i always assumed this was because the majority of the population are right handed, so when they pick up the bike to carry it, the chain and chainrings don't brush up against them and get them all dirty

No because it wouldn't be a big deal to carry a bike on the left side. It all goes back to threaded on freewheels, with the freewheel on the right side it will tighten itself as you pedal instead of loosening as it would being on the left.

My stoopid question:
When attempting to match paint,how do I do it so that the paint doesn't dry too quickly? I'm ending up having to rematch with every spot, which equals a less than perfect match. Any suggestions?

Still looking into this. The threading theory is looking like a myth. Apparently, up until the 1890's drives were on either side, but they became standardised to the right side during the turn of the century boom. Nevertheless, Archibald Sharpe in his 1896 treatise describes cogs as often being soldered onto the hub, which makes the thread argument moot. He describes the Elswick hub, which has the cog on the left, as having a thread pattern that causes the cog to tighten when pedaled and then goes on to say, that if you have the drive side on the right, then the threads should be right hand.

The Abingdon hubs of the early 90s made hubs that had a 10 sided polygonal surface that matched the cog, which was then soldered on.

I am going to bet that the right-side/left-side issue was settled as a fashion whim, much like folks want hub stickers to be aligned with sides and hub stampings these days.

Have a better argument?


Here's a pic of an 1893 repro.

I don't think I've seen this anywhere in this thread, or any other I could find for that matter so here goes.
Is there a noticible difference between pedaling a 165mm and a 170mm crank? Every bike I've ever owned or ridden have been 170's. I picked up a 165 on a whim for a project bike, but was considering putting it on my daily rider for, well just to do it, it's new and my project will not see the road for a long while. And a side bar; if the cranks are 5mm shorter, do you need to adjust saddle height?

BG - I think you are right and I should have been more selective with my words. A "better ride" is too subjective, but lighter wheels and the "performance benefits" could be considered an improvement worthy of the hassle of gluing, at least for some - and now me too!

in response to yugdlo

no and maybe, but even then its gonna be miniscule. throw em on there and don't think about how long they are. i doubt you'll even notice the difference

Agree, that is a compelling debunking of the threading idea. Anyway, with a screw-on sprocket, right-hand drive would tighten right-hand threading, sure, but what I overlooked was that back-pedaling would unscrew it. You would need a left-hand threaded lockring to hold the sprocket on while braking, just as on a modern-day fixed-gear track bike. So you would still need two threads of opposing direction on the rear hub, whether the drive was on right side or left side.

Next stupid question:
I have noticed on this site that a lot of the pictures of bicycles people are showing off do not have pedals on them. Why do people have these bikes around with no pedals on them? Doesn't it cause wear and tear on the threads to install and remove the pedals on a regular basis? Do people remove the pedals to prevent damage to other bicycles in their collection when storing a bunch of bicycles together?


Why no pedals in so many pix?

Bike weights are usually taken without pedals. Pedals are also a "personal item" re bikes, so, leaving them off before sale is perfectly acceptable, or should be. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a bike without pedals, as I usually despise the pedals on the bike as sold. I'll just take them off anyway. my $.02...

And I was inquiring more from a social standpoint as opposed to a performance, fit or physiological standpoint, knowing the limitations
of a mixte vs. a diamond frame.

All in fun and the never ending search for bike trivia...

Alan

I ride 170 & 175 cranks and can't notice a difference. But then I ride 9 roadies and don't go extreme measures to make every set-up precisely the same. And I ride 7 different saddles without discomfort on any of them for rides up to 30 miles. I think these small differences only become important on longer rides. For any ride over 30 miles I do have my favorites. As I age I have a hankering to try 165mm cranks.

In the southern hemisphere, chainwheels are on the left side.

When I can no longer throw a leg over a horizontal top tube I hope to be riding a mixte, instead of a recumbent.
Ooops, did i type that.

Is that fork bent?

I have one, I have one!

I have never owned a road bike before, but I now have a Raleigh Grand Prix with SunTour Power Shifters. The shifter cables are in bad need of replacing, but I can't seem to find any information on how to set the tension of the cables.

This might be personal preference, but should the paddles be all the way forward with the cable tight and ready to shift, or should they be standing straight up? When I bought the bike, the cables seemed a little loose and you could push the paddles forward all the way and there would be quite a bit of slack on both derailleurs... then again, the cables are rusty and probably stretched.

Help a newbie out

No. Just a loose headset.

The cables should be reasonably tight when the lever is all the way forward. They will loosen some with use anyway (and will slip if not clamped tight enough). Also you don't want them so loose that with the lever pulled back as far as it will go it still won't shift all the way.

The next time I have to ride up a steep hill I intend to leave my pedals at home to make the bike lighter.

I just hate it when my sword gets caught in the spokes. Something like that can ruin your whole day.

Yes. That and most new higher end road bikes are (more often than not) presented fo sale without pedals anyway. Not to mention, pedals aren't very photogenic.

Thanks for the reply!

Also:

sssshhh! One more.....what is the difference from a say, a racing bike like my Raleigh Pro, and a Criterium Racing bike like a Masi Gran Criterium? I want to know in terms of geometries! Thanks!

Flash

Oooh Oooh I think I know this one: crit bikes generally have shorter chainstays and less rake (shorter wheelbase), for one, and higher bottom bracket shells. Steeper angles all around. as a consequence. Somewhat like crit bike is to road bike what road bike is to touring bike. . sort of, kind of.

This is only a guess but I would think that the smaller diameter 700 would improve gearing and also be a little more ridged than a 27" wheel.

I don't have a better arguement, but I'm staying with my arguement until proof can be shown that that wasn't the case at all. Please let us know what you dig up, it would be interesting.

I could add numerous stupid answers here, but just decided to counter this assertion. Plus, this thread needed more pics. Not all pedals are "un-photogenic".
I was going to ask why so many bikes are pictured without pedals. I figured folks wanted to make their bikes harder to steal.