Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Bikes and impotence...again

Many of you have probably seen this idiotic NYtimes article.

I have several problems with the article. In no particular order:

-No context is provided. For example, the #1 cause (by a mile) of impotence (I am tired of the "ED" term, call it what it is) is... drumroll... obesity (or, to be more accurate, cardiovascular disease and diabetes...which are caused in most cases by obesity). Yes, being fat is the #1 way to make yourself impotent. Will riding a bike make you less fat (or keep you from getting fat)? Um, obviously yes. I don't have the numbers, but I'm betting that percentage-wise, there's more impotence in the general population than among serious cyclists.

Giving the reader this kind of context is one of the most important jobs of any journalist, and this is the New York freaking Times. Personally, I'd fire the writer and the editor if they ran drivel like this.

-The writer seems hell-bent on interviewing idiots. The scientist involved explains away his lack of results (one individual had more boners at night, all the rest were no different than before) - "Dr. Schrader sees it as evidence that some effects of a conventional saddle may be slow, or impossible, to reverse." No, it's evidence of nothing at all.

Of course, fewer of the officers reported numbness while riding, so that's good. But it's not evidence that they were less impotent than before. A good study would have given some officers a new no-nose saddle, and some of them a special McGuffin saddle cover (ie, placebo) of some kind to see what happened when the officers only *thought* something had been changed. Bad science, guys.

The bike magazine fellow isn't any better. "I don't think a noseless saddle is safe in a race." Um, ok. That's idiotic, since A) the article really isn't about racers (and very few people race), and B) there are lots of races (BMX, for example) where the saddle is essentially never used, for steering or otherwise.

Having actually ridden a couple of these saddles, I'm confused about why Mr. Flax didn't point out the number one problem - you _can't freaking pedal very hard while sitting_. This is a non-starter for most serious cyclists, and it's why we're still using saddles today that look pretty similar to what people were riding 120 years ago.


This story seems to come back up every 5 years or so, with some new crackpot saddle that A) keeps pressure off your junk, and B) makes cycling no longer fun. Obviously, if you're having, er, problems, it might be time to look at a new saddle. Otherwise, this is just another iteration of the same dumb story.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

My hometown burns...again

So, for those who don't know, I grew up in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Yes, that's where the Manhattan Project was based, and yes, everyone in my family, including me, worked at LANL at one point or another (hey, I had an email address when I was 13, in 1989!)

So one of the nice things about Los Alamos is the awesome trail system - big portions of which burned and then had to be restored (with some success) after the Cerro Grande fire in 2000. My good friend McCalla's house burned down, along with 400 others, and he lost basically everything he owned.

Now it looks like Los Alamos is burning again. The town has been evacuated, the restored trails will probably be destroyed again, and we can only hope that nobody dies this time around (amazingly, nobody died in the Cerro Grande fire).

Anyway, sad news. Best of luck to all my old friends in LA. McCalla, sorry about the race you were going to put on this fall...looks like Pipeline is on fire.

Anyway, back to the shop for me, I guess. I find it hard to motivate when I get bad news, and this makes me very sad.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

PSA: Bikelugs tubing now in stock... and super, duper cheap!

It looks like Kirk Pacenti has pulled off another one of his framebuilding coups (he's the fellow who invented off-road 650b) - he's got a new run of True Temper-made tubing in stock that is pretty much the same stuff that TT makes and sells direct - but he's selling individual tubes for 20-25% less than the box-quantity price from TT.

Amazing deals. If you're a builder, check it out: www.bikelugs.com.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Some pictures for Joel - slow progress



Sarah had some (minor, don't freak out, she's fine) eye surgery today which ended up requiring me to serve as sort of a nurse/personal secretary. And I had to ride out to Costco to pick up a few things, so the long and short of it is that I did not get that much work done.

Oh, and for those who are curious, which I'm guessing is about zero, I was once again the definition of packfill in yesterday's short track - 14th of 27 racers. Given that I raced with no warmup, no knowledge of the course, and a bum knee, I'm ok with that. Of course, with none of those excuses, it was exactly the same result as 2 weeks ago... sigh.



But anyway, Joel. I mitered up all the front triangle tubes and the chainstays (seatstays are always the last step for me). Some of these tubes/miters are cleaned up and ready to weld (mainly the toptube) but most are as yet not clean or even deburred. No matter how good your mitering setup is, you always end up doing at least a little hand filing to make things perfect and to deburr.

