Storage of Rans Rocket in Shed

Hi Richard,
I have a few bikes, and have lived in climates where ice & elevation changes
preclude using some of them at times. Among the bikes are a (tweaked, in the
SF Bay Area) Bianchi, a Jekyll with wheels I had replaced by local maestros,
and now a V-Rex, my main machine. When living for a while in Rochester, NY,
I hung my Bianchi by a wheel for about four months (I don't know what you
guys think about riding in upstate NY in the winter on a road bike, but it
sure isn't for me), and my choice of storage really screwed up my wheels.
Yes, I changed from front to back every few weeks, and yes, ended up with
two bad wheels. My Jekyll got more use during such weather, but when I
wasn't using it, I hung it by its front wheel, and the wheel got totally
messed up.

So, in a long-winded way, I *strongly* advise your hanging *any* bike by a
wheel. If you have a spot to hang it from, do so by its frame, IMHO. Another
option that might work for you is to store it on its side on a high shelf;
you can slap one together within an hour and a few $$ hanging, say, in your
garage. Heck, some of us have been, or are, in situations where such a shelf
in one's bedroom or "living room" would be not only functional, but exude a
certain decorative élan.

Last thought: I don't (yet) have a Rocket, but if you have a spot to store
it on its wheels, then might it not make more sense to store it "upside
down"? You could build up some old cardboard boxes and stray cats ---- or
poodles --- to cradle the bike.

Regards,
DaveB


"Richard Greenberg" wrote in message
news:uGQhf.313$Et4.60@trndny08...
Hi. I need to figure out the best way to store my Rocket. I'm thinking of
hanging it from a hook - rear wheel. Is this OK, or do I need to come up
with something more elaborate? Or maybe I should just let it stand on
its
tires with the occasional rotation during the winter, does this really
harm
the bike? Seems more secure. Thanks.

If you were hanging your bike by wheel and a single hook, that hook
must have been in the wall. When I ran out of wall space -I was
already low on floor space- I put the hook in a ceiling joist. Now my
Rocket hangs vertically in front of a floor-to-ceiling shelf unit, easy
to access for the warm afternoon trip to the mailbox, and easy to move
to get to the boxes of junque on the shelves behind it. I intended to
hang it by the wheel but (doohh) found that the chainring on this (and
any) SWB is well out in front of the front wheel. If the steel ring
can't take the weight, I'm going to call the result a "biopace" ring or
some such. No storage shed? Use that hook that used to hold the
dining room chandelier. I'm sure that's how the fanatics do it in
Florida.

daveb wrote:
Hi Richard,
I have a few bikes, and have lived in climates where ice & elevation changes
preclude using some of them at times. Among the bikes are a (tweaked, in the
SF Bay Area) Bianchi, a Jekyll with wheels I had replaced by local maestros,
and now a V-Rex, my main machine. When living for a while in Rochester, NY,
I hung my Bianchi by a wheel for about four months (I don't know what you
guys think about riding in upstate NY in the winter on a road bike, but it
sure isn't for me), and my choice of storage really screwed up my wheels.
Yes, I changed from front to back every few weeks, and yes, ended up with
two bad wheels. My Jekyll got more use during such weather, but when I
wasn't using it, I hung it by its front wheel, and the wheel got totally
messed up.

So, in a long-winded way, I *strongly* advise your hanging *any* bike by a
wheel....

Correlation does not equal causation.

The stress imposed on a wheel when a bicycle is hung from the wheel is
minimal, assuming no abuse (e.g. using the bicycle frame as a lever and
twisting the wheel hard against a sturdy (and sturdily mounted) hook).
Much greater stresses will be imposed on the wheel during normal
riding.

That the wheels went out of true in the above examples indicates that
they were in all likelihood built with under-tensioned spokes and/or
spoke windup. Many people have hung bicycles by one of the bicycle's
wheels with no related distress.

If the RANS Rocket has decently built wheels and will be stored in an
area free of stupid and/or malevolent children (or adults) who might
damage the bike, no damage should occur from hanging the Rocket by one
of its wheels.

--
Tom Sherman - Fox River Valley

But Tom-- the Rocket is an SWB. It takes a 14.783 inch long hook just
to REACH the front wheel. A common ordinary dining room chanderriere
hook will reach the chainring. But just in case I find the wall space
(after all, the entire universe is expanding) are the original
equipment wheels from RANS properly built and tensioned? Can I plonk
my spokes and check them with my A440 tuning fork? Will I need concert
pitch?

dale wrote:
But Tom-- the Rocket is an SWB. It takes a 14.783 inch long hook just
to REACH the front wheel. A common ordinary dining room chanderriere
hook will reach the chainring. But just in case I find the wall space
(after all, the entire universe is expanding) are the original
equipment wheels from RANS properly built and tensioned? Can I plonk
my spokes and check them with my A440 tuning fork? Will I need concert
pitch?

Utter nonsense! A 14.782-inch long hook is perfectly adequate!

A RANS Rocket will use A=415 Hz when "historically informed" wheel
truing methods are used.

To be more serious, it is less than 8 inches [1] from the front of a
62-tooth chain ring to the inside edge of an Alex DA-16 rim on a
1999-2000 RANS Rocket.

I expect that the stock wheels on a RANS Rocket are machine assembled,
so wind-up is probably not too bad, but tension will likely be on the
low side and they will not have been stress relieved.

[1] I did a quick measurement with a tape, and did not take the trouble
to get the bicycle vertical with a level and hang plumb bobs at the
appropriate points to increase the accuracy of the measurements.
Therefore I rounded my result to the nearest inch to reflect the degree
of precision used for the measurement.

--
Tom Sherman - Fox River Valley