Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category

It is more fun to talk about new products than discontinuing parts but that is the subject today. After 11 years we are stopping manufacturing and sale of the Elite 25.4 stems at the end of the year. The reality is that bikes have been sold with 31.8 bars since about 2004. Not only that but a new standard, 35mm bar with 31.8 steerer is being pushed now. This new standard is called “overdrive” by some companies. We need to be ready for the new standard and what may well be the slow move away from 31.8 bars. Fixie riders created a burst in demand for 26.0 and 25.4 stems but companies have reacted and there are now 31.8 fixie bars available. Elite X4, Elite X2, BMX and Direct Mount stems are still being produced and will be for a long time. This only affects the 25.4 handlebar diameter Elite stem.

New pictures of the dress up kits! Thank you Cara Huxley from i-ride.co.uk.

I came to work early today, a rare occurrence for sure. It is dark in the mornings now. As I left my apartment I could see the school bus, but did not see the 3 kids in dark clothes walking to it until I was pretty close. Then as I left the neighborhhod a lady was out jogging and was invisible until I was 30 feet away. Finally as I approached the office a commuter cyclist appeared out of the fog invisible except for the reflectors on his wheels.

It is time to break out the reflective clothes and red flashy lights people. Don’t be invisible, I want all of you to make it through Fall and Winter!!!

To avoid seatposts getting stuck in steel frames please note the following:

1. When new and then once yearly, apply frame saver to the inside of a steel frame.

2. Remove, clean and lightly regrease seatpost every 90 days. 30 days if you ride in snow/road salt.

Our seat post collar uses a bolt with a spherical seat and matching washer, just like our seat posts. If you install the washer upside sown by mistake the collar will squeak badly, this will likely lead to over-tightening in attempt to kill the squeak. It also makes it impossible to set the torque correctly as the washer is collapsing under the bolt head as you tighten. This will cause the collar to fail as it will get “stretched” to the point of failure. Do not try to fix a squeak with torque, diagnose the problem.

One other note. Make sure the collar fully seats on the top of the seat tube. If the collar is touching the top tube/seat tube junction and you can feel a gap between the top of the seat tube and the inside of the beauty ring on the collar, that may lead to squeaking, slipping or shorter collar life.

Do not use high pH cleaners on aluminum bicycle parts. Simple Green is a popular example of a high pH cleaner but there are others. If you have used a high pH cleaner thoroughly rinse your bike with water. Several bike brands such as Finish Line and Pro Gold make bike wash that is safe for both aluminum and carbon parts. Soap and water works as well. High pH cleaners are corrosive to aluminum and corrosion can greatly shorten the life of your components. If you do not know the pH of the cleaner you are using, don’t use it.

Seatpost crushed in work stand is something we used to see once every 90 days or so. Lately we are seeing posts crushed in workstands on a weekly basis. A few obvious points:

It takes and immense amount of force to crush a seatpost in a workstand.
That’s not a warranty item.
If you were to apply the same force to your frame, it would also be crushed (ruined).

If you use a workstand with a lever, two fingers is all you need to close the bike into the stand.

I can only imagine this happens pulling a stubborn bottom bracket. If so use penetrating oil, at Thomson we like Kroil but your local hardware or auto parts store has many good choices.

We have received a lot of questions about part availability lately. Let me try to cover the reasons parts might appear hard to obtain.

First, Sales Channel. Thomson sells to wholesale distributors, these distributors sell to bike shops who sell to you. Online stores are bike shops for this discussion. In the US all bike shops are within 2 days ground shipping from one of our distributors, many are only one day away. International distribution is similar. We have over 30 distributors serving countries around the world.

Counting both colors Black and Silver we have 192+ parts. It is hard for a shop to guess what to keep in stock. 27.2, 30.9 and 31.6 posts are generally available but with straight and setback even that can be iffy. Stems are tricky to inventory as well as there are just a lot of sizes. If your shop does not have the exact size you want they can order it and have it within days. This includes all the small parts, bolts, clamps, etc. You do want to be sure of sizing before you order as returning an installed item is usually not possible.

