Kryptonite New York Noose

As a follow-up to yesterday’s post on locks, I thought I’d share a bit about our locking strategy.

We’re in somewhat of a unique situation in that we’re often riding bikes that were loaned to us by manufacturers or local dealers. It’s important that we keep the bikes in good condition and deliver them back in the same condition in which they arrived. Because we live in the suburbs, we’re often sharing bike racks with kids riding ratty BMX bikes. As you can imagine, packs of adolescent boys on bikes are not overly concerned with keeping our bikes scratch-free, so we often park off to the side of bike racks.

The question is how to lock up securely, while maintaining some distance from the pile of beat up BMX bikes in the rack? In the past, we tempted fate by using the heaviest cable we could find, looping it through both frames, then around the corner of the bike rack. So far we’ve been lucky, but using this method we were never quite comfortable leaving the bikes out of sight for any length of time. We recently upgraded the cable to a case-hardened chain and mini U-lock in combination with a cable through the wheels. Here’s how it works…

Our main lock is a Kryptonite New York Noose 1213 (the 1213 is a 4-foot hardened manganese steel chain mated to an Evolution Series 4 Disc Lock). The NY Noose is unique in that one end of the chain has a large link that can be slipped over the other end of the chain, effectively making a slip knot that can be placed around any immovable object. This frees up the remainder of the chain to be threaded through both bikes and locked to one of the frames. This design nearly doubles the length of usable chain over a standard chain without the “noose”. Before locking the free end of the chain to the bike, we slip one looped-end of a heavy-duty cable onto the chain, thread the cable through all four wheels, then slip the other looped-end onto the chain. Once the chain is locked to the second bike, all four wheels and both frames are secure, a safe distance from our little BMX brats. If only one bike is being locked, the chain is just looped around the frame and through the wheels as you’d do with any chain or cable.

This method doesn’t take into account the ease with which a saddle can be stolen (all it takes is two turns of a hex key), but in the areas where we typically park, it’s a risk we’re comfortable taking. It also doesn’t fully account for the safety of the wheels, but again, it’s a calculated risk based upon our riding habits and environs.

If we weren’t always switching up bikes and riding loaners, I’d consider setting up our personal bikes with full Pitlock systems. Here’s a description from Peter White:

Setting up a bike with Pitlocks, and locking up with a small, high-quality U-Lock, would be much cleaner and simpler than our method. The lock would be half the weight of our chain/cable combo, faster to lock-up, and easier to carry on the bike. The only downside I can see is that there’s a fairly limited range of objects to which you can attach a small U-lock.

The moral of this long-winded story is that there’s no one perfect method for locking a bike. The most important thing is to be sure the method you use is enough of a deterrent to discourage thieves in the situations in which you typically lock your bike. As various people mentioned in the comments under the prior post on locks, the conditions in which you park your bike should be carefully considered when devising a locking strategy for yourself.

It’s going to be a scorcher… (July ‘09)

We’ve had an unusually wet winter overall, but this past week has been absolutely perfect for riding. With temps hovering at around 70F in February, we can’t help but wonder what we’re in for this summer though.

With a few exceptions, it seems the climate in most areas involves a trade-off; either you have mild winters with scorching hot summers, or you have beautiful summers with cold and wet winters. What’s your preference? Would you rather ride in blistering heat or sub-freezing temps?

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… until I started doing it by bicycle. Now, on a gorgeous winter day like today, a day that topped out at 67 degrees with blue skies and puffy clouds, it was the highlight of the entire day.

We finally had a break in the perpetual fog and rain today and took advantage by going on our first joy ride in weeks. The intensity of the blue sky framed by the soaring, puffy white clouds was almost dizzying after so much gray-upon-gray. What a treat to be out in it on the bikes!

Ahhh yesss, the sun finally came out today. Of course, we had to dream up a few errands as an excuse to go for a ride in the middle of a busy work day. It was absolutely stunning, with gigantic, billowy clouds and blue skies as far as the eye could see in every direction. Regardless of which way we were headed, it felt like we had a tailwind. We eventually figured out it wasn’t a breeze, but our joy and excitement at finally seeing the sun, that was powering us along.

We’re frequently asked how much we can comfortably haul on our bikes, so when we made our weekly grocery run today, we thought we’d take the opportunity to find out. When we arrived at home we put the groceries on a scale. The total weight came to 54 lbs., 44 of which were loaded on a Civia Loring, with the remaining 10 lbs. carried on a Rivendell Betty Foy. 14 lbs. were carried on the front rack of the Civia, with 30 lbs. evenly distributed between the two rear panniers. This 33/66 weight distribution seems to work well on this bike. The Betty Foy carried 10 lbs. in a single rear grocery pannier and it could’ve easily carried triple that weight if spread between a pair of rear panniers and the front basket. It’s not unrealistic to think we could comfortable carry 75-80 lbs. of groceries between the two bikes.

