Dan Vu Quoc

Facebook “Like” Social Widget Bug: The page could not be reached.

Dan Vu Quoc — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 23:32:17 +0000

If you’re landing here you’re probably searching your way through a frustrating Facebook Social Widget bug. When creating a “Like Button” over at: http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like/ that points to a Page on Facebook, “Like”-ing the page results in an error which says that the Like URL being used could not be reached.

Surely Facebook can reach itself can’t it? Well, not if you set your page’s restrictions to “Age Restrictions” in the “Manage Permissions” tab to anything but “Anyone (13+)”. An oversight in the Facebook javascript doesn’t actually check whether or not the user in question clicking the Like button is of the correct age group to “Like” a page. Furthermore, the error being displayed is likely not correctly handled. What the error should say, is that they are not old enough to “Like” the page.

I’ve seen this bug pop up a lot in searches, but no solutions were presented. Hope this helps!

Another KickStarter Project: PumpTire

Dan Vu Quoc — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 23:01:31 +0000

Seems like there are a lot of cool local Bay Area projects out on KickStarter. Last week I took at RevoLights, which are a set of very functional and brilliantly timed LEDs to effectively create a headlamp and tail lamp for bicycles. This week I came across PumpTire, a tire that promises to inflate itself and stay inflated simply by riding it. Sounds cool enough right? Here’s the video:

PumpTire's "Lumen"

So I can see a lot of problems with this system:

Have to use their tires, and probably their tubes.
Big heavy valve.
Limited to tire pressures selection set by their valves (sometimes bigger people need more pressure, and smaller people less pressure).
Expensive.
Lumen is prone to being punctured, then you get to throw away your tire.
Lumen may wear down very quickly due to the protruding nature of the “pump” area of the lumen.
Handling may be affected due to the protruding area of the lumen.

With these faults, I’m not sure how viable the PumpTire is even for casual cyclists. If it were me instead, I’d explore the possibility of taking the lumen concept out of the tire and instead placing it into the rim strip for the wheel. You might get the same type of pumping action, with possibly even more volume for bigger tires, and routing to the valve would be even simpler. If possible this would increase the selection of tires and probably simplify the production of such a self inflatable system so that it fits most wheel widths.

Cool New Project: Revolights

Dan Vu Quoc — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 01:43:33 +0000

Saw a great project come out of kickstarter.com called Revolights. Concept is simple, its a set of lights that are battery powered LED rings that spin with your bicycle wheel. When rotation is detected, LEDs turn on and off in a way that projects a white LED “headlight” forward, and a red LED “taillight” backwards. Run time is around 4 hours for the front and more in the back. This is just a plug because I think it’s seriously too cool not to blog about.

While this certainly won’t go on my road bike because it probably won’t fit on 46mm depth wheels, it will make a great addition to my backup bike / San Jose Bike Party bike, my single-speed Bianchi Pista Via Condotti. I don’t think I’ve ever shown her on my blog, she’s a beautiful shade of green:

Celeste Green

Nitto Noodle 177 Bars

Yokozuna Reaction Cable System

Dan Vu Quoc — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 14:53:55 +0000

Yokozuna cables look interesting...

The SRAM Red group comes with some Gore Ride-on Cables — and while they’re buttery smooth when new, the elements quickly turns these cables into doo-doo. Gore must have gotten the idea from guitar strings to coat them in a fragile low friction material. Problem is, the lining wears and shears off very quickly making a mess in your cable housing. So I decided to make a change when CompetitiveCyclist had a good deal on Yokozuna Reactions a little while ago. I had heard great things about them from Bike Forums and immediately bought a set. That’s where all the headaches began

Side note: CompetitiveCyclist, seriously, over a week to ship a set of cables to me? Sorry, I’m just an impatient guy I guess — spoiled with closer warehouses for other online vendors.

Let me put this simply, Yokozuna Reaction cables/housings are a serious pain in the ass to install. I even bolded it for you — this should deter most of you who don’t work on your own bicycles. You will need a dremel and cutoff wheel to cut the housings as not to restrict cable movement within the housings.

Tight radius turns don't work with the Yokozuna Reaction Cables.

Other issues might include cable routing due to the thickness of the cable housings. They’re really thick and very firm — it’s supposed to translate to better braking feel — more on that later. Additionally, if you have any sort of tight bends, such as the rear cable stop to the rear brake, forget about it — the cable housing is so firm that even with a generous bend the tension in the housing itself will force your brake off center. After cutting different size cable housings with different angled bends and trimming them to the nearest millimeter or so, I still couldn’t get this right and decided to replace that leftover bit with regular brake cable housing.

