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Best Place to Get Around With a Bike
··· Aug 05 2010 · By ···
One of the major things that D and I have been looking for in a home is to have that home in an area that is conducive to walking and riding a bike. As we were riding our bikes back from the weekly downtown Farmer’s Market I started to explain how I really feel that for getting around, running errands, going shopping, whatever, we live in a place that makes doing those things by bike a pleasure.
This afternoon, Dorothy had some work she needed to do, but wanted to get out of the house, so she decided that she would ride over to Peets to get her chai on and do her writing. Here is what she IM’d me as she arrived:
“Easy, quick, fun ride down here. Nice spot outside w/ the umbrella shading my table.”
Nice. Meanwhile I had a desire to get on my bike and check out some video cameras at the Best Buy. In most every place we have ever lived, we have always had to use our car to do stuff like that. So I headed out, looked at cameras (they had nothing worthwhile by the way), then pedaled over and met D at Peets. We left there, and headed over to the Farmer’s Market to get some fruit and veggies, then rode home in time for some dinner.
Basically, I can’t think of much that I wouldn’t choose to do by bike first around San Rafael, with the exception of any heavy lifting things that really require some sort of car. From Fairfax, out to Larkspur there is most everything we really need and can get to on foot or better yet on bike. Way to go San Rafael.
Bike Repair Zen
··· Aug 04 2010 · By ···…or how I learned to stop worrying and tear apart my Evel Knievel coaster brake hub so I could spin my cranks backwards.
For as long as I have been able to ride a bike, I have. And almost as long I have been tinkering with my bikes to either tune them, clean them or mod them. My first mod was a pretty funny one, it was turning a coaster brake rear hub on my AMF Evel Knievel bike into a freewheel hub. Why? Mainly because I wanted to use hand brakes, wanted to spin my cranks backward, and just wanted to see if I could do it. I remember the whole occasion like it was yesterday. I got the crazy idea out of a BMX magazine. There was a step by step guide, showing how it is done, and all I needed was some form of a washer or something to keep the clutch inside from doing it’s thing. I don’t recall precisely how the part went in, but I do remember that it took a couple of tries to get it right.
How did it all go down? Well, I first had to get the back wheel off the bike, no problem. Then, onto getting inside of the hub. That one took a little more digging through my Dad’s tool drawer to find the right pliers and wrenches and the like. The magazine article had an exploded view of a standard coaster brake hub, so I had a blueprint (like the picture above) for the work I needed to do, and better, a fail-safe map for getting the hub back together. I remember confidently removing each part from the hub, and placing them neatly in the order removed on the work bench in our garage. I cleaned each piece, not because the instructions said to, I just felt it was best to have clean parts. I got to the piece that needed to be swapped out, or flipped over, or whatever, did that, and started piecing the assembly back together, one piece at a time.
This sort of thing is nothing to me now, a simple take apart and rebuild, but for a kid still in the single digit age range it was a pretty big deal. After all, this was my bike, and I needed it to get around the neighborhood, so it had to be done right or I would be out of luck.
Well, it all went together, and sure enough just as the magazine predicted I was able to pedal it, and spin my cranks backwards! It wasn’t a perfect fix by any means. In fact I seem to remember that there was sometimes a lag in pedaling forward where it would take maybe a crank or so to engage after coasting or pedaling backwards. The price you pay I guess.
I sure wish I hadn’t taken apart every unnecessary part on the old Evel Knievel bike. I am sure it would be worth a lot more than what my parents paid for it back in the ‘70s. But BMX was becoming the big thing, and all of those extra plastic parts were just not necessary, and actually got in the way and were weighing the bike down. It would be a few years before I would get my Raleigh BMX bike for racing, so I would have to make the most of it, and I did. Even if I had reduced any value to nearly $0.
Brooks B66 Gents Model
··· Jul 30 2010 · By ···
Ever since I was turned on to the concept of riding my bikes with leather saddles I haven’t looked back. Thanks for this mode of thinking go out to my friends John and Kathy Beebe. Among other things, they are bike hoarders and they have some awesome bikes in their stable. Almost all (if not every one) has a leather saddle made by Brooks. I tried for some time to take a Brooks saddle off of John’s hands but he resisted, so that made me start hunting around on online auction sites to see if I could find any deals on some old models.
The Brooks B66 is an old two spring model made sometime in the 1950s. I know this because of the unique cutout design found in the middle of the saddle. Brooks soon after went with a three hole design instead of the cutout that you see here. I am looking for an old catalog that this model appears in, stay tuned for updates.
Being an old saddle, there is a bit of wear and tear and the leather isn’t in that great of shape, but the old saddle is still a rider. Unfortunately I am having a hard time finding a bike I like to mount it on. My single speed fixie is a little too silly for this seat, it looks good with my B-15, and my mountain bike might work, but I like the B-17 I have on there right now. (More on the other saddles later). The springs make it a little squirrely, I kind of like my saddle a little more firm in the seat, and not moving around. It will probably end up on a cruiser or mixte down the road. Until then, enjoy some more photos of this saddle madeby the premier manufacturer of leather bike saddles, Brooks.
