Wheelgirl

Mr. Unworthy Thief Has Stolen Customer Anne's Fixie

Customer Anne was getting ready to ride home from the gym Tuesday evening when she had her Lemond fixie ripped out of her hands by an unidentified thief. He rode away, and she was not harmed. This happened in the Mission in San Francisco, CA. A police report has been filed. She has posted the stolen bike description on Craig's List. If you see the whole bike or pieces of the bike for sale around SF, contact her via email. 

Wheelgirl bike shop built the bike for her, and I built the wheels. I hate to think of someone who can't even spin 52T, finish two Ironman Triathalons, or win the Women's Cat. 4 2007 Berkeley Bike Club Team Time Trial cruising around on her ride.

You cannot possibly be worthy of that bike, Mr. Thief. You will certainly be getting a lump of coal this holiday season.

Photo by Wheelgirl of Anne with her Lemond Fixie before her bike was stolen by Mr. Unworthy Thief.

Bring the Bass: Stereo Systems on Your Bike

OK, I love to listen to music on my bike. I've been commuting to work lately on a fixed Nishiki Colorado with a $9-dollar Sony transistor radio in my coat pocket, and it makes me really, really happy. There is something to listening to music through the air versus through ear buds.

Here on the West Coast, I've seen Soul Cycle Slim bikes and Soul Cycle Mobile Audio bikes sporting their down low glow neon under lights around the Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco streets and at Bay Area bike events. (They also make bikes that can power blenders.)  The music usually contributes to the up-beat atmosphere of the two-wheeled festivities, and the neon glow coming from the bike means everyone can see you at night.

But these guys from Queens, NY, take listening to music on your bike to a new level of complication. Like the extreme music car hobbyists who push car stereo systems to rocket launcher decibel rates, the stereo bike guys, with Guyanese and Trinidadian backgrounds, bring the bike & music hobby from their respective countries to Queens. One guy had his bike stereo system measured at 150 decibels. (According to the car stereo decibel drag racing hobbyist article, "a 747 taking off on a runway 300 feet from you is about 120 decibels".)

 

Photo 1 & 2 of the Soul Cycles lifted from the RockTheBike site.

Photos 3 & 4 and text lifted from the New York Times Online:

(Photo 3) "The motocross bicycle of Stephen Sonnylal, 17, at left, bears a 200-pound system with a 50-CD changer. It has 3,000 watts of power and cost $800. "People say, 'It's the next best thing to having a system in a car.' But it's better because you don't even have to roll down the windows," said Nick Ragbir, 18, right."

(Photo 4) "Mr. Samaroo's sturdy Mongoose supports a system with four 12-inch speakers that can handle the 5,000 watts. He's co-owner of a business called Legal Intentionz that mounts stereos on bikes."Photo: Tyler Hicks/The New York TimesArticle and more photos Photo: Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Aleutia E1 Solar-Powered Computer for Bike Touring?

Aleutia has an off-the-grid solar computing solution package that is getting a bit of attention. It runs on 200MHz x86 CPU on Puppy Linux. The graphical user interface is a Windows type. And there is spreadsheet and document writing applications on it. So, basically, you can create, modify, and save Excel and Word from the get go. You can listen to MP3s and make PDF files (portable document format). Everything is preloaded. More photos here.

The E1 portable computer needs 8 watts to work (11 watts when the CD writer and the hard drive are working.) And with the display (monitor) it needs 18W of power.  The 10.4" LCD TV (800x600 resolution) uses 10W of power. If you read the fine print on the bottom of your laptop, and you multiple Volts x Amps = Watts, you can get an idea of how much power your laptop needs.

The Aleutia E1 has a 14-hour battery. Size wise, it is 11.5cm (Width) x 11.5cm (Length) x 3.5cm (Height). So that is 4.5 x 4.5 inches. It weighs just over a pound. (That is the PC part. I don't have the weight on the other stuff.)

Basically, you can create a solar-powered solution to many UMPCs (ultra mobile personal computers), since they don't require high wattage. (Check out the Wheelgirl post on Chippy's solar-computing solution for bicycle touring.) But the Aleutia E1 is being marketed with a solar-power solution.

