Have you seen this rack?

This is embarrassing. But I'm at the end of my rope here.

That rack is a Tubus Tara. Somewhere, I own one. I loaned it out to someone and I can't remember who has it.

If it's you, are you nearly done with it?

I need to loan it to my buddy Ryan who is going on a seriously long bike ride.

I also need to start keeping a master list of all the crud I loan out.

I also need to not have so much bikey stuff.

Paring down: the bag deal

Many bags. From top left: Chrome, Banjo, Timbuktu,
 REI Flash, Ortlieb, Maddie (not a bag), Timbuktu blue.

Wow. Shoes and bags. Not to be sexist (which is what you say right before a sexist remark), but I'm like a girl in the Shoe and Bag department.

I'm not counting the on-bike bags here (of which I use 6 on a regular basis: banana bag, small Ortlieb panniers, big Ortlieb panniers, bucket panniers, Ostrich, and Swift). I'm just talking about on-John bags. The kind you wear. And I have too many.

So I'm going to get out of the messenger bag business. If I'm going to wear my bag, I prefer a back pack. It's simple, centered, and non-fussy. Messenger bags have a certain cool factor for sure and they're nice for basic flat loads. But backpacks just work better for me.

I've had a bunch of these messenger bags for years and I've used them a lot. But the two bags I routinely go for are the Ortlieb backpack and the REI modified-Flash.

Me. Being awesome in the Ortlieb backpack.
Which is all it takes (to be awesome)!
Photo by Sarah Sirott the Great.
For a pic of the actual backpack, it's the silver one in
the first picture above.

I love the Ortlieb: it's huge, it's waterproof. It has funny little padded pads on the back that make it less sweaty. It has a wrist strap and a chest strap and a key holder. It's a great bag. Those Ortlieb designers really get it.

BUT I don't like the velcro closure. It should be a big fat buckle. I may modify that someday, but for now, I can live with it.

The REI (modified) Flash is a great bag. It's super light. It has provisions for a water bladder. With my ultra-super-reflecto modifications and rear pockets, it makes a great Midnight Century bag.

So, the messenger bags are out. Maddie is keeping the blue one, but the other 3 are outta here.

What the hey? Sun Spider AT

Out of the box with a Sturmy-Archer 2-speed kick-back coaster-brake and 3-piece BMX crank. Basic angles nailed (72.5/72). 4" no-name tires. Huge-ass no-name rims.

Retails for about $550.

It's a Sun Spider AT.

With a couple modifications (canti posts up front, some space bars, new saddle, etc), this mutha is a cheap alternative to the Pugsley.

What's going on here?

How can one possibly resist this?

What a difference a properly adjusted headset makes

A while back I remarked on how I replaced the headset on my Elephant. I mentioned how the headset had a weirdo pinch bolt thing that made getting the perfect adjustment basically impossible. Too loose and you get that unsettling rocker-motion when you brake. Too tight and everything binds up. But if you have to choose, you should err on the side of tight.

So for nearly 3 months, I've been annoyed at the stiffness of the steering in the Elephant. What's worse, is that I also got super sick and always tired at about the same time I swapped out the headset.

So for the last few months, every time I rode the Elephant, it sucked. Which is NOT how it's supposed to be on any of my bikes, let alone the Elephant. I internalized this and was secretly afraid that maybe the magic had left the Elephant. Every time I rode it, it just sucked the life out of me. It was almost as bad as Pat's tamper.

A couple months ago, a guy in Seattle bought a big box of NOS Stronglight roller bearing headsets. They were made for tandems (hence the 1 1/8"). He was selling them on the Rawland google list. They're perfect for standard-gauge tubing bikes where you want to haul stuff in the front. Such bikes like to light up a bit (that is, shimmy) under certain conditions and roller bearings make a big fat difference.

