Presenting... Hub Bicycle's Saturday Morning Road Ride

Get stoked! Hub is starting up a Saturday Morning Road Ride, lead by one of our employees, Jim.

Ride basics:

• What: A ride designed to be an introduction to group riding for road cyclists. It is a no drop ride.
• Who:  Anyone with a road bicycle who's excited about a group road ride
• When: Every Saturday from 8-10:30am, Hub will open at 8am, departure at 8:30am sharp
• Length: 19 miles loop around the Fells
• Expected Average speed: 15mph

About the route:
Broad streets, ample shoulder and smooth pavement (for most of the ride). Gentle to moderate climbs, fast descents. Streets are pretty quiet at this weekend hour. Check out the route!

What to bring:

• A road bicycle in good working order (wheels true, tires in good condition and properly inflated, working brakes, and quiet lubed drive train)
• Spare tube, tire levers, pump
• Two small water bottles
• Helmet

Other important details:

• Jim will go over basic hand signals, verbal communication, etiquette and safety before the ride. 
• Please arrived prepared as the shop will not be open for service. Please drop in during normal hours to address any mechanical issues. 
• The shop floor pump will be available for use and essentials (tubes, patch kits, and water bottles) can be purchased at the shop.

 We look forward to riding with you on Saturday!

Bike Fit

Bikes come in a limited number of shapes and sizes; however, people do not. Getting a bike fit is like going to the tailor for your favorite pair of pants that fits perfectly at the waist but is a bit too long. There are small tweaks that can be made to your bike components so that your bike fits you and feels more comfortable.

Who can benefit from a fit?- Anyone riding a bike! 

Riders experiencing pain or discomfort during or after a ride. The aging cyclist with less flexibility or the younger rider new to the sport. The cyclist looking for a new bike. A weekday commuter and the weekend fitness seeker. The charity rider setting goals or the racer chasing upgrade points.

Why are bike fits at Hub awesome?

• We offer a Commuter Bike Fit. Starting at $75, in addition to a Sport and Performance level fits.
  
• We have Jim. A Serotta International Cycling Institute fit education tops over a decade of direct bicycle industry experience from production(large & custom) to small shop 
  sales, wrenching, and e-commerce operation & management for some very well known names in our little corner of the world. The prior decade was spent zipping packages around Boston as a courier and more recently as an amateur category racer competing in road and cyclocross events. 
  He speaks from experience when it comes to the bicycle and equipment. Where the rubber meets the road is the true test of equipment and technique so he's always out there learning and refining.His knowledge base is at your disposal.
• We believe that education is an important part of the bike fitting process. Not only will you get the numbers and measurements you need, you'll learn a thing or two in the process!
  

Schedule your bike fit today

Contact Jim at jimwcyclingservices@gmail.com. It's the perfect way to prepare for more riding in the spring. 

The Year in Review

I know it's a little early for year end reflections, but tonight is our Annual Holiday/Season End/Winter Sabbatical Send Off Party (7pm, stop by!), which for me really signals the end of the year.

2014 started off with some bike riding in Singapore and got more exciting from there. Finding a new (bigger!) location for the shop. Building that new location out. Moving to it. Adding room meant adding services like winter storage, and bike fitting. Team Monster Truck trucking its way to a great CX season! Quietly starting work on Hub Powderworks. Not so quietly unveiling Hub Powderworks. It's been exciting and stressful and so much fun.

 

Looking forward- I'm going to stay put for my winter sabbatical (staybatical?). I've got bikes to retro-reflectively powder coat. It won't be all work- I am going to don my best winter gear and head out for some rides. I'm setting a goal of 500 miles during my time off. Then we'll be on to the next exciting year in Hub Bicycle history.
 

Winter Storage

I hate to do this to you, but even though it's a beautiful sunny fall day today- winter is going to be here in no time.

