#3 Nerd News - Bikes
Hotel cooking on the sly.
HOTELING TECHNICS FOR BIKERS
Tools and technics for covert cooking in the room and leaving no trace:
first we put down a vinyl cloth to protect table top from spills (used as sitting mat when camping and picnicking) or a plastic bag would do
set a thick guide book on the mat to protect the furniture from heat damage
fill the small cook pot with water (and keep the lid handy)
put the immersion heater with a European plug in at the least minimum water specified (a special plug adaptor needed for northern Italy/Tyrolean area)
near the end of cooking, half fill a bathroom sink with warm water to prevent heat damage to the sink when draining the boiling water off
rinse food particles off pot and cups into toilet to prevent clogging sink drains
carry spot remover for tomato sauce spatters off linens (and bike grease stains)
use a place mat-sized, almost-rollably-flexible cutting board for chopping produce for Greek salads, or grilled peppers for pasta salads
buy and use a drain strainer to prevent clogging the sink pipes during food prep
washable viscose-type towel for wiping mud and road grim off panniers and bikes (and cleaning the wheel rims) so we don’t leave a muddy puddle on the hotel floor
drain plugs for doing laundry in sinks and tubs without plugs
a really long clothes line
folding scissors (for a surprising number of things)
olive oil in a reusable bottle for grease removal from the bike mechanic’s hands (as well as cooking, of course)
TUBES & TIRES
We, and
especially Bill, our official trip bike mechanic (and Team Doctor, Map Man, MIS
Director, and exceptional companion) are learning more than we wished to know
about bike glitches on our travels. Of course, our biggie was the cracked
rim in
the hills of
A less catastrophic problem than the rim crack but just as demoralizing was the inner tube seam-separation problem where, after about a year of use our expensive, extra heavy-duty inner tubes started fraying at the seam. We had 4 flats in 2-3 months, exclusively because of the zigzag seam separating, not from punctures. Fortunately, they were unspectacular slow leaks and not big-bang blow-outs. I haven’t had a puncture or pinch flat for several years, only defective tube flats.
We have also learned some new lessons about monitoring tire wear. We are accustomed to looking at remaining tire tread to decide when to replace our tires, like you do on a car. But we have learned the hard way that especially for our front tires that tread wear is a less reliable indicator than side wall deterioration. The front tires get substantially less wear than the back tires because by design, more of the weight of the rider and the gear is on the rear tire. We can get about twice the miles out of a front tire than a rear, based on tread life. (And being about 35 pounds lighter, I get more miles out of my rear tires than Bill.)
But during our
travels, the front tire sidewalls start breaking down from the UV exposure
before the treads got thin. The UV exposure causes the sidewalls to crack. These
cracks aren’t deep, blow-out threatening cracks but are very superficial.
Amazingly, these innocent, dry-skin looking cracks add an unwelcome wobble to
the roll of the wheel. (I thought Bill had too much UV exposure himself when he
came up with this theory and bought a new tire because of it. But a
The potency of the UV damage dramatically showed up on my homemade front pannier covers and the handlebar bag made of the same rip-stop fabric. The handlebar bag is on the bike all the time (like the tires), and the pannier covers come off when we pull into camp and the covers don’t go out on day rides with us. I wouldn’t have believed it, but in as little as 2 months the handlebar bag turned a soft peachy color in some areas while the pannier covers were still a bright red. That little bit of continuous, additional UV exposure that the bag gets everyday and on the occasional unloaded rides has apparently amounted to a significant different in UV exposure. So, I guess those RV’ers aren’t just being anal when they cover up their tires in campgrounds.
And we do believe it is the UV and not over-inflation degradation that is cracking our tires. At the urging of more experienced riders, in the past we would inflate our tires beyond the recommended psi for decreased rolling resistance. But then we noticed some sidewall delamination and gave up the practice several years ago. That’s why we were so surprised at the sidewalls cracking, as we knew we hadn’t been pushing the psi on these tires.
Supple Rubbers
Our tin-ears
never warranted buying hi-end audio equipment and we also didn’t think that we
were refined enough riders to appreciate supple rubber between us and the road,
but we may be wrong. Eric, the Bike Store owner in
“It’s like, like when we clean up the drive train and get the grit out of the cassettes, pulleys, and chain and get fresh lube on the new or clean chain.” Our supple rubbers gave us smooth, quiet riding that we had forgotten was possible. We giggle and grin at the extra bit of ease that gets put back into our riding with a clean-up or these new tubes and tires.
