A Cyclist's Life in Tenerife (Canary Islands)

All cyclists know that cycling can be an expensive hobby, but it doesn’t have to be. Bicycles are the most efficient form of human transport that we know of. But if you’ve started to spend ridiculous amounts of money in this sport, you might want to re-analyse the situation; if you’re flaking out loads of cash on all the latest training gizmos and whatnot, is it such an environmentally friendly sport after all? Where does your money actually end up? What do those recipients do with it? Consumers don’t tend to weigh these things up enough before purchasing something. I think I became a semi-retro-grouch when I turned 30 last year. So without further delay, here are a bunch of easy ways to help you save your hard-earned money: (más…)

Tags: Learning Curve // 1 Comment »

This is a special guest article written by Jonathan Donnelly of Northern Ireland. Late last year, he hired a road bike with us for 6 days here in Tenerife, successfully scaled the 2300m climb to the base of Mt Teide and was then keen to try out a mountainbike for the first time in his life! This is an amazing story because in April of the same year, Jon was a self-confessed computer gaming addict tipping the scales at 103kg. Thanks for the inspirational article Jon!

-Dr. Leslie Brown

Inspiration Part 1.

In my area of the world the authorities that be are mad keen to get you active! A while back there was this campaign called Go walking, it’s the thing to do… to get fit, lose weight, de-stress.

With facts and figures about how much you can lower your risk of heart disease etc. it all looked very boring and did not appeal to a Gladiator like me killing mad mosters that drop purple gear with my super powers in my virtual world (google ‘world of warcraft’).

Go walking, it even had a theme tune, and a spin off called «highway to health». The problem with walking is unless you change your scenery often it gets rather boring I know I did loads of it ‘til i was SICK of it.

It seems to me like a form of exercise that i term, «just for the sake of it». Or «I have no sport I’m good at so I’m gonna walk for exercise» and «I’m too fat to jog». (más…)

Tags: Inspiration., Learning Curve // Add Comment »

The most important thing to remember if you haven’t ever cycled in mountainous terrain is APPROPRIATE GEARING. I can’t stress that enough. The best gearing for climbing are the following options:

1) 53/39/30 chainring with 12-25 cassette

2) 50/34 chainring with 12-28 cassette

3) 53/39 with 12-32 cassette

All of these choices provide what I call «the magic 1.2 low gear ratio» which will be perfect for climbs ranging from 5 – 10 or even up to (más…)

Tags: Learning Curve, Ride the Volcano! // 2 Comments »

For those of you who don’t know «ni papas» is a Canarian expression which literally translates as «not even potatoes» but really means «nothing» (I suppose because if you’re not even collecting potatoes, there’s nothing left). Usually it’s tacked on the end of a sentence; I’ve heard it used in the following phrase by my driving instructor: «Cuando hablan Inglés no entiendo nada, ¡ni papas!». (When they speak I don’t understand anything, nothing!)

Normally I don’t bother translating local Spanish news because Pamela of www.secret-tenerife.com does such a fine job. But since we here at Tenerife-Training actually live on a combined potato/grape/orange farm, this story is right up my alley so I feel compelled to cover it.

In the North zone of Tenerife potatoes have been grown and harvested for at least the las two centuries. On April 24th 2008, there was a heat wave & the combined strong winds then wiped out up to 80% of production in the worst hit region of Benijos. The entire zone known as «Las Medianías» in the North of the Island was affected, especially the La Orotava valley. The losses vary between 70 and 80% of a normal harvest. These damages have been caused by the dehydration and defoliation of the plants. (más…)

Tags: Island Life // Add Comment »

Welcome to the third installment of «making a bombproof reliable bike». Here I’m going to provide further tips on how to maintain your bike so that you can rely on it to get you through not just the best bike rides, but all of them. Don’t forget to read Part II: The Drivetrain and Part I: Wheels & Tyres.

