Bike Talk: Build vs Buy

Dean H. Saxe (@n3rd1ty from twitter) asks:

When is it better to build a bike vs. buy complete? Advantages/disadvantages to either?

This is, at its core, a bike geek question. Only folks who geek out on details and like to think about each little part of the bike even think about building a bike. And by build, in general, we're not talking about building completely from scratch, like the guy who built a toaster and wrote a book about it, we're talking about getting a frame from some place, a nice set of wheels from somewhere else, a seatpost, deraillers, shifters, cables, etc and putting it all together. If you really like to geek out, you can build your own frame and lace up your own wheels.

Here, as I see it, are the advantages to "building" your own bike:

You'll get to spend A LOT of time and effort doing it. If you find this kind of stuff fun, you'll have A LOT of fun. You'll get to talk to A LOT of folks about it. You will learn A LOT. Do you know about seatpost diameters and setback? Do you understand the relationship of seat tube angle to front shifting performance? Do you understand what the chain wrap capacity is of various derailleurs? Do you understand the relationships of bottom bracket spindle length and crankset design? These and a few thousand other questions will be asked and answered as you build your bike.

You will stimulate the economy. You will learn by experience and unless you are very, very good, very, very experienced, or very, very lucky, you'll guess wrong and buy some stuff twice. And if you are very, very experienced, you're well past the point of asking if this is a good idea.

The biggest theoretical advantage of building your own bike is that you get exactly what you want. In practice, your bike, like any real object in the real world is constrained by budget, time, and the laws of physics and mechanics.

Despite my pessimistic tone in the past few paragraphs, if you're a true bike geek, you're going to go for it. If that's you, go for it, you'll have a ball.

But here's the other side of the coin and the route I recommend:

Buy something off the shelf with something wrong with it. This is astoundingly easy to do because everything has something wrong with it. And by wrong I mean it has some feature you don't like or that doesn't work for you. Buy the flawed thing and fix the flaw. Or even better, try the flawed thing and see if the flaw really messes up the bike for you. It might not and you might be surprised.

Here are some of the advantages of buying off the shelf:

You can test ride. The bike is right there, you can ride it. You can feel how smooth or rough the shifting is, you can see how tight the brakes feel, and see how the bike handles a corner.

You take advantages of the economies of scale. Guess what? When Trek or Specialized buy a derailleur from Shimano, it costs them less than it costs you or me. Because they buy thousands of them at a time and they put them on thousands of bikes. If you buy one frame and one rear derailleur and one seatpost and so on, you'll spend a lot more money than you would if you buy a whole bike from the big guys who buy in volume.

By the way, those folks at Trek, Specialized, Giant or whomever? They've got a lot of experience figuring out what components work on what bikes. Yeah, they want to hit a price point and that may be why the bike doesn't have component X that you wish it had. So buy the bike and change out component X.

If you want to find a good deal on a bike, find last year's bike on close out. If it was a good bike then, it is still a good bike now even if something newer is out. And your local bike shop is motivated to move it.

The best way to buy a bike's worth of components is to get a whole bike. I once bought an entire bike that was completely the wrong size for me, transferred wheels, drive-train, etc to a proper sized frame and then sold the big frame and came out money ahead on the deal. I bought an entire bike at a thrift store once just to get the pair of Phil Wood CHP pedals that were on it. I came out ahead on that deal as well.

In the end, I think every bike is a bit of mix of build vs. buy. We buy when we like the bike more than we like the money it'll cost to buy it. And I think we really make the bike our own not in the buying, but in the ways we tweak it to make it our own and make it last.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson
Issaquah WA USA

Bike Talk: What to take on a 1200K Randonee?

Iron Rider from Pennsylvania writes:

"In a few days I will start my first 1200K Randonee. What should I take with me?"

First off, congrats on taking on a 1200K. Second, there's very little I can tell you that you didn't already learn in doing the 200, 300, 400 and 600 kilometer brevets that lead up to your 1200K, but I won't let that stop me from jotting some thoughts down here. Maybe some tiny bit of what I write will prove useful.

