If you’re going to be a serious bike commuter, you need the right tools. Your toolbox should have these basic tools:

• Hex keys
• Combination wrenches
• Cable cutters
• Compact Scissors
• Screw driver
• Chain checker
• Chain tool
• Spoke wrench

Of course, not everyone has time to learn how to fix everything on their bike. Yeah, they should. But we can’t expect everyone to learn how to be a bike mechanic. If you’re one of those people, you need to find a good bike shop with a few good mechanics. There’s no shame in letting a professional take care of your bike. I do all the work on my bike myself, so I don’t go to bike shops unless I need a part or a tool, so here’s a list of the best bike shops in Jacksonville, according to what my friends tell me:

• Bicycles Etc.
• Performance Bicycle
• LakeShore Bicycles

How to Know When Your Bike Needs Fixing

Ok, so this should be obvious. Seat post breaks? Take your bike to the shop. Shatter a pedal on a curb? Take your bike to the shop. Snap the chain? Take the bike to the shop. But sometimes you might have other, less obvious issues.

Bike feels “slow” or “sluggish”. If you’re pedaling hard and feeling like you’re going nowhere, that could be because the chain is stretched out, which means you need a new one. A worn-out chain wears down the sprockets, which mean you’ll need a new cassette. And that ain’t cheap.

Brakes aren’t working efficiently. If the brakes work but only after you squeeze them really hard, they need a tune-up. You might also need new brake pads.

Derailleur-in-spokes catastrophes: If the derailleur gets pushed into the spokes, that’s lights out for your bike ride.

The post Tools for Biking appeared first on Bike Jax.

So this kid busted his bike chain near my house the other day. He was sitting by the curb, crying. (He couldn’t have been older than 10 years old.) I offered to help him fix it and man…that chain was so full of grit and cat hair and…I don’t know what else. It was bad. I said to him, “Look, kid, you gotta clean this chain now and then.” Apparently nobody told him this. I blame his parents. They’re too busy showing off their SUVs and home improvement projects to teach the kid how to take care of his bike.

Well, readers, in case you had parents as bad as this kid’s I’ve got some advice for you: Clean your bike chains already! A dirty, grimy, gritty bike chain wears out more quickly. It also becomes rigid and doesn’t shift as well, which is what caused this kid’s chain to break. So clean those bike chains once and a while! Better yet: clean them once a month or every 100 miles. So sayeth Jack, Lord of Bike Jax.

How to Clean Bike Chains

It’s easy. You’ll need a rag and a brush. You can use a wire brush, which you’ll find from any number of brush manufacturers. But in a pinch an old tooth brush will work just fine too. The steps are:

1. Brush the dirt, bits of sand and pet hair out of each link.

2. Re-lube the chain with your favorite lubricant (and I mean graphite lube. Don’t be funny and use KY Jelly or Canola oil or something lamebrained like that.)

3. Us the rag to wipe away the excess lube.

And ba-da-bing! You’re done. Now go hit the trail.

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Photo credit: / Foter / CC BY

Seven years ago, a friend of mine died. Out of respect for his family, I won’t publish his name. But I will say that he died of injuries he sustained in  an explosion at a sugar factory. I seethe every time I think about it. The company he worked for was so, so negligent. Their dust collection systems were too small and not properly maintained. An enclosure that was supposed to protect sugar on a conveyor belt from contamination lacked ventilation, so dust collected inside it. Dust was all over ducts and light fixtures and was never cleaned. Oh, and the company never bothered to do any safety drills, so when catastrophe struck, the workers didn’t know where to go or what to do.

It’s so frustrating, because sugar dust explosions are entirely preventable. Companies like Nol-Tec build high-tech, custom systems that mitigate dust explosions. All the sugar factory needed to do was invest in and install one of these systems, and my friend would be alive today. I’m so sad that he’s not.

Part of why explosions like the one that killed my friend happen is because people don’t understand how dust explosions work. Many don’t even know that dust is combustible. So, in my friend’s memory, I’m posting this video so people can learn. Let’s make sure these explosions don’t keep happening!

My friend was a great guy. In the years leading up to his death, I didn’t see him much, because had moved out of Florida when we were in high school. But I have wonderful memories of riding bikes with him around Jacksonville. His parents had a pool and we used to have contests to see who could hold his breath the longest. He beat me almost every time.

I remember eating crackers covered in little mountains of spray cheese, and having soda fights with shaken-up bottles of Surge. His favorite movie — inexplicably — was Fried Green Tomatoes. That was a secret he made me promise to keep…and of course I told everyone in school. He wasn’t all that good in school, but he was very streetwise and very intuitive. He could always spot somebody who was up to no good and knew exactly what to say to them to get them to drop their nefarious plans.

I miss my friend. I think I’ll honor his memory with a bike ride…and crackers with spray cheese.

