Spokes and Words

...in which Randy goes on vacation, and makes his kids ride fifteen miles per day. Mike punctures a tire, and finds a new way of getting around. Headphones and speakers, Bluetooth and otherwise. Children are tailgaters. Beware the stop signs! Mike blames Ira Glass for ruining his hearing. Car noise and conversations between cyclists in single file. Encyclopedia Brown always rode his bike everywhere, unsupervised by adults. Why can't our kids do that today? Mike likes Lezyne glueless patches, maybe because he doesn't know how to use the old ones properly. There's a new bike rack at Randy's son Max's school, but the placement of it leaves something to be desired. Keeping battery-powered lights charged becomes more difficult the more bikes there are in the group. Don't point your flashing lights at your friends and family! We mentioned a depressing article about a cyclist killed by a police officer -- who will not be charged, and another about the circumstances of cyclist deaths in the US. We also talked about an article about the fact that nobody has yet died on a bike-share bike in the US. Until next time: PMC on Hubway & Boris vs Ventoux.

...in which we hear about Mike's trip to Amsterdam, and the new bike his family bought there: If you're interested, Randy wrote up his review of the Pan-Mass Challenge, which we talked about last week. A visit to the WorkCycles shop in the Jordaan, featuring some strange spokes on a very odd bicycle. Here's a photo of Mike's family in front of the shop, with the bikes we rented from them: Sheldon Brown's POWerwheels! Randy explains why it might makes sense to run red lights sometimes. Mike tells how it works to let all the cyclists at an intersection go at the same time. David Hembrow does it better. Randy prepares for his own summer vacation, and tells us about his cargo trailer. We hope it will survive:

...in which Randy & Mike return from their summertime hiatus to regale you with tales of endurance, fund-raising, travel to exotic locales, and torrential rains. Randy tells us all about his sixth time riding the Pan-Mass Challenge, and his wife's first. Mike talks a little bit about his family trip to Amsterdam, and why it's not nearly as flat as Winnipeg. Randy describes riding in pacelines during the PMC. You, too, can own a water bottle just like [amazon text=Mike's new one&asin=B00EAIWTMK]. Find out just how many beers Randy can drink during a 250-mile bicycle ride!

... in which Randy talks to himself for 10 minutes to tell you: Mike is away for a few weeks, but will have great stories when he returns. We won't be posting another show until early August (see first bullet). Randy tries to convince you to support his cause. Randy is riding in the Pan Mass Challenge for the 6th year in a row.  It's a long bike ride to raise money for Dana Farber Cancer Institute.  If you can, show your support by donating to his ride here: http://pmc.org/RJ0036 100% of your contribution will make it to Dana Farber. Thank you so much.

...in which Randy has the greatest day of his life, despite the speedy biting flies in the woods. An optimist and a pessimist discuss existential qualities of the passing of time, and also terms used in framing construction. Randy replaces a chainring again, and discovers that we were wrong about the threading of bottom bracket sides last week.  We said that the right side threads were right-handed, and the left side threads were left-handed, but it's actually the other way around.  When the bearings are rolling properly, the inside surface of the bearings are actually tightening the bottom bracket in the opposite direction of the motion of the cranks and pedals.  This has nothing to do with quarks. We debate the relative merits of front and rear derailleurs, with a mention of half-step gearing.  We do not recommend front shifts with fingers. Which bicycles are the most dangerous when on a work stand?  Probably fixed-gear bikes.  Not ones with full chaincases. Apologies to anyone who followed that last link. Foreign objects get jammed in the spokes of bikes in movies.  Exhibit 1: Breaking Away.  Also, Raiders of the Lost Ark, which was tested out by the Mythbusters. Randy survives his saddle being sheared off while riding (on the greatest day of his life!) The Pan-Mass Challenge is happening in one month!  Donate to Randy & Julie's ride! 27.2mm seatpost diameter comes from 1-1/8" seat tube outside diameter (0.7mm thickness). Randy's theory of smooth shifting.  This is made more difficult when there's no saddle. Mike thinks riding a bike with no hands out of the saddle sounds impossible, until Randy explains that it's done without pedalling.  A kid with a creaky suspension bike made a video to show us all how it's done. Picking up someone at the airport on a bicycle. Dogs! Running over small animals.  Beware, chipmunks! Here's the story of the one-armed man who got stopped for only having one hand brake.

