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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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

Entmoot

20 Sunday Jul 2014

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

20th Annual, basket, bicycle, brooks, cycling, entmoot, Grant Petersen, harlequin, harlequin wrap, Hunqapillar, rivendell, sackville, Seattle


Last week, I left Seattle for a 4-day trek down the coast to the Bay area for a special ride with folks from Rivendell and the RBW Owners Bunch .

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I left on Thursday around 3:30pm, and after some initial slow traffic out of Seattle, hit Portland around 7:30pm to pick up some guys from last year’s Seattle/Portland Riv Rumble.

Loaded for the Entmoot

I also met the infamous Coconut Bill and Hugh Smitham from SoCal!  Both were up in Portlandia scoping out a future.  Hugh grabbed a ride with us on his return south, so we had a full truck of bikes and bike nerds!

Around 2:30am we ran out of steam just south of Shasta (northern California) and pulled into a rest stop to… well… rest?

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We unrolled the bedrolls and slept under a tree until I felt some rain drops around 5am and sounded the alarm.  A quick pack up in the cloudburst revived us enough to make it all the way down to Rivendell World Headquarters by around 10am.  It was Aaron’s first time to HQ, so he rode every bike model they had (OK, Andy and I rode a few, as well).  Vince was great in accommodating us making us some tasty espresso, and helping with the bike fitting.

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This is where we parted ways with Hugh, who was going to meet up with some pals at Samuel P Taylor State Park on Friday night.  Andy, Aaron, and I had other plans, however.  We had to ditch the truck (Thanks Tommy!) in San Leandro, and BART back to Walnut Creek for a special ride with Tommy, Manny and friends up to Shell Ridge for a bit of guerilla camping under the stars.  This was a serious blast, and actually an inaugural S24O for me and my Hunqapillar.  I finally got to load ‘er up and ride up some hills!

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Manny (Manuel Acosta) is an active list member who is known for his photography of the local Rivendell riding grounds around the bay area (Shell Ridge, Mt. Diablo, China Camp), and his amazing adventures on his summers off with pals (he is a teacher).  He certainly lived up to his reputation – a natural ride leader with boundless energy and enthusiasm.  He welcomed all of us like old friends, and took us on some amazing trails in Shell Ridge, an area a mile away from Rivendell HQ.  His Sam Hillborne is an amazing testament to hard use and beausage (beautiful usage), as well.  He’s done everything from camping/touring to mountain bike racing to 300k brevets on this thing.  Talk about versatility!

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We camped out on a flat hilltop in the wind-burned dry grass.

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A few of us followed Manny and the locals for some mountain biking around the area, and I found out how much fun a fully rigid bike is on these trails.  Even with a large basket on front, and a big back bag!  Tire note – the Clement MSOs ripped it!  No issues with traction or flats all weekend – and plenty of sharp objects and dusty washouts were traversed.  The Albastache bars were spot on for this sort of riding, as well.

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At this point, I was pretty popped, so sleep came quickly.  We had a great breeze, and a few folks stayed up chatting into the night, but the SEA/PDX crew crashed hard.

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The next morning we had some coffee and a few dry bits of food, and headed back down to the BART station to rendezvous with folks in San Francisco for ride up to China Camp, the official site of the Entmoot.  Here we loaded up on some breaky and hardy bits to bring camping, and also met the next level of the list contingent.  Lots of amazing people came together for this ride.  All sizes and shapes! Manny (5’er) rode Amit’s (6’7″?) Bombadil, and there was much laughing.

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After the full assembly and some photos, we headed off to cross the Golden Gate, and rode north through Sausalito, Larkspur, and San Rafael, before arriving at our destination.  This was a fun ride – easy, low-key, and allowed us to really see the north bay area.  Lots of bikes, and all were met with Manny ringing his bell, and Amit ringing and waving!  This caught on to the whole group.  We definitely looked a bit out of place from the lycra crowd, but everyone was friendly.

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At China Camp, we found five folks from Rivendell, including Grant Petersen himself, as well as Rich Lesnik (wheelbuilder) joining us for the overnight.  We got ourselves unpacked and situated, and just walked around talking and meeting all the great folks we had gotten to know only through their list posts.  It’s really amazing how cool this group of folks is in person!

