If I were a NAHBS guy...

...this would be the kind of bike I'd have to bring. Jake wins the least-practical-of-all-time award here (sort of). 36" wheels, Schlumpf drive, every single tube (except the head tube) curved, heavy as hell, no standover, no front brake...

And it should be awesome for cruising. Awesome. Especially with the Illusion Malbec (think, Prince) powdercoat he's going to do.

It makes me want to build myself a stupidmobile2 with a bunch of curves and all semblance of light weightweeniedom thrown out the window. Hell, I'm not fast anymore. Who am I kidding with these thin wall butted tubes? I doubt I'd be any slower on a bike with more style...

Double BOB stroller = old, slow

Neverending illness

Progress on bikes will be slow again this week - I am still sick. This marks approximately 2 months of *constant* illness. I've been to the doctor, I've been on a couple different antibiotics - nothing. UT is apparently getting hit hard by viral respiratory infections, and I guess I'm getting them in order or something.

Anyway, if am slow to respond to emails and update the blog, that's why.

On the plus side, we got a few inches of snow this morning. Bringing us from crazy severe awful drought to somewhat crazy severe awful drought status.

Green monster

I have little green monsters in my lungs and sinuses. And a big green one to work on building up for Matt.

Sad background sled says: we have no snow

The New Waltworks Color and Powdercoat Lowdown

The bottom line: you can save yourself a few bucks by picking one of my hand-selected "stock" colors.

Long story: Custom ordering colors for powdercoat is resulting in really long lead times, confusion, and a new learning curve for the powdercoat guys (apparently each color is a little different in terms of how it behaves coming out of the gun and when being baked) which means that a TON of frames are having to go back a second (or sometimes third!) time. That sucks for everyone.

So, I'm offering a $50 discount on any of these fine colors - because they're always in stock, they are durable and look great, and the PC guys are familiar with them. Click the code/RAL to see info from the powdercoat company, click the name to see a bike in that color.

I will periodically add colors to the "stock" color palette, but until further notice, these are the bonus free-money ones.

RAL 6018 - Kawasaki Green!

Red Baron - need I say more?

RAL 5015 - "Team" blue

RAL 1027 - Curry, baby!










Satin "Johnny Cash" Black

Basic White

Damn you, Jake!

I am very tired of using the bender... next person who wants a cruiser is paying extra, damnit!

Jake is going to win "most impractical" for this thing, too. 36er with the least standover ever! And the longest wheelbase, I think...

A quick rant from someone who is grumpy and sick

I am trying to delay going out into the cold air with my fragile throat and lungs, and I am angry. Angry because I was reading MTBR and saw a post from someone ranting that 27.5+ (you know, 3" tires on 27.5/650b rims) was "marketing hype".

Marketing or not, here's the synopsis of my rant: choices are good, and you and I are living through the by far the best time to ride bikes since the late 1800s. Certainly the best time to ride mountain bikes. The diversity of options and choices to get a bike that is fun for you and your terrain is ASTOUNDING.

Still kickin.

Of course, we had lots of choices back when I started riding in the 90s:

-26" wheels or 26" wheels. Oh, and the Beast o' the East. You young'uns can "google" that.

-1.9", 2", or even, if you were some kind of lunatic, 2.1" tires with medium to large knobs.

-71/73 NORBA geometry or... 71/73 NORBA geometry. With 425mm chainstays and a 12" BB height, no matter how short or tall you were. Want long cranks? Tough cookies, have fun bashing all those rocks. Keith B made some steeper angled frames with 32mm low-rake forks on them, though, so if you were cool you could score one of those and go OTB a lot.

Want to ride on snow? Sand? Carry a bunch of crap with you and go for an adventure? Too bad, you'll have to adapt some panniers from your old touring bike and hope they last the trip, and walk through the sand and snow. Or stick 2 rims together and lace them to a tandem hub, and install 2 tires at once, like the Iditabike guys used to back before fatbikes were a thing.

My point is this: the sheer number of options out there is awesome. It's amazing. And the fact that you can independently select the outside diameter and width of your tires is a big big deal to me. Let's look at some commonly available sizes:
-24x1.5-2 are available though mostly used for BMX cruisers.
-24x4 are being made for the new Specialized kids fatbikes. They will be very useful for small adults who want to ride on snow as well.
-26x1.8-5 (OD from 25.5-29")
-27.5x2-3.25 (OD from 27-29")
-29x1.8-3 (OD from 28.5-30.5")
-And of course 36x2.3!

That means almost no matter what size you are and what geometry/terrain you prefer - you can find a tire/wheel combo that will suit you. That, my friends, is amazing and worth celebrating. If that's "marketing hype", I'll take more, please.

Creeping crud

La familia Waltschuler is passing some horrible thing around. Expect limited work until we're all better. I am hoping to still finish Jake's frame this week but who knows...