A Miscellany of Ignorance

Coriander

Hi,

I thought I might as well stick all my dumb questions up at once. Some help with the following would be appreciated. In descending order of embarrassing ignorance:

1) As I picked my bike up the other day after it had fallen over, there was a sound just like those puzzles Father Christmas would bring each year - the ones with the silver balls that you have to get round a maze and into a hole.

Is this noise in a bike a bad thing? What is it? And do I need to do anything about it?

2) Drivetrain - I probably do know what this is, but thought I'd ask for clarification - is it the chain and the chainrings and rear cassette all together?

3) I hear talk of using baby wipes to clean your bike? Just on the frames and wheels? Or can they be used on the chain and co as well?

4) And the big question - this has been vexing me for ages as I can't seem to get it right. No matter what I wear in cold and cool weather I end up with clammy, chilly feeling clothing next to my skin that makes me uber-cold whenever I have to stop at lights, etc. I wear cycling tops, including base layers so what am I doing wrong? When moving I don't feel cold.

Thanks,chaps.

tailwindhome

Coriander wrote:

Hi,

I thought I might as well stick all my dumb questions up at once. Some help with the following would be appreciated. In descending order of embarrassing ignorance:

1) As I picked my bike up the other day after it had fallen over, there was a sound just like those puzzles Father Christmas would bring each year - the ones with the silver balls that you have to get round a maze and into a hole.

Is this noise in a bike a bad thing? What is it? And do I need to do anything about it?

DUNNO

2) Drivetrain - I probably do know what this is, but thought I'd ask for clarification - is it the chain and the chainrings and rear cassette all together?


DUNNO

3) I hear talk of using baby wipes to clean your bike? Just on the frames and wheels? Or can they be used on the chain and co as well?

DUNNO, but there's nothing better for getting oil off your hands, IME the cheaper brands work better

4) And the big question - this has been vexing me for ages as I can't seem to get it right. No matter what I wear in cold and cool weather I end up with clammy, chilly feeling clothing next to my skin that makes me uber-cold whenever I have to stop at lights, etc. I wear cycling tops, including base layers so what am I doing wrong? When moving I don't feel cold.

DUNNO, I get the same thing during the return drive section of my drive and ride commute


Thanks,chaps.

Lovely thread title

Can I add one more question.

How do you ride round a corner on a fixed gear bike. Is the natural instinct not to stop pedalling with the inside leg bent and the outside leg straight?

nicklouse

1. it is not a normal sound. but it may be nothing. such as dirt etc having entered the frame and now having been dialoged by the fall is not free to move.

2. yes and no. Some brands can be mixed and matched. but you do need to keep the "speed" the same. but for a correct answer we need to know what you have fitted. but yes collectively know as the drivetrain.

3 some people do so.

4. cant help. but a better wicking base layer may help.

Paddy O Dawes

1) As I picked my bike up the other day after it had fallen over, there was a sound just like those puzzles Father Christmas would bring each year - the ones with the silver balls that you have to get round a maze and into a hole.

Is this noise in a bike a bad thing? What is it? And do I need to do anything about it?

Sounds a bit odd, but as a general rule I don't worry about odd too much. If anything's seriously amiss, it's generally apparent. If everything's still working ok, that's all that matters. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't keep an ear/eye on it, if only to try to establish what it is/where it's coming from. Can't think what would make that noise tho', I have to say.

2) Drivetrain - I probably do know what this is, but thought I'd ask for clarification - is it the chain and the chainrings and rear cassette all together?

Yup.

3) I hear talk of using baby wipes to clean your bike? Just on the frames and wheels? Or can they be used on the chain and co as well?

Yup.

4) And the big question - this has been vexing me for ages as I can't seem to get it right. No matter what I wear in cold and cool weather I end up with clammy, chilly feeling clothing next to my skin that makes me uber-cold whenever I have to stop at lights, etc. I wear cycling tops, including base layers so what am I doing wrong? When moving I don't feel cold.

