So perhaps “return” was premature…

Two years ago, I said I was returning to this blog. Obviously, that wasn’t true.

Life was… strange. My relationship with my partner of many years was deteriorating into something that felt more like I had a roommate than a mate. My health was up and down. I was struggling with loneliness and even depression. I didn’t realize it, but my life was slowly, incrementally falling apart.

In 2015, the relationship ended. Around that same time, I met someone… Or should I say reconnected with someone. For the first time in many years, I fell in love with someone who was fully capable of loving me in return. My mood improved, my health improved. I moved to a new house, and am now engaged to be married next year.

Everything has changed. Life is 100% better, and I can’t wait to talk about it, and to get back on my bikes! But… (there’s always a “but,” isn’t there?).

Right now, I’m recovering from shoulder surgery. A car accident last year meant months off and terrible pain. But now I’m almost whole again. The bikes, which have been sitting in a shed for over a year, can get a bright polish soon and then… the trails call! Within the next few months, I should be riding again, albiet slowly and carefully.

Stay tuned… Life is back on track!

April 7, 2014 Ride: Return of Rideblog!

First off, I would like to dispel any rumors that I am dead. T’was only a flesh wound!

In fact, I have not been on a bike in a very long time… probably over six months. This will seem odd, as I run a bicycling website and own three-and-a-half (still counting The Shogun, darnit!) bikes. But a combination of things is responsible for this sad period of inactivity, and like many difficult situations, everything sort of built upon itself as time went on.

First off, I got sick. Now, if you have spent several years following me (and who hasn’t, really? At least in spirit?), you know this is not an unusual occurrence. I have described a few whopper-doosies of illnesses before, including dedicating a page of this site to my chronic illness. So what was different this time? Well, let’s start with that chronic illness.

I should note, before I go any further, that my disease name has changed. I used to have “Benign Joint Hypermobility Syndrome.” Now I have “Joint Hypermobility Syndrom/Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Hypermobility Type.” Because that just makes it so much clearer!

Among the many things that JHS/HEDS (no, really) causes are subluxations. This is sort of like a dislocation, but less severe because it mostly corrects itself. Think of pulling your joint out of the socket and then immediately popping it back in, like snapping the shoulder joint on an old-fashioned doll whose joints are connected with rubber bands.

I’m showing my age, aren’t I?

I’ve had a few subluxations over the years, mostly to my fingers and toes. They resolved quickly, leaving just bruises and swelling. But this winter, something new happened. I threw my left shoulder out… in my sleep. Unlike past subluxations to minor joints, this didn’t resolve itself. I had to have it popped back into place (which makes it a dislocation? I think?). Then it popped out again. And again. For several weeks, my shoulder dislocated or subluxated every night.

My disease comes in phases. After a few weeks of popping out constantly, my shoulder decided to stay in place. But then the numbness began. My entire left arm started tingling and then loosing sensation. My right hand soon joined in the fun, though it was never as bad. I lost feeling in my fingers, particularly my thumb. My feet also began to experience long periods of burning and numbness. The area between my shoulders became a wall of burning pain. With the pain came chronic fatigue, nausea and lethargy. I found it hard to get up in the morning and get going. I stopped doing any exercise, for fear of more pain. I gained nearly 15 pounds over the winter, sitting on the couch and moping (okay, I was working, too). On the plus side, I watched a lot of British television!

They look vaguely disapproving, don’t you think? Like: “Bloody Americans, wasting their lives away like stupid twats.”

As the numbness and burning increased, so did my sense of physical dislocation from my body. This began as a vague surprise that my hand was responding to my brain’s commands, and progressed until I felt as though my brain were the only “real” part of myself, and the rest existed only as a sort of fleshy suit.

At no point did this remind me of Silence of the Lambs, or anything.

Needless to say, it was unnerving. I spent months dealing with all of it, including visiting several doctors. In the end, no one was sure what was going on (it was not the result of an obvious candidate, like MS), but the symptoms have eased up a bit the last few months. I started to feel better about a month ago. The fatigue lingers, but even that is slowly lessening as the seasons change. The fact that this has been one of Seattle’s rainiest winters has not helped.

