Brompton Assembly Video.

Recorded this snippet from a TV show on how the Brommie is made. Pretty cool stuff.

Brommie Assembly. from jo dimes on Vimeo.

Cateye Vectra Wireless Speedometer Quickie Review

I ran this Cateye Vectra first on the Brompton then on the Downtube. I bought it in February 2009 and just recently it started messing up. I could hear the magnet clicking on every turn of the wheel, but it would not register as a revolution on the main unit. At first I thought it was the battery so I replaced that (both on the main unit and the wheel sensor). That didn’t solve the problem.

I thought maybe that my cell phone was interfering with the signal transmission, but a few rides without my cell proved that theory wrong. I finally figured out that the unit had to be closer to the wheel sensor. The main unit needed to be nearer about an extra three to six inches. I don’t know why this Cateye started putting out a weaker signal all of a sudden.

Needless to say I couldn’t bring the unit closer to the wheel sensor unless I brought the handlebars down considerably. Or, install some 12” wheels on the Downtube, ha-ha.

I can’t recommend this Cateye Vectra. It lasted about 1 year and 8 months. Cateye supposedly makes good quality units. It was pricey, too. MSRP is/was $40 but I paid $35 for it on sale.

Primo Comet Tires on Downtube 8H.

I was getting a little tired of the sluggishness from the Kenda Kwests that came with the Downtube 8H so I picked up some Primo Comet tires. These tires have gotten some good reviews on the Bikeforums community. They are smooth tire with just a very slight line pattern.

Yes, the tires are a big improvement over the Kendas, but I wouldn’t say it is like night and day in terms of change. The tires roll better than the Kendas, but I still detect a little hugging or grippishness (is that a word?) of the road. I think they could be a little nimbler. Another positive for the Primo comets are that they are 100psi tires. This is probably what makes them roll better than the Kendas. The Kendas max out at 60psi.

A caveat is in order, though. I continued the pattern of having a fatter tire in the back vs. the thin one in the front. The Kendas were 20x1.75” rear tire vs. 20x1.5” in the front. The Primos I went with are 1.90” for the rear tire vs. 1.50” for the front.

Why did I do this? I guess I “drank the koolaid” in that Downtube puts a wider tire in the rear for various reasons. I quote from the DT site:

Q Why do you have different front and rear tires on some models?
A This is one of the best features of our bikes. Note the forces on the front wheel are push based, and pull based on the rear. Pushing is "harder" than pulling, hence more energy is wasted up front. Hence we thinned the front tire. Additionally, the seat tube is angled back more weight is distributed towards the rear of the bike. Hence we put a wide rear tire for traction. This configuration is highly efficient, and very safe.

I believe some other bicycle experts also have recommended this, maybe even the late Sheldon Brown, but I’m not 100% sure on that.

Maybe I should have just kept a 1.5” Primo comet in the back (?). In addition, I couldn’t find a 1.75” Primo comet tire for the rear. The next closest size was 1.90” so I went with that. Maybe I installed too fat of a tire.

Another surprise is the weight of these tires vs. the Kendas. I weighed the Primos and the front one weighed 12.5 oz and the rear weighed 20oz. Both of these tires weigh just a little over 32oz, or 2 lbs, together. The Kendas weigh right around 1 lb each. The front Kenda tire was just a smidgen lighter than the rear. Therefore, you’re getting better performing and higher PSI tires for the same weight.

Bottom line: a nice upgrade over the Kenda Kwests, but still could be better. The best rolling tire I have found for a small wheeled bike is the yellow tag Brompton brand stock tires. Those roll very well and are 100psi tires.

Tag: Primo comet tire review.

Bike locker.

Thought I’d post a pix of my bike locker. I’ve been renting out this bike locker from our transit authority. Cost is $87/year (although they are going to jack up the price to $200+ due to budget shortfalls). The locker is right on my subway stop. Thus, all I do is ride to my stop, put the bicycle in the locker, lock it up and get on the subway. Also, the space in the locker is like a triangle. You are supposed to “back in” your bike (handlebars will be towards the front).

Great things about a bike locker:
-Bike is protected from the elements
-You can commute in an expensive bike w/o fear of it being stolen
-You can leave expensive lights, speedo, and other pricey accessories on the bike w/o fear of them being ripped off (literally). See my earlier post: http://utilitycyclist.blogspot.com/2008/12/wanton-vandalism.html

Cons:
-Yearly cost. Ok, nothing in life is free.

-My bikes are "average" sized so they fit fine in the locker. However, if you have a large-sized bike I think that they may be too tall for this particular locker style.
-Spiders and other insects seem to like living in adjacent lockers and sometimes hang out in mine.

The first photo is my own bike locker when I rode the brompton one day. The second is a picture I found when I googled the phrase "bike locker". It is the exact same model as mine. I can also fit the brompton (folded) and a regular size bike in one locker.

Cars slow down. Bikes don't have to.

My fair city/county (Arlington, VA) has got these neat speed bumps that have 2 grooves for bikes to go through. This is a great idea! The one I posted in my pix below is on a downhill, so I especially zoom down this incline.







