Friday, January 29, 2010

Sick again


I am so stuffed up that my balance is all wonky - so I figured it would be a bad idea to do any work with electricity, flames, or power tools today. So no building progress to report, I'm guessing for a few days.

In other news, Pele likes peanut butter. A lot.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

The Beast...rides

It's done. Finally. Total investment: about $200 (tubular tires are darn pricey).

The build, for those who care:
-WW frame (orphan tubes), WW fork (unicrown crappiness, but it was cheap and easy)
-Thomson post and stem, natch.
-Orphan headset, square taper BB.
-Super craptacular $40 square taper track cranks. I'm running 46x15, for those who care.
-Fancy tubular wheels courtesy of NoWork.
-Tufo tubulars from BTI, along with $15 on-sale white bars (god, those look terrible)
-Sweet extra light saddle (Flite with no cover) I found in a box. Yeah, that will probably have to get replaced with something I can actually sit on.

I'm hoping to do my grand debut at the track later this week... gotta get Nowork to coach me.

Monday, January 25, 2010

From Rob


Thanks for the photo, dude, and sorry we didn't manage to meet up with you in AZ this year!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Go for a fun ride ... and save the Gold Hill Cafe

So as a bit of background, the ride up Fourmile canyon to Gold Hill (and then down Sunshine Canyon) is one of the best dirt road rides I've ever done - about 4k of climbing, 30 miles or so, and really nice views, decent dirt roads, and pretty much zero traffic.

Apparently the zero traffic thing is becoming a problem for my favorite pit stop - the Gold Hill Cafe (which is essentially at the summit of the climb). Great place to buy a scone or a coffee (if you're a coffee person) or just a powerbar. But they're on the verge of going out of business, apparently. So if you're feeling like doing a little climbing on some nice dirt, think about riding to Gold Hill and stop for a snack. I'd hate to see them go away.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Waltworks and... Edge Composites?

I know, not a fit you'd probably think of, but the folks at Edge have kindly set me up with an account. If you've got the scratch, they're supposed to be some of the trickest wheels (and other carbon goods) out there.

Some sample pricing (remember, this is frame customers only, I'm not a retail shop):
Edge All Mountain or XC 29" rims/DT 240 hubs $1850
AM or XC rims/King hubs $1950
Cyclocross fork $375
1.0 Road fork $435

Interested in something else? Email me. Prices do not include shipping.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Sarah's shoe is too tight!

Solution: Drill+old tube+tennis ball+duct tape. The only question, really, is whether or not this is as silly as my berry-picking device.

Hoodies for the lazy

Too slow and lazy to order your hoodie back in November? Well, you can still get one, but they're a few bucks more expensive. $50, shipping included. I have additional medium, large, and XL in the pipeline from Brent at T6 (thanks, B!) If you need S or XXXL or something, you can check with them, but I don't have any left except in M,L,XL right now.





Sizes




Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Ruh-roh...

I just hope they keep running the lifts for bikes...

Hoodies are here!


I'll be shipping them out on Monday. Thanks to everyone for your patience.

If you didn't order one, and want one, you should be able to get one directly from Twinsix soon. I have a *few* extras of a few sizes as well, so email me if you're interested and I'll see what I've got available.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Isn't 'Cross Season Over?

Not if you had H1N1 for most of it, like Nick did, and not if your entry fee is going to help Skyler Trujillo pay to go to world's (note that now I don't feel quite as bad about having to sprint him at the finish in short track last spring!)

Anyway, Nick had a major mechanical but still managed third behind some very strong (including one named Baker) riders. Nice work, Nick!

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Random Crap for Sale

In cleaning/moving stuff around mode today, as our house is a total mess (we had some work done while on vacation, and it's still not finished, so it's total chaos), and I found some random things (bike stuff, that is) that I need to get rid of:


-Fox Sidewinder gloves, size L, red. Brand new. These are just a little tighter than I'd like, so I never wore them. Still attached to each other and tagged. Retail is $40, yours for $20, shipping included.

-WTB Kodiak 29er tires. These are prototypes that have been sitting around for years, which I only rode a few times. In perfect shape, albeit dusty. One is a moto-ply 1800 gram monster, one is a 1300g version (I believe the version that is now in production). $65 for the pair, including shipping.

-Ritchey Pro 31.8 riser bar. New. Not sure why I have it. $30 shipped.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

SRAM PressFit30: Initial thoughts

So the SRAM guys sent me out a PF30 BB to play with (see the first post on this topic here) and I have to say: so far, I don't see that there's much point (at least for mountain bikes).

Note that I am decidedly NOT just a hater of all things new. I think the new direct mount front derailleurs kick ass. I like through axles even for XC bikes and am working on getting set up to build around tapered steerer tubes. I like it when stuff gets better, because it means that mountain biking can be even more fun for all of us (the question of stuff always getting more expensive is another story).

