J.A. Stein Mini Cassette Lockring Tool

What follows is a review of a really esoteric and very specific piece of bike equipment.  If a thousand people read this post, perhaps one might find it useful.  Which is excellent.  Except probably only four people read this blog.  Oh well.

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On a recent multi-day ride, a friend and I pulled off of the road into a the parking lot of an Italian restaurant buried in central Pennsylvania.  Our chains were dry and shrieking for want of lubrication and it was sorta time for a lunch break too anyways.  My friend rummaged through his panniers and happened upon the correct one with his repair stuff in it.  As he removed everything to find a bottle of chain lube, I noticed something wrapped up in a grocery bag.

Me: "Is that a chain whip?"

Him: "Yep."

Me: "I really wouldn't want to carry that."

Him: "Yeah, me neither.  But what are you going to do if a drive side spoke breaks and you need to remove your cassette?"

Me: "Commit seppuku with a tire lever."

First off, I am not criticizing my friend.  Both of our bikes (and wheelsets) have over 10k miles on them.  We carry lots of heavy stuff in our rear panniers.  We ride over things like rough trails, the cataclysmic streets of Baltimore, hippies, etc.  Prime situations to break a rear spoke.  And we do all of this often at great distance to a bike shop.  If you break a spoke on the drive side of your rear wheel next to the cassette, you need to remove the cassette in order to replace the spoke.  The usual necessary tools are a chain whip, a cassette lockring tool and a crescent wrench.  Unless you're my friend who opted to carry these along, you're not likely to find such specialized tools outside of a bike shop while out touring.

I have always been aware of this potential situation.  For many thousands of miles of touring, I simply adopted the "I hope that a rear spoke never breaks but if it does make it right by a bike shop" mentality and tried not to think how royally screwed I might be in certain places.  Perhaps somewhere like Wyoming's Great Divide Basin.  I assure you that I am not alone in this mindset.  Actually, I'll bet that many cross country cyclists have never even considered the predicament I just laid out.  But right then and there, in the parking lot, I promised my friend that I'd determine a solution.  We had both heard of "emergency" lockring removers, but hadn't purchased one since they cost about $40 and we had no idea how they worked.

The only such tool in current production that I have heard of is the J.A. Stein Mini Cassette Lockring Tool.  It's been recommended by other long distance cyclists, but I could not find anywhere that clearly explained how the tool operates.  I ordered one through Harris Cyclery for $35.95 and I would urge you to call them and try to negotiate their $10 shipping fee since what I received could have been essentially mailed in an envelope.  For your forty odd dollars, you receive a small plastic bag with several loose metal bits and you begin wondering if you've been swindled.

Now, I have the advantage of having removed my cassette a couple of times to replace it.  I used the ubiquitous Park Tool Cassette Lockring Tool and Chain Whip and a crescent wrench.  This gave me an overall expectation of what had to happen here.  If you haven't removed a cassette using conventional means, it would probably behoove you to ask for a demo at your local bike shop before playing with the Stein tool.  But once you look at the Stein tool, you will note that the larger plate has splines machined on it much like a conventional lockring removal tool.  With your skewer removed, you engage the splined plate with the lockring on your cassette.  Then with a 3mm allen key, you attach the smaller arm to the plate.  With the wheel in your bike's dropout, you reinstall the skewer, clamping down the slotted end of the arm.  As you rotate your crankarms in the easiest gearing, the tool rotates until it contacts the frame whereupon further crankarm rotation causes the lockring to be loosened by the now immobile tool.  By changing the orientation of the tool slightly, you can tighten the lockring back on by rotating your rear wheel backwards by hand.

This may sound quite complicated.  I assure you it isn't.  It's just hard to put into words.  If you have experience with a usual cassette removal procedure, you will be able to follow the directions that come along with the tool.  You will need to be carrying your own 3mm allen key and if you are the type to carry an emergency cassette remover then it would stand to reason you're also packing a multitool.  The tool worked fabulously once I read through the instructions.  I had to remove a bolt holding one of the fender arms on that would have blocked the tool's rotation.  In order to get the lockring to "break free" I sat on the bike and pushed down on a pedal with my foot.  I doubt that handstrength on the crankarm alone would be enough force.  And likewise, reinstallation of the lockring was a snap too (albeit with one caveat that I will describe below).  I can absolutely recommend carrying the Stein tool along on bicycle rides that take you far away from the bicycle shop or your home workbench.  Just remember to bring extra spokes as well, otherwise this is all for naught.

