maintenance versus infrastructure

Just a placeholder for more on this subject, generally speaking.

I see there is a huge gap in funding (obviously) for new projects for trails, bike lanes, etc. But what affects me more on a routine basis are existing infrastructure that isn't properly swept (what good is a bike lane or wide road lane if the shoulder side has piled up sand and debris?) or markings not properly renewed (is this a striped bike lane, shoulder, parking strip..?)

More to come (I hope) just a point of irritation for me.

Bikes Belong

(I like to highlight the work of good folks doing good things for cycling. The photo above is the Bikes Belong board from the BB website.)

Bikes Belong's motto: "Connecting communities, one bike project at a time"

The Bikes Belong organization's grant program's goal is to put more people on bicycles more often by funding important and influential projects that leverage federal funding and build momentum for bicycling in communities across the U.S.

Funded projects include bike paths and rail trails, as well as mountain bike trails, bike parks, BMX facilities, and large-scale bicycle advocacy initiatives. Current grants are displayed on their map.

Since 1999, Bikes Belong has awarded over 200 grants to municipalities and grassroots groups in 46 states and the District of Columbia, investing nearly $2 million in community bicycling projects and leveraging federal, state, and private funding. Bikes Belong is a CO-based organization sponsored by the U.S. bicycle industry with nearly 400 members who are bicycle suppliers and retailers.

another DIY project - reflective buddy (mud) flaps

This is something I'm still working on using reflective material and some repurposed flexible plastic material (was from a cover of a performated notebook).



Reflective bicycle mudflaps to keep rain and debris off your shoes and socks - and friend riding behind you. Hence the name, buddy flaps.

These are about 3-4 times wider and twice as long as what the fenders come with (if they have them at all) like on the Allez pictured below.

God, I love zip ties.

I love bikes... but I really have a thing for zip ties.

I picked up this chro-mo steel framed MOTIV brand (a Costco special) mountain bike really cheaply recently. It was a clean "garage queen" but lacked a saddle, seat post, and the shifters (shift+brake combo) were haywire like the ratcheting mechanism went afoul (common for a low end thumb shifter I've experienced). It has virtually brand new Tioga city tires too (though on the outset I was hoping to have a slightly more offroadable bike) and I intended to build it up for an in-town rider that I can leave chained up anywhere without too much worry about it being stolen or stripped.

I spent less than an hour swapping out the shifter+brake combo for an old school thumb shift and canti brake levers (somewhere I got these and had them lingering in a box of parts for just this type of project) and I found a bargain bin used seat at Bike Works ($5). The longest part of this work was getting off the handle grips without tearing the rubber. I also found a seatpost on e-Bay for $10 shipped. It should be here in a week or so, but I was eager to test ride the bike today, now that I'd fixed the gear issues.

I developed a 4 zip tie temporary fix for the lack of a seat post.

Here is the bike.


How the seat sits.


(Note to tinkerers: see the small yellow part on the seat? It's a small tear and I am wondering what - other than electrical tape - can I use to repair it?)

Underside of seat.


I wouldn't ride this for months like this - and I didn't even really sit on the seat while riding it through town as the height was way too low for me. I just wanted something there in the event I did need to sit for a moment.

I think Matt at Bike Hacks would love my hack.

winter projects x 2 (Nate's tinkering du jour)

Since it has gotten colder and darker, and I have not been riding as much as I was, say in July, I have decided to embark on an upgrade of my so-called "rain bike" my older purple mid-1990s Cannondale pictured below.



I've used it for training rides, commuting, recreational rides and such. I've gone back and forth between having road pedals (which require the speacial shoes with cleats) and plain ol' platform pedals (which you could pedal in flip flops if you dared). It has a 21-speed Shimano RSX drivetrain, Mavic rims laced to Shimano hubs, RSX brakeset, Specialized Mondo tires, and improvised fenders and a rear rack. I added also a cycling computer, lights, and a bell. It is about as close to a multi-purpose vehicle as you can find and still be on 700x23c smooth tires.