1. Listen to your bike! Remember that a noise-free bike is what to aim for. If a bike clicks, ticks, creaks aqueaks and groans it’s trying to tell you something…. something like… «lube me!» or «I am badly in need of adjustment!». And it’s surely going to get worse and you increase the chances of component failure (for example breakage or seizure of parts).

2. If a part requires a special tool, pay attention to it! The worst bicycle failures are those which force a rider to stop and call for some kind of backup or a lift back home (either your partner, your parents, or you leg it to the nearest train station). Quality parts -properly maintained- rarely break. If you want a reliable, durable bike, avoid what we call in the bicycle industry: «stupid light parts». So in most cases, you’re only prevented from continuing your training ride because the mechanical breakdown requires the use of special tools which you aren’t able to carry. Virtually every part on a bike requires a unique tool. For example, cranksets require an 8 or 10mm allen key to fix and are fairly heavy; spokes require a spoke key; pedals require a 15mm spanner, cassette lockrings require a cassette lockring tool; bottom brackets require their own tools. Unless you are planning to do solo-touring, it’s not practical to carry everything with you to cover all of these contigencies. Fortunately, there is one thing you can do to prevent these parts from loosening… and that’s simply to tighten them up sufficiently in the first place! Then remember to check them periodically.

3. Lubricate (almost) everything! Grease should be applied to ALL fastener threads. Lubricate all other and contact points such as saddle rails, seatpost clamps, seatpost shafts, cleats, etc, with an appropriate lubricant (either oil or grease depending on the application). Obviously don’t lubricate anything that could cause you to lose control of the bike (for example: where the stem touches the handlebars and steerer tube)

4. Become an €œinstant fixer€. When you’ve locate the source of a problem,  don€™t procrastinate by delaying bicycle repairs. Fix it as soon as you can and it will never bother you again. Then there’ll be one less thing to go wrong in future.

5. Wrap your bar tape well. Wrap the bar tape tightly around the handlebars. Don’t use less than 3mm overlap on the outside radius of bends otherwise the handlebar underneath will begin to show after some use. The 6″ pieces of sticky tape that come with all cork tape kits are the most useless things to reside on planet Earth -they don’t stretch enough, they don’t stick and they’re not long enough either. Sometimes they’ll unravel as soon as your back is turned. If you decide to use these anyway because they look nice, know that the cork tape is practically guaranteed to unwrap as soon as your handlebars get wet (with sweat or rain). If you’re smart, follow this advice: you’re a hundred times better off throwing the stock tape in the bin & using PVC electrical tape in their place. If you really want to make the bar tape secure, get the 1/2″ wide PVC tape, and wrap it around 3 or 4 times the bars. Two wraps is not really sufficient; 5 or more wraps and the tape will bulge and look funny. If you have a mountain bike, the oldest trick in the book is to spray some hair spray inside the handlebar grips; you’ll find they’re much easier to slide on & they stay put once the ‘glue’ dries. (más…)

Tags: Learning Curve // Add Comment »

Before I continue with this story, I wish to make it perfectly clear that I am in no way humouring this subject. On the contrary, I’m attempting to highlight this afflictive social dilemma, thereby drawing attention to it. In fact, the popular notion of that «Lemming commit mass suicide» is a misconception. It’s not helped by lemming cartoons such as the one shown here. I can almost guarantee that I’ll get more exposure by tying this sad story in with Lemmings, if only because «Lemming Suicide» is a much more popular search term than «Innu people of Nitassinan, Davis Inlet  in the Labrador-Quebec peninsula, eastern Canada». But the real focus of this article is that some human cultures and communities are more prone to suicide than others, especially when entire societies are relocated. I will speculate about this further in future articles. (más…)

Tags: Mental Anguish, Vida Enigmática // 2 Comments »

I recently bought a set of braided stainless steel brake lines made by Goodridge. I’m using Hayes Nine HFX HD disc brakes with the more recent G2 calipers. Unfortunately, one part was missing from the new kit that I bought online from chain reaction cycles in the UK, so I had to go down to the local bike shop (Gofis Bici) and get a suitable replacement part (luckily they had the Goodridge spare parts kit handy). (más…)

Tags: Spoke Bed // Add Comment »

I must admit that I’ve overlooked the needs of triathletes lately. In many respects, Tenerife would be an ideal location for European triathletes looking for triathlon training zones. Apart from several swimming pools & gymnasiums around the local resorts, there are many ocean swimming spots dotted around the coast. We have great weather all year round, and don’t forget the legendary 2300m climb to the base of Mt Teide!

