Excitebike 2024 via the Lynx

So my buddies Don, Joe and I put on little mountain bike picnics/outings in a southwestern suburban Chicago forest preserve (Palos for those in the know) some 30+ years ago. Just a bunch of goofballs riding trails, grilling burgers and drinking beer. We called it the Chimichanga Fat Tire Festival, a take on the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival that's been going on for decades in Wisconsin's North Woods. Good times. 

Fast-forward to the present and Don and I both live in the Bay Area, but at opposite ends (North Bay for me, Silicon Valley for Don), and Don got the bug to rent Camp Loma, in the shadows of the Demo Forest in the Santa Cruz Mountains and have a little MTB campout with friends over a weekend in May. Instead of rehashing the former name (new event, new location, new format), it was rebranded as EXCITEBIKE after the classic Nintendo video game. Anyway, here are some shots captured with the Yaschica Lynx-1000.

Obligatory #firstoftheroll of the redwoods:

Funmaster Don:

Nice creek running thru the campground, and plenty of places to park vans, truck, or to just pitch tents. 

Getting ready to roll out. I didn't bring the Lynx out on the trails as I really didn't want to risk damaging it and film is too expensive for me to get back blurry shots as my panning skills are not top-notch. 

Just as we did at Chimichanga, a beater bike was procured for the Huffy Toss. Nothing of value was lost when it met its eventual demise. 

Post-ride pix.

Don met some of the attendees at Burning Man, and one guy brought a DJ setup. Once the sun set there was an impressive laser light show projected onto the redwoods, paired with some chill tunes. Quite fun. 

And a little air pistol target shooting. That's all. 

Again, loving this affordable and simple rangefinder. Go get one!

That's A First

Never before have I worn down the teeth on a bike cassette.

Discovered today when the fresh chain was skipping furiously when using my most commonly-used cogs (15, 17, 19 tooth). Some of the teeth on those cogs have been ground to a fine point. I guess I should have replaced that chain sooner as the cassette is quite the pricey piece. And it was only 18 months old.

Another Thousand Down

I'm still spending plenty of time on two wheels, the totals for 2011 so far:

South Pasadena Time Warp

Or "Down Off The Street".

While up in South Pasadena dropping off a bike for Brad and Tim at Peloton Magazine, I happened upon a 1949 Cadillac sitting seemingly in the bushes in front of a row of fantastic craftsman-style homes.
Of course, being a die-hard nerd/car-hunter, I had to stop and snap some pix. I should also mention that I have always loved craftsman homes, making it hard for me to keep my eyes on the road in this particular neighborhood. Mix in some vintage iron and I had the iPhone all warmed up to pop out of the car and shoot away.

Image one, "raw" and unprocessed:
With a heavy "June Gloom" marine layer, there was no interesting sky to be seen. A little filtering through the free Instagram app and the resulting image looks like something found in a shoebox in grandma's attic:
Next up, printing it via Postagram. These damn apps are addictive.

Oh, and the bike. I snapped a pic of that before I loaded it on the car for delivery:
For those of you who might care, it's an Electra Amsterdam Classic 3i.

More Riding, Less Writing

Sorry about the lack of posts, feeling very unmotivated and uninspired to pass along my insipid comments and crappy photos the past few months.

I have been on two wheels a fair amount though - here are the ride stats for the first quarter of 2011:


Not too bad for "winter" - if you're so inclined to call it that.

Moots - The Last Component

The last remaining component that I needed, or rather, wanted, arrived today. A Fi'zi:k Cyrano Carbon seatpost:

27.2 x 330mm for those keeping score

It's since been installed and is up to the task of supporting the saddle. With clean lines and minimal graphics, it looks quite nice clamping my Fi'zi:k saddle, plus the lower cradle is anodized in a shade not far from titanium. The branded rubber band was removed and set aside to get lost. Now I just need to give the bike a thorough cleaning and shoot some pix of it in it's dull grey glory.

Oh Happy Day

I've been fondling for the last hour it in ways that would likely get me arrested in most southern states. Or Utah.

And A Cherry On Top

Now where's my frame? And 110mm stem?

More Bike Bits Arrive

Here's what Santa-In-A-Brown Suit delivered this morning:

Easton EC90 stem, SRAM PC1091R chain and Force front derailleur. It's all coming together, I'm just waiting on two more shipments before the fun of building up the dream machine can commence.

UPDATE: And I goofed up and ordered too long of a stem. Damn. I should have followed the old saying - measure twice, order once. Or something like that.

Fork Yeah!

One more piece of the puzzle arrived today.
From China via Utah with love, I present the ENVE Components Road 2.0 fork. 1.125" steerer, 40mm offset. It should be a great match for the Vamoots CR.

Bike Build - It Begins

The first shipment of the bits to build the forthcoming Moots has arrived.

Most of the parts will come from the second cracked Plastic Bike, but some new cables, bar tape were among the necessary purchases.

Meanwhile, in Steamboat Springs, CO, progress on the Vamoots CR frame is coming along nicely:
I'm truly hoping that this is a "lifetime" frame for me, a bike that I'll still enjoy riding ten or fifteen years from now. It should be ready in a few weeks.

Coming Soon...

...the frame that I should have bought last year.



With my recent track record of riding PlasticBikes for all of four weeks before cracks start appearing, this titanium beauty should last a lifetime.

Who Rides Bikes? Crackheads!

Fog Froth Flocks Fork

Cyclotourist!

As found on the fringes of teh innerwebs, I present a cool bicycle camper trailer.
Pretty slick! I wish I could find more information on this. All I can really tell is that Chet Jr. is using a late-1940s Schwinn World lightweight bike to tow it with.

