Adjust V brakes for Your Mountain Bike

For efficient braking one must consider more than just replacing the brake blocks on his/her mountain bike. There are many detail aspects which will lead to better braking:

• softness of rubber in brake blocks - soft rubber (more latex) wears off faster but gives a better friction, thus a more efficient brake; it's the same thing with climbing shoes sole
  
• correct placing of washers
  
• adding a brake booster (horseshoe)
• changing the cable sheaths with ones that have the plastic reinforced with steel wire - this will keep them always open and perfectly cylindrical
  
• oiling the the inner steel cable (runs through the cable sheaths) which pulls the V brakes
  

From my experience, I've seen that not all bike mechanics (ones who work in bike service shops) fully understand the physics behind the V brake system of a mountain bike. For instance, the most common mistake is placing the thicker washer on the outer part of the brake arm. This will lower your leverage as you pull the brakes. See picture below for correct placement of washers.

Original pictures taken from here and here

Another piece that improves your V brakes is the Horseshoe Brake Booster. I adopted this for my bike and even though I cannot feel a real difference, my frame doesn't expand anymore.

Horseshoe on my bike

Other resources for brake performance and brake kits can be found here, here and here.

Be safe!

Ten reasons to ride a bike - John Ang

The contest is over. Even so, I received a new email with another set of ten reasons to ride a bike.

I will still publish them if you keep them coming.

#1: To make friends with the usual bus drivers in the morning to get a free ride during a rainy day!

#2: To Feel, taste and hear the tasty local mud (it stains like coffee!)

#3: To laugh at those while I pass the gas station.

#4: To wear those cool unique jerseys with pockets.

#5: To use the priority of bus lanes!

#6: I love to use the hot disc rotors to cook my fancy shaped pancakes, after a tiring ascend and descend! 

#7: To hear that whistle from my helmet cutting the air and know I'm doing 40km/h!

#8: To drift and spray sand into the unsuspecting bystander.

#9: Loves the click from clipping into the roadie clipless pedals.

#10: And it is great exercise without hurting the knees!!!!!!!

John Ang

Who Gets the Bike Jersey?

It wasn't hard to decide who gets the bike jersey (+ surprise gifts) after seeing that Mihai has no less than 9 comments. Well yes...one comment is anonymous and another is posted by Mihai himself in his conversation with Heather but that still leaves him with a bunch of nice and consistent comments.

What's the conclusion to be drawn from this? I guess Mihai either has lots of friends and fans who support him or he simply came up with the most comprehensive list of ten reasons to ride a bike. Or both.
Not only he gave us his ten reasons but I believe he made us smile with his crash video, where one of his friends flipped off his bike - he's okay (his friend) and he also contributed to Mihai's winning this contest.

I will contact Mihai for sending his prize and hopefully he will send me a picture with him wearing his new bike jersey.

I would like to thank all the competitors for taking the challenge and submitting their ten reasons to ride a bike! You will surely have a next chance of winning Highball apparel! Why am I saying "next chance"? Coz contests for outdoor fans who like to blog about their passions will always run on Highball Blog.


Cheers!

How To Fix a Flat Bike Tire

I've learned that some bikers don't know how to fix a flat tire on their bike.
Of course, there are many "How to" resources and tutorials out there. This is just one of them.

Also, this video on how to fix a flat bike tire may help.



Tips:

• You don't need the yellow levers the guy uses in this video; any slim pointed object like a a key, a small wrench will do just fine.
• After you remove the tube, pass your fingers along the inner side of the tire as to feel any sharp object that may have created the puncture; you may find small pieces of glass, wire, nails, staples.
• Inspect thoroughly the tread of your tire as you may find objects (sharp pieces of rock, etc.) that only half penetrated the tire - these objects may not have created your current flat but they can cause a future one as they will go deeper into your tire till the tube is reached and punctured. Mountain bike tires tend to gather such sharp objects in their soft and thick rubber.

Stay pumped!

Bike Crash Funny Video

Once in a while everyone's bike riding is perturbed by minor or major crashes.That's why protection gear for head and joints is highly recommended for bikers and especially for those who like to push the limits when it comes to speed, tricks and stunts.

However, there's something funny about crashes that leave the biker unharmed and scared. 


Luckily, now we can purchase great portable action cameras in order to document our performance victories and our failures - GoPro Hero camera is the world's smallest, wireless helmet and gear-mountable video camera for outdoor sports.

 A funny bike crash was captured with such a camera by Mihai:

Wear your protection gear and be safe!