Yehuda Moon

I was recently introduced to this comic, and I'm sure that it will cost my employer a few dollars a week.

Granted there are some bicycle-political issues addressed in the comic so if you think that your opinions are overwhelmingly important, don't blame me if you don't like this. I don't agree with everything (Yehuda doesn't wear a helmet, for example) but that doesn't mean I don't love the strip.

You should really start from the beginning:
http://www.yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2008-01-22

Share your favorites! Also check out the store where you can buy some cool Yehuda stuff.

defeat

I have to admit it.

I don't know if anybody actually reads this, let alone reads the comments, but there has been some discussion about whether or not the Wicked Witch of the West rides a bicycle in the Wizard of Oz. My contention was that only the Kansas counterpart rides a bike, while 'the brother in law' (yes, he is my brother-in-law) argued that the witch rode a bike.

Well.


Really this is the transition between the kansas counterpart riding a bike and the witch flying a broom - I still contend that while IN Oz, she never rides a bike. But credit to my adversary for being bored at work and finding this.

Steel is happiness

There's been a recent resurgence in popularity of steel bikes. A couple of manufacturers are doing a stellar job with some frames/bikes and I thought I'd highlight a few of them.

Since everybody knows I love Surly, we'll leave them out for today.

First up is Raleigh. I've mentioned that a few weeks ago I discovered the Sojourn and was quite taken by it on paper. When looking at it, we also discovered the One-Way, which is a beautiful bike:


Single speed, stock fenders, Brooks B17, leather bar wraps, awesome British green, this bike looks better in person. If you're looking for a single speed townie, this is a great bike. It has a small chainring guard as well. If this had an 8spd internal hub, it would be a real contender for a great commuter (at least for me). A single speed just isn't a practical option for my commute in south Denver, but if you were downtown or had a shorter ride, I would take a real look. Downside is that because of the finishes, it's a little more pricey than a standard single speed and I imagine this would be a thief magnet given its good looks.

For 2009 Raleigh has put together the Clubman, which is a pretty standard, relaxed geometry road bike. It's pretty nice looking. It seems that the folks at Raleigh have some Brooks-love going on:


Unfortunately for me, not a lot of Raleigh dealers around town. Honestly, in the burbs there aren't a lot of shops catering to city/commuter bikes. I miss being close to Campus Cycles as they were big into utility bikes, actually stocked a bike built up with an Xtracycle.


Ok I'm out of time but more dealers will be coming!

Surly love

Ok, well the Long Haul Trucker has been on three commutes (Thursday, Friday, today), two of which were with my garment bag pannier and this morning just me. So far it has been great to say the least. The ride is smooth, silky smooth. The combination of great steel, a super stretched out wheelbase and 38mm tires makes rough roads a problem of the past.

I feel like she (by the way, she needs a name) is just begging to be loaded down. The center of gravity is crazy low and the chainstays seem to be a mile long. Several times on my commute I had to double check and make sure my bag was still there. Heel strike is a non-issue even though my bag is not at all small.

I am really growing to like the bar end shifters. At first I was concerned about having the stock triple and cross chaining but the front shifter being friction allows for perfect alignment when needed. I've been riding primarily in the middle ring. I rode a little in the big ring but to be honest, I'm not in that big of a hurry to get to the office. The granny will be wholly unnecessary until some seriously loaded touring comes in to play.

I'm adjusting to the geometry. Being more upright is a little akward for me and sometimes I feel like I'm the wicked witch of the east out there. With some help from the brother in law I moved the stem down one spacer this afternoon so I'll try that for a few days and see what I think. I'm guessing I'll be significantly more comfortable.

The frame is surprisingly responsive. I thought it would be a little sluggish, but I've found that I can power up a hill and get a good push from a red light when necessary, which has been nice.

Obviously I have a lot of good things to say. I imagine in a few weeks I might have some real criticism. Maybe.

It's here!!!!

This afternoon I got the call from Alpha Bicycle that the Long Haul Trucker had arrived and was built up waiting for me! I didn't think I would be able to get it today but the wife was down on the south side of town and picked me up the office and we stopped by and picked her up!

Sorry about just the one picture but batteries in the camera died. Alpha put on the fenders when they built her up but I swapped over my pedals and the rear rack from the current commuter.

