Tires

'The only thing that never changes, is change.'


Cliche yes, but I don't know if you could describe mountain bike tires better in one sentence.


You could probably make a coffee table book of all the different tread patterns that have existed since mountain bikes really took off in the late 80's.  Scratch that - you could make a coffee table book of all the tread patterns that no longer exist since mountain biking got popular.  We saw all manner of "innovations" like tires designed to roll in a certain direction, tires meant to work on the front or on the rear, different rubber compounds, different sizes, and different colors.


Now I doubt anyone - other than me - would buy such a thing, but the point being that the general design of MTB tires is changing every year.


Why is this?


Did the hardpacked trails somehow get more slippery over the winter?  Did the gravel out there get upgraded?  Did the roots get, I don't know...  rootier??


I know that conditions on any given trail can change after years of use, but in general, we're still riding the same types of trails here in 2011 that we rode in 1990.  It's still dirt, rocks, roots, sand, and grass.


So why then does the Panaracer Smoke - generally accepted as the best tire of it's time - no longer work?  It must no longer work, because it's not fitted to new bikes anymore, right?


And the Onza Porcupine; did it have an expiration date that we didn't know about?  Did it's designers somehow know that by 1995, it just wouldn't grip the ground anymore?


The Panaracer Timbuk II, Fisher Fattrax, Ritchey Megabite, Specialized Ground Control, Klein Death Grip - all of these tires at some point just stopped working? 


Take a look at this page of Motocross tires - notice anything odd?


(hint - they're all the same!)


Now check this pic of a Yamaha from 1974;

Nearly 40 years later, and the tires are virtually identical.


How is it that Motocross tires haven't changed - at least in their tread pattern - for 40 years?


And why don't they have the dizzying array of different tread patterns like mountain bikes do?


I'll admit, I'm not immune to this.  A new set of tires and grips can go a long way to making your old bike feel new.  But, I just don't get why those old designs don't work anymore.


I think my Blizzard would really like a set of skinwall Ritchey Megabites.

Time for some fun!

i just had to share this;

Schwinn Varsity

for starters, notice the completely bizarre pics.

rather than put the bike on the floor, the seller has elected to hang it off the edge of a metal shelf that appears to be blocking a window.

there must be a good reason for this, but, i can't think of one.  and i mean BOTH hanging the bike upside down off this shelf, and blocking a window with said shelf.

and then there's the listing itself - all in caps of course;

THIS IS MY PERSONAL BIKE.

as opposed to your work bike?

I HAVE DONE TWO THINGS TO GIVE YOU THE MOST INFORMATION ABOUT THIS BIKE I CAN POSSIBLE WRITE ABOUT IT.

as it turns out, neither of those two things actually involve writing about it!

ONE, YOU CAN SEE HERE SOME PICTURES AND TWO, I AM PROVIDING YOU A LINK TO A VIDEO SHOWING THIS BIKE ON YOUTUBE.

but wait - of the two things he did, there are three things.

LASTLY I COMPILED THIRD PARTY INFO AND REVIEWS REGARDING THIS BIKE.

unfortunately, his youtube account has been closed, so no video.  but he has thoughtfully included a picture of a moving truck.

which you may need to pick up the bike as it weighs 32 POUNDS.

(if you're unsure, a good road bike weighs 20 lbs or less, and most good mountain bikes will come in under 30)

i love ebay.

Gary Fisher

yes, him again....

he's the character that i love to be pretty much ambivalent about.

if you're interested though, here's an interview he gave at the Handmade show in Austin recently;

http://reviews.mtbr.com/nahbs/2011/03/15/gary-fisher-interview/

i didn't even watch it.  the comments made it sound like some kind of freakshow, so i passed.  besides, i can't be bothered to watch an interview, because really, that's a waste of one of your senses.  make it a podcast so i can look at something else while i listen.  or make it text so i can listen to Deftones while i read.

yes i know i can just start it and then go to another website, but that's besides the point really.

the point is; who cares what Gary Fisher thinks about the health of the handmade bicycle industry?  does he handmake bicycles anymore?  is he even looking over the shoulder of the technical school trained kid at Trek, advising him where to click in his CAD/CAM program to place his signature decal?  what the hell does he do anyway?

now that Trek dropped the other shoe, and has swallowed up Fisher mountain bikes, he's seemingly just a figurehead for his not-really-existing-anymore bike company, and slowing morphing into the Don Cherry of cycling.

i guess he does provide some personality for what could be the most boring bicycle company ever. 

i just don't think i like that personality.

