Trek 400 – Done

Posted on December 24, 2007
Filed Under Bike Kwak, Mechanical | Leave a Comment

So… its official. I’m done with The Rooster.

Before

After

Yes thats genuine electrical tape on the frame. HA. But on with the details.

Frame: 1986-1988 double-butted, lugged, cromoly steel Trek 400.

Fork & Headset: I replaced the steel fork and threaded headset with a threadless carbon fiber fork and Cane Creek S2 cartridge headset.

Stem: is nothing special – a 90mm Specialized.

Handlebar: is a Profile By Design 0 degree drop 26mm bullhorn. I used the same shifter/brake configuration I used on my Trek 7.3 with time trial brake levers, bar end shifters mounted with the help of Pauls Thumbies bracket.

Wheels: I bought from a retailer on Ebay – the pair for $175. They’re Shimano Ultegra hubs with Mavic CXP-21 rims. The deraileurs came with it are newer Shimano Deore and work just fine. Tires – 700c x23 slicks (or near-slicks). Nothing special.

The drive train is rad.

FRONT: 34/50T
The cranks are a compact Shimano Ultegra Hollowtech FC-R700 with external cartridge bottom bracket – .

REAR: 11/32T
SRAM 980 with a 9sp SRAM chain.

Brakes: Stock.
I also left the brakes that came with it. They’re not flashy but they seem to work well.

The whole bike weighs an even 21lbs and riding it feels like a ball bearing on a steel table – damn good.

Urban Camouflage

As I said, I wanted a good working bike that was un-eye catching. I suppose not detailing the goodies on a publicly viewable website would probably be a good first step, but we’ll leave that alone for now. What it does mean is I’m doing some things to ugly it up a smidge, or at least remove whatever eye catching things it may possess.

Brands and logos will be blacked out or removed if possible. The paint on the frame is flaking and dinged and will remain in the shape its in – though I might go through and spot paint the areas with bare metal with an off color. The color is off-white and somewhat dirty looking – the electrical tape covers the baby blue Trek 400 badging which I didn’t like to begin with – the electrical tape makes it look a dirtier still. I’ll paint the carbon fork a black before its all done to cover the telltale fiber weave too. I’m leaving the ugly seat post and worn seat for as long as I can stand it. I’ll probably black out the carbon creek headset logos and figure out a way to cover the ultegra logos on the wheels. I’m also swapping the quick release wheel skewers with fixed skewers and leaving the old Trek badge on the front – not because its ugly but because I like it.

Heres the velospace page on it.
http://velospace.org/node/7113

Heres my dorky image gallery:
http://blackcannon.org/gallery/v/bike/trek400-done/IMG00047.jpg.html

But here are the highlights.


Bike Stolen – heads up

Posted on December 23, 2007
Filed Under Bike Kwak, Theft | Leave a Comment

Can We Get A Witness? Bike Stolen, 8th & Pike 12.14.07

Dec. 23rd, 2007 | 05:54 pm
posted by: langston in seattlebikes

Bike:
Bianchi Axis refitted with Campy chorus, Centaur and veloce. Campy Record/veloocity fusion wheelset. FSA bars. Blue Candy C pedals.

Location:
North East corner of 8th and Pike underneath the atrium at the convention center.

Time:
6-7 PM, rush hour. There were about ~100 people standing around.

Lock:
Kryptonite New York 2000. Not Defeated.

Details:
Two men drove up in a truck, levered off the entire bike rack, threw the bike rack into the back of the pick up and drove off.

Here’s a pic. It has a Specialized Toupe saddle on it right now.

here’s where they ripped the bike rack out of the ground:

http://khyungyokpo.blogspot.com/2007/12/multimedia-message_13.html


Test Ride

Posted on December 19, 2007
Filed Under Bike Kwak | Leave a Comment

Finally finished assembling my new/old bike – at least to a point where I could give it a test ride for the first time. Only thing I’m waiting on are wheels and they’re due here on the 20th.

I gotta say – this new bike feels excellent. I’m excited all over again. I hope it doesn’t kill me. Fully geared and cabled without the new wheels – 21lbs.

I put it back on the stand and like 5 minutes later the back wheel went flat – HA. Its a sign.

Tonight I’m reading about tires and excited to get back in the saddle.

Man its been a long time now.


close!

Posted on December 17, 2007
Filed Under Bike Kwak, Mechanical | Leave a Comment

I’m just waiting on wheels now – and they shipped today!

Woot!

I’m pretty excited.