For those readers just tuning into the whole randonneuring scene, a 1200K is a 1200 kilometer bike ride that must be completed on a specified course within set time limits. It's not a race, but it is a timed test of endurance. A good starting point for those wanting to learn about randonneuring is the list of Frequently Asked Questions that my pals in the Seattle International Randonneurs assembled.

Let me start with some of my totally biased opinions on what you should NOT take with you. A lot of folks will disagree with me on these points and they're free to express their opinions in the comments or in their own blog posts. My thoughts on these matters have been formed by riding and observing other riders on Paris-Brest-Paris, Boston-Montreal-Boston, London-Edinburgh-London, the Rocky Mountain 1200, the VanIsle 1200 and various other randonnees.

Drop the Drop Bag Habit

In theory, a drop bag (a small bag of gear sent ahead to one of the check points) will contain some handy bits of gear and will let a rider complete the event faster and more comfortably. In practice I've seen more riders miserable because their gloves are in their drop bags and they "didn't think it'd be this cold, this soon" or wet because "it wasn't supposed to rain until tomorrow." Drop bags are one more logistical problem for controlle workers, one more time sink when you are stopped at a controlle and one great opportunity for sloppy thinking in your ride planning. If you need something, carry it. If you don't don't.

Try NOT to have a supportive spouse or friend meet you at a controlle

 Again the theory goes that the moral support of a good friend or spouse saying "you can do it!" at some point 800 kilometers into a grueling ride can be just the thing to buoy your spirits and get you out on the road. In practice your loving spouse or caring buddy is more likely to say something honest and caring like "gee you look like hell! Are you doing OK?" And of course the odds are that you may feel like hell at that point and if that spouse or buddy has a car or some way for you to get home that doesn't involve riding your damn bicycle...well that's how a lot of rides end in the letters DNF.

The best controlle workers are either good folks you like who lie with conviction "You're doing great!" or grumpy strangers who push you back out on the road before you think you're ready. The biggest mistake new riders make is burning up too much time in the controlles. A good mental trick is to think of yourself as a spy and the controlle workers as inquistive border guards. You want to get in and out as fast as possible.

But What Should You Carry?

All randonneurs and bike tourists are constantly looking for the magic point of "just enough stuff". Vik wrote a great post, mostly about touring, but it certainly applies to randonneuring, titled You're Carrying Too Much Stuff and one of the things you should carry with you is the memory of that article and a healthy skepticism about every bit of your gear. That said, here are some bits, gadgets and do-dads that I tend to carry.

Repair stuff: Of course the pump, spare tube & patch kit. A good multitool. A bit of duct tape wrapped around the seatpost, a few nylon zip ties. A FiberFix spoke.

Food & Water: Always have something to eat and drink with you. It doesn't have to be much, but have something. Different flavors & textures of food are key. Something salty and something sweet. PayDay bars are awesome. Check out What Long Distance Cyclists Really Eat for advice. Chocolate covered Espresso beans can work like rocket fuel.

Clothing: You better have that figured out by now. I've found a Buff to be super handy and my Marmot Driclime windshirt is a super great layer. A really handy thing for sleeping anywhere is earplugs. Use the Buff as a sleep mask.

Lights: Again, something you should have already worked out. I don't care if you have the greatest, brightest generator hub/LED setup ever, carry something with batteries as well. When you're changing a flat on a dark road, trying to read a cue sheet or looking for a roadside sign, a helmet light is well worth the weight. A Petzl e-Lite weighs damn near nothing and a Princeton Tec EOS is bright enough to serve as a bike light. As always for night riding, bring all the required reflective stuff.

Emergency & First Aid stuff: Bandaids & the usual stuff. Bag Balm is awesome. Sunblock. A space blanket. MicroPur tablets.

The most important thing you carry: is what's in your head. Ideally you'll have stories and memories of folks going through tough times, fond thoughts of good times, bits of silly songs to get you through dark nights ("once upon a time there was a randonneur, rode his bicycle both far and near...")

It's a long strange trip. Good luck and Keep on truckin'.

