Videos – Page 3 – Palm Beach Bike Tours

February 15, 2010March 28, 2013

How to Fix Your Bike’s Flat Tire

THAT’S a blowout

I mentioned last week that I had a problem with flat tires. Well, over the years I HAVE had a couple of blowouts, but nothing like the one on Valentine’s Day in West Palm Beach.

Just a few hours earlier, that 42-foot pile of debris behind Osa had been a 30-story condo damaged by two hurricanes. At a few minutes past 9 A.M. on Valentine’s Day, it took about 10 seconds for 2,000 pounds of explosives to pancake the building. You can see a video of the implosion on this TV station’s site.

I decided that it wasn’t worth fighting the crowds to see the explosion (plus it was chilly), but Osa and Chuck and I cruised by the site that afternoon. [I could have used a picture of Chuck, but I looked at Osa. Then I looked at Chuck. Yep, no contest, even if he WAS riding a bent.]

How to fix a flat tire

After my flat tire experience last week, I decided to let Wayne at Bicycle change my front tire so I could video the process for those folks who are a bit intimidated by the thought of doing it on the side of the road. Wayne was kind enough to let me shoot a video of him building a wheel around my SON generator when I first bought my Surly Long Haul Trucker last year, so he was OK with shooting the flat fixing.

I’ve been lucky enough not to have so many flats that I’ve gotten proficient or fast at changing them. I’ve done it – on one memorable ride on the Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail when I flatted at Mosquito O’Clock – but I figured I’d let a pro do it on camera. Plus, it’s about as easy to film yourself changing a tire as it is to change a tire while swatting mosquitoes with both hands.

Patch or Pitch?

Some of you may question why Wayne said that he was going to discard the tube because it had been punctured. Why not patch it?

Wayne’s perspective as an LBS owner is that the customer will always blame the patch if there’s ever a flat on that tire in the future. He’s perfectly happy to give you the old tube back if YOU want to patch it, but he always installs new tubes.

What’s that Presta to Schrader adapter he’s using?

Wayne prefers to adapt Presta valves to the automotive Schrader format when he’s working with tubes.

It means that he can use the same chuck on his air hose for all tires.
He thinks the Presta valve is less likely to be damaged.

(Note: the adapter is installed upside down here on my tire. I keep it that was because it’s easier to take off.)

If I’m home with my Blackburn floor pump, I’ll use it in the Presta mode. If I’m on the road, I’ll use the Schrader adapter for my Topeak Road Morph with Gauge or my CO2 inflator.

That keeps me from having to switch heads around and lessens the chance of damaging the Presta valve stem.

February 8, 2010March 28, 2013

Endeavor Didn’t Have Any Flats

The Space Shuttle Endeavor’s crew and I both took a ride this weekend. Clouds and low ceiling postponed their launch, but it was a picture-perfect liftoff 24 hours later. Here’s what it looked like from our front yard in West Palm Beach, FL.

Sorry for the bumpy video. I crawled out of a nice, warm bed at 4 in the morning to find temps in the mid-40s and I hadn’t bothered to grab a tripod. I wish I had. The shuttle was visible for a longer period than I can remember seeing any other flights.

My luck wasn’t so good

The mid-day temperatures on Saturday were great – in the low 70s – but the winds were brutal. They were 19mph sustained, with gusts into the mid-30mph range. They were mostly out of the west, so we decided to cruise some of the inland streets that my new riding partner, Osa, hadn’t been on.

She saw the house we rented when we moved to Florida in 1973. It still has a big tree in the front yard that we planted when Son Matt was born in 1975. We were afraid that a cold snap had taken it out about 10 years ago, but it’s doing great.

Some of the neighborhoods we rode through show tremendous improvements from the 80s when you could buy crack on almost any corner and drive-by shootings were common. The area has really turned around.

Osa had never been in Woodlawn Cemetery, where many of West Palm Beach pioneers are buried. It’s also the final resting place for 69 victims of the 1928 Hurricane that killed thousands in The Glades. Sixty-one of the 69 victims are white. When the scope of the tragedy became clear, non-white victims were turned away from Woodlawn. Nearly 700 other black victims were buried in a mass grave near 25th St. and Tamerind Ave. The grave has been neglected until recent years.

When we made a turn in the cemetery, the bike handled badly. I looked down and saw the rear tire was nearly flat. That was Flat One.

