Tracy - Bicycle! : A Repair & Maintenance Manifesto, 2nd Edition

Bicycle! A Repair & Maintenance Manifesto, 2nd Edition
by Sam Tracy 2013 Sam Tracy

This edition copyright 2013 PM Press All Rights Reserved

ISBN: 978-1-60486-640-7
LCCN: 2012913627

Cover by Peter Davidson
Layout by Jonathan Rowland

PM Press
PO Box 23912
Oakland, CA 94623
www.pmpress.org

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed on recycled paper by the Employee Owners of ThomsonShore in Dexter, Michigan.
www.thomsonshore.com

I would first like to thank Seng Chen, Peter Davidson, Sara Lindstrom, Dan Osterud, Joey Paxman, Kerri Spindler-Ranta, and Nancy Tracy for providing the graphic balance this book relies upon. I would also like to thank the good folks at the Hub in Minneapolis for the chance to catch up on things, and everyone at PM Press for the opportunity to put it to words. Finally, the success of this book owes much to Mohamed O. Hmeida, Mohamed O. Amar, Ramatas, Hawa Diaz, Dahane, Ahmed O. Jiyid, and of course my lovely wife Kerri.

G o: get on your bike, slip out into the yawning morning traffic, find your groove, and get there. Its the start of a new day for so many of us, all around the worldin forward-thinking cities like Amsterdam, bicycles already account for 35 percent of all trips taken. In Groningen, a Swedish city of 180,000, its 60 percent. The vitality that comes with riding intoxicatesas the Dutch NGO Interface for Cycling Expertise puts it, Cycling in reality may be less difficult, less dangerous, faster and more practical than many people suspect. Even in China, nascent star-child for the automotive industry, cyclists still outnumber drivers by more than fifty to one.

Even the most casual glance confirms that distinct bikes are lately available to suit just about any useful ambition, at points all up and down the quality spectrum, but in the end we ride what we have, and that fairly describes the scope of this book. Whatever you paid for your bike, however cool it happens to look, it will eventually need some work. The trials of our passage can cost more than we might like to think, in terms of wear and tear, and one day the bill will surely come due. That day need not overwhelm! Bike repair begins with at least two advantages: an injured bicycle is a hell of a lot cheaper to fix than certain other forms of transportation, and the mechanical principles in play are also much more accessibleno gas, no explosions. Given some insight and a few tools, the odds are good you can do it yourself.

The original Manifesto came together in 2005, when I worked as a mechanic at a high-end bike shop in San Francisco. This new edition began in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, where my wife Kerri and I served as Peace Corps Volunteers. As might be imagined, the distance between the two places left an impression. There was no carbon fiber to be seen over there, let alone titanium; just plenty of chromed steel rims and old cottered cranks. Those dusty old garage relics, donated to groups like ReCycle or Bikes Not Bombs? From all we saw, people end up making very good use of them.

Our spotty internet made it possible to follow technical developments in the cycling worldas a longtime mechanic, it might be more correct to say that these were difficult to ignore. Yet, from such a vantage, the latest and greatest also became less relevant. Bikes in the RIM (Republique Islamique de Mauritanie) are taken for their last possible miles, literally ridden to ground, drawing the focus back to the opposite end of the spectrum. This edition will duly consider the new math, in all its ultra-light glory, but my heart remains with the older and more proven technology, much of which is still in use all around the world. Ultimately I am most interested in making the most of what is available, whatever that happens to be, with the goal of providing the fundamentals for as many cyclists as possible.

There is nothing sacrosanct about fixing bikes. More so than anywhere else Ive lived, life in the RIM confirms that mechanical aptitude is merely a distinct pursuit, not unlike any other. Circumstance might lead any of us to have more or less exposure to mechanical concepts and applications, and with this the opportunity to develop fluency, but really thats about it. Success with bike repair follows from experience more than anything else, which to a significant extent grounds it squarely in the public domain.

The soundtrack to the second edition includes Seun Kuti, Faith & the Muse, Off!, Yo Majesty, Awesome Snakes, Black Angels, Cheater Slicks, Brunt of It, Best Friends Forever, Career Suicide, Frontside Five, Agent Orange, Cut Chemist, Fleet Foxes, Rudimentary Peni, Sisters of Mercy, Joy Division, New Order, Flux of Pink Indians, Bats in the Belfry and Radio Ninja on WMBR, MKEPunk.com, KUSF In Exile, Dark Dark Dark, and the muezzin.

L ike other trades, bicycle repair is in most respects a specialty. Some of the skills and tools acquired elsewhere in life may become useful, as well see, and others will not. The use of force necessarily becomes much more judicious, to take one examplea fairly obvious point, given the scale of many of the parts involved. Our accelerating tendency to rush is best left at the day job, as well: it is possible to wreck just about anything, done fast enough.

In the ideal, its best to have one place in particular to fix those bikes in your caresomewhere dry, well-lit, and reasonably calm, if youre especially lucky. A truly exceptional workshop will feature a sturdy bench or table as well, mounted with a vise. There will of course come times when we dont have any of these thingsa topic further explored in Roadside Bicycle Repair: A Pocket Manifestobut given the luxury of planning, it is well worth the time to set things up right in the first place.

The BICYCLE REPAIR STAND is very useful to the craft, though it is not strictly necessary. The improved vantage stands provide makes it much easier to see and interact with a bikes nether regions; over the course of a tune-up this makes for a lot less squatting, bending over, and peering beneath. The stands also accomplish the useful trick of removing the wheels from the ground, which greatly simplifies our work on the brakes and the drivetrain.

A number of companies produce bike repair stands. Those made by Park Tool of St. Paul, MN, as used in most North American bike shops, are perhaps the most visible examples. I have plenty of experience with Parks heavy-duty shop stands, but I rely upon one of their lighter consumer models at home, and things work out fine there as well. The central distinction across their range of stands is in the clampbasic models employ simple spring-mounted jaws; better ones incorporate adjustable clamps. This detail becomes important with lightweight aluminum and carbon fiber frames, the tubes of which may respond poorly to excesses of compression. In truth, were really not supposed to be clamping anything around any of that at allmuch as cats instinctively carry their young by the scruff of the neck, bike repair stands should strive to clamp the bikes by their seatposts. (Carbon fiber seatposts, available in only a few common sizes, can be temporarily replaced with dummy posts of the same dimensions.)