Social Networking means social engineering to the tune of determining your interest in something and then bombarding you with advertisements about that subject. Not sure who does them better, Google or Facebook. The difference between the two seems to be Facebook in that it's a little more graphical and thus eye catching. I normally don't click on the ads because they seem to have been misleading by drawing you to a site in which to get information from you but not give you anything in return, that is until this ad caught my attention.
The RASE (Rapid Adjust Seatpost) is interesting and I have been thinking about getting something like this. Here are some of the features from the website:
Instantly raises or lowers “on the fly” up to a full 9 inches and locks securely into place at all intervals
Operates easily from a remote lever on the handlebars
Is constructed of lightweight but highly durable 7075 Aluminum with a cool “black mamba” finish
Provides the ultimate in control when faced with tackling challenging and variable terrain
Of course the price tag is a shocker: $349 but what do you expect for American ingenuity and creativity. Seeing that the company is from New Hampshire I am surprised to not see them advertising in NEMBA's Singletracks.
Saw this at Brooksvale Park in Hamden on my ride with the boys this past weekend. This is an electric bike where the motor is upfront. That big, thick rack in the back is the battery that powers it. Not only did it have a front shock but a shock post as well.
We passed the guy who owns this bike on the Greenway and he clearly relied on the electric motor too much. You know, this is technically a motorized vehicle and they aren't allowed on the Greenway.
On Monday, I began my one day-a-week, save gas and ride to work day. It was 27 degrees yesterday morning and I was close to chickening out. However, once I got moving it was OK. Still, to get suited up for the ride was an ordeal in itself and took 15 minutes. Today I tried a fleece vest, riding jacket, fleece pullover and a Techwik T-shirt. I wore my winter riding bibs, spandex shorts, and fleece snowboarding shorts. For the feet, I finally got to test out my overshoes and they did the trick! It was the perfect combination of clothing for the temps.
I rode the Bridgestone with the freewheel single speed, 42:16, and it rocked. It was a little slow climbing but it wasn't like I had to do the walk of shame. The bike felt rock solid, if not a little on the heavy side and small. Adding to the weight was my garment bag panniers and I was carrying my laptop in a backpack. That is the only drawback about commuting on Mondays is that invariably I will be bringing home the laptop for the weekend and it means I will have to drag it back on my back.
Had one mechanical along the way, my seat clamp wasn't tight enough and the saddle shifted backwards. Had to stop and fix that before I could go any further. Unfortunately, I think the bike is too small for me. It's probably a medium, and if I do sell it I am still in a quandary about what to do with the rear wheel. I have a Surly Fixxer but I already have enough money into the bike that I am afraid to add any more.
I am using the wheel from the Fetish but since it has vertical drops it's overkill to use a bolt on hub. That leaves the wheel it came with, in which case it can only be marketed as a single speed or I could go with the Bombblast wheel I still have, which is overkill on the roads, and that way I can still get some fixed gear riding in. The best scenario is to find a 26 inch flip flop wheel, cheep, and use that.
On the way home I wore just shorts, Techwik, and riding jacket but it was too cold after a mile and a half so I threw the fleece pullover on and a hat and I was much more comfortable. Bike performed flawlessly.
I took the boys to the Farmington Canal Greenway in Hamden, CT today. Since both won't fit in the Burley trailer togehter anymore I hooked it up the Trail-a-bike and made a train. I tried this once before over on the Housatonic Greenway in Monroe. It works great but I don't think I get much help from Elliot. I think he just likes the idea of cruising and letting me do all the work.
Brodie loves sitting back and watching the scenery go by. At one point, he got a little upset sitting back there so I offered him my cell phone. Told him if the phone rings, hit the green button, and talk to who ever calls. My wife called and they had a pretty good conversation. Later, Brodie's grandmother called, too, and they talked.
I think this is the first official parking lot for the Greenway. We parked over by the Stop & Shop but it didn't look like official Greenway parking. Apparently, you can park over the near CVS and start from the beginning to get the full experience, which I might try next time.
