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Tag Archives: B17

Weights

16 Saturday Aug 2014

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

a. homer hilsen, acorn bags, ahh, B17, bike weight, brooks, Cycles Toussaint, cycling, dynamo lighting, hilsen, Hunqapillar, nitto, rivendell, sackville, Selle Anatomica, Velo Routier


I recently weighed my bicycles to respond to a thread on the RBW list.  Folks were posting their Rivendell bike weight for some reason, even though everyone knows if you own a Riv, you don’t obsess over gram counting.  I had weighed my A. Homer Hilsen when I originally built it up, but before any fenders, racks, or bags were added.  It came out around 25 lbs, so I was interested in how much it weighed after accumulating various accessories over the past 5 years.

Original 25-pounder

The latest version of the bike is coming in about 4 pounds heavier.  Even with a lighter double crankset and bars, but fenders, bags, and dynamo lights/hub add up!  I think the bike is much more useful at 29 pounds, and it still feels pretty light to me.  Not feathery like a Ti or carbon bike, but plenty sprintable for my purposes.  It’s nice to have lights, toolkit, water spray protection, and carrying capacity when you need it, too.

BH-5.jpg

I knew the Hunqapillar was going to be a beast based on the thicker gauge tubeset, and all the extra rack and bag weight on this bike.  It is a touring/camping bike, so it’s nice to have the stability when I’m carrying camp gear.  All this adds up to another 10 pounds over the Hilsen.  It weighed in at 39 pounds in camp-ready mode with bag, basket, and tools loaded for bear.

BH-9.jpg

Ironically, this is not too far off a modern dual-suspension mountain bike.

BH-6.jpg

The Toussaint had to be weighed since the Rivendells were on the scale (a Nintendo Wii with Fit, BTW – I don’t own a scale).  This bike has a slightly heavier bag than the Hilsen, and 650B wheels, but otherwise it is set up with identical cockpit, hub, and crank configurations.  All in with tools, it came out 1 lb heavier at 30 pounds.

BH-8.jpg

OK – now back to not caring about weight, and just riding my bikes.  Having a great time, BTW…

New fenders, old bike

23 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

B&M, B17, Bar Wrap, bosco, brooks, compass, hammered, harlequin, honjo, Luxos, Miyata, resurrectio, rivendell, sackville


I have an old mountain bike that has become one of my favorites.  Not sure why, but I think it’s the pump peg.  It’s always the simple things that give flame to our obsessions.

Old version

The Miyata has a few issues, but I’ve solved a lot of them in the past year, getting rid of the front rack and basket (too much trail to handle well), and adding the awesomely great Compass 1.75″ tires.  They are like Hetres for a 26er, but with useful tread. I even harlequined the hell out of the boscos.   OK – there are a few other things that need changing, like the crappy VO crankset, slippy MKS pedals, and plain old Brooks B17, and I may have the frame powder coated some day, but I’ll leave that for a while and keep enjoying the retro color scheme.  I also needed lights for the perfectly good unused Shimano dyno hub.  Enter the Luxos B:

New hotness

Another problem with said bike in that it had ugly black fenders.  Those had to go even though they were perfectly adequate (well – not really – they were too short to keep the front splashes off my feet in really big puddles).  I picked up some NOS 26″ hammered Honjos last year intending them for this bike but uninstalled due to time commitments.

Bad ass fenders

I took it for the inaugural ride today and had no rattles, log-jams, or other inconveniences.  It is still living up to a favorite!  This will be my winter ride.  I may even use it on a brevet if the main bike is in repair…

Rear view

Oh yeah – the bell is totally divine!  Multiple timbres and tons of decay, while not being too intrusive/obnoxious.

Nice foreground to a vodka yacht (Serene)

Pretty!

