Bike Commuting Accouterments: Topeak SmartPhone DryBag 4"

When I commute, I like to use my Blackberry and the Endomondo application to track my miles but on the Fredmobile, I can't stand riding with a top tube bag.  I have tried a few and none of them worked out.  Then I found this dry bag from Topeak and I just new it would do what I want it to.  Not to mention it allows me to mount it on the stem.  

It's tight fit for the Blackberry and in fact I had to cut the sides in order to get it out so it's no longer really a dry bag anymore.  It will still keep water off the Blackberry but it means that I just can't go swimming with it.  It worked great.

Fredmobile gets an upgrade: SRAM Apex Double Tap Shifters

I won these in an eBay auction a couple of weeks ago and I am surprised that I won so easily because there were quite a few of these going for a lot more.  They weren't used, rather take offs and when I got them they were in perfect shape, so I guess it was serendipitous.  I didn't trust my own wrench turning skills so I had the pros at the Bicycle Center do it for me and also had them give the Fredmobile a tune up.

They ended up retaping my bars and replacing all my cables.  Shawn mentioned that I going to need a new rear wheel soon.  I don't know how many miles were on the wheelset before I got it but the person I got it from is a hardcore rider and I am sure he put a few thousand miles on them and I have 1,500 on them so it's probably time.  The front wheel rolls smooth as the 22 year old bottle of Scotch in my liquor cabinet.

The first chance to test them out was Sunday afternoon and I instantly fell in love with them!  I love with just a little pressure I can index through my gears and then add a little more shift into an easier gear.  It took me about 10 miles of reminding myself not reach for the barend shifter.

Still some spectacular fall colors to be seen around Newtown but I am afraid it's time to find the riding tights.  Upon leaving the house, the thermometer said it 57 degrees and while I was perfectly dressed up top, wicking shirt, long sleeve wicking shirt and then a riding jersey, I went with the bibshorts and that was a mistake because my legs froze most of the ride.  I think I am going to need some toe covers, too, because my toes were freezing by the time I got home, as well.

Not sure what happened but for some reason I was riding more in the drops.  Keeping my body low to the top tube and powering up the hills.  I like how you can shift from this position, too.  It will be interesting, however, to see what it's like shifting with lobster gloves.

 

Finally starting to feel human again, or like a cyclists for that matter.  A whole week with just one ride is brutal both on the mind and the conditioning!

Newtown Cyclocross

I found a really nice route through Newtown that hits most of the hills 

and has some great scenery, too!

There is one grass landing strip in Newtown called Flying Ridge that was once the home of Robert Fulton, a local inventor who came up with the idea of using a balloon to lift up a tow rope for stranded pilots or sailors so a plane could extract them from their predicament.  The strip even has it's own little air tower built on top of a barn.

But it's the view from Platt's Hill that is worth the climb

And the cows!

After warming up with almost 3000' of climbing it was time to hit the trails at Fairfield Hills

I love coming in on Old Farm Road.  It starts as a right of way and then turns into a crumbly, paved road

With it's own private railroad crossing, which I never understood why it's called a private crossing

Always a joy to ride the Fredmobile

 

There was a crafts fair on the central field.

It looked like a good time but I was having more fun on the bike

 

The trails at Fairfield Hills are excellent for cyclocross and I had no problem riding them!

My first 75K ride at the Bloomin Metric

OK, this was the plan:  Get to the Bloomin Metric around 7:30 and drop my Brother-in-law off with the Tandem for him to wait for his wife and their daughter. 

Then I ride 37 miles and try to meet them at the last food stop (for me) in a about 2.5 hours.

Well it took me 2 hours 23 minutes and I stopped at the 2nd rest stop for about 10 minutes!

r to l: Me, Sondra, Julia & Wil

The Mansfields got to the food stop 10 minutes before me so it worked!

Quite a few old school steel bikes along with some really bling, bling rigs.

But no one came close to the Fedmobile!

I rode the last bit back with Wil and Julia.

We maintained about a 15 mph pace!

I beginning to understand what road riding is all about and I am really starting to enjoy it!

Fred-a-licious!

Back from the shop and ready to roll!

Parts is Parts on the Fredmobile

Using electronic retailers, eBay and Amazon I found some great deals for the parts I needed to put this bike back together:

1. SRAM PG-1050 10 Speed Cassette (11-26).  I found this on eBay (Buy It Now!) for a really good price and I think I saved $20 going this route.
2. SRAM TT 500 bar end shifters 
3. SRAM PG-1031 chain
4. FSA 48T Chain ring
5. FSA 34T Chain ring
6. FSA Torx Chain ring bolts
7. Carbon Seatpost (not using on the bike at the moment)
8. Origin 8 Cable Hanger (which I ended up not needing)

According to my Roadie Guru, this cassette might be a little tall for my ability so I am going to ride it and see how it goes for now.  What I might try to do is get a 12-30 and at get a smaller geared crankset with smaller arms (175).  For the time being I think I will be OK for a more roadie drive train.

The average price for SRAM TT 500 bar end shifters seems to be between $96 and $150 and I was about to get them from some UK online bike parts retailer for $94 when I found a pair on Amazon for $84!  The picture above is exactly what I got.  Just what the seller advertised, a pair of Sram Tt500 TT/Tri 2X10Sp Bar-End Shifters, Front/Rear Set, "BAM!"  No box, no instructions, just a pair of bar end shifters.  Can't find much on the seller but it was a great deal that couldn't be passed up!  Maybe they were used but I couldn't tell because out of the package they looked brand new.

The new seatpost looked great with the bike because it had some orange accents but when I found the right position for it which was just about all the way down I didn't see how this would differ much from a much shorter aluminum one that I had laying around.  My thought is that more carbon fiber between my fourth of point contact and the frame means there is a greater dampening or absorption effect by the seatpost.  I put this on the Qball and went back to the original aluminum one.  

The FSA chainrings were a perfect fit for the SRAM Rival cranks and they look really good, too.  As I mentioned earlier, I am probably going to get another crankset with 175mm crank arms and I might even decrease the teeth for both rings, maybe a 44/32 like a mountain crankset.

During the build I added a very important Sandy Hook Ride on Washington decal!

My wheelset is Dura Ace hubs and Mavic rims.  The bearings in the hubs are awesome!

Again, another Fred-ism here: how colorful do I want to go with the bar tape?  My choices were orange, purple/white, red/white/black, and red.  While the orange actually matched the frame I thought it would be too orange.  Can you have too much orange?  Red/white/black wasn't going to work so it was between the purple/white and red.  I couldn't decide so I asked my son, Elliot to help me.  He pointed out that the red would go nicely with the red rims so red was it!

Like the red bar tape, and bar end shifters, I wouldn't be true to Freds across the world if I didn't had a few more Pieces of Flair.  All I had left in my box of tricks for gear cable was this blue piece.

Here are the cranks mounted.  I spent quite a bit of time trying to adjust the front derailleur but couldn't get it to work properly.  I took it in to the Brookfield Bicycle Center and the experts there looked at it and said the reason it was behaving as such was due to the cage (or whatever you call it) was bent.

The Gany Porter was consumed to celebrate the completion of the build.  Final build pix will be in the next post!

Fredmobile: DIY Canti Cable Hanger

Rube Goldberg, eat your heart out.  I had already purchased something from Origin 8 but I couldn't wait.  I was rummaging around the parts bin when I came across an old bike reflector mount.  In fact I tried two other ones first but they didn't do it for me.  This one did.

If this doesn't hold out, Plan B is to modify a Canti brake bridge by drilling a hole at the top and mounting another makeshift cable hanger. 

This solution works nicely