Thru Axles Be Nuts

My bike mechanic skill level is probably best described as “shade tree”.  I know what I know and can pretty confidently change tires/tubes, adjust brakes and shifting, tighten spokes, mess with handlebars and steering, and keep things more or less lubed.

On a recent ride, I had stopped to enjoy the sunset from my usual “Big Hill Near My House” location.   While I was waiting for the sundown, I noticed my rear quick release was open.  It became apparent as I went to close it that the thru axle was loose.  I’ve never paid much attention to how the thru axles connect to the frame, but it was obvious that whatever it screwed into wasn’t there any longer.  The nut on the front fork appeared to be about the same shape as the empty “pocket” on the rear flange and assumed that’s what I needed to find.  In the grass.  In the looming dusk.  Assuming that it had just fallen off.  I quickly realized that was fruitless and began to consider whether I needed to walk home.  I’d been riding an unknown amount of time with it missing, so after a careful test, I rode home slowly with frequent glances to check that the axle was staying in place.

Later, after the repair was complete, it occurred to me  that the axle must have been loosening over a reasonably long period of time. The axle would (eventually) thread into the new nut completely.  That said, I wonder if some recent “tuning” to the (not so) quick release might have started the process.

Before beginning the hunt for a replacement nut, I studied some photos of the bike, both that I’d taken and online at Diamondback.com.  I wasn’t 100% certain that the front and rear nuts were the same, particularly given the difference in the flush mounted front fork and the rounded rectangle pocket for the rear.

Next stop, Diamondback’s online parts.  And, of course, no thru-axle nuts to be found.  I submitted an online support request and was pleasantly surprised to get both a prompt email and an actual phone call within hours.  And, happily, Diamondback DOES sell the nut….in a kit located under the “derailleur hanger” category.  A kit which costs $40+ after tax/shipping:

More google-age turned up one more option.  The nut alone is available from Kinesis in the UK for a mere £2.92 (less than four bucks “American”!).  Unfortunately, actually shipping TO America is north of  £23 or $31 in greenbacks.  If this part was for something non-mission critical (say, the washing machine), I would have gone the cheap route.  But I really wanted to get my fast bike online for the quickly improving weather and upcoming SXSW.

Success!

This story is already longer than it should be, but there’s one more thing.  Getting the nut to press fit into the frame was a bear.  I spent literally hours on it along with using half my tool box.  It has a tiny O-ring that serves the dual purpose of making it nearly impossible to seat and being the secret to retaining the nut in the frame. After a few more emails with DB, some advised “wiggling”, square holes and round nuts…it seemed to set into place.

Kudos to Diamondback for their responsiveness.  A little less kudos for their kit “deal” of unrelated parts and spendy shipping.  Kudos also to my local REI.  The mechanic there spent some time chatting with me about the problem, followed up with DB,  and ended up learning the same lesson as me.

 

Advertisements

Usage Counters on Austin’s Urban Trails

The city of Austin has placed usage counters on 20 of the city’s urban trails.  The counters are able to differentiate between bikes and pedestrians.  #19 at the south end of the Mobility Bridges and #20 at the beginning of the southern extension of the Violet Crown Trail are especially interesting for Southwest Austin.

The Mobility Bridge counter should see a considerable uptick when (if?) the city gets the south Mopac connector trails in place to the Industrial Oaks area.  I had a chance to speak to city’s Urban Trails Program Manager recently about this.  At least a portion of that connection will be via the YBC Trail.

The Violet Crown trail counter (#20) is at the northern end of lengthy run of new trail to the south including a new bridge en route to the Veloway.

Temporary End to the VCT

New Bike – Ups and Downs

Diamondback Century 1

I’ve been riding more often, some longer distances, and, occasionally, with others. Especially when riding with new Bike Austin friends, the need for speed has become more important. I especially noticed at the recent COTA ride that the drop bar riders definitely sped down the hills faster than me. Better bikes? More aerodynamic? Lighter weight? Probably all three and I started looking into a new bike. I soon ran into the “sportive/endurance bike” concept. I was hopeful that the relaxed geometry would make it easier to adapt to drop bars. I had never become comfortable on my previous drop bar ride.

