Tips

I know I’m playing into the whole “viral video” thing and really we should be producing our own media at the Hub. But until then, I wanted to share a video. In a few short hours I’ll be going to work to help with our Youth Earn-a-Bike program. This video shows how I think our Youth feel after going through the program: http://youtu.be/9PzoxTgfRO0 If you believe in yourself…, Jason x

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Disclaimer: This article is the opinion of Jason X and does not necessarily represent the Hub as a whole. With only a few minutes left on my lunch break before I go back to my day job, I wanted to get a few words out on this blog that I’ve meant to put down for a few weeks: Can motorists do right? I know that for some people, it is a ‘culture war’ we have to fight. Even when we aren’t on our bikes, our right pant leg is rolled up, we are wearing a cycling cap and dammit...

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The tips section of the website has become stale and every time I’m at the shop, we always have a new thing to talk about concerning bikes. Certainly we can add more info! The other night I was thinking about my own and my friends recent bike touring and thought I would share some ideas. Just a month ago, Angie and I rode our bikes out to Toronto, Ontario. This was my second tour and Angie’s first. I had done a tour with my friend Nate previously on a tandem, but this was my first tour on my own...

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Hot patching, better known as the practice of setting the rubber cement on fire when patching an inner tube, occupies a special place in the folk bicycle wisdom of Detroit. While it lends a touch of magic to the most basic and common form of bicycle repair, instructions for hot patching “properly” are notoriously hard to come by and advice on the subject varies widely depending upon whom one relies for information.

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The ubiquity of vise grip pliers as the most essential bicycle repair tool is certainly not unique to Detroit, though its prevalence in the Motor City can hardly be overlooked after even a few days’ casual observation on city streets. Many honest and legitimate bicycle mechanics have frequently been at some pains to explain its indigenous prominence, located almost exclusively halfway up the seatpost and pointed sternward, as though some instruction manual gave directions to this effect. Vise grips, of course, allow the rider to loosen and/or tighten virtually any part of a standard bicycle, given sufficient brute strength....

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From The Professor, Jacob VanDyke: Many folks have told me over the years about the necessity of being lit from behind to avoid being hit by a car. While I don’t dispute the practicality and safety of a rear light, some of these same people will happily cycle after dark with naught but a blinking rear, safe in their assurance that they are protected from all other traffic. For the sake of being seen at night by other road users, the most important light on a bicycle is a forward-facing light. This is true regardless of whether one is...

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