DISCLAIMER for Surly Long Haul Trucker owners:  I have an LHT and by my observation, a heck of a lot of other cycletourists do too.  When I went to reinstall/tighten the cassette lockring, the directions are at odds with the LHT dropouts.  When reinstalling, you set up the tool with the arm pointing 180 degrees in the other direction and thus the arm contacts the frame by the chainstay, instead of the seatstay as in the loosening operation.  If you look at the above photo where the tool is installed for the loosening operation, you'll see a flange of sorts where the chainstay meets the dropout.  If you follow the tools directions, when you are tightening the lockring back on, the arm of the tool will ride up onto this flange and get bent.  I know because I did it.  I was able to hammer the arm back flat and I'm sure it will work fine in the future.  What I would do next time is allow the tool to contact the back of the derailleur hanger instead of the chainstay.  The directions clearly say that you should not do that as you may damage your derailleur.  With that in mind, I would probably unbolt my derailleur first since it isn't necessary for the tightening function to avoid damaging it.  Again, if you own an LHT and are using a Stein tool, this will make immediate sense when you're sitting there looking at it.       

Alpacka Raft's Denali Llama packraft

"Spring Creek is nice and floatable" read the text message from my friend, Jeff, who had biked along it's banks yesterday morning on his morning commute.  "YES!" I exclaimed as I pumped my fist in the air and kicked up my heels in glee (at least that's how I remember it).  For the past month or so, all of the creek levels had been depressingly low.  It was made all the more depressing in that I had just recently purchased an Alpacka Raft Denali Llama packraft and hadn't gotten a chance to use it.  But with the past two days of heavy rain, the creeks were up and I would apparently get my chance.

NOLS newsletter on packrafting courses

I try to think back as to why I even got a packraft in the first place, besides it just being so obviously awesome.  It probably had something to do with a blog post on Surly's website a year ago regarding a small whitewater packraft that could be carried on a bike when ridden and conversely a bike could be carried on the packraft when paddled.  Hmmmm.... that's sounded awesome so I tucked that one away for later.  Then I watched the below video and my brain exploded.

I kept it in the back of my mind and then ordered one about a year later.  I had dreams of biking to the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon aka Pine Creek Gorge and doing a packrafting/trail running/biking extravaganza.  And once I received the raft, I started seeing mentions of them everywhere.  The most recent NOLS magazine included an entire article on a new packrafting course.  Then I went to the Banff Film Festival and three of the films had adventurers using packrafts.  I also read Jon Waterman's book, Running Dry, that is his account of paddling the Colorado River from source to sea using a packraft for many sections.  And the packrafts used in all of these occurences: Alpacka Raft's.  I had made the right decision apparently.

What a dork.

When I got the box in the mail that I had shelled out over a grand for, I thought that I had been swindled.  I have owned three person tents that couldn't fit into this box that was supposed to hold a whitewater packraft and a four piece kayak paddle.  It didn't weigh much either.  Sure enough though, it held a sub 6lb whitewater raft and a paddle.  Holy shit.  The Denali Llama is their biggest single person whitewater model and it weighs in at 5lb 3oz.  The optional spray deck that is welded on at the factory is an additional 8oz.  I also got an Aqua-Bound Manta Ray fiberglass four piece kayak paddle.

Overall, the packed raft was about the size of a two person backpacking tent.  This along with the paddles can easily be strapped somewheres on a backpack or to the rear rack of a bicycle.  Inflating the raft is an absolute snap.  Included with the raft is an inflation sack, which is a big sil-nylon sack with one end open and the other with a threaded valve on it.  Screw the valve into the port on the raft, fill the bag with air, compress the bag and push the air into the raft.  Their video does a better job explaining this.  After practicing twice, I easily inflated the raft streamside yesterday in less than a minute.  One initial point of concern however was that the valve on the boat is not a one way valve.  Thus, when you stop pumping or take off the inflation bag, air will flow out of the boat.  It turned out to not be a problem in the end.  I could unscrew the inflation bag quickly enough and cap the valve without losing too much air.  Then there is a small secondary port to inflate by mouth to reach final desired pressure.  No problemo.

Just add water!

So after weeks of staring at my neglected packraft, yesterday morning I got the message that streams were boatable.  As an initial test, I didn't want to paddle with my bike strapped on the boat but rather just get a feel for how the boat handled.  To be completely honest, I haven't kayaked much at all, so all my boating experience comes from canoeing.  I biked over to the whitewater course on Spring Creek behind Tussey Mountain Outfitters in Bellefonte.  On the ride there, I barely noticed the boat on my rear rack.  Of course before launching, I stopped by my friend Jeff's office to grab lunch so that we could discuss packrafting, biking and interoffice politics.  But after that, I made my way down to the creek and readied my craft.