Incidentally, the guy I bought the head set from is name Fred (a perfect name for any cyclist). I met him at my Ebey hang last month. He's one of those slightly nuts young guys that rides everywhere on any bike with silly loads at any hour of the day. He's also deeply nerded out in his exotic knowledge of technical bike minutia. He's got that look in his eye. A perfect storm of good Fredliness.

Anyway, the point: I finally got Glen to swap out the headset (I only change flats now). He said it was a non-standard, slightly screwy set-up, but he approved of the design.

And the bike rides like new. I took it on our S24O the other night and I could tell already it was way better. No hands with a load at normal speeds was easy and shimmy-free. But it took a standard commute to work this morning to reveal just how wonderful that bike is to ride (again). Bunny hops, jumps, descents, climbing, easy track standing. It's all back.

The lesson here is that these little seemingly inconsequential tweaks matter a lot. A properly adjusted headset totally matters. Here endeth the lesson.

Game-changer? Hurley Lowrider Phantom

These are surfer shorts.
Super-fast drying.
Stretchy.
Optimized for commando deployment (w/out sewn-in skivies).
Comfy.
Just the right length.
Mayhaps (props to TS for usage here) the perfect daily driver?
Only time will tell.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.6

I'm a wanker prima donna tire snob

It's true. It must be like fine wine or high-performance cars or other wanky high-cost pursuits of the privileged class: once you get into fast cushy tires, it's hard to go back.

These blingy white Challenge Grifo XS tires are the new "daily driver" standard.

They're super supple cush fasty-enough for road/commuting. And they have just enough bitey-tread for dry trail riding.

Mud? Forget it -- they suck.

Close up of tread.
Courtesy of the Challenge website.

But for the majority of "riding season" on the High Drive, dusty-ass, dry-with-a-bit-of-loose-dirt-on-top trails? Perfect.

I deem these the best all around 700c tires. For value, you still can't beat the (non-tourguard) Pasalas. But for performance, these high-zooters rock. It's only taken one ride to work and one ride home on the trails to make this bold statement.

And to be clear: I got nothing here! No freebies!

Challenge Paris Roubaix vs Grand Bois Cerf

Totally unrigorous, unscientific, it's-worth-what-you-paid-for-it opinion: Cerfs are cushier.

I'm in serious hair-splitting territory here in a distinctly 1st World comparison.

Both are wonderful cushy fast tires for their mere 29 mm width, but alas, the Cerfs are cushier and are therfore worth the extra $2 premium at Compass Bicycles.

Both riden verily at 80 psi.

That's it.

A riddle wrapped inside an enigma

It's 35F. On side streets, there's a layer of melty hardpack on top of a shifting layer of ice. On arterials, there's a film of slushy gunk and big berms of snow pushed to the edge of the narrow lanes. There's still too many patches of ice and snow for me to feel comfortable riding a bike with slick tires. Probably tomorrow the arterials will be clear enough.

But today, I have two bike choices: the single speed mountain bike with studs and full fenders. Or the Rawland, with gears and honking knobbies, but only a clip on rear fender and no front fender. I rode the Rawland to a meeting last night in a hurry on the wet slushy arterials and the front of my jeans were fairly soaked upon arrival.

Front porch shot: disregard the lingering Santa.
See the snow? It's melting dangerously!

This time of year I prefer to ride on non-arterials to get to work. It's more enjoyable. But out of my 8 mile round trip, I usually spend at least 1 mile on arterials. So I will get wet. I guess I could get all nerded out with the full-leg Rain Mates (same idea as Rain Legs, but hopefully will last longer AND there's an extra-nerd feature that allows you to clip on sections from knee to ankle).

The single speed full-fendered bike is rad. I like the single speedness of it and I really love the full fenders (with flap). No spray at all. But two issues do bug me: the relatively narrow studded tires sink into the shifty/soft semi-firm hard pack. And studs really slow you down on wet corners. Or they should anyway, cause studs don't corner well on wet pavement.

