The Friday Fix

Got this from Pete over at iBike, definitely some mad, off road fixie skills:



You might have already seen this if you have been to his site before mine, if not, I hope you enjoyed the show.

Here is custom bike builder out of the biking capital of the US, IMO, Portland, Ore. Ahearne Cycles. Check out the custom bike built around an Endo Morph 4.0! Holy smokes, I'd love to try a Pugsley fixed!

Looks like I am not the only one riding mountain fixed, check out his guy.

Two Wheels

Well this bike is no mountain bike but I like the way the guy describes the build. Fixed Huffy. In my book, if it's got fat tires it's a mountain bike, even though this bike is touted as a winter commuter.

Happy Friday!

69ers and 29ers

Another Fetish Fixation 69er! It looks like Fetish has made their labels stand out more by filling them in. I am not sure whether or not I like this. I guess for $150 clams you really can't be choosy.

Found this the other day on the SoCalTrailriders forum, a rigid Fetish Fixation 69er! If you look closely, there is a bell on the the left side of the handlebar.



Found some 29ers on Craigslist, this one in New York. I like the comment about the pedal - stripped crank or is the pedal busted off the post? Of course the reason selling is a classic:

I got it last year, and rode it very little - maybe 20 miles. Its a great ride - with 29 inch wheels you barely notice the potholes...

I am not sure I believe the point about pot holes. I was ridding my Qball the other day on the Gussy Trail and it's still pretty much a raw trail and really uneven in most parts. Even with squish in the front, some of the holes on the trail, which are comparable to a New York City pot hole were still sorely felt.

The price isn't bad, unless of course you have to replace the crank arm. Brand new, this bike costs $399 at Bikes Direct. This has to be the cheapest 29er I have seen being sold to date. I'd check it out and if you got it for $150, that would be pretty sweet. Good, cheap way, to see if you have the stomach (and back) for riding rigid.




Here is another 29er from NYC. Of course, I don't understand why someone would spend $1100 on bike and not ride it. Maybe it's legit but in the first four months I had the Qball I put 102 miles on it and in 2007 another 183 miles. I just don't understand how you can by a 29er and not ride it.

22 lb, folding Single Speed?

Found this little morsel on The New York Times Online edition. This is the lightweight (?), ultra portable, rolling when folded Strida. An interesting concept that started out as an Engineering Design project. I question the weight only because lightweight to me would be sub twenty pounds, like somewhere between 10 and 15 pounds. They do have a mini version, which can only handle 175 pounds and that bike weighs 19.8 pounds, the 5.0 version which is made for the US can go up to 250 pounds. Too bad there isn't a fixed version - I would try one of those.

The drive train sports 56 gear inches and I found this nifty formula on Wikipedia to help calculate or at least infer what the gear ratio is:

Gear Inches:

Gear inches express gear ratios in terms of the diameter of an equivalent directly-driven wheel, and are calculated as follows:

Diameter of drive wheel in inches × number of teeth in front chainring / number of teeth in rear cog.

gi=dwd*fct/rct

gi = Gear Inches
dwd = Drive Wheel Diameter
fct = Front Chainring Teeth
rct = Rear Cog Teeth

For example, suppose the drive wheel is actually 26 inches in diameter. If the front chainring and rear cog have equal numbers of teeth, one turn of the pedals produces exactly one turn of the drive wheel, just as if the pedals were directly driving the drive wheel. That combination of gears and wheel is said to be "26 gear inches." If the front chainring has 48 teeth and the rear cog has 24 teeth, then each turn of the pedals produces two turns of the rear wheel. This is equivalent to doubling the size of the drive wheel; that is, it is like a directly-driven bicycle with a 52-inch wheel. That gear is said to be "52 gear inches."

A bicycle with a 26-inch wheel, a 48-tooth chainring, and a cassette with gears ranging from 11 to 34 teeth has a lowest gear of 26 × 48 / 34 = 36.7 gear inches and a highest gear of 26 × 48 / 11 = 113 gear inches.

I would assume that the wheels are probably 16 inch wheels and I would think the manufacturer would use a standard front chain ring, my guess is a 52t, so the ratio is probably 52:15.

How to Tape Your Bars

Since I am primarily a mountain biker my experience with bar tape up until last weekend has been non-existent. Grips, on the other hand, are the norm for me. Lock-ons are the easiest to work with but I like the Ourys the best. I put them on with a little alcohol and water and they hold really nicely to the bars.

Last weekend, I made my first attempt at taping. I looked around on the internet but couldn't find any reference or instructions on how to do it. The tape kit that I got from PricePoint.com didn't have anything, either, so I winged it and I have to say that they came out pretty good on the Bullhorns that I put on the Bianchi.

