School Daze: How'dya like to be a REAL bike mechanic?

United Bicycle Institute is a nifty mechanics' and framebulding school out in gorgeous Ashland, Oregon. Tuition for a typical course is around $1500, and there are about 500 students enrolled at any given time. Framebuilding is currently the hot topic -- courses are apparently filled for the forseeable future, in everything from fillet brazing to aluminum welding.



If you're like me, you assume you know just about everything there is to know about fixing a bike. And if you're like me, you're wrong. Way wrong. (Take UBI's mechanics' quiz if you'd like a strong dose of our ignorance, grasshopper.)

But what I really like about UBI is their companionable easy-going style. (One shop rule: no open-toed shoes! Ever dropped a shop-sized pedal wrench on your toe?) Especially as expressed in their very user-friendly spoke calculator, to which I shall forevermore direct newbie wheelbuilders asking for advice.

The cycling argument that never ends. Now with better science!

We've occasionally entertained the controversy around whether bike lanes are good or bad. Let's quickly summarize, shall we? We think they're good, as long as they aren't required. The folks who say "bad" make the valid point that it creates the impression among drivers — and some ignorant police officers — that bikes don't belong in the general roadway. We say bike paths surely will not reduce the number of cyclists in any given city, and more cyclists is a good in itself.

Anyway, Portland State professor of Urban Planning Jennifer Dill may be one of the few people actually trying to get some science into the conversation. She's presently tracking Portland bike commuters to understand how (or whether) they use bike lanes by using GPS systems and statistical analysis.

This is Dill's speciality, as it turns out.

The study also will help planners understand more about the value of bike lanes, a subject examined in a previous Dill study that showed the number of bike lanes within a quarter-mile of a person's home had no bearing on the amount of cycling the person did.

Well, she was obviously studying the wrong person!

A GPS bike-commuter study like this was performed here in Cycle City last year. Don't recall which U of M professor or department was conducting it, but we do fondly remember the $100 we received to allow them to track our every movement for a month. Not coincidentally, trips to the beer store were up for the first couple weeks of the study.

Silly bike geek argument #2,456,210

Over at VeloNews and Cyclelicious, they're arguing about whether carbon-fiber seatposts ought to be greased or not. The consensus seems to be that no grease should be used. But an "expert" named Craig Calfee says,

"I don't know where the myth started, but carbon composites are not affected by grease. Our advice is simple: If the seatpost fits tight, grease it. If it slips, de-grease it. As has been known for many years, when aluminum and carbon fiber contact each other, galvanic corrosion can start."

There is a simple and logical reason why Calfee is wrong, and you don't have to be a geek to see why: If you grease a carbon seatpost, you decrease the friction between it and the seattube, thereby requiring you to tighten the cuff bolt more--potentially more than is required without grease, and potentially over the line of safe torque. (Carbon fiber will break and splinter if tightened down too much, and you don't want carbon fibers up your, uh, chamois. Trust us on that one.)

The best solution of all, of course, is to stop being such a pathetic weight weenie. Try going on a diet to lose a few pounds on the waist, instead of obsessing over a few extra grams under your butt.

The math of bikes: Dude, just don't take the square route

Today, a group of mathematicians will publish the definitive paper on the math of the bicycle. It seems that ever since the pedal-powered bike was developed in the 1860s, scientists have puzzled over what actually keeps a bike upright. The standard line has been that rolling wheels behave like gyroscopes, but it turns out that's only a small fraction of the science. You can read the gritty details here, or see the nifty video here, but note this study really just considers ghostbiking.

Today's "definitive review" underlines bicycles' amazing ability to balance themselves. "You can give a bike a push and it will go 50 metres without falling. Even if it is knocked sideways, it will pop up again," said Prof Ruina.

Now that science know what keeps bikes up, perhaps we laypersons can provide some insight into why bikers frequently fall down. The math looks something like this-- (32:16=1 X 1) + (16 OZ.)N = 0 MPH (where N = number of pints)