From a performance point of view, compression-less cable housings are supposed to be the bee’s knees in cable feel. I don’t notice the difference, and if you do — it’s probably all in your head.

Yokozuna Reaction: Meh.

New Pedals: Look Keo Blade Carbon Titanium

Dan Vu Quoc — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:42:58 +0000

Pretty pedals...

To follow up with my most recent SpeedPlay post, I followed through and purchased a set of Look Keo Blades. I thought why not spend the extra for the titanium axle ones? I’m not going to lie, these have serious bling factor. They’re just plain beautiful.

The packaging was very nice, and upon opening them, the blades show off their brand name and carbon fiber spring with the gorgeous aesthetic weave on them. Surprisingly in the package I found it came with a pair of cleat covers, mounting hardware, a pair of “grip” cleats, and an extra set of normal cleats. Gotta love extras!

I opted for the 12 Nm carbon “springs” instead of the 16 Nm — while this wasn’t a mistake, it wasn’t quite as stiff as the amount of force required to clip in and out of the SpeedPlays Zeros. Honestly, that might be a good thing. The effort to clip in or out isn’t as much, but the engagement is very “positive” whatever that might mean to you.

Clipping In – This is the single issue I have with these, I’m just not used to single sided clipping in. I haven’t any issues clipping in when going at a high speed, or even at a low speed. But clipping in the other foot when riding from a stop is still an issue for me — but then again I only have 80 miles on this pedal system so far. I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it. Clipping in once you do get positioned correctly is simple, just press down. Once you’re in, you know you’re in, I didn’t feel any need to double check. The SpeedPlays sometimes left a very vague feeling as to wether or not I was clipped in.

Clipping Out – A considerable amount less effort than the SpeedPlays, the 16 Nm may have been a better match if you are looking for the same amount of clip out effort. Simple enough here, no complaints.

Float – Unless you’ve got knee problems, the float is enough and it is very smooth, unlike SpeedPlay float after a few hundred miles — they get gritty no matter how well maintained. Setup for the cleat is quite different than SpeedPlay. With a SpeedPlay system you pretty much setup the base/cleat in an up/down and in/out manner relative to your foot. Then you adjust the float screws to match the angle of your foot. With the Looks, you need to factor in the angle of the cleat on your shoe while mounting it. Not that hard really, but may not be as easy to adjust initially.

Riding – Immediately I noticed how much more stable of a platform the Looks have. The difference is night and day, and while I thought the arguments between the companies regarding how big their platforms are were total marketing bullshit — I was wrong. You immediately notice the difference out of the saddle sprinting or climbing uphill. The SpeedPlays also have quite a bit of roll-over wear — this I think is due to the nature of the system. I could detect quite a bit of platform instability in the SpeedPlay when rolling the heel over side to side. This did not go away with new cleats and I attributed this to the actual pedal body wearing down. Additionally, it seems that the combination of the cleat/carbon body/titanium axle really dampens harsh road vibrations. I don’t believe that I am one for placebo effects, but my legs felt fresher after a longer ride using the Looks.

Walking – Hands down, Look have awesome cleats for walking. The “Grip” cleats are great and don’t scratch up my hardwood flooring when walking out of the house. They probably don’t last very long though.

Wear - Things look fine after 80 miles, but I do have a couple of scratches and some of the “Look” logo is going away because of my “learning” to use the pedal system from a stoplight and pressing down on the back side of the pedal instead.

Dear Speedplay, your Zero cleats suck.

Dan Vu Quoc — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:23:52 +0000

SpeedPlay Your Cleats Suck

We’re breaking up Speedplay. A long time ago — when I was a much more inexperienced rider, I was attracted to the gimmicks of dual-sided entry, infinitely adjustable float, and low weight. Now I realize that these things don’t really even matter all that much.

Dual-sided entry is just for those who are afraid of not being able to get in the cleat fast enough, of those who think they’ll fumble for the pedals of another system. Like with any system, it just takes a little bit of time to get used to. Speedplays might be easier to try the first time, but in the grand scheme of things, time learning to be comfortable with any clipless system is a small drop in the bucket. Get over this.

