Ecology week...

In the space for one car fit 42 Bromptons...and they are stacked just one deep. Imagine how many would fit if they were to keep stacking them to the height of the adjacent vehicles.

CamperBike...

No idea how heavy this thing is, but it's a pretty neat concept.

Stumbleupon.com

Had some time free today, and finally decided to explore the amazing resource that stumbleupon.com provides. Here's just a few images.

First computer hard drive.

September 4, 1956: The launch of the IBM 305 RAMAC

Ramac The first hard drive arrived in the 305 RAMAC, meaning that the computer could store data digitally. Not much data, though – the one-ton machine seen in an archive photograph being loaded into an aircraft on a forklift truck, could store a little less than 5MB of information. Thumb-sized USB drives will now store more than a thousand times that quantity of data.

- From the Times Archive, 1958: IBM announces the RAMAC’s first visit to the UK in 1958

Ritchey Commando, circa 1987, Deore XT.

Purchased from an ebay seller a few years ago. The photo's were very bad, the sellers feedback was perfect, I took a small chance that paid off. When I got the bike I couldn't believe the amazing, time capsule condition it was (still is) in !! All XT, except for a few nice Ritchey components.

circa 1991 Goat with night-sky camo, eclectic components.

Built this as a tourer as soon as I had it made for me by the guys at Chico. It has done many thousands of miles. Sharp-eyed individuals may note that the 6 speed shifters actually drive 7 cogs on the rear, which are 6 speed spaced!! I custom made the 2 largest cogs on the Shimano Dura-Ace *freewheel* to achieve the effect. At one time I had a Quad Ring adapter up front as well, giving me a range from 16 through 46 up front, and 13 through 28 in the back. I actually needed that super low gear just once, when climbing a hill near Dartmoor, England. That was about 6 years ago, when doing the End to End, loaded touring.

What's on your bicycle...

Culled from the nether regions of the Internet for your viewing pleasure. Just when you think you've seen it all, or that bicycles are a mature/stagnant industry with no innovation, comes something that blows you away.

Thumbshifter renovation....

So, way back in the day, when the Buffmeister was almost a young man, he worked as a mechanic. Riders would come in with bikes that they'd crashed, and often the casualty was a broken thumb-shifter. They usually broke at the weakest point, which is at the end of the plastic grip that one pushes with their thumb. Some people would have damage to the plastic cap that covers the internals, Shimano did sell replacement caps, but there were many varieties, two different "hands" of them, and few stores carried that part. Shimano only sold thumb-shifters in pairs, of course, and so customers would "donate" one perfectly good, and one broken thumb-shifter to me after replacing both. Pretty soon I had a small box of broken shifters, and I figured out a way of repairing them.
Here's the method I devised.
1...Where the shifter usually broke, flatten the aluminum square with a flat file.
2...Drill a blind hole into the remaining peg, not so far as you drill into the internals and totally bugger the shifter ;-(
3...Screw in a sheet metal screw of sufficient length that when fully in you have about one inch sticking out the thumb-shifter. Screw it in with permanent locktite or 5 minute epoxy on the threads.
4...Wait for it to set. Cut off the head of the screw. grind a point where the head was.
5...Drill a piece of dowel or exotic wood with a blind hole.
6...Fill the hole with epoxy and screw the dowel tightly on the screw. Fill all cracks, imperfections with epoxy.
7...Let it set, overnight.
8...Sand the dowel to shape, decorate/embellish to your liking. In the pic, mine are decorated with copper pipe, only problem is I spend more time buffing them than riding the bike.

Using the above method, I have never had a failure of a repaired thumb-shifter in two decades now.

Also, if the top cap is damaged, you can simply epoxy quarters onto the top, covering up the ugliness. Indian head coins look the coolest.