The marks on the tubes are the butts - always good to check those before doing any mitering, let alone any welding. I learned that the hard way (the standard way I seem to learn lessons) early on - sometimes the specs the manufacturer gives you are wrong - so you gotta measure everything and not take anything for granted.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Patience, grasshopper...


So, if any of you needs advice about what to do when you want to go to the dirt jumps, but UPS hasn't shown up with your snazzy new kneepads yet, I can only say this: do not wear really baggy shorts that will get caught on your saddle on your first run down the "small" line, causing you to auger in on your knee and bleed all over the place.

And try to not smash your head into the wall too many times when you see the BTI box on your porch when you finally limp home.

I assume Will (Mr. UPS) dropped the pads off right about the exact time I was trying to put my knee through the final step-up.

To continue my run of idiocy, I then rushed out to race the short track (maybe my knee won't stiffen up if I go race!) - but that's another story.

Some random stuff FS, also, who left their shoes?

First, if you are the person who left their (large, Shimano) shoes and clipless pedals in a bag on my porch, please let me know why... and what I should be doing with them! If I don't figure it out soon, they're going to community cycles!

Second, I have two items for sale that are somewhat odd. Hal has swapped to riding rigid, so he no longer needs these items and was kind enough to trade them to me for some tuneup/assembly work:

-White Brothers BW.8 through-axle disc fork. Yes, an 80mm fork with a 20mm through axle. It's in great shape with good seals/sliders/air and damping cartridges/etc. $100 or FREE with a frame order.

-XT/A719 wheelset. 36 spokes laced up 3x, super beefy. XT rear hub, TXQuando (generic) 20mm front. 6 bolt on both ends, in great shape and ready to ride. Good training wheels or alternately a great setup for a freeride wheelset on a budget. $100, or, once again, free if you order a frame to go with.

-You can buy the wheels and fork together if you'd like for $175.

-Brand new Elixir CR 160mm brakeset (front and rear). Got the wrong color for Todd - they are red, and he does not like red! Never mounted or used, ready to rock. $300 for the set, or $200 if you order a frame to match.

Drop me a line if any of those items sound interesting.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Finally...pictures for Matt

Well, only 2 pictures. Inexplicably, my camera decided to focus on the rocks in the background on all the other shots. I'm betting that's user error, but c'est la vie. I build bikes a lot better than I take pictures of them.

I know someone will ask, so:
-23.8" toptube
-71/74 head/seat
-42.5cm effective chainstays (43cm actual)
-Ready for discs and gears and a 100mm travel fork
-Low mounts, s-bends, the works
-Yes, it will have seatstays (in point of fact, it does, but the picture was taken before that step)

Monday, June 20, 2011

Boulder's Car/Bike Wars - my take

Some of you may have heard that a cyclist was killed here in Boulder on Friday when a large truck failed to yield turning left and struck him.

I do not road ride much (precisely for this reason) and I normally try to avoid confrontation with cars. But this case outrages me (to be fair, all the evidence is not yet in, and I will happily apologize/eat my words if the cyclist turns out to be at fault here) because the driver involved previously was charged (and plead guilty) to reckless endangerment for a previous road-rage incident involving a cyclist in which he attempted to force the bike into oncoming traffic (how this is only a misdemeanor baffles me).

I am normally not a vindictive person, but I hope this death haunts Mr. Loven for the rest of his life. And I know that if I were looking to install a wastewater system, I would NOT hire Mr. Loven's company, Power Earth Septic Systems.

'Nuff said. Rest in peace, Eugene.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Did someone step on a duck?


Well, no, but when Jake interrupted our drunken viewing of Hot Tub Time Machine (highly recommended, at least if you've been drinking) last night to tell us that a duck was wandering around the driveway, Sarah sprang into action.

The duck was nonplussed by the car ride, and also seemed quite unimpressed by the release site (the creek next to the bike path near Waltworks world HQ). But I daresay it was better than hanging around in our driveway quacking sadly.

Friday, June 17, 2011

Matt is going to kill me...

...but I *still* have not gotten around to taking pictures of his front triangle.

Instead, here is the weird project of the week. A fork for a Cannondale headshock assembly. It'll be finish machined by some NASA geeks (no joke!) and then cryofit onto the steerer.

