"So I Just Have To Ask..."

[ <--not my bike]

"So I Just Have To Ask..." said a woman riding up to me on her very nice looking and very expensive looking Trek road bike. I was in front of the National Cathedral here in DC, a favorite place to visit when starting or stopping a ride (I'm only a half mile or so from it). So we chatted about my Bike Friday. She asked how I liked it, which if course I answered in the affirmative and did all I could not to brag on it like a proud parent whose random kid just did something great at such-and-such elementary school. She also correctly guessed I am a commuter. I guess I can't hide my stripes!

As it turns out, she is a triathlete, hence her gorgeous, tricked-out bike. She had done an Ironman (IronWoman in her case!) and "thought she'd better have a suitable bike". Furthermore, she works at the National Cathedral as a fundraiser. How cool is that? You can't beat a folding bike for ice-breaking. Folding bikes: short in stature, long in conversation. Hey, that's a good tagline. I wonder if I can sell it to Dahon or someone? Bidding starts now. Please send money to me directly. Aaah, who am I kidding! Just send it straight to Bike Friday so I can get the Speeding Tikit model I am dreaming about these days.

Summer, Fare Thee Well

Officially summer doesn't end until September 21st, but with temps right now in tolerable range, I bid adieu to the heat and humidity. Yeah, summer will give one last try in the coming days to give the Mother of all heat wedgies, but it's a lamentable last gasp of desperation. Fall will come striding in, an with it, the finest riding weather of the year!

I've got an inkling to do an overnighter on the Pocket Crusoe along the C&O Canal towpath. I did a warmup ride this weekend, and discovered that riding the trail in my slicks is about as much fun as puberty. So, instead of riding the trail due west, I am going to ride west on MacArthur Blvd, then pick up River Rd. Waaaay out there, River becomes a tiny little tree-lined road that should be beautiful in the fall. At some point I'll duck over to the trail to camp out, and ride a bit of it to take in the Potomac River. and the canal. The hard packed dirt you see in this picture isn't so bad (minus the embedded rocks you have to dodge), but as the trail rises up to meet each old lock, the grade gets covered in loose gravel--not the finely crushed gravel as found on the Great Allegheny Trail. That stuff is smooth and secure. No, this gravel is more like large fish tank rocks and it does its best to dislodge me from the bike by playing tug-of-war with my front tire. Hence, I'm thinking to ride the road. Buying new tires with some grip is not immediately in the budget, especially considering the little used they would get. Most of my riding is road and paved trail. But, some expanded tours could be in my future. Any excuse for a bike ride!

Mi (Bike) Casa Es Su Casa

Today the DC Flyer and I went across town to a fledgling bike cooperative---the Bike House in Petworth, DC. This is a small group of volunteers who meet on the, um, grounds of Qualia Coffee on Georgia Ave, NW. Check out Qualia Coffee here: http://www.qualiacoffee.com/, and check out the Bike House Co-op here: http://www.thebikehouse.org/.

Qualia extends its backyard to the Bike House. It was a blast hanging out, meeting "customers" and even fixing a flat and making a (hopefully will hold successfully) boot for the punctured tire out of a round-cut piece of plastic milk carton from the recycle bin. As always, the DC Flyer garnered much attention and a serious "Whoooaaa: that was waaay cooler than I even imagined" response from one of the volunteer mechanics when I folded the rear triangle/wheel under the frame.

It was great to see some old, resurrected bikes make their way to the gathering. I worked a little bit on a Schwinn Varsity, in it's glorious original electric Kermit green; the same paint, I do believe, one would have found on an AMC Gremlin from the same era.

All told, it was a great time at the co-op. I hope to go back once a month and learn and help. They also have mechanic clinics one hour before the general public can drop by, so I can hone my primitive skills before tackling customers' bikes. The weather was beautiful (right before some rain tomorrow!) and everyone was cool. I hope this group finds a permanent home. I wouldn't want them to "roast" in the summer sun if they're still out back of Qualia Coffee come summertime. Sorry, I had to go there with the coffee pun, and I don't even like coffee. But I do like bikes :)

Where Has My Tikit Gone?

