A Tale of Two Cycles: lust and lasting love

Have you ever gotten bike lust for a bike that you have been riding for years? I have an undisclosed number of bikes, but i ride two of them the most and they are my oldest steeds. I've been riding them both for over a decade and they are decidedly familiar. This year i've had my most prolific mountain bike season in nearly a decade which has helped me to fall in love with my mountain bike again.

This 1996 Ibis Mojo is a classic steel hardtail built in Sebastapol, CA from custom drawn Tange Prestige tubing. In 2001 i had a disc brake tab and bracing tube silver soldered onto the frame by Martin Tweedy who was then the Ti Cycles steel frame builder.

At that time i also updated the parts kit to include Shimano XT drivetrain, Marzocchi Atom 80 coil sprung fork and Hayes disc brakes. As you see in the photo above i am currently running Avid BB7 cable-actuated disc brakes. Of course now it is due in for some new drive train parts, speaking of which...


My daily driver is the other bike to which i have a renewed attachement; it is a 1999 Surly Cross Check. All it took was replacement drivetrain parts, cables, brake pads, handlebar tape and rebuilding the wheels and voile... rebirth. Aside from the years that we've spent together, both of these bikes have special personalities.

The Ibis and the Surly are quite a pair. They've been my two main squeezes for the aughties. While other bikes may come and go, i am quite sure that i will be riding both of these bikes into middle age. The Ibis is one of a kind, even though it began life as a production bike. It was built in 1996, when cantilever brakes were still the norm for mountain bikes, so it has the classic Ibis cantilever brake cable stop as seen below.

In 1997 linear pull brakes (AKA V style brakes) set a new standard for the industry. With the frame modification the Mojo was assimilated into Northwest mountain biking and happily become a disc brake bike that is a modern classic. Another special feature of the Mojo is that it is equipped with a thumb shifter allowing trimming of the front derailleur that is much better than what you can do with a contemporary trigger shifter (the rear derailleur is cabled up to a trigger shifter).

The surly is far from unique, but it is mighty special. The surly isn't just special because of our fifty thousand miles together, but i also don't see any others like it around town. While the Surly Cross Check is a rightfully very popular bike, the first generation bikes are extra cool. The tubing used to build the first generation frames is nicer than that used in later models (sporting Reynolds 631 rather than Surly housebrand 4130 steel tubing) and the steerer is one inch threaded as opposed to the later one and an eighth threadless version (which added half of a pound to the frame and fork). Dark blue paint also hasn't been used on the Cross Check since the first generation with the exception of the Traveler's Check. The Surly has a solid mix of Shimano goods including Ultegra, XT and XTR and some other nicer parts like a Ti Cycles titanium seat post.

The Misfits icon on the headtube keeps things Surly. In all seriousness though, these bikes are great but the experiences that they've enabled me to have are the truly compelling thing about the bikes. These bikes have taken me from everyday commuting and utility rides to world class mountain bike rides like Devil's Gulch, Suntop and Noble Nob. As much as we might love our bikes let's remember that the ride is what matters. Any trusty steed, no matter how humble or fancy, deserves reverence, recognition and replacement parts. Enough of this, i'm going riding!

Can a commuter morph into a roadie?

I ride my bike nearly everyday, although I don't log very many miles. I live about 2 miles from my work, so my daily mileage is around 7-10 miles, depending on how many errands I run, or if I decide to take the 'long way home'. Every once in a while I have to go to a meeting in a neighboring town, if that's the case I may ride up to 25 miles round trip. I do this on my commuter bike. I don't own a road bike, however, I may soon.

During the hubbub of the Tour de France and the STP my brother threw out an idea: "Why don't we try and do the STP next year or the year after". You see, he recently inherited our child bike seat and has been biking all over Renton with his almost two year old. He's been bitten by the bike bug and I couldn't be happier.

I thought about his challenge, the STP, huh? Well, the furthest I've ridden in one day is 30 miles, and that was to go to work meetings, so it was split up. Also, like I said above, I don't own a road bike. As much as the idea of doing a LONG ride (60+ miles) on Fred, my Big Dummy Complete intrigues me, I'm pretty sure my body would be happier with an actual road bike. Not to mention the skinny tires, it'd be so much easier, well as easy as 60+ miles can be.