The real answer here of course is to get another bike! A fully fendered, geared, fat-knobbied bike. Hmmm. Uhhh. Thinking. Pondering. Wondering....uh, the Troll?

I've been Shimanoed again

Damn you Shimano!

If you love Shimano, stop reading now, cause it's rant time. I don't carry on much, but I'm going to now.

Let's warm up with the new XT hub.

Apparently, the new XT (m77x) hub is failing all over the place. Here's a thread on MTBR forum. And one on point83. One on Bike Radar. My buddy Alex has also told me stories of many a LHT owner in Seattle having XT hub issues.

It sounds like there's two problems introduced by the latest Shimano innovations:

1. New aluminum axle. Since it's aluminum, instead of steel, as god intended axles to be, it strips easily. It strips because it has a nipple looking thing on the end to step down the diameter so the hub fits into a standard drop out. (See circled bit above)

2. And since it's aluminum, of course it must be oversized. Which reduces the amount of room where the bearings live in the freehub. Which means it uses smaller bearings (3/16" instead of 1/4"). (See arrow).

Main failures are stripped axles and sticky/blowing up freehubs where the bearings aren't holding up.

So that's lame. But that's just the beginning.

I've bitched up a storm about my sandals in the past. The quickie version: I love the old Shimano Sandals. They weren't perfect, but they were good enough. And then they went away and were replaced with lame shoe-sandals. Then, in a glorious twist of fate, Shimano abandoned their lame shoe-sandals and brought back a new version of the classic sandals. This ended well, but it took 3 years to come together.

Now, Shimano has quietly dumped their MT-60 shoe. This is a cryin' cryin' shame. I did a tiny mini-review of these shoes about a year ago. In short: they rule. They're comfy daily drivers that are Gortex lined and work 95% of the time I'm not wearing my sandals. Even in the dead of winter... and yes, I own the Lake Winter Shoe. bleh.

I love the MT-60 and it's going away. And there's no replacement on the Shimano site for them.

Why? WHY? Why does Shimano always do this?

Why didn't I horde?

I know the world is full of real problems, but man this drives me ape shit. What is this? This need to "innovate" endlessly where innovation is not needed. Errrrrg!

End rant.

Looking for input

1991 Bridgestone RB-T. My favorite. Not the best-made bike
in the history of the world, but there's a lot of soul there.

A week or so ago, I posted about how Elephant Cycles is now certified for S&S retrofits, aka "coupling" a bike. I'm definitely going to couple one of my bikes and I've been about 90% certain that the bike on operating table will be my soulful RB-T. It's a great bike. I can ride road or trails on it. It has that "magic" some call planing (some pontificating on that idea here).

Anyway, there was a time when I was really hip to the idea of coupling my already hacked RB-1. On paper, it's a much more versatile bike, which makes sense for a bike you'll be traveling with. And it takes my favorite tire of all time, the Grand Bois Hetre. But I'll be a monkey's uncle if I can do a ride longer than 80 or so miles on it without feeling weird. I don't get pains, but it's just not comfortable the way my blue RB-T is, or my 747 is. But really: I just can't feel the magic on the RB-1. It doesn't feel like my black RB-T does when I climb or push out of the saddle. So, I took it off the list of S&S consideration a while ago.

1993 Bridgestone RB-1 with hacked canti brakes and 650b fatties

But then I got to thinking: most of my travel riding will not be epic long rides. They'll likely top out at around 50 miles. And they will more than likely include dirt and harsh roads, because that's the stuff I'm drawn to. So maybe the RB-1 is the bike to couple.

My other bikes are off the list for various reasons: fixed gear, Rawland, blue RB-T, 747. Mostly they're off because they're too single purpose, or in the case of the blue RB-T because it's too fussy to pack with fenders and rack and all. Same with the 747: fenders and single purpose -- I have vowed not to do hard trail riding on it.

