Take The Lane

Bicycle bells aren't just for use on bicycles

This video shows how a Japanese man uses a bicycle bell in a surprising way. 

Looking to teach kids about assemblying bikes?

If you're a Toronto-area bike mechanic with time on your hands, you might like to check out this posting on the Green Jobs website.

Charlie's Bike Shop, which runs the Charlie's Freewheels program that allows young people to experience how to rebuild a bicycle and provides free bikes to kids in Toronto's Regent Park, is looking for someone or some people to helm two one-week stints of leading 10 young people (aged 13-16) in the stripping and assembly of a bicycle. The first stint starts next week, so move fast if you are interested.

Even if you can't volunteer, you might linger a while on the Charlies' Bike Shop site and read about Charlie Princep, the young cross-Canada cyclist who was killed in 2008 after being overtaken by a driver in Alberta, and who provided the inspiration for both the shop and the program. Princep's blog, Double Cross (a reference to his ride back and forth across the continent in 2007) is still accessible.

Riding Felt or REI? Check this.

In case you are riding Felt or REI bikes purchased last year, you will want to know about two product recalls from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Felt is voluntarily recalling 1,550, 2011 F3, F4, F5 and F75 bikes with carbon fibre frames and forks, due to fork failure. Details here.

REI is recalling 160 Novara Fusion bikes for steering tube detachment. Sold in the U.S., so little likelihood of being here in Canda, but you never know. Details here.

Hmmm, too much pressure?

From the "This Has Never Happened To Me Before" Department: Went out to get my mountain bike today and found the valve stem completely blown out and sitting on the shed floor.

Front tire was as flat as the proverbial pancake. It's a new take on a catastrophic blowout. Thought I had the tire pumped up to the appropriate pressure. Too hot in the shed? Or just a tired tire?

Where will the next gen of wrenches come from?

You've probably encountered your share of good wrenches and bad wrenches. There are people who live and breathe bicycles, and there are people who are just starting out and learning the hard way . . . on your beloved bike.

Places like Guelph's Winterborne Bicycle Institute aim to provide the training and experience that produces a quality bicycle mechanic, but there aren't as many Winterbornes as we might like. So, the Bicycle Trade Association of Canada and the GTA-based Learning Enrichment Foundation are partnering to create the Bicycle Assembly and Maintenance Program.

The organizers hope the Toronto-based program will appeal to young people who might be sniffing around looking for a career path. They want to crank out between 40 and 50 bike mechanics a year, with the first grads ready by mid-April. The whole plan is to be rolled out next Tuesday in Toronto. When I hear more, I'll pass it on.

Ask a Wrench: about a squeaky hub

Henry Szeto has borrowed a CCM mountain bike from a friend for the summer, and he is getting a lot of squeaking from the rear wheel at the axle. I asked Alan Medcalf what Szeto should do. He replied:

"On a CCM or other inexpensive bike, the hubs will most likely have serviceable ball bearings. These bearings require bicycle grease rather than oil, which can migrate out of the bearings, leaving behind a gritty paste which quickly clogs up the bearings. When this is dried out as well, the bearings will rust and start squeaking... 

"As a general rule of thumb, hub bearings ought to be overhauled at least every other season for lightly-used bikes, and more often for bikes used regularly or in dirty, muddy or rainy conditions. A commuter bike may require hub overhauls two or three times a year.

"It’s easy to tell whether your hub bearings need overhauling. First, spin the wheel and ensure that it doesn’t have any wobble that causes the rim to rub against the brake pads, or the tire against the frame. If this is happening, have your local bike shop repair the wheel first. It may just need truing, or there may be loose or broken spokes, or the rim may be bent.

"If that’s not the problem, next grab the wheel at the top and with the other hand on the fork (front) or seat tube or seat stays (rear), try and wiggle the wheel back and forth sideways. If the hub seems loose or 'knocks' against the axle, then the bearings need adjusting and may as well be overhauled at the same time.

"If you try to spin the wheel and it spins with difficulty, or slows down quickly instead of spinning on and on, then there’s lots of friction in the hub, and it needs an overhaul. Another good test, with the wheel off the bike, is to hold the wheel steady and rotate the axle with your fingers. If it doesn’t feel silky smooth, if there’s resistance or it feels gritty or hard to turn, the bearings need overhauling.

"Unless you know what you’re doing, a hub overhaul is a job for the mechanic at your local bike shop.  It involves disassembling the hub, cleaning all the parts, packing with fresh bicycle grease, putting in new balls, reassembling, and adjusting the bearing preload correctly. It’s important that the grease is formulated for bicycle use. It’s lighter than automotive grease, and designed to work best for the conditions found in cycling."

Let's Ask a Wrench

Up and down my street, fathers, grandfathers and uncles are playing with bicycles. New bikes for the kids. Old bikes that are being dusted off for mom or dad.
Because I ride a lot and have a few tools, they often ask me to borrow a spoke wrench or a chain tool or ask for some advice.
I can bluff my way through a few of these things -- hey, I've even repacked bearings, not that anyone needs to do that anymore -- but a lot of stuff about bikes baffles me.
I was figuring that you might be baffled, too.
I invite you to ask those baffling questions about bicycle maintenance. I can answer some of them, but for the ones that baffle me, let's ask a wrench. Alan Medcalf, an avid Waterloo cyclist, cycling advocate and teacher of bike mechanics in Guelph at the Winterborne Bicycle Institute, has offered to field some of your questions. Send your queries to me either here or e-mail me at bbean@therecord.com and we'll report back on the simple (or not so simple) solutions to your problem.
The question I most commonly hear is: What kind of bicycle should I buy? You ask it; I'll tell you.