Click Here to Visit our Sponsor

   Are You a Gearhead?
By Alan Ira Fleischmann

What's your seat tube angle, 72 degrees or 73.5 degrees, and does it matter? What's your gear cluster range, 11/21 or 12/28?  Is the middle ring of your "triple" a 38 or 40?  What's the "Micro Drive" concept?  How much trail does your fork have, and do you wish it was less (more)?  If you can rattle off the answers to all of the above, then you, too, may be a "Gearhead."

A Gearhead, to the cycling community, is the functional equivalent of a "nerd" in high school.  You remember, the geeky kid with the pocket protector who belonged to the chess club and who knew how to run the film projector.  Well, we've given up chess and we've lost the pocket protector. We're all grown up now, and we can fix our own bikes.

Still not sure about yourself?  Perhaps you're still a borderline Gearhead, a closet Gearhead, a Gearhead wannabe, or just a G.I.T. (Gearhead-in-training)? Remember, Gearheads:

• True their own wheels and install new tires and tubes annually
• Adjust and lube their own headsets, derailleurs, brakes, and cables
• Never cycle wearing "street" clothes.
• Have cadence sensors and heart rate monitors.
• Save every back issue of Bicycling, Bicycle Guide, and maybe even Velo News.
• Know the difference between Titanium and CroMo, Gore-Tex and Supplex, clincher and tubular, index and friction, Clip-on and Drop-in, Schrader and Presta, PSI and TPI, round and Bio-Pace, clips and cleats, STI and Ergo.
• Spend hours perusing EVERY issue of Performance, Nashbar, and Colorado Cyclist catalogs.
• Have pictures of bike heroes on the wall of their offices.
• Can program their own VCR's.

If you, too, are a Gearhead, but are in denial, maybe you can try GA (Gearheads Anonymous)?  Each meeting begins with someone standing and proclaiming "I am a Gearhead!"

Features  | Crank On Home