So now I'm in the conundrum of buying another bike. But I'm a commuter, not a roadie. I don't know the first thing about road bikes. If you've read the book Bike Snob, you can laugh with me about the different types of bicyclists and how they may or may not get along. If you haven't read it, you should, it's hilarious!

A trip to my local bike shop was educational, I learned a lot about road bikes and the different components. I'm still not sold yet, I'll admit. While I can justify spending a lot of money on my commuter bike, we only own one car, I'm getting exercise, it's awesome, I use it every day, etc. It's harder for me to justify spending a lot on a road bike that I will ride a couple times a week. So to answer the question, can a commuter morph into a roadie? I honestly don't know. I like the idea of doing a century, I'm just not so sure about the the spandex and $800+ price tag of a new bike.

What do you think? Can you convince me to do it? Do you have a similar story to share? Do you have tips on buying a road bike?

Beware of Couple Selling Brooks Saddles

Our friends at JRA Bike Shop asked us to share this information with Seattle area bicyclists.

A man and a woman, working together, have been approaching local bike shops and trying to sell Brooks saddles at a steep discount.  Shop owners believe these are stolen saddles and have turned them away.

According to JRA's Pioneer Square shop manager Ben Rainbow, the couple has approached Elliott Bay and Bicycle Pull-Apart shops as well as JRA.  They have also been seen trying to hawk the saddles outside to customers coming and going from the shops.  If you spot this couple or are approached by them near a bike shop, Ben suggests that you report them to the bike shop.

Celebrating Everyday Bicycling

Bike to Work Month is great! Bike to Work Day is great! These encouragement events increase bicycle ridership and illustrate the potential for every month to be bike to work month and every day to be bike to work day.

pedbikeimages.org/Laura Sandt

Bike to work month ended May 31st and here in Seattle summer is upon us. The seasonal uptick in bicycle ridership in Seattle is in full swing. While more bicycle riders on the road make the roads safer for bicycle riders, more bicycle riders sharing the same marginalized urban spaces require an extra measure of care and cooperation by and on behalf of bicycle riders.

Commuting by bicycle is a highly utilitarian form of bicycling, an everyday expression of mobility, autonomy, play and perhaps most importantly, inter-dependence. In the realm of utility cycling safety always trumps marginal improvements in speed—prudence beats haste every time when it comes to everyday bicycling. Hasty passing and maneuvering in the context of a busy bike lane or roadway is risky and reckless behavior. Anyone who rides a bicycle on the road knows that there is a special type of vulnerability that bicycle riders experience in traffic which points to the importance of minimizing risk for oneself and other bicycle riders. Bicycle commuting should be playful and cooperative, not competitive. A cooperative attitude encourages the safety of all road users. Shaving a few micro-seconds off of your commute does not rationalize or justify endangering or disrespecting other bicycle riders.

Hazards of urban bicycling that are created by bicycle riders include tailgating, dangerous passing and other commute-racer behaviors—DON’T be one of the hazards to other bicycle riders. To see the hazards generated by bicycle riders from a diversity of perspectives, I polled my co-workers about their least favorite bad behaviors by cyclists and I have listed them below. This is a partial list, including some of the worst offenses, but it is certainly not exhaustive:

• running red lights
• splitting lanes
• splitting two cyclists
• jockeying up to the front at a red light (passing those who are already queued up)
• riding the wrong way (against traffic)
• tailgating cars or other bikes
• sneaking through 4-way stops out of sequence
• passing pedestrians and other bicycles without warning (neither bell nor voice)
• ringing the bell excessively or aggressively at pedestrians and other bicycle riders
• riding with headphones or earbuds
• squirelly and unpredictable riding
• silent drafting (and slingshot passing)
• passing on the right (especially without warning)
• wearing too much lycra, especially racing uniforms (nurtures an exclusive rather than inclusive environment)
• switching from “vehicular mode” to “pedestrian mode” at will

Being considerate to fellow road users is not only good for others around you, whether they be travelling by bicycle, car or bus, but it is also good for you. The commute is not a race and fully embodying that reality will reduce your stress levels and improve your commute.

Everyday year-round bicycle commuting is not practical or feasible for everyone. Being hard-to-the-core as a bike commuter is commendable and if you are hardcore about your bike commuting, great, but don’t beat up on the fair weather riders too much. In regards to the benefits of bicycling for the greater good, it is most productive to take the seasonal gains in bicycle ridership from fair weather riders in stride and continue to encourage bicycle commuting and utility riding.

