Adventures in Bicycling

I'm Back: Winter Beater

2012-01-07T00:04:00.006-04:00

So... I guess I haven't updated in a while. This summer/fall was kind of a dud with regard to cycling. I didn't do near as much as I would have liked. However the dutchie bike that I built did get a lot of use for small runs.

I had kind of decided to put the blog on permanent hiatus, and I was going to make a post saying that but I just never got around to it. But I've got a few things to show off this winter so I figured I'd blog about it.

I've got two of my pics selected to go into the Halifax Cycle Coalition 2012 calendar. The one in the banner of the blog, as well as another winter riding one. As a prize they gave me a quick release mec seat bag in blue, and a filzer bike computer. So that's nice.

About a month or two ago, I bought an old piece of junk raleigh for $60. It was setup as a single speed with the stock 6 spd freewheel and the triple crank. I stripped it, and replaced the handlebars with a straighter set I had. Bought a single speed coaster brake rear wheel, ground the teeth of the outside chain ring, and chopped off the inside one, and threw on the Schwalbe Ice Spikers and my new winter beater was born.

I still plan on putting some Shimano Deore v-brakes that were on the old beater on this guy for front brakes, just as a backup. When I first put the new rear wheel on, the right seatstay separated from the frame. I was pissed off, but I heard of a guy who did welding here in Halifax and was a bit of a bike nut himself. It was Steve, the same guy I discussed bike trailers with last year. I told him I didn't care how it looked and just to keep it as cheap as possible. And with just an hours worth of work he did this really impressive bronze work.

If this is what he can do on a cheap, rusty, steel frame in an hour, I'd love to see him work with some quality stuff and taking his time!

Anyway, so this is what I'll be riding this winter. My first time doing single speed as well as a coaster brake, but it'll be nice to try something different.

Also remember this?

This is the '88-'89 Bianchi Brava with full 105 that I picked up this past summer. After selling some of the stuff that came with this purchase (aero bars and rollers) this bike as well as the brand new mtb shimano cycling shoes in my size only cost me $10. Not too shabby. Because the paint is in such nasty shape (hairline cracks throughout) I've decided to spend a bit of money on this guy and get it into tip top shape performance and style wise. Roger at the Halifax Cycle Gallery has a contact of a guy who will powder coat a frame with all the prep work for $125. So I'm going to try to get it as close to this colour as possible. (Taken from here)

Blue cable housing, blue Brooks B17 or Brooks Colt, blue bar tape, and maybe even some 700x23c's with blue highlights. It's going to be pretty.

Dutch Inspired City Bike, and Bike Flipping

2011-07-23T23:56:00.005-03:00

So it's been a while since I last updated. I hadn't done much riding or wrenching so I didn't have much to say. But in the past few weeks since I got home from a trip to Newfoundland, I've got a few things to talk about.

Well I've since moved my brown Brooks B17 that was on my Colnago Sport over to the Raleigh Condor. It really suits the bike well. Since I don't have a saddle on the Colnago right now it's been hung in the shed for a while and I've taken the Raleigh on a few joy rides around. It has also been serving as the bike I use when I ride to a sales call, usually to Dalhousie University which is about 4 km away. However, it's got killer high gearing with a 53/42 tooth combo on the crank, and only a 24 tooth maximum cog in the back. That's only a 1.68 minimum gear ratio! Much different than the Surly's 0.82. Not to mention when I ride to Dal I'm in dress pants, shoes, and a Nikon dress shirt or Polo with an undershirt. In 25 C weather with the sun beating down and a high humidex, I'm not too pretty when I get home.

So I decided it was time to do something with this.

It doesn't look like much and could easily be mistaken for a lower end bike, but it does have Shimano Exage 300LX drivetrain and brakes. The frame isn't the best or seat/seat tube, but I picked it up in March for $35 and it's been sitting in the shed. With the nice triple 48/38/28 crank rings it has a good low range, perfect for getting around the city. I decided to turn it into a dutch inspired city bike, and here is what I came up with.

I got the bars/stem (which are one piece) from the folks down at Halifax Cycle Gallery for a good price. They were on some Viva bikes and the cockpit was a little too cramped so they replaced them with something else and just had these lying around. They were also kind enough to give me this mildly damaged old Jim Blackburn rack they were going to huck in the garbage! A Blackburn rack in the garbage?! Blasphemy. So I swapped out the freewheel for a new (clean) one, and used the old one in a repair job, new chain, bottle cage, bell, cables and housings and a lot of elbow and Phil Wood grease. With the paint job left in it's less than desirable condition, and the bolt on wheels, the bike definitely deters theft, so I don't have to worry about leaving it locked up for long periods. I still plan to put some fat slick tires on it, possibly white walls, chrome fenders, and I need a cable hanger on the headset to setup the front brakes. Took it to the grocery store this evening with MEC panniers for a few items. It's a nice upright ride.

I only have 2 unfinished bike projects now! I have the Bianchi Brava I bought a few weeks back stripped of parts waiting to be cleaned up. The frame will most likely get a paint job this winter, Roger at the Halifax Cycle Gallery has someone who does a frame and fork powder coat for $125 including prep work. Not bad! I think I'm going for Bianchi classic Celeste color. Google it! I also have the orange winter bike. Due to negligence from me upon putting it away from it's last ride, there was a lot of parts corrosion. So to make it more simple, it will be converted to single speed.

But those are just my bikes... now I have 6 more!
Okay before you call me a bike addict let me just say the purpose of these bikes is strictly to fix up in spare time, and sell to try to make a few bucks for fun.

The story is, on my way home I passed by a house in my neighborhood which I pass all the time. However one of the old garage doors was open and out of the corner of my eye I think I see a bike frame amongst the hoarder levels of junk. So out of curiosity I swing the car around for a closer look, and see a few dozen bikes among lots and lots of junk in piles in the garage. I see the owner outside painting and tell him I just happened to notice he has some bikes and if any of them would be for sale, he tells me to come back later. I do and after lots of digging through crappy walmart level bikes this is what I find.

A 1989 Schwinn Traveler with Shimano Exage groupset, but no wheels, and a 1992 Trek 850 Antelope. The Schwinn is around a 21" frame, and might fit Alanna. On her next visit I'm going to put some wheels on it for her to try. If it fits, rather than selling it I will build it up this winter for a proper road bike for her for next year.

Early 90's Trek 700 Multitrack, which once I got it home found out it had a cracked off and seized seat post, which means the frame is probably scrap unfortunately. Also a late 90's GT Tequesta mountain bike (big frame) converted to single speed.

If this is correct I have a 1980 Raleigh Carlton Corsair which has Reynolds 531 tubing! But it's in rough shape... Also another Trek 700 Multitrack, also in not so great shape.

Got them all for $170, roughly $30 a bike. So I hope over the winter to put a bit of work into them, hopefully not too much time or money, and sell some of them next year. In working condition should be no trouble to get $100 a bike, at least, and more for some of the better ones.

Well that's enough reading for one sitting for you. What do you think of my Dutchie city bike? How about my weird flip bike encounter, and the bikes I ended up with? I'll probably ride the Dutchie for work next week and will let you know how it is on the longer 8 km ride.

'83 Raleigh Condor

2011-06-20T20:17:00.005-03:00

Well I finally got the few things done I needed to get done to have this bike in one piece and ride ready. So here she is!

And here I am in my "cycling clothes" going to the Italian Market for some olive oil.

I rode it to the University for a work visit today. It's a very nice riding bike, and very fast feeling. The Mangaloy 2001 Tange tubing is much stiffer than the Chromoly that I'm used to. The seat definitely needs to be changed as it is very narrow. I think for now I may just put the old Vetta saddle that came off the Colnago on it.

It's a little wider, but not by much. As always I'd like to put a Brooks on there, but I'm going to hold off on pulling the trigger on a third one of those just yet.

I was able to get the rear hub fixed by visiting the son of the late Jack Nauss, Dave, at Jack Nauss cycles, the oldest cycle shop in Halifax. And when I went in, this is what I got to see the in the display cases...

Tons of really cool vintage bicycle components! Wait... what is that in the back?

Not even out of the packaging, Simplex SLJ Golden derailleurs and shifters....wtfffffffffffffffff.

Very cool collection.

Anyway, back to the Raleigh.
The rims and spokes still need to be cleaned up and the wheels need to be trued as the spoke tension is pretty loose. Looks like I may be buying a truing stand pretty soon.

1983 Raleigh Condor (almost) Finished

2011-06-18T00:07:00.007-03:00

So due to being busy with work and thesis writing, the Raleigh got put in the shed mid project. I ran into a bit of a hiccup when repacking the rear wheel hub and didn't have time to sort it out. Well tonight I decided to take a little me time. I went and saw Green Lantern in 3D (I'm an avid reader of several GL comics from DC). It was okay, not spectacular but it was fun, definitely could have been better. When I got home I wasn't sure what to do. It was 930, I was feeling a little sluggish and I do want to get up early in the morning to head to the farmers market.

I decided to do a little wrenching. The brake lever hoods I ordered from the Halifax Cycle Gallery had come in a while ago ($4.50), so I could at least clean up the levers, do the brake cables and tune the brakes. I also snipped the derailleur cables I had temporarily mounted, and threw on the new chain. Here is the Raleigh now.

Paint still has a few bad spots that I'd like to not be there, and as you can see in the bottom pic the outer part of the bottom headset cup is in rough shape, but the inner race is fine. The freewheel and dork disk cleaned up really nice though.

I've also ordered some brown Salsa bartape for this from JensonUSA.com. I ordered my new 48t chain ring from there and to make it worth the shipping I ordered two rolls of bartape. This brown stuff for the Raleigh, and a surprise for the Bianchi (You'll see it down the road).

The only thing needing to be done on this bloody Raleigh now is the rear wheel hub. One of the cones has a pretty nasty mark on it, and the damage is bad enough that I can't get a good hub adjustment. It needs to be replaced. Only thing is I can't seem to find a cone that is the same thread as the axle. I don't know if the Sunshine brand hubs used a different threading than most others but it's a pain in the but. I'm going to drop into a shop I haven't been to yet here in Halifax tomorrow, Jack Nauss Bicycle Shop. Apparently if it's broke, he'll know how to fix it. Been in the business a long time. Worst case scenario, I just buy a set of 700c wheels for the bike used.

Other than that it should be together soon! I'd like to have one of these for it...

But it will have to wait.

Oh yes, and reassembled and looking very much like a touring bike.

However tomorrows 1 night tour is canceled due to weather. Oh well, another time. Just have to put the new chain ring on when I get it on Monday.

One-Hundred and Forty

2011-06-15T00:06:00.005-03:00

Was able to get all this for $140. On my way back from a work trip into New Brunswick, I saw this listed for sale in a small town close to Truro. It would be a 5 hour round trip from Halifax, but was just a dart out of the way on my way back home. I figured it would be an easy flip for me here in Halifax.

But it is a full 6spd indexed Shimano 105 Bianchi Brava in my size, and the shoes are SPD, brand new and in my size. Amazing find. I'm going to sell the rollers, hopefully for ~$100 and will make a good chunk of my money back. $40 for a full 105 Bianchi and brand new shimano shoes is not a bad deal at all. It came with lots of other bibs and bobs as well including aero bars, a seat bag, some repair kit stuff, and a chain tool.

Sad story however. I actually dealt with the lady's neighbour who sold it to me for her as she was at work (this was pre-arranged before hand). He told me this was her husbands bike stuff, and he had passed away (not sure how long ago). He was 41, in great health, and died unexpectedly from a brain aneurism. She knew what she had was worth more, I think she just wanted to get rid of it quickly. Makes you think about how short life is.

So now I have 2 very nice Italian road bikes. However due to working on my thesis a lot lately, and the queue of bikes I have to work on, I don't think this one will see the mechanics stand until this winter probably. I'm in no rush, I've got my Colnago, and the Surly is almost back together after being stripped for maintenance and cleaning.

I had to order a new 48t chain ring for the Surly, as the old one had 16 bad teeth! Not sure how that happened.

Going on a 1 night tour with Velo-Halifax this weekend (weather pending). I will try to take lots of pics and make a blog when I get back.

Out with the old, and in with the older...

2011-05-26T00:39:00.006-03:00

So I sold the '84 Norco Avanti.

Paid - $40
Put in - $15 for a new Bottom Bracket + ~$10 for new derailleur cables
= $65

sold it for $175 making $110.

Not too shabby.

It was an okay bike, nothing to go crazy over but it had decent components and the frame was nice. I sold it because I found this guy for $50.

It's a 1983 Raleigh Condor.
Mangalloy double butted tubing, 27" Araya rims laced to Sunshine hubs, Sakae stem, bars, pedals, seat post, and in my size too. The awesome thing, as you can see in the pictures, is it comes with what is known as Shimano "Golden Arrow" components. Also known as 1st generation 105, and it's almost a full group set! Crank, brakes, levers, front derailleur, rear derailleur, downtube shifters, the freewheel is actually Shimano 600 so it's a step up, and the bottom bracket was shimano as well but it wasn't in the best shape so it's been replaced with a shimano cartridge BB for simplicity.

This shimano golden arrow stuff all has this calligraphy like arrow engraved on all the components, it only says 105 on the markings on the back of the parts. Some of it has some scratches and scuffs, but it's still real nice looking. The frame/paint isn't in the best of shape but it and the rest of the parts have cleaned up pretty good. All these pictures are from when I first got it, and I am in the process of cleaning it up now. Almost finished. Just waiting for some brake lever hoods, and I have to sort out an issue with the rear wheel...

The Surly LHT is currently a bare frame sitting in my mechanic stand. It's getting a total overhaul being cleaned and tuned. It was pretty messy.

In the past month I also helped my sisters friend Brittany, who lives here in Halifax get setup with this neat little number.

It's an old Eaton's department store mixte, but it had Suntour components and was kept in really good shape (Zero chain wear on the original chain!). I cleaned it up with some fresh grease where it needed it, new brake shoes as the others were dried up, and a porter bar instead of drops for a classic city bike feel. It still needs to have the old steel back wheel trued a little as it is a bit wonky, and then the back brake adjusted a little, but it's rideable!

I also picked up a mountain bike with some older Shimano Exage components on it, and a biopace ring for $35 in a 22" frame. The old winter bike is corroding quite a bit as I didn't clean it off properly. So that needs to be stripped too to see what can be salvaged, and the aforementioned bike will probably become the new winter beater as it's a bit bigger, and has some nicer bits on it.

Trying to finish up my thesis before the end of June. Bike stuff is kind of coming secondary right now so blog updates won't be coming too readily.

If something interesting comes along I'll try to make a quick update!

Colnago Sport Project Finished!

2011-04-12T14:03:00.006-03:00

I've been out of town for a week on business back home in Newfoundland, it was a nice visit home but very busy. When I got back home to Halifax my shifters for the Colnago were waiting for me in the mail! Monday I dropped down to the bike shop and Roger at the Halifax Cycle Gallery was kind enough to give me a deal on a short piece of derailleur housing and a few tips. I'll be doing a lot of business in the future with him I fear. Got the stuff home and...huh? The braze-on on the chainstay for the dearilleur cable was way to small to fit the housing tip! Turns out, on some of the old Italian frames you needed a special tapered housing tip (should have been more careful when I threw out all the old housing and cables...). Roger didn't have any but the gents at Cyclesmith did. So for $0.63 I was able to get the proper setup.

Well it's all installed and adjusted, and today was practically like a summer day here in Halifax (almost 17 degrees!), so I took the Colnago on a ride on my lunch break down to the Cycle Gallery and back, just to test it out, and show it off to Roger.

It rides beautifully. So fast feeling and it shifts perfectly and brakes on a dime.

So at last, the final pictures of this build.

The Coco Shakedown

2011-03-30T23:10:00.008-03:00

Yes I've named my '84 Norco Avanti SL "Coco." It was Alanna's idea.

I thought my freewheel might be toasted due to me soaking it in degreaser. This disolved all the grease inside the freewheel mechanism. I've been trying to keep this bike as thrifty as possible so I aimed to regrease the freewheel, but the damn thing just won't come apart. With some patience I was able to work a lot of triflow lube and eventually some Phil Wood grease in the small gap between the retaining ring and the cogs. Running a lot better now, but not perfect, which is ironic seeing as how it is a "Suntour Perfect" freewheel. Can always replace down the road if need be.

Velo-Orange came back with a shipping quote of $27! I told them to cancel the order, way too much. Fenders are expensive to ship due to their size, I was just hoping for a lucky deal. Luckily I found out that the Halifax Cycle Gallery is a VO dealer! So I went and talked to Roger and it looks like he can order them in for me for under $35, I just hope they fit on Coco.

After work today I decided to throw on the front wheel, try out my recovering freewheel, and take her for a shakedown ride.

Just went once or twice around the block, but it feels like it's going to be a nice ride! I still have to repack the front wheel as it is not feeling overly great (but not awful), and get the wheels trued, they are pretty out from what I can tell.

I've trimmed the budget more by opting to keep the original seatpost and saddle for now.
Another price saving measure is to keep the stock tires. The side walls are pretty dried out, but I'll replace them if they blow. I've also just used a regular short nut and bolt for the seatpost. I was able to save the cable housing as well as the break cables. I gave them a good rub with steel wool and greased them before putting them back through the housing, but they were in good shape! Near new from what I could tell. The brakes also cleaned up pretty nice. I roughed up the pads a bit, but I think they may need replacing as they felt a little dried out. We'll see how I feel about them after a few rides.

So.
-Bike: $40
-Derailleur cables: $6
-BB: $17
-Fenders: $35

Total: $98

Not too shabby at all!

Still waiting on my shifters for Ernie the Colnago Sport... Canadapost/USPS fail. That bike is ready to go except for these shifters!!!

EDIT: Also go check out Bikeforums.net. When it comes to these two '80s bikes the guys in the Classic and Vintage forum have been a great help. Lots of pretty pictures of old steel road bikes too. It's getting added to my links.

'84 Norco Avanit SL Project

2011-03-27T11:55:00.004-03:00

I've decided this bikes purpose.

It will 90% original. Don't want to put any money into this thing, and besides, a lot of the original parts are still in prime condition, the original bartape is great save for a small tear so it's staying! It will have flat platform pedals with no straps. I will attempt to clean up the ones on it, but they appear cheap and may not clean up well. If this is the case, the Gipiemme Sprint pedals will be donated from the Colnago, which will get the clipless Shimano M-520 pedals from the Surly, which will be getting new flat/clipless pedals in the near future (bike hand-me-downs?). It will also have fenders.

I am going to have to replace the bottom bracket. The cone surfaces on the axel are slightly damaged, and the bearings/cups are a cheap/crappy design where you can't remove them to clean the bearing race, or replace the ball bearings if need be. A sealed cartridge Shimano BB is $15 at MEC, I just hope they have the right size in stock. It is important to remember when replacing a BB that you get one with a) the same threading (68 for ISO/english) and b) the same spindle length. In my case I'm looking for a 68 x 127mm BB. Failing to do this can cause the crank to strike the frame or totally screw up the shifting of the front derailleur. It's VERY important.

