noob questions

not near my bike right now. i'll check though.

if in doubt go to the bike shop and tell them you want to change to slicks. they'll sell you ones that will fit.

I never learned to ride, I want to now. Just recreation on city streets and parks, pretty flat, $500-$600 budget (want to buy new so the shop can make appropriate adjustments, etc.).

Is there a suitable Trek? I read about the Felt Glassell and that sounded interesting too.

Also Kind of interested in a three-wheel recumbent tbh.

dl, more than you would ever need to know about rim and tyre widths (with a handy chart near the end under 'width considerations':

http://sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html#width

on the three wheel recumbent, depends how you're using it. they have a very wide stance, which makes maneuvering anywhere around traffic hard. also, they are very low and i've been told, therefore more likely to be hit by cars, thus the common use of flags for recumbents. my general attitude is, if you need a recumbent to get on a bike, go for it, but if you don't, skip it.

hay hay i got some slicks. only had time to change the front one and it seems good. problem is, the front wheel quick release axle kind of fell apart while i was taking it off. i put it back together best i could, but i had to guess how because nowhere on the internets could i find anything that told me e.g. washer, washer, spring, fork, fork, spring, nut (think that's the order i put em on). so i hope i haven't bollocksed it up. back tyre this weekend. uh ohs...

DL - you might be better off going to a bike shop and getting them to check your quick release, you really don't want your wheel to fall out while you're riding.

quite right indeed.

dunno about that, it ain't rocket science

http://www.montaguebikes.com/assets/images/ownermanual/standard-labeled-quick-release.jpg

that's what i need! thanks ledge, you're a ledge!

ha

except the drawing's missing two washers there. never mind, i'm sure i got it right by looking at the back wheel.

washers eh, what's the point in them.

i was having terrible trouble opening a super tight quick release lever the other day. my super bike nerdy friend - not quite up to the level of building his own wheels but i wouldn't put it past him - fixed it in a jiffy by turning the lever a full turn without opening it (anticlockwise i presume), then it popped open no trouble. magic!

washers probably sit between the nut and the spring at either end, but most quick release assemblies don't have them

i was having terrible trouble opening a super tight quick release lever the other day

my lo-tech solution to this is always to whack it open with my pump placed through the wheel

mine's one of those special quick releases that only open if the bike's upside down so that's maybe something to do with it.