Category Archives: Cycling

Like new shoes…

21 Monday May 2012

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I remember when I was a kid growing up in the Midwest, when someone got new sneakers, everyone would try to scuff them up.  They would reach out a foot and try to scrape it against your new white shoes.  At first you would resist, but I do recall feeling self-conscious about having bright, shiny shoes.  They always looked better after a few weeks of running around.

Today was one of those scuffing days for the new bike.  It was the first rainy commute ride for the Hunqapillar.  It rained pretty hard all the way into work, but it was nice and warm, so I really enjoyed the pleasant washing.  Everything gets mighty green when it rains, and the colors are much more vivid.

I got there and wiped off the grime, a bit, but definitely got to test out the fenders.  These Sykes fenders are flat and don’t have any “wrap” around the tire.  As such, they still do a good job of keeping the bike clean and most of the water off me.  There is a bit more splash, but it wasn’t bad – I arrived with just “damp” shoes.  Here are some pics I took on the way home.  The ground was still wet, but it only misted a bit, so I stopped on the Ravenna ravine bridge and snapped a few pics of the fully baked final build.

On the Bridge

Fenders are lookin’ red

This is a big!! bag

Home and Vivid!

Rearview

Proper Useful Bicycle

All demons sorted on this one.  Now it’s time to ride it ’til it looks used!

Harlequin Bar Tape

20 Sunday May 2012

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I’m starting to get the hang of doing the diamond pattern bar wrap.  I think the key is just doing about 10 bars to practice.  The last two went so well, I didn’t even have to look up the instructions (http://www.wastedlife.org/bike/harlequin/index.html).  First time for everything.  So…  There were two bars to get done.

I recently replaced the B115s on my Hilsen with some 41cm Noodles.   I wanted to give ’em a second chance, as I found I like a narrower road (drop) bar.  I chose my standard green and yellow tape as it gives good contrast.  Here’s a pic post wrap:

Clean cotton bar tape

I like the Nitto bar end accents!  I rode the bar this way with no comfort issues for a 20 mile commute.  Now onto the shellacking!  Here’s the bar after three coats of amber.  It should dull up a bit after being used/doused.

Post Shellac

OK – one down.  Now on to the Hunqapillar.  I did a bit of adjustment to the brakes to lower them a bit.  It’s always a good idea to ride the bike for a few miles before you tape it.  Especially when you do the coatings that will pretty much make your setup permanent for a while.  I had adjusted the bar angle on a couple of my commutes last week to get it just right, and had to bring the brake levers down a bit to compensate.  I wanted a similar them with the diamond pattern on the main flats, so I went with the red and yellow, and planned to use amber to darken up the red to get a similar color to the kidney bean red of the Hunqa.

Pattern Close-Up

You can just see the mahogany sykes fenders I put on this weekend.  Like!  I will do a write up on these in a future post after I ride them through a rain storm.  Here are some more views of the moustache bars, also with three coats of the amber on ’em.

Showing the Whole Bar

I used red twine to wrap the tape ends on the inside of the bar.  It was a good match for the tape, and is almost invisible.  The harlequin pattern is started with a rolled edge that makes twine (or electrical tape) unnecessary on the bar end by the shifters.  It’s very clean.

More Diamonds

Nice to have this wrapped up – now I can get on to riding the heck out of this beast.  The big bag/basket, fenders, and double kickstand added a few pounds to this bike, but it’s ready for some serious off-road camping, and heavy commuting now.  Can’t wait for the first S24O!!

Hunqa Builder

08 Tuesday May 2012

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It was time for a new bike for 2012.  This one is for the mountains!  It’s a wooly mammoth bike!  I rode one last summer at Rivendell World HQ and was smitten.  I just love Rivendell bikes.  Their design and execution is unlike any other, and Grant runs a great business. I decided to snarf up a Rivendell Hunqapillar.  It’s a 54cm frame, and will be set up as a mountain/camping/commuting bike with a front rack, fenders, and lights (like any proper bike for the NW).  This was in the original color scheme that is being discontinued.

The Rivendell folks are well known for their expertise in packing a bike – they even add doodle art to the packages – great personalized funk!

top face

stuck and safe

wrapped up tight

Here it is all uncloaked.  I love the color scheme on this model.  There is something about the kidney bean and gray combination that really classes out.  I felt lucky getting one of the last of the original runs.

profile

front quarter

love

tusks

 

The build out will be a moustache cockpit, brooks saddle, and marathon dureme tires (700×50).  This will be a working bike, and I want to take it anywhere.  I also want to be comfortable on the bumps.

kit

I’m adding a custom rack made by a local builder “Haulin’ Colin” Stevens.  This was originally designed and made for the Rawland rSogn, but I saw it on his site modeled on a Hunqapillar that a friend had lent him, and the image stuck.  The rack fits the bike perfectly.

haulin’

mounts were perfect

I have a few more parts to get or scavenge before this one is ready, but I’m anticipating a great new ride.  The frame and fork with headset weighed in the neighborhood of 7 lbs on my Wii scale (accurate??).  This is a stout tube bike, but it felt surprisingly light.  I recalled it being much lighter than I expected on the test ride, as well.  This model is a more robust touring bike than the well-loved Atlantis, and has similar gauge tubing to the Bombadil.  I can’t wait to do some exploring this summer!