I'm also going to replace the seatpost as it is a cheap short one with the ancient style saddle clamp, and the saddle. I can get a seatpost at MEC for $15 (is everything there $15?), the saddle... well, I'd like to get another Brooks B17. We'll see.

But a lot of work done so far:

Check out my last post for before pics.

Dearailleurs cleaned up and polished
Shifters and bracket same
Free wheel cleaned and lubed
Dork disk polished up
headset repacked
Rear hub repacked

Still have to:

Repack front hub
Install BB
Clean/install crank
Install chain
Setup front derailleur
Clean/install brakes
Run break cable/housing
Wheels trued
And almost definitely need new tires.

This will be my casual ride bike. For when I have to wear my work/dress shoes and ride to a meeting, or when I want to go grab a bite to eat or see a movie and I don't want to go in bike shorts and clipless shoes. I think it will serve a fine purpose.

Oh yeah btw I bought a repair stand as you might notice in the last pic.

I'm contemplating even reusing the old brake cables and housing as it's in pretty darn good shape. No rust or fraying, just a little dirty.

I just ordered this and this... First time ordering from Velo-Orange so we'll see how that goes. Great price for metal fenders, if the shipping is reasonable.

So project cost:

-Bike: $40
-Derailleur cables: $4
-BB: $17
-tires: $17
-fenders: $28 + shipping
-seatpost bolt: $4 + shipping

total $110

I may just swap my seatpost/saddle over from the Colnago when I want to use it...but I imagine that will get old.

New Addition...again!

2011-03-24T21:27:00.007-03:00

I really didn't mean to buy another bike...honest. The people over at the BikeForums.net Classic and Vintage section just have me drooling over all the neat old steel bikes they find and stuff like that is never around my area!

But I saw an ad for a Norco Road Bike with very little info and a not so great pic, but there was a chance it was a nice bike, and was only asking $40!

Needless to say the condition will be spoken for by the photos and it's my exact size, so I had to take it home with me.

A Mid '80s Norco Avanti SL

Frame and fork are both Tripple Butted Ishiwata Cromo
Derailleurs and Shifters are Suntour (no model names on the derailleurs)
Crankset is a Sugino No. 6
Headset in Tange TG235 (?)
Stem and Bars are WinPista
brakes and levers are Dia Compe
27 1/4in wheels on Suzue hubs (same make hub on my Colnago Sport, but different model)
not sure what the BB is yet.

best part is it's in great condition! few minor scrapes to the paint and some rust spotting on the chrome parts but nothing serious. I should be able to put new cables and housing on this, tune up the brakes and derailleurs and ride! But I am going to check the chain for stretch and probably repack BB, Headset, and wheels. This should be an easy restore for me just need to get a few tools to do the job which I need anyway.

I'll probably keep it, at least for a while. But once it's cleaned up and fixed up it should be no trouble to sell it for a decent price... If I can bear to part with it.

Ultegra

2011-03-24T11:27:00.004-03:00

Woohoo! Got my rear derailleur for the Colnago today! Just threw it on there quickly.

It's got a few scuff marks and the jockey wheels need some serious TLC, but it's in great shape!
So happy I was able to get a matching 6401 Shimano 600 FD and RD.

Also sold my old freewheel for $10!

Still selling a Suntour AR II Rear Derailleur, Tektro Oryx Canti set, and an old Vetta Saddle.

Plus, there may be an addition to the stable tonight... "we're gonna need a bigger boat."

Surly Rides Again! [Colnago Project Update]

2011-03-22T22:33:00.010-03:00

Sunday, March 13th. The sun was beating down, it was 8 degrees, little to no wind, and it was just a beautiful day. A great day to dust of the Surly Long Haul Trucker. I headed south along a coastal road. I didn't want to go to far so I aimed for a 36km ride. Over the winter I had experienced some knee pain on one of my rides, and didn't want to push myself too hard. So I headed out.

View Untitled in a larger map

It was so warm on the bike I barely wore anything and had to hop into the woods mid ride to remove the light tights I had put on under my knickers. I continued on until I came to a spot that reminded me a lot of home, so I decided to stop and take a few pics.

But the family who I had just taken a picture with their camera of them for, decided to walk in front of my already setup bike/tripod. I was shooting into the sun anyway so I turned it around.

As you can see I was far from cold. A great day and a great ride.

Shortly before coming to the junction to turn further south and continue on my knee started to pain a little and it also started pecking rain a little. I didn't want to get caught and it was calling for light rain in the evening so I decided to cut it a little short and head home. Turned right instead of left and continued along the loop. This stretch was much flatter than the coastal road, however neither was as hilly as my usual rides in Newfoundland. The wind is also much nicer for cycling.

Thursday night (March 17th),a little more chilly but still nice, I headed out on the Surly LHT with my trailer in tow. I'm not real fond of the hitch mechanism. It requires clamping onto the seat stay and chain stay, and with the trailer being a little old the plastic covered metal plates are not completely plastic covered anymore. Not wanting to scratch up my frame I improvised a little.

Mounting to the rack isn't a permanent solution, but it will do. I have to see if I can rig up some sort of new hitch down the road. Anyway, I dropped the wheels belonging to the Colnago Sport down to MEC for a truing. They do it for $13 a wheel and I actually got a 20% discount because of a service promotion they have on! I spoke to Andrew at the MEC here in Halifax. A really nice guy who helped me on my night of love/hate with the Colnago. Turns out they were not terribly out of true but the spoke tension was WAY off. So I left them in their capable hands and headed out. Dropped by Propeller Brewery to get my favorite root-beer, and then onto the grocery store. When loading my groceries into my trailer there was a customers dog tied to the bike rack with customer no where to be seen. I'm cautious with strange dogs as you aren't familiar with their demeanor or whether or not the owner approves of people playing with them. So I just talked to him in a calm nice voice while packing up my groceries. He seemed a bit nervous of all the passers by, so I let him be. I turned to continue packing up my groceries and then I feel something furry plop down beside me. I think he wanted some company and was a little less scared lying next to me! Nicest Golden Retriever ever. I gave him a few rubs and pat downs and kept him company while loading up. A bunch of cyclists rode up and some went into the liquor store. I talked to them for a bit and they directed me to a local community shop where I could volunteer mechanic time or just bring my own bikes to work on! This would have come in handy 2 weeks ago! Anyway, I headed home.

I attempted a ride yesterday after work but had to call it short due to it being freezing and my knee giving me grief. I have to get it checked out...

Anyway, Colnago Project Update!

Today I picked up a Brooks Champion Standard B17 Standard. I had a thread going on BikeForums.net about whether or not the Swift was right for me (the saddle I originally pictured in this blog). After much debate, and thought, I decided I would stick with what works. I know the B17 is the right width for me already, why mess up a good thing? My riding position on Ernie will be a little more aggressive but I'm still a pretty laid back rider, and I can adjust the saddle tilt to help with adjustment. And besides, a brand new barely used B17 will sell pretty easily, or should be able to trade + cash pretty easy for another Brooks as well. The $220 price tag on the swift at Cycle Smith helped make the decision, twice the price of the B17.

I'm not sure if I made the right choice with "Antique Brown." My B17 on the Surly is black, and the other standard color they offer is "Honey," but I'm not real gone on that one for some reason... I think the saddle looks real sharp, and definitely adds character to the bike. We'll see if the feeling holds up. Just need a nice small vintage styled saddle bag for it now.

I've been lusting after a bell for some time now. Now that there are bike lanes, and multi-use trails at my disposal I felt I needed one. This is the tiny, but very loud Incredibell Brass Duet. There is a larger one, but this is the one that was available at Cycle Smith. It's made of real brass! You can get in a chrome plated version as well, but I prefer the polished brass look I think.

I also picked up my wheels from MEC today. I was in no rush to get them so I didn't mind waiting a few days. While there I picked up a SunRace 7-spd Freewheel, 13-28T, for $15. There was a Shimano one there of the same range but it was $20 and the 28T cog was black with gawdy "Shimano The Original Bike Component" or some crap written on it in white. I thought that it would make the Colnago look like it came from K-Mart so I opted for the cheaper and cleaner looking SunRace. It might not be as good quality, I don't know, but it will certainly do the job. I also picked up a Sram PC-870 8-spd chain for $30.

This was sitting on my doorstep waiting for me! The auction wasn't very detailed but due to my keen eye and comparing to component listings on Velobase I determined that this was indeed a Shimano Ultegra 600 tricolor simply with the tricolor sticker rubbed off. FD-6401 stamped on the back to confirm! Will match my RD-6401 rear derailleur when it eventually gets here.

Here she is again! All I need now is my read derailleur and my downtube shifters, which are both on the way, and some derailleur cables and a small piece of housing for the rear. Everything is greased up with Phil Wood bicycle grease (except the headset and BB are done with white grease, will probably replace the BB with a cartridge down the road, and regrease the headset with PW when need be). This includes the Headset, BB, hubs all cleaned and repacked, and the threads for the freewheel are also greased. Tires are in good shape and are ready to roll. I might replace them with red/black tires and keep the current ones as spares. But we'll see.

-Bike $150
-Shimano 105 dual pivot brakes: $43
-Shimano 600 RD-6401 Derailleur: $23
-Shimano 600 FD-6401 Derailleur: $16
-Shimano SL-A400 DT Shifters (Indexed): $30
-Bartape: $18
-Brake cables/housing: $7
-Brooks B17: $125
-Bell: $16
-Wheel Truing: $24
-SunRace 7-spd Freewheel: $17
-Sram PC-870 Chain: $35

= $504 !!! Holy crap that number surprised me... I have to remind myself however that over 20% of that is a Brooks saddle which will probably outlast me. Not to mention

-SOLD: Gipiemme Shifters: -$25
-SOLD: Modolo Brakes/Levers: -$15
-Pending: Regina Oro Freewheel: -$5 or -$10
-Pending: Gipiemme FD: -$25 or -$30

That brings it down to approximately $424

I would still like to sell my Suntour Rear Derailleur, and my Tektro Oryx Cantilever Brakes. I also have the Vetta Saddle that came off the Colnago I might try to get a few bucks for. I think I'm doing okay.

I'm also considering buying these for both the surly as well as the Colnago, or maybe just the Surly...

I don't want to be restricted by bike shoes all the time anymore. Especially like when the other day I had to ride my bike to a work meeting! Had to frantically put the platforms from the Colnago on the Surly and head out. These would avoid that situation.

Starting to look like a bike!

2011-03-10T22:25:00.002-04:00

Just need the tranny now. (Brooks is on loan from the Surly LHT)

Killer Hobby

2011-03-09T23:57:00.003-04:00

Sometimes bicycling is a love hate relationship. Today was a great example of this.

I decided I would try and get a few things done on the bike right after work while shops were still open. Mountain Equipment Co-op was open till 7, Bikes by Dave till 6 and Cyclesmith till 9. I knew it wasn't going to be like back at Harold's where I could just walk in and work on my bike. I knew I needed to get some bike tools. My bottom bracket needed to be properly adjusted, hubs repacked and I figured I should have the proper wrench for my headset. This meant a spanner tool for the adjustable bottom bracket cup, another BB tool for the lock ring, another BB 36mm wrench for the fixed BB cup, a 32mm wrench for the headset, and a 15mm cone wrench for the hubs. It's about $100 in tools. This made me feel like crap. I have no proper bike tools, and with this new project do I really have extra money to be buying hundreds of dollars worth of tools? No. I do need them and will need them in the long run for over hauling my bikes, but it's just not in the budget right now. Anyway cheapest place to find tools was MEC, where I would head to see if I would buy a few wrenches or a $200 bike tool kit.

I headed to Dave's first as it was closest and closed earliest. Managed to get the mechanic to take a look at my BB and adjust it for me (we neglected to check the fixed cup... more later). They then attempted to get the 6spd freewheel off to no avail. It's an old Suntour which uses a 2-prong tool, and the locknut was stripped. I started to outstay my non-spending money welcome so I headed out.

On to MEC. The tool kit in question had lots of tools, but most of which i had already. Allen keys, adjustable wrenches, and it was missing a few that I did need! Namely the older style BB tools. I decided, my BB already being adjusted for now (so I thought) I would pass until a later time and simply picked up a 15mm/13mm cone wrench to disassemble my axles to repack my wheel hubs, a big bottle of Tri-Flow (I was out almost), and some Phil Wood Bicycle grease. I used white grease I had in the house for the headset and BB, but only because I had it on hand. This stuff is supposed to be the bee's knees for bikes, so I decided to use it for the rest of the bearing jobs. When I need to do the BB and Headset in the future I'll use this stuff.

Oh, the mechanic there couldn't get the freewheel off either.

Onto Cyclesmith. I depressingly handed the gentleman my rear wheel and said "I just need to get this damn freewheel off." He assured me they'd get the job done. 10 minutes later and I was handed my wheel, and them the freewheel! Success! They managed to dig out and old Campagnolo freewheel tool, which had the two notches but also a circular part to go around the nut to prevent slipping! I was very happy to see the wheel all but ready to accept it's new 7-speed transmission. I was happy to pay the $5 labour charge.

Onto Canadian Tire! The crank bolts on the Gipiemme crank are a 15mm hex bolt, not an Allen bolt like modern square taper rigs, or 14mm like most older square taper rigs. Not only that, my 15mm socket wouldn't fit in the hole! So crank arm and bolt in hand I walked into Canadian tire and was able to find a 15mm socket that fit in. "Excellent" I thought. BB adjusted, freewheel off, and crank about to go back on!

I got home and installed the crank only to see it wobble like a drunk on Sunday morning...

I felt like crap. I paced and grumbled and worried that I had done something wrong while installing the crank. Pushing my evening school work aside I hurried back to Cyclesmith bike in hand. "I need to speak to the mechanic." The gentleman behind the counter whom I had dealt with earlier pointed to the gentlemen to his left with a large beard. I explained my issue and worry to him. Because I don't do this often I'm not experienced with what is common and what isn't. He assured me that it wasn't a major wobble but it appeared one of the crank "spider arms" (where the chainrings attach) was bent slightly. He also noticed that the bottom bracket had some play due to the fixed cup...well, not being fixed. We went down to the shop where he gave the crank a few whacks with a mallet and readjusted my BB, and we chatted about bikes and working on them for a bit. I paid another $5 and went on my way.

I got home and my mind felt like it was racing a mile a minute. I was completely stressed out. The tool cost, the early successes, the crank drama, and then the last fix. Not to mention, I've been thinking about this project pretty well non-stop since Thursday. I put the bike in the back porch out of site for while. I talked to the girl friend a bit to try to get my head straight and relax a bit. Had a beer and ordered in some Chinese and watched TV for a bit.

I have a way of obsessing over new projects, hobbies, or interests. I did it with yo-yo's, comic books, photography, and of course bikes. It is the same reason why I have talked about so many projects and plans on this blog and never followed through. I spend so much time talking and thinking about it without actually thinking about realistic possibilities. The combination of having the project on my mind all the time, the roller coaster of worry and happiness tonight, and the lack of food really gave me a going over.

After TV I started on some school work. Good and relaxed now. I wandered into the living room, and began to disassemble my pedals to regrease and adjust the bearings.

Sometimes you just need to step away from it for a bit and catch your breath. I have so much stuff to worry and be stressed out about: work, thesis, debt. This bike project should be an escape from that. And as I sit in my living room, wiping 30 year old grease off of the inside of a bearing out of an Italian made pedal exposing the shine underneath and seeing it mechanically sound, knowing when reassembled and adjusted it will be as smooth as the day it came from the factory, that's what this project should feel like.

I've named him Ernesto, or Ernie for short. Tribute to an Italian man who wanted to build bikes back in 1954. Ernesto Colnago.

I intend on finishing this project if it kills me. I've managed to sell my Gipiemme shifters for $25 and tentatively sell my Gipiemme front Derailleur for $3o. My Shimano 600 FD and RD are on the way as well as some indexed 7 speed downtube shifters and my brakes.

Cost so far (consumables/tools not included):

-Bike $150
-Shimano 105 dual pivot brakes: $43
-Shimano 600 RD-6401 Derailleur: $23
-Shimano 600 FD-6401 Derailleur: $16
-Shimano SL-A400 DT Shifters (Indexed): $30

-Gipiemme Shifters: $-25
-Gipiemme FD: $-30

=$207

Still need
-chain
-Freewheel
-bartape
-cables/housing

not to bad! I have about $70 in supplies bought and $10 in labour at Cyclesmith which brings it up a bit but still not bad. I'm hoping to sell the other parts that came off the bike as well as a set of brakes I had kicking around to help chip away at that. Let me know if your interested.

Modolo brake Set (needs work) $15 + shipping

Suntour AR II rear derailleur, works good $10 + shipping

Tektro Oryx Canti's perfect mechanical condition. Minor wear and tear. Front and rear $20 + shipping

I will post pics and a how-to when I repack my hubs this weekend.

Colnago Sport Project: Update

2011-03-06T18:55:00.011-04:00

Phew! It's been a busy weekend!

As I posted last Friday night/early Saturday morning, I spend a good bit of time that evening disassembling the Colnago. Well Saturday was no different. I spent pretty much the whole day on the bike. I took everything off that I could. This left just the crank, BB, and headset on the bike. I didn't have the proper tools for these things. So I threw the bike in my trunk and headed to the Halifax Cycle Gallery. There I met Adam who works in the shop. I met Roger, the co-owner of the shop, before and it seemed like a nice friendly place. Seeing as it is early March and it was dead in the shop, I asked him if he could do me a favor and let me use some stuff to further disassemble the bike. Success. With Adams help, tools, and a quick call to Harold back at Earle Industries in St. Johns to inquire about the thread direction of a bottom bracket, I was able to remove the headset and bottom bracket. Yuck! So much gunk.

I thanked Adam and headed off. Stopped into Canadian Tire to buy some brake cleaner for the wheels, goo gone for the handlebars, and a tongue and groove wrench for reinstalling the headset (I know cone wrenches are more proper but I couldn't get any).

Coming home I jumped onto the computer to ebay snipe some brake calipers. So I have a pair of Shimano 105 Dual Pivot Calipers on the way!

Put the BB parts and headset parts in varasol to soak for a few hours, and I took the frame outside to spray the inside with rust check. I also managed to clean up the front wheel a bit.

After a while I brought the frame back inside from it's rust checking and got the parts out of varasol to dry off. Wiped them down and regreased and reinstalled the headset. Once I had this dialed in it was so smooth, excellent improvement. Proceeded to install the stem, bars (now free of goo), and new brake levers. I wasn't going to do the BB as I didn't have the spanner tool for the non-drive side cup. But I was too impatient! I regreased and reinstalled the drive side cup using using my new tongue and groove wrench, slid the greased up axle in the non-drive side, and proceeded to install the greased up non-drive side cup with my hand, then a cloth and my hand, then very delicately my tongue and grove plies and a thick microfiber cloth. Made the adjustment and everything! I did the same with the lock nut. Now it is adjusted and it feels right, but I'm going to make sure the lock nut is tightened properly before riding this bad boy. the cranks are just placed on by hand for now until I can get access to the crank pull tool again to snug them onto the taper, but man they spin so freely now!

