Herro bad motherfucker, how are you today?

Posted on December 3, 2009 -- Edit Post
Filed Under Bike Kwak, Bikes | Leave a Comment

Nokian Gazza Extreme 294 - 29er x 2.1 inch - jesus rolling these things on my Karate Monkey is like laying down tank track.

Nokian Gazza Extreme 294 - 29er x 2.1 inch - jesus rolling these things on my Karate Monkey is like laying down tank track.

Last winter I had the Long Haul Trucker with 26 inch wheels.  When it snowed, we all ordered studded tires – and then UPS got stuck in the ice and snow.  Once it melted, we got our tires.  Of course by then, we didn’t need them.  Well, I sold the Long Haul Trucker and now I have the Karate Monkey with it’s FAR larger 29er wheels.  The thing is, there’s only one company making studded 29er tires – Nokian.  I have no idea why only one company is making one brand of studded 29er tire, seems silly to me but this is the reality.  So I splurged and got them before the snow and ice hit this year.  Crazy, I know!  This of course guarantees we won’t see snow and ice for another 7 years in Seattle.  Whatever, it’s a price I’m willing to pay.

Nokian recommends you put about 30~ miles on pavement to fully seat the studs before using full time.  So on tonights .83 ride, it’s on.  I’m sure these things are heavenly in snow and ice – but on pavement, these things are going to kick my ass.  I forsee a slow painful ride tonight.

Onward!

Update: Okay, you know what, it wasn’t that bad.  Kept up with the ride just fine, many times leading it.  Loud as hell and pretty heavy, thing is once you get them rotating, watch out!  First 200 meters or so my tires would throw little sparks – kinda cool – carbide studs are gnarly.  Sean borrowed my bike at Westlake Center and ate it on the bricks eventually in a spectacular wash of sparks, reinforcing the cautionary tales I’d already heard about riding them on hard surface – gotta be careful cornering.  But I was fine.  I’m a fan of learning from other peoples mistakes, lol.  I rode it again last night on the monthly Dead Baby ride all the way to Georgetown.  It’s a fun bike.  I’ll post pictures in my next post.

Endless Summer

Posted on November 30, 2009 -- Edit Post
Filed Under Bike Kwak, Bikes | Leave a Comment

Photo by Andre Ball

Photo by Andre Ball

http://www.ecovelo.info/2009/11/24/andre-balls-endless-summer-entry/

This is us (.83) on our way to our annual camping trip, Ben Country 4.0, riding the dykes along Whidbey Island.  Andre took the pic and has entered it into the Endless Summer photo contest on the ecovelo blog.  Good luck Andre.

DIY Bike Lanes

Posted on September 18, 2009 -- Edit Post
Filed Under Bike Kwak, Bikes | Leave a Comment

I’m not making a statement one way or the other about they’re doing here.  But the article is interesting and I didn’t want to lose it and am a little sick of looking at my last crappy post on here.  I need to unstick myself and get to blogging again.

http://artoftheprank.com/2009/07/17/diy-bike-lanes/

Onward.

Packing list…

Posted on July 2, 2009 -- Edit Post
Filed Under Bike Kwak, Bikes, Camping | Leave a Comment

This is more or less what I always pack when I go out.  It all fits in one pannier with a little room to spare with exception of the bedroll which gets strapped under my handlebars.

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Starting from the top

Not pictured

Off picture – Scott needs to take out his recycling.  Oh how embarassing.

Onward!

Herro Mister Karate Monkey

Posted on May 6, 2009 -- Edit Post
Filed Under Bike Kwak, Bikes | 2 Comments

Pictures worth a thousand words.  It now has gears (3×9).  And disc brakes.  And h-bars.  Wheels custom built by Niki at Mobius cycle – Surly hubs, three cross double butted spokes, DT Swiss rims.  Easily one of the most comfortable bikes I own.  Rolling on 2.35 inch Schwalbe Big Apples.  Never had a 29er before – should be fun.  Click the pic for the full gallery.

Surly Karate Monkey

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Okay seriously – I’m done buying bikes.  This is number 4, and 3 of them are Surlys.  Heh. Going camping weekend after this one – will probably bring this.  Sheldon Brown said the Karate Monkey was the most versatile bike he’d ever seen.  I believe it.

