The Bike Hive

For many years, I've heard older people say that inner tubes don't hold air as well as they used to.  It's usually the same thing - 'I never had to air up my tires when I was a kid.'   Others seem to think that tubes puncture easier now than they did even 15 or 20 years ago.  All of this got me wondering if there really is a difference between the quality of tubes and if it's changed through the years. First, a (very) short history:  Originally tires and tubes were made from natural rubber from the Hevea tree that is grown almost exclusively in Indonesia and Malaya.  During World War II, Japan had invaded these countries and cut off the world’s supply of natural rubber.  This led to a shortage and the need for an alternative.   At the time, German engineers had already been working on a synthetic rubber, but it wasn't until 1942 that U.S. engineers were able to develop it into a useable rubber compound called Butyl.   Butyl synthetic rubber...

Chain lubricant can be one of the most controversial aspects of bicycle mechanics.  It seems like most mechanics you talk to will have their own opinion as to what's best and they will strongly defend their choice.  So what is the difference between the chain lube and why are there so many kinds? Before we begin, let's go over some facts about chain wear. How does a chain wear and what is Chain 'Strech'? As a bike is pedaled, the roller, pin, and bushing parts of a chain are forced together under a high load.  This causes friction between the metal parts, causing them to wear down.  The first picture below shows wear on the pin, the second picture shows wear on the bushing part of the inner link plate (hard to see, it's shown as the lower left part of the hole wearing away).    .    As these parts wear, the pins gradually become farther apart across inner link plates.   This what is referred to as 'chain stretch'  ...

I unwrapped the handlebar tape on a nice Bianchi the other day and uncovered a potentially dangerous situation. This is pitting on the handlebar caused by corrsion after it has been cleaned. What you don't see is the white power that covered the bar, remnants of sweat and aluminum oxidation. This happened for a couple different reasons.  First and foremost, rider doesn't use gloves.  There's nothing wrong with that-I let my hands go commando on occasion too.  The problem with that is there's nothing to keep sweat off the bars.  Instead of gloves absorbing the sweat, it goes straight to the tape.  Sweat is caustic, and some riders' sweat is worse than others.  Regardless, it causes corrosion if not cleaned off. The second reason this happened is because the bar tape was used well past its prime.  In this case, it was three years old and had never been removed.  Bar tape is something that wears out rather quickly - even if you don't con...

The other day I had the opportunity to overhaul a Cannondale Lefty fork.  I've had mixed luck with these in the past, confounded by Cannondale's lack of instructions, spare parts, and poor customer service.  That notwithstanding, I've been anxious to master these tricky forks.  A quick review of them online returns  mixed  results , but the general consensus is that they work great until it's time for service, but then it's a crapshoot. Let me start by saying that when I say 'poor customer service' , that means that Cannondale's answer to fixing your 5 year old Lefty many times is 'send it back and we'll sell you a new one for $800 (give or take,depending on model). A good deal (maybe) if you have a trashed 12 year old fork that has never been serviced, but not for a 5 year old fork that only needs one new bearing race and some o rings.  I think their people on the inside try hard, but Cannondale doesn't have systems in place to help dealer...