The World's only Ridley X-Fire Single Speed (with sliding dropouts that is)

I get a lot of compliments on my custom Ridley X-Fire Single Speed.  Before you say it, yes you can buy Ridley's newest X-Fire frame with the PF30 BB and use an eccentric BB to make a nice single speed.

But I went a different route.  This was my old X-Fire race bike that had been used for many years and beaten up pretty badly.  A mis-guided triple bunny hop over some barriers left a nice chunk of carbon missing.  A metal flag (promoters, please use tape and not metal flags) jammed into the rear derailleur broke the hanger and took some carbon from one of the seat stays.  Lots of crashes over the years caused many scratches and rubs to my frame.

So after a year of it hanging in my garage, I thought I would see about getting the damage fixed.  I contacted Ruckus Carbon Repair about fixing the carbon and also about chopping off the rear dropouts and installing some proper sliding dropouts.

After a lengthy wait my Ridley X-Fire was re-united with me, this time as a single speed!  Switching from a nice (but heavy) All City Nature Boy to my Ridley was quite an improvement in weight!

Here are some pictures of the process and the final result.

Selling point of sealed bearings?

This summer I was looking at buying a new MTB.  When I visited several different shops to see what was available, one thing that came up over and over was that the bike had "sealed bearings".  I didn't tell the shops what I do for a living, so I kind of chuckled to myself.  It seems that a "sealed bearing" is an upgrade over what, a non sealed bearing I guess?  Hint, nobody sells non sealed bearings on their bikes.

I read about bike specs online, most make a point to say "sealed bearings".  Why is that?  I think they are taking advantage of a un-informed buyer who hears "sealed bearing" and thinks this is an upgrade.

The greatest system created for hubs has to be Shimano's loose ball design.  They last for 200,000 miles or so with an occasional greasing, are adjustable and virtually indestructible.

Somewhere along the way hub makers thought they could save some money and switched to cartridge bearings.  These are fine, I have no problem with them and some of my wheels use them.  But they are inferior to loose ball hubs in both performance and longevity.

Referencing a cartridge bearing as a "sealed bearing" is taking advantage of the customer.  A "sealed bearing" just means that the cartridge bearing uses rubber seals, as opposed to metal shields.  It does not mean the bearing is sealed.  Actually sealing a bearing would make it impossible for the bearing to spin.

But by saying a bike has "sealed bearings" it gives the customer a false sense of security, as in "don't worry about the bearings... they are sealed so they'll last forever riding in any condition you can think of".

A cartridge bearing by default has a limited lifespan.  Each size is rated for a specific static load.  Many hub makers use undersized bearings to save weight.  This makes the static load inadequate.  This leads to shortened bearing life.  Ceramic bearings help you get around this problem but will eventually succumb to it too.

The biggest advantage to "sealed bearings" is that they are easy to replace when the day comes you realize your "sealed bearings" weren't really a selling point after all.

Updated pulley, now shipping. Here's a peek

7 years ago I released our first Delrin (that's a type of plastic) ceramic pulley.  Before that we have offered aluminum and titanium ceramic pulleys.  Here's a look at one of our alloy body, ceramic pulleys.

The new design was great for the time and in the 7 years that followed, I never felt the need to change the pulley design.  Sure the bearings were tweaked on a yearly basis to improve them, but the same pulley body was used each year.

The old pulley was made by a process called injection molding.  This meant we'd have an outer bearing race put into the mold and then the plastic pulley body would be injected around the race.  This process created a consistent Delrin quality and was cost effective.  Here is the first Delrin body, ceramic pulley.

Noticed how our VCRC logo was not only laser etched onto the alloy dustcaps but it was also applied to the pulley body itself.

Later we tweaked it a little and removed the extra logo.  Here is that version.

This model worked well but over time we found with lots of use the injection molding process was not ideal for the longevity of the Delrin.  Most customers had no issues but a few would find the body would wear out quicker than we'd like.