All of a sudden, we were in the connoisseur-class. Unfortunately, we don’t know if the supple-rubber sensation is from the new tubes or the tires or a combination of the two.
Both front tires had a lot of good tread on them, but the side
walls were cracked from the UV exposure, which is enough to eventually cause
some wobble with each wheel rotation.
Perhaps that crackling is also associated with some stiffening of the
rubber. And the quality of the back tire Bill put on his bike in
So another lesson learned, but unfortunately, we aren’t quite sure what it is. Is it the tubes or the tires or both? And how do we shop for suppleness? And does greater suppleness mean decreased flat resistance? We’d love to hear from any of you that have experience or opinions on this or any of our other topics.
In brighter light the Michelin tube’s surface didn’t look much different than other tubes. But when we pressed a thumb to the surface and dragged it for several inches, a waxy residue balled up on the tube. The ritual of roughing the tube surface before patching now looked like a necessity and not just folklore. Indeed, the patch adhered just fine after he did the sandpaper treatment. So, if you have a new tube and are tempted to skip the sandpaper, at least check the surface first for a waxy residue.
FRONT BEARINGS
As we were riding
into
On our way into town, we stopped to buy lighter fluid at a ‘Tabac’ (cigarette) shop to clean the grease out of the bearings. Bill opened up the bearings expecting to find broken bits and pieces of metal, but it looked fine and the grease was as pristine as it should have been. He used an Allen wrench as a makeshift axle and rolled the suspect bearing and a spare bearing back and forth under as much load as he could apply. There was a subtle but distinct difference in the smoothness of the two different bearings as he rolled them. He put the spare bearing in the Phil Wood’s wheel hub and the worrisome noise was gone.
Of course, the next test will be to reinstall the presumed defective bearing and confirm that just cleaning it wouldn’t have made the difference. But the call of scientific investigation wasn’t strong enough to devote that much time to it, so the used bearing will become the spare to be installed only if a worse problem develops (and maybe we will carry 2 spares next year.)
LIGHTER FLUID
We carried that lighter fluid for too many months just in case we had more bearing problems, which fortunately we did not. But we found a new use for the lighter fluid one day at a car wash when we were doing the forbidden: using the high pressure wand to blast the grungy lube and grit off our chains, gears, and derailleurs. We are careful not to hit the vulnerable bottom bracket (where the pedals attach) with the high pressure water but otherwise do what we need to do to get the gunk off.
But neither
the blasting from the pressure washer nor the periodic scraping-off of the
caked-up chain lube and road debris on the 2 pulleys of our derailleurs helped
my pulleys spin like they should. We assumed that they were just getting worn
and would need to be replaced. But in a fit of inspiration at the car wash we
tried pouring the lighter fluid into and onto the pulleys and the little
darlings soon were whirling with glee. They were probably just over laden with
grit on the inside. Since then, lighter fluid is becoming a more constant
companion for us on the road as it is the only solvent we can easily find in
small, portable quantities to help with these maintenance problems.
PANNIERS (Saddle Bags)
We broke down and
bought submersible Ortlieb panniers after our drenching week of cyclotouring
(and camping) in
But after thousands of miles of use and abuse, our Ortliebs tried to run away. First Bill’s, then one of mine developed the nasty habit of flying off the bike rack while riding down the road. They do bounce well and passed yet another abuse test with flying colors, but it really wasn’t acceptable behavior. We created a new attachment habit to keep the panniers hooked to the bike should they again get the urge to fly. It doesn’t keep the pannier secure if it unlatches, but dangling a bit beats flying off the bike altogether. (My active imagination had vivid images of Bill’s pannier bouncing down a cliff face or landing in my path during heavy traffic on a narrow road.)
After a suitable grieving period, we decided to do the unthinkable and become turn-coats: we bought a pair of comparably priced Vaude panniers (also German made.) Vaude’s have a more secure latch system, so we decided to start road testing (hopefully not literally) the Vaude’s before other wear problems required replacing our entire pannier fleet.
So, for those of
you who have always wondered: “Ortlieb or Vaude?” here are the results to date
of our concurrent use of both systems. If this isn’t a question you have ever
asked, just skip ahead to the next section
Ortlieb Strengths
available in high visibility yellow, our preferred gear color
large, outrageously effective reflective patches on the ends
a more versatile selection of top straps for lashing on extras, like liters of bottled water (and a Raid can for deflecting wolf-killing dogs in Turkey)
top straps allow, easy, dignified pannier carrying to and from the bike
seemingly heavier and more durable material
a removable, optional outer pocket that attaches on the end, not the side (thereby not increasing the overall width of your loaded, already overly wide, bike)
bags easily stand upright when off the bike, which is an issue at least twice every day
Vaude panniers in use.
