Chain Lube

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 12:20:29 -0700

Chain lube is one of those things I tend to think about as little as possible. I generally hate the stuff for being messy, not long lasting, hard to differentiate, messy, suspiciously expensive, and messy.

Unlike motor oil, bicycle chain lube doesn’t seem to generate passionate discussion, or even dis-passionate discussion. Admittedly I’ve never went looking for chain lube discussions, but I think if it were something that mattered to even a few cyclists I would have stumbled across something by now. For whatever reason chain lube never started a conversation. Sure, I’ve read pieces on cleaning chains, replacing chains, when to lube a chain and so on. But never have I read what to lube it with. I think the reason nobody bothered to espouse a lube is because none of it was worth espousing. Fortunately, with Chain-L I’ve come across something well worth espousing.

Over the years I’ve tried general lubricants, specialized bicycle chain lubes, and aerosols of all make and manner (the best and only one worth mentioning was a graphite spray-on my father brought home from one of the big steel mills). I’ve tried them with fancy brand names and without. They all attracted dirt (well, not the graphite) and washed away with varying ease (especially the graphite). Excepting the graphite, none of them were something I would think worth buying again or telling anyone else about. Unfortunately with the ease graphite washes off, it is practically useless here in the PacNW. Chain-L is different stuff. Yes, it is still messy. Yes, it still washes off eventually. But I can attest it has served me better than any others I’ve tried.

First, I put a new SRAM 951 chain on my daily commuter in early August. I’m one that believes the grease that comes on the chain is fine and should be run until the chain is in need of a re-lube. When the chain does need a re-lube, I wipe it with a rag to get as much of the external gunk off. If I have the time, I additionally run it through one of those chain cleaners that attaches to the chain while still on the bike and looks like a mini-car wash. Anyway, by about mid-November the chain was well past due. Some time back I had seen a tweet from Clever Cycles pointing to a Chain-L review by Kent Peterson. Well, there’s two folks I highly respect, so figured I’d give it a try. Wow, the chain was like butter! All lubes are going to feel like great their first day on the job, the real test is for how long. Check this, I didn’t need to re-lube until February. Two solid months in the wettest time of the year? I’ll take it! When I did re-lube I used some old green stuff I had previously been using. I figured I would do a kind-of-sort-of-controlled experiment. The green stuff, which is supposed to be a wet environment formulation no less, was all but gone in three weeks. Back to the Chain-L, thank you very much.

The other comparison I have for it is on the kitchen fan above our cook-top. The spindle spins on a brass bushing instead of real bearings and the thing developed a horrible squeak after about two or three years. I tried all the usual suspects: Tri-flow, Pedro’s dry spray, even the aforementioned green stuff. None worked all that great, usually the fan would be back to squeaking in a few months. As time went on it also seemed like the time between needing to re-lube kept getting shorter and shorter. I’d about given up and just been dealing with the annoying squeaking. After getting the Chain-L I decided, “well, what the heck... give it a try.” When I went to put it on I noticed the spindle was burned and the plastic making the squirrel cage blades surrounding the spindle had spider web cracks indicating it had gotten too hot. &@#%, had I let it go too long? Well, I put the Chain-L on nonetheless and to my immense delight (yes, the squeaking was that annoying) not only was the annoying squeak gone, the fan overall was quieter, and I swear was even spinning faster. This is awesome. As far as I’m concerned better even than what it’s done for my bike chain. And in the four months since, Chain-L stayed put and I’ve not needed to re-lube either. Awe-some!

Coming to ride the coast this spring or early summer? You might think about giving Chain-L a try.

2012 Tour Planning

Sun, 5 Feb 2012 13:40:53 -0800

And so begins the fourth year of Portland Sag Wagon. I’ve fielded the occasional email from early planners and repeat customers and decided it was time to update the website to let the world know I’m open for business in 2012. (BTW, always nice to have repeat customer inquiries. Nothing confirms you’re doing it right in a service business such as this like repeat customers.) Rates are up slightly, by 10 cents a mile for the first 100 and by 15 cents thereafter. The rates page has been updated accordingly.

Like last year I also have a 9-5 gig. While the 9-5 part isn’t strict, it does markedly limit my availability M-F. Last summer I was able to make a few early morning runs to and from Hood River, as well as a couple late afternoon runs to the coast. I intend to do the same this summer. If your schedule is able to accommodate that restriction, I’d appreciate the opportunity for your business. As always, weekends are still wide open, though if history is any guide August fills up fast.

With that, I’d like to share a great resource the City of Portland maintains. They have a set of route maps for rides around Portland, the surrounding counties, and popular routes to the coast. The Portland routes are listed right on the page, while the rest for outside of Portland are in the “Table of Contents” frame in the lower right-hand column. Enjoy!

Best wishes for your 2012 cycling season wherever it takes you.

Last Minute Advice

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 14:45:29 -0700

August is at hand. It is the high season for bike touring along the Pacific Coast. I’m nicely booked for the month and thought I’d take a moment to pass along some last minute bit of advice for people setting out on their first substantial tour.

My advice is to get a brand new pair of the fattest tires your bike will take. The absolute, and I mean _absolute_ minimum I’d leave home on are 28mm. A better minimum would be 32mm. I only mention 28mm because quite a few bikes can’t fit more than 28mm. And to be sure, those are minimums. Don’t shy away from 42’s or even 50’s if they will fit your bike.

