Not Music to My Ears...

No doubt I have noted my extreme dislike of inefficient noises coming from my bike, whichever I may happen to be riding. The clatter of a dry drivetrain, squeak from a derailleur pulley (or two), or creak from a pedal are not music to my ears. Lively birdsong on a lazy morning, or the haunting melody of any number of renditions of Wichita Lineman, I will gladly accept on a daily basis. Those squeaks and creaks I cannot. It is not merely the sounds themselves, but more importantly it is what they stand for. Those offensive sounds invariably reflect back to me - and not in a good way. It is one thing to ride along some lonely road with no other ears around, but when anyone else is near that creak or squeal might as well be a shouted accusation: "This guy's failing with his maintenance here," or "hey everyone, look this way, guy can't even take care to lube his chain."

When situations develop on the road, I find myself soft pedaling as I pass someone, in order to keep a creak at bay, or hoping, praying that, as I pass there will only be a single squeak rather than a series. That way the people I pass might mistake the sound as coming from a nearby startled bird rather than from me. An opportunely passing vehicle also does a nice job of masking any rogue squeak or creak. Like a good detective I often find myself searching for a pattern in the sounds - there are real reasons to do so - but out on the road my reasoning has more to do with timing. You see if I discover a pattern I can predict when the squeaks or creaks will occur, and in turn, pick my moments to soft pedal. The system may not silence the offensive sound, but it will postpone it until momentum has carried me and my bike beyond earshot.


I have been searching in vain lately for a particularly nasty and offensive sound, or combination of sounds, actually. It started a couple weeks ago as a clatter when in a single gear, then spread to a second. Lately a squeak has been added to the Zappa-esque harmony. From this concert's first mechanical notes I began making adjustments - everything from tweaking barrel adjusters, and lubing just about every moving part within reach. My efforts have also included completely tearing apart the rear hub (and reassembling it) when I became convinced the offending notes were being played by it. This was all to no avail, and process of elimination suggests that I now need to make a good examination of the bottom bracket. But, those Campy Ultra Torque systems with carbon crank arms are a little more touchy, not to mention expensive, than the good old steel and aluminum jobs, and I am not willing to go at it without a proper torque wrench held firmly in my grasp to guide my actions. And so, an otherwise fine sounding machine will be emitting some off-tune notes from time to time (if only they were that infrequent), and you need not point them out if you happen to find yourself keeping pace next to me - my red-embarrassed-face will tell you that I already know.

The Neighborhood Biking Dad...

a non-typical day in the life of. Let me start by stating that, as the neighborhood biking dad, it is not unusual for kids (friends of my son) to show up with a flat or other minor problem needing resolution. The type of things that are quickly and easily solved. I'm happy to be able to help out. There are some oddities as well; once I had a kid bring his bike by for some air. Then, I noticed something else odd about the cranks, they weren't aligned with each other, and I asked him what happened. Apparently one had come loose, and he got a handyman, who was doing some work at their house, to tighten it on. How he forced that thing on, I just don't know, but those cranks will never turn circles again. 

Anyway, yesterday started out with more such maintenance to kids bikes - the son of mine, invited a couple friends from the neighborhood to ride to Seal Beach with us, and so they brought their bikes by the garage for some pre-ride maintenance. Before this story goes much further, lets just shorten it up and say that, kids are tough on bikes, and don't give a whole lot of thought to maintenance. Both bikes needed air. One bike, a bmx, was also having front brake problems - the caliper would not budge, and though it still needs more work, I did manage to loosen it a little, enough to ride. Next came a lower model mtb, the kind you would expect a typical, still growing kid to own. The boys had already put air into the rear tire of this one, but as I examined it, I noticed that the wheel would not spin. This tends to happen when the tire is not set into the rim and is bulging out, about to explode. I caught it in time with no harm done. Next I noticed the rear derailleur (you see it below) - the cage is bent outward, and at the time it was not secured tightly to the frame. On short notice, there was nothing to be done about the bend, but tightening up the bolt helped with the alignment a little, enough that it could be ridden, and shifted, albeit noisily. Very noisily. 

With this done, I was satisfied that we could make the 17 mile round trip run between Cerritos (where we park) and Seal Beach. I had never ridden with either kid before, and though they are both a year younger than my own son, they are both active in sports, I figured they wouldn't have too much problem tackling this flat route with a long stopover for lunch. Well, half way down the bike path, the rear wheel on the mtb goes flat. Not only does the neighborhood biking dad fail to have a schroeder valve adaptor, but he also forgets a wrench with which to remove the offending rear wheel (no quick release on this bike). Even though we flag down a rider with an adaptable pump, the tube won't hold air, and we can't get the wheel off to patch it anyway. Yes, I know I could have patched it without taking the wheel off, and why I didn't think of this at the time, I just don't know. Anyway, three continued on down the bike path, while two of us returned to the car. As if the kid didn't feel miserable enough as it was for not being able to finish the ride, and having to ride back on a flat, while riding in the dirt alongside the paved path his front tire washed out in a soft patch, and he toppled over. Nothing bad, but another morale buster. Then he got a piece of tumbleweed lodged in his rear wheel. Then a broken branch, same place. With effort and no complaints we made it back, and drove the rest of the way to Seal Beach.