Frankenbikes

i've never been one to be conventional when it comes to bikes.  i strive to do things that haven't been done before.  although - let's be honest here - everything's been done before.  i know that Mavic doesn't make a plate to move rim brakes on an MTB frame up to match a 700c wheel just for me.

i guess that means there's some French guy building these same bikes that i build.

i knew i was on the right track when a mechanic (and artist) that i worked with at Redbike - someone i greatly respected - told me he'd never met a mechanic that could make more out of seemingly nothing then i could.  i credit my experience as a triage mechanic on the battlefields of Dow Chemical where i repaired Norco cruisers, and awful Workman tricycles.

unfortunately, i've not done a good enough job or documenting some of these projects, and i have no photographic evidence, just anecdotes.  like...

- the Fisher i built up as a single speed from parts that customers no longer wanted at Redbike. 
-the carbon miyata road bike that was too small for me. 
-the Kona Humuhumu-Nukunuku-Apu’A i built with 700c wheels (someone stole this out of my backyard while it was in mid-upgrade, it had no seatpost and no front brakes.  people will steal anything.). 
-the single speed Moulden MTB with 700c wheels (this for a customer at Redbike after i proved the concept was sound - see the DIY hybrid below.) 
- the Miyata Ridge Runner DIY Pugsly that was lost in the great purge.

thankfully, i do have some pics.

like the too big single speed Norco with moustache bars;

 

(yes, i do have Curt Harnett's legs.)

(no i don't...)

the DIY hybrid Kawasaki (no pics of this sadly), which became the DIY hybrid Vertex;

 

(this could be the most bad-ass bike i ever put together)

which later became the DIY hybrid GT;

and is now the DIY hybrid Klein.  again, no pics amazingly.  it's a stealth bike.

there must be more, but my mind draws a blank at the moment.

the 'just make it work' aspect of bike repair at Dow was a big factor in my ability to see these projects in my mind before picking up the wrench.  but, a subconscious influence perhaps, was a factory Frankenbike from back in the day.

the Specialized RockCombo;

when i was still learning what a 'chainstay' was, the guy across the street from me had one of these.  i remember thinking it was really cool.  but today, i'm wondering what the hell i was thinking.  the drop bars hinder it's use as a proper MTB, and it's puny 26" wheels make it fairly hopeless as a 'cross bike.  so, why exactly?


of course, there was one guy who made it work;

well, sort of.  the magazines at the time reported that Johnny T's 7-11 coach allowed him to race mountain bikes as long as he ran a drop bar to maintain his riding position.  it made sense at the time, but honestly - is that not a completely ludicrous idea?  

MTB and road racing have virtually nothing in common as far as the bicycle/rider relationship is concerned, so how does making Tomac less competitive on a drop bar - and really, we know it wasn't making him better, because nobody else did it - help him to be a better road racer?


i bet you that secretly, the 7-11 coach knew that drop bar would hinder Tomac, and hoped that it would do so so much that he'd quit MTB racing.  or, he'd do what actually happened; quit road racing in 1991.  


so anyway, this all leads me to pondering a drop bar on my single speed Blizzard.  until i ran the idea past my brother.  his reply?


