If you like riding bikes, you’ve probably found yourself getting ready for a vacation wishing you had some way to bring your bike along. We’ve wanted to do some touring or bring our bikes for general transportation or just to take a ride wherever we happen to be. Of course, you can rent bikes, but there’s nothing like your own ride. So if you want to bring your own, you’ve got a few options; you can get a folding bike like a Dahon, have couplers installed in your favorite bike, or take your bike as is, in a case. Dahon’s are a little wonky, especially if you want to do self supported touring, as they often have non-standard parts, little wheels and even if it was perfect, you’d still have to buy one. Couplers are awesome, but you need a frame builder to cut your bike in half to install them, which is expensive, especially if you’re riding an aluminum or titanium bike, so it’s really best to just buy a Co-Motion or Traveler’s Check. Still, in each case, you’re only able to travel with that one bike.
Julie and I decided to go the case route. We settled on a pair of Bike Pro USA Race Cases that we found on Craigslist over the summer. Last night was the first time I’ve had the opportunity to try it out with my 54cm Long Haul Trucker. This bike also has wide Planet Bike Cascadia fenders, a Jandd Extreme front rack, and an Old Man Mountain White Rock rear rack which would all need to come along.
This might be the cheapest way to get your bike on the plane, but there are two things to note before you go this route. First is that the airlines have cranked down on the max size of your luggage, so the case still might cost you extra at the terminal; and secondly, some disassembly is required. It’s not difficult, but its worth looking a look at the process below if you’re thinking about buying one.
So, here’s the process for my bike, season to taste, your mileage may vary.
Surly Long Haul Trucker, in a case.
Tools you’ll need.
- Allen wrenches or multi-tool.
- 8mm wrench. (for fenders)
- 10mm wrench. (for rack)
- Tire levers.
- Pump.
Tools you’ll want.
- Grease.
- Chain Lube.
- 6 inches of string.
- Portable work stand.
- 1″x135mm PVC tube.
Packing the bike.
- Tip: When you remove a part, put the screws back in the holes they came out of, so you don’t forget where they go or lose them.
- Put bar-end shifter in the in-line position.
- Open brakes and remove wheels from the bike.
- Deflate tires and remove tubes.
(you only need to do this if you really need every last bit of space.) - Remove rear rack.
- Remove rear fender.
- Remove front rack and front fender.
- Brace rear dropout with skewer and pvc tube.
- Tie derailleur cage to chainstay with string.
- Remove handlebars from stem.
- Hang handlebars over top tube.
- Remove headtube cap
- Remove stem, flip it and rotate it 180, reinstall headtube cap.
- Drop seat all the way down.
- Remove pedals.
- Place bike in case, fork into it’s bracket first.
- Place bottom bracket on its platform.
- Tighten fork skewer.
- Tighten chainstays to platform with T-shaped bracket.
- Place wheels on either side of frame, in wheel bags.
- Racks may fit within each other, upside-down, in rear triangle.
- Fenders fit within each other, through fork with their tops toward the front of the case.
- Fold tubes and tires and put them under the rear triangle, or wherever they fit.
- Toss your tools in there somewhere they wont bang around too much.
Re-assemble.
- Tip: Tighten screws finger-tight until the part is in place, then tighten.
- Re-orient stem.
- Loosely attach handlebar.
- Attach front fender at fork crown.
- Attach front rack to lower fork braze-ons, with fender stays on top.
- Install mid-blade rack bolts, with three spacers between rack and fork blade.
- Tighten all front rack bolts.
- Attach rear fender to crossbars between chainstays and seatstays.
- Attach rear fender stays to rearmost braze-ons on frame.
- Tighten fender.
- Attach lower rack struts to braze-ons on rear end.
- Attach upper rack struts to brake stud mounted brackets.
(I have an Old Man Mountain White Rock rear rack that attaches to the brake studs, not the rack braze-ons on the seat stays.) - Tighten rear rack.
- Install pedals.
- Install tubes and tires. (if you took them off)
- Release derailleur.
- Install wheels.
- Stand over the bike, align stem and handlebars where you like them, and tighten them.
- Check that your skewers are tight and your brakes are connected.
- Go for a ride.
I can put the bike together in about 30 minutes if I do it quickly. If I clean and regrease all the bolts, have a coffee or beer to sip, and drop a lot of screws and tools, I can still do it under an hour, which is a little more realistic.
This is quickly shaping up to be one of the snowiest winters on record. We’ve got a good start to surpassing the record snows we got last year.
The National Weather Service says we’ve gotten 17 inches of snow this year, and they’re predicting that we could get a foot or more in the next week.
In light of that news I thought I might share a few tips I’ve learned about biking in the snow.
The Surly outfitted for snow
- Pick your line.
Just like on skis, you’ll want to pick a clear line on the bike. It takes a little practice, but you’ll learn fast. Basically I chose spots of pavement first, then flat ice, then flat snow. Bumpy snow and bumpy ice are last. The toughest obstacle out there seems to be when crossing the little berms the plows make at intersections. I simply try to get a little bit of a run at them and stay straight. They’re usually soft enough that your biggest worry isn’t going to be getting over it so much as making it through without running out of momentum. - Gear down.
I remind myself that I’m not going to win any races on a snow day anyway, so I keep geared down a couple gears lower than I normally would. This helps me put on the power when I need it. Falls aren’t common, and I haven’t fallen in a long time, but when they do happen its not because I careened out of control at high speed, its that I ran out of power and tipped over (or had to get off and push). The aforementioned berms are the classic place to do it too… you go into a berm nervously and 5mph to be careful, and you end up stuck half way through it. Staying in a low gear ensures that as you slow down you’ll be able to pedal out. - Not too tight.