This frame is 25 years old, but it’s starting to have a new life.  I’m guessing it will go at least another quarter century if these fenders do their job in rainy Seattle…

 

 

 

Camping With Bikes

06 Saturday Jul 2013

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

a. homer hilsen, acorn bags, active volcanoes, ahh, albatross, B17, bicycle, bike, Bike Camping, cycling, cypres, drop bars, dureme, Gran Bois, hilsen, homer, Hunqapillar, LHT, Manny Principle, mountain rides, mt adams, rando, randonneur, rivendell, sam hillborne, schwalbe, Seattle, snow, Snow Bike, Snow Cycling, Surly, underbiking, volcano


Seattle vs. Portland Riv Rumblers

Last month, I met up with some fellow north-westerners for a couple mountain rides between Seattle and Portland.  The goal was a nice weekend with a potential shot at going over Babyshoe Pass early in the season.  If nothing else, we would see some snow and avoid the bugs that start swarming a bit later in the summer.  The 2-hour drive south reminded me why I live here.  Lots of wilderness very close to home.  I was driving to a rendezvous between 3 active volcanoes in the Cascades mountain range.  We would be closest to Mt. Adams with possible views from the ride, but Rainier and St. Helens were nearby, as well.  As I got close to Randle, WA, I lost all cell service – this was a signal that vacation time was ON!

North Fork Campground - Randle, WA

North Fork Campground – Randle, WA

We had reserved a group site at the North Fork Campground 12 miles out of Randle.  I arrived around the same time as Charlie (from Eatonville), and we started setting up in the reserved spot, but when the rest of the group showed up (Andy, Chris, and Aaron from Portland), we explored a few other sites, and chose one that was right next to the river.

Campin’ by the River

Not too many people were camping the weekend after Memorial Day.  With 4 tents and 1 hammock, we were spread out nicely.  Our camp could normally accommodate 20 tents!

Chris and Aaron’s Tents

The setting was beautiful Northwest – lush, green, and budding with spring.  Ferns, moss, and huge evergreens all around us.  It had rained quite a bit before the trip, but we were into a short spell of dry weather.

Full Camp?

After we set up camp, we set off on the first ride.  We chose FS 22 heading east, and it was a good immediate climb on gravel.

Day 1 Ride

We rode up leisurely as we all got to know each other.  A fair amount of time was spent off the bike taking in the scenery, and just geeking out on our setups. All but one bike was by Rivendell.  There were 2 A. Homer Hilsens ridden by Andy and Chris, a Hillborne ridden by Aaron, and Charlie’s lone Surly Long Haul Trucker.

Bikes of Day 1

I took the Hunqapillar on this ride.  Since it was an unofficial “Rivendell ride”, I had both my A. Homer Hilsen, and the Hunqa packed.  I wanted to see how they both fared on the rougher mountain gravel roads.  I had changed out the Nomad tires for my 50mm Duremes with their more aggressive tread and larger volume.  We didn’t get into much nasty trail, but the couple areas of “rough stuff” we hit made me appreciate the mammoth bike’s capacity as a real mountain bike.  It rode nicely over everything I threw at it, and it brought back memories of my early ’90s rigid Stumpjumper Pro.  The Albatross bars and front V-Brakes proved to be great on the rough trail.

First Day’s Apex

We took a side trail up an overgrown trail to a nice meadow with a great view back down the valley we had just climbed.  We rested for a bit, and had a snack before making the quick descent down to camp.  On the way down, we took another side trail down to the river.  This one was an older, overgrown jeep track and made for some fun riding over roots and blow-down.

Trail Riding on Day 1

Singletrackin’

After the nice descent back to camp, the Portland crew set about making a superb dinner of pasta and white sauce with morels and a great salad, while I walked around soaking up the camping atmosphere and helping Andy get a fire started.  His chopping knife was a trip!  We used that and a hatchet to make up the kindling.  Some of the wood was a bit wet, so it was a smokey end to the day.