So we studied how other companies like Shimano did their pulleys.  One common feature found among really long wearing pulleys was that instead of injection molding, they would machine their pulley bodies from blocks of Delrin.  This method is more expensive but offers a much stronger, durable and pretty result.  Here is the new version:

Also, here is our new Titanium version, complete with ceramic bearings installed.

We are currently in the process of updating our website with pictures of the new version.  The new machined Delrin version is currently shipping for all pulley orders placed at our website,

October Surprise? Take 10% off team kit orders during October plus a bonus!

Avoid the Winter rush, start your order early! Orders placed in October will receive a 10% discount. Paid in full orders started in October will receive a 15% discount (5% paid in full discount + 10% October discount)!!  

​In order to qualify, an order deposit or a paid in full order must be placed by October 31st.

What are the differences in our lubricants?

Keep your bearings spinning smoothly mile after mile! We offer four different types of lubricants. Please read below for information on each.

First is our VCRC Speed Cream Grease. It is our original grease and long stood as our premium lubricant. It is still very advanced and has been used for over 10 years to make our bearings. It has been recently surpassed by our VCRC Racing Cream but that doesn't mean it is being phased out. On the contrary, this lube will still make a fast bearing and it is much more affordable. Unlike our Racing Cream, which is a thin, long wearing lube, we designed this grease to start sticky and then with use, it turns very smooth and fast! VCRC Speed Cream Grease is blue. This grease is available as an option when ordering our bearings.

Second is our VCRC Advanced Speed Cream. Building upon our original Speed Cream, Advanced Speed Cream introduces a friction reducing ingredient that when paired with our ceramic bearings, reduces friction even more! This grease is useful in maintaining older bearings in particular as the friction reducing agent can help to repair races that are starting to wear out. We designed this grease to start sticky and then with use, it turns very smooth and fast! Use less of this (compared to our Speed Cream) as it is thicker and more advanced. If your bearings are wearing out and new grease doesn't help, please consider our factory rebuild program where we take apart your bearings, replace worn parts and send back a like new bearing.

Third is our VCRC Racing Cream. Our mad lubrication guru has done it again! Our newest grease is called VCRC Racing Cream. VCRC Racing Cream is the pinnacle of grease and is designed to be thinner and faster than our Speed Cream yet also more long lasting with better performance.. VCRC Racing Cream is a premium lubrication that provides the BEST performance for all ceramic bearings. VCRC Racing Cream works very well in both cold weather and hot weather. VCRC Racing Cream is white. This grease is available as an option when ordering our bearings.

Our fourth and final option (available on select items) is our VCRC Liquid Lube. We upgrade the races and use a special liquid lube that provides a very fast bearing, ideal for race situations. It is slightly faster than our Racing Cream, with the downside being since it is liquid, you have to re-apply the lube more often.This grease is available as an option when ordering our bearings. We do not sell this grease by itself, it is supplied when ordering our Liquid bearings.

All of our lubricants have excellent water resistance & rust protective properties and provide superior oxidation stability, rust and corrosion protection & resistance to water contamination.

More proof that handbuilt bearings are better

We read the following post recently at a message board:

FSA installs the bearing cartridge the wrong way in one of the two the plastic cups for all their ceramic PF30 bottom brackets.

background:

The FSA ceramic PF30 bearing come with pretty thin grease that doesn't last too long. Of course it is easy to re-grease them with thicker grease, but that has to be done with them in the bike since you can't remove PF30 without destroying the plastic cup or bearing. 

After removing the bearing seals, I was able to re-grease one side without difficulty, but I found that the bearings were not exposed on the other side. Instead, the plastic ring that holds the bearing was facing out, which made getting grease into the bearings next to impossible. 

When I called FSA about this, they said that is the way they make them because it would cost them $100K to retool the machine to insert the cartridge the correct way. When I asked how to re-grease the bearing, he didn't have an answer.

What's frustrating, beyond the fact these cost $150, is that FSA includes a srynge with grease and instructions on re-greasing, but you can only do that on one side.

----------------

FSA builds there bearing by machine and is so disconnected, they install the bearings backwards making greasing hard, if not impossible.  