It is high time we forget the embittered attitude of the dreary and wet winter commute and celebrate the dry weather and corresponding increase in bicycle traffic; it is time to leave behind the exclusive and competitive attitude and embrace an inclusive and tolerant attitude towards your fellow bicycle commuters. Riding on the streets involves sharing space with other vehicles, both motorized and human powered. In the good humor and good spirit of springtime cheer, let us be patient with our fellow road-users and remember that Bike to Work Month is really just the opening of the floodgates for bicycle commuters in Seattle. So play nice, won’t you?

My drive train is supposed to be silver?

Not black? Oops.

I will be the first to admit I am not very good when it comes to chain maintenance. Although I know better, often I forget to wipe down my chain after a rainy ride (which is about 90% of my rides), worse yet, I am really bad at lubing my chain. Let this be a lesson to you: remember to take care of your bike, your bike is good to you, it carries you mile upon mile across town or across the country.

These may be incriminating photos on my part, perhaps when I'm up for reelection on the BAW board these will surface, "But how can she possibly be on the board? She doesn't even take care of her chain?" I'm willing to take that risk, and first, admit I have a problem, then try to change it.

Here are two before pictures:

Yes, very black with 'street muck' as I like to call it. Gross really. And is that hair in the derailleur? Oh boy....



I don't own a bike stand, so to clean my bike I simply flip it over like so:

This makes for relatively easy access to the drive train. As you can see I took both the wheels off as well. Armed with some
Simple Green, an old toothbrush, a rag and some chain lube
I cleaned it up! The Simple Green and some elbow grease works
great, in fact, that is what my local bike shop recommended
I use to clean my drive train years ago.


After about an hour or so of cleaning and scrubbing my drive train was back to a nice silver color.

Like I said before, I know better.
I know that if I don't clean and
maintain my chain it can lead to
more problems, like having to
replace the cassette. I can already see that some of the cogs are
misshapen.

Take my advice, a little care in the short term can save you a lot of time and money in the long term.

What's in a Name?

Do you name your bicycles? I have many friends who do.  The name usually has a fun story behind it, like my friend's touring bike, named Trigger after Roy Rogers famous horse. Or Big Red, an aptly named fully stocked red commuter bike. I tried for years to come up with a good name for my orange Trek, however, no matter how hard I tried, nothing seemed to fit. Over the years, some bikes have come and gone, like the 1984 black Schwinn, that I named Big Brother. And then there's my new bike, named Fred, after my Dad's middle name, Fredrick. Still to no avail I can't come up with a good name for the Trek. The poor, abandoned and neglected Trek.

Any suggestions?



If you name your bikes, how do you decide what to call them?

What are your bikes' names?

It's been a Long time and a Long Bike

I haven't written a blog post in quite a few months, some of you may have noticed, many probably didn't. My Dad was diagnosed with brain cancer in July 2009, in July 2010 my parents moved to Bellingham. Last winter his health started to decline, thus I was spending a lot more time at their house. With working full time, and having my own family to take care of as well, I made the decision to take a break from some of my volunteer activities until things settled down. I wish I could say this story had a happy ending, however, there is no cure for brain cancer, so after living a full and wonderful life my Dad passed away on February 11, 2011. I am fortunate to have had him as a Dad, and fortunate to have shared a love of bicycling with him.

That being said, let's talk about bikes now. I decided last January that I really needed a new bike. The bike I had was a Trek 4300, a bright orange mountain bike that I tried really hard for nine years to turn into a commuter bike. I added a rack and fenders, neither of which really fit, thus, the fenders were constantly rubbing on the tires and driving me crazy. Also, I knew the time was coming that I'd need to replace the drive train. The chain would make the dreaded 'ker-clunk' sound when I shifted, sometimes it would shift right away, other times it would wait awhile and shift when it felt necessary. With as much biking as I do, and since we choose to own one car, my husband and I decided a new bike was a good idea.

After giving it much thought, I finally decided I wanted a long bike. For one, my daughter could sit on the back and I could drop her off at school, or pick her up, and she wouldn't need her bike. This was helpful because there are some days when I drop her off, but don't pick her up, or vice verse. The second reason is they are simply amazing and awesome, I use my bike a lot for work, having to haul supplies to schools for bike education presentations, and the long bike can carry SO MUCH cargo!