Let’s face it, we don’t all want to ride our bikes through the winter, and not all of us have a secure place to store them.  Most bikes have to spend the winter on a porch (if they’re lucky) or locked up with a bunch of other forgotten friends at an overcrowded rack.  Instead of letting your sweet ride collect rust under a foot of snow while you’re riding the T, why not leave it with us?  We’ll give it a warm, safe home, and make sure that it’s ready for action once the snow melts.

Here’s the deal:

Basic Winter Storage, $50:

-Secure, dry, warm indoor storage from November to April 15

-Bike frame cleaned/polished, chain lubed, and tires aired up before spring pickup

-Save yourself the cost of replacing rusty parts, and have your bike ready to roll when it counts

Winter Storage Tune $95 (plus parts, if needed):

-Secure, dry, warm indoor storage from November to April 15

-Bike will receive a full tune during the course of the winter

-Bike frame cleaned/polished, chain lubed, and tires aired up before spring pickup
-Your bike gets a tune, and we get to keep busy when the days are dark and cold. 

-Save yourself the cost of replacing rusty parts, and have your bike ready to roll when it counts

Bring your bike in anytime during the month of November and we'll keep it safe until April. Need to grab your bike before April? No problem- we're here from 11am-7pm M-F and 12-5pm Saturday. Or we can arrange some other time by appointment. We're also happy to hold onto your helmet and lock so you can keep all of your bike goods in the same place.

Interviewed

This marks the first interview during which all questions were about being a 'business owner' and not a 'woman business owner'. Thanks, Kristina!

Happy Labor/Moving Day

Labor Day, Moving Day, Allston Christmas- whatever you want to call it- we're OPEN today. We're going to be tuning bikes and watching the UHauls pass by.

If you're riding bikes on the roads today- ride safe. Remember, you don't need a special license or any training to drive a huge blind-spot ridden box truck. Those drivers aren't looking out for you, and even if they were they wouldn't see you anyway.

If you're new to town- welcome! We'd like to make sure that you and your bike stay safe. This week only we're offering a discount on the Big Three - lights, lock, helmet. Buy any light set, u-lock and helmet and get 20% off all three.

This #CannoliFriday

EVENTS! And Canceled Events.

First up, the EVENTS!:

If you like food and bikes, we're hosting the Dinner and Bikes crew at our NEW (and currently unoccupied) shop space. June 8, 7pm. Tickets here.

We're going to be back at the Red Bones Bike Party for the third year in a row (hat trick!).  We'll be closing up shop at 4pm to head over. Stop by for some BBQ and say 'hi'!


And now for Canceled Events:

So speaking of our new shop space.... we're kicking the prep work to get this space ready into high gear! Due to this, we're going to postpone all Basic Maintenance Clinics until the fall. We'll be bringing them back (as well as some new clinic offerings!) in October.

Hub 3.0

If you've been in the shop in the last few weeks you've noticed we're packed to the gills. We've got more bikes, and more people coming through than ever before. It's been so great to see everyone back on their bikes after such a long winter. Last week a few Original Regulars stopped in to say hi, and commented on what a big difference the current shop is from the original location (Hub 1.0). Remember that place? It was small, real small, but there was something cozy about it. It really only had room for one person to work efficiently, and there was next to no bike storage. The business needed to grow, and needed more space to do that.

Moving into the space that the shop occupies now (Hub 2.0) allowed the company to do great things like hire Erich (he's the best, isn't he?) and Aaron (he's the tallest, isn't he?), store a bunch more bikes, (co)invent #CannoliFriday (with BikeSafeBoston, obv.), and host some great clinics with the likes of Pedro's and the Luna Chix. The business continues to grow, and it's exciting, but we're in a familiar spot- with not enough space.


Here's our big news: HUB IS MOVING (for the last time, I promise). We're going to relocate to 1036 Cambridge Street (Hub 3.0). It's about as perfect as we could ask for. It's literally (in the literal sense of the word) a block from our current location (all of our tune-ups are Bom Cafe powered, so it was important to stay close). With three times the floor space there's more room for mechanics, merch, clinics, #CannoliFriday and fun stuff we haven't even thought of yet.