Too bad the customer didn't purchase our PF BB30 BB with bearings that we build by hand and press into the cups with a simple bearing press.  We make sure our bearings face the right way so you can grease them when needed.

Stem Shootout... 2013!

We thought we'd do a little comparison post taking a look at our VCRC Pro stem compared to the competition.  We are comparing their "flagship" alloy stems to our "flagship" alloy stem.  There are many brands that we didn't include simply because we didn't have the space.  We tried to include what most people look at when considering an upgrade (3T, Deda, Ritchey, Zipp and FSA).  Max weight for a stem to make our list is 140g.  Many heavier stems are much cheaper and cost much less per gram, but you are taking a step backwards with a heavier stem.

All stems compared are alloy.  We'll compare weight and price.  Prices will be taken from VCRCBIKE.com and UniversalCycles.com. We listed the weight for our stem for each size we offer.  Unfortunately most manufacturers only weigh the shortest stem and publish those weights.  That's OK though, we'll base things on our 120mm stem and give everyone else a head-start.

We will then calculate the cost per gram for each stem.  Lower is better.  We divide the price by how many grams the stem weighs, to calculate the cost per gram.

First up, our Pro stem:

VCRC Pro Stem

Regular Price, $69- On Sale for $59
Weight, 90mm (125g) 100mm (128g) 110mm (132g) 120mm (138g) 130mm (141g)
Cost per gram, $0.43
Ti bolt upgrade saves another 8g for $20
Cost per gram w/Ti bolt upgrade, $0.60




3T Arx Team



Regular Price, $117
Weight, 120g (unknown size)
Comes with Ti bolts
Cost per gram, $0.98

Deda Elementi Zero 100 Pista Stem

Regular Price, $136
Weight, 140g (unknown size)
Comes with Ti bolts
Cost per gram, $0.97

Ritchey WCS 4-Axis 44 Stem

Regular Price, $99
Weight, 132g (unknown size)
Comes with steel bolts
Cost per gram, $0.75

Zipp Service Course SL Stem

Regular Price, $109
Weight, 120g (80mm)
Comes with Ti bolts
Cost per gram, $0.91


FSA OS-99



Regular Price, $109
Weight, 98g (unkown size)
Comes with Ti bolts
Cost per gram, $0.76


------ There are some surprising stems too that come in more in our price range of $0.4x per gram.  The Zipp Service Course, the 3T Arx Pro and the Pro PLT come to mind.  There are certainly others too, but it seems roughly $0.43 - $0.45 are about the best price per gram you can find right now for a sub 140g stem.  Some notable bank breakers like the carbon Ritchey Superlogic C-260 just blow the mind at $2.18 per gram.

How we build our bearings by hand

As many of you know, we don't sell pre-built, machine made bearings.  A lot of our competitors are sourcing bearings from the far east, buying them as completed bearings and marketing them as a high quality ceramic bearing.  On the other hand, we select what we feel are the best components, (races, seals, retainer, balls, etc.) from our partners in Europe, Taiwan and the USA and then build them by hand when you place your order.

In this post we thought showing you how we build each bearing by hand might shed some light on why our bearings are highly regarded and have a good track record of longevity.

Below we are building our Ceramic BB for Shimano 10/11 speed cranks.  The process is the same for all of our bearings, but this will show more in depth what we do to a full BB, rather than just wheel bearings.

Step one is to select the parts.  For this build we need an inner and outer race, a retainer, two seals (shown a few steps down) and a bunch of our shiny perfect ceramic balls.

Next we take the ceramic balls and place them into the outer race, making sure they are all on the bottom half:

Now we install the inner race being careful not to drop any of the ceramic balls.  Right now there is nothing holding them in place.

Now we have to spread all the balls evenly so that the retainer will snap into place.  Once we have spread the balls around, they hold the two races together well enough that we no longer have to worry that the balls might fall out.

Now that the balls are spread out, we snap the retainer into place.  The retainer has little plastic "arms" that hold each ball.  Here you see the back of the retainer and a seal next to the bearing.