So, you can help. Got an opinion? Let me know. Which bike do you think should be chopped in half and made into a traveler: The Black Soulful RB-T that is just SO easy to ride, or the Cushy Fast Hacked RB-1?

Hetres meet RB-1

I guess that was just a matter of time. Putting the tires on this bike just delays what seems inevitable. I'm hoping a production version of the Grand Bois Urban bike comes to the states soon.

The 57.5 cm 1993 RB-1 shipped with a published trail measurement of 52.7 mm. After I hacked the bike to take 650Bs and then added these monster tires (diameter = 668), it's back to 52 mm of trail.

New front bag

I've been looking for a big front bag for a while. I wanted something that I could use for overnighters and that I could use for daily commuting. I didn't want something with a bunch of pockets: it just needed to be big. It also needed to fit my favorite Alex-rack nicely and it needed to be weather proof.


The top is a roll down deal. Kind of like Ortliebs. I'm thinking you could pretty easily fit two half racks in here. The standard version of this bag has a roll down top that is another 6-8 inches higher.

My new Pelican Porteur bag from Swift Industries meets all criteria. Swift Industries is a 2-person shop in Seattle that makes panniers and other bike bags. They were super easy to deal with: I just filled out a form, specifying the color fabric I wanted and the custom dimensions that I wanted, and I have a bag less than a week later. It was pricey: $200. That's a good value compared to other bags of its size/quality. It also has custom-dimensions and is made here in Washington -- these two attributes really increase the value to me.

A couple months ago, I sold off some stuff (mainly my Rivendell Atlantis forks) to fund this purchase, so it felt more like a trade, which is somehow warmer and fuzzier, if only in my own little fantasy land of commerce.


The bag attaches to the rack with two of these straps: one on each side. There's also a strap to secure it to the back of the rack. See the next picture.

Anyway, I don't have much to say yet about this bag, since I've only had it on my bike for a day. But I ran to the store yesterday and loaded it up full and heavy and it worked fine. My S24O load this year will be this bag and a sleeping bag under my saddle.


I may have to rework this part. The buckle falls right on the rack's vertical support, so it doesn't really get super tight. I doubt I'll ever change it, but if I were to have a change -- it would be to put the buckle on the other side, but that's specific to my rack. This bag was originally designed for the CETMA rack which has two big stays that attach to the h'bars.

Review: Lake MXZ301 (CXZ302) Winter Cycling Shoe

Bottom line: these are great winter cycling shoes for sub-freezing winter conditions. They're not great for super wet/all-weather commuting.

I've been holding off on buying SPD winter boots/shoes for years. And every year I have at least one ride that is ruined or cut short because my toes have frozen. So this year I decided to drop some coin on real winter riding shoes.

The MXZ301s are the 2007 model. They retailed for about $250. I got them last summer on close-out for $175 from Spoke-n-Sport. This year's comparable model is the CXZ302, which retails for $270.

The Lake Winter Cycling Shoes seem to be the standard, and for good reason. They're warm. My coldest ride was a few weeks ago when it was about 4 F with a good wind. I was riding for about 30 minutes and my toes were fine. I wear these boots with two pair of "liner" wool socks.  Liner socks are the ultra thin ones. These boots kick booty in serious cold. I've never had such happy feet in those conditions.

In extreme wet and not-as-cold conditions these boots are not as great. They have neoprene cuffs that basically absorb water. You must run flaps on your full fenders to keep the water from kicking up on the cuffs of these boots. Otherwise, the water will soak in and then drip into the boot. 

Over the last couple days, where gobs of snow has melted, I am riding and tromping through deep slush and puddles over a layer of ice. These are just sucky conditions, and these boots don't keep out the water, and I'm being mindful of not tromping through the deep stuff. For the cost of these boots, I would expect them to keep my feet dry in this muck. 

