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Making-Tracks

With bicycle riding season here, it's time for riding, maintenance and repairs tips

Bicycle tips 101

The 2024 bike riding season is already well underway, thanks to recent record-breaking temperatures.

But newbies, and even those with some experience, always have questions (and challenges). Free bike clinics offered in recent weeks at Cyclepath in Kelowna had many of the answers.

The spring clinics actually started before coronavirus restrictions on large groups when owner Garry Norkum invited members of the Okanagan Slow and Steady Hikers (Meetup.com) to a series of free clinics at his 2169 Springfield Road business.

COVID brought a temporary halt but clinics resumed as soon as restrictions were lifted.

Here is a point-form summary of tips from Norkum for bike riding, maintenance and repair (plus a few from the Sheriff). First up, the confusing business of gearing.

• The best pedalling cadence is at least 60 strokes (or revolutions) per minute, at least once per second. The goal is to choose a gear from many gears that will maintain the same workload on your body—not the same speed—regardless of the terrain, whether you are going up or down hills.

"It's better for the bike. It's better for your knees. It’s better for your body. And it works much more efficiently," says Norkum.

• Most cyclists don't pedal fast enough. The key when approaching and starting to climb up a hill is to downshift before pedalling becomes too difficult. Avoid shifting under load because your chain can come off or snap. When approaching a hill, downshift, downshift, downshift.

The following information is generally speaking for regular bikes with multiple gear sprockets or chainrings on the front, usually three, i.e. 24-speed. Many e-bikes have only one sprocket on the front.

• You are probably going to use the middle gear (of a three-ring chainring) on the front most of the time, going up and down on a seven-, eight- or nine-ring cassette on the rear wheel. To remember which shifter is which—right rear. It's the same for brake levers.

• You may not realize it but there is duplication in your gearing, thanks to the three sprockets on the front. So, the reality is there are about 12 to 15 usable gear combinations on a 24-speed bike, says Norkum. Having three sprockets or chainrings at the front and eight at the back doesn't provide 24 different gear ratios. If you upshift once in the front and downshift once at the back, you will produce the same gear ratio.

• In addition, some combinations, such as using the smallest sprocket or chainring at the front and the two smallest at the back, means the chain will be at a large angle with lots of wear and noise. In fact, it would be the same combination when using the middle chainring on the front with a middle chainring at the back producing minimal wear and noise.

• To minimize the angle of the chain between the front and rear sprockets, when using the low gear in the front, stay in the lower half of the rear gears (the large rings). When you are using the high gear in the front, use the top half of the rear gears.

It can be confusing because the small gear in the front (No. 1 or “granny” gear) is for easy low speed and the large gear (No. 3) is for high speed. In the rear, it is the reverse. The small gear goes very fast for high speed and large gear goes slow for lower speed.

• You can also use a gear change technique called "overshoot" by pushing the gear change lever on the handlebar past its usual switch point which snaps the chain onto the next gear ring, says Norkum.

• Some bikes have gear-number displays on the handlebars but you don't need them.

"Shift by feel," says Norkum, by trying to maintain that spin or cadence of at least 60 revolutions per minute. If pedalling gets more difficult, shift to a lower (easier) gear. If pedalling get easier, shift to a higher gear.

• It should be easy to pull your shoes out of toeclips if you use them. You are physically restrained with those equipped with straps and can/will fall over with a sudden stop. Everyone who uses them has fallen over at some point. It's not only embarrassing but painful.

• All metal pedals, especially those with raised bumps, are better than plastic pedals which can be slippery.

• The ball of your foot (wide part at the front) should be over the pedal.

• When removing the rear tire and rim from the bike to repair a leak or change a tire, it is easier (the chain will be looser) if the chain is on the smallest gear at the front and the smallest gear at the rear. Then, you know you will place the chain back on the smallest gear of the rear cassette when the tire or rim is mounted back on the bike.

First, undo the axle quick-release and unscrew the axle so it's loose. On some bikes, unscrew and remove the entire axle. Put it where its grease won't get dirty or spread somewhere unintended.

Pull the derailleur or gear-change mechanism to the rear as you slide the tire and rim out and then back into the axle slots on the frame. The bracket on rim brakes (not disc brakes) must be undone to get the tire and rim on and off. Don't forget to re-tighten the bracket and check that its brake pads are aligned properly with the rim. Toe in pads slightly can reduce or eliminate squealing.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.



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About the Author

J.P. Squire arrived in the Okanagan Valley from flatland Chatham, Ont. in the middle of the night in the spring of 1980. Waking up in the Highway 97 motel, he looked across the then-four-lane roadway at Mount Baldy and commented: "Oh my God, there's mountains." Driving into downtown Kelowna, he exclaimed: "Oh my God, there's a lake."

The rest is history. After less than a month in Kelowna, he concluded: "I'm going to live here for a long time." And he did.

Within weeks and months, he was hiking local hillsides, playing rec hockey at Memorial Arena and downhill skiing at Big White Ski Resort. After purchasing a hobby farm in the Glenmore Valley in 1986, he bought the first of many Tennessee Walking Horses. After meeting Constant Companion Carmen in 1999, he bought two touring kayaks and they began exploring Interior lakes and B.C.'s coast.

The outdoor recreation column began with downhill ski coverage every winter as the Ski Sheriff but soon progressed to a year-round column as the Hiking, Biking, Kayaking and Horseback Riding Sheriff.

His extensive list of contacts in Okanagan outdoor recreation clubs, organizations and groups means a constant flow of emails about upcoming events and activities which will be posted on Castanet every Sunday.

You can email the Sheriff at: [email protected].



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The views expressed are strictly those of the author and not necessarily those of Castanet. Castanet does not warrant the contents.

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