So, in your techno-centered holiday party conversations, you can add some chatter about the solar-powered Aleutia E1 in addition to the low-energy using in-the-news OX lap top from give one, get one OLPC (one lap top per child) and the sold out Asus eeePC  (photo in link of family computing in snow white clothing on the eeePC is a little too The Island).

(Photos lifted from Aleutia: E1;  Laptop.org: XO;  Asus: eeePC)

Aleutia E1 from notcot to dvice
to gizmodo

Problem Solvers Give Everyone a Brake

At Interbike, I talked with Jim and Josh at the Problem Solvers booth. Problem Solver fitting and components allow you to design a custom bike for cyclists who have unique or non-negotiable needs related to using brakes. And Problem Solvers also make adapters and bit and bobs to address irritating mechanical and bike build situations. And if your fixed gear frame is drilled for brakes, you can throw on cable stops and a rear wheel with an internal hub and go cycle touring in the hills with your pals.

• Problem Solver brake levers allow someone who can't squeeze both brake lever the ability to use one lever to control the function of both the front and rear brakes. So, if you have lost an arm or the squeezing function of in one hand, you can still activate both brakes and stop your bike safely. The single lever comes in both left- and right-handed versions.
• There is 1:2 brake cable setups allow you to control the front and rear brake with 1 lever. And they have a 2:1 brake cable setup that allow you to use 2 traditional brake levers to control 1 of the brakes, either the front or rear brake. (For example, if you want to stop your bike with the front brake only, but want to be able to use either hand to squeeze the lever and perform that action.)

(More about helpful metal bits after the jump.)

  

Photos taken by wheelgirl at Interbike in Vegas 2007

Jeff's 32H Phil Wood Gold Track Hubs on Velocity Red Deep Vs

• Phil Wood gold 32H High-Flange Track Single Fixed 120mm rear hub
• Phil Wood godl 32H High-Flange Track 100mm front hub
• Velocity Deep V 32H red rims (non-machined)
• 3 cross pattern
• Sapim DB 14/15/14 stainless steel black spokes and black Polyax nipples
  • Spokes for the rear drive (fixed) side = 16 x 280 mm
  • Spokes for the rear non-drive side = 16 x 281mm
  • Spokes for the front  = 32 x 281mm
• Velocity red Veloplugs = 64

Holiday Shopping Tips & Coupon on Google Maps

If you are not a shopper, but you promised to accompany a loved one to the 4th Street stores in Berkeley for holiday gift shopping, print out the Wheelgirl coupon on Google maps, and stop by the bike shop.

Think of your shopping experience like a 5-hour mountainous climb.

• Hydrate and don't forget to eat: You can drink coffee at Peet's, and eat a bunch of different foods at the cafes and restaurants on the street.
• Set a rhythm that works for you: Look at books at the 4th Street's Builders Bookstore and Cody's Books in between nodding approvingly at Crate and Barrel place mats and seasonal house-ware items decorated with penguin and reindeer.
• Conserve energy: Do not go into the red.  You think shopping means parking, walking into a store, getting an item, paying for it, and walking out all in 10 minutes? You better think again, my friend. Three hours is nothing to a holiday shopper. Pace yourself. If you blow up, you can't recover. You will be standing on the street yelling at a parking meter, and you will have to give up another entire Saturday to redeem yourself.
• Visualize reaching the end of the climb: Close you eyes and see the stores closing and the employees going home.

Photo lifted from the Trento Bike Pages. (I couldn't find the photographer's name.) Check out the Trento site, which looks to be a very good resource if you are planning to bicycle tour through the Americans, Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe.

American Classic Seat Post Allows You To Tilt Saddle

At Interbike, I visited the American Classic booth, and I got a chance to pick up a seat post I had read about before the show. (I haven't used this post. If you have, write a comment. Make sure to state your yearly mileage, so we have a reference point on amount of use of the component.)