Now we snap the rubber seal onto the backside of the bearing (the backside is the retainer side) and also the side we laser our logo onto (look at the inner race).

Now we are ready to press the bearing into the cup.  Here is the bearing next to the cup.  We will flip the bearing and press the laser logo side in first, so that the ceramic balls will face outward (making it easier for you to grease them in the future):

Here are both cups with the bearings pressed in.  You can see the retainer and how each ceramic ball is evenly spread by the retainer.  The retainer will hold the balls in place so they rotate easily:

Next we add some grease.  We differ from every other maker of ceramic bearings in that we apply as much grease as we can into the bearing.  A lot of companies will go really light on the grease knowing that the first thing you will do when you get the bearing is spin it in your hand.  So they use a low grease fill to make you think the bearing is really fast since it turns so easily.  We think that is a marketing gimmick and also a sure fire way to have early bearing failure.  So we load up on the grease, knowing that it's the ceramic balls that are what makes a ceramic bearing so fast.  The grease will break in over the first few hundred miles of riding and our bearings will loosen up quite a bit.

Now we snap the outer seal in place.  If chosen, we would've installed our orange cyclocross seals in this step but this customer chose regular seals.

Now, we apply some grease to the outside of the seal.  This will help protect the bearing from contamination and also keep the dustcap quiet since it won't rub.

Now we are getting close to a finished BB.  We then install our dustcaps.  Note the dry ID of the dustcap.

Now we apply some grease to the ID of the dustcap.  This is to help eliminate spindle wear on your crank and also to keep things quiet.  Note the grease on the ID of the dustcap.

Now we flip the bearing over so we can access the inside.  You can see the backside seal here, the one we installed before we pressed the bearing into the cup.

And then we add more grease, this time over the backside seal so that no water enters the bearing from inside your frame.

That is pretty much how we build our bearings.  We left out a few secret things we do, but in a nutshell, this is the correct way to build a bearing and ensure it not only is fast, but also lasts.

Remember that grease is the best thing for a bearing, so it is very important you follow our maintenance guide and grease your bearings periodically.

Thanks for reading!

What do our cyclocross seals do?

We get this question quite a bit.  I thought a blog post would clear it up.  First, our cyclocross seals are not just for cyclocross.  They are for anyone who rides in bad weather, races a lot or just wants to protect their bearings a little better.

Our cyclocross seal is a unique seal that while initially more "draggy" will break in and perform the same as our regular seals, while maintaining better sealing performance.  When chosen, we install these on the outside of the bearing so that they protect against the elements.  For some extreme cases, we'll also install them on the inside seal as well, but most of the time our normal seal is fine there.

They are really a great seal and we find more and more customers choosing this option.  The key is to ignore how the BB performs at first, because there will be a lot of drag.  After riding it for a few hundred miles, things get really good and the performance starts to shine.

These are only available for our BBs.

Grease, seals and how they affect a spinning bearing

We thought we'd post some info on grease fill and how it effects a bearing.  Grease fill or commonly referred to grease fill % is how much grease is applied to the bearing.  100% would be a bearing completely stuffed full of grease, while 50% would be half as much.

The lower the grease fill % the easier the bearing will spin while not under any load.  The common thinking then is to use a very low %.  Some companies do this for one reason- to make you think their bearings are faster than they are.  They know the first thing you will do when you install your wheel bearings or BB is to spin the wheel or the crank and see how long it spins.  This is a great way to see how good the bearings are, right?  Not really.  We understand the thinking plus it's cool to time how long an unloaded bearing spins (we even have a few videos at our website showing how well our BRAND NEW bearings spin, but it's not the best gauge of performance.  The reason is that the bearings are unloaded (ie, not being ridden by you).

A brand new bearing will spin mostly based on the amount of grease, the tightness of the seals and how heavy the spinning object is.  A heavy wheel/rim, tube and tire will spin longer than a lightweight wheel/rim, tube and tire.