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson
Issaquah WA USA

Bike Talk: How Can I Prevent Finger/Toe Numbness on Long Distance Rides?

Jim (@DCin24 on Twitter) asks:

How can I prevent finger/toe numbness on long rides?

Before I answer Jim's question, a disclaimer. I'm not a doctor and I haven't seen Jim on a bike. There is only so much that some random guy on the internet can do to help you out with bike comfort and fit issues. That said, I do have some experience in doing rides that people tell me count as "long rides" and I'm fit-certified by Trek. I hope Jim and any of you others reading this at least find what I write here worth the time you're going to spend reading it. As always, feel free to add any insight you might have as a comment to this blog.

Having a bike that's the right size matters and any good bike shop should be able to get you on a bike that is the right size. Fit, however, deals with all the aspects of how you as a person interface with the bicycle and getting a good fit requires a lot of attention to human factors such a skeletal dimensions, musculature, flexibility, injury history and so forth. A full, professional fit with a good bike fitter may seem expensive, but many people find it to be time and money well spent. So my first advice is find a good, local fit person. Ask around, a person good at fitting will have a good reputation and happy clients.

But not everybody has a good local fit person and there are some good resources on the internet.  Peter White wrote a pretty good, no BS article on bike fit here:

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/fitting.htm

The reason I'm talking so much about fit instead of diving right into Jim's specific question is that the problems he's asking about concern two of the three contact points on a bike, the hands and the feet. You contact the bike in three spots, your butt, your feet and your hands. You can think of those spots as vertices of a triangle. Often the pain or numbness that manifests on one vertex of the triangle is best addressed by adjusting the dimensions or orientation of the triangle. For example, a change in saddle fore/aft position can have quite an effect on how much pressure is on your hands. Raising or lowering your handlebars or changing your stem length can also have profound effects. When I did the final dial in of my Redline Flight for the Tour Divide, I changed both the stem length and the saddle position.

Now experience has taught me to be cautious of absolutes so I am wary of formulas or mechanisms that say this is the "best" spot for your feet to be on the pedals, and this is the "ideal" saddle height and here is the "exact" reach you should have to your handle bars. Do you want to make sure you're uncomfortable? Lock yourself into one position. Want to be more comfortable? Be willing and able to change things if you need to.

A couple of stories to illustrate my point. Michael Sylvester, one of the fellows who trained me in fitting, tells of a honeymoon tandem tour he took with his wife. She wound up having foot pain (or maybe it was knee pain) with her clipless pedals. Michael's fix? Flat pedals. Was his wife's foot in the "optimal" position for pedaling? Probably not. Was her pain problem solved? Yes it was.

Or take the famous stories of Eddy Merckx fiddling with his saddle height mid-race. A lot of folks take this as a "he's so in tune with his machine, he can tell when the mechanic got a dimension wrong" but I think that's the wrong take away. On any given day, Merckx was willing to tweak his position. Merckx was in tune with his body and what it needed.

I'm a big fan of Ergon grips, flat pedals and saddles and clothing with smooth seams. All these items allow me as a rider to avoid continual pressure on a single point of contact. I can slide around on my saddle, my grips have broad, flat surfaces with a several good places to grip. My feet are not locked into a single spot on the pedal and my knees and feet like it that way. Your mileage may vary. Many, many people ride many, many happy miles with their feet clipped into pedals. I'm just not one of those people these days.

I hope some of this helps.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson
Issaquah WA USA

Bike Talk: Bike Maintenance Books?

Jeff from Portland writes:

I'd like to know your recommendations for learning more about bicycle maintenance. Are there books you'd recommend, online resources, etc?

Jeff, if you're from Portland, Maine I think I understand your question, but if you're living in Portland, Oregon, I'm a bit confused. Didn't they issue you a set of Park Tools along with the reusable coffee cup when you moved there? I thought that was part of the Portland Human-Powered Welcome Wagon Package. Check the chicken coop in the back yard, the tools are probably hanging up in there.