Vaude Strengths
a more secure latching on to the bike rack, but equally easy to remove and attach
angled rather than vertical on one end, allowing more heel/toe clearance so that the load to be shifted slightly more towards the center of the bike for better stability and handling
slightly greater volume
less bulky hardware exposed on the bag interior (resulting in drilling shallower holes into things like an aluminum plate and book backs)
strapping system is easier to make a water tight closure
lower hook for attaching the pannier to the rack is more versatile
2003 Update on Vaude’s
We discovered
that yellow Vaude’s are available in the
That balance was quickly tipped back when we discovered that one of our 2 brand new Vaude panniers got busted-up by the airlines. We had 2 Ortlieb’s and 2 Vaude’s per checked duffel bag and the edge of plastic backing on 1 Vaude was broken in 2 places when we arrived in Rome. Both Ortlieb’s and Vaude’s have a plastic back on the rack-side of the panniers but the type of plastic and shaping around the edges of the bag is very different between the 2 brands.
The breaks in the plastic backing didn’t affect the performance of the bags on the bike but suggested that they weren’t going to be as durable as the Ortlieb’s and required taking time out to repair them. We have flown with the Ortlieb’s many times and their thicker, less brittle plastic is still intact. (It has even survived tumbling on the pavement).
The plastic rim that fractured on the Vaude’s is in the area of the bag that contributes to its poor ability to stand upright on its own. That just reinforces how much stress that part of the bag is subject to and adds to our concerns of it being an ongoing problem. We’ll hope that this breakage problem was just a fluke but we will also be inspecting other rider’s Vaude’s with a focused eye to the plastic rim to see how theirs is faring.
Panniers or Trailers?
The more fundamental question is whether to carry panniers at all and instead put all our gear in trailers. We dabbled with a 2-wheeled trailer and quickly retreated to panniers, though I must admit we did not use the much revered, single-wheeled BOB trailer system. Many a BOB owner has praised their glories.
Pannier Pro’s:
easier to carry upstairs and cajole their way onto a public bus or train
less bulky when making baggage limits on airlines
possibly greater clearance and maneuverability on narrow, windy tracks on wooded hillsides (it’s not like we plan these things, but they do keep happening)
easier to ‘tail gate’ each other to talk
BOB Pro’s
more stable ride with weight borne on 3 instead of 2 wheels (1 for the BOB and 2 for the bike)
easier going up hills
-ess wear and tear on the bike frame and wheel rims
sometimes more presence on the road
We will probably continue using panniers, if only for the public transportation PR issue. Several times a year we find ourselves putting our bikes and ourselves on public transportation when we want to bail-out of wherever we are, often because of strong winds or other foul weather. Like the 2 times in Croatia last year that you might remember reading about: once was when their strong winds that gust up to 100 mph hit us unexpectedly and another time was on a stretch of busy, narrow truck route that freaked me out. Both times we opted to take a bus ride to extract ourselves from the dangerous situation. Both times the bus drivers argued amongst themselves as to whether they could take the bikes or not and I am sure the extra bulk of 2 unfamiliar trailers would have sealed our fate off the bus.
Like in these 2
instances, getting a lift is often a very near thing and we are usually at the
mercy of the driver’s goodwill. Once in
Bikes get extra accommodation and fall under special rules on many European trains, resulting in more flexibility in boarding. That means we often get to roll the bikes right on many of the non-express trains rather than having to wait for a train with a baggage car and check them as baggage. Bike trailers are all but unheard of and even though they are attached to the bike we fear they would be considered as baggage and thus not be treated so liberally. So, for the way we live in the cyclotourist world, panniers allow us some social/comfort opportunities that trailers likely would not. We will accept the trade-off of less on-road efficiency for greater off-the-bike flexibility that panniers afford, at least for now.
Caught-Up
Well, that’s it for this long-delayed edition of Nerd News. We’d love to hear any bits of wisdom or suggestions you have after reading this or any other of our ramblings. And of course, don’t hesitate to write if you have questions we didn’t answer.
3/26 Update
Our tour of
the Greek islands is more leisurely than we had planned (or would choose)
because of bad weather and misinformation about the ferry schedules. On each of
the 3 islands of
We are able to
follow news of the war on a daily basis and feel very safe here. The few Greeks
that have made a point to engage us about the war clearly think there is
something wrong with Bush mentally. They are certain that if Gore or
Love,
Barb