We tend to use slightly heavier seals and a slightly higher grease fill %.  While it will take a little longer to break our bearings in, they do last longer and in the end, that is also why you upgrade to ceramic.  While we use a higher grease fill % than most other ceramic bearings, our grease is specially designed for our bearings.  It spreads easily while breaking in and isn't too tacky nor too watery.  It is ideal for ceramic bearings and can be applied more liberally without causing a complete slowdown in the turning of the bearing.

What happens when our bearings are going through the "break-in" process?

3 things:  First- as the bearings break in the grease gets spread around and pushed to the cage which reserves long-term continuous lubrication.  A thin oil film forms on the balls for lubrication.  The thin oil films will generate less drag on the balls.   Second, the seals will break in and loosen.  Third-  The ceramic balls continually polish the races making them slicker and faster with time.

Press in BBs are hot, but are they worth it?

Most readers of this blog know about the many new types of BBs used today.  We offer virtually every type of BB used today in ceramic versions.  We do this because the industry has changed from one of very simple BB styles, to one where almost every frame maker has to design their own BB style, just to compete and market their new frame.  We are happy to offer all of these different styles as we try to offer want our customers want.  But if we had our way, it would be different....

So let's first look back at how it used to be.  It used to be that most frames came with an English threaded BB shell.  Exotic Italian frames used an Italian threaded BB shell.  Either way was fine as all you had to do was buy the appropriately threaded BB that matched your crank.  These older BBs used smaller bearings that were housed inside the frame (for better durability) and smaller spindles.  In theory, the smaller bearings weren't as durable and able to withstand load, compared to today's bearings, but in practice this was never really true.  You hear stories of old Campy or Shimano BBs lasting 10 years, even 15 years with no maintenance.

Then one day the bike makers said, "hey we can design our own BB style and market it explaining why it is better".  First the industry went to outboard bearings, which were larger and stronger.  This was a nice progression for BBs, while they did have more drag, the larger bearings were stronger and offered better longevity.  Then they went further and said "let's do away with the cups all together and press the bearings directly into the frame!!"

Sounds great but sometimes a step forward might not be truly forward in all aspects.  For this article, we'll focus on the two most popular press-in BBs, BB30 and BB90  There are many more, but these two are the most popular (plus BB30 has quite a few siblings).  First BB30- large bearings pressed right into your frame.  Then BB90- smaller than BB30 but still large bearings, pressed right into the frame.  In a perfect world they would be great.  But we live in an imperfect world where manufacturer tolerances vary and a press fit bearing that needs an exact fit in order to not creak and click and drive the rider insane, makes said idea not great.

The common complaint with BB30 and BB90 is that they click and creak.  This is almost always due to the bearing moving ever so slightly under load because it is not pressed into a perfectly matched space.  The tolerance varies on frames, even high end frames, and this is bad for bearings.  So the industry tried to fix this by offering Press Fit BB30 and BB86.  These are basically the same as BB30 and BB90 (forgetting for a moment that BB90 only appears on Trek frames) but rather than pressing the bearing directly into the frame, the bearing is housed in a plastic cup and then pressed into the frame.  This allows the plastic cup to take up any tolerance issues with the frame.  It could have fixed the issues, but still you hear reports of clicks and creaks because the tolerance in the frames is still not good enough and now the plastic cup moves slightly.

When you pedal your bike, everything is transmitted to the BB.  So any possible way the BB can dissipate that force, it will.  So if something can flex or move, it will and this will cause you creaks and clicks.

How do you go back to the old days?  You don't, unfortunately.  The pros will always want the best parts, and they should.  They don't care about noises because they view their bikes as tools more than we do.  We view our bikes as friends, partners, an extension of ourselves, so that we can enjoy the world at a slower speed than allowed by cars.  We like our bikes to be quiet so that while we are riding them, enjoying the world around us, we don't have to listen to them.  The pros don't care as much as they are going from point A to point B as fast as possible.  If they have an annoying click, they mention it to their mechanic at the end of the race and let him deal with it.

