Tuesday Tip:Cleaning Hudz & other tips

Cyclists love tips.  In fact, tips are such a part of cycling that not only do bike magazines regularly publish such tips, but it's even a regular part of a very popular cycling podcast.

I myself am not immune to the lure of tips.  And, like any true afficionado, I often enjoy coming up with my own, and passing along some of my favorites.

So, on the occasional Tuesday, watch this space.  If the post isn't something for TechTalk Tuesday, it'll be a Tuesday Tip.

For this inaugural edition, I offer something I discovered when I last cleaned my bike.

Some of you know that I truly went over-the-top in outfitting my bike for 2009 installing red brake lever hoods to complement the red frame and all-red tires(!)  While colored brake hoods look very pro, like white bar tape, they sure do get very dirty very fast.

But GoJo works wonders.  Just put some in your hands and rub all over the hoods.  The pumice will provide all the scrubbing action you need and the soap itself is tailor-made for removing the black gunk that Hudz seem to attract.  Just be sure to rinse as normal.  Repeat if necessary.

It may work on bar tape too, but I haven't tried it.  It'd save having to change your tape so often (are you listening DaveH & SDC?).  If you try it, lemme know if it works.

And from among the 102 tips from this month's Road Bike Action magazine, here are my favorites, ones that I'd never heard before but have found very helpful:

"#14 Run your brake pads as far away from the rims as you can without compromising stopping performance.  Wheels flex wildly when you are climbing, accelerating and sprinting  - which drives the rims against the brake pads, causing brake drag when you need it the least."

Up until I read this, I did just the opposite - adjusting my pads as close to the rims as possible for hyper-responsive braking.  And I wondered why I wasn't going as fast as I should.  I hope this was why. . .

"#(30) . . . Route the right side shifter housing to the left side of the downtube, and the left side shifter housing to the right side of the downtube.  The shifter cables will need to cross each other mid way down the downtube in an X pattern in order to reach their proper location on each side of the bottom bracket.  This routing will result in much smoother arcs to the housing [and] less friction. . ."

My bike actually came like this, but I thought it was wrong so I changed it.  Now I realize I was wrong.  Such is the newbie experience.

What are your favorite tips?

Comments

[Katherine]

Thanks for sharing those tips! I'm going to adjust my brake pads right now. That's the benefit of having the bike on the trainer right next to my office desk.

What IS the best way to clean bar tape, anyway? Just soap and water? I put white on my single-speed and have ended up riding it more than I thought. Now the handlebars are, well, less than classy.

[Adam St. Germain]

There is a bar tape out there, the name of which is escaping me at the moment. It's $40.00. However, it is MACHINE WASHABLE. Seriously, take it off and throw it in with the laundry. I had gotten a sample from a the rep to try out but soon after crashed... good idea and all.

[aki]

I've tried cleaning my Cinelli bar tape with all sorts of stuff but nothing worked well - it just got grey and I'd have to rewrap. Speaking of which, my bike is in such sad condition that the missus even says it's embarrassing to be seen with that bike. Part of it is my unraveling tape (adhesive is melting off sort of).

GoJo used to be something we used on hoods but I totally forgot until you just mentioned it. lol.

[Suitcase of Courage]

Adam: That's amazing - I never heard of washable tape. But if you gotta remove it anyway, why not just rewrap?

Aki: Glad I'm on the right track with the GoJo! Think it'd work the same on bartape?

Katherine: what's your bartape made out of? My silver Fizik tape is a little glossy, so it's fairly easy to clean (think glossy wall paint vs. flat). I'd try soap & water first, but if that doesn't work, try my GoJo idea. Worst case you'll have to replace the tape (which you probably would have anyway, esp. if it's really grungy), but you give yourself the best chance of avoiding that and keeping your tape longer. Let us know what you try that works! White bartape is definitely PRO.