"don't see the benefit of looking that ridiculous."


that takes care of that.


besides, i'm sure it breaks one of the rules.

new bikes

i've found a couple of new bikes i really like for 2011.  

first, the Norco Club;

it's a basic, steel road bike with double chain rings up front, and a very basic, serviceable part mix from all the names you'd expect on a $900 bike; Shimano Sora and Tiagra, Tektro, Formula, FSA, and Norco branded hard parts (bar, stem, seatpost).

it looks great; the graphics look like it was made in 1975 - well, if Norco was cool in 1975, and they were not - but i'm not sure who this will appeal to.  a similarly priced aluminum bike would probably weigh 2 pounds less.  so maybe it's for other retro leaning cyclists, like myself, that can't be bothered to find old frames and period correct parts on eBay.

i'd much rather have this Club, then the average cookie-cutter road bike.

it's a lot like a complete Surly Pacer, but with cheaper parts on it.  which makes it a pretty cool bike.

Devinci Dixon XP;

this has all the features the kids want on their trail bikes this year; tapered headtube, 6 inches of travel, and cool split pivot suspension - the rear suspension pivot and the rear axle are one in the same.  it looks like a lot of fun, and probably climbs well for it's weight.

i have to confess though, i like it most for it's looks.  mountain bikes - all bikes - always look good in white.

(and now the good stuff)

Rocky Mountain Vertex t.o. 30th Anniversary Edition;

fantastic red to yellow maple leaf fade, fork painted to match - just simply beautiful.  almost too nice to ride.

Rocky Mountain Blizzard 30th Anniversary Edition;

it's the negative of my 25th Anniversary Edition Blizzard (see below), and like the Vertex has the never improved upon (in my opinion) graphics style used from 1990 to 1998.  clearly Rocky agrees with me, because they wouldn't have used that style for these bikes would they?

not a new bike, but good for comparison purposes;

coming soon; the Rocky's I've Owned post.

more old bikes

two great old bikes found on ebay recently;

1995 Brodie Expresso.  i'm not a fan of the paint job, but it's a high quality job by Toxik Harold, and both the Syncros stem and super rare Brodie Gatorblade fork are painted to match.

along with late 80's/early 90's Fishers, an old Brodie is probably one of the rarest bikes to find for sale in my experience.  you could argue that 1995 is out of the handbuilt era for Brodie, but there was a limited run of the old bikes made and this is one of them.  the seller states that Brodie had to dig up an old Gatorblade for this frame when he ordered it, so considering that, the threaded headset, and the Syncros stem, you've got yourself a terrific replica of a 1991 Brodie right here.

which is a great segue to this beauty;

this amazing 1991 Kona Explosif has lead a sheltered life in a Zurich shop and has seen limited use.  

i can still see in my mind's eye, the Explosif that River Valley had on display at it's Whyte ave location the first time i was in there.  maybe the only bike that made more of an impression on me in my formative cycling years was the '91 Blizzard.  these are slightly more common than the Brodies, but not by much.

one thing i have to mention; the seller is selling a Project Track Two fork and Impact headset - both items that need to be on this frame - in a separate auction.  it drives me CRAZY when people do this.  from a restoration stand point, those parts are a perfect match, but the seller wants to try and squeeze a few more dollars out of his sale.  douche move my friend...

TeamCow strongly frowns upon this practise.

references;

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140510973650&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_500wt_1156

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200575349414&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_29809wt_1139

old bikes

i love looking for old bikes on ebay, if you've read any of this blog you've already figured that out i'm sure.  i love it when i find something that was extra special in it's day.  usually i was never in a position to buy those bikes back then, but today, it's at least possible.
< sometimes though, when i find something really cool, i have to wonder just how good it really is.

this is a Mantis Pro-Floater - one the best suspension bikes of the early era of suspension. handmade by Richard Cunningham in the early 90's.  it was lighter than most bikes at the time, and rode better as well.  by all accounts, it may have been the best suspension bike there was.

in the early 90's.

it was cool to find this as they are pretty rare - in the history of the BikeGuide i only ever found one for sale - but when i saw this, i couldn't help but wonder how it rides.  look at those tiny tubes, pivot points, and that noleen shock.  it all looks so fragile.

it'll have great value to collectors (well maybe not this one so much, read the auction and you'll find that it's broken!) looking to get what they couldn't get back in the day, but i doubt anyone is buying this because they intend to built the best trail bike they can.  or at least i hope they aren't doing that.  i'd think that even an entry-level bike from Rocky or Devinci would be so much better that the Mantis would be laughable by comparison.

