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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.

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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.

 

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…

 

 

 

Diamond Tape Session

27 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

bleriot, bosco, city chickens, cycling, diamond bar wrap, diamond wrap, harlequin, harlequin wrap, Miyata, saluki


AudienceChickens?Ahhh - BeerCan we come in?Usual SuspectsThe Host
Host BikeBruce's CockpitCool RackTall Acorn Boxy RandoRob M's Big BagBleriot & Ridge Runner Team
Rob M is Quick!Celeste and Yellow!It Takes Concentration!First RowAccent is DoneFirst Row on Bleriot
Beausage!In ProgressWorking the HoodsWhere do I Cut This??Starting More DiamondsRob M at Work

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…

Harlequin Bar Tape How-To

28 Friday Dec 2012

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

bar tape, cloth tape, diamond wrap, handlebar tape, harlequin, harlequin wrap, Hunqapillar, Newbaum's, rivendell


Taping the Diamonds

Taping the Diamonds

How-To on Taping Bars

This is a short how-to video on doing a Harlequin (diamond pattern) bar wrap with cloth tape on drop bars.  I am definitely not a video professional, so this may not be helpful, but I’ve done over 10 bar wraps using this method, and it works.  As I can’t find a good video tutorial on how to do this, I figured I would contribute what I could to the cause.  I hope you enjoy it.  This pattern is unique and really classes up a bike.  I originally learned this via Jim Varnum’s excellent photo tutorial linked here: http://www.wastedlife.org/bike/harlequin/index.html

Progress!

Progress!

Harlequin Bar Tape

20 Sunday May 2012

Posted by Stonehog in Cycling

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

a. homer hilsen, bar, cotton, fenders, harlequin, Hunqapillar, rivendell, shellac, sykes, tape, twine, wrap


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!!

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