Of course tools won't do you much good if you don't know what to do with them, so to get serious about Jeff's question, a great starting point for learning bike maintenance and repair is the Park Tool Big Blue Book of Bike Repair. Written by Calvin Jones, the Big Blue Book is a great guide to repairs and the tools you'll need to get the job done. The book has lots of pictures and simple, clear instructions. Yeah, the book will probably convince you to go out and buy a bunch of Park Tools (unless you've found some in the chicken coop out back) but Park makes good tools and good tools and the knowledge of how to use them are good investments.

A couple of other good bike maintenance books are those written by Lennard Zinn. Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance or Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance go into more detail than the Park book, are quite up-to-date and are packed with good illustrations and exploded views of parts.

I'm going to digress for a moment (shocking, I know!) and talk a bit about the whole "Zen and the Art of SomeDamnThing" books out there. In general, "Zen and the X" books are bad. The original book, Eugen Herrigel's Zen in the Art of Archery was a wonderful look at both Zen and Archery and that book is a little gem. Robert Persig played with Herrigel's title in his own Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, a big, great, flawed book containing some terrific stuff and virtually no information about Zen. As Pirsig notes, "it's not very factual on motorcycles, either." I can forgive Persig for the bloat of that book, but I mostly curse the mass of "Zen and Dreck" books that are more litter than literature. I'll let Zinn slide because it's OK to make a pun on your name and Ray Bradbury actually wrote a lovely book called Zen in the Art of Writing but most "Zen and..." books are horrible things like Neville Shulman's dreadful Zen in the Art of Climbing Mountains.

Returning the subject of bicycles, there are a couple of great online references. The one I hit most often is Sheldon Brown's massive storehouse of bike info at www.sheldonbrown.com. Whether it's odd wheel size info or bottom bracket threading or the strange code I need to calibrate a cycle computer, the odds are Sheldon has that info tucked somewhere on his site.

Sheldon's site can be a bit overwhelming, so I often point folks to another handy site, Jim Langley's Wrench site at http://www.jimlangley.net/wrench/wrench.html. Jim has a wealth of info and practical advice on his site and it's well worth repeated visits.

I hope this helps. In addition to the books and websites I've listed here, check with your local bike shops and see if they know of or offer bike repair classes. Bikes are fun machines and learning to maintain and repair them can be part of that fun.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson
Issaquah WA USA

Bike Talk: Do I Keep On Truckin'?

Joseph from Cyberspace writes:

I own a Surly Long Haul Trucker and have truly embraced The Mountain Turtle philosophy and love going out on 60+ mile trips. I find that I average about 14 mph and slowly make my way uphills on my steel-frame bike. However, my girlfriend and our friends who own more traditional, lighter road bikes, average quite a bit faster speed on our weekend rides and really attack hills. Is there a way that I can ride with them without feeling like I'm holding everyone up or without hurting their feelings by choosing not to ride with them? I can tell that they are somewhat annoyed that I can't keep up. And I usually feel a little defeated that I can't keep up (though I do love that my downhill speeds are usually significantly faster than theirs). 


Am I doomed to a life of solo riding? Do I have to give up on the love of my Surly and buy a lighter bike? I don't really want to drop the money on a new bike.

Joseph, although you wrote with a specific problem and I'll get around to offering some specific advice, your situation highlights the fact that there are a broad range of bikes, bike styles and bike riders in the world. Thoreau advises:

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."

It's worth noting at this point that Thoreau never really had a girlfriend and it's probably not a good idea to take relationship advice from a guy who I'm sure many of the Concord townsfolk referred to as "that odd cabin fellow."

Joseph, I'm assuming that you are fond of both your girlfriend and your friends, since you express concern for their feelings. It's worth noting, however, that when you speak of love in your note, you are talking about your Surly. Remember, no matter how nice the Surly is, it probably doesn't love you back.

Grant Petersen writes eloquently of the "unracer" in his book Just Ride and Jim Thill has a nice riff on that theme on his blog. Both these guys are well-known shills for the massive wool and waxed-cotton industries and I can't believe how they've managed to completely dominate the U.S. bicycle scene...Oh wait, that's not true at all.