So it took awhile, but I was finally ready to ride. I’m working odd hours: part-time at a local high school and part-time tutoring privately. This leaves me with lots of daylight to burn. I first tried to go for a ride a week ago, but after spending 45 minutes angrily tearing up the garage looking for my pump, I discovered that it was in the trunk of The Handsome Fella’s car. Since he was at work, this was not good news. I drove to the store and bought another cheap pump, since I have always found my current pump hard to use. Then I drove to the trailhead, and learned that my new tires and tubes… had Presta valves. I couldn’t find an adapter. I decided that the Fate I Don’t Believe In was conspiring against me (shut up, I know it’s illogical!). I drove home and sat on the couch. I may have watched a movie featuring Benedict Cumberbatch. I don’t actually remember what I did, but statistically, that’s a reasonable guess at the moment.

Today, however, I had new adapters from REI (a reputable source!) and a sunny day and time. I set out to pump up my tires.

The new pump broke within seconds, collapsing into a ridiculously twisted hunk of useless metal. I probably should have foreseen this, as it cost less than $12, but I live in eternal cheapness and optimism. Fortunately, I had the old pump back, and as it was not $12 to begin with, it held up to, you know, pumping stuff. But then, I couldn’t get the adapter to work. I was perplexed. Was I doing something wrong? I tried YouTubing what to do, but the video tutorials were surprisingly involved for such a simple operation. I found myself more confused than when I started. Again, forty-five minutes later (I could have ridden The Raleigh, you understand, which has Schrader valves like any sensible bicycle should, but I was On A Mission by this point), I was shrieking with frustration. Were all my pumps broken? Was there something wrong with the valves? Was I destined to sit, alone, on the damned couch, watching poncy English actors?

Then it occurred to me that it might be the adapter. Now, many of you will have seen a Presta adapter. It looks like a screw, essentially. There are no moving parts or rubber gaskets to fail. It screwed neatly onto the valve, like it was supposed to, and fit neatly into the pump. It just seemed unreasonable that the adapter was the issue. But the REI pack came with two, so I figured it was worth breaking out the other one.

Five minutes later, I had pumped up both tires and thrown away the faulty adapter. Then I opened up my saddle bag and my Emergency Zip Lock Full of Crap… and there was another adapter. I had owned one all along.

There may have been some anger.

At this point, there was nothing for it but to head out onto the damn trail and let bicycle bygones by bygones. I chose the Cedar River Trail, as it was close to my house and flat and I was a: 45 minutes behind schedule and b: pathetically out of shape.

It was beautiful. The bike performed perfectly, the trail was near empty, and the sun shone the entire time. There was nothing to complain about, and nothing really to note. I didn’t have any trouble hitting sixteen miles (though I noted that I was significantly slower than in My Prime), and my butt only hurt a little bit at the end. My saddle had not grown magically less annoying, but I suppose that after six months, I had to expect some level of discomfort no matter what. Otherwise, it was the same trail I remembered, with a few added smiles from the rider in question.

It was glorious and vaguely anti-climatic, all at once. Much like my blog! And my life!

Most importantly, the tires stayed pumped!

 

No, Really! That’s My Bike! On a Trail!

More coming soon!

Vintage Bike Buying Guide: 3-Speeds!

Why Buy a 3-Speed?

I know, there are bikes out there with lots of speeds. You’ve seen them in the store… 21-speeds, you thought… I could ride up any hill with twenty-one different gears! It’s true that owning a 3-speed is a different experience than owning a bike with dozens of gears. But I’m here to preach it: three speeds is all you need!

Most of the time, of course. For most people, riding a 3-speed isn’t about going thirty miles an hour, riding a hundred miles, or climbing up the French Alps. If you are someone who wants to just go for fun bike rides, isn’t interested in getting there at top speed, doesn’t like spandex (or doesn’t think the world wants to see you in spandex)… a 3-speed may be for you. Here’s a 3-item list of reasons you might like a 3-speed.

1. 3-speeds have the same (or similar) gear spread as bikes with more speeds. There’s just more space between each point in the spread. So if a 10-speed goes from 1-10, with ten steps in the middle, a 3-speed might go from 1-9, with three steps in the middle. But the top gear and the bottom gear are really similar to bikes with many more speeds. You’ll mostly lose the very lowest gears, but 3-speeds aren’t designed to ride up mountains, so this isn’t as big a loss as you might think.

2. Most people never use all the gears on their bikes. Honestly, if you’re just pleasure riding, chances are you will never utilize the vast majority of your gears. You will either stay in one third of the gear range (staying on 2 on the “big” gears and then shifting between grades of 2) or you will shift the big gears from 1-3.

