Paracycling Poetry Slam!

Something different and humorous for the update this week: Throwing down the gauntlet in the first Paracycling Poetry Slam/Rap Battle. Tech article on chain maintenance will be along soon.

Speaking of battles, Friday is the last day to vote in the Hartford Achieve Without Limits contest. I would like your vote and also encourage you to vote for Todd J. in health and fitness.

http://www.facebook.com/TheHartford?v=app_284266101605194

Thanks to good friend, "Ruki" for the poem idea:

“Get a handcycle”

You fixies
You pixies
Who only have one gear
Your skinny jeans
And no helmet
Don’t belong round here

Spandex whiner

Think yo’ the Shizz

Vith dat Carbon vunder bike

Und the dimpled dual Zippzzz?

We got you beat not by one

But by three!

So keep your head up
Lock those brakes up
As you runnin’ into that tree.


Dirt biter

With the fat tire

In hockey pads

With the shocking

Long shocks

Think your back

Takes a beating?

Try rolling with no “cord”
On a downhill at 50
Then you’ll see some bleeding!


And you Tandies
With your twin riders Dandy
Cruising uphill at twenty

Yeah you make it look so easy
With your quad leg power
Now try it with your arms

And you will look really cheesy

So now take a look
Do the double take
At the dude
Cranking the trike
In fast four-four time

Yea, I am cranking with my arms

Up one hill

And down the next

While back at the line you
Wonderin’ if that
New kit your wearing

Makes you look fat

Get a life, get real  

And get a handcycle!

In this sport

There aint no walking

Even if you have

To limp across the line

We’re the cult

Of the upside-down derailleur

With the three carbon discs

And we rule the road

So fuggetabout the fancy jersey

Throw away those little cleats

And the dainty matching shoes
Ride with face so grimy
And for the glory

You only live once
And then are born anew
As the beast

That rides that creature

That has no better

So get a real ride, get a life,  

And get a handbike!

The Properly Dressed Cable

From December 14-30, 2011 I am a semi-finalist in the Hartford Achieve Without Limits contest. Enjoy the blog and I would appreciate your repeated votes at the facebook link!

http://www.facebook.com/TheHartford?sk=app_284266101605194

Pictured are the three most vital tools for performing your own cable maintenance: Small needle nose pliers, for holding cable taut when tightening a cable clamp screw. Cable and housing cutting tool, For making clean and easy cuts through cable housing and cables. (Available at local bike shop or online) Metric hex key wrench set, for loosening and tightening derailleur or brake cable clamp screw.

Emergency Repairs on the Road:

In the author's experience, if you add a small adjustable wrench and leave the cable cutter behind, you will have a very effective and compact road tool kit that covers many emergency adjustments or repairs that can happen while on the road. Add a small tire patch kit and mini pump or Co2 for more complete, "insurance." For some paras there is no walking home from a broken down bike!

Cable Types


As already mentioned, there are two kinds of cable available, distinguished primarily by the type of housing used.  1) The cheaper spiral wound looks like a coil spring. 2) "Compressionless" whose housing looks like a bundle of straight hair strands running from housing end to housing end. The better brands of compressionless housing usually have an inner plastic liner that reduces cable friction and helps center the cable in the housing which results in crisper shifting, authoritative braking and smoother cable motion. 

Compressionless housing, top. Spiral wound, bottom.  Plastic coating was removed ONLY to show cable housing innards. Properly cut housing will have plastic outer coating along it's full length. 

Cable Cutting


Cable housing should be cut with shearing type cable cutters designed for the purpose. Use of dykes style cutters or other type of non shearing cutter will result in a very poorly cut housing end, and with compressionless housing, a badly crushed plastic liner. The best brands of cable will not last long if the ends of the cable housing are ragged. In some cases, the cable end might come out ragged even with the cleanest cutting, and a small hand file or rotary cutting tool (Dremel) or small angle grinder can be used to square off the end of the cable housing. Compressionless housing can also require a bit reshaping with the pliers as the cutting will tend to "teardrop" the end of the housing.

Handcycle Cable Housing Hygiene

On handcycles, ragged housing ends can rub on the cable sides and cause premature cable fraying at the barrel adjuster of a shifter or brake and can also cause the cable housing end to cut its way through the cable housing ferrule or end cap. When is doubt make sure the cable housing ends are clean.

Feral Ferrules


Ferrules or cable housing end caps come in a few flavors: 1) Thin pressed sheet metal used with cheaper cable with spiral housing. 2) Thick molded plastic, used on pricier compressionless cable, and, 3) machined aluminum, which can be special ordered. Ask at your local bike shop). The aluminum ferrule can be used on a handcycle where cable flop and cable tension conspire to tear up a conventional plastic ferrule.




Dexterity Issues and Cable Adjustment


Properly adjusted brake and shifter cables can often require the mechanic to actively apply tension to a cable while tightening a clamping bolt and although a needle nose pliers can be handy, oftentimes certain set-ups or the dexterity level of the mechanic may require a third hand. In such situations the BT-2 Cable Stretcher from Park Tool can be useful. Available at local bike shop or online.

Bike Wrenching for Paracyclists:

To begin, a shout-out to Leon Bostick who suggested a handcycle maintenance class. Leon, thanks for the inspiration and may this blog suffice for now.