No, thankfully it hasn't been lost or stolen. But where have I taken it? Let me count the ways...er, places:

1. On the Maryland Ride-on bus front rack.
2. On the Maryland Ride-on bus, covered, inside the bus!
3. On the Maryland Ride-on bus, uncovered, inside the bus!
4. Inside the library and parked under the table.
5. Inside the Safeway grocery store, down the aisles and through the checkout, wheeling along all the way!
6. Inside the office, parked under my desk. (Okay, very pedestrian when it comes to Tikits and Bromptons and the like. So sue me.)
7. Inside a sushi restaurant. This was the best. The staff wanted to check out the bike, so I ended up giving them a fold/unfold demo right there in the restaurant. They all rolled it around. One gentleman, possibly the owner or manager, was interested in folding bikes and had been doing a little digging around. I gave him several brand names to check out and dissuaded him from the "A-bike". Sorry, folks. I hate to discriminate against a fellow folding bike, but c'mon. Pee Wee Herman wouldn't be caught dead on one of those, not even in a darkened movie theater, doing...nevermind. This manager/owner was trying to show me via his laptop some brand he had seen that was from england. "Brompton?" I offered. "Strida?" Nope. He never could find the webpage where he had seen it, and I couldn't help as all his google search results were in Japanese!

Where it has not been:
1. To a bike shop. I've been able to dial in the shifting well enough with just the barrel connector, so the chain stays on the sprocket where you put it; no wall climbing down a gear or bungee jumping up a gear. The shifter is still tight--it takes effort to downshift (move to a larger sprocket) but I'm used to it now. At some point I will see if I can loosen it up. I don't know if the cable just needs some more slack, or what. I don't think there is friction because it shifts pretty smoothly. It just takes a little muscle to get it to the next index point on the shifter. Shifting up is still tight but much easier with gravity on your side.

I have found the Tikit to get more comments than my Pocket Crusoe, and that's cool. The Crusoe is generally my higher-speed, free-time bike for trail rides and zooming around the city for exercise or longer distance destinations like going across town. So I am happy to be off to the races on that bike. (Why is cross town always so much farther than going downtown or uptown? It's a good thing Billy Joel didn't fall in love with a crosstown girl. They'd have never seen each other!) The Tikit is the attention gravity point. People get sucked into its event horizon and I strike up lots of conversations. It's great fun, even at 05:30 when I catch the bus. That's all folks. Whatever your ride, ride it!

Tikit to...Read?

Today I did some urban limit testing with the Tikit. On my commute to work, I folded and covered the bike for the bus portion to see if the driver would let the bike on that way. Recall the near disaster in a previous post where the bus rack swing arm fell off the front wheel and I was lucky to still have a bike and not a failed science project!
Well, the driver didn't flinch as I boarded the bus. I got a seat at the front with room to hold onto my bike. The front seats face out to the aisle so there is not a seat in front to cramp the space. I don't know if I can squeeze into a standard seat (with another seat in front of it) with the Tikit. That's a project for another day. So, complete victory for the Tikit design (at least with this particular driver). The fold is super fast and so is using the attached bike cover. Less than a minute, probably, to fold and cover.
Onto a store report. How would the folded Tikit be greeted in a city business? I tested the waters at our local DC library branch. Again, not even a batted eye as I wheeled the folded Tikit into the library. It even parked neatly under the table where my wife and I sat. Praise again!
All in all, I have no complaints. The shifter is loosening a bit (as it has required some force to downshift), and after properly inflating the tires today, it rides a HELL of a lot better. It felt so slow before, and when I finally took my floor pump to it, I found out why. I don't think there was more than 25 PSI in either tire, and these are rated for 60-85 PSI! Thank the tube Gods I didn't pinch flat. I now inflated the tires to the low 80's and they feel fast and firm, with just a touch of give to help on the city streets, smooth as they are :). Green Gear, great job on this bike.

Aardvarks Travel Well

This is the inaugural multimode commute report on the Bike Friday Tikit. Thumbs up! There are things about the shifting and the feel of the bike overall that need to be dialed in. The tires are a little too soft, so I will pump them up. I find them bouncy right now. The grip shifter is really tight. It takes some force to downshift. I think that will loosen up as I use the shifter more. It might be my imagination but it seems even a scad looser already. Oh, but the actual use on mass transit itself...

