Brakes and Gears

     There are several different kinds of brakes, gears, even pedals!  In this post we will go over the different types.

Caliper brakes

     There are three different kinds of  brakes. Caliper brakes, V-Brakes, and Hydraulic disc brakes.  Calipers are mostly found on road bikes because, although not as strong as the other two types, they are small and aerodynamic, in other words they don't have much wind resistance.  V-Breaks are on lots of hybrid and some amateur  mountain bikes, they are bigger than calipers, but more powerful. Due to there simple design, these brakes are the most easy to maintain. hydraulic disc brakes are seen on mid-high level mountain bikes. They resemble the brakes of a car or motorcycle, and do not interfere with the wheel as much.

Hydraulic disc brakes

V-brakes

Gears are next. The actual gears are pretty much the same on every bike, its the way they change that makes them different. there are two ways they change, Rapidfire, and Grip shift. Grip shift is on the handlebar and you simply twist it back and forth to go up and down.  rapidfire is more advanced and is simply two switches that you press to make the gears go up and down here are both pictured below

Rapidfire shift

Grip shift

panniers

panniers are bags that can be hung on the side of your bike or on the top of back wheel like this picture above. they can be hung to side of both the front wheel and the back wheel and they are hung from pannier racks. Different panniers have different ways to hang and different ways to put them on, but for the most part, there is an eyelet on your bike. It is located close to the where the hub of the wheel is nutted into the frame. and you screw it into it. then you put the pannier bag on, which is what you store everything in.  for the most part, panniers are for long biking trips, not short little mile bike rides, unless you are commuting to work. panniers are good for all kinds of biking when you need to carry something, and are much more portable than a trailer or backback. (or a suitcase).

An intro to Road Biking

Most of this blog has been about mountain biking. so now i will focus a little bit on road biking. the techniques of road biking are much like that of mountain biking, in my opinion mountain biking is much more fun, but you may enjoy road biking more!  ou can road bike with a mountain bike as well as a hybrid or a road bike.  So if you do not have a road bike you can still ride on the road.  you need to find a nice place to ride though, because otherwise, it might get a little boring.

Biking on a Rainy Day

Rainy Days are the most fun to bike on Except the cleaning up you have to do afterwards. mud is alot of fun to ride in, but it can harm your bike if you dont clean it up. also, if your gear and brake cables get wet they can rust inside there covers. if this happenns, take out the cables and put some oil on them, and then put some oil down the covers, this should help. you may also want to put some oil on your chain. Then take a brush and in all the cracks of your bike, mud finds those cracks and it will enhance your bikes performance if you clean them out.

How to Make a Bike Ramp

To make a bike ramp you really don't need that much, in fact you can use just a shovel, and of course, a place do do it. you can make it more complicated but a simple ramp should be fine. first you need some dirt, you might try digging a hole on the side of the ramp you will be jumping on, so you will simply jump over the hole. Then you can just shape it into a ramp! be careful, however, not to make so big that it cannot support you and you bike. If you are having trouble shaping the dirt, wet your soil. after you have finished, slightly dampen it again and let it sit until it is firm. and there You have your ramp!!

Reccomended Video

If nothing else, this will get you inspired about biking!!!

Danny Mcaskill: Way Back Home

Making a bike video

Bike with pov or helmet camera

Of course, if you do not have the proper equipment you cant make a video, but if you do have what is necessary, (video camera, computer, editing software) then it is really quite easy to make a video. A biking video requires good camera angles. For instance, position your camera on the trail so that as your bike rides by it will look very tall. you can also purchase a POV (point of view) camera, which is waterproof and has different mounts so that you can mount it to your bike, but this is not really necessary. you can also watch my video in an earlier post for different views.

Where Can I Bike?

EVERYWHERE!!! That is the great thing about biking! You can ride your bike almost anywhere....except of course if there is a sign that says no biking....But there are a few places that are better than others, for instance, i sometimes like to ride my bike behind our local dollar tree, because it has lots of ramps and things. Also, i have a trail down my street that is used to run power trucks down. These kind of trails are fairly easy to find, and they are free. There are also some public parks that you might could find some bike trails at, i live in Jackson Mississippi and if you live anywhere near Meridian MS, I highly recommend Bonita lakes. Here is the link.www.singletracks.com.