CO2 or a pump? — It never ends
November 10, 2009 at 5:59 pm | In Accessories | 11 CommentsTags: Accessories, CO2, flat tire, pumps
I was chatting with a friend the other day who’s just getting into biking. He was telling me of his experience with his first flat. No pump, no CO2. He had a patch kit in his seatbag, but realized it was worthless unless he could fill his tire with air, so he wound up walking the bike home — three miles.
Do you prefer these?
“I saw these canisters of CO2 at the bike store,” he said. “Are they any good?”
Here we go again — the endless debate between CO2 and a pump.
Well, I told him, each has its advantages. CO2 takes up just a little space in your seatbag, and you don’t have to carry a pump. Just attach the inflator, stick it on the valve, and whoosh! you’re back in business. He liked that. He thought he’d try it.
But wait a minute, I said. There’s a problem with CO2, too. Sometimes, you misfire it and waste all the gas in the canister. Then, you can find yourself in the same predicament you were in last week.
Or this?
I told him of a recent A ride from our club, where a guy flatted along a major highway. One of the other guys had several CO2 cartridges — and managed to depressurize all of them. Without inflating the tire. Luckily, another rider in the group carried a pump, and stood by to watch the antics — then stepped in and saved the day.
“It took me probably 10 minutes to pump up a tire to 70 psi,” said guest poster Don Blount in an email awhile ago. “That’s longer than it took to change the tube.”
I’ve been there. It doesn’t take me that long to pump a tire up to 70, or even 90 psi. But those last 10 pounds to 100, to make it roadworthy again — I should be doing some strength work at the gym.
But Don also said he blew a tube with one cartridge, and when he went to use another one on another tube — it was a dud. He thinks he might just suck it up and go back to the frame pump.
At least that’ll get the tire inflated. With a cartridge — I’m guessing 50-50 odds.
My friend went back to the bike store and got a frame pump.
Coughing up the dough
April 9, 2009 at 11:03 pm | In Accessories, Equipment | 7 CommentsTags: Accessories, Equipment
Just out of morbid curiosity, I started keeping tabs this year on how much money I spend to feed my biking habit. It’s barely mid-April, and I’m surprised. Here’s a quick rundown:
- New helmet $33
- Three tires @ $15 ea. $45
- Two tubes @ $4 ea. $ 8
- New cassette $35
- Ride entry $30 (for a ride I didn’t start because of illness)
- Team jersey for MS 150 $70
- Chamois creme $16
- Total: $237
The Ms 150 is a week away, and I know I’ll be incurring a lot of ancillary costs connected with that one. This all seems like dribs and drabs here, but over $200 in just over three months? It’s a good thing I’ve received a lot of biking items as gifts, because otherwise, I might have dropped even more money.
A lot of my purchases are impulse buys — oh, I gotta have one of those. In other cases, they’re purchases of things I got along without, but being around biking and bikers, I realized they’re things I should have. Shorts and jerseys probably fall into this category.
A biking friend told me he didn’t realize how much money he would spend once he got into riding. He thought just getting on the old beater bike that was gathering dust in his garage and riding it longer distances would get him into better shape. But he found the biking culture too, and soon was dropping money even more prodigiously than I account for above.
“What does a biking noob really need besides a bike, a helmet, shorts and shoes?” he asked me. “And is there any way to get quality at an affordable price?”
Good point. Your friendly LBS probably sells most of its stuff at retail. You might get a good price from some of the big catalogs, but sometimes the quality isn’t what you were hoping for.
If you were going to advise a new biker, what gear would you suggest they must have? What gear could they get by without, at least until they decide that they’re in biking for the long haul?
What’s in YOUR seatbag?
March 1, 2009 at 5:56 pm | In Accessories | 11 CommentsTags: Accessories, seatbags
A reader recently asked me by email, “Bike Noob, what do you carry in your seatbag?” Funny he should ask, because I’ve just gone through a switch to a new bag, and then a switch back to the old bag. Here’s why.
I bought my seatbag when I bought my bike. It’s made by a company called “Inertia Designs,” and is somewhat larger than many bags I see on road bikes. In fact, some other bikers have referred to it as a “trunk.” But it’s worked well for me, holding what I consider the necessary accessories for biking.
However, when I got my seat post-mounted water bottle cage, it seemed that I would need a smaller bag to fit between the seat and the water bottles. So I dug up a smaller, bullet-shaped bag we had lying around, and put it on. But it was barely large enough to carry a spare tube. I crammed my multi-tool in also, and that’s why, when I got my pinch flat two weeks ago, the spare was punctured, too. The edge of the multi-tool had apparently rubbed a hole in it.
So, I’m back to the bigger bag. I lowered the water bottle cage almost to the bottom of the seat post, and there’s room enough for bag and bottles. The picture is for comparison purposes — the small bag is propped on the top tube.