The Tikit kicks ass for use on the Metro Train. I have read just about every blog/review/comment on the web about the Tikit, and a few people have said it is hard to roll when folded. Hogwash! This thing is easy to roll and easy to turn while rolling. I can even wheel it right on and off the train. The "gap" is no problem at all. I imagine a Brompton rolls easier overall, on its rack casters, but I doubt it could roll over the Metro platform/train gap.

Now, Bike Friday have made an upgrade/fix to the Tikit. The "handle" for rolling is a sort-of triangle on the frame, pointed to with the red arrow above, and known as the "aardvark". This replaced an older style handle that was recalled as some developed a crack over time. The new design corrects that, and makes a full loop handle. I think this new handle helps in holding onto and turning/pushing the folded Tikit. So thanks to the aardvark, I was rollin' easy.

As a reminder, my commute involves train and bus. So, A+ on the train portion. Scare on the bus portion! I used the front bus rack again. When I got off the bus to retrieve my bike, the spring-loaded swing arm on the rack that fits over the front tire, had slid off the tire. So, my bike was just hanging out in the wheel wells of the rack., possibly one big bump away from unintended flight. I damn near flipped when I saw that. It seems the tire is small enough that the swing arm had slid down the tire. (see green arrow pointing to swing arm in the pic).

The first time I used the rack this did not happen. So, I think I need to ensure the swing arm is really mashed down good against the wheel/on top of the front fender. This last time I think I was trying to get it to hug the tire below (in front of) where the front fender stops in front of the fork. Big mistake that could have cost me a bike. I don't imagine the Tikit would fare well hitting pavement at 55 MPH. "Uh, driver, can you stop so I can retrieve my bike from I-270?" Good luck on that one. Can you say "contemporary metal tubing wall art?" Whew!

Tonight I drive back with the bike safely in the car, so no worries. (there is no bus on Saturday and Sunday mornings when I get off work. It doesn't come for another 1.5 hours, so I shuttle myself on weekends). Given this scare with the Tikit, I will strongly consider using the bike cover and taking the bike on-board if I can. Most of the drivers are cool, and this morning the driver even asked me a bike question (about my helmet-mounted mirror) as I left the bus. Sounded like he did/wanted to do some riding. Alright! Happy riding everyone.

The Tikit Has Arrived

The BF Tikit was waiting for me at the office. The guys in the room were anxious for me to open the box, so I began without delay! What a wonderful site to see one wheel and one Planet Bike fender, clues to the blueberry bike that lie within. A short while later the bike was free from its corrugated cocoon and being assembled.

I put on the front fender, oriented the handlebar post and handlebars; put in the front wheel and replaced the brake noodle to its cradle; adjusted brakes, mounted the saddle and adjusted seatpost height, and put on the pedals (gotta remember they are little more than hand-tightened. I remembered to bring a multitool but not a pedal wrench. The best I could find in the office was a sturdy pair of needle-nose pliers, which probably did nothing at all).

Then, at lunch break, it was off for a test spin---I went whirring around the building in the dark of night. The gears only slip a little, so not as much cable stretch as I had feared. The shifter is TIGHT; it takes some effort to downshift. Shifting to a higher gear is of course easier, going to smaller cogs.

The cable slipping does matter here----I drove in, but intend to ride the bike home (via bus and Metro Rail, of course). I can easily make the short ride without much fuss from the slightly slipping gears. Tomorrow I will see if I can dial them in. Though I am a very clumsy mechanic, I can twist a barrel connector as well as anyone. Hopefully I can twist it into proper position or coax the cable into taughtness.

So how was the ride? Smooth. I like the Schwalbe Marathon tires on the bike. They seem to roll well enough and given their lower PSI than the Primo Comets on my Crusoe, they soften the ride. Compared to the Big Apples I had on my Dahon, the Marathons seem a great middle ground. I brought my floor pump and might see what is the current PSI of these tires. They are rated from 60 to 85 PSI. My guess is they are closer to 60, based on pinch feel.

