07 Thursday Mar 2013
Posted in Cycling
Tags
B17, brooks, butchered brooks, chamfered brooks, channelled brooks, cut brooks, cut leather, Imperial, slotted leather saddle, slotted saddle, Special
Cut Brooks, a set on Flickr.
As I had two identical green B17 Specials lying dormant, and some curiosity about a Brooks Imperial, I decided to make my own. Tools – a carpet cutter, a drill, and a tracing done at my LBS (Thanks, Kathleen!). It took about an hour to get it done. Can’t wait to test it out…
22 Friday Feb 2013
Paul Racer Brakes
I’ve been upgrading the Homer for the past 3 years as the time and money becomes available. I have always admired Paul products from a distance, and recently realized I had a Riv dividend that would pay for a set of Paul Racers. I finally got the time to install them, so I’m all set.
A couple of notes/thoughts. The new brakes don’t feel stronger to me than the original Silver sidepulls. There is more modulation with these, but I’m guessing it’s just related to cable stretch. There is more exposed cable on both front and back. Both the Silvers and these Racers have great breaking power, so no net gain/loss there. Perhaps better feel. I do like the looks of the Pauls slightly more, but the Silvers were no slouch in that category either.
Brake Hanger
The cable hanger was interesting, and one downside to the center-pull brakes. I didn’t have much room for a fork crown mount as I have a rack and brakes mounted already, so I used a drop hanger, also a Paul (Funky Monkey), mounted to the stem. It leaves more exposed cable, and I’ve heard from a few sources (here is a good one) that this may cause shudder as the brakes may grab the rim, the fork flexes back as the tire grabs the road, and the cable tightens, until the pad breaks free, and the process starts again.
Front Racer
The good news is that this doesn’t seem to impact me with these brakes. It seems to be more of an issue with canti brakes on bikes with flexy forks.
Racer’d Out
Time for some real riding to break them in…
These
12 Tuesday Feb 2013
Tags
I’ve got both of my regular bikes dialed in pretty well now, and have been trading them off for commute duty. I am also thinking about the upcoming Rando season, and have been trying to get in an occasional longer ride in on the weekends. Timing with family duties has been tough, as always. I find that I need to commute to get my “bike on”, and when I try to save energy for the weekend rides by not commuting, I start to get pretty miserable fast. This must be a special condition built up over years of conversion to a bike commute, so when I don’t do it for a few days I start to go through withdrawal.
I’m not sure if others have this problem. I get the feeling that most Randonneurs are more of the weekend warrior type that have a hopelessly long commute and just ride on the weekend. I am quite sure that’s bunk, and there are folks all over the spectrum that have the rando kind of crazy. Anyway, I’ve been doing about 150-250 miles/month in commutes, and have gradually started to take a longer, less crowded route to work. I look at it as the “scenic route”, but also view it as “base miles” that I need to keep my fitness at to even attempt the longer rides. I know that by doing this, I’ll be able to finish a 200k if I bring enough food/water, but I certainly won’t be in the top 20% time-wise without more dedication.
Do I want to dedicate the time to that? Sure. Eventually. When my daughter wants to spend more time with her friends. When the house projects are back to the single digits. When work isn’t a primary focus for me? You can see where this is going. I think I’m a Randonneur like I’m a Fisherman. For me, it’s an outlet, and I want it to be enjoyable. That’s the plan…
Rando or Commuter?
27 Sunday Jan 2013
Posted in Cycling
Tags
a. homer hilsen, abus lock, bike packing, dureme, Hunqapillar, jack brown, kickstand, light bikes, saddlesack, schwalbe, shopsack
In another post, I talked about tires, but I’m also going to plug keeping your bike as light as you can for city/general fun riding. It really comes into play for me in hilly Seattle. I live on a hill and have about 900 feet of elevation gain on my ride home, with maybe 400 feet on the way in. This is where the weight hurts. Climbing can be fun, but if the destination is work or home, it’s just not like a touring destination to put up with extra weight.
Lots of Carrying Capacity
Another personal preference is to keep the pack on the bike and off the back. I don’t like sweaty-back, or the off-balance feel when I have a backpack or messenger bag, and long ago converted to using bike bags to carry my work clothes, laptop, iPad, keys, etc…
Dropped the Double Kickstand and Basket/Bag Combo
The Hunqapillar was pushing it in my comfort zone as it probably approached 35lbs in weight with the big back saddle bag, heavy lock, heavy Schwalbe Dureme tires, and double kickstand. I also have a front and rear rack that adds some weight to the overall package. Now some of this I don’t want to give up – I like having the racks for unexpected loads, and the rear rack is the mount for my taillight. The bag and lock are not entirely necessary all the time. The tires are overkill unless I’m on the dirt mountain trails. It’s like carrying your loaded camping backpack with you when you take the bus to work. It may come in handy during an earthquake, but 99.999% of the time, it just makes you tired faster.
Things I’ve done:
Ahhh – Jack Browns and X-Small SaddleSack
Initial feel is that this made rolling along much easier and more fun for me. I had similar average speeds on my Hunqa and Hilsen for my commutes this week. I noticed that the Hunqa still feels more “solid”. I’m definitely not heavy enough to plane this bike without more weight on it. When I take it camping, or up in the mountains, I’ll put what I need back on, but for now, I’m happier with the Hunqa-lite….
27 Sunday Jan 2013
Posted in Cycling
Tags
bleriot, bosco, city chickens, cycling, diamond bar wrap, diamond wrap, harlequin, harlequin wrap, Miyata, saluki
Diamond Tape Session, a set on Flickr.
This afternoon, four mad-rad RBW list members got together for a bar taping fest in a Seattle garage (yes, it was raining). Amazingly, all members arrived on their bikes and carrying nothing more than bar tape, and the willingness to be made a fool of by cotton tape, they learned the fine art of the harlequin bar wrap.
We had a good time, and in the end there were 3 new diamond’d up cockpits on a Saluki, Bleriot, and Bosco’d Miyata Ridge Runner Team. Special thanks to Rob Harrison for his garage, and his family’s patience! For those that missed this round, there will be more. I will host one in a few months at my place.
Pics prove it happened in the rain with chickens…
Cycle Seattle 