Local races are fun

Just rediscovered how cool it is to race locally. The Apex Mini Triathlon was this weekend and I talked myself into it despite that fact that I don't swim, I only run when chased, and I just sold my road bike. But only in a local race can you convert your mountain bike to a road bike and head out just to enjoy the day and try not to drown.


What I discovered is that I had forgotten how cool it is to race locally. Aside from being able to show up with crazy rigs and be under trained, you find that you know a good portion of the people there. This is not because it is the same people following a circuit that you have been on all year, but because they are friends of friends. People you work with, guys you saw on a club ride once or people you just happen to run into in your every day life. So thanks to the gang at Oldham County Parks and Recreation for putting on this event again, and thanks to my wife for convincing me to come out and do the race. I will be back again next year and next time I will be able to swim.

For those of you who are interested the Photo above in a Niner EMD9 fitted with 700X23 tires. You can do this? Yes. I was a little unsure at first if the rims would be a little wide to accomodate a true road tire, but they beaded up just nicely. If you try it though you will want to make a note that the bike has considerably less pedal clearance this way, so don't pedal through the corners as you might otherwise.

Cannondale is annoying again.... (aka. don't buy a KT013)

Ok, I remeber back in the day when Cannondale was using CODA stuff and it bothered everyone because it was compatible with exactly nothing. I guess the idea was to make consumers replace Cannondale parts with Cannondale parts and to bother shops that were not Cannondale dealers by making them retool to deal with those few Cannondales that came through the door. Although they have dropped the headshock, the Lefty still poses some problems, but they have struck again with the HollowGram Cranks.

Cannondale claims that to remove the crank arms from the bottom bracket spindle you will need a specail Cannondale KT013 Crank removal tool. This tool runs about $50 and consists of two really small easily lost peices. In short, it is one of Cannondales annoying little ways to push you back to your Cannondale dealer, because no normal shop is going to bother stock this silly tool. On the other hand. If you look closely and use some creativity, you don't really need the tool, you can adapt your standard Crank puller to do the job.

WARNING: Do NOT simply put in a washer and try to pull the crank with your normal puller. Once you add the washer to contact the BB spindle there will not be enough usable threads on the crank for the puller to grab onto and you will strip the crank.

What you can do is the following.

1. Take a CCP-44 crank puller (the 22 will probably work as well) and remove the tip. (you know the part at the end that is roughly the size of a nickle that pushes against a splined axle)

2. unscrew and separate the handle/driver portion of your crank puller from the part that locks onto the crank (your puller is now in three peices)

3. Remove the Crank arm fixing bolt and washer from the drive side crank.

4. Thread the Crank arm fixing portion of your crank puller onto the drive side crankarm. (Note that this will have the same amount of contact as cannonales tool, so you won't have to worry about damaging the crank.

5. Now here is where you will have to be a little creative. Find a metal rod or bolt that will slide through the center of your tool and into the bottom bracket. I use a socket extender with a skateboard kingpin stuck in it, but an old hub axle cut to length might work jus as well. Insert you metal rod through your tool, through the bottom bracket so it comes in contact with the back of the Crank arm fixing bolt on the non-drive side. At this point, the bolt should sit inside the part of your tool that is threaded into the drive side crank.

6. Now thread the driver/handle part of your tool back into your crank arm tool. Tightening the driver will push on your bolt and drive the crank arm off the bike the same way it would if it were contacting the splines of a bottom bracket.

You do not need to remove the non-drive crank arm to service the bottom bracket, but if you remover the non drive fixing bolt, you may find that the other crankarm comes off on its own as the BB spindle is pounded out.

This system works well, and is a way to use a common $15 tool to do the job of a custom $50 never to be used again tool. Save you cash for buying cool new parts from you bike, don't let Cannondale sucker you int buying a new tool you don't really need.

Sketch of how this works is attached due to people not being able to understand what I was saying.

Related products: CCP-22

Push Catagory 1-3 Road Glove Review

Push Cat 1/2 Road Glove $18.99

Ok, every now and then we stumble upon a "value" product that outshines it high end competitors. Now keeping in mind that every hand is different and some people will just like one glove over another for no apparent reason, and forgetting that we have a number of customers who will roll into the shop on full Carbon rigs and roll out with this inexpensive glove over its high end competitors, lets look at what we like about the glove.

