I took the old road bike out for a spin today. 20 miles out and back from my house to Blue Mesa Lake. Full gear, clipless shoes, helmet, and tight pants.

Its been exactly one year since I’ve ridden that bike with all the gear on. I missed you open road.

20 miles tomorrow up to the little town of Almont, CO.

By the way I’ve moved to Gunnison Colorado since I posted last. Ive spent the last year learning a new trade and moving to a new town. Don is buying his girlfriend a bike too. So wish him luck!

Oh, sorry, did you think I was actually riding around at midnight in beachwear with a cocktail?  Silly, I only do that on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.  Alas, today is Thursday, so I am takin’er easy tonight.  I actually do really like to ride at night, especially as it gets hotter out during the day.  I know visibility is the issue, but I gottalotta lights people, so I consider the large drop in traffic to be a neutralizing factor.

Actually, the dangerous world of cycling that I want to talk about is the aspect of it that I am partaking in right now.  I’m not so young that I don’t remember the days when you pretty much HAD to go to your local bike shop and buy your bike shit from a human being.  I’m 29 and I still wish to this day that I hadn’t sold my chrome Dyno VFR in high school to pay for baseball gear, and I still remember getting that bike when I was probably 10-12 years old.  I went with my parents to the bike store, looked at the GTs, Dynos, Mongooses (before they sold out), and settled on that bad boy.  After test riding it, pieces of green and off-white paper changed hands, and the Dyno came home in mom’s minivan.  NO people, the scourge that has infiltrated my cycling world is the internet.  I can buy anything from a steer tube badge of a skull and crossbones (currently in my ebay watching folder: $7.00 + 2.95 s&h) to a carbon fiber/sram red equipped/wheels made of rainbows/grip tape made from unicorn leather/tires inflated by the breath of Falcor from The Neverending Story/ 56 cm racing machine that was “only raced one time, never laid down, and treated to a milk bath and a deep tissue frame massage by Jurgen the masseuse after every ride.”  Of course, I will have to throw down $3500 for the privilege, but homeboy has done his research and isn’t going to look at any lowball offers.  I offer $900, and the power of Greyskull is now mine in bike form; apparently knocking over 2 grand off your asking price isn’t a lowball.

But wait, I also need a new helmet because the current one makes me look like a dork with a huge head ( I am, and I wear a size 8 fitted hat), and a new on-bike pump (or 2, because the deal is “too good to pass up”), and new handlebars (because carbon is cooler, so suck it if you don’t like it), and chain lube, and a new chain, and bar tape, and a new saddle, and a bashguard, and new brake pads with a different compound, and a seat bag, and an LED headlight, and lighter pedals, and………………………….holy shit, stop the madness.  Hey internet, screw you for making this equation the most dangerous aspect of my cycling life: Checking account balance+alcohol intake+computer access+delusion that “this will make a big difference in my riding”= buying all this shit without knowing when I will get back out on the bike and just friggin’ ride, man.  Just ride.

So here’s the deal:  I have a Voodoo Limba ‘cross bike with Mavic Aksium wheels.  I had Kenda Cross tires on it before I changed wheels, so I decided to put on some Ritchey SpeedMax Cross tires when I made the wheel switch.  I’m normally not a product basher, and I know these come standard on Surly Cross Checks, but I would highly recommend never using these tires.  I have ridden them 5 times and have 3 flats to show for it.  Buy a CC, it’s an awesome bike, but strip those fools off the second you get it home and either burn them or sell them to someone you don’t like.  All of my flats have been on very average, residential pavement.  I am close to spending more on tubes than I would have on a set of these tires if they were new.  I guess they might be ok for a bike that only runs ‘cross races, and the course is made of marshmallow fluff, but for any other purpose, I’m not sure they have a purpose.  (I’m bitter if you haven’t noticed.  Luckily, today’s flat came a block from my destination, and there was cold beer waiting.  To sum it all up, Ritchey SpeedMax Cross can suck a fat pile of monkey doo.)

So I have an addiction to bad ass anodized stuff for my bikes.

Dangerboy Bash ring from Mojo Wheels in Lakewood. Sawtooth pattern for badass factor and grinding over stuff.

