This blog is about my cycling lifestyle, which includes (obviously) bicycles--both building and maintaining them, and riding them--and cycling related tidbits.
I got one of those orange slip in the mail yesterday, and in the sender field, the postal worker who dropped it off had written "Great Britain". I immediately knew what it was and picked up the package from the downtown Berkeley postal office this morning.
I opened the package, and surely it is the SON20 hub I ordered 2 weeks ago from St. John Street Cycles--a bike shop in Somerset, England that specializes in bike touring. This was before the US dollars began to weaken and I got the hub shipped for $180--not a bad deal at all!
I mentioned in one of the previous posts that I had been pondering the possibility of getting a dynamo front hub for my Ebisu. I am also thinking to get one (maybe an economic version) for my il Pompino to make my winter commute safer.
There seems to be a consensus that SON-series (Schmidt's Original Nabendynamo) dynamo hubs made by Wilfried Schmidt Maschinenbau of Germany are the best in the business. They are available in the United States mainly through Peter White Cycles and several other touring or randoneering-friendly bike shops. They are not cheap though: a standard SON28 hub designed for 26" to 700c wheels cost $270, and a lighter version (SON20R) that was designed for smaller wheels but can be used with the combo of larger wheels and LED headlamps cost $300. Adding rim, spokes and build fee, one quickly approaches $500 territory.
Shimano has lower price offerings. For example, the bike part giant recently released its DH-3N80 dynamo front hub in the United States (although it has been available else where for about 1 year now). The Shimano hub is approximately 1/2 the price of a SON hub, though not as efficient as the SON hubs. Jim G has posted some performance information in this entry of his SF Cyclotouring blog.
I think the DH-3N80 is probably good enough for me on the Ebisu, though I am still hesitating to put it on my commuter. To complicate matter, the two bikes have different wheel size so if I want dynamo lighting on both bikes I will need two such wheels.
Now I think I will take it one part at a time. I will also need to have a bright LED front light to go with the SON hub. For that I am thinking to get the Busch & Müller Lumotec IQ Cyo front light, which is on par with lights such as Schmidt's Edeluxe and Supernova E3 in terms of brightness and half the price. I will hunt around for a good deal.
In the meanwhile, I will probably get the wheels built around the Ultegra rear hub and a phil wood front hub, both with 36 spoke holes.
The delivery of Ebisu is less than 2 months away (I hope).
I bought a Ostrich handlebar bag from an iBOB list member about a year ago. I have used it on my specialized expedition touring bike for months. It has plenty of storage capacity and many convenient pockets and a map case. On my old touring bike it sat on a Nitto M-12 front rack. Initially I used two leather strap to attach the bag to the handlebar and a pedal strap to attach the bag to the rack at the bottom (see left). To gain some hand space on the handlebar, I used the Velo Orange decaleur (quick release bag mount) and did away with the leather straps. The decaleur allows to bag to sit more properly on the rack and hold it there more securely. I really like the set up (see the picture on the right to look at the bag with decaleur).
When I sold the touring bike to pave way for the Ebisu, the Ostrich bag sat in my bike garage for a while not getting used. I had a basket on my commuter at the time and I hadn't set up a front rack for my Romulus yet.
When the rack strut broke on the Mark's rack on my il pompino, I took off the rack and replaced it with the Nitto M-12 rack that was on the touring bike. I thought about putting the basket on, but instead decided to use the Ostrich bag.
In the past few months, I have been using the ostrich bag with two leather straps and a toeclip strap at the bottom to attach it to the rack and handlebar (see picture to the left). It worked OK, though after a while the leather strap will slip and move along the handlebar and the bag will be slanted one way or another. If I carry some weight, the bag will sway a little more. I decided that if I were to use the bag on this bike, I need something similar to the decaleur that's more secure.
I tried to buy an extra steerer mount for 1 1/8" size from Velo Orange, but VO didn't have any, and Chris there told me that VO might not get any for a few months. I wrote a WTB email to the iBOB list to see if anyone has one lying around to sell it to me. From that, Ryan Watson sent me a reply, with a link to his flickr photostream showing his home-made bag mount (here is one of Ryan's picture showing his bag mount using a piece of steel bracket).
I thought about it and decided to create a similar hack. I took that piece of broken strut from the Mark's rack and sawed it to length. I then drilled a hole on it where it would attach to the bag. I attach one side of this strut to the stem under the face plate. I then drill a hole in the bag and used a 5mm nut and bolt to attach the bag to the bottom end of the strut. I retained the toeclip strap to secure the bottom of the bag to the front rack. Below is a slideshow showing some close-up picture of this hack and my pompino with the bag. It felt pretty secured. Even though it's not a quick release, but it will prevent people from simply grabbing my bag off my bike when I run into store to do errands etc. I will report how well the hack works once I get some real-world test.
My friend Steve forwarded me a poster for the 3rd annual Supermarket Street Sweep about 1 month ago. It's an event put together by a few individuals aimed at raising food donation for the San Francisco Food Bank. It consists of two alleycat-style races taking place in San Francisco at the same time. The winner of the speed race would have purchased all the required items at the specified supermarkets and get to the finish point the fastest. The winner of the point race will have the most food items in addition to making all the required purchases at the specified supermarkets. The organizers have gotten lots of sponsors and collected lots of swags as prizes for the participants and all the food will go to the SF food bank.
(My pompino before the race)
I've always enjoy riding in San Francisco and since this is for a good cause and sounds like fun, I decided to join this year. The starting time was noon next to the Cupid sculpture on Embarcadero. Some folks were there before the start, but most came at or after the start time. The organizers got everyone checked in and handed out Crumpler cell phone hoisters and numbered spoke card for every racer. A wide variety of bicycles--many fixed gear messenger bikes, road bikes, mountain bikes, cargo bikes, bike with trailers--showed up. At about 12:40 we were asked to gather on the grass and each got a manifest. We could choose to participate in the point or the speed race. The speed race required the racer to buy less food, but travel longer distance. The point racer's manifest has more food items on it that he/she needs to buy, but the 5 supermarkets are all relatively central.
(Almost Start time, racers gathered)
I thought about joining the speed race, but the manifest asked for a can of fish at the Marina Safeway. I am a vegan and couldn't bring myself to buy fish, and thought it would be great to donate more food in the point race. At about 12:40, the race started and streams of cyclists poured into the street.
I looked at the manifest before getting on my bike and knew the location of all 5 stores. However, i was deciding the order by which I will cover the stores. The manifest is shown in the picture below.