Woodsman

Portland Crew Dinner

After a late night around the fire, and a great sleep by the roaring river, I felt refreshed as ever.  I set about making breakfast and coffee for the campers, and got most of my stuff packed up for a quick getaway after our day-2 ride.

Chilaquiles, anyone?

Another healthy meal

Charlie had to get home, so we bid him well, and took our group photos.  Ready for the next adventure, we set off on FS 23 with a destination of getting close to Babyshoe Pass and some scenic views of Mt. Adams.  Today, it was the Hilsen’s turn at gravel.  This bike was set up with standard rando gear – trod with Gran Bois Cypres tires, and carrying 2 cameras, rain coat and food in a Boxy Rando bag.  We hit the mountains on 3 AHHs and a Sam Hilborne.

Joy Riding!

Today’s ride was a bit more ambitious.  If all went according to plan, we would double the distance and elevation of the prior day with around 40 miles and 5000 ft of climbing.

Wing formation

With a bit more shade, the day was perfection for a long ride.  Amazing views around every corner helped to keep everyone jazzed.  Destination snow or Babyshoe.  Most likely snow, but who could tell?

Destination? Who cares…

After a while the road turned to gravel, and we started climbing in earnest.  We finally hit snow within a mile of our destination at around 4300′ elevation.

End of the dry road

Andy noticed that there should be a fork within a quarter mile, and after a short committee decision where we invoked the “Manny Principle”*, we forged ahead to the adventure that awaited us all!  It ended up looking something like this:

Pushin’ on…

And this:

More pushin’…

Until we found a meadow, the fork, and paved road again.

Meadow

Fork

It was a short respite as we turned around heading NW on the north slope that didn’t seem to want to start declining too soon.  We ended up pushing/straddling our new snow bikes for a mile or so before we ended up back in the mostly snow-free but still very wet next phase of our ride.  During the snow phase, it was great fun to see how far you could bike in the tire tracks that had been lain some unknown time prior to our arrival.  Most of the time, you could sit on the saddle and paddle along with your feet on the raised snow, but if you pedaled, your feet sunk into the banks.  I had a successful ride through one of the snow fields, and my confidence was raised enough to try to ride the next one (larger and deeper unbeknown to me), so I got some speed up for the attempt.  As I started across it, things went sideways – my front tire started out riding up on the old tire tracks, but quickly sunk in.  Once that started, it was only a few seconds before it swallowed the wheel enough to catapult me over the bars in a spectacular (to the watching jays) endo, spilling me and my entire bag’s worth of food and camera gear into the snow.  Nothing hurt in a snow landing, and the bike checked out.  After a hasty re-packing and snow dusting, I was back on my way.

Snow cowboys!

After Andy’s toes had thoroughly gone numb in his sandals, the road finally turned back to gravel, but it was not much of a road at that.  This was definitely less-traveled with snow melt ruts, random sharp fist-sized stones, and lots of overgrowth to keep you busy.

Descending

Recalling the joys of descending on a mountain bike, I quickly rode far past my current bike tire’s capacity hitting speeds around 30mph, and suddenly felt my rear tire go limp.  Yes – a pinch flat will kill a descent faster than a broken regulator.

Testing the kit in the wild

After the break, we got back to the art of the fast mountain ride, and had a great time with over 5 miles of glorious downhill under-biking.  I had no idea a rando bike with skinny 31mm tires could handle terrain I usually ride on a front suspension MTB.  Still, the Hunqapillar may have been a better choice for day 2.  I had pushed, and perhaps found the limits of the AHH.  With no real harm done, at that.

It’s like skiing in the summer!

Back on the pavement, I appreciated the final minutes of the ride with new friends.  When we got back to camp, we all congratulated each other on an excellent adventure, and vowed to come back in years to come.  I am hoping that this was the first of many trips to the volcanoes.  With the beauty of the rides, and the amazing lack of population and drivers, it’s a treasure close to home.

Snow tires!