3. You may use your gears MORE on a simpler bike than you would on a more complex one. I find myself shifting far less on bikes with more gears, simply because it requires more thought while riding to choose which gear to use. On my 3-speed, I have three choices. Do I want to peddle less hard on a hill? I shift down. Do I want to go faster on the flats? I shift up. That’s it.

As you determine what type of bike you want, you need to look at how you want to ride. In the end, 3-speeds are great bikes for folks who are just getting back into cycling, who are afraid of the typical bent-over posture of most complex geared bikes, or who just want to ride a bike that feels like the one you had as a little kid. Three-speeds are fun, and that’s pretty much all there is to it.

Why Vintage?

For a casual rider, a vintage bike can provide much more bicycle for the money. A new, inexpensively-produced cruiser bike can easily cost $300-500, and it won’t be particularly well-made. A fully-tuned vintage bike with all the bells and saddle-improvement-whistles can cost about the same, or even much less, and will run forever on very little care.

Also, let’s face it: vintage bikes have a certain caché that newer bikes do not. Their proportions are often more thoughtfully tuned to the way people like to ride after generations of iterations, their lines can be more graceful, and their history makes them stand out from the crowd. If you appreciate great engineering, or you just like cool old things, vintage bikes are a reasonable way to indulge yourself, as opposed to that $100,000 Mustang Shelby you’ve been eyeing on eBay.

Is Steel “Real?”

Vintage bikes are usually made of steel, it’s true. Does this make them higher quality than a new bike, or give you a “better” ride? Probably not. My vintage Raleigh Sports is made from very cheap, very heavy steel tubing and will proudly rattle my wrists off. My Gazelle Trimsport is made from higher quality steel tubing, and gives a much smoother ride. But all steel bikes will have a more visceral, rougher ride than a brand new titanium bike. This isn’t a bad thing — the “feel” of the road can make riding a vintage bike more fun, just like driving a vintage car. But there’s no reason to claim these bikes are superior to well-made bikes today (you should see the Raleigh Sports’ welds. Yike).

Where Do I Buy a Vintage Bike?

If you’re patient, and live in a reasonably-sized metro area, Craigslist is the way to go. Spend some time perusing what’s on offer, and how much those bikes cost (pay attention to condition, too, as you browse, so you know what a well-maintained bike is worth, as opposed to the “barn find” covered in rust). Every bike market is different, so there’s no way to say what a vintage 3-speed “should” cost in your area. What might seem like exorbitant highway robbery in rural middle America will be an unbelievable bargain on the mean streets of New York City. That said, rural areas are often small markets, which is where eBay can prove useful. You’ll pay more, but often this is the only market in town. Just beware: make sure the bike is sold as being in full running order before you buy!

What Should I Look For in a Vintage 3-Speed?

There are several styles of vintage 3-speed to consider.

Dutch Bikes: The first is the fully-upright, Dutch-style bike, which is generally very heavy, designed for transportation, and virtually bomb-proof. These bikes are ideal for anyone who wants a bike that’s easy to ride: if you’ve ever ridden a bicycle successfully, you can ride one of these. As long as you don’t have to lift it onto the car rack, these bikes are also perfect for people with physical issues, as they are totally upright. If you can walk and sit in a chair, you can probably ride one of these bikes. Just remember that they are very slow, and very heavy. They are not built for significant hills of any size. They are generally weather-proof as well, and can be locked up outdoors with minimal maintenance.

Sports-Class: These bikes are like my Raleigh Sports, and are semi-upright, with a slightly more aggressive posture. This type of bike is better for cranking up the occasional hill — they were made to be ridden on variable terrain, and they’re quite a bit faster. Almost certainly, if you remember riding a bike that you thought was wonderful when you were a kid, this class of bikes will make you feel like a kid all over again.

Other 3-Speeds: There are occasionally other types of vintage 3-speed available, some with drop bars or racing posture (particularly if you get into very old bikes). These bikes are perfect for someone who wants a bit more speed, but loves the simplicity of a vintage 3-speed. There are also 3-speed folding bikes, which are a fun alternative if you need something that’s easier to store and transport.