First stop, Craigslist. I found this 2014 Diamondback in my size, and nearly new condition. I was pretty interested, this bike had Shimano 105, a carbon fork, and most important, it was the right size.

Unfortunately, he wouldn’t budge on price (as of this writing, still on CL at $50 less than original). Later I did some more research on the bike and quickly discovered that Diamondback had some steep discounts on 2017 bikes shipped direct. I ended up choosing the Century 1, which was a full 33% off of list price and, seemingly, VERY similar to the Century 2 from Craigslist. I doubt that I could have committed to a bike that I hadn’t test ridden. But the Craigslist bike test allayed that fear. That turned out to be “not-exactly-right”.

I had mixed feelings about losing the carbon fork, but I was gaining disc brakes, wider tires, and a brand new bike for only $150 over the Craigslist Century 2, no tax, free shipping. Seemed like a no-brainer.

The bike arrived in about a week and required only minimal, “Ready Ride” assembly (wheels, handlebars, saddle, and pedals ) plus a couple of minor brake and derailleur adjustments. Of note, there were a few scratches/dings in the paint, especially on the seat post.

Assembly completed and I hopped on for a quick test spin and discovered a big problem.  “Big” as in big feet. Both heels would hit the chainstays on every crank revolution. A quick glance at the rear of the bike revealed the problem.

The chainstays bend noticeably outward to accommodate the 11-speed cluster on the right and the disc brake assembly on the left. That, combined with size 13 shoes, was a big problem.

Googling “heels hit chainstays” revealed a lot of ideas and potential solutions.

Going clipless with this bike was already on my mind, but I didn’t want to invest in that until I was certain that the bike worked for me (Diamondback has a 30 day return policy). And, although narrower shoes and clip adjustment might solve the problem, I’m likely to stick with platform pedals since so much of my riding is urban.

Pedal extenders, most notably Kneesavers, looked like my least expensive option to continue evaluating the bike. I ended up ordering  a slightly less expensive alternative from Amazon mostly “because Prime”.

Two days later, I installed the extenders, which worked perfectly, at least at first. My primary concern was that the extenders might shift my knees into an uncomfortable position. I compared my foot separation with my daily ride, a Trek 7.3 and it seems comparable. The crank arms on the new Century are narrower than the Trek.

A problem arose quickly, though, on the first ride. The right side extender began to creak. I was initially concerned that I had a bottom bracket issue, but tracking it down to the extender/pedal connection was pretty straightforward. A quick re-tightening solved the problem. Until the following day, when it returned and quick become louder as it loosened further. Another REALLY TORQUING things down seemed to solve that, at least for the moment.

Unfortunately, in the process of removing and re-tightening the extenders, I managed to cross-thread the steel extender into the  right side aluminum crank arm. With an abundance of caution and after several tries, I managed to get the pedals and extenders re-installed VERY tightly.

Even though I seemed to have the situation solved, the stock pedals were, frankly, crap. And I still felt a bit uneasy about the double connection using the extenders. Surely, someone manufactures long/oversize pedals?  Of course they do, and of course, Amazon carries them. Two days later:

Had to go for the blue 🙂

Turns out these platforms are the exact same length from the crank to the outer edge as the stock pedals + extenders.

Now that I seem to have the pedals worked out, it’s time to start working on my neck muscles and racking up some miles.

 

East Bay Punk Rock History Bike Tour

“Punk rock” and “bike tour” are two  phrases you don’t expect to see together.  Throw in “history” and you’ve got the East Bay Punk Rock History Bike Tour.   When I saw this in my news feed a few weeks back, I knew that I had to make the trip.  The ride was co-sponsored by Walk Oakland Bike Oakland (WOBO) and the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA).  So I cashed in some frequent flyer miles and began looking for a rental bike that wouldn’t make me look like a tourist who’d escaped from Fisherman’s Wharf.  Shout out to Golden Gate Rides who set me up with a Cannondale Quick flat bar road bike that was perfectly suited to a long weekend in the Bay Area.

