While working on this bike another snowy bike came in with the same problem, and so it went the whole day. Alexis and I pulled and flushed at least 15 cables yesterday. The problem is that Amsterdam bikes live outdoors, rain or shine. Tiny amounts of water drip and condense into the cable housings. On good quality bikes the cables are stainless steel and the housings are lined with polyethelene or another low friction plastic so the water doesn’t make much difference… until the thermometer goes below the freezing point. Then the cable freezes inside the housing. Usually it creates enough friction that pulling hard on the brake lever will overcome the friction, actuating the brake but the brake’s return spring cannot pull it back… thus locked brakes.So here’s what you do to fix or prevent a frozen cable:
- 1. Let it thaw.
- 2. Remove the crimped end cap and make sure the end of the cable isn’t unwound or damaged. If it is either rewind, shorten or replace the cable as necessary.
- 3. Remove any kinks in the cable so that it can easily be pulled and reinserted through the housing.
- 4. Pull the cable out.
- 5. Seal the nozzle of a compressed air pistol against the upper end of the housing and blow everything possible out of the housing.
- 6. Seal the dispenser straw of a suitable light oil against the brake lever end of the housing. It might be necessary to pull the housing cap to do this. We use a generic multipurpose oil with teflon but just about any light oil should work fine. Don’t use “dry” type lubricant because it won’t displace the water for long.
- 7. Spray the oil into the housing until it begins coming out the other end. [Dont't forget to put] a rag at the brake end of the housing to catch the oil coming out at great velocity.
- 8-9-10. Thread the cable back into the housing, readjust the brake and crimp a new end on.
This fix is valid for any brake or gear cable but I’m basically assuming the bike has roller brakes here. Drum brakes can pull their own freezing tricks and rim brakes simply aren’t suitable for storing outdoors and riding in snow country. Now the techies can ask me why I didn’t write anything about disk brakes.
Read the Full Post at Bakfiets en Meer » Blog Archive » Frozen Cable Time Again.
Sean, a Big Dummy owner, sent us some helpful advice regarding roof racks that work well with long wheelbases. His rack is ATOC’s BT-63 (BT = Bike Topper; 63 = 63″ tray length). Sean was looking at other options on the market, including DIY hacks, but found the price and fit of the BT-63 to match his needs perfectly.
Sean's Big Dummy on his BT-63 roof rack
ATOC Bike Topper Carriers for Roof Racks.
Over at the RootsRadicals garden, the ‘Rads have shared some knot tying information that’s pretty helpful for lashing your cargo bicycle load.
Fat Rob suggests,
I find the bowline and the truckers hitch to be most useful when securing a load.
The bowline ties the end of a rope to whatever, it can be loosened and untied easily when it’s time, yet it won’t let go before it’s time.
The truckers hitch will cinch down and tighten a load, giving a 2 or 3 to 1 mechanical advantage.
Learn the bowline and trucker’s hitch with these animated instructions courtesy Grog’s Index. Devian also suggested learning the complicated knots to slow a would-be thief down. Of course, a knife will end any frustration quickly, but most criminals are in search of easy pickings. When tying two ropes together the double fisherman’s knot is handy.
Other options outside knot tying are CamStraps with bungees falling behind due to their stretchiness for heavy loads (and that whole hook-flying-through-the-air-aiming-for-your-eye-thing*). That being said, cargo bungee nets are very useful, especially the ones that lock your gear.
Of course, let’s knot forget the ever useful buckle straps on the FreeLoaders. Here SpokenWord demonstrates the over-top method of securing cargo on top the deck.
As we dial in our lives and rides we find things that work. When said things work smoothly, repeatedly we can sometimes become complacent and think, “That couldn’t/won’t/wouldn’t happen to me.”
Then, like a jealous, vengeful wrath, Murphy swings in and says, “Ah-a-ah… Let’s ground that ego for a bit,” and leaves you sweating, cursing and futzing with your previously perfect setup.
Vik experienced just that with his recent mega load on his Surly Big Dummy Xtracycle cargo bicycle in Victoria, BC.
Read his post at: Bow Cycle | Vik’s Picks » Murphy’s Law….
I’ve been wanting to find a great rear light for my PeaPodLT for months now. Unfortunately, nothing seems to clip well to the various openings on the back of the seat, so I’ve come to terms with the need to modify.
This post details the modification process, but I’ve only just put it on, so I can’t necessarily recommend this product for the long haul, yet. Will add to this post as I learn more about the light itself. My main concerns are, as with all LED lights, battery life, and then with this particular install, gradual rattling of hardware such that the light becomes loose or falls off.
The light is a German rear seatpost light made by Sigma.
First, you need to disassemble the light mount probably intended for the seat post and rescue the two plastic parts – one of which accepts the light, the other as a kind of wedge to orient the light more or less perpendicular to the ground (very nice on the sloped back of the PeaPod).
Using a 3/8″5/32″ bit, drill a hole through the PeaPod shell that emerges below the level of the seat pad on the other side (to cushion your little rider’s back from the minimal hardware we will use to attach the light to the seat.
After a good while of searching for a nut that would work on the existing screw that held the seatpost mount assembly together, I finally just switched to a slightly larger diameter screw and nut combo I had in my hardware bin. The nice thing about this, is that the screw bound a little to the plastic of the light mount and the seat, acting as a kind of built in loctite to prevent excessive rattling. Additionally, the nut I found was very flat, and the overall length of the hardware was such that there was no sharp screw end poking through the nut. Screw + nut were flush (well, pretty much) under the pad.
The light has a nice feature that it can be mounted horizontally, for that KnightRider effect, or vertically. This light has a few different patterns, some of which are intermittent enough that they won’t likely draw down the two AAA batteries too fast.
More to come!
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