Testing the improvised presta adapter.

     By now everyone has seen the make shift presta adapter video on YouTube. If not Here it is. It looks like a good trick, but I needed to check it out and see how well it works.
     First is the obvious downside that you need to have a knife handy, or really strong teeth. It would be easier to leave an adaptor in your bikes seat bag. Another trick is to leave the adaptor on the valve stem in place of a cap.

I like to turn them up side down after I have inflated the tire, that way I know the valve has been screwed closed.
     On with the experiment. Using a box cutter I sliced thru the valve cap right where the knurling ends. The video is not real clear about how the remaining piece is installed. I tried installing it the normal direction.

This left the cap very loose and it was easy to screw it down to far and expose to much of the valve head(Like in the picture above) You could not use a air chuck with the valve protruding this much.
    Getting the cap level with the valve head allowed me to pump the tire with compressed air but there was a lot of leakage. It would be OK for the gas station quick fix.
     Next I tried installing the cap reversed. It was a little tougher to get started but that turned out to be fine because the seal between the cap and valve was much better.

Again you want to screw down the cap until the valve is just flush with the  top of the cap. Using an air chuck and compressor worked great, no leakage. Then I tried the real test, a hand pump. It worked! I as a little surprised that the seal was good enough but I was able to get around 100psi before the pump started having trouble gripping the cap and popped off. This is a solid work around if you need to get a presta tube up and only have a schrader chuck available.

Life time supply of presta adapters.

Balloon Car Gran Prix

     Some times you need to have a little fun. At the shop we decided a balloon car showdown was the way to go. The idea started when some balloon powered cars were spotted at the Porsche exhibit. They looked like fun but we all new more fun was to be  had in doing our own build off.
     The rules were simple. Each competitor would get a Pepsi can, bendy soda straw, sheet of construction paper, balloon, and a roll of tape. They could assemble the car in any fashion as long as only the supplied items were used. Prototyping was allowed and you could use as many materials as needed but only one of each in the final build.
     The winner would receive our coveted Specialized Christmas water bottle(Yes, they only sent one for the shop to share)

The builds were all kept secret until race night. Each build was unique.

Danielle

Brendan

Chuck

     The race rules were set at three runs with the greatest distance winning. The three run rule was immediately tossed out the window when all cars experienced technical problems. It was decided, on the spot, to mod and run until everyone passed out from repeatedly blowing up the balloons.
     After an hour and two nearly thirty foot runs, congratulations and awards were handed out.

 
     And the winners, Danielle with 1st, Brendan 2nd(by mere inches), and Chuck a distant third.

     Fun was had by all, it was better than team building and no one had to catch anyone.

Schrader time

     Everyone uses schrader valves. Yes, everyone. I know you are thinking you would never have a bike with schrader valves, you are presta all the way. But, your suspension shock and fork use them. Your car has them at all four corners, one for the fuel injection, and two on the AC system(Your home HVAC has them as well) There is even one on your water supply if you have a well.
     They are everywhere and with good reason. The schrader valve is a spring loaded poppet valve that makes it very easy to get a measured amount of gas in or out of a system. It was patented by August Schrader(most likely developed by his son George) in 1891.
     It would take another five years to develop the schrader valve cap. That's right, plastic cap, five years of R&D. Remember that next time you have trouble coming up with a plan of action.
     We have the schrader valve thanks to the bicycle. When August saw the popularity of pneumatic tires coming out of Europe he saw a need for a tire valve. Which is a little odd, because they already had a valve, other wise they would have been flat tires coming out of Europe. That valve was the presta. I have not found much on the history of the presta valve except that it seems to have been appropriated from the steam industry.
     The schrader valve has some advantages over the presta valve. They are serviceable, the core can be removed and cleaned or replaced(Some presta valves have a removable core). The valve is spring loaded and does not require pressure behind it to stay closed. Because the valve is spring loaded and the air chucks and gauges have a fitting the depresses the poppet, you can get a more accurate reading of pressure.
     A disadvantage is the hole required is slightly larger than for a presta valve. If you have a very narrow rim strength could be compromised. I feel this may have been an issue a hundred years ago when rims were made of wood or rolled from steel sheet. I have never seen a rim fail at the valve hole(Where it was not run over by a truck or tossed off a mountain side)
    You should use the valve cap. It took five years to develop, there must be some crazy technology in there somewhere. The practical reason is that it keeps crud out of the valve. If you have a little dirt in the top of the valve and then pump up the tire, some of that crud is going thru the valve and some of it might get trapped between the poppet and seat, creating a leak. You can remove the core and clean out this area but it is simpler to just keep it clean.
      The valve caps should be considered part of your suspension. The schrader valve is great for holding pressure but a rear shock at full compression can experience a spike over 3000psi. The beefy cap with its built in seal keeps that in the shock. If you lose a cap, stick a plastic one on to keep the valve clean, but replace that with a proper sealing cap as soon as possible.
     I am not going to go in to tire pressure here, that is a whole other post, but if you are concerned about your pressure, be sure to use a quality gauge(not a stick gauge). Digital gauges work best and are the most consistent, but a good dial gauge can give a decent reading. Be sure to use the same dial gauge each time so the readings will be consistent(There can be a big difference from gauge to gauge)

