News Tech Article

Nov 1, 2003 • News Avoid bicycle maintenance bloodlust

*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#72) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK.

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.

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Oct 1, 2003 • News Lard Inspired quest for reliability and tranquility

*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#71) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK.

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…

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Sep 1, 2003 • News Wheel Truing

*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#70) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK.

With Tex taking a very ‘tech’ approach this month I thought I would go back to some basic stuff and do a good old fashioned tutorial. I always said I wouldn’t do this. I always said that it wasn’t really possible. What I meant was that I didn’t think I could face it. Truing wheels is an essential skill for anyone wanting to look after their own bike, yet there is no easy way to learn. Most people learn from their mates and from trial and error, but I am feeling cocky so fug-it lets have a pop at writing it down.

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Aug 1, 2003 • News Stretching

*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#69) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK.

This month I want to discuss something a little different. BMX has been around for about 30 years now and so have I. In that time riders have come and gone as you would expect but there are a surprising number who came and never went.

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Dec 1, 2002 • News Dropouts

*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#61) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK.

I seriously thought people would be sick of this technical column by now, but it seems not. I always aimed for it to have a little useful information in each, presented in a reasonably entertaining way. Unfortunately they were tedious beyond measure and I am genuinely surprised that no one has told me to shut up yet. Since nobody has, this months will break new ground with its tedium. If anyone has any requests for future ones (assuming this one doesn’t finish the whole idea off) then I would be interested to hear from you…

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Dec 1, 2002 • News Gearing

*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#59) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK.

Gearing used to be simple, “back in the day” (don’t you just love cliches?) it was 44-16, 43-16 or NOWT. These days we have a whole load more to choose from and yet there is very little information available to help you choose the right set-up. The following is intended to help guide you through the options but fairly obviously this is going to make it very very dull. There isn’t really a lot I can do to soften the tedium I am afraid, so I can only suggest that you stop reading right now and save this bit for your next bout of insomnia. If you really need to know what the deal is right now then by all means read on, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. Throughout this deluge of tedious odure I will make use of imperial measurements, feet and inches. You may think that we are metricated, but go for a quick ride on your 20” with its ½” (half inch) pitch chain and 2.1” wide tyres for a few miles and then come back and shut up.So, lets dive straight in with the very very basic principals so we all start from the same place.

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Dec 1, 2002 • News Euro/USA Bottom Brackets

*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#58) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK.

BMX is a great big multi headed hydra of a beast. Rearing up on ugly great legs with lots of heads to snap at you and lots of tails to whack you round the face as you try to retrieve the golden fleece of freestyle…

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Dec 1, 2002 • News Punctures

*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#63) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK.

I guess we have all envied after skateboarders once or twice. Usually when your back wheel has just had a little brush with coping and is making that awful hissing noise. Just then the idea of rolling round on a plank with solid wheels that NEVER go pop is pretty attractive.

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Jan 1, 2002 • News Frame Design Details

*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#64) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK.

Over the years there have been some pretty wacky frame designs. Hutch, for example, used to make a frame called the Trickstar. This was loved by a lot of riders of the day, especially flatlanders, for its super steep head angle and abundance of scuffing room. The scuffing room came at the expense of strength at the weird head tube junction. Hutch obviously decided that it was still way too strong and went on to produce the Trickstar II, which had a specially weakened rear triangle to match. The rear triangle also helped to make the Mk 2 look like a wheel barrow (not just any wheel barrow mind, an UGLY wheel barrow) and that was that for Hutch.

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