How to get your son to ride your daughter’s bike?

It’s the kid’s-bike sex change!

And while I’m on the record as being a rabblerouser when it comes to department store bikes, this is the best Magna joke I’ve heard in a while:

The duct tape’s silver sheen began to dominate the Magna, which one could now refer comfortably refer to as the Magnus. Its adhesive manhood gleamed in the afternoon sun.

Traditionally, of course, people duct-taped their bikes to conceal that the frame was valuable. The idea was to throw bike thieves off the scent.

If your daughter rode a mixte frame, you could take this idea one step further by duct-taping a top-tube too.

Back in the day, we rode bikes that came with a removable top-tube, to facilitate, uh, gender assignment.

Of course, many of today’s really wacky FS frames can make you uncomfortable with the sex of your bike. In the event, you can always ride around with that trailer-hitch-bike-rack adaptor in place.

If you’re like me this yuletide, you probably had to sell your watch to buy your spouse hair barrettes (while she was selling her hair to buy you a watchband).

So if your cupboards are bare but your heart is still in it, it’s nice to have a few tips for homemade, DIY gifts that you can easily make for all the cycling freaks on your list — like this no-brainer, simple procedure for converting an old length of chain into a keyring/bottle opener/miniature filter wrench. (As any bike mechanic will tell you, the labor is always in the clean up…)

Michael from Pittsburgh, PA wrote me (coincidentally I’m also Michael from Pittsburgh—soon to be Michael from Madison), to ask about tire pressure. Normally, I don’t feel all that comfortable giving people such specific advice since equipment and terrain can vary widely. But this guy lives just around the corner from me, and I can only assume he’s writing about riding on the same trails as I.
But rather than tell him exactly what pressure to run, I came up with a quick guide to setting the pressure on your tires.

I’ve never used this guide myself, nor have I asked anyone to try it out. But I thought it might be an amusing way to think about your tire pressure.

Starting at 40psi, use the following tables to add or subtract total pressure.

STEP #1: RIDER WEIGHT

100-120lbs. -10psi

121-140lbs. -8psi

141-160lbs. -6psi

161-180lbs. -4psi

181-200lbs. -2psi

200 + 0

STEP #2: Style

Fluid and Smooth. Your wheels rarely leave the ground. You take turns with grace. -5psi

Aggressive and Hard. You huck everything in sight. You aren’t afraid to beat your bike. +5psi

STEP #3: Intention

Go Fast: +2psi

Have Fun: -2psi

Better Descending: -2psi

Corner Hard: +2psi

Step #4: Equipment

Tire seats snugly on the rim: -1psi

You’re carrying a tube and pump: -2psi

No tube and pump: +10psi

TALLY IT UP: using the above equation, my 160lb. self (rider + gear), (-6psi), that rides aggressive and smooth, and stays closer to the ground than the air (-1psi), wants to go fast, have fun, and descend better (-2psi), whose tires it snugly and is carrying a pump (-3psi), I should run at 30psi.

I typically run around 28psi. And I’d advise against running anything less than that.

What pressure did my equation give you?