Category: Two Wheels Good
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2022 Rides
My spreadsheet for 2022 is published as a Google Sheet on my Google Drive account. Good year. I rode my Cannondale Topstone. I rode 6095.1 Km. I rode with a hernia. Medical care was slow. I made more notes of maintenance. I started lubricating the drive train with paraffin. The weather in November and December […]
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Changes at CyclingTips
CyclingTips started as an online magazine (web publication in 2008; commercial web pubicastion in 2013), and remained an online service into November 2022. CyclingTips was the leading source of information on maintaining and repairing bicyles in 2020, 2021 and 2022. The Nerd Alert podcast was informative. Pocket Outdoor Media, the corporate owner of Beta, a […]
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Bike Chains 4 – Lubricant prices, testing, innovation
Prices Motor Oil & Gear Oil Motor oil, the lubricating oil distilled and sold for use in 4 stroke internal combustion engines, was sold in quart containers for most of the 20th century. For decades the containers were cardboard cylinders with metal end caps. Automotive service centers, once known as garages, issued workers spouts that […]
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Bike Chains 7 – Melted Paraffin Immersion
Wax Not dripped Paraffin is a wax, a dry solid, which is melted down into a low viscosity (thin) liquid, and applied to a chain immersed in the hot wax. The liquid fills the spaces around the pins and along the edges of the rollers. When the chain is removed from the liquid paraffin cools […]
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Getting Tires Right
Tires Pneumatic Modern tires allow cyclists to ride pavements, gravel, trails, dirt, mud, and other surfaces. Tires are pneumatically inflated with compressed air. Pneumatic tires were invented and industrially produced before the end of the 19th century. Solid rubber was used to manufacture bicycle tires. It was better than other material. Getting a bouncy wheel […]
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Bike Chains Project
My project to learn enough about bike chains and lubrication to replace my chain, change my use of lubricants, and maintain my bike better is nearly complete, subject to corrections and second thoughts: Finding Chain Wear – Introduction; internet research; trustworthy information, some basics of working with chains; Roller chain – Modern roller chain for […]
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Bike Chains 8 – Learnings for Make Benefit
Lessons – an endless post These are lessons from playing with lubricants and bike chains. I have posted what I have written to date. This post will become an endlessly updated post. Satisficing At one time, the problem of what was good enough could be answered with a slogan such as “close enough for government […]
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Bike Chains 5 – Cleaning
Introduction/Resources Most of a bike has solid two dimensional surfaces, protected with paint – like an automobile or motorcycle. The solid parts can be hosed off or gently scrubbed. Cleaning the bike exposes the joints and the open parts, including the chain, to dirt, water and detergents. Cleaning a chain is necessary to use the […]
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Bike Chains 6 – Durable Chain
Bikes Other Drive Systems The Sturmey-Archer 3-speed AW internal gear hub system was used on Raleigh bicycles for many years. There are articles and resources at Bicycle Technical Information (“BTI” – the Sheldon Brown site), such as “Servicing Sturmey-Archer 3-Speed Hubs“, and other manuals and support resources. There is a BTI article on Internal-Gear Hubs. […]
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Bike Chains 3 – Lubrication Science
Lubricants Science The bicycle is made of materials and components “invented” by mechanics and engineers before late 19th century scientists articulated the periodic table of elements or the fundamental modern theories of physics and chemistry. The physicist Carlo Rovelli wrote: The ability to understand something before its observed is at the heart of scientific thinking. […]