Grease Rag Ride & Wrench

Queer Bike Gang

Queer Bike Gang (QBG) consists of a bunch of Queers who wanna ride bikes together around the Twin Cities. You're perfect for QBG if: 1)You're a homo/lez/bi/trans/genderqueer/label-free or ally 2)You sort of know how to ride a bike 3)You want to hang out with others like you.

Why a bike group for queers?  QBG was created in part to break away from the bar culture that LGBTQ people rely on to connect to other queers.  We seek to create a healthy and economical alternative where queers can connect.  Many of us also consider riding our bikes to be a reflection of our political beliefs on a culture of consumption and the environment, to name a few.  But most of us just join to have fun.

QBG gets together for rides about once a month and often incorporate social activities or volunteer work.  In the past year we have had outings to Northstar Roller Girls bouts, tons of beaches, and community biking events including ArtCrank, Brake for Breakfast and the Bike Film Festival.  We also make periodic trips to deliver QBG branded safer sex kits, courtesy of Minnesota AIDS Project.

QBG is best known for its annual race/ride Cirque du SoGay: “The Gayest Show on Earth,” which seeks to connect LGBTQ individuals to community resources and each other.  The “race” route features LGBTQ landmarks and requires participants to do goofy challenges along the way.

Information about Queer Bike Gang’s activities and annual race can be found at http://www.queerbikes.org, on facebook (Queer Bike Gang) and Twitter (qbg).

Thank you, EG, for the text and photos.

There is a new ride in town!

Freewheel Women's Ride:  This ride leaves from Freewheel Bike's midtown location every Wednesday at 6 PM.  We usually ride about 30 miles, but   a shorter version of the week's ride is available upon request.  The pace of this ride is between 15 to 20 miles per hour. This is a no drop ride. We want this to be an inclusive fun ride for everyone.

We take turns leading the ride each week.  We show each other our favorite routes.  If you are new to cycling or Minneapolis, this is a great way to make friends and find new places to bike.  If you have been riding for years, please come show us your favorite routes!
This ride is tentatively scheduled to be a year around ride.  I expect it will become abridged to about 10-15 miles and hot chocolate come winter.  If you would like to be a part of this group just show up or send an email to FreewheelWomensRide@gmail.com. We usually send a weekly email to everyone on the listserv describing that weeks ride. We also use the e-mail as a way to notify each other of other rides we are doing that week if anyone wants to join in. Cancellations due to weather happen through e-mail as well.  Feel free to send an email with any questions or concerns.  Thanks!

Amy

This post is also under the page nuts'n bolts, cups'n cones-

The most integral part to a bike as a whole, is the frame. The rest is a  conglomeration of pieces and parts (some of which work better than others). In summation, they all work together to create a simple machine for transportation. You put in the energy and the wheels will take you wherever you want to go!

Frames are made of different materials, the main 3 being steel, aluminum alloy, and what's known as carbon (which is really a composite of woven sheets of carbon fiber and apoxy of various strengths, stiffness, and weight). Within these 3 categories there are multiple variances that determine the way your frame feels (stiffness, weight, steering) when you ride it. Some are more comfortable than others- the winner generally being steel for its durability and soft, reliable ride. Aluminum became really popular in the mid-80's to early 90's as a frame material because it is slightly lighter than steel and a lot stiffer, which makes the bike ride feel faster, esp. in handling. Mid-90's, carbon also started making it into higher end bicycles and is now kind of the standard for anything 'racy'. Alright, where does that leave your frame?

If you've never serviced your frame with an overhaul- now's the time. You will be able to determine several things. If you're feeling the wobbles when you ride, you probably have a loose hub on your wheel, a loose headset, or even a loose bottom bracket. The headset and bottom bracket are not part of your frame. They are parts attached to your frame either by threading on the frame or the fork. Take out the BB, seatpost, and the headset and check to see if the threading is damaged in any way (if they have siezed, they will be impossible to remove w/o significant effort and possibly ruining the frame). If the threading is damaged,  you can chase it (although, the fork is better replaced with a new one. Once those threads are gone, it will change the diameter of of the stearer-tube. It is easiest and safest to replace the fork with one that has the same rake and diameter (either 1" or 1 1/8"). Take this opportunity to replace your BB and headset (each about $20 for a standard, cheapo replacement) so you have new ball-bearings and races. This will make your ride smoother and safer!

While you have your frame open take the opportunity, again, to observe a few things that effect the integrity of your frame. Look for rust or corrosion at the weep-holes or inside the tubing. If the inside of your frame is starting to rust, it could very well be deeper that you think and your frame probably has a limited life expectancy. If your frame is not steel, look for signs of cracking in the paint. If your bike has ever been crashed, pay close attention to damage that may not be immediately visible. Also check the exterior of your frame for dings, divits, or large patches missing paint (esp. if they've started to rust). Surface rust can be polished off with steel wool and then given a base-coat of matching fingernail polish or even clear polish. This will keep the elements from continuing to eat your metal!