One thing that has always bugged me about these boots are the lacing mechanisms. They don't work any better than normal laces, but they introduce a level of fussiness and point of failure that renders the boots unwearable if the laces or the mechanism breaks. After a couple weeks, one of my knobs popped off. It's held in place with a tiny screw that requires a special tiny pin spanner, which is not included with the boots. So after reassembling the little mechanism, I tightened the screw down with the point of my knife. It failed a couple more times. I finally put some blue loctite on the screw and that's held it for the last month. Cheesy.

These laces are like dental floss. And they will break. The good news is that Lake is very quick about getting new laces to customers. Mr. Blaine had one break on him and they over-nighted laces to him. That's great, but I think they should include an extra set of laces when you buy the boots, so you don't have to potentially miss a ride or two waiting for the Lake proprietary laces to arrive. I also think they should include the impossibly small pin spanner tool to open the knob too. Actually, I think they should just use traditional laces and forget all this fussy over-engineered knob lacing system. 

In the end, if I were buying again, I think I'd get the Lake MX265 Cycling boots. 

They are billed as 3-season, but I'm thinking if you bought big you could put some beefy wool socks on, and lather them up with some Proofide and be ok. They won't solve the crazy muck wet scenario, but they retail for about $100 cheaper. And they look relatively normal. Which I like. The MXZ301's have a Jetson vibe going.

Always fussing

I woke up this morning at about 5 AM and started thinking about the next round of bike fixes. There's always a next project in the hopper.

The back story

I'm actually very satisfied with my current bike situation. Here's where I'm at:

Bike #1: Rawland - go anywhere, fat-tired road, snow, and mountain bike. With my beloved Hetre tires on there, this bike is an ideal all-day dirt road and trail explorer. With the crazy fat knobbies on it, the Rawland is a good-enough mountain bike and a great snow bike. Commuter, tough-guy, no limitations on exploring.

Bike #2: Lyon - I call it the 747 because of the tubing. Story here. This is my version of a racing bike. Since I don't race, I really don't need a "real" racing bike. This bike is a wonderful bike that I can ride all day. It's as go-fast as I'll ever want. I just built this up before the snow came, so I don't know it as well as the others. My guess is that I'll end up putting more miles on this bike next year than I do on any others.

Bike #3: Blue RB-T - This is the "urban bike." That's a classification that the Bike Quarterly guys came up with for a low-trail, fendered, front-racked road bike that is optimized for urban commuting. That pretty much explains the blue RB-T. If someone held a gun to my head and made me keep just one bike, this is the bike I'd hold onto. It's fast enough, it handles predictably, and it makes carrying 90% of the loads I carry very easy. The bike has a non-stock fork to make it a low trail bike and that has made all the difference. In a rational world, this set up would be in the line up for each big bike manufacturer -- right in between their flat-bar commuters and their internal-gear-hubbed "city bike" offerings.

Bikes #4 and #5: Seasonal bikes -- When people ask me how many bikes I have, I include these two and tell them "5." I don't include the tandem, or the bikes that I have out for loan, or the bikes/frames that I have stashed in the various caverns of our house.

I have two seasonal bikes: the fixed gear ice bike. This year it was also a single-speed cx bike that Stuart raced.

The second seasonal bike is my beloved black RB-T that I built up this year as a cx bike. The black RB-T holds a special place in my heart and if a guy did hold a gun to my head and did force me to choose my blue RB-T, then I would weep for the loss of this bike. This was the first bike that "planed" for me. It wants you to stand on climbs. It was the first bike I had that did not have hugely long trail. It likes to fall into corners. I love it as a CX racer. It's the perfect life for this bike now.

The fuss plan

So, with all that bike happiness, what's there to fuss over?

Mostly, I'm now looking to Liza to do some fussing, since I'm all fussed out. But there are a few fussers for me in the list:

1. Strip and unload the 520 (John): I put a bunch of time and money into building up this bike. It came out good, but even as a Porteur with an internal gear hub, the bike is really redundant with my blue RB-T. And it turns out that Liza can use the wheelset and internal gear hub for her project. I'm hoping to trade this frame, some money, and other bits, for a more robust hauling solution. More on that as it unfolds.

