Wednesday Coffee

I managed to dodge the first real winter rain of the season this morning.  It my or may not start later today, but it sure looks like it, and there was rain on the horizon.  It was also the first real ride of the season where i needed to cover my knees, temps dipping into the 50’s, yes I know the horrors of living in Southern California.  The extra bonus was leaving my filter cone at home, getting to improvise, and guess what….it was all still way better than OK.

10.9 Coffee WP-1030122 10.9 Coffee WP-114065310.9 Coffee WP-1030129 10.9 Coffee WP-114065110.9 Coffee WP-114064510.9 Coffee WP-1030133 10.9 Coffee WP-1030164Get out and ride your bike, drink a little coffee, and play outside!

Racks that Fit

10.7 Racks WP-1140229Continuing our series on getting a proper rack(s) onto your Rambler, today we will tackle an easy one.  The Bruce Gordon Lowrider Rack with the upper mounting point in the vertical configuration will bolt right up.  It fits both the 700c and 650b Ramblers from the current batch onward with no modification needed.  These are hands down the best deal going for a strong and light set of front pannier racks.  I added the custom light mount, but for a nominal fee Bruce generally will add some custom details.

In the coming week I will be tackling a couple of Mark’s rack, the upper silver one, installations and document the process.

New Soma C-Line Coming Soon

Back in the spring when we visited with Merry Sales (Soma Fabrications) the conversation turned towards some projects that we would like to see come to fruition and possibly collaborate a bit on.  They have been good to me as a wholesale account for the parts I need on complete bikes, and their expertise and sourcing relationships in Japan and Taiwan run deep.   They see value in the fat tired road bikes, as well as the French inspired bicycle geometries, as do we.  Things went well and our first project is coming to fruition.

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There has been a bit of a hole in the market for a well made, light weight and wide 700c tire.  I have been happy with their New Express 700×37, but having ridden both the NE and B-Line versions of this tire in the 650b size I knew that there could be more.  Starting with everything good about the well-regarded Panaracer Pasela and New Express tires, the inquiry was made about the status of their 700x3xxmm molds.  Apparently it had worn beyond use, they were in the process of making new molds and we were given a bit of a clean slate.  Taking notes from the B-Line we asked for the tread width and pattern of the 35mm Pasela, the casing of the 37mm, No extra protective lining, a folding bead, and since we were going this far we asked for color options on such a relatively small run of tires.  Panaracer said yes, and the wheels were rolling.  I kept checking and persisting, then an email showed up confirming that the tires were done and shipping soon.  Continuing to push for info, I requested photos.  A bit of time passed, then this gift hit my inbox last week.

10.5 c.line-0414Coming in at 400g exceeded all my hopes.  At that weight we got everything we asked for.  This is in the same weight league as the well-regarded 650bx42 Grand Bois Hetre.  Combine this with the favorable rolling resistance data that the 700×35 Panaracer Pasela received in the Spring 2013 issue of Bicycle quarterly and I am convinced we hit it out of the park with this one.  This tire meets and exceeds everything that was good about the tire they reviewed and takes it a step further.

With delivery slated for early November I set up a Pre-Sale on out store front, the tires start at $49 each, buy two or more and you will qualify for free shipping.

I think this is just the start of some good projects with us and Merry.  They deserve a huge thanks for backing projects like this, as well as Panaracer for their willingness to make tires in runs of hundreds when they generally do thousands of a model.

Coaxial Lighting Wire

As part of the program here at Ocean Air Cycles I have been working on sourcing components and materials for complete builds.  Often times the materials or parts we are used to as cyclists end up being tied up by distributors who have exclusive import deals and will not work with us as a bicycle producer or based the fact that we do not have a physical retail presence.  As an aside we may never have a “retail” presence that certain suppliers define as a retail bike shop, and thus we have been developing alternate sources or products that may be familiar in the Rando or touring bike market, i.e. berthoud, Schmidt, and B&M are just a few.

The entire supply chain for high end dynamo powered lighting systems in the USA ends up being funneled through Peter White.  I am sure he is a great guy, I bought a fine set of wheels from him years ago, and those of you who have worked with him have your own opinions I am sure.  Aside from all of the great information on lighting and wheel building, he is also the importer and distributor.  Without the ability to get things wholesale, I started the search for alternates to many of the products offered.  Some are much harder to get than others.  We are still looking for a reliable source on the metric electrical connectors out favorite lights and hubs use.  I was able to source lights from Europe earlier in the year but that is getting harder.

When setting up the Lighting systems on the bikes, there is quite often a need for longer or better wire to make the long run to the tail light.  After a long search and testing a few different options out we have been having good luck with a coaxial microphone cable.

10.4 wire -1140641Setting up the ends is a bit more work with careful trimming, stripping and shrink wrapping.  In my opinion the results are worth it.  The cable itself is easier to run, the flexibility helps in fishing it through the frame.  The outer diameter is 3mm and fits perfectly though the guide eyelets on out Rambler forks.  The resilient outer casing will help reduce the chance of nick or breaks and possible short circuits.

The best part of the source?  Pricing is well under Schmidt branded wire coming from Europe.  In the next couple of weeks we will add shrink wrap kits to our offerings.

Special Offer:  For the first 25 customers we are selling the wire in a 9 foot length (enough to do most bikes front and rear) for $0.25 plus shipping.  I am limiting this to one per customer, and once all 25 are gone pricing will go to $0.32 a foot

Raising the Bar

I was working through the normal Wednesday morning routine where I sneak out early, coffee and camera gear packed, and head out into the predawn to brew up a cup outside.  This morning a few minutes before leaving, the best Plan B ever kicked in.  Out 3 year old decided she was going to wake up with daddy at 5:15, and 34week pregnant mommy was not so stoked, as she figured I was already gone.  I headed upstairs, grabbed the munchikin, cereal fixins and moved all the gear over to the Xtracycle.  Then in a flash, we were off to set up “camp” under the glow of the sodium lights.

10.2 coffee munchikin WP-1030045 10.2 coffee munchikin WP-114061710.2 coffee munchikin WP-1030049 10.2 coffee munchikin WP-114062010.2 coffee munchikin WP-1030053 10.2 coffee munchikin WP-114062710.2 coffee munchikin WP-103005910.2 coffee munchikin WP-114062110.2 coffee munchikin WP-1030063 10.2 coffee munchikin WP-1030066 10.2 coffee munchikin WP-1030080Mommy was able to grab an extra hour or so of rest, and we had a blast.  I am pretty sure this is going to happen again, maybe even planned ahead, is that is possible with kids.