It's Bike Month, y'all! For those new to cycling in the city- there are plenty of events to get connected to other bike minded folks and to get educated. For the seasoned cyclist- there are plenty of events to celebrate the cycling community. Here's a list of things we're excited about:
May 5- Boston Cyclists Union Spring Kickoff Party
May 7- Our monthly Basic Maintenance Clinic moves to our pal Aeronaut's place
May 8- Boston Bike Party
May 10- Cyclofemme (Boston ride info here)
May 14- Aeronaut Bike Clinic Series #2 with Hub Bicycle Know Your Brakes
May 21- Aeronaut Bike Clinic Series #3 with Hub Bicycle Know Your Shifting
Bike Fridays, of course
And not necessarily Bike Month related, but seasonal weekly NEMBA rides are back- Wednesdays at the Fells and Thursdays at Landlocked Forest.
Top-notch bicycle service, first-rate custy service. www.hubbicycle.com
Showing posts with label bike. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bike. Show all posts
Monday, May 4, 2015
Thursday, September 12, 2013
#CannoliFriday Fundraiser!
This is Becca. She's a pal of the shop and an all around good human. She's going to ride her bike from NYC to DC for the climate. She's raising money for the BCU, and the climate and for all of us (because we ride bikes and are affected by climate).
This Cannoli Friday (9/13/13) she's going be drawing portraits of you and your bike in exchange for a donation of $5 (or more). Stop by the shop 5:00ish- 7:00 to kick in a few bucks to a good cause and get some (what I assume will be) fridge worthy artwork.
They will be photo-realistic if your face looks something like this:
Photo credit: @thehum
In addition to the 'art' for a good cause we'll have pops from Real Pops, natch. Come try one out before summer's gone.
This Cannoli Friday (9/13/13) she's going be drawing portraits of you and your bike in exchange for a donation of $5 (or more). Stop by the shop 5:00ish- 7:00 to kick in a few bucks to a good cause and get some (what I assume will be) fridge worthy artwork.
They will be photo-realistic if your face looks something like this:
In addition to the 'art' for a good cause we'll have pops from Real Pops, natch. Come try one out before summer's gone.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
DIY?
Should you work on your own bike? That is a very good question. It's one that I get asked often. I also see talk about it on various blogs/comment sections. People have very strong opinions (as they often do when they don't have to attach their real name). Here's my humble opinion on home wrenching. If you're doing it for fun, or for a learning experience- yes, work on your own bike. If you're doing it to save money- no, don't do it.
Bikes appear to be simple machines. You can see almost every moving part on them, so they don't seem as mysterious as a car or refrigerator. But there is enough going on with bicycles, enough to know about them, that people (such as myself) make bicycles their careers. It takes a long time, and a lot of (expensive) mistakes to get good at bike service. You don't know that the Deore hubbed wheel you bought on Amazon won't fit on your track bike until you do it. You're going to spend $15 on a chain whip you don't need, because you have a freewheel. Your going to have to buy extra front derailleur cables, because you'll fray them from too many adjustments. And that's all ok because that's how you learn. But it's not cheap.
There are lots of things you could do to save money. You could make your own clothes- fabric is cheap- but you probably don't. Unless you enjoy doing it. You could bake your own bread- flour is cheap, yeast is free- but you probably don't do that either. Unless you enjoy baking (and yeast hunting). If you're not having fun, you're wasting time and money on a pain in the ass activity.
Back to the folks who like to tinker- there are tons of resources for home mechanics. I'm sure you already know about the internet- which is great and has some good nuggets of information. It also has giant boulders of bad/mis information. So where does one go for easy to find good, reliable information? (Here comes a not-so-subtle plug) Your friendly, local bicycle shop. That one guy on that one forum can't tell you what's compatible with your bike, but I can, because you can bring it into the shop where I can see it and we can talk about it.Mechanics (I guess I can't speak for all mechanics...), many mechanics I know really do like talking about bikes, and the technical aspects of them. Our friends and loved ones are tired of hearing us talk about chain wrap capacity, so if you want to know about it please ask! If your mechanic is too cranky to answer your questions- find another one. We're not all cranky, I promise.
Really I just wanted to say, if you don't want to work on your own bike, don't feel any pressure to do it. You aren't a bad bike owner, you're just good at not doing things you don't find fun. If you do find it fun, and you want to tinker- do it! And use your LBS as a resource.
Bikes appear to be simple machines. You can see almost every moving part on them, so they don't seem as mysterious as a car or refrigerator. But there is enough going on with bicycles, enough to know about them, that people (such as myself) make bicycles their careers. It takes a long time, and a lot of (expensive) mistakes to get good at bike service. You don't know that the Deore hubbed wheel you bought on Amazon won't fit on your track bike until you do it. You're going to spend $15 on a chain whip you don't need, because you have a freewheel. Your going to have to buy extra front derailleur cables, because you'll fray them from too many adjustments. And that's all ok because that's how you learn. But it's not cheap.
There are lots of things you could do to save money. You could make your own clothes- fabric is cheap- but you probably don't. Unless you enjoy doing it. You could bake your own bread- flour is cheap, yeast is free- but you probably don't do that either. Unless you enjoy baking (and yeast hunting). If you're not having fun, you're wasting time and money on a pain in the ass activity.
Back to the folks who like to tinker- there are tons of resources for home mechanics. I'm sure you already know about the internet- which is great and has some good nuggets of information. It also has giant boulders of bad/mis information. So where does one go for easy to find good, reliable information? (Here comes a not-so-subtle plug) Your friendly, local bicycle shop. That one guy on that one forum can't tell you what's compatible with your bike, but I can, because you can bring it into the shop where I can see it and we can talk about it.
Really I just wanted to say, if you don't want to work on your own bike, don't feel any pressure to do it. You aren't a bad bike owner, you're just good at not doing things you don't find fun. If you do find it fun, and you want to tinker- do it! And use your LBS as a resource.
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