lining up valves and tire labels and other subtle details of bike building, repair and maintenance.

[quote=dougganita]qr’s point directly up
that way if you overlap wheels badly
you don’t die[/quote]
QR should always orient so when you are looking at it the text is right side up. For shimano that means the front points backwards and the rear forwards. Never ever along a tube or the fork as this can prevent closing the qr all the way and make it super hard to release.

I generally do front QR up parallel to the fork blade and rear in the middle of the rear triangle. On one bike the trailer hitch interferes with that, so I have to point the lever straight back.

i like that.

[quote=Roxy]non-aero levers: cables BEHIND the bars

good: front view | Front view of the Sequoia. No aero cable routin… | Flickr
bad: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pimpmasterjazz/7780795026/lightbox/[/quote]

ha, i never noticed that. of course, when i see a bike with non-aero levers i usually just think how much i hate them and move on to thinking about another bike.

[quote=dougganita]qr’s point directly up
that way if you overlap wheels badly
you don’t die[/quote]

i’m truly amazed that i’ve never heard anything about qr direction before. this is interesting to me.

We’ve had QR talk many times. Either you glazed over it or just forgot?

idgi ride ur bike

three options are equally viable: i forgot, skimmed over it, or it was in a thread i don’t look at much.

I would never have a skewer lever facing forwards. You could loose a wheel pretty quickly if something caught the lever while shredding gnar.

Yeah that’s never happened to anyone ever who tightened the qr properly. I call bullshit on that and the wheel over lap thing. If you’ve overlapped that much you’re probably fucked anyway.

nah rubbin is racin

mtn: qrs back
road: qrs forward

also fuck off with that stem to bar end wrap bullshit. I’ll make an exception for cotton tape.

And I line my e-tape up with the very edge of the foam and color the cut edge with a sharpie. slant cut on the e-tape since it bows out at the end when it stretches, two rotations on the bar to get lined up edges.

and 3m only, has a bomb-ass gloss to it and is the least bullshit over time

I keep forgetting to do this, but if you leave a 2" tab with the electrical tape and give it 10 minutes before finishing the wrap, it lets the tape settle and there won’t be weird stickiness from it shrinking.

I don’t stretch finishing tape at all. It’s just there to lock the pre-stretched and angle cut bar tape. No stretch means no weirdness, equal wrap, and a smooth finish. And yes, let it hang for a little bit before the final lock down for smoothness.

I like that stem. Yours?

Yup, on this.

cross cables under the downtube.

properly size presta valves. no nuts/caps. e-tape to stop valve rattle if needed.

shop stickers applied square and on center-line of tube.

used to be a big deal to chase/face HS and BB prior to new bike assembly, but i haven’t worked in a shop since 1987.

learn how to properly fold a tubular for under-saddle carry.

razor off the part of kool-stops that is supposed to pre-sweep the rim but doesn’t.

section of cable housing liner or a v-brake noodle liner under braze-on bb cable guides.

[quote=VT tallbike]Yeah that’s never happened to anyone ever who tightened the qr properly. I call bullshit on that and the wheel over lap thing. If you’ve overlapped that much you’re probably fucked anyway.[/quote] dude crashed me out while I was on the front of our local Tuesday crit. Quick release on his front wheel was pointed straight back and he overlapped my wheel, breaking 10 of my spokes, causing my wheel to lock up and sending him, two other guys, and me to the ground. If his qr was aligned with his fork, he might have been able to recover it and I definitely wouldn’t have gone down.

Damn. Good thing I will not be racing any crits with my trailer pulling bike .

you mean you’re not even going to try? slacker.

If he overlapped that bad it still would have broken your spokes and caused the crash. The qr tip isn’t what protrudes the farthest unless you’re doing it way wrong.