Bicycles and Gear for Going Places Near and Far Self Propelled With Comfort and Speed
Time to take a break from the posting here, recharge the batteries, play with the family and put some of my big ideas into motion. Heading west, to warmer climates. Back in 10, or so.
Also, all closed sales will be shiped upon return, thanks for taking a look
Ciao.
I have a friend who really wanted me to build up a trek just like mine for him. Thus the search began for a pre 82, long rake fork, to convert to 650b. I ended up sourcing this one, which turned out to be in fantastic shape for it’s 30 years.
It has a few scratches here and there, but overall was taken care of quite well.
Reynolds 531 tube set, gobs of tire space and a decent drive train. This is going to be a fun one. The end target is 650b with Col De La Vie tires, Berthoud fenders, Albatross bars and we are still sussing out what the basket rack combo will be. Sourcing has commenced for the build and it will hopefully be done in a few weeks.
Stay tuned for details!
I bought this bar to get some rear sweep in the grip area for my S&SUB. Over the years I have used more upright bars then I can keep track of, from super cheep to the Nitto Albatross (B-352AA is my Fav). The Wald offering comes in at about $20, they are chromed steel for high bling factor and they are made in the U.S.A.. They seemed like a worthy candidate for this budget build. My inital impressions are good. On the plus side they are comfy, cheep, made domestically, the straight front will not interfere with the load and they seem pretty strong. Downside is a bit of slide in the stem (possible stem issue), short grips and they are kind of heavy.
The dimensions are, 50cm wide tip to tip, 26cm of straight section in the front, 9cm of rise and 13cm of straight return at the grips. The return on the grips is almost straight with just a smidge of flare. The grips are really short, no room for levers and shifters at all. I have the brake levers here pushed as far into the bend as possible without the levers flaring out too much.
Overall I like these bars in spite of their limitations. In the application on this bike, single speeds or other times you will not need more than brake levers, these are a perfect and affordable upright bar. I would buy them again if needed and recommend them if they meet your needs.
As an aside, the keen of eye may have noticed my NOS Jim Blackburn parking brake. I am not sure if these are still made, but it is fantastic for keeping the bike still while loading.
Made it out for a bit this morning to run some errands, 24hr grocery stores hooray, and cruise by the beach.
Looks like I am going to be getting some work done today, pretty small surf, and yes the fog is looming just off shore.
On the news front, the niner had up for sale, then not, is up for sale again. You can see it here. I also have plenty of the silver shifter bump caps, here. These and a few other items will be starting to sill up my shop/garage sale pages in the coming week. I have 4 bike projects for friends in the works with more to come, this should help spice up the content around here in the next couple of weeks too.
Happy Monday, be sure to ride this week!
Thank You for taking a look!
I have made it a year now today, and without the encouragement of you all looking regularly it would not be so much fun. I have learned a bunch, met some new people and achieved some of my goals. The foremost, using the tools at my disposal to encourage you to get outside, ride your bike, escape the inertia of using your car to get around and play a bit. It appears to be working on that front. The rest has some room for growth, but that will come.
Back to the photo stuff. I really have enjoyed the GoPro for its ease of use and angle of view. The thing is that I have been feeling a bit lazy with respect to my creativity. The creative outlet fuels the rest of the passion to keep this going. I will be relying less on the GoPro an da bit mor eon my other cameras from here on out. With darkness approaching I decided it was high time to teach myself the art of long exposure night shooting. Not as tricky as I thought for my first stab at it.
The shots take a little more setup and gear hauling. The results are well worth the effort. This was the most fun I have had shooting in a while.
Thank you again for your readership, and as we roll into the fall and winter do not forget, PLAY OUTSIDE!!
Happy Friday.