The City of Fort Collins and its leaders have gone to a great deal of trouble to promote our metropolis as bicycle friendly. We are the Choice City which means that we can decide whether to drive, take the bus, or ride a bike.
In 1995 the city engaged Drake & Associates and others to prepare a bicycle transportation program plan emphasizing transportation riding.[1]

Then in 2008 there appeared a major update to the 1995 plan. As expected the update went through the 1995 hotlist of projects and published a project by project status report on them. The 2008 plan update built on the foundation from 1995 but includes a section about how downtown business interests support various aspects of bicycling. Bicycle events such as Collegiate National Champonships can be destination activities promoting tourism for example. The plan also includes a new Citizen’s Bicycle Advisory Committee. There is a discussion of bicycle racks downtown, etc. The 2008 plan update is an amazing document, but despite the overall strength of it, there is one obvious omission, maintenance, [2] which prompts this article, there is a humorous mistake [3] and there is a nit [4] or two [5] which I pick .

In the publicity surrounding the December 2008 release of the Bicycle Transportation Plan update I read somewhere that bicycle people want to portray bicycling as cool.

Oh, really?

I’ll bet that each of you reading this article knows someone in your neighborhood who has a bicycle. The bicycle is in their garage and it has a flat tire. How cool is that?

It is not cool, it is an excuse. That flat tire gives them an excuse to fire up the SUV to go two blocks for a quart of milk, a mile to get that book back to the library, etc. These are tasks which could easily be done by bicycle.

In order to be a cool bike rider, one has to be able to actually ride it, have air in the tires and it helps if there is lubrication on all bearing surfaces.

Bicycle maintenance does not get done for three reasons.

• Lack of knowledge
• Lack of tools
• Lack of will

We have this wonderful thing called the World Wide Web. If you want to find out about bicycle maintenance and repair there are numerous resources available on the web. In addition there are books available at the public library. Or you could volunteer some of your time at the Fort Collins Bicycle Coop, 331 North College Avenue. They are open on Wednesdays and Fridays from 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm. That is a great way to get better at bicycle maintenance and contribute to the community at the same time. Despite these other resources this article concentrates on how to find repair tips on the web. Several years ago I started searching for these pages. Sites based in the U.K. showed up at or near the top of search results.[6] If you didn’t search anywhere else you could find out everything you need to know about routine maintenance by looking at Jim Langley’s Bike Repair Web Site. To quote Jim Langley:

One of the coolest things about bicycles is that they’re darn easy to fix; fun to fix, too. Everything’s right there, easy to see and figure out. With basic hand tools you might already have around the house, you can make many common repairs. Just by riding the bike, you can usually diagnose problems. And, with a little practice, even advanced bicycle repair such as wheelbuilding is well within your reach…

Suppose you know nothing about basic bicycle nomenclature? For that I found an American site Bike Web Site – Terminology I think there was a really good page like that at Recycled Cycles in Fort Collins last year, but this seems to have disappeared in a site makeover.

What are the limits of what you do yourself and what to leave to expert mechanics? This will vary. For me, routine maintenance and lubrication of the chain [7], front and rear hubs, bottom bracket are all achievable. I usually leave headset repair to the experts. This is merely because by the time I get to a headset it needs to be replaced not lubricated – and headsets come in numerous sizes. Should you true your own wheels? City Bicycle Works in Sacramento Basics of Wheel Truing has a good page. Remember the Hippocratic Oath of wheel-truing: First, do no harm. I had to do some emergency wheel truing miles from home when I hit a pothole. But lacking an emergency I’d rather have the pros handle this.

What about lubrication that needs to be done periodically? Major points include the front hub, the rear hub, and the bottom bracket. Of these, maintaining the front hub is easiest. If you do not do these routine tasks you risk having the ball bearings wear a groove in the bearing races. Once that happens you will never be able to adjust the hub properly; it will always be either too loose or too tight. Front hubs are easy. First I looked at a page which gave step by step instructions on how to do this. Next, I went to a bike shop and asked exactly which tools I would need to do this myself. Then I did the work. The bike rode like it was a different bike. Amazing.

Bottom brackets were always scary for me until I did one. If you are riding a bike with 26″ wheels the odds are that you have a one piece crank. There are pages on the Internet devoted to those bottom brackets. This can be a nasty dirty job depending on how long it has been since the last time it was done. Prepare to get your hands dirty. The upside is that your bike will ride so much better with fresh lubrication in the bottom bracket. Also, if I have a procedure which involves removing numerous parts I get an egg carton or muffin tin to put the parts in as they come off. That way I can get them back in in the right order Hansel and Gretyl style.

If you are going to do the front hub and the bottom bracket you might as well do the rear hub too. You can lubricate one side of the hub without taking off the freewheel or cassette. But I took the extra step of getting a freewheel removing tool for my bike. There are several different tools for this depending on which type of freewheel or cassette you have. Again, this is well documented on sites such as Jim Langley and Bike Web Site.

My goal here is not to give you step by step instructions on how to take care of your bike. These things are documented all over the web and done much better than I could ever do in this short review. My goal, rather, is to point out that the December 2008 Bicycle Transportation Program Plan Update did not say a single thing about bicycle maintenance and repair. One way to counter this omission is to do an Internet search for sites and pages which document these procedures. Your Internet search will be different than mine. Find the sites that interest you most and use the information.

