Today is looking to be a good day to ride to the market. The rain has passed, temps are cool and crisp.
Until then, I have started adding more to the Garage sale section of the site. Today will be frame pumps, handlebars and saddles.
Possibly more tonight, some modern and vintage tires, a few seatposts, etc
Thanks for taking a look
Crazy Day November 09 2011, 0 Comments
The Niner finally sold, did another Local TV interview recording session, 18 month progress for the little girl at child care, and still grabbed a minute or five to roll through the swap meet and by the beach.
The weather has been fantastic, cold mornings, but the days are about as good as it gets. Momentum is building in with the bike commute scene in our local community. Likewise I have had a couple of good meetings this week to keep the tailwind blowing on this venture. Also, all the parts are in for a couple of builds I am working on and should have some progress posts in the near future.
Lunch Date November 07 2011, 0 Comments
Today was perfect for a mid day escape to ride with my wife and the dog, childcare does allow for the occasional date.
While we were out-of-town, winter seems to have jumped right past fall. Morning temps have been in the low 40's and just creeping over 60 in the day. Time to hang up the lightweight AC shirts and pull out the flannel and rugby shirts. Granted, we are spoiled when winter riding still includes shorts.
The Bridgestone RB-T that I had posted about a while back is finally completed and in use by ha happy new owner. In reality this bike did not need much more than a cleaning, new cables, tires, fenders and an old loved Brooks saddle.
I am really happy with the way this one turned out, and the new owner is stoked. The request was fo ra road bike that is still quick and fun to ride, yet could manage a medium load of groceries etc. This bike popped up, in near NOS condition and fit the bill. We had the rack, saddle and tires on hand. The fenders are the new SKS Longboards. THey were as easy as any SKS fender to set up, and have much better coverage than the standard fender offerings. The drive train is all original, near pristine and even the shifting still indexes perfectly.
One thing this bike still had, but is seldom seen are the SR / Sakae pedals:
Smooth spinning, wide enough for smaller feet and easy to service if needed. I really love the old Sakae pedals, but they are from an era that has passed.
This bike will be seeing a lot of use hopefully.
Transitions November 02 2011, 0 Comments
Making the rounds today was a bit of a shock coming from 15 days of 85% relative humidity and tropical warmth to the single digit RH, 40 mph winds and dust storm we are having today.
Still though, keeping things in perspective, it is better than ice and snow.
While helping friends with their bikes, I have had the opportunity to work with a lot of really nice gear I would not have usually had come through the garage on my own budget. This time it is one of the new Brooks Select saddles.
First thought in my mind as I slid open the box was, WOW, everything a Brooks saddle should be is right in front of me.
The leather is thick and firm, not the thin flexy stuff of recent regular production. Shiny Copper rivets, and all the little things like proofide, tension wrench and a cloth to wipe it down. As I pulled it all open there were more surprises.
Mostly catalogs and marketing, but it looks well put together and worth a deeper look as time permits. The best surprise was the included rain cover, hidden under the saddle.
This is a fantastic addition that alleviates the need for an additional purchase, and/or the use of bags and shower caps when caught in the rain. The design is well thought out, with a deep nose pocket, draw-string tensioner and cut in the rear to leave room for the bag loops.
The saddle itself is beautiful. The leather is left natural and un-died. The saddle will likely take on a nice patina as the years stack up. The Leather is much thicker feeling than the average brooks saddle of recent production. I have been recommending the Berthoud saddles to those with the budget due to some of the quality issues I have had with Brooks offerings over the last couple of years. Roughly 1 in 3 of the saddle I bought were either too thin to support well, or would sag out within months. When the select line was announced I was excited and have been waiting for a chance to get my hands on one. Also of note is the Organic leather, I am not exactly clear on what this means with respect to a non edible good, but will look into it further and report back. It certainly is not a bad thing.
The steel frame is painted with a rough black paint. This appears more robust than the copper or chrome plating on other models I have. The coastal ocean air has resulted in a quick decline of the appearance on my other saddles. While the shiny finish looks god out of the box it has ever held up well.
I applied the initial coat of proofide to the top and bottom of the saddle. The color only darkened slightly.
This saddle will be going on a vintage Trek 650b conversion and will complement the look of the bike perfectly. I know that the owner plans to put the miles on this bike, and I look forward to sharing reports on the long-term performance.
I would also like to note my source for this saddle. Wallingford Bicycle Parts was and is fantastic to deal with. They are always fast to ship, great with communication, prices are competitive and the frosting on the cake is th e 6 month unconditional satisfaction guarantee. A few years back when the US $ was strong against the Euro and British Pound I was sourcing things from Europe directly. As the exchange rate has settled a bit the cost savings is not nearly as great, and the service from US companies like Wallingford more than makes up for the dollar or two you might save. In this case they happened to have the best price I could find as well. I look forward to buying from them in the future.
Made it out for a bit this morning to run some errands, 24hr grocery stores hooray, and cruise by the beach.
Looks like I am going to be getting some work done today, pretty small surf, and yes the fog is looming just off shore.
On the news front, the niner had up for sale, then not, is up for sale again. You can see it
here. I also have plenty of the silver shifter bump caps,
here. These and a few other items will be starting to sill up my shop/garage sale pages in the coming week. I have 4 bike projects for friends in the works with more to come, this should help spice up the content around here in the next couple of weeks too.
Happy Monday, be sure to ride this week!
Thank You for taking a look!