Seattle SLUT bicycle protest made Q13 news

Posted on December 13, 2007
Filed Under Bike Kwak, In-the-news, Videos | Leave a Comment

Had to pull it off my Mythtv PVR – features an interview with local .83′r Eric Stata…

Good job Eric!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFd474p5dY8&eurl=http://community.livejournal.com/seattlebikes/188526.html?view=1295214[/youtube]


SLUT protest

Posted on December 10, 2007
Filed Under Bike Kwak, Donts, Events, In-the-news | 1 Comment

On the front page of the Seatte Times is an article about the South Lake Union Trolley- aka The SLUT.

The streetcars’ classy image and comfortable handling might attract people who wouldn’t hop a bus.

The downside is they can get stuck in traffic, slowing the average speed to 9 or 10 mph. All the street activity creates occasional obstacles, in a fast-changing part of town.

During test runs, motorists would suddenly turn, switch lanes or run stop signs in front of the trains, and track grooves have pitched bicyclists onto the street.

Streetcars have stopped for parked delivery trucks that protrude into the trackway; in one case, a train tore off a truck mirror. One train had to wait when a construction lift stalled on the tracks, until workers towed it off. The line makes two tight turns at Thomas Street, making the wheels grumble as the train slows.

To improve travel time on the system, sensors were installed to give streetcars…

…the ability to stop in the event they detect t the hazards on the track and address the problems as described above? Like a car making a right turn, a pedestrian crossing the street, an automobile door opening, or a cyclist that just wrecked on the tracks in front of them?…

… priority over autos at stoplights, even at busy times on Mercer Street.

Right. Way to prioritize there Paul Allen.

South Lake Union Trolley car – heres an article about it.

http://tinyurl.com/yv6j5f

and heres the article protesting it at seattlelikesbikes.org….

http://seattlelikesbikes.org/index.php?page=events

Dear Friends,
On December 12 the S.L.U.T. begins operation, and we will be on site from 5:30-6:30pm, riding this route around Westlake Ave N, protesting the lack of consideration for Seattle cycling commuters and their safety, and asking that the Seattle Department of Transportation correct this grievous and dangerous error. click for ride materials.

As you may or may not know, the South Lake Union Trolley or S.L.U.T. is a project of Paul Allen’s Vulcan Inc., meant to connect the South Lake Union tech campus to downtown. Despite serious concerns voiced by major local cycling organizations and prior Department of Transportation experience in Portland, Seattle fast-tracked the streetcar project under pressure from Vulcan Inc., installing tracks in a configuration that is hostile to cyclists, placing tracks in the right hand lane rather than in the center lane as is common on other lines.

I’ve personally watched two people eat it. And heres a SLOG POST about another bad wreck.

…New grooves in the pavement, for the streetcar’s eminent birth, grabbed my front tire.

I hit the ground, left thigh first. The handlebars from my rapidly disintegrating bicycle jabbed powerfully into my ribcage, near to my heart. I heard a pop. I was only wearing a t-shirt, so my bare flesh met the pavement. I finally came to halt, having slid the length of a city block.

My rib was broken; my arms were shredded. My left thigh swelled to fill my normally baggy pants. You can bleed a fifth of your blood into the thigh—creating a trapped lake that slowly crushes into oblivion the nerves and eventually the muscles of the leg. It’s what almost happened to me; only aggressive icing and elevation saved me from needing emergency surgery.

The SLUT aggravates me to no end. I’m a big fan of public transportation – but this was negligent on some very important fronts. In so many ways this feels like another monorail. I don’t see the benefit in this or how a streetcar is going to bring more people to the area. In other cities, instead of building a streetcar they build open sided buses that look and feel like a streetcar that do the same job without impeding traffic or requiring a multi-million dollar overhaul of the streets that make it more dangerous for bicyclists. If this was for the benefit of the community, I’d love to see the studies they compiled of interviews with community councils or where the community had any say whatsoever in how this project came together. No, this feels decidedly self serving. Other questions raised: will the SLUT dovetail into the Seattle Metro system? Will be be able to use our bus passes on it like the Waterfront Streetcar? I don’t know.

I guess the point is moot now – the milk is spilt. However, if there are to be other streetcars in the future, we should learn from the mistakes shortfalls of this trainwreck bike wreck in the making. More clearly marked bike lanes and clearly marked safe-routes across the tracks, warning signs – and hey, how about marking the trolley passage with a big red stripe down the road. In the future, running tracks down the center lane of major arteries like other cities do (and like the Waterfront Streetcar did). I’m sure with even a modicum of community involvement, these points would have come to light before tracks were laid down.

But enough of my ranting. If you’d like to attend, you’re encouraged to come on a bike or – this is the best part – a wheelchair, as I’m told its not wheelchair accessible either.