A new standard :-/

Just what the world needed - a new cassette standard.

http://www.xddriverbody.com/

Add it to the list of wacky crap nobody actually needs, like BBRight: http://www.slowtwitch.com/Tech/Bottom_Bracket_Standards_2573.html

A problem searching for a solution?

Or a solution searching for a problem. The string bike:

http://blog.sierratradingpost.com/video-posts/meet-the-string-bike-no-chains-attached/

Rotor copied K-Edge?

Isn't this Rotor chain catcher recently announced through Velonews an exact copy (with some drillium speed holes) of the K-Edge chain catcher which has been on the market for some time now?

Vindication

According to Campagnolo (through Lennard Zinn):

Why didn’t Campagnolo react to BB30?
Campagnolo, like Shimano, has stuck with a 24mm integrated spindle on its cranks. According to chief media officer Lorenzo Taxis, it would have been easy to make a BB30 crank, but it offers no performance advantage.

Read the Velonews article here.

Read the original nippleworks post here.

One step forward, two steps back

Deep form the heart of North Central Colorado, Rossitron sends us this:

Apparently, this 1933 bicycle photographed in a café at the top of the Tourmalet climb in France is a two speed. Pedal forwards for high gear, backwards for low gear with two cogs running two separate freewheels. HammerSchmidt eat your heart out.

Heavy Metal

I love the Competitive Cyclist web site for its enthusiasm, weatlh of knowledge and slick design. Today, however, I found something I question. Shopping for a new chain for my Campy 10 speed bike, I checked out the Wipperman ConneX 10 Speed Stainless model. It's got a quick link which Campy branded chains don't have, and the stainless should last longer and be easier to clean. They claim, however, that:

"One final bonus is that stainless is light"

Not true. Most stainless grades have a density of 8 g/cc while mild steel comes in at 7.85 g/ cc. This stainless chain might be lighter however if they're using a heat treatable grade that could be stamped then hardened, allowing for thinner wall thicknesses, lightening the assembly.

I went to the Wipperman site to see if they publish what grade of steel the chains are made of. Not that I can tell. Sprechen sie Deutsch?

NuVinci

I got a chance to chat with the guys at NuVinci at Sea Otter 2009.  This hub has been out there for some time and is also being aimed at the powered vehicle market.  The Nuvinci uses a series of large ball bearings to translate torque from an input ring of one radius to an output ring of another radius.  As one radii increases, the other decreases, creating variable drive ratios.  The contact surfaces are bathed in a rheopectic fluid which transmits torque under shear strain.  The product does present a weight penalty to leg powered cyclers and seems like it may be better suited to hybrids, electric bicycles and other similar people moving machines.

The shifter features a very intuitive inchworm hill representation.  Twist one way to make a hill for low gears, twist the other way for a flat line for high gears.  Since the transmission is continuously variable, this is a very slick little shifter.  I hope this makes it into all manner of entry level bikes as it really makes shifting intuitive for the non-cyclist.

The NuVinci hub was installed on a bike with a Carbon Drive Systems drivetrain.  A unique look at the human powered drivetrain of the future?

The belt drive bike had a fantastic looking inlaid wood fender.  Classy.

I also understand that someone was racing a NuVinci hubbed MTB at the Otter.  Heavy.

SRAM Red Cassette

Although I've read about it, I hadn't had a chance to touch the all-in-one machined SRAM cassette until last weekend.  This thing is machined from a solid block of material.  Although, they could possibly have the raw material cast to near-net shape (a truncated cone) so they have less to remove.

I'm guessing that the part is first turned on a CNC lathe that hollows the inside and cuts the grooves between the cogs on the outside.  A CNC mill then machines the tooth profiles, shifting ramps and freehub splines.  Finally, an anodized cap is put on the bottom so that the cassette can be centered and mounted on a hub.  Maybe this is all done in a multi-axis turning/milling center.   The question is - will this manufacturing technique be refined to the point it can be cheap enough to make lower end gear sets this way?  For the forseable future, individual stamped cogs and hand assembly in lower cost countries will continue to be the way cassettes are made.  

It was great, however, of SRAM to cross section one for our inspection.

Hubdock

The most innovative and different component product at this year's Sea Otter wasn't at the SRAM booth (although they did an impressive job of sponsoring the event and had a huge booth) and it wasn't another familiar company like Ritchey (although I did see some new stuff there too), it was at Hubdock. Born and raised in the USA, Northern California to be exact, the Hubdock is a patented rear wheel quick release system meant to greatly improve the speed and ease with which the rear wheel is removed from the bike. No fuss, no muss. The wheel, rim, spokes and hub come out while the chain, cassette and drive side axle end stay on. I know, it doesn't make any sense. Look at this picture to see what I mean:

How does it operate? Watch the video.

