BSA A5 Rickman Riding Video And Vintage Cycles TV

If ya haven't heard about the fellas and their well done videos over at Vintage Cycle TV, give'em a shot. Their focus is on vintage European bikes and maintaining them in high working order. Looking forward to see their site grow.


Link to Vintage Cycles TV

"This amazing and totally rare classic bike is piloted by its loving owner, Alex Sohn. He is a talented and agile rider, and he really pushed it to the limits a few times to entertain us here at Vintage Cycle TV. Thanks Alex! The Meat Wagon was being stunt driven by our own Guzzimoto, who is also Minister of Safety here at VCTV. You can see a couple shots of just how we get this kind of awesome footage mixed into this adrenaline-fueled video. Sawbone and Captain Axel are strapped in the back for this unbelievable hayride of sorts. Stay tuned, this is just the first of the material we will offer with this motorcycle, and we will have more riding and presentation of this amazing bike from Alex at his headquarters in exotic North Carolina. We here at Vintage Cycle TV wish to bring you the best material we can, and we feel we’ve really nailed it with this piece. We’re trying to provide that rush of riding to both those in the know, and others who maybe haven’t discovered it yet. This bike is an A65 two carb BSA 650cc Lightning engine, with some mystery internals as the engine has never been apart with only 9000 original miles!! It sounds very cammy, and it’s lithe and has huge forks for its day. Alex has slightly modified it with rearsets and clipons for riding purposes – LET THIS BIKE BE RIDDEN AS IT WAS MEANT TO BE RIDDEN!"





"So you have a vintage spoked wheel with a beautiful aluminum rim, and a round black piece of rubber, and need the two of them to get together so you can get back out on the road on your cool vintage ride. What do you do? Well, you could take the two of them to a modern motorcycle shop and have them throw that wheel up on the tire machine, rip that old piece of rubber off, stretch a new one on and head out the door… hoping it works and that your wheel wasn’t damaged."

Is Nitrogen Better than Air in Tires?

Got a newer car and been hearing about how great nitrogen is in replacing your tires over regular old fashioned air? We have been on the fence and did some digging to find out some more data on this which wasn't easy. Low and behold we found a canadian car guy that might just be moonlighting as a high school science teacher. Listen to his discussion on Nitrogen vs Air and you might be in for a surprise. Not quite what you will hear from a tire dealer or but there is also more info from Popular Mechanics below.

Q: Is there any advantage to using nitrogen instead of compressed air in tires? Will I notice improved fuel economy or a smoother ride? Will my tires last longer?

A: Sort of. From the top: Air is 78 percent nitrogen, just under 21 percent oxygen, and the rest is water vapor, CO2 and small concentrations of noble gases such as neon and argon. We can ignore the other gases.

There are several compelling reasons to use pure nitrogen in tires.

First is that nitrogen is less likely to migrate through tire rubber than is oxygen, which means that your tire pressures will remain more stable over the long term. Racers figured out pretty quickly that tires filled with nitrogen rather than air also exhibit less pressure change with temperature swings. That means more consistent inflation pressures during a race as the tires heat up. And when you're tweaking a race car's handling with half-psi changes, that's important.

Passenger cars can also benefit from the more stable pressures. But there's more: Humidity (water) is a Bad Thing to have inside a tire. Water, present as a vapor or even as a liquid in a tire, causes more of a pressure change with temperature swings than dry air does. It also promotes corrosion of the steel or aluminum rim.
If I ever need to top off a tire when I'm out on the road, I'll always briefly depress the tire chuck's valve with my thumbnail and vent some air. If my thumb gets wet, there's water in the line. Some gas stations don't do a very good job of keeping the humidity out of their air system. I don't even like to use a water-based tire-mounting lubricant unless I can let the tire bake in the sun for a couple of hours before I air it up and seat the bead. I've dismounted tires (not mine) that had several quarts of water inside—probably from a compressed-air hose that collected water and was never purged properly.

How is water relevant to a nitrogen discussion? Any system that delivers pure nitrogen is also going to deliver dry nitrogen. Filling tires with nitrogen involves filling and purging several times in succession, serially diluting the concentration of oxygen in the tire. This will also remove any water.