Once I decided on the long bike I had to decide which one to get. It cam down to three choices:

The Trek Transport, a new bike on the market. It is very sleek looking, and
has a front rack as well as the extended rear rack, however, the major downfall of this bike is that the carrying capacity of the rear rack is only 100 lbs. After talking with my local bike shop employee, he said he wouldn't recommend the Transport if one of my main uses of the bike was to haul my daughter. He did, however, recommend the same bike he owned.


The Surley Big Dummy Complete. This was a few steps (and hundreds of dollars) above the Trek. It has disc breaks both front and rear, a steel frame and a carrying capacity of 400 lbs (including driver). The Xtracycle is built right into the frame. It's a beast built for hauling some serious cargo!




The third bike I was considering was the Kona Ute. Priced lowest of these three bikes, the Ute is also very sleek looking (check out those panniers!), and has a carrying capacity of 300+ lbs. Sadly it only comes in 18" and 20" frame sizes. Not very helpful for a 5'2" rider.



When it came time for me to make a decision I opted to go with the Big Dummy. It was in my mind, the best of the three, a very high quality bike, built to do just what I needed, haul heavy cargo. Also, it came personally recommended by someone I trusted. This is huge when shelling out over $1,000 for a bike. But really, what sealed the deal, is that my Mom offered to contribute $1,000 towards the bike (from my Dad's life insurance). So, while it saddens me to no end that the main reason I have my Big Dummy is because my Dad passed away, I can be happy knowing that he would have loved the bike and would be happy knowing that he was able to help me get it.
Stay tuned for blog posts on carrying ridiculous amounts of cargo. And a sometimes ridiculous 8 year old.

Do YOU have a long bike? Which one? What is the heaviest/biggest/most amazing thing you've hauled on your bike (long bike or not)?

How to Lose 2,000 Pounds

You probably already guessed how: Ditch your car.

Now, before you say, "That's impossible" and start listing the reasons -- you're a real estate agent who has to drive clients around; you work 50 miles from home; you have to arrive at your destination clean and coiffed; you're a contractor who has to haul 100 lbs of bulky tools -- check out the following video.



These two normal guys in Arlington, VA, gave up their cars for 30 days in a Car-Free Diet challenge. It takes quite a few repetitions to develop a habit, but apparently a month is long enough. By the end of the month, both guys found that they could live perfectly happily 2,000 lbs lighter.

But what about all those good reasons people don't want to give up their cars? There are so many options, it's really hard to know where to start.

1. Xtracycle, Madsen, or similar cargo bikes. Equipped with a Stokemonkey, even fully-loaded you can tackle those humongous Seattle hills with ease. It's fun and it's doable, as you can see from these pictures:
   
   
   
   
   
   If those pictures don't convince you that a cargo bike -- capable of carrying up to 200 lbs, including another person -- could be a good option, check out the Tacoma Bike Ranch, which documents a Tacoma dad's car-free ways. He moves his kids by Madsen and Xtracycle.
2. Electric-Assist Bikes. Already popular in Europe, e-assist bikes make living life by bike achievable for normal non-athletes. Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn rides an e-assist to City Hall (a number of other prominent Seattle politicians and Spokane City Council members also opt for two wheels over four). Many mainstream bicycle manufacturers have begun producing e-assist bicycles, along with quite a number of lesser-known manufacturers, as discussed here and there on the web. Electric Bikes Northwest offers a fairly comprehensive discussion of the beauty of e-assists.
3. Trailers. Coupled with an electric-assist, a cargo trailer can haul hundreds of pounds -- or a double-bass -- by bike easily. Burley, BOB, and innumerable other manufacturers offer cargo trailers for bicycles. Fortunately, Bikes at Work provides a handy-dandy bicycle trailer guide to help shoppers sort out the details. For specialized items, Haulin' Colin in Seattle custom-builds legendary trailers.

This list is by no means a comprehensive discussion of car-alternatives. It doesn't go into multimodal bus/bike options or give any serious how-to details, as numerous other websites (Way to Go Seattle, for example) already cover those details. Instead, I hope that this post will remind you to "Be the change you want to see in the world." Advocacy helps, which is why we do advocacy. Education helps, so we educate motorists and bicyclists. But most of all, making the change in your life that you want to see in the world will move us from vision to reality.

