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I’m now in week three of my return to the bike -> bus ->bike commute and things are getting more predictable but there’s still room for improvement.

working well

Overall my beloved austin rambler has been dead reliable as a commuter bike and good looking to boot. Gearing is awesome for getting there and back in jeans and not ending up dripping on the hot days the summer has already brought us. I’ve optimized the stuff I carry with me daily to fit in my Timbuk2 metro messenger bag because it slips neatly into my old school panniers, and last night I added a cup holder to the handlebars so I could take a cup of coffee with me to the bus. These touches have made the ride to the bus stop and the final leg of the commute from the bus to the office very comfortable.

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After a couple of months acclimating to the new gig I got serious about getting back on the bus. Things have changed a lot since I was riding regularly. You can no longer buy passes from the driver but you can get discounted passes online. There are more buses running so more opportunities to catch a bus, and many of the buses now have WiFi!

Since I haven’t been doing the bike/bus thing for a while I was way out of the routine of getting up, getting everything on the bike, and getting to the stop for my bus of choice. The last two mornings Jill gave me a ride to the stop but this morning everything fell into place and I made it to the stop by bike. The weather was awesome this morning too! Here’s to getting back into the bike/bus routine!

My bike/bus activity also supports the Cliff Bar 2 Mile Challenge. Join me if you can!

While still a work in progress here’s the latest 40 minute spinning playist:

1. Lazy Eye – Silversun Pickups (a decent warm-up for 5:54)
2. Debaser – Pixies (a slight increase in pace for 2:52)
3. Pretend – Mike Gordon (pedal double-time and about the same pace for 4:09)
4. Andleman’s Yard – Mike Gordon (another bump in pace for 6:13)
5. Girls’ Got Rhythm – AC/DC (a healthy increase in pace for 3:23)
6. Stone Cold Crazy – Queen (a pretty decent ass kicking for 2:17)
7. Huffer – The Breeders (a marginally slower pace for 2:08)
8. Divine Hammer – The Breeders (a similar pace for 2:41)
9. Looking At The Workd From The Bottom Of A Well – Mike Doughty (a bit slower for 3:59)
10. Where Is My Mind? – Pixies (a good cool-down for 3:54)

Do the math and the playlist actually totals 37.4 minutes. I know I will continue to tweak it to get a longer high-speed ass kicking in the middle but this is good for now. Enjoy and feel free to share any suggestions. A good spinning playlist is hard to find!

Through a judicious wheel swap I have achieved a new level of cycling smoothness on the Paddy Wagon. Mavic CP22 wheels with Formula hubs, a Dura-Ace 16 tooth freewheel, and a 16 tooth Dura-Ace cog for the fixie side make this bike very VERY smooth. In addition to this new wheel/hub/freewheel/cog combo the wheels sport new Performance Bike Forte GT-2 Kevlar belted tires. These tires ride nice and are basically bullet-proof. Plush is the best word to describe the ride.

In addition to these changes the 16 tooth freewheel changes the gear inches from 58 to 65.2 and I felt it this morning. Even on the gradual hills between the house and the park & ride I was working a bit harder but that’s OK. I’ve been on the bike since February and I was ready to start ramping up on the gear inches. I probably should have taken the interim step of going to a 17 but I didn’t. I guess that means you can have permission to say “I Told You So” the next time you see me walking the bike up a hill!

Fender technology hasn’t kept up with brake technology. For years brakes have been mounted to bicycles using recessed nuts. This makes for a very clean look and works great for brakes but should you decide to install a set of fenders to keep road grime off your back everything pretty much goes to hell. When I first installed the fenders on the Paddy Wagon I had to remove the brake, bend the fender mounting tab to clear the headset bearing race, and then use zip ties here and there to keep the fenders from rubbing. The installation was ugly and I knew there had to be a better way.

Enter the Sheldon Fender Nuts. These brilliant devices allow the fender to mount as originally designed – behind the brake. This means the fender is in the correct position and gives you and the bike more protection from road grime. This also means that you no longer have to remove the brakes to get the fenders off. Something you might want to do if you have to do roadside maintenance. If you want to add fenders and want to do it as elegantly as possible, order up a set of these fasteners. They are not provided with any of the fender kits sold today and the only place that really describes and recommends them is Harris Cyclery. If you’re thinking of adding fenders to your errand bike click the Sheldon Fender Nuts link and order up a set (or perhaps two so you’ll have an extra set on hand). They make all the difference in the world!

Tonight I needed to run to Target. There’s nothing unusual about that but the unusual part was how I got there – I hopped on the bike and pedaled up there! I was happy to discover that Target provides bike racks outside the main entrance so I locked up the bike, did my shopping, and then pedaled myself home. It was an easy route and riding the bike made perfect sense. The Paddy Wagon has begun fulfilling its destiny as an errand bike!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I put bags on the Paddy Wagon but my feet hit them when I tried to pedal. Unfortunately the Blackburn rack I bought at the bicycle shop sits too low and close for me to actually hang bags from it so I had to do some research on what to do. I was able to track down a highly adjustable rear rack that, when adjusted to the maximum height and distance from the seat post, allows me to actually pedal the Paddy Wagon while the bags are open. This is a major victory.

The rack in question was a Bike Nashbar rear rack a friend got for free when he ordered some bags. This goes to show you:

• Bike shops are generally no help. The bike shop where I bought the bike and the rack never asked me how I intended to use the bike/rack combination. Had they engaged me in a discussion I might have purchased grocery bag panniers from them, hung them on the rack before I left the store, and figured out I had a problem before I got out the door. But wait – if I had actually done this they might have lost the $45 I spent on the rear rack rather than gained $100 on the bags because without an adjustable rack the bags wouldn’t have fit. So, like I said, bike shops are generally no help.
• Never throw away accessories – especially the free ones! This free rack completely solved my problem!

