It's a new year and right off my friend Tim asked the great question, "How do I position the cleats on my new shoes, Jim?"  That subject is perfect for anyone just getting into cycling in 2022 or someone who has upgraded to clipless pedals or who just needs to install cleats on shoes, like Tim. To help, I wrote this article and made the video below in this blog post. Please note that if you're reading this blog post in your email, you will not see the video. You'll need to go to my blog to see it or click this link to go to my YouTube channel to view it. My video - How to Install Clipless ..read more

Here on these pages, I've offered many common and not so common bike noises and how I and you have fixed them. To go back in time and see all the weird and wonderful noises and fixes for them, simply type in the search button the word "noise," and you'll find plenty to read and lots of ideas. Recently, I've created two videos about noises. Since I have a library of bicycle wheel videos, I decided I needed a video all about common noises that come from bike wheels. Then, after I wrapped that up, I received a great comment reminding me of another very common noise-maker. This one is a tick or cl ..read more

Real quick, since this confused me - if you read my blog in your email, the videos will not display and play in emails.  Instead you'll probably see no preview or a black box (like on my iPhone - see photo). The video only displays and plays on my blog and on YouTube.  If you click the title on the previous email I sent, that will open my blog where you can watch the video. And, here's a direct link to the video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUqul03hbZ8&t=1745s  To choose from all my video's here's my YouTube channel   Watching on YouTube is best ..read more

Cycling friends, If you're a YouTube fan, maybe you noticed that I'm trying my hand at filmmaking with some how-to's, product reviews, vintage bike features and favorite ride highlight amateur videos, plus some on subjects of interest outside of cycling. While I've been a cycling editor and journalist for most of my life, getting my John Ford on has been equal parts challenging and fun. Well, the latest project, the one this post is about was way more challenging than fun. First, after many days of setups and filming (I do everything myself), my PC crashed and I had to start over. Then, mu ..read more

The Holy Grail of Vintage Repair Stands Found! The following is all true as far as I have been able to determine... Debuting in their 1967 Catalog #15, Campagnolo's Bicycle Assembling Stand held mythical status in the USA bike shops where I worked. A photo of it was right there in their catalogs, but no one had ever seen one or found one for sale.  We mechanics assumed it was only available in Europe, or perhaps reserved for race mechanic use and not meant for everyday shop wrenches like us.  We could buy copies from other companies, such as Cinelli, but even only from the catalog photo ..read more

While not everyone needs a race mechanic's toolbox, I've gotten spoiled from using one as a pro mechanic at races and cycling events. I still find it important to have a full assortment of bicycle tools available when I go racing, and also when I'm on the road in our Lazy Daze RV - since our camping friends bring bikes that often need tuning and repair and I love to help. I've been using an old Plano drawer-style plastic toolbox, which has worked fine for over 25 years. Recently, though, the handle broke. Then one of the latches failed. Inspecting the rest of the box I noticed that the plasti ..read more

A couple of questions about common disc brake issues came in recently. With discs on so many different bicycle types today, it's a good topic to kick off 2018. Happy New Year! Q: "My gravel grinder road bike has a dragging disc brake. I don't really feel it when riding. But, if I pick up the bicycle and spin the wheel, it's obvious the pads are rubbing because the wheel stops. This has to be costing me energy and speed on rides, so it's frustrating. I've had a few mechanics try to fix it. But, no one can seem to stop it rubbing. Can you help?" Yuri A: The type of rubbing Yuri describes can ..read more