My Longbikes Slipstream has a 1″ threaded Shimano105 Headset. It is easy to forget about the headset but you should check it and adjust periodically. This video shows how easy it is to make that adjustment. You will need 2 32 MM thin wrenches for this.

BicyleR Evolution - The Shopper

There are times when you need to tote more than you can comfortably carry on your bicycle, even a long wheel base recumbent designed for self contained touring. That is when you need a trailer.

I used a trailer for all of my European Tours and for Newfoundland and Labrador. I didn’t use one for any of my trips in the South, the West or Quebec because I have trimmed down the size and weight of what I carry when Touring. However, I will be using my trailer again for grocery runs now that the weather is better.

Let’s discuss when to use a trailer and what types of trailers work best for touring:

Here are some examples of when I use a Trailer now:

1. Self Contained Touring with my wife. She likes to camp and bike but doesn’t like hills or heavy loads, perfect application for a trailer. The trailer stays in the campground when we are doing day rides and keeps everything in it dry and easy to get at. Taking gear out of a trailer is a lot easier than getting gear out of a pannier.

The Shopper Full of Groceries

2. When you need to carry more than two bags of groceries (see
Jandd Grocery Panniers if you only need to carry those 2 bags or less). Of course groceries could be anything that is heavy and bulky.

3. For longer self contained tours or when the weight of gear you are carrying overloads your rear wheel or hurts bike handling too much. This is usually Touring in cooler weather or in places with bad weather and few bike shops.

The Shopper Disassembled and In Case

Trailers reduce the load on the rear wheel and really do make it much easier to carry heavy loads on the flats. With a trailer and a heavy load your bike will still handle well, you won’t be worrying about unplanned trips into the brush.

Trailers are also much easier to load and unload usually allowing more storage room than panniers. This is a blessing and a curse. If you are like me and only trim back what you are bringing with when you run out of space, bigger is not always better.

Plus the good trailers really are rain proof and keep your gear dry.

Parts of The Shopper

The downside of trailers is they make you really, really long and do add another 15 pounds or so to carry up hills. Long is not a real problem riding on the road unless you need to make sharp turns or get your bike and trailer into a Motel room. But additional weight on the hills can be an issue particularly if you brought things you didn’t need because you have extra space.

There are two basic types of trailers, those with in line wheels and those with parallel wheels. Trailers with inline wheels are great for single track riding and when you need to make sharp turns. But they are not so good on the road if you have steep descents; they have a tendency to come around and pull on your bike at the worst possible times.

BicycleR Revolution Pneumatic Coupler

I don’t recommend trailers with in line wheels for most bicycle tourist unless you plan to be riding on dirt roads a lot.

Close up of BicycleR Evolution Coupler

My favorite trailers for touring come from BicycleR Evolution. I have been using their Shopper for about 10 years with great success. Some things I like about their trailers:

1. They are very stable and predictable when pulling. No surprises on steep descents of if you hit a hole.
2. They are quite sturdy.
3. Easy to mount and remove from your bike. The use a pneumatic coupling that is sturdy but easy to attach and detach.
4. The mount low and by the rear wheel.
5. They use pretty good bearing and are easy to pull.
6. They are waterproof.
7. Easy to disassemble for shipping and when disassembled all of the parts fit if in the case.
8. The body of the trailer is a standard Rubber Maid case that can be replaced at WalMart if you do something stupid.

Heavy Duty Trailer from BicycleR Evolution

Trailers aren’t for everyone but when you need them they really make your life easier. Take a look at BicycleR Evolution Trailers if you think you need a trailer, they have larger ones than The Shopper that can carry heavier loads and they have trailer kits if you want to build your own.

Just remember when you go to buy a trailer and that bigger trailer looks better, that you will be pulling the trailer and all that you have loaded into it. Although that additional mass is easy to handle on the flats, it is extra weight on the hills. The bigger the trailer the more you will be temped to carry.

Nice set of tips on fixing Rear Dérailleur shifting problems. This video is not a tutorial on how to adjust your rear deraileur see Rear Deraileur Adjustment Made Simple - Wow!!! for that.

Instead this video goes through common rear shifting problems and how to fix them on the road. Yes, the video is in the shop but the techniques shown only require a 5MM socket and a screw driver, tools that you would have with you if you are touring.

As you may have guessed I am having trouble getting my bike to run the way I like it this Spring.

Tip: If you are using the latest version Real Player, you can down load these videos, save them on your computer and play them whenever you want them. A download of the free version of Real Player is available at Real Player Download. Stick with the free version it is all you will need.

Nice price at Campmor on Rain Pants, they are on sales for $14.97 (List is $60). These won’t be around for very long so if you would like a pair of rain pants for summer/spring wear at an excellent price grab them fast. At this price these kind of pants make sense. They don’t last long but at this price that is OK.

Go to Campmor Camp-Tech Basic Waterproof/ Breathable Full Zip Rain Pants (For Men)

Here’s the details on the pants from Campmor:

A new edition of Cycling in Quebec: Official Guide, 5th Edition in English is coming out very soon and can be ordered now. This is the best guide available for La Route Verde and cycling around Montreal and Quebec City. The English version is hard to get and usually sold out before summer. So if you are thinking of bicycling in Quebec order one now.

Click on the link above to order. The site is in French but easy to figure out. Just remember that Courriel is the official French word for email address. If you have any trouble with the French page, you will find an example of a completed form at the end of this post.

See: Official Opening of Longest Bike Path Network in North America for some of the reasons I like this guide.