Unfortunately, fat tires have a bad rap. I suspect for two reasons 1) racers ride thin tires, racers must go as fast as possible, ergo thinner tires must be faster*, and 2) most fat tires one is likely to encounter are on cheap department store bikes. Taking them in order, racers ride thin tires because they are weight-obsessives that do what everybody else is doing. If you’re not in first place and are on tires different from everybody else, do you want to be second-guessing that just maybe you could have placed at least one spot higher if you were on different tires? No, it’s not worth the risk. However, touring has nothing in common with racing. The speeds are lower, the loads higher, the roads less predictable, the hours longer. Fat tires are superior on all these counts. And key to going with fat tires are to pay up for a good pair. If you aren’t an expert and aren’t sure what to get, go with Schwalbe. They don’t make a bad tire. Schwalbes won’t come cheap, but they will be worth every penny. You won’t be able to find them in a discount catalogue or in stock at any old suburban strip-mall bike shop. A good bike shop that caters to daily commuters will have a pair. And of course you are reading this on the internet...

As for me, my touring & camping bike sports a pair of 50mm Schwalbe Big Apples. I’ve ridden them up and over the North Cascades Hwy. I’ve also ridden them for very nearly a century, after getting a very late start (about 11:30, I think it was) and going until dark with a full camping load. I run them about 35psi and they roll like a Bentley. And believe me, if you’re going to haul a full camping load a 100 miles in a day, you want to be rolling like a Bentley.

So, there you go. If you haven’t left yet, there’s still time to get yourself a new set of rubber before heading out. You should be heading out on a new set of tires anyway, it’s not worth spoiling a tour with lots of preventable flats.

* In truth, Bicycle Quarterly readers know that fat tires are, in fact, faster than thin tires on real pavement: cracks, pot-holes, gravel, and all.

Summer 2011 Tour Planning

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 20:37:59 -0800

Inquiries for summer 2011 have started coming in at a nice, steady pace. Word about the shuttle service has really gotten around. That’s the good news. The -- well, it’s not bad, call it other -- news is that late last summer I went back to work full time. I still have the van and will be available for weekend shuttles, or maybe the odd late-afternoon run, but that’s mostly it. No more morning runs from the airport to Astoria. Sorry.

I am still available for free advice, and in fact have been giving out a lot of it lately. If you have any questions about touring in or around Oregon, certainly feel free to drop me a line. The email is still live and I still check it most every day. That said, I am a lot busier now so it may take me a bit longer to respond, worst-case a couple of evenings. If you haven’t heard back in a couple days please resend. Sometimes the spam filters get a little too rambunctious, sometimes new mail gets buried under even newer mail. I’ll not be offended by a little friendly nagging.

I think the only other news of mention is shuttle rates have gone up 10 cents. Blame our Central Bank.

Touring Season 2010 Complete

Sun, 17 Oct 2010 21:25:06 -0700

I’m about a month late getting this out. My last scheduled shuttle for the year was actually back in September. There’s still plenty of good cycling weather left, this last week being a case in point, but the days are too short, the nights (almost) too cold, and more so the weather too unpredictable to schedule a tour. I’m sure there’s still a few folks out on the coast, no doubt the year-round tourists beating it south before the rain arrives. But by and large now is firmly into the off-season. This being my second full season shuttling cyclo-tourists, here are some of my closing thoughts.

First, most people pack way too much. By now they know who they are. For those starting out and thus do not yet know, I have a hint. 22lbs.

Local knowledge and experience are priceless. No one is going to tell you to start your tour at the Astoria Column. Without a shuttle it would be a tremendous amount of work to pedal a loaded tour bike up to it. But if you are going by shuttle it is absolutely the best place to unwind and take in what you are about start. The typical trans-am route has cyclists taking Hwy 30 from Astoria to Portland. That is great if you are driving. If you are riding allow me to suggest OR202 through Jewell and Mist. If you must stay on Hwy 30, allow yourself time to catch the ferry to Cathlamet.
If you are headed south from Astoria, instead of US101 to Seaside take the back way using the Warrenton-Astoria bridge south across Young’s Bay and then catch Lewis and Clark Road. It’s a few extra miles, but Astoria to Seaside is short anyway. You’ll have plenty of time on US101 the rest of the ride, this detour is well worth it. I should warn that there’s one and a half tough climbs at the end, but after the last one it’s all downhill into Seaside. If you can’t do the whole Oregon coast the south is by far the best. Newport to North Bend and Port Orford to Brookings are unmatched in the world. If you are bike-camping plan one night for a little stealth camping on the beach. There are a few spots where the highway is up above the beach a ways and a couple cyclists squirreled away in a small dark corner without a campfire are never going to be seen. Now the south coast isn’t all that convenient, so in the interest of practicality I’ll also offer Tillamook to Florence is very nice and Florence to Eugene along OR126 is probably the easiest connection there is for cycling from the coast to the valley.

Finally, yes those are a pair of Bridgestone XO-1’s setting out for a tour down the coast. They made it all the way to Brookings, in fact. The orange one still has its original owner. The pearl one was on its first tour since being built-up from frame and fork off e-bay. Both were gorgeous bikes with very nice builds. Unfortunately my photo doesn’t remotely do them justice. In my defense was using a borrowed camera phone.

Until next summer, keep the rubber side down.