After getting her all ready I went for a ride, just a couple of miles. Initial thoughts:

1) This is the most comfortable bike ever. I knew this, but it is so great. Soaks up every bump, smooth as silk.
2) Not sure about the stem/bar height. It's a touch high. I'll be swinging by the shop Saturday to talk with them about swapping out the stem or removing one or two of the stock spacers in there.
3) I'm really glad I went with the 58 and not the 56. Because of the riser stem and the more upright geometry, the cockpit is smaller than I am used to. The 56 would have been uncomfortable for me.

I'm excited to load her up in the morning and see how she does! I'll take more pictures this weekend.

New Masi 2009's

Masi has some nice looking bikes coming out:

http://commutebybike.com/2008/08/20/2009-masi-bikes-commuter-preview/

I particularly like these two:

Props to them for making the Soulville a more practical commuter. This is a great short-trip bike, in my opinion. Of course I'm partial to drop bars, but this is nice looking nonetheless.

And who doesn't love a nicely put together tourer?

Bike Co-Op

Well there's car sharing (which is a great idea, and I wish there was more of in Denver), and now bike sharing! A group in Vancouver, BC is working on establishing a Cargo-bike co-op, which is a neat idea.

Personally, I think I am maxed out at 4 bikes (as in, I don't see my wife allowing there to be more than that at the moment), but having a cargo bike to share would be convenient. I'm not about to by a Ute or an xtra-cycle for everyday use, but it would certainly have its useful moments.

http://www.cargobikecoop.org/

I like bikes

So does this guy:

http://bicycledesign.blogspot.com/

And I like that he likes bikes a lot.

How I spent the weekend

Since we moved and became a 1-car family with a 2-car garage, I've been talking about building a very functional bike rack for the garage. Since we had to go to Home Depot yesterday morning to get some downspouts b/c it was pouring, I searched through the scraps bin. Each piece is only $0.51! So for about $6 I got plenty to at least get me started.

Before pictures, know that my goal was to 1) organize the bikes that have been littering the garage while 2) having a setup that makes it easy to load up the commuter while in-rack. So basically the commuter bikes needed to be front wheel-in and with enough room to strap up the panniers.

Here's some pictures:

Before:

Step 1:


Step 2:


All Loaded in!:

Well after step 2 I realized that I had measured wrong and I wasn't going to have room for 5 bikes. Right now one steed is with a friend so there are only 4 in the garage. The roadies fit in nicely together with one front-end in and one back-end in.

Other items of note: 1) our garage slopes back towards the garage door (which is good!) but meant I needed to put a block down to prevent roll-aways. Thanks, rubber cement. 2) Measuring for wheel size was important - the gap for the ATB is a little bit big, but it works. The others fit nice and snug.

Overall very excited!

Bikes and the DNC

Everybody in town has an opinion about the DNC. I have a co-worker who got 'credentials' to go see Obama at Invesco and can't stop talking about it, which is cool for her.

Personally my opinion is that I'll be happy to stay south of Belleview for about a week. Crowds aren't my thing.

Regardless of your political affiliation, this is awesome:

http://www.freewheelinwaytogo.com/about.aspx


Humana and BikesBelong have teamed up to provide bike sharing of 1,000 bikes downtown during the DNC. A credit card is required but will not be charged (they just want the bikes returned). At worst, this is a great step forward for cycling in the greater Denver area. At best, Freewheelin will stay in town and people will be happy to leave their cars at home and use a bike to run errands downtown.

Thanks to BikesBelong and all partners in the project for bringing bike commuting/utility bikes to the forefront at the DNC!

What I learned in the rain

Last night at about 2:30 I woke up to the sound of a HUGE storm - a welcome sound since we have gotten basically no rain all summer. However, at 6am when I got up, I realized 2 things. First - it is still raining. Second - the only bike I have with fenders right now is the ice bike which needs work and has no handlebar grips. Also, since we moved I have no clue where any of my cold-weather stuff is (it's still August, give me a break).
After a quick internal debate I decided to ride my regular road commuter without fenders and suck it up. Threw on my hi-vis rain jacket, gloves, went for it. Really it wasn't too bad except my hands were quite cold (need water-resistant gloves) and my feet were soaked, which I expected.
So to what I learned:
1) Fenders are a must. I knew this, but now I KNOW it.
2) I need some new gear for bad weather. Which leads to another update.