Plastic Bike, Mark II, Part II

As I posted close to two months ago, I am the proud owner of a new Cervélo R3 road bike. It's far more road bike than I could ever exploit - even if I had 10x my current talent and strength. Back in March I was just the owner of a frameset and a box of parts. Parts which I ended up selling off on eBay in order to finance some nicer bits to hang from the svelte carbon tubes.

Those nicer bits *finally* arrived last week after a 5 week wait. But I'm not complaining - after healing from the crash that took out Plastic Bike Mark I and a ten day stint in Taiwan, my cyclocross bike has been a fair substitute in the interm.
Here she is all built up. Quite a dream bike.
It's only had one brief shake-down run, commuting home from work on Tuesday night. Three minutes into the ride I received my first compliment from a fellow rider.

I had fully planned on taking the long way in to work on Wednesday, but nature decided to literally rain on my parade. And though I am not opposed to getting wet during a ride, the bike is just too darn perfect right now to subject every moving part to a bath of rainwater and road spray.
And plain morning spaciness kept me from taking it out for a lunch ride as I ended up leaving my helmet at home.
A big thank you to my friends Jason and Don with help on some of the parts. Thanks to Josh for finishing up the build and getting it perfectly dialed in.
And a special thanks to Allie for putting up with my indulgences from time to time. You're the best.

Women's-Specific Chains?

One sign that the women's-specific cycling segment may becoming more about fashion than function. At least in the eyes of Taiwan's KMC Chain. Complete with superfluous apostrophe. Detail freaks like myself may notice that the chain on this lady's bike is not a "Lady's Love Series" chain.

Plastic Bike, Mark II

With the demise of the Plastic Bike came many decisions. What exactly do I want? The titanium road bike I've dreamed of owning for the past 12 years or so? A cool steel rig? Another plastic bike? Do I buy a replacement frameset or complete bike?

With a tight budget, the ti bike was ruled out. Even with my industry connections, I'd still be looking at a couple thousand bucks just for the frame and fork. Steel? I love my steel Gunnar CX bike and also considered buying a Waterford, but being the techy weight weenie that I am, I didn't think a steel bike would fulfill my road bike needs and a deluxe one would still be a princely sum.

A friend and coworker bought a Cervélo this spring. I had always admired their fine rides, but for some reason the bikes and brand never really clicked with me. However, after seeing his frameset in person and checking out the details, along with spending some time on their thorough website, I was sold. Not only are Cervélos some of the most advanced carbon fiber composite frames on the market, but they're not unaffordable. Um, whatever that means.

sit back and admire those micro seatstays!

An R3 seemed to be the best choice for my riding style and budget.
It's very light, coming in at 950g (2.09 lbs), including the headset bearings.
Plus it looks pretty bitchin' to boot.
I ended up buying a complete bike as it was a much better value than the frameset. However, virtually every drivetrain component, as well as the wheels, saddle and bar/stem will be sold off to make way for nicer bits that I'm either purchasing, already have from the old bike, or am getting from friends (thanks Don, thanks Jason!).
Until all the parts arrive, I'll have a stunning frameset staring me down, awaiting the first time I can clip in and spin the cranks.

think Allie will mind relocating to the guest room for the next few nights?

(studio shots ripped from CompetitiveCyclist.com)

Camper Bike!

Okay, enough posts about cars for a little while (maybe until at least mid-week). Since I'm also a bike dork, I need to post some pedal-power. And where else to look but, er, Autoblog.
from the site:
"Our initial reaction when laying eyes on the Camper Bike was, 'Ah, there go necessity and invention hand-in-hand again...' But we were wrong. The Camper Bike – yes, with a fully working camper – is a 'functional sculptural piece,' which is to say, it's art.

Reading a little further, though, we began to wonder just what kind of art: paintings of it come with slogans like 'Scaling the summit with the Motherland in your heart,' and 'Camping far out in the wilderness forges a revolutionary heart.' We don't know if that makes this a propaganda piece, but we do know that riding a bike fitted with a camper, in the city, is plenty revolutionary. After that, it doesn't really matter where you go. Click the link for more on the visual candy that is the Camper Bike."
Personally I'm not sure I'd even want to pedal the trike up a mountain pass, not to mention carrying the several-hundred pound camper.

But how much better can you get than pedaling up to your makeshift campsite, building a campfire and enjoying a bottle of arsenic-tainted cheap Chairman Mao-brand liquor like a real man?
I'm a bigger fan of this paint scheme, complete with mis-matched door.

Build your own with these handy plans:
Pedal on, inspirational man!

Imperfect Thing Follow Up: Imperfect Assembly

Since I'm starting to get a little stir crazy due to the inclement weather, having only ridden my bike less than ten miles this week (for reference, I pedaled 140 miles last week), I attempted to burn up some of this excess energy by putzing around in the garage this evening.

Following up on Wednesday's post regarding excessive knee-slicing bolt threads protruding on my Ritchey WCS stem, as well as contact from Ritchey's customer service department, the first thing I did this evening was to do a little investigating. So I popped off the top cap and found this:
Yep - just as Angelo at Ritchey suspected when he saw the photo, the fork steerer tube is about 5mm too short for the stem. So off came one of my 5mm spacers to bring it all back in spec.
Everything's back together. And while there's still a few milimeters of bolt protruding, it's nothing like it had been. A minute in front of the bench grinder will take care of the the rest, ensuring a flush finished product.

So, it appears that the fork steerer was either cut too short or that the assembly factory put one too many spacers in the box. I didn't assemble this bike, an over-zealous temp employee who was helping out at the old company did so. Regardless, it's much better.

Thanks to Angelo at Ritchey Logic for pointing out what should have been obvious to this hack.