Taking the Scenic Route

There is something magical in the way a bicycle empowers you to take the long way home.  While possible in a car, there is something about the inertia of the fastest way from A to B that keeps you on route and in your seat.  With the bicycle I am always looking for an excuse to pick a new route, head by the beach or through the hills instead of around them.  Today was hot and clear, the chance foe a clear view of the islands and the water called me up into the hills.  With the errands done and a little extra time on the clock I was able to make the right choice.

It was good, I needed to get the heart pumping, and it paid off.

Take the long way home next time while the summer days are still hanging on!

Video Set and Recording

I have been working on the kickstarter campaign and it has been a huge amount of work, fun but challenging.  The video is a key step in success, and I am feeling a huge amount of pressure to have something good.  The script I put together seemed pretty tight, the hardest part has been cutting it back, and squeezing it in to 3 minutes or so.  Friday night and Saturday morning were spent converting the garage / workshop into the set for the shoot.

I am fortunate to have a friend and neighbor, Thank you George, who could be on the camera end of things, which was a huge help.  The real shocker for me was how hard it was getting the words out once the camera went on.  I have been in front of the camera before, this project is a dream come true and still I felt like my brain and tongue went to mush every time the camera was rolling.  Everything is taking longer than planed, but the results are great, so I push on.  I am pretty sure we have plenty of usable footage.  The next step is the culling and edit.  I know in my heart that this will work and the project will move forward.  The experience I am gaining from this is incredible, it pushes my boundaries at every corner.  The bicycle design and testing came very easy to me, the selling has been the challenge, and I am enjoying it immensely.

The View from behind the backdrop, and time to get things back in order.

 

Two Years

It is incredible how fast the time goes, two years now since I started OAC.  Two years, lots of pictures, mostly of myself, crazy I know, a few bags, lots of ideas, and Ramblers moving from dream to reality.  Today?  Just a ride to hunt down some boxes, some crazy weather, possibly that stuff called rain later.

That is the point though, just get out and ride to get from place to place, and have fun.  I hope I have inspired some of you to do just that.

Thanks for reading, and have fun playing outside!

Upcycled Dynamo Light Brackets

I took a time out in the shop this morning to make some new light brackets. The only thing better than caffeine in the morning is jumping out of bed and making an idea into reality with your hands, at least for me.   The idea of chain ring light brackets is not new, a little google-fu will get you some results like this:

Chainring Light Bracket

Working from this as a starting point, I went through my piles of old chain rings and decided that the diameter of chain rings in the mid to high 20’s best matched the shape of the headlight.  After a bit of cutting, filing, and polishing this is what I came up with:

I am pretty happy with the way they came out.  Both lights will be mounting to a Nitto Mark’s rack, in different ways, so I made two different length brackets.

Backing up a bit for those not familiar with these types of lighting systems, one is likely to ask why even make a bracket?  Why not just mount it upside down?  The lights are made with a fairly advanced optic that focuses the light in a rectangular beam with a cutoff that keeps the light on the road and out of the eyes of oncoming traffic. The optic housing interface is further designed to be most water-resistant in the upright orientation.  This all works out fine for 90% of the intended audience who mount these lights to the fork crown of an average city bike.  The challenge starts with the crown mount location when you use a front bag or basket.  The lights beam is obstructed in the competition for real estate.   So a bracket needs to be used to move the light under the rack and forward so that the light is not blocked by the front wheel or hanging out in a spot where it can be easily damaged.  Surprisingly there is not much on the market to solve this problem.

I am waiting for some additional hardware to be delivered so I can keep this project moving.  Later in the week I should have this much further along.