The clamp on the seat post is designed so that it will hold the saddle firmly, but you can tilt the saddle to lower one side. So, if you have one leg that is shorter than the other, you can tilt that side of the saddle a bit lower. And, then, since the saddle is lower, you don't have to place a shim (special piece of plastic) under your cycling shoe to raise your hip higher. (Many athletes who are now avid cyclists, broke or dislocated a leg, ankle, knee playing football, basketball, soccer, etc. On the bike over tons of miles, small differences in leg lengths created by an old injury add up to lots of discomfort. So this seat post let's a cyclist address leg length discrepancy by lowering the hip, instead of raising the level of the foot.

If you read this and think, "Oh, I busted my leg in high school, maybe that is why my hip might be killing me on long rides!" You may be able to solve your issue with a few books on bicycle fitting, a pizza pie, and a riding buddy to give you feedback about your position on the  bike while you are experimenting with new settings. Or you can go to a certified bike fitter. Books and measurements don't work for everyone. And riding long miles in the wrong position can damage your joints. (Think about playing soccer for a season in the wrong-sized cleats.) Shimming things when you don't know what you are doing can cause other problems. Cleat positioning on your cycling shoes, and the height, length, and angle of your body in the best relationship to your handle bars, stem, fork, frame, and bottom bracket are what a fitter determines. The people who know what they are doing when it comes to fitting usually (not always) but usually have spent a large part of their career fitting people with unique physical characteristics and a history of a past injury. They are pricey. But if you are experiencing discomfort on the bike, before you buy this seatpost, make an appointment for a bike fitting. (Specs after the jump.)

Photo taken by Wheelgirl at Interbike Vegas 2007. Other photo lifted from the American Classic site.

Kindle eBook Reader from Amazon: Excite or Burn?

Amazon released its eBook reader, Kindle Um, I can't really say I like the name. Given the historical associations of bonfires and books, it forces a jump in my brain to "kindling". Also, I can see most people in a shopping frenzy checking around for "Kindel" the eBook reader. (Amazon has anticipated this by including the incorrect spelling in its online ad campaigns. But if this holiday season, grandma gives you a wingback chair from 100-year-old heritage-style furniture maker, Kindle, you have been warned.)

Anyway, although the general reviews, for what they are worth, were not excellent. There is already a discussion group for the Kindle that you can access before deciding it it could be your device of choice.

Gizmodo has a bunch of reviews and comments about the Amazon Kindle .(You can also check out the Wheelgirl.com site book-related page for more information on eBook readers such as the Sony PRS500 )

What do you do if you don't see an eBook reader you like?  Have an old-fashioned holiday celebration. Give someone a few books that don't require electric power.

All photos lifted from the Amazon site.

Pebbles Says: Do You Want to Ride on My Mercedes Boy?

The new Mercedes-Benz folding bike is expected to ship in 2008. According to the press release, "Mercedes-Benz Accessories GmbH developed the folding high-tech bike in partnership with top German cycle manufacturer ADP Engineering GmbH." (ADP Enginnering makes Rotwild cycles.) You will also be able to get Mercedes-Benz branded helmets, pumps, panniers, and carry bags for the bike.

The folder is a 5-speed with disc brakes, and you can keep the pannier on it when it is folded. Folded up the bike measures 800 x 800 x 280 millimeters. One feature of the bike design is that it can fit in the trunk of an open-top Mercedes-Benz CLK Cabriolet. Also, the folding process doesn't require the rider to touch the chain or pick up the bike. You can roll it on the wheels when it is folded. The bike is designed with 30mm of fork and 50mm of frame suspension for making the ride on bumpy city roads a bit more comfortable.

When they become available through Mercedes-Benz partners worldwide, put on your Bape hoodie or your Banana Republic jacket, get a speaker for your iPod, don't forget you Louis Vuitton wallet, and take a ride on your Mercedes folder to the designer hair salon. Tip the gal reading Vanity Fair or People Magazine to look out the window now and again and let you know if any wicked children who love to make necklaces are trying to steal your trophy folding bike head badge.