2. Revive the Fuji as a 650b (Liza): Liza loves her $75 Rockhopper. After many rounds of precision questioning, I have unearthed two critical features of the Rockhopper. 1) the poofy tires make for a comfy ride on our crappy streets, and 2) the position it puts Liza in. Specifically, the Rockhopper provides for a position that is not too upright and not too hunched over: it's just right. With these goals in mind, Liza is going to rework the Fuji. She really wants a woman's bike that she can wear a dress with, but she doesn't want the jarring ride that the skinny 700C tires offer.

3. Revive the RB-1: It's weird, after 650b'ing the RB-1 last year, Liza liked this bike. But after she got the Rockhopper, this bike went away. This is where the "too hunched over" issue came from. Reviving the RB-1 is a P2 goal for Liza after the Fuji. Actually, it's probably more of a priority-3 or so. I really want to see that bike ridden. It's a great bike and should be on the road. Under Liza.

4. JohnAndLiza-fy the Burley Tandem (both): this is probably the most ambitious project in the lot. Not technically, but emotionally and spiritually. Liza and I have never tandemed before so this entire process will be interesting. The tandem will changed thusly: we'll swap out the flat bars for drop bars, reconfigure the drum brake as a drag brake, add a front rack, upgrade the rear rack, add a dyno lighting system, and change the saddles and peddles.

5. Make minor changes, upgrades, fusses (John):

• Bitchin new cx race wheels for the black RB-T. I'm hoping I can find some lightly used cast-offs from a racer that has upgraded to the new $1200 DuraAce set.


• SON hub and new front wheel for the Lyons 747, and a light.


• Replace shifters on the blue RB-T. Alex put down tube shifters on his nearly identical bike and with the front rack it makes a bunch of sense. I like indexing with DTs. It's very crisp. Finding indexing 8 speed downtube shifters is not as easy as it was about a year ago. (Got any?).


• Put Honjo fenders on the blue RB-T. This is low priority, but I can't get over these fenders.

Winter with a fury

Beth. Ruling. At the FBC Festivus last night.

Yowsa. Three days ago we were riding around in clear streets and it was 40 F. Last night it was snowy slushy for the Festivus. Tonight, it's 18 F and will drop below zero before we wake tomorrow. With the wind gusting as it is, it's probably already under zero. 

Winter has descended upon Spokane like a wolf on a fold. As old William Claude would proclaim, "It's not a fit night out for man or beast." 

I took a short ride today when it was about 20 F. The slush from yesterday has turned the streets into knarly ice-covered obstacle courses on the south hill. The streets don't look two days into winter here. They look like streets look about a month into winter.


Hank won "Best Lights" at Festivus, as voted by his peers.

I took the Rawland out on the high drive trails. I'm running the 2.3" Neomotos at about 30 psi, which make for a nice float over the snow. But on the icy-rutty streets I want my studs. For icy rutted streets, I think the Nokian Extremes, with the studded knobbies in all directions would be ideal. The Hakkapeliittas that I run on my ice bike just have studs down the center, which work great for compact snow and sheer ice.

So far the disc brakes on the Rawland are nice. But not yet required. I think there are pretty specific conditions that push icy snow up onto your rims where disc brakes really shine. We've not had those conditions yet.

Last year, Liza gave me some Pearl Izumi lobster claw gloves for x-mass. I was thankful, but I considered them overkill. On days like today, I really appreciate them. 

For cold like this, I put my rain legs over my pants to cut the wind, and I wear poly long johns. Up top, I have thin wool base layer, a bit thicker wool turtleneck, Ibex wool/Dash Hybrid vest, and the O2 rain jacket as the outer shell: many thin layers. I have a smartwool gaiter and a smartwool beanie. I wear clear glasses to keep the icy wind out of my eyes.