Transporting Valuables by Bike

This post isn't about carrying computers, groceries, speakers or projectors, all of which I have trekked across town by bike. This is about something much more valuable--my daughter.

First ride, I promise she eventually stopped crying.

About 5.5 years ago my husband and I bought a Topeak child bike carrier. I went back and forth between a trailer and a seat that sits on the parents rear rack. When it came down to it I decided to get the seat for two reasons, one being money. We had about $100 to spend, I had been looking for used trailers for months to no avail. Reason number two was the bus. Thankfully I had the foresight to work that into the equation. The bike with the rear seat fit nicely on the bus rack, a trailer does not.

I happened to be at REI one day and saw the Topeak seat. I had a 20% off coupon and decided to go for it. It was $125, we eventually bought an additional rear rack for my husband's bike at Fairhaven Bike and Ski for $40. We used that seat for 3 years, riding to daycare, the park, the store, and friends houses. Then one day a friend of mine said he'd sell me his Adams Trail a Bike.

I was ecstatic!  I had been wanting to buy one for awhile, but couldn't afford it. The timing was perfect as Bike to Work and School Day was the following week. Izzie would often tell me how excited she was to be able to pedal with me. It wasn't all fun and games though, we lived in a second story apartment so every morning and evening I had to haul both my bike and the trail a bike up and down the stairs. It was hard work, but worth it!!

The trail a bike worked great for us, we ended up using it through this spring. Even though Izzie could ride her own bike just fine, because she went to after school day care we couldn't leave her bike at school.

One of the reasons I chose the YMCA summer camp is that the drop off location is only a few blocks from my work. I knew we'd be able to easily bike there. I was ready to take the leap and have her ride her own bike along side me to downtown Bellingham.

Eeks!

This is scary even for a seasoned commuter/bike advocate. She rides her bike around the neighborhood all the time, and has ridden to school, I knew she'd be fine. It would be about a 2 mile ride, partly on trails, partly with bike lanes, and one questionable spot. I planned out the route and we did it. It was great, and we ended up walking our bikes on the sidewalk for a short section
(busy street/intersection).

I often have parents ask me what age children can/should ride on their own bikes. Honestly the answer really depends on the kid. Parents know their kids best. How well can they handle their bikes, are they very comfortable and in control, or nervous and wobbly? Do they know the rules of the road? Some bicycle educators recommend that kids start riding on the street around age 8, others say 10. My daughter is 7 (8 in September). Depending on the street she is either on the sidewalk, with me riding to her left, in front of me, or we ride two abreast, with her to my right.

As hard as it is to see her grow up so fast, I am excited for this new phase in our bike commuting lives.

Pants or No Pants?

If you're a bicyclist, you'll know that excellent feeling of accomplishment when you wear the right clothes for the conditions. As a year-round commuter in Massachusetts and now Washington, I adopted the threadbare but still true axiom that there was no bad weather, just wrong clothing choices.

Here are a few examples of the types of weather I've ridden in.

Conditions: Sleet storms when icicles formed on my helmet, sheets of ice coated my arms and bike, and only my monster studded tires kept me upright. (The picture above shows a real snowy day I attempted to ride to work, but it took 20 minutes to ride 1 mile, and I had a 13-mile commute. Part of winning a battle is knowing when to retreat.)
Clothing: Long-sleeve wool jersey, Gore-Tex jacket, two layers of gloves, fluffy ear warmers, bike shorts, long bike pants with nylon fronts and warm fuzzy insides, two pairs of wool socks, Gore-Tex hiking boots.

Conditions: 10°F, sunny, with a 10-mph headwind, when people in cars wore heavy layers and I couldn't keep my glasses from fogging up every time I paused.
Clothing: Too many layers to count, and still my fingers and toes had an alarming white look to them when I finally got to work.

Conditions: Steady, relentless rain and 45°F, with wind so gusty and nasty that I wasn't sure I'd be able to keep my bike on the road.
Clothing: Gore-Tex jacket, thick non-waterproof pants, lightweight long-sleeve shirt and bike shorts; one pair of wool socks and booties.

Conditions: Flood water up to my axles, across roads so deep people in Explorers didn't brave it.
Clothing: Bike shorts and jersey; summer-weight socks and clip-in shoes.