So, now all I lack on the Paddy Wagon is my CETMA rack and that is being customized as I type. The Paddy Wagon is nearly complete!

Saturday afternoon I got a call from Lane at CETMA Racks. He and I had been corresponding about my apparently non-standard handlebar/stem configuration so he’s going to customize a rack to fit the Wagon. I’m pretty excited about getting the rack and also pretty pleased about Lane’s approach to customer service. I can’t wait to get the rack so people can say “Nice Rack!” when I ride by!

The Paddy Wagon now has a set of bags attached to the rear rack. The bags are made by Axiom and are the Hunter Grocery Bag model. They look nice, have lots of room, have reflective strips front and back, and are lighter than than other similarly sized/priced bags. They mount using a locking clamp over the rack top bar and a twisting bar that locks them in place on the bottom of the rack.

Wednesday was school night, the weather was great, and I had the bags so I mounted them to the rear rack, threw my bag in one of the panniers, and started down the driveway. Half a pedal turn later my right heel hit the right bag and I was off the bike. I couldn’t spend a bunch of time troubleshooting because I had an exam last night and didn’t want to be late so I folded up the panniers, threw my bag over my shoulder and pedaled on to class.

After final was over and this course complete I took a few minutes to move the bags as far back on the rack as possible. My feet still hit the bags so I threw the bag over my shoulder and headed for home. The new gearing made the neighborhood hills much easier to climb and I made it home much quicker. I am definitely making progress!

At this point I have to go back to the drawing board on the rear rack. While the shop where I bought the bike and rack was very helpful, they didn’t ask any questions about how I would be using the bike – they just wanted to make the sale and sell some accessories. I am continuing to document this project because there needs to be a “how to” on creating the ultimate suburban grocery getter bike and to-date I have not found one. More to come…

So it turns out the PW has thrown me an unexpected curve – the clamp area at the center of the handlebars is not the standard diameter. No big deal, right? I mean look at it! It looks cool and bigger has to be stronger/better, doesn’t it? Um, no. Bigger means NON-STANDARD and non-standard means…

I can’t get a stock front rack or basket to fit the bike without hacking up the basket/rack or swapping the stem and handlebars for standard sizes. This has turned into a bitch of an issue for me. I have scoured the Internet and found nothing that works off the shelf. I have had good e-mail discussions with the CETMA Racks guy and, pending one more measurement, he’ll be customizing a front rack for me and the PW. But – and this is really important – this flat pisses me off. The average guy trying to complete this project on his own would probably have given up by now because off-the-shelf stuff doesn’t fit and most people wouldn’t try to find someone to customize a front rack on a new bike (Of course most people wouldn’t think of putting a rack on the front of a bike – that’s just not cool, is it? Cool is what works – not how it looks!).

The Paddy Wagon is now 85% complete with the following changes and additions:

• Second Headlight – To be as visible as possible I’ve added a second headlight to the front so I now have a headlight on each drop. It is possible I’ll hit the lights with my knees going up hills but for now I’ll have them inside the drops until they prove to be a problem.

• Accessories – I dug up a couple of water bottle cages and a pump and bolted those on. I also found a seat bag and stocked it with what I had available (adjustable wrench, an “antique” set of tire levers, and a patch kit). By putting on a seat bag I had to move the tail light to the back of the bag using the clip supplied with the light. The rule here – never throw away the accessories because you’ll eventually need them!

So now the Paddy Wagon is 80% complete with the following changes and additions:

• Gearing – From the manufacturer this bike – like all single speed bikes – is geared like a track bike. This means it is geared way too high for someone with an average (or, in my case, below average) level of fitness. The first time I rode the bike I could not make it up the hills in my neighborhood without walking it up so I knew the gear ratio had to be changed. To reduce the effort required to ride the bike up hills we replaced the stock 42 tooth front ring to a 37 tooth front ring. This reduced the bike from 70.2 gear inches to 61.9. Now the bike is much more useful and matches my current level of fitness. This required shortening the chain just a bit but you can get a bicycle chain at fill-in-the-blank-Mart and it will work on your bike so there’s no need to be scared of shortening the chain. The front ring came from danscomp.com. Stock single speed bikes only work if you are already in great cycling shape or you are willing to gear it down to match your current level of fitness. Typically an off-the-rack single speed bike will be geared way too high for the average person and the average person will probably give up on the bike almost immediately. If your fitness level is like 99% of the people out there (I’m in that 99%) and you are going to go the single speed route, be prepared to make a gear change your first modification to the bike.
• Fenders – Planet Bike Freddy Fenders now wrap the wheels to keep my clothes clean when I ride. Why does it matter that I keep my clothes clean? Those spandex shorts and that gaudy team jersey will wash up OK won’t they? Spandex no longer matters because I ride my bike in “street” clothes. I refuse to put on spandex bicycle shorts to get on the bike and go to the grocery store. The spandex, my wife, and all the grocery store patrons are eternally grateful for not seeing me in spandex.
• Rear Rack – A Blackburn rack has been added to the bike, and in a manner that won’t put any more scratches in the paint from those nasty sharp-edged p-clamps that come with the rack. A little black electrician’s tape is a great way to prevent scratches before clamping stuff on to your brand new bike! And that black electrician’s tape also acts as an insulator to reduce or completely eliminate rattles. Use it where ever metal touches paint to protect the paint as much as possible.

• Lights – When I bought my mountain bike I got a headlight and tail light. I transplanted them from the mountain bike to the Paddy Wagon and now I can see the road and drivers can see me when they approach from behind. Of course during my test ride with the light in place on the PW someone backed out of their driveway right in front of me. Of course I am riding in the suburbs and who would be foolish enough to ride a bicycle in the suburbs in February?