This article first appeared in June 2023’s Heat Treat Buyers Guide print edition. Feel free to contact Bethany Leone at bethany@heattreattoday.com if you have a question, comment, or any editorial contribution you’d like to submit.
Bethany Leone
Managing Editor/Heat Treat Radio Editor
Heat Treat Today
A bike frame caught my eye the other day. It has a lot going for it: athletic (not me), hardcore (not me), and outdoorsy (not me). But the most important feature? “The Soma Jawbone is built on a Tange Prestige heat-treated double-butted CrMo steel frame with clearance for up to 29” x 2.25” and 27.5 x 2.6” tires (with good mud clearance)”; now, I have a pressing desire to analyze the quality of my bike shuffled back in the shed.
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There is something essential about the experience of biking which forces the rider to accept silence. Take different modes of travel: I can busy myself while driving along highways by calling my Maryland tribe, listen to a podcast while walking, and fill any moment of silence at home with squirrel feeder obstacle course videos. But on a bike, the continuous physical and mental engagement distances me from riding companions and focuses my mind on the scenery or a lingering thought in my mind.
These opportunities to transition and think, these “bike breaks” — real bike or not — are necessary to allow thoughts to reside, untangle, and spring forth with clarity. One time as a tree-watching car passenger, I started thinking about prime numbers: Was there a method to find them? Surely. With all being odd numbers, let’s start with a relevant, small, odd number 3. . . well, any number that is a multiple of three and not divisible by 2. Ok, but let’s get rid of the divisibility by “3” . . . add or subtract 2 to any multiple of three . . . 21+2 is 23, yes! 21-2 is 19, yes! 27-2 is 25, no!! Well . . . how about: “To find a prime number, add or subtract ‘2’ to any odd number which is a multiple of three. If the number does not end in a ‘5,’ that is (very likely) a prime number!” Based on some wandering thoughts on a car drive, I was able to create a “prime number finder” method. (And, no, this is not completely accurate. It doesn’t account for most 7s and higher primes.)
The advertisement of the Soma Jawbone notes heat treated steel frame as key to its design
Source: Bikepacking.com
But beyond the joys of mental gymnastics, bike breaks should be taken in the midst of mundane or mega work concerns. Rather than getting sucked into the course of work, when have you taken a bike break to consider any of these questions freely: What preventative maintenance plan should have been installed yesterday? Where can safety be improved for furnace operators? Do we have the right people, and how are we bringing newcomers — future leaders in North American heat treat — into the fold? Should we incorporate laser heating or leverage plasma nitriding processing?
There is such joy to work and to being alive, as well as hardships. Accessing the joys and unravelling the hardships may be just a bike break away.
