My unicycle, an inexpensive Torker LX. Came with a really cheap tire, but I put on a Specialized tire which (due to its Kevlar cords) can hold 100 lbs pressure. Made a big difference.
This is the shot we planned to make, and it's fine (except that the subject could definitely stand to lose a few kilos). But I like the candid she took right afterward, and the one after that even better.
I should stop giving Diane shooting instructions; her candids are great. And check out the next one...
As I circled around for another posed shot, Diane saw this moment and grabbed it. A visual abstraction is sometimes the best picture, and this one is my favorite.
My current main bike, on the day I bought it (before I reflectorized it). I've had it for two years now and it has proven out very well in all kinds of weather. It's now my favorite bike that I've ever had. This bike is from Bloomington Cycle & Fitness.
My current favorite ride, a Specialized mountain bike. I've reflectorized the frame and forks, and equipped it with serious taillight and headlight. It handles great in all weather. Purchased from Bloomington Cycle & Fitness, and they give fantastic service.
I also run LED headlights and taillights, but notice something important here: the actual "reflectors" in the bike's wheels don't really do much compared to DOT-approved reflector tape. (I ride at night a lot)
My bike headlight is shining on the porch. It's amazing how good bike lights are nowadays. There's no excuse for riding at night without lights; it's just taking foolish chances with your life.
Projection pattern of my bike's taillight. The variation in color is a digital artifact; all the LED's are red, producing a pure spectrum.
Dawes bicycle nameplate, circa 1970's. I found this bike in a trash pile and rehabilitated it.
Dawes track bike, circa 1975. This one started out in life as a 10-speed, but someone modified it, and years later threw it away with their trash, where I found it. It is silent in operation, with nearly zero rolling resistance (I put some 115 psi kevlar tires on it) and handles beautifully. http://www.decrepitoldfool.com/index.php/weblog/comments/classy_old_bike/
Glad to see Dawes is still in business. According to their website, they're still building bikes in Birmingham, England. But this frame is "Made In China", so the word is "assembling", not "building". Sad.
My old Haro bike, since passed on to another owner. Wasn't bad, for as little as it cost, but it wasn't up to a 200+ lb insane rider either.
Haro mountain bike
It's dizzying how fast you can ride a bike around the inner circumference of a bowl. This is my friend Pete on his Fuji bike. He is way too crazy for a hybrid bike and rides a Specialized mountain bike now.
I hope this chap keeps riding his skateboard after he joins the corporate world!
I noticed this outside a coffee shop in Normal. Old bike, gears don't work anymore. Remove dérailleurs, direct-connect the two center chainwheels. Use excess chain to make a permanent chainwheel guard, paint it white. I think this was an old Panasonic/ Schwinn 10-speed. Very clever solution.
Town Of Normal's new "on-street" bike rack next to Jimmy John's and Coffee Hound. They are intended to be used during the peak riding season, then removed for Winter. Awesome idea, but design-wise it's in the "almost got it right" category. See next view for the reason why.
Town Of Normal's new "on-street" bike rack next to Jimmy John's and Coffee Hound. Awesome idea, and I totally give them an "A" for doing it. But there is a design problem: how would you attach the frame of a bike using a U-lock? By backing in the bike, perhaps? When a lot of bikes are backed in, it can be nearly impossible to step around the handlebars to reach the lock. A slight redesign of the support arm curvature would allow U-locks in either orientation. For instance, it could be a little longer and angle upward a bit.
Informal bike parking. Bike racks need to be close to destination or you will see this a lot. It does no particular social harm - I have not seen anyone tripped by a parked bike - but occasionally I have seen bikes parked in an inconsiderate fashion that impedes pedestrian traffic. This one slightly impedes traffic in and out of Coffee Hound - and it's about 10 feet from one of Normal's excellent Theta-style bike racks, which was not in use. Dude, I can understand if there's not a bike rack nearby, but... WTF?
Bike rack - the most common and space-efficient kind. If institutions are not sure what kind of bike rack to get, and are short on resources, this kind is not too bad. They holds the bikes perfectly upright, and make it easy to lock the frame and front wheel to the rack. Unfortunately, the rack itself is weaker than most bike locks.
Wheel-slot type rack in heavy use. These racks work well, but are not without problems.
The down side of this type of bike rack. You can have the best bike lock in the world, but it won't do you much good if the bike rack itself can be chopped in 30 seconds with a hacksaw. (Inset: detail)
Bike rack of the worst, most offending wheel-jamming type. Whoever designed it must not have ridden a bike since grade school. Over the last 20 years I've seen dozens of bikes damaged by this particular rack close to my home. Including one of mine, when I was working in the building next to it.