Chris kicking off the ride at OMCA

The sellout ride began at the museum in downtown Oakland.  The 30 or so riders mingled prior to a welcome and pre-ride briefing from the WOBO board president, Chris.  CBGB and Dead Kennedy T-shirts replaced the typical cyclist kit.  And there was a bit of minor incredulity that someone would fly 1500 miles to participate.  Each rider received a pocket-sized Powerpoint deck detailing each stop of the tour.

We rolled out under clear blue skies to the first stop at the former site of the Practice Pad, in downtown Oakland.  Our guides were Kamala and Kate, pioneers of the punk rock scene in the East Bay.

Here, and at each of the eight following stops, Kamala and Kate related stories “from the day”.  Stories of starting bands, communal living, and less-than-normal rental practice spaces shared with semi-legal tattoo parlors and offbeat print shops.

More than half of the nine stops no longer resembled their punk rock roots, due to gentrification, remodeling, and new construction.  This ride was not about sightseeing as much as about the stories.  After each stop’s story, the guides played a song from one of the associated bands.   There’s nothing like a punk rock soundtrack on a bike ride.

Here’s a quick video of the music portion at one of the stops:

(East-bay-punk-rock.mp4 upload to youtube and place here.)

One particularly interesting detail about gentrification stuck with me.  Most of these neighborhoods were, at one time, inexpensive warehouse spaces or housing.  They were often very ethnic and dubious of the punk squatters.  Gentrification in the early 90’s hadn’t started, but Kate expressed regret that they didn’t try harder to build bridges with the existing neighborhoods.

The final stop on the tour was 924 Gilman which is a:

• DIY and nonprofit venue for music, art, and community events
• Cultural landmark since 1986 that continues to inspire similar spaces globally
• Volunteer-run, all-ages, drug and alcohol-free safe space
• Multi-generational, independent collective
• Place for young people to work cooperatively

The route from OMCA to 924 Gilman was just under nine miles:

Stretching to Berkeley, the ride also provided a quick glimpse of some of the exceptional Bay Area cycling infrastructure, e.g. bicycle boulevards.

To top off the post ride, WOBO sent a playlist of the tracks played at the stops and during the ride:

_{01_TheGr’ups_RRHood.mp3
02_Special Forces_South Africa.mp3
03_StarFuckingHipsters_Immigrants_Hypocrites.mp3
04_Neurosis_Double Edged Sword.mp3
05_Christ on Parade_Just Pretend.mp3
06_Tilt_Berkeley Pier.mp3
07_Econochrist_Withdrawl.mp3
08_Spitboy_Sexism Impressed.mp3
09_NoMeansNo_Dad.mp3
10_Fang_Berkeley Heathen Scum.mp3
12_SocialUnrest_GeneralEnemy.mp3
13_Isocracy-2 Blocks Away.mp3
14_Crimpshrine_Tomorrow.mp3
15_Operation Ivy_Junkies Running Dry.mp3
16_Mr. T Experience_Gilman Street.mp3
17_Blatz_Berkeley is my Baby.mp3
18_Filth-The List.mp3
19_Lookouts_Big Green Monster.mp3
20_Screeching Weasel_Ashtray Song.mp3}

Most of these titles seem to be available on Youtube.

Although this wasn’t a commercial bike tour, I’m including the usual:

What We Liked

• It was a well organized, well run, well thought out event.  Kudos to WOBO and OMCA.
• The pocket guide and music samples were a great idea.
• Tim from WOBO even brought water along in his panniers.
• Follow up emails with the route information and downloadable MP3s.
• Friendly fellow riders.

What Could be Better

• Nothing, even the weather was perfect.

Final Notes

Over an après-tour beer, I heard that WOBO is planning a shipping container themed bike tour around town and the Port of Oakland area.