Photos lifted from the Autospectator.com website.

autospectator
to treehugger
to gizmodo

IceToolz Frame and Fork Adjuster Reduces Grunting

While at Interbike, I stopped by the IceToolz booth to chat with Alex and Steve. My eyes rested on the IceToolz E261 Frame and Fork Adjuster , and I felt all warm and safe.

A little history: The easy-to-find tool of choice for increasing the space between rear dropouts of a steel frame has typically been a wooden 2 x 4.  So, if you wanted to spread a 130mm-spaced  7-speed steel hardtail mountain frame to accommodate a 135mm spaced mountain hub, you carefully pried apart the rear stays with the 2 x 4. (Sheldon Brown describes in detail the process of cold setting [bending] a frame on his site.)

The IceToolz frame and fork adjuster allows you to cold set frames with much less grunting. You can also use the E261 to spread steel forks made to hold older 91mm or 96mm front hubs to accommodate a standard 100mm front hub. (Remember: Steel has elastic properties. Your aluminum frame does not. Snap your fingers. That is the sound you will hear if you try to cold set an aluminum frame.)

The IceToolz site describes the frame and fork adjuster as a pro-quality shop tool for expanding and compressing forks, chain stays, and seat stays. The tool has trapezoid threads and proves extra power as well as protective rubber pads wherever the tool makes contact with the frame.

(IceToolz is a marketing face of Lifu. Lifu has been around for a couple of decades. If you've been collecting bike tools for years, you probably have some hex wrenches somewhere housed in a drilled piece of blue plastic with the Lifu logo on it.)

One photo by Wheelgirl at Interbike in Vegas 2007. Other photo lifted from IceToolz site.

USB Batteries Let Your Be A Forgetful Slob Bike Commuter and Watch Movies

It is dark now. The time change is always a drag if you love to cycle outdoors. You are using your bike lights everyday on your commute home from school or work. If you are powering your lights with AA batteries, USB batteries could be more convenient than batteries that require special chargers, in that USB batteries charge from a USB port on any computer.

Usually the realization that the batteries in commuter bike lights are on their last legs happens on a dark ride home from work or school in the evening. If you are disciplined, you will promptly put the dead batteries in the charger, and then make dinner. If not,  you will park your bike, eat dinner, chat, mess around on your computer, read a bit, watch some movies, and forget completely about needing to charge the batteries, until the next night when you are cheating death on your dark commute home.

With a couple of USB batteries, you are always covered. You can ride your bike to work or school the next morning and charge the dead batteries you forgot to put in the charger the night before on your computer.

You take off the green top, which is attached by an elastic string (kind of nutty), and plug them into your computer's USB port, just like a USB flash drive. Like many rechargeable batteries, it takes a while to charge them. And when the lights on the batteries indicate that the batteries are charged, you replace the green cap. They are not inexpensive. But they do offer another strategy for recharging batteries. Click to buy some.

Anodized Nitto Track B123 AA and Nitto 018 Bullhorn Handlebars in Colors

You may like silver track bars. It is a classic look. And classic means something is always in style.

However, if you find yourself needing a fashionable pop of color to bring your ride alive, Nitto is making their standard silver 018 alloy bullhorn handlebar and their B123 AA track bar (the standard silver alloy version of the classic chromed steel B123 track bar) in the following colors:

• Black
• Blue
• Gold
• Gray
• Purple
• Red

Of course, this begs the question: Are they making stems in matching colors, too? Yes. Stop by the shop to check out both Nitto anodized bars and stems. (Bar specifications after the jump.)

The heat-treated anodized alloy bars are a bit more expensive. Fashion usually requires money. Style, on the other hand, is free, and all about you.

 

Berkeley Artist Nemo Makes Trick Two-Wheeled Rides

I met Nemo last spring. He visited the shop and told me that he had made a bike, and he was having a hard time finding a matching pad for his front disc brake. He left the one pad, and a few days later, he rolled in his bike.

The Re:Cycle bike he had sculpted was over 8 feet long. The rotor for the disc caliper was a circular saw blade. The fork was made from aluminum baseball bats.  And he had created the rideable aluminum sculpture from just about everything but bike parts. A couple of guys visiting the shop kept saying Nemo, "You should ride that down to Pixar, someone would put that bike in a movie. We are serious."

