Jim Langley

Jim’s Tech Talk By Jim Langley Last weekend, March 15, 16 and 17, the 15th edition of the North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS) took place in the Sacramento Convention Center in Sacramento, California. As the name suggests, this is the show for small bicycle makers doing things mostly by hand, along with companies that support the handmade scene. So, you won’t … [Read more...] about Wheel Building with Jet Bicycle Wheels at NAHBS

Jim’s Tech Talkby Jim Langley Recently, RoadBikeRider.com supreme leader Lars Hundley, former head John Marsh and yours truly were trading emails discussing new developments in road bike gearing options. SRAM had just announced their new for 2019 AXS 12-speed parts group with its X-Range gearing. The most interesting feature of this innovative drivetrain is the use of a … [Read more...] about Observations on Lower Gearing

Tech Talkby Jim Langley If you bought a new road bike in recent years, you may have cables that are partly inside your frame, maybe your components, too. Known as internal cable routing, this feature is helping to create some of the cleanest looking rigs ever, and it also reduces wind drag significantly according to the gurus that run Specialized’s Win Tunnel. … [Read more...] about Tricks for Internal Cable Replacement

Jim’s Tech Talk By Jim Langley Bont’s New Budget Shoes Before getting to the wheel tip, here’s a bit of product news you might like. I’ve reviewed Bont’s Vaypor S  and Helix shoes and from the number of comments know that Bonts are popular. … [Read more...] about A Wheel Tip for All Roadies: Getting Home on a Damaged Bike Wheel

Jim’s Tech Talk By Jim Langley Last week I introduced my friend Andy, a recent retiree looking for shopping advice. He asked whether on his new - and probably final dream road bike, he should get rim or disc brakes. Catch up here if you missed the story. I gave Andy my advice and asked you to chime in with your recommendations. This resulted in so many great points about … [Read more...] about RBR Readers Respond: Rim Brakes vs Disc Brakes on Road Bikes

Jim’s Tech Talk By Jim Langley This week I’m shifting into high gear, covering a lot of ground to tell you briefly about four products picked up last year that I like. They include shoes, tools, a lock and glasses. I’m currently using them all and give them an enthusiastic thumbs up. Tip: For most of the brands here, you will find more of our reviews of their products by … [Read more...] about A Few New Toys for Cyclists You Might Like

Jim’s Tech Talk By Jim Langley Before getting to the technical Q & A, I goofed last week and didn’t show you Bruce Ross’s favorite bike bling saddle. It’s this tri-color masterpiece by Busyman Bicycles. Nice, huh? Now, to get on with the show, an important question (read to the end to find out why it’s important) came in from retired RoadBikeRider founder and … [Read more...] about Q & A: Can a SRAM PowerLock Chain Link be Reused?

Jim’s Tech Talk By Jim Langley For this Tech Talk, I’m letting my friend, Bruce L Ross take a pull. He wrote me recently with some fun bike bling ideas, which seemed very appropriate for this festive time of year. Bruce lives just a short ride from me here in Santa Cruz, California. If you’ve been reading RBR for awhile you may recall that he penned a nice 2-part … [Read more...] about Adding Some Bling to your Road Rocket

Jim’s Tech Talk By Jim Langley This week’s technical topic is in response to a reader named Paul’s question. He read our review of the Silca Pista floor pump, which has a bleed valve built into the chuck… (a pressure release button). He asked,   “Just to clarify, in regards to the Presta bleed valve on the Pista’s pump head, if I was to say, pump my tires to 120 … [Read more...] about Tools for Fine-Tuning Tire Pressure

Jim’s Tech Talk By Jim Langley Our Holiday Gift Guide last week featured some sweet tools, a floor and mini pump, a multi-tool and a repair stand. Because you can’t have enough bicycle tools, it got me thinking of some lesser-known yet highly useful items budding mechanics might want to ask for - or that you might want to surprise your grease monkey with. So, I’m … [Read more...] about 5 Bike Tool Gift Ideas for Cyclists

Jim’s Tech Talk By Jim Langley Great comments came in about our buyer’s guide to Multi-Tools last week. Thank you! I liked the feedback from regular contributor Kerry Irons so much that I decided to do a short feature on them this week. I think you’ll like what Kerry shares, too. I’m going over his advice line by line and adding a few comments and a how-to for what I … [Read more...] about Make Your Own Take-along Bike Spoke Wrench

Jim’s Tech Talk By Jim Langley Looking for the best full featured multi tool to carry on bike rides so you can make repairs on the road? As you can see in our first photo, the concept of a single take-along tool to let you fix just about anything that can go wrong mechanically goes back to the early days of cycling - the 1880s - if you can believe it. At that time it was … [Read more...] about Best Cycling Multi Tools to Carry for Emergency Bike Repairs