...in which Randy runs to work, because riding a bike is too easy. Mike used to ride to work so that he would still be able to breathe after two minutes of dancing. Randy continues to debate which trailer he likes better: Surly or Bikes at Work.  Apparently, Mr Money Moustache has one. Even the four-wheeled Bikes at Work 96ADW trailer has nothing on Nico Jungel's machine from Berlin. Mike has some trouble securing cargo on his trailer.  Maybe the Jyrobike flywheel could help... We swear off talking about misbehaving drivers, then immediately talk about misbehaving drivers. Replacing drivetrain parts is like pulling a thread. [amazon text=Magnets&asin=B000COYMDK] are useful for picking up small parts dropped on the lawn. If anyone knows what kind of grocery delivery bike appeared in [amazon text=Harriet the Spy&asin=0440416795], we'd like to know!

...in which we both survive close encounters with buses. It was Bike Week in Winnipeg! Say no to last-minute bicycle adjustments just before a big ride. Randy gets hit...by an ambulance. Pedestrian crossing signs in the middle of the road. We discuss different strategies for dealing with pedestrians waiting to cross the street, or crossing without looking. The downside of signalling for turns. Yet another irresponsible bus driver! Mike is really looking forward to self-driving cars. We mentioned the economic principle of induced demand. New York City taxi medallions are worth ridiculous sums of money.

...in which we continue to practice our circus tricks! Mike reveals his dislike of sports fans, or at least those willing to shell out for special licence plates for their favourite team.  They seem to be more likely to be the perpetrators of "Jerry Brownings".  (Side note: the original Winnipeg Jets are now the Phoenix Coyotes) We talk about the death of a cyclist on the road in Winnipeg. Randy recommends losing control of your car, and tells us about a video intended to teach people to keep their eyes on the road. We talk about the convenience of using a trailer as a combination stroller and shopping cart when shopping for groceries, and the downside of having too much weight in one. Randy continues moving inexorably toward purchasing a Surly Bill Trailer.  People have built elaborate cargo boxes for some of them. Mike tells of a tree growing in a bakfiets. Mike mentioned a bike with an interesting device called a "chainrest". Randy is missing a few teeth. A debate about using foot-retention devices for kids (especially on a tandem bike). It's the 100th anniversary of an amazing bicycle journey across Australia. Take a look at these fascinating photographs!

...in which we continue last week's conversation about teaching kids to ride safely on the road, and Randy actually skips a day of riding his bike to work! Mike talks about his garage being demolished, and the ensuing bicycle storage and security problems. Randy gives us an update on the slow progress of the planning for his new shed, and all the treasures that were hiding underneath the old one. The advantages of unheated bicycle storage. A top ten list of things we yell at our kids to keep them out of trouble on the street. We mentioned the FollowMe Tandem coupler for linking a small bike to a large one, which led to a mention of the theft of Emily Finch's famous bakfiets in Portland last year. (Mike incorrectly repeated the idea that it had been left unlocked). Who should have priority when bicycles meet on a hill? The kids are starting to do tricks on their bikes! We have a brief, highly speculative discussion about metabolism.  For some real information on that, you could try reading a book by [amazon text=Gary Taubes&asin=1400033462] (if you've got a month or so to kill...)

...in which we while away the hour talking about teaching kids how to not get run over by cars. 23 skidoo! Randy considers a radical idea for staying safe on the road. The only real problem is his man-purse... (Note: the word on one of the vests in this overtaking study is "POLITE") Mike gets all riled up about a safe-bicycling pamphlet distributed at his son's school. We mentioned David Hembrow's description of what the "strict liability" law in the Netherlands is really all about. Both of us seem to have trouble keeping our helmets from banging into things. For people interested in teaching kids to cycle safely, John Forester's Elementary-Level Cyclist Training Program might be of interest. Randy tells the tale of an unfortunate incident involving a chain, a derailleur, a birthday, and bad repair timing. (Here's an example, though not the one in question) Last, but not least...escaping wheels!