I thought to myself, "Nemo, every time I see you riding that trick bike down 4th Street, we are all already in a movie."

Now, I am scrolling along in gizmodo, and giz has a post about Nemo's latest two-wheeled art project. You can read more about Nemo's scooter crafted out of old appliances. (Cool bike-inspired art by Nemo after the jump.)

Axiom Laptop Pannier Not Hip, and That is Just Fine

Here are a couple of ways to get your laptop to work via your bike:

1. Put it in your messenger bag, and lug at least 6-to-10 extra pounds of electronics and power cords on your back.
2. Put it on your bike in a rear pannier. Then remove the fat pannier and lug it into an business office via the usual short, sever-the-skin-on-your-hand handle. Oh, and have the metal rack clips dig deep into your leg as the awkwardly weighted bag bounces against your flesh.
3. Use the Axiom laptop pannier that converts with a strap into a shoulder bag, and carry your laptop to work with little fanfare.

I talked with Frank at the Axiom booth. Axiom is a Canadian company, and the bag I like is on the Canadian (English) site. The Transition Weatherproof Laptop Pannier Single Side 8 Litre is nothing super special. It just does what it is supposed to do at a reasonable price ($80 Canadian). It's made of 1000 - 800 denier waterproof nylon. The seams are sealed waterproof compartments. It contains a padded water-resistant laptop holder. The outside corners are protected with black plastic wear guards. And it has a slim profile. You stow your laptop and attach the pannier to your rear rack via the hardware attached to the pannier. When you park you bike, you remove the pannier. Then, you zip the nylon flap that covers the rack attachment hardware; pull out the shoulder strap, and carry what appear to be yet another unflashy laptop bag made of synthetic material into your place of business.

It is not cool or edgy fashion statement. There is no fanfare or seasonal colorway about which to get excited. It is a decent choice for those who commute by bike with a laptop and don't want to look like they are about to go on a cycle camping trip every time they get in an elevator. (If you hate the color gray, the only color available, spray paint is inexpensive.)

Photos taken by Wheelgirl at Interbike in Vegas 2007, except for the last two lifted from the Axiom site.

King Grip Platform Pedals and MKS Pedals at Interbike

I was at the MKS booth at Interbike, and in addition to checking out all of the great pedals, toe clips, and toe straps for track bikes and fixies, I met Grant Petersen of Rivendell and Bridgestone fame, as well as the President of Merry Sales. (Last year at Interbike, I met the President of MKS at the booth.) Merry Sales, which designs products under the Soma Fabrications name has quite a history. Located in South San Francisco, it is one of the oldest bicycle parts and accessories wholesaler in the United States. They started in 1906 after the big earthquake.

Anyway, the pedals that Rivendell designed and MKS of Japan manufactured are a grippy platform pedal that you can ride without toe clips. They are aluminum, made to corner well, and have little metal octopus-like suction cups all over them to grip the sole of your shoe. They come with attached reflectors so do you don't get pressed at night. (I know you think I can see you, but at least twice a week, I almost get run over while on my bike by another cyclist riding with no lights, no reflectors, and dark clothing.)

You can read more about the pedals on the Rivendell site. I plan to get the Grip Kings in the shop. They retail for somewhere around $50. I really like the MKS track and touring platform pedals, as do customers. MKS pedals are reasonably priced, look good, and hold up to daily wear and tear.

Another pedal that is well-conceived is a street & track pedal, the Sylvan Steam 2, designed to hold your soft-soled shoe in place. It has grippy teeth sawed into the pedal cage. I got some in the shop today in black and silver. (The all-silver ones are pictured below.)

The MKS RX-1 sealed-bearing pro-level track pedals spin for days. And MKS also makes the Custom Nuevo sealed-bearing track pedal that has a wider body, if you need more room for your feet. Both are pricey, but pro-quality kit costs some clamshells.