1am rolls around and the computer is making me tired. I go to walk to my bed room and see the bike and parts strewn across my living room. It was too temping. So I sat down for another hour or so to clean up the pedals.

Alright, alright, enough talk and some pics to break it up.

Some pics of the not so nice stuff.

Nice bars, but I'm pretty sure I did that scratching when I took them off :(

Should be able to fix this with black spray paint.

Not so easy to fix this...

or this...

or this ..

or this.

But I'll use some model paint or nail polish to touch it up just to keep it from rusting. Maybe one day I'll even get custom paint done on it.. but lets not get ahead of ourselves here.

Cost so far
Bike: $150
Cleaning/fixing supplies: ~$55
Shimano 105 Dual Pivot Brakes: $43
Shimano 600 RD-6401 Derailleur (just bought on ebay): $23

total so far = $271

I'm hoping to make a little money back selling the old derailleurs and shifters, but not much.

Still to Purchase
-Shimano 600 Front Derailleur: ~$20
-Shimano 105 or 600 downtube indexed shifters: ~$15-30
-Black and red bar tape: ~$15
-Brake and Derailleur cables and housing: ~$20
-7 Speed freewheel: ~$20

That brings this to $371!!! Didn't realize how expensive it got so quick! And I haven't even gotten to the worst part yet...

Yes I intend on putting a Brooks Swift in brown on this bike. It's going to cost a pretty penny, and it will probably be a while before I shell out for it, but it will look hella nice and totally be worth it. Even though the bike will have a black and red theme, I think the dark brown saddle will suit it nicely. I kind of regretted getting the black one for the surly and am looking for a more classic look on this bike.

Before and After

After again

Before

After

Before

After

Then there is this nice flutted seat tube

Before

After

Lunch

Next step is to repack the hubs. Haven't done this before but it doesn't look like it will be too complicated. I do however need a proper cone wrench this time...

After that, wait for parts to get here to start installing, and hopefully get some more stuff!

New Additions - Update

2011-03-05T01:06:00.005-04:00

So all day I couldn't wait to take my trailer for a spin, and also pick up some things needed to start cleaning up the Colnago Sport! Finally 5pm rolled around and I started getting ready.

Me and the trailer headed to Canadian Tire for some cleaning chemicals, Propeller Brewery for some tasty root beer, and then the grocery store! $110 worth of groceries + other supplies later!

This hitch mechanism is a little bizarre, but I have to say, the little trailer did alright for itself.

Then I started disassembling the Colnago Sport. Brakes, levers, cables and handlebar tape was the first stuff to go. I've already got my old Tektro levers from when I converted the Surly to V-brakes. There are also a set of Shimano 105 brakes for sale on ebay ending tomorrow afternoon with no bids yet. Hoping to snatch them up. The brakes and levers I will probably give away. If someone wants to give me a couple of bucks for them for an old restore or something then so be it, but other than that they might hit the junk pile.

Took the chain off (garbage), and then the front and rear derailleurs. I put them in a jar of varosol to start breaking down the gunk on them. If I decide not to upgrade to Shimano 600 7 speed right way, these parts can be re-used. They are still very functional. Waiting for all the varosol to dry on them overnight so I can re-lube them. I also disassembled the shifters, cleaned them out, and applied some white grease.

I meant to buy brake cleaner to clean off the rims, hubs, and spokes, but I forgot it.

The big differences I saw tonight was on the fork and on the crank. There were some small rust spots on the chrome fork. After reading up on it a bit, I decided to try 0000 grade steel wool + mothers chrome polish. After about a minutes worth of work... well look at the difference.

Non-polished on the left, polished on the right. All the small rust spots buffed right out! There are still some small areas of pitting on the fork, but hard to notice with that shine! I took the chain rings off and wiped the grease off them to make them a little shiny again, and I gave the crank arms a bit of a polish as well.

Things still to do
-Disassemble the headset to clean and re-grease. (Lost my vice grips in the move and don't have a wrench big enough!)
-The Bottom Bracket is not very smooth. I need to remove it to try to repack the bearings, and if I screw it up I'll just buy a new cheap square taper BB.
-Freewheel cassette needs to be soaked and cleaned, also needs to be tested for wear.
-Wheels need to be cleaned and trued.

Once these are done, and I get new brakes I can start putting her back together! I'll be sure to keep the blog up to date on my progress.

It's nice to actually do a project for a change instead of just writing about doing one.

New Additions!!!

2011-03-03T19:00:00.009-04:00

Steel is real...

After posting an ad on Kijiji last week I quickly got a response from Phil here in Halifax. He said he had an '84 Holdsworth and a an old Colnago Sport, two bikes which I've never heard of. Granted I'm not that knowledgeable about vintage bikes. He wanted $200 for the Holdsworth frameset, or $200 for the whole ColnagoSport. After some research the Holdsworth Elan is an old British racing bike, and quite a nice one. However there was some minor denting on the downtube, and it was a bit expensive for just a frameset for my budget, but a great bike.

Then I started looking into the Colnago Sport, I didn't not get a pic of this bike in advance. Colnago was a very popular Italian made bicycle in it's day. Colnago's were famous for their clover leaf engravings on the fork and other lugs. I found some info on the Sport online, and found some mixed info. From what I gather, this is out of the bike boom. Colnago contracted out other manufacturers to build a lower end bike for the American market, and they lacked the traditional clover leaf lug work and were labeled "Colnago Sport." Some say it was made in Mexico, but many have stickers that say "Made in Italy." From what I read it is made with true Columbus Aelle tubing and is a decent bike, but most consider it not a "true" Colnago. For some reason I didn't expect this bike to be in very good condition.

When I got to Phil's tonight to look at the bikes I walked into a garage full of them, but one stood out to me immediately.

-He had a lower level Peugeot converted to a single speed city bike.
-An old pre-raleigh buy out Carlton British made bicycle that was painted over by the previous owner and had little to no original parts.
-The Holdsworth Elan which while it was a nice bike, with the denting and paying that much for just a frame I couldn't justify it.
-He had another french bike which the name is escaping me but it was totally restored with a new powdercoat and new replacement decals which matched the originals exactly. Very well done restore, but again too expensive for me.

Then there was the Colnago Sport. It just really called to me. The fact that the wheels are pretty decent and in okay condition, drive train and crank are okay except for the chain, and the paint and frame were in good condition made it very desirable. I was able to buy it from Phil for $150. With new cables, a new chain and maybe a wheel truing, this thing should be ride-able.

My plans for this bike will be stretched out over a long time to not spend a whole lot of money at once. I plan to upgrade the drive train to older Shimano 600/105/Ultegra components that I can find on ebay. Keep it fairly retro with downtube shifers and older gear, but still modern enough to function well. Black and red bar tape or leather... not sure yet. A Brooks saddle: B17, Swift, or Swallow not sure yet. A mini front rando rack and an english style small saddle bag.

This bike will be used for speedy long rides on the weekend when I don't want to pack a whole lot, and just want to ramble down the coast. Really looking forward to this project.

New Trailer!

Well... new to me!
I found this on Kijiji from a grandmother who lives about an hour and a half away for $45. I was heading out of town on Sunday for a business trip into New Brunswick so I emailed her and we met in the main town close to where she lives. Her grandson refused to get into it, and preferred to "attempt" to ride his bike. She was firm on the $45 however, but it's a pretty good deal when you think about it considering the price of purchasing a new cargo trailer, or even a new bargain basement trailer for that matter.

So here it is! it's been sitting in my trunk roaming new Brunswick since then. I removed the foam seat and pushed the vinyl that was the seat all the way to the back after removing all the straps that held it to the frame. Now as you can see in pic 3 and 7 I have lots of room for groceries and other cargo!

I'll be getting groceries with the old winter beater and this puppy tomorrow evening. I'll let you all know how it went!

I'm really pleased with both of these new additions. They are very different in their application but I will try to enjoy both of them thoroughly. Just goes to show the many ways you can enjoy cycling!

Winter is Slow: (anyone want to sell me a chromo frame?!)

2011-02-25T16:59:00.010-04:00

[SEE THE END OF THIS POST FOR MORE INFO ON MY "WANT AD"]

Well just like the title says, the days just drag on and I find myself missing riding my Surly LHT, just cruising around the streets in the hot night air. Cycling is so much easier in summer, and so much more enjoyable.

The weekend before last I managed to get out for a ride. It was only short, around 10.5km or so, but it was nice just to get out. I managed to see a little of the park on the southern shore and a little of the downtown area. I'm still getting used to the area, but know enough to not get lost (the gps in my android phone helps).

(train tracks are a new thing for me, as there are no trains in Newfoundland)

So much muck and snow! But it was a fun ride. I stopped into a place called Boneheads for lunch. it is a southern style BBQ restaurant. I had a pulled pork sandwich and fries, which I know the sandwich is a bit of a staple in southern BBQ. Now I'm not a huge pork lover but it was okay. the helpings were massive, I didn't eat it all as I didn't want to throw up riding home.

On the ride home I had some knee pain in my right leg, and it was pretty tender the rest of the night. I attribute it to not being on the bike much since October/November and also riding in -7 C before windchill.

I think I've finally figured out a winter clothes routine that works for me.

I've been wearing my Sugino long sleeve technical thermal with a MEC fleece over that. I bring my MEC windbreaker with me just in case the wind is biting or it is a little colder, but it is not waterproof.

I have my MEC Switch gloves which I really love. They are not biking gloves, but they are made of leather and are windproof and water resistant. I've also given them my own water repellent treatment. They keep my hands pretty warm. So far I've been down to -7 or -9 C and my fingers only got a little cold when I stopped for a bit.

On Bottom I have my Sugino themral tights. These are not of the windproof variety, but they keep me pretty toasty. However I find them a little restricting, it seems to be a harder ride with tights on then without. I have some 3/4 knickers over that which are from the GAP but I got at Value Village for $12. These really help keep the wind off and keep me warm. Not so great in summer riding. I have MEC technical knickers for that.

I also have an MEC headband, and an MEC fleece bandanna which works great as a scarf without the trouble. It is a triangle of fleece with velcro in the two corners. You simply velcro it around the back of your head, and pull it down to your neck or up to your nose, or whatever! Probably the best thing I have for cold weather.

The only thing I haven't figured out is footwear... I don't have the money to spring on partially insulated/water resistant hiking boots, which is what I think I would like to wear. So I've been wearing my Chuck Taylors with a pair of cotton and a pair of wool socks. It's not so bad, but start to get cold after a while, and if they get wet I'm screwed.

I could also use a pair of goggles for those colder days.

This past weekend my lovely girlfriend was able to visit me for 5 days on her reading break from grad school. It was great. She is gone again now so I'm lonely again and have nothing to do but work, and update my blog. While she was hear we ate out a bit. We tried a greasy spoon diner called Johnny's Snack Bar, which just tasted like cafeteria food. I could have made better chicken strips and fries. We also tried a place right next door to that a few days later called the Brooklyn Warehouse. It was fantastic. All of there food is organic and fresh and boy could you taste it. I had the best burger, made from local organic beef. Best burger I've had. I could actually strongly taste the beef as opposed to seasoning or sauce. It was delicious. Alanna had fried Haddock and chips which she was also extremely satisfied with.

Now besides having a tasty burger, there was something very important discovered in that restaurant. Asking for a drink in a restaurant is always a negotiation with me as I love Pepsi (a little too much probably) and am really not fond of Coke.

Me: I'll have a Pepsi please.
Waitress: Coke okay?
Me: Root beer?

Now here is where the magic happened. The waitress suggested something called Propeller Root Beer. So Alanna and I both agreed to try it. We were a little concerned with out decision because she said it came from a brewery and we didn't ask if it was non-alcoholic (I was driving). The drink arrived in a cool brown bottle. All natural ingredients, brewed locally here in Halifax, and it was the most delicious Root Beer I've ever tasted.

I know. Two "best I ever tasted" in one place. I can't help it, it's true!

Anyways, needless to say we headed down to the brewery in the next few days and bought a half case of Root Beer. We also ate at the Keg, which we love, and baked a whole chicken and then made a delicious pot of chicken soup with potato and tomatoes, from scratch.

Well I've already written tons so I'll end it here, but if you are in Halifax, Nova Scotia, be sure to check out The Brooklyn Warehouse, Boneheads (which I also had a shredded chicken sandwich at the other day which was WAY better), and The Propeller Brewery. Really glad I found these spots.

PS: here is a new pic of my "command center" with new monitor and keyboard.

Wanted: A semi-vintage, affordable steel bike
I'm looking for something like a Miyata, Peugeot, Trek, or Nishiki road bike from the 80's. Looking for a chromoly frame, something with reynolds or columbus tubing would be great. The frame should be in good condition. I'd really like to get a frame, fork, headset, stem, and bb if possible extra parts in good condition is a bonus. I need something with a 56 or 58 cm and don't want to spend a whole lot of cash on it. If you have something you think I might be interested in that you can ship to Nova Scotia for a reasonable price, leave a comment with the bike make, and your contact info and I'll get in touch with you.

I want to set this up as a road bike, with only a large old school seat bag, and possibly a mini front rack. I'm looking to build it up slowly so if I can just get frame/fork/headset that would be great.

Thanks!

Chain Lake Trail

2011-01-29T16:38:00.011-04:00

So today I set out around 11 or so, after a hearty breakfast of bacon, a blueberry bagel, orange juice and a cup of tea.

First I went to Bikes by Dave. Dave Reminds me a lot of Harold from Earle Industries back in St. Johns. An older guy who just really loves bikes and running his shop. I told him about my trailer idea and asked him if knew anyone who could do some fabrication for a decent price. He directed me to Cam, a mechanic in the store. "I know just the guy," he said, "you should talk to Steve he's a welder at the docks and is just setting up his own space. He loves bikes and trailers." Awesome. He couldn't find his number so I passed on my contact info to Cam to give to him.

Then I made my way down to Halifax Cycle Gallery to speak with one of the owners, Roger. Told him my idea. "I know just the guy," he said, "you should talk to Steve." I laughed. Apparently I should talk to Steve. I chatted with Roger a bit, got Steve's contact info, and then headed out to the Chain of lakes trail.

I haven't gone on an extended ride in quite some time, and the terrain didn't help. Being an old railway line, the grade was fine. At first the trail was paved, and actually cleared of snow. Pretty awesome. But that didn't last real long. After passing under a bridge at NW Arm Drive, the trail turned to gravel, under about 3 or 4 inches of snow. Now, we've had a lot of snow/rain/snow/rain, and some really cold days, so every footstep and track on the trail was a big hard ice speed bump, and with no suspension, my wrists had a hard ride ahead of them. Some spots were okay, with a nice inch of just crunchy snow and a few bike tracks, but the majority was pretty rough.

Once I hit Governor Lake I was ready for a little break and a snack. I found a little spot just down off the trail that opened up a little. The lake appeared to be really frozen. I tested the strength of the ice very precisely (see the rocks in the following pictures) and decided to see just how well my Schwalbe Ice Spikers worked on ice.

If riding around in circles on a flat sheet of ice doesn't convince you, then I don't know what to tell you. Schwalbe's Ice Spikers work. Simple as that.

Lunch Time.

I had a nice ripe pear, some almonds, and a can of pepsi. I made sure to bring all my garbage back with me. From here I headed to the tip of Governor Lake, despite the vibration inducing terrain, committed to completing the route I had set out for myself.

I turned around and headed back from here. there was a slight grade down for a good chunk of the trail back, so it wasn't as bad, but after my break my toes and hands had gotten cold, and I was getting tired. Everything warmed up again after a short while, and I hit pavement again. Freedom! I then continued on the trail past the point at which I started at just to examine it. I made it to the end, where I crossed the road, and continued on the old railbed to where the railway still exists. On my way here I ran into a group of men hanging out by the tracks, drinking a case of beer, at 2pm. They were having a really good time by the sound of it, and one of them was urinating out right on the path. It was an interesting encounter to say the least, and a funny end to a good day.

View Chain Of Lakes Trail+ in a larger map

From my GPS.
Home now.
I have the beater in the back porch on some plastic mats so the snow melts off it and it can dry off. Then back in the shed she goes.
Talked to Steve. He seems like a really nice guy who is genuinely interested in building bikes and trailers, and he said we could definitely work something out. Sent him my sketches and hope to meet with him soon.

Lazing around now in a bath robe. Going to cook some chicken soup soon.

Don't let the cold and snow stop you. Get out and ride the bike that you love.

Steel Pipe Dreams

2011-01-28T23:48:00.009-04:00

I've been known to make grandiose plans from time to time and never follow through. Sue me. I get so wrapped up in an idea but as a student, and now a full time working person and student, there isn't a whole lot of time for projects. Not to mention my lack of equipment. But at least now I have money. Well... a little anyway.

As you all know I love the idea of bike chore-ing, doing mandatory chores by bicycle and enjoying it. Yes I did just attempt to create my own name for it. So naturally the idea of long bikes, cargo bikes, and trailers have perked my interest many times in the past. The Surly Big Dummy, the Yuba Mundo, Xtracycle, and various trailers.

They're all so damn expensive... and for what?!

Prime example. The Wandertec Bongo Cargo Trailer.

It's a fabulous design. Comes with a flatbed on top and lots of little spots to mount bungies etc. This trailer costs a whopping $319 from Biketrailershop.com. That is a fair price and is in kind with all other trailers, but it's 3 pieces of metal and two cheap 20" wheels for christ sake. And like most other things now-a-days, probably has poor craftsmanship from a small factory in south east asia.

[EDIT]: as Josh Lipton from Wandertec has pointed out below in the comments, the Bongo is actually made in Flagstaff, AZ by skilled metal workers. So my apologies on that as using it as an example.

Personally I'm just not ready to shell out almost $400 for a trailer.

So I've been on the look out in the classifieds for used, cheap, department store child trailers. Thought I found one the other day for $25 but it looks like it went to someone else. I just want one for lugging around groceries, and the occasional cargo.

So then I saw this in the classifieds. $30 for 7 bikes.

But I just want that little red one in the front. I like the look of how the rear triangle just detaches because of the cheap suspension...

I wonder how much I can find someone with a welder to fabricate something up for me...

Think Xtracycle, meets Bobyak.

Tomorrow I'm going to talk to some local bike shop owners in Halifax I've met and see if they know anyone. Going by bike to Bikes by Dave and Halifax Cycle Gallery, then onto check out the chain of lakes trail. Should be a fun 25-30km ride.