My stable now looks like this:

  1. Fast Bike – LeMond
  2. Daily Bike – Surly Pacer
  3. Haulin Stuff Long Distances Bike – Surly Long Haul Trucker
  4. 29er Mountain Bike – Surly Karate Monkey

I’m pleased.
In other news, I rode to work today.  Not such a big deal, but feels like there are a lot of reasons to not ride and I seem to be taking them lately.  It’s cold, it’s wet, I’m late, I don’t want to be sweaty at work today, I need to pick up groceries, I just don’t feel like it, I’m tired, the bus will be here in a second…  I mean, the truth is there are a thousand reasons not to ride.  There are ALWAYS a thousand reasons not to ride.  Everyone else uses those excuses not to ride.  I LIKE to ride – it’s easy to be lazy though.  I guess that’s my main point.  So I rode in today even though it was cold and raining and felt better for doing it.  I seriously need to get back to doing it 5 days a week and not like 2 days a week.  It’s not as if I don’t like it loads and loads.  I totally do.  I’m just being lazy and need to get over it.

Anyhow – riding bikes.  Blah blah blah.  Do it more.

Onward.

Stolen Bikes

Posted on April 29, 2009 -- Edit Post
Filed Under Bike Kwak, Bikes, Theft | 1 Comment

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Not mine but a friends.  54 Green Surly Long Haul Trucker – yes exactly the same model and size as mine.  Black fenders and a black rack, decals scribbled off.  Stolen a month and a half ago.  Two days ago I was sitting at Pazzos Pizza and watched this guy roll by on the sidewalk on it.  He’d attached a black front basket to it.  Older black guy, 45-55 years with long dreads and a wide brimmed straw hat.  I walked over to him with my camera phone and was like – hey man I like your bike.  He says, yeah people like this old thing.  I say, that’s funny because that’s not an old bike.  Will you sell it to me?  I’ll give you $300 for it – and he rode off South on Eastlake.  All I could do was get a picture of the saddle – which was uniquely Brandons and by the time my shitty camera phone cycled around all I got was a bad bottom half picture.  But from the pic Brandon was able to identify the bike positively.  Yesterday the bike was spotted again near Westlake Center.

I don’t get the feeling that this was the guy who stole the bike to be honest, but if I’d been able to positively ident the bike on the spot I’d have been more forceful.  Later Brandon was able to positively ident the bike as his from the photos.

So I guess call me if you see it – or call Brandon.

Me: 206 412 3055 – cell
Brandon: 206 992 7567 – cell

This weekend – Ben Country Bike Camping!

Onward

Bikes – the ongoing saga

Posted on April 14, 2009 -- Edit Post
Filed Under Bike Kwak, Bikes, Mechanical | 3 Comments

You may not believe me, but I don’t like change. No no no – it’s true! I don’t really like changing something up for the sake of changing it up. Almost nothing is harder for me to do then to take a perfectly functioning bicycle and tear it down.

In my perfect world, well maintained bikes are perfect forever – more or less. Parts are made of quality components with care and precision and never wear out or fail, tires go flat only on sunny days next to park benches just a block from the LBS when you have nowhere to be, and parts and components are cheap and plentiful and on the shelf.

The reality is, even good components wear out or fail, your tire is going to go flat at the worst possible moment in the most horrid of conditions, the LBS might be a block away but it’s closed, you’re late for work, and components are – if you actually find what you’re looking for at your LBS and not settling for something that “will probably work fine anyhow” – if your LBS has the actual parts you’re looking for, they’re also going to be expensive because the sad fact is there is little or no margin in the bicycle industry. AND, it turns out, all bikes are not suited for all purposes.

And see, this is what catches me, every time. I’m riding this bike and some days I say to myself – this is the perfect bike for me. And other days I’m doing something different and say to myself this is pretty alright but you know what would be better if this bike did this this and this, OR (my achilles heel) if I simply had another bike that did these things.

On that note – the secrets out. I bought a 29er. I know I know. Just shaddap already. I know I just bought the LeMond. AND… it’s another Surly, a Karate Monkey!!!. The price was right (Craigslist used bike), the bike is fun, and I’ve never had a mountain bike but this winter… yeah I dunno. I mean over time I was able to reconfigure the Bicycle Eater to handle winter duties (mountain bars, knobby or studded snow tires, shifter/brake recombo, etc) but it was expensive and time consuming to do the cutover, it’s a hassle, and ultimately it’s not the best way to conquer the problem of off-roading or serious winter riding, 26×2.1 inch wheels or not.

So, this brings my stable to 4 (running) bikes. And 3 of them are in dissarray and need finishing.