The size difference between the current bag, on the left, and the small bag, on the right, is evident.
Well, why is it so important for me to have a big bag? Plenty of folks use bags the size of the one on the right in the picture. Here’s why. A look at the stuff I must have on a bike ride.
When unzipped, the bag opens its maw to reveal a cornucopia of bike stuff.
Actually, only four different items are accounted for here. First, a spare tube. I like to carry it in its box, to avoid any more accidental punctures. Then, a patch kit. I do carry one, altho I haven’t used it in the field yet. Bet I do, some day. The blue thing is my multi-tool. Three Allen wrenches in 4, 5, and 6 mm size, plus two screwdrivers. I use it a lot. Finally, two tire levers.
There might be just a little room left in the bag for me to carry more stuff, but the only need I’ve found for that is when we drive to a ride. In that case, I’ll stick my car keys in the bag. But I carry my ID, a little cash, and my cell phone in my jersey pockets.
I’m happy with my seat bag. I suppose I could go to one like this:
“Medium” seatbag by Acorn Bags.
But I doubt it. What do you think? Am I carrying too much stuff? Is there an item that I ought to have in my bag, but don’t?
What’s in YOUR seat bag?
Leaving cell phones behind
February 13, 2009 at 10:35 pm | In Accessories | 1 CommentTags: Accessories, cell phone
Whenever I prepare to head out on a ride, I grab a plastic sandwich bag, wrap my cell phone up in it, and stick it in my middle back pocket. Normally, I’m not much of a cell phone user. I never use up all my monthly minutes. But I consider it to be a piece of “must” equipment on a ride.
Even so, I manage to forget the thing once in awhile. It’s not a problem if I don’t discover that it’s missing until after the ride, but if I reach back to check the pocket during the ride and it’s not there, it puts a damper on the entire time on the bike. If possible, I’m likely to cut the ride short in a situation like that, simply because I find that being without a cell phone is unsettling.
A couple of weeks ago, I was on a ride with Mrs. Noob. A typical ride with her goes something like this: I ride 15-16 mph, she rides 10-11 mph, and I stop to wait for her every two miles or so. On this occasion, I was at a stoplight just a mile into the ride. Another rider pulled up next to me. Mrs. Noob was lagging behind, hoping the light would turn green before she got to the intersection. She hates to unclip, because that means she has to clip in again. And she really hates that.
When the light changed, the other rider shot across the road. I stood on the pedals and kept pace. He shifted into a harder gear, and started a long gentle climb. I stayed on his wheel, then passed him just before the next stoplight. We rode together and chatted for another mile, and then I told him I was at the usual “wait” spot, and wished him a good ride.
When Mrs. Noob caught up to me, she was in high dudgeon. “You can’t just take off like that,” she said. “I forgot my cell phone, and I have no way to tell you if I get into trouble.”
“Sorry,” I replied. “When I’m around another rider like that, I have to see what he’s got.”
“Oh, swell. Act like a little boy, and leave me high and dry.”
Hm. Didn’t know you’d forgotten your phone until just now. And I did wait in front of the school, just like I always do. But in her mind, I was clearly at fault. Suitably chastened, I started off slowly with her again. We decided to take a Mopac loop. It starts with a short downhill, where I usually reach 28-30 mph. This time I kept it down to about 20. After a mile, I heard her call, “Speed up! I’m not dead, y’know.”
For the rest of the ride, we stayed close enough together that we could have talked via tin cans and string. If we had them.
Then there was the time I crashed. If ever a cell phone could come in handy, it would be at a time like that. I rode a sore 15 miles after the crash, but finally decided to pack it in. I reached for my cell phone to call Pat — for Mrs. Noob really does have a name — and it came out of my pocket in three pieces. Turned out that I’d landed right on it. Luckily, I wasn’t the only rider in the group who felt unequipped without a cell phone, so I borrowed one from one of the other guys, and she was there in 25 minutes, to give me the ride home.
My cell phone is parked on the counter between the kitchen and living room. If I ever need it, I know it will be there. The plastic bag is in a drawer just below it. With that kind of organization, I’ll never be without the phone on a ride again. Until I am.
I love my arm warmers
February 3, 2009 at 9:22 pm | In Accessories | 1 CommentTags: Accessories, clothing
Thanks to all those who chimed in on handling the wind — both commenters and emailers. I’ll be out there again soon, and the forecast this weekend looks great.
It was pretty nice for cycling last weekend, too. On Saturday, it was 67F, sunny, with a brisk wind out of the south (not another wind post!). It was tempting to get on the bike in a summer weight short sleeved jersey. But a day like that is not as warm on the bike as it feels when you stand in the backyard in the sun.
