In my article ‘Do Bicycle Hubs Hang from the Rim?‘ I explain that in order to understand how bicycle wheels work they need to be thought of as a complete structural system, with the hub, rim, and every spoke contributing to the strength and stability of the wheel. In this article I am going to […]
Building bicycle wheels is one of those things which is often seen as black magic by people who have never done it before. The perceived complication starts with component choice. When you buy a pre-built wheel, the manufacturer or wheel builder chooses the hub, rim, and spokes for you; but when you build your own, […]
Spoke length calculators such as this typically rely on two standard hub measurements for each hub flange: pitch circle diameter, which is the diameter of the circle about which the spoke holes are drilled, and flange to center distance, which is the distance between the center of the hub and the center of the left […]
What is bicycle chainline and why is it important? Simply put, chainline is the distance between the center of the bike frame and the center of the chain. Chainline can be measured at the crankset as well as at the cassette/rear gear cluster, and if the chainline of both is the same it is said […]
What is a bicycle tune-up, and how should you go about doing one? In my experience, home mechanics typically fall into two camps – those that do the bare minimum to keep their bike working, and those who go completely overboard and virtually overhaul their entire bike every time they tune it up. Before working […]
Like most people I vastly overpacked the first time I went cycle touring. Over the years I refined and simplified my kit to the point where I feel very confident about recommending the following packing list as a starting point for a cycle tour of any length. If you are touring in a developing country […]
One of the most important considerations when planning a cycle tour is deciding what clothes to bring – and as with any kind of traveling, the temptation is to over pack. On my first tour I brought way too much of the wrong gear too, but now, after having completed 4 cycle tours (as of […]
Introduction A bicycle converts the motion of pedaling into rotation of one of the wheels, which drives the bike forwards. How much the drive wheel rotates for each turn of the pedals depends on the gearing of the bike. Some bikes are single-speed, which means that the relationship between how much the wheels turn compared […]
Do bicycle hubs hang from the spokes above or do they stand on the spokes below? This question is occasionally debated on forums and other places in the cycling world, where impassioned people come together to defend their side of the argument – sometimes even using the same understanding of how a bicycle wheel works […]