You always hope that a young rider won't be turned off cycling due to a bad day, and that is exactly what we had. Fortunately, a good lunch began to turn things around. This was followed by a run in the sands, and crawling through the crevices and caves between the boulders lining the mouth of the river - the gaps between them are amazingly big, allowing kids to squirm around between them. When we got back home, I told the kid to leave his bike so I could patch up the tube, and pick it up later. Job done, he had a smile, I got a high-five, and he was able to ride off. Later in the evening we saw him zipping around the area, all travails from earlier in the day forgotten. I think he will be ready to successfully complete the ride next time.

warm sun, soothing sound of waves, tunes on the ipod,

it's siesta time, where river meets the sea

more fishermen and bikes

Captain Mellow and his Mobile Observations: Shooting Stones and Other Bikey Sounds...

After all these years of riding around streets and trails, mountains and deserts, canyons of rock, and others of steel and glass, Captain Mellow figures he is pretty in tune with all and any sounds he might hear while perched upon a saddle. Whether it be the chatter of a dry chain, the squeak, creak, rattle, or thunk of something not quite as tight as it should be, the ping as a spoke gives up the ghost, the pop and rustle as a chain breaks apart, and is momentarily dragged along in his wake before dropping off completely, or the varied sounds a tube and tire make as they quickly or slowly lose their composure and deflate. Captain Mellow knows that as long as he does not become lazy some of those sounds can be avoided or quickly remedied by proper and prompt maintenance, and that there is little he can do about those last sounds, they are part of the game. The hiss and wheeze, the high-pitched whistle, the rapid rush of air, or even the deafening boom of a massive blowout in an enclosed garage. These are all sounds directly related to the condition and maintenance of the bike. 


There is another group of sounds related to riding - the hum of tires rolling along nice, smooth asphalt or concrete (each is slightly different), the change in tone depth depending on tire inflation, the crunch of knobbies on a dirt trail, the swish through deep sand, the crackle rolling over dry leaves, the painful thunk as he fails to get his weight off the rear wheel as the rim hits a raised lip or other hard edge. And shooting stones. CM knows the sound by heart, knows almost immediately when he rolls over some little rock just right so that it makes that pop sound as it shoots out from under his wheel. Sometimes that pop is all there is. Other times it is followed by a loud clang, or bang as that little stone connects with a metal sign, guard rail, car door. Occasionally, if he is riding in a group, that stone finds a neighbors bike or leg, which might cause a curse to escape from the victims lips. Captain Mellow knows this sound well, he recognizes it for what it is but, Captain Mellow also wonders why it is, that after all this time he will still, for just the briefest of an instant, think the sound signals a tire going flat, and will sometimes even glance down for confirmation? 


What is it that put CM in the mood to think about sounds? It was this photo from a couple days ago:

He didn't notice it at the time the young woman rode past; maybe he was focused on the big picture, or something like that. That is one heck of a noisy gear selection - the rear derailleur almost doubled up on itself, had to have been creating enough chatter and chain slap to convince anyone and anything in the way to run for cover, or climb the nearest tree for safety. While all this noise is most likely just that, and not really a safety concern, other times a noise may be a sign of something more serious and should not be ignored. About the same day CM took the above photo, he was taking a look at his wife's bike (applying the brakes) and noticed a familiar soft thunk and play indicative of a loose headset. When asked about it his wife didn't know how long it had been like that, and didn't even realize it was loose. This problem could have turned into a safety issue at worst, or a costly replacement issue. The moral of this long winded and kind of rambling story - it pays to know your bike, the sounds it makes, the way it handles, and don't ignore any new or unusual squeaks, creaks or clanks.

From the Parts Bin: Lube and Shine...

For me, the choice of which chain lube and cleaner has never been a matter of preference - whatever my local bike shop carries is what I use. That said, I do keep two difference kinds on the workbench, the clean kind, and the dirty kind. Yes, that is how I categorize them, simplicity at its finest. I have used White Lightning (clean category) ever since they were a team supplier in the mid-90s. Its big advantage, of course, is that your drivetrain stays a lot cleaner. Of the dirty kind, Finish Line and Tri-flow are my age old standards, and most recently, I have discovered ProLink. These are quiet and long lasting, but do attract dirt and grit, and require more frequent cleaning. 


It's funny, I don't really have a strategy for choosing to use one over the other. I tend to use the dirty stuff most of the time, until things get gunked up and need to be cleaned. Then I will switch to White Lightning until I get tired of applying it before each ride, at which time I revert back again. 

As for cleaning, I have really only ever used the two products shown. The White Lightning Clean Streak just sprays on and immediately takes the gunk off, an old toothbrush may help for stubborn areas. Unfortunately, since it is a spray-on it tends to get used up pretty quickly. Pedro's Orange Peel, with a rag and a toothbrush does the job and I will use it most of the time, saving the White Lightning for when I am in a hurry.


The Phil Wood Waterproof Grease and the Cycle Pro White Lithium Grease don't get as much use as they used to, but where-ever there are threads, and bearings that are accessible, these are what I use. I do have a strategy here - Phil Wood for threads, and the white lithium for bearings. If that tube of Phil Wood looks old, you are correct; it probably dates to 1989 or so. It lasts. Which brings me to those last two little packets of Pedro's Synlube. They carry the Coors Light Racing label on them so you know they are pretty old too; they were probably being given away at one race or another,  and quite frankly, I doubt I will ever use them. They can be added to the archives.