supporting the revolutionary ramble

 The Morris Area Freewheelers have offered the Revolutionary Ramble, a charity ride supporting their EMS services, for decades. But clubs and volunteering are falling on hard times: their membership is down, and there are not volunteers to run the ride the was it has been in the past. They reached out to my club, the Princeton Free Wheelers*, for assistance with the event, and the club agreed, and even sent a director of the event, Emad S. 

*Yes, the Morris Area group thinks that Freewheelers is a single word, and the PFW thinks it's two words. Don't argue with me. 

The Princeton club had an Event for years that we put down a few years ago. I was one of the loudest voices calling for the PFW Event's demise, so I felt something of a responsibility to help out. I agreed to head up one of the rest stops (after all, as tough as it is, it's only a single-day commitment). Most of my crew were other PFW members.

 In an effort to get back to regular posting, I got some pics at the stop.

 

I'm way tired, but it went well. I'll plan to do it again.

backwards derailleur

 

'Nother one of those bike-y weirdness things that only matters to me.

 Rear derailleurs typically "relax" to the smallest cog - that little one on the outside you use when you're pedalling as fast as possible. It's your hardest gear, which means many riders don't use it much. If your rear derailleur cable breaks, you're suddenly in the hardest gear to pedal, and you're stuck there.

 Decades ago, Shimano made a "Rapid Rise" derailleur that "relaxed" to the biggest cog. The theory was that, on a mountain bike (which is what they were made for), you'd want to get into your easier gears quickly as the terrain changed, and this reversing of the derailleur direction would facilitate that.

Well, like Biopace chainrings, it was one of those "good" ideas that just didn't catch on, and that was that. You just couldn't get them.

Then, the retrogrouches at Rivendell Bikes decided to try to have them made. It took years to find a supplier who would make the small quantity they thought they would sell, and in the meantime there's been a pandemic, tariffs, and who knows what-all else. But they finally brought 'em to market.

I'm always up for some bicycle weirdness. I've been following the progress of the project, and, when Rivendell started an email list to keep prospective customers posted, I put three or four of my email addresses on it. They offered presale in the fall; I credit-carded my way in. They finally sent 'em out a few weeks ago.

 I teach the Basic Bicycle Maintenance class at Princeton Adult School, and I use my bikes as teaching aids, so I didn't want to put it on until I'd finished using my bike as a prop. But that day has come (the last class is all students bringing their bikes in for review), so I popped it on today.

It will theoretically index nine speeds (that is, if your shifter snaps from one gear to the next, this derailleur is compatible with a nine-speed system, at a time when eleven speeds are common, twelve speeds are not rare, and thirteen-speed systems are available). But it's really meant for friction shifting, where you slide from one gear to the next. My titanium bike has this system. 

Here's running the chain through, after doing the tiny bit of adjustment that it needed,

 I took it out for a few miles this morning. I really like it. Rivendell touts that now you pull the cable the same way, both front and rear, to get to the harder gears, and relax it to get to the easier ones. The way I remember it is that I have to pull against resistance to get t a harder gear, both front and back, and ease the lever back in to get to an easier gear, which feels more intuitive to me (although it took some riding to change my default shifting behaviour, after years of having the levers on the bar ends).

It will manage up to a 34-tooth cog in the back (which is large, making for a nice, easy gear for climbing). It takes fewer degrees of level turn to shift than I'm used to, which will take some adjustment. But I like it. 

As I write this, they're sold out. Weird bike-y retrogrouches are apparently coming out for 'em.

 

philly bike expo 2026

Tom H and Laura OLPH, or one or the other (I forget) planned a ride this week of 42 miles, which is longer than I like to go in my dotage (I'd done one with Laura last week with that mileage and neatly 2800' of climb, and far from the end, I was thinking, "This could really be enough, thank you). I didn't register in time anyway, so, while I probably could have imposed on friendship and tagged along, I decided to take the day to go to this year's Philly Bike Expo.

 I've been going for years, and I look forward to seeing all the lovely (and crazy) bikes, the new tech, and the useful and silly accessories. I try to keep the entire weekend free so that I can choose to go on whichever day is a presentation I'd like to catch, but none of the presentations nailed me this year. 

There was, however, an exhibition of restored, historic (mostly from racing) bikes.

There were the custom builders showing off what they do.

 

I do not give a damn about carbon fiber, internal routing, or anything of the sort. I love these bikes with the elegant paint, the exposed workings, the rim brakes. 

And if I ever want to replace my beloved titanium frame, I might go to this guy to do it:

 The term "retrogrouch" was coined for Grant Peterson, who founded Rivendell Bikes (he was there, but I didn't get a good picture). Velo Orange, one of the sources for my retrogrouchy parts, had only sold frames for disk brakes... but I saw two in their booth with their lovely Grand Cru caliper brakes on:

 

 I feel like hope is not yet lost.

There were the usual bags and accessories.

 And the usual silly things. One guy has 3d-printed a tool for ensuring your right and left drop-bar brake-shifters are at exactly the same height. Another has a purpose-built tripod for your laptop for when you're on your trainer, which consists of a rubber-coated tabletop and three legs that screw into the bottom, in your choice of stained finishes. Another 3d printer aficionado made valve caps:

 And there were more than the usual number of tours, destinations, and charity rides.

I didn't see any great new technologies.  Shimano wasn't there, nor was SRAM, White Industries, Paul Components, or other vendors I'm used to seeing. It may be that the international situation has made travel inadvisable. 

I like the bikes, but I was disappointed in the show this year. I hope my experience improves with the next one.