Lesser known thumb-shifter facts:
1...There's a hidden click at the end of the range. You can make 6 speed shifters work over 7 (six-speed-spaced) cogs, for example. Likewise a 7 speed thumbie will work over 8 cogs if they are spaced as a 7 speed. I often use the inner cog from a Ritchey 2x9 kit to give me a 33 tooth inner cog, with lower overall cassette width (less dish) than using a "standard" cog. Sometimes a small shim is needed for a clean shift.
2...You can adjust the firmness of the indexing: remove the shifter. From underneath unscrew the small #1 philips screw and pop off the top cap. The nut you see on top adjusts the tension(beware it's a left-hand thread: "unscrew" to increase tension). It indexes itself, so a couple of "clicks" is usually enough to change the setting.
3...You can disassemble and rebuild the thumb-shifters. Follow #2 as above, then back off that nut till the shifter internals come apart. Clean and re-lube, reassemble. I don't recommend this, all I have ever need to do in 20 years is flush with WD40, then dribble in some 30W oil, with no disassembly.

Altoids tin toolkit

Here's the packed and unpacked versions of my Altoids tin toolkit. I carry a tube, patchkit and pump/CO2 as well.
Allen wrenches, a full run from 2 to 8mm.
Wrench Force wrench with 8mm and 10mm and caplifter.
2 tire levers, one has Duct tape wrapped around it.
A shimano wrench that fits 9mm, crank dustcaps, and chainring bolt rears.
WTB chaintool with bailingwire wrapped around handle.
Small half-round file.
Short length of hacksaw blade.
SeberTech M4 tool, pliers and wire cutters will cut 2mm brake cable, also has blade, bottle opener, tweezers, small file, phillips and straight screwdrivers.
3 Topeak dog-bone spoke wrenches cover all common sizes.
Presta to Schraeder valve adapter.
Shimano chain pin.
Master link for chain.
Spare chainlink.
Spare chainring bolt.
Spare waterbottle bolt and nut.
Spare cleat bolt.
A wet-nap to clean up with afterwards.

It's a tight fit, very little else could be packed inside the tin.

Extended tour toolkit

This kit is used for longer trips, when I want to be able to fix almost anything short of headset or bottom bracket replacement. It's based on one of the modifiable small tackle boxes that fishermen use. Case costs about $1.50. Here's a pic of the closed case:

And here's a pic of it in its open state:

And this is what's in it:
From top right corner, clockwise...
2 tire levers, shortened, with duct tape.
Shortened ballpoint pen (marks puncture location on tube also).
Half-round file.
Craftsman ignition wrenches, 8, 9, 10mm.
3.5" adjustable wrench.
Piece of a hacksaw blade.
Allens: 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.5, 2.
8mm to 6mm allen adapter.
Spare chain link.
Wrench Force 4-way spoke wrench.
Botle of chain lube (Eye drop containers are very useful for this purpose).
Lip Balm container filled with grease.
Matches sealed in plastic.
2 strips of double-sided tape.
Small Compass and Thermometer/Windchill gauge.
Emergency whistle.
2 tubes of patch glue.
Fiberfix emergency spoke.
Topeak chaintool.
SeberTech minipliers, wire cutters will cut 2mm brake cable, assorted blades, tweezers, file.
Assorted patches and sandpaper.

Not shown:
14mm socket, ground so the crescent wrench will fit it.
Assorted essential nuts, bolts and various spare parts....Chainring bolt, waterbottle bolt,cleat bolt, Rear derailleur pulley and bolt, chain masterlink.

I also have a small pack which contains:
1 full-length brake and derailleur cable.
A few zip ties.
Bailing wire.
Superglue.
Wetnap wipes.
A pair of latex gloves.
A small rag.
A few cable end caps.

Not enough tooltalk for you? Check out the Altoids tin toolkit.

Technorati...

Technorati...
It's a new word, and it basically means publicity. So, with that shameless plug, here's the required Blog entry to make everyone happy.
We all want our 15 minutes of fame, right?
Technorati Profile

Can you pronounce Singer ?