Sometimes, even when the damage isn't that bad, you should assess your bike from the standpoint of function and and cost to fix it and make it safe to ride. If your drive-train is not functioning safely and you need to replace it, this would be the time. Usually it's easiest and cheapest to convert to a single-speed. If your brakes aren't the best, take them off, clean them, check the springs. If you can find good replacements, you're lucky. Older frames are drilled for a different type of brake than is standard now, so if you want to get new brakes, you may be looking at compatibility issues.

If repairing the bicycle is going to cost MORE than the bike is worth, or what you can afford- sometimes it is best to let the poor beast go and either get a new frame in better condition, or start saving for a new bike altogether. It is not safe to continue riding a bicycle that has been compromised unless you are willing to put in the time, effort, and money to continuously care for it and wait for the day when it's no longer tenable.

One more option comes to mind, since you all live in a wintery place. Having a winter bike is a great idea- use your oldest bike or the one in question and don't worry about the fact that after riding it all winter it will probably be finished.

The Hub Bicycle Co-Op has had such a wonderful year that they want to show some appreciation to their customers.  Apparently they have been selling a ton of bikes to women, so they are hosting a special Women's Appreciation Night.  How cool is it to be appreciated by your local bike co-op?!

I'm a big fan of the friendly people at The Hub.  Chris sold me my Bianchi a year ago, and I often drop in when I need gear.  I think this sounds like a fun party, opportunity to mingle, and a chance to test ride some bikes!  (I like the sound of "First Annual," too.)

It is not explicit in the message below, but this event is most definitely inclusive of all WTFs!

To our wonderful women customers:

We would like to say thank you. Please join us for our first annual Women’s Appreciation Night on September 26 October 9, 2010 (7pm to 9pm) at the Hub Bike Co-op.

You may have participated in our Women’s Weekly rides, maybe you rode your first Triathlon with our neighbors at the YWCA, rode RAGBRAI across Iowa for 7 days, braved the weather at the Twin Cities Tour de Cure, raced in an alley cat or hit the trails by the lakes. Or maybe you started commuting to work by bike.

We want to thank you for doing it with bikes and gear from the Hub Bike Cooperative, so we invite you to come have some eats and drinks and hang out with us. There'll be a line of 2011 women-specific bikes for demo and new women’s cycling apparel on display, too. The Hub thanks Zipps Liquors and the local vendors and artists in partnership with us.

For more details visit our blog at http://thehubbikecoop.blogspot.com.

Please bring friends and RSVP at rsvp@thehubbikecoop.biz.

Peace,

The Hub Bike Co-op

M'Dears,

As Babes in Bikeland comes up next weekend, I wish I was there at least visiting and could ride it with you. So fun last year!

I just read the article that Low sent about WTFs in Mpls and it made me nostalgic. San Francisco is great for biking (waaay more hills) with an active Bike Coalition and tons of city infrastructure. But, something's been missing...community. It's so big and diverse here, everything settles into a clique and fragments. I have yet to find a community of ladies and gents, such as yourselves, that are of a like-mind.

Part of it is me. I'm changing. I'm getting faster and more determine to develop my skills as a rider. My fleet is also changing- poor BiBi is torn down (I got tired of gripping the brake levers for dear life on all of my downhill descents) and I have an All-City Nature Boy on the way in addition to my new plastic (carbon) road bike (which was a budget build and has performed beautifully for road riding. I just did my first century!!!) Bomber, as always, is indominable.

When we got to SF, I tried the SF Bike Kitchen. They are so well organized and have all the tools, stands, infrastructure you could want, and lots of shitty old bike parts to put together...but they were cold and a few of the men were pretentious, and following their yahoo group was like following a bitch-fest about who did what and who didn't do enough. I also tried the SF Bike Coalition. They were big and political, disorganized and the other volunteers didn't really click with me with their safety vests and were, perhaps, a little more aged than myself. I think we just have differing utopias- they would love SF to be like Amsterdam and I like to ride with cars as a vehicular cyclist.

Those were my two big options. A messenger race ended at my work-place and the party was riotous. They were happy and riding bikes with history, personalized and loved. I felt that this was the closest to what I was looking for- but I was intimidated and a little too clean. So, I'm moving on to my next big goal- to perhaps get into the casual race crowd. I'm pretty sure that there a lot of women out there like me who are lonely riding only with men in lycra, struggling to get faster and better at handling, women with interesting stories and a lot to teach me about creating space for inclusion.

I think about it a lot- the simple act of BEING THERE, of occupying space and being visible. The act of confidence and thoughtfulness to ride well and take care of your machines, to value what they do for you, and the ability to be realistic about what you want out of them and what they can give. With my changing place, having no-where to settle into with my old crickety BiBi, I have built the new and moved on gracefully. But it would be nice to find the like-minded who understand the will to improve without pretension, who like to geek out about tech stuff without idolizing $3000 bikes and carbon frames, the people to whom biking is a life-style and a way of moving oneself for pleasure and for utility. I'm looking for a little Mpls in my new city of San Francisco.

Cheers and come visit! The riding out here is amazing!

Best,

The Doctor