'clammy, chilly feeling clothing next to my skin ' - Ugh! Don't know. I wear four thin layers in cold weather and don't have this problem - maybe that's an answer? (Nothing fancy - cotton T, denim shirt, thin wool jumper, proper cycle jersey.)

always_tyred

Coriander wrote:

Hi,

I thought I might as well stick all my dumb questions up at once. Some help with the following would be appreciated. In descending order of embarrassing ignorance:

1) As I picked my bike up the other day after it had fallen over, there was a sound just like those puzzles Father Christmas would bring each year - the ones with the silver balls that you have to get round a maze and into a hole.

Is this noise in a bike a bad thing? What is it? And do I need to do anything about it?

2) Drivetrain - I probably do know what this is, but thought I'd ask for clarification - is it the chain and the chainrings and rear cassette all together?

3) I hear talk of using baby wipes to clean your bike? Just on the frames and wheels? Or can they be used on the chain and co as well?

4) And the big question - this has been vexing me for ages as I can't seem to get it right. No matter what I wear in cold and cool weather I end up with clammy, chilly feeling clothing next to my skin that makes me uber-cold whenever I have to stop at lights, etc. I wear cycling tops, including base layers so what am I doing wrong? When moving I don't feel cold.

Thanks,chaps.

(1) No way to answer sensibly. The noise could be from anywhere. If you were riding the bike at the time, the noise may be skeletal, in which case its probably not good and you should see a doctor.

(2) generally crank + chainrings, both front and rear mechs, cassette and chain.

(3) Babywipes are proto-landfill. Use something else. For example, a cloth with some detergent, instead of a disposable non-biodegradable cloth soaked in less effective detergent and, pointlessly, moisturiser.

Babywipes are convenient, but using them to clean your bike is almost as ignorant as using them to clean a car.

(4) Are you wearing cotton? If so, don't. Something either naturally or synthetically wicking will transfer the moisture to the outside of the garment and not against the skin, so you won't feel the heat being conducted out of you so much.

Did I mention baby wipes?

Coriander

Always Tyred wrote:

Coriander wrote:

Hi,

I thought I might as well stick all my dumb questions up at once. Some help with the following would be appreciated. In descending order of embarrassing ignorance:

1) As I picked my bike up the other day after it had fallen over, there was a sound just like those puzzles Father Christmas would bring each year - the ones with the silver balls that you have to get round a maze and into a hole.

Is this noise in a bike a bad thing? What is it? And do I need to do anything about it?

2) Drivetrain - I probably do know what this is, but thought I'd ask for clarification - is it the chain and the chainrings and rear cassette all together?

3) I hear talk of using baby wipes to clean your bike? Just on the frames and wheels? Or can they be used on the chain and co as well?

4) And the big question - this has been vexing me for ages as I can't seem to get it right. No matter what I wear in cold and cool weather I end up with clammy, chilly feeling clothing next to my skin that makes me uber-cold whenever I have to stop at lights, etc. I wear cycling tops, including base layers so what am I doing wrong? When moving I don't feel cold.

Thanks,chaps.

(1) No way to answer sensibly. The noise could be from anywhere. If you were riding the bike at the time, the noise may be skeletal, in which case its probably not good and you should see a doctor.

(2) generally crank + chainrings, both front and rear mechs, cassette and chain.

(3) Babywipes are proto-landfill. Use something else. For example, a cloth with some detergent, instead of a disposable non-biodegradable cloth soaked in less effective detergent and, pointlessly, moisturiser.

Babywipes are convenient, but using them to clean your bike is almost as ignorant as using them to clean a car.

(4) Are you wearing cotton? If so, don't. Something either naturally or synthetically wicking will transfer the moisture to the outside of the garment and not against the skin, so you won't feel the heat being conducted out of you so much.

Did I mention baby wipes?

Moisturiser - is that not just lube by another name?

always_tyred

I don't know - what do you lube your chain with? Personally I don't use a dispersion of something oily in water, because it will be, er, dispersed by water. I also don't tend to lube my frame, or my wheel rims.

Coriander

Always Tyred wrote:

I don't know - what do you lube your chain with? Personally I don't use a dispersion of something oily in water, because it will be, err, dispersed by water. I also don't tend to lube my frame, or my wheel rims.