It's certainly simple, although time-consuming, for a tire technician to fill and bleed tires. But most shops use a machine that not only generates almost pure nitrogen by straining the oxygen out of shop-compressed air, but will also automatically go through several purge cycles unattended. Some shops have been charging as much as $30 per tire for this service. I think that's too much. If you're buying a new tire, it should be far less. Still, the nitrogen generator, filling system and technician's time aren't free—the dealer is entitled to some return for that.

So, to answer your specific questions: With nitrogen, your tire pressures will remain more constant, saving you a small amount in fuel and tire-maintenance costs. There will be less moisture inside your tires, meaning less corrosion on your wheels. You will not be able to feel any difference in the ride or handling or braking, unless your tire pressures were seriously out of spec and changing to nitrogen brought them back to the proper numbers.

Read more: Nitrogen vs Air In Tires - Why Nitrogen in Tires - Popular Mechanics

$43 bucks for a nitrogen fill... hot air?

Air filling station at your average quickie mart

Forget Nitrogen or Air, don't need them at all with airless tires and wheels

Nitrogen valve stem caps

Want to see more marketing on why to use Nitrogen filled tires

Self Inflating Bicycle Tires

Science breaks new ground and engineering steps in to build the infrastructure. Noticing the genius of the self inflating tire could be a completely game changing product and one that ultimately advances future products. Don't just listen to us ramble on, peep the video and then go over to kickstarter.com to help fund a product that might eventually make its way over to the motorcycle realm.

Link to kickstarter project for Self Inflating Tires

About this project

Imagine taking your bicycle out of the garage and never having to fill up the tires or even check the pressure. Or imagine yourself being able to change your tire pressure on-the-fly with a simple adjustment from the handlebars. Our project is to bring two self-inflating bicycle tires to market, the City Cruiser and City Pro. Both tires are intended for the urban cyclists and both tires incorporate the patented PumpTire technology.

With your help we can bring this patented technology to cyclists everywhere!

Why Bicycle Tires Lose Pressure

Bicycle tires lose pressure due to air molecules diffusing through the rubber sidewalls. This requires cyclists to fill their tires on a fairly regular basis due to the high operating pressures (up to 120 psi) and thin sidewalls of most bicycle tires. PumpTire solves this problem by incorporating a pumping mechanism directly into the tire. And this means ... fewer pinch flats, no more pumping, hands stay clean, less time getting ready and more time on the saddle.

Overview of the PumpTire System

Each PumpTire set consists of 3 components – a tire, a detachable valve and an inner tube. Unlike traditional tires, the PumpTire inner tube clips into the tire to enable air to pass from the tire to the tube. When the pump is working, air moves from the atmosphere, through the valve and into the lumen surrounding the outside of the tire. From there the air is pushed into the tube. Once the desired pressure is reached, the valve senses the increase in pressure and closes the air pathway so no more air is pumped into the tire. The system works on normal rims and does not require any special equipment or modifications.

The valve assembly works by simply screwing it into the valve stem on the inner tube. Although the valve stem looks similar to standard Presta/Schrader stems, it’s actually a custom design that allows air to enter the tire before being pushed into the tube. The valve is either a fixed pressure valve that shuts off once the desired pressure is reached or it’s a user adjustable valve as shown in this drawing. Turning the valve, adjusts the pressure higher or lower to reach the desired setting. The top of the valve has an air inlet and is compatible with Schrader or Presta fittings to use with a traditional pump if desired. A filter keeps dirt, water and other debris from entering the tire.

City Cruiser for Casual Riders (26" x 1.5" tire)

The City Cruiser is designed for the casual, urban cyclist. It’s a 26” x 1.5” tire with a set pressure valve. The pumping mechanism will pump from a flat up to 65psi. It has a moderate tread design and is intended mostly for pavement.

City Pro High Performance Tire (700c x 28mm)

The City Pro is a high performance tire with a 100 psi maximum pressure. It’s a 700c x 28mm tire. The tire works in conjunction with a high performance user-adjustable valve which allows the user to set the pressure from 65-95psi. This tire is designed for the avid cyclist who is constantly seeking better performance from themselves and their equipment.