I tried out the "stealth" cover. All of us at work agreed it's hardly stealth, but might just get you by when grease or dirt is the main concern of a concerned authority figure. We weren't too sure it would pass for a "french horn" as has been reckoned, especially with the blue Aardvark bike handle/frame poking out of the cover. At any rate, it's pretty darn cool that it contains its own tortoise shell. How many bikes can say that? So tomorrow, I must decide whether to rack mount the bike, or bag it and see if they'll let me on the bus. Decisions, decisions...what a great dilemna to have. Viva la Bike Friday!

Tikit on the Way, But no Clever Pun

[Washington, DC] In breaking news today, Steve announced that his Bike Friday Pocket Crusoe will soon be joined by a Bike Friday Tikit. That's right. It's a cream soda blue, stock size large Tikit. It is making its FedEx way across the You Ess of Eh as we speak.

The Tikit will have eight gears, is used, and appears to be of the "Just the Tikit" model from the Bike Friday line of Tikit folding bikes with 16" wheels.

Incredibly, Steve had no puns about the name Tikit. No clever rhyme or insertion of a catchphrase containing the word Tikit; no careful play on the name to suggest speed or lawbreaking or anything. "I guess I just want the bike!" exclaimed Steve over a steaming cup of Starbucks Mocha Grande Latte Exp Post Facto Caramel Vente coffee. Hah! No, he hates coffee and Starbucks. Starbucks is the "Evil Empire" according to Austin Powers, remember.

So here's a post about the Tikit without some lame "it's just the 'Tikit' to my commute", or "I'll be speeding merrily along on my 'Tikit'" nonsense. These things are almost as bad as haircut shops with clever names like "A Cut Above the Rest" and "We've got Chops" and crap like that. No! You'll find none of that here. Just the facts.

This Tikit is a size large, and I'm curious how it will fit me. If I were starting from scratch, I'd be working from a medium frame size. But, I talked at length with BF and we think with the arrangements we've made, it will work just fine. I'm getting handlebars that are a little more swept back to ease the reach. They are also throwing on a shorter Ahead stem. Also, there is room to play with saddle height, of course, but perhaps more importantly, some playroom in the steerer tube/ stem riser. It would be easy enough to just lower the seat, but two things can result from that---inefficient pedal strokes due to sitting too low; and having a riding position that is too upright for my tastes. I like saddle and handlebar near level for commuting and the saddle a little above the bars for riding fast. My Pocket Crusoe has the saddle about an inch or so above the bars. I created this by sliding the stem down the stem riser about an inch.

So, I anxiously await the bike. It has departed Portland, Oregon, and is somewhere from the mountains, to the prarie, to the oceans white with foam. I'll hopefully soon know! Happy riding everyone.

I Only Have Ice For You

This winter thing is getting a little old. Specifically I mean the daytime runoff that becomes nighttime ice. I don't have studded tires, and right now I am riding 1.35 inch, basically slick tires. Coming home from work the other day, at 0600 hours, I was dodging ice flows like the Titanic could only dream of. But it does get to be a pain when you have to hop off your bike a few times when the ice blocks the whole street. Give me some more snow, but hold the ice, please. ``````````````````````````````````````````````photo from: http://www.varsitybike.com/

All-in-all, with reduced speed and the usual vigilance, winter riding in snow is not so bad, even on relatively skinny tires. Bikes and the humans who steer them can really do a lot if confident and careful. But it does send shivers to think about smacking the asphalt in a nanosecond if I were to hit an ice patch. Riding down the lonely office park boulevard this early morning that thought was in my head as I raced (okay, pedaled judiciously) home, and noted some of the street lights are burned out. This creates wells of shadow. I was on a keen crow's nest lookout for anything that glared and sparkled or otherwise reflected more light than a well-behaving, dry piece of asphalt ought to.