I have one medium/large triathlon frameset which I could either rent out as a triathlon bike or sell. This has dedicated tri geometry, 650c wheels and could be equipped with a set of time-trial aerobars.

[poll=15]

Tags: Ride the Volcano!, Sales Pitch // 1 Comment »

For me, the ITM forged Lite Luxe stem is as close to perfection as I could want. It’s forged and therefore has smooth lines. It has reversible graphics, meaning you can flip the stem around to get a higher reach. It uses a face plate with a 4 bolt clamp; the socket head bolts require a 4mm allen key. By using M5 bolts with 4mm heads instead of 5mm sockets, the tendency to over-torque the stem at the handlebar clamp is reduced. The M6 bolts at the steerer clamp use 5mm heads to prevent slippage on carbon fibre fork steerer tubes. These two bolts oppose each other to help distribute the clamping force & they don’t stick out and cut your knees like some other stems. It’s available in the most common sizes: 90, 100, 110, 120 and 130mm lengths with either a 26.0mm clamp or a 31.6mm clamp for oversized handlebars. The finish of the stem is also very durable. It’s available from as little as 25 or ‚¬30.

It’s nice to be able to use the same bar/stem/seatpost combination. Cyclists consider consistency a nice bonus, especially when they are Italian bicycle parts. Therefore, I’ve reviewed the bar and stem together as siblings. Unfortunately I can’t say too many good things about the ITM Lite Luxe wing shape bar. It’s a budget-priced semi-ergonomic aluminium alloy bar. Or rather, it’s a standard bar with flat tops. As most of you know, in recent years, the number of handlebars available on the market has exploded. Try a few and you realise that the shape of your handlebars becomes a very personal choice, just like saddles. Unlike saddles however, your hands can’t really adjust to a handlebar like your arse can adjust to a saddle. If a handlebar doesn’t feel right to begin with, it never will.

With that in mind, in comparison to several other bars that I have tried, the flat tops do not extend far enough outward where the bar curves forward towards the brake shift-levers. I really like to use flat tops, I think they’re a natural step in the evolution (or refinement) of a traditional round bar. Flat tops encourage you to place your hands on them. But because the bars are essentially round where I normally place my hands, I found myself wanting to hold the bar quite a bit closer to the centre position than what I am accustomed to. The flats extend almost all the way up to the stem – but I’ve never seen a cyclist hold their bars with their hands adjacent to the stem (you can’t get enough control of the bike). The double grooves underneath are pretty shallow also. If you’re still keen on buying this bar, remember that the width of ITM bars are measured outside to outside. I’d reccomend the FSA wing pro handlebar instead, which is in a similar price point.

Tags: Spoke Bed // 2 Comments »

The second newsletter will be sent out on Monday the 18th of May at 9:00 Greenwich meantime. How’s that for precision? I promise you that the second newlsetter will be much more proffessional than the first attempt. You can subscribe to the NEW newsletter below! 

Unfortunately, the old subscription list was lost when the software I was previously using crashed so if you wish to unsubscribe you can do that here as well. There’ll also be an unsubcription link at the bottom of all future newsletters. Please also accept my apologies if I’ve annoyed you in any way.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER:

A lot of people don’t patch bicycle inner tubes anymore, which I think is a little bit sad. Generally speaking, it’s better for the environment to repair rather than replace, so that’s reason enough for me to continue patching tubes. I am sure that the sale of a small patch kit along with extra patches more than offsets the environmental cost of yet another replacement innertube.

