Cycling and Law Enforcement

Recently here in Montreal Police Officers have been handing out tickets to cyclist for various infractions. Some are saying that they are being more aggressive on enforcement than before.

Man gets a ticket for riding in a pedestrian zone.

Tickets issued vary from crossing on a pedestrian light, riding on the sidewalk and having no or missing reflectors on the bike. Reports coming in from some riders indicate that some Officers are not being discerning in their Law enforcement and going heavy on the pen. One noted anecdote states 3 tickets were issued for 3 missing reflectors on the same bike instead of just one ticket for the general infraction. It is also good to know that Montreal PD does not issue any kind of warnings. If the pen comes out, it will cost you.

What to do then? One thing for sure is to pay attention to your surroundings, making sure you don't commit an infraction right in front of a cop. Check your bike for missing reflectors and replace them according to your local law. Here in Quebec reflectors are required as follows: One white in the front, one red in the back, yellow on the pedals front and back, yellow in the front spokes and red in the rear spokes. Quebec's highway code does not specify a definition for a reflector or a standard size, so if you cannot fit a standard reflector somewhere on your bike, you can use reflective tape of the required color.

One element that has been prompted by all that recent MPD activity towards cyclists here in Montreal is a Facebook Group that lets riders know where the fuzz is at during the day. Same kind of thing already done by our car driving counterparts. Don't have one in your area? Start one, it's not illegal (Here anyways).

Lastly, if you do get pulled over for something by a Police officer, identify yourself and shut up. Keep your arguments for court, anything you say will be used against you in the report. Send in your "not guilty" plea with the section for explanation blank if you choose to challenge the case. Would you show your hand at a poker game?

Keep safe and ride free.

Gerry :)

Big Bike Ride, epilogue

For those curious on how the big ride went, here's a little post to satisfy your curiosity.

Mechanically the bike did good except for developing a tendency to throw its chain at the end and no it didn't rain. That fender did pay off!  :)

My body aches all over today, especially my butt. The price to pay for not having done any serious riding in the past year.

Hopefully I'll be more on the bike this year.

The Tour rides always finish with a big party. This was the scene at the Olympic Stadium.

Until next time, ride safe and free.

Gerry :)

Preparing for a big ride

I'm scheduled to do the "Tour la Nuit" here in Montreal this evening. My bike and I haven't participated in anything serious, ride-wise  in over a year. This being a night ride with thousands of other cyclists, it is quite important to have proper lighting installed and for it to be fully functional.

Getting the tools out.

My lighting gear was starting to show its age, so I decided to fork the bucks for some new front and back lights. A trip to MEC provided the required equipment for less than $20 and the ride to and from the store gave me a chance to gauge myself and my bike. Not bad but the bike needed some tweaking.

Small but very effective white LED light. This sub $10 will give you proper lighting for an entire season on one battery. 

Very bright $8 rear LED light. I always set mine to blink in order to be more visible.

Installed the lights, checked and adjusted the brakes, checked tire pressure and prepared a tool kit. Tool kits should contain whatever you feel is necessary to keep Murphy at bay. The number of tools and the distance you are willing to walk home are relative to themselves.

My personal selection for the evening.

Talking about Murphy's Law, we might have a chance of rain tonight so I decided to install a rear fender. It probably won't rain now but I can guaranty you that it would have should I have decided to lazily avoid putting one on. 30 minutes well spent.

Always do a test ride prior to the big one.

If you're in Montreal, hope to see you there. If not, until next time ride safe and free.

Gerry :)

The Ultimate anti-theft bike set up!

These 2 shots were taken near the Montreal Mont-Royal Metro station which is notorious for bike theft. Montreal has a serious bike theft problem and not much is being done by the authorities.

Now this is a BIG lock!

At first I suspected it was a sculpture from a local artist and it turns out I was half right. The whole thing was put together in order to promote the City's Bixi bike program. The successful program has already been exported to other cities like New-York with it's unique design. Most of the parts being unique to this bike and not really worth stealing.

You just need to remember which key goes where...

However, I'm certain some bike thief out there would be crazy enough to take the challenge just for bragging rights!

Until next time, ride safe and free.

Gerry :)

CCM folder bike conversion to multi-speed

Sorry for skipping a week. The weather was bad (I'm outdoors you know.) and life was pretty busy. Didn't want to make a half ass post.

Beer can light Aluminium cranks or boat anchor heavy steel one piece crank? I think the choice is pretty obvious!

Step one in the build is to convert this once single speed bike to a multi-speed set-up. The first thing I wanted to do was to change the one piece crank to a 3 piece crank using a conversion kit. I got the kit from Pork Chop BMX some time ago for another project that never saw the light of day. The idea is to have a better selection of cranks and to shave off some weight.

Conversion axle and bearings with the dirty original CCM bearing cups.

The kit is pretty straight forward with an axle, bearings, cones and bearing cups. Simply install and put on your favourite crank arms. In my case I did hit a small snag where the bearing cups are a specific size to the CCM. I had to forgo the ones that came with the kit that are sized for conventional American BMXs.

Clean up must also involve the bottom bracket shell, loose dirt will get in the bearings. Here it also reveals the original mid 70's purple color of the bike.

The new bearings did fit in the older cups with no problem. Of course a clean up was in order and they were still in decent shape. I would suggest inspecting them has there is usually one side that is more used up than the other. depending on the rider being left handed or right handed, one side will see more usage than the other. Always put the better cup on the side that suits you, that way they will last a bit longer. In my case as a right handed guy, the better one went on the right side.

Cup and bearings packed with fresh grease. Don't forget to add a dab on the bearing cones as well on the axle. More is always better than not enough.

Completed conversion.

After the bottom bracket was installed, I put on the crank arms and lucky for me, they cleared, barely. I've faced such a situation before and let's just say that the solution wasn't pretty for the frame!

Check for clearance between the crank arm and frame. Also, check your picture for proper focus before publishing!  Aaaaaaargh :X   Notice also that tire clearance is not an issue.

Next I had to install the rear wheel and check for clearance in regards to the tire and frame. That's where I hit another little snag. The axle was a lot wider than what the frame would allow. I remedied the situation by spreading the frame a bit using a car jack.

Small discrepancy here!

Take note that you should never do what I did. Bending a frame is a last resort because you will ruin it or make it dangerously weak. I'm rolling the dice here doing this and only sharing it with you for information purposes. Yes, I'm an idiot, haters don't need to post it in the comments.

Do not ever do this, ever!

Final result.

I finished up by installing the derailleur and the chain. Everything works fine and nothing is rubbing the wrong way. I'm not planning for a front derailleur since the frame design won't allow it. No biggie, I have hands.  :)

This is how it sits for now.

In case you have any questions about the different steps taken in this post, here's a list of links to post I've done in the past that relates to the work done here today:

One piece crank
3 piece crank
Installing a chain

And of course the links to all the how-to articles here.

Until next week, ride safe and free.

Gerry  :)