A bike-related post a day. That's the goal.

I swear I was posting here daily. >head… meet desk…<

Nothing bike-related. Just updated the playlist (right column…) Now, I’m off to true my wheel at a friend’s place. One of these days, I’ll have to get myself a stand. Until then, I’m gonna mooch.

—me.

I spent saturday last building my new singlespeed wheel. It was REALLY easy considering the measurements were the same from mid-flange on both right and left sides. One spoke length makes life a LOT easier.

So there you have it. Sorry about the lack of updates. I’ve been a bit under the weather and otherwise busy. Once I have the matching front wheel built, I’ll take them out for an inaugural spin. Hopefully these (along with the new cranks/bottom bracket I’m installing for SS use) will help me get a good bit of my old fitness back come spring. Until then, I’m on the trainer in front of the T.V.

—me.

This time around, we have a rear hub for DJ/Street, what have you. I got this to build up with my Halo Freedom 29′er rims for a set of singlespeed wheels. I haven’t built them up yet, but here are the specs and some info about it.

Last bikes ZAKK hub comes with the following :

The ZAKK rear cassette hub is made of 6061 and 7075 aluminum with an oversized axle and 10 mm CrMo bolts. The driver is a one piece construction made of super strong 7075 aluminum and features 6 double pawls. The one piece driver construction allows us to use bigger bearings in the driver. We use two 15×28x7 mm oversize bearings that have a static load rating of 2240 Newton and a dynamic load rating of 4360 Newton. This is more than 200% compared to bearings used by other companies in their single speed drivers. The result is a dramatically increased life time for the driver bearings. The flanges are spaced symmetrically 35,5 mm from the center line for similar spoke tension on both sides. This gives you a stronger and more balanced wheel. The big diameter of the axle cups gives you a rigid interface with the dropouts. Besides this we took off all unnecessary weight, which leads to a total weight of 449 g (11T), 450 g (12T) and 457 g (14T). These weights include steel bolts. The hub is designed to work with 3/8″ wide chains, 135 mm dropout spacing and comes in 32 and 36 spoke hole versions.

So If you can restrict yourself to an 11,12 or 14 tooth rear, and have weight issues of the non-titanium type, (read : like beer, hate exercise…) this might be the rear hub for you. I’ll let you know how it works out for me.

—me.

As I am ahead of many of you by around 7 hours, here are my most recent coffee ramblings…

One. I used to live in Los Angeles. All over L.A. as it were, and had my fair share of idiots in cars harassing me. I would ride from Victory and Coldwater up to Laurel Canyon and Ventura to work, and back. Nothing special there, it was more or less a straight shot. I could (and did) use sidewalks at night, because i had no lights and didn’t really feel like cheating death.
Then I moved nearer to Koreatown/La Brea. Had to go up and over daily. It made me passionate for biking, and in turn, bike lanes. There were a few back then, mostly unconnected and poorly lit, poorly maintained and utterly useless when going past the Hollywood Bowl and Universal Studios. Coming home at night was worse, as all the Valley idiots were heading to the Burgundy room (or later The Room across the street…) to drink and hook up and do their ungodly worst Swingers emulation. (I was there to drink; hook-ups were tertiary at best.)
Anyhow, I worked in Studio City and there were always assholes who pulled the “Don’t you know WHO I AM?” bullshit. I said on more than one occasion that I didn’t give a rat’s ass, and they could go elsewhere if it was such a hassle that I was doing my job correctly.
More than anything it was around the awards shows that I hated most of all. In L.A. it seems you can’t escape it. It’s on TV, radio, people are talking about their favorite shows, movies actors and actresses. It’s infectious. It’s like SARS. You don’t want it in your head; There is no good reason to have it in your head, but due to so many other infected around you, you end up getting it. (And in a worst-case scenario, you retain it for longer periods of time than you really want to…)

So to make a long rambling post finally get to its point, I present to you Christine Hendricks; star of ‘Mad Men’.

My god, how I love a redhead.

(h/t to The Superficial for the pic.)

Possibly the second most important part of your bike, after the frame/fork combo. (These are all my opinions, but it is my bleaurgh, so deal with it…) I ordered a set of On-One wheels (on sale, ‘natch.) this summer, and have run them for the last few months. I can safely say these wheels rock! The Centrelock system which I had not much more than a heaping load of disdain for, has grown on me. (more on that later.) Built on their Reetard rim, these wheels are true light and none more black. I love them. Not much else to say really.

And yes, I did order them with the Small Block 8’s and they are spectacular. No need for a super-high profile tire here in Munich. Along the Isar on my lazy 60km route, I encounter mostly loose over hardpack with a small bit of asphalt and maybe some packed singletrack thrown in. Not much goo here, nor is there a lot of deep loam. (Not what I’d call deep anyhow.) Moving from my Larsen TT’s on my 26′in MTB, these were a natural follow-up. Long wearing and sticky enough to give me confidence at speed. I also tend to run most of my tires at more-than-silly pressures like 35-40 depending. It makes for a harsher ride sometimes, but also much smoother on the loose-over-hard stuff I encounter most of the time.

As for the  Centrelock system… Well, It was one of those experiences where I proved that I was nothing more than retarded. I popped them out of the box, and got to installing them. I forgot when I ordered them that they were the other system, so I set about running to every bike shop I could to see about getting rotors. I have a real problem with patience. So every place I looked, the system looked different than what I had. “Those bastards at On-One sent me wheels with an older version of the Centrelock system… Now I’m pissed…” I thought.