or would it?

would nearly 20 years of advancement in frame tube shaping and stiffness, suspension damping, and pivot bearings trump Cunnigham's innate ability to build a great bike?  

i'd love to find out, so please send me an old Mantis, and a new Rocky, and i'll devise some scientific testing to come up with an answer for you.


references;

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160538045885&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_2735wt_1139

Schwinn

the other day when i was looking for the pics of the Schwinn Paramount MTB from 1993, i found a scan of the 1972 Schwinn catalog.

in this catalog are several gems like;

and this - the greatest salesman ever!

and this!

super groovy pants!

the Paramount track bike by the way was  $224.95 with Campagnolo hubs and tubulars!!

and i had thought Willy Rey was the only reason i wish i could go back in time to 1972.

this comes from another catalog - not sure what year though;

if an old Paramount and high-waisted pants makes me interesting to bikini clad Catherine Bell look-a-likes, then i'm on eBay right now looking for a Paramount.  and i'm hiking up my belt big time.


references;

http://www.schwinncruisers.com/schwinn-documentation/1972-schwinn-bicycle-catalog/

Marinoni dream

ok, what about this - Marinoni Fango;

http://www.marinoni.qc.ca/Html/Fango.html 

but instead of silver, i go with a metallic green called 'sabra'  (that's green right?)

and instead of white, i choose the metallic 'pine'

and then do the red accent in yellow.  in fact, i think the 'Marinoni' badges would be all yellow, instead of a yellow M and then white everything else.

maybe this is a little too feminine?  back in the day, i recall a magazine did a feature on the 1993 Schwinn Paramount R80.  i didn't actually like it that much then because of the odd colours, but now i see that it was elegant, pretty, and highly unique.

http://bikecatalogs.org/SCHWINN/1993/Paramount/Series_R80.html

so that would be the feel i'm going for. i think it would look good with mostly black parts.

Irrational Dislikes

for whatever reason, good or bad, there are certain bike brands that i just don't like.  i'm sure the bikes are fine, but there's just something about them that i can't stand. design elements, graphics, component choices, or the kind of people that ride them - any of these things can set me off.

i don't know if i'm alone in this - i don't think i am.  i'm sure there are people that just hate certain bands, or clothing lines, or whatever - but can't really say why.  or at least can't give a particularly logical reason anyway.

if you've gone through the archives here at all, you probably have a pretty good idea of which bikes i don't like already.  but here's the weird thing; things change!  i never liked GTs much at all - i thought the 'triple-triangle' was gimmicky, and the paint jobs were garish.  but now, if you can find one a clean one from the 90's - i'm tempted to buy one myself.

like this 1991 Avalanche;

save the tires (and maybe that fork), this bike is completely original.  it's amazing!

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290526479330&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

i wish i could say why i've softened my stance on GT, but i really don't know why.  maybe it's actually those old Shimano XT parts i like?  maybe it's that Rock Shox Mag21 that was so revolutionary that i like?

or maybe it's this;

this is zzzomm's 1990 GT Tequesta.  in the fall of 1990 he and i bought bikes.  i got a Bridgestone MB-5 and he got this GT.  just last summer he reacquired it from a friend, and I got to redo it.  i scored a full XT Raleigh, and moved every part i could onto this GT.  i was really happy with the way it turned out and i really like this bike now.

i still don't like Trek though.

eBay finds

every time i think i've found the worst good bike ever, i find something even more jarring then the last worst one.  this bike further prooves my 'certain bikes attract terrible taste' theory - check it out;

it's just wrong in so many ways; the dreaded flame job (never liked it on a bike save for the RMB special edition Hot Rod Slayer), Spinergys with the extra stickers on the spokes, a Girvin fork, and, the cherry on top of this terrible sundae; custom hand painted Maxxis Hookworms.