The true goal of a road glove is to not know you have it on, and wonder why your hands are so comfortable. This glove uses a minimal padding approach. The theory being that if you have too much padding it will bunch up and become uncomfortable. While a minimal padding will be more like just having tough hands. This in conjunction with your normal handlebar tape will provide a comfortable ride.

On the filp side, the glove that covers the back of the hand really serves no purpose except to hold the glove on. Oddly enough, this is the area that we really like over the high end competitors. Many high end gloves focus so much on creating a light weight breathable material for this part of the glove that durability is dramatically decreased. I have seen many high end gloves damaged simply from pulling them on and off. The cat 1 /2 Glove uses a nice light weight material comprable to many of its expensive competitors, but the stiching that holds it on seems to be more rugged, so with equal comfort you get a more durable glove. Built in pull tab and "easy off" fingers complete the package.

The back of the thumb as with most gloves has the "Snot Rag". A soft material great for wiping your nose, which has always been a requirement for every glove I own.

The glove is designed as a road glove, but also works well for Mountain bikers who wish to use a short fingered glove. So if your looking for a nice set of gloves and don't want to have to shell out $30-$40 every time you crash, this is a great option.

The Glove sells for $18.99 and is available on our site HERE

Ok, sometimes it is just better not ask why some things get posted to this blog. Anyway I was talking to a customer about this fork and this ended up being the easiest way to get a picture out there. This is an RST Neon T10. It is available in either a 26" or 700c version. Steerer tubes are sold separately which gives you the option of putting whatever steerer you want on there. 1" , 1 1/8", Thereaded, non- threaded whatever. For about $100 bucks it is a great deal to get your commuter going again.

Have fun now. Be fast in spring

Ok, have you just gotten off your trainer for the fourth night in a row? Starting to get a little sick of riding in the basement? If you are, you are not alone. Far too many people rely way to heavily on their trainers to get through winter.

So if you don't have the luxury of going to the opposite hemisphere for the winter here are a couple of things to remember about winter training.

1. Your trainer is a useful tool, but if you rely on it 100% you will be burned out and slower come spring.

2. Winter is a great time to cross train. If you peek at the pro's winter training schedules you will see that they are putting in some varied cardio workout as well as time in the weight room. These other activities are great for balancing out oposing muscles that can get a little lopsided doing just one activity

3. Pull out the mountain bike and ride outdoors. Mountain biking (even for you road riders) is ideal in the winter because you move a little slower and work a little harder so that you stay warmer. Also for those of you in northern climbs there is the added benefit that you have new loops as snowmobile trails often cross lakes and swamps in places where you would have had to turn around in the summer.

3b. Get a set of lights. Riding at night adds a little variety, and with shorter days you may need to do it anyway. Also because it is colder at night, the ground is more likely to be frozen which allows you to use the trails without damaging them or sinking into soft snow. Our pick for lights this year is the Nightrider Minewt150. With 150 lumens and a price tag of $78.75 the Minewt is super affordable and pleanty of light for most applications.

MiNewt 150

4. Make your training fun. Remember that your goal for winter training should not be to get super fast for next season. Your goal is to balance your training and come out of winter without losing strength that you gained last season. Think stronger not faster. If your winter training is not fun and interesting, you will just be burned out come spring.

See you all out there on the trails

Snow and Black Friday

Ok, tomorrow is Black Friday and we are gearing up for the black friday and Saturday sale. Just because things have to stay interesting, it is 11:30PM Thursday night and the snow has started to fall. Anyway if the snow is not too deep, come on in tomorrow we have some crazy stuff going on. Lane, Levi and I are holding down the fort at the shop tomorrow, so we know we are a little understaffed, but whatever, if we can get the cars through the snow it is all good.

To be fair, Black friday deals will continue through Saturday so if you don't make it in tomorrow, the deals will keep on as long as we still have stock.

As a heads up, Bike tubes are 40% off, this is on top of our regular volume discounts, so if you want to stock up, and buy 6 or more tubes, pricing will end up close to $2/tube. Definately come in for that. 30% off all tires means that we have road and MTB tires starting at $7/ea so if you need a cheap trainer tire or even a new race tire, this weekend is the time.

All sorts of other crazy stuff is on tap as well, we have dropped our in store price on Kinetic Road Machine Fluid Trainers to $240 for the weekend. Shred Sleds, normally $120 have been price slashed to $69, but Schoen convinced me to do a buy one get one free deal on them so if you buy one for $69 I will throw in a second one.

