Topic: Bike: Life

: WD40

By: g | February 22nd, 2012 | No Comments » |

After many, many years, WD40 has made a return to my bike.

When I first came across using WD40 as a chain lube, I was riding a lot of sandy/gritty areas and no matter what trick lube I tried, it just turned into a crap paste after a ride or two. One day, in a fit of desperation, I cleaned everything up and then sprayed the chain with WD40 to remove any excess grease and grit.

It turned out what I had been using to do a final clean down was in fact the ultimate chain lube, period. The drivetrain with just WD stayed gunk free, shed all the crap sprayed onto it and continued to run smooth, noise free and most importantly, clean. To reapply, all I did was wipe the drivetrain down with a rag and give another coat – it cleaned and lubed at the same time.

Some friends at the time scoffed, besotted with their specialist ‘bike lubes’… right up until the point some mechanics in a shop said WD is all they use on their bikes… and even motos!

Well, after too long away from my trusty can of WD, I came back on Sunday. Once again frustrated by the greasy crap formed by these so called specialist lubes, and all the grit and ‘stuff’ attaching itself to my drivetrain, I washed it all down and sprayed a sweet smelling coat of the miracle lube.

Once again my rides are quiet and my drivetrain sparkly clean, only now sure to stay that way.

Side note: Even if you have to reapply a little more often, the cost of a can of WD40 when compared to the specialist lubes means you will actually keep your drivetrain in far better condition for a lot less.

Tags:#bike #cycling

: My Bike has no Soul

By: g | February 12th, 2012 | No Comments » |

My bike has no soul.

I was riding yesterday when it dawned on me.

When I walk into the garage and see it there, I view it not as a thing of joy but as a work tool; not one of those fantastic, beautiful hand tools that are crafted with care and precision though, but more like an expensive, clinical Bosch tool spat out of a series of bigger, more complex machines.

Friends have ogled the bike, in its carbon fibre, anodised glory; hazed by the smoke screen of technology.

But it’s disposable, ready to be replaced with the next better and greater bit of technology.

You can’t become attached to something like that.

It rides, fast, clinically, but it has no character.

It does not age, it wears out.

…It’s graphics are all I connect with.

After many years, I have come full circle and want more from my bike than something that does a job, no matter how efficiently.

I want to connect with it.

Feel as if it is more than the sum of its parts and a paint job spat out of some graphics department.

My bike should be something that shares my journey, my pain, my hunger.

And when I wheel it through the door, I should be able to look at it with pride and joy, not with indifference.

That to me is what a bike is about.

Tags:bicycle,ride

: He was….. fast

By: g | January 18th, 2012 | No Comments » |

5.50am.

Far to steamy for that time of the morning but the quietness was nice; no commuters jamming the bike path.

I cross the main road at the end of the path and head over to the flyover. That’s when he appeared.

Silent. I didn’t see or hear him at all. The morning commuter on his Kona.

He zipped passed me and sped off. I’ll catch him on the fly over, easy.

But it wasn’t.

He kept ahead and sailed off the footpath to cross the intersection; the cleanest, smoothest hop I’d seem in a while. He made no noise, just a ‘pop-hop’ and off again.

I got close half way over the flyover. I had reeled him in that little bit.

But then it was onto the bridge climb. A fast down and then up to the apex of the bridge. Maybe 4-500 meters all up.

Feeling good, warmed up, and pushing my single ‘big’ ring, my pace was not slow… his was just faster, smoother.

Better.

I hit the apex of the climb, I can still see him. Maybe, just maybe, I can pull him in on the drop down to the switchback path.

Not a chance.

Just as quietly as he arrived in my ride, he vanished. He dropped the hammer and was no where to be seen.

No where.

That dude was fast.

To you Sir, whoever you are, I tip my hat.

Tags:commute,cycling,fast,ride

: The Creak

By: g | January 12th, 2012 | No Comments » |

It came from nowhere. It started small, an innocuous *click, click, click*. The following week that click began to be a creak and in turn that creak began to sound like an earth shattering groan with each turn of the non drive side crank.

I could feel it though my shoe.

I’m not sure about you but I don’t want to hear anything other than the calming spin of the chain through the jockey wheels. So having a creak like this is, in short, fucking annoying.

So, after two weeks of hopeing it would go away, I pulled the cranks off, put in a spare bottom bracket, pulled off the chainrings and reassembled everything.

*CREEEEEEEEEEAK*

And there is was.

Another few rides pass and nothing changes, so I swap the pedal from my other bike.

And it’s even worse.

What the hell is this?

Off comes the pedal (and the one it replaced) and into the workshop. I pull off the end caps, only to be reminded these ATAC pedals are ‘non serviceable’. Nice. Plenty of grease regardless.

On they go again, plenty of grease on the spindles too.

Then the ride.

2 hours of almost quiet… except for a feint *click, click, click*.

Ok. Ride one leg. Look like a fool but the click goes away. Ride the other leg and still look like a fool. There it is.

But get out of the saddle (both feet on the pedals!) and away it goes. That’s counter intuitive as it should get louder.

I’m at wit’s end.

So I finish the ride, turn off all the various gadgets, stand and ponder. Then in an act of desperation I grab a handful of crank arm and push.

And there it is, I can even feel it.

It’s not the bloody pedals at all, it’s the arm/spindle interface (I thought I ‘sorted’ that??).

Ok, so they’ll come off now and receive the royal treatment.

We’ll see if that works…

PS: it did.

Tags:ATAC,bike,ride

: It comes from nowhere… to ride

By: g | January 11th, 2012 | No Comments » |

If riding your bike is the *thing* you do, then you’ll know this feeling.

It’s not uncommon, in your riding ‘career’, to have time off. Sometimes it’s forced, sometimes it’s by choice. Sometimes it’s for a lot longer than you thought it might be.

Then the time comes, for whatever reason, and you climb back on your bike. And it hurts. Bad. In reflection though you realise 70% of the hurt is in your head, the hurt pride and the difference of where you left your bike mind and the current reality.

Realising this reality is the crux. You either push through it, or you slip, miss the hold and fall back down.

Sometimes it takes several leaps to make that hold but once you have it, you can push past it. That’s when ‘it’ comes.

From nowhere ‘it’ returns. Unexpected. Without any former warning.

‘It’ is the day when you roll out the door and you have the ride where the gap between where you left your mind and the current reality is bridged. It’s not quite as it was, the alignment is not perfect but it’s close enough and you realise why you ride a bike and how it makes you feel.

It’s the ride you have to have, otherwise you are lost in the abyss. Once you have it though, the burn returns and all you want to do is ride.

Tags:cycling,riding