I don’t think cars can cross the double yellow line in order to bypass these bumps (both wheels over the cut-outs). My neighbor told me that the local cops were ticketing cars that were doing this (I haven’t seen this). Rather, they should let the left wheel take the cut-out and right wheel go over the bump (on their side of the road). Hooray for traffic calming!

Upgrades to Downtube 8H.

Hey all. Wanted to post a picture of some upgrades I’ve done to the Downtube 8H and explain them. Really enjoying the bike thus far. No problems yet. Still looking for a replacement front fork. Like I mentioned before, the Zoom fork doesn’t give as much as I’d like. It’s more of a road dampener.

Here’s the pix and what I’ve done.

New front ring: Ended up swapping out the front ring for a 38T ring (it came with a 46T front ring). I think the stock gearing on the 8H is a little high. There are some steep hills in my area that I need some help with in the form of a lower gear. If I lived in a flat area, I wouldn’t have done this upgrade.

Chainguard: You know I use my bikes for commuting in dress pants and khakis. Thus, I consider a chainguard a necessity. The stock 8H comes with a bashguard chain cover ring, that is ok. But as you ride your bike, the wind WILL whip your pants into the chain giving you some stains. The chainguard eliminates these problems. The chainguard brand is SKS. It fits front rings up to 40T. Also, the rear part of the chainguard expands and contracts so you can adjust it to fit. Also, you have to remove the bottom bracket to loop this chainguard around the front part.

Fenders: As I mentioned, the 8H comes with a rear fender only. And, the stock fender gives you 25% or so in coverage for the rear wheel. In the rain, this will give you some coverage, but not as good as a 50% coverage fender. I got that in the Planet bike 20” recumbent fender. The front fender is a Planet bike 20” front-wheel recumbent fender. The Planet bike fenders also have a very cool looking rubber slightly upraised flaps at the ends.

Pedals: Swapped the stock Wellgo folding pedals for some BMX-type pedals. The pedals are slightly lighter in weight (they are clear hard plastic) than the Wellgos and are wider which gives you more area to put your dogs on them. They also have upraised nubs that give you traction.

Rear rack: I took off the stock rack because it rides too low and close to the rear wheel. This causes heel strike if you use side pannier bags (which I often do). I installed an old “Performance Bike” rack that rides higher and eliminates the heel strike problem. I had to bend the rack extensions somewhat. A plus for the 8H is that it has plenty of holes to add another kind of rack. In a way, I hated to do this upgrade because the stock rack is custom designed for the 8H and is very aesthetically pleasing.

Reflective strips: Added some reflective strips for nighttime visibility. Although you can’t tell from the picture, the strips are red. The camera flash made it look a different color. I got these strips on ebay. They are plentiful there in all the colors you can think of. Shipping is low for most of these reflective strips since sellers can just put them in an envelope and ship them to you for the price of a stamp. I may have paid $2-3 total for these strips and had some left over.

That’s about it. Let me know if you see an old Downtube front suspension fork. I'm looking for one.

Keeping Your Toes Protected in Summer: Keen Newport Sandals

8/14/10 Update. I've gotta pull my recommendation of these sandals. The reason: foot odor. Mind you I don't have a foot odor problem, but my feet smell with these sandals. The inner soles say "anti odor anatomic footbed" but that doesn't prevent my problem. I don't understand why since these Newports are pretty well ventilated. The only time I've had a foot odor problem was when I wore some waterproof (and non ventilated) Rockport shoes. My feet got really hot in those, which caused the foot odor after a while. Since I didn't buy these at REI, I'll have to keep them. I'll wear them while bicycling, but I'll try not to walk with them so much.

Summer's here and I doing more casual riding. By this I mean going to the grocery store, ATM machine, ice cream or coffee shop. I had been doing this with my running sneakers, but when you ride in the summer your feet can get hot quickly. This made me look for some sandals so I could get some air circulation/coolness in my feet. However, all the sandals I saw provided inadequate protection for my toes.

Basically, all sandals "expose" your toes. They all come with some straps around the other parts of your feet to keep them in place. And, I'm not about to wear flip flops because they look and feel flimsy. I'm kinda sensitive to protecting my toes since I severely mashed my "index" toe while riding a cruiser with flip flops as a kid.

I was familiar with Keen Newports but I had dismissed them a few years ago because they were a little fugly. I never saw them as a biking shoe/sandal. As I thought more protecting my toes, the only sandals that seemed to offer what I was looking for were the Keen Newports. They have this really strong rubber toe box/cap, which I like. The sandals offer plenty of cross ventilation. They look very well made as their stitching looks strong.

The negatives I have with them are that: 1) they're still not that strong in the looks department, 2) The insoles are hard; I wish they had cushier, softer insoles and 3) they're slightly heavier than your basic sandals. There are some reviews out there that say that Keen Newports are the most comfortable sandals ever made. I wouldn't go that far, though.

Anyway, if you're looking for some summer sandals that can protect your toes while biking, I would consider the Keen Newports. (Tag: Review of Keen Newport Sandals)