Infinitely adjustable float sounds awesome, but really isn’t necessary unless you’ve got knee issues or happen to walk like a duck. To be honest, my heel in/heel out has been the same since I’ve installed these pedals and seems to be the same as most other float offerings.

Some love to be a weight weenie and compare one product to another based on a minuscule weight difference (not that I’m not guilty of this myself). These pedals really aren’t that much lighter than the next set when you factor in how heavy the cleat is.

Now this would all be fine and well, and I could easily live with all of these marketing gimmicks if it weren’t for the seriously terrible cleats that were developed in conjunction with the Speedplay Zero pedals. Cleat wear on these is abysmal, I have to replace these within 4000-5000 miles every time. For someone who rides as much as I do, that is more than twice a year. That’s $80-$120 / year in cleats alone, not including SpeedPlay lubrication or grease. The mileage isn’t completely ridiculous according to SpeedPlay either, they recommend replacing cleats every 5000 miles as well.

Here’s a list of things I don’t like about the cleats:

Walking on them feels like walking on ice, even if I don’t do it very often. The contact points are made of metal.
Lubrication is required literally every other ride.
Tear down and full cleaning and removing dirt is required every month minimum.
If you put down your foot down in any mud by accident, forget about clipping out until you wash them. They’ll require a full teardown/cleaning to unclip properly again. Very unsafe.
Plastic inner construction has heavy wear.
Poor metal-to-metal wear even when lubed.

And here is a list of cleat failures I’ve had (these were maintained to SpeedPlay’s specifications):

SpeedPlay Zero Cleat Failures

First Cleat Set, ~3800 miles. The guide lips on the plastic portion of the cleat that keep the circular clip in place tore off, this caused some issues with being able to clip in.
Second Cleat Set, ~4200 miles. Same as the first set, however only happened to one of the guide lips — this didn’t cause any issues clipping in. However, the circular clip even with proper lubrication started digging its way into the inside of the metal cleat cover on both cleats. This caused grittiness, issues with clipping in and out, and a lot of noise when pedaling.
Third Cleat Set, ~800 miles. Somehow clipping out forced the heel out float screw to completely strip the inner plastic threads on the cleat leaving me with an insane amount of float to be able to clip out from. This caused me to fall over.

In all, I’ve probably fallen over 5 times — thankfully all when coming to or at a stop due to cleat issues with the SpeedPlays. Its certainly embarrassing to fall over — I’ll be probably moving over to Look to resolve my issues.

Simple WordPress Cron Plugin Tutorial

Dan Vu Quoc — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 15:19:07 +0000

This is a very simple example of how to register a cron hook upon activation of a plug-in, and subsequently add a function action to that hook. I needed this for a plug-in I was developing, and find that although the pseudo-cron in WordPress is limited, it’s very useful for simple tasks.


// Upon activation or deactivation of the plugin run the appropriate functions.
// Note that __FILE__ just means the current file, also very important, do not put
// your activation and deactivation functions in a separate file which you include.
// This won't work, because of the file loading done in register activate and deactivate.
// If you have to, define two dummy functions in this main PHP file and call functions
// in the other included file. 
register_activation_hook(__FILE__, 'my_plugin_activation');
register_deactivation_hook(__FILE__, 'my_plugin_deactivation');
 
// We can assume that at this point, the cron hook is registered, and we can add a 
// function action to the execution of its hook.
add_action('my_hourly_cron', 'do_my_hourly_cron');
 
function my_plugin_activation () {
	// If our cron hook doesn't yet exist, create it.
	if (!wp_next_scheduled('my_hourly_cron')) {		
		wp_schedule_event( time(), 'hourly', 'my_hourly_cron');
	}
}
 
function my_plugin_deactivation () {
	// If our cron hook exists. remove it.
	if (wp_next_scheduled('my_hourly_cron')) {
		wp_clear_scheduled_hook('my_hourly_cron');
	}
}
 
function do_my_hourly_cron () {
	// Do cron tasks here.
	// 1 minute maximum, keep that in mind.
}
?>

Review: Veloflex Corsa 22 Clincher

Dan Vu Quoc — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 14:23:43 +0000

For over a year now my go-to tire has been the 23mm Continental Gran Prix 4000 S. However, recently Continental has been increasing their prices for all tires they produce and now GP4000S are a staggering $70 a piece. If you happen to be crazy enough to pay retail on these and get roughly 2,000 miles on them like I do — that comes out to about $0.035 a mile (rear tire). That’s more than I pay for track rubber for the S2000 ($0.03 a mile). Furthermore, to offset this cost, I usually waited until ProBikeKit had their seasonal sale on GP4000S. They’re usually about half the price shipped when they are on clearance — however I’ve had some increasing number of lengthy shipping times coming from the UK — and there is always the risk of being hit with tariffs, ending the overseas pricing advantage. This lead me to try something new — I wasn’t looking to beat the GP4000S, but maybe find a nice compromise.

