28.35g of Prevention…

Nobody likes to crash. It hurts, and we miss epic rides because we are stuck at home healing. Some crashes are out of our control. Others we can prevent. Here are some tips for bike maintenance that will help you prevent a case of nasty road rash, or worse:

1. Don’t rotate your tires in an attempt to even out the wear. This isn’t Discount Tires and you aren’t driving a four-wheeled vehicle. You are riding your bike, where a front flat in a corner at 30 mph is more than an inconvenience. Your rear tire will wear about 3 times as fast as the front. When you buy a new tire to replace your worn rear tire, PUT THE NEW TIRE ON THE FRONT. Then, take your slightly worn front tire and put it on the rear. Yes, I know that means you will have to install two tires, not one. You need the practice. Do it. Why? Because then you will have a fresh new tire on the front and it will never be more than 1/3rd worn. It won’t be subjected to UV rays for a year and you won’t have a gazillion little glass cuts in it. The tread will never get thin, and you may go for years without ever experiencing a front flat. This is a good thing. Believe me.
2. If you patch your tubes, don’t ever use a patched tube on the front wheel. Patches seem to fail right when you don’t want them to. A rear flat isn’t fun in a high-speed corner. A front flat? See #1.
3. The cool, lightweight wheels we ride today don’t have a lot of spokes like the ones we used to ride. Did you know that the lower the spoke count, the higher the spoke tension has to be? If your wheels have lots of miles on them, particularly if you ride near the coast (where they are subjected to damp, salt air), take a close look at your spoke nipples. Corroded nipples often have cracks hiding under the white powder that is your aluminum nipple slowly decaying. Cracked nipples fail, and with higher tension wheels, the wheel goes out of true instantly. Way out of true. Remember that high-speed corner? Wobbling front wheels are amusing to your friends, but you won’t be laughing. Consider having a professional wheel builder (that would be Charles Wells) inspect your wheels annually. He’s very adept at finding those pesky cracked nipples.
4. Carbon fiber is wonderfully light and makes for a great riding fork or handlebar. It’s also fragile. If you are in any kind of accident, have your fork inspected by a competent bike mechanic. That means removing the fork to check the carbon steering column as well as the fork blades. So far this year, Cody has discovered two cracked steering columns while doing normal maintenance on customers’ bikes. If the thought of riding with a cracked steering column doesn’t send shivers up you spine, I don’t know what will. If your crash involves a car or other immovable object, buy a new fork, bar and stem. They may "look" OK, but don’t be fooled. A broken fork never ends pretty.

I hope these simple suggestions help prevent even one mishap.

Ride safely.

Bill Holland