(my manifesto: pre-race)
I decided that I would go to Mollie Stone in Pacific Height (at California & Fillmore), and then move my way toward the south of the City. I made my first strategic mistake by riding to far north to Broadway before turning west. I should have gone southwest on Market and then head up California or a parallel street. On my il Pompino with 40/17 gearing, I was afraid that I might not have enough gears going through the central part (Nob Hill, etc) of the city. In hindsight, I could probably head up Sacramento or Washington through Chinatown, then cut across on Powell to California. Anyway, I rode on Broadway to circumvent the huge hills, but make an almost mistake by riding in the Broadway Tunnel. The tunnel is long and without good illumination. I couldn't really see the road that well and the lanes are not that wide. I was afraid to ride through a patch of glass or getting hit by a car, luckily, neither took place.
I also quickly realized that i forgot to bring water. So when I got to Mollie Stone I bought a drink as well as the required food donation--two bags of dry beans, 2 lbs or more. I met another racer Brandon, whom I will see at the rest of the stores, and rode to the finish together.
(slideshow of the photos I took)
The next stop is straightforward to get to and very close. I rode down Fillmore past Geary, then hopped through a sidewalk to the Safeway parking lot at Webster and O'Farrell. Many racers were there, but I have the impression that this was their first stop. I ran in and grab what i needed--two cans of vegetable, 15 oz or more and came out. I have on my Pompino an Ostrich front handlebar bag, and also carried a medium-size Timbuk2 messenger bag. I put the cans in the handlebar bag (the beans were in my messenger bag) and went for the third store.
before I left Safeway, I looked at the map and decided that i will go west to the lucky on Fulton and Masonic before heading further south to the two last stores. Here is where I made my second strategic mistake. Instead of heading west first on O'Farrell first, i descended webster and promptly lost a lot of altitude that I had to climb back on Fulton. I realized it as soon as I made a left turn on Fulton and saw the three consecutive climbs beginning at Steiner. Well, at this point, there was I can do but get off my saddle and climb. Even though the hills on Fulton aren't difficult, I could have more strategically get to the same point with less climbing and spent less time.
At Lucky, I picked up 2 bags of 2-lb basmati rice. i was looking for brown rice, but the package were all in the wrong weight. after a short decision process, I took the basmati and went for the self-checkout.
Out of the Lucky I made a stupid mistake. I went further west (uphill no less) on Fulton for a block when i realized I had gone in the wrong direction. I turned around and headed back. I am now heading for the Mission District. The two remaining stores are close to the main artery--Mission Boulevard--in the area and I initially planned to go all the way south to the Safeway at 29th and Mission first. I rode on fulton until divisidero, then rode down until Haight. I then turn off Haight on Octavia, which takes me back to Market Street. After a couple more short turns, i was on mission going south.
I was stopped at a light on 14th street, and decided to change my plan to hit Food Co on 14th and folsom first. When I walked into the store after locking my bike and reading my manifest, I thought to myself that maybe I should have stuck to my plans and go to the one further south first. We were required to buy 2 large plastic jars (64 oz or more) of fruit juice, which would be the bulkiest and heaviest items. But I wasn't going to run out of here without the juice. The checkout line also were longer than other stores, without self-checkout counters.
(At the checkout line in Food Co)
After juice, I had to rearrange my bags and they were pretty bulky now. Luckily the things we need to buy from the last store--mac & cheese--are pretty small. I rode down shotwell, which parallel Mission, but is much quieter all the way to 26th, made a ride turn then turn back onto Mission again. Quickly I got to the Safeway at 29th and Mission. I got some organic mac & cheese and bought two more cans of food for extra point.
At my bike I took out my map and tried to figure out how to get back to the finish point--which is Rickshaw Bagworks on 22nd between Indiana and Tennessee. Brandon, whom I met in Mollie Stone and saw at every subsequent store, told me that he knew the way and can take me there.
We got onto Caesar Chavez from Mission and rode under the highways. Soon i saw the sign for Indiana and made a left turn. We got back to the finish line at about 2:40, 2 hours after i left embarcadero. Here is the map showing the route I took to the 5 stores. The bikely interactive version is here.
(scene outside Rickshaw Bagworks after the race)
A couple dozen folks were there already. I checked in, took a photo in the booth and turned in my food and receipts. As time went on, folks started to pile in. One guy--I later found out he goes by Dirty Dave--pulled up with a trailer on his cargo bike. He must have had hundreds of canned food on the trailer. I also found out later that he had won the last two point race.
Just slightly past the cutoff time at 4, I heard a dragging noise on the street, and saw a guy in pink shirt (I later learned that his name is Jeremiah) on a mountain bike pulling 3 sections of trailers behind him with mountains of food. He clearly had Dirty Dave beat in terms of quantity but got disqualified because he missed the cutoff time.
(Jeremiah and his haul)
I had another party to attend to so I left before the organizers handed out prizes. But I had tons of fun and plan to do it next year!
This is a map that show my travel during the 3rd annual supermarket street sweep alley cat race to raise food donation for the SF food bank. I started from Embarcadero and traversed in counterclockwise direction. I will have a more complete write-up shortly
M. and I decided that we want to have a quiet Thanksgiving holiday doing some self-reflection. We attended 2 days of a 3-day Chan (the original Chinese word for what later became Zen in Japanese; it came from the Sanskrit word dhyana) meditation retreat at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas--a Buddhist campus in Ukiah, California. During the retreat we participated (separately because of gender separation on campus) in 9 hours of quiet sitting meditation a day (with walking meditation interspersed) and reflected. I went to high school on the campus so the retreat also led me down memory lanes in those long hours of sitting, though I tried not to indulge in reminiscing too much. We have much to thank for--solid spiritual practice, good health, stable jobs, great group of friends and a community, good relations with family, compatible interest with and affection for each other. We both love cycling and are devoted to live progressively. We also bought a rental property this summer together that breaks even on the monthly basis.
We enjoyed the quiet time for reflection and as we planned beforehand, headed out for a bike ride on sunday, foregoing the last day of the retreat. We started out on the campus of City of Ten Thousand Buddhas (CTTB) and headed Northwest toward Ukiah on Talmage Road. It was only 40F and our fingers were freezing. Since I went to high school there and still am involved with the community, I am really familiar with the area. We took a back road toward the center of the town, passed quiet residential neighborhood and shopping centers in town. Ukiah is a sizble town with more than 30 000 people. On the way over we passed by Home Depot and Mervyn's California department store, which is closing down. After a few more turns on the residential streets, we got on to State Street, which is the main throughfare in town. We went north on this main road for a mile, passes Hwy 101, rode for another 1/2 mile and made a left turn on Orr Springs Road.
We would not leave Orr Springs Road on this ride. This road used to be one of the stagecoast road between inland and coastal Mendocino county. The road is fairly narrow and has a few houses and ranches along it. One can take ths same road all the way to Comptche--a former logging town--then further to Mendocino on the coast. M. and I did an out-and-back from Ukiah to Mendocino last year when we were training for the 1-day version of STP, and it still is the most challenging ride we did. Today we are not going as far, the plan is to start as early as we did, go all the way to Comptche, then turn around to get back to Talmage a little before 3 so we can enjoy lunch at Jyun Kang Restaurant on the CTTB campus--which is famous for its great Chinese vegetarian food.