That's a fair point. I was only joking about it acting as chain lube, though. Even I'm not that dumb...

Jamey

Always Tyred wrote:

(3) Babywipes are proto-landfill. Use something else. For example, a cloth with some detergent, instead of a disposable non-biodegradable cloth soaked in less effective detergent and, pointlessly, moisturiser.

Babywipes are convenient, but using them to clean your bike is almost as ignorant as using them to clean a car.

I hear what you're saying, and if it was possible to re-use the same cloth on my bike it would make perfect eco-sense to do so but the problem is that whatever I use to clean my bike is going to be ruined afterwards.

I've tried brushes, sponges, cloths, rags and anything else you can think of and every time it's the same - the black gunk that comes off my bike cannot be removed from the object used to perform the cleaning.

I've even soaked a brush in white spirit for two weeks afterwards, agitating it every couple of days, and it still left black streaky marks on anything it brushed after that.

So whatever I use is going to have to be disposed of regardless, therefore I reason that I might as well use baby wipes. I do sometimes try to use old newspaper to remove the worst of it but it depends how much time I have as baby wipes are just quicker, naturally.

always_tyred

Jamey wrote:

Always Tyred wrote:

(3) Babywipes are proto-landfill. Use something else. For example, a cloth with some detergent, instead of a disposable non-biodegradable cloth soaked in less effective detergent and, pointlessly, moisturiser.

Babywipes are convenient, but using them to clean your bike is almost as ignorant as using them to clean a car.

I hear what you're saying, and if it was possible to re-use the same cloth on my bike it would make perfect eco-sense to do so but the problem is that whatever I use to clean my bike is going to be ruined afterwards.

I've tried brushes, sponges, cloths, rags and anything else you can think of and every time it's the same - the black gunk that comes off my bike cannot be removed from the object used to perform the cleaning.

I've even soaked a brush in white spirit for two weeks afterwards, agitating it every couple of days, and it still left black streaky marks on anything it brushed after that.

So whatever I use is going to have to be disposed of regardless, therefore I reason that I might as well use baby wipes. I do sometimes try to use old newspaper to remove the worst of it but it depends how much time I have as baby wipes are just quicker, naturally.

You have tried water as well, right?

Clever Pun

WheezyMcChubby wrote:

Lovely thread title

Can I add one more question.

How do you ride round a corner on a fixed gear bike. Is the natural instinct not to stop pedalling with the inside leg bent and the outside leg straight?

dont lean as hard... keep peddaling

suzyb

To add to the miscellany

When talking about cassettes there always seem to be 2 numbers i.e. 12-21. What do the numbers mean.

And ditto to Jamey's problem. And yes, I've tried water.

Kieran_Burns

Slight thread steal - has anyone tried those steam cleaners? The jet ones?

Kieran_Burns

-null- wrote:

To add to the miscellany

When talking about cassettes there always seem to be 2 numbers i.e. 12-21. What do the numbers mean.

smallest cog - biggest cog and the number of teeth therein

12 being the one nearest the frame, 21 being the one nearest the wheel

il_principe

-null- wrote:

To add to the miscellany

When talking about cassettes there always seem to be 2 numbers i.e. 12-21. What do the numbers mean.

Number of teeth on the smallest and then largest cog.

bannedbiker

Its the number of teeth on the smallest and biggest cogs, so it tells you the range of the casette.

always_tyred

-null- wrote:

To add to the miscellany

When talking about cassettes there always seem to be 2 numbers i.e. 12-21. What do the numbers mean.

Smallest and largest number of teeth on the respective cogs of your cassette.

12-21 = hard
11-21 = very hard
11-19 = hard as nails
12-25 = delicate flower, but still able to cycle at age of 90.

UndercoverElephant

-null- wrote:

To add to the miscellany

When talking about cassettes there always seem to be 2 numbers i.e. 12-21. What do the numbers mean.

Smallest cog on the cassette has 12 teeth, the biggest has 21. The rest are sort of spaced in between. The lower the number of teeth, the faster the cog will move round when turned by the same chainring, but it will also take more effort.

bannedbiker

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Slight thread steal - has anyone tried those steam cleaners? The jet ones?

