Every once in a while I read a list of tips that I feel like I need to share… today these emergency bike repair tips come from the Community Cycling Center in Portland, Oregon (the birthplace of my west coast ride, The Goblin). Some of the highlights:

• A tire lever alternative you probably have on your bike already
• An emergency option for a punctured tube when you’re patch-kit-less
• A $1 emergency solution for a torn tire

And much more. Totally recommended… read more at the CCC’s blog. A hat tip also to an older post from Cyclocamping – check their roadside repair tips out too.

Does your bike still have the grime from last season’s tour? Have you hit the trails already and muddied up your chariot? Here’s a great video by Clint Gibbs showing how you can clean your bike in about 15 minutes without disassembling it:

Clint also has a part two, which is worth a look. A few thoughts:

• I tend to be a little more careful when using a hose… as mentioned in the video, direct spray into a bottom bracket can get water into the bearings. The same is true (at least in my unfortunate newbie experience a few years ago) with wheel bearings. Water under pressure has a sneaky way of finding its way into those spots, and it makes your life miserable on tour. Trust me.
• Chain cleaners are your friends. You might not need to do the full hose-down… just the drivetrain. I’ve been a big fan of Park Tool’s chain cleaner (FYI, affiliate link)for a few seasons, and use it as needed. It also includes a gear brush which is super helpful on deeper cleans. More coming on drivetrains next week. I’m taking a maintenance class Thursday and hope to share a few things.
• Remember to lubricate what needs lubricating after the wash. Obviously the chain, but sometimes you’ll need to give the brake and shift lines a little bit of help.
• Don’t be afraid to do this on the road. Maybe you’re taking a zero-mile day? Maybe you hit a huge patch of mud or a dusty run. The less grit in your gears, the smoother and more efficient your ride, plus the less wear on your (maybe expensive) components. Cue the people with the internal hubs who don’t worry about such things nearly as much!

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photo credit: Ryan Cousineau on Flickr

An extra rear bike rack just became my new front rack without much effort or extra hardware. But is it good enough for carrying some of the load next tour?

A little background: For some reason, I’ve resisted carrying anything but a handlebar bag on the front of my bike. I think it’s because I’m worried the extra capacity would cause me to overpack, but I’ve slowly warmed to the idea of distributing more weight on the front and less on the back. It might be because I carry a metric crap-ton* of weight on the back of my typical tour:

It’s time to take advantage of physics and common-sense and redistribute some of that up front.

It just so happens I have an extra rear rack lying around. Nothing too fancy, just a $20 Avenir rack that’s tested to 25 lbs when mounted on the back. I’m not too cheap to buy a “real” front rack, but after doing a little research, I saw many people (mountain bikers in particular) use platform racks and even reuse those rear racks up front. So, I decided to give it a whirl. Here’s what it looks like:

The rack faces inwardly, just as it does on the rear. I have two panniers hanging on it in this picture mainly to demo what it could look like… these are Ortlieb back rollers, so they’re a bit bigger than your typical front bags.

The real trick, of course, is how to mount it. For the moment, I used the hardware that I used on the rear and nothing more. In order to get enough clearance for the brakes, I needed to mount the braces on the top rather than the bottom of the rack. I also had to bend the holy hell out of them, but the crossing action seems to provide a sturdy mount via the upper fork.

The bottom of the rack attaches at the mount point at the bottom of the fork. Because there’s an additional brazon relatively close by, I can foresee bracing the whole thing with a cross beam… perhaps even using two water bottle cages to get a little extra function, so long as it gives actual structure.

I took the bike for a quick spin in the snow today with my 9 lb city lock bungeed to the top platform to see how it felt with a moderate weight. Everything rode fine, even with the newfound oddity of having weight at that point in the bike’s geometry for the first time.

A few initial observations:

– I don’t think it’s a good idea to ride with more than 10 pounds on this current system… those mounting brackets probably bear weight differently than when on the rear, so the flex of a heavier weight could muck things up.

– I can fix that with a secondary bracing like I mentioned above. It will probably mean using some P-clips to attach the rack to the brace, and then the brace would fasten at the mid-fork.

– I’m back and forth on using the platform or getting front panniers. I think the panniers riding lower would help distribute the overall weight better, and I did just save about $50 on a rack, right? That said, a dry bag bungeed on the platform (like this, although he attached front panniers too) would probably do the trick too… again, I’m not too cheap to get these things, but why not save a few bucks if form and function are served?

More to come on this project. What kinds of hacks have you been up to lately?

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*1 metric crap-ton = approximately 40 pounds

A little advice courtesy of Adventure Cycling… get a map case to keep yourself from being like the gentleman pictured. It keeps you organized and not all crashed on the side of the road.

I have one integrated in my handlebar bag, but there are literally dozens of types. I’ve also seen people use clips for cue sheets as well. No matter what, don’t be “that guy” or “that gal”  whipping out your map on the fly!