I wore my helmet with the camera mount and aimed at Elliot and Brodie but as you can tell by the angle it should have been pointed down further.
Above is the map of the route, which includes the little foray into Brooksvale Park. The boys needed to run around since they were accustomed to doing this on the Monroe Rail Trail I figured why not. What's nice is the Town of Hamden built a bike path off of the Greenway that comes right into the park. One one side, next to the Sugaring Shack, is a little jungle gym and the other side is swings.
I let the boys bounce back and fourth while trying to get snack foods into them. The only draw back to the park was the lack of facilities, which were closed at the moment. Even if they were open, they were still pretty far away and up a hill. Not sure if is on purpose for plumbing or gravity issues. As soon as I got Brodie settled in he informed that he had to go! I took him over to another parking that was a little more secluded so that he was water the plants.
This was the first ride on the 'Goose with the new Ergon Grips and they are simply outstanding! I was skeptical at first but everyone I have spoken to swore by them and now I see why. They were so comfortable, I think mainly because my palms had a place to rest. We stopped at Monroe Cycle Fitness to pick up a few tubes, which I forgot to bring in case of a flat I picked up a brass bell. It mounted perfectly to quill stem and resonates loudly. I got a little horn for Brodie to use in the Burley, too.
Another new thing I finally tried is the heart rate monitor on my Garmin Edge. Sportracks has a great feature to let you analyze your heart rate with a few different graphs. I think if I weren't stopping all the time you would see a smoother graph.
While looking for parking areas I found a little history on the Greenway that you can read about here: Farmington Canal Rail to Trail Association. After the ride we met the boys' Grand Parents and their favorite Uncle, Uncle Mike, at Eli's for Pizza. They loved it. I think we are headed back next weekend, only this time I am going to plan on trying to ride to the end, and then on the way back hit the park for a picnic lunch.
Now that winter is undwinding and spring is a mere 9 days away, what perfect timing to unveil my new winter commuter. It's a 1992 Bridgestone MB-5 that came into my position via the town dump. Unbelievable how someone could throw out a classic bike.
Below is what it looked like when I got it. In order to make it a Singlespeed I had to use a different crankset. I originally tried to get the bottom bracket off but it wouldn't budge. Took it to the shop and they couldn't make it budge either. Rather than putting a torch to it that may or may not work I decided to let sleeping dogs lie and just find different cranks with square splines. The cranks that came with it had an offset but I couldn't use them with a single ring up front becasue they all mounted in the spider at one point. Ended up finding a drive side single crank with an off set and ordered the left side through the LBS.
I got a 130 mm comfort quill stem from Nashbar with a removable face plate so that I could use my Ritchey Flat Bars that I originally got with the Qball. I was hoping to trade a friend of mine a few bottles of BBC for my FUBars that I traded to him last summer for an aero brake lever but we never connected. I have some old Avid levers, Seras ergonomic grips, and a mount for my Topeak bar bag. The cable housing upfront were a little ratty so they got replaced with some slick mauve ones.
Right now, I am using the rear wheel from the Fixation until I finish rebuilding the rear hub with a Surly Fixxer. Gearing is 42:16 with horizontal drops. Before he passed, Sheldon Brown told me the best gearing was 42:15 for horizontal drops but I couldn't get that to work with minimal chain sag. With this gearing, the sag is minimal. Right now I have the freewheel set up but when I start commuting with this bike I'll use the 16t TomiCog.
For rubber, I got some old Kenda Kross tires from the dumpster at my LBS. They were cool with it because the prior week I bought some tires from them. The seat post came from when I traded my Peugeot UO-8 for two seat posts to a French bike afficianado, which by the way I got another one the other day that I think I might build into a fixie for a quick Fix and Flip. Planet Bike fenders, that I had to shave in the front in order for them to fit in the fork crown. Crank Brothers pedals from a friend that got a new bike but only rides Shimano. I am using a San Marco saddle and I replaced the brake pads.
Just have to get a rack for panniers and it will be ready. I had one but ran over it in the garage and had to throw it out. I have a Blackburn but it doesn't have the seat stay mounts that the newers one.