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I was lined up to do a demo of harlequin bar wrapping with some bars that Joe Bunik brought along, but I had to try to catch Manny and his cohorts, who had taken off on another mountain biking trek in the hills surrounding China Camp.  This riding really reminded me of the trails in Seattle, only much, much dryer!  I never did catch them, but I passed a couple guys climbing the ridge in full gear on dual suspension bikes.  I’m sure they were surprised by my helmetless, sandle-wearing, basket/bagged Hunqa thundering by them up the ridge.  After dusting up my legs, I returned to camp and had some dinner, meeting more folks in the process, including Hugh who had returned from the other state park.  I had some great chats with Grant P about his new HAR racks and bags, and Rich Lesnick who had started his career at Boeing in Seattle.  Then it was time for the bar wrapping session with Joe.

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This was interrupted (hope you got the bars done, Joe!) by an amazing raffle that the Riv folks held for the Entmooters.  We all got a patch commemorating the event, and several of us were lucky enough to win some cool gear including soaps, bags, and even a hatchet!  I came out of it with a reflective triangle for the Hunq.

We had to hit the trail early the next morning so as to make the 9am ferry out of Larkspur.  I was up pretty early, so brewed up a few shots of coffee on the Trangia.  Great stove, BTW.  Roger checked out my Seattle beans and compared the roast to his home-roasted batches.  Wow – coffee and bike geekery is a common thread here.

16

I got a couple of last goodbyes and photos with the folks that made this all happen.

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After some rejuvenating beverages, we headed on out for a fine morning ride back to the ferry and civilization.  S48O complete!

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The ride back up to Portlandia and Seattle was fairly uneventful, although more could be written about this adventure as it involved cleanup and lunch bought by Tommy’s dad when we returned to the truck, a three-hour last stop at Bike, Book, and Hatchet, and a search for a good liquor store where I could find some nice Islays, and other strange drinks for Aaron (??).  We had a beautiful sunset on the way past Shasta – it always seems to be a picturesque place when I go through this part of the country.

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We made it to within 90 miles before I became bleary-eyed and had to stop at another rest stop for some shut-eye.  Up to Andy’s early and a goodbye breakfast at Bertie-Lou’s (um, yum!).  Great trip!  I really can see this becoming an annual trek.

Photos from the Entmoot

Backdrop:  in 1994, Grant Petersen left Bridgestone when they folded their US bicycle operation, and started a small mail-order bicycle business that he named after a backpack company and elf city of literary fame.  The business slowly grew with like-minded cyclists who feel steel, leather, lugs, and Grant’s relaxed geometry exemplifies a quality ride.  As the internet became popular around the same timeframe, a newsgroup was formed and dedicated to discussions of Rivendell bikes and ethics.  This branched out of the original iBOB list (Bridgestone Owners Bunch) that had quite a following. RBW was born, and has blossomed into 2000+ users.  It’s a real community of like-minded, friendly folks from around the world.

 

The Little Things…

26 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

5-10, a. homer hilsen, brooks, fitness, gluteus medius, iliotibial band, randonneur, Selle Anatomica, Sidi, sitz bones, Toussaint


As I ride more long brevets, I start to really notice the subtle things that hurt/irritate on a bike.  Right now, my biggest issue is my knees – they seem to start bothering me just beyond the 50 mile mark – mainly on the outside Iliotibial Band (ITB).  I was able to get through a 200k with a bit of discomfort, but I now know that I need to work on either fit, or fitness to go too much farther, or I will be hurting.  I’ve started working on my gluteus medius muscles after reading how weakness here can impact your ITB.  We shall see how it goes, but it may take some time to balance out my legs enough so my knees aren’t paying the price.

As for the seat and shoes, I have so far been lucky with no issues.  The Selle Anatomica just works.  No soreness on the sitz bones, and no numbness after the 200k.  On the other hand, after 10 miles on my Brooks Pro, I was ready to bust out the benjamins for another SA.  Wow.  My shoes are also great – both the 5-10 sneakers, and my Sidi Spyders have been stellar with no numb or irritated toes/arch.  Good stuff.

On the neck front, I did get a little stiff at 200k.  The bars on my Toussaint were about 1cm lower than on the Hilsen, so tonight I raised them as I didn’t have issues with this last year.  This next week will likely bring a 300k attempt for me, so we’ll see how this change pans out.  Oh yeah – I’m going to drop the seat just a half cm or so, as well.  That may help the ITB in addition to the new exercises…

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…

 

 

 

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!

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