Another "wheel-jamming" wheel destroying bike rack. May this design die and be forgotten, except as a warning.
"wheel-jamming" wheel destroying bike rack. May this design die and be forgotten, except as a warning.
Detail, "wheel-jamming" type bike rack. Die, you monster - die!
A squiggly bike rack. Well-intended concept, poor execution.
Some bike racks on campus now feature tire pumps!
Squiggly bike rack. Ostensibly a good frame-supporting design, it only provides good parking for four bikes. But its proper use (with the frame in the open space between verticals, and at the end) is not obvious enough for many users, so it ends up damaging bikes. When there are a lot of riders, it ALWAYS ends up looking like this. Nice try, no design award for this one.
Bike racks in pi shape. This is an pretty good design, illustrating the principle that the bike rack should be tall enough to hold the bike upright. Each rack holds two bikes, and supports the frame, not the wheel. The little hooks can hold the frame or hook under the gooseneck. Or the bike can simply lean against it and lock to it if desired.
A good simple bike rack shaped like the Greek letter theta. It supports the frame, not the wheels, and accommodates different bikes. You can hook one of your pedals in a half-circle section, which stabilizes the bike nicely. This rack will hold 2 bikes. The town of Normal has recently adopted this as their standard bike rack. Yea!
Oh boy, another bike rack design! This one in the shape of a spiral. See next view for comments.
Too low to hold a bike upright, and each slot slanted to boot. And it would only hold bikes at all if the cyclists obligingly parked their bikes pointing opposite directions in each slot. So very few bike racks show evidence of being designed by cyclists. Rather, they look like they are designed by stylists who think of bicycles as a problem to solve. Or who just don't think, at all.
For some reason there are people who think it's funny to deliberately bend wheels in bicycle racks. I suppose they exist to give snipers something to do.
Someone backed into my son's bike, drove off.
Bicycle and Hummer H2, clearly different directions.
Constitution Trail
Metal fatigue. If you ride enough, you'll have parts break this way. Shown is a Shimano 7-speed shifter with the two parts side-by-side. I epoxied the parts back together before giving the bike away. They should last for a while.
Stress fracture of handlebar.
A damaged crankset bearing - the hardened surface has eroded away on the left cone.
ROMANCE: her bike and mine, on a theta-style rack.
Diane suiting up for a ride to breakfast at Cosi's. Chilly morning? No problem! And the food was great.
Pete's helmet after a wreck. I wish I could show you my helmet from the wreck I had, but i wasn't wearing one. Pete had a story to tell, and I had five years of (partial) recovery.
There's more to the condition of your tires than whether you have enough tread. the sidewalls on the lower tire were failing, but the replacement tire was a tremendous upgrade, improving the bike over what it had been even new.
Rusty bike chain - note wear on bearing surface. This chain was actually in use, in this condition. A little oil would go a long way, y'know?
A fixed-gear hub
I enjoy seeing customized bikes, and here's a really good one. The tall-ship frame is from an old Fuji 5-speed. But the custom rear wheel has a Sturmey-Archer 3-speed hub, which is awesome. Tough plastic fenders, a rack, taillight, Brooks saddle. Would like to see a headlight there, and some better pedals, however. Overall a very, very nice job.
The can reads: Out of gas? Recharge your engine. Helps aid your recovery from the effects of exercise, stress, travel, late nights, alcohol and pollution. 90% pure oxygen concentrated for natural recovery. Oxygen Plus, 90% oxygen enriched natural natural natural oxygen natural revitalizing oxygen empty before recycling. Seems dangerous to me. If you routinely run short of oxygen, you need a better training program and perhaps more realistic expectations.
Open House at Bloomington Cycle & Fitness, may 2010
Open House at Bloomington Cycle & Fitness, may 2010. FogDesigns had a pneumatic launch ramp and BMX track set up. Lots of fun!
Open House at Bloomington Cycle & Fitness, may 2010. FogDesigns had a pneumatic launch ramp and BMX track set up. Here's jumping the Volvo!
You should NOT have cheap, slippery plastic pedals on your bike. Slipping off a bike pedal is an invitation to injury. In this case, the injury was very minor: I was dismounting and the pedal (a well-designed but very worn aluminum MB pedal) was covered with ice, and I fell. I was hardly moving and the accident was more embarrassing than injurious. The marks on my leg correspond to the treads on the front tire of my bike. But plastic pedals become slippery in even light rain, and you might slip off while maneuvering in traffic.
