Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with bicycle and gear

Biking in the rain

rabbitrabbit — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:19:51 -0800

Questions about bike gear for the rainy season. I live in the Portland, OR area and I've been biking to work since April. So, I'm about to hit my first rainy season and I would like to arm myself to successfully continue biking at least into the fall and hopefully through winter, too.

SHOES: My main question is about shoes that make biking in the rain not a chore. I have been using toe clips and Converse all-stars this summer, but that will absolutely not work with the rain, so I'm going to need to either get waterproof shoe covers, or buy waterproof shoes. And if I buy waterproof shoes, maybe I ought to just upgrade to clipless pedals and shoes? Also, I think I like the velcro straps so I don't have to deal with laces, but I'm not entirely sure what the pros/cons are there.

JACKET: I have a chartreuse bike jacket that has been good for cooler mornings, and it dries fast so it will be good for early on in the fall, but I am going to eventually need some kind of heavier jacket, I think. But I'm afraid that anything heavier will = more sweat, which I don't want (no shower at work). Is there something warm, waterproof, breathable, AND visible that I can get?

FENDERS: I ride a Specialized Crossroads, so it has the overlap. I kicked out my front fender early on in the summer and haven't yet replaced it because it's been unnecessary so far, but I'm going to need a new front fender or maybe one of those things that attaches to the front tube (not sure what it's called exactly) to deflect water. If I get a new fender, I guess it will need to be super-tough since I don't 100% trust myself not to kick it by accident again. Do those things that attach to the bike instead of the wheel work well, would that be a good option?

What other things do I need to bike in the rain? Waterproof gloves? A helmet liner? Goggles which don't let rain bead up on them? Etc.

I've seen this and I've seen this, and both were helpful though they're a bit old now; is there new stuff out there that is awesome?

Also, any recommendations for a bike shop to buy this stuff at? I've heard River City is good. I would love to be able to try out the clipless pedals before I buy, is there any shop which would let me do that?

Bike accessories, without going overboard?

c0nsumer — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 13:58:42 -0800

After seven years without a bike, and a year of wanting to ride every few days, I finally gave in and bought a bike. I have a helmet, but now I need some suggestions as far as accessories go. I picked up a 2008 Specialized Rockhopper Disc about a week ago and I'm trying to figure out which other bits would be useful with it, without going overboard.

I live in Southeast Michigan, with pretty good access to loads of converted railways (Rails-to-Trails type stuff), dirt trails, paved paths, and bikeable sidewalks (suburban, barely used by pedestrians). Most of my riding will probably be on dirt, gravel, and rough pavement, with no in-road stuff (riding in roads scares me, as I've had too many local friends hit by inattentive drivers). I can see myself easily doing 25 - 50 miles in a go once the weather turns nicer. (For now I'm sticking with 5 - 10 miles, just because I'm getting familiar with riding again, and the cold isn't that comfortable.)

Thus far I have a helmet, water bottle, and cage for holding the bottle and a mount for my GPS (an old Garmin eTrex Legend) is en route. I plan on getting a bell (Incredibell), and I'd like to get a bike computer, but I would like some suggestions as to which one to get. Wireless sounds nice, and I figure that basic things like time, odometer(s), speed, average speed, and maybe ambient temperature would be good. I don't think I have a need for cadence.

I plan on getting Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance, and while I've got plenty of tools here at home, I figure some small tools to take with would be a good thing. The CrankBrothers multi-17 tool has been recommended to me, along with some manner of plastic tire tool.

I imagine a small bag for my ID, phone, some money, the tools, and such is needed, but what sort do you suggest? What about a pump, rear lights (blinking red) or anything else?

While I don't want to say that cost isn't an issue, for small accessories I'd rather get the nicer tool or item up front, especially if the

Also, do you have any recommendations for online shops for these sort of accessories? The bike was purchased at a nice local shop, but for these sort of accessories I imagine there would be a much wider selection available online.

How to ride a single speed on an indoor trainer

mizrachi — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 08:56:17 -0800

Can a single speed or track bicycle without a rear quick release skewer work on my minoura vfs fluid trainer? I'm afraid that without the skewer for the trainer to grip onto the bike would come flying off.

When to change bicycle gears

nielm — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 02:46:17 -0800

How/when do you change gears on a multiple-speed bicycle? Out of the 21 gears, there are 11 or so useful/unique ratios. So, do you stay in in one front ratio and only use the rear-derailleur until you have to shift down, or do you shift through the all the available ratios, double-shifting when necessary. I have a 21-speed town bike (4x3), and most of my cycling is 'normal' road use (minor slopes). Sites like Mike Sherman's Bicycle Gear Calculator can create tables of gear ratios for my bike, given the correct data, including a nice chart of the ratios:



Gear Inch Chart and graph:

          (7)   (6)   (5)   (4)   (3)   (2)   (1)
      |    11    13    15    18    21    24    28
  ----+------------------------------------------
3: 44 | 105.8  89.5  77.6  64.7  55.4  48.5  41.6
2: 34 |  81.8  69.2  60.0  50.0  42.8  37.5  32.1
1: 24 |  57.7  48.8  42.3  35.3  30.2  26.5  22.7

  20                30          40        50     60     70    80   90  100
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1:     1     2     3      4       5     6      7
2:                    1     2     3      4      5      6      7
3:                               1     2     3      4      5      6      7

So, If I had to shift sequentially up the gears, I would have to double shift at certain points (shift up on front, down at rear) which is a pain eg:
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 <> 2.3 2.4 2.5 <> 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7

If I don't double shift, I end up with a big change at one point when I change the front ratio, which is unconfortable to say the least...

At the moment, I end up staying in one front ratio and only shifting the rear until it is really needed.. I notice when doing this that it is a bit noiser in the extreme ratios (eg 1.7, 2.7 and 3.1), possibly because the chain is more diagonal in these ratios. Is this bad for the chain/gears?

I also notice that a double shift up/down is a great crash of gears, (especially if made under pressure going uphill), with the chain slipping a couple of times until it catches, which suggests that that is also a bad thing to do...

So any hints on 'best practice'?
TIA

How hard is it to add gears to a bike that previously had none?

rbs — Wed, 02 May 2007 19:52:06 -0800

How hard is it to add gears to a bike that previously had none? So, I have a wonderful bike, the '06 Bianchi Castro Valley. It's tons of fun to ride. Since I live in Chicago and don't need tons of gears, I like that it only has changeable gears in the back and not in the front (i.e., there's a rear deraileur, but not a front one). But, suppose I one day wanted to add gears to the front. How hard would that be? I know the same frame is used on the Volpe, but the Castro Valley frame doesn't seem to have the little braze on doohickeys to guide the cables down. How would things work, then?