Bicycle Lift TRAMPE in Trondheim, Norway

This design has been around for a while (maybe since the early 90's), and thanks to Urban Velo Magazine, I caught it.

There are interesting prospects for this technology.

1. It helps average commuters, including younger and older people to get up a hill.

2. If you're in your business suit, you need not sweat it out trying to get to your office on the top.

3, Can be used for long, super steep sections of roads for commuting.





I wonder how the feet attaches to the travelling footbed. Or is there any attachment at all? Seems like there isn't. If a kid were to take this thing up, and he or she can't stabilize the bike, then an accident could result. Cars can't be parked on the sides of the roads. The person in the second video (towards the end) seems like he'll tip over to his right with the bike. I just can't imagine his immobile body being hauled up the guideway then. Urban velo thinks its an accident waiting to happen. For a full test report, visit the lift's website here.

I say its still a costly way to get up a hill.If you're geared you should be fine, or if you do single speed, just walk your bike up-. I wouldnt be caught young on this thing. Its the height of laziness.

The new 'shebang', viable or not?

"In tests , we found it to be 0.1% more efficient than the nearest chain competitor...."

Just a word or two about conventional roller pin chains. They are one of the most versatile of power transmission means, and have an efficiency of anywhere from 94 to 98%.

Carbon Drive Systems, however, aims to "replace" conventional roller pin chains. Why? So it resists "stretch"? The bicycle is perfect as it is, its a wonderful machine, it looks even better with a chain for me. It offers a lot of options for one to change gear ratios, and you can use them on multiple bikes. So when CDS comes out with a design like this with so many imminent restrictions, I am taking their whole idea with a lot of salt.

1. Having carbon fibre, a fatigue irresistant material for a chain is a whacky idea. Belts with CF can snap right?

2. Theres a marginal decrease in noise in belts. As far as cleaning and maintenance goes, belts may win hands down. But it takes a man to ride a bike with a chain, and handle one. Stop wussying...

3. It would take a comparitively wider belt to equal the strength of a chain.

4. Chains are idiot proof. Chains don't slip.

5. Belts could be expensive, this would offset the slight advantages they might have. What about a mass market for this thing?

A cycling news article carried the following about the shebang (not really sure where this word originates or what it could mean).

The system is built around a 52g toothed 'polychain' comprised of multiple strands of stretch-resistant carbon fiber embedded in flexible polyurethane. The matching proprietary chain ring and cog are made from CNC-machined aluminum, and the whole shebang weighs just 180g (yes, we said "180g," and no, it's not a typo. Read it again if you must).

The embedded carbon fibers are also said to transfer tension faster than conventional roller pin chains for more immediate response to pedal inputs, and CDS even claims belt lives up to 10,000 miles for its 'endurance' model (a smoother running 'performance' system supposedly offers only marginally shorter lifespans). Gaping ports in the troughs of the cog and chain ring teeth also appear rather capable of evacuating even the nastiest goop, and after eight iterations of design refinement, CDS is confident in the final product.

So what's the catch, you ask? The system will almost certainly be forever limited to fixed-gear or singlespeed applications, and the belt currently cannot be separated and respliced so you probably won't be able to use it on your current rig very easily. However, CDS is working with singlespeed maverick Spot Brand to bring the system to market on a wide range of bikes thanks to a clever 'keystone' dropout that allows users to easily split the drive side chain stay and seat stay with virtually zero visual indication that it's anything out of the ordinary. The dropout is only made in steel for now but CDS says titanium and aluminium ones are imminent.

One question left currently unanswered, though, is that of drivetrain efficiency. Conventional roller pin chains are also among the most efficient drive systems on earth, and it's difficult to imagine that a polyurethane belt and its seemingly obvious hysteresis effects can improve on that. CDS is optimistic nonetheless, however, and is currently undergoing third party tests to confirm (or refute) its claims.

Non lo so. I'd be very interested in some test results from any third party guys.

Are you ready for Naked?

Independant frames from Naked bicycles...with a very interesting website URL. Whats with the whole naked idea, I wonder...Sam? The site shows some very cool rigs, check it out.