Hookworms are seriously cool, but taking a tiny paint brush to fill in the grooves - this is madness.

or genius?

it's madness.  he did the same to the plastic spider saddle, got red jockey wheels in the rear derailleur, and has red flame grips.  in fact, i bet the grips were the inspiration for the entire project.  it's so over the top, i just can't imagine who would like this.

also, there's something mechanically wrong with this bike.  i think the seller has swapped out the shock for an aftermarket one that has a longer eye-to-eye length.  think of this bike as a big hinge, and putting that shock that's too long on it has caused it to suck in the front wheel, and steepen the head angle.  

i would think riding this bike would be terrifying. 

http://cgi.ebay.ca/CUSTOM-STREET-KLEIN-MANTRA-COMP-SPINERGYS-GIRVIN-FORKS-/330517473233?pt=Mountain_Bikes&hash=item4cf46067d1 

next up - old timey Manitous;

in 1997, Manitou released the Shaun Palmer edition fork.  this was an FS Ti in neon green.  with a Shaun Palmer logo on it.  otherwise, not that special.  but it was green.


anyway, i bought one of these online and enjoyed it on my sky blue M2 Stumpjumper for a few years.

it wasn't bad, but was it better than the Marzocchi Z.2 i had before?  probably not.  but it was green.  and i never saw another rider with one, so it did it's job.

i don't remember what i paid for it sadly.  i think it was less that $300, but i don't know.  

i'm not sure why you'd buy this to be honest.  i know there's a big retro movement out there, but is 1997 really retro?

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160531415194&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

and finally, i will figure out photography some day;

The Gary Fisher Collection

So this fancy ad appears on the Fisher website today, touting the 'Gary Fisher Collection.'

'Literally a dream come true' it says.

I was intrigued - it sounded like had created an AMG-like brand within the Trek/Fisher empire. A special set of bikes where Gary was allowed to run wild and do whatever he wanted.

But no. It's nothing that good at all. From the press release;

Trek Bicycle and bike pioneer Gary Fisher are pleased to announce the Gary Fisher Collection, a line of Trek bikes that will replace the standalone Gary Fisher brand. The Collection will be distributed exclusively through Trek retailers.

So Gary Fisher the bike company doesn't exist any more. It's been reduced to Gary Fisher's signature on the Trek Rig, and the Trek Paragon.

It just doesn't sound right.

This just feels like a strange move for Trek. I felt like everything that was unique and cool about Fisher was simply brushed aside in '93 after Trek purchased them. Instead of bolted together CR-7s, we got Trek OCLV hardtails with Gary Fisher badges on them. They felt as much like Fishers as the Cimarron felt like a Cadillac.

But slowly, things changed. And eventually Fishers felt like Fishers again. They looked good, and they felt like unique and cool bikes again.

They felt like a company I could like and care about again.

In fact, I bought an '09 Rig recently. Because it was a 29er, because it reminded me of the old Supercaliber with the big squiggle graphic on the top tube, and because it felt like a cool bike.

But now, they're just Treks.

And it just doesn't seem to matter what Trek does, they're still dull, boring, corporate.

I swear Trek has some computer program that scans all of the most popular graphic design, and synthesizes it into the most inoffensive and vanilla thing they can come up with, and that what goes on their bikes. I'm sure you can tell from this that I'm not a fan, but consider that I've known of them since 1988, and not once have they put out a bike that I've looked at and thought; 'that looks good.'

Law of averages alone says that they should have come out with one aesthetically pleasing bike in 22 years - right?

And after this many years you'd think a company could come up with a damn logo to put on the head tube!

Fisher had a great logo...

ebay finds

there's always cool vintage action on ebay, but i found a really good one today;

a Porsche Bike S. these were made by Votec, and were showcases for top-line Euro components of the time. Sachs derailleurs, cranks, and hubs, Magura hydraulic brakes, and a crazy Votec double-crown fork.

this ad caught my eye because it that first image reminded my of the only time i ever saw one in the wild. rolling down Whyte ave was this woman in a pretty sun dress, matching blue deck shoes, and i think a basket, on her $4000 Porsche mountain bike.

anyway, i'll be very interested to see what this ends up going for. it appears to be in fantastic condition - and the seller's assertion that it's never been off-road definitely looks true.