This evening, for the first time in quite a while, we had perfect weather for a joy ride in the woods.

We went out for a nice post-holiday bike ride today. It was overcast and cold, but we bundled up and stayed relatively warm and dry. Stops included Nana’s to feed her puppies (we’re pupsitting while she’s out of town), the coffee shop for pastries and hot cocoa, and the grocery store for lunch fixings. It was a fun time.

This was also the maiden voyage of our new Civia Loring. This one is our personal bike. We had a Loring on loan for review earlier this year and liked it so much we vowed to eventually add one to the stable as our primary cargo/grocery hauler. Besides being a capable workhorse, it’s also a fun and surprisingly nimble bike to ride unloaded. Many thanks to Rick at Gold Country Cyclery for getting us all set-up!

No Excuses

I envy people who live a 100% car-free lifestyle. They have it easy this time of year; when the weather is rotten, they have no choice but to buck up and head out on their bikes. On the other hand, car-lite people like us are tortured by the constant temptation to take the easy way out and hop in the car when it’s miserable outside. To improve our odds of overcoming the urge to wimp out, we try to always make it convenient and easy to hop on the bikes by doing the following:

• We park our bikes inside, near an exit door. Keeping the bikes within plain sight is a constant reminder to use them. Parking them near an exit door makes riding more convenient. Plus, an unridden bike always looks a little sad and adds to the guilt. ;-)
• We store our cold weather gear, helmets, and bags near the bikes. This eliminates the need to go hunting every time we head out.
• We have duplicate cold weather garments in case we fall behind on laundry.
• We keep our bags, panniers, tool kits, lights, water bottles, and whatever else, on the bikes and ready to go.
• We perform bike maintenance on a regular schedule. This includes topping off tires, charging batteries, lubing chains, and keeping the bikes clean. A flat tire or a squeaky chain is just another unwelcome excuse to take the car.

Besides trying to always make riding the convenient choice, we also try to encourage each other when the going’s a little rough. And when we get a break in the weather, we always take the opportunity to go for a joy ride for the sheer pleasure of it, because keeping it enjoyable is probably the best motivator of all.

What a pleasure it is, when you’ve been locked up inside due to bad weather, to take a bike ride to a coffee shop on the first sunny day in weeks, and sit outside sipping coffee and basking in the glow. Ahhh.

On one end of the spectrum we have lycra-clad, high speed commuters, on the other we have style-conscious, slow bike proponents, and in the middle we have just about everyone else. We’re 100% for any and all of it, because we love bikes and bicyclists and we’re always happy to see anyone on the road who’s not in a motor vehicle.

We know folks who have long commutes and need to ride fast so they don’t spend half the day getting to and from work. We get that. Years back I (Alan) had a 30+ mile round trip commute. If I had ridden at a leisurely 8 miles per hour in street clothes I would have been on the road 4 hours per day. Instead, I wore lycra, rode hard, cleaned up and changed at work, and kept my commute time to a reasonable 2 hours or so.

We also know people who live in the city center and rarely ride more than a couple of miles at a time, so they have no need to ride fast or wear specialized clothing. We get that too. Years back I (Alan again) lived in an urban setting and had a basic city bike that I used to get around the neighborhood. I rode an easy pace that kept me dry and comfortable in whatever I happened to be wearing.

These days, many of our bike trips are short and are ridden at a leisurely pace, but because we’re living car-lite in the suburbs, we sometimes also need to ride longer distances at higher speeds because everything is so darned spread out. Covering those distances in a reasonable amount of time requires greater effort and possibly even specialized equipment suited to the task. Our bike and clothing choices reflect this dichotomy. We tend to prefer versatile bikes that are comfortable when ridden at 8 mph down to the corner coffee shop, but are also light and efficient enough that they’re enjoyable for running an errand 15 miles away. Our wardrobes also reflect this need for versatility and include a fair amount of “technical” clothing that looks presentable but is breathable and comfortable during physical activity (REI loves the EcoVelo’s ;-)).

We’d love to know what kind of distances you’re riding, what kind of average speeds you typically maintain, and what kind of clothing you most frequently wear while on the bike.

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Feel free to elaborate in the comments section below.

In the northern hemisphere the autumnal equinox occurs at 2:18 p.m. PST today (an equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth’s axis is inclined neither away from, nor towards the Sun). I always look forward to this date because it marks the change of seasons and the impending arrival of the cool breezes and lovely colors of fall. It also means it’s time to start playing with bike lights again, which happens to be one of my favorite winter pastimes.