I also took the little chain follower wheel thing off, It hit the bashguard and made me crazy with the chain friction.

Bob at Mojo Wheels said that if I’m not fast I can take it off but when I “get fast” I can put it back on. It keeps the chain from jumping off the crank on gnarly downhills.

Mojo Wheels Plug + SEO bait www.mojowheels.com

Mojo Wheels is the only bike shop ive been to that didnt have a road bike anywhere in it. Not even in the magazines.

Newly built single speed based on a mid-90’s Giant Iguana mountain bike.  Stripped the frame, painted, started slapping parts back on.  If I would have known I was going to post this somewhere, I would have taken pictures of the original beast, for she was not a pretty lady.  I got the ss conversion stuff on ebay for about $15, brake levers online for about $15, and the crank and bottom bracket from lbs for about $75.  Various other things, brake pads, spray paint, tape and shellac for grips, and the total investment in this bike is in the $120 to $140 range I would guess.  Not a bad total for a completely reliable, steel framed bike that is a blast to ride.  I feel like a kid on my first bmx again.

Pretty proud for my first full build, even if it was pretty basic.  Favorite parts about it:  Grips are yellow hockey tape, 5 layers, with 5 coats of amber shellac.  The bar plugs are Boulevard Beer Smokestack Series corks.  I also messed around with the rear cog and chain combination enough that I got it to roll nice n’ purdy with vertical dropouts and no chain tension device.  Dutch, the lab mix, approves of the bike as well.

All in all, it was a lot of fun.  I just spaced it out over a couple weekend nights, depending on if I had parts or not, and if our 4 year old wanted to “help” or not.  It also helped that I always had a cold one close at hand.  If you don’t have an old frame or bike, get on craigslist and pick up somebody’s old beater and make yourself a single speed.  I now have the perfect bar cruiser/ss mountain bike (if I actually get some legs).

*Special thanks go out to Zak for finally helping me figure out how to post pictures on this damn thing

Green Moutain, Bear Creek Lake, Red Rocks

Maiden Voyage on my new Specialized Enduro Elite.

It was muddy, then not, then awesome, then steep, then red, then awesome, and then I was exhausted.

From Drew B in Kansas:

Just wanted to make sure your 10 minutes of tears at the Fedex depot were not totally unwarranted.  CC is currently sporting a Brooks B17 Honey (I usually don’t go for hype, but I gave it a whirl this time around due to overwhelming online reviews and I am totally 100% sold on Brooks, easily the most comfortable seat I’ve ever used and not even close to broken in).  I also did a lot of research/googling about matching bar tape to Brooks honey and settled on a hybrid of online tips and experience from my days as a hockey player.  I wrapped yellow hockey stick tape (4 bucks for 75 feet) super tight over the existing grip, just one layer.  I then used four coats of Bullseye Amber Shellac (10 bucks for a quart, enough to do probably 100 sets of bars) to seal and color it.  Not only does it match color perfectly, but it is supposed to last forever, and it gives it a really nice feel, like cork tape with a gritty non-slip surface.  Small bag on the rack is just a Camelbak shell, getting ready for a 40 miler from KC to Lawrence tomorrow, Rock Chalk Jayhawk!!!!!  Next step, extravagant but I don’t care, fenders by www.woodysfenders.com.  Much cooler than plastic in my opinion.  Anyway, while the CC will not see any action in the local ‘cross scene (2005 Voodoo Limba with full 2×9 Ultegra STI for that), it will log many miles in the near future.  Sorry to write a novel, but I already love this bike.

P.S. Also just finished my first full, ground-up build.  I stripped my wife’s old mid 90’s Giant Iguana mtb down, repainted it, and built up as a single speed.  Found the perfect combination (32/16) to get it to work with vertical dropouts but no chain tension device.  Grips are 5 layers of hockey tape, shellacked, with wine corks as bar ends.  Oh, and of course the I (heart) my bike bell is schwag from a ‘cross race last season.  The unfortunate part about finishing this build and getting it to actually ride is that it has already been pointed out to me that I now have 4 bikes instead of 3.  Luckily we both ride the same size, so they are OUR bikes, and WE now have 5!