From my collection(of junk). Made in 1922, still works.

Tool Review: Drillin' Time

     Time for a little tool review. It is not about a new pin spanner or freewheel tool, this is about a drill. Surely, one does not use a drill on a bicycle you say. But I surely do.
     A drill comes in handy for lots of jobs. You can chuck a dingleberry hone(Yes, it is actually called that) on and get all the corrosion out of an old seat tube.

I'll be your dingleberry.

Drill out(another) damaged rivnut. Drill out a mangled dropout to fit a threaded sleeve. Drill a hole in a piece of wood so you can tap the brake pivot out of a Campy shifter(In order to get at the front gear carrier bolt, in order to remove the rear bolt, in order to put in, yet another, pair of G-springs)

Photo of rare, unbroken, G-Spring

     Rotor bolts, man is a drill great for rotor bolts. You have to Loctite them on, so they never just want to spin out, and when you put new bolts in they come pre gummed and you have to fight that stuff all the way down. (You do want to break them loose by hand and torque them to finish).
     You might even want to go old school and drill a thousand hoes in your bike to make it two ounces lighter(People actually do this)

Once owned by a guy with lots of free time

    
So everyone should run out and get a drill. The one to get? The Milwaukee 2407-22.

My awesome drill

 This thing is great. A real 3/8th chuck instead of a 5/16th socket fitting. The chuck is the hand tightening style so you don't have to keep track of a key and bit changes are quicker. The drill is gear driven so you can get the chuck good and tight against the gear(It locks up when static) The gear drive is two speed and the drill is variable speed so you can ease in before dropping the hammer. It has an adjustable clutch that can be set so low it will stall going in to drywall or be locked out for drilling. There is a set of LEDs that act as a fuel guage so you can tell when you are running low and the batteries are lithium ion, light, powerful, they and hold a charge forever. Comes with two batteries and a smart charger that will keep your spare perpetually topped off.

So tiny, yet so powerful.(Not the hand)

     When you pick it up, this baby feels so light you'll think it's a toy, but it will put out over 250 inch pounds of torque and really surprise you with how it powers thru just about anything in the shop.
   This drill is so great that the big boys almost never see the light of day anymore.

Sad drills that have been put to pasture.

 This is a hot tip for Christmas(I was not paid by Santa or Milwaukee for my effusive praise of this wonder piece of shop kit)

It's the little things(you do for your customer)

     Sometimes your customer has a problem, might be a little one, that they need help with. You can shrug your shoulders are figure out a solution.
     This guy wanted a bell on his bike. The mount would not work on his handlebar and he really wanted it off of the steerer anyway. I could have shown him the bell that mounts on the top cap, but he really liked this bell.
     So I took the bell apart, removed one of the headset spacers, drilled it and tapped it to fit the main screw of the bell, and added a spacer so the hammer would have enough room, put it all back together. 15 minutes to make someone happy.

      Doing this starts with two things. One, the willingness to expend a little effort to work with someone to reach their goal and making it your goal. Two, the ability to look at the solution rather than the problem. (OK, in this case, three things. You need some mechanical know-how also)
     In any small business making the customer happy is key to their returning. Since you can't do it by giving stuff away for free, you need to do it by solving the problems you can.
     And not every problem can be solved(Without throwing lots of money at it). Now it is time to explain why you cannot replace the seat post on that Peugeot  Versailles.(23.8mm, out of production for 25 years. You knew that, right?) In a case like this I will still do a little extra. Show them the catalogs, bring up a search for the seat post on the internet, recommend checking some bike co-ops, explain how to do an Ebay search, tell them to never buy another Peugeot (Just kidding, don't do that). This can alleviate some of their frustration and redirect them in a (hopefully) productive direction.
     Now to warm up for this go to the mall and hold the door for some people.