Fit, Sizing and Position
Fit, Sizing, Position (our thoughts) Fit is the most important thing about your bike. Don't buy any bike because of its parts or price or looks or anything like that. In that way, think of a b |
PBH & How to Measure It
PBH & How To Measure It There are many ways to determine your correct saddle height. Six are here, and the last one is our way, which we'll explain immediately after: 1. Trial and error 2. Ask so |
Common Setup Mistakes
Common Setup Mistakes Bad handlebar angle . On drop handlebars, the ends should angle downward five to ten degrees. This flattens the part of the bar behind the brake levers, turning it into a good a |
Choosing a Frame Size
Choosing a Frame Size (Our bikes, and most non-Italian bikes, are measured from the center of the crank (or bottom bracket) to the top of the seat tube. In the old days this was called the English Me |
All You Need is Wool
All you need is wool (plus a little seersucker, sucker) If the charming, gnome-like folks who live on the edge of black holes in outer space came here today and studied hikers, climbers, outdoor maga |
Special Clothes for Riding?
Special clothes for riding? Special clothing just to ride a bike? Are you sure? (This is kind of a long rant.) If you have any doubts that you can ride in normal clothing , consider that 200 m |
Frame Materials
Frame Materials Weight, strength, safety, and frame materials It's been said that most people care about three things: sex, money, and food; and that cyclists care about four more things: price, numb |
The Big Picture
The Big Picture A bike should fit you. Most riders today are riding bikes that by our standards, are too small. They make you lean over too far, which puts too much weight on your hands, and too much |
Camping vs. Touring
Bike Camping. How it's different from touring, and why you may actually have time to do some of it. And about the bike camping gear we like, use, and stock. Bike camping and bike touring are alike en |
The Shoes Ruse
The Shoes Ruse (this is written for non-racers, and for riders who don't ride race-like. In other words, for recreational riders, tourists, commuters, general fitness riders...but not for racers or r |
Bars & Tape
Bars and Tape Handle Bar Tape Bar tape is cheap and easily changed and visible, and you feel it all the time. Therefore, make it a color you like to look at, and a color that looks good with the rest |
Opinions about Bike Parts
Opinions about bike parts Today's bike components work great, much better than most of the bike parts from the seventies or before. We're talking about function, not details. The top parts back then |
Truths About Tires
Truths about tires The biggest, best bargain in bicycles is air in the tires, yet for the last twenty years or so there's been a heinous trend toward tires with lower and lower volumes. This is bad b |
Tips for Happy Riding
Tips for Happy Riding Learn right away that the front brake is the most effective one, and to never lock the front wheel in dirt (or on the road, but it's more likely in dirt). Learn how far you can |
700c-to-650B Conversions
CONVERTING 700c to 650B Converting 700c to 650B has been covered twice in RIvendell Readers, most recently in #39; and more info is available somewhere on the web, most probably. This online How To p |
Quality
Quality The best way to determine a frame's quality is to check its alignment, and then have the frame stress-analyzed by photronics, strain gauges, or finite element analysis. Next, test each joint |
Across America on a $100 Bike
Across America on a $100 Bike
By Brendan Leonard
When a friend of mine asked if I’d like to bicycle across
the country with him, I knew which bike I was going to take: the one |
Getting Cars to Scooch Over; and Helmets
There’s an old bicycle-safety saw that says “be predictable,” but it’s not a slam dunk. Your first task is to stay alive, and unpredictability can help. When you’re riding on a bike trail a |
The Efficiency Ruse
The Efficiency Ruse And the sometimes benefits of inefficiency. Just another way to look at the Big E. The search for efficiency has caused: The worst-looking, least flattering clothing of all |
Commuting by Bike
Bike Commuting The bike doesn’t make
the difference. People who say they don’t commute by bike because their
bike isn’t suitable are making excuses in the wrong direction. There
are plent |