The stream was flowing much faster and higher than I had ever previously seen when I canoed there.  But my enthusiasm for trying out the boat told me the hell with it and to just goof around in the eddies.  I paddled around in some of the eddies and slackwater to familiarize myself with the boat.  Then I began ferrying back and forth across the main current from bank to bank to see how it would respond to me.  While I personally couldn't paddle against the strongest parts of the current and move upstream, the raft otherwise behaved beautifully.

With the paddler sitting so low in the craft, it is quite stable.  However, with such a low position and an inflated tube at your side, paddling is a little more difficult.  I found myself bringing the paddle higher and paddling at a sharper downward angle than you would have to in other craft.  I am sure though that this is also a function of me needing to get more accustom to using a kayak paddle.  With the raft being flat bottomed and with the bow having less of a pronounced "point" than a canoe, I found it a little harder to paddle upstream and track into the current, but again this could be a function of poor paddle skills too.  With the flat bottom and the raft floating high, I noticed that breezes easily affected the boat, so paddling flatwater into a headwind would probably suck.

Overall however, I am absolutely pleased with my investment in a Denali Llama packraft from Alpacka Raft.    After reading about the rafts, their history, and accounts of what others have done with them on the company's site, I know that I have made the correct decision for a craft that fits into my car free and adventure filled lifestyle.  Just the other day, at a lunch with my friends Jason and Eric, we were discussing a particular ice route that forms in the Pine Creek Gorge.  You can cross country ski into the route on a rail trail, but you are still on the opposite side of the creek from the climb and the creek isn't always frozen over.  Our concerns over whether or not the creek is frozen evaporated with the realization that we have a packraft in our quiver now.  Stay tuned...

Schwalbe Marathon Mondial review

So, a couple of months ago, I parted with some cash to purchase a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Mondial tires.  It was my first experience with the brand and was a little hesitant to purchase these more expensive tires.  In the end, I'm sure glad I did.

These tires did see a fair amount of off-road action...

I wrote about my first ride with the tires here.  After riding about 500+ miles (I kinda didn't keep track) I feel like I can give a better evaluation of these tires.  About 80% of my riding was done on roads and the rest was on varying surfaces including gravel, mud/dirt, and snow.  Half was commuting and the other half was longer recreational rides.

As a pure road tire, I would opt for a different model obviously.  The more aggressive tread of the Marathon Mondial is just plain overkill if you sticking to smooth pavement.  While I didn't notice it on the first ride, after a while I could tell that there is some slight rolling resistance with this tread.  Of course, since I wasn't switching between tires or bikes, this is entirely a subjective assessment.  Where the tire definitely excels is transitioning between many different loose riding surfaces and still working quite well on roads.  They offered great grip for their width on gravel and mud and didn't even shy away from packed snow.  For those wondering, they offer little to no grip on bare sheets of ice... I had to find out the hard way.  In warmer winter conditions, the tires seemed to quickly gather snow on them in the tread and then eventually jam against fenders.  However, that's probably going to happen with any lugged tire combined with a fender.

The test lab.

I did get the opportunity in the past week to take a ride out in my local state forest with a modest load of overnight equipment.  Although this winter has been fairly tame, I was still concerned about the condition of the roads and what traction problems I may have.  Whether it was a long fire road climb on packed snow or a long, long climb on soft and tacky mud, the tires never skipped a beat.  My legs may have skipped a couple of beats though.  The Marathon Mondials definitely gave me the necessary confidence to maneuver my loaded bike along the slippery roads.

After over 500 miles of riding, there is no evidence of wear on the tires.  I really would have expected more of the tread to be rounding off in spots.  You would also think that if the rubber is so firm to resist wear that it wouldn't offer much grip on rock or wet pavement.  That thought has been dispelled as the tires provide great grip on such surfaces.  Also, the claims of high puncture resistance in the Schwalbe Marathon line have so far held up.  I  haven't gotten a single flat with these tires yet (and I hope that I didn't just horribly jinx myself).  Lest you think I have been babying them, I haven't.  I live in a town with a major college and everyday I literally ride over tons of broken glass provided by intellectuals' copious broken bottles.  I'd say that's a pretty fair test.