The Fast Bike – 1999 LeMond Buenos Airies (steel)1999 Lemond Buenos Aires This bike is perfect, the stem is just too long at 120mm. I have finally hunted down a 100 and 110mm Cinelli XA stem and need to replace it. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal but it turns out that in order to swap the stem, I have to totally unwrap and uncable one half of the bars and thread the bar out through it. I haven’t done it yet because it’s just a hassle.
The All Day Bike – 2009 Surly PacerSurly Pacer She’s done. she’s perfect. I’d like to put some cross-top interrupter brake levers on her, but she’s rolling without them right now just fine. This is a great bike, easily the smoothest bike I’ve ever ridden.
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The Touring Bike – 2008 Surly Long Haul Trucker

Long Haul Trucker Motherfucker
Bicycle Eater

 Oh boy. A good solid touring rig – and I had to rip it all out if I had any desire to rider in in the ice and snow. But now the winter is gone – I’ve taken the H-bars off and am putting a set of polished Midge bars on it. I’m excited to get this bike back into touring shape. Right now she’s waiting on a new set of brake levers. Those Midge bars are so incredibly comfortable. Boy. I bought them for the Monkey below because they’re billeted as “mountain drops” – but truth is they’re too narrow for my mountain bike tastes, but just right for touring bike duty..
The 29er Mountain Bike – Surly Karate Monkey Surly Karate Monkey She’s a single speed 29′er in a city filled with hills. This is my current project bike. I’m turning her into a 1×9 initially, but might eventually go 2×9. We’ll see. I’m building a new set of wheels and switching from V-Brakes to Disc brakes. I took the H-bars from the Bicycle Eater above and put them on – totally rad.Sheldon Brown claimed this is the most versatile bike ever made – I’d agree if it had bosses for racks. I might braze a few on myself if I get around to it.Other cool things – you can put a Pugsley fork on it and use an Endomorph tire on it. Come winter – this will rule.

So, yeah. Bikes bikes bikes! This weekend a pile of us are going to Portland for Filmed By Bike, a bicycle film festival lasting I guess 2 nights or something. I dunno, it’s going to be a hoot. Andy is putting some of us up in his house, and most of us are taking the train down. Much fun to be had.

Anyhow, there is work to be done so will leave now. Hadn’t updated in awhile and figured I’d put something together.

Onward.

Of Children and Kings…

Posted on March 21, 2009 -- Edit Post
Filed Under Bike Kwak, Bikes, Misc | 1 Comment

Chris Nygaard recently had two children. Both took about 9 months in the hopper. Both have been the result of profound respect and affection. Both of them we adore, admire, and are vaguely frightened of.

Both are utterly metal.

Incidentally, both will also bear the weight of nations, possibly be the conqueror of mankind, and eventually also carry up to 6 water bottles.

The first I am referring to of course is his Salsa Fargo. Jesus christ. Let me post a few pictures about it first.

FLICKR- Highly recommended because he has all kinds of notes and stuff in here.

This is where it all started:

S1053558 by Seditious Canary.

Before he even assembled it he sent it off to have S&S couplers installed

I broke my Fargo by Seditious Canary.

Salsa Fargo with S&S Couplers by Seditious Canary.

Then had the thing powder coated

Salsa Fargo Frameset with S&S Couplers by Seditious Canary.

S1054507 by Seditious Canary.

S1054517 by Seditious Canary.

S1054532 by Seditious Canary.

And let me be clear here. When I say he powder coated it – he powder coated EVERYTHING. Including the steerer tube and head spacer. The result of which was a striking bit of detail that – after many incredulous looks at one another upon hearing his crazy plan, actually looks sexy as hell. And all he had to do was, using a high precision lathe and trained machinist, bore out his Chris King headset to make allowance for the extra .002 inch the powder coating added to the diameter of the steerer tube! What can I say – the man had a vision, and though I can’t say I’d have done it – boy does it look nice. I think it paid off.

Fargo Stem, Spacer, Headset, and Fork (4/365) by Seditious Canary.

Phil Wood hub in the rear, Schmidt dynamo hub up front, disc brakes…

S1053756 by Seditious Canary.

How I Spent My Weekend (6/365) by Seditious Canary.

Disc Brake Fender Install by Seditious Canary.

(specially bent fender joists to accommodate the disc brakes…)

Ride Sequence is Go for Ride (9/365) by Seditious Canary.

The result of which is this enormous beautiful mutant bike. It’s genuinely hard to gauge size here, but the thing is huge. I’m 5’10′ and standing beside it his handlebars almost hit me in the throat. Those are 700×50 Schwalbes. With his knobbies Chris said he can stand beside it and his knuckles rest on top of the tire – and he’s a bit over 6 feet tall. And it’s not done! He has a front porteur rack he’s building for it by hand, the Tubus Logo rack isn’t mounted, and he’s got some sort of mega hella burn your retinas out channeling the depths of the sun headlights to attach to it still (to be powered by that front dynamo hub). Also not pictured are the full fenders, flask mount, or the bottle opener he has attached. There’s more but hell, I can’t keep up.