View January 29th 2011 in a larger map

PS: I bought a new camera. A Nikon FE2 with a 50mm 1.8 (1978)

and here is a self portrait in my new work shirt taken with my D50.

Back in the saddle

2011-01-23T22:52:00.012-04:00

Well it's been over a month since my last post. Since then I've finished up my experiments for my Masters program, went to Naples, Florida for a week during Christmas, moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, started a new job, spent a week in Mississauga, ON for training, visited friends in Guelph, ON for a weekend, and have my first real week of work under my belt. It's been a busy month. I won't get into the stuff much as none of it is cycling related and this blog has been lacking some serious cycling talk lately. But first I'll share one real nice shot I got while in Florida.

Straight from the camera, basic jpeg, no adjustments. I'm pretty proud of this, it was taken on Christmas day. And here is me trying something new in Florida!

I saw recumbents on display outside a shop and just had to try one out. Took it around the lot a few times, turning is real tricky with the small wheel and little rake, but definitely an interesting ride.

So I finally got to get out on my bike again. Last weekend I made a grocery store trip on the bike. The store is around 1.5km from the house, and I just wanted to get out. So rather than taking the stinky old car I hopped on the winter beater hooked up all the lights, horn, and bags, and a box for overflow (which I totally needed). It took a lot of organizing because a lot of stuff was still tucked away from the move, but I got out. It was a nice little ride, there is something about doing a mandatory chore on a bike that is very rewarding. Commuting, grocery getting, running errands by bike just gives me a very good feeling. So far still don't have a good boot/shoe for winter riding. So I've been riding in my Chuck Taylors with a pair of cotton and wool socks. haha.

The bike feels pretty hefty with all that grocery weight on the back. So I think I may try and pick up a used child trailer. Nothing brand name. Just see if I can find something local for hauling junk around in. Also I had to take the mirror in the picture off, it was really getting in the way of my bar ends, I need a better mirror solution...any suggestions?

We had a good bit of snow the other day too. I took my bike out for a little 10.4 km jaunt around town to run some errands. Had to drop some film off to be developed. Cutting through the powder in the back yard on the bike felt very interesting, and fun. I had no problem riding over icy patches and frozen chunks left over from plows on the sides of the road with the Schwalbe Ice Spikers, they make me very confident in my riding. I actually cut across a large field that had been packed down to pretty much ice by pedestrians. The studs dug into the ice no problem and I felt completely stable. In the coming weeks I look forward to checking out some trails. I was hesitant to the aggressive tread of the Ice Spikers and they're 300-something studs. Saying they are not a fast tire is a huge understatement, but if you're a rider in Canada and you want to be 99% confident you aren't going down on ice these are the puppies to get. All it takes is one fall to get a bad injury, and these tires will certainly help in preventing that.

So that is it for now, most of my blogs have been too long winded lately anyway. Now it's audience participation time.

What kind of weather rider are you? Do you ride in snow, rain or shine? Or are you a seasonal rider?

For you winter riders, what do you wear on your feet?!

Also, I find I don't take many pictures while out on a ride. I always have my smartphone but never bother to take pictures. Maybe when I get to do some more scenic riding again I'll take more.

Changes and a serious lack of biking

2010-12-18T13:15:00.002-04:00

So two things first:

1) As I had mentioned before, a while ago I came out to stay with Alanna before we go. Her place is actually in the city an much closer to the university. After being there for a day or so I went home and got my winter beater bike, anxious to start commuting again. That day I developed a throat infection and cold that I am just now over. So I have done no riding. zip.

2) Even if I was well, there is NO SNOW! It is just RDF (rain, drizzle, fog. We say it so much in Newfoundland that we just abbreviate it to save time). Especially for the last couple of days...it has been pouring rain. So I wouldn't even really get to try out my studded tires.

But change is a foot.

I am currently in my lab, completing my final experiment of my physics masters program. It is Saturday, and I will most likely be here until very late tonight to finish it, but it is the last one. As tedious as it can all be sometimes, and how I always feel like I'm missing something, or I'm not smart enough to keep up with it all, there are several things I will miss about being an experimentalist.

I'll miss the inventing and ingenuity around designing a new technique, and building the small pieces needed to complete the task. I'll miss the microscope, sitting in front of it, looking for elusive particles or system behaviors. I'll miss the thrill of working on something for months, and then when you are most desperate and it seems like everything will fall to pieces, everything falls into place and you make a wonderful discovery. The problem is, that discovery then leads to 6 more months of suffering trying to understand the next thing, waiting for the next moment of clarity. As wonderful as that moment is, for me, all the stress, and anxiety, and suffering is just not worth it.

I don't want to have to take the work home with me. I don't want to lay in bed wondering if the work I've done over the past few days will end up being a total waste of time. I don't want to have to worry about explaining phenomena, and making excuses for why it's different from what we expected, and massaging things to make it look better instead of developing a better experiment... That last thing, I think that is the kicker for me. I would rather toil for days, months to improve technique, and apparatus, than spend 1 day figuring out how I can take the "okay" results I have and finding the physics in it.

It is the tinkerer in me I fear. I realized this year that I'm not cut out to be a professor. I just don't have it in me. These men and women I see in our department, live and breath this stuff, and I do not. I'm much rather suited to hands on, technical stuff, than theoretical, writing papers stuff.

I had to go start my next experimental run...where was I...

I think in that regard working in the industry as a Technical Representative for Microscopes will be an interesting change. I get to try and sell microscopes, set them up, do demos, tech support, etc. I'm looking forward to the work, I hope I won't be awful at it.

We leave for Florida for Christmas Vacation soon, then shortly after we get back I leave for Halifax. On New Years Eve, my father and mother are driving their truck and a U-Haul trailer, and Alanna and I will drive my new Honda Civic across the province of Newfoundland from St. John's to Port aux Basques, take the ferry to Sydney, Nova Scotia, then drive to Halifax. The whole trip will take a little under 2 days. We should get into Halifax around lunch time or a little later on January 1st. Mom and Dad will then drive home, and Alanna is staying with me until the 9th to help me get settled in. Then she is flying back to St. John's to continue her folklore masters program. I have to visit her as often as possible. I'm going to miss her, but we are very much in love and I have no doubt in my mind that the distance won't keep us apart for long.

It is also my first time not being in a school system since I was 5 years old.
I've rarely been out of Newfoundland.

It's going to be a big change. And I've also got to look forward to writing my thesis on the side when I move there.

Wish me luck.

Ready to Roll, not slide...

2010-11-21T19:16:00.007-04:00

Just installed these bad boys.

The winters in Atlantic Canada can be messy, and I'd rather be a little overkill on my winter commuter than slip under some cars. For a little less rigorous tread check out the Marathon Winters from Schwalbe, I've heard good things.

Got a nice deal on them from Harold at Earle Industries, I'm going to miss that guy. He told that when I want a roof rack to call him up and he'll hook me up with some Thule stuff and ship it to me.

Oh yeah the rack is for this

My 2011 Honda Civic SE Sedan.

It also has winter/studded tires (but I have the nice aluminum 16" wheels for summer too).

I needed to buy a car for the new job. I'll be doing a fair mount of traveling, so I wanted something reliable, good gas mileage, and a nice drive. So I splurged a little and got the Civic. I'm hoping it's quality and reliability will pay off in the long run.

I'm planning on using it for travel purposes mainly, or if I want to take my bike out of town somewhere for a weekend. As I will work from home, I don't need to commute, and I will be close to amenities so I plan to use my bike for running errands.

The less I have to use this car the better!

New Beginnings- Thanks Ben

2010-11-15T22:26:00.007-04:00

"Hey, I've recently begun following your blog, and I think it's great! Just bought a used '09 LHT (olive) via CL, and I couldn't be happier with it! It came with a diff set of drop bars (31.8 Bontrager race lite), stem (FSA 150), and brakes (Shimano BR-R550 cantis)... so far so good! I'm on the other side of Canada (Vancouver), and rain is everywhere. I just need some decent fenders, rain pants, and shoe covers, and I should be ready for the worst of it! I'll check beck often, and can't wait for the next great post on a certainly great bike!"

-Benjamin

So I'm not a very good blogger when it comes to tardiness, sue me. But thanks to Ben's recent comment it made me feel like I should at least make a bit of a blog with some excuses, post some old content I've been meaning to publish for a while (see one post down), and talk about what is going on with me. So thanks for the kick in the butt Ben, I'm sure you will love you're new steel beast.

The Surly Long Haul Trucker has had a good first year. With 2262km under my belt of almost pure commuting I'm pretty happy with my first year of serious cycling. Last year as you know I bought my first decent bike and dipped my toes into the hobby, but this year was all about the commute. After moving back home with the parents in Paradise, I had an 18km commute, each way ahead of me in the mornings and evenings, with a headwind mostly everyday on the ride home. I didn't cycle as often as I could have, 2 or 3 days a week most of the time. I avoided the rain most of the time and either borrowed my parents car or got a ride with my lovely sister. There were a couple of times where I would bike for almost a full week, and one time when the car was broke down where I biked back and forth for 10days straight. It's not as much as most people do, but I think it is a good start. St. Johns is not bike friendly with no lanes, shoulder or signage for bikes, and the terrain is rigorous, and the wind feels like it is always a headwind, but I guess I shouldn't complain. In the coming years I hope to bike more and more and avoid using a car only when necessary (more about my commuting and car usage in a bit). The temperature has dropped and frost has started to appear, so the Surly is now tucked safely away from the road salt for the winter.

I've got a busy month or two ahead of me.

I'm still working on finishing up the experiments for my Masters thesis, it is going well, it is just taking time. Looks like I will not finish up for December, but will have to write my thesis in an extra semester...from away (more later I said!).

At the end of the month Alannas parents are heading to Florida for vacation. She lives in Cowan Heights, an area of St. Johns fairly close to campus, only about a 6 or 7km ride. I plan on staying with her while they are away and will attempt to commute by bike! Yep that's right the winter beater is back in the running for actually being ridden! For those of you who don't know, last year I built up a beater bike but never finished it, and because my commute was so long and the winters here are so awful, I never used it. Well now she is prepped and ready to go, all I need is my studded tires which I will be picking up this week.

Then as a christmas gift, her parents are flying us to Florida to spend the holidays with them for a few days! Awesome! I've never been to Florida and it will be a welcome break from winter.

Then when I get back I am moving to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Now let me explain...it might take a while.
In my research I do a lot of Microscopy, on Nikon microscopes. As I started feeling more and more weary about academia, I decided to keep my eye open for positions. On June 3rd a job was posted on Nikons website for a Technical Representative in southwest Ontario. the job description seemed to be written just for me. With at least 6 months left in my masters, I figured there was no way, so I did nothing. A month later the job was still posted. I figured "what the hell!" They can either reject my resume, or offer me something and I can tell them I'm still in school, it wouldn't hurt to apply. So I did. And then nothing.

THREE MONTHS LATER... bam. An email from Nikon HR asking me if I was still interested in the Technical Representative for the microscope and instrument division for EASTERN CANADA.
Long story short:
-I had a phone interview
-I did an online assessment
-They flew me to Toronto for an interview at Nikon HQ (how cool is that!)
-They offered me a Technical Representative position for eastern Canada based out of Halifax to start in January and I accepted!

So the plan is to start work in January and write my thesis part time, fly back as often as possible to visit Alanna who is still completing a Masters thesis in folklore, and try to do a good job. So like I said, I'm going to be busy. I have to find an apartment, and because I will be traveling around Atlantic Canada doing sales and tech service, I need to buy a car. ICK! But I will be working out of a home office so no commuting! And that lets me save up all my energy for fun rides around Halifax and surrounding area. I hope to use the car solely for business, travel, and when it is really nasty out, and bike the rest of the time. Halifax seems to be more bike friendly with a full network of lanes, shoulders, and signs, so we'll see how it goes.

So that's it.

That is what is happening in my life. I'm really hoping everything is going to go at least somewhat according to plan.

I will not be posting much still, as I do have a crap load of stuff to cram into the next month and a half. I will try to make a post once I try the Winter Beater, but other than that I probably won't be able to update much until I've situated myself in Halifax.

The End of Summer

2010-09-28T22:22:00.006-03:00

A lot has happened since my last blog post. I've been exceptionally busy trying to get work done for my masters thesis and at the same time trying to have enough fun so I don't loose my mind. So blogging has taken kind of a backseat.

I'll post some short points of what I've been doing since we last spoke.

-August 22 - Bike Trek 2010

I did a fundraiser ride for the Newfoundland and Labrador Lung Association called Bike Trek. It was a 90km ride through the northeast avalon peninsula. Good turn out. I only paid the required $25 however, didn't have time to fund raise. Rex and Lou were there, fast as ever, and a gentleman named Gary riding a very well loved (see: ridden to hell and back) Surly Cross Check. Posted below is the elevation profile and and the route (in Elevation (m) vs Distance (km)).

View Bike Trek 2010 in a larger map

-Haven't done much riding besides commuting

-Got two new lenses for my birthday a Nikon 35mm f/1.8 and a Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 OS.

Pics from kenrockwell.com and dpreview.net respectively

sample pic from the Sigma 18-200mm of Targa Rally 2010

-Tuesday September 22, 2010 Hurricane Igor struck Newfoundland pretty bad. Some parts were cut off with roads totally washed out. Luckily my area wasn't hit too bad. But we had some serious water.

-Sunday September 26 - Alleycat Race
I did a race around St. Johns based on clues and checkpoints. Went the wrong way at the start but still came 8th. It wasn't really competitive, just a fun run.

[All this was started a while back, below is new as of November 15th]

Summer is long gone now.
There wasn't much to it. Due to trying to complete my masters degree I only took a short vacation, and most of my riding, 99%, was just commuting. Having a 36km commute over hilly terrain really makes it hard to get out for fun rides.

Fall is here now (aka Winter light in Newfoundland).
And I'll update the rest in a new blog I'm writing right now.
It

New Brakes and Photography

2010-08-12T23:08:00.007-03:00

Finally was able to get my Shimano Deore V-Brakes onto my Surly Long Haul Trucker. I mentioned a while ago that I was unhappy with my stock Tektro cantilever brake performance on the LHT. So I decided to give V-Brakes a try after reading some posts on the Long Haul Trucker and Cross Check owners google group. V-Brakes need more cable travel than cantilever brakes so you need to make sure that you get levers that are compatible! The stock levers on the LHT are no good for V-Brakes, so I switched to Tektro RL-250 levers made for drop bars but compatible with V-Brakes. There are many levels of V-brakes you can get from shimano, but once you get past Deore you're getting pretty expensive, the benefit most likely doesn't out weigh the cost I think. I stuck with Deore at $30 each for front and back.

The braking power increase is awesome! Before if I was going down a steep hill I would have to go into the hooks and really pull on the brakes to stop. Now I can lock up my wheels from the hoods! So happy I made this switch. To anyone else riding a LHT and is only so-so about your brakes, just throw some linear pull/v-brakes on there and try it out! I am real happy I did.

I've also been playing with touching up my photos a little bit, and am starting to watch some tutorial videos to try and get a better result straight from the camera. Here are my first two retouches.

Alanna in Petty Harbour

Angel in Flatrock Grotto

Life, the Universe, and Everything

2010-07-28T22:31:00.008-03:00

As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a scientist. (Bare with me this gets a little convoluted)

Not quite as cool as the infamous line delivered by Ray Liota in "Goodfellas," but true none the less. My mother had a book called "School Daze" where every year (until I was of a certain age and didn't care anymore) I would put in my pictures, and fill in all kinds of questions like, who my best friend was that year, what I learned, and what I wanted to be when I grew up. Well even before I can remember, apparently in the first grade I wanted to be a scientist.

So now I guess I am. I have a physics degree.

This curiosity about things was always with me. I would take apart old VCRs and was a very quick learner when the first computer entered our house. Within a week or so of my dad teaching me how to use it, I was teaching him how to do more, and more importantly how to fix stuff on it. Now a days I'm what you would call a tech head. I build my own computers and install everything myself. I play video games such as Half-Life, Team Fortress 2, and Call of Duty. I use linux (and windows) and love it.

I never really fit into a mold, at least I didn't seem to. Never really had a close group of friends. I got called a fag and gay a lot high school because that seemed to be the default thing other guys would call you if they disliked you for no reason.

It is for this reason, as well as common sense and human rights of course, that I am extremely pro-gay rights, in every respect. I am not gay, and I had to deal with all that discrimination and segregation. I can only imagine how hard it is for someone discovering their homosexuality at that age, and having to deal with the ignorance of youth. Many people use religion or ignorance as excuses for hating people for who they are. As MLK said "...will not be judged by the sex they love, but by the content of their character." Or something like that.

Speaking of religion. I am a very strict and outspoken atheist. I do not apologize for this, nor do I "respect" other peoples religion. I respect that people are free to do and say as they please within all confines of the law, but that doesn't mean I have to agree with them or take them seriously. As a scientist I cannot say with absolute certainty that no such thing as a god exists, mind you. "Ahhhh," you say, "So you're an agnostic!" No. No I am not. As Richard Dawkins put it, I'm as agnostic about god, as I am fairies in the garden. Just because I cannot disprove gods existence (one could argue by definition), doesn't mean I don't think it is utter nonsense. Any good scientist should come to the same logical conclusion. Proving something doesn't exist is a pretty challenging thing to do, deity or not. Now, I don't hate you because you are religious, in fact I have some good friends who are devout Muslims, but I do hate the institutions along with the intolerance and ignorance they and their source texts propagate. I enjoy having rational friendly conversations with religious people especially on religious topics, however it is my experience that there are few "believers" that can have a friendly rational conversation on these topics without turning into the Hulk, but they do exist.

The Hulk of course being the big green strong angry man from Marvel Comics. I'm more of a DC fan myself (these segues are going great tonight). Another fun fact about me are some of my hobbies/interests other than bicycling and science. Comic books, being a big one. I started collecting comic books last year sometime. I was always captivated by them at the grocery store news stands, and was very rarely allowed to have one. As the years went on I always had an interest in the lore and myths of comics, but it seemed such a daunting task to jump into. I slowly bought some of the more famous trade paper back collections of comics such as The Dark Knight Returns, Kingdom Come, Batman: Year One, Batman: The Killing Joke, and Crisis on Infinite Earths. I was hooked (as you can see, I am a Batman fan). So I jumped right into buying single issues and have been reading ever since. Lots of great stuff, and a good chunk of just okay stuff, and almost a full long box!

Another crazy hobby I was into for a while was yo-yoing. Not so much anymore, but I still pick them up every now and then.

So to summarize and expand in point form:
-B.Sc.
-Pro-Gay rights (last big civil rights struggle in my mind)
-Atheist
-Comic book geek
-YoYo geek
+
-Self proclaimed movie buff (can quote movies for hours)
-Hobby photographer
-Interested in tattoos (have 2 want more)
-Been in a very happy relationship with my best friend and partner Alanna for almost 4 years
-Currently doing a M.Sc.
-And I like riding my bike

So now you have the background.