While Grant and Jim and others point out that you don't need a carbon frame or clicky shoes to have fun on a bike that doesn't mean that folks wearing lycra and riding carbon that are not having a great time with their bikes. Sprinting for signs, charging up hills, riding pacelines and all kinds of other things can be loads of fun. We all don't have to like the same things. We all don't have to do the same things.

And that, I think, is the crux of Joseph's dilemma. While Joseph, his girlfriend and their friends are all riding bikes, they really are not doing the same thing. Joseph's friends would probably not be happy on their thin-tired fast bikes on a gravel back road 50 miles from nowhere and Joseph would probably not be happy on an uphill sprint.

Years ago my friend Andy and I both got into mountain biking. Andy loved going fast, downhill and I loved to climb. Andy wound up getting into long-travel bikes with lots of suspension and he'd seek out rocky, downhill runs. I wound up getting lighter hardtails and favoring long climbs into the back country. We haven't ridden together in years. It's no big deal, but we're into different things.

Joseph, I guess I'm telling you that your Trucker is never going to be a racer. That's OK, but you have to be OK with that. Maybe you don't ride with your friends, maybe you meet them at the coffee shop. Maybe you're the guy who hauls all the food. Embrace your turtleness, use and believe the phrase "don't wait up." If you're OK being slower than your friends, they'll be OK with it.

Or maybe you do get a go fast bike for go fast things. It doesn't have to be an expensive proposition, you can get something very speedy if you get an old, quick bike. Find a pal whose itching to upgrade and buy his old bike. One of the quickest bikes I ever had I got for $20 and six Clif Bars. If you really want to ride with your girlfriend and your buddies and they are all quick people on quick bikes, well you can see what you should do.

Or opt out. "You do what you do, and I do what I do" is a fine way to go as well. Not everybody has to do the same things together. My wife sings in a choir, I don't. I drink coffee, she doesn't. Somehow, we still love each other and stay married. Every once in a while I ride whacky long distances and Christine doesn't. Other times we ride together and have wonderful trips.

Joseph, your girlfriend and your friends may come to see the virtue of your turtlesque ways. If they see you having fun on your bike, they may want to try it. Trade bikes for a bit. Ride a mile in the other person's shoes, so to speak. You may have more in common than you think.

Life, as a certain band notes, is a long, strange trip.

Keep on truckin'

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson
Issaquah WA USA

Bike Talk: Change from 27" to 700c rims?

Kenneth from Cyberspace writes:

I have a early 80s fuji with steel 27" rims. I'm going to change the steel rims for aluminum and plan on re-lacing the new aluminum rims to the original aluminum hubs. Is it worth changing to 700c? It looks like my brake pads have the 4mm adjustment so mechanically there shouldn't be a problem. The main reason I'd consider 700c is for the better tire size selection, I'm just wondering if there are other benefits? I plan on using the bike for around town and overnight camping. Also I don't mind sticking with 27" rims.


First off, while I do have a fondness for older steel bikes like Kenneth's Fuji, those warm thoughts do not extend to the steel rims found on some bikes of that era. Chromed steel rims were inexpensive and strong but wet weather braking was always poor. Good brakepads, like Kool Stop Salmon pads could make the braking a bit better, but one of the best things you can do to upgrade an old bike is replace the rims with aluminum alloy rims, as Kenneth is planning on doing. He'll wind up with a lighter wheel that actually is capable of stopping well in the rain.

As with most things bike related, the late Sheldon Brown has great pages that address the issues of upgrading older bikes and the mysteries of tire sizing. Sheldon explains and Kenneth clearly understands that 700C rims have a diameter that is 8 millimeters smaller than the 27" rims, so the brake pads must be moved 4 millimeters closer to the center of the wheel.

In theory, he could order a replacement 27" inch aluminum rim and reuse not only his hubs, but his spokes as well, but I think that would be a false economy. The old spokes have been stressed to the old rim and if you're going through the work and expense of rebuilding the wheel, opt for new spokes.