 

Hub 3.0, empty now- but not for long

We've got our work cut out for us to get this space ready, but I couldn't be more excited for this next chapter of  Hub. The timeline for this move isn't set in stone, but we're shooting to have the new doors open this August. We'll keep you posted.

Radical Sabbatical

We've got one week to go until it's time for the radical sabbatical. Thant means you have until Saturday to get those last minute gifts and whatnot. We'll be CLOSED December 22 and will RE-OPEN on January 27.

What are we going to be up to? Erich and I are going to take a field trip to Milwaukee after the new year to hit Ray's MTB. Sound familiar? I went to Ray's CLE last year and had a blast. We'll report back on how much shredding is accomplished.

After Milwaukee I'm going to head to Singapore to thaw out for a while. I've packed a bike- thanks to the S&S couplers Mr. Paul Carson installed for me.

These couplers un-thread and allow the bike to split in half. Then it can be packed in (an oversized, but manageable) backpack.

I'll also report back here about any/all riding adventure/shenanigans happen.

In the final week of this sabbatical Hub will be the site of a basic and advanced fit clinic from SICI. What does that mean to you? Well,s two things- 1). if you need us Jan 21-25, we'll be available for evening appointments. Contact us here. 2) We'll be able to offer basic fit services at Hub. In the future, when we pass the course (fingers crossed!).

Anyway. That's the plan. And don't forget we're here this week to make all of your winter bicycle dreams come true.

The Sexiest T-shirt

We've got a new run of shop shirts. You'll recognize the design from this summer's shirts.

The Pru and that other building high fivin'!

For the colder weather, we've opted for longer sleeves and have printed these up on baseball tees- the sexiest of t-shirts. They're gray and darker gray, so you can wear it while you're wrenching and not worry about grease stains (much).

Now,I've gotten some push back against the level of sexiness claim. To be clear- I didn't say they were the sexiest article of clothing, I just said they were the sexiest of t-shirts. Think about it. Everybody looks good in a baseball tee.

Anyway, they're in stock, $25 ($27 and we'll ship it to your doorstep), available in the 'big 4' (S,M,L,XL) and are the perfect gift for the cyclist who has everything (but one of these shirts).

#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.

Looking Ahead

Summer is wrapping up. It's been a really good one. We're going to close up for a couple of days, to enjoy one last camping trip in my homeland. I'm looking forward to a couple days of gravel grinding, or as I used to call it when I was a kid 'going for a bike ride'.

Even though summer isn't out the door yet, I've started planning for Radical Sabbatical 2014™. Last year I road tripped with my mountain bike. This year I'm going to plane trip with my mountain bike thanks to these guys:

Where am I going? You'll have to stay tuned...

Ice Cold

It's the last day of the heat wave. Hang in there, we're going to make it.

As you know, it's important to stay hydrated in hot weather. It just so happens we got a fresh batch of water bottles a couple of days ago. To celebrate their arrival, and to keep everyone hydrated we're putting these babies on sale for $4.

And for today- when you pay $4 you get a fresh, clean bottle filled with icy cold spring water.

 

 

4th of July

It's been crazy busy here. The Hub crew has been working super hard since... well, pretty much since the end of the winter sabbatical. I think I can speak for everybody here when I say it's time for a long weekend to ride bikes.

We'll be camping, riding bikes, and brainstorming ideas for the newly formed Team Monster Truck/ Hub Bicycle racing/riding/having fun team. More info on the team to come- expect rides, and beginner clinics, and fun times, and whatnot.

So, to summarize, we will be CLOSED July 4, 5, 6 and 7. The shop will re-open for regular biz on Monday July 8. Have a great weekend!
 