Soon after we made the turn onto Orr Springs, we began a very long and steep climb to the summit. According to the elevation profile for our route on Bikely, we started the climb at mile 6.5 or so at about 600 ft above sea level. At mile 10 or so, our elevation reached about 2400 ft (that's almost 10% the entire time!). Then after a drop to about 2000 ft at mile 11, we climbed again to reach close to 2600 ft at mile 13. Even though it's a challenging climb, it was quite pleasant. It was cool in the morning so climbing helped to warm us up. We stopped at a moment to peel off some layers and got to enjoy the view of the Ukiah valley. The traffic level is very low, the scenery is great, and pavement is pretty good. All one needs is some legs (or low gears) and some patience. There is a ranch called "Wonder" at the top. It's a very satisfying climb.
A little on our equipments for the day. I took my Rivendell Romulus with Baggins Little Joe saddle bag. Because there is no services on the road until Comptche (even then, the store there doesn't open everyday), I carried a Nalgene water pouch that can fit 125 ml (4 of our stainless steel water bottles) of water in the saddle bag. The weight of the water (almost 10 lbs) certainly added the difficulty on the first climb. The Romulus performed wonderfully, it didn't tend to tip over, and stayed in a straightline without too much effort. I was able to alternate on and off the saddle going over the top. On descent, it took me a couple of turns to get used to the handling with added weight on the saddle, but it wasn't difficult and compromised the bike's handling only slightly. As we transferred water from the pouch to our bottles, obviously the weight of the bike/bag returned to normal. I really like having the little joe on my bike and will keep it there for a while.
M. took her 650b Serotta CRT with matching Acorn Bags--a small saddle bag as a handlebar bag in the front and a medium/large saddle bag in the back. She didn't carry water (since I was the mule) but carried energy bars, sunscreens, and her fleece jacket. Her bike also performed well for her. The lightweight tubes suited her very well, as she is light. The stiff frame also helped her on climbs as she is more of a masher than spinner on the climbs. And the grand bois cypres tires provided her more comfort on some patches of bad pavement than 25mm Panaracer Pasela TGs on her Torelli. She also felt more confident on descent with those tires. Her speed on flat has not suffer because of the 650b wheel size. We both wore reflective hi-vis vest for safety and both have bells from Jitensha Studio.
Between mile 10 and 13 when we were at the top, the road winds slightly and rolls a little. Here the vista is pretty open, looking over unincorporated regions of the Ukiah valley, with what must be new-growth forests. At mile 13, the road took a fast and winding dives, with many switchbacks for the next 4 miles. I stopped at a switch back to enjoy the view, give my hands some rest and allow M. to catch up. At mile 17, we got to the edge of the forest. The next 6 miles we will be in Montgomery Woods. We passed by Orr Hot Springs Resort along the way. This stretch of the ride is probably my favorite, as is M.'s. We rode under the tall canopy of several different kinds of trees--redwood, pines, oaks--and there is a creek running next to the road. I tried to take some picture but it was pretty dark in the forest to take good pictures while on a bike. It felt magical! The pavement is decent, but bad at a few spots, and the traffic is very low, with most of the cars going to and from the hot spring resort. We both remarked that this is probably our favorite place to ride.
At mile 23, we began another significant climb. Though not as hard as the first one, this 3.5-mile climb gains close to 800 ft. Throughout the entire time, we were pretty much under the shade of the trees, but gets to peek out to get an expansive view of the valley once in a while. At mile 30, we reached the point where the road began to descend for 4 miles down to the town of Comptche. We decided that we didn't want to climb up this hill on the way back and decided to turn around.
The ride on the way back was slower, but no less enjoyable. After descending the last hill we climbed up, we are riding against a slight gradient back through Montgomery Woods. We took our time and went at about 13-14 miles per hour. At Orr Hot Springs Resort, we bumped into our friend Annie whom we arranged to meet somewhere on the road today. After chatted for a bit, we began to climb back the pass back to Ukiah.
This is the steep descent that we took after the first climb this morning. Although not as steep (7.5% for 4 miles), the weather has warmed up significantly (now at a toasty 70F) and we were getting hungry and tired. It took some significant effort on our part to get back to the top. After a fast and furious descent down the hill we climbed this morning we were back cruising in Ukiah.
Overall, it was a challenging (60 miles and 9400 ft of climbing!) and wonderful ride. The food at the restaurant was excellent as always. I chatted with some people who have been working there since i was a teenager more than 15 year ago. It was a wonderful sunday to conclude a great quiet thanksgiving weekend!
I got another 2 pieces of the puzzle for my ebisu (which won't come for another 2 and 1/2 months). I went to box dog bikes in San Francisco yesterday after work to pick up one-bike-worth of Velo Orange adjustable brake shoes. According to VO's website, these threadless brake shoes allow "toe-in, and other, adjustments". I have one-bike-worth of Grenouille canti brakes (also from VO) that can use these shoes. I also bought a Shimano XT M737 8-speed cassette from eBay, using Live.com's cashback program.
I have also been pondering whether I should get a dynamo hub and light for this build. I am considering Schmidt SON28, SON20R, and Shimano DH-3N80. Does anyone have any experience on the Shimano hub? If I do build a dynamo front wheel, I will still probably build a non-dynamo one for when I don't need lighting.
Here is the updated list:
Still need:
- cables, housings and ferrules - rims, silver, 650b; Velocity Synergy 650b or Grand Bois rims, 36h - 72 spokes - tubes 650b - Rim Tapes - Hanjo smooth fender - Handlebar tape
Already Have:
Components - Shimano Ultegra 6500 rear derailleur; long cage - Shimano 105 9-speed front derailleur; triple; 28.6 clamp diameter - Sugino XD600 crankset 46/36/26 170 crank arm length - Shimano Ultegra seatpost 27.2 - Selle Anatomica Saddle; clydesdale - Tektro R200A brake levers; black/silver - Grenouille cantilever brakes from VO - Velo Orange adjustable brake shoes - Nitto Randonneur handlebars; 44cm - Nitto Pearl quill stem; 10 cm reach - Crank Brothers Quattro road pedals - SRAM 890 8-speed chain - Shimano FR-6600 Ultegra 10-speed rear hub; 36h - Suntour XC-Comp front hub, 36h - Riv Silver friction downtube shifters - Phil Wood stainless steel bottom bracket 68x108mm JIS - Stronglight A9 1" threaded headset, British thread; black with "paramount" inscribed - tires; Rivendell Nifty Swifty 650b (2) - Shimano XT M737 11-30 8-speed cassette
This is a short week. The forecast has rain coming for the next two days. I decided to get a short ride in before the rain comes. I took my il-pompino out. I touched the chain at a few spots to determine if it needs some lubes. It seemed fine. I rode through the Cal campus toward Hearst Gate. Today, I am taking a different route up the hill. Euclid is a quieter though at places steeper climb than Spruce. At a few pitches I was struggling to stay on my bike with its 40x17 gearing. After a hill past the Rose Garden, the grade eases and I was able to relax on my saddle. I have been riding Lomas Contadas over the last few weekends and my legs felt stronger today. Several times I got off my saddle to speed up on the ascent on Grizzly Peak. There were some minor squeaking noises coming from the drivetrain. I got off my bike at one point to check and concluded that it must be the chain--should have lubed it before riding.