Osa on Dreher Park bike trail

After replacing the tube, we started off on another ride to Dreher Park, where I shot this photo of her. After cruising around the lakes on the north part of the park, we hit the south side, which has what passes for hills in West Palm Beach.

Osa chased down an ice cream truck. I thought my bike handled a little squirmy when we stopped for the break, but I was more interested in snarfing down an ice cream sandwich. When I got back on the bike, the FRONT tire was half flat. That was Flat Two.

There was enough air to make it home, but the bike really handled badly. Another few blocks and I’d have walked it home.

Flat Three

When I got home, Son Matt was building a garden for this mother in our back yard. When I started describing my flat problems, she said, “You didn’t have two flats today, you had three. The right-rear passenger tire on your car was flat, too.”

Good thing I wasn’t on the Endeavor crew. It much be a real bear to change a flat on that thing.

February 1, 2010March 28, 2013

Mary’s Life 3 Years After Her Crash

Three years ago, my friend, co-worker and riding partner crashed on the Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail.

Her skull was fractured in five places, she had double vision, vertigo and short-term memory loss, plus the normal road rash. To keep from rehashing the details of the crash, go to my July 9, 2008 post.

H-Word Warning

Some cycling forums and lists ban the mention of helmets because the topic invariably creates more heat than light. Be warned that the H-word does come up in the video and in the original story, but helmets aren’t the focus of either piece. For the record, neither Mary nor I were wearing magic foam hats the day of her crash (mine, in fact, is visible in the photo, strapped to the back of her bike).

How’s Mary doing?

Mary’s friends (both real and virtual) and former coworkers ask me from time to time, “How’s Mary doing?”

I have to confess that we’ve had less and less contact over the months, especially since she and her significant other, Tammy, moved a county away with 2-1/2-year-old Nicholas.

I used the anniversary month of the crash as an excuse to visit them in their new home in Palm City.

I’ve never been much partial to kids, but Nicholas immediately won me over. He’s bright, inquisitive and has the most beautiful eyes imaginable. After watching me take pictures, he ran to get his Viewfinder to “take pictures” of his two moms.

What’s the good news?

Mary seemed as happy and content as I’ve ever seen her.

She’s fit and tanned. She still has a few road rash “badges of honor” barely showing on her knees, but there’s no visible signs of her head injuries.

She loves her new life as a stay-at-home mom caring for Nicholas while Tammy is out working as a police officer at FAU.

Their new home is perfect for raising a family. It has plenty of room for Thomas the Train toys and all of the other stuff that a growing boy accumulates. There’s a sizable backyard and kids nearby.

What’s the less good news?

Three years after the crash, she’s still unable to work because of the problems with double vision and vertigo. Special glasses with prisms help with the vision problem, but the solution isn’t perfect. She copes with the memory loss by sticking reminder notes on the refrigerator.

She’s been told that surgery could end up making her vision worse instead of better, so she’s not going to take the risk at this point.

She hasn’t been back on a bike. She says she goes out to the garage and looks at it from time to time and she enjoys looking at the Adventure Cycling Association magazine, but she can’t bring herself to climb back on two wheels.

Part of it is the vertigo that would cause balance problems, but she told me for the first time this visit that she thinks she’s afraid to get back on the bike.

Overall, though, she’s glad to be alive

Here’s a video where she tells the story about how her whole life changed in milliseconds.

December 21, 2009March 28, 2013

Imagine a City Full of Cycles, Not Cars

It appears to have worked in the Netherlands in the 1950s. (Notice how you don’t see many fat people.)

Don’t think it could happen in this country? Chicago banned cars on Lake Shore Drive to give 18,000 cyclists a crack at it. The video of a major freeway clogged with bikes is inspiring.

How about in Portland, where there are bicycle traffic jams and where it’s projected that more than half the trips in one corridor will be made by bicycles before long.

December 19, 2009March 28, 2013

Year in Review: Bicycle Lights

[Editor’s note: This is part of a series of year-end reviews of reviews I’ve written throughout the year.]

I have “friends” who claim that my Surly Long Haul Trucker is lit up like this 18-wheeler Bro Mark saw in a St. Louis truck stop last year.

I wish.

I love lights

Half a century ago, when I got my driver’s license, Missouri pushed a safety slogan, “Lights on for safety.” The campaign must have worked, because I run with my car and my bike headlights on.

