I’ve decided to do a “mod-like” thing and copy a bunch of pertinent stuff over from the [url=Whats your coolest tool? Your Coolest Tool?[/url] thread and continue some of that conversation over here. I hope no one objects?
[quote=“urodacus”]I have an old colnago that’s now a single speed, I have a TCR race bike that unfortunately needs a better engine, and I have a couple of other TCRs and montain bikes. I don’t do any mountain biking here: not at all interesteed in downhilling, and the available cross country sucks. (no car). anyone want a Raceline Enduro hardtail? excellent condition, 16,000.
I have more frames and stuff, and more tools, in Aus.[/quote]
[quote=“Mother Theresa”]I’m not sure if this counts as a tool, but after years of riding in Taiwan with regular pedals and sneakers or sandals, I finally bought a pair of cycling shoes and clipless pedals.
For anyone who’s never ridden a bike with cycling shoes clipped onto the pedals, all I can say is it’s a night and day difference (I used them back in the states, but never got around to it yet here). One gets twice as much power, because you’re not just pushing down but you’re also pulling up (and with stiff cycling shoes that power goes directly to the bike). I was flying this morning. 
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[quote=“rousseau”]Nice to see the nifty bike stuff on this thread. I’ve got my own chain remover, though not quite as fancy-looking as urodacus’s. And as for clipless pedals…you ain’t really riding until you go clipless. The word on whether or not you actually “pull up” during your pedal stroke is still out, there’s mucho controversy about that, but there’s no question that your foot is completely attached to the crank, making for better pedalling.
Keeping with the cycling theme, I’ve gotten into wheelbuilding this year. It’s terrific fun. Here’s my cool tool: a homemade wheel truing stand:
I picked up the fork for free by donating some old stuff to a local cycling cooperative (in Ontario, Canada, where I currently live), put it on a cheap portable vice, and attached a $70 dial indicator with a magnetic stand. Your cheapest truing stands at the bike shop are at least a hundred bucks, and they don’t have dial indicators. I can get my wheels true to within a thousandth of a centimetre, or something like that. It’s great fun. The only problem is that once you’ve done your wheel, you’re done. I’m now offering my wheel-truing and/or building services for free to other cyclists that I ride with.
Word to the wise about truing: bike shops only true laterally; they don’t bother with radial true. To get it done right, you have to do it yourself. And don’t get me started on the difference between factory-built wheels and those you’ve carefully built yourself![/quote]
[quote=“urodacus”]well, having your feet attached to the pedals does not in and of itself make you pull up, which is where much of the controversy comes from (normally from people with bad technique). nonetheless, having your feet clipped to the pedal does ALLOW you to pull up, which is where working on good technique helps. pulling up adds power to a complete stroke by the obvious addition of an upward force on pedal A, but also by removing a less obvious resistant force on pedal B at the same time. no point pushing down on the back pedal while pushing down on the front pedal. and you can complete the force cycle by pushing forwards at the top of the stroke, and pulling backwards at the bottom of the stroke (like scraping dog crap off the sole) try to pull back from about 20° before you reach the bottom of the pedal stroke, because pushing down at the bottom only bends the pedal spindle, doesn’t make you go any faster.
MT, you’ll know if you’re doing it right if you can cycle with only one pedal attached (or both, but pop one foot up onto the top tube or the down tube). you’ll also know you’re doing it right if you have sore hamstrings and the top of your foot aches after a long ride. don’t forget that once you ride clipless, you will need to do more hamstring stretches, and will also have to start doing IT band stretches especially if your feet are not placed well over the cleat.
rousseau: nice truing stand, and is that a record hub i see? i just turn the bike upside down for my truing stand, and use a zip tie as a guide. Vittoria Evo tires are great too… I’ve got the same ones in the tubular variety. of course, you won’t be able to ride on yours for another two months … 
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[quote=“marboulette”]
[quote=“rousseau”]
To get it done right, you have to do it yourself.[/quote]
Oh no… I don’t!
[quote=“rousseau”]
And don’t get me started on the difference between factory-built wheels and those you’ve carefully built yourself![/quote]
That is a very cool tool, there, rousseau. The only problem with a tool like that is it’s a bitch to use. Not because of the tool itself, but because truing wheels “properly” is really not easy. Sounds like you mastered this skill, though. Good for you, I’m sure it’s pretty cool to be able to fix/build your own wheels, but for most people it falls under “don’t try this at home.” 
marboulette[/quote]
[quote=“rousseau”]
'Tis indeed a Record hub, laced to a Mavic Open Pro. Classic combination. The tire is a Vittoria Rubino Pro, actually.
And seeing as how I just had a great ride today, why would I want to wait another two months? Don’t tell me…wait a minute…you’ve got a Canuck buddy from Quebec or the Prairies, right? And he told you the roads are basically covered in snow for four months?
Well, thankfully I’m not anywhere near those thor-forsaken, frostbitten spots. Southern Ontario, where I am, is the Caribbean of Canada, I’ll have you know. The roads are usually clear through the winter save for the odd day here and there, and if you’re willing to ride down to -8 you can get in serious riding right through the season. And while that may sound frightening to a warm-weather pansy such as I’m assuming your good self is (nothing personal, this is weather we’re talking about), it’s actually not bad at all. You just have to dress for it. People go skiing in the winter, don’t they? Well, why not biking?
Naturally, there will be days where it gets lower than that in January and February, and where the snow piles up a metre high. And winters in North America over the past few years have been absolutely brutal, with record lows and snowfalls.
Okay, I can see I’ve just devoted three paragraphs to a justification for Canadian weather in a thread about tools. I plead guilty–I clearly am Canadian, of that there can be no doubt, and I’m clearly fargin’ sick of winter already. Friday it’s going up to 0 degrees for the first time in three weeks. We’re getting the beach towels and Bob Marley tunes ready as I speak.[/quote]
[quote=“urodacus”]
Rousseau: Rubinos, hey? used to love them on my clinchers too. very long wearing, and tough, but I’d never seen them in yellow. mine were white or black. if you go tubular, you have to use the Evo Corsa CX tires… i love them, though the one drawback is that they have latex inner tubes and lose half their pressure in ten hours. i roll home after a long day at 60 psi instead of 110.[/quote]
[quote=“Mother Theresa”]
Interesting. I didn’t know there was controversy over whether one pulls up with clipless pedals. I read years ago that one shouldn’t push up and down, one should cycle in a circle, and I could’ve sworn reading back then (15-20 years ago) that when pedaling in a circle like that one should be pushing down with one pedal while pulling up with the other. If you guys say the word is still out on that last part, I believe you. In any event, it doesn’t matter because the proof is in the pudding and there’s no question whatsoever that clipless (or cages) and cycling shoes are a vast improvement over flat pedals and sneakers.[/quote]