There are a few exceptions. Stems this year have been in short supply as we have had a series of random break downs with the machine that does the bulk of the stem manufacturing. Our inventory levels have been low on stems all year. We will be caught up by late September.

We have also advertised several new products and been wrong about release dates. Trying to get a part we have not shipped yet never goes well. We are doing our best to be better about new product ship dates to avoid confusion.

If you or your shop has a question we are available to help anytime.

We get asked about stem angles a lot. Lately people want to know why our Mountain Stems are 0 degrees and 10 degrees and not 7 or 6 degrees. There also seems to be the belief that stem angle changes the geometry of the bike. That is not entirely true. Stem angle changes your hand position and affects how much leverage you have over the steerer tube, handlebar width does the same thing. The height of your hands can minimally affect center of gravity as well. The geometry of the bike is fixed by the frame and fork. As to our angles, bikes come with stems installed by the manufacturer, they are hoping to have one stem rise option that will work for most people so 6 to 7 degrees flipped up or down is a good compromise. We make two angle options, so they can be more tailored to what we hear from high performance riders.

Two pictures of bolts we will start using as of July 9th for black and early August for silver.

A few reasons:

1. We think they look nicer.
2. Serrations have been removed to lessen corrosion.
3. Most importantly, the Allen socket has been dropped from 4 to 3mm. This will act as a torque limiter as in most cases you cannot get the bolts tighter than 55 inch pounds. The 4mm socket bolts could get as high as 150 inch pounds. This should help riders without torque wrenches avoid damage to stem, bar and steerer.

Writing a short note in English to say that our instructions are now available in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Chinese and Korean. Check them out online.

A few things have been cropping up in tech support questions lately.

Torque Wrench Range: The top and bottom 10% of the range of a torque wrench should not be used. For instance the bottom 60 inch pounds of a 0-600 inch pound wrench is inaccurate. As we have no requirement higher than 60 inch pounds that is a wrench you cannot use with our parts.

Steerer tube cutting: You must use a saw guide so the top of the steerer tube is cut square. If you cut the tube at an angle the high spot may touch the top cap once you pre-load the headset bearings. It will then come loose as you ride.

Short Steerer tubes: This is repeat advice, but we keep seeing this. If you cut your steerer tube too short it makes it almost impossible to set the top bolt torque correctly. In extreme cases you are shoving the top of the steerer tube into the hole in the stem leading to the main stem body, a bad thing. The steerer tube needs to go all the way through the stem and out the top at least 2 to 3mm. This means you will need one 5mm spacer under the top cap.

Grease on Bars and Steerers: Do not, for any reason grease the handlebar or the stem-handlebar interface. Do not grease the steerer tube either. This is a spot where you want friction, it will not squeak if installed properly and there is no chance of a bar or steerer tube getting stuck in a stem.

The 95mm 1.5″ stem has been shipping to our distributors for about 6 weeks now. The 75mm 1.5″ stem went to manufacturing today and will ship for the first time in about 4 weeks. Keep in mind 1.5″ stems ARE NOT for Cannondale Lefty or Headshock forks.

The flip flop logo for 10 degree X4 stems has been shipping for about 4 weeks, there are still 10 degree stems in the system with the old single logo.

We are still on time to ship the 50mm Direct Mount Stem by August 1st, and the 40mm Direct Mount should be ready 6 weeks after that.

Epic. It’s a word that gets thrown around a lot in biking circles and beyond. But what exactly does it mean?

Can you measure the overall epic nature of any biking event or undertaking? If so, how? Duration or distance? The amount of climbing? Are mountain bike adventures inherently more epic than those undertaken on skinny tires?

Could epic be a relative term? Is it any more epic for the seasoned rider to complete their first hundy than it is for a new rider to complete their first ride that ran into double-digit mileage?

Does the brand/type of bike make the ride more epic?

What about weather? Is it more epic to complete a ride in cold, snowy conditions than, say, completing the same distance/difficulty in high heat and humidity?