Below are double toe straps, adjustable toe clips for unique-sized or differently sized feet, leather toe-straps in classy colors, leather-covered toe clips for when you need to go to a formal engagement.

 

Photos above of the Grip King and MKS booth at Interbike taken by Wheelgirl at Interbike Vegas 2007. The track pedals and the MKS Sylvan Stream 2, were lifted off of the MKS site or the web.

Wheelgirl & Independent Fabrication Custom Steel Frame, Fork, Paint for $1900

Customers come into the shop asking about all kinds of special gear. I am a gearhead. I like talking about cycling technology.

However, when it comes down to how you should be spending your money, usually the first question I ask is "Does your frame fit you?". Most of the time, the customer say, "Not really". The second most frequently given answer by a customer is "I have no idea".

My suggestion: Stop looking at pricey jerseys and groupsets. Spend your coin on a custom frame that fits you. If you are thinking, "I don't have the budget for a custom ti frame." No worries. Wheelgirl just became a dealer of Independent Fabrication custom steel frames. Why? Because most cyclists are well-served by the comfort and practical performance of steel.

With a budget of $2000 or less for a custom frameset, you can get an Independent Fabrication (IF) steel Crown Jewel frame with a matching steel fork painted in the solid or metallic color of your choice. IF is a small company with an excellent word-of-mouth reputation for quality. The whole custom frameset made from Reynolds, Columbus and/or True Temper steels, depending on your riding style, costs $1900. (Unless you want a carbon fork instead of the provided steel one, then the price is $2200.) You will be riding your custom bike in a weeks and months, not years.  And we are happy to move your current components and wheels to the new frame that fits you. This way, you don't have to pony up a ton of money all at once to build an all-new bike, and you can upgrade components as they wear.

IF gives a 5-year guarantee to the original owner. And if you use the frame for five years (most people I know have their steel frames for much longer), you're paying about $380.00 per year. You probably spend more than that at Best Buy on a device or two that you will break within a year. And then there is the monthly payment for the gym you don't visit as much as you thought you would.

If you want to see how IF makes a custom frame click here. Daniel, the head mechanic at Wheelgirl, has a long torso, a lower-than-average stand over for his height, and long arms. Wave to him when you see him on his custom IF Beat Stick . (And when you want to feel pretty, try riding around on an IF track bike.)

 

 

Photos lifted off the IF website: Crown Jewel in steel, Beat Stick, Crown Jewel Track, Logo, Paint colors, plus see the links above for solid and metallic colors.

Skid Spot Charts, Skid Patch Calculators, and Your Bald Fixed Gear Tire

Customer Nick came into the shop needing a new 135 BCD Miche front chain ring for his track bike. (Miche shares its bolt circle diameter with the classic Campagnolo BCD. You can't put a standard track chain ring, 144 BCD, on Miche track cranks.) Anyway, I ordered him a new chain ring, and we started talking about ratios and skid patches.

There are a couple of schools of thought about managing skid spots. One school is that if you keep skidding in the same place, you will wear a hole in your tire and /or tube. However, if you know where the skid spot will be, you can rotate your tire to the left or right of that spot, now and again, and manage the wear better. The other school says it is better to spread out the damage. However, spreading out the damage means that it is harder to keep track of managing the damage. And that actual spot size is a bit deceiving. In fact, there are many conversations about hows and whys, and not all of the participants agree with each other. Also, when calculating skid spots, you need to be comfortable riding on the street in the ratio that you choose for your eventual tire destruction.

If you just like to ride, and you have a decent job, you may decide to buy a new tire when yours is as bald as Kojack and save your knowledge of numbers for the daily newspaper suduko puzzle.

Screen shot taken from the Hong Kong Fixed Gear site; more info. about it and other calculators and charts after the jump.

(For good or bad, I like a big ring up front. And, I like pricey tires, so skidding is not my life. Nick likes to skid, and he rides 45Tx 15T.)