So, how do we deal with press in BBs and their inherent flaws?  Trial and error.  Fixes can include obscene amounts of grease, Loctite, proper torque and lots of patience.  These new BB types are superior technological wise, but at the same time suffer from some drawbacks.  But don't fret, anything that creaks can be fixed, you just have to identify the source and decide how to fix it.

My ever decreasing tire pressure

When I first starting racing, I would pump my tires to the maximum PSI on the label.  I often would be at 150 PSI.  Then on one long hilly road race, my rear tire exploded.  I kind of new it was because of the high PSI combined with heat, that made things go BOOM!

I pumped up my tires so high because I thought it made me faster.  Heck, I even cut my chain too short once thinking that it would make for less drag on the rear derailleur, but let's not get into that.    Back to the PSI, when pumped very high, you tend to feel fast because you feel all of the road buzz.  Feels fast, but it's slow.

So, after the big BOOM, I started pumping my tires to about 120 PSI.  This seemed fine for years.  Then a few years ago I dropped down to around 105-110 PSI.  Things felt better but I wasn't sure, perhaps I was losing speed?

Then last year I dropped down to 100 PSI and finally realized, I wasn't going slower, if anything I was moving faster and with more comfort.

This year, I've been on a sharp drop in PSI.  First I went to 85 PSI, then 80 PSI and now 75 PSI.  I don't worry about pinch flats since I use thorn resistant tubes.  While possible, the probability of a pinch flat is low.

I ride a lot of bumpy, chip seal roads.  The low PSI makes me more comfortable and also faster.  The reason is the tire deflects and absorbs the bad surface, rather than bouncing over the bad surface.

I also now ride 700x25c tires.  My next tire will most likely be a 700x27c (Challenge parigi-roubaix) and I expect to run those at about 70 PSI based on some conversations I've had with others using them.

So, although counter-intuitive, if you want to ride fast, try dropping the PSI down, way way down.

Why not full ceramic?

A question we get from customers is: Why don't you offer full ceramic bearings?

First, let's explain what a full ceramic bearing is and what a hybrid ceramic bearing is.  Both use ceramic balls, so they are the same there.  The difference is that hybrid ceramic bearings use a special hardened metal race (hardened to withstand the hardness of the ceramic ball) while a full ceramic bearing uses a ceramic race.

Ceramic races make for a slightly lighter bearing and can be used with little to no grease.  Plus they can't rust, usually don't pit nor suffer from wear.  Sounds great, right?  Yes!  But there is a huge catch, keep reading.

It makes sense to think that a full ceramic bearing would be better, I mean, if ceramic balls are so good, why not use a ceramic race too?  A lighter, faster bearing that uses less grease is a dream bearing.  But, in practice it can be a nightmare.

There are several reasons, one is the high cost, but most cyclists will pay for better performance, so cost isn't the issue.  So what is the real reason that full ceramic is not good?  Simple, they aren't designed for use in cycling where loads and impacts vary greatly over the course of the bearing's lifespan.  Or to put it simpler, ceramic is a great, strong material for the ball, but for the race, which absorbs shocks and impacts, it is too brittle.  This means that when you hit that pothole (although you should try to avoid them!) or those train tracks, the races can crack.  Any type of impact or sudden load can crack a ceramic race.  Did you bunny hop that obstacle in the road?  Uh-Oh!  Better check those ceramic races.

The companies pushing full ceramic bearings are the companies that get their bearings from large industrial bearing makers.  Why is this important?  Industrial bearings are designed to work in machines and controlled environments.  Cycling bearings are not.  So a full ceramic bearing is great for a machine that never has to withstand any impact, but not good for cycling.  There are numerous reports on the interwebs about cracked full ceramic bearings in wheels and BBs.  The customer likes to blame to bearing brand, and they should, but not because the bearings cracked but rather because the company sold them in the first place.

About the only safe place to use full ceramic bearings on a bicycle is the pulleys.  These are not subject to impact loads like wheels and bottom brackets are.  We've been testing full ceramic pulleys for a year and may release them at some point... stay tuned!

What's that creaking?