My Ride

Since I'm not really sure of what to write on, I thought I'd let you know what I'm riding these days. I was busy at school with a lot of engineering work, but thanks to Shickluna bikes, they built some new components into what I was previously riding. I loved the bike then, I love the bike now. I rode about 3500 miles this season, with my limited time, and that includes two centuries. Hopefully, she'll come with me for a 100 mile ride in Cayuga, which we've been thinking about for a few days now.

The ride characteristics are good but depends a lot on the rider! If you dress well and you're upbeat, this baby will take you fast! I'm usually that way, so she has not disappointed me.

Specialized Allez, used it for 2 years, and since I've a special attachment to it, no I'm not going to carbon.

I'm old fasioned so I like Dura Ace 9 speed on her.

SRAM PG cassette, absolutely durable and decently lightweight

My pedestal, the loyal servant K-Force Light, nicely adorned with ceramic MEGAEXO outboard bearings

This is like a sofa, Selle Regal. She's so rare, she had to take a trip from Australia.

Zero gravity brakes are a fine piece, but I wouldn't say there any better than the brakes out there. Maybe this would do better with a set of BHP brakepads.

The beafy Zipp 145 stem

The medley of blue and silver Nokon cables delivers decent looks with smooth shifting

The handlebar tape is unique in itself, it plays in light, and is washable! I like to stand out a bit here and there...Nokon's deliver a clean look to the front.

Speedplay Ti Zeros, the next best thing after my shimano mountain pedals! No really, shimano's rock! :)

Cables and housing routed underneath the handlebar tape

USE Alient seatpost, very light and very strong. I've had no problems with it for a year. You should check out the clamping design, very unique, but they could put more thought into making disassembly easy. C'mon USE....

CateEye takes a shut-eye...she's a little..err..shy

Outboard bearings, a new thing in bottom bracket technology..sort of...

Cock-pit, rider-pit whatever...

The highly recommended racing set of Pro 2's with exceptional low rolling resistance...I think I wrote a post on these so check it out..

Bettini is not the only one to sleep with his bike in the hotel... shown here are my three bikes, a Trek fixie, a Bianchi steel for ultra long rides, and my race bike..if I only paid more attention to cleaning the room up..

Weight as built on my Ultimate Digital scale = 17.45 lbs. I'm pretty happy.

Thanks for looking. Leave a few comments if you'd like!

Happy weekend. Ci vediamo...

Like-A-Bike bike for kids

You readers might be interested in something like this.




So you want to purchase a bicycle for your two year old. On one hand, you wonder whether he's even old enough to pedal, or remotely understand what the contraption is for and what is does. On the other, kids bikes out today aren't designed with learning patterns of kids, their biological motor control and skills etc. Here's an interesting product I found,called the Like-A-Bike bicycle, which is a wooden bike without pedals. Its a running bike, so your kid can experiment and learn what the thing does, and then hop on it and take it for a blast...actually running while seated to propel himself, and the idea is that at some point, he's going to have the confidence to lift his leg and learn the great lesson of balance.



I'm not sure how many product are out there like this, but from what I know, a lot of kids bicycles are not designed for 2 year olds. They have sharp edges, and no possibility of coasting. While rotating pedals, and in times where the kid doesn't feel like pedaling, he's bound to get hurt somewhere. Its a nasty situation, I say this is one of the best ways to get him to learn how to bike and balance. Then you can buy a better bike to wean him out of the old style.

An additional brand of bikes called Bokoo also has the same design, eliminating training wheels and pedals. It is designed in Germany. You"ll find these bikes on this website.

Fatigue failure of crank arm

This is an interesting problem. Stole it from Road Bicycles Tech forums. Not that it can't happen, but its interesting that the non-engineer thinks his massive lower body "PROWESS" broke the crank-arm. Read on :

Hey All,

I was working my regular pedicab driver shift the other day,
accelerating from a stop light with 3 large guys seated in my trailer
type pedicab. I sort of jumped forward in an unexpected way and heard
a scattering, clank-clank. I then noticed the my left pedal was
missing. Then I noticed my left crank arm, and the end of the bottom
bracket spindle that would normally keep the afore mentioned parts
attached were gone too. Upon inspection, the missing bottom bracket
stub was still pressed into the crank arm that I was holding in my
hands. In spite of my displeasure of not being able to earn more
money that night dragging drunken louts to their next whisky bar, I
was amused by the massive power I exhibited by ripping the crank
nipple right off.

