Chapter 2 MYTHS EXPLODED
35
“Bikes are oily”
Automobile engines are dirty but that doesn’t stop people driving automobiles. Dirty car engines and muddy wheel arches are not places most drivers need to go, and it’s the same with bikes. Fit a pair of fenders and mudflaps and laugh as little of the dirt gets on the bike or the transmission. Some commuter bikes also have fully enclosed chaincases around the chain, and skirtguards. These devices can be retrofitted by bike shops. Internal hub-geared bikes tend to be much cleaner than derailleur driven bikes. While three and eight gear hubs are common, the Rohloff speed hub has a ‘gear range’ that rivals a 27-speed bike. One of the future technologies for bikes – already available on some bikes from mainstream makers such as Trek – is the use of beltdrives, not oily chains. Gates, the car transmission company, has produced a onepiece composite ‘chain’ protected with a rubberised outer. Gates calls it the Poly Chain GT Carbon belt and says it “outperforms a roller chain in even the most demanding high-torque applications.” It requires no lubrication whatsoever. Smooth, silent, and clean, an efficient, super-strong belt drive system could be considered the Holy Grail of bicycle transmission. Watch out for the technology on internal hub-geared bicycles, hubs such as Shimano Alfine.
“I can’t cycle, I lug a laptop”
If storing your daily data on a USB Flash drive or an iPod isn’t enough and you need to schlep a fragile laptop, there are a number of ways of keeping it safe. Start with padding, such as a form-fitting laptop sleeve. This will fit into a pannier bag and can be further protected with clothes packed around the sleeve. Arkel produce an office-friendly pannier bag - the Commuter - with a suspended laptop sleeve. If you want to keep your laptop suspended and away from bike-borne roadshock you could opt for laptop-specific backpack. Bear in mind this can be heavy on the shoulders and sweaty on the back. Many messenger bags now come with laptop pouches and the sweaty-back problem is less of an issue. UK bike commuter Karl McCracken owns a consultancy business and rides to meetings on his bike, with his laptop: “I put my MacBook in a sleeve made from a material like neoprene, but with memory shape properties - if you try to squeeze it fast, it’s tough, but it’ll yield to gentle pressure. This goes inside my 22-litre pannier bag which clips onto the rack. The laptop goes on the rack side of the bag. I’ve been riding around like this for a couple of years, and no damage to the laptop. I’ve had one fall, going over at reasonable speed onto the side that didn’t have the laptop in. The bag containing my waterproofs that I had on the impact side took a pasting. But the laptop was just fine.” However you choose to pack your laptop, if it’s an old one make sure it’s turned off so the drive head is parked, not just in sleep mode. When the laptop is on, data could be lost from one too many bumps. Newer laptop hard-drives park the heads when spun down. Some even have accelerometers so they know they are about to impact the ground and park the heads in a split second. Survey after survey shows that kids want to get to school under their own steam. Letting them do so teaches independence, increases social skills (kids want to be with their friends going to school, away from their parents) and, of course, is a good form of daily exercise. Do you really want to be a helicop-
Simpel Optimist with Polychain drive
“I’ve got kids to drop off at school before work, I need an SUV”