Backup Bike

30 Tuesday Dec 2014

Tags

bicycle, bike, bike commute, Miyata, Sealant, Stan's, Stumpjumper Pro, tubeless, Whidbey Island

Sometimes life throws you a lemon. Don’t get me wrong – first world problem hit me today. I’m chilling on Whidbey Island for the week, and my wife and daughter went back to the mainland for a cat feeding, and shopping expedition (the cat stays home in Seattle). I wanted to ride to the local Ace Hardware to get a steelhead jig for shore fishing. I planned on doing the ride with my Toussaint, but when I went to get it from the garage, I found the front tire nearly empty. It appears that one of my rides to the beach brought it in contact with a shell shard that caused a slow leak.

Not Lemons…

These tires are in a tubeless config, but I haven’t added any sealant in about 8 months, and that seems to be too long (a friend refills every 6 months or so). I pulled the shard and spun the wheel a bit after pumping them back up, so we’ll see if it holds, but I’m doubtful. Lemons.

Needs more sealant

Did this stop my jaunt to Ace? Hell no. I just jumped on my backup bike! I have my old Stumpjumper Pro from 1991, and the tires had air. No fenders, but it is cold and clear with no water on the roads, so no worries. I was out and back in less than an hour, and even felt that old early ’90’s rigid mountain bike feeling sensing even some of the same smells I remember from riding my first real MTB. The brain is a weird organ.

I read a lot of folks talking about getting an “extra set of wheels” or a “different cockpit” for different kind of rides. In my experience, you can often pick up a whole bike to do what you want for the same price as the parts to rebuilt your existing frame into something else.

More time to see the barns!

Having another bike gives you more time to ride. There are less excuses needed. I read a great statistical analysis of Seattle commuters using the Fremont Bridge route. One of the points was a look at how rain affects commuting (spoiler – it does). If you had a backup bike, say like a “beater” that had fenders and tough tires, you would have less reason not to bike in the rain, right?

In my case, most all my bikes have fenders, but I find myself pulling my Miyata out for rain duty more often than my other, nicer bikes. It still rides like a dream, and looks great with the hammered Honjo fenders, but I don’t mind if it gets soaked, muddy, put away wet, etc…

A Bike for Dad

25 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by Brian Hanson in Cycling

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Tags

bosco, Miyata, mtb conversion, rivendell, upright, urban bike

My folks are visiting Washington this summer to escape the heat of Arizona. My mom had a bike with her (an older Japanese Soma from the 80s), but my dad was out of luck. I happened to have a pretty good solution in the Miyata that I had relegated to “lunch ride” bike. The cockpit wasn’t going to work, however. Way too hunched over for a 72-year-old. The genius of Rivendell’s Bosco bars came to the rescue. I showed him an Albatross setup, as well, but he wanted the higher bars. After an interesting start launching off the driveway wall, he was underway. I lowered the seat a bit, but otherwise the bike fit him just right. Look at that upright position he’s able to get on a laid out ’88 downhill MTB large frame! Not bad!

I’ll miss this one this summer, but will make due with the alternates. I’m glad this bike is still finding a home with someone who will be able to enjoy it. It deserves to be ridden for a few more decades. Lugged steel!

The Weapon of Weep

14 Monday Apr 2014

Posted by Brian Hanson in Cycling

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Brooks Pro, canti, compass, CX70, diamond bar wrap, dirt drop, harlequin wrap, Miyata, RidgeRunner Team, scrambler, thumbie, u-brake, v-brake

I plan to become a stronger rider. That much is for sure. One way to do it is stop eating big fat lunches with the workmates, and go out on my bus/carpool/motorcycle days to ride intervals. I don’t really have a great bike for that, however. Wait… Maybe I do? The old Miyata RidgeRunner Team that was my Bosco’d lazy bike might fit? I’ve always sort of loved this mutt – it has a great fast, low feel to it. Awesome Compass tires that feel like 26″ Hetres!