Conditions: Muggy 90°F temperatures that left my arms and legs slick with that nasty sweat-and-sunscreen that seems to have a La Brea tar pit-like fascination to tiny bugs.
Clothing: Bike shorts and jersey; summer-weight socks and clip-in shoes; sunblock.


Of course, I've also ridden in innumerable beautiful days ranging from 30°F to 80°F -- days where I've wondered, "Why would anybody choose to drive on a day this gorgeous?" (The picture at right shows me on my first-ever two-day ride, the MS Cape Cod Getaway in 2008, one of those delightful days when the weather cooperates perfectly.)

All this to say that, in general, I have a pretty good idea of what clothes work well in what conditions. Yet this morning, I completely misjudged the weather. Instead of having a comfortable ride in the rain, I arrived at work more than damp, having eschewed jacket and dry foot covering for an optimistic vest and sandals. Why, why, why (I asked myself) did I not wear a jacket? Because (I answered myself) it is JULY, and I shouldn't still need my jacket and long pants.

Have you ever worn exactly the wrong clothes? What was your excuse rationale for choosing the wrong thing?

Ding-a-Ling, a Heavenly Sound

As cyclists, we hear plenty about motorist-bicyclist friction, possibly because one-ton hunks of metal hurtling around us seem like the greatest threat to our safety. In reality, bicyclist-motorist collisions comprise a mere 17% of all bicycle crashes. The largest cause, according to the League of American Bicyclists, chalk 50% of all crashes up to operator error. We are perfectly capable of bringing ourselves to the ground all on our lonesome. The final 33% of crashes cover everything else: Bicyclists hitting (or being hit by) animals, other bicyclists, or something other than a car.

It's this last category that interests me, since during Bike to Work Month, the number of bicyclists on the road -- and thus the likelihood of colliding with another bicyclist -- increased dramatically. This means that lots of people who normally only ride on weekends hop in the saddle during normal commuting hours and start working on logging those miles.

What did this wonderful increase in cycling mean for me personally? More than anything else, I experienced a dramatic increase in stealth passing, usually by bike path racers. Innumerable times on my commute, I would be blithely pedaling along and suddenly find another cyclist next to me, often much closer than was safe, ghosting by with nary a word or ding-a-ling. Not only did this discourtesy irritate me, it endangered me unnecessarily.

I love to see more people bicycling, and I dream one day of living in a society where nobody bats an eye at biking for transportation because it's as normal as driving is right now. But I hope that when that day comes -- and you can be sure it will come -- it comes with a good dollop of on-bike courtesy, too. Let's start making that dream a reality: take a moment to politely call "On your left" or ding a bell next time you pass somebody.

Joy of Bicycle Maintenance

Life is full of complicated responsibilities, baffling exchanges, and difficult choices that have no satisfactory resolution. As adults, we learn to live with these vaguely unsatisfying tasks as part of the normal course of life. Often we compensate for those inconclusive moments by seeking fulfillment and gratification from other activities.

Routine bike maintenance provides the perfect opportunity to compensate for those less-satisfying times in life. There’s something mesmerizing about watching your chain come clean; something compelling about ridding the gears and pulleys of accumulated filth; and something fulfilling about tuning your derailleurs for the perfect shift. I know some people dread caring for their bikes, but I love the sense of accomplishment when I finally wash that grease off my hands and take my finished project for a test ride.

The silence of rolling on a well-maintained bike is profound, a sound you never hear in a gasoline-powered vehicle. The swift click of changing gears on a properly-tuned derailleur, the slight hum of slick tires on the pavement, the gentle whir of the chain – every ride, these noises speak of a job well done. I can almost hear my bike whispering “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” every time I ride after basic maintenance. That tangible positive payback provides me with a deep, daily satisfaction.

If you haven’t tried some basic maintenance, perhaps this is your chance to give it a whirl. In the Seattle area, The Bikery, Bike Works, Cascade Bicycle Club, and REI (among others) all offer bike maintenance classes of varying depths. In other parts of the state, Pedals2People, Capital Bicycling Club, and EverybodyBIKE offer maintenance classes. And, if worst comes to worst, a quick internet search for "bicycle maintenance classes" in your geographic location will bring up classes; many websites also offer detailed instructions on bike maintenance procedures. Remember, the worst thing is you have to take your bike to your local bike shop for emergency repairs.