The commuter inches closer to completion. I’ve taken the brake calipers — Avid Shorty 6s — off my ‘cross bike and installed them on the commuter. They’ll be fine on a commuter rig, but I wasn’t very happy with them in competition last year. The ‘cross bike will be receiving a set of the Paul Components calipers later this summer.
This will leave me with just the STI brake/shift lever and the wheelset to order, and the commuter bike will be functionally-complete.
So the cyclocross bike plans? Some minor upgrades before the start of ‘cross season: Paul Components Touring Canti brakes with the Moon Unit bridges. Also, replacing my crappy Cane Creek cross-top levers with Paul’s re-issue of their levers. Some blue Nokon cable housing for the brakes, and a longer cable hanger for the front end. A new seat — the SLR is a comfy seat, but I kept bruising the hell out of my ass and thighs during the dismount. Maybe — and that’s a big maybe — a carbon seatpost and stem to increase the ride comfort.
The novel is still in the outlining/gestating period of things. Last week, while driving to work in the rain, I wish some evil upon the more tentative (”wussy”) drivers out there. Those wishes were not fulfilled, but they did lead to the idea of an interesting environment. I filed it under “Neat Place to Set a Sci-Fi Novel”…and did nothing more with it until Sunday. I realized that it will work into the currently book quite nicely, and be even more useful if/when I write follow-up pieces.
On the bike side of the equation, I already went ahead and blew my entire next bike shop paycheck on parts for the commuter rig, which is getting close to done. Acquired: Shimano XT rear derailleur (the cool “Shadow” model), bottom bracket, crankset, chainring (42-tooth), fenders, and a few other minor items.
On order: handlebar, bashguard, and some other cheap part I can’t remember.
Still remaining: wheelset, STI 9-speed shifter, front brake cable hanger (using cantilevers), brake calipers (front and rear), and then I have a ridable bike. To make it commuter worthy, I’ll still need to get panniers,
[If you’re here for more information on commuting by bicycle, try starting with this particular entry.]
Not a lot exciting to report here. Racing season was supposed to kick off on Sunday, but I didn’t make it. There’s an opportunity tonight, but I don’t have the energy for it. I could race on Saturday, but there’s this century ride on Sunday, and it’s my last ride with my friend/riding compadre, Liz, before she heads off for her medical residency in Buffalo (NY) and I never see her again.
Progress on the track bike has stalled — don’t think I’ll be racing the velodrome this year due to financial constraints. Read the rest of this entry »
The city of London has an ad they’re playing about staying aware of your surroundings while driving, which I’m embedding here for the sake of completeness:
This has inspired some thinking on the subject and I am beginning to wonder a few things.
Are cyclists frequently victims in vehicle accidents because we’re such an unexpected encounter on the road? Or is it that driver’s ed spends all of about 30 seconds in dealing with the subject of cyclists? Thoughts?
Once again, I face the prospects of entering a season with little/no training. Now, to my credit, I actually made an attempt at training this year before I started racing. Unlike last year’s festivities which, hereinafter, shall be referred to as the “Year of Blowing Chunks”…
The good news is, it’s still early in the season and I have plenty of time to get into some semblance of conditioning.
Sunday, I have my first race of the season, the MSU Campus Criterium. MSU used to be “Mankato State” and is my alma mater. Should be an interesting time.
Photo by jessflickr. Licensed under the Creative Commons.
[This piece is the fourth in a five-part series in this blog about how to effectively commute by bike. For Part I, click here.]
I’m hoping that my earlier posts about bicycle commuting got some of you inspired to get out there and start riding. Here in Minnesota, it’s still a little bit on the cold side, and (as I write this) in almost the middle of April we’re under a winter storm warning. I’ve been working on building a commuter bike, since my commute is about 7.5 times longer than it used to be. A single-speed won’t suffice anymore. (I’ll detail the completed bike in a future post.)
So. You’ve been commuting. You’re probably dropping weight, and starting to see a general improvement in your moods. But things could be better. This section will discuss things to improve your commuting experience. Read the rest of this entry »
Every so often, I’m going to post “Circling Back” entries where I revisit things I previously posted about. This is the first in those entries, revisiting things both “cycling” and “writing”…
So for a long time, I’ve wanted to start building bicycle frames. It’s not just an issue of wanting to make cool bike frames (though that’s a part of it), but I’ve had this weird urge for years to make art bikes. But beyond that basic urge, I never really had any strong, overwhelming ideas.
Yesterday, I finally had my idea, and it’s pushing my buttons (in a good way). So I think that I’m going to find some basic metal-working classes to take over the next year, and sign up for a class with a framebuilder for early 2009 (after I have some vacation time banked up). I’ll be using the next year for some general research and some practice working with tiny batches of materials in an effort to get an idea of what I can and can’t do with the materials.
The end goal is to produce a series of three bikes — one for myself, and two that I’ll sell. They’ll all have the same theme (to be revealed at a much later date), and I’ll probably make a variety of types: road, cyclocross, and mountain frames. In addition, I’ll probably create custom frames at the hobbyist level, mostly for myself and friends — they supply the tubeset and (optionally) lugs, and I’ll build them a frame.
So now I need to do research on framebuilding classes, which all cost about the same amount. There’s Doug Fattic, there’s Yamaguchi, there’s UBI (United Bicycle Institute), and others… If you’ve got recommendations, I’m all ears.
And of course, it goes without saying that white people who ride bikes like to talk about how they are saving the earth. If you know a person who rides to work, you should take them aside and say “Hey, thanks. Sincerely, The Earth.” Then give a thumbs up. That white person will ride home on a cloud.
I’m fortunate to live in a city (Minneapolis) where we take cycling seriously — as both recreation and a form of transportation. But even with that level of commitment to the activity, we still have issues with being protected by the police. I know of multiple people of the type who would admit to fault if it was theirs, who have been hit by cars, assaulted by motorists, and so on, only to have the cops write up a report that blames the cyclist (if they bother to write a report at all). While these laws are a great contribution to making Chicago a more bike-friendly city, and something that Minneapolis should institute as well, they are unlikely to do any real good.
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