The Noob and his arm warmers.
I put on a base layer under my jersey, and then my arm warmers. I’ve had these dandy things for more than a year now, and I’ll routinely wear them anytime the temperature is less than 72F.
It’s the wind, after all. Just by riding the bike, you’re creating your own wind of whatever speed the bike is moving — so a ride at 67F with a 13 mph wind creates a much cooler feel (the National Weather Service says wind chill cannot be calculated for temperatures higher than 40F). But the arm warmers have slightly brushed insides that feel good against your bare arms. The fact that they’re black helps, too, by absorbing more heat from the sun.
I’ve had rides that start in cooler weather, say, down in the low 50s, where the arm warmers are a no brainer. But in the spring and fall, those chilly mornings warm up quickly, and I often keep the arm warmers on long after you can call the day hot. Just as they help in the chill, they don’t seem to have a negative effect in the warmth. It’s as though you don’t notice they’re there.
It’s not necessary to get elaborate with these things, either. My arm warmers are the basic model sold by Nashbar. At $13, they perform fine for me, and have done so in much cooler weather than I rode in last weekend. It’s just that, on nice cycling days like those, they offer an added biking pleasure.
CO2 — A new top post
December 30, 2008 at 11:47 am | In Accessories, Blogging, Maintenance, Rides, training | 2 CommentsTags: Accessories, blog, CO2, flat tire, pumps, Smoked
Here’s a minor milestone for the Bike Noob blog — there’s a new King of All Posts. “CO2 cartridges or a pump?” from July 29, 2008 has overtaken “Smoked by an Old Guy” from April 16.
“CO2″ has racked up 1,082 page views, passing Smoked’s total of 1,078. Both posts got a little added push after I created the Favorite Posts tab at the top of the blog, but lately, I’ve watched CO2’s visits jump by as much as 30 a day to rapidly close the gap.
“Smoked By An Old Guy” has some sentimental value for me, because it was this post that made this blog catch on. Kent Peterson, the author of the popular “Kent’s Bike Blog,” spotlighted this story on his blog, and my daily number of page views surged. So once again, thanks Kent.
I appreciate the attention both posts continue to get, and I wonder: Are there still some unresolved issues about using CO2 cartridges as opposed to pumps? Let me know — I’m interested in what you have to say on the matter, and I’ll be happy to update everyone on where the sentiment lies.
CO2 cartridges or a pump? I’ve decided.
November 11, 2008 at 10:10 pm | In Accessories, Equipment | 10 CommentsTags: Accessories, cartridges, CO2, Equipment, pumps
After my fumbling experience with a flat tire last month, I decided to rethink my practice of carrying CO2 cartridges for dealing with flats on the road. I still think the cartridges are a neat solution to the space and weight challenge bikers face. But I’ve never felt that they worked the way they’re supposed to — that the tire inflated as much as it needed to (Yes, I know — it’s not the tool, it’s the carpenter). So I decided to go in the other direction. I bought a mini pump.
Actually, it’s kind of a hybrid between a frame mounted pump and a mini pump. It’s a Topeak Road Morph. And sharp-eyed readers will recognize that it’s not exactly new. On my first ride carrying the pump, it was the indirect cause of my fall.
The switch to the pump was not without some adjustments. Fall aside, I had to deal with two other problems: mounting it to the frame and a quality deficiency.
The Road Morph is not really a mini-pump, which some riders carry in their jersey pockets. It’s a little too big for that. So it must be mounted on the frame. Topeak gives the owner two options for that: fastening it to the top tube with zip ties, or attaching to the seat tube using the water bottle braze-ons.
I opted to zip tie it to the top tube. That turned out not to be the best solution, at least for me. The zip ties kept catching on the inside of my thighs when I dismounted, even after trimming the ties back as far as possible. I was concerned they would tear my riding shorts. Then, the hose popped out of its cradle when I rode on a rough stretch of road.
The second deficiency was a quality issue. The bezel that attaches to the tire valve was missing. It’s not an obvious thing, because the end of the hose looks pretty normal even without it. I didn’t discover it was missing until the morning of my century, when I had to scramble to find a floor pump to top off my tires. I rode the century with the pump zip tied to the frame, but pulled it off as soon as I got home after the ride.
The LBS was happy to exchange the pump for a new one — one that had the bezel. I decided I didn’t like the zip tie attachment, so I took off one of the water bottle brackets and mounted the pump there. Now it not only works the way it’s supposed to — it looks better, too. I think.
Yeah, I know, I’m down to one water bottle per ride now. Not a problem. One bottle is good for about 20 miles for me, and when I run low, I look for a gas station or some other place where I can fill it up. Since I’m not planning on riding another century anytime soon, I can get along fine with one bottle. And if I really need a second one, I can put it in one of my jersey pockets.