I got to the top faster than usual. After stretching my legs some and took some pictures, I spinned like a madman downhill. I didn't get rained on and enjoyed a wonderful ride. I will be visiting Ukiah for the weekend, and may get to ride Orr Spring road, which is scenic but very hilly. I will report on that when I get back.
I have been riding with clipless pedals for the last 5 years. I started out with shimano-SPD compatible pedals and then 2 years ago switched to crank brothers pedals. 3 years ago the thought of moving back to non-clipless pedals would never crossed my mind; even on my fixed-gear commuter, I had SPD clipless pedals on. I began using platform pedals on my fixed-gear about 2 and one-half years ago. I ride everywhere with my fixed-gear bike, even on fairly hilly terrains, and I didn't find riding with platform pedals to be any slower (granted the non-coasting nature of the fixie no doubt helps with the rotation of the crankset on the up-stroke).
I have since contemplated using platform pedals for my nice geared bikes. Although I like clipless and my biking shoes are comfortable, I want to be able to ride my geared bikes with normal shoes sometimes. Although there are dual-purpose pedals out there, I find them to be unattractive and a poor compromise.
The final straw is probably the noise factor. The clipless pedals I have used all began to make squeaking noises after a while, even though the bearing might be OK still. I am annoyed by the ever-present squeaking noises when one rides, especially when climbing or riding spiritedly on flats. After sunday's ride, I decided to go back to quill pedals. I have a pair of SR road quill pedals sitting around. I overhauled the pedals and attached power grips to them on my Rivendell Romulus. I am going to see how they do, and decide whether I want to go "clipless"-less on my Ebisu, too.
I will probably keep my crank brothers around, just in case I want to use them sometimes.
This cannot be considered a full update, so it got a 0.5 uptick in part number. I found a pair of Rivendell Nifty Swifty 650b tires on the local craigslist at a very good price and I bought them. Zac Stanley is the fellow that sold me the tires, which were on his wife's Bleriot. She didn't like the speedblend factor on the tire and switched to Grand Bois Cypres instead.
Even though these tested somewhat unfavorably in the area of rolling resistence according to a recent issue of Jan Heine's Bicycle Quarterly, I have had good experience with Rivendell's tires in the past and am happy to start with them. I also have a pair of Grand Bois Cypres sitting around. I will likely buy some Grand Bois Ourson and Hetre tires the next time I visit Japan for business. So here is the minor update:
Still need: - Shimano XT 11-30 8-speed cassette or comparable - cables, housings and ferrules - rims, silver, 650b; Velocity Synergy 650b or Grand Bois rims, 36h - 72 spokes - tubes 650b - Rim Tapes - Hanjo smooth fender - Handlebar tape
Already Have: Components - Shimano Ultegra 6500 rear derailleur; long cage - Shimano 105 9-speed front derailleur; triple; 28.6 clamp diameter - Sugino XD600 crankset 46/36/26 170 crank arm length - Shimano Ultegra seatpost 27.2 - Selle Anatomica Saddle; clydesdale - Tektro R200A brake levers; black/silver - Grenouille cantilever brakes from VO - Nitto Randonneur handlebars; 44cm - Nitto Pearl quill stem; 10 cm reach - Crank Brothers Quattro road pedals - SRAM 890 8-speed chain - Shimano FR-6600 Ultegra 10-speed rear hub; 36h - Suntour XC-Comp front hub, 36h - Riv Silver friction downtube shifters - Phil Wood stainless steel bottom bracket 68x108mm JIS - Stronglight A9 1" threaded headset, British thread; black with "paramount" inscribed - tires; Rivendell Nifty Swifty 650b (2)
I hunted down a couple more parts for the Ebisu. Microsoft is teaming up with eBay to give incentive for people to search for products to shop on the company's live.com search engine. This page talks about how the cash-back program works. At some point Microsoft was handing out 30% cash-back. When I bought the two items for my ebisu the cash-back was 25%--still very good. First is a Phil Wood bottom bracket, english threaded (68 x 108mm). The spindle length is on the low end for the XD-600 crankset, but it should work. It comes with british rings and installation tool. The buy-it-now price was $90, which means I got $22.50 of cash back.
The second item is the Stronglight A9 headset that Jan at Bicycle Quarterly and Chris at Velo Orange keep praising. I bought this from Boulder Bicycle (which also sells Rene Herse constructer bicycles) through eBay. With the cash-back I got, I paid $45 including shipping. The only small complain I have is that this headset is black. I might still jump on a silver one if I come across it. This one also have "paramount" inscribed on it. The size convention on the headset can be confusing. But basically, for most quality bikes, the diameter of the crown race is 26.4mm and this is called ISO size for 1" threaded headset. JIS size still exists, but is rarer. It's confusing for me because I am used to looking for JIS spindle for non-campy square-tapered cranksets (Campy uses ISO spindle). Sheldon Brown's headset crib sheet is a great reference.
The hunt continues for the few remaining part, the most notable being the rims. Here is an updated list, reflecting these changes:
Still need: - Shimano XT 11-30 8-speed cassette or comparable - cables, housings and ferrules - rims, silver, 650b; Velocity Synergy 650b or Grand Bois rims, 36h - 72 spokes - tires; 650b (grand bois ourson rivendell maxy fasty or panaracer CdlV) - tubes 650b - Rim Tapes - Hanjo smooth fender - Handlebar tape
The San Francisco Bay Area is really a wonderful place for cyclists. M. and I are in off-season mode; though we have aspiration to stay in excellent shape so we can participate in the upcoming 2009 brevet season, we haven't been able to get a ride longer than 60 miles within the last month. In an attempt to at least keep our climbing legs alive, we frequent what are referred to locally as the "Berkeley Death Hills". The term is probably coined by Tom Holub on his bicycle-related website where he has detailed descriptions of many nice rides in the Bay Area. The name "Berkeley Hills Death Ride" is probably a tribute to the more famous Tour of the California Alps (AKA the Death Ride) in Markleeville, California. Although there is no organized or supported ride on the course described by Tom Holub, one of the local cycling club--Grizzly Peak Cyclists--occasionally have the ride on its ride calendar, and I have encountered out-of-town passhunters riding the course as a challenge.
M. and I have done 4 of the 5 hills Holub outlined, with Marin Ave still to be attempted. We often ride Centennial Blvd in the morning as a short but hard workout before heading to work. We have also done South Park, Claremont, and Lomas Contadas for exercise and great view a few times. On this weekend, we did 3 of them, although on two days.