If you are looking for a tire that can ride anywhere well and stand up to abuse, this is it.  If you are already looking at the Marathon Mondial specifically, buy them.  They're worth it.

Update 10/18/2012-  I have over 8,000 miles on this pair of tires now and have only suffered 3 flats total.  That includes riding across the entire United States.  The tire that was on the rear was wearing more and the tread was a bit worn in the center.  I have swapped the front and rear tires and will continue to ride them.  After all of the miles, I am still 100% pleased with them and stand behind everything I've written previously.

Schwalbe Marathon Mondial tires- Initial impressions

READ THE FOLLOWUP POST HERE 

About me and my riding style (or lack thereof):  My bicycle is my only vehicle.  I expect miracles out of it.  It should be able to do anything that my old Chevy pickup truck could do.  It hauls way too much stuff on racks and on a trailer.  It gets ridden on asphalt, concrete, chip 'n tar, gravel, broken glass, sand, dirt, mud, entrails, snow and singletrack.  It takes me to the grocery store as easily as it does rock climbing or cross country skiing.  It cooks me breakfast as well.  The bike in question is a mostly stock Surly Long Haul Trucker.  I only want to own one bike and I want it to be ready at the drop of a hat, no futzing or changing components before I go for a ride.  I am a 6' 1" male who weighs 150lbs after eating 5lbs of tortellini.  I am unrealistic.

ON TO THE TIRE TALK!

Whenever I first got my touring bike, it came stock with Continental Contact tires.  After riding them for approximately 4,000 miles they were ready to be replaced.  While the Contact isn't a bad tire, I found them lacking for my needs.  On road riding they were perfectly acceptable with the exception of durability.  Riders in Pennsylvania will find a lot of shit on the sides of roads including nails, screws, glass and indistinguishable rusty crap.  This could be easily extrapolated to roads everywhere.  I got punctures from screws, nails and glass in the Contacts which is to be expected from time to time.  But even after putting a boot over the resulting hole, the rubber would slowly chip away leaving a bigger and bigger hole.  Uh, I don't think I want to ride too much further on something like that.

On mixed surfaces, I did not like those tires.  Riding on loose gravel felt akin to riding my bike on a skating rink that had been freshly greased.  My tires would frequently slip riding uphill on gravel or dirt as well.  Since about 25 to 30% of my riding is off road, this traction issue is pretty critical to me.  Granted I keep my tires inflated at 85 psi, but I don't want to have to change tire pressure each time I go off road.

ON TO THE SCHWALBE TALK!

Since I barely trusted my Swiss cheese like rear tire to get me to work and back anymore, I decided it was high time to get a new set of tires and while I was at it, get a new type.  So I went down to Freeze Thaw Cycles to check out my options.  I decided to get a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Mondials which looked like they would offer better traction.  Most people also tout Schwable tires as the most durable out there.  I was pretty stoked about them.  Jordyn happily took my money and told me to go "constructively beat the shit out of them".

While I will hopefully, do a more in depth review of the tires after I have ridden them further, I wanted to share my initial impressions.  After only one 50 mile ride, I believe I may have found my "unrealistic" tires.  My one hesitation with purchasing these tires was that the overall tread was deeper and there were bigger lugs on the outside edges of the tread pattern than my old Continentals.  I worried that they would be slower on the road and there would be a "buzzy" feel/sound like when you ride a mountain bike on the road.  To start off the ride, I rode 16 miles of rolling farms roads that is second nature to me.  Absolutely no time difference from the many times I've ridden that stretch with the Continentals and they didn't feel "slow" either.  Over the next 30 miles, I then tested them out on a pea-gravel rail trail, loose and hardpacked gravel fire roads, grass, dense dry leaves, and pine needles with plenty of climbing and descending on each.  The Schwalbes gave me great confidence on all surfaces and held straight riding through long sections of loose gravel (which used to be my nemesis).  I capped the ride with a 1000 ft descent on pavement and again there was no sensation of them being slow.

I will continue my research on these tires and hopefully have a little more to say later, but for right now, I am pleased.  Moving right along, my roommate and I are emptying some beer bottles to smash on the sidewalk for the durability test.