I come to the conclusion of my masters program in December (hopefully). I've been working with colloidal suspensions in electric fields. It's all a little complicated unless you have a background in soft matter physics, but it is essentially little spheres in a liquid and pump electricity into it and see what happens. The plan has always been to go right through and do my Ph.D. and some postdocs and try and get a faculty position somewhere. Start my own research group etc. As the my bachelor degree went by, and now my masters degree I realize looking at my supervisor and other professors, I am totally not cut out for this and do not want to be. They live for their work. When 5 O'Clock rolls around I am ready for some me time, or some me and Alanna time. Not go home and think about what papers to read tomorrow, and what projects to start. This means for the first time in my life I'm not really sure what I'm going to do.

After four years of living in a city apartment, I'm back living with my parents just outside of St. Johns. An attempt to save money to buy touring equipment, and start paying off a $5000 credit line. This has been relatively unsuccessful, Since November I have acquired a good chunk of touring gear, still would like some more stuff to cross the country though, and have paid nothing on my credit line. My idea for my Cross Canada Trip requires me to pay off that credit line, get a job from January - May 2011 and save enough money for the trip. At this point I see no way I can pay off 5 grand and save a whole bunch of money for a trip of this scope. As such I am CANCELING MY 2011 CROSS CANADA TRIP. It is very sad for me to do this but I do not see a choice.

So what to do what to do. Five months left to do most of my experiments, and write a thesis, then what? I suppose I will try to find some work. I don't know if I can stand another four years of school. I have 7 university years under my belt now. Work will probably take me away from Newfoundland, away from Alanna. I hate to do that, we could survive long distance but I would hate to be away from her. But maybe if I find a job that pays me enough money, I could save up, fly home often to visit, pay off my credit line and student loan quickly, and when I'm ready quit, travel and live off savings until they run out.

I don't know. I could end up doing an Ph.D. in physical oceanography yet... we'll see.

So that is me, and what is going on in my life. It may be boring and most of you probably didn't get this far, but this was probably more for me than it was for you guys.

Oh yeah. 42.

Lightening the Load

2010-07-27T12:00:00.008-03:00

It is hard to break habits.

A habit of mine is over packing, over doing, and over thinking things. As such when I go for a bike ride, I usually end up with at least half a pannier full of stuff. First aid kit, snacks, way to much clothes for if it gets hot or if it gets cold, a bike lock when I really don't need one, etc. etc.

This past Sunday I attended the Bike the Street NL group ride to find some more performance oriented fellows had shown up. They were older guys but in very good shape and on very nice bikes. Lou and Rex in particular. Rex had a really nice steel Marinoni Sportivo. I love steel bikes. Any way the 40km-ish ride was nice but those two guys were moving! I really beat the crap out of myself trying to keep up, which I did not succeed in doing. I did go a good bit faster up the hills than normal and passed a few guys but I didn't even get to see the dust that Lou and Rex had left in their wake.

(From left to right: Keith, Mike, Rex, oops don't remember, Wally, and Lou)

So there are a couple of things.
1) I realize I'm in no where near the shape of these two guys, not to mention being 6" taller and probably 30lbs heavier.
2) But I think I could be considerably faster if I trimmed down the weight.

On this particular ride, I had my huge bike lock and my full DSLR kit in an Arkel GT-54 pannier. Not to mention my rarely used Surly Front Nice Rack. So last night I decided to trim down the weight a little. I removed the front rack and switched back to an MEC World Tour 50L pannier (25L for just one) for commuting and only use the Arkels for touring or hauling larger loads like groceries or stuff for spending the weekend at Alannas house. I also mounted the bottom water bottle cage (I ran out of water on Sunday) and a new mount for my Planet Bike Superflash on my rear rack.

Tom from Click-Stand saw my make shift light mount and emailed me to ask me if I would like one of his design! He sent me up one chop chop and I just got it yesterday. Thanks a lot Tom! Tom is super friendly to deal with and his products are AWESOME! If you don't have a clickstand and are tired of your bike falling over in the wind or laying it down in the dirt, go buy one, you won't regret it. I did have to change the mount around a little as my rack is really low, but it does the job (which is lucky cause my light fell off my makeshift mount the other day, lucky it didn't break).

So anyway, I have the front rack taken off for now (feels so different!) and I have my commuting load lightened slightly. What else? I am also thinking about switching seat bags. The people over at Rivendell Bicycle Works have some really nice bags, in particular the Sackville SaddleSack XS,

as well as the Brand V Seat Bag.

Both are a little over sized compared to regular saddle bags (2.3L and 2.9L respectively) in accordance with the form and function of traditional bicycle bags that Rivendell follows. Right now I just have a Topeak bag that holds a small tool kit. But with one of these bags I should be able to store a jacket, and a snack, tool kit, first aid, and my cell phone and perhaps more! This would be great for those long recreation rides when I just really don't need a pannier and want to go light. Couple that with a handlebar bag (already have an MEC one but might upgrade to Arkel eventually) for my DSLR and I'm set. On top of that I think I might go to a thinner tire and store my 37mm contis for touring. This also might limit my ability to ride on the tracks depending on how thin I go, which is unfortunate. Any suggestions on a tire size and model?

I'm thinking of riding a 90km fundraising ride for the Newfoundland and Labrador Lung Association called Bike Trek. It is a 90km ride, which is more than I've ever done in a sitting. But I think with the amount of riding I do, and the distances I've done with large loads, it shouldn't be a big deal. I'd like to have that seat bag so I can remove my rear rack temporarily, to travel real light. It is not a race, it supposedly leisurely and has mandatory rest stops. I think it could be a lot of fun. Will keep you posted.

Basically, I want to go faster. I love my Surly Long Haul Trucker, and wouldn't trade it for the world. I just have to lighten the load a little. That is pretty much it on the bicycling front as of late, haven't done a whole lot. Have been busy with school.

Maybe I will make a personal post tomorrow, and really introduce everyone to me and what is going on in my life right now.

Thanks for reading.
Keep riding.

Vlog+Plog+Blog = A long update...

2010-07-08T22:24:00.043-03:00

Last week my bike computer passed the 1000km mark on the Surly Long Haul Trucker. It's actually more like 1150 because I put some miles on it before attaching the computer. Anyway, it was a pretty cool thing to see being new to riding. It also makes me happy to know that almost all of that was commuting. I saved a lot of money and a lot of CO2 from going into the atmosphere by doing that 1000km. So for me it was a big deal. Still have the whole summer to go yet, and with the weather getting better should have no trouble putting on the miles. About 150kms after this I replaced my chain.

They say if you replace your chain every 1500km you'll save yourself from having to do a drive train replacement (chain rings, cassette, rear derailleur) for a long time. So that is my plan. I sauntered over to Harolds (my LBS) yesterday after work and slapped on a Sram PC-971 chain. Will do another replacement in another 1500km or so. Then I went to the comic shop for this weeks pull.

And then I commuted home.

Now for some fun riding stuff!

Sunday I went to a group ride. First one I've been to in a while. This one started a bit early, 10am on a Sunday, but I was game. but only two others were. Matt and Wally. We had a route planned but Wally pipes up, "We could go to Cape Spear!" Wally is a little older than us, and not as an experienced rider, but great guy and really interested in riding. Me and Matt, having done this ride kind of looked at each other and said, "um...are you sure? It's not easy." But he wanted to do it so off we went. From our start point in Bowring Park to Cape Spear (the most easterly point in North America) and back is only around 30km out and back. It's not the distance that gets you...it's the terrain. Notice the Elevation (m) vs Distance (km) graph (thank you HTC Legend!).

View Cape Spear Ride in a larger map

We all struggled. Wally had to walk a couple of the hills but I must say he did a fine job for his first Cape Spear ride. The up hills are brutal, but speeding down the other side almost makes it worth it. (I hit 75km/hr going down into the last hill, fastest I've ever gone!)

When we rode down into Cape Spear we had an interesting encounter! There was a group of antique car owners from all across the country starting a cross country ride from Newfoundland to British Columbia! I whipped out the phone video camera to get as many of them captured as I could.

(England is over there somewhere...)

On this ride I was informed that Freeride, a downtown bike shop, actually had some Surly's in stock! A Long Haul Trucker, a Steam Roller, a Cross Check, and even Pugsley build! Only having seen these online and being a huge Surly fan boy I vowed to go see them. I also wanted to get a good GPS track of the old railway bed I have previously mentioned from start to finish (and by finish I mean to where the track is no longer maintained). The track starts downtown, so today I left work a little early and headed down to Freeride to take a look.

Much to my dismay all of the Surlys he had were gone! Except one, but I was already a little familiar with this one...

Truckaccino looks much nicer than I thought it would in person. Regardless I chatted to the guy a bit about steel bikes, touring, and Surlys. Good guy and a nice chat. They have a crazy special on Steamrollers for $750 right now. If I only needed another bike, or a single speed/fixed gear, or had $750. That is a lot of if's. Haha.
So then I headed out of the main downtown area to the Costal Railway Museum to get on the tracks and head home.

View Downtown & The Tracks in a larger map

Caution Bad Dancing Ahead?

The Start of the tracks

Neat Monument/Info about Newfoundland Rangers right on the tracks!

Oh T'Railway...I get it. In Paradise the trail gets a little more...urban.

Good to know, but why do I see trail bike track marks then?

The "end" of the trail. Lot's of signage.

The long steady incline in the center corresponds to the trail right until it peaks. So it is a slow steady incline the whole way with a couple of flat spots. I still averaged 18km/hr. It's a nice ride. I say that is the end of the trail, because I explored a little past that point last week and it wasn't very pleasant on the Surly. I mean she took it, but it wasn't comfortable, especially when it started raining. The gravel is a much coarser grain left over from the original train bed, and full of bumps from erosion.

It gets much worse further in.

Well that is about it for ride stuff. I'm still waiting for Harold to put through the order for my new bar, brakes, and levers, but I am in no rush. Also have to place another order for touring/camping gear soon so I can get out and enjoy the summer with the misses. I'll leave you with some of my photography since getting the Nikon D50 and just some encounters with friends.

Research Group Meeting (the guy with the "is he taking a picture?" face is my supervisor)

I Love BBQ

Not much of a steak dinner...

That's better. Did I mention I love BBQ?

BBQ at my friend Marks house...

With Marek...

After Gyp-rocking Marks basement ceiling.

Now for my attempt at fancy shmancy picture taking...

Trying out my ND 8 Filter at Bowring Park

Bowring Park

Thomas Amusements (if you can't tell, I like long exposure stuff)

Mmmm, International Flavours. Thanks Talot!

Memorial University of Newfoundland Campus

And last but not least, the view from my front door.

Good night everyone.

Strange emails, new tech toys, and beating my legs to death.

2010-06-27T19:54:00.008-03:00

Earlier this week I received an email from one Harriet Hungerford, the supposed editor of the website VideoJug.com, "the worlds leading 'how to' website," in their own words. I am familiar with the site but don't know a whole lot about it. Th gist of the email is they are starting a new section called VideoJug Pages, and are looking for "a select group of writers & bloggers to become Founding members of the Cycling Channel on the new service which is called 'Videojug Pages'." Anyway after a bit of research and actually getting a response back from what seems to be a real person named Harriet Hungerford it seems to be legitimate. I guess I just found it strange that got tapped as I don't really consider myself part of "a select group." But anyway I'm going to look into it and perhaps make some pages about bike lingo, and how to choose a bike style. We'll see. I'll keep you posted.

Slowly but surely I am amassing things for my Cross Canada Tour next year and one of the things that has been on the list, while a little unusual, is a cell phone. More specifically, a smart phone. I've never had a cell phone of my own before as I just didn't really have a need. Not a whole lot of people call me! But of course with me biking everywhere, and going out long distances on my own, the need of having one became apparent when I would worry about getting stranded due to a mechanical. So I figured if I was going to get a phone, I might as well get one that can be used for multiple things, such as internet, gps, and music. So I patiently waited for the new line of Android phones from HTC to arrive in Canada, still unsure of which one I would buy, or if I would just get an iPhone. This past week I have been the proud new owner of an HTC Legend (engadget review).

The second picture is actually a really neat app I downloaded (for free) from the android market called "My Tracks." It utilizes the GPS in the phone to give you all kinds of info about your speed, distance, elevation etc, along with a graph of elevation and speed as a function of distance or time, and it even maps the route you took! You can even send it from your phone straight to your google maps account!

View Ride To Alannas House in a larger map

I have until next Monday to return the phone and cancel my contract with Virgin Mobile if I change my mind about the purchase, no strings attached (except paying for my usage). However, I'm really impressed with the phone and all the neat things it can do from car/transit/walking directions on google maps, to linking all my gmail/facebook contacts with my phone contacts and putting all the stuff from one person in one place. It is barrels of fun. This will come into handy when on tour. I didn't want to take a laptop of anykind, but now I will have access to the wealth of knowledge on the internet along with gps and a phone all in the palm of my hand.

So it has been a pretty hard week for my legs.
-Biked back and forth to work three days in a row. -112km
-Biked to Alannas house at 10pm Friday night ~15km (btw the planet bike lights worked great!)
-Biked around town doing some errands Saturday ~10km
-Saturday went for my first run ever -2.5 miles, walked home 1.5 miles.
That's right I've started running. Alanna is super into running and has mentioned wanting me to run with her only a few times since we've been together. Mainly because she knew I had no interest in it at all. But her training was suffering due to our weekend snuggle/sleep-in/junk-fests, and she was feeling pretty down about being ready for the Tely 10 in time for the race. So I dropped the bomb. "I'll guess I'll have to start running with you." I said. Even going as far as saying I'd run the Tely 10 with her this year, even though I most likely will have no chance of being able to finish that race. But there it is.

I went out, dropped 120 bucks on running shoes and started. My first run was fun, short but fun. But it made my shins hurt. So I'll just have to take it slow and see how it goes. I'm not going to get into it like Alanna, but it will be nice thing to do for "cross-training" purposes, and to spend time with my lady.

Anyway, back to the pain. Then Saturday night I went to a friends party and got hammered. Got home 230am-ish. Got up at 730am to go spectate my friends first triathlon, then had to bike the 15km back home. Not to mention I have to bike to work tomorrow, due to lack of motor vehicle.
I can do it, but my legs will not be happy with me.

I also managed to make a DIY bracket to attach my Planet Bike Superflash to the center of my rear Surly Nice Rack. But my first attempt was flawed, and it kept getting bent and I thought it was going to crack off. So here is my second attempt.

It's just part of a small broom handle with a counter-sunk hole drilled into it for the bolt. Simple, yet I think it will be effective.

Well that's it for know, it's passed my bedtime. Ill leave you with some sample pics from my HTC Legend. It doesn't quite replace the Nikon D50, but it ain't too shabby either!

Having a time.

New Stuff!

2010-06-17T22:15:00.009-03:00

So today my girlfriend Alann a and I received a package from Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC). They are a really great company, and a true co-op. They have tons of outdoors equipment and clothing. Above I am pictured wearing my new Castelli cycling cap, MEC Beech short sleeved shirt (in a basil), MEC Quarter Knickers for cyclists, and MEC liner shorts (not pictured of course).

The shirt is very light and made of 100% nylon. It has a hidden vent in the back, as well as in the front, and two front pockets. The Kickers are also very light being 88% polyester and 12% spandex with a durable water repellency finish. These two pieces of clothing were purchased mainly for touring. I want no cotton with me when I tour, or at least very little, so that laundry (or if I get wet) will dry quickly. The choice of collared shirt and knickers also have the added bonus of being kind of dressy casual so I can not feel funny going into a restaurant or attending some sort of function while on the road. I intend to acquire more polyester/nylon clothing in the coming months. The liner shorts are much thinner than normal shorts (more like boxer briefs) yet they have a very thin chamois and rubber leg grips. Great for commuting.

The hat is mostly just because I wanted one, but it did not get uncomfortable on a 17 degree Celsius ride and kept the sun out of my eyes.

I don't do a whole lot of riding in the dark, by the time I'm finished my 36-45km commute for the day I'm usually ready to relax. But last fall I did quite a bit of riding in the dark due to the early sunset and I suspect that as the nights get hotter the streets will seem more appealing at night. So I upgraded my lighting system from a MEC 1 watt shark front light and a wal-mart red flasher on the back, to a Planet Bike pair: the 2 Watt Blaze in the front and a Superflash in the rear, supposedly the "Brightest, most visible tail light on the planet." A lot of people use PB lights and they have a really neat feature on their site for checking actual light power! Haven't tried these yet but they seem really bright! Will do a review once I get out in the dark. I also have a DIY mount planned to attach this to the mount on the back of the Surly Nice Rack, but we'll get back to that when I actually make it.

Also got some camping gear. This is the GSI Pinnacle Dualist cookset (for me and the misses). It's a 1.8L pot with strainer lid, 2 bowls, 2 insulated cups, 2 sporks, and a stuff sack that doubles as a sink. It is also able to store a small fuel container and a pocket stove such as the Pocket Rocket (a very popular camp stove). We have a bigger stove, the MSR Dragonfly, which is multi-fuel and has the ability to simmer, but I may get a small stove for weekend trips.

And last but not least my Petzl Tikka Plus 2 Headlamp. Another really bright light! When we went on our bike trip last summer there were a couple of occasions where I had to shag around in the dark for something. Having to hold a flashlight and fix a tarp to prevent getting a wet tent in the middle of the pouring rain and pitch dark night is harder when you have to hold a flashlight. So I got this. It has 2 brightness settings, a flash setting, and a little red light also with a flash setting. I also have a adapter kit for this ordered to give me more mounting options, like a helmet mount.

That's it for now!
Alanna found a 6 week position for the summer, so we should be able to go on our bike vacation in mid August. I do have a bunch of stuff already collected for touring this summer as well as the big trip next year. Perhaps in the coming week's I'll have to document them and give my initial impressions and then do proper reviews after the vacation. Either way I'll probably take some pictures of it all and post it, if only to play with my Nikon D50 (btw all pics here taken with AF Nikkor 50mm 1:1.8 D).

Still on the buy list
-Western Mountaineering Summerlite 0deg Down Bag
-Silk bag liner
-Smartphone (iPhone4 or HTC Legend? What do you guys think?)
-Arkel Handlebar bag (big one)
-Arkel Front Panniers (T-28's or a pair of GT-18's not sure yet)
-A Jersey
-More camping/cycling/travel clothes

2 posts in 2 days! I'm sure I should be doing other things!

Riding the Rails, and some Long Haul Changes

2010-06-15T23:38:00.011-03:00

I've recently rediscovered the old railway tracks. There is no train system in Newfoundland anymore, and over the past couple of decades the old railway bed has been transformed into a walking/biking trail that runs from downtown St. Johns clear across the city and most of the Avalon Peninsula. The railway runs right across the province, but it is not groomed or specifically bike/walk. Due to having a hybrid with skinny tires initially, I guess I never considered this as a viable travel method. I had forgotten about it and recently rediscovered it with my Surly Long Haul Trucker and it's 37mm tires.