I have made it a year now today, and without the encouragement of you all looking regularly it would not be so much fun. I have learned a bunch, met some new people and achieved some of my goals. The foremost, using the tools at my disposal to encourage you to get outside, ride your bike, escape the inertia of using your car to get around and play a bit. It appears to be working on that front. The rest has some room for growth, but that will come.
Back to the photo stuff. I really have enjoyed the GoPro for its ease of use and angle of view. The thing is that I have been feeling a bit lazy with respect to my creativity. The creative outlet fuels the rest of the passion to keep this going. I will be relying less on the GoPro an da bit mor eon my other cameras from here on out. With darkness approaching I decided it was high time to teach myself the art of long exposure night shooting. Not as tricky as I thought for my first stab at it.
The shots take a little more setup and gear hauling. The results are well worth the effort. This was the most fun I have had shooting in a while.
Thank you again for your readership, and as we roll into the fall and winter do not forget, PLAY OUTSIDE!!
Happy Friday.
Yes, it really was as nice as it looks. The weather was perfect, the ride was longer than I planned, nad that made it better. I look back and find it hard to remember a time when it was more fun to get the food for the week. The food tastes better when you sweat a little to get it too.
Possibly more tonight, some modern and vintage tires, a few seatposts, etc
Thanks for taking a look
The weather has been fantastic, cold mornings, but the days are about as good as it gets. Momentum is building in with the bike commute scene in our local community. Likewise I have had a couple of good meetings this week to keep the tailwind blowing on this venture. Also, all the parts are in for a couple of builds I am working on and should have some progress posts in the near future.
While we were out-of-town, winter seems to have jumped right past fall. Morning temps have been in the low 40's and just creeping over 60 in the day. Time to hang up the lightweight AC shirts and pull out the flannel and rugby shirts. Granted, we are spoiled when winter riding still includes shorts.
I am really happy with the way this one turned out, and the new owner is stoked. The request was fo ra road bike that is still quick and fun to ride, yet could manage a medium load of groceries etc. This bike popped up, in near NOS condition and fit the bill. We had the rack, saddle and tires on hand. The fenders are the new SKS Longboards. THey were as easy as any SKS fender to set up, and have much better coverage than the standard fender offerings. The drive train is all original, near pristine and even the shifting still indexes perfectly.
One thing this bike still had, but is seldom seen are the SR / Sakae pedals:
Smooth spinning, wide enough for smaller feet and easy to service if needed. I really love the old Sakae pedals, but they are from an era that has passed.
This bike will be seeing a lot of use hopefully.
Still though, keeping things in perspective, it is better than ice and snow.
First thought in my mind as I slid open the box was, WOW, everything a Brooks saddle should be is right in front of me.
The leather is thick and firm, not the thin flexy stuff of recent regular production. Shiny Copper rivets, and all the little things like proofide, tension wrench and a cloth to wipe it down. As I pulled it all open there were more surprises.
Mostly catalogs and marketing, but it looks well put together and worth a deeper look as time permits. The best surprise was the included rain cover, hidden under the saddle.
This is a fantastic addition that alleviates the need for an additional purchase, and/or the use of bags and shower caps when caught in the rain. The design is well thought out, with a deep nose pocket, draw-string tensioner and cut in the rear to leave room for the bag loops.
The saddle itself is beautiful. The leather is left natural and un-died. The saddle will likely take on a nice patina as the years stack up. The Leather is much thicker feeling than the average brooks saddle of recent production. I have been recommending the Berthoud saddles to those with the budget due to some of the quality issues I have had with Brooks offerings over the last couple of years. Roughly 1 in 3 of the saddle I bought were either too thin to support well, or would sag out within months. When the select line was announced I was excited and have been waiting for a chance to get my hands on one. Also of note is the Organic leather, I am not exactly clear on what this means with respect to a non edible good, but will look into it further and report back. It certainly is not a bad thing.
The steel frame is painted with a rough black paint. This appears more robust than the copper or chrome plating on other models I have. The coastal ocean air has resulted in a quick decline of the appearance on my other saddles. While the shiny finish looks god out of the box it has ever held up well.
I applied the initial coat of proofide to the top and bottom of the saddle. The color only darkened slightly.
This saddle will be going on a vintage Trek 650b conversion and will complement the look of the bike perfectly. I know that the owner plans to put the miles on this bike, and I look forward to sharing reports on the long-term performance.
I would also like to note my source for this saddle. Wallingford Bicycle Parts was and is fantastic to deal with. They are always fast to ship, great with communication, prices are competitive and the frosting on the cake is th e 6 month unconditional satisfaction guarantee. A few years back when the US $ was strong against the Euro and British Pound I was sourcing things from Europe directly. As the exchange rate has settled a bit the cost savings is not nearly as great, and the service from US companies like Wallingford more than makes up for the dollar or two you might save. In this case they happened to have the best price I could find as well. I look forward to buying from them in the future.
It has a few scratches here and there, but overall was taken care of quite well.
Reynolds 531 tube set, gobs of tire space and a decent drive train. This is going to be a fun one. The end target is 650b with Col De La Vie tires, Berthoud fenders, Albatross bars and we are still sussing out what the basket rack combo will be. Sourcing has commenced for the build and it will hopefully be done in a few weeks.
Stay tuned for details!
Looks like I am going to be getting some work done today, pretty small surf, and yes the fog is looming just off shore.
On the news front, the niner had up for sale, then not, is up for sale again. You can see it 
The shots take a little more setup and gear hauling. The results are well worth the effort. This was the most fun I have had shooting in a while.
Thank you again for your readership, and as we roll into the fall and winter do not forget, PLAY OUTSIDE!!
Happy Friday.