On saturday, we got on our bikes (my Rivendell Romulus and her Serotta CRT 650b) and rode through Tilden Park and descended on Wildcat Canyon Road to San Pablo Dam road in El Sobrante. We rode on the newly-paved and painted wide bike lane to El Toyonal, and we begin to head up. This ascent is steep at several places, and doesn't really let up except for one short stretch of descent. The good thing is that the streets are quiet and mostly without fast-moving vehicles and is generally shaded. We worked our way through 1.5 miles of moderately difficult climbing, only to get to the foot of the last pitch--Las Piedras and Lomas Contadas. M., being the better climber of the two, took off ahead of me, though she is also struggling to continue her upward journey without resorting to her granny gear. Today, my 36/28 gearing wasn't low enough for me so I went down to the granny chain-ring and use 28/24 for the way up the monster. The cool weather, light traffic, good vista helped some, though the climb was still difficult. It took me 15 minutes to go from where Lomas Contadas start to steam train at the summit. All for the name of a good workout. Here is the bikely route map for this ride. According to bikely, it was a 20-mile, 3700-ft ride. If you want compact, hilly training, this is an excellent candidate. My Romulus performed well, it felt responsive and not erratic, which was especially important for low-speed climbing. I noticed that when I am off my saddle for extended period of time, I sometimes knock my knees on the bar-end shifters. Should I go to downtube for my incoming Ebisu?
On sunday, after cleaning the house, we decided to get out for another heart-pumping workout. We rode through the Cal Berkeley campus to the football stadium, then turned left on Centennial blvd heading up. Centennial is a pleasant enough road, with good pavement and nice vista. However, because it's the shortest way from downtown Berkeley to the top of the hills, on a nice day many cars travel up on it. Centennial is one we are most familiar with, though the familiarity only lessen its difficulty slightly. M. thinks it's the most difficult of the 4 death hills we ride. There is a turn on the road after one passes the gate for Lawrence Berkeley Lab that is an absolute killer. There is a steep climb leading to the turn, and as you turn, it only gets steeper. Centennial really gets your heart pumping. I didn't need to go down to the granny today on my Romulus. We got to Lawrence Hall of Science and took a moment to watch the sunset. These hilly rides are not only challenging workouts, but also offer incredible views at the top and exhilirating descent. After a moment's rest, we continued climbing up toward Grizzly Peak. At the intersection of Grizzly Peak, we dove into Tilden on Golf Course Dr. At the bottom of Shasta off Golf Course, we turned right on Wildcat Canyon road across from the Brazil House. Shortly after, South Park is on our right. During winter months, the road is closed to motorists and is great for cyclists and pedestrians with or without their dogs. The pavement is great and the road is pretty shaded. We worked hard going up, though I felt stronger than on Centennial and the day before. My romulus reacts to my pedal stroke well and kept a straight line easily when i want to. I zig-zag a few times to rest along the way, and got dropped again by M. half way up. I felt pretty good when I crest Grizzly Peak.
After watching numerous motorcyclists going by at speed far exceeding the limit, we decided to go back down South Park instead of descending via our usual route on Grizzly Peak. It turned out to be not that much better, as many pedestrians and dogs walk all over the road without fearing that a car will come through. I hit an object on the road which led my rear wheel to go out of true, though not serious enough to affect my ability to ride home.
We got home just before sunset. According to bikely, this (bikely route) was a 13 mile ride with 2910 ft of climbing. I have to say that I did feel stronger on the second hill today. M. and I agreed that we should attempt Marin in the near future.
As day gets shorter, it's hard to get in a ride longer than 20 miles before or after work without using light on a significant portion of it. I want to stay in shape to ride the upcoming brevet season as much as possible, so I decide to establish a short ride for a workout during the week. To make up for the relative short distance (7+ miles one-way up the hill, and then same distance coming down), I use my fixed on-one il pompino for the workout. The average grade of this ride is around 4%, with several short steeper pitches between 6%-10%.
(Here is a link to bikely route map of this workout)
The ride starts in my house in downtown Berkeley. The first 1.5 miles is a pleasant flat portion through Berkeley and North Berkeley. I enjoy this portion very much as it's mostly on a Berkeley bike boulevard and one sees many cyclists of all types going in each direction at this time of the day.
I take a right turn on Vine Street through Gourmet Ghetto up to Spruce, then take a left turn and begin the climb up Berkeley Hills. Spruce is a fairly busy street, as it's one of the wider street going up the hill. Like many streets in the Hills, it has many vista of the bay along the way. The grade is not that bad, and it winds gently through neighborhoods of nice houses up the hill. After a re-surfacing project a couple of years ago, this has become quite pleasant to ride on. My 40x17 gearing is quite adequate on this stretch, as I switch intermittently between seated and off-the-saddle position. Many cyclists go up this way, not just to the top, but also to wildcat canyon road into Tilden and beyond. I don't tend to wear cycling garb on my workout, and usually opt for regular exercise clothing. Sometimes when I pass folks who are on their racing kit and carbon-bike combo, they get surprised and pedal hard so they wouldn't get passed by an apparent amateur on a strangely looking fixed gear.
At the top of Spurce, I make a right on Grizzly Peak and continue the upward wind. Grizzly Peak is also a very pleasant road that has frequent view of the bay. The grade here is even gentler than on Spruce. A couple of miles past the turn from Spruce, there is a downhill portion before heading backup again. I tend to watch to make sure there are no cars beford plunging down hill. I pull my knee close to the top tube, tuck myself as low as possible, and then spin as fast as I can. On this portion I can get as fast as 35mph, which means I am spinning at 180+ rpm. I use the downhill to generate enough momentum to carry me as far up on the ensuing stretch as possible. This stretch is steeper than before (probably around 6-7%) and leads to Lawrence Berkeley Lab.
The stretch past Lawrence Berkeley Lab doesn't have private houses on the sides of the road, just trees and occasional animals. It's very pleasant in all seasons because of the shade. The grade is probably around 5% to 9%, but the steeper parts are very short. After 1+ mile, one eventually get out to an open stretch where one can get a stunning view of the bay. Many folks, not just on bike, gather up there on a good day to watch the sunset.
On this day I took some pictures before heading downhill. I try to get down hill before it gets dark because Grizzly Peak has some bad pot holes. I turned on my light and put on my hi-vis vest before heading down. As I spin my way down the hill, I remarked how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful place!
After working an all-nighter last week and finishing it before the deadline, I decided to visit Rivendell headquarters to pick up a few things. I got some fenders, a stove and a bowl, a reflective triangle for commuting, a small tub of sunscreens, and the silver downtube shifters. Of all these parts, only the shifter is specifically for the Ebisu.