Joe and Jon (and Jon's soul as it leaves his earthly body) discuss the finer points of lighting up a mobile nativity scene, loud-ass sound system, and various xmass lights with marine batteries

So far I'm neutral on the Lake Boots. They are warm and they clip in, so they perform their essential job, but I really don't like the lacing device. I'll go into more specifics with a full report in a few weeks after I get more time with the boots. I wear two pair of ultra thin (liner) wool socks in my boots.

This kind of cold freaks me out. It's easy -- especially in our day, where we're at once so disconnected from real nature and so confident in our technology to avoid it -- to forget that intense cold can mess you up and even kill you. It's not "gonna kill ya" cold yet, but it's still good to keep a healthy respect at the forefront of your mind as you go off and enjoy winter pursuits when the temperature dips below the single digits.

If you haven't, a great short read is Jack London's To Build a Fire. I read this at least once a year, not just for a reminder of its simple lesson, but because I like that it gets into the mind of a dog and tells a bit of the story from the dog's point of view. And he does it in a way that is not corny. If you're not a reader, the Orson Wells-narrated short film version is really good too.

Multispeed Fixed Gear

Just over a year ago, we heard the plans for the new Sturmy Archer 3-speed fixed hub.

Well, it's nearly here. And it's got a flippin bar-end shifter option. That's cool.

It ships in 120mm OLD only, though it looks as if they are considering a 130mm version.

Hmm. I've got a wheel in the hopper that will be 117mm OLD. An old track hub (120mm) laying around somewhere, and now the new SA fixed 3 speed will take 120mm.


Imagine one bike, brakeless in the rear that could take one of three wheels: a two-speed kick back coaster, a regular fixed, or the fancy SA fixed 3 speed. If a guy set them all up with the same size cog, even a rear fender would live happily with this family of wheels.


Old sport touring frames with horizontal drop outs are not nearly as ubiquitous as they were a few years ago. The Shogun would've been perfect for this little project. Or maybe one of the 1st generation Specialized Allez bikes.


The bike gods have a way of providing. If it's meant to be, the right frame will find me.

More Pants Stuff

After posting on Rick's Knicks, Liza persuaded me to post about my new wool pants. These are Value Village pants: perfect fit and a nice thickness of wool. They're not as thin as fancy slacks, but not super crazy Swedish Army Wool Pants thick either. Really good for riding in the 30-40F range.

I made a quick modification to the cuffs to velcro them back. I stole Grant's design from his MUSA pants. (Which, at $40, are about the best deal on US-made cycling pants you can find.)

That's the velcro design. I sewed some reflective fabric on top of the grabby side of velcro. Simple and easy. Total cost: about $8.

Review: Rick's Knicks from Bicycle Fixation

(Dear Rick: if you see this, don't delete or move this image off your site -- I'm referencing the URL cause I'm lazy)

I've been meaning to write up a post on these knickers for about 6 months now.



I post a fair number of posts bitching about stuff that breaks so I'm trying to balance things out by reviewing stuff I like lately. And I like these knickers.

Wearing knickers for the first time takes just a pinch of chutzpah. You feel a bit wanky walking around in knickers at first, then you ride in them and realize how they make gobs of sense. I figure anyone who wears wool socks with sandals is not going to be accused of being a slave to fashion. And when I wear my knickers with wool socks and sandals that notion is thrown right out the window and we enter the realm of fashion nightmare. So my point: who cares. I wear what works.



These knickers are hemp. Hemp does a lot better than cotton, but not as good as wool, at dealing with moisture and to some degree, regulating temperature. Hemp is supposedly a really tough fiber.



The first pair of knickers I got from Rick failed -- they ripped in the crotch and developed holes where my butt bones sit on the saddle. They failed pretty quickly, and at $100 I asked Rick -- the guy who owns the company -- about the failure. He asked for some pictures of the failures and without question, sent me a new pair and a bit of hemp fabric to patch up the existing pair.

