vic.gedris.org

This is what happens when:

1. The rim of your bicycle wheel wears down after years of being used as a braking surface
2. You notice that it's all worn down, and then do nothing about it
3. You top your tire pressure back up to 100PSI before riding to work
4. ....and then wait for the inevitable

So there I was, sitting in my office listening in on a teleconference with my bike parked less than a metre behind me... BANG! Scared the hell out of me, and had co-workers coming to see what blew up. We assumed it was one of the heat pumps in the ceiling above my office. While the building maintenance people were here to check on the pumps, I noticed what happened to my wheel. We had a good laugh about that unexpected discovery.

So, lesson learned: Check your rims for wear from the brakes. If you can feel a groove, it's probably time to replace the rim. I knew this, but never got around to doing it.

In fact, the rear wheel of this bike did the same thing a few years ago, but I caught it in time before there was any catastrophic failure.

After a nice evening out in Montreal, Jen and I borrowed some Bixi bikes to ride back to our hotel.

Here's Jen riding along the segregated bike path on Boulevard de Maisonneuve.

We really loved the Bixi bikes in Montreal. What an incredibly convenient system! They're hoping to start up a Bixi system in Toronto next year, and this trip to Montreal convinced me to subscribe for Toronto's program. Even though I have my own bikes, I can see the benefit of just being able to hop on a bike just about anywhere, and drop it off at another station, without worrying about theft etc.

Another photo of my mom's trike.

My mom's tricycle, tearin' up the streets in their Hamilton neighbourhood.

I bought the "Street Racer" license plate for her in Palanga, Lithuania, on one of the final days of last year's European vacation.

Jen's Bike Friday is an adorable little red folding bike. Here it is in my parent's backyard after our ride to their place.

Icycle 2010: Ice bike races at Dufferin Grove Park. Here's a close-up view of a home-made studded bike tire. It's basically a regular bike tire with a bunch of metal screws stuck through it to give maximum traction on the ice. Commercially-made studded tires are nowhere near as aggressive as these!

This is the last on the ice bike photos for the blog. You can view the rest of them in my gallery posted here.

On Friday I put together my newest bike cargo trailer. Actually, the only new part of it is the big blue Rubbermaid box. The trailer frame, wheels, and hitch are all part of the Bike Friday / BicycleR Evolution trailer that I got with my folding bike.

Since I bought the Rubbermaid bin at Zellers out in the boonies of Mississauga (near work), I had to get it home. So on Friday I just brought the trailer pieces and a drill to work inside a pannier. After work, I drilled some holes in the bin, and then put everything together outside at the bike rack. Voila! Now I could ride home with my new trailer.

I really like the BicycleR Evolution trailer system, for quite a number of reasons: 1) The hitch is made from high-pressure hose connectors, so it's strong and very easy to quickly connect/disconnect. 2) The frame and wheels can be broken down into a very small size for transporting elsewhere. 3) No tools are required for putting the trailer together or attaching it to a bike. 4) You can buy extra hitches to make the trailer useable with almost any bike. 5) You can use the basic frame for many different purposes. I now have the Bike Friday suitcase trailer, and my Rubbermaid trailer, but I can also turn it into a flatbed trailer simply by attaching a board, or attaching various other sizes of boxes, depending on my needs.

I'm looking forward to using this trailer frequently, especially when I want to haul things that wouldn't fit easily in my panniers.

More photos here.