Back to School
Gordon Hobbis September 06, 2007

In celebration of that special time of year enjoyed by many parents and despised by more children this is the ‘Back to School’ issue of The Bike Guy. If you are ready class we’ll begin with a little math.

One times one is one, three times eight is twenty-four. The number of front chain rings on a bike multiplied by the number of cogs on the back equals the number of gear combinations. That is how bicycles can have 15, 21, 24, and even 30 gears, sometimes referred to incorrectly as speeds. A growing trend is “fixie bikes”, these aren’t bikes that need to be fixed all the time, they are fixed gear bikes. Fixies have one gear and when the rear wheel goes around the pedals go around, there is no coasting. Most of us started our bike riding lives riding a fixie, a child’s tricycle is a fixed gear. Fixies are thrilling to ride, especially if you don’t know you are on one. The benefit of fixed gear bikes are that they really teach the rider how to pedal a smooth fast cadence, they are light and simple and they encompass that daredevil mystique that bike riding is all about. On the down side, it’s tricky to corner with the pedals always moving, there is only one gear and there is no coasting. Expect to see more fixies in the future.

Now class, a lesson in geography. Where bikes were built a was mentioned few columns ago, I waxed poetically about all that matters being where you do your bicycle business and if they’re Canadian and they care, then the bicycle consuming public is in good hands. Not good enough some people said. These folks wanted names, dates, addresses and more details. Here is a short circumnavigation of the world of wheels. Starting in the old country, Europe, there is the German factory of Villiger/Diamant producing bikes for Trek. Italy’s Dedacciai factory does some bikes for Kona. Some Bianchi bikes are still made in Italy too. The Ideal bicycle company has one of its factories in Poland producing bikes for Scott. China boasts the biggest factories with romantic names such as Boan, A-Pro, Sunrise, Kenstone, Kinesis, Ming Kao, Ideal and Giant. These places produce bikes for us under the labels of Norco, Rocky Mountain, Marin, Iron Horse, and Brodie. Taiwan, although not as large of a producer in numbers as China, is a technological leader. The Taiwanese factories of Merida, Fairly and Hodaka produce bikes for Specialized, Kona, and Fuji. There are new frontiers for manufacturing being explored in Thailand as Bangkok Cycle is building some Norco bikes and the Pt. Insera Sena factory in Indonesia creates product for Scott. If that entire lineage seems a bit confusing then just fall back on what I wrote earlier, deal with your friendly neighbourhood bike guy and it’s hard to go wrong.

Now what they don’t teach in schools, some street smarts on how to lock up a bicycle. Always lock up your bike, no matter how quick the stop is. Use all the space the lock provides, slack in the lock can be exploited by thieves. Make the key mechanism hard to get at, if it is inconvenient for you to use just think how convenient walking home will be. Lock the bike to something stronger then the lock and locate your bike in a bright, busy area. Before you get all worried about what kind of lock you have remember that a bad lock is better than no lock and a poor lock well used is better then a good lock badly used. If you want to have some real fun, get a fixie and don’t lock it, just watch people try and ride away on it. Use a video camera to add insult to injury if you get it on YouTube.

Of course if you had a folding bike that you could take with you then a lock wouldn’t be needed to keep those pedals turning.