We all ride lots of miles and a silent bike is much more enjoyable to ride than a noisy bike.  But we've all experienced it... that clicking and creaking that pops up out of the blue.  Most people will look to the BB first and point the finger there as it seems to make the most sense.  But is the noise really coming from the BB?

First it is important to understand that the source of noises on bikes are very hard to pinpoint.  Almost all noises sound like they could be coming from the BB.  Hence the reason the BB gets blamed.  So you install a new BB only to find the noise persists.  What now?  Here are some common places to check before you decide the BB is at fault.

Clicks are usually caused by a small movement between two parts, usually metal.  Creaks are more involved and can be caused by numerous things.

This list is not in any particular order, so you should try each one individually and test ride before moving on to the next possible source.

• Loose chainring bolts.  Make sure to grease and then torque each bolt.
• Loose pedals.  Grease the pedal threads and re-install making sure to torque them properly.
• Loose, dirty or worn cleats.  Check cleat bolts and replace cleats if worn.
• Loose derailleur hanger.  Try some Loctite on the bolts that hold the hanger in place.
• Dirty quick releases.  Clean and grease them.
• Dirty dropout.  Wipe both front and rear dropouts so they are completely clean. Then apply some grease to all sides of the dropout so that when you clamp down the quick release, the grease is spread in between the dropout and hub.
• Hubs that need to be serviced.  Whether just grease or news bearings, hubs should be maintained.
• Chain issues.  A stiff link, maybe a dry chain?  Clean and grease your chain.
• Seatpost/saddle issues.  These are often times easier to identify as they go away when you stand up and pedal, but you should still check for tightness in all bolts and maybe even clean and grease the saddle rails.
• Is your crankarm touching the front derailleur cable?  This one gets overlooked all the time.
• It could be your headset.  Take it apart and apply lots of grease to all touching parts.  Then re-install the headset and stem and torque the bolts to spec.
• Handlebars are known to click and creak due to loose stem bolts.  Take the faceplate off, clean it and re-install torqueing the bolts to spec.  Most clicks here are due to too low of torque on the stem bolts.  Make sure you've got them tight enough.
• Loose cable guide under the BB shell.  Make sure to tighten the bolt holding the cable guide on.  It is a good idea to use some Loctite on the threads of the bolt as road vibration can cause it to loosen.
• Cable housing rubbing against each other.  This is more common with older external shift cable Shimano setups and once drove me insane until I realized what it was.  This is harder to fix since the housing will always tend to rub each other.  An easy fix is to wrap some electrical tape around each piece of housing where they rub each other.
• Cable ferrules.  They often times will click because of a slight movement between the ferrule and the metal ferrule holder attached to the frame.  An easy fix is to wrap the ferrule with electrical tape (or switch to plastic ferrules, BUT this degrades performance slightly).
• Headset spacers.  Many riders use several spacers (two 10mm spacers to make 20mm or a 20mm and a 5mm to make 25mm, etc.) and these can move ever so slightly under load.  The fix is to use a one piece spacer cut to the correct height.  These are hard to find in anything other than the standard 5mm, 10mm and 20mm heights BUT, fear not as we make carbon headset spacers in 5mm - 50mm in 5mm increments.
• Spokes and nipples!  There are several places here to apply some lubricant.  The first is the spoke head.  It can rub and/or move slightly against the hub causing a click.  I like to put a drop of oil or chain lube on each spoke head so that it lubricates this area.  The next spot is where the nipple exits the rim.  If you look closely, you can see a small gap that could click under load.  Again, a drop of oil or chain lube on each nipple so that it drips down into the rim.  The third spot is any crossing spokes that touch each other.  I like to flex the spokes so they aren't touching, clean them with a shop towel and then add a dab of grease so that when they touch again, they are lubricated and won't make any noises.
• This was sent in by Facebook Fan Gregory R:  "I once had a click that came from an over-tightened bottle cage bolt on the seat tube. When I would be out of the saddle powering up a climb or sprint, I (guess I would) cause a slight bit of flex in the seat tube and that in turn would make the cage bolt creak. Weird but true."
• Seat post length.  This is a weird one but common.  If you are using a longer seat post, one that extends fairly far into the frame, it can flex when riding.  This flexing motion can cause a noise as it contacts the inside of the seat tube.  The solution for this is to cut the seatpost shorter or change to a shorter seat post.  If cutting, make sure to leave enough post in the frame to follow the manufacturer's minimum insertion length.
• Here is a recent one that just happened to me.  My bike had been silent for months and all of a sudden, not 5 minutes into a ride it would click once (and then twice) every pedal stroke, but only when standing.  Before getting to crazy thinking it was something in depth, I asked myself "what has changed since the last ride?".  The answer was nothing, other than putting on my front wheel.  So, I tightened the front quick release a bit and BAM... noise gone and I can ride in peace and quiet again!!
• Another strange one here.  I was having a clicking when climbing.  I pulled the BB, greased the threads and bearings and re-installed the crank.  The noise went away but came back a few weeks later.  So I once again pulled the BB, greased it and the noise went away again... only to come back a few weeks later.  So this time when I pulled the BB I looked inside the BB shell on the frame.  I noticed some clear coat overspray.  I removed that, re-installed the BB and crank and now the bike has been silent for a year.
• Another new one!  Check your cassette.  I had a clicking, almost pinging noise.  Checked the usual places which didn't help, even switched the BB even though I know it's almost never the BB causing the clicking, still didn't help.  Finally I changed cassettes and the clicking went away.  This was a Shimano cassette.  Shimano cassettes have been known to click recently, so if you have clicking and ride Shimano, check your cassette!