Official guide to bicycling on Québec’s Route verte Cycling in Quebec : Official Guide / 5th edition New edition available in April New and improved fifth edition of the Cycling in Quebec guide : more detailed maps, better presentation of services available to cyclists (tourist attractions, bicycle retailers, etc.), more tourist accommodations and campsites Bienvenue cyclistes ! MD – certified, etc. An essential travelling companion for anyone who wants to explore Québec on two wheels ! • 4076 km • 176 maps • 284 accommodations and campsites offering certified bicycle-friendly services. { In English } 19.95 $ CAN. Here is an example of a completed order form: Note billing address and shipping address are the same Date Form is: JJ = Day of birth MM = Month of birth AA = Year of birth

My Keen Commuter Sandals arrived today from REI. I have been hearing people rave about them and despite price decided to buy a pair.

These are very nice looking sandals with a comfortable foot bed. Unfortunately for me they have a shallow toe box that crushes my Hobbit toes. I was not able to put the sandal on and walk in them because of the pressure on the toe nail of my big toe.

If you have thinner toes these might be just the sandals for you. They look very nice but unfortunately don’t work for me so I will have to leave further comments to others.  I am glad I purchased from REI, who is great on returns.

So far the Ragster from Nashbar are the only cleated sandals that fit comfortably on my feet.

Resources:

Best Cleated Bicycling Sandal Yet

Follow on from an earlier post: Another Cycling Sandal - Nashbar Ragster

Update 4/24/08 -It ha s been unseasonably warm this week and I have been wearing the Ragsters  without socks. Not so good without socks, as expected the foot bed is pretty rough on bare feet. It is too bad that they couldn’t have made these sandals just a little better, but that seems to be typical of Nashbar clothing. These are still the only cleated sandal I can wear but I wouldn’t recommend riding with out socks.

I wasn’t expecting much from the Bike Nashbar Ragster Bicycling Sandal but I have been very pleasantly surprised. They don’t look as impressive as the Shamino or Lake Sandals but they work on my feet. This is the first cleated sandal that I can wear comfortably and they are also a lot less expensive than the others I have tried.

The reason these sandals work for me is simple, they have an adjustment strap at the back of the foot that adjusts where the foot falls onto the foot bed. These is a key adjustment for me or anyone else that has problems with the toe grip on the foot bed hitting the nerve at the base of my toes. They also have an open toe area so my Hobbit toes can self actualize without being crushed.

These sandal are as good as any cycling sandal I have tried for walking, not great but more than acceptable. On the bike they really grip the pedals, almost too well.

The bad news is that they don’t seem to be available right now. I bought them on sale and am just getting around to trying them out. But Nashbaar may bring them back as summer gets a little closer.

These aren’t fancy but they just work. This is the first time I have been able to say that about a bicycling sandal that accepts cleats.

I will be trying the Keen Commuter Sandal from REI that is getting raves later in the Spring.

Note: I have only used these sandals without cleats but I expect good performance with cleats. However, I don’t plan to be using cleats this year.

Continued from: Garmin Maps - Big Price Increase, Using a GPS as a Bike Computer

Just got off the phone with Garmin after trying to update the maps in my 60cs. I purchased the retail version of the maps because it was cheaper than the $75 on line update. But I couldn’t get it to work.

Here’s what I learned, the retail version of the Update does not work with the 2610 or the 60cs. If you want to update maps on those units, you must buy the $75 online update for each unit directly from Garmin, there is no retail version of this update.

So if you thought you might save a few dollars over the $75 online price for the 2nd unit update by buying the 2008 Update some where else, Garmin has made sure that won’t happen.

After installing shorter cranks, I just needed to touch up my front derailleur. Here’s a video on Front Dérailleur Adjustment.

The good news is that front dérailleurs are more stable than rear derailleurs and don’t require much attention. When they do you usually don’t have to go through the whole procedure, most of the time it is just a minor chain rub.

If you have a minor chain rub just adjusting the in-out travel limit screws on the top of the dérailleur will usually do the job. Just remember that these screws are often the reverse of what you would expect. For example for my Shamino XT Front Dérailleur, the screw closet to the frame on the top of the dérailleur sets the outer travel limit for the dérailleur. So if your chain is rubbing on the largest chain ring, then the inner screw is adjusted. If it is rubbing on the smallest chain ring then the outer furthest from the frame) is adjusted.

Just be sure that the when you adjust the Front Dérailleur that the chain is on the right rear sprocket (sprockets are driven by chains, gears are driven by gears by we usually call them gear on bikes anyway). When adjusting a rub on the largest chain ring use the smallest rear sprocket. When adjusting for a rub on the smallest chain ring use the largest rear sprocket.

If that doesn’t work, clean, lubricate and try again. Then if that fails follow all of the steps in the Video.

When you first put your foot on the pedal after installing KneeSavers, things feel quite different. You can feel the wider spacing and it feels awkward. After riding a few miles that feeling diminishes.

One thing that is noticeable for me, is that my foot isn’t really much further from the crank because I slide the foot in towards the crank. I ride in sandals and they are wider than any pedal and because of that the side of my foot and the PowerGrips strap rub against the side of the crank arm. With KneeSavers, I can slide my foot in so that it overlaps the pedal on the inside and still not rub the crank arm.

Foot on Pedal with KneeSavers Installed

NB: PowerGrip Strap is loose in this picture - still set for Winter Shoes

I like that my sandal or shoe no longer rubs the crank arm. I am not sure how comfortable it will be on very long rides with the edge of the pedal hitting the inside of my foot instead of the outside. I would buy wider pedals if I could find them without the screws that are in MTB pedals and if they accepted PowerGrips.

Time will tell if there are other advantages or disadvantages.

Resources: Hot Buy: Hip & Knee Saver -Pedal Extenders on eBay