2010 excitement!

cliff at redbike describes himself as an 'offroad tourist.'

i understand this completely now as i've ridden offroad 3 times in the last 3 years.

what interests me now would be buying something like this;


and then building it as a single speed commuter with a flat bar and maybe wood fenders...

anyway, that's the kind of bike i get excited about now.

and thankfully, it looks like i'm not the only one either - Rocky Mountain has the Metropolis line in addition to the RC line. i especially like the RC 50D and the Metropolis NRT with it's internally geared 8 speed Shimano hub.

but, even better than that, Norco has thrown their considerable weight at the Urban bike market. the Ceres is a steel frame, 8 speed internal hub, Gates belt drive(!!!) commuter bike.

i've been interested in the belt drive system since i saw pictures of a Lynskey from the handmade show last year. it requires a special frame design - specifically some way to get the belt through the frame since it doesn't come apart - so it's been pretty much a custom build to this point.

but Norco comes through with the flat bar 8spd commuter, a road SS (the Vesta), and a SS 29er (the Judan) - all at pretty reasonable prices.

i'm fired up about Norco building these crazy things!

i think my converted Klein hybrid is for sale...
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Now playing: Jay-Z - 99 Problems via FoxyTunes

Corratec revisted

they're still out there - www.corratec.de - and they still make the Bow with it's groovy curved dual top tubes/seat stays. they also rock the continental mountain king with the white sidewalls!

i heartily endorse any effort to bring back skinwall tires - but white?? i don't know...

the pictured Grizzly above is clearly not a high-end model, but there are Ti and aluminum versions of the Bow, and - the one i want - a 700c hybrid called the Super Bow Cross.

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Now playing: Cannibal Ox - F-Word
via FoxyTunes

The Hipster bike Revolution!

recently i've discovered a brilliant idea in new bikes; customizable singlespeed bikes that can be had for cheap. or relatively cheap depending on how you look at it.

they're usually fixed (more on this later), have tons of colour variations, and no graphics.

it doesn't sound like that complex of a bike, yet it's not something that is easy to come by. we talked about building something like this at redbike years ago, but we wanted to do it all canadian. unfortunately, it was just too expensive to fly.

the least expensive option for a custom build bike was a surly 1x1 or karate monkey - and that still came in around $1600 from the ground up. getting mass-produced parts, i think we should have been able to do it for $750 or less. it wouldn't have been blinglespeed at all, but that was the point.

so, along comes republic bikes, mission bicycle company, and not quite the same idea - but they claim to have invented the genre - norway's alta bikes; cheap, fully customizable 'hipster bikes'

the fixed gear roadbike as become the required mode of transport for the hipster. the only cool way to get to the gig on whyte, or roll down to the sugarbowl for coffee and cinnamon buns. which i find very odd because the fixed gear bike is not for the novice rider, and if there's one thing the hipster doesn't seem to be, it's an athlete.

and, the best of these bikes are home made by good mechanics. so most hipster's are probably on a bike built by a friend from an old japanese or euro road frames.

but now anybody with $394 can have one.

that's what republic charges for their aristotle ss. that gets you five colour choices on a hi-ten steel frame, matching colours for the chain, grips, and velocity deep-v rims (the only choice for a hipster bike). and best of all, the ability to have the website choose random colours for all of these items! most of the parts are no-name, and i have to be honest here, it's not a high quality frame. but the end result looks good.

the next step up the ladder is mission bicycle company in san francisco. it was really only a matter of time before frisco based shop started mass producing hipster bikes. the mission bike has a much higher quality frame (reynolds 4130), powder coat colours, and the option of building the bike with high end parts; chris king, thomson, nitto, brooks, and vittoria all appear on the option sheet.

of course the end product can run $1400 with all the bling, but can also go as low as $750. as always in bikes, you get what you pay for. for my money the mission is absolutely worth the extra expense.

and then there's alta. much flashier than the republic, and lighter for sure with an aluminum frame. it's got better wheels, sexy time-trial bull horn bars, and fancy euro-industrial design muscle behind it. they've only recently been available in north america, and i couldn't find a price, but a couple blogs i found seemed to agree on $1000. pricey, but again, sexy.

i personally really like the mission - good price, good parts, and SF is very cool. though me being me, i'd be more likely to piece together a fixie using an MTB frame and some leftover road wheels. but that's just me...