And, finally, if you’re interested in learning more about the East Bay punk scene, check out a new documentary titled: Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk.

 

 

San Francisco – An Alternative Touristy Ride (Experimental Migration)

There are at least a half dozen bike rental and bike tour outlets along the Embarcadero to Fisherman’s Wharf.  All of them offer guided and/or self-guided trips along the bay, across the Golden Gate Bridge and down into Sausalito, with a ferry ride back to the city.  If you’ve never been to San Francisco, it’s not a bad choice.  Except that Sausalito is pretty touristy.

Maritime Park

I was in San Francisco recently, primarily to check out the East Bay Punk History Rock Bike Tour.  I’ve always wanted to bike over the Golden Gate Bridge.  But, having been to Sausalito ONCE, I didn’t really want to do that again,  Plus, there are other ways to ferry around the bay (tip, check out downtown Oakland or Alameda).

So, do ride the touristy San Francisco side (especially if it’s your first time in the city).  And do ride across the Golden Gate bridge. But, then, come back and take in another side of San Francisco.

Fort Mason

Here’s how this ride breaks down:

• Embarcadero to the Golden Gate Bridge, passing through all of the most touristed areas, including  the Exploratorium, Pier 39 (don’t miss the sea lions!), Fisherman’s Wharf, the USS Pampanito and SS Jeremiah O’Brien, the Maritime National Historic Park,  views of Alcatraz, Fort Mason, and Crissy Fields.  Finally climb up to and on the Golden Gate Bridge.  Approx. 6.5 miles.  Consider which side of the bridge to ride.

West Sidewalk – Golden Gate Bridge

• The Presidio to the Wiggle, including an amazing bay view at Vista Point, a steep downhill reminiscent of the Streets of San Francisco, a short taste of Golden Gate Park and Haight-Asbury.  Approx. 7 miles.
  

The Presidio

• SOMA back to the Ferry Building.  The mapped route is pretty direct back to the Ferry Building, but this area is dead flat and pretty bike friendly.  If you’re interested in craft beer, there are several brewpubs noted on the map.  Approx. 3.5 to 5 miles depending on detours.

Need a bike?  You can’t walk 50 feet along the bay without running into bike rentals.  But consider treating yourself to an upgrade from Golden Gate Rides, Bike Hut, or Dandyhorse.  Tell ’em BeenThereBikeTours sent you.

Have fun!

Bicycle Tours of Atlanta – Fall in Love with Atlanta Tour

While visiting family in Atlanta, an extended BTBT team rode the Fall in Love with Atlanta tour from Bicycle Tours of Atlanta along with a few other guests.  When we arrived, all eight bikes were ready to go, identified with name tags for each rider.  BTofA’s website asks for height and age info when booking to provide an appropriate bike for each rider.  That’s not only helpful to find your bike, but doubly nice since it makes it easy for the guide and riders to learn one another’s names.

After a brief test ride and a few fit adjustments in the parking lot, we rolled out toward the historic shotgun houses near the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site.  From there we began a rambling clockwise route roughly encircling the Little Five Points, Inman Park, and Cabbagetown neighborhoods.

After stopping for an iconic downtown Atlanta photo, we paused again to explore street art along a short section of the Atlanta Beltline (including one of three “tiny doors” that we encountered).  From there, we rode the Freedom Park Trail passing by The Carter Center.  A few shady streets later, we arrived at Little Five Points, Atlanta’s “answer to Haight-Ashbury”.  Little Five Points is proud to have exactly three non-local establishments:  The post office, a Starbucks, and an American Apparel.

After more shady residential streets and another short stint on the Freedom Park Trail, we entered Inman Park proper. Sadly, we rolled PAST the King of Pops HQ & Walk Up Window. (“Mmmm, popsicles…”)  Several blocks later, we stopped for a story about a pair of iconic houses, and their connections to the Coca-Cola company.  A bit further on, we discovered the butterfly flags marking the first neighborhood in Altanta to gentrify.