Man, that thing looks weird to me. And I'm not used to welding .120" tubing - I had to crank the welder up to an astounding (for me) 80 amps!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Seuss in the wild

For those who remember me making fun of Peter for his "Dr. Seuss" fork, here you go. I'll leave it up to you to make any jokes you'd like at Peter's (or my!) expense, but long story short, he's having a great time riding the fork, silliness be damned!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Good stuff to have around...

...if you're a bike builder, or just someone with an amazingly crap car. Some people brag that their bikes are worth more than their car. Mine is probably worth an order of magnitude more.
-Rubber bands.

-Garbage and an old innertube (never, never clean your car, folks!)


Yes, Matt, this is why I have yet to get anything much done on your frame today. On the plus side, the radiator hose blew up (spectacularly!) within a few hundred feet of a pretty sweet trail, so we went for a ride while we waited for it to cool down. And the "fix" easily got us the 40 miles home. Nice.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Initial thoughts: Paragon Rockers

No pictures of the new (sort of) Paragon Rocker dropouts on the frame for y'all, but I thought I'd do a short writeup about these. Keep in mind:
- I've only built one frame with 'em.
- It's not even back from powdercoat.
- I will never get to ride it, as A) it's not mine, and B) Bernard is 6" taller than me.

So I know very little, right now, about how the dropouts will actually work out.

In no particular order, my thoughts:

-They are just as heavy as any other slider/swinger/etc. Figure an extra 200-250 grams of weight on your frame as compared to a conventional vertical dropout. C'est la vie.

-The caliper positioning (between the stays) is EXCELLENT for use with a rack or fender, as the caliper is tucked well out of the way of the eyelets (much like the low mounts).

-Like the low mounts, I've settled on downtube/chainstay routing of the rear brake hose/housing. On some brakes with adjustable banjos, you could do a conventional toptube/seatstay setup, but in most cases, the downtube is going to be the way to go.

-There are two bolts and one pin holding everything in place, but no tension screw of any kind. I think these will probably not slip no matter what you do (the slots are not oriented in the same direction, even, so it would be insanely difficult to make that happen), but I could be wrong.

-As with the sliders, S-bend chainstays are highly recommended. The dropout is long and the chainstay tabs sit way outboard - so heel clearance will be an issue for some riders. S-bends will help with that to an extent.

-Cost is the same (extra $120) as for sliders.

Bottom line? These are great dropouts and they have some advantages over the slider configuration, especially if you want to run racks or fenders (or both). They are heavy and expensive, just like many singlespeed/disc dropouts, and they are not great for heel clearance. Time will tell whether there are any reliability/function/longevity issues. Basically, good stuff. Let me know if you want them on your bike, I'm happy to do it.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Quote of the weekend...

"It is counterintuitive but true: Enhancing publicly-funded recreational amenities increases complaints about publicly-funded recreational amenities. This has led some libertarian critics to propose that public recreation makes people unhappy, and given enough of it, the public will completely consist of angry socialists. However, it is possible that the complaining and whining generated by the availability of a new recreational amenity does not represent new and unique complaints, but a reallocation of complaints from a hypothetical total number of complainer-hours available to the bitching public."

-? Anyone know who said this?

(apropos of people complaining online about the opening of the new Valmont Bike Park)

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Quick photo for Bernard, short race report

First up, a quick shot for Bernard. This bike has got it all - Paragon Rocker dropouts (more on those on Monday), s-bends, giant head tube for use with a tapered steerer fork if needed, rack and fender mounting points, etc. And it's huge - almost a 26" toptube and a 22" seat tube, because Bernard has an astounding 38" inseam. So it's a bit of a tank - 5.5 pounds. C'est la vie - this sucker will haul kids, groceries, and whatever else and still be fun to ride offroad, which was the goal.

Second, a brief race report. Sarah and I talked ourselves into doing the short track at the CU research park on Wednesday night. It was quite a butt-kicking, as neither of us is in shape (nor generally inclined) to short, flat power races. Sarah fought hard but ended up 12th of 13 (weirdly enough, the 13th place woman is not shown in the results). She had fun, though, and I'm sure she'll be faster next week. She was holding her own quite well on all the bike-handling sections of the course, but losing time like mad in the straight sections.