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Now playing: Silversun Pickups - The Royal We
via FoxyTunes

Bikes for Sale

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

The Good:  Gary Fisher Sugar 3

Very custom - front triangle is from a Sugar 3, but the rear section is carbon from the Sugar 1, upgraded 120mm travel Fox Fork, Bontrager Race disc tubeless wheels, Vredestein Tiger Claw tires (new), BB7 disc brakes (new) with 203mm front rotor, Cane Creek brake levers, Deore shifters, XT deraillers, LX Cranks and Octolink BB, Easton EA 70 stem and bar, Syncros headset (new), LP Composites seatpost.

It's a 17.5 frame, meant for a 5-8 to 5-10 rider.  But, because of the very long top tube, it can fit a 6 foot rider like myself with the longish stem I have on there.  

Very lightly used, and that's why I'm selling it; I'm going hardtail instead.

Asking $1400

The Bad (ass) : Mosh Bagley 3 star

Dirt jumper; Mosh 14mm sealed hubs, Alex MX22 rims, Kenda tires, generic 3 piece chrome cranks, sealed BB bearings, Odyssey Modulever lever, Odyssey Evolver rear brake, Odyssey London Mod cable setup, Wellgo pedals.

May as well be brand new for as much as I rode it - no scratches, no nothing.  Probably $650 replacement value - yours for $300.

The Ugly : Nishiki (?) MTB

Says Nishiki on the dropout, but who knows what it is.  Converted to SS, pay no mind to the suspension fork on it, it doesn't do anything other than hold the wheel in place, genuine Rocky Mountain Bikes Hnadlebar, anodized purple bar ends, Onza ChillPill cable anchor.

It doesn't look like much, butI would ride this if it was bigger; it rolls pretty nicely.  $50, or $20 and a case of Stella and it's yours.

Singlespeeds

i love singlespeeds because of their simplicity; they're easier to fix (no shifters to tune), easier to spec (no money to spend on gears), and maybe even easier to ride (just pedal!). but i believe they're very personal. i don't believe that i would ever buy a singlespeed made by someone else.

because you have so much more latitude for part choice, i'd probably end up changing everything on the bike anyway. so I may as well start from scratch? i've built bikes around forks, around hubs, maybe even around saddles or handlebars. but when you do this, sometimes the rest of the bike is secondary, and that means there could be lots of parts on there that nobody else would want anything to do with.

at least for me.

for the kind of singlespeed that i most often dabble in - the poverty or near-poverty bike - it's much more about the acomplishment than the result. check out this kona i put together last summer to see what i mean;

kona humuhumu-nukunuku-a-pua'a frame with a stuck bottom bracket
700c wheels
4 inch riser bar
shimano XT cranks with the spider
creaky rocky mountain hybrid fork
cantilever brakes (front only)

this bike was really pretty bad. i didn't have any cable stop for the front brakes, so i tried just looping the housing over the handlebar and zip tying it down with extreme prejudice. while terrible, this was an improvement over the internally geared 3 speed coaster brake hub that was the only brake on v1.0 of this bike.

but the crank was pure genius. because the 122mm BB wouldn't come out of the frame, and the low profile XT crank was the only 175mm crank i had, i needed to resolve an impossible chainline issue. this crank had a spider attached to the crank arm via lock ring that the chain rings attached to. i took this off, and reversed it, so that the big ring was now well inboard of the crank arm. it looked really weird, but the chainline was near perfect.

i rode this bike for about a week, then one day i needed the post out of it to put in another frame so i could work on it on my workstand. i put the kona outside the garage and forgot it there. the next time i went out to the garage, it was gone. without a seatpost, or seatpost collar mind you.

i wasn't that choked up about it though - if i was selling this bike to someone else, i wouldn't taken more than $40 for it. hell, i'd have given it to any friend that was interested. the parts on it were essentially useless, the BB was only held in place on the drive side. the idea was to ride it and hope that it destroyed itself so i could somehow cut it out, and then strip and paint the frame - make something nice out of it.

the fact that someone came into my yard to take that bike was what bothered me.