As Sheldon notes, "the 630 mm/27 inch size was used on most sporty bikes in the U.S. up until the early 1980s, when it was gradually replaced by the slightly smaller 622 mm size also known as 700C." While 27 inch rims are still available, as are tires, the selection of 700C tires is far, far greater. The older size exists because the U.S. was a large, non-metric market but it has been several decades since anyone has made and marketed a bicycle with 27 inch wheels (Commenters please correct me if I'm wrong on this). 


While there is a sufficient mass of old bicycles to keep the 27 inch market alive, there is really no effective demand for new tires to be made in that size. While people with a good sense of and respect for the past, folks like Grant Petersen and Jan Heine, may argue and work for the preservation of the useful wheel size of 650B, it's worth noting that neither of these gentlemen wax poetic on the virtues of 27 inch tires. Steve Miller was wrong in his lyrics. Time doesn't go slippin, slippin, slippin into the future, it slips into the past. And that is where 27 inch wheels mostly exist now. The tires and rims may not go extinct in our lifetimes, but the market for that rim size is certainly not a booming one.

And that extra 4 millimeters of clearance at the rim is a good thing. It give you more room for fitting wider tires. Or fenders. Or both. Good things. Jan Heine has all kinds of good things to say about wider tires, as do many of us who ride on less than perfect roads.

Riders who are happy with their 27 inch wheeled bikes probably don't need to rush out and rebuild their wheels. If you love your existing brakes and don't have 4 mm of travel to move the pads down, you can stick with 27 inch wheels and still find tires in the world. But if you are like Kenneth and are planning on rebuilding your wheels with new rims, go for 700C. You'll have a greater tire selection, more clearance and a more certain future.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson
Issaquah WA USA

Bike Talk: A Bogus Bodhisattva Is Something To Be

Velo Sage by Philip Newsom

Bob from Granite Bay, CA writes:


My question:  with all of your years of experience, how do you control your temper when a motorist comes a bit too close to you while riding?  Especially when it appears to happen intentionally?  or if non-intentionally, it occurs when the opposing lane is clear of vehicles for the car traveling in the same direction as you?  If the lane is clear, is it asking too much for the driver to move 2-3ft to the left?  What is your secret?  is it your cool and level-headed personality that prevents you from presenting the universal hand-signal?  the common sense that prevails when you know how easily a 5000lb vehicle can snuff out anyone in a split second--that it's best to keep your pie-hole shut and both hands on your handlebars? 

I honestly try to keep a cool head whenever this happens to me, but I sheepishly admit that I am only successful maybe 20% of the time.  I am certainly not proud of it and typically feel worse afterwards even though no bodily harm has occurred.  Thanks for any advice.  In the meantime, I'll be searching for a 7-step plan......

Hi Bob,

You ask a great question, and bring up a situation that anyone who rides in the world is all too familiar with. I'm not 100% successful in always keeping my cool in stressful situations, but I do keep trying to get my percentage higher, so maybe we can do a bit to up your success rate above 20%. Remember, you're already part way there. 20% is better than 0%.

Experienced cyclist and good, mellow guy Russ Roca wrote eloquently about this dicey situation earlier this year in his article Inside an International Bike Incident. Russ does a great job of describing the situation, the rage of the driver and his own rage at the time.

In the heat of the moment, we react, just like anyone else who cares about their life or their loved one. It’s a basic human instinct. We generally keep our cool, but there was obvious malice in his driving, and we threw our arms up in a “why’d you do that” gesture. 

It is not a proud moment when, as a bike advocate, you lose your cool, but I did. Finger gestures where made, to which the driver returned the same. This is where some “blame the victim” usually creeps in and people will no doubt say that I somehow brought this whole incident upon myself, conveniently disregarding the fact that just moments before someone driving two tons of steel had threatened us with bodily injury. This point has always bothered me when I’ve read these sort of stories myself. The cyclist is suppose to not react, to be a Ghandi-esque figure at all times, not registering any discontent at the fact that two tons of steel was just maliciously steered at them with impunity. Forgive this cyclist for being imperfect and human.

As Russ notes, we are humans. Imperfect.