Bike Party

Going to tonight's Bike Party? We are too! Want to ride over there with us? Join us for a Bike Party pre-game bikepool to Dewey Square. We're leaving Hub Bicycle World HQ at 7pm sharp(ish)!

Hey Ladies

This stuck in your head now? Yeah, me too.


Anyway- this Thursday is the Team Luna Chix Mountain Bike Boston Second Annual Season Kick-Off Maintenance Clinic (T.L.C.M.B.B.S.A.S.K.O.M.C.)! Come if you want to learn some basic maintenance, hang out with some bike riding ladies, and learn which wines pair best with Peanut Honey Pretzel. 

7pm at Hub Bicycle World HQ, $20 suggested donation to be given to the Breast Cancer Fund.

Stunt Double

I'm heading out of town this weekend. I'm off to CA with Team Luna Chix for some mountain biking and I've been promised "new instructional skills to take back to your community to share with other women". I'll bring some back for you.

In my absence I'm leaving Midwest Tim as my stunt double. Squint a little- we look exactly alike. He's a former bike shop manager, turned grown-up office job haver and all around good dude. I know this puts him at the risk of falling off the wagon (or is it onto the wagon?), so make sure he doesn't have too much fun, ok?

We'll be down a pair of wrenching hands while I'm gone, so I expect we'll have to add a day to our turn-around times. If you don't want to leave your bike off with us for a few days, please take advantage of making an appointment. If you don't mind that your bike stays with us for a little while, then carry on. And don't forget- Hubway is back! So you're never really bikeless.

 

Help Wanted

It's that time of the year again. Bikes are rolling in in dire need of tune ups (wintering in a snowbank does terrible things to your bike...). Erich and I can't tune them all ourselves (I mean, we can, but a girl needs a day off to ride her bike, right?) so we're looking for someone to join the Hub Bicycle Dream Team. Not to repeat myself too many times, but bike industry experience is required. Please pass this along to anyone you might know who might be interested. Thanks!



Hub Bicycle Co., located in beautiful Cambridge, MA, is hiring! Are you a talented bicycle mechanic with industry experience looking for a small, but growing, service-oriented shop? Would you love to have every Sunday off to actually ride your bike for fun? Do you believe that bicycles make the world a better place? Are you comfortable working on the full range of bicycles and components- from big box specials to carbon race rockets? Hydraulic brakes, wheel building, suspension, and three speed hubs? We should talk.


You can expect full time seasonal employment (with the possibility of a year-round gig, for the right person) competitive pay based on experience, employee discounts on bikes/parts/stuff, opportunities to participate in advocacy, community education & trail building, and a relaxed, positive work environment. Conversational Spanish and Portuguese skills are a plus, but not a requirement.  Please email a cover letter and resume to Emily (emily @ hubbicycle . com) if that sounds good to you. Emails only, please. Thanks!

Check Your Brakes

We've been working on a ton of brakes in the last couple of weeks. All of the sand and salt that's been on the streets really does a number on brake pads. Mix that with rain and slush and you've got a perfect slurry for wearing out brake pads. If you've noticed that your brake levers take a little more pull to engage, you're in good company.

If you want your bike to stop better (and you probably do), your bike needs either a brake adjustment or brake pad replacement. Here's how to tell if your pads need replacing-

You don't need any tools, or even to remove the wheels to see if you need new pads. Just take a look. Brake pads have grooves that run top to bottom. This allows for water and junk to be cleared from the rim while braking, and they also provide wear indication. If you don't see those grooves- the pad is worn out and needs replacement.

You can see that the two "Partially worn" guys in the picture are more worn out on one end than the other. That's not uncommon to find (brake pads often need to be angled to stop brake chatter and squeaking). In that case you'd want to think about replacing those pads when any one of the grooves disappears.

Don't be alarmed if it seems like you're blowing through brake pads this time of year. It's (probably) not your fault (I don't know... maybe you're brake crazy or something). It's the weather. Just replace those pads and remember that spring starts on March 20.