Nail Straight Up Through Bike Rim Wins Best Flat Tire Prize

We see a bunch of broken, bent, taco'd, and twisted bike wheels at Wheelgirl. But Customer Mike wins the prize for the best flat tire story of late. Like others before him, he visited the Wheelgirl bike shop inquiring about a new set of hand-built wheels. Why? Because the  guy was out for a ride and ran over a giant nail that pierced completely through his rear tire, inner tube, and alloy 700c rear rim.

The nail exited the rim in a pretty straight line almost in alignment with the spokes.This is what makes this nail-induced flat noteworthy. It is hard to get a nail to go straight through your rim. Most people pick up nails that are angled. Mike did get knocked off his ride from the sudden loss of tire pressure, but he avoided all injury. The story has a happy ending: We built him up with a nice new wheel set of Shimano Ultegra hubs on black Mavic Open Pro Rims. Ride on Customer Mike.

   

Photos taken by Wheelgirl. Check out the alignment of the nail in the first photo.

Velocity Deep V ELVS Glow-In-The-Dark Fixed Gear Rims, Make Momma Smile

If you are riding your fixed gear at night, here is something that will make your Momma smile. Velocity ELVS Deep V glow-in-the-dark rims will help drivers to see you crazy cats riding your fixies around in the dark.The Deep V rims look black in the daylight and glow reflective white at night, so there is not a harsh visible style decision that you need to make in the name of safety.

Ehtan Laek of Laek House independently developed these ELVS glow-in-the-dark rims with Velocity. Ethan wrote about these on his site in September of last year. Manni from Portland emailed me about some Nitto bars and directed me to the post. (Thanks, Manni.) We will have some Laek House reflective clothing in the shop this spring. So keep that in mind if you want your threads to match your rims.

According to Velocity, the rims have a reflective vinyl coating on them similar to that used by emergency vehicles. The coating can't tolerate brake shoes rubbing on it, so all of the ELVS rims are Deep V rims with a non-machined braking surface. This makes the rims suitable for building fixed gear wheels. Velocity states that the ELVS rims hold up in nice weather as well as the rains and winter slop, and the rims when wet retain 90 percent of their reflective qualities. The ELVS coating is designed to resist road mild acids, mild alkalies, and salts, as well as "occasional fuel spills".  You want to avoid scratching the surface of the rim or using harsh detergents to clean the rim, since you can damage the coating. So be mindful when you lock up your ride. However, Velocity does say you can sparingly use rubbing alcohol (keyword: "sparingly") to clean grease and grime from the street from the rim surface.

We have some ELVS rims on order, and they will be online in the Wheelgirl Fun & Fixed Gear shop. Email us if you want to reserve of these glow-in-the-dark Deep Vs and make your Momma smile.

First photo lifted from the Velocity site. Next two photos lifted from the Laek House site. Rims are black in the daylight and turn reflective white when it is dark.

Robert's 32H Paul FHub & Word Disc Hubs on Salsa 29er Race Delgado Rims

We built these for customer Robert's custom Independent Fabrication Single-Speed 29er.

Paul black 32H FHub disc 100 front hub

Paul black 32H Word Disc 135mm rear hub

Salsa Race Delgado 29er black disc rims

3 cross pattern

DTSwiss stainless steel black spokes and black (brass) nipples.

• Spokes for the rear drive side (no disc) = 16 x 293 mm



• Spokes for the rear non-drive side (disc) = 16 x 293 mm



• Spokes for the front (non disc)  = 16 x 293mm



• Spokes for the front (disc)  = 16 x 292mm

* Remember: If you are used to building non-disc front bike wheels, disc front wheels use different spokes lengths for each side. If you build road bike wheels or mountain bike wheels with rims that accept caliper, cantilever, or V brakes, you can usually assume the 100mm front hub measurements will allow you to use the same length of spoke for both sides of the wheel. (The front hub has the same left and right center-to-flange measurements, and there is no dish to the front wheel, since there are is no cassette or freewheel.) So, check all your hub measurements when you are building front disc hubs.