On Saturday, before my daughter's dance recital, I had some time to kill up in New Milford, so I went to one of my favorite LBSs, Straightline Bikes and Boards. They were pretty busy. I picked up a pair of Crankfire Socks and some Planet Bike Bar Tape. After the response I got from putting the Cannondale up for sale I started to have Seller's remorse so I opted not to sell it. Not that I would miss the bike but maybe I was asking too little for it. Not to mention, I haven't really given it a fair shake down ride. One day pulling my two sons in their Burley Trailer doesn't constitute a good test of it's capabilities.

One thing for sure was that I had to do something about those cut drop bars. I took them off this weekend and replaced them with drop bars that I took off the Bianchi. Putting the brakes back on was pretty interesting but I was able to manage it pretty well. One thing that I happen to notice about the Planet Bike product was that it actually had instructions on how to apply it!

One thing I noticed on the instructions was the first point about taping your cables down. I assumed this was the proper thing to do with the Bullhorns and did just that. The Cannondale brakes weren't aero brakes so that wasn't necessary. I was wondering what to do with the short strips and now I know, see step 5. I used the white electrical tape this time but I was able to tuck it in on the Bianchi because of how I aligned the cables.

And here is what it looks like. Now this looks like a bike!

I rode it up and down the driveway a few times to test the brakes and see how it feels. It's nice but I think the frame is tool small for me. I will take it out for a ride this week and the decide what to do with it later.

The New Commuter

I picked this bike along the side of the road after it wouldn't sell at a tag sale, for $10. Can you believe it? It's a Bianchi Classica. It was made in Japan and from what I can tell from reading the Vintage Bicycle Genealogy website this bike was made in the early 80s.

In fact the post by Rob describes everything to the T:

Tubing decal: "Hi-Mn" "High Manganese Steel" "P.G." "Oji Original Frame Tubes"

Brakes: basic Dia Compe sidepulls
Crank: SR Custom with SR SP-150 pedals
Derailleurs: SunTour Blueline (These were marketed for a several years in the early 80's)
Bars: Win Winpista
Stem: SR

My frame is red with block letters, "BIANCHI", in gold on each side of the downtube. There is a Piaggio decal on the seat tube (Piaggio took over Bianchi, I think, in 1980 or 81.

From what I can tell by looking at various websites, the methodology in determining the frame size is to measure the C-T length, C being the the center of the bottom bracket and T being the top of the Seat Tube. Thus the length of the seat tube on this bike is 23 inches which equates to 58 cm. I looked at Barney the Purple Cannondale and it's C-T length is 24 inches which makes it a 60 cm frame, and my old Fuji from college, measures 25 inches or 63 cm.

According to Sheldon Brown's Website bike was measured with the following, simple method:

You would stand over the frame of a bike, and if there was an inch or two between the top of the top tube and your tender parts, that was the right size. Bikes commonly came in frame sizes two inches apart, so there was not much question whether the 21" or the 23" was the "right" size.

Granted at this point, I am not sure what is the ideal size of road bike for me. If I use the Lemond formula to calculate my bike fit .67 x inseam length, my inseam being 33 inches or 84 cm, means that the frame I should be riding is a 57 cm frame. This seems kind of small. According to The Colorado Cyclist, How to Fit your Custom Bicyle, they recommend the following way to a fit:

Larger riders (6'0" and up) may find that this formula puts them on a too small, and uncomfortable, road frame. A taller cyclist who wants a more comfortable frame may be better off selecting a frame 27-28cm less than inseam length, C-T.

However, using this metric, I still come up with a 57 cm. On paper it looks like this is right frame, however, since I am over 6 feet tall, I find at least on my mountain bikes that I need to be on a large frame because I have a long upper body and thus like to stretch out over the frame. That is why I was never comfortable on my Giant because it wasn't big enough for me.

Sounds like, however, that adjustments can be made with stems and seat hight to make the bike fit better. The stem on this bike is pretty high, about an inch higher than the Cannondale and I haven't touched the seat. The guy that I got it from was probably an inch or two taller than myself.

Unfortunately, I never took a picture of it before I stripped it down but it had drop bars, cheap handlebar tape - I guess they didn't have cork back then. There were gears of course and old tires. I stripped off the shifters, rear and front deraileurs, took off the brakes, bars, and wheels. I took off the 52t big ring and left the 42t ring up front.

I put on bullhorn bars, Cane Creek 200TT Aero Levers, and a 700c wheelset. Actually not a wheelset persay, rather I had the rear wheel, which is an Alexrim with a no name flip flop hub sporting a 16t fixed gear and 16t freewheel. I put the Candies that I had on my Fixation on this bike and put the acids on the Fixation.

The front wheel came from a trade for a pair of Crank Brother's Candies. The hoop is a FIR with a Shimano Ultegra hub. I wanted 700c because I had some Kenda 700c Cycle Cross tires that I had I had experimented with while trying to turn my Fixation into a commuter.

Hope to get out on this weekend to see how she rides. Feels nice up and down the drive way, but the true test will be a longer on the road.

Bike weighs 23 pounds 6 oz.