I went to Jitensha again on saturday (10/18) to discuss with Iimura-san about the wheel size of my Ebisu. The saturday before we decided to have standard tubing (besides the downtube) on the bike and I chose the color. This saturday we spoke briefly and decided to go with 650b wheel size. Hiroshi responded to my email question from earlier in the week: the Ebisu will be able to fit 650x42b tires (I am thinking Grand Bois Hetres) but the fender-line might not be correct. I also received a response from the owner of a nice Ebisu All-Purpose who posted pictures of his bike on flickr sporting the said Hetre tires. Basically, they will fit, but I have to get wide enough fenders.
I received some advices on choice of wheel size and tubing from Jan Heine of Bicycle Quarterly that were very helpful. I also began my subcription of the magazine and received 3 back-issues yesterday. They were such fun read!
I will use 650x35b tires to start (probably the Grand Bois Oursons, if I am heading to Japan again soon, or Panaracer Col de la Vie in the meanwhile) and will also try 650x32b and 650x42b tires when I get a chance.
Here is an updated list, reflecting these changes:
Components - Shimano Ultegra 6500 rear derailleur; long cage - Shimano 105 9-speed front derailleur; triple; 28.6 clamp diameter - Sugino XD600 crankset 46/36/26 170 crank arm length - Shimano Ultegra seatpost 27.2 - Selle Anatomica Saddle; clydesdale - Tektro R200A brake levers; black/silver - Grenouille cantilever brakes from VO - Nitto Randonneur handlebars; 44cm - Nitto Pearl quill stem; 10 cm reach - Crank Brothers Quattro road pedals - SRAM 890 8-speed chain - Shimano FR-6600 Ultegra 10-speed rear hub; 36h - Suntour XC-9000 front hub, 36h
Accessories: - Jitensha mini-front rack for Ebisu All Purpose - Inujirushi handlebar bag; medium
Still need: - Shimano XT 11-30 8-speed cassette or comparable - Riv Silver friction downtube shifters - cables, housings and ferrules - Front and rear rim; silver or pewter; 650b or 700c - 72 spokes - tires; 650b (grand bois ourson rivendell maxy fasty or panaracer CdlV) or 700c (Rivendell Jack Brown Blue or Panaracer Pasela Tourguard 32mm or Grand Bois Cypres) - tubes; 700c or 650b - Rim Tapes - Hanjo smooth fender - Handlebar tape
Yesterday I went to Jitensha Studio and put down a deposit for an Ebisu All Purpose frameset. Hiroshi was there, so were many people; it was Hiroshi's first day back from Japan after a month and everyone was there buying something or asking questions. We chatted a bit. He had a frame diagram where he put in numbers for the dimension of the frame. I mounted a 58cm All Purpose (in fact the one he submitted to Bicycle Quarterly for review) and it was a little too big. I decided to go with a custom geometry of 57cm seat tube and 56cm top tube. I will also pick a custom color. Essentially I am getting a custom bike since the All Purpose, well, fits my purpose pretty well. Since there were so many folks there, Hiroshi said he will fax the order to the builder to reserve a spot, but I can go back in within a month to nail down more details. I still have to decide if I want to go with 650b wheels. But I am excited to get a bike frame that is essentially built for me. I have began to collect parts for the build and selling off parts I don't need to help fund the purchase. I even created a spreadsheet on Google Docs to track the progress of my collection and cost.
For an essentially custom bike the price is really very reasonable. Heck, I could pay more for a prdouction that has not even 1/10 of the attention put into this Ebisu. I will keep a log of progress and parts list to let folks know where I am in the project. More to come!
M. has been unsatisfied with her Trek 620; we bought the frameset and then built it up to be her loaded touring/brevet bike since her main bike, the Torelli Corsa Strada cannot take fenders and racks. The Trek 620 turned out, not surprisingly, to really behave more like a stiff, chunky, loaded tourer (duh, Trek designed it to be one) than M. would like in a brevet bike. So the search was on for a brevet bike that's nimble, fast and can take some load (M. is light, so she could even probably use it as a touring bike). Added to the difficulty is the fact that we just bought a property and don't have the same liberty to splurge on bikes as we did 4 months ago. I was off to eBay, Craiglist, and various mail list to hunt for a frame.
We considered buying new or used Rivendell Bleriot, Soma Smoothie ES, and Kogswell P. I know these are all great bikes and I might eventually jump on a used Bleriot or new AHH/Saluki later, but M. wants to ride the bike before buying it. Even though Rivendell has undoubtedly several Bleriot in stock, we were not planning on spending $1900 for a new, built-up bike or $750 for a new frameset; and we wouldn't want to waste Riv's time unless we plan on buying the bike there. I asked around to see if someone has a bike around here to test ride to no avail.
One day I was on a ride with my friend Steve who just acquired a Serotta Concours Ti from Serotta's online classified. It was a stunning looking bike and very light. M. tried it around the block and was impressed with the ride quality and the looks. Later, I found a Serotta CRT on the local Craigslist. Coincidentally, a local iBOB lister wants the record 8-speed group on the bike, so he picked it up. After stripping the parts, I picked up the frameset with Chris King 1" headset with a go-ahead from M.
This build is not without difficulty; even though the CRT--Colorado Rapid Tour--has tour in its name, and it has braze-on's for fenders and rear rack, the tire clearance is pittance compared to what I am used to and generally look for in a bike. With 700c wheels, the front has brake reach of 50mm and the rear has 45mm brake reach. There is no way I can fit true 28mm tires in with fenders on. Since this was supposed to be M.'s brevet bike, versatitilty in terms of fenders and racks are required. I thought long and hard about it and decided to proceed with 650b conversion.
The only tricky part is the BB drop; on the CRT, the BB drop is 80mm, definitely outside of the 72mm-75mm maximum drop that Grant Peterson and Ed Braley recommend. The frame, with 25mm tires on 700c wheels had a BB height of 260mm; if I use 650b wheels with 32mm tires on, the BB height will end up to be between 245mm and 250mm, maybe a little low for comfort.
I sent a question around the iBOB list soliciting wisdom from folks on BB height in combination with crankarm length to see in practical experience would pedal strike be a problem with this consideration. Several members told me that they use 170mm or even 175mm cranks on bikes with 250 or 255mm BB height and almost never have problem. Since the cranksets I have for this bike is Sugino XD2 165mm, I decided that the conversion might be worth a try. The potential for pedal strike has also lots to do with riding style through turns; since M. rides pretty cautiously, especially on downhill descend, I think the conversion might work.
I gathered the parts needed; I have most of the parts lying around. I have to grab the 34.9mm record triple front derailleur because serotta has a seattube with increasing diameter toward the BB. I bought some Grand Bois Cypres 32mm tires from I's Bicycle when I was doing business in Japan, and asked Hiroshi at Jitensha Studio in Berkeley to build me a rear wheel with an NOS ultegra 9-speed hub and a velocity synnergy 32h rim. I built the front wheel myself with an older White Industries road front hub and matching rim. The tektro R556 brakesets took a little longer to arrive so I built up the rest of it first, then finishing it up this past weekend by installing the brakes and doing all the cabling and adjustments.