But, there is that high bottom bracket which was made to fly over fallen logs and various obstacles on the ’88 downhill circuit. That’s the achilles heel for this bike, I fear. Then there is the obnoxious U-Brake. Hmmm – I guess this may still work for a 1-hour lunch ride slash torture session. Better than sitting barless and sad in the basement bike heap. OK – first things first. Put on an old dirt drop cockpit setup I have laying around. I hope the reach isn’t too short.

Nice! Even has the diamond tape! Not really a match, but I’ll add a little blue to the drops. There. Much better… Now about shifters. Hmmm – I could do the stem setup like I had on the clown bike?

Nope. Too much hand movement – can’t deal with that while I’m cranking up a hill at top speed, right? How about something more ergo – perhaps thumbie style?

Awww yeah – that’s more like it… Now is this a scramblin’ interval machine or what?

This sucker looks fast just standing there. Like it’s going to jump the start and kill the field. Those lugs! Those fenders! That raked cockpit! Damnnnnn. Better put some clipless pedals on this beast. Need maximum torque. Let’s put a Ti Brooks Pro on there, too. Keep the weight and comfort down – no sense getting complacent and sitting down on the ride…

Hmmm – that old V-Brake’s gotta go. No problem solver rig this time. This bike was built in the golden era of cantis. Hey – I just got a pair of CX70s for the rando bike that I didn’t need (had centerpulls). How about we try one out on the front? Crap – gotta put a cable hanger on there somewhere… Hmmm… I know I have one lying around somewhere. There we go. Got it. OK – now comes the fun part! Get it to work. It’s raining tomorrow – perfect day for a transport stage. There’s life in this old steed yet!

RidgeRunner Porteur

14 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by Brian Hanson in Cycling

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

bike cockpits, commute, fog, Miyata, nitto, RidgeRunner Team, Seattle, Soma Grand Randonneur, Technomics

RidgeRunner Porteur, a set on Flickr.

I promised some photos of the re-cockpitted Miyata, and it was light out when I rode in today. It was a nice misty day by the time I got downtown. The fog started as I neared the Sound, and I was covered in wet mist by the time I got to work. Another beautiful Seattle commute!

Comments on the setup:

I love the way this bike rides, but it’s time to disassemble in anticipation of the forthcoming Soma Grand Randonneur.
I may keep the frame, but I have a feeling it won’t get ridden much.
The bottom bracket is too high, which pushes the seat too high – too much seatpost showing.
I would also put a longer stem on this beast – probably a Nitto Technomics 110.
The reach is a bit too short this way.
I also won’t do 175mm cranks again. After 170/171s it feels like I’m really moving the legs a lot!

Bike Work

12 Sunday Jan 2014

Posted by Brian Hanson in Cycling

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Tags

a. homer hilsen, bosco, Grand Randonneur, Miyata, porteur, rivendell, Shimano, Soma GR

I needed some “dad alone time” tonight, so I did a little work on the Miyata RidgeRunner Team. I like the Rivendell Bosco bars, and have used them for over a year, but it was time for a change. They are huge, and allow an amazing amount of variety, but they started to feel a bit clownish – perhaps it’s the tape job…

I put a VO Porteur setup back on this bike. This was a cockpit I had originally on the Hunqapillar, and liked it quite a bit. I also started out with porteurs on my Hilsen after a bad experience with some of the larger (46cm) Noodles. I rode that configuration for quite a while until I got a bit of hand numbness on a 100k in 2012.

The porteurs are narrow, and have enough reach back towards me that they offer a bit more upright position than drops. They also look cool :)

In doing this, I had to replace all the cables due to the length differences. I also went to bar end shifters (indexed Shimano 8-speed). They work fine on the 7-speed cassette, BTW. The bike feels smaller and narrower now. I don’t have the bolt upright feel that I had with the Boscos, but I’m saving them for someday when I need to relax a bit. With more randonneuring coming this year, I need to get used to the more aero position of the drops, and the porteurs aren’t too off.

I’ve thought about selling the Miyata with the forthcoming Soma GR I am planning to build up, but I’m not sure I can do it. I like the bike a lot, and have put a lot of time and effort into reviving it from the ’80’s MTB form I found it in. I will post some pics of the new config in the next week, but for now, here’s the old version.