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I have used a ton of different cages over the years at all price points.  for years now there is only one cage that we prefer, use and now sell.

Andrews King cages are made in Colorado from tubular 304 stainless.  They do everything a cage is supposed to do: hold your bottles, not let go unless you are pulling it out the top, easy to get the bottle back in etc.  They do two different shapes, the standard King cage and the Iris.  The standard King cage is based on traditional designs and just works better than anything else we have tried when using standard bidons (water bottles).  The stainless steel will not markup the bottle either.

The Iris is unique in the bottle cage world.  formed from the same 304 stainless it has all the basic properties of the standard.  The shape holds as tightly too, but there is no inwardly bent upper tab.  The in turn works much better, and rattle free, with many of the metal bottles like the Klean Canteen.  his one will scuff up the metal bottles a bit, but IMO is a fair price to pay for not rattling

We love and use then both on our Rambler builds.  As an introductory bonus for adding them to our lineup of offerings you can use coupon code OCEANKING to shave $2 off each cage until current stock runs out or tomorrow night, whichever comes first.

 

Getting the stuff you buy online is part of the experience.  It has become part of the reality most of us encounter.  At the low-end of the spectrum you have the small item from amazon bouncing loosely in a box ten times its own size that lands on your doorstep half crushed.  As regular American I get my own fair share of stuff shipped to the door, as well as most of the product we re-sell.  I see a fair bit of the good, the bad and the ugly.  We strive to be as far as possible to the good side when we send things out.

There are a few things I consider paramount.  When you choose your packaging it should serve its minimum purpose of protecting the end product for a secure delivery.  After that it needs to enhance the general experience.  This can be done by imparting useful information, creating an unwrapping experience that brings back good memories, feels like getting a gift, all of it is able to be reused or recycled, or leaves you with useful materials beyond the intended purchase etc.

Here is the latest in our evolving practice to deliver a favorable experience when you receive your stuff that we shipped you.   On the receiving end we get a ton of different packing material.  The bottom end of the spectrum are the foam peanuts, but our favorite is the brown craft paper.

We end up with mountains of the stuff at times.  It all gets flattened back out, and staged for reuse.  Not all is created equal, certain types are better at different things, but almost every square inch of it sees a second chance at passing through the shipping channels.

The lighter weight pieces are used for wrapping, the rest ends up as packing material to hold the item securely in the box.

In the past we tied the wrapping closed with the scrap fabric from our double weave kerchief production.  Lately we have become enamoured with the colored hemp twine from Newbaums.  You probably already know we have a thing for color, and traditional bar tape with twined ends.  This twine opens up a whole new range of options to add some more color to your builds.  Starting in the last week, packages have been going out with the thank you notes attached with a length long enough to do a trial wrap somewhere on your build.  Sometimes I pick a color that I know is either your favorite, and or could complement your Rambler well (yes I actually think about this stuff while wrapping things up).  They have a wide variety of options that match or complement just about every color of the Newbaums cloth bar tape.  The rolls from Merry Sales are huge, way bigger then the average person will need.  In the near future we will be adding it to the storefront in 10 ft lengths.

I think about this sort of stuff, probably way too much.  Every little bit helps, it keeps it fun for you and us.  Sometimes I envision the paper being used over and over, stamped by each brand or user, and ending up like that well traveled passport.  This one is just getting ready to start the next leg of its journey.

Reduce – Reuse – Recycle!

I have been a long time stalker of Topo Designs bags.  They do really good stuff, simple, yet feature filled and made in Colorado.  About a week ago I pulled the trigger on a couple of their Dopp Kits and a Mountain Hip Pack.

Both happen to have a really fantastic synergy with the Docena handlebar bags.  The dimensions work out to be near perfect modules for organizing or escape pods.  The dopp kits are a bit over 11″ wide. about 5 inches tall and triangular in cross section.  This slots them perfectly into the upper or lower compartments.  One is great for helping keep things organized, as a dopp kit for toiletries, camp kitchen supplies.  If one were really on an OCD tear you can get two easily into a Docena section, possibly 3 if they were not overstuffed.

The Mountain hip bag completely fills either the upper or lower Docena compartment.  Why carry a bag in a bag?  if you are headed out to the mountains, either all day or overnight for a bit of biking and hiking it is a great way to get you day hiking stuff to the trail head without having to ride with it on your body and then carry the docena on the hike.  At a bit over 400 cubic inches in volume, with multiple external lashing points, it is the perfect companion for day hikes, walks dow to the stream for a quick fish haul a compact camera system and your lunch etc.