My own race... well, it was pretty humorous. I got my usual lousy start and commenced battling with the same old crew of 30-something dudes that I always do (Matt "Paco" Pachocha, Brandon Dwight, and Ward Baker). We all seem to get older every year, but not any faster. In any case, I was having an ok race and was looking to possibly crack the top ten, when the first crash happened - on one of the only uphill sections of the entire course, when I leaned a little too far over making a turn (and still pedaling) at the crest of a tiny climb (thanks to Ken for the photo, not sure if this is when it happened, but you get the idea...) Yep, pedal in the dirt, Walt on the ground. A spectator commented that "I haven't seen anyone do THAT yet!" Thanks. Sigh.

Not a problem, I only lost one place, and the gap I had put into Ward was, well, totally gone. Final lap rolled around and I was looking to make up a few places, so I took some chances - and blew another corner. This time I fell over right next to a dirt jump that someone had been working on. Well, ok, actually I fell into the hole that they had dug out next to it. And there I stayed, clipped in, on my back, feeling sort of like an inverted turtle waving it's legs in the air.

Finally, accompanied by much laughter from all who witnessed it, a spectator helped me get up (I'm not sure how long it would have taken, otherwise!) and I finished the race having lost another place or two (I ended up 14th of 29).

So when people ask me how the race went, my standard response is now "I put on a hell of a show!" Then I hope that they don't ask for any more information...

Friday, June 10, 2011

Friday Memories - My First Ride


This story in the Daily Camera reminded me of this semi-fond childhood memory.

I was 5 or 6, had just finally learned to ride a 2-wheeled bike, and spent an entire Saturday (no joke, I am not sure I stopped for anything but lunch) riding up and down our street in front of the house. It was awesome. I remember (this is one of my earliest memories) thinking "this is like flying!"

It was so much fun that I wondered what it would be like to ride *with my eyes closed* for just a minute, just to feel the gliding sensation even better.

The next thing I knew, I was in the bed (luckily the tailgate was down) of our neighbor's ghetto-ass lowrider truck (this is New Mexico in the 80s, what can I say...) I wasn't hurt, but I was terrified, and I started sobbing uncontrollably and ran inside - where my father asked me what had happened.

I knew that there was no way this horrible tragedy could be my fault, so I said the first thing that came to mind, and a quote that Sarah still mocks me with today: "It's not fair!"

Yes, indeed. It was not fair. But that was how my life of cycling began, with an ambush by a stealth lowrider.

Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Eszter wins!

Ok, the race was, kinda, sorta, not actually sanctioned/approved/legal (no, I wasn't there). So this race report is about the post-race/post-party derby:

Hi Walt,
Figured I'd write up a race report, maybe I'd be cool enough to make
it on your blog. Maybe not. Either way, I won the SSUSA foot-down
bike derby, so I got a sweet weight belt, which apparently I now will
be needing to take to Vermont next year to defend. The complete video
of all the action can be seen here, complements of Chris' phone.

I've attached a picture of the derby-winning pony.

-E


Monday, June 06, 2011

F&*%&^!!!

Just a quick announcement - due to some projects gone awry (if you've been watching the waitlist, you know which one, probably... cough, KVA, cough) I am about a week behind schedule from where I'd like to be.

I am working as fast as I think is prudent (ie, not so fast that I screw up even more stuff) but it's likely that I won't get caught up until I get back from VT in mid-July. Just FYI. Sorry, everyone!

Friday, June 03, 2011

Now THAT is a bribe...


Thanks Joel! For the rest of you, this is the perfect way to put a smile on the face of a hopeless drun...er, I mean professional framebuilder. Happy Friday!

Of course, I am assuming it is actually tasty... have had some gnarly homebrew before. I'll give a full report after the weekend.

Sarah and I are off to Vail to watch some of our climbing acquaintances compete in the Bouldering World Cup at the Teva Mountain Games (go Carlo! Go Alex! Go Garrett! Sorry Columbia wouldn't spring for the entry fee, Nic!) and perhaps do the citizen's comp as well. No, I am not planning to race the MTB race - the course is really lame this year (not the fault of the organizers, there is too much snow to really go up on the mountain at all) and I'm not motivated. We may ride downvalley where things are drier, though.

Thursday, June 02, 2011

Waltworks on the Coconino...


No, I'm not talking about some kind of disturbing bike porn involving me and Garro. You wish!

I'm talking about Kimberly and Aaron riding the Coconino bike-packing style on their WW bikes. Here's a shot of them all loaded up, courtesy of Kimberly, who happens to run the very cool Simple Hostel in Salida. Once the snow melts, head down for a day on the Monarch Crest trail and stay the night!