The Biking Thread

[washing machine]

How's the bike share system in Montreal, Argo?

[The Argonaut]

I've never used it, but they've got "Bixi bikes" all over the city. Not expensive. Single gear, typical bike share bike. Racks all over, and I don't often see either full or empty racks, so they do a good job regulating that. It's popular.

[bune]

Yeah, I love my early morning ride to work. I don't see another person until I get about halfway in and deeper into Portland and even then it's not that busy.

Going home...well, at least I'm faster than most of them.

[Green Habit]

Yeah, I love my early morning ride to work. I don't see another person until I get about halfway in and deeper into Portland and even then it's not that busy.

Going home...well, at least I'm faster than most of them.

What neighborhoods do you go to and from? You can PM me if you don't want to reveal publicly. I lived in Portland for college and know the infrastructure well, always curious to learn more.

[bune]

Eh, I don't have to worry about anyone but Burt coming after me and I'm pretty sure he's on the other side of town.

I go from Vancouver to Downtown. I usually use N Vancouver Ave to work and N. Williams Ave on the way home, though sometimes I take Interstate Ave because it's just a different route. The hardest part really is getting across the river from WA to OR, that bridge walkway is narrow.

[Green Habit]

Eh, I don't have to worry about anyone but Burt coming after me and I'm pretty sure he's on the other side of town.

I go from Vancouver to Downtown. I usually use N Vancouver Ave to work and N. Williams Ave on the way home, though sometimes I take Interstate Ave because it's just a different route. The hardest part really is getting across the river from WA to OR, that bridge walkway is narrow.

Nice. North Portland's the part of town I probably know the least, but I do that the Vancouver/Williams one-way couplet works really well. I hear you about narrow bridges, when I was there I regularly had to cross the Sellwood Bridge when it was just two lanes plus a narrow sidewalk on one side. Scary as hell in hindsight, so glad they finally replaced that thing.

[washing machine]

I've never used it, but they've got "Bixi bikes" all over the city. Not expensive. Single gear, typical bike share bike. Racks all over, and I don't often see either full or empty racks, so they do a good job regulating that. It's popular.

Good to know. I don't plan on traveling there any time soon, but I'm always interested in using bike shares to explore new cities.

[washing machine]

We took my fiancée's 40 year old 5-speed cruiser to the shop today to get a tune up. It's been rusting in a shed for a few years. I expect it to need new brake pads, tires and possibly even a new shifting system.

I've never actually had to replace any of this stuff on a bike. How much bitcoin am I likely looking at here?

[Norah]

I've had my bike for over a year now, what should I be doing for maintenance?

[Self]

Not much if everything is working properly. As the brake pads wear, you may have to adjust cables. Same if you're not shifting smoothly anymore.
Otherwise, just keep your chain lubed and everything should last a long time.

If you ride in the woods a lot, you may get dust, dirt, water in the crank and wheel bearings. Easy enough to pull them out, clean the bearings, and re-grease them.

[bune]

https://www.globalcyclingnetwork.com/

https://www.youtube.com/user/globalcyclingnetwork

I love these guys. They have great commentary, they love what they do, and they get on well with each other. Why do I bring them up? They have some great maintenance videos.















You may be telling yourself, "Wow those roadies are proper tools". Well have I got the channel for you:

https://www.youtube.com/user/globalmtb

Same network, just MTB instead.

You can always look in your neighborhood and see if there's a community cycling center or something equivalent. I didn't use that one (the one I did use is no longer with us) but I went there for classes to learn how to work on bikes. I didn't have to worry about breaking my own bike as we were repairing donated bikes and if we screwed something up, they had plenty of spare parts.

Self is pretty much on the nail there: just adjustments and lube. It also depends on where you live though. As an example here in the PNW it rains a lot in the winter and I have to clean the bike every weekend. Also if you ride a lot in the rain you have to watch your brake pads and rims because the grit can accumulate and wear the rim out faster.

[Norah]

What should I use for lube? Astroglide?

[bune]

I've heard good things about Gun Oil.

[Chris_H_2]

What should I use for lube? Astroglide?

t9 - it's about 10 bucks. https://www.amazon.com/Boeshield-T-9-Wa ... B000GE1F9K

find your masterlink on your chain, and starting there put a small dab between each link. then take a rag and rub the excess away. but you'll need to degrease the chain first to get the built up gunk off. i use this stuff: https://www.amazon.com/Finish-Line-Citr ... easer+bike I actually bought this, and it's awesome:



it's called the Park Tool CM-5.2 Cyclone Chain Scrubber: https://www.amazon.com/TOOL-CHAIN-CLEAN ... EY992G3AFP

it's a piece of cake.

[Norah]

[washing machine]

This page is stressing me out.

[bune]

Not every chain will have a master link but I advise you to get one, they make taking a chain on and off just that much easier.

I use Finish Line Dry because it's the one the local shop recommended to me. But I've also heard that Tri-Flow is really good too.

[washing machine]

oh god

[bune]

You'll be fine, just take one at a time. And even then, wait until you need them. If your bike is shifting and everything is running, just put some lube on the chain and go. Not too much, just keep a rag handy.

[Green Habit]

Something else that will encourage you is to notice how incredibly cheaper it is to maintain a bike than it is to maintain a car.