Photo taken by Wheelgirl

Bicycle When It is Quiet, AEG's Giant Decibels Meter Billboards

OK, these giant decibel (dB) meter billboards were not made to support urban bicycle commuting. They are part of a marketing campaign to encourage consumers to buy quiet household appliances made by the company AEG-Electrolux. But if you are bicycle commuting or running errands via bike and passing by these meters in Berlin, Brussels, London, Milano, or Madrid, you can try to ride during the quieter times by looking on the web. All of the dB stats recorded by the dB meters are graphed by time and date. The site, Noise Awareness site in the United Kingdom, lets you view the noise data from the cities where these giant decibel meters are listed.

And if you are one of the many gifted children who lives on two wheels in Berkeley, and you have time on your hands this summer, here's a project.  Why not put a discrete decibel meter somewhere, like at Spruce and Rose or up by Tilden Park or on Grizzly Peak, so the recreational and competitive cyclists can avoid the scenic and narrow roads during the peak times for car travel. Make sure there is a way to wirelessly convey the monitoring data to a web app. You special talented San Franciso bike riding engineers, get to work on one for Market Street and the Embarcadero.

(Jump to read a bit about the history of the noise measuring unit, the decibel.)

   

Photo lifted from the Noise Awareness site.

via notcot

Lifted from Wikipedia on decibel:

"A decibel is one tenth of a bel (B)."

"The bel was originally devised by engineers of the Bell Telephone Laboratories to quantify the reduction in audio level over a 1 mile (approximately 1.6 km) length of standard telephone cable. It was originally called the transmission unit or TU, but was renamed in 1923 or 1924 in honor of the Bell System's founder and telecommunications pioneer Alexander Graham Bell. In many situations, however, the bel proved inconveniently large, so the decibel has become more common."

Get Ready for BBQ Grill Season with Park Tools BBQ-3 Tool Set

If you love to cycle, and you work on your bike, the Park Tools BBQ-3 is the barbque grilling tool set you need this spring and summer. The Park Tool BBQ-3 set contains a stainless steel pedal wrench spatula, complete with a spoke wrench hanging loop. And if you need more than flipping capabilities, you can reposition your after-ride grilled treats with the included BBQ tongs made from two stainless steel cone wrenches. Both tools are a good weight and feel right in the hand of an experienced BBQ chef and / or bike mechanic.

The stainless steel implements are easy to keep clean and sport the comfortable and recognizable Park Tool blue rubber-coated handles. The spatula spoke wrench hanger is printed with "BBQ1". But the set is called the BBQ-3.

I know one of you curious cats is going to grill up some corn on the cob and then try to remove your pedals from your bike with the spatula. Strong suggestion: You ride through all kinds of stuff that you and your dinner guest would not want to eat. Use a dedicated steel pedal wrench that is not designed for cooking. Save the Park BBQ-3 grill tools for your barbecued food delights. (You can pick up a set for 25 clamshells in the Wheelgirl Fun and Fixed Gear online store, which is growing slowly.)

If you have any great grill recipes or BBQ sauces for after ride meals, make sure to post them.

(Photos taken by Wheelgirl.)

Michelin Pro Race 3 Folding Clincher Road Tires Have Arrived

Pro Race 3 Service Course road tires from Michelin have arrived for the rest of us. Michelin Pro Race 3 tires were available to the pro peleton during last summer's Tour de France. But now black and gray Pro 3 Race tires are available in the shop. The other colors will be released during the bike season. The black stripe in the middle is fatter than the Pro Race 2 tires.

Michelin states that the Pro Race 3 replaces Pro Race 2 and offers high-performance and good looks for those who love smooth-rolling road race tires. (Michelin doesn't have the tire specs up on their site yet.) According to Michelin, the new tread delivers 20% more straight line grip than the Pro² Race, while the new shoulder rubber offers a huge 40% improvement. Michelin says the Moto GP compounds are also more readily deformable than before to help maintain grip on coarser pavement and reduce rolling resistance. For added security, the Pro³ Race casing gains a new High Density Puncture Protector (HDPP) nylon belt.

If you have put some miles on these tires since their release, put up a post and let us know how they roll. (Jump to read the specs on the new Pro Race 3 Michelin road race tires.)