Green Hubs from Industry 9 Hubs & Wheelsets at Interbike

My first introduction to Industry 9 was during a visit to their booth at Sea Otter a couple of years ago. I checked out their mountain and BMX wheelsets with the red anodized, bladed aluminum, proprietary spokes. The corp. business cards were nicely designed, and I bought a couple of t-shirts, one of which has remained a favorite. The story about the name, according to one of the guys at the Sea Otter booth, if I remember correctly was that a machine shop had tried eight times to make a go of it and finally came up with the design and product the 9th time, hence the name, "Industry 9". To read more about this Asheville, North Carolina company, check out the About on their site.

At Interbike, I had a chance to talk with Fred at the Industry 9 booth and take apart some mountain hubs to see what it might be like to service them. My answer: Easy. Industry 9 is a USA boutique parts maker that might have some appeal to cyclists looking for something different. You can get spokes, skewers, and hubs in many different colors for your ride. And single-speed junkies can look forward to a 12x150 hub in the late fall or early winter.

Industry 9 is launching a new website at the end of this year. So, much of this info. I got from printed materials that they gave out at the show.

For 2008, Industry 9 are coming out with their own branded 26" rim that you can run tubeless if you like.  The mountain hubs still have 120 points of engagement due to a 60 tooth ring, 6 pawls, and 3-degree engagement. But you can now use regular, "J" bend, non-proprietary spokes. You can check on thru-bolt and Maverick and Specialized compatibility on their site. (The hubs can accept 9mm thru-bolt, and 25mm Specialized axles. So you can get 9mm quick release, 9mm thru-bolt, 20mm thru-axle, 24mm Maverick, and Specialized compatibility.)

And for road cyclists, this year there are finally road wheelsets. All of the road hubs offer 18H front and 24H rear drillings and 4 pawls. Here is the plan for 2008:

• The Ego wheelset is 1440 grams for a set with hybrid ceramic bearings. (The races are steel.) The rims are 30mm deep aluminum clinchers with bladed spokes and 15-degree engagement. They cost about $1000.
• Superego (tubular) or Superego C (clincher) (I couldn't find the weight) have hybrid ceramic bearings. The carbon rims are 38mm deep with straight-pull spokes, and 15-degree engagement.
• ID is an Industry 9 hubset laced to LEW Racing Pro VT-1 46mm boron / carbon tubular rims, and the hubs sport full ceramic bearings with straight-pull spokes, and 15 degree engagement. They cost about $3500 and weight 1100 grams. (Want to ride a wheelset that weights 2.425 lbs spring 2008? Maybe it is time to stop eating stale, snack-sized Almond Joys from your neighbor kid's Halloween haul?)

Photos taken by Wheelgirl at Interbike in Vegas 2007

Not Sure about HYmini Wind Charger for iPod or Cellphone

Here is another renewable energy portable battery charger for your personal music and communication devices. (Specifications are after the jump.)

The HYmini captures mechanical energy created by wind, and you can mount it to your bike handlebars. It is a "supplemental" wind generator with 1 W max capacity. You can also attached miniSolar cells to it, (0.7 W max capacity, 140mAh max output, 5V max output). Stringing up to 4 miniSolar cells to the device predictably increases the battery charging capabilities.  The HYmini has a lithium-ion battery (1200mAh) that is not replaceable. Output is 250mAh to ~850mAh. You can charge the battery in the device via the wind, up to 40 mph, then it turns off. Or you can use USB, a household wall outlet, or a miniSolar cell to charge it. However, it takes 4 hours to charge it via the wall outlet, and according to the site, you can't full charge the device via the wind.

What? You can't fully charge the wind charger via the wind? Isn't this a bit counterintuitive for someone spending $49.99 for a wind-powered battery charger?

In that cycling allows you to generate mechanical energy, and provides you access with solar energy, you could design a faster-charging, stronger portable battery charger if you could couple mechanical energy from wind and bike vibration with electrical energy created by solar cells. (Just a thought for you gifted children living in the snowy states and looking for a good cycling project this winter.)

(Note: If you are not technically minded, but like the idea of using available energy to power your portable devices, don't buy anything, just keep reading about different devices. It is just like learning about gas mileage and TV flat screen resolution. The more you read, the more the numbers will start to make sense. Then, type into google your questions like "what does mAh mean" and you will get a pretty good idea of how the features and benefits of different charging devices are measured. Also, you will learn a ton about  the electrical devices and batteries you use in your everyday life.)