READ THE FOLLOWUP POST HERE 

TIRE SPECIFICS:

CONTINENTAL CONTACT 700X37C Inflated to 85psi

SCHWALBE MARATHON MONDIAL 700X35C Inflated to 85psi

Princeton Tec bike lights

Several months ago, Princeton Tec sent me a selection of their lights specifically designed for biking.  All three of the lights, EOS Bike, Swerve, and Push, have been out on the market for a while and the discerning consumer can find numerous reviews of them online already.  In fact, folks have undoubtedly done a better job than me of wringing them out and geeking out on their technical specifications.  So why should you waste your time looking at this review?  Well, you shouldn't.  But if one wants to hear the perspective of someone who has done 1000 miles of bike touring with these lights, gone climbing, hiking, auto repairing, and bar-hopping using them as well and who is more apt to drop an f-bomb in his review than the word "lumen", then read on.

Princeton Tec EOS Bike, Swerve & Push (as if you can't see that already)

The EOS Bike is quite simply Princeton Tec's EOS headlamp that one can also attach to their bike helmet.  This sounds like an obvious and unnecessary point to make until you realize that the EOS is a time honored and reliable light among backpackers and climbers.  Therefore, when bicycle touring or if you are a multi-sport individual and only want to purchase one type of headlamp, this is the light for you.  I do not use this as my primary light for bike touring as it isn't quite bright enough on it's own for my tastes.  If you're mountain biking and you want both a helmet light and a handlebar light or as a backup light in case your primary fails, the EOS works great.  Often I find myself keeping it rigged on the traditional headlamp strap in a front pannier while riding so it is ready for setting up camp.  I keep the velcro helmet strap permanently rigged on my helmet and can mount the light quickly if need be.  For one light that can work flawlessly for climbing, backpacking, etc. and also be secured to a helmet comfortably (instead of stretching a traditional headlamp's headband over your helmet) this is the ticket.

Now, most folks don't get too excited about taillights.  So long as it is red and perhaps even flashes nobody pays much attention.  I on the other hand have a fear of being crushed to death.  Why more people don't share my fear is beyond me.  Very often I find myself in dense traffic in areas of Pennsylvania where cycling is not recognized as a legitimate past time.  You're none too sure if folks are paying attention or even care to see you.  Another hazard I find myself in is open stretches of road with high speed limits and no road lighting.  Do you think that someone whipping along at 60 mph is going to see that single pukey LED?  I don't want to bet on it.  That's why I have used a Princeton Tec Swerve for a couple of years now.  It is bright and annoying as shit.  I mean that in a good way.  Whenever I ride directly behind my friend who uses a Swerve too, I fear the onset of seizures.  That's exactly what I want out of my taillight.  Also, the light uses a heavy duty rubber band to mount the light on any bar.  I have never had a problem with the light falling off.  It makes for quick transfers from bike to bike.  And if the need arises, the light also has a clip so you can mount it on your courier bag, jacket collar (hey, it has worked in a pinch), or bazooka sling.

      Clockwise from left: PT EOS Bike, PT Push, PT Swerve and Cygolite ExpiliOn 250

The Push is a handlebar mounted light from Princeton Tec that they advertise for anything from urban riding to mountain biking.  In speaking to sales reps, they have suggested that the light is more for urban riding and after testing it for a while I would agree with them.  The Push throws off a good beam for riding around town and some night road riding.  For extended night riding, I felt that the light wasn't quite far reaching for me.  Keep in mind that I am legally blind, so plenty of others may disagree with me.  When riding my touring bike down gravel fire roads, the light didn't shine far enough ahead to convince me that I wasn't going to hit a deer or some deadfall.  But around town, it works great.  It isn't as expensive as many other lights are so if it gets swiped you won't need a government bailout.  It is light enough and compact that you can throw it in your pocket while you stop for a brew and you won't get the inevitable question "It that a banana in your pocket or are you happy to see me?"  (My apologies to all bananaphiles that I just offended)  The only thing that troubled me about the light is that there is little way to tell when the batteries are getting low.  Sometimes there was a barely discernible flickering minutes before the light died, but usually it was rather abrupt.  That can be a little alarming when you're ripping downhill at night...

I believe that the Princeton Tec lights are all splendid within their respective categories.  However, for bike touring and "wilder" nighttime exercises, I wasn't totally satisfied with the Push.  I have started using a Cygolite ExpiliOn 250 which is like trading in a shotgun for a tank.  It's twice as bright and three times the cost.  I will let you know how it works out for me.  One thing that I like about it already is that it has a rechargeable battery.  Both the EOS Bike and the Swerve worked perfectly with rechargeable AAAs.  For some reason, I had poor luck getting my Push to work with a couple of different types of rechargeable AAAs.  This was another strike against it for bike touring for me, but I don't think that this should discourage others.