Someone requested that I do a tech column on head angles and steering geometry. I wasn’t sure at first if this was a worthwhile subject, after all, there isn’t that much variation available is there? Most frames have a head angle of 74 and a half! Degrees and most forks have one and a quarter inch legs with dropouts that stick out just enough to get a peg on.
Once again I find myself sitting in front of the computer wondering how to start my tech column. Every few seconds I turn my head to look out the window for inspiration… or is it distraction.
The progress of civilisation is based upon one thing above all others, Albert Einstein put it very well when he said that “If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants.”
A BMX, like any other bicycle, has two wheels. You sit in-between them and point the front one the way you want to go. All the time that you are sitting (or standing) on it you are pressing down between the two wheels trying to snap it in half. As BMX’ers we then try that little bit harder to snap it in half by dropping on it from a height, crashing it into things and falling off it. Quite often somebody manages it and the front end tears away from the rest. Maybe the down-tube slowly cracks through at the bottom and then tears clean through in one go. If strength was the only consideration maybe we would think about fixing the wheels together more directly, run a big beam from the front wheel to the back and call it a day? Unfortunately we need to be able to point the front wheel the way we want to go so that isn’t practical.
Gearing (again). Well it’s been nearly a year since the first article I wrote on gearing and a lot has happened since then. Everything that the previous article covered still holds true and I wont be going over the same ground again. “Thank fuck.” I hear you cry, “That previous gearing article was dull as ditch water that a tramp has pissed in”. Well don’t get too excited because this one will probably push the tedium to new levels. It’s hard to say till I write it so lets wait and see what happens eh?
Well it seems winter is here. It hasn’t dried up properly in weeks, and with only 25 minutes of daylight a day its unlikely to dry up anytime soon.
Suppose you went out tomorrow and bought a brand new car, suppose for some crazy reason you bought a Ford. On the front and back it would say “Ford” and even the middle of the wheels would probably proclaim their Fordiness. If you looked under the bonnet you would probably see a big “Ford” cast into the rocker cover, and if you took the air filter out you might see some long ass product code and the word Ford. With the possible exception of the tyres every part of the car would have been specified and designed by Ford for that car and as a result it will all fit nicely together first go.
What the hell is a Hidden Headset?
Good question. And surprisingly hard to answer.
Fifteen years go when I became a born-again BMXer, headsets were utter utter shite. You had two choices, a Tioga Beartrap in a size that fitted, or a Tioga beartrap in a size that didn’t fit. These were all one inch threaded headsets but for some reason there were several sizes to choose from, getting the right one was always a pain. Once you had your headset fitted you then spent most of your time tightening it. After every ride it was loose, shit, it was probably loose five minutes after you started riding. This was only 1988 but headsets were working on technology from 1888, or rather NOT working on technology from 1888.
A few months ago I did a tech column moaning about how the parts for your bike often don’t fit together very well, hopefully some people found it interesting but I later realised that it wasn’t a fat lot of use to most riders. So this month, rather than rattle on about some deep technical issue, I thought it would be more helpful to describe some of the less well known “tricks” that can make your life a hell of a lot easier when it comes to mending your bike.
The last tech column had a stupid name. It’s not the name that I gave it so please don’t blame me. It was entitled “Truth” originally but for some reason it got changed to “Build Your Own Wheels”, which, although a good idea, was very little to do with the article which was just about truing wheels. This month the column is called “Lard inspired quest for reliability and tranquillity”. If it has been changed then you know it’s not because of me. I don’t think Mark ever proof-reads these articles, I think he just does a “search and replace” on fuck piss shit twat etc so this paragraph should escape editing and you will all know the real title…