From his flickr page though -

Frame: Salsa Fargo 20″
Fork: Salsa Fargo
Headset: King NoThreadSet 1.125″
Headset Spacers: Thin Walled 6061 Aluminum 1.125″ x 88mm
Shift Levers: SRAM X-9
Brakes and Levers: Hayes El Camino
Front Derailuer: Shimano XT Topswing
Rear Derailuer: SRAM X-9 Long cage
Cranks: Truvativ Stylo OCT 3.3 175mm
Chain Rings: SRAM 44/32/22
Bottom Bracket: Truvativ GXP Giga X Pipe Team
Cassette: SRAM PG-990 11-32t
Chain: SRAM PC-991 CrossStep 9-speed
Pedals: Shimano Deore PD-M540
Front Hub: Schmidt Dynamo SON 28 Disc 36 hole
Rear Hub: Phil Wood Mountain Disc – SLR 36 hole
Rims: Velocity Blunt 29′er Disc
Spokes: Phil Wood Butted
Nipples: DT Standard Aluminium 2.0mm x 12mm
Rim Strip: Velocity Veloplugs
Tyres: Schwalbe Marathon Supreme 700x50mm
Tubes: Schwalbe Extra Light 140G 40-622/60-622
Quick Release: PitLock front and rear
Stem: Thomson X4 Mountain 1.125″ x 10° x 120mm
Handlebars: Truvativ Stylo World Chamption Flat bar 31.8mm x 5°
Grips: Salsa Pepperjacks Mountain
Seatpost: Thomson Elite 27.2mm x 410mm
Saddle: Brooks Team Professional Titanium
Seatpost Clamp: Salsa Lip Lock
Headlight: Schmidt Edelux
Taillight: B&M 4D Lite Plus
Fenders: SKS Chromoplastic 65mm
Bottle Opener: Ahrens Bicycles Wisecracker 27.2mm
Rear Rack: Tubus Logo
Bell: Mirrycle Incredibell

Do you see that? HE HAS SPECS FOR HIS FUCKING BELL.

I love this man.

The second child I speak of is no less miraculous, frightening, or beautiful. Ender of men, breaker of hearts, warrior poet child king, future bicycle jerk and burner of palates – At 4:18, on March 20th, she, Tomyris Una Huff Nygaard, was born weighting 7 pounds and 6.5 ounces, and 21 inches.

IMGP0769 by Seditious Canary.

Uhhh… Tomyris?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomyris

Killed Cyrus the Great after defeating him twice in battle, cut off he head, dunked it in a bucket of blood, asked if that was enough blood for him (1), and drank wine out of his skull for the rest of her life.

1: Cyrus gave a pompous speech about how a river of blood would not slake his thirst for Tomyris’ land in the lead up to the second battle.

Ooooohhhhh! THAT Tomyris!?!?!

Metal I tell you. Metal.

Congrats to Chris and Jenn, and welcome to this wonderful and terrible world Tomyris.

Onward

1999 LeMond Buenos Aires

Posted on March 17, 2009 -- Edit Post
Filed Under Bike Kwak, Bikes, Mechanical | 9 Comments

I have problems. I really do.

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From Bikepedia

Weight: 20lbs.  It’s all stock. 1999 LeMond Buenos Aires. Reynolds 853 Steel. Complete Shimano 105 grouppo (Why do they call it a grouppo? I dunno). The link says this came stock with a carbon fork but if it is I can’t see it under the paint – and I’d bet it was original. All I can say for certain is it does feel good.  The front crank is a triple – 52/42/30 and so are the STI shifters.

Wheels could use a rebuild but are not bad.  Back axle needs some work – not the end of the world. Frame’s scratched in a few places – but it’s not awful. The STI shifters work fine but have taken a beating. No dents – frame is straight. Cockpit needs some adjustment to fit me better, but overall this is a beautiful bike and I’m very happy with it. I see much potential.

Found it on Craigslist for a very reasonable price.

Because really, that’s what I needed. Another bike. Dammit.

It’s a damn sickness I tell you

Posted on January 13, 2009 -- Edit Post
Filed Under Bike Kwak, Bikes | 4 Comments

Look mom, Drops!

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The drops feel much much better on it – and I hate drops, so what’s that tell you about that flatbar – eesh. I was also having problems with the transmission using the downtube shifters, but now that I’m using the more modern and tighter bar-end shifters, that transmission is 100% rock solid. 3×10 Dura Ace ftw! The configuration feels good, but hoods don’t provide one with a lot of mechanical advantage on those brakes, highlighting what Evil Mike was saying last week about the benefits of single-pivot vs double-pivot brakes. So I guess next paycheck I’ll cut over to double-pivot brakes. So be it. Brakes are always a good investment.

The basket came – still need fenders. There’s talk of a camping trip out to Neah Bay that I’m very excited about. Another Suiattle type road washout for 113 miles along the coast apparently. Boy that’d be excellent.

I think that’s about it. Average speed to work this morning was 16.5mph. Average. Max speed was 25.4mph. This bike is fast fast fast to ride – a real pleasure.

Back to the grind.

Onward.

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