...in which we try new bicycle tricks, with mixed success. Randy pays the price of not being Danny MacAskill when he encounters trouble on the railroad tracks, then nearly crushes his iPhone. We discuss the arguments in favor of the Idaho Stop, prompted by a somewhat controversial article. Mike was wrong about the details of a survey about cyclists and automobiles coming to a complete stop for a stop sign. Cyclists did so only 7% of the time, but cars did it 22% of the time. Which is still shockingly low. The Arc de Triomphe (de l'Étoile) needs to protect itself from all those cars that constantly threaten it. It was Bike Safety Day at school; Mike's son Ryan tells us all about it. He also tells us about his new bike.

...in which we find out why Mike uses a hammer to work on his bike, and Randy tells of a close encounter with a train. Canadian football is played on a field 110 yards (not meters!) long. Randy had broken the front giant fender on his Pugsley. Now he breaks the rear one, too. Sad. People ask inane questions about repairing bikes. People are idiots -- including us! Randy considers the idea of having a bike devoted to not crashing. We recorded the show on National Bike to Work Day (in the US; Bike to Work Week in Winnipeg is next month). We discuss feelings of ambivalence about riding bikes among text-messaging drivers, and the lack of proper infrastructure for transportation cycling in North America. Randy sees kids riding to school in a large group, and we talk about our own kids riding to school. We have a sponsor: StemCAPtain! You can have a clock, a compass, or even a thermometer mounted on the top of your stem! For a 15% discount, use the offer code "SPOKESANDWORDS"! Wheels without spokes: Loopwheels & Softwheels! A flat on a fatbike. Does that make it a "flatbike"?

...in which we learn how Mike pronounces his surname, and Randy huffs paint thinner on his way to work. More on stolen and abandoned bicycles.  Mike made a photo gallery of bikes he found one day in Winnipeg, and mentioned an article about bike locks (and bike thieves). Randy continues to lust after the fancy Surly trailer hitch. Adventures in wheel truing, or "How does one free a frozen (spoke) nipple?" Chain tensioners that don't fit, and cleverly-angled dropouts. Changing chainrings, or "How does that chainring nut wrench work?" Basically, we're having trouble with threads getting stuck this week. The "LESS CAR, MORE GO" Kickstarter has been funded! A lightweight fat bike?

...in which Randy decides he wants an Ice Cream Truck to replace his six-week old fat bike, and Mike encounters a mystery bike in the woods. Kickstands are good for cargo bikes! Trailer hitches! We discuss bike snobbery, with a brief mention of BikeSnobNYC. There are now lots of different Surly Bikes. Mike explores Winnipeg's bicycle graveyard, and sees evidence of thievery. Springtime is here, and that means...things getting dropped out of bakfietsen. Randy mentions a collection of photos showing wonderful cycling infrastructure. New rail trails are being built in Massachusetts! Rotaries, roundabouts, and other traffic "circles".  We talk about some badly designed ones, but to see some examples of how to make a good one, see A View From the Cycle Path. Kickstarter projects of interest: Loud Bicycle (see also AirZound) & bicymple (see also other articulated trick bicycles).  Listeners might also be interested in the LESS CAR, MORE GO documentary.

...in which Mike summons bad weather by changing a tire, and Randy works on wearing out his replacement frame with tires that are too big. It's time to get the kids to start pulling their own weight.  Randy looks forward to leaving the trail-a-bike behind, and Mike gets some pedalling help from a four-year-old. We talk about the awesome hitch on the Surly cargo trailers (which, alas, do not have movable axles, like the Bikes at Work trailers). A surprise guest! Sarah wants to tell you all about her tandem bicycle, and how Mike's family can get around without using their bakfiets on occasion. How to startle pedestrians in the woods -- without even moving! The merits of different bicycle bells. Randy tells us about his new hipster clock! We find out about "bikeshedding", or Parkinson's Law of Triviality, as we hear about the plans for Randy's new bike shed, and the various ideas he has for a bike rack. A mention of the 1950s "Cyclists' Special" train for carrying bikes. Kickstands with two legs! And last, but not least, Max's little sister is a Lazy Sack!