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I must have raced over a hundred times in a hairnet helmet. At the time, there was only one real bike racer I knew who wore a real helmet, Bob Cooke. He was a terrific climber and wore a Bell Biker. I think he went to MIT and worked on the heat shield of the space shuttle. Ironically, he died of...

This is a specious argument. I’m guessing none of you has caused a fire by putting a penny in a burned out fuse, but that doesn’t make it a good idea. Did you know that you aren’t allowed to start a bicycle race if your handlebar isn’t plugged? Next time you pass a row of bikes at a school or...

I’m just saying there’s an upside and downside to decisions. The upside of running a plugged tire is obvious: you save a few dollars. You tell me the potential downside. You can back your decision with anecdotal evidence. I agree that statistically the odds are on your side. I further point out...

Armchair quarterbacks? I’ve been a professional mechanic for 45 years. Remember when DC10s were falling out of the sky? It was because some guys wanted to save some money and weren’t doing maintenance by the book. Guess what? Most if the time it worked. Hell, it almost always worked. Almost...

I’m a cheapskate. I say replace it. Look at the potential upside versus downside. Save a few bucks is the best case scenario. Worst case? Don’t ask.

I’m thinking about a new bike just for the reliability, and believe it would be more fun to have a small displacement bike that can be ridden at the limit than a larger, heavier, faster bike that’s rarely stressed.

How cold is rather cold? And how do you like your bike?

That was my point. For the moment, at least, we’re free to choose our risks. What’s wholly unacceptable to one educated, intelligent, and informed person seems completely reasonable to another. There is no irony, unless you don’t get that. In the event that you truly are trying to eliminate...

You know the leading cause of death in the USA is heart disease. I like to hang out at Five Guys and Urban Churn and helpfully ask “Are you planning to eat that?” I find most people really appreciate learning about the benefits of a raw food vegan diet coupled with low impact aerobics in a...

Put me in the resentment camp. My favorite is when they inevitably say something like “My uncle is an emergency room nurse so I was never allowed to ride.” Then they tell you all about the squid on meth who got decapitated riding his GSXR under a semi. They do the same with firearms. “When you...

It is, believe it or not. The guy from Phoenix Shave makes a cologne based on it. And it is pretty dang awesome.

I too have driven bus. What occurred to me early on is that without government subsidies most public transport (in the US) wouldn’t exist. Free markets, as Milton Friedman noted, have a wonderful ability to regulate themselves, but we have left them behind a long time ago. Many days I’d drive...

The only advantage to a hanging rack is cost. A platform rack is what you want, and what you must have if you ever want to transport an ebike. They’re easier to load, more stable, and you don’t need to worry about damage. There are many good brands. My favorite is the Kuat NV. Kuat has a new...

That sounds pretty wonderful.

Bingo. You nailed it. Remember when quartz watches basically wiped out the Swiss watch industry? Now Apple is doing the same thing all over again. People today want, above everything else in their belongings, to be connected to their devices. They demand Bluetooth in their grills! They’re...

It depends on the subject. I’m certainly not ever going to use a torque wrench on a speaker grille cover but I’ll always use one on, for example, a cylinder head. I’m a professional bicycle mechanic and I use torque wrenches and keys many times each day. And again, some items will always get the...

I judge the burning of a quart of oil every thousand miles, or less, to be the fault of Subaru. Certainly I believe the engine wouldn’t have lunched itself if the dealer hadn’t overfilled it, but I wouldn’t have been in the position in the first place if the car didn’t burn oil at an excessive rate.

I had a 15 Forester. The engine blew up. I’m now 60, owned many cars, and this was the only catastrophic failure I’ve experienced. I’m certain it occurred because it was vastly overfilled at the dealer prior to an oil burn test. In that sense it wasn’t the car’s fault, but the burning of a quart...

Dave’s not here, man.

My pet peeve is when someone doesn’t answer a question but instead veers off course, so I won’t try to talk you out of a dropper. The best product to use is Finish Line Fiber Fix, with one caveat. After the other carbon assembly pastes the second best choice is anti-seize, probably from Park...