I have a strong hunch that most people who buy new tubes all the time do so partly because they don’t know the correct procedure to use when patching an innertube. Maybe what happened was that like me they tried to repair a tube when they were a kid & failed miserably. I’ll admit that despite 10 years of biking experience, I never really bothered with patching tubes until fairly recently either. It’s not that I lack time – it’s that they’ve never worked for me in the past, because no one taught me the proper technique. I have had limited success with glueless patches (park ones are the best by the way). But if you follow this detailed guide, you can repair your punctured bicycle tubes the old fashioned way (using glue and patches) so they behave just like new.

Before I get started, why did I suddenly become converted? Well, what happened was, I got one of my hire bikes back, and to my surprise, one of my clients had patched one of my butyl inner tubes that had punctured. It was the most amazing patch-job I’d ever seen! The edges of the patch were *completely* flat. This one paticular cyclist had reached what I’d call «punture repair perfection». It was even better than those glueless patches I tell you. So ever since then, I reaslied it could work. After a fair amount of trial and error, I eventually found the right way to repair tubes using the traditional glue & patch method – I’m convinced that nothing beats it. (más…)

Tags: Learning Curve // 19 Comments »

This 9 inch beast is the biggest and baddest disc brake rotor out there at the moment. Yes of course it’s «grabbier» than smaller 7″ and 8″ rotors, but it does provide stronger braking no matter what brakes you’re using. It’s a simple upgrade although technically not compatible with many of today’s suspension forks. It only offers a marginal brake power improvement over standard 8″ front discs used for downhill mountainbiking.

The main benefit of the Hayes V9 rotor is the increased cooling capacity. (más…)

Tags: Spoke Bed // 4 Comments »

Interested in cycling for free here in Tenerife? Got your own cycling-related website or blog? Great. All you’ve got to do is supply a new permanent link to www.tenerife-training.net, and you can then hire a bike FREE here in Tenerife for a 24 hour period after it’s approved by Les. Not got your own website? Then simply find another relevant site and suggest to the websmaster that they add www.tenerife-training.net to their links page. If you manage to get 5 in-links originating from different websites, get two free days!!

There’s no such thing as a free lunch, so what’s the catch? Please read the following terms & conditions:

(más…)

Tags: Sales Pitch // 1 Comment »

Many readers who do not host their own websites will not realise this, but yes, whenever you visit a website, the server records how you got there. What does this mean? Well, whatever you enter into google is usually stored by the host-server, and it is in fact all-too-easy for someone like me to peruse that list. Just for the record, it’s also possible to know in which order you viewed the web pages on my site, and how long you remained on each page.

Anyway, browsing through all the many search terms that people use to find this site has quickly become a regular little past time. Knowing what people search for and what is successful certainly helps with Search Engine Optimisiation (SEO). Most of the search terms generally have keywords such as «cycling», «bike hire» or «Tenerife». But here is a list of the 100 all-time most unique search terms I have encountered so far, really standing out above the remaining 13,000+ internet searches used to find www.Tenerife-Training.net. All these people entered my site by typing these exact terms into a search engine:

JUST PLAIN STRANGE SEARCH TERMS:

1. «fish with big lips»
2. «sea snake santa»
3. «benedict alan climbed into a camel»
4. «submarine for hire»
5. «eggbeater review candy»
6. «chocolate coated banana business»
7. «in life some hoops you have to jump through will be on fire»
8. «purple kettle» (21 people actually searched for this term in the last year alone)
9. «crocodile initiation philosophy»Â 
10. «crocodile scars»
11. 2-oxo-l-threo-hexono-1 4- lactone-2 3-enediol
12. «tired after eating turkey»
13. «perspective of air resistance»
14. «what do tongan people look like»
15. «is soy good for nerves»
16. ujmwutzckmkdwean

STUPID SEARCH TERMS:

