The Pedalshift Project 016: Spring bicycle maintenance and touring apps

Mar 19, 2015

A quick jaunt to Hilton Head, SC... a call for your April overnight stories... trying out some mobile apps for bike touring... and spring bike maintenance recommendations all on this episode of The Pedalshift Project.

 

Hey it's the direct download link for episode 016 (mp3).

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Followup

Five stars on iTunes!

New To Touring by J.Har

I’m planning my first bike tour for this September. I found TPSP and listened to the entire back log of episodes within a week. It’s both entertaining and informative: exactly what I was looking for. I particularly enjoy episodes that are heavy on touring stories.

If you use iTunes and dig the show, ratings like these helps to spread the word... thanks J. Har!

The Journal

Hilton Head, SC as a bike touring destination

• 60 miles of separated bike paths all around and across the island
• Tons of beach access points
• Decent bike parking at many businesses
• Biking is almost certainly faster than driving on the island during peak season’s car traffic.
• Town of Hilton Head Island bike pathways
• Downside: no real tent camping opportunities I could find. Bandit camping might be an option, but could be tricky to pull off.

April overnights

A lot of us in North America are thawing out and April is probably the month most of us can get out for the first time. Let’s all do it - the whole month of April I’ll mention everyone who gets out and Tweets, Instagrams, emails or messages the show on FB about their overnight adventure. We have three shows 4/1, 4/15 and 4/29 so get cracking!

The Lab

Trying some iOS apps for the road

• Cyclemeter GPS
• Gear Calculator
• Brakelights
• I'm not an Android user, but I suspect there are analogues for these... let us know your favorite mobile bike touring apps in the comments!

Gear Talk

Spring overhaul recommendations

If you haven’t done anything on your touring bike in over a year other than change tubes and do minor adjustments, it’s time to do an overhaul before the season kicks in.

 

• Bearings: I let these go too long typically, and ensuring your wheel hubs, bottom bracket and top tube bearings are clean and solid is too important to let go too long. Unless you’re really handy, this is a good LBS chore.
• Tires: don’t let me blowout story happen to you. Carefully examine your tires for cracks and weaknesses. If they’ve been exposed to a lot of sun, they might degrade quicker than you imagine. I’m a huge fan of Schwalbe tires (no flats on the entire Pacific Coast tour!) but there are other great brands. Spending more on tires is worth it.
• Cables and pads: if you haven’t changed your cables in a season or more, it might be worth considering. At least make sure you drop a little lubrication in there. Clean those break pads or if you’re on disc brakes, check the alignment.
• Bike maintenance chart

Music

The Pedalshift Project theme is America courtesy of Jason Kent off his self-titled solo album. Check out his band Sunfields' new release, Habitat, wherever cool music resides. And hey, new video for Ghost!