For those of you who don't know, St. Johns is very hilly. So riding anywhere can be a challenge. I always say that if I lived in a flatter city I'd have a cargo bike. But there is hope. Due to the way the old trains were they could not go up very steep grades, so coming from downtown St. Johns to Paradise (where I live) is uphill but a very slow grade so I can make like 20km/hr the whole way! Not to mention no traffic, no stop lights, so angry drivers. It's awesome.

Speaking of my Surly Long Haul Trucker, I've been trying to make some changes. I had some concerns.
-My handlebars are a little to high compared to saddle height
-My braking power is not that great

So I tried flipping my stem to bring me lower, but it made me feel like I was stretched WAY too far. So I set out to Harolds bike shop to check out a new stem. I picked up a 100mm stem with a smaller rise angle. Turns out the stock stem is not a 110mm as the surly website says for 58cm frame, it's a 100mm stem! Well anyway, the new stem is black and I got some black spacers so it looks nicer, and due to the difference in rise it does bring me a little higher and closer than my flipped stock stem. I'll give it a try over the next couple of days and see how it goes.

I'll wait till my Nitto Randonneuring handlebar gets in to make a final decision on stem height/angle etc.

Oh right...I ordered a Nitto Randonneuring handlebar

I got a 45cm bar, and I'm interested to see how the flared out drops and rise angle on the flats feels. If it doesn't fit nice, I'll sell it. Meh.

So hopefully all that settles my handlebar issues.

Now to the braking.
I've done a lot reading from the Surly LHT and Cross Check Owners Group about brakes on the LHT. It seems to be a common thing to switch from the very squishy, not powerful Tektro cantilever brakes, to standard Shimano Deore V-Brakes. The only problem with this is standard road brake levers don't have the travel for V-Brakes, they only work for cantis. So you can get an adapter or get one of the few levers that go on drop bars and work for V-Brakes. So I did.

On the way all together is
-Nitto Randonneur Bars
-Shimano Deore V-Brakes
-Tektro RL520 Levers

This evening I got to spend some quality time with my LHT tonight. She was awful dirty so I striped her down and gave her a good cleaning. NAKED LHT!

Lots of dirt and grime to get rid of

All clean

So this entry was a little convoluted. It's just because I don't make enough blogs! So I jam a lot of stuff into one. A couple of things will hopefully change that. Hopefully the weather will continue to improve (although it's raining again for the next day or so) and I will get out more to interesting places to talk about. The other thing is that once I get my V-Brakes I am hoping to setup a second stem to carry a handlebar bag for my camera. Getting more pictures and nice weather should give me more things to talk about.

Cameras, and Click Stands, and Rain. Oh my!

2010-06-02T21:59:00.015-03:00

So I would first like to say that I have failed to live up to my word. I have not continued posting educational, beginner information. I will someday, I just don't know when I'll get the drive to do it. If you do want/need to know something bike wise, shoot me an email and I'll do my best to help.

Moving on.

Cameras.

As some of you have noticed I dug an old Canon AL-1 SLR out of my fathers closet which was "broken" but actually works fine. I have been using this in an attempt to take some nice high quality pics.

Never having been into photography or owning anything more than a old 110mm camera when I was a kid, and a crappy samsung point and shoot as an undergrad, I was surprised. I had a lot to learn about pictures. The film camera from 1982 being one of Canon's early attempts at "auto-focus" simply lit up 3 lights in the view finder to tell you which way to turn the focus ring and if it was in focus. Everything was manual. So over the past month I've been learning how to take a good picture, or at least how to try and take one. And I was satisfied.

Then a visit with the family and young cousins, my girlfriend Alanna's convocation from university, cabin party with friends, and bike excursions, all led to me spending $60+ just in development and digital scanning of my pictures. In one month! It just so happens the day that I start considering going digital (even though 75% of my income is dedicated to touring equipment) an old acquaintance puts her camera gear up for sale. So I got a good deal on this.

-Nikon D50
-AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6G ED (Auto-focus is broken, only works in manual)
-AF Nikkor 50mm 1:1.8D (Mint)
-Charger and an extra battery
-Camera bag with cleaning supplies, all caps for lenses and body, usb/video cables
for $250.

Not bad eh? I would like a zoom with auto-focus but what can you do. Because the D50 has an auto-focus built into the camera body I can use the older AF style lenses from the 90's and can still use auto-focus. So hoping to come across some used Nikon lenses or a film camera with a cheap zoom going for cheap. For now though, no more paying for digital pictures! I'm very happy with the camera, and the quality of pictures it is able to take. Spent last night perusing the manual and learning the functions. I have no shortage of advice from several of my friends who are very into photography. Notably, Willam, Matt, Jonathan, and Marek who is pictured below and recently purchased a Canon 5D Mark 2, a very nice and expensive camera!

Click Stand

On the 18th of May I recieved the answer to my kickstand dilemma, The Click-Stand Max. Here are some pictures of it in action on my commute today.

I gotta say, I love it. It is secure, light, and best of all it doesn't threaten my frame integrity like some other clamp on kickstands would. It takes a couple of seconds to set up, but who cares. It doesn't bother me at all. When I prop it up, and slip on the brake band, I know my bike is secured. The front wheel will also probably turn a little, especially if there is weight on it. Nothing a toe-strap around the downtube couldn't fix if you really wanted to. It's great for taking pics of your bike, or just not laying it against something possibly scratching the paint, or laying it down in the dirt. I highly recommend it. However I bought their side mounting bracket as well and it mysteriously developed a crack down the middle of it a couple of days after mounting it. I'm going to email them and see if I can get a refund for it as I have just been sticking it in my pannier anyway.

Rain

UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. The weather here has been absolute garbage. It's 2.72 degrees Celsius right now. Midnight, in the beginning of June. Everywhere else in the country has been enjoying 20-30 degree temperature while it has been pissing rain for the past two months pretty well non stop and we are lucky if we get above 10 degrees. Despite this I have still been commuting by bike at least two days a week. I'm hoping to do so more as the weather improves (if ever), and as well do more recreational riding on the weekends. I've recently rode on a path where the old railway tracks were in NL and that is an awesome gravel track. Will have to ride that more often. Will have pics when I get my last roll of film developed.

That's it for now. The Giant FCR 2 is finally leaving me tomorrow for a new owner. Hopefully he treats her well and I will not suffer from sellers remorse. The sale means more touring gear to be bought soon. Will keep you posted!

Recycled Recumbents

2010-05-17T13:52:00.002-03:00

A little while after I started cycling last year I discovered Recumbent Bikes after spotting one on the MEC gear swap. For those who do not know what a Recumbent Bike is, it's basically a bike (or trike) but with a much more relaxed, laid back position. Check the wikipedia article on it for some more info and example pics. The recumbent that I saw was a Actionbent Jetstream.

So you see what I mean by laid back. These type of bikes captivated me for some reason, but I was most taken with the tadpole trikes. I would have visions of touring the world sat back with my head back taking in the scenery not worrying about balance. Just taking it all in. Actionbent actually sells a tadpole trike for a fairly low price of around $1200 USD. It's the T1. They come in suspensions and hard tail models.

I've drooled over it online many times. However it is a bit of a small market, and none of the shops in St. Johns carry any recumbents, so I can't even try one out. There maybe a bit of a novelty factor to it, but I do think I would like to buy one someday. As far as quality goes Actionbent is top notch from what I've read, but they are the cheap guys on the block. Most other companies start their lines at $2000 or so.

There are also many variations on the recumbent.
Short wheel base
Long wheel base
Over seat steering
Under seat steering
Tadpole trike (2 wheels in front)
Delta trike (2 wheels in rear)
Front wheel drive
etc etc etc...

Some examples of recumbent companies I've had a look at are
Actionbent (obviously)
Catrike
Greenspeed
and of course there are more but those are the three ones that I like the best (by looking online only).

Okay so I'm rambling again...
Basically to recap: Recumbents are pretty neat, they're really expensive, and I want one but can't afford one. (The Greenspeed GTO is absolutely heavenly looking...)
But onto the point, and the title. Recycled Recumbents.

Recycled Recumbents is a website I found made by A.D. Carson, and he has given me hope that before the summer is out I will be riding a long wheel based, recumbent bicycle. Why? Not only did he take 2 old steel road bike frames, some old components, and using the Tour Easy (a popular LWB recumbent) as a guide and built this:

But he also did it on an extremely tight budget, and has built up his website with all the instructions, plans, pictures, and info you need to do it yourself. And it's all absoultely free just to spread the love of home building and recumbent riding. What a great guy eh? He also makes these bikes now for other people. Still made from used bike frames and components, but a complete bike will only run you about $700! You can also just buy a frame from him and do the rest yourself. It is absolutely, 100% worth while going through his site in great detail, it is a wealth of information, as well as lots of cool pictures. He is also a really nice guy. I emailed him asking him for some more info on a couple of under seat steering setups he did, and he explained it all to me as well as sent me a dozen or so very detailed pics pertaining to my question. So go to his page, support him by buying your first recumbent frame for dirt cheap, knowing it is mostly recycled (except for the bottom rails) and build up your very own recumbent, or buy one of his complete Mach 2's! As a poor student I am unable to support him in this way, so I'm passing the buck onto all of you. I am however planning on building my very own Mach 2! I recently acquired an old Giant Kronos road bike frame from my LBS guy Harold for the price of washing a repair bike for him in the freezing cold rainy weather, and I also acquired a cheap old Venture steel road bike for $5. I have some old (very old) drive train parts I can use, but I think if the frame turns out good I will actually try and put a little money into it and give it some decent components.

Hopefully sometime within the next week or two I will start cutting, and maybe get my dad to come out and do some welding for me if he has an hour or two to spare. He is also pretty interested in this project, just from a build perspective but is pretty busy.

Well, that is all for now. My riding has been little to non existent due to the non stop rain we've been having. However, Newfoundland summer is just around the corner.

Hopefully I'll be riding one of these before winter comes back.

Bike For Sale: Goodbye friend.

2010-05-11T20:20:00.004-03:00

So I've decided to sell my Giant FCR 2 hybrid road bike. It's a great bike, nice and light, fast, and a comfortable ride. But I've got to say I've been riding my Surly Long Haul Trucker all the time, and because it fits me so well and I want to get more accustomed to the feel of it for my Cross Canada tour next year I doubt the FCR will get much love this summer, other than a pity ride here or there. And then next year when I'm gone on tour all summer, it will again be neglected. For these reason I have decided to sell it (not to mention I have a crap load of touring gear left to buy).

She is a good bike, but by riding her I have discovered the type of riding I truly wish to do. Hopefully she will find a good home.

If anybody out there in blogger land is interested in her, I will definitely ship it within Canada, and possibly in the USA. Asking $650. See here for more details.

If I get back from my tour and decide I want another road bike, I'll deal with it then. For now me and my Surly Long Haul Trucker are having a grand time. I think my next ride purchase will be a recumbent trike, but that won't be for some years down the road I fear.

Oh Greenspeed GTO, one day you will be mine...

1000 Words

2010-05-01T00:40:00.018-03:00

This is me.

This is my commute (the good part).

This is my office with a free photography lesson I didn't ask for from my friend William.

This is my parents house.

This is a weekend group ride I help organize.

This is my girl.

This is my rainy city.

And last but not least, this is Sprocket.

So I really like that camera, especially with the 50mm lens. The lenses need to be cleaned as you can probably see in some of the pictures, but I think most of the photos I took turned out pretty good (imho, good enough for me anyway). These aren't all of them, but a good fraction. Have to get some more film now.

Tomorrow I will be taking my Giant FCR 2 out to Harold's bike shop. I'm going to true the wheels, clean up the derailleurs and cassette, and probably replace the chain. Then it is going up on the market. The money from that bike will help me pay for a significant amount of the equipment I need for my travels this summer as well as my planned Cross Canada Bike trip in the summer of 2011. Otherwise it will sit in my parents shed for most of this summer as I will be mostly riding my Surly LHT around, and then all of next year due to my journey. If I want another road bike in 2 years time, I'll worry about it then. It was a good bike, and I enjoyed it thoroughly, but I just really don't see a reason for keeping it right now.

Oh by the way, I've commuted around 150km this week. Not a bad start to the summer.

PS: This coming week I am going to attempt to start making more "educational" entries for the beginners as I had originally planned. "Talk the Talk" will finally continue with a second installment on the drive train.

Bicycle Zen

2010-04-28T09:53:00.005-03:00

This is just a quick post that really could resist.

I had an excellent bike commute this morning. It was just perfect. It had been raining all night but come 9am this morning it was sunny and 12 degrees with 88% humidity. The little bit of spray escaping the fenders, and the humid warmth, and the tail wind just maid for an absolutely glorious ride. My 18km commute only took 45 minutes, over a third of which is on a slight incline.

My Brooks B17 is still amazingly comfortable, It barely feels like I'm riding a bike.

The Arkel GT-54's are great. I use one for commuting, they just hold all stuff I need for the day so well and are so easy to mount and unmount.

My Surly Racks are living up to the challenges. I had my Pletscher 2-legged kickstand in a box strapped to the front rack.

The Surly Long Haul Trucker, with those Surly Racks, Arkel Panniers, and my trusty Brooks B17 are the best combination of purchases I've ever made.

I'm in bicycle heaven.
Now if I could only sustain this feeling for 8 hours or so to get me through the work day!

PS: I have a roll of film in to be developed from my Canon AL-1 film SLR, should get it back along with digital copies on Friday. Will post up some pretty (hopefully) pictures of my bike and commute then!

Crappy weather update

2010-04-19T19:15:00.014-03:00

So the weather here in St. Johns turned foul on Monday of last week and it's been raining ever since. Even had a bit of snow thrown in there for good measure. Today we had a bit of a break in the early evening with some sun peaking through and a pause in the rain. So I decided to take some pics of my new Arkel GT-54 panniers, and also take my beater around the yard for a quick spin to see how it fit with the new stem and seat post.

But first I should talk about what happened last week. I had that group ride to Outer Cove on Sunday, my first ride on the Brooks B17 saddle. I feared the worst upon mounting the saddle, but strangely it felt alright. The whole 20km group ride I was more comfortable than I have ever been on any other saddle. I had to adjust the tilt upwards a little more, but I never felt any discomfort what-so-ever until 10km-ish into my ride home. I was blown away. SO I guess I must have a "Brooks Arse" as they call it. Looking forward to molding my but print more when the sun is back out.

On to more recent matters.
I've started working in the bike shop part time. Last Saturday I found myself with nothing to do and Harold, my LBS, had no one to work for him on what he suspected was going to be a busy day. So I worked. And again this Saturday! I haven't been doing any major repairs or tune ups myself, but I've been doing some minor stuff and cleaning up the bikes too. It's a great way to learn bike repair and make a couple of extra bucks on Saturday mornings. The employee discounts don't hurt either!

Speaking of discounts, I got my new Arkel GT-54 Panniers!

Just seeing her with bags on front and back, looking like she's ready to take on the world is getting me all excited for my vacation this summer not to mention my trip from Vancouver to St. Johns next summer! I'll probably try to do a review of the GT-54's once I actually use them.

After I put my Brooks on my Surly LHT, I noticed I had a few parts lying around. So I took the stock saddle from the LHT and some platform pedals I had lying around and put them on my Orange Beater bike that I resurrected this winter. I hadn't ridden it since replacing the seat post and getting a longer quill stem for it. I took it for a spin around the yard, and with the longer stem and the decent amount of seat back that the post has, it's not a bad fit!

I was going to race this puppy in the Alley Cat Race hosted by Ordinary Spokes in downtown St. Johns tomorrow. It is not your typical race. It is like a treasure hunt through all the nooks and alleys of downtown. You get a list of clues to checkpoints and an hour to plan your route. The one who gets the checkpoints and to the end the fastest wins, be it through alleys, sidewalks, or down flights of stairs. I was going to take this as I wanted to get crazy and not beat up my Surly. But it is calling for rain and snow tomorrow evening, the race is still a go I just don't want to get pneumonia.

There was no group ride yesterday due to weather, but hopefully we catch a break this coming Sunday (doubt it). And I'll try to remember to bring a camera this week.

Speaking of cameras, here is a little something off topic for the camera junkies. My dad has an old 1982 Canon AL-1 film SLR sitting in his closet with a 50mm fast lens and a 300mm telephoto lens (I think that's what it's called).

I know nothing about cameras, and I don't have the urge to start learning. All I know is it would be nice to have something that takes decent photos. The little experience I've had with my friends DSLR and his fast lens showed me that I love how the pics come out, and even looking through the viewfinder I can tell this setup will give similar effect. The camera is supposedly not working. The story goes that it started making red streaks appear on the pictures, and then they just stopped coming out all together. It has sat in the closet untouched since then. I took it to a camera shop and after a thorough inspection by the owner it seems to be in perfect working condition. But just in case I shot a test roll on all the different shutter and aperture settings with the fast lens. I get the negatives tomorrow, so I guess we'll see how it turns out.

If they turn out good, I will probably use this camera for my day trips and for any nice pics I want to take. For any quick and dirty pics I want to take, I will just borrow my sisters Canon point and shoot. My old samsung digital camera sucks the big one and is almost unusable.

Anyway! That's it for now. Hopefully I'll get out and do some more riding soon on the Surly and maybe even the Beater! When I do I'll be sure to get some pics.

Oh, btw. The more I think about it, the more I'm thinking about selling my Giant FCR2. :o

Later!

Brooks, Lezyne, and Group RIdes

2010-04-10T22:11:00.021-03:00

I received my Black Brooks B.17 Champion Standard bike saddle as well as my Lezyne Pressure Drive mini pump (along with a pair of shorts for Alanna) from REI.com. The shipping was $45 to Canada, and then I got charged $35 for customs. Needless to say while I never had a problem dealing with REI the shipping and customs charges are just way too much. They have a very large selection of bike products and I only purchased what MEC did not have, from them. VeloOrange.com is another place (also US based), I might try them if need be to see if their shipping is cheaper. But if I can I buy my stuff locally or from MEC.ca. I wish there was another Canadian place with a large selection.

I applied Brooks Proofide to the saddle and let it sit overnight, then buffed it off the top surface this morning. I sat on it and it didn't feel like it would be that uncomfortable, but I will only be able to really tell once I've put some miles on it. Hopefully the break in period isn't too hard on my butt. Here is a few pics of the Brooks to drool over, or cringe over in pain. One or the other.

The Lezyne Pressure Drive mini pump is WAY smaller than I thought! However is it 100% made out of CNC'ed aluminum, is light, and uses a hose so there is no pressure on the valve. I have yet to try it out, but it seems very sturdy and reliable, and the hose storage is genius. My only concern is the number of strokes it will take to go from flat to 90psi, supposedly it is rated to 120psi. I had a little bit of a hard time understanding how the pump worked and how the hose was stored and how big it was etc. from pictures online, so I'll try and get some detailed pics in.

