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

Goose Creek Skate Partners with The Game Room

Ok, so every now and then things fall into place very quickly and cool things happen. We have just started a trial run with a skate "Hotspot" at The Game Room in Crestwood, KY. The game room is actually a really cool place to hang out, play Video Games, Pool, Trade games etc. But as of today it is also a place where you can pick up skate stuff. While it is not a full skate shop, this little hotspot will provide a small line of skate products for the local kids who may not have the time or ability to get into a car and drive to LaGrange (or heaven forbid Louisville) to get set up with a broken part. So with a couple of decks, some trucks, hardware wheels etc, there is a good chance that the gameroom will have what it takes to get them rolling again.

Also in the works are some competitions and some other little projects that will hopefully open up some new skating opportunities in the city.

So if you are in the Crestwood area and you want to stop in just to play games or whatever, check out our little addition and spread the word.

Will Gibson featured on Crankin site

Goose Creek Employee Will Gibson got himself featured on the Crankin Wax site, which was cool. Pic Below.

Left side drive cranks

And for the next installment of random tech questions that we get here. Periodically we come across an interesting question or get the same question enough that it warants being added to our tech qustion section of the blog. This week the question "why cant I just swap my left and right cranks to make a left hand drive system"

Ok, backing up a bit. First what is a left side drive and why would you use it? The idea is basically that by moving your chainring, cog and chain to the left side of the bike instead of the right, you can get them out of the way if you want to grind on the right. Other than that the bike works the same way. Basically you only see this on BMX bikes.

There are two problems with going to a left side setup. THe first is that you need a special hub because if you just flip a normal one around then your cogs work backwards. The question of the cranks is a little more interesting, and the first though that people have is "can't I just switch the cranks and run them backwards". The simple answer is, "yes you can, but..." There are two problems with running your cranks backwards. Both problems arise from the fact that your pedals are now backwards. The fact that the platform is now backwards is only a problem if you are using clipless pedals. In order to make your clipless pedals work, you will need to disassemble them and switch the axles so that you have the left axle in the right pedal and vice versa. So this problem is solved but it brings us to problem 2.

The threads on the pedals axles are designed that when you pedal normally (forward) the pedal action actually helps to tighten the pedal onto the crank. Now that your cranks are backwards, your pedal motion tends to unscrew the pedals from the cranks. To combat this you will need to overtighten the pedals and posibly apply some threadlock or locktight to keep the pedals from falling out.

All this is a long way of saying, "yes you can just switch the cranks, but there are some special considerations to take into account" We recomend that instead you take one of the three following options.
1. Leave your drive on the right where it is supposed to be.
2. Use a Spline drive cog on the left (attaches to your BB spline rather than the crank.
3. Spring for some Left Side Drive cranks.