Peace.
Drew

Check out this beauty:

Thanks Drew for being a true Bike Goon, and taking care of old CC

 It was started by a friend of mine. Just for fun. If your bike was a car what kind of car would it be?

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?p=6666614#post6666614

Its been awhile I know. New jobs in new states make it hard to get out on two wheels these days. The great state of Colorado has trails, paths and bike shops for days so no excuses here. Ive been a bad cyclist lately and I’m sorry.

To make myself feel better I sold one bike that I dearly loved but didnt see myself loving as much as I did ever again.
Cyclocross racing was a blast but as they say in business “the last one in is the first to leave”

Goodbye Surly Cross-Check - You will have a great life in Kansas in the cross scene there. You will be treated well.

So after a tearful trip to the fedex office it took me about 10 minutes to get over it.

Theres a new kid in town!

…….

………………

…………………………..

……………………………………….

………………………………………………………….

………………………………………………………………………………

I am specialized……………………………………………………………………………

2007 Specialized Enduro Elite

Fox Air front and rear

Sram X9

Many muddy miles memories made.

This is the seat that came on my fixed gear project bike, it was in about as bad condition as the rest of the bike and I didn’t want to reuse it as it was.  This was the last part of the bike that I repaired, and was the one I had the least confidence in being able to get right.

First I took apart all the metal hardware and all the layers of the seat padding and vinyl, just to get a look at what I had to work with.  The metal support frame, bolts and the red plastic piece that holds the shape of the saddle itself were all in good shape and just needed to be cleaned up.

I wanted to use leather for the surface for durabilaty and for the old style look.  You can buy a big sheet of leather at a leather store for not much money, I got a piece about 3 feet by 5 feet several years ago and have used if for a bunch of projects like a guitar case, camera case and nail bags.   Here is the leather I cut for the seat surface.  Of course a utility knife goes right through this stuff, but these scissors worked fine too.

I wrapped the scrap around the plastic seat and put softening liquid on it.   Then I tied strings around the whole thing and left it for a few days to take the right shape.

For padding I bought a silicone seat pad for ten bucks at target.  It’s made to go on the top of your seat which is ridiculous and ugly, so I cut it up and threw away most of it.

Here you can see what is left of the pad after I cut off the fabric that is supposed to wrap around the seat and hold it on.  This pad is still too wide so I had to cut it some more.

This pad is now small enough to just rest on the top of the seat and not hang down over the sides, which would make the seat uncomfortably wide.

I started to stitch the leather to the plastic seat base.  This required a hole punched in the leather and the plastic seat base for each stitch, and it was a huge pain to do.  This much stitching and hole punching shown above took about two hours.  I eventually gave up and decided to use rivets, which are way easier to install and have worked well for some of my leather projects before.

With a Hammer, Rivet punch, 1/8″ hole punch and anvil, these rivets take only about 5 minutes each while you are also watching TV.  These are bronze rivets I think, or maybe brass.  I bought a box of them at same store where I bought the leather, and they were pretty cheap, only a few cents each.  I used 27 rivets instead of the 300 or so stitches which it would have taken to go around the whole seat.  Here’s the rivets half way done, seen from the bottom.  This is also before trimming off the excess leather on the sides.

Since it was a flat piece going onto a curved shape the leather had to be cut in a few places, and I didn’t do a very clean job, but you can hardly tell from 5 feet away.  I left the stitches in the back section because it would have looked ratty to have them sitting there.  Also I had cut the leather a little too short already front to back, so I couldn’t just pull the whole thing back and cut off the holes. The leather piece I used was about 6 years old and was pretty dry, it didn’t stretch as much as I wanted even with the softening oil, which left a slight bump in the middle of the seat.  And there are mistakes all over this thing, but the final result actually looks really good.  It complements the old style look of the rest of the bike.

Totally transformed!

Not perfect, but not too bad either.  The padding is not very soft but is comfortable enough.  I think this project turned out pretty decent considering I had never done a bike seat before and didn’t know what I was in for.  I want to do this again with another seat and make it look a little better, but I am keeping this one on the bike.