The result is a pretty-looking bike (more photos here) that rides fairly nicely, and has oodle of tire clearance. M.'s first impression is that it rides similar to her Torelli--responsive, fast, and nimble--even though the bike has 650bx32mm tires on and a pretty stiff BB shell section (thick tubing diameter close to the BB). She will get a better sense on a longer ride.
I am not sure how the pedal strike concern will play out. I tried my best--use 165mm crankset and 107mm spindle BB--to squeeze out as much pedal-striking clearance as I can, and hope that M.'s not-so-aggressive riding style will keep the bike out of trouble. The next step is for me to borrow my friend's Col de la Vie (which measure close to 35 or 36mm) to see if they fit in the rear dropout. If they do, I might get some Grand Bois Oursons to push the BB a little higher.
Here is the build list:
- late 90's Serotta CRT 56cm (56 ST CTT, 56 TT CTC) frame and fork - Christ King Gripnut 1" threaded headset - Nitto Technomic Deluxe 9cm stem - Ritchey handlebar 42mm wide withTan SOMA bar tape (that might change to a dark red) - Tektro R100 brake levers for smaller hands - Shimao Ultegra seatpost 27.2mm - Terry Libertor Sport saddle - Tektro R556 extra long-reach (55-73mm) brakeset - Shimano 8-speed bar-end shifters - Shimano XT rear derailleur - Campagnolo Race Triple front derailleur 34.9mm clamp - Sugino XD2 old logo triple crankset 48/36/26; 165mm - SRAM 850 8-speed chain with powerlink - Shimano HG70 11-30 8-speed cassette - IRD 68x107mm bottom bracket, square taper - Shimano SPD pedals - Shimano Ultegra 6500 9-speed hub 32h - White Industries H2 front hub 32h - Velocity Synergy 650b rims - Grand Bois Cypres 650bx32mm tires
It is still missing:
- water bottle cages - front rack and bag - fenders when winter comes
The weather was so nice on saturday and my girlfriend and I haven't gone out for a longish ride for a couple of weeks, so after picking up some usual produces at the farmers market we set out for a longish (60 miles) hilly ride near Berkeley. I took the Romulus and she took her Torelli. In order to store all our energy bars and other incidentals such as sunscreen, camera, electrolyte tablets,etc. I put my Baggin's Little Joe on the Rom. It's the first longish ride I did on my Romulus after I built it up on Christmas Eve (I didn't have fenders on it and we have had some much-needed rainy days here in N. California).
We started in our house in downtown Berkeley, rode up the Berkeley Hills on Spruce and when we get to Grizzly Peak, took Wildcat Canyon through Tilden. After descending to Sam Pablo Dam road, we went up the Pump House Grade (the backside of Papa Bear). We attempted the nicely shaded and twisty Happy Valley Road for the first time and both liked it. It's steeper than pump house, but not as bad as some of berkeley's "death hills" (Centennial, South Park, Claremount, and Lomas Contadas, just to name a few), and it's really beautiful for various type of tall trees around. We turned around at the top and retraced our steps back to Bear Creek Road. I thought about descending on the other side of happy valley to Lafayette, but since I don't know the roads around there so well we decided that it's best to trace back. After refilling our water bottles at the Briones Park continued toward Alhambra Valley Road.
We climbed Pig Farm hill and then went through Lafayette to Reliez Valley Road. After the climb at Reliez Valley road, we rode the Lafayetter-Moraga trail back to Moraga. At this point and 5 major hills later, both of us felt a little tired especially since we haven't ridden this type of distance for a few weeks. The last climb awaited us was pinehurst, and while it is not easy, it is one of our favorite climbs anywhere. We pedaled and chatted on the narrow road leading up to the hairpin turns on topic of when a cyclist can legally take the lane, and what we should do when my parents arrive to visit later that day. The climb was pretty ok, after the second hairpin turn, we muscled up the steeper sections and got back to Oakland. Descending Tunnel Road is fairly pleasant at this hour as the sun began to set and the temperature wasn't as low as we expected.
The romulus did fabulously. My old 59cm rode well, but this 57cm version fits me like a glove. It is comfortable and still very responsive when i want to accelerate. Climbing on it is very pleasant. i am very happy with the component set as well. The Rich-built Riv stock wheels (Velocity synergy on XT hubs) are very nice. Overall, I am very happy with the bike. Now that spring is here, I expect to take it out for longer rides more often.
Over the weekend I traded my chrome italian fixie (sold on the local craigslist) for a used il Pompino (bought from my friend steve). The picture above is taken on the first hilly ride after the build. I will elaborate on the whole story a little later. For now, here is the build list:
- on-one il-pompino frameset; on-one designed tubing, wish-bone seat-stays, 135mm drop-out, semi-compact geometry; 54cm seat-tube (though it fits like a 56 or 57cm); high bottom bracket shell. My friend Steve bought it used, and actually had bernie Mikkelsen brazed on some bits for him (derailleur hanger, downtube cable stops) and rode it as his trail-bike/commuter for a while. He has a soma doublecross now and decided to sell it for a good price. I won't bother taking the braze-ons off - Aheadset 1 1/8" - Bontrager 17 degree threadless stem; 130mm reach - Soma Sparrow handlebar, the longer version - Shimano UN-54 bottom bracket 68-107mm - Shimano deore right crank arm, sugino left crank arm; 170mm, 110bcd. 40T/34T chainrings - SR platform pedals - Surly Dingle 2-gear cog 17T/20T - 22T freewheel on the flop - KMC 9-speed chain with powerlink - Surly Fixed/Free flip-flop hub. 135mm, 32h; Alex Adventurer rim, black with silver braking surface - Phil Wood front hub laced to Mavic MA40 rim, 36h - Rivendell Ruffy Tuffy front tire, Continental Ultra Gatorskin rear tire 700x28mm - Generic seatpost from velosport in berkeley; 27.2mm - old specialized touring saddle - Velo Orange aluminum fenders; 45mm width - Shimano LX front cantilever brakes (no rear brake yet, but will add that soon) - Performance forte mountain brake lever - Nitto Mark's Rack - Wald large basket - Pink flower bell (my girlfriend has the same one on her fixed gear)
I started to become more interested in doing various type of bike touring last spring. The only time i'd really do any type of traveling with my bike was the summer of 2005 when I was hanging out in the St Juan Islands in Washington State before starting my current job. I actually wanted to go to Vancouver, but since the immigration paper for my new job hasn't come through, I told my friend to leave me at a hotel in Anacortes so I can hang out on the islands. I had my fixed gear bike with me, and did some island-hopping (with the great ferry system) for 4-5 days and it was fabulous. Granted I didn't carry any significant load with me during that time, I enjoyed the experience of traveling on my bike.