Questions, comments and suggestions for further how-to topics can be sent to me at g_damerow(at)yahoo.com 

From December 14-30, 2011 I am a semi-finalist in the Hartford Achieve Without Limits contest. Enjoy the blog and I would appreciate your repeated votes at the facebook link!

http://www.facebook.com/TheHartford?sk=app_284266101605194 

Note: Some maintenance topics will apply to both adaptive and conventional bikes. Those topics that are unique to a given adaptation will be noted.

Handcyclists who are set on doing most or all of their own work, may find it helpful to have a table to set their ride upon to ease access when they work. Something as simple as a sheet of plywood set on saw horses can suffice. Riders of uprights will probably want to invest in a mechanic’s stand to save their knees.


Part 1: Derailleurs, Cables and Shifters

I still remember my first drop handle-bar ten-speed. It was a blue framed Huffy with gumwall blue tires, metallic paint, and as I came to learn, had the weight of an Abrams tank. While the Loti, Cannondales and Schwinns of my cycling club buddies rode flawlessly down the road, I was usually on the curb, putting the thrown chain back on the sprockets and wondering why the bike never shifted right.  I was glad to have the Huffy, but if I knew then what I know now about shifters, cables and derailleurs I would have spent a lot more time riding happily!

A thrown chain can ruin a perfectly good ride, club race or championship winning charge. So what do you have to know to have a reliable shifting bike?

Proper Derailleur Adjustment

(Note: In handcycling the Rear derailleur is known as the Bottom.  The Front derailleur is known as the Top derailleur. Sounds like a description of a game of cricket, no? However, for the discussions here I will refer to a derailleur as a chainwheel derailleur or cassette derailleur)

Make sure the basic derailleur settings are correct. Chainwheel derailleurs and cassettes derailleurs have two stop screws: One screw limits the top position and the other limits the bottom position of the derailleur.

Top Limit Adjustment. Common symptoms of a poorly set top limit screw are a chain that rides over the largest gear and onto the axle or crank. Turn the top screw in until you feel a slight resistance in the shifter when shifting into the largest gear. The resistance indicates that the screw is preventing the derailleur from pushing the chain too far. If you cannot shift fully into the largest gear or the chain will not stay on the large gear but drops down onto the next lowest gear, back the screw off slightly. When possible, shifting adjustments should be made on an indoor trainer when possible to simulate riding conditions.

Bottom Limit Adjustments: Cassette derailleurs that randomly skip the chain on and off the smallest gear or refuse to drop below the second to last gear may require the bottom end set screw backed off slightly. Adjust the screw until the skipping stops and the chain runs noiselessly on the smallest sprocket.

Note: A worn, kinked, mis-routed or badly adjusted shifter cable can also cause skipping on the bottom end, so if backing the screw out all the way does not stop the skipping, inspect the cable then adjust or replace it.

Chainwheel derailleur bottom end stop screw setting: The goal is to have the derailleur pull the chain down to the smallest gear without having it pull the chain off the small sprocket.

Handcyclists: Modern bicycle cabling, even the best and most expensive brands were never designed to survive the abuse that a constantly moving handcycle crank delivers so expect to replace any rotating cables after about 400 miles. Expensive lined compressionless cabling may give crisper shifting and slightly greater durability.

Also keep in mind that if after properly setting the top and bottom screws, replacing the cables and properly adjusting the cable tension, poor shifting symptoms persist, then you may have a bent derailleur bracket or a chainwheel derailleur that is worn out or loose.

Handcycle Racing Tip! Shifters that move with great difficulty indicate worn cables. I recommend  that one or two week prior to the big race that you replace any cable that is showing wear and excessive friction. The remaining training days before the race will allow you literally work out the kinks and find/solve any cable routing issues that may affect your shifting on race day.

“Front Derailleurs operate in defiance of good engineering principles.”  -Theodore Costantino. (Have you ever observed and contemplated the action and motion of a front/top derailleur? Watching the chain move back and forth often makes me a constant skeptic!) Even properly adjusted front/top derailleurs do not like to be shifted while under heavy loads and will often misbehave if you do not let off on the torque and allow them to do their job. When upshifitng, or even downshifting  be sure to lay off the power slightly!

Shifters

Modern index shifting has revolutionized cycling in the same way that electronic shifting is about to change it again once more. Having said that, reliable index shifting depends on a properly adjusted cable and derailleur. On the spot adjustments while on the road can be made with the barrel adjuster on the end of the shifter but when the adjuster reaches it’s limits as the cable stretches it becomes mandatory to re-set the barrel adjuster and adjust the cable.

Handcycle Shifter Cable Maintenance Tip

When routing new cables and housings to handpedal mounted shifters that are tied to and bundled with brake cables be sure that when placing zip ties that the cable housings follow the same arcs. (think of the adjoining cable housings as the multi colored arcs of a rainbow and you will get the picture)  Movable and rotating cable housings that are bundled and zip tied unevenly against neighbor housings will flex in strange ways and put excessive stress on the cables inside when rotated and cause premature cable breakage.

Shifter Preferences

I am not a fan of rotary/twist style mountain bike shifters (There I said it! I feel so much better now!) Twist shifters are simple, you twist to the right gear and the shift happens. Usually. Twist shifters tend to be less tolerant of sloppy and worn cables and so while you may think you have shifted into the right gear you know by the sensations on the cranks that the shift did not happen. The reason I prefer paddle shifters is that most paddle types have a small gap between shift points which allow the rider to go slightly past the intended shift point and so get a balky derailleur into the desired gear. However,  a rider’s hand dexterity may determine the choice of shifter to be a twist. In cases where a twist shifter is required, shifting reliability may increase by the use of compressionless cables housings.  (Sometimes known as “SIS”)