So here is my question:
Was it really my massive lower body prowess that killed this BB
spindle? Or is it that Shimano is making crappy spindles that shread
after 5 months? Or is the pedicabbing I do on this bike just that
hard on the torquey bits?

Perhaps it was a combination of the three. I bring this to the R.B.T
group as none of my pedicabber buddies have had this particular
mechanical failure before. Chalo on the other hand has done it a few
times before resulting in his oh-so-fashionable grillz. (him 300+ lbs)

-Ken Cameron
humble neighborhood pedicabber


Answer :

Although such spindles are usually hardened so they can take the high
contact stress of their bearing balls, this is most surely a fatigue
failure that was the summation of many loaded torque repetitions.
You'll note that only the torque of the left foot goes through the
spindle, the right foot going directly into the chain. The fracture
should be a slightly helical crack, part of which is at 45° to the
spindle.

Low quality material and/or heat treatment.

Jobst Brandt

Mavic Frozen Nipples

This is a great post, and so I will not resort to paraphrasing. Courtesy of RogueMechanic! This is really good general knowledge stuff about Mavic wheels..

Nipple thread actually inside the rim...

"Great designs still have drawbacks. Honestly, there's not much that you can do to prevent this from happening. It's a rare occurance but can still happen. This design that Mavic uses on their higher quality wheels (Ksyriums, CrossMax. etc) actually has the nipple threading into the rim as opposed to the nipple threading onto the spoke. Great idea but not infallible...This was no longer a 15 minute job.... This was tedious and took much longer than expected. Here's what remains of the extracted nipple and spoke end... Corrosion was the major cause of this issue as is with most frozen nipple issues. It's just much less of an process replacing the traditional spoke nipple design. And please refrain from the "could be prevented with a nice dinner and a bottle of wine" comments... Thanks for reading!"


That's way better than having a damaged threading in the rim, I think...

SRAM Red crankset... kinda boring...

You would think SRAM Red would look like the next thing from planet bike, for all the publicity stunts that went months before it came out. For traditionalists like me, the SRAM red crankset looks like one of the fugliest thing to come out of cycling merchandize.

I still feel the Dura Ace 10 speed (no, I don't have it on my bicycle) is the hottest looking crankset.. Its simple, stylish, the looks are hot... you'll definitely make a bold statement...and it'll get anyone to salinate (hopefully they won't spit it out!)




In Red though, the black and gray combo repels my eyes, and SRAMS's idea of etching their name all over the crankset like a child's scribbling on a wall seems like an afterthought... its a world below Dura Ace in aethetics. SRAM's engineering is top notch, however they probably need better industrial designers or something..

Looking back at ECCC 07..

Damn, I get nostalgic when I see this video. Really fun times with the team. It was sort of the highlight of my first season, being able to go to the ECCC races...

With the 90 degree hairpin turns, the Boston crit was so technical it was ridiculous!!

Philly Phlyer was so chilly my cycling computer stopped working on the stem..besides setting a record for 520 cyclists showing up..

And the championships at Vassar in Poughkeepsie gave me the first glimpse of what it is riding at 5000 feet Euro style, do amazing switchback turns and showing off to the girls with seated hill climbing... ofcourse, I paid for it... I was numb for the entire week!

The best part of it all was living at host housing, going shopping for groceries at midnight on our bicycles, and getting 4 hours of sleep and waking all my team up with my moo-moo clock (which almost got destroyed on one occasion).

I really hope I can race the ECCC's next season. Thanks to the numberous men and women and all the schools that make it a success with a capital S.

Video courtesy Sally Smith at Darthmouth

Cadel is Pro Tour Champion

Giro d'Lombardia is over, and Cunego can have all the bash he wants to. But just give it up for this man, Cadel.. For an amazing 3rd place in the Tour de France, 4th in his "training race" - the Vuela's at Spain, and yesterday, 6th at Lombardia. He's UCI's Pro Tour Champion.

2007 Results for Cadel

1st, Stage 2, Test Event Beijing 2008 (ITT)

2nd Overall, Tour de France

2nd, Stage 13

2nd, Stage 19

2nd, Overall, Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré

2nd, Stage 7

4th, Stages 3 and 4

4th Overall, Vuelta a España

2nd, Stage 10

2nd, Stage 18

4th Overall, Tour de Romandie

1st Overall, UCI ProTour

Is this the most consistent cyclist of the year or what?!