Wheels Squeaking and Driving You Insane Check Your Skewers

While at Interbike, I had a chance to talk with Bill, the repair and service mechanic for Mavic. He was filled with really good information about why and how cyclists might be hearing squeaks coming from their wheels during long rides.

Many times,a cyclist hears the wheel making a noise, takes the bike to a shop, and the shop can't reproduce the sound. It is a frustrating situation for all.  According to Bill, two of the main reasons that race wheels make noise have to do with dirt in the hub channels that hold straight-pull spokes and inadequate skewer clamping power. (Skewers are the components that hold the wheels in the frame dropouts. Read after the jump if you are new to diagnosing wheel noises.)

Metal doesn't like to perform quietly if it is covered in grit. For mountain bike riders who thrash their wheels in axel-high mud, Bill said he has removed spokes, cleaned the dirt and grease out of the spoke channels in the hub with alcohol, replaced the spokes, and the squeaking has stopped.

Once dirt has been eliminated as a squeak-causing agent, the next thing to check is skewer clamping power. Evidently, according to Bill, the combination of forks with smooth dropouts and road bike race skewers made from light-weight alloys can create a situation whereby the clamping power of the skewer is not high enough to hold the skewer tight enough against the smooth fork dropout. The noise usually shows up after riding enough miles to create heat between the fork dropouts and the skewer. You hear the squeak, and the bike shop can't make the sound re-occur because the mechanic doesn't ride your bike long enough to create the same friction and temperature scenario.

The fix? Before deciding that you wheels are Lucifer, substitute a decent quality steel skewer for your light-weight race skewer. The steel skewers tend to have a higher clamping power, according to Bill, and if friction and heat caused by a not-tight-enough skewer is the cause of the squeak, the noise should disappear.

Photo taken by Wheelgirl at Interbike Vegas 2007. I am just using this photo I took in the Mavic Interbike booth as a an illustration. I have no idea if this wheel squeaks. It is the Mavic Cosmic Carbone Ultimate front hub on a $2999.90 dollar 1185 grams wheelset (520 gms front / 655 gms rear). The household mouse, who looks like s/he is driving, came from wikipedia.

Nalini's Cap and Cycling Casual

I roamed around the Nalini booth at Interbike and saw a few clothing articles that I liked. Nalini had a bunch of new cycling casual clothes for 2008. The Pro 70 cap for summer 2008, in the photo, I am going to order for the shop. And it looked cool enough to ask the kind stranger, Jason from Utah, who was also visiting the booth with his friends, to model it for a photo.

A few of the major cycling clothing corps. are working toward making fashionable, lifestyle cycling-associated clothing lines. It is kind of like snowboarding company t-shirts and warm-up jackets for those who live in LA, and hate the cold. You can't really comfortably wear a non-insulated cotton warm-up jacket in the snow, but you can go clubbing in it. Yoga togs have made it from the floor mats into the board rooms. And the entire service industry wears golf shirts with corporate logos.

Cycling lifestyle clothing, for example, means you can buy a pastel-colored non-wicking fabric bike jersey that has a silver embroidered logo on it and three back pockets. If you wear it on a 40-mile mountain ride, your sweat will freeze on you, and you will curse. But after your training ride and shower, you could work the sporty look at dinner and a movie.

I'll keep my eyes open when I visit the local mall and AMC theatre and report on the health of cycling casual. It could be good, or it could go the way of weight-lifting casual. Remember those neon zebra-striped loose cotton warm-up pants that the weight lifters used to wear in the 1980s?  When they stopped wearing them in the gym, where the guys looked kind of weird but strong, and started wearing them to dinner, where they just looked weird with bad hair?

Ask your close friends and think hard before deciding that you are stylin in something that successful athletes avoid wearing when they are not working.

Photos by Wheelgirl at Interbike in Vegas. (Thanks Jason for being a good sport and a great cap model.)