Homage de Qball

Original Build list:

Ritchey barends, flat bar, stem, seatpost

WTB Saddle

Qball Frame, Large 20" and QStick Fork

Shimano cranks, 32t chainring & Shimano Bottom Bracket

Velocity Singlespeed Wheelset

Kick Ass 21t Cog

WTB Nano Raptors 29x2.1

Shimano 575 Pedals

August 2006

October 2006:  Mutano Raptors

April 2007:  Misfit Psycles FUBars

October 2007:  Crank Brothers Candy, FSA Cranks, Marzocchi 100mm Fork

December 2007:  Riser Bars

April 2009:  Racing saddle, Flat Bars, Ergon Barends

June 2009:  Brooks B66 Saddle

2009 begins the Monster Cross Era

August 2009:  Singlespeed Monster Cross with Gary Bars

October 2009:  Geared Monster Cross (1x9), inverted 3 speed bars

October 2009:  Geared Monster Cross (3x9), drop bars

June 2010: Geared Monster Cross (2x9), Salsa Wood Chippers

January 2011:  Geared Monster Cross, Misfit Fugly Stem and Fme Bars

February 2011:  Geared Monster Cross/Commuter

Misfit Fme Bars

March 2011:  Geared Monster Cross

Back to Mountain Bike again?

October 2011:  Geared, 29er Mountain Bike

November 2011:  Singlespeed Monster Cross

Gearing:  44:18

Maxxis Cross Mark Tires

Salsa Woodchippers

March 2012:  Singlespeed Commuter

Gearing: 32:16

November 2012:  Geared, Monster Cross

July 2012:  Triathlon Bike

January 2013:  Fixed Gear Commuter with Fme bars

Gearing:  42:15

May 2013:  Singlespeed Commuter with Trekking Bars

Gearing:  42:17

June 2013:  Singlespeed Commuter with Salsa Woodchippers

Gearing: 42:17

December 2013:  Singlespeed Monster Cross

Gearing:  34:19

January 2014:  Singlespeed Commuter

 Gearing 42:20
Gary I Propulsion Bars

Not bad for a $550 bottle opener!

The Vee Rubber tires look awesome on the Qball

But the Blunts really pimp it out!

Going forward I have dedicated a page of this blog to the Qball

Monstercross Commuter

If you are a regular reader of Cycle Snack you will know that I am constantly re-configuring my bikes but most changes are to to try new things.  Before I got the Garmin Edge800 I had a pretty good mounting situation with the Garmin Edge705 where I had taken a few additional angled adapters and put them under the mount to make the screen flatter in relation to when I would be looking down at it.

My problem is that all the "bar-fly" like mounts are configured for 31.8 mm handlebars and I happen to really like riding with the FMe bars from Misfit Pyscles.  I tried mounting the Edge800 right on the bars but it didn't hold tight enough (and I was using the small rubber bands) and it took that hand position away.

I finally found something on Amazon, called the Evo Spacebar Bicycle Handlebar Computer Mount.  It's the only mount that I found that comes with adapters for 25.4mm and 22.2mm bars.

The ring mount is still a little flimsy set up this way but it's at the perfect position, right over the stem.  I guess if I wanted to get crazy, I could get the 22.2mm bar-fly mount that would fit on the mounting bar, however, I am not sure what would happen with the orientation because it's set up for TT Bars and sits perpendicular to the bar.  It would push the device further up, but then again, I could always move the EVO bar out to the front and mount the bar-fly backwards.  Or just buy the regular Bar-Fly and use the adapters from the EVO.  I could always put the EVO on the Gravel Grinder and take the light set off the bars, which could be interesting, too. 

Dirty Thirty Monster Cross

It's Fall and that means it's Cross Season but I don't race cross, rather I ride my Monster Cross.  In case you are wondering what a Monster Cross bike is, it's a 29er mountain bike with dirt drops; rigid fork; single speed or geared; sporting larger tires than your basic road variety.  One of my favorite places, besides rail trails, is to ride the dirt roads for Roxbury and Washington, CT.

