explaination.

I just glossed over some things.

Back in 09 I was riding the Miyata that I bought off Craigslist. But I was unhappy with the performance of the brakes. So I pulled together my spare change and bought from a friend a used 1x1 frame. I had taken a wheel building class and with the newfound confidence built a set of three leading three trailing wheels. It looks as good as you'd expect. geared 1:2.15 with 170mm cranks I am pretty happy with the set up. I have battered rack bolted on and collapsable wire basket zip tied to it on the non drive side. Mostly, the bike was built from parts from the SBR or bought/bartered from other's reserves. The bike has mismatched 160mm  disc brakes.

We bought my wife a Long Haul Trucker and promptly changed the handle bars over and again till we found the set up she liked. Midline levers were as important as anything in making the noodle bars comfortable. It started off life with us with the MKS battle ax pedals and we switched them out for mks tourers. And we took the v brakes off the Instigator and got rid of the crap oryx that the bike came with.

The Instigator has an enabler fork on it and I have sewn a frame bag. I don't have a rack on this bike anymore, it never was made to have one and was battle against its nature. The enabler fork improved the handling I think, and I usually ride it as a 69er. I upgraded from the v-brakes to bb7s. I keep turning to this bike for riding single track. I tear through the woods, crashing on occasion, without worry--this bike is nearly bombproof.

Last summer I borrowed a friend's Pugsley and fell in love with the platform. I learned a few things along the way. Hydraulic brakes for example are great when they work, but if the line pops--then you are screwed. Late in July I was looking on craigslist and found one for a song. I've been commuting on this primarily since, and every ride is giggles. The bike came to me single speed, 36x18 with a second cog for 36x20. The bike looks like an 09 model? When I bought it the handlebars were at a bizarre angle that seemed completely unnatural. I left them in case the guy I bought it from was on to something. Seems he was. I have adjusted my other flat bars to match now. Climbing is more comfortable with smiling bars. Today I gave it fangs.

two bikes out to stud

Last night I put the schwalbes on the Instigator and Edward.  In the back of my mind the front wheel might be enough, but I want to have a spare bike in case someone needs a ride for the pub crawl on Sunday. 

Holy crap I never posted about Edward! 

Guy Woodhouse has been redubbed Edward after the painting this fall.  I think I am going to repaint again in the summer though. I didn't like the way the paint came out and I suspect it had something to do with the cold weather we had the weekend I painted it. 

also I am concerned the bike looks too good, and someone might steal it...

Let them eat pie

Guy Woodhouse, my single speed mountain bike, has been taken apart for a few weeks now.  And this next two weeks will involve repainting and reassembling the little demon.

I'm gathering the new components and tidying up the old ones I'll carry over.  Some of the parts were pretty rugged when I bought the bike.  

I've been on the lookout for Phil Wood hubs for about a year.  Every morning running the familiar search on Craigslist.  I even asked how much a new one would cost. I already have mentioned the one I found.  And Shannon is going to lace a new wheel around that. So today we stopped by the shop to get a rim and spokes. And Jim had just put a slice of delicious looking pizza on a paper plate.

Which brings us to the equation for retail business:

pie=r(squared)

if you buy a pizza business will come in the door, preventing you from eating the pizza.

apart!

pounding on the headset with a hammer during lunch I finally got the bike dismantled.

bwahahahahaha

The sneaky plan part 1

A while back I bought an early ninties Miyata mountain bike and almost immediately put studded tires on it.  I bought it second hand and slightly rusty.  I wanted a single speed bike for the winter becasue I didn't want any messy mechanical snafu on my commutes home.

So now the weather is getting springier, so it is time to give Guy Woodhouse a makeover.

trouble is, getting the rusty bits to budge.

It took 45 minutes just to knock the cranks off and remove one cup from the bottom bracket.

tomorrow morning: drive side cup, and everything else

not quite enough for a century

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2583448

Today I got in my longest single day of riding of the year.  Jim and I left from HC and tried to make it to Carver.  It was my whimpy legs that made us turn around.  The trail got less and less plowed the further we went and my excuse is the single speed lacked the gear ratio necessary for the slipping.

So my legs cramped at mile thirty or so, and by mile 40 I was aching, by the time we got to Humboldt I needed to sit down.

A damn fine ride though.

Shannon got to be the knight in shining Jetta and save my sorry ass at Uncommon Grounds.

The things they left behind

So I hadn't thought to much of the stuff in the shoulder bag.  Dirty lunch carton, old newspaper, etc.

There was also this water bottle.

For all the rooting around, the person missed a pair of Grobet pliers I had in the bag that cost me a small fortune.  Also a 9 dollar three sided ruler.  But, I am glad to still have these things.

I imagine the person standing at the Jetta finding an Eagan police water bottle and leaving.  I imagine the person power walking away.  

I was helping a repeat customer the other day and her Cannondale had been stolen.  The suburban police had made an honest effort trying to track the ten year old bike down, but some things are hard to find.

Tomorrow I'm thinking I'll bike to the Depot in Hopkins, and I'll use the new chains to secure my ride home.

Linked together

Since the car was broken into I've been thinking about things being stolen. And since Menards was selling their Kryptonite chains for next to nothing (apparently they weren't good sellers???) I have two of them now.

The added 16 pounds of chain didn't slow me down too much though. I made it home in 57 minutes compared to 45 minutes from the night before.

My co-workers think I'm crazy and that I have perpetrated an act of major overkill, but I like my bikes dammit.

Also, the added weight improved traction and momentum riding. Braking suffered on downhills, but when rolling the tires cut right through rotten ice.

shod in shoes for shlumping through the shnow

So I "accidentally" didn't use all of my vacation time last year (I had reasons for saving a day but that's another story), and took a Saturday off to balance the time out.

Saturday Chester and I went to bike around Lake Harriet.  And I went to the wrong lake.  There wasn't too much confusion since we were car pooling, but we did lunch at Isles Buns and Coffee.  The wind was wicked on the south end of the lake.  And the snow drifts on the lake made it almost completely impassable.  We walked much of the way across.

The folks at Isles make wicked good espresso.  I place the Mocha between Brewberry's and Black Dog.  

Saturday night we went to Let the Right One In.  I don't remember the last movie we liked enough to see 4 times in the theatre.  This one was totally worth seeing four times.

Yesterday we biked to the Town Hall Brewery.

And today we went snowshoeing in Eagan.

Guy Woodhouse

Some folks are curious what Guy Woodhouse looks like.  I'd say: the ugliest bike in our stable, Shannon says the greater metro.

I think it's worth five dollars.

The handsome Cannondale in the background is Shannon's winter bike.

What I like about Guy is the simplicity of his parts.  There is very little that can go wrong mechanically.  With the cube prism reflective tape on the fork and rack it glows like a christmas tree.  And with the patches of dirt and rust and overall crappy appearance an otherwise sound bike will never ever be stolen.  I hope.

Guy Woodhouse

So after this morning's ride I think I've dubbed the Miyata.

Guy Woodhouse.  

because that traction was something