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Do you listen to music while you bike? It’s sort of an ongoing debate among cyclists. Some think it makes the miles go by more quickly and others think music is a dangerous distraction that contributes to accidents. Ultimately it’s a personal choice. If you’re comfortable listening to music while biking, this post is for you.

Songs for Bike Trips

1. “Drive My Car,” The Beatles. Crank up your drivetrain with this blaster from the Fab Four.

2. “Down Under,” Men at Work. Catchy ’80s tune to keep your energy up.

3. “Inna Gadda Da Vida,” Iron Butterfly. It’s 17 minutes long. It’ll keep you amused for miles and miles.

4. “Slow Ride,” Foghat. Your goal might be the opposite of this song’s title, but this song will give you a charge.

5. “Detroit Grammar (Bad Meets Evil),” Eminem. Crank this up when you want to feel tough.

6. “Come Out and Play,” The Offspring. A little ’90s nostalgia for your ride.

7. “Low,” Cracker. See above.

8. “Mykonos,” Fleet Foxes. Something a little more chill for those cool-down miles.

9. “Hey Jude,” the Beatles. Because it’s one of the greatest songs ever, that’s why.

10. “What is Life?“, George Harrison. What better time to contemplate the big questions in life than on a long bike trip?

What about you? Add your favorite biking songs to the list! Drop them in the comments!

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Photo credit: Florida Keys–Public Libraries / Foter / CC BY

Last month, my neighbor got drunk, got behind the wheel and got into a crash. He blew .08. His driver’s license was suspended for 6 months. His lawyer told him that driver’s license restoration getting his license back was off the table, that the county prosecutor throws the book hard at anyone who blows a .08.

Dude’s a wreck. He has to go car-free until January and has no idea how to do it.  Naturally, he turned to me for help. He thought he could carpool with me or something.

I told him that I hardly ever use my car. In fact I only use it for trips that are more than 50 miles. I told him if he wanted my help, he was going to have to learn to live car-free. Readers, you should have seen his face. It was the same mixture of shock and terror that a kid gets when you tell him he has to eat liver for dinner or go to school on a Saturday.

To be fair, I couldn’t blame him — this is Florida, after all. It’s not built for car-free living. We have a lot of work ahead of us if we’re going to retrofit our cities to make them bikeable and walkable. Sprawl makes biking a daunting task. But it’s not impossible. I gave him my tips for going car free in Florida. And here they are:

• Suck it up: Relying on a bike in Florida often means biking over long distances. Biking 30 or 40 miles in a day is a lot for people who aren’t used to biking. But the sooner you accept it and start pedaling, the better off you’ll be.
• Ride a little slower: Yes, this means you’ll have to add extra time to your commute. But it also helps prevent you from being sweat-drenched once you reach your destination.
• Get good gear: When you have to ride for long stretches, you need decent bike shorts. Bike shorts help prevent saddle sores, which are no fun at all — and common to people who ride a lot. Also, being that this is Florida, you will definitely want a good water bottle and a mounted bottle cage.
• Get creative with routes: Ride around. Do test runs. Find the streets that you’re most comfortable biking on. Figure out how to connect to trails. Avoiding busy/dangerous roads might make your commute take longer, but it’s worth it to spend extra time, especially if you’re not confident in traffic.
• Learn to love it: Car-free ain’t easy. If you want to make a go of it — especially in Jacksonville – you’re going to have to embrace everything about it.

As far as I can tell, my neighbor hasn’t started biking. I think he conned one of the other neighbors on our block into letting him hitch rides.

Gee. Do you suppose my tips for biking in Florida scared him off?

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Lately, people have been asking me a lot of questions about custom bikes. I don’t have a custom bike so I can’t tell you a whole lot about it, but I did a little  research and here’s what I came up with.

My friend who lives up in Minneapolis told me she met Erik Noren, custom bike builder, at a White Elephant Party. She ended up with the White Elephant gift that he brought — erotic dice and a book that reviewed every porno movie ever made. It turns out that Erik Noren is more than an interesting party guest. He’s a custom bike builder who is, well, pretty fucking good at what he does. He might be the only framebuilder who will utter the phrase “proprietary water cut drops.”

Check out this video to get an idea of what this dude is all about.

Peacock Groove – Erik Noren, the world’s most misunderstood bike builder from Bill Palladino on Vimeo.

Says Mr. Noren, “Some people make bikes just for show. I make bikes that show.”

Pretty cool, huh?

Finding the builder to make you a custom bike is like finding…I don’t know. A hair stylist who gets that you want to rock a unique look. Or a therapist who will modify their approach to suit your needs and not their idea of what works best. If you want a custom bike, you’ll have to look around, do your research, find the right person.