Next up, a fast, dark ride through the heavily graffitied Krog Street Tunnel followed by a photo taking break at the Cabbagetown terminus.  Heading west along Wylie Street, we encountered more murals along the concrete railroad embankment.  We then circled back to Sweet Cheats for a brief cupcake and bio-break.

Following the break, we pedaled a short distance to the site of the Fullton Bag and Cotton Mills.  A portion of the historic mill was converted to loft apartments in the late 90s.  Hundred year old walls overlook the inviting modern pool.  Just around the corner, we rode through a residence of a different sort, the Historic Oakland Cemetery.  The cemetery predates the Civil War and serves as both a final resting place and peaceful city park.

The final leg of the tour took us past the Ebenezer Baptist Church and the King Center, once again, before returning to the bike shop.

What We Liked

• Just about everything.  The location of the shop and tour route are nearly ideal to experience a cross-section of Atlanta.
• The bikes were in very good condition (a couple were brand new) and set up for us in advance.  The name tags were a nice touch.
• Walt was an enthusiastic, knowledgeable guide.  Sara was learning the ropes and having a second guide to help with intersections in busy Atlanta added to our safety.
• Plenty of water provided before and after the ride.

What Could be Better

• One of our riders had requested an e-bike.  She wasn’t able to use the throttle, but the pedal assist worked fine.  Kudos to Walt for emailing us after the ride to explain the quirks of how that bike usually works.
• I sure could have gone for that King of Pops popsicle  🙂

Should You Go?

Absolutely, highly recommended!  

Of note, Bicycle Tours of Atlanta also runs “Street Art” and “Twilight” tours.

On A Mission

San Antonio has recently completed major upgrades and extensions to the original downtown Riverwalk which is very much focused on food and fun.  The Eagleland segment extends the pedestrian portion of the Riverwalk to the Blue Star Complex.  The Mission Reach Trail starts here and provides cyclists and walkers access to four historic missions, recreational facilities, picnic tables, and views of river wildlife in a semi-urban setting.  North of downtown, the Museum Reach Trail is nearing completion for access to several museums and the zoo.

I rode from the Blue Star Complex to the southern end of the Mission Trail and back on a perfect February afternoon in Texas.  In addition to visiting all of the well cared for missions, I spotted a pair of golden eagles, numerous turtles, ducks and other water fowl as well as a large snake.

 

Blue Star Bicycling

Although I brought my bike from Austin, there are B-Cycle stations located at all of the missions as well as many of the road intersections.  B-Cycle would be ideal for short rides between two or three missions.  But the bikes are fairly heavy and the trail was hillier than expected.  If you intend on riding the full length, consider renting a bike from Blue Star Bicycling Company located in the Blue Star Complex at the north end of the trail.  From there, if you visit all four missions, plan on riding about 22 miles.

Of course, you don’t have to ride the entire length.  The trail is well marked and has frequent picnic tables, shelters, and water fountains, as well as easy access to local businesses.  Lingering at the missions and parks, you could easily make a day of it or just spend a couple of hours riding out and back.  Or just ride a few miles and enjoy this treasure that San Antonio has provided us.

Finally, after your ride, you might like to enjoy one of San Antonio’s oldest brewpubs, Blue Star Brewing Company:

The Blue Star Brewing Company was one of the first brewpubs in San Antonio that has been serving their uniquely brewed beer and food since 1996. Shortly after opening The Blue Star Brewing Company, owner Joey Villarreal and his wife Magdalena opened the Blue Star Bike Shop within the walls of the amazing brewery, and later moved to its very own location right next door. The Blue Star Brewing Company offers organic brew and a selection of locally sourced food, The Blue Star Brewing Company is the place to relax and enjoy a well crafted meal before or after an adventurous bike ride on the trails.

Tell them Been There Bike Tours sent you!

e place to relax and enjoy a well crafted meal before or after an adventures bike ride on the trails.