I’m very fortunate to have a steady job that I enjoy. My heart goes out to the folks who have suffered through lay-offs, furloughs, and the other symptoms of this terrible economy. I’ve seen it up close and personal with good friends and family being affected. I’ve also seen the stress that it puts on the people who are left to pick up the pieces after companies are “down-sized”. Whether it’s a bike commute or just a simple joy ride, I hope you’re able to take the time to get out on your bike and experience a little respite from it all. I know for myself, there’s nothing quite like a slow ride in the country to reset the psyche and recharge the batteries after a stressful day.

From the City of Chicago’s Bike Program comes this excellent training video for Chicago police officers. This is a great training video for bicyclists as well.

Chicago Bicycle Program →

[via Streetsblog]

I’m sure there are math people out there in the crowd who can do all sorts of complex calculations in their heads, but for the rest of us, here’s a simple way to estimate the time it will take to travel a distance without using a cyclometer or GPS.

• If your average speed is 10mph, multiple your trip distance (in miles) by 6 to get the number of minutes it will take to cover the distance.
• If your average speed is 12mph, multiple your trip distance (in miles) by 5 to get the number of minutes it will take to cover the distance.
• If your average speed is 15mph, multiple your trip distance (in miles) by 4 to get the number of minutes it will take to cover the distance.
• If your average speed is 20mph, multiple your trip distance (in miles) by 3 to get the number of minutes it will take to cover the distance.

Grocery shopping on bicycles can be a simple and enjoyable process with just a little planning and a properly set-up bike. It doesn’t necessarily take a specialized cargo bike; simply keeping your carrying capacity in mind while creating your shopping list makes the process go smoothly (less capacity = more trips). We manage to keep it down to a couple of trips per week, with the occasional fill-in trip here and there. In our case, it helps that we sometimes shop as a pair, doubling our carrying capacity while reducing our trips by one half. If you have a partner who has been reluctant to ride, here’s the perfect excuse to get them on a bike and give that “practical biking thing” a try.

Certainly a dedicated cargo bike is ideal for grocery shopping, particularly if only one person is shopping for a large family. On the other hand, a single person shopping for one or two, or a pair of bicyclists shopping for four or more, can make due perfectly well on standard bikes with a rear rack and a pair of grocery panniers. Front racks and baskets add even more capacity and we’ve found them good for bulky, but lightweight items such as paper towels, toilet paper, bread and so forth.

We keep toying with the idea of building up a Big Dummy for grocery hauling, but so far we’ve done so well with our standard bikes that we haven’t been able to justify the expense. We mix it up a bit, but recently we’ve been using a Breezer Uptown 8 and a Surly LHT for our shopping trips. The Breezer is outfitted with a rear rack and a pair of grocery panniers, while the LHT is set-up with a grocery pannier, an Arkel Bug pannier, and a Pass & Stow front cargo rack. The front rack is used for things like bulk TP or our CSA veggie share (see photo above), while the rear panniers are used for all the usual heavier staple items. The Breezer came stock from the factory fully-equipped and ready to go as a grocery getter. The Surly required a number of additions including racks, fenders, lights, and a chain guard.

One added benefit to shopping by bike is that it will likely encourage you to purchase less packaged food. Anything that comes in a box increases its footprint by at least 25-30%. Individually wrapped items can be even worse, sometimes increasing the space required to haul them by over 100%. The plus side to purchasing less packaged food is that whole foods tend to be less expensive and healthier, and there’s less garbage to go to the landfill. The only downside is that they may require a little more care when packing into your panniers.

If you haven’t done so already, I’d highly recommend giving grocery shopping by bike a try. Besides the obvious benefits of saving gas, providing a little exercise, and reducing pollution in your own neighborhood, combining a bike ride with a shopping trip makes it more of a fun event and less of an unpleasant chore.

This is a must-see video on how to avoid getting doored. From Wpreston3 on YouTube.

[via Do the Right Thing]

Dawn is my favorite time of day; the nocturnal wild creatures scratching out a living on the margins of the city are still out-and-about and the inevitable hum of human activity has yet to begin. With the longer days of summer, my commute gets me out the door after sunrise, so I’ve been really missing that magical half hour just before the day starts. I rose early this morning, and as the city slept, I rode to one of my favorite spots to watch the sunrise. It was worth the effort.

We’ve been invaded. After being flat-free for nearly a year, I’ve suddenly had two in one week. The second was quite a doozy with six punctures in one tire, all from the dreaded goathead. I love my off-street bike paths, but they’re a bit like mine fields for bike tires this time of year.