Some other tips I found by looking around – does your bike have paint scratches? Find the same color nail polish; great for small scratches. Keep an eye on brake and derailleur cables. If one strand in a cable is broken the overall strength is decreased by 50%. Do you need to ship a bicycle? Look on the Jim Langley site for directions on how to box a bicycle. Bike Web Site has some tips on how to lock up your bike. And never throw away an old toothbrush.

Now a word or two about safety. If you are ever going to ride your bike after dark then working lights are a must, plus you risk a ticket if you neglect them. I’ve seen kids who took every light and reflector off their bike and then rode around long after dark. How cool is that? Does your headlight run on two C batteries or two D batteries? If so, you should replace it. Newer lights weigh less and are much more powerful.

Maintenance tips include instructions on how to adjust brakes and cables, how to adjust derailleurs and their cables. You may or may not decide to do this yourself. One thing you should not do is to take apart a Bendix coaster brake; you might wind up with parts scattered around surrounding neighborhoods.

Lets go back to that bike in your neighbor’s garage (or is it your garage?) – the one with a flat tire. Look for a patch repair kit. Nobody patches inner tubes any more. What you want out of the kit is the plastic tire irons. Please do not use screwdrivers to remove tubes and tires from the rim. If you are just starting on flat tire repair you may want to patch one tube to use as a practice tube. You want to get the tube on and off the rim without getting “snake bites”. If you do get snake bites it is a sign that the tube got pinched between the tire and the rim. After a little practice this should not be a problem.

Jim Langley says that your bike can be fixed with tools you may already have around the house. Well, yes and no. You do not want to use pipe wrenches. A metric wrench set comes in handy. But some jobs should be done with tools that are specifically made for bicycles. The Park Tool Company, in particular, makes bicycle tools. Most bicycle shops can order the right size Park tool for you or they have it in stock. Again, your Internet search will lead you to the right tools for whichever maintenance jobs you decide to do yourself.

This might be the toughest problem of all. Maybe you don’t want to take a few moments to oil your chain; you can always do it tomorrow. One way to fight this is to have a schedule. You make a schedule based on how much riding you do. Then you stick to your schedule. Stuff gets done on time and you feel good about it. Or, if you just can’t do this then you know that you should take your bike in and have the professionals work on it. A well maintained bicycle should be almost effortless to ride in Fort Collins on flat terrain.

If you do decide to put off chain lubrication until tomorrow, please remember the chain law. A rusty chain will always break when you are 35 miles from home.

The 1995 Fort Collins Bicycle Transportation Program Plan correctly identified maintenance and repair as ocurring on the cusp of two of the traditional Es – education and encouragement. The 2008 Plan Update did not say a single thing about the subject. I do not want to leave the impression that the 2008 plan update is not a good document. One way to think about this is to remember that any plan such as this is an instance of technical writing. There is a whole set of rules for good technical writing. One of the very first rules is that the tech writer must decide who is the intended audience. An extended discusion of bicycle repair and maintenance is properly directed at the bicycle riding public and they may not be the primary audience for the plan. If this is true then this article should be made available somewhere where the general public may find it. On a blog for example. That is the contribution I hope to make.

Remember, though, the Plan and the Plan Update are oriented toward transportation [1] riding. This means that there is a fleet out there in the community. Just like the bus fleet at Transfort the fleet needs to be maintained.

[1] What are the other kinds of bicycling? One is recreational riding, another riding for exercise. Then there is intercity riding or touring. Indeed, I think a milestone will be achieved when one can bicycle from Fort Collins to Greeley on bicycle trails.

Finally, bicyclists should learn the basics of bicycle repair and maintenance. Poor maintenance can
contribute to bicycle crashes and take some of the pleasure out of riding. Many bicycle repairs, especially
emergency “on-the-road” repairs, such as flat tires, are easy, once the basic procedures are explained.
Some people don’t ride because they are intimidated by the thought of changing a tire or adjusting the
height of their bicycle saddle. Do-it-yourself bicycle maintenance and repairs can be taught to people of all
ages.

[2]. Drake & Associates, City of Fort Collins Bicycle Transportation Program Plan, 1995, page 16. There is no equivalent reference to maintenance in the 2008 plan update. This is a major mistake in my opinion.

[3] The 2008 plan update identifies Critical Mass as Critical Masses. This proves that the authors are not experts on alternative lifestyles. Critical Mass claims to be a bicycle advocacy group. I see very little evidence to support this notion.

Real bicycle advocates do hard work. They attend city council meetings and planning sessions. They advocate for budget alternatives. They alert authorities to “go fish” problems on bike trails. Critical Mass would rather taunt the police, it seems to me.

Instead, I think that Critical Mass is a group which has an absolute First Amendment right to peaceably assemble and ride as a group. This does not give them the right to ride after dark without lights, or to block intersections.

[4] The 2008 plan update has numerous photographs which add to its interest. The next time there is an update I’d like to see photographs with callouts like we would see in an appriasal report: e.g. “Looking Southwesterly along River Rats Trail about 700 feet northerly of intersection with Bla Bla Road.”

[5] If they are going to include photographs in plan updates I’d love to see before and after shots of projects on the hot list.

[6] The reason is that English kids are born with an adjustable spanner. This helped the RAF keep going in the early days of World War II.

[7]WD-40 is great for squeaky barn door hinges. Please keep it away from your bike chain.

Posted by Gypsy Chief

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