Since I recently needed to replace bar tape, I decided it would be a good time to consider other upgrades. It started with buying a carbon fork to replace the stock aluminum Cannondale fork - all aluminum is very, very "buzzy" on even the smoothest of pavements and leads to fatigue fairly quickly. The whole project spiraled from there. See a midway strip-down photo below and a bare frameset shot below that.





My kitchen/workshop where I cleaned parts taken off of the Cannondale. Note the coffee pot - I was doing this after 10 o'clock at night, probably closer to midnight.



Once I stripped and cleaned the parts off of the Cannondale (I have a whole newer Shimano compact double 105 drivetrain, brakeset, etc. to put onto the Cannondale) I checked them over and they all look good still. I decided that it'd be a shame to toss them in a box and forget about them. Also, once the Cannondale is re-assembled, would I really want to continue to subject it to rain and grime?

I traveled to a local bicycle recyclers and found a suitable frame to put the Cannondale donor's parts on. The frame is a 1970s Raleigh Super Course II (made in their Carlton shop) with Reynolds 531 steel. It features pretty chromed dropouts, a paneled paint job, and just the right amount of patina without being too abused in its former owner's hands.

Here it is as I received it.



Here it is after I added a few parts to it.



I still need to find a couple of odd bits, mainly related to fitment of the newer style brakeset (need longer bolts) and the rear derailleur hanger (need an adapter of sorts to slide into the horizontal drop out). I think a place like Harris Cyclery or a local shop can help me out.

Hopefully, I keep in mind this is supposed to be the new "rain bike" when I am done!

YARN BOMB!

Mary, owner of the local art boutique/ecclectic gift shop/homemade stuff emporium known as happy delusions has a bike in her window display (my crappy cell phone pic below).



Though it was once one, it's no longer a typical run-of-the-mill Raleigh 10-speed bicycle. Now it has been "yarn bombed" by her knitting crew (a.k.a. "Stitch-n-Bitch" crew). By the time they are done, the goal is to have every speck of this bike covered with yarn.

Sure beats a toaster or tea kettle cozy, doesn't it?

Mary has a 3-speed of her own (believe it or not, she never rode a bicycle until she was an adult!?) that she's stored up above the wares in her shop.



I think it is a Raleigh as well.

What other kinds of art bikes have you seen..?

what to do with it?

I think a few weeks back I mentioned a '70's vintage very tall Japanese-made steel touring ten-speed bike I rescued from a dumpster, more or less. I've started to replace some parts and got it functional again (new tires, tubes, brake pads, cables, pedals) and have a few additional things to still do, such as bar tape. The crappy crunched up fenders are long-gone.

Before I do continue on, though, since it is way too tall for me, I'm pondering what to do with it. I have thought of scrapping the project to sell/trade the frame for something better fitted for me. I had thought of selling the whole thing, but for what I was asking (like $20 over the cost of parts) it hasn't attracted interest other than c-list spammer/scammers.

I had considered too stripping it over this winter, respraying the frame with some extra Rustoleum cans I had laying around from assorted projects (white + gray + gunmetal), and then try to offload the frame, and retain the vintage 10-speed Shimano Titlist GS drivetrain (including cool bar end shifters), 27-inch wheel set, handlebars, etc. but then try to sell the refurbished frame, maybe in the spring.

Oh well. For now, it isn't in my way... or more importantly, my wife's way!

In other news... I finally got a speedo, fenders, and some basic lights for the '94 Allez, so I hope to ride it a bit more, even though the weather is getting sucky. I am wranging with the possibility of swapping the stock alloy fork for a carbon one and at the same time, put in a new stem and handlebars and adjust the positioning of the brifters. I gotta ride it more to justify that time and expense though.

I'd love to get full fenders, with long mudflaps, like the ones sold by Velo Orange.