To whit: the claimed advantages of the system are 1) Weight and 2) Stiffness. There's also some stuff about improved bearing life, but given that you can buy an external cup King BB with a 10 year warranty for around $120 retail, I don't see the point in worrying about longevity comparisons. Existing systems last quite well.

Now I can't speak to the stiffness claim, but I submit that *crank/BB systems are plenty stiff already*. Sure, you can make something deflect less in the lab by making it bigger, but we reached the point long ago where no human being can really detect crank flex unless they're a champion track sprinter or something. And heck, some of the track champs probably don't notice or care either. I can't personally even detect significant flex in a square taper setup, for heaven's sake, and I'm a (supposedly) pro cyclist.

As an aside, I'd like to see stiffness reported in absolute numbers - ie, we attach the cranks to some rigid test structure, subject them to typical cycling forces, and measure how much the crankarms and chainrings deflect - in millimeters, or fractions thereof, from their intended positions. It's not that useful to say something is "50% stiffer!" when in fact that means it defects .001mm instead of .002mm - there's a threshold at which nobody cares anymore. But instead every year we hear how much stiffer everything has gotten - without any concrete deflection numbers to make the information meaningful.

There's also a claimed improvement in ankle clearance for the PF30/BB30 (though not stance width, which they call "q factor" in their literature), but as a *massively* duckfooted cyclist (I wear the paint off chainstays) I don't find that ankle/crank clearance has ever been a big problem, so I can't imagine it matters to more than a percent or two of the cycling population, and even to them not a great deal.

So really, since the PF30 system is significantly more expensive and a moderate pain the butt to build with (though certainly not as bad as BB30, which is just ridiculous), there had better be a significant weight advantage. But I just don't see it, after inspecting and weighing a few bits and pieces.

The BB itself is 88g. Not too shabby, but a generic SLX-level Shimano external bearing BB is around 90g (it depends a bit on how many spacers you need, but it's basically 90g). So 2g. But the PF30 shell weighs 125g, as opposed to the 100g of a plain-jane english threaded shell from Paragon. So thus far, the PF30 setup is 23g behind. And that's not to mention that if we used a nice King BB, we'd save another 20g for the traditional setup, albeit at significant cost.

Yes, you'd miter all the tubes a tiny bit (about 1/4") shorter with the PF30 shell, which helps a bit, but it's not that significant. About 15-20g worth of tubing, if you're building with steel, and depending a bit on what kind of tubes you use. So call it dead even so far.

I don't have a set of PF30/BB30 cranks in my grubby paws to weigh against their standard counterparts, and the best info I can find is this article in Bicycling, which seems to indicate that the BB30 cranks are a bit *heavier*. I'd be hard pressed to figure out a way that the PF30 crank (assuming the chainrings and bolts are the same) could shave off more than a few grams, since the only difference is in the spindle, though SRAM claims their XX crankset is 60g lighter (including BB) for PF30.

So there's a bit of confusion, but my impression is that when all is said and done, the weight is a wash. At best, you might save a couple of grams. At worst, you've actually got a heavier system than a conventional one.

And of course the PF30 is a bunch of extra work - you've got to have a setup to adapt it to the fixture, you've got to have a 2" hole saw (turned down a tiny bit on the lathe), and you've got to get set up to machine the inside of the shell to size after you're done building the frame. It doesn't require the same crazy tolerances as the BB30 standard, but it's still a lot of extra work.

Bottom line: I don't see the point. So I will probably not even bother to get a shell and build anything. Memo to SRAM: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. You guys have done lots of kickass stuff over the years, this BB30 and PF30 stuff isn't, at least so far.

Of course, I could certainly be wrong about a lot of what I've said. Maybe the stiffness improvement is night and day, and when I finally ride a PF30 bike, I'll refuse to go back. But I doubt it.

Congrats, Eric and Erinna!


Wednesday, January 13, 2010

AZ pictures, not many words

Most of these are from Tucson Mountain Park (Golden Gate), Sierra Vista/Carr Canyon, and Milagrosa. We had a great time!

As an aside, Sarah reports that the direct mount front derailleur shifts noticeably better than her old one, and we had no problems with it during the trip. Sweet!








Friday, January 08, 2010

Vacation post: Tandem Repair Followup

Some of you who have no lives at all (I'm looking at you, Charlie) may recall that I rebuilt a 2-piece tandem. Well, Sean finally finished it. Pretty cool!

In other news, the Cody section of the AZ trail outside of Oracle sucks. But it's about 50 degrees warmer here than it is in Boulder, so I'm not complaining.

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Vacation post: Silly Fort Collins!

I'm typing this up while Sarah does some work (yeah, I know, it's a vacation, but she really needs to get it done, apparently - and we've got plenty of time to ride this afternoon).

I thought this article in the Daily Camera was funny - I was sort of under the impression that it was *already* illegal to ride through a red light, or the wrong way down a one-way street, or whatever. In fact, I'm guessing that the penalties for those offenses are (or were) MUCH MORE than a $35 fine, since you'd have gotten ticketed as if you were driving a car.