A while ago my friend Mark Vande Kamp had a similar close call resulting in escalating finger gestures followed by a busted bicycle and a trip to the ER. As you noted, as bike riders we're the fellows with the knives at the gunfight, so escalation is probably not the wise course of action.

But we're human, imperfect, and we often react not with logic but adrenaline. Logic and experience tells us finger gestures and shouting will do little to make the other fellow see the error of his ways but those may be our default behaviors. The problems then, is to change or channel our defaults.

I have one suggestion for changing the default that may help a bit and one trick that has worked great for me. I'll get to the trick in a minute, but here's the suggestion:

We're all humans. Imperfect. Russ said it and it's true. You're imperfect and so is the asshole driver. Their imperfection is probably not something you're going to fix right there, right now on the road. The odds are good you're not going to fix all your imperfections either.

Like that temper of yours. For my temper, I try to channel it. Instead of flipping somebody off, I flip the ringer on my bike bell. It's ridiculously useless against the driver that just buzzed me, but it keeps my fingers busy. Like chewing gum instead of smoking.

But here's the big trick: Fake it.

When I was in college I first learned about Buddhism and enlightenment. One of aspects of Buddhism I found most interesting was the idea of the Bodhisattva, "a being that compassionately refrains from entering nirvana in order to save others." The idea of achieving the ultimate understanding of the universe, having the ability to break free of the endless cycle of birth and death and then saying "No thanks, I'll stay here and help others get across" seemed far more awesome than enlightenment itself.

And then I had my own bit of enlightenment in the form of a question: if an enlightened Bodhisattva is admirable, is a non-enlightened being, behaving in the same manner, just as admirable?

OK, you think weird things when you're a college philosophy major. But if you're lucky you live through it and it helps you live a pretty damn good life.

Here's my point. I wanted to live in a calmer, less angry world so I fake being calmer and less angry. I took Bon Jovi's advice and when the world got in my face I'd say "Have a Nice Day."

And you know, it's the damnedest thing. It works.

I'm not 100% successful, but I'm one of the calmest people I know. Kurt Vonnegut explained it well, "Be careful what you pretend to be because you are what you pretend to be." Smart fellow that Mr. Vonnegut.


Fake it until you make it.

Thanks for writing.

Have a nice day.

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson
Issaquah WA USA

Bike Talk: Backlit Bike Computer?

Phil from cyberspace asks what sounds like a simple question:

Do you know of a wired, backlit bike computer?  I don’t need the interference from the next guy’s bike computer, and I don’t need a lot of features. For following a trip sheet at night, sometimes all night! (I’ll carry spare batteries…)

There are surprisingly few backlit cyclecomputers. The SIGMA BC1606L is backlit and so is the very inexpensive Schwinn 20-Function Bike Computer. In general, I've been very impressed with the design, engineering and build quality of Sigma products. As for the Schwinn, I'll just say that the Schwinn name products of today have pretty much nothing in common with the classic hand-built Paramounts and  bullet-proof electro-forged Varsities of yesteryear.

I've written previously about wireless computers and interference and while there are probably some good, digital signal wireless computers now that feature both a backlight and and resistance to interference, I'll leave it to my helpful blog commenters to note them.

For my night riding brevets and such things where I need a computer, I use a non-backlit Cateye Enduro that I see thanks to my helmet light. The helmet light is also handy for reading cue sheets and roadside signs. It's also super handy for doing things like changing flat tires.

That's my take on bike computers. These days, I pretty much run without a computer but I know many folks now use their phones or GPS units to track their progress and make their way in the world. Again, I hope people will weigh in with their comments about their favorite bike computing solution.

As always feel free to send me any Bike Talk questions via email at kentsbike@gmail.com or via Twitter at @kentsbike.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson
Issaquah WA USA

Bike Talk: What's the best way to deal with the rain?