All skate stuff is 10% off even the new moonpop that just came through the door. We also just got a new Yoachler Complete skateboard that that is tagged at $55 that will be sold for 49.50 sometime this weekend.

Basically what I am saying here, is if you have been putting off any bike or skate purchases you need to come to the shop, there will probably be some great deal that you can find, and almost everything is on some sort of sale including all the bikes. See you there if my car will make it.

Being the third shop

For the second time this week I have heard the opening line… "You are the third shop we have tried so I am not real hopeful but…"

We were able to square the customer away within a few hours in each situation, but it got me to thinking what is it that we are doing differently that makes these "impossible requests" something that we consider a normal part of our day. In both cases the request was simple, but the customer was looking for a low cost, slightly uncommon part. What I realized, was that the issue was not the availability of the part, but the quality of the people we have on board, and the basic philosophy of the shop.

Despite our internet side allowing us to grow a little too big for our own britches, we remain at heart a small town shop. Small town shops have the simultaneous advantage and disadvantage of having a limited customer base. This means that we know most of the people who walk through our door. We race with them, we live and work next door to them, and if they come in twice, we consider them a regular.

Where we might differ from the typical small town shop is that because of our internet division we don't shed half our employees for the winter like many shops do. Everyone who works at Goose Creek Cycle is here all year round. This means that all the guys have a better idea of how our systems work and have more of an interest in the quality of service we provide.

So twice this week, we were the third and final stop for customers who may have come to us from a little further than normal. The first was actually from a business that had a contract with another local shop to do their work. They were looking for a specific seatpost that their shop didn't have in stock. Neither did the second shop they tried. Neither did we.

The difference was that our guys took the time to look up the part, realize that a Louisville based distributor had them in stock. I took the long way in to work, picked up the part and had the customer rolling by 10am the next day. This was something simple that any of the other Louisville base bike shops could have done, but for some reason or another they didn't know they could or weren’t willing to go that little bit extra on a $13 seatpost.

As I wondered why the other shops wouldn't do this, I started watching my guys and realized that this was not an isolated case. This is just how they have become accustomed to thinking. Twice today I heard Schoen say "I don't have one in, but let me check if they have it in Louisville I can probably have it tomorrow"

Now a Flashback. Back to when I worked for someone else in a medium sized shop in Lexington. I don't actually remember much about the repair, except that is was something that most mechanics wouldn't bother with. I think it was a cone and axle that were trashed out in the hub of a WalMart bike. I was able to fix it with some parts out of both the shop and my personal junk box. What I do remember is the smug little smile my boss gave me. "Congratulations, you fixed his baby" he said. Whether he meant that he wished I had just sold the kid a new wheel, or that he was glad that I had done it, I never did figure out. What was clear to me in that little smile was that he along with most mechanics wouldn't have bothered. I guess maybe it is that I never knew which way he meant it that made that moment stick with me. Either way, I did in fact fix that one persons baby, and since then I have always prided myself on being able to, and willing to work on and fix things that most mechanics won't touch.

Back to today…

"Well I have already tried two other shops, but you guys said you were always up for a challenge, so here it is." We had related to her earlier how we had completely disassembled a big-box exercycle and replaced a bushing (in a spot where if the manufacturer cared about quality they would have used a bearing), and about the time we used Stans solution to fix a chronically flat dolly wheel. So she thought she would push us.

Sitting in front of us was a trike. None of the parts were standard bike shop type parts. The trike was the favorite of a special needs child, but the front tire was completely destroyed. The tire was hard rubber and the rim not designed for clinchers. The hub had a huge bolt for an axle, larger than a 15mm through axle, but not quite a 20mm. I will have to admit I was stumped. I was sitting on the floor trying to figure out a way to hand build a 20mm through axle hub around a 12 in rim, and shimming it in without being cost prohibitive when Schoen figured it out.

30 minutes later, Schoen was back from the tractor supply store with a perfectly matched wagon wheel. "Congratulations, you fixed his baby"

So anyway, it may be that we just have too much free time at Goose Creek. Or it may be that we just like a challenge. Maybe it is just pride in what we do. But it sure did feel good to be that third shop that took the time to figure out the problem and solve it.

Here is hoping that we never get so big we don't have time to try the weird stuff.
Here is hoping that we never get too good to look in the junk box.
Here is hoping we never tell anyone "If it didn't come from here we won't fix it"
Here is to being the third bike shop