Well, I finally went to Radsport-Roesch. These guys are officially my go-to guys. Friendly, knowledgeable and patient with my broken German… everything I need when buying parts. The guy behind the counter listened to my dilemma and reassured me there was only one system, unless I had a 20mm front hub, and then it’s basically the same, jsut… well… 20mm.

I informed him that I had some strange system and wasn’t about to drop 50 euros on the wrong rotor. He said “If it’s wrong, bring it back and we’ll figure it out. You can bring in the wheels too, if you want.”

“Too much trouble, and besides… I want to ride them NOW ! ! !” I said.

He laughed and we got everything sorted.

The reason I was confused was when they ship, the Centrelock bit (where the rotor slides on…) was 1)-covered with some super-stuck rubber grommet and 2)- is removeable. As in, you unscrew the lock ring (much like a rear hub/cassette lock ring) and the whole thing slides off the hub. Which is pretty genuis, actually. No need to remove rotors when travelling. Just take this bit off and voilá. Easy-peasy. The hubs then look like (ironically…) a rear hub that is waiting for a cassette to slide on. So it turns out I’m an idiot and spent the better part of a gorgeous Saturday looking for Centrelock rotors with a completely different system.

Anyhow, they are stiff enough for me, and were a great price for a wheelset with tires and tubes. Can’t really go wrong with that, eh?

—me.

I have some new bits for my bikes that I want to share with you. First up is a NC17 seat post. It’s not the lightest thing out there, but as I am a respectable hunk over the 200-lb mark, light ain’t on the menu for the most part. What I like is the unlimited adjustability of it. It is replacing a Thompson seat post with no setback and limited adjustability. Have a look.

So the rails of your saddle set nicely where those two tube-things are and it fits both 8 and 9mm rails. (I”m still thinking of a use for them. Any ideas are welcome…) The silver nut below the rails controls how far forward or back your saddle sits. The two underneath the ‘butt’ of the saddle hold it firmly in place, while loosening them allows the saddle to be tilted up or down in incredibly small increments with the big red knob. (1-degree, I believe.) Get it to where you want it, then tighten it all down and you’re ready to roll.

What I like most about it, it it fits 3 of my bikes and with it’s adjustability, it allows me to have one post for all 3, and with a small amount of fiddling, I can have my Brooks saddle always under my fat, slow ass. Isn’t that special?

—me.

(More updates later as I start logging miles on it.)

It’s coming as it always does. Lance will also be there, from what I hear. I really could care less, but it will at least give the US networks some reason to show it. I wonder… If all the riders from the US were gone, how long would the coverage hold out? How fast would it be a highlight; but only if something went horribly, terribly wrong?

I’m just askin’.

Have some Melvins. It helps with the hills.

—me

The Mother-in-law is gone for a long weekend, so we are stuck with her retarded dog, Pellegrino. Let me tell you about him.

He is retarded. Period.

In bike-related stories, we had him for about two months a few years back, and he was even MORE so back then. I guess age has mellowed him out a bit.

Back then, I had a Fit Bikes ‘Team/Pro’ model (or whatever the base model is… i forget…) And it was perfect for running him into exhaustion. I also did this with my Santa Cruz Jackal once or twice. Being below freezing and quite slick out, that’s not going to happen today.

You have to understand, he is all about picking fights, even though he is a dyed-in-the-wool wuss. All bark and no bite as it were. He’s a Lab/German Sheperd mix, and for whatever reason he HATES other Sheperds. Which I find hysterical. He’s anti-social and a bit of a spaz, so when it’s time to go out, I have to be absolutely sure there are no other crazies around. Not an easy task living near 2 rehab centers and a halfway house.

Back to the bikes. I would leash him, and hop on the bike. The DJ and BMX bikes were the best. Low to the ground, with great stopping power. They also have the added benefit of being so low, I can still sit on them, grab the leash with both hands and drop both feet down to keep him reined in. So we would get a slow trot on, and make out way out of the city to Olympiapark. Great place to let him run around, towing me behind and (usually) not getting in trouble.

So we enter the [ark, and I crank up slowly until he gets the idea he can run. Cool. He’s off like a hot shit out of a greased pig. I sit back, all slack and before I know it, he’s pulling me all over the park without pausing. Well, almost. He surely needed to pick that fight with a St. Bernard that was easily twice as big as him. I thro the bike between me and P. and the Bernard. The owner smiles and assures me “He’s quite friendly.”

“This one isn’t. He’s an idiot.” I explain to the nice lady.

“Oh… ok.” She walks off looking confused, but satisfied that I don’t have any psychotic tendencies or malicious intent towards her hairy beast of a dog.

So we do this every day for about sixty to ninety minutes in summer, with a short beer pause for me. (Letting him do all the work is thirsty business, I tell ya.) The absolute best part was, he would get back to our place, drink an inordinate amount of water, crawl under the couch and sleep for the next 4 hours. Seriously, it was awesome.

Today I have already chased him away from the toilet three times, and he’s knocked over the trash twice. I wish he would just fucking relax, but no. He’s retarded.

—me.

Today is some goofy-ass holiday here in Bavaria. What that has to do with biking, I’m not sure… But there you go.

I have been trying to figure out what to post during the winter here. When it snows and stays below freezing, I have little to no motivation for riding. Add to that my chronic bronchitis that takes me out of commission for a month at a time and you have a less-than-productive winter season for my lardy ass.

I am getting a nice moustache in though

—me.

ps : Added a link to my friend Tyler’s site, Doc’s Lollipops. What’s biking without good beer, good friends and a bit of art thrown in??