Factors to Consider

Manufacturers: There are many, but the best known would be the British makes like Raleigh (through the end of the 70’s, some early 80’s), Rudge, Phillips and Triumph (among others). Japanese three speeds can also be fun, and the Canadians and others also made great bikes during the 3-speed heyday. The Raleigh Sports and LTD are the best known (a LTD is a slightly less fancy Sports), and the Raleigh Sprite is a great 5-speed from the company. Raleigh Tourist and DL-1 are fancier, larger versions, requiring specialized tires, but glorious to ride. American manufacturers are dicier here. Schwinn has many fans, but Sears and Montgomery Ward are often just cheap Raleigh knock-offs. Research any unusual bike you find very carefully.

Condition: Vintage 3-speeds tend to be well-loved, meaning their paint can be pretty beat-up. Don’t worry too much about nicks and dings. Pay more attention to rust that compromises the tubing. I’d also rather see a beat-up original paint job than a cheap refinish. Even less important is the condition of the chrome. A beautiful, shiny finish can be restored to even horribly pitted chrome by rubbing it with 000 steel wool. “Mother’s Mag,” a wheel cleaner available at most auto stores, will shine up dulled aluminum parts.

Now it’s time to think about the bike’s working parts. If the bike uses an internally-geared hub in the rear, not a derailleur, you should make sure it will shift, at least a bit. Some hubs freeze up due to lack of maintenance and fixing them is expensive, plus it requires a mechanic with some specialized experience, which may be harder to find. If it shifts at all, it can probably be adjusted. Ideally, it should shift through all three gears before you take it home. Internally geared hubs, if properly maintained with a drop of lubricant now and then, can run virtually forever, so if you buy a bike with a working hub, you’ll quickly find that you love it. Derailleurs work the same way: can you shift? Does it stay in gear? As long as you’re getting a decent response from the bike, it’s probably rideable with a tune-up. If you have major gearing/shifting issues, you have to ask yourself how willing you’ll be to do a total replacement.

Other issues to watch for include brakes that don’t work, “frozen” cranks or bottom bracket, stuck seat posts and the eternal threat of a bent fork. However, if your brakes stop, at least pretty well, the cranks turn, you can adjust the seat, and the front forks look like the are at the correct angle, you can adjust the rest.

Though it’s nice to get a real leather Brooks saddle on your bike, that can also raise its price. Things like bells, baskets and other accessories are just nice extras.

Fit: Look for ridability — does the bike fit you? Vintage 3-speeds came in several sizes. Try one out before you buy! Raleigh Sports came in 19″, 21″ and 23″ versions, but sizes vary by manufacturer. You will also need to determine if you want a step-through frame or a diamond frame. Ideally, I like my legs ever-so-slightly bent on the down-stroke when peddling, my arms to be comfortably stretched but not feel like I’m reaching to get the handlebars, etc. If you can find a bike where your fit is in the middle, you can tweak it later. Never buy one that’s a hair to small or a hair too big right at first, or you’ll end up regretting that you can’t make it fit you later.

Once you’ve purchased your 3-speed, take it to a good bike mechanic. Expect to spend at least $100 to get it in good working order, but probably you’ll spend more like $200. This should include:

1. A general tune-up

2. New brake pads (salmon Kool-Stops are the best)

3. New chain

4. New tires and tubes (this can be anywhere from $15 a tire to $100, depending on your preferences. Cream tires are generally more costly).

Other fun stuff you could pay for:

1. Lowering the gears, so it’s easier to peddle uphill (very cheap to do, especially if you’re having other work done)

2. New Brooks saddle ($90-150)

3. Brass ding-dong bells, baskets, and saddle bags.

Maintenance on a vintage 3-speed is easy: buy a goose-neck oil bottle at the auto store and fill it with automatic transmission fluid. I like to add a bit of Phil Wood’s Tenacity and a few drops of automatic transmission fluid twice a year. That seems to be plenty, though you can also wait for the hub to start sounding like it’s clicking more loudly before you add more oil.

Otherwise, your 3-speed should run forever with few, if any, issues. That doesn’t mean you can’t improve the bikes. Here are a couple “extras” you can eventually add to improve your bike’s performance:

1. Aluminum rims — these will lighten the bike considerably. A front dynamo hub can be easily added at this point, if you want to, for automatic lighting.

2. New calipers and cables for the brakes — help improve the braking. There are some brands available that look reasonable authentic. I haven’t found authentic looking brake levers yet.

3. Add a coaster brake! This solves the above issue, and is fun to have. 

3-speeds are great bikes for almost anyone, as long as you aren’t expecting to ride them fast. I highly encourage folks to snap them up!