I suppose you're wondering why I even bother with a "junky" bike when I have a decent one or two or three to mess with instead. I couldn't tell you an answer, except to say it is a hobby that distracts me from the stress of the work week, etc.

a winter project

Here's a Japanese touring bike from the early 1970s I picked up cheap recently. A true 10-speed with bar end shifters and a full Shimano Titlist GS drivetrain. It needs virtually everything... and the frame is nothing to write home about as it has ample rust but not any dents or other damage. Perfect for a "rat bike" perhaps... it seems way too tall for me.



I bought used 27-incher tires and new gear and brake cables, I'm waiting to find the proper road bike brake pads, and then I'll see how rideable it is. I did do some work on getting the chain lubed and the freewheel spinning more freely.

Here I am buying bar tape at a Tacoma bicycle shop.

My favorite bike blog... one of them... OK, a few of them, actually.

I am really finding the BIKE HACKS blog as a daily pleasure. It has humor, helpful low budget tips, and other views of the bicycle culture in the world.

I've also visited Bike Hugger for some of the same reasons.

Lastly, I enjoy the web site for DIYers called Instructables . It allows users to share their home-built projects, anything, really, but I tend to search for bicycle-related topics. It seems there are a lot of cyclists obsessed with building cheap trailers to tow gear behind their bikes. There are also homemade lights, ways to make your bike even more visible, and other things like that.

Worth a look at these sites as the weather grows darker, colder, and wetter.

it took a cold to get me to pause to post

I think I've been going full-tilt all summer long with so many activities, as posted before, I did some camping trips this summer, toting a bicycle along whenever I could. I was a bit disappointed it looks like I won't do a charity ride this summer or a longer-distance event, however, sometimes I did get out for a 11-12 mile ride solo or with my wife... it has been that difficult to get away to cycle this summer.

Finally, a cold that hit me this week - less than a week after the kids started back to school - got me to slow down enough to write an update on what I've been doing lately bicycle-wise.

I might be considered by my friends and neighbors to be the "Harold LeMay" of bicycles. I think I have eight currently, though not all of them are keepers. The most recent purchase was a pair of Japanese Tange double-butted cro-mo steel-framed 18-speed Shogun touring bicycles, both converted to mustache style bars when new. Both were taken care of really well and ride like new.



I am planning to sell one and keep the other at this point. The springy Schwinn seats and upright position make for a very enjoyable ride on an asphalt paved trail.

Another bicycle I've been toying with is a Schwinn BMX bike pulled together from parts handed down from a friend of mine. Originally, I thought this'd be the bike to tote along to the camp grounds, but that idea was tossed in favor of my mountain bicycle, since we'd be riding greater distances.



I've fooled around on this bike with the kids on their bikes but I have a feeling I'll eventually sell this too. For me it's just a curiousity. Watching MTV's show SCARRED has pretty much took away my interest in doing wild bicycle tricks and plywood jumps.

This'd be me on a jump... from the film Napoleon Dynamite... at about 30-something seconds into the clip.


For my birthday this year, the kids painted me a painting of these bicycles. They were inspired by another artist's work, however, I think they did a pretty good interpretation of bicycles - not bad for 5 and 6 years-old.



The week of my birthday in August, we went camping at Lake Easton in WA State. Here are a couple pics during a ride along the John Wayne Trail with me and my friend, Bill.





I'm still bicycle commuting 2-3 times a week in general and will continue to do so as long as there isn't ice in the morning. My commute might be slightly affected by a highway construction job, but I have a few work-arounds for that I've explored. Last year, I rode until December and stopped until February - using an indoor bicycle trainer during that period.

Until I post again - keep the rubber side down! :)

"nice" weather was back this weekend

I guess in the winter months, I need to define "nice" as not a rainy downpour, ice or snow on the ground. By this definition, the last couple days was "nice" though the temps were peaking in the low 40s. With adequate cold weather gear, it isn't as much an issue. I did do two rides, one being up to about nine miles of mixed flats, downhill, and uphill. I rode for about an hour on the saddle.

Of course, with the improved weather conditions, the fluid trainer I ordered arrived today. I'm sure if snow lingered longer, it would have taken a few more days. It got here pretty quick, considering I ordered it on the 26th of December.