I started out with a NiteRider Trail Rat

When I first started riding at night, I bought a NiteRider Trail rat for about a hundred bucks. I liked the size, weight, output and the plug-and-forget charger.

What I didn’t like was running out of battery power on a long ride.

Next light: NiteRider Pro-12E

The NiteRider Pro-12E used a bottle-cage battery and had longer run time on low power settings. It powered the brightest taillight I’ve ever used. But, it, too, left me stranded in the dark and having to rely on a backup light on long rides. A ride’s not fun when you see the battery charge indicator dropping and you have a bunch of miles yet to go.

A SON generator was the answer

A generator hub was the perfect solution. I had light as long as I had legs. I never had to worry about charging batteries or whether I remembered to pack the charger or the cost of replacement batteries. (That’s why I finally quit using the NiteRider Pro-12E: the battery pack needed replacing and I didn’t want to put the money into it.)

I used the SON on my Trek 1220 and then had a wheel built to move it over to the Surly Long Haul Trucker.

You can see the wheel being built here.

DLumotec Oval N Plus

I used several different types of lights with the SON. I started out with two halogen bulb lights and found them “OK.” I was happier when I switched the primary light to an LED version, the DLumotec Oval Plus.

It came up to full brightness almost immediately.
It had a standlight that would glow when you stopped pedaling.
Because it was LED instead of halogen bulb, it didn’t darken as it aged and bulb life wasn’t a factor. You could run it all the time.

B&M IQ Cyo R N Plus

When I read a review of the Cyo IQ on one of my favorite bike blogs, EcoVelo, I just had to try one. It’s the best generator light I’ve owned. I didn’t even consider trying to hook up a secondary light with it. It’s just not needed.

Here’s a description of how I installed the light, including a video.

Cheap be-seen light

I bought a couple cheap Viewpoint Flare 5 LED Headlights from Performance before Kid Matt and I took off for a cross-Florida trip. I figured they’d be good backup lights. We were about 20 miles around and he had about a 1/4-mile lead on me. Just for the heck of it, I put the Flare in strobe mode. He was really impressed with how visible it was.

I’ve kept it on the bike as a be-seen ever since. Battery life is excellent. It pops off its mount quickly if you need a flashlight, too. Matt and a lot of other reviewers have had problems with the switch. I wouldn’t count on it for a primary light.

How to be seen from behind

Even though statistics show that the odds from being hit from behind are less than most folks would guess, I still like to be highly visible.

I use passive relectors and taillights.

I moved my RealLite, NiteRider taillight and generator-powered B&M 4DToplight Senso Multi from my Trek 1220 to my LHT, even though I quit using my NiteRider when the battery died. One of these days I’ll get around to stripping it off.

Here’s how I have them mounted and a full description of each.

Flashbak Safety Light

When I get over the cold that’s laid me low, I’ll be doing a review of the Flashbak Safety Light that the vendor was kind enough to send me. I had hoped to have someone shoot it in action on this week’s Freakbike Militia Ride, but the skies opened up two blocks up the road and I had to cover it with my bike cape. The thing was bright enough that it lit up the whole back of the cape from underneath. I was impressed.

UPDATE: Here is the review of the FlashBak.

Slow-moving vehicle triangle and Flash Flag

I have a Slow Moving Vehicle triangle on the back of my Camelbak and one on my left rear pannier when I’m using one. It’s just another way for me to send the message, “Treat me like a tractor.”

I experimented with a Flash Flag for one ride. The jury’s still out on this. I may fool around with a better way to mount it.

NiteRider MiNewt Mini vs Trail Rat

Son Matt, who inherited my original NiteRider Trail Rat has migrated to a NiteRider MiNewt Mini-USB with Li-ion Battery.

He’s convinced it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. [Editor’s note: sliced bread is great for sandwiches, but it doesn’t work very well to light the road.]

You can read his full review here.

Glo Gloves help my hand signals stand out.

Way back in 2003, I tested the prototype for the current version of the Spor Glo Glove. I liked it well enough to use it when I’m riding at night when conditions are a bit iffy.

You can read my full review here, but the thing you may find most interesting is the video of what I look like riding down the road at night.

Other Bike Reviews

You might like to read some of the other year-end reviews I’ve done recently;