You can't really see it, but a nut tightens down the drive side. They had a more advanced version of the non-drive side quick release than what's shown in the video. As a wise man told me last weekend, there's nothing new in bicycle technology. That's probably true, and this new method no doubt builds on mechanisms attempted in the past but you can't blame them for trying.

They're currently looking for larger companies interested in their technology. That shouldn't be too hard. Most of the component and bike manufacturers are doing things to improve the casual user's experience with cycling whether that is internally geared hubs, belt drives or electronic shifting. The Hubdock aims at that mark.

Mega ring

I saw this recently on a RacerMate Velotron. 62 teeth, that's right. Hugenormous. There's enough market that FSA is producing them, but besides stationairy lab cycles, who is using these? People trying to break the hour record? Racing recumbent riders with small rear wheels? Micro folding bike riders trying to avoid the clown pedal stroke?

The Velotron is a pretty cool machine that has a very adjustable bicycle-like riding platform and the ability to vary resistance and measure power output. It is linked to a computer system that is interactive in that the rider on the screen moves as fast as you move, and the hills on the screen can be reflected in resistance on the machine. Courses can be programmed into the computer so even when it's snowing out, you can mimic your upcoming time trail and all the things (except cross wind I guess) that you'll encounter. A serious tool for people serious about athletic performance.

Bluetooth + Bikes = Brilliant

Some nerds at MIT have developed a sweet bolt-on (aftermarket, easy installation) electric rear hub for bicycles. Best part - wireless Bluetooth throttle.

Check it out here:
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/02/19/mit-greenwheel-simply-an-electric-bicycle-revolution

Double rings on stock mountain bikes?

Jamis Dakar XCR Team drive train seen at the Tour Of California expo

Pro mountain bikers have been running double rings for a while, but most all stock bikes come with triple crank sets. Now, we're starting to see doubles on stock bikes as well. I'm thinking that this is a trend that's going to pick up some speed. The use of compact cranks (50 tooth and 34 tooth chainrings) on road bikes has converted many recreational riders from triple cranks to a double chainring. This saves the rider some weight and mechanical complexity (longer chains, wider bottom brackets, bigger derailers). With some thoughtful selection, I bet doubles can make it on mountain bikes too. The small ring probably still has to stay the small ring, but if the big ring ends up somewhere between 44 and 32 that should give a nice range. Of course, 29ers will need slightly lower gearing, but most of those nuts are running 1x1's to begin with!

Derailler Spring Tension

So, I had a problem. My cyclocross bike chain was falling off pretty much every race and my homebrew chain keeper just wasn't cutting it. So, I first added an N-Gear Jump Stop (which is a quality product, by the way). That minimized chain drop to the inside of the crank, but couldn't stop chain drop to the outside. I run a 42t single chainring with a 42 tooth equivalent BBG outside chain guard. I wondered if I could go bigger on the outside chain guard, but that would rub against the chain when I was in the 11t sprocket. Then I thought to myself, why doesn't the chain ever come off on my mountain bike? It's a hardtail and I do some much bumpier terrain on that thing, it has a similar rear cogset and I'm frequently descending in the middle ring. The answer- chain tension.

I run a fairly low budget Deore rear derailer because it can handle the 11-32 cogset and has a 'high-normal' spring to match my road shifters. I suspected that the long cage geometry might give lower chain tension, allowing the chain to more easily slip while coasting (over bumpy descents).

How to test my theory? Borrow a digital force gage from work (you can substitute your everyday fishing scale if you want to repeat the experiment) and go to town tugging on derailers over a pre-defined travel range.

Results:

CX Bike (Deore) - 2.4 lb
Road Bike (Campy Centaur)- 2.6 lb
Mountain Bike (Deore XT) - 3.0 lb
Touring/Commuter Bike (Deore) - 2.3 lb

Conclusion:

Cage length matters not. My Campy Centaur rear derailer is a very short cage road model. My Deore XT rear derailer is a long cage model. It's all about the torsion spring that pulls the cage back. Until I can get my hands on a high normal rear derailler that can handle big cogs and has a high spring tension, I took a couple links out of the chain and called it good. After a few races, things have turned around and there have been no more dropped chains.

On a related note, I used the digital force gage to get a real accurate read on my road bike's weight. (Bike+Pedals+Pump+Computer)+Saddle Bag = 22 + 1 = 23 lbs. Heavy or not, you know what they say... it's the Indian, not the arrow.