How do you measure the epic nature of your ride? We’d like to know. Is “epic” measurable? How? Or is it relative? We don’t know if there’s a definitive answer. But we’d love to know what you think.

Master of none? Nope.  That’s not our style.

We get asked about new products all the time. When are you going to design, come out with, create:

• handlebars
• cranks
• levers
• woven baskets
• world peace

Okay…we haven’t really been asked about that last two, but we’re sure it’s just a matter of time.

Our motto is to do what we do well, get it right, and make the best darned parts possible for our many fantastic customers. We don’t want to make something that’s, well, to speak frankly, half-assed. We want it to be the best. We don’t think we’re tooting our own horn too much, as your regular comments and posts back us up on an almost daily basis, when we say we think we make pretty darned great stems and seatposts.  Parts that stand the test of time and the regular wear and tear that a rider expects them to handle.

No, we’re not saying we’ll NEVER come out with another product. We’re a big old bunch of geeks and we’ve always got crazy ideas in various states of the creation process. From sad little drawings on fast food napkins to full out prototypes ready for rigorous testing and demo.

So, keep asking. We’re thrilled that you want us to branch out and that you want more great Thomson parts to enhance your ride. But, we’d prefer to remain masters of our own domain, so to speak. So, before any new products come out, we’re going to make sure they’re worthy of our brand and especially worthy of our customers!

By far the support question we get most often has to do with steerer tubes that have been cut too short. This happens for 3 main reasons:

1. Purchased a used fork.
2. Purchased a used bike.
3. Cut steerer too short for aesthetic reasons.

The time to get a bike fit is before you buy a new or used bike. You need your critical measurements so you can shop wisely. (easier at the LBS than online)

When you get a new bike set it up initially with 30mm of spacers below the stem and 10mm of steerer tube above. Ride the bike for at least a month before you make a final decision on stem position, only then should you cut your steerer tube shorter.

You can always shorten the steerer, you can’t make it longer.

I know a lot of us still have a bit of childish delight in getting a little down and dirty, splashing in puddles, splattering a bit of mud. It’s a big part of the inner child that makes a cyclist a cyclist.

However, for the mountain bikers out there…you have to remember that riding a trail when wet and muddy can cause rutting, mess up berms and cause many other forms of trail damage.

There are plenty of other ways to indulge in a rainy day ride. You can find some wet, slippery fire roads. You can bunnyhop puddles and curbs with abandon on an urban ride…you can get water sprayed in your face and in a tail up your pardukey and back on a speedy road ride.

Don’t really think it’s a big deal? Here’s a forum from Ridemonkey: http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-74890.html

Read up and then ready up for a ride, anywhere but on a wet trail.

We have been getting lots of questions about correct seatpost collar size. Most of the questions have been along the lines of “my bike uses a 27.2 post, what size collar should I get.”

The answer is it could be 28.6, 29.8 or 31.8. It could even be a proprietary size we don’t make. Same is true for 31.6 posts, it can be 34.9 or 36.4 or, you get the point.

If the collar you are replacing does not have the size stamped or printed on it your best bet is to have the seat tube measured with calipers. Another great reason to visit your local bike shop!!

Why do you ride?

Given some of the recent discussions about steerer tube failures and stem compatibility we thought we would clarify what we see as proper stem installation. These are changes that will be incorporated in our instructions soon.

First, the steerer tube should go all the way through the stem such that it requires a 5mm spacer between the top cap and stem. The steerer tube must be cut square and you need to be sure that after the stem cap is tightened to preload the stem that it is not touching the steerer tube. It is very important to follow the fork/bike manufacturers guidelines about maximum spacers under the stem, 30mm is a practical maximum.

Second, the star nut on a metal steerer, or compression plug on a carbon steerer must be in the steerer tube where the stem is clamping. Do not clamp an unsupported portion of steerer tube.

As parts get lighter it is key to use a torque wrench for tightening fasteners.

If you have questions about this do feel free to email or call.