Grant Petersen in Seattle on May 11th

05 Saturday May 2012

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From Momentum Magazine Article

One of the big influences in the modern bike renaissance of steel frames, leather saddles, 650b wheels, fatter road tires, and all around comfortable fun biking is coming to Seattle on Friday, May 11th to talk about his new book “Just Ride – A Radically Practical Guide to Riding Your Bike”.  I have one of his bikes and can attest to the well thought out design, beauty, comfort, and detailed execution of a Rivendell bicycle.  He designed and marketed bikes for Bridgestone in the US from 1984-1994, introducing much loved iconic bicycles such as the RB-1, MB-0, and the thoroughly offbeat and cult status XO-1.  His writing and design of the Bridgestone catalogs and Rivendell Readers has drawn a good-sized following of serious bikers who didn’t (and don’t) follow the mainstream race fork of bicycle marketing and industry.  Jan Heine of Bicycle Quarterly did a great write up on him a few months ago on his blog: http://janheine.wordpress.com/2011/12/28/people-who-have-inspired-us-grant-petersen/.

I’ve met Grant a couple times at his humble company headquarters in Walnut Creek, and he is the kind of personality who exemplifies the caring, leader of a modern American small business that treats its employees and customers well, and seems to make it through rough economic times (as well as good times) without trying to sell and appease towards only short term profits.  Dude’s got it going on!  He finds and markets products that are higher quality, longer-lasting, and may not be available if it were not for Rivendell’s market pull.  The variety of things you can find on the Rivendell site boggles and really shows the unique mind that is Grant.

He will be talking about his latest book and answering questions on Friday, and I would love to give him a warm welcome to Seattle.  I will be leading a ride after his discussion that will be a flat and casual tool down to the locks and Golden Garden Park.  Specific details are below:

Where:  Free Range Cycles

When: Friday May 11th, 5pm

What: He will do a book presentation from 5-5:30pm, a question and answer session from 5:30-6pm and a bike ride from 6-7pm.  They will have books to sell.

Proposed route:

http://runkeeper.com/user/Stonehog/activity/86076095

Rack Mounting Variation

29 Sunday Apr 2012

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Original PlatRack

This is a picture of how I had originally mounted my front Rivendell/Nitto PlatRack on my bike.  I have always liked having the larger platform of the Platrack on my AHH, but disliked the long struts that stretch down to the fender mounts by the axle.  I had removed the rack for the rando season a few months back, but have wanted to put it back on a few times, because it is so handy to have the extra load surface when commuting.

I have had an idea to do an alternate strut configuration rolling around in my head for the past few months, and finally decided to take action.

Multiple Bends Needed

After watching one of the Rivendell videos on mounting a rear rack where they bend the struts with a couple of good hammer whacks, I was inspired.  I bent and shortened the long struts to join at the mid fork braze-on where the other struts from the Mark’s Rack join.

Both Struts Now Attach Here

It is likely “not quite” as strong, and I’m sure it’s a warranty voider in Grant and Nitto’s eyes, but I don’t carry much more than 10 lbs on the front.  In any case, it feels solid as a rock to me.

View from the Front

Because of the imperfect hammer-bending technique I employed, I found that the fender line needed a bit of work after the first mount try.  I loosened up the strut screws where they met the Marks and Plat Racks, and try to cold bend it into the proper position to get better alignment and keep the whole assembly as non-stressed as I could make it.  I also took the opportunity to move the Edelux light to the hole that was off-center.  This will move it out of the line of spray if I’m in rain and there is water coming off the front of the tire.

Showing the New Top Bend

I’ve now ridden with this setup on numerous commutes and a 20 miler.  I also removed the saddlebag and went with just a front rando bag with the tools consolidated.  My Acorn is stable and rides on the rack well, even though it is a smaller footprint.  The bike has been stable for no-handed riding, and with less weight on the saddle, it seems to have less speed wobble with this setup.  I also feel like I get more active suspension from this setup, as it leaves the front fork’s lower half free of additional struts.

Final Shortened Bent Strut

If you have thought about trying something like this, I would encourage it.  It was a simple procedure that just required a mallet, hacksaw (for trimming the longer strut down to size), and some patience.  I basically eyeballed the bend on one side, and tried to do the second strut in the same angles.  It took a total of an hour or so to get what I wanted.