Not used to riding and racing cyclocross in the cold of the Midwest? Or want to make sure your national championships is stress-free and that you’re completely equipped? We talked with cyclocross legend and almost constant-national champion, Kansas’ Steve Tilford for his advice on being prepared for the potential bitter cold weather in Madison. For [...]
by Andrew Yee With the 2012 USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships and the 2012 UCI Masters Cyclocross World Championships approaching, many racers have resigned themselves to steep airline bike fees or paying full retail shipping rates to get their cyclocross bike or bikes to Madison, Wisconsin, or Louisville, Kentucky. There is another way as we’ve [...]
Before you can go out and preview a course at any given race, you should be “previewing” your bike for the weekend, making sure everything is as it should be. Mechanic Jeremy Chinn tells us how. by Jeremy Chinn
Pitting can be tricky business: there’s always the chance that your racer will have a grievous mechanical issue, there are hand-offs, you may have a bike hurtling at you at ridiculous speeds, you’ll get muddy, wet or cold, or all three, and when the course is muddy, you’re going to be in high demand. Just [...]
There is no denying that disc brakes are gaining in popularity among cyclocross bikes. One look at the ’cross bike photos from the recent Eurobike and Interbike trade shows is enough to show that disc-brake-equipped ’cross bikes are the wave of the future. Their benefits are well known; tire clearance is now only a matter of the frame. They are more powerful with more control and they are not so nearly affected by water and mud. Apart from all these benefits though, the tighter tolerances associated with disc brakes lend themselves more easily to poor adjustment, and improper adjustment on disc brakes can ruin your race more easily than a poorly adjusted cantilever. Too loose and you lose your braking altogether; too tight and your brake drags the whole time. The down side is these poor conditions happen a lot easier to disc brakes than to cantilevers.
It’s nearly mid-September and by now a good portion of y’all reading this will have raced already or will be prepping to race this next weekend. If you’ve been to your first race you undoubtably heard the moans of some poor soul who flatted his or her newly glued tubular and can’t believe they have to go through those dreaded steps again. You know, clean, stretch, glue, et cetera! If you’re lucky enough that this poor sap isn’t you, then a little bit more prep work can stave off this scenario.
The season starts in less than a week — is your bike ready? Mechanical Mondays writer and mechanic Jeremy Chinn walks us through improving the shifting on one specific bike, but you can also look at his advice in a much broader spectrum of bike maintenance, upkeep and constant improvement.
OK people, it’s August, races are coming up quick, and ’cross prep is happening around the country. Now that you’ve dialed in the bike parts, shaved some weight off of your frame (bike or otherwise), gotten the tubies set to roll, what’s left? Well, its time to work on the shoes, two of the key contact points with your bike, and remove the opportunity for dirt, sticks, mud, rocks or other debris to get caught up between the shoe sole and your cleat. Face it, you just can’t go as fast or crush your competitors without being clipped in fully.
Gluing tubulars is tricky business. And writing about it is just as difficult, if not more so. After all, everyone has his or her own gluing style, and everyone will tell you that his or her style is the best one. One of our brave mechanics, Jason Gardner of Jinji Cycles, decided to share his expertise with us.
Gluing tubulars can be stressful enough, and there are so many different “best ways” of getting the job done. This week, we wanted to look at one question that we hear a lot when talking about gluing up tubulars: when gluing new tires on a wheel that’s been used and glued before, what kind of prep should you be doing? And more specifically, how clean do you want your rims to be before gluing on new tires?
This year, you’ll be faster. You’ll train harder and you’re going to maximize every pedal stroke, and in order to do that, your bike has got to be lighter. There are a few easy ways, a few hard ways and ways that cost more than others to make that happen.
It’s that time of year again: time to pull your cyclocross bike out of storage, take a good, long look at it and think, “Well, now what does it need?” Because we’re bike racers. And our bikes always need something, preferably something shiny and new. However, if you’re on a strict bike budget, there are some sneaky ways to upgrade or update your bike for the season, there’s an easy solution: accessories. (And yes, we realize that this piece reads like a fashion magazine article on making that Little Black Dress look brand-new by simply adding new jewelry or shoes.) Still, if you’ve been racing on — or just bought — a stock bike, we have some suggestions for how to dress it up so it stands out in the field (hopefully because you snagged the hole shot.)
Check out a new use for the Craftsman Cordless Inflator: dial in your tire pressure to .1 PSI!
The sad reality is that most catastrophic failures in cross racing result from very simple factors. I have compiled a small list of race ending mechanical problems that could have been avoided with a small dose of precaution and a dash of extra care. These are not all or even the most common mechanical issues in cross racing but these all have two things in common: 1. They can absolutely end your race, giving you a regrettable DNF. 2. They can easily be prevented.
Fortunately it was pretty easy to make one of my mountain bikes ‘cross worthy, and that was enough to get me by for a few seasons. I think any cross-country oriented mountain bike will work for cyclocross racing, with a few caveats. A hardtail is best, but a full-suspension bike isn’t a deal breaker. It’s like bringing combat boots to a 5K run. The equipment will work, but will probably put you out of contention for a podium spot. That being said, I’ve seen some sub-20lb, super-efficient, “no-bob” full suspension bikes with traditional front triangle designs, which would be fine to take to the starting line.
In the Cowbell Forums:
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