So basically, Fort Collins has *reduced* the penalties for riding your bike like an asshat. I'm not sure what kind of message this is intended to send, but I'd be surprised if they hand out any more tickets than the do currently (which I assume is basically none). Who the heck thinks up this kind of stuff? If you want people to behave, enforce the rules you already have, idiots!

Saturday, January 02, 2010

Vacation Recipe: 7 spice Quinoa

This is healthy and also good. Really.

1 cup quinoa
1 onion
some olive oil
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds (or ground)
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg

2c vegetable broth (you might need a bit more if it's too dry)
some chopped fresh spinach (or any other greens you have lying around)

Cut up the onion (dice it, that is) and fry it over high heat until it's sweet and fragrant, but not browned. Add all the spices and fry for a few more minutes, then add the quinoa and broth, cover, and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed. Add some spinach, serve!

Friday, January 01, 2010

Vacation post: Sarah's FS bike

I don't usually post build lists, but I thought Sarah's new FS bike was worth a little bit of a writeup, because it's got a lot of interesting tweaks both partswise and in terms of geometry. Also, it's VERY similar to what a couple of my friends have been pondering (Eszter? Hassan?) so I thought I'd save some effort and do a writeup. Also, I've got some kind of weird insomnia going on tonight. Too much red wine?

First off, the geometry. Couple of things worth noting, first of which is that the effective chainstay length (with the rider onboard) is a little under 445mm (so about 17.5") That's about as short as I can really conceive of going using the Ventana rear triangle, simply because you run into tire/seat tube clearance problems if you go much shorter. Honestly, if you need shorter chainstays than this, on a full suspension bike, IMO you probably should not be on a 29er. I generally also don't go longer than 470mm, though I guess I could for a very tall rider if needed.

Second is that this bike uses a custom built lightweight rear end. Sherwood is great about doing these (as long as I give him a few months warning), and for smaller riders, it's a great way to save some weight (at a pretty reasonable cost). The standard Ventana rear end is SUPER burly, more than sufficient for 250# people, and hence also overkill for a lot of smaller folk. In this case, we've bumped down the diameters and wall thicknesses of the seat and chainstays, and gone to double sets of bearings everywhere except the main pivot, which stays with quad bearings (yes, you could go to doubles here too, but Sarah is pretty aggro and will appreciate the extra stiffness, I think). Total weight savings over a standard rear end (including the rockers) is about 275 grams. Going to double bearings at the main pivot would save another 25 or 30, but would sacrifice some major stiffness in the rear end.

For those considering this option, be aware that if you're over 150 pounds or so, we have to start adding back in some significant weight to make everything strong/stiff enough. For those over 175 or 180, the standard rear end is the best option. Extra cost is $150, and the lightweight setup is available for 650b and 26" setups as well. Just remember: I need advance warning if you want one of these, as it takes a couple months for the Ventana guys to get it done.

This is fairly close to the lightest FS frame I'd ever do (at least in 29er form) at about 5.8# with the RP23. Some 8/5/8 tubes (I used 9/6/9, since it'll be going on the plane in a suitcase sometimes) would take it down to 5.6 or maybe 5.5, but that's about as light as it could get without being fragile. I have not weighed the entire bike, but I'm guessing it's about 26 pounds with Crank Bros pedals. Some silly light tires might take it down below 25, but Sarah likes her Ignitors and Weirwolves. And of course you could go nuts and put carbon doodads and ti bolts everywhere. Not interested. She's fast enough as it is, I don't need to make myself work even harder to keep up. For a budget around $4k-4.5k (for frame/fork/parts), I could see building a bike like this up in the ~24 pound range if you were clever about parts choices and not a clyde.

Otherwise, it's a pretty straightforward design - 95mm rear travel, 90mm front, 22" effective toptube (that's equivalent to more like 22.6" if you correct for the steep seat tube angle and corresponding setback post that isn't shown in this shot, though), 13.25" BB height unsprung, 70.5HTA with a 46mm rake Reba.

Partswise, the main notable things are the fact that it's got a cool direct-mount front derailleur (first impression: it shifts freaking awesome), and Avid Elixir 5 brakes. So what, you say? Well, for once I'm not in the mood to endlessly gripe about parts...

I've talked about the derailleur in a previous post and don't want to repeat myself, but the brakes are pretty cool - inexpensive, light, super powerful and nice modulation, and so far (I've got a set on my bike as well that I installed in the fall) very reliable. I'm a brake power snob and had a 180 rotor on the front with my XTRs - actually had to replace it with a 160 because the front brake was disconcertingly powerful. I could easily see running a 140 in the rear and not having any issues with these. And given the price (I believe I sell them for about $80-90 a wheel for frame customers) they're darn hard to beat. Their more expensive brothers (the Elixir CR and CR Mag, or whatever) just seem to have lots of weird unnecessary adjustment features (the 5s only have reach adjust - nothing else) and weigh/work the same. But they cost 2x as much, if not more.

But damn does that white look ugly.