bicycles can save the world

A Message from Contador

bikerdood — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:22:51 +0000

Friday Poll: Lance Armstrong

bikerdood — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:56:14 +0000

Love him? Hate him? Indifferent? Vote below.

Lebron James bikes to work

bikerdood — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:12:57 +0000

World’s wealthiest bike commuter? Maybe I’ll see him riding from The Nines next time they’re in town playing the Blazers. Can you imagine if this was a trend that the kids of America picked up on?

;

POLL: 26 vs. 29 vs. 650B

bikerdood — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:22:17 +0000

Take Our Poll

Specialized

bikerdood — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 01:09:57 +0000

Thought this sticker was hilarious given the Volagi/Specialized hooplah. Not my bike, but can appreciate the sentiment. I also think it’s funny that people who will talk your ear off about buying local, small, artisan, handcrafted, ‘hate Starbucks because they are big’ blah blah blah will also openly rep the big S like it ain’t no thang. FWIW I’d ride an Enduro or an FSR of some sort if it was free.

In the end all this boycott talk will have zero change on their bottom line given the short term memory of consumers these days (anybody remember the old ‘boycott Burton cuz you can’t patent fun’ movement?), but it’s nice to see a small minority keep the dream alive. Guy is lucky he didn’t use red stickers for that, would have likely been sent a C&D by big S.

Chris Akrigg: Step by Step

bikerdood — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:03:35 +0000

I love this guy’s riding, and that fall….just ouch. Definitely not the usual mouth gaping vids he puts out, but glad to see Chris is back on the bike!

VIDEO: Ultramontane

bikerdood — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:53:23 +0000

These are probably the most enjoyable and moody MTB flicks I’ve seen…ever.

Shit Cyclists Say

bikerdood — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 01:43:59 +0000

Not to be left out of the ‘shit XXX says’ meme, People for bikes is throwing their hat in the ring. I actually think this is funnier than the ‘Shit Mountain Bikers Say‘ vid, but than again I tend to find the cliche yuppy roadie guys portrayed here funny to begin with.

I’m not sure if the ‘shit XX says’ meme is dead yet, but it’s worth noting I just saw a ‘shit people who made shit XXX says videos say’ vid, so I’m thinking it’s about to go JoePa on us (ordinarily I’d call ‘too soon’ on myself, but a guy who ignored what he ignored doesn’t get the same respect others would)

Shit Mountain Bikers Say

bikerdood — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:13:25 +0000

NSMB goes metoo up in your meme. You’ve likely seen this on 100 blogs now, let’s make it 101 and call it a Friday! Have a good weekend everyone, hope you get some epic brown pow!

HOW TO: SRAM X-series Shifter Cable Swap

bikerdood — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:07:18 +0000

I’m currently rolling a low-end build (Rockhopper Comp 29er) as it was a cheap way to get back on the bike after my old MTB was used in one of those ‘guy who doesn’t know you borrows it long-term and without asking and oh yeah I’m borrowing your TV and shit rent to own without paying rent’ scams. Had started to rebuild it as a sort-of-cross hack bike, but have now vetoed that build and am reverting back to OEM so I can sell her to fund a more lustworthy ride. As part of that process am giving her a lube/oil/filter/cable change so the next owner is good to go. As I know a lot of people don’t know how to swap out the cables on their shifters or are afraid they have to disassemble them to get at the cables I figured I’d throw a quick how to up. This process >>should<< be the same for everything X9 and below, but as the bike industry is keen on changing things every year ~~to suck money from the sheeple~~ on their quest for perfection you can look at SRAM’s service manuals if this doesn’t look like it’ll work for your shifters.

Anyways, a good % of you are going to chuckle at this being a how-to, but it’s one of those things that sometimes you just think is going to be far worse than it is, involving cracking open the shifter body and weeding your way through springs and widgets and whatnots, but it’s not like that and if it enables someone to save some money and wrench on their own bike a bit more confidently I’m stoked.

Step 1: Put your bike in your bike stand. If you don’t have a bike stand and are still using a wall, 2x4s, or some other rigged method of keeping your bike upright for wrenching punch yourself in the nuts (or female equivalent for you ladies out there reading), stop reading and go buy a GOOD one right now – seriously don’t cheap out here, what’s an extra $50 amortized over the 10+ year life of a good repair stand? I went from an old hand me down POS Blackburn to a Spin Doctor Pro G3, pretty much night and day in stability, ability to have the bike at a decent working level (I’m 6’4 so that’s a nice back saving addition), etc. etc. Seriously, just do it and you’ll thank me.

Step 2: Shift into gear 1 (front) or your highest rear gear (8-10) depending on which cable you’re replacing. Remove or cut the cable from the derailleur side. Next, look just behind the backside of your triggers for either a small, uncovered hole or a small screw that is covering the hole. If there’s a small screw, remove it, otherwise proceed to step 3.

Step 3: Push on the cut end of the cable so that it comes out through the newly (or permanently) uncovered hole in shifter. If you’re having trouble getting it out give it a twist while pushing and it should come out.

Step 4: It’s all downhill from here. Insert new cable through the hole the old one just came out of, feed through your housing and back to your derailleur, and tune as usual. Note that it may be a pain in the R’s to get the cable back through the barrel adjuster. Some people remove them for feeding through, I found I was able to feed the cable through by just playing with it for a second. BOOM! You’re done, pat yourself on the back and assume the victory pose