Interestingly Cadel has this typical climbing style, like he's grappling with his bike, like as if he just wants to rip off that handlebar to shreds... or..as if the enormous power he's registering in the poor Powertap and in turn lodging into those pedals isn't give him enough push, that he just wants to get off and fly!



Oh, before I close, two pics.

The world champion not only looks top notch PRO, he looks like an Emperor !!! Man, do I want to look like him, sigh.. sadly that'll be a dream...


While other riders are having a go at the titles, Schlek is experimenting with more insane ways to shed his skin. I mean, I haven't heard anyone crash as much as him, this dude needs some serious bike handling skills.

Pictures courtesy PezCycling.

The High Life - 1985 (Robert Millar)

A Granada TV documentary on one of Britain's greatest cyclists. Thanks to the uploader Matteomjb. As much as seeing vintage cycling and the great champs on T.V thrills me, I get extra terrified seeing them without helmets. In the first video, Millar trains in France, doing 50 mph on local roads (with no divider) against oncoming traffic, which will sent a chill down anyone's spine. Shows not only how much cyclists of that time were out of sync with safety, but they had the confidence to risk it all for the glory of a cycling champion.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9sIwcIkA8A

Cadel won't miss watching bums

Roark Welding Recall

Crack in the Roark Titanium frame chainstay. The frame can then crack upon use and cause injury to th erider. A recall alert was posted on March 11, 2005 by U.S consumer product safety.

Eastman of India - Classic Roadster

While browsing YellowJersey.org, I came upon a bike that sort of touches me. The Eastman's single speed roadster. I remember these bikes vividly back in India, where folks would haul 100 lb sacks of rice on the rear racks.. or climb on it for a quick ride to the grocery stall, even kids as small as 10 or 15 would stand and hammer on it through some of the hilly internal dirt roads, inspite of the standover height (ouch). Almost all older generations in India, including my dad and his family have ridden these bikes in their young years. The 29" wheels would make for a faster speed with low cadence. The springs under the seat were awesome shock absorbers. Geez, I remember how the gear ratios were so high on these bikes, that when you approach a hill, you'd better mount off or you'd breathe so hard, mashing the pedal like a clown.. if you're having problems with your knee and lungs, you BETTER not climb.

And some of them would be custom fitted with dynamos that would light the headlamp as you pedal, colorful frame thongs, fenders and racks... as you can very well see, these bikes are built for rugged environments, but being bombproof doesn't mean being ugly. This bike is marvellous, and I feel like owning this piece of history. Click here to read more. I agree with the commentary on the site that the bikes are slow handling and can be of poor quality, but you can very well neglect those things, because they were made for a certain environment, and were pretty economical for people who used them. I'm still not sure why its sold for 399 dollars though?!

Brooks "Swallow" 2007 Limited Edition

Brooks baby. in Titanium!!! The most comfortable seat in the world just got more expensive! Om bling bling!! Note the screw on the underside of the nose. I am curious what that is for.

Included in the new Swallow treasure box :

1. Hand stitched edges
2. New clasp underneath
3. New stronger titanium frame and rails
4. New adjustment mechanism
5. New numbered Owner's certificate
6. Presentation box include Proofhide tin (what on earth is that?? I see it in the picture but..)
7. Special Brooks Swallow chromed wrench
8. Brooks buffing cloth
9. Brooks waterproof saddle cover

Here's an alternative review from Bike Radar. It includes tips on how to care for the saddle.

Now swallow hard. All this for 750 dollars! I don't know how comfortable the Swallow is (c'mon, its a brooks though), but it sure will swallow your wallet. Want to get a piece of pure class in this exotic makeup? For ordering info, click here.

Rwanda Revolution

The Bike Whisperer

After his world championship bike was stolen, an upset Bettini admitted to having talked to the bike on several occasions before the races, to form a "bond to bike".

Here's a classic Dave Phinney branded lugged steel bike. Its actually built by Serotta and even have the Serotta brake bridge in the rear. The tubing is Columbus SLX, which I mentioned about in an earlier post.

Credits : Ebay