It has been a pretty bikey day in spite of the chilly weather. We rode as a family to breakfast the ladies all bundled up against the 40 deg temps. Then later as it warmed up into the 50s I headed out to the farmer's market. Pretty close to perfect, but I should have had something to keep my knees warm.
I know better when it is below 60 or so, but with it being sunny I decided to push it. The price is not too bad, but they are sore now, and kind of make me feel not so young at the moment.
As part of the efforts to get more motivated with my riding, I decided to track my efforts on the phone with a GPS app. It still surprises me when the data comes in at 14 mph averages, sitting upright in the wind at least half the trip, on a 20 mile around town loop. Not to bad for a guy feeling out of shape at the moment riding on a fat tire bike loaded with produce. We will see how the rest of the week goes.
Another productive week, more time to get things going with childcare going four days a week, Friday is daddy day. Fun stuff all day culminating in a ride to the hardware store to work on counting and then off to the beach. She has fun playing with the other kids, but part of me misses that first year already.
The days are getting shorter still, the time seems to be getting away faster and the motivation to ride has been waning a bit with the cold windy weather. I am working on a plan to get re-motivated, to ride and make pictures like last winter. For now just enjoying the day with my little girl as it is coming to a close.
Happy Friday, and be sure to play outside this weekend!
Grocery Escape December 06 2011, 0 Comments
Broke away from the workshop today to make a quick cross town grocery ride. The winter, read freezing, santa ana winds we have been having finally stopped for a day. It was a perfect time to get outside. Not a cloud in the sky, and clear views out to the islands.
I recently pulled the front bag off of the Roadeo fo ra couple of reasons. I did not make it, and that complicates the answer when people ask where I got the bags. And secondly, coming back to this bike after riding the Trek with a low trail front end geometry I wanted to more accurately be able to assess the effects of load placement on handling. I am still able to haul a decent amount of stuff with the roadeo before things start to get too flexy,
the biggest problem I experience with this load it flex in the saddle behind the clamp due to the attachment of the bagman support. One should expect a little give over bumps and such with an extra 30 lbs or so cantilevered out there. Bottom line, it get the job done, but I actually prefer the handling of the Trek with the load in the front.
And last, a little humor at the intersection.
Town has stayed pretty bikey this winter, every year I see more and more people out, maybe this is a sign that things are making the shift towards "cool"
This morning was the perfect day to go hunt for a tree. The morning low was in the 30's and it actually felt like winter. By the time we had breakfast and loaded up the bikes it was a little warmer out, but still pretty cold by California beach standards. There seems to be an abundance of tree yards this year, and I was able to work out a fun route for a family ride, with little or no traffic.
The ride to the lot was balmy, but the hills helped keep things warm, and the views were incredible now that the last week's wind and dust had settled down.
With the mission half accomplished, Aly decided that the new family ride to get a tree tradition, should include hot chocolate, and who could argue with that.
From there we headed home to unload the tree.
The day was staying nice, the wind never really came up the way it does in the afternoon here. I set up the tree, switched bikes and headed back across town to run some errands and grab a load of food at the Farmer's Market.
I can only imagine how nice it must have been up in the mountains today, this weather is about as good as it gets.
The legs are feeling pretty spent at this point, rest and picture break is over and time to hit the kitchen. Thanks for taking a look and I hope it was this much fun getting your tree this year.
On a side note I finally am coming around to the Facebook thing, still feels a bit funny for some reason, but it is pretty easy to find my, Ocean Air Cycles page and I hope that it makes it a bit easier to follow me here if that is the way you like to keep up on and share things with your friends.
It has been an incredibly busy week coming off of a 4 day break. Today I made it out to ship off what is likely the last round of eBay auctions for the year.
The last few days have been mostly in the shop getting ready for a craft fair at my wife's work, Patagonia. This is a good thing as it forced me into putting a few of my ideas for soft goods into reality. Fringe benefit will be some market research.
You have already seen the touring wallets, now in the shop. The neck gaiters are a fantastic solution for a scarf that can not fall off while you ride, and are in incredibly versatile layering piece to have in your kit. The first round is made from some nice merino wool, I have two different weights on hand. Also, hitting the market tonight will be my first round of prints, limited edition of 100. I plan to offer these four times a year, themed to the season. This one is "Winter Riding - California Style". All of this will be hitting the shop in the next few days.
If you are local and have the time, the craft show is tonight in the firehouse at the Patagonia campus, north building, 4-7 PM. I have been bumping into more and more readers as of late, and that is probably a good thing. Thank you as always for your readership and support.
Have fun - Play outside!
Mid Day Escape November 23 2011, 0 Comments
Yesterday was a perfect day to get out and ride. Crisp clear blue skis with thin clouds. The shipping and receiving team headed out to run some errands.
Once the hard stuff was done, it was off to the beach,
This is the kind of weather we pay extra for, just a little chilly, but you can not complain if you are wearing shorts still.
This is the most beautiful bike I have built up yet. I would even go as far as saying it is nicer than my roadeo from Rivendell. After years of reading on the web and doing multiple 650b conversions on my own, this one went together perfectly the first time. With some careful planning, part procurement and patience this bike went together as if it were always meant to be this way.
This Trek 613 started its life as a 27" wheeled touring bike back in 1981, and by the looks of it once in my garage, it was barely ever ridden. There are a few scuffs in the paint, but most of the damage appears to have happened while in storage. The visible portions of the frame's interior were pristine. I treated the inside with a liberal coating of T9 to keep it rust free as long as possible. For this build I was able to reuse much of the drive train, replacing only the wheels, cassette, and bottom bracket. The headset was preserved, and rebuilt with loose balls and phil grease.
