest of the tube, so start this removal a quarter of the way around the wheel away from the valve and continue working away so that the tire near the valve is the last and easiest to remove.

• Pull the inner tube out of the tire, but leave the valve inserted through the rim.

• Pump up the removed tube until it is 2-3 times normal size—big enough to hear the leak.

• Tube analysis 101: Is it a single hole? If so, you should be able to tell if it is on the ‘top side’ or rim side of the tube. A top side single puncture indicates the need to search the inside of the tire for the shard of debris that is probably still there. Leaving the tire and tube partly on the wheel helps narrow this search.

• A puncture on the rim side indicates that the rim cover or “rim strip” has failed. This strip keeps the spokes or the rim’s spoke holes from cutting the tube.

• In the case of a rim strip failure, the only correct fix is to replace the strip. A Velox or similar cloth strip is worth it.  An emergency use of a power bar wrapper or the like can get you home.

• A pair of holes—usually on the side of the tube—indicates that you’ve hit something hard enough to pinch the tire against the rim and have torn a puncture through the fold in the tube.

• All tires loose air over time. There is so little volume in a bicycle tire that this loss is measurable in days. Road bicycle tires should be checked once a week, as they will loose as much as ten percent of their pressure per week. Mountain tires should be checked every other week.  Unchecked, this air loss makes the pinch flat more likely.

• Replacing a new tube: put a little air into the new tube, just enough to give it shape. Start by inserting the valve into the rim and tucking this portion of the tube into the tire—which should still have one side on the rim. Tuck the rest of the tube up into the tire and then ‘roll’ the tire and tube over the center of the rim.

• The slightly inflated tube will want to poke out over the rim's edge—it is this ‘belly over the belt’ that will get caught when finishing the tire installation.

• Once the tube is centered over the rim, start at the valve and begin working the second side of the tire back up and over the rim. Work in both directions away from the valve.

• Somewhere before you finish, it will get difficult to carry on by hand and you will be tempted to take up your tire lever and pry. Do not succumb to temptation! In this end zone, make sure that there isn’t some tube still stuck out over the rim's edge. Now let as much air back out of the tube as you can.

• Push the valve stem all the way up into the tire to make certain that the base of the valve has not been trapped under the edges of the tire. Easily pull the stem back down. The final trick is to lightly brace the wheel on the ground with the valve up. Starting at the valve, pinch the edges of the tire to the center line of the rim. Working both hands away from the valve, continue to pinch the tire into the rim center and stretch the tire away from the valve toward the floor. This center of the rim is slightly deeper than the edges. By getting the sides of the tire into this center line and then all the way around, the far end that remains unfinished should now have enough slack to roll over the rim's edge by hand. Thumb strength helps, too.

• Be confident! It will work.