A friend of mine recommended I try something in the Veloflex line, said they ride really well. I found them for $48.99/tire. Prior to purchasing these tires I had never heard of an “open tubular” or “tubular style clincher”. Apparently these tires are created with the same materials, techniques, and construction quality that enthousiasts praise tubulars for.

Construction Quality

Absolutely of the highest quality tire I’ve ever seen — even from the real tubulars I’ve tried in the past. The tire is sewn together perfectly straight and has a very supple feel when touched.

Installation

Painful, frustrating, and tiring. My Reynolds DV3K Clinchers have some pretty tall rim walls — and I thought the GP4000S were difficult to mount. These are considerably more difficult to mount. I broke a lever just trying to get one side of the bead into the rim — that is simply ridiculous! Don’t even TRY to mount these on with a tube, you’ll just tear your tube open trying to get the rim bead in. If you’re familiar with glueing tubular tires — you know that you need to stretch the tires out first, so I did exactly that. I simply stretched the tire onto the outer edge of the wheel rim without trying to put the bead into the wheel (yes even this was difficult to do). I then left it overnight and to my surprise, mounting them the next morning required just as much effort as the GP4000S. They’ve gotten a little bit more relaxed with some mileage but still securely hold the bead.

Ride Feel

Just as smooth as the tubular tires I’ve ridden on. Superior in comfort, rolling resistance, and feel to the GP4000S. I can’t express how smooth and fast these tires feel, you’ll just have to try them to find out.

Weight Weenies

They’re pretty light, not the lightest clinchers on the market, but you can’t complain for less than $50. Veloflex claims 180 grams, a bit less than the GP4000S.

Grip & Control

When it comes to dry grip, the Veloflex and the GP4000S are pretty equal, however in the wet, the Veloflex is actually pretty bad. The Continental’s Black Chili compound is really hard to beat here. Wet traction is a night and day comparison unfortunately, I’d only recommend these in the summer. The breakaway characteristics of the Veloflex however take some getting used to, the progression from grip to lack of grip is very sudden compared to the GP4000S.

Puncture Protection

I usually get a puncture or two with the GP4000s due to glass within their lifespan. I has of yet not had a puncture with the Veloflex, although the specs on the Veloflex would suggest that they are not as puncture resistant. I do however notice that the Veloflex handles glass much better than the GP4000s. Whereas by now the GP4000S would be covered in small 1-2mm glass cuts at 1000 miles, the Veloflex has absolutely none! Perhaps the suppleness of the tire construction and rubber lends to less cuts when running over small bits of glass.

Life Expectancy

So far, I’ve got 1000 miles on a set, and I don’t see these lasting too much past 1,500 or 1,800 miles. They won’t last you as long as the GP4000S. They come out to $0.033 / mile (rear tire) when you take the lower of my mileage estimates. So in terms of price per mile, they’re pretty close.

So while I won’t be saving any money any time soon with the Veloflex Corsas, I am enjoying a smoother more supple ride.

Current Bike: 2010 Look 566

Dan Vu Quoc — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 21:23:55 +0000

Frame: 2010 Look 566 Medium 53cm
Components: Full SRAM Red except for standard Force GXP Bottom Bracket.
Wheels: 2010 Reynolds DV46K Clinchers
Headset: FSA Carbon IS
Bar/Stem: Pro Stealth Evo Integrated Bars
Seatpost: 3T Doric LTD 27.2mm x 350mm
Saddle: Generic eBay full carbon saddle

New Gear: Clean Bottle

Dan Vu Quoc — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 09:00:06 +0000

Clean Bottles with black caps.

The folks over at We Keep You Cycling sent over a pair of Clean Bottles with black caps: after I wished for them on their Facebook page. I just received these so no full review yet. It will take some time for me to get used to these bottles nozzles as they are the traditional pull type. I’ve grown quite fond of the squirt type bottles. Initial quality is really good on these, and graphics on the side seem pretty durable. Expect a product review in the near future as I break them in.