The last pic is of the inside of the piston tube. As you can see it is hollow. The hose screws in here and is covered with the dust cap when not in use. You take it out and screw it into the other end to pump. One end of the hose is presta, and the other end is schrader.

So the saddle seems moderately comfortable on first sit, will try first ride on it tomorrow. The pump seems well built and rugged, but we'll see how the pumping action performs when I get a flat.

So until I get my Arkel GT-54 panniers (hopefully Monday) here are a couple of pics to tide you over. I still have lots more camping/touring gear to get, but for the most part the bike is complete.

As I mentioned I will be going on a ride tomorrow. A guy I met via a group ride and myself have started up a facebook group in an attempt to get an organized group ride every Sunday.

Bike the Street - NL

Tomorrow we will be heading up to Middle cove beach via Marine Drive. Should be a really nice ride. Maybe I'll try and take some pics.

View Group Ride - Outer Cove 20km in a larger map

My Kickstand Dilemma + Gear update

2010-03-28T21:51:00.009-03:00

Many people will make the argument that kickstands are just extra weight. Most people will just lean their bikes up against a pole, parking meter, tree, or whatever is around. Touring cyclists often just lay their bikes down. However I didn't want to go that route of having to lay my expensive Arkel GT-54 down in the mud and dirt. So I opted to get the Pletscher 2-legged kickstand.

A lot of people swear by this kickstand, I've read many rave reviews about it. However, despite my anticipation, I was disappointed as soon as I got it installed. The default bracket that comes with the kickstand was troubling. After reading the warnings of others about the installation of the stand on the Surly LHT I was being pretty careful. I wrapped the chain stays in inner tube and tried to mount it.

I had trouble getting it tight enough that the stand wouldn't move around, yet I was being careful not to over-tighten it and ruin my bike frame. I took it off temporarily and opted to order the "Deluxe Top Plate Bracket" from ThorUSA. This Bracket has rubber grommets and an anti-slip design. After I got this (which cost $10 and $17 to ship, blech) I tried to install it again. The bolt that came with it was not long enough, and the mounting system was clumsy. I took the lock washer off and the bolt was just long enough, and managed to get it on there. After fiddling with it I noticed this had happened to the inner tube.

The bottom part of the kickstand mount started cutting through the inner tube and zip-tie. And after removing the tube and ties I saw that it had started scratching into the powder coat (but luckily not all the way through).

I have two concerns: 1) That I won't tighted it enough and the kickstand will flick into my spokes causing disaster, 2) that I will tighten it too much and ruin my bike causing disaster. Because of these two things I have opted to get rid of the Pletscher 2-Legged kickstand and extra deluxe top plate. If anyone wants to buy it, comment and I'll shoot you an email. Just because I don't feel comfortable with it doesn't mean it's not a good stand, lots of people use it and are happy with it.

I have now decided to go with a much less intrusive, less heavy, more useful, and neater stand! The Click-Stand (ignore "touch for a close-up" stole from Click-Stand website).

It is made out of expedition quality aluminum tubing connected via elastic cord, much like tent poles. There are 4 different varieties made of 3 different tube diameters and each click-stand is custom made to fit your bike! The stand folds up to about 10" for the big one and about 6" for the smallest, and it holds your bike via the rubber coated cradle under your top tube, near your seat tube, and it only weighs about 100g.

People who own them rave about them. I'm planning on getting one as soon as I can sell the Pletscher. Along with the side mount that mounts the stand along side one of your water bottle cages.

I recently received some packages in the mail!
The first one I'll talk about is a DVD I ordered. The Cross Canada Project is a documentary made by and about Mike Beauchamp as he rode his bicycle across the country. It was a great watch! I highly recommend anybody who is thinking of touring for the first time to buy it, support a fellow cyclist and indie film maker.
I also recieved my Planet Bike HardCore Touring/Hybrid 45mm Fenders, 3 Topeak water bottle cages, and my 2 27oz and 1 18oz wide mouth Klean Kanteen bottles, all from REI.com. REI is kind of like MEC but housed in the USA. They have a better selection than their Canadian counterpart, but the shipping to Canada is crazy expensive.

Here is the bike all decked out with it's new toys, overlooking Conception Bay South and Kelly's Island, as well as Little Bell Island.

I also have my Black Brooks B17 saddle on the way, along with a very ineteresting mini pump that is only 100g, the entire body is CNC machined aluminum, and it has a detachable hose that hides in the handle and actually screws onto presta and schrader valves.

Lots more stuff to buy for touring/camping, and I'll talk about it more when I get more stuff!

Don't forget if anyone is interested in buying a brand new, only used once outside Pletscher 2-legged kickstand, let me know! I would love to sell it.

Thanks for reading!

First day of spring: Group Ride

2010-03-21T15:28:00.005-03:00

Yesterday, I packed my Surly Long Haul Trucker in the trunk of my car, along with the Maviv CXP22 rims off of my Giant FCR2. Went to Harold's bike shop in the morning for my first attempt at wheel truing. After2.5 hours, I had one wheeled trued (probably needs to be checked by Harold too) and the second one started, however I had an event to attend at 3pm so I headed out.

I drove to Alanna's house where I parked my car and took out the Surly. I rode down to the lower Duck Pond of Bowring Park where a group of people from Ordinary Spokes were meeting up for a group ride. Only 7 people showed up, most likely due to the 1 degree celcius temperature and forecast of snow/rain mix we were supposed to get. Luckily the weather held off.

We rode from the duck pond at Bowring Park, to the top of Fort Amherst and back. It was my first group ride. I've went with one person before, but never with a group. It was interesting to see peoples different takes on cycling. Some that were way different than mine, and others that were not so much. Prime example: I was the only person with a pump and multi-tool on hand, not to mention one of the few with gears.

View First of Spring Group Ride in a larger map

Matt took some pretty nice pics of my Surly Long Haul Trucker at the old Fort, with Signal Hill in the background. Thanks Matt!

A Night on the Town

2010-03-18T23:45:00.004-03:00

I took the front rack off for now. Good thing is it's all set up for the right height, I just have to throw it back on with 4 bolts when I'm ready to tour. Also my camera sucks and I should probably try and use some sort of tripod.

I wanted to get a shot of her in the sunset over Conception Bay South (CBS) but was a little late getting on the road. Then I thought the city in the background lit up would be nice, but my camera always likes to give me a "Low Light" warning unless it's bright as mid day out.

Should be warm enough (and no more salt on the roads) for me to start commuting on the Surly LHT next week. I've been riding my folding bike on the hardpack and ice covered trail around a pond next to the University after my lunch break. Interesting experience in underbiking that is for sure. Good way to get 5 km in during the day. But decided to take the LHT out for an extra spin tonight when I got home.

I'm attending a group ride to ring in spring on Sunday, organized by a local bike collective, Ordinary Spokes.

Spring is in the air.

New Addition! Welcome to folders.

2010-03-09T19:53:00.013-04:00

I see a lot of people talking about folding bikes in the blogosphere. I've never saw a real use for myself personally. I have a fair amount of storage at my parents house to keep all bikes in sheds, or garages or stuffed in my room closet. I also have a big basement office to myself, a luxury few grad students have. I think it's just cause they forgot I'm down there alone. This leaves lots of room for me to bring my bike in there instead of locking it outside for 8 hours unattended on a big campus.

While recently perusing canadiantire.ca looking at bikes for a friend I cam across a crappy tire folding bike. I drove him to a store to get some bookshelves and we checked out the bike section. Just for giggles I asked to look at the folder. What a piece of junk. Especially for $200 or whatever it was. A drum brake in the rear? really?

Furthering my search for a cheap (but ideally decent bike) for my friend who is thinking of getting into cycling this summer I came across an ad.

FS: 20 in 6 speed folding bikes. $60 each.
(note he had the other one there too but has removed it since my purcahse).

"Is that a price tag?" I thought. So I called him up and went and looked at them this evening. They are Wal-mart or equivalent bikes but I figured, what the hell.

The gold one was kind of heavy and cheap feeling. Shifter, grips, quick releases all felt and looks like garbage.
The red one however... well, lets just say she is part of the fleet now.

The "Campus" folding bike. Couldn't find anything about it online. It had a Shimano Revo grip shifter, shimano cheap-o 6 speed derailleur and the rest it pretty no name. I spent the evening adjusting the brakes, the derailleur, and making sure everything was snug and comfortable. These bikes were BRAND NEW! He said he got them from some clearance sale at walmart or something. All I know is the cardboard price thingy was still inside the wheel and the thing looked like it had never been ridden.

$60 for a $189 bike ain't bad in my books (not to mention I managed to talk him into letting me take the rack off the other bike).

Coming full circle, I still don't see a "real" purpose for myself. For the sake of $60 I figured it would be neat to try a different type of bike. What I think I might do is keep this one in my office at university. If I ride into school on my Surly LHT or Giant FCR2 and want to leave and go out for the night. I wouldn't take either one of those out and leave it locked up around town for too long, so I can take the folder bring it inside with me where I go, so lock it up outside somewhere and if it gets stolen, meh it's only a cheap-o. Same thing if I get a drive in, bike is ready to buzz around town.

All in all I'm pretty pleased with it. Cheap, comfortable, compact, the front end is not real solid feeling but what can you do. Might even take it out for a buzz on my lunch break tomorrow.

What do you guys think? Good purchase? Or waste of money?

[EDIT:] All ready for commuting!

Lights, air horn, tool roll and bungies!
Also turns out my headset was loose. Tightened it and the front end feels MUCH better. :)

Homemade Retro Denim Tool Kit!

2010-03-04T22:15:00.007-04:00

So after seeing my first Brooks B-17 saddle in person at Harold's (my LBS) the other day and seeing how funny my seat bag wedge looked on my Surly LHT, I started looking at alternative.

The brooks has two loops on the backside of it for old style English canvas bags. I've seen Jerome's Surly LHT a MILLION times. I asked him what the bag on the back of his seat was. His response started with "Glad you like it. You're gonna like this......it's a tool roll." It is simply a piece of canvas with tools rolled into it and held on with old leather toe straps!

A while ago I cleaned out my pants drawer of old jeans with holes worn in the crotch or other places. I put them away so that I could recycle them into bags, or whatever I could think of! Perfect opportunity to try out my beginner sewing skills!

Just cut out a leg and sewed the edges to prevent raveling. I then cut off the read pocket and sewed it to the center of the tool wrap and that's it! I just took off the toe straps from my old toe clips and I'm done!

All I need now is my Brooks B-17...

Thanks Jerome!

First Adventure on My Surly LHT

2010-03-03T17:48:00.006-04:00

View Larger Map

I couldn't stand it any longer.

I've been in a rotten funk at work/school. I've spent the last two months on cell design and construction... It's very tedious, lots of waiting around, and it is a general pain in the ass. This coupled with my regular winter blues, and not being able to ride my brand new sweet sweet Surly Long Haul Trucker due to road salt.

It has been raining here for the past couple of days. After a frustrating morning at work I decided that not only would I go for a bike ride, but I'm taking out the LHT. It's still fairly cold but today it was 4 degrees with low wind and I went up to see my LBS, Harold to grab a seat post I've been waiting on for my "winter beater" (aka my sit-in-the-garage bike). I bought a cheap pair of Giant cold weather gloves and chatted to him about various things for 2 hours or so.

At 3pm I came home and immediately started getting ready. The bike had not been ridden,and I haven't rode in while so all my accessories were all over the place. It was a foggy day so I definitely wanted my horn and lights on. After swapping over the lights, horn, a water bottle cage, and getting all my clothes on I was off!

I around my old elementary school and up a new fancy housing development on top of Topsail Mountain. Even though my camera is junk I think I got a couple of neat shots! I didn't want to bother with taking my fenders off of my Giant FCR 2 due to how long it would take me to swap them. I also wasn't sure if they would fit the wider 37mm tires on the LHT. Anyway needless to say I and my steed got wet!

I tried to go further on the bluff, but it turned to a dirt road. I attempted it, very willing to get dirty, however that dirt road is a mud road right now due to all the run off. Needless to say I didn't get very far.

I turned back down the hill and got back to the main drag. Left to go home, right to go home THE LONG WAY. I choose the latter. Went out to Topsail Road and up Paradise Road back to the main drag and all the way downhill to home. Until my street of course which is a huge steep hill which I live at the top of.

After reaching home, took her out back and ran her under lots of water, rinsing off mud and any possible salt that might have been left on the roads. She is currently drying off in the basement.

Well, first impressions:
The guy from Palm Beach Bike Tours is right, the Surly Long Haul Trucker is a Peterbilt not a Ferrari . It's not a fast bike, but I don't think it is as slow as everyone says it is. If you want a fast bike go buy a $5000 carbon bike. This thing just took the road. I didn't have to work overly hard, it just kept on trucking (pun intended). I had to climb some serious hills and with the low gearing of the LHT they were a piece of cake. I was a little concerned how I would adapt to the drop bars and bar-end shifting (especially the friction shifting of the front derailleur). However the down tubes were okay, I might need to adjust them a little. The bar-end shifters worked like a charm I didn't have to fiddle with them at all!

All in all, I'm SUPER stoked for the summer to put some serious miles on this bike. I'm glad I got to work out my frustrations and finally get to test my trucker all in one day....ahhhhhhhh that feels better.

Bike Across Canada - Summer 2011

2010-02-28T19:01:00.009-04:00

View Larger Map

[edit: thanks to Shaun from the 2010 Cycle Tour Across Canada for helping me out with making my map prettier!]

And here is the link!

[EDIT]: Please note that this tour has been postponed/canceled. Please see here for details, as well as read some of my later entries from 2010. I've been recieving emails about it from time to time from people just reading this post, and figured I would make things easier for myself by updating it.

I have always kind of made half-assed plans to travel. In high school it was to Europe, in the last few years it's been to YoYo competitions in Florida and New York (I was seriously into yoyoing for a while...but that is another story). Be it through lack of funds or determination I never went. As a result I have been very few places, and living on an island doesn't help. My new found love of biking has given me an idea, one that I probably would have thought much bigger than me before, but not any more. I hope to finish my M.Sc. in December of this year, then in May 2011 I am going to fly to Vancouver with my bike, and ride all the way home to St. Johns, Newfoundland.

I originally thought "that would be really neat to do" and started reading trip logs of others who have done it. The more I read the more I got sucked in. "I can really do this" I thought. So with that in mind over the past two weeks or so I've been reading as many cross Canada cycling blogs as I can
Jeff and Ian - Biking Across Canada
Buddy
Trevor Macphail - Cross Canada 2007

Lone Biker - Biking Across Canada 1999
and have now started following Shaun's upcoming 2010 Cycle Tour Across Canada and his inspirational links!

Another source I followed heavily was the book The Canadian Cycling Associations Complete Guide to Bicycle Touring in Canada by Elliot Katz suggested by the Trans Canada Highway website. Between the book and all these logs I've made the proposed route above, but have not figured out stops yet. I have a cousin in Vancouver, and in Calgary, and friends and family in the Toronto and Ottawa areas, other than that I'll mostly be camping.

At this point it's something I feel I have to do. See this large country from coast to coast and actually experience something different about it and maybe myself.

That's all for now! More to come as plans further, gear grows, and my touring practice begins this summer!

Starting to look like a touring bike... + An Anouncment

2010-02-26T16:41:00.004-04:00

It is a good thing I am living with my parents again. My cost of living has gone down significantly. I still buy my own groceries and chip in $X a month to help out with household expenses but it is between 1/3 and 1/4 of what I was paying in my apartment.

It's a good thing because I'm spending a lot of money on my bike.

Today I received my Surly Front Nice Rack and my Pletscher 2-Legged Kickstand, which I purchased from Niagara Cycle Works through Amazon.com. When installing the Nice Rack I ran into some issues though. The lock nuts were very, VERY easy to get stripped out! I ended up snapping off 4 bolts trying to install the rack. It's lucky it comes with lots of bolts and nuts, however I am now 1-nut short of a complete installation. At least it is on there. I will email surly and ask them for some spares.

She is finally starting to look like a touring bike.

Before installing the 2-Legged Pletscher Kickstand I rembered hearing some issues about the installation before so did a quick google search of the LHT and the Pletscher. Turns out the top plate is not very well designed (seen in the pick below). I wraped some old inner tubing around my chainstays and held it there with zip-ties (not easy to do on the chain ring side...) to prevent slipping/scratching, and then mounted the stand, being careful of the derailleur cable running to the rear along the chainstay. The problem is if you do not tighten it enough it will come loose all the time, if you tighten it too much you can pinch/crush your chain stays! So if any of you get this stand BE VERY CAREFUL!

I found two solutions for this issue. One is to make a custom top braket, like this fellow from a google group discussion about warning people of the perils of this kickstand. (Photo below taken from the gentleman's flickr page linked in his message).

The second and easier solution is to order the Pletshcer Deluxe Top Plate conveniently pictured on a Surly LHT below (source).

The deluxe top plate comes with the two rubber grommets pictured as well as the metal plate and bolt. There are two groves in the plate that line up with tabs in the grommets that supposedly stop the plate from slipping about. I have orded this (along with rubber feet for the stand) from Thor USA. I will let you know how it goes.

Here is another pic of the stand installed on my bike.

Another pic of my rear rack installed (and adjusted since last time).

Hopefully soon, we'll have fenders, water bottles and cages, lights, and my new Arkel GT-54 rear panniers! She is starting to look like a touring bike!

Speaking of touring, the anouncement. Well... this entry turned out to be pretty long and I don't want to bore you all so you'll just have to come back tomorrow for the announcement. :)

Update: Preparing to Tour + It's been a while...

2010-02-07T01:02:00.004-04:00

So first of all, sorry.

Things got pretty crazy with my TA position at the university, exams, and Christmas. Once all that wound down I couldn't find my groove to get back into blogging. I think I found it again.

I bought my Surly Long Haul Trucker back in October and had to wait for a replacement for a faulty Deore XT rear derailleur which I received christmas eve. As of yet I haven't ridden the bike. It's been sitting in my closet right next to my desk... staring at me.

"I'm sorry girl, but we live in Newfoundland and there is just too much salt on the road to take you out."

I've been playing catch up with money for what feels like forever. Last pay period I thought I was out when I had to buy a crap load of groceries. new sneakers, and owed my parents some "chipping in" money for January. Near broke again, haha. But that is the life of a grad student I suppose.

I also have a $5000 student credit line that is up pretty high that I have to start paying off soon.

I promise this is all leading somewhere!

So the plan right now is too 100% prepare my and my bike and my girlfriend for touring/camping this summer. If I do have to move when I finish my M.Sc. in December one of the few things I will be taking with me is my Surly most likely. So the more prepared we are the better.