You’ll be tempted to have a death-grip on the handlebars, but relax. You’ll find that your bike likes to stay under you, and it’ll stay there even if things are sliding around a little, but you need to give the bike a little room to slide, but you dont want to be pushed around. Leave those arms lose. - Dress warm, but not too warm.
One of my first mistakes was to dress too warm. I found last year that I was comfortable in rain pants, a fleece and a raincoat. That’s probably a little lighter than most people would go, but remember that you’ll be generating a considerable amount of heat, so if you feel warm walking out the door, you’ll be sweating by the time you’re at work. The key, of course, is layers. If you’ve got a few layers, preferably with zippers, you can let more air in when you get warm. - The right gear helps.
I hate to tell anyone that they need to buy anything, but there are three things you can buy to make your life on the snow better.A winter helmet, a pair of goggles, and at least one studded tire. I have a Pro-Tec B2 helmet and some Oakley goggles I’ve had for years. This stuff is pretty much just alpine ski/snowboard equipment available at your local sporting goods store. Other than that I just wear my normal winter jacket and the pants I want to wear at work. If it’s snowing, I add rain pants over them. Personally, I don’t wear snowpants on my bike, I find they’re so puffy they get into the chainring, plus I’m warm enough in my rain pants. Studded bike tires can be tough to find, but they’re starting to be more common. I have Kenda Klondikes on my Surly. I chose them mainly because they were in stock at REI when I was there. They help you stay up on ice and hard-packed snow. I really recommend them. You’ll soon find yourself using lakes and skating-rinks as shortcuts – they’re that sticky.
Kenda Klondikes on my Long Haul Trucker
For more info try to find a winter biking class in your town. We’ve got a group called We Are All Mechanics that teach a ladies-only bike maintenance class, and they offer a winter bike handling skills clinic for anyone. Otherwise watch a class they recorded on Mediasite a few months ago. (Disclaimer: MATC’s Mediasite installation was before my time, so if you have any issues with it, please post a comment.)
Yesterday was a long day for Julie and I. We’ve recently joined the Sunday Night shift, and by happenstance, we both also had chair evac training. As a candidate, the candidates would need more instruction than the veteran patrollers, and as an instructor, I figured it’d be fun to work with this years candidate class.
I had worked with them in OEC (the medical portion of the Patrol’s curriculum) so I knew they were a solid group. The down side of the day was that our shift was from 3pm to 9pm, and because lift evac training would start at 8am sharp, we’d be on the hill since before opening, and stay after closing.
Whatever the case the day went well, and Julie got around pretty well considering not being fully recovered from an ankle sprain she suffered at the Blackhawk Ridge Trail Run several weeks ago. This would be her first time coming off the lift in this manner, so I thought she might be nervous. As it is, I help teach the class and my heart is pounds as I slide off the seat, so I figured that she’d need some coaching or convincing or something to get her to go. As it turns out, she had a huge smile on her face before the chairlift stopped… possibly because it was warm, or maybe because she got to cover a lot of distance without any pain in her ankle, but whatever it was, she was the first one on a rope.
Julie and the line launcher
The most exciting part of the day came at the end when it was Julie’s turn to belay. The instructors wanted to demonstrate to the candidates that the system remained safe even when the belayer weighs less than the person being belayed. We did however, want to make them aware that there
Julie Belays Jim
This part of the day was actually quite beatiful, especially for Wisconsin. It was overcast and about 34°F, which made things more pleasant than usual when you’re fumbling with ropes and knots in winter. The weather would take a sharp turn after 2pm, when it began to rain. I just happened to have two pair of ski pants along, so I could ski while one pair was drying, even if one pair wasn’t quite uniform spec.
Other than the rain, the skiing was good. The snow was the consistency of mashed potatoes, and while a little heavy (and wet) it was fast and fun.
Night patrol in the rain
At about 7pm the rain stopped, and we rejoiced and ran out for a few runs. Unfortunately the rain was followed by an incredible cold font that dropped the temperature 7 degrees in a half an hour. By the time we swept the hill at 9:10, temperatures were approaching the single digits and winds at the top were gusting at 35mph.
By morning it’d be 0°F in the sunshine, and the wind-chill was making it feel like -11°F. My ski helmet and goggles wouldn’t get a chance to rest just yet, I’d need them to ride my bike to work.
Madison is getting some truly unseasonable weather this week, as we managed to get get freezing drizzle, below-zero temperatures and enough snow to call a snow emergency in the space of about three days. My commuter bike is a Surly Long Haul Trucker. It’s a great bike, but the stock tires are mediocre for touring, and nearly unusable on snow… so I rode my mountain bike to work a few days to get a little more traction. I’d been looking around for a set of studded tires for the Surly, but it’s rolling on 26′s, so I hadn’t seen any. (Mostly because I hadn’t looked too hard.) I happened to be at REI picking up some Christmas presents, when I spotted another customer wandering around with some 26 inch studded tires. They’d just come in, and a few minutes later I had a pair for myself. I put them on later that night, with only one catastrophic gunshot of a tube failure, but nobody called the police, and our hearing was fine a few hours later. Anyway, it wasn’t a day too soon, because this was the scene outside around noon today.
 Looking northwest. |
 Looking northeast. |
 Looking southeast. |
 Looking southwest. |
Forecast for tonight calls for 5 to 8 inches of snow, 20mph winds and a low around 4°F.
Then we get a break from the snow for a few days.