 I am looking forward to working all of these into my daily carry routines.  great bags help make transport fun and the lads easier to manage.  Thanks to everybody at Topo for making great bags and all sorts of other stuff.  I can see some of their Accessory Bags in my future, also coincidentally sized to drop right into the Docena

The summer has been pretty good to us, and it was time to take some of that cash flow and use it to add another demo Rambler to out fleet.  Until now we had the 51 and 63.  Everything in between for test rides, expos etc. depended on the help of friends and customers.  I pulled a 59 US Blue from inventory and built it up in a pretty non-standard Rambler way, just to show how versatile the frame set can be.

The drive train is the White Industries Double/Double, The front rings are a 38/35 machined from a single plate and a 16/19 freewheel in back.  This gives me a great high gear for around town and moderate hills, and a more moderate low for when I hit the dirt roads.  The rear ENO hub has an eccentric axle to manage chain tension.  Switching between high and low is done manually.  There is also a fixed cog on the other side should I ever choose to go that route, options.  Up front there is a SON 28 dyno powering B&M head and tail lights.  Silver Vice pedals, King Sotto Voce headset, Nitto Albatross bars wrapped in Newbaums Cotton, Selle Anatomica NSX saddle and plenty of Paul Comp details.  The Docena bag fits the gap between bars and rack on the front like a glove.  The tires are the new Soma Cazadero 700×43 knobby, and I am liking them a ton.  So far I have about 40 miles on the build and am beyond happy to have it as a second Rambler in the fleet that I can ride.  I will have a more detailed photo series in a week or two once I have everything dialed in, already swapped the bars and saddle, there may be a few more adjustments, but things are close.

The shakedown ride after the above mentioned bar and saddle swap was a roaring success and the shellac is drying on the bar tape as I type.

With the first batch of Docena bags landing at their new owner’s this week, I wanted to share a bit about the hardware hack I have been rolling with for over a year now.  I opted to engineer a rock solid quick release system around commonly available pannier hooks.  They are cheaper, lighter, faster on/off and familiar to most cyclists outside of the french rando historical reenactment scene.  Likewise, I hacked a Nitto Lamp holder two with an old MTB handlebar and 10mm cabinet pull to male the handlebar side of the mount.  I wholly believe convenience and safety are key tenants as part of my quest to bring front loading bikes to the mainstream, getting there with familiar hardware can only help.  Here is a pic of the end hard mounted to the handlebars.

The next step is prepping your pannier hardware of choice.  I went with Ortlieb because the locking mechanism is simple and strong.  The mounting rail adds a bit of welcome rigidity to the bag, and there is little weight penalty with the molded plastic structure.  I mount the bare hooks on the 10mm “decaleur” rail to get them centered.

Put the bag on the rack and make sure the height of the mounting rail works out with the space between Docena rear pockets and the top flap.

This is a place where the adjustability of the Nitto mount hack really shines.  there are miltiple degrees of freedom in moving the mounting rail forward, back up and down by simply rotating around the two clamping axis.  With two rotating axis you end up wiht a reasonable amount of adjustment.  In the last few months the Nitto Lamp holder 2 has also shown up on our shores in a variety of mounting bracket lengths.  Once happy with how it all lines up, mark you horizontal line on the bag at the bottom of your bracket

Taking the bag over to the work bench, use a ruler to locate and align the center of the rail to the center of your bag.  This is the start of where you will want to be as careful as possible.  Measure twice  and be certain of every step.

From there I set the rail into position, and mark the mounting holes.

I use a hot soldering iron to make the holes and sear the material from fraying in a single pass.  I have also seen this done with a hot nail.  Use some common sense, do not burn your fingers being careless about the process.  This is best done with the stiffener fully inserted in the final position.  You will want the holes to pass all the way through and fully engage the bag and coroplast stiffener.

My picture of the mounting hardware turned out terrible.  I will insert one from the next bag I set up.  It really is the most straight forward step, just nuts and bolts.  That is it.  From there the nylon strap goes over the tombstone on your lower rack, and the pannier hooks grab your hacked decaleur just like the panniers most of us are familiar with.  If I know I will be leaving the bag on, or riding for long periods off pavement, I take the time run the bottom velcro straps through the rack.  Honestly though, I do not use them for most of my day to day riding.

Based of feedback from other riders using Swift bags the Berthoud decaleur for threadless stems is also a good solution.  There are a variety of off the shelf solutions that will get you where you want to go.  My hack above works better than most IMO, shaves a bit of $$ and feeds your inner maker monkey.  At some point we will offer a packaged solution, but there are a few other projects ahead of it in line.