Dingle Cross

The dingle is a rare breed. This bike I saw was an Independent Fabrication cross bike with horizontal dropouts and S&S travel couplers. Sub note here, if you can race cross on a bike with travel couplers, they should be pretty much bomb proof. Anyway, this bike is a double gear ratio single speed. Hence the dingle name. You can rig it up in either of two gear ratios, one being lower than the other, but both requiring more or less the same chain length. It does require you to loosen the axle nut to get some slack on the chain, so I don't think this guy is shifting during races. Why build a dingle bike? I read an article by one guy who had to ride downhill to work and uphill and into the wind to get home. This reminds me of my bike commute in Boulder which was East (downhill and down wind) in the morning and West (uphill and into the wind) in the afternoon. Why not put a shifter on you ask? Well, winters in Boulder are kind of hard on drivetrains, and I'm sure the East Coast or central Europe is worse. Also, you get rid of cables which really do not like gritty road spray. Could be of benefit to single speed racers too. It allows you to pick the better drivetrain for the course once you get a chance to pre-ride it, unlike a true single speed setup that requires a tool-intensive cog change or money-intensive rear wheel change.

On as historical note, this reminds me of the original Campy suicide shifter:

picture from Rock The Bike

How long before we see the re-introduction of the seat stay mounted quick release?

The squeeky derailler pulley gets the grease

My cross bike recently developed a mean case of squeak. I figured out it was the derailler pulleys. They get pretty wet and dusty, so I can't blame them. To pull them out, I first removed the chain (since I've got a SRAM Power Link this is easy, can't recommend that enough) and undid the hex shoulder bolt (shown in the picture below). It's a Shimano Deore derailler, by the way. I figured that I'd have to lube the bushing, but after messing with the parts, I figured that the cause of the squeak was debris and a lack of lube between the side plates (silver discs shown below) and the pulley. I greased those, slid it back into the derailler, tightened the shoulder bolt, and removed it's brother. Only do one at a time unless you want to also disassemble the derailler cage. 

____

I just had another thought on this subject.  Be careful with how much you tighten the shoulder bolt.  Too tight and you'll pinch the pulley, making it hard to spin.  Test it as you tighten.

Make it yourself chain tensioner

Check this out. A Deore XT rear derailler with a derailler cable end (ferrule still intact) holding it in the appropriate position to act as a single speed cable tensioner. It was on a cross bike which may explain the extreme spring tension being used (since those bikes get a lot of bumping action at speed).

This would be a great way to cheapen up your old bike -> single speed conversion. I'm sure any derailler would work.

Steps:

1) Find a derailler nobody wants (probably easy if said derailler is a 7 speed or 8 speed model)
2) Mount derailler to frame
3) Cut the last 4 inches off a derailler cable you were going to throw out anyway because it's roached
4) Pull the derailler to the right position (upper jockey wheel under your single sprocket) and have an indefatigable person or zip tie hold it there.
5) Install the cable with the ferrule in the derailler adjuster barrel (turned out half way) and the cut end under the clamp screw
6) Have the indefatigable person let go, or cut the cable tie
7) Turn the adjuster barrel in or out to get that jockey wheel lined up just right with the sprocket
8) Thread your chain and pull the ends together such that you get the desired tension (remember, you can always start loose and cut some off)
9) Remove the unnecessary links with a chain pin tool
10) Use a SRAM Power Link* to put the chain back together
11) Ride

*awesome piece of kit

Homebrew bash guard

While we're on the topic of preventing chain mishaps, 

As seen on SF Craigslist bike forum:

All you need is a heavily used chainring and a grinder (for steel) or sander (for aluminum), and a lot of free time.

Seen at Tour De Fat - Schwinn Varsity Restoration

I saw so many things at Tour De Fat Truckee, I have pictures galore and stories to tell. The first story is about a guy who rebuilt two Schwinn Varsity bikes. A yellow men's frame for himself and a green mixte frame for his lady. They were set up as perfect touring bikes with a Carradice style bag on the back, a triple up front and a comfortable position. Some of the really cool features included handlebar wrapping finished with cork and twine, the leather chainstay protector (also finished with twine) and the upgraded Shimano drivetrain. He was able to do this by getting a bottom bracket shim to fit a late model BB and a by using a rate changing pulley on the rear derailler to drop make an 8 speed shifter work. I'll have to learn more about those parts later. For now, just enjoy the pictures.

Picture showing bottom bracket shim adapter and leather wrapped chainstay.

Picture showing pulley cable rate changer.

Someone asks why

Finally, someone asks why Campagnolo is coming out with an 11 speed drive train. At least there is one critical technical cycling journalist out there, and he works for Cyclingnews.com. Interesting things to note - there's no reach adjustment for people with small hands.

See the article here.

Fanboyism

Velonews 'reviewed' the new Campy 11 speed components today and by reviewed I mean wrote lukewarm prose like "The 11-cogs seem to shift as smoothly as 10" and generally had nothing critical to say and read like a Campagnolo corporate press release.