Would you like to come downstairs and see my blown-out bike part collection? I am slowly recovering from the creeping decay that was thriving on my messenger bikes. Now that I’m a full-time chuffer, my bike parts will last a lot longer than they used to.
However, I'm still seriously suffering from Seattle Sidewall Syndrome (SSS), a condition which causes the premature deterioration of wheels ridden by messengers and hardcore commuters in wet grimy winter conditions as rim brakes, especially high-power cantilevers, wear through the braking surface of the rim.
The cross section of a clincher rim after one rainy season of aggressive riding is transformed from a box shape to more of an hourglass. It’s like the brake pads are made of 80 grit sandpaper. Left unattended the wheel eventually fails when the bead of the high pressure tire can no longer be contained by the paper-thin sidewalls of the rim. The end result is a catastrophic failure one day when you’re just riding along. The tire blows up and the sidewall peels like a banana and snags the brakes, locking up the wheel. If it occurs on the front wheel you’re launched over the bars in a dramatic acrobatic display. But if you’re lucky it happens on a Sunday afternoon while you’re watching football on TV and your bike is leaning against the wall by the heater, when suddenly your tire explodes like a firecracker and propels bits of rim shrapnel and inner tube powder into your personal space, scaring the shit out of the cats.
There’s a strong correlation between SSS and Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) another common malady this time of year in the Pacific Northwest. According to the pharmaceutical industry SAD can be remedied with prescription drugs. But many people just choose to increase their caffeine and or alcohol intake. There's a noticeable shift even an oscillation along Seattle’s coffee-beer continuum. It’s as clear as setting the clocks back or the lack of daylight or the sun’s shallow winter arc across the sky up here at the 47th parallel. Bike riding or what doctors refer to as "regular exercise" is a simple elegant solution to SAD.
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Seattle Sidewall Syndrome can simply be avoided by using disk brakes or riding with no brakes at all. Or you could just stop riding your bike and walk.
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