I wanted to do a bike trip (haven't decided whether it's inn-to-inn or fully loaded) sometime soon, but I didn't have a suitable bike for it. my romulus could probably work, but since I already weigh more than 190lbs, i wasn't sure if I should add a full-load to the bike. So I sold my other road bike (90's specialized Epic Carbon) and looked around for a good used touring frame. I found a 84' specialized expedition deluxe on the local CL. After reading more about it and found that many people have high regards for the frame, I pulled the trigger and got the bike. It came with many parts, but for my purpose and preferences, the only part that ended working for me was the Sugino AT crankset and the 26.8mm seatpost. I began to gather parts for it and thought about wheel options. Here is the build list I arrived at, and pretty much still the same after almost one year:
- Specialized Expedition Deluxe frameset with special touring series tubes. These frames are built by Miyata with Miyata's own tube sets, and are very close to the Miyata 1000. - Shimano 105 1" threaded headset - Nitto Technomic Deluxe Stem. 12cm reach, 26.0mm clamp - Nitto Randonneur handlebar which I got from Jitensha Studio here in berkeley. 26.0mm clamp, 45cm width - White and Blue cloth bar tape - Shimano UN-54 bottom bracket. English threaded, 127mm spindle length - Sugino AT triple cranksets. 46/36/28. 175mm crank arms - Crank Brothers Smarty Off-road pedals (although currently I am considering going back to platform pedals) - Shimano 105 downtube shifting levers (8-speed) fitted to Diatech bar-end pods, making the combination 8-speed bar-end shifters (more on that later) - Shimano XTR 960 series low-normal (reverse) rear derailleur (more on that later, too) - Shimano XT low-pull (traditional) front derailleur, 28.6 clamp diameter - SRAM 8-speed cassette. 12-30T - SRAM 7-speed chain with powerlink - Original 26.8mm seatpost - Brooks black saddle (more on that later) - Shimano LX canti-lever brakes with Kool Stop eagle claw pads - Tektro R200 brake levers with quick release - Mavic MA40 laced to Mavic front hub. 700c. 36h - Salsa Delgado Cross Rim laced to Shimano LX hub. 700c. 36h (more on this later) - Schwalbe Marathon tires; 700c x 28mm - Nitto M12 cantilever-boss-mounted front rack - Tubus Cargo rear rack (not mounted right now) - Ostrich Boxy Handlebar bag - Busch & Muller Ixon IQ LED headlight
Building this older frameset with modern components that I wanted or had was not without trouble:
- I couldn't find flat shifter boss covers (the piece that fits in between the shifter pod and the shifter lever) so I ground two oval-shaped ones flat - I didn't realzed that XTR reverse rear derailleurs don't come with barrel adjusters, so I made one from old brake barrel adjusters. It works. - The frame has to be re-spaced to 130mm, and then the LX hub has to be re-spaced to 130mm also (from 135mm).
So far I haven't done touring yet, but put about 2000 miles in the 10 months I have had the bike. Most of the miles came from training and riding the 2007 STP (seattle-to-portland) but since I have had fenders on it, the bike has also become my rainy day bike over the romulus. It rides really well, supple, compliant, yet not mushy at all. I was really impressed with the ride quality when I finished building it and took it out for a spin for the first time. Hopefully I can make good use of it as a tourer and randoneering bike.
I convinced Megan in November that she needs a touring bike. It seems odd to her because she already had one--late 80's Cannondale ST600. It was my first gift to her when we first began to see each other and she is somewhat attached to it. I bought the bike on Craigslist fairly inexpensively, and thought it would be a good first bike for her to try it out before committing to nicer bikes (which she did when we got her the Torelli road bike later that year). The Cannondale came with both front and rear racks and two sets of panniers. Even though it was still in good conditions, I have reservations whether it can withstand the rigor of a tour, or even a long bike ride. After some persuasion, Megan decided to pull the trigger and buy a touring frame.
I got a 1984 Trek 620 frameset and built it up a couple of weeks ago to be Megan's touring/long-distance/winter bike--she is fond of old Treks (I will write another entry about how I built up the trek later, but this one is for the Cannondale). Megan and I decided to transfer whatever parts possible from the Cannondale to the trek and then convert the Cannondale to a fixed gear. I have been harping on the benefit of fixed gears--that it can help increase leg strength and smoothing out one's strokes--and Megan enjoyed the ride when she borrowed mine. The bike still had almost everything except for the fixed gear rear wheel. I decided that this will be my first wheel-building project.
I ordered the Surly fixed/free hub (130mm), Sun Rims CR-18 (32h) and a wheel set of double-butted spokes and brass nipples. I sat in my bike garage last saturday evening, followed the direction in Jobst Brandt's book on bicycle wheels and built my first wheel. I took it over to Missing Link for the wheelbuilder there to make sure it was ok, and it was. So I am off to finish the conversion.
The Cannondale presents an interesting challenge for fixed gear conversion--it has near vertical drop-out. I bought a half-link from Missing Link and hoped that with the combination of cog, chainring and the half link I can make it work. After fiddling around with a couple of chainrings I found the winning combination--39/18. after the wheel went on, I retaped the handlebar, adjusted the brakes and Megan now has a very light fixed gear to go along with her Torelli road bike and Trek touring bike.
We went out on a night ride in the Berkeley Hills a couple of days ago after we received our bright headlights in the mail. I ordered a couple of Busch & Muller Ixon IQ from Peter White Cycles. They are very bright and the whole device is well-designed, if you are looking for headlight for bikes that allows you to see the road, I highly recommend these. They are not too expensive, either. We rode up Spruce (a somewhat gentle approach to the Berkeley Hills) to the intersection with Grizzly Peak, then rode down Euclid. We returned to Spruce on Eunice and climb up again on our fixed gear. It was a wonderful experience overlooking the San Francisco Bay at night. Megan enjoyed her fixed gear, and liked how she can modulate speed with her legs. She also enjoyed the quietude of riding at night.
Here is a build list for the conversion: - late 80's Cannondale ST600 frameset. I think it's 53cm - Modolo Handlebar, pretty narrow - no name black quill stem - Dia Compe aero brake levers - Shimano LX front cantilever brakes and Dia Compe 987 rear cantilever brakes - Generic seatpost - Terry Liberator Sports saddle - Mavic Open CD laced to shimano 600 front hub, 32h - Sun Rims CR-18 laced to Surly new Fixed/Free hub 130mm spacing, 32h - Zefal clip-on plastic fenders - Shimano 600 crankset 39T, 170mm crank arm length - Soma 18T fixed cog, shimano 18T freewheel on the flop - 3/32 8-speed chain - Rear rack - Shimano RX-100 pedals - Panaracer Pasela 700cx25mm tire on the rear wheel - Continental ultra sport 700cx25mm tire on the front wheel.