Every paycheck coming up for the next 4 or 5 months is pretty much wrote off to touring/camping gear. For christmas Alanna was kind enough to buy my a rear Surly Nice Rack. Next up?
-Front Surly Nice Rack
-Arkel GT-54 Touring Panniers
-MSR Dragonfly Camp Stove
plus a bunch of other stuff that is not necessary to link such as a sleeping bag, compression sack, double leg kickstand, thermarest + light weight seat, small frame pump, not to mention some more light weight quick drying camp/cycling clothes.
ooo, actually should link this 2 Person camp cookware set, as it is pretty neat.

Anyways long story short I have a lot of stuff to buy. A lot of people (including Alanna) are finding it hard to understand how I want to spend almost $400 on rear panniers. Which I guess is understandable.

I'm really considering doing some serious travel eventually though, and if I have to buy some of this stuff anyway, I might as well buy the right stuff once, rather than the wrong stuff twice (or more).

Going the opposite direction I have been slowly chipping away at a lot of the junk that I own throwing it out, giving it away or selling it. This is somewhat counter intuitive to all this buying I am doing but I think it is a little different. After reading Jeromes latest blog on minimalism it's got me wanting to do even more of this.
-The jar of pens and sharpies on my desk that I never use, the boxes of books I have no intention of reading, and clothes I haven't worn in years. I have reduced quite a bit but I believe I can get it down to the bare essentials (plus my comic book collection maybe :)

If I have a computer and a bike and my girl at my side I don't think I need a whole lot else. I'm really looking forward to finishing my M.Sc. and taking some time for travel possibly.

So...what's new?

2009-11-27T02:49:00.004-04:00

So I haven't posted much in the past month. It is that time of the semester when the things you have been putting off absolutely have to get done. To top it off my teaching assistant lab slots had two weeks in a row recently so I'm buried in correcting and have a very large project to do for next week. Say, you don't happen to know anything on Multiple Light Scattering in Liquid Crystals do you? Thought not...

In bike news, Arone and Dave at Bikeworks NYC have been very apologetic and very willing to help me with the few missing pieces on my Surly LHT, as well as my bad derailleur. So I shipped out the derailleur 2 weeks ago, and hopefully it will get there today or the next day. Hopefully they look close enough at when it is mounted to see that the alignment is off in some gears while not others.

As for winter (or just cold weather) riding I haven't been doing much lately do to late and early hours, lack of sleep, having to carry lab books around, and icy roads. I have not gotten studded tires for my winter beater yet. I am hesitant to buy big knobby tires and I do not plan to do much recreational winter riding and simply plan to commute. Huge tires would increase my rolling resistance by crazy amounts, and tires that are not as knobby don't seem to usually have enough studs... So I need to find a nice in-between. Any suggestions?

-Hughie

Happy New Bike Day!

2009-11-07T22:55:00.007-04:00

Today I was able to pick up my anticipated package from Bikeworks NYC, my 58 cm, olive green, Surly Long Haul Trucker. I immediately headed out to Harold's shop to complete assembly on the winter beater as well as set up the LHT.

The winter beater went together nicely. I reassembled all the old parts as well as added a chromoly fork, a new back wheel, a new set of Deore linear pull brakes in the front, a set of lock on grips, and my new shifters and levers previously mentioned. The derailleur hanger was bent bad, but after fixing that the thing shifted like a charm. I added a bar-end mirror and the tiresparx valve cover lights once I got home. All she needs now is some derailleur adjusting and studded tires and she is ready for the winter!

The LHT on the other hand did not go so smoothly. The package was missing the star-nut and cap that holds the bar down onto the fork, and bar tape.

There were some small nicks (not through the paint though) on the seat tube, above the top tube, and one of the brake pads was badly bent.

All of that is not such a big deal, but a pain none the less. However this last thing is the kicker. We began doing the rear derailleur adjustment, setting the bottom stop and the top stop, then began the cable adjustment to make shifting smooth. After we were okay in the bottom gears we moved up and began adjusting again. But after a few rounds of this we noticed a problem. When the cable was adjusted properly in the higher gears, it was skipping in the lower gears, and when it was adjusted properly in the lower gears it was skipping in the higher ones! Harold then started thinking about possible problems. We checked the distance between the two axle mounts and it was perfect. We then checked the derailleur hanger to see if it was bent with the proper adjustment tools, which was off a little bit, but not enough to be causing the problem and that was corrected. Putting the derailleur back on and trying the adjustment again proved to have the problem repeat. Our only ideas then were the Shimano bar-end shifters, or the Deore XT derailleur were faulty. We grabed a brand new cheap-o Shimano LX derailleur, put it on and after a quick adjustment the bike was shifting perfectly even with high in the front and low in the rear. So, however unlikely, I got a bike with a bad Shimano Deore XT derailleur which is rare for this level of quality. Unfortunately by this time Harold was getting ready to head home for the day, so the plan is to go back with the bike later this week and try the Deore XT derailleur AGAIN just to triple check. Once we are 150% positive it is the derailleur I will get in contact with Bikeworks NYC and see if they will send me out a replacement derailleur and as well what they say about my missing parts and minor damage.

Despite the hurdles, it was an exciting and long day of assembling bikes new and old. I learned a lot about how to deal with taking off and putting on all the parts of the bike. I intend on leaving a good bit of space on the top end of the fork to put a second stem for an accessory bar for my handlebar bag. That way I still have room up top for a light and horn and computer. Due to the crappy weather here in St. Johns (with road salt already out) and as well and a bunk derailleur it will be a while before I get to ride my new steed. For now it will just stare at me from 3 feet away in my closet.
Hopefully, after I have my derailleur situation sorted out and have my fork cut to proper length, we will have a nice dry day before the snow really kicks in and I will get to ride her a couple of times. Until then, she waits for the adventures ahead of her next summer.

Here is a pic of my new additions. I can finally say I have a fleet! (Giant FCR 2 not pictured)

Happy New Bike Day everyone!

-Hughie

The Morning Commute

2009-11-04T22:11:00.003-04:00

Two days of back and forth from school, 18km each way by bike. Newfoundland, especially the east coast, is known for being very hilly. Ups and downs, certainly good for a work out but not so great for commuting or utilitarian cyclying with the likes of trailers and xtracycles. However, this route is probably one of the fairest routes for its length I've ridden! While there is still some significant grade, its a slow long incline with a few flat spots and its no trouble to keep your average speed up. This morning I had an average speed of 25 km/hour! That is pretty good for me. The way back is a little more uphill at the beginning and at the end, but the middle is a long slow down slope.
It is truly and enjoyable ride. I am having trouble finding a proper layering solution for these 2-10 degree Celsius temperatures, but other than that the mornings have been great. I am looking forward to our first bit of snow and nice to try out my not-yet-existing winter beater and see if all winter commuting is going to be something I am actually capable of.

Click here to check out the google map of the commute!

Winter Beater Project + The New Long Commute

2009-11-02T20:48:00.006-04:00

So I sandblasted, sanded, primed and painted the old Raleigh aluminum mtb frame from Canadian Tire. I picked a nice bright color that would be easily distinguishable from snow.

Before

After

The Paint job turned out a lot better than I expected. 2 coats of tremclad primer plus touch ups, as well as 4 coats of orange gloss tremclad. On Wednesday the temperature is supposed to go back up to 9 degrees again, so that will be warm enough to paint. I have to give it a light rub with some high grade sand paper and then I am applying a clear/reflective coating to the entire frame! With my 3 rear flashers, front flasher, tire valve flashers, reflective stripes on panniers and jacket as well as an entire reflective frame, I'm sure I'll get noticed. HA.

Also have the components for it. Just have to wait for the final coat of paint, and to get paid to buy the new fork and rear wheel.
My mtb clipless shoes are in the mail as well.

I still have to get

-Studded Tires
-Pair of waterproof winter shell pants
-Shoe covers

...and probably other things I am forgetting right now and will bankrupt me.

In other news, this weekend I moved back home with my parents to a town just outside of St. Johns called Paradise. There were several reasons, but some relevant ones were due to the fact that I wanted to get all this bike stuff and had no money, I have to pay off a line of credit, and try to save money to eventually get an apartment with my lovely lady Alanna. Bit of a good news bad news scenario, I now have a ~18 km commute ahead of me to the university every morning, and then back again in the evening, Monday to Friday, that is both the good and bad news! Did it for the first time this morning (4 degrees out) and it was a really great ride. Only took 47 mins ride time. I'm having trouble with sweaty hands making wet gloves, and am thinking of sending my MEC Nanu gloves back after only one use as they are a small fit and are almost impossible to get back on if I take them off once I sweat a little. Not to worry, should the weather be bad (or I just don't feel up to it) my dear sister (who is an undergraduate student at the university too) will drive me in with herself.

Anyways, will update on the Winter Beater as it gets put back together, once I get the rest of my winter commuting stuff, and as well when IT arrives.

Surly LHT left the international USPS depot in NJ on Thursday morning. Feels like I'm going to have an early Christmas!

Pre-Midterm Updates

2009-10-24T17:27:00.005-03:00

So instead of studying for my upcoming midterms in Soft Mater Physics 6013 and Condensed Matter Physics 6000, this week I did a couple of things.

I spent over $300 at MEC to try to get ready for winter cycling.
Whoosh Cycling Jacket
Mirror
Cycling Winter Gloves
A Balaclava
A midweight Fleece
And TireSparx!

I also installed my new AirZound 3 Air Horn and tested it out on some inattentive drivers. Hehehe boy that thing is loud. Also tested out my rain covers and MEC Shark 1 watt front light. Both work like a charm.

I got my Shimano M-520 clipless pedals in the mail. They are still sitting in the box as I have no clipless shoes!

I bought clipless shoes off ebay! Shimano MTB shoes with laces (no straps unfortunately).
Not sure what model.

Today I went up to my LBS guy, Harold. I had forgotten my crappy splash pants and cheap thermals up there the other day, due to me buying a proper set of Sub Zero Tights from Sugoi (which are amazing by the way, pretty much haven't taken them off since Thursday). I also purchased a long sleeve wicking layer for winter riding. While I was there I got him to measure my inseam and look at a sizing chart to see what size Long Haul Trucker I should get (eventually). Turns out I should get a 58cm frame set. The sizing spreadsheat from the Google Group "Surly Long Haul Trucker and Cross Check Owners Group" agrees (I'm ~6').

Then I came home and ordered a Long Haul Trucker.

Then.... wait what?

That's right ladies. It is done. After Harold finally getting in contact with the distributor their MSRP is around $1550, which seemed a little high. I found a place in Nova Scotia that was selling them at a close out price of $1299 before shipping and taxes but everywhere else I looked in Canada people were asking $1500 for them this year. So I turned to our friends south of the border and called most of the Surly dealers listed in the north-eastern states. A place in Maine (Bath, Bike & Ski) was asking onlu $975 +$90 for shipping in USD, but didn't have any in stock and wouldn't until mid December. They were also a little vague about color and sizing choices etc. Being the impatient being I am I continued my search until coming across Bike Works in NYC. Spoke to Dave on the phone and got a price of $1200 USD including shipping. Now all I have to do is wait two weeks or so for my 58cm Olive Green Surly Long Haul Trucker to arrive and hope I don't get dinged too much with border and customs fees.

EEEP excited. Hopefully I will get a couple of dry days to try it out before out real Newfoundland winter kicks in.

PS: The winter beater is sand blasted. Needs to be primed, painted (gloss orange), and coated with reflective clear coat paint, then reassembled. Will paint next weekend and post pics.

PPS: Talk the talk is delayed until classes and TA's are over and I have a semi-life again.

-Hughie

Winter Beater Project + LHT update

2009-10-06T23:13:00.010-03:00

Since I started serious cycling I've slowly come to terms with the fact that I am a utilitarian commuter rider, who wants to also tour. That's my bike personality.

I don't care about my heart rate.
I don't care about bringing my average speed up 1 km/hr.
I don't care about how light my bike is.

I like riding back and forth to work, taking a Saturday and running some errands, or going for a ride out to Cape Spear the most easterly (and I'm convinced, hilly) point in North America. So naturally when Harold, my LBS guy, originally brought up winter riding to me I thought no way, no how. Especially in St. Johns, Newfoundland. But as October drew closer and closer, and I got more and more acquainted with my bike personality, I realized I wanted to attempt being a 365 day rider. Upon telling Harold I was thinking about riding in the winter, he replied "Of course you are!"

Enter Crappy Tire Bike. (They call Canadian Tire "Crappy Tire" in other parts of Canada right?)
This was a bike I bought when I first moved out 4 years ago to get me around. It served its purpose but it was not a great ride, hence why I am only now getting into cycling. I had broke an axle on it last year and it was just collecting dust in the crawl space. I decided to take it up to Harold. He's great in the way that he is letting me leave it there and go up and work on it when he is not busy, not many LBS guys would let you use their shop and tools. I have been dealing with him Since April/May and we have built up quite a rapport so he treats me pretty good.

Anyways, back to the bike.

Of course the bike was only $170 when I bought it new so it is not worth putting any money into. I bought a cheap set of Sunrace thumb shifters online, as well as a standard set of Tektro mountain bike levers. I picked thumb shifters because they are simple, hard to break, and if they do break they are easy to fix. Many people use these or bar-end shifters (very similar) for touring 3rd world countries for these reasons. The levers I got simply because my old ones were stripped. I will also be putting a chromoly rigid fork on it rather than the POS spring suspension that resides. It is a pet peeve of mine to watch people commuting on suspension bikes, all that momentum they are wasting going up and down! Maybe its the physicist in me... Last but not least simply cause the frame is chipped up and it is ugly anyway I will be sandblasting it and painting it orange with a little black to make it fairly visible. First step to painting, strip her!
Scandalous. So all I have to do now is blast/paint the frame and fork, reassemble and throw some studded tires on. Look out winter here I come.

For safety I also have 3 cheap walmart Bell flashing red lights to go on the back, a MEC Shark 1 Watt front white light, and a Air Zound air horn which should suffice to making people GTFO of my way.

So that's it. I will update the project as it happens, and hopefully I'll have the guts to keep riding and stay warm doing it!

SOON TO COME!
I will also soon be attempting to make Bucket Panniers for wet and winter riding!
Taken from Crazyguyonabike, these make excellent waterproof containers for carrying cargo!

ALSO Quick Long Haul Trucker update.
Harold, my LBS, called NRG, the Canadian distributor for Surly, to start moving the wheels on him ordering me in the bike. They said they would send him an email as well as a snail mail "Dealer Package" to him. This was 2.5 weeks ago. No email, no Dealer Package. WTF NRG I want my smooth sexy steel touring stallion!!! Anyway, Harold promised he re-contact them to try and get things in motion. Hopefully I will have an update that actually includes me ordering or receiving a bike in the future.

ALSO ALSO
Part II of "Talk the talk" is coming, just been really busy this week with my grad courses and my TA's.

Thanks for reading
-Hughie

Extra: Commuters be Safe!

2009-09-28T20:21:00.005-03:00

PS: MADE SOME CHANGES? BETTER THIS WAY OR OLD WAY?

This is a good instructional video done by our friends at Mountain Equipment Co-Op, or MEC to make sure cyclists are not only watching what they are doing, but making sure drivers know what they are doing as well.

Take a look, and remember to signal!

-Hughie

Talk the talk Part 1: The Frame

2009-09-23T22:08:00.008-03:00

Taking the step from knowing nothing to knowing something about a given topic is not always as easy as it sounds. When it comes to bicycles every part of the bike has a specific name and purpose and varies from bike to bike depending on style, quality, and price. In this short(ish) article I hope to introduce some common phrases and terms that are used when talking about bicycles or bicycle related accessories or activities. So when you go talk to your LBS you won't feel totally out of the loop.

Bringing us to our first...

LBS is an abbreviation for Local Bike Shop. Talking to knowledgeable staff at an LBS can make a world of difference when choosing bikes or accessories. But go to a couple to make sure you're not getting biased opinions.

Fully Loaded Touring is used to describe the type of trip done on a bicycle over many days ranging from a week or two, to a month or two and more. These bikes carry everything the person will need for survival in a combination of front and rear panniers, and/or a bike trailer.

Panniers are first of all pronounced like "pan-yay" not "pan-ner" as some people would believe. It is a french word, as the french basically invented touring, meaning "basket" or "bags" which were used to carry bread on a bicycle. They mount on racks attached to the bicycle frame.

Now I'll get into the actual bicycle. As I was writing this it looked to be a lot longer than I would have liked so I am going to do it in parts to not bore you all to death and as well so I'm not up all night writing.

As an example bike I will use an image of my current internet girlfriend whom I hope to meet soon and is just as beautiful in real life as in her pictures, the Surly Long Haul Trucker.

First the basics, I'll point out the name of specific parts of the frame.

The Top Tube (a), Down Tube (b), and Seat Tube (c) make up the main triangle of the bike. This area is used for mounting water bottles, pumps, locks, and sometimes small frame bags. The second triangle is made by the Seat Stays (e), and the Chain Stays (f) along with the Seat Tube, and is obviously the mount point for your rear wheel. This area is often occupied by a rear rack for carrying things. The Fork (d), is not technically apart of the frame, but will often come with a "frame set." Obviously your front wheel is mounted here but it's also occupied by front racks from time to time, used for carrying bags. We then have the Seat Post (w/ seat aka saddle) (g) and the Handle Bars (h) while not part of the frame, very basic components.

These names are important to know when deciding which bike is right for you. Every bike has a slightly different Frame Geometry, meaning the lengths of each of the mentioned frame tubes. Shortening or lengthening anyone of the tubes changes the feel and fit of the bike, so be sure to check the geometry specifics. The most basic measurement you will have to know is the Frame Size, which is typically taken from the top of the seat tube (where the seat post starts) to the middle of the Crank, that is the silver thingy at the bottom of the seat tube.

But that will bring us to Part 2: Components where I will introduce and explain the drive-train and braking systems of the bike, and then on to Part 3: Wheels and Tires.

Obviously these next couple of entries aren't for people who are already experienced, but more for the people who are teetering on the idea of buying a bike this winter and getting into it next summer. Hopefully this will be a push they need.

-Hughie

Extra: One Step Closer to Owning a Surly LHT

2009-09-19T16:48:00.006-03:00

So today I sold an old car that I had bought with my father 6 or 7 years ago.

She was a 1964 Pontiac Parisienne. Frame, chassis and body was in decent shape, she just needed to be restored. Unfortunately my father and I never had the room, time, or money to restore it. Him working full time and having a dozen other little projects to do, and me being a full time masters student. It just was not meant to be.

So today I sold her and said my goodbyes. We made a deal with the new owners that we would be able to come see her once she has been restored. It was a sad day.

(Thanks to Jerome again for the LHT pics)

However, out with the old and in with the new. With the sale I now have the capital to start seriously looking into the Surly Long Haul Trucker! Went to talk to my LBS today and he will give me a call when he gets the catalog from the Canadian distributor of Sulry products, NRG.

Excited.

-Hughie