My hypervigilance paid off, and I was soon safely ensconsed in my bed for some much needed rest after a 10-hour shift. Hitting the bike after 10 hours really does feel great, though, and it's a nice preamble to a hot shower and bed. It's too bad that the last three trips of my work week will be by car. Unfortunately, on Saturday and Sunday, the bus I take does not start to run for over an hour after I get off work in the morning. Call me crazy, but I ain't waiting around for that. So, I shuttle myself up with the car on a Wednesday or Thursday, bike back, and have the car waiting for the Saturday trip back home to DC, and again on Sunday. My only recourse is to occasionally ride the whole distance back to DC, or at least back to the first Metro rail stop. I plan to map out a good route, and try this once the weather is nicer. I wouldn't mind the miles, but the time would kill me!

So the ice is a beast, but the cold is survivable, with thermal layers and a facemask. The bike seems to tolerate the cold just fine. We typically don't do insane cold here in DC, and that helps. But please, take the ice elsewhere! I am looking forward to days when I need give no thought at all to roadway glaciers. But I am sure by then I will miss the cool riding temps. Oh well, you can't have your bike and ride it, too. Wait, that's not right...Oh, time to quit my grumblings and ride. Happy cycling all!

Taking the Safe Way

I learned two things this afternoon while riding my bike back from the grocery store:

1. A plastic two-liter soda bottle can survive, intact, a fall from a moving bike.

2. A FedEx truck can stop in time to avoid crushing a plastic two-liter soda bottle that has fallen from a moving bike.



I rode to get groceries, forgetting that I had removed my Nashbar double pannier that loops over the rack and, most importantly, has two lash straps that hold soda bottles tighter than Peter Angelos' wallet at signing day. So I used my bare rack and one piece of bungee that lay fortuitously coiled in the bottom of my other, single pannier, in an effort to portage my pop. (This single pannier, btw, is a Louis Garnier, which, while highly functional, is quickly falling apart on me. The elastic went to pot quickly on the rain cover and then shortly after on the pannier itself. Stay away from this brand. At $80 it was a bad deal.)

Off I went towards home, and a mere 100 yards or so away from Safeway, off went the soda bottle. Cheers to the FedEx guy paying close enough attention to the cyclist in front of him that he noticed and reacted to the pop-goes-the-soda pop. This is one Diet Cherry Pepsi that almost ended up very flat.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Ride I Go!

The UBC is back! Now with a salary. That's right, yours truly has landed a gig in Germantown, MD, and now has a multimode bike commute once again. And brother, I hit all the modes. I leave DC on bike, ride to one of several Metro Train stations, and head up to Shady Grove--the end of the line and the end of what can be stretched to "DC-ish". Then it's on board (thank God), an express bus. Yes, this rare beast of the urban jungle; bypassing stops, hitting the HOV lane on a nightmarishly backed-up I-270, and generally whumping its way to within a mile or so of my office in fifteen sprightly minutes. Then it's un-rack the bike and hit the lonely office park road to my dead-end job. Wait, that didn't come out right. Un-rack the bike and ride to the dead end of the office park drive and go to work. That's more like it!

Speaking of bike racks on the front of Maryland Ride-on buses, here's a tip: in winter, when the bus has been washed the prior evening, the rack can freeze. The release handle won't budge, and if it does, sometimes the swing arm that goes over the front tire won't come out of its warren for fear of the cold. Thank the Gods again--this time for my folding bike. One driver suggested I "take the next bus" when the rack failed to work properly due to being more frozen than tomorrow's Big Macs, but he changed his tune when my Bike Friday halved itself and he accommodatingly allowed me to bring it on board! Thanks Mr Driver man!

Oh, and speaking of Driver Man, if you are a fan of the Violent Femmes, take a listen to their whimsical song about NYC buses. It goes:
You got the mother and her kid
you got the guy and his date
we all get mad, we all get late
Looks like somebody forgot about us
standing on the corner, waiting for a bus...
Hey Mr. Driver Man, don't be slow
'cause I got somewhere I gotta go.
Hey Mr. Driver Man, drive that thing fast
My precious time is slipping past...
Delays aside, the bus rides have been rather pleasant, other than the one surly driver who, as I sprinted with my bike to make the bus, serenaded me with: "you better get that piece of contraption up on the rack so we can get on outta here". I make new friends all the time. Ain't cycling great!