If you want to build a bike — ie be Erik Noren — you’ll need to develop relationships with water jet cutters and custom steel fabricators. You’ll also need a vision and a solid manifesto for what you think biking should be.

The post Building Your Dream Bike appeared first on Bike Jax.

There are a number of questions you need to consider when buying a new bike. One of the biggest ones it whether or not to get a bike that has front suspension. There are as many opinions on this matter as there are bikers. Rather than present yet another pro or con argument, I’ll just lay out the facts.

1. Front suspension does make your bike heavier. How much does weight matter to you? Will you be loading your bike onto the front of buses? If you need a lighter bike, you might need to get one without front suspension.

2. Front suspension can make biking more comfortable. Hardcore, all-season commuters are immune to the discomforts that come with biking, but newer riders may want something that’s a little easier on their wrists.

3. Front suspension provides vibration reduction. If you’re going to be riding on rough terrain or gravelly roads, you’ll appreciate the vibration reduction.

4. You have to know how to fix them. It’s not all that hard, but if you are used to fixing your own bike and haven’t had one with front suspension, you’ll have to learn how to fix it if something happens to it.

How Front Suspensions Work

Front suspensions rely on coil springs to provide that extra cushion that can help reduce vibrations and the impact on your joints. To create springs that make for effective front suspension, coil manufacturers rely on sophisticated coil bending technology. The thing about bikes is that they are a sum of their parts, so a bike is only as strong as its weakest part. That’s something else you need to keep in mind when you buy a bike with front suspensions — is suspension something you really need, or is it just another set of parts that you need to take care of?

Remember, even if you choose to buy a bike with suspension and decide it’s not right for you, you can replace that fork with a rigid one. However, as they say, it’s always to measure ten times and cut once, etc. Decide whether you want suspension before you get a bike, and save yourself time and money.

The post Front Suspension: The Debate Rages On appeared first on Bike Jax.

A kid riding her bike on the freeway!

A 14 year old girl in Minneapolis rode her bike on the freeway because GPS directions told her that was the way to go.  She was lucky — she didn’t turn into windshield pizza and was escorted to safety by state troopers. I know that GPS is supposed to make our lives easier, but, good God, it doesn’t mean we can turn off our brains!

What’s odd about this story is that she didn’t turn back when she realized she was going to have to get on the freeway. What made her think riding her bike there would be a good idea? Wasn’t she scared? Maybe her parents are self-help gurus who tell her to “THINK POSITIVE!!!” at all times and that she can do anything she puts her mind to and she should always overcome fear. Well, you know what? Sometimes fear is healthy and there are times when you should absolutely think negative thoughts, ie: “the odds of me getting splatted on this freeway are pretty fucking high so I better not bike on it.”

Or maybe her parents are totally absent and she has been raised entirely by electronic devices, and that’s why she trusted her GPS so thoroughly that she followed it into the gates of hell.

On the other hand maybe she’s just not that bright, or has a lot of teenage hubris, and her parents justifiably hit the roof when she came home in a state trooper’s car. Either way, let this be a cautionary tale: GPS merely suggests routes. It is not God. Treat it accordingly.

The post Kid Rides Her Bike on Freeway Because GPS appeared first on Bike Jax.

This is totally rad: Suwon, a city in South Korea, carried out a pretty crazy experiment. They banned cars in the one of the city’s neighborhoods for a whole month. They removed all the cars, handed out bikes and taught people who didn’t know how to ride. The result? They gave the people of Suwon a taste of a car-free future.

The city of Suwon partnered with a company called The Urban Ideal, which helped them make this car-free month thing happen. The Urban Ideal is headed to Johannesburg, South Africa to do the same thing they. The company looks for mayors who, erm, have the balls to do something like this. What are the odds that The Urban Ideal could make this happen in Jacksonville?

Who am I kidding? There would be riots.

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I received an email recently from a friend who is attempting to build a bike for the first time. Building a bike to meet your exact specifications — to fit your body and riding style completely — is a pretty rad undertaking. But it ain’t easy. My friend wrote and said he was stuck; the instructions said to install blind rivet nuts, but he wasn’t sure how, or even if he had the right tools. So I grabbed my tools, hopped on my bike and rode over to his house and we did it together. And, bingo-bango, the bike is finished and I gotta say, it’s one sweet-ass ride.

I wish I could help everyone build their own bike. But I can’t. So, lovely readers, since I can’t help you build your bikes in person, I’ll leave you with this handy video that shows how to install blind rivet nuts on a bike.

Are Rivnuts the Same as Rivet Nuts?

Yes. You’ll notice that the man in the video uses the term ‘rivnuts’ from time to time. It’s just a shorter way of saying ‘rivet nut’. So if you’re Googling instructions on how to build or repair a bike and see the term ‘rivnuts’, rest assured, it does just mean ‘rivet nut.’

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