1. «i don t like turning left when the road marking makes me turn the car to the left»
2. «what should u use for a 3 year old when driving a car»Â 
3. «how much time do i spend in each place when traveling»
4. «could it be a big world after all»
5. «can you translate words and how»
6. «safe to eat a rotten banana»
7. «can you take shower gel in your suitcase now when travelling?»
8. «how many chupa chups have they sold in the world»
9. «the best inventions chup & chups»
10. «are there cheap paintings by pablo picasso?»
11. «earn twenty bucks now»
12. «how much space does 11 million metric tons take up?»
13. «how do computers remember the time»
14. «how big is 6 000 000 000»
15. «science learns you essential things for life?» (más…)

Tags: Island Life, Mental Anguish // 1 Comment »

Finding a good position on a bicycle is not an exact science because there is no one standard sized frame, body shape or «ideal position». Different frames having the same seat tube length will have different top tube lengths. Look around and you will see that some manufacturers are reknowned for this. I still haven’t figured it out. It doesn’t help that some frames are measured differently. Have a look at the recent article I wrote concerning measuring bicycle frame sizes.

I’ve ridden quite a few bikes now, in many sizes. I’ve also been lucky enough to supply rental bikes here in Tenerife for hundreds of experienced cyclists ranging in height from 152cm to 203cm (5’1″ – 6″8″). I’ve listened to their feedback regarding how they felt about the way their bike fit. For me, you can only determine your unique «100% fit» by gaining your own experience about bikes that have fitted well in the past – this is a skill which can only be learned with time.

The best way is simply to ride as many different bikes, saddles, stems, handlebars and pedals as you can. Start with a bike you think will fit best and then alter the saddle and stem positions until you find what works best for you. Also try different bikes in a range of incremental sizes if you can. I have the view that obtaining your ideal bike is basically a process of trial and error. My first bike fit relatively well. I learned a lot of things about my subsequent bikes. Now I know that my «ideal frame size» is 56cm. I can ride a 55 or 57cm bike but they feel slightly too small or too big for me. This «ideal frame measurement» as I like to call it has taken years to determine, and will probably change a little as I got older (and shorter!).

I’m probably in the minority here, but in my humble opinion, fitting services (including stationary fitting machines) aren’t ideal either as they don’t give you a feel of how it feels to actually ride that particular sized bike that they are suggesting for 5 or more hours. For instance, a 140mm stem might be what you require on paper & it might even feel great on a stationary bike. Ride it, and you’ll soon discover the extreme difference it makes to the handling compared with a 120mm stem.

I’m a big believer in finding proportional length cranks, stems, wheels, etc. Unfortunately, people are STRONGLY biased in favour of 700c wheels. For small riders, 650c is a better choice, if only because of the toe-overlapping-the-front-wheel issue. If someone doesn’t agree, they’re most likely taller than 5’6″ (I am 5’11»). (más…)

Tags: Learning Curve // 1 Comment »

I recently wrote an article about the steepest street in the world, Calle Monroy. So after diligently studying the countour maps provided by Google Maps, I decided to take a look for myself, IN PERSON (no one ever does that these days!) I wanted to observe the entire street to judge it for myself, compare it with the other steep streets in the region, and of course take some photos.

I’d previously explored this region in 2006 and came across a sign which warned of a 30% grade! Despite the maze-like network of tiny roads and streets, I managed to find the same sign again; it appears at the top of the adjacent steet, «La Calzada». The top section of this street is so incredibly steep that concrete is used to seal this road instead of bitumen or tarmac. Note that there are grooves moulded into the concrete in a chevron pattern to aid in the traction of vehicles going up or down this terrible slope.