The path on Day 2

The path on Day 2

* Manny Principle – according to Smitty:

“Mere uncertainty and tardy-ness are not sufficient reasons to abandon an adventure. Unless danger is imminent, the adventure must move forward.”

Soften the Rivet

29 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

B17, break-in method, brooks, leather saddle, leather saddle discomfort, Lon Haldeman, mink oil, rivet pearl, sitz bones, sitz bonz, soften leather saddle


Rivet Pearl

Disclaimer – you will possibly ruin your saddle if you try this, and there is no way that any manufacturer will recommend this.  However, if you are planning on selling/trading/or tossing a new leather saddle that isn’t working for you, this may be worth trying…

Further information from the manufacturer (Rivet): Using this procedure will certainly invalidate the 365-day warranty. It falls square into the “altering” the saddle category, so only do this as a very last resort! See this page for proper care of this saddle.

Have a saddle that didn’t quite break in fast enough, or ever?  Disclaimer 2: this process will probably half the life of a saddle.  But…if half the life of the saddle brings you discomfort, who cares.  Especially on a leather saddle which probably has a lifespan of several decades.  If I get 10 years from a comfortable saddle, that is far better than 20 years with only the 2nd half being bearable, right?

Here’s what you do (the following process is a summary of Lon Haldeman’s famous Brooks Break-in method):

  1. Soak the saddle in warm (100 degree ish) water for 5-10 minutes
  2. Dry it off quickly
  3. While the saddle is still warm, slather it with mink oil (or proofide, or Obenaufs)
  4. Put it on your bike and go for a ride – about 5-10 minutes – preferably with old shorts
  5. Put more mink oil on it
  6. Walk away…

The next day, if the saddle is still stiff, repeat the above procedure.  If it is more pliable, go for a longer ride and see how it feels.

Soaked

The back story on this particular saddle isn’t that interesting.  I have about 500 miles of commuting on it, and while the shape is superb, the spot where my sitz bonz sat was hard as a rock, and didn’t seem to be getting any better.  I could ride it with padded shorts for short distances, but no padz, no wayz!

I was ready to throw in the towel on this saddle, but decided that I had spent the money, and wasn’t quite ready to give up.  Now this saddle is not a pure leather variety like a classic Brooks B17 or Pro, but has a waterproof coating layer on top, so I wasn’t so sure I wouldn’t be wrecking it.  Ahhh, risk – gotta love the adrenaline.  I’ve never done the Lon Haldeman treatment on a Brooks, but I did butcher one not long ago, and that turned out OK…

Some slight wrinkling

After the treatment, I observed a bit of a change to the top layer.  It seemed to show the underlying layers a bit more, and even exposed the frame around the side rivets.  There was no major issue around edge separation, so the saddle is still intact and solid.  The shape also remained consistent.  The leather around the right sitz area was definitely harder than the rest of the saddle, and I massaged it (with a rubber mallet, even) more than the rest of the saddle to get it to relax.  It seems to have done the trick.  Lotz of mink oil helps…

Honey, your frame is showing

I noticed on the following day’s ride that I could actually feel the steel frame through the saddle on the right side.  I scanned the saddle from above and it appeared to be ever so slightly askew – like the frame was slightly oriented to the right side.  I did what any sensible man would do and turned the saddle slightly to the right to move the trouble spot back out of the sitz area.  Voila!!!  Perfection!

The next day – 20+ miles with no padded shorts and the saddle disappeared underneath me.  Now thatz what I’m talkin’ bout!

A new saddle!

B17 Special – Imperial Cut DIY

07 Thursday Mar 2013

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

B17, brooks, butchered brooks, chamfered brooks, channelled brooks, cut brooks, cut leather, Imperial, slotted leather saddle, slotted saddle, Special


Starting the cut2 holes at the endsClose up of backFully traced cutWith the toolCut complete
The pieceLayersFront detailSide detailAfter proofideLacing holes
Full channelImperial-like

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…

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