So far, I’m happy with my decision. The little pump has several features that make it act like the big guys. It has a little flange that flips out so you can hold it under your foot, just like a floor pump. Its handle can flip sideways to resemble a t-shaped handle for pumping. It even has a rudimentary pressure gauge.
I have yet to try the pump under battlefield conditions. It’s only been used to pump up some spare tubes in my garage. But it worked just fine on them, got them to full pressure without a hassle, and when my next flat comes (knock wood) I’ll be ready.
CO2 cartridges or a pump?
July 29, 2008 at 6:56 pm | In Accessories, Equipment | 24 CommentsTags: Accessories, C02, cartridges, Equipment, pumps
I’m probably flirting with danger here, but it’s been awhile since I’ve flatted.
Even so, I try to be ready if it should happen. My seat bag has a spare tube, a patch kit, and what I would most likely use in the event of a flat — a CO2 inflator and several CO2 cartridges.
The CO2 is convenient, but it’s not a panacea. When I have flatted in the past, I’ve found it’s not easy to get the right amount of air into the tire. I’ve resorted to a series of short bursts on the inflator trigger, and try to determine by feeling the tire whether it’s got enough pressure. When I first started using it, at a time when flats were much more frequent, I sometimes wasted a cartridge and needed two to fill the tire. And sometimes, I only managed to inflate the tire enough to make it home.
Another concern is the cost. The cartridges run about $3.50 each, so if one or two are wasted by fumbling around, the tire repair is suddenly costly. I usually carry four in my seat bag, so I can give one or two to another biker who might be flatted with no air.
Then there’s the environmental issue. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. Do I really need to contribute to the Earth’s problems?
What’s the alternative? A pump. The choice is between a frame-mounted pump and a mini-pump that can mount to a frame or even fit in your jersey pocket.
A Zefal frame-mounted pump.
A Blackburn mini pump. It's actually less than one-half the length of the Zefal.
The issue with the pumps is also one of convenience, and efficiency, too. I’ve had occasion to use a mini-pump, and I’m not crazy about them. They have trouble supplying enough air pressure, especially to a road tire that may take over 125 psi. But I like the convenience of the CO2 inflator, and I’m not sure if another gizmo fastened to my bike frame would be worth the bother.
For now, I’ll continue to go with the cartridges and inflator. I’ve had enough experience with them that I’m confident I won’t waste them in future situations. And for every day that I go without a flat, cost becomes less of an issue. But I’d sure like to hear your opinion. Inflator or pump?
(Since this post last July, I’ve resolved the issue to my satisfaction. Here’s what I decided.)
I like bike socks
July 1, 2008 at 7:24 pm | In Accessories | 9 CommentsTags: Accessories, clothing, socks
When I was a runner (jogger, really) I wore cotton socks that just came up to the ankle. Once I started biking, these seemed to do fine. Looking through Nashbar and Performance catalogs, I saw listings for bicycle-specific socks, which I thought was ridiculous overkill. After all, socks are socks.
That attitude has changed. Last Christmas, my wife gave me a red jersey, and she had to throw in a pair of red bike socks with it. It took me one ride to decide bike socks were worth having.
They’re worth having because they’re light, and thin, and their polyester yarns keep your feet so much drier than plain old cotton socks. And they’re just so comfortable! I wouldn’t ride without them now.
But I’m still not sure about some of the designs that can be found on the socks. Even the relatively tame two-tone blue ones are a bit “out there” for me.
No matter. I’m tempted to buy more pairs, and use them for activities other than biking. Cotton socks, your time is over!
Father’s Day swag
June 15, 2008 at 2:01 pm | In Accessories | 1 CommentTags: Accessories, bibs, clothing
My wife saw to it that Father’s Day had a biking theme this year. She made a trip to our favorite LBS and brought back some goodies:
The swag.
The starring role went to a new pair of bibs. Yes, bibs. I’d never tried them before, and the sales clerk at the shop told her they were really comfortable. Not to mention that the mesh upper half helps hold in that beer gut tummy bulge guys my age tend to show. He was right — they feel great, and even on another day in the 90s, I never felt that they added a layer to my biking outfit.
Complementing the bibs were a new doo-rag from HeadSweats. I already have one, and like it. This one has the ties in the back, and it’s a little different feel from the other, that doesn’t have the ties.
Finally, because my bike is black, blue, and white, we have to have color-coordinated socks, right? So, a new pair of blue, black and white biking socks finish off the sartorial haul.
On my 32-mile ride this morning, I was a vision of Fredness on my black, blue and white bike, wearing my black, blue and white outfit. And after a great ride this morning, I get to watch the final round of the U.S. Open this afternoon. Biking and golf — can’t get much better than this.
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