It's a Ascent brand, pretty much as entry level as you can go. I'm not complaining though. For a list price of about $139 and discounted to just over $100 (plus I had a gift certificate to use on the purchase too) I only had to pay for tax and shipping.



I mounted a 1990s cross bike (Schwinn CrissCross) to it. It is a flat bar road bike with 700c wheels and Tioga City Slicker tires. Not dialed in completely, but it seems to do the job as a dedicated trainer bike. I used a 2x4 scrap of wood for a front wheel elevation block instead of the $24.95 rubber/plastic thingies they sell for the same purpose.

Today for an inaugural run in the garage, I went for more than 30 minutes, equipped with a bottle of water and my iPod. Time went by fast, but I may need to find an old TV and DVD player (to view training videos, like the ones by Chris Carmichael, Lance Armstrong's trainer) if I want to do longer workouts.



I didn't realize how much you can sweat doing this and I'm glad I had the water handy. I went through 24 ounces in that 30 minutes.

I dressed in cycling gear, especially the shorts. The hat was because our garage is uninsulated and I also figured it would help retain some heat and catch any sweat that would otherwise drip down. I need to find a better saddle, as the one on the bike now has absolutely no padding to speak of. Also, I may get clipless pedals for this bike too, as it felt odd to ride in street shoes after having been in SPDs for the past few months on my commuter bike.

mechanical issues

The last time I went riding on a local hard surface trail with an older Specialized Hard Rock I've been putting together, I had a rear derailleur bust off.



The derailleur snapped where it mounts to the frame. I was able to disassemble it to get it off the chain, however, as shown in the photo below, the chain was twisted (unrepairable) during the mechanical failure.



I figured I could slip the chain onto a middle chain ring and middle rear cog and limp it back to the trail head, however, with the kink in the chain, this was impossible. The chain kept shifting itself from one cog to the next until it got hung up in the spokes. If I had a chain tool with me, I could have broken the chain to remove the twisted portion... a chain tool was about the only tool I didn't have in my kit that day.

Yesterday, we went riding on the same trail, but I was on the hybrid Schwinn I was working on. The problems I experienced were generally minor: brake cable and pad adjustment. I did almost lose it when the handle bars twisted (the stem wasn't tightened enough!) but I was riding at a low speed and recovered but it could have been bad.

Lauren riding her bike.



The repair that took the longest was Rachel's 1-speed coaster brake bike - the chain was thrown off the rear cog. To make matters worse, I didn't have a wrench large enough to get her rear wheel loose so I could get just enough room to slip the chain back over the rear cog. I did have a chain tool with me, so I was able to get the chain put back on, but I had to split the chain and fix it that way. Of course, I did not have any gloves with me or hand cleaner and working on a chain was messy... so that experience kinda was not much fun. Luckily, my wife was there to assist in getting the chain back together.

Rachel back in-action.



Lessons learned:
1) bring a pair of rubber gloves in the tool kit
2) find an adequate adjustable wrench that's still small enough to fit the tool kit
3) check to make sure bolts are torqued down - espcially on "project bikes"

Status report: Magna and Schwinn

The Magna was fixed up and sold (for about $10 more than I put into it, not counting my labor... I think I was asking $30) and it is going to Burning Man this year. A snapped a photo of it propped up on the bench with newer tires, seat, brake and shift cables, etc.



The Schwinn Hybrid is mostly done and just needs some fine-tuning on the shifters. I've replaced the cables, brake levers, hand grips, front derailleur, tires, newer seat, chain ring, chain, and handle bars and stem. I am sure a few other items I've forgot. I probably have about $50 into it now (mostly used parts) plus 1-2 hours labor. I don't know if this is a sell-it or keep-it, especially so late in the riding season (some people ride in the rain around here, but many are fair-weather riders).



I got to test out the Schwinn today on a local trail. We had a few mechanical issues to resolve but I'll explain that later.

bike buckets on the bike

Here are a few photos of the bike buckets mounted to my commuter bike...