I’ll confess that I did not even attempt to climb this street. I know it is well beyond my current capability. Not only that, but it can be dangerous: if you fail an attempt, you will inevitably fall of and slide backwards down the incredibly steep slope… it’s hard enough to stop with good brakes as it is. On the opposite side of the road, a small shrine stands as a rememberance to someone who died here. So I decided wisely to approach it from the top and decend the whole length of Monroy St instead. Even so, I have thoughtfully provided some free advice for tackling hills with 20%, 30% and even 40% gradients (see below). (más…)

Tags: Learning Curve, Ride the Volcano! // Add Comment »

The guiness book of records states that Baldwin Street in Dunedin, New Zealand is the steepest street in the world. According to the figures, the Baldwin St is 359m in length (horizontal measurement) with a total elevation gain of ~80m.  The plaque states that «over the 161.2 metre length of the top section, it climbs a vertical height of 47.22 metres, which is an average gradient of 1 in 3.4.1. On its steepest section, the gradient is 1 in 2.86. However, there is some dispute over this as only 6m out of the total street length at the steepest gradient.

I’ve seen Baldwin Street in the flesh and was somehwat disappointed – in fact the first part is almost flat! It then ramps up considerably towards the top section. Hence, the average gradient of the entire street is more like 1 in 4.375. That’s the trouble with New Zealand – they tend to exaggerate a lot. So I would like to challenge that record today by making yet another claim for the worlds steepest street:

After scouring over online topographic contour maps, I have chosen Calle Monroy in the district of Santa Ursula, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. I do not possess a global positioning system (GPS) to accurately gauge its gradient. Nevertheless, we can estimate that the length of this street from the data provided by Google maps. Monroy Street descends from 638 to 430 metres in a length of only 740 metres. Therefore, the average gradient over the entire street is 28.1% (a slope of 1 in 3.56) compared to Baldwin Street with an average gradient of only ~22.3%.

Besides, the photo to the left shows that the steepest part of the road has a slope with a ~40% gradient (caculated by the pixel method)! Now until some bright spark can come up with another street with a steeper average gradient, which can be confirmed, I’m going out on a limb and labelling Monroy Street the «steepest street in the world», albeit unoffcially! Or if you prefer: «the street with the highest average gradient». But I think the first one is more correct.

Oh and as far as I am concerned, taking slope readings only on the very steepest parts of the same street is cheating. If that were the case, I’d claim the inside portion of this street. Measured over a few centimetres, the gradient is technically about 80% over the length of one particular piece of aggregate!! Hell, you could probably even find a patch of tarmac with a slope greater than 100% on if you used a micrometer. Obviously, that’s not at all fair. For this reason alone, I challenge people to take the average slope over the whole length of the street. Take the reading from the very beginning to the very end of the same street, don’t leave any sections out, and neither can you add two or more street sections together. Also, I think it should be compulsory that the street has to have a name recognised by the local council…

If you take the entire length of the street and then determine the average gradient the way I propose, Monroy Street (Calle Monroy) appears to come out as the winner. This street does not have any flat parts; it is the steepest continuous grade sealed street with public access that I am aware of, also plainly visible in Google Maps.

OTHER CANDIDATES:

One other very steep street that I spotted also resides in the district of Santa Ursula. This particular street, which includes Calle Los Tosqueras for most of its length, descends from 1012 to 348 metres in a length of 2.5km, although the top section is not paved. Furthermore, Calle Los Tosqueras diverts horizontally while the steeper adjoining street has a different and as yet unknown name.

However, the neighbouring zones of La Corujera and Toscas de Ana María also provide many other possible candidates for the world’s steepest street. Camino el Monte, Calle La Calzada, Calle Las Turcas, Calle Los Castaños, Camino Los Pajales and Camino La Banderola are all noteworthy, boasting average gradients close to or exceeding 25% slope. Other extremely steep streets in the North of Tenerife worth a mention are Calle Argentina in Icod de Los Vinos and last but not least: Camino de Chasna in La Orotava.

Tags: Island Life, Ride the Volcano! // 6 Comments »

I’ve noticed that some cyclists seem to have an aversion to using clipless pedals. Actually I’d call it more like a fear of being clamped to the pedals. Maybe, like me, they tried a cheap set that initially came with their bike & nearly killed themselves. I urge you to try as many different pedal systems as you can. They’re definitely not all the same. Personally, my favourite pedals (for walking around in) are called Time atac. For road use, I’ve really come to like Speedplay.