 

And it's time to get ready for the infamous Tour de Roxbury.  That's an invitation only event through this same area but my plans to ride it are still up in the air due to my youngest son's birthday party.  Still, it was great getting out on a beautiful fall morning and riding some dirt!  Also, don't have a choice right now in the riding department because both my mountain bikes are down at the moment.  The Spot needs a new B-Screw for the rear derailleur and as reported in the past I am still having EBB issues.  I think I just need to replace the EBB with an after market one from Carver or Bushnell because the standard pinch bolt system that comes with the Raleigh just doesn't work.

 

I got to the Roxbury Market a little after 9 AM and the usual ride had just left.  It was just as well because I didn't want to slow them down, although comparing their times with mine they seemed comparable.  Still it was a nice 30+ mile ride to be with my thoughts.  On Painter Hill I passed two guys in Bethel Cycles kit heading back towards the Market.  I thought that was odd and wondered if they were part of Stephen Badgers 9 AM ride but had issues forcing them to return to the starting point.  I rode down Moose Horn and then down Battle Swamp, both are insane descents that I have never ridden in the opposite direction before.

My goal was to ride at least 30 miles and do a lot of climbing!  I got both and then some.  I maybe slow but at least I am consistent and I never had to stop on any of these climbs!   For the most part the route was great, one of the roads, Weiting Road, didn't go through forcing me to detour around.  And then looking at the route after the ride, instead of turning right onto Upper Church I should have continued down towards Route 202 and stayed on the sides roads till I couldn't.

The highlight of the ride, for me, was to recreate the route of the old New Preston Branch of the Shepaug Railroad.  It had been bugging me for a few years after coming across an obscure reference to the Shepaug Railroad in a New York Times Archive about the announcement of the new line, called Extending the Shepaug of how this line would have made it's way to New Preston because it doesn't show up in any maps.  I figured it out by studying the old Topos of the area and coming to the conclusion that it was the now Route 47 was the old railroad bed.

 

I will have to come back later in the fall to see if any of the old road bed is still visible.  One thing that I did discover was after crossing over the Shepaug, there is a parking lot and what looked like a trail that follows the original road bed.  If I had more time I would have explored it further but I didn't.  I miscalculated the time it would take me to rid this route.  30 miles a long the coast is a 2 hour ride, but 30 miles in the Litchfield Hills is a 3 hour ride!

 

Heading down from Washington Depot I got an additional treat, River Road was under construction and completely dirt!  Upon arriving at the entrance to Steep Rock Reservation I stopped on the bridge to refuel and send a text to my wife to let her know that I would be a little later than I originally thought.  Despite an earlier issue with the right bar end shifter, the Qball was performing beautifully, however, I discovered later that the rear wheel has developed a wobble.  It's a crap wheel set and it appears I might have to replace it.

 

Lots of horses at Steep Rock.  I passed four different groups, all very carefully of course.  I even saw some older folks riding bikes there, too. The track was really soft in a lot of places, clearly this area also received the shellacking of rain that we got Saturday night.  The route back to the market was good and at the end of the ride I felt awesome.  Of course when I got home, after unloading the car, my son Elliot tells me he wants to go riding!  Who am I to say no to that?

Riding with the relatives

My original plan was to ride from my house (leaving at 6:30 AM) and meeting up with Michele's Sister, her brother-in-law, and her step father at Taits Mill in Trumbull.  Woke up at 5:30 but something wasn't agreeable from the night before and thus all my plans changed.  I ended up driving down to the Parking area at Pepper Street and Cutler's Farm and had 30 minutes to ride down to the Taits Mill parking area where I would be meeting the others.

I got down to Taits Mill in 25 minutes!

While waiting for them, I rode around without my helmet to cool off!

 

Michele's 74 year old Stepfather, Larry, led the way up the trail. 

Sondra, Will and I hung back and planned future family rides in which we would bring our kids.

Turn around point for Larry is Wolfe Park.  Sondra, Will and I continued up another 1.5 miles to where I parked and then we parted company, they were headed back to Trumbull and I wanted to ride to the end of the trail and back as fast as I could to get a little more workout and some miles.  I rode past the town line on the 1600 foot section of the ill fated Newtown Railtrail.  It's still bare and the turn around is starting to grow in, so much that I hardly recognized it.  There are a few muddy spots to contend with, too.