The Aldrich Ave Daily

If you go by percentages Minneapolis is the second most popular city in the U.S. for bicycle commuters. This is great, I myself hope to start doing more of this. But it has come with a price.  This year there have been nine commuter deaths. All of last year there were four. Commuting in Minneapolis is on the rise, and you could blame that for the spike in deaths. Being a hardcore cyclist for 10+ years and having spent 2+ years in Uptown, a hotbed for bikers, I can see where the problem lies. You can blame both parties for the problems we see occuring.

Drivers around town don’t give cyclists respect for the road. A lot still drive with the mindset that cyclists are not allowed on roads. They honk at us and yell at us to get off the road. This, is wrong. In a city like Minneapolis, its actually illegal to ride your bike on the sidewalk.  I can count so many times where I’m riding on the shoulder of a road, minding my own business and I get honked at, yelled at, flipped off, and the occasional object thrown my direction. Water balloons, bottles, you name it. Another favorite of mine is when I am riding up to street and the car behind me speeds up, cuts me off to take a right, causing me to slam on the brakes, curse the bastard for doing so, then thanking the company that made my brake calipers. You know they are thinking “oh cripes, I don’t want to wait for this clown”. So instead, you floor it, then suddenly brake. Pu-leeease. You can’t wait a few extra seconds to make that turn. Are you in that big of a rush? Drivers are supposed to give cyclists three feet of clearance between them and the rider. Now, in some cases this is impossible, but I’ve been buzzed many times by cars when they had plenty of room to move over. Sometimes, as they pass by they will add the revving up the engine that scares the shit out of you and almost makes you fall over. 

Bikers are just as much to blame as drivers. If not the worst of the two. I’m gonna be honest on this. Bikers in Uptown, and downtown Minneapolis are some of the worst. As an avid cyclist myself I cringe at some of the things that go on. I can’t count how many times I see a biker blow right through a stoplight. Although there is occasion where they will slow down and check for cars, but still blow through the light. Thanks guys. What about hand signals? Good lord, would it kill someone to use a hand signal. I love the look back they give you while you are coming up behind them, like you know what they are thinking, then all of the sudden jet across the lane to make that turn. Its a good game of cat and mouse. The use of lights. Lights and reflectors are required at night. I have had so many instances where I’m driving down a back road in Uptown and some clown comes out of nowhere. Why? Because I can’t see him. Not a single reflector or light on them. I especially love it when they start yelling at me for not seeing them. 

Don’t get me wrong. There are plenty of law abiding drivers and cyclists in this city. Sadly, I think the bad apples out number the good ones. We’ve made a lot of strides to make commuting around the cities easier and more enjoyable for cyclists. The Mid-Town Greenway for example. Or the numerous biker “lanes” in the road. Those things make the experience for drivers and riders more enjoyable and less hazerdous. I fear, that if we continue to abuse our freedoms its going to get tougher and tougher to promote commuting. People need to wise up, and start paying attention. How many deaths is it going to take?

    Ah the bicycle wheel. Such a cool and simple machine. You take a rim that isn’t laced up to a hub, and its pretty easy to bend it in half. But you put some spokes in there, bring it up to tension, and that thing can take a hell of a lot abuse. Of all the things there are to do when it comes to wrenching on bikes, building wheels is by far my favorite thing to do. 

     The wheel is one of the most important parts on a bicycle. You could say #1. The advances that wheel manufacturers have made the past 10 years is quite astounding. From road wheels that are as light as a feather, yet are stiff as hell and climb like a banshee, to mountain bike wheels that take insane amounts of abuse yet manage to stay relatively true. Thats all good, but there is nothing like a traditionally laced, handbuilt wheel. My years of experience building wheels is at about 2 1/2. I’ve built maybe a dozen wheels in my time, but my latest project will really show how I’ve been doing. A customer of ours is doing a coast to coast bike trip next summer. He came in a few times, and and spent a lot of time perusing through the QBP book seeing if there is anything that would work. They didn’t really have any wheels from their wheelhouse to suite his needs.  He did some brainstorming and wanted to have me build a wheelset. He decided to get the Phil Wood Touring hubset. A good choice for riding thousands of miles with a lot of luggage. I told him the Velocity Dyad would be a great rim. Those Australians can make a good product. AC/DC, Wolfmother, Velocity bicycle components.  DT Swiss Double Butted 2.0/1.8 spokes would accommodate those rims and hubs quite nicely. A 36 hole, 3X wheelset. 

    I know 3 ways to lace up a wheel. I know there are more, but I’ve only known 3. There’s my way, which I was taught by my old service manager. I can’t explain it to someone else, its all upstairs in my head, and seems to work out each time. Although I have had a couple times where I’ve had to lace the wheel a couple of times to get it right.  The Barnett’s way, which I’ve never done, but from what I’ve heard works great. I think it takes a little longer, because it uses a way of marking each hole in the rim with a number and letter. The latest way I’ve been lacing wheels is the “Schraner” way. I purchased the book “The Art of Wheelbuilding” written by Gerd Schraner about a year ago. His method is quite unique. You lace one side of the wheel first. Then do the other side. I have now done 3 wheels using this method, and so far it is my favorite. Its easy, and it makes sense. He goes into detail as to why he has his “braking” spokes going one way, and his “pulling” spokes go another way. I now consider the Schraner Way my way.  I got these bad boys laced up and tensioned yesterday and they look great. This will really be a test to see how well a wheel built by myself will hold up. I’m confident it will. A good mechanic should have wheel building in his repertoire. Not just because of the fact that you can build wheels, but wheel building helps you understand how wheels work. Why are you blowing through spokes down at the hub? Why do your spokes keep coming loose? Whats the purpose of radially laced wheels?

   There are a lot of crappy wheels out there and I’m amazed more don’t just fail while someone is riding them. I blame machines, and no name spokes. If you are not using either DT Swiss or Wheelsmith spokes, you should consider those spokes inferior and nowhere near the quality of these two. Its sad some well known manufacturers opt out of using quality spokes. I’ve seen first hand when a wheel is machine built, with no name spokes, and is not hand tensioned. Its not good. The last year or so I’ve built more wheels then I have my entire life. I’m still a youngling when it comes to wheel building experience, but I will say I believe I build a good quality wheel, and will stand up to many miles. I only hope to get more chances here at the shop building wheels, and continue to learn more about them.