After much debate, research, consulting with a very experienced commuter/tourer (thanks Chuck!), this morning I asked Alpha to order a 58cm Long Haul Trucker for me. I am EXCITED ABOUT THIS BIKE. I went with the olive green, stock build out. Gonna add some fenders (probably just Freddy's) and move my rack over from my current commuter. Steve @ Alpha (who is a good guy, for the record) said he expects it to be in Thursday so I should be able to pick it up next weekend.

So I put in a Nashbar order too. Got:
1) Bar tape for the wife since she wrecked last weekend and is in need. Went with Blue.
2) Platforms and PowerGrips for the ice bike. Decided that this year riding in skate-style SPDs isnt going to cut it for me
3) Blackburn cheapo bottle cages for the LHT in silver
4) grips for the ice bike so I have an active backup.

Thanks to the Bikeforums.net community for a lot of fast, solid feedback about the LHT. Nobody could give me a good reason to buy another bike except that the LHT is heavy...well I'm not going to race the thing. Have a bike for that.

I've really re-discovered the joy of commuting lately. I enjoy just riding so much more than dual-mode commuting. Fighting for a spot on the train got pretty old. However, I am glad that on terribly rainy afternoons without fenders I can cut my commute in half by jumping on the train. Guess what - no other bike commuters on the train today. Can't imagine why.

I think that taking my computer off of my bike late last year (ok, I wrecked and lost it and didn't replace it) was a great decision. Riding is more fun when I just enjoy it and don't worry about my miles/moving average.

Can't wait to go out for a ride with the wife on my new LHT next weekend!!!

Bikes update

Well I rode the Sojourn. First, let me say that only 1 Raleigh dealer in the front range area even had one in stock. Evidently Raleigh is about to release the '09 lines and isn't stocking any new bikes. The bike the shop had was a bit small for me (a 57) and this wasn't super comfortable.

It was a nicely put together bike. The WTB Mountain drops are different, for sure. Kinda feels like you're driving a semi with your arms so far apart. Nice fenders, nice rack, nice disc brakes. Unfortunately they didn't have anything that I could realistically buy. I asked the owner to look around for me and see if he could find a 59 - that's when I found out that Raleigh is actually asking their retailers to send the '08s back. Guess they are ready to markup the price 20%.

Since we were actually looking for a bike for my dad, we went to a few other shops. Full Cycle in Fort Collins had a Surly Long Haul Trucker built up that we made my dad ride. He loved it so much that I got on it - again it was a touch small (a 56 but a big 56) but what a ride! I've been on a decent amount of bikes, not a ton but I mean I own 4 so I've been on a few. This was a comfortable ride.

So much so that I am now in pursuit of a LHT. Now that Surly is actually selling fully built out bikes, I am going to check out Alpha Bicycle and see if they have one built up. I do want to replace the stock canti's with discs so we'll see what they have to say about that. I checked eBay and it looks like I can get some Avid BB5's for a reasonable price.

Stay tuned....

commuter bikes

A few weeks ago the wife and I went for a ride with my sister and brother in law. Which pretty much means I went for a ride with my brother in law. We were chatting (as I usually am) about bicycle commuting and I shared with him what I thought would be the ideal commuter bike.

It would have:
1) Disc Brakes. Love them or hate them, they work when it's raining. That's enough for me. Plus my loaded-down commuter doesn't stop on a dime with my linear pull brakes.
2) Built in quality fenders. For obvious reasons. I never could get fenders on my commuter (tire size + short pull brakes) so if it's nasty out I have to ride the beater.
3) Racks, or at least eyelets for racks and fenders. Doubling up on an eyelet sucks. Just put 2 on there.
4) Drop bars. Just my preference. I know a lot of 'commuter' bikes get sold with flat bars for people who aren't used to riding road bikes but that is where I got started, so I prefer them.
5) Bar ends. I prefer friction shifters on my commuter. Right now I have down-tube shifters, and would prefer bar ends. Again, mostly a preference.

Guess what I found?



Behold: The 2008 Raleigh Sojourn.

Not only is this bike everything I had wanted in a commuter (technically it's a tourer but that is ok by me), it also has a B17 and leather-wrapped bars. And not just drops, WTB mountain drops.

This bike is amazing. Today, I'm going to go look at it!