The cockpit was built up with a Nitto Technomic Delux stem, Albatross bars and Shimano brake levers. The brass bell is from Crane in Japan. The grips are blue Neubaums cloth tape over a layer of cork tape. Three layers of garnet shellac brought the final color to a fantastic dark patinaed coppery green that is a perfect contrast to the copper color of the bike. Te saddle is a Brooks B17 Special Select.
The front rack is a Bruce Gordon MTN rack that used to reside on my bike and will be the temporary support system for the Wald basket. While the basket provides incredible versatility, the stock hardware is not up to the task at hand. In the long run this will be set up with a rack that will allow for panniers in a low mount with a high mount to support the basket. The fork dropout only has a single eyelet to support both the rack and fender. My work around for this is to thread in a hex bolt from the inside, providing a stud to mount both. The whole assembly is then held on with a lock nut. In theory if the nut ever came loose, it should all still be able to be held in place with a zip tie until you could get to a hardware store.
I utilised Dia-Compe 750 centerpull brakes to get the required reach to the smaller rims. The stock pads were replaced with KoolStop Cross Pads. The wheel set is Shimano Tiagra laced to Velocity Synergy rims. I opted to use an 8spd rear cassette to hopefully be a bit more forgiving with the Suntour Symmetric DT shifters. The downside to this is that the shifters only move the chain across 7 of the 8 cogs due to the limited throw.
Now for the part that everybody cares about. I opted to use Panaracer Col De La Vie tires on this bike to ensure adequate tire clearance at the chain stays. These older Trek frames, pre 82, will generally have room for a tire up to 38mm wide without needing to dimple the stays for more space. Spreading the rear from 126 to 130 mm at the dropouts while adding tire space in theory did not make a noticeable difference in reality. The fenders are Berthoud 650b x 50 mm. These were fairly simple to install, only requires minor re-shaping to accommodate the horizontal stays, leave plenty of room to install wider tires in the future and resulted in near perfect fender line around the tire. I did make a wooden mandrel to help shape indents for better fender clearance at the fork and chain stays. The rear brake bridge attachment was made with Honjo hardware. The connection at the chain stay bridge was made with a long bold and spacer. While a spacer is not ideal, it seemed a better option than moving the bridge on a bike in this condition.
Rear wheel at mid-dropout.
Rear wheel all the way back in the dropouts.
I would like to thank a whole bunch of people for sharing their knowledge on the web. If not for the collective knowledge provided by old Rivendell Readers, the iBoB and 650b email lists and the Bicycle Quarterly publication I likely would not have been able to work through this build in a single pass. It is the knowledge shared by those who have gone this way before that helped me to build such a wonderful bike.
Likewise, online vendors such as Universal Cycles, Rene Herse Cycles, Wallingford Bike, and Ben's Cycle all made it possible to source the needed components.
This bike is going to have a new lease on life. Its owner is going to pick her up tonight. The planned maiden voyage will be a 90 mile ride home from Jalama state park. I wish I was along for the ride, it is going to be a good day tomorrow. Thanks to Mike for giving me the chance to build this bike up as a blue-collar constructeur.
Off to cleain it up for delivery, thanks for taking a look.
The rain stopped long enough that things could dry out this morning, and I would not feel guilty taking my buddies project bike out for a few morning pictures.
I am really happy with this build, Trek 613 650b conversion. I am working on the detailed writeup today, should have it posted by this afternoon. These older Treks are just fantastic bikes.
The color was described as "gold", but it is pretty close to road/school bus yellow,
and I think it is perfect for riding around town. Just a quick trip to the hardware store and then by the beach today. Perfect riding weather.
I have a couple of bikes in the garage that am working on for some friends. One you have seen bits of, is the Trek 613 650b conversion. All of the parts I needed for the build made it in this week, and I have started to fit it all together. Today I made a wooden mandrel to dimple the 50mm Berthoud fenders for a clean fit.
Things are just a little tight at the fork crown and chain stays. With the block I am able to support the form of the fender while using a steel tube and hammer to form the fenders into the indentation. It turned out better than expected. I took an abundance of pictures and hope to have a full write up completed in the coming weeks. For now, here are the test fit pics.
Next it all comes back apart, the headset will be polished and re-built with loose ball bearings, spread and align the rear, replace the bottom bracket and bolt everything back together. Should be done this week.
Another fun little bike was wrapped up this past weekend. A co-worker of my wife had this old Nishiki Prestige kicking around. It came in filthy and covered with a fresh ly hatched set of baby spiders. A thorough cleaning, lube, new brake shoes, tires headset and tape.
It is still a little rusty and tired, but a very fun bike with life left in it. The Tange 2 tube set has a nice ride to it.
I also was able to pick up a couple of shirts this week
A pair of honest rugby shirts, MADE IN THE U.S.A.!!! I am very happy with the initial sample pair. (more on that soon too)
I know better when it is below 60 or so, but with it being sunny I decided to push it. The price is not too bad, but they are sore now, and kind of make me feel not so young at the moment.
As part of the efforts to get more motivated with my riding, I decided to track my efforts on the phone with a GPS app. It still surprises me when the data comes in at 14 mph averages, sitting upright in the wind at least half the trip, on a 20 mile around town loop. Not to bad for a guy feeling out of shape at the moment riding on a fat tire bike loaded with produce. We will see how the rest of the week goes.