He mentioned that he had some issues with one batch of the fabric and that's what lead to the failure. The replacement pair he sent me is a bit thicker, and he's working on another version that will use even sturdier fabric.



He also sells wool knickers. The wool versions come in two styles: fancy and like the hemp ones (called "city" knickers). I recently ordered the wool city versions for fall/winter. So far so good.



The knickers were developed by Rick, who is a daily, non-car-having cyclist from LA. They're sewed in LA and are worth every cent. They have excellent detailing: little darts at the knees, ample thighs, fancy pockets inside the pockets, adjustable tabs at the waist. They rule. It's nice to wear real clothes made for cycling designed by a cyclist. If only all cycling clothes were this well thought out and nice looking. If you order some, they run a tad big so if you're not sure, order down.



His website is http://www.bicyclefixation.com/index.html. While you're there, check out Liza's photo essay of her trip to the homeland a couple years ago.



For what it's worth: I have not received any favors (aside from the excellent service noted above) from Rick.

Shimano SPD Sandal Failure

This is a common failure on the Shimano Sandal. I blew this out this morning on a steep little dirt climb. The design is screwy. This plastic tab catches on the bike, as soon as a little fold occurs at the tip of the tab, it's game over: just a matter of time before it rips out. I run a low tread on all my bikes and I walk like a duck, so this is the third pair of sandals where I've seen this failure.



I'll cut the tab off at the bottom and the sandal will end up falling apart there. I'm bummed. This was my last pair of stashed old-style Shimano SPD sandals. The design they have now is lame. It's got three straps and is more shoe than sandal.



Actually, I think I'll bring these to a cobbler and see if these can be repaired before I destroy them. The sandals are otherwise in fine shape and have at least one more year in them.



I've not found any good alternatives to these sandals. My troubles with the Keen Commuter are well-documented. And I've seen a knock-off of this particular Shimano design online. Maybe I'll find those and give them a try when these Shimanos finally give up the ghost.

Wheel Woes

Nice dish!

It's been sort of a crummy few days for mechanicals. On Sunday I did that road bike thing on my RB-1. The front wheel slid in between the slats on the Bowl and Pitcher suspension bridge. I went over the bars; the wheel slid all the way down to the hub. Nothing broken, but the front wheel has a bit of a wobble to it and there's one of those super lame impossible to diagnose little creaky noises coming out of the bottom bracket chain ring pedal area. Errg!

As for my RB-T dirt machine trail rider: I knew I was a bit rough on it last week in Bayview. I was doing too fast descending on rough, rocky, rooty, washed out logging roads. It was really fun, but I can remember at least 3 brutal rear wheel impacts that made me grunt on behalf of the bike.

I really shanked the rear wheel. I trued it up a bit last week and there was still a huge bump in it. So tonight, I attempted another full-on rebuild: loosening the spokes all the way and rebuilding it. There's a good dent (and is that a hairline crack?) in it and a pretty severe flat spot. I can't achieve equal tension, roundness, dish, and lateral trueness at the same time -- not even close. If I get reasonable lateral trueness and tension, there's huge bumps in it; by the time I work out the bumps, it slides out of truness and the tension goes to crap. By the time I fix true that out, the dish is off. It's frustrating and I'm no pro wheel builder. I can do a new Velocity rim pretty well, but this kind of stuff is beyond me.


Oh. And I have a flat now too. Nice.

So, I'm running a 36 hole LX hub with a 700c Velocity Synergy OC rim. I'm wondering if maybe a Deep V rim would be stronger? All other things equal, which is stronger? The beefiness of the Deep V or the OC-ness of the Synergy?

Any opinions out there? Is there a better 36 hole rim to run with this? The hub is fine. Within reason, weight is not an issue. I want strong and I don't want to buy a new hub.

How about the Blunt? It's 28mm wide! Maybe the Dyad makes more sense?