Yes it’s true that sometimes I just get plain lazy. If I need to go down to do some errands, I just jump on one of my bikes that’s equipped with normal pedals & head straight out the door without the need for changing into my cycling shoes. And if I don’t change my shoes, I never change into my cycling clothes either. But I notice that whenever I do that and ride a bike with trainers & normal flat pedals, I actually feel less secure. Normally what happens is that on the back & up pedal stroke, my foot forgets that it’s free & promptly launches off the surface of the pedal. Also, the inevitable climb back to my house is much more difficult + slower. So far from saving time by not changing, I probably lose time riding the actual bike.

Whenever I go for a decent ride however, I don’t even think twice about using the proper equipment. If you’ve tried clipless pedals before & just can’t seem to cope with the fear, I highly highly highly reccommend powergrips. They’re much easier to enter & exit than traditional toe-clips & straps, and they offer a wide band of support.

Tags: Learning Curve // 1 Comment »

Bikes these days are all about fashion. The fashion changes just like anything else. Just look at sloping geometry. Carbon seat stays. Ergo bars. Compact cranks. White carbon and painted white carbon. Integrated seatposts. If you want to be a fashion victim, go with the flow. Mrazek aim to be different. To not follow fashion. I think they’ve achieved that.

Mrazek is art. And like art, whether it pleases you or not is very subjective. It’s your choice, and there are thousands of other «cookie-cutter» frames to choose from.  Some people say that they ride as well as they look. On the other hand, if you don’t like the way they look, you might not like the way they ride. And vice versa. (más…)

Tags: Inspiration., Spoke Bed // 1 Comment »

For the most part, shimano bicycle components work extremely well. Even so, after working on my fleet of road rental bikes for the past year or more I have come to despise certain maintenance tasks. What follows is a list of all the little niggly things which I dislike about shimano road componentry (5600/Ultegra level). Neither is this a simple comparison between shimano, campagnolo and sram:

• The alloy brake levers corrode within a few months of inital sweat contact. Why can’t they anodise these like the rest of their parts? Instead, they are clear-coated. This coating crazes and then spalls off in next to no time.
• Both the gear and the brake cables are much more difficult to install than they should be. Sometimes you can spend 5 whole minutes poking a brake cable blindly where you think it should go. This is the year 2008. It shouldn’t take more than 5 seconds.
• The lockring washer is deadly. Sure it may SEEM unoffensive, but it’s sharper than a pair of laser-cut scissors. How do I know? Well just last week I was called out to change one of my client’s cassettes from a 12-25 to a 12-27 ratio. Part way through the job, the blasted thing gouged a deep cut right on my middle finger. Needless to say, it’s not a good image for your business when blood is running over your hand, the bike and the pavement as you’re attempting to do a simple cassette-swap operation.
• The chain comes pre-coated in the most tacky protective grease imaginable which can’t be removed by any known chemical method. OK, I admit its composition has improved with that of a few years ago, but it’s still not nice to work with.
• The shimano logo wears off the cranks too quickly. You’d think they’d have the word shimano laser etched on all their parts by now. Not so.
• Shimano free hub body splines are so shallow that the cogs ruin them. It doesn’t help that shimano removed half of the splines on their cogs for no apparant reason, effectively halving the contact surface area, doubling the load (and the chances of ruining the free hub body).
• Speaking of cranks, there aren’t many versions of a shimano compact crankset to choose from.
• Shimano spare parts (genuine or otherwise) are practically nonexistent – hence shifters etc are not rebuildable.
• The front deralilleur cannot be fine-tuned all that well while riding.
• Simultaneous braking & up-shifting not possible at the same time. Whenever you slow down, it means you have to change up gears. Everyone knows that. But with the combined shimano brake and gear lever, it just isn’t possible.
• Last but not least, the gear housing doesn’t go under the bar tape. Why not?

Tags: Spoke Bed // Add Comment »