(by the way, if you're out there, and there's a hell, you're headed there buddy. you better have given away a couple working bikes in your day to make up for that karma cap hit.)

I guess for me, it's more important to put the bike together than to ride it.

Hampsten

Andy Hampsten was one of the first american cyclists to achieve success in the european theatre of professional cycling. most famous for his win in the 1988 Giro d'Italia - and his second place on the Passo di Gavia, a legendary performance in some of the worst weather conditions ever in a road race - he also won the Tour de Suisee twice and won the Alpe d'Huez stage of the 1992 Tour de France. and in 1999, he started his own bike company with his brother.

commence to drooling!

i've only been aware of Hampsten for a couple years, but everything i've seen has been gorgeous. there's a very good reason for that though; he has some of the best builders in the world putting these bikes together. the steel bikes are made by Independent Fabrications. the titanium bikes by Moots and Kent Eriksen - he started Moots by the way. carbon frames are made by Bob Parlee.

those are the builders of dreams my friends!


this is just the aluminum Gran Paradiso! i prefer compact geometry myself, but this is beautiful.

"Compounding the obvious lack of a ‘70s style road bike..." i'm sold right there - how cool is that? i'm not sure that i could ever ride a road bike as the riding position just kills me, but maybe YOU buying it for me is what would finally put me at ease...

I want YOU.... to buy me a COLNAGO

the other day i was thinking about a couple of the more famous 'warm and fuzzy' internet stories. warm and fuzzy is maybe not the best descriptor; they're the Internet Cool Thing of the day kinda thing.

one of them was 'One Red Paperclip.' in this one, some guy decided he'd try trading his red paperclip for something bigger and better, until he got to his ultimate goal of getting a house. it took him a year, but he did it. now the house he got is in kipling, saskatchewan so maybe i'm not that impressed, but still, it's pretty rediculous to think of it.

the other one i was thinking of was the million dollar website. this is a website with one million pixels on it, and each pixel was for sale for one dollar. you could (obviously) buy more than one pixel at a time, so the guy that thought it up didn't need one million takers, but he still needed a lot. look at the page source on that site and marvel and the gigantic list of URLs.

let's be honest though about what these two things are; they're scams. not malicious ones - everybody that got involved got what they were promised - but still scams. good ideas that got a lot of good press, and that press pushed them on to success. (although i gotta say, the guy running that paper clip deal is pretty charismatic...)

so i figured; why not me? everybody is getting all these free houses and money from the internet and all i get is russian cracks of Left 4 Dead that only have sound - russian sound - and offers like this for the bikes i try to sell on craigslist;

goodday seller, am interested in buying this item posted, but firstly i will like you to tell me in details the present condition and the last price before making any purchase and also my means of my payment is through a valid cashier's checks. So if this means of payment could be convinient for you, just let me know by sending me a mail now.
Hope to hear from you soon.

where's my million dollars?

well, i'm not asking for a million dollars, i want a colnago. not even a bititanio, just a nice steel one.

of course, my scam got as far as changing my facebook status to 'i want YOU... t buy me a Colnago.' none of my 12 friends knows what that is. so it didn't go very far. but, maybe the power of the blog can get me that finely crafted italian craftsmanshipness.

(i hear people talk about twitter though, maybe i need the power of the twit? sadly, i have no idea what twitter is, and i can't be bothered to find out. when you stay home and play lego star wars most of the time, social networking doesn't count for much.)

so here's the deal, the colnago fund starts here - with YOU. for $2, you can have your personal bicycle rated on this website. it'll get it's just deserts believe you me. i have tons of cynicism, anger, and carcasm available. and tons of exposure too. this website has one follower! and i might ask redbike to mention me - that'll drum up two or three more.

just send me some pics, and we'll get this done. everybody wins. mostly me though.