Most bikes sold today have these kind of pedals: a plastic frame on a chrome-molybdenum axle. They're very cheap, though trips to the hospital are very expensive. The plastic does not provide good grip to your feet. If you walk through wet grass, then ride, your control of the bike will be seriously impaired.
Medium-quality platform pedal. Excellent when new, would prefer steel studs because these aluminum studs need sharpening from time to time. The studs shown in this picture need sharpening.
Worn pedal stud: sharpen it! Simply use a file to flatten the top so it will have sharp edges for grip.
A worn pedal stud. Sharpen it!
Sharpened pedal stud; much safer.
A pedal stud after filing: control of bike much improved. Even better are steel studs with straight, rather than slanted sides. Keep in mind that cast pedal cleats can benefit from this treatment as well. Use a bastard file and don't remove any more metal than necessary to square off the edges.
Simple cage pedal. Cheap, does a good job for light use. Far superior to common plastic pedal. These cleats could use sharpening.
Cage pedal. This one has been repaired a couple times. Toothy steel rim gives secure grip. Note DOT-approved reflector tape; much better than those plastic reflectors.
Old-fashioned rubber block pedal. We all had these when we were kids, but they're really not very safe. Even when new, they are slippery when wet, and as they wear, the rubber blocks can actually rotate around their mounting axles, causing loss of control.
No! Bad pedal! Carry your health insurance card if riding on these.
Grease port on a pedal.
Pedal with both replaceable and pressed-in studs, plus a grease port.
Pressed-in steel pedal stud
Replaceable pedal stud
Specialized "HardRock" frame, size L, just acquired as the basis for a Winter bike that I intend to build.
Lately I've noticed a lot of bike seats getting stolen. This is a non-trivial loss with a $35 seat post, a $40 saddle, a $20 taillight, and an $18 fender all for flipping a lever. So my question is: WHY do bike seats have quick-release levers? The obvious solution of hiring a sniper to watch the bike racks in town involved too much paperwork, so better to improve the security of the bike itself. I thought about finding a BMX seat clamp and fitting it with a security-Torx bolt, but (because I had the materials already on hand) opted for a different solution; pinning the seat tube. The hollow pin is hidden under the seat clamp, and requires the use of a drift punch to remove. See the next few photos for that process.
Remember as you drill through the frame and seat tube, you'll generate shavings that you don't want falling into the frame. Stuff a large chunk of foam rubber into the seat post (to catch the shavings) and reinsert it back into the bike. Note the piece of tape marking the original height of the seat!
Set your bike vertical (use a level) and then drill level through it to get a good perpendicular hole. I used a 5/32" drill to make the hole for the pin. Note the use of a C-clamp to hold the seat post in alignment. Needless to say before drilling is a good time to verify from several angles that your seat is in the correct forward orientation.
I got it mostly perpendicular to the tube. Notice the aluminum shavings on the outgoing drill bit.
Since the seat tube collapses about a half-millimeter when the clamp is fixed, make the pin just a bit shorter than the cross-tube diameter.
The hollow pin is made of carbon steel (notice the exploding sparks) and gets pretty hot. Rotate the end against the grinding wheel to get an even grind, and stop every couple touches to measure and also dip the pin in some water.
The finished pin hides under the seat clamp (loosened here for illustrative purposes). Removing the seat post requires the use of a drift punch.
This smart couple is using Razor scooters to get around. They fold up and fit under a chair, perfect for campus.
Schwinn 3-speed, before.
Schwinn 3-speed, after.
Broken bearing race and cup after an accident.
I really like this tire from Specialized. It does a great job in adverse conditions like snow and slush, and handles wet pavement gracefully.
New Specialized tires for Diane's bike. Significant improvement in handling, for reasons that are not clear to me.
Standard Men's bicycle seat. This one is designed to support the rider's weight on the hip bones, and provides a groove to protect the penile blood vessels and nerves from compression injury. There isn't much padding, nor should there be.
Rido R2 bicycle seat. This one is designed to elevate the hip without pressing on the perineum, so as to prevent injury to the penile nerves and blood vessels, and to avoid putting any pressure on the prostate gland. The hip bone supports appear softly padded, but they aren't. Soft padding would actually defeat the purpose.
Worn bicycle chain is hazardous. when you sense your chain is worn, replace it now. Don't, for example, buy a new chain, hang it on a nail in the garage, and forget to change it until you are reminded by this happening.
Use a piece of inner-tube rubber as a slush/mud guard for your front derailleur. I've zip-tied it on the seat tube and the little brace behind the bottom bracket, so it is secured top and bottom.
This is as much fender as you need to keep stuff from splattering up your backside. Note powerful taillight. Not shown: equally powerful headlamp. I turn them on even on cloudy days.
