OMG - Chris King Finally Makes a Bottom Bracket

We've been hearing about this for years, and now, the time has finally come - Chris King is officially making a bottom bracket.

I have King headsets on every single one of my bikes (except for that one ride with an old Record headset...). In fact, on my daily commuter - the same headset has been installed on no fewer than 4 frames over the last 12 years (yep - twelve years). All I do is grease the bearings. So you can imagine my excitement now that I can now get a bottom bracket that will work as well.

Pseudo Review: Vittoria Courier TT25 Kevlar 3D Compound Tires

Back in 1994 I was introduced to the Vittoria Courier 3D line of tires. I only rode them with a wire bead, and they have never been the most supple tires out there, but they were pretty flat proof


Well now I only have one left, and it's been on its last legs for over two years. I have had a new 28mm Continental Gatorskin hanging in my bike closet, ready to be installed as soon as I get a front flat. This post might jinx it, but I haven't had a front flat in over four years on this last Courier 3D. I literally have over 7,000 miles on this tire, and it refuses to die.


What remains of the rubber is hard and cracked, there are divots that leave the threads showing, and still, the tire won't die. So long live one of the best urban tires ever manufactured - whether you loved them in orange or green.

Preventing Parts Scavenging

Having been a bicycle commuter in Portland, then NYC, then San Fran and now back in NYC for over 25 years I unfortunately have some experience with parts theft. Here are my tips:

1. File off the stupid lawyer (i.e. safety) tabs on your front fork, they're for morons that can't figure out how to use a quick release. This allows you to pop your front wheel off in under 5 seconds (if I can do it a thief can too) and lock it to your frame.
2. Use a crappy looking seat and seat post. I put a new seat on last year, it was stolen the same day, and it was a $15 seat. So I'm back to my 18 year old Flite with no leather, just a plastic seat at this point, still pretty comfortable though.
3. I have had my handlebars stolen twice, really sucks. Now I fill up my stem bolt(s) with Elmer's wood glue. It makes it a pain in the butt to change your handlebars, but really, how often do you do that?

Other little things, don't use nice quick release skewers, thieves will take those too. Get the smallest U lock that will fit through your front wheel, rear wheel, frame and a post. The bigger the U lock, the more places a thief can put a leverage bar and pop your lock. I'm sure you've seen those mangled looking locks all over the place? A 6' 2x4 will pop pretty much any U lock if it can be inserted between the post and the lock.

So what does all this experience mean? I commute on a sweet Titus Titanium frame (love titanium, no rust) frame with Ultegra components, a Chris King headset and custom wheels without fear of some moron crippling my ride home.

Headphones on Bikes

I have been meaning to write a rant about this for some time, so it will make a good first entry.

My commute by bike began in Kindergarten at age 5. I continued to ride my bike to school pretty much every day unless it was raining hard. Growing up in Portland, this meant a lot of drizzly commutes. Since moving to NYC 14 years ago this month, I have been riding here on pretty much a daily basis.

I am happy to report that there are now MORE people cycling for one reason or another in NYC on a daily basis than ever. I am unhappy to report that the vast majority of these people appear to be complete idiots.

When I first moved to NYC I was a broke, beans and rice eating student and one of my first jobs was working for Breakaway Courier Systems. Then, as now, you could easily tell the difference between the hard core couriers and the poseurs. The guys (mostly) out in February in the 20 degree weather were the ones who did it for a living, and who made good money (by messenger standards). Not a single one of them sported Walkman (no iPods back then). Most of the pros wore helmets and ran geared bikes with brakes (I'll save the fixed gear city riding rant for another time).

For some reason it now appears to be de rigueur to ride around town not only on a shiny track bike, but wearing some type of headphones too. Don't get me wrong, I love music, I love listening to music - but never on a bike riding through traffic. We've all seen morons walking into the street wearing headphones and mashing away on a Blackberry and thought to ourselves:

You oblivious fu#$ing idiot, you're going to get hit, but that's probably not a bad thing...

Now tons of people that I would very much like to like, are doing something just as stupid. I am shaking my head in disbelief that I even have to describe why riding in a city with music - or even your Fresh Air podcast - going in your ears is a bad idea, but here goes:

You can't hear sh1t if you have headphones on

Clear enough? Last time I checked, we each get five senses - if we're lucky. And in the case of cycling in traffic, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that taste and smell don't matter. So if you are artificially crippling one of your senses (I am purposefully ignoring everyone saying "but I don't have the sound up loud at all") you are cutting off at least 33% of your environmental input.

I can't tell you how many times I have heard a car coming up behind me, or a horn, or... and quickly faded over to the side as a vehicle came whizzing past. Without this input, imagine your surprise when some asshole passes you 2 inches from your handlebar when you had no idea they were approaching because you were humming along to your Raconteurs.

Please ride a bike. Please don't be a moron and ride in the city with headphones.