We'll update this list as time goes along.  Please email us your stories of clicks and creaks and how you were able to fix them.  Send your emails to sales@vcrcbike.com

The dreaded Mavic squeal!!

Many Mavic wheel owners know that familiar noise, the high pitched squeal that happens when coasting. But what causes it? Is it the bearings? Not likely.

Mavic freehubs are known to squeal but it is not because of the bearings. The freehub uses a nylon bushing and one bearing while most freehubs use multiple bearings and definitely no nylon bushing.

The nylon bushing squeals when it is dry. Mavic recommends taking the freehub off and lubing the bushing (with oil, I personally use chainlube) every 1500 miles or so.

So if this servicing hasn't been done with your freehub, you get the dreaded squeal. Also, if it hasn't been lubed properly it will wear out and you have to replace the whole freehub OR you can replace just the bushing. There are aftermarket bushings available on eBay. Just search for "mavic bushing" on eBay.

Mavic will never tell you that you can replace just the bushing as they want you to buy a whole new freehub for around $70.

So the next time your Mavic wheels start to squeal, remove the freehub and do some maintenance.

Lots of exciting news for 2012

Lots of new and exciting stuff for 2012.

1. Our custom team kit program is going well. Quite a few teams have taken advantage of our great prices and quick times!
2. New BB types! As many of you know, the cycling industry hates a "standard" and there are roughly 10 different BB types in use. We have tried to keep up and have recently closed the gap with the release of our ceramic Press Fit BB30. Shortly after we released our ceramic BB86/SRAM unit for all you Giant/Scott SRAM lovers. Plus, all the ceramic BBs we've been known for are still kicking butt, Shimano 10, SRAM (GXP) regular BB30, BB90, etc. You can check all of them out right here!
3. We've got some other new projects in the works for 2012. Should be a great year!!

New 2012 Stems with Ti bolt option!

Our new 2012 VCRC stems have been released. These are updated from last year with the option to have Ti bolts!! Save some weight while looking good!

http://www.vcrcbike.com/category_s/30.htm

Swiftwick Cycling Socks now available!

Team Kits Releasing Soon!

Deal of the Day Postings

Since the racing season is now underway, we've been posting a "deal of the day" promotion. These are some of our most popular products- ceramic BBs, handlebars, stems, basically what most of our customers upgrade on their bikes. The deals change often so keep an eye on this link for the current deal(s)!

http://www.vcrcbike.com/category_s/77.htm