(Photos by Wheelgirl)

ooksHere are the Pro Race 3 or Pro 3 Race, as some say, road tire specs:

Type: Folding clincher
Bead: Kevlar with High Protect Rim System protects tire from rim bead friction
Tires Pressure: 120 PSI
Tire Weigh Per Tire: 215-220 gms 700x23c
Tire Composition: 100% Silica Energy rubber mix. Dual compound co-extrusion for low rolling resistance in the center and extra grip on the shoulders
Tire Casing: 127 thread per inch (TPI) cross-ply fibers provide flexibility, responsiveness, high performance and light weight
Puncture Resistant: Yes. High Density Puncture Protector under the center tread, minimizing the effect of tread cuts.

Face to Face or Back to Back, You Don't Have to Look at Someone's Neck Hairs

Chen Yugang of Taiwan designed and built a tandem bike prototype that allows two cyclists to ride the bike by positioning themselves face to face or back to back. The idea, according to Chen, is that you can enjoy a different and unique view while riding on his tandem bike. The bike isn't yet in production. But according to Chen, you can change the seating configuration quickly and easily without tools.

Of course, for those sitting face to face, there is also the thrill (and potential danger) of the unknown, since you can't really see where you are going. The same thrill of the unknown is partly true for those sitting back to back, since the captain (person in the front) still faces forward and can see where he or she is going. But the stoker (person sitting in the back) is now facing backward. So the stoker doesn't have to count the hairs on the captain's neck, but the stoker also cannot see for love or money without the use of a mirror where the bike is pointed. Check out the video of two riders booking on a different tandem set up back to back.

(First photo lifted from the DailyTimes . Second photo lifted from Geekologie via video from Metacafe.)

daily times to geekologie to dvice to giz

Walking Bike Takes 8 Pairs of Sneakers and Patience to Ride

Max Knight created the Walking Bike from 8 pairs of sneakers and some fancy wheel modifications. You can check out the YouTube to see how it rides. It is not exactly a smooth spinning machine, but I have a sweet spot in my heart for anyone who builds bike wheels. If you look closely, it appears Max has included the thoughtful touch of a black ankle sock for each sneaker. If you are a wheel builder, you know that the devil is in the details.

(Photos of Max Knight's Walking Bike taken by Thomas Brown and lifted from the arkitip site.)

arkitip to newlaunch to giz

Gran Compe White SS Tires and Schwalbe Black and White Stelvio Tires, Beauty Isn't Cheap

Spring is officially here. Dia Compe's Gran Compe SS all white road tires let you dress up your bike with vintage touch that borders on minimal cool.  These folding clincher 700x23c, 100 PSI road tires are only available in all white. Dia Compe calls them "Open Tubulars" on the box. They are what we call "clinchers". So they will fit a conventional clincher rim. If you need a bit of contract on your hoops, Schwalbe offers up the Stelvio, a 700x23 folding 120 PSI clincher in classy black and white for your springtime riding enjoyment. (The Stelvio road tires also are offered in with other color accents.)

Beauty isn't cheap. A set of the Gran Compe light-weight tires with Kevlar beads cost around $120 in the Wheelgirl on line store. (See the top-right corner of this page.) Head mechanic, Daniel, ordered in some a few weeks ago. Schwalbe Stelvio road race tires are $80 a set in our on line store. We've put the Stelvio tires in different colors on many bikes. They roll really nicely. But if you need completely white tires, the Gran Compe tires are the answer. (Vittoria makes an all white Zaffiro Pro. So, if you are riding that model please put up a post, and let us know what you think of them.)

The Gran Compe road tires run at 100 PSI, not 120 PSI, like most high-performance road racing tires. And they do not sport a triple casing or some such method of letting wicked and daring cats on fixed wheels repeatedly skid down the steep roads of San Francisco and Berkeley. So put them on a single speed, a well-loved road bike you are giving a makeover, or get a handle on the number of skid spots on your fixie's rear wheel. (Check out the skid spot calculator to figure this out.) If you do opt to put a set on your fixie, make sure that you rotate your rear wheel skid spot(s), so you don't make your own self cry for your mama by unnecessarily shredding it.

(Photos by Wheelgirl. First two are of the Dia Compe Gran Compe SS all white tires. Third photo is close up of a black and white Schwalbe Stelvio. And the last photo is of a Vitus 979 that we gave a make over.)