I'm starting a new feature here on the blog, something I call "Bike Talk". Think of "Bike Talk" as "Car Talk" with bikes instead of cars and one less brother. I may be just as (in)accurate with my answers as Tom and Ray and it's a decent bet that I won't be as funny. Since this is on a blog instead of the radio, you won't hear me laughing at my own jokes, so that's probably a plus. I'll take questions throughout the week via Twitter (@kentsbike) or email (kentsbike@gmail.com) and once a week I'll grab a question and post it along with the response here. I'll also take questions by mail. Just write your question on the back of Brompton folding bike with titanium rear triangle, wide-range 6-speed gearing, WTB Rocket V-saddle, and a Russ Roca Signature Edition folding cappuccino maker to:

Bike Talk Plaza
c/o Bicycle Center of Issaquah
121 Front Street North
Issaquah (my fair city) WA 98027

Today's question comes from Rohit via Twitter. Rohit asks:

"What's the best way to deal with rain in Seattle?"

This one's easy. First off, I should make clear that I actually live in Issaquah, which is about 17 miles east of Seattle, right at the base of the Cascade Mountains. One of Issaquah's claims to fame is that we actually get more rain than Seattle. And I can tell you, with the certainty based on years of biking in the rain, that hands down the absolute best way to deal with rain is to stop for coffee. My lovely wife, who is a year 'round bike commuter and doesn't even drink coffee, will tell you the same thing.

Unfortunately, given the persistent nature of rain in this green part of the world and the burdens we all bear, it is impossible to spend every waking moment in a coffee shop (trust me on this, there are days I've come close). So the intrepid rider must go out into the elements and that is where good clothing proves it's use.

There's a simple, wrong, cliché that states that "there is no bad weather, only bad clothing." I'd argue that there certainly IS bad weather. Bad clothing can make things seem much worse and good clothing can make things seem much, much better. My wise wife will tell you that when you look out the window at 4:00 AM and you have to ride to work, you don't say "oh, look at the good weather." You say "this bites." And then you put on your good clothes, get on your bike and go.

A good rain bike will have fenders to help keep you dry and lights so the drivers have a better chance of seeing you through their rain-slicked windshields. Christine and I both favor wearing caps under our helmets to keep the rain off our glasses.

For the past few years my favorite rain jacket has been the Patagonia Torrentshell. While not a cycling specific jacket, it's proven to be tough, light, well-designed and well-made. It has big pit-zips so it doesn't get too hot and it layers well with warmer layers when it gets cold. Christine and I both have nothing but good things to say about our Torrentshells and no matter how good the weather looks when we leave the house, we have our Torrentshells tucked into our packs just in case.

The O2 Cycling Rain Jacket is a great jacket for minimalists or those on a tight budget. While the jacket is made of a very thin, light material and it has no zipper vents or pockets, it does a good job. The thin material can be fairly easily torn but my first O2, jacket survived a year of commuting and my 2005 Great Divide Ride, so I certainly feel my $35 was well-spent on this jacket.

There are other good jackets as well. My friends Jan and Mark both have good things to say about the Gore Bike Wear jackets (I'm not sure which one, maybe one of them will chime in on the comments). Portland-based Showers Pass make very nice jackets that are favored by many foul-weather commuters.

For rain pant's I use some inexpensive coated nylon pants that I've had for years. Christine favors her REI Ultralight Rainpants.

For the extremities (hands, feet and ears) it's often not a question of keeping dry, but keeping warm. A band over the ears makes a huge difference in comfort and one of the best, most versatile bits of gear is a Buff. A Buff is simple tube of Coolmax or wool that can be folded into an earband or a beanie and it's a super handy bit of gear.

For gloves, a thin wool layer for warmth and a Windstopper layer on top has proven to be the best combination. Depending on temperature you can use one or both layers and if the lining layer does get wet, it can be wrung out. Gloves with integrated linings take damn near forever to dry when they do get wet. Wool, even when damp, is warm.

For the feet, the look that I first thought was so stupid when I first moved here is now my footwear of choice. Yes, I'm one of those wool socks and sandals people. If it's really cold, I may have a Goretex sock over the wool. Yeah, it looks stupid, but my feet are comfortable.

That's it for episode one of Bike Talk. As long as I keep getting questions I'll try to do this once a week or so.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson
Issaquah WA USA