Not on my bike, but i've used one to clean motorbike chains and engines, so i dont see why you couldn't. like with a pressure washer just be carefull with bearings.

il_principe

Cleaning wise, I just use a tea towel, well several in fact. They are stained but I wash them and reuse with no problems. I find a tea towel and hot water will budge most things, add degreaser for stubborn stuff and an old t/brush for hard to reach parts. If you clean your bike regularly it makes things much easier in the long run.

Kieran_Burns

God I love getting the first answer in

It's like seconds apart...

suzyb

You didn't all need to rush at once to answer, one would have done

Jamey

Il Principe wrote:

If you clean your bike regularly it makes things much easier in the long run.

You know that you can do something regularly every ten years, right?

/regularly-vs-frequently-pedantry

Soul Boy

Coriander wrote:

4) And the big question - this has been vexing me for ages as I can't seem to get it right. No matter what I wear in cold and cool weather I end up with clammy, chilly feeling clothing next to my skin that makes me uber-cold whenever I have to stop at lights, etc. I wear cycling tops, including base layers so what am I doing wrong? When moving I don't feel cold.

Get yourself something from this page, your body will love you for it.

http://www.howies.co.uk/section.php/31/0

Norky

Coriander wrote:

4) And the big question - this has been vexing me for ages as I can't seem to get it right. No matter what I wear in cold and cool weather I end up with clammy, chilly feeling clothing next to my skin that makes me uber-cold whenever I have to stop at lights, etc. I wear cycling tops, including base layers so what am I doing wrong? When moving I don't feel cold.

You might be wrongly-dressed (no slur on your sartorial choices intended), you might be over-dressed. Really. Too much clothing, while it might feel comfortably warm when you leave the house in the morning will make you overheat once you start working, making you sweat (ahem, sorry, *perspire*). When you stop working so hard (for lights, or freewheeling down hills, but freewheeling's bad, mmkay ), your body cools, and you feel cold and clammy - there's only so much that wicking clothing can do. It's a balancing act between being warm enough that you're not actually shivering when you set off and not over heating once you've been going a while.

How flat is your commute? Hills make the balancing act harder - climbs will make you work harder/hotter, but the reduced speed will mean there's less breeze to keep you cool, while the opposite is true on the downhills.

I can recommend a merino wool base layer. Wool has the interesting property of retaining warmth even when it's wet. I have a couple meant for cycling from Endura ("baa baa") and they're great. One wool layer, one jersey, one jacket does me fine in this weather, maybe an extra, thin layer when the temperature is 0 degrees - but of course you'll have to find what works for you.

Hope that helps.

P.S. I've just thought about what I wrote and realised I've all but called you a sweaty bird. Diplomacy fail. Sorry :oops:

bannedbiker

Il Principe wrote:

If you clean your bike regularly it makes things much easier in the long run.

+1.

I also cheat and cover everything that's not a braking componant in GT85, helps the crap slide off when you're cleaning!

bannedbiker

Norky wrote:

you might be over-dressed.

+1

when we had the snow and it was getting close to -10 i was still happy in just a short-sleeved base layer and decent jacket.

Eau Rouge

Jamey wrote:

So whatever I use is going to have to be disposed of regardless, therefore I reason that I might as well use baby wipes. I do sometimes try to use old newspaper to remove the worst of it but it depends how much time I have as baby wipes are just quicker, naturally.

J-cloths. They should be more biodegradable than baby wipes and just as effective.

Jamey

Il Principe wrote:

Cleaning wise, I just use a tea towel, well several in fact. They are stained but I wash them and reuse with no problems.

In the washing machine? Don't they leave gunky black marks in there?

il_principe

Jamey wrote:

Il Principe wrote:

Cleaning wise, I just use a tea towel, well several in fact. They are stained but I wash them and reuse with no problems.

In the washing machine? Don't they leave gunky black marks in there?

No, but then I clean my bikes frequently so there's v little in the way of gunk anyway.

Clever Pun

Not tonight love I'm washing my bike