I just got back from 8 days of general debauchery and
a certain merriment in Paris, where, I stopped at the
Alex Singer store. I was sort of prepared for the
store and what to expect, but nevertheless was quite
impressed. For those of you that haven't been there, I
have to say, that as a confirmed bike junkie and shop
connoisseur, the Alex Singer experience is like no
other. I remember walking through the west end of
London a couple of years ago, and bumped into the
window of a store that sold bespoke shotguns. Sold in
pairs, made to measure, engraved and buffed to a
certain sheen that only way too much time and skill
can achieve. Heirloom quality. Alex Singer's
storefront has that same essence.
I got there at their lunchtime. Those French know how
to structure working hours in my opinion: 9am to noon,
then 2 to 7pm. Never too many consecutive hours to
tire one out. I was reduced to pressing my nose
against the glass for a few minutes, gaping at the
subtly buffed chrome, paint and alloy adorning the
mostly 531 and 753 bicycles within. A sometimes
strange mixture of seemingly old-world frame set,
complete with box-lining and full chrome, but with a
spanking new Dura-Ace 10 speed kit on it. Lots of
shellacked bar tape, all honey brown, all with lots of
texture, made you want to reach out and feel it. Hand
made stems, heavily chromed and flawlessly polished,
with hidden binder. Time-warp displays of 60's style
panniers, clothing and accessories.

Time for a coffee before they opened, then I came back
to an empty store (it was Saturday even) and an
invitation to tour the back of the shop, sniff the
glue, pluck a few spokes, look like I sort of knew
what I was doing. Hanging from the beams were loads of
partially completed frames, lots of wheels, and a few
repair jobs. Seems like if you own a Singer, even if
it gets flattened by a truck, you still send it back
to see if it just might be salvageable. From stateside
even.
Back at the front of the showroom my eye was very
taken by a 61cm blue AS with exquisitely matching
paneled aluminum fenders. Drat, it's just my size,
just a little too difficult to rationalize YET another
bike, so I resisted manfully. Seems like no-one could
have ever really ridden it, since all the housings
were about 2" too short, quite a remediation when it's
Campy ergo, and shellacked in place.
So, I dawdled some more, eyes darting from bike to
bike, then wrenched myself back to reality. There's
always a next year, always a next bike, always...

Early Rotrax

Got this bike as a frame and forks from a member of the Classicrendezvous list a couple of years ago. Turns out that the company that made it were still in business back in Southampton, England (they have since closed). So, I call them up, and it took them about one minute to tell me that the bike had been made in February 1951, and that it must be one of the very first of its type, as they only actually started making them in January of that year.
It's in pretty good shape, especially for its age. An obvious repaint, I had to get the rear dropouts filled in with filler-weld as someone had over-zealously tightened the rear wheel too many times. It has that classic English look to it: reasonably ornate lugwork, lots of cutouts in the lugs too, really small diameter rear stays, and a nice spindly, well-raked fork. Mmmm...

The Atascadero Escape Bike

The Atascadero Escape Bike

One of the many highlights of the show is a bike built by an inmate at the Atascadero State Correctional Facility in the late 50's. Utilized as his escape vehicle, he fabricated the bike from materials found in the maintenance facility, it is speculated that the prisoner initially discovered the fenders and the rear wheel hub shell, motivating him to complete a bike.



The only true manufactured bicycle parts are the fenders and rear hub. The frame, wheels, and componentry were crafted from available scrap. The inmate's resourcefulness and remarkable ingenuity are exemplified by his inclusion of a suspension fork and saddle; hand hammered bent bars, and wheelset. The tires are made from a garden hose. According to local folklore, the fugitive fled the prison by riding the bike to San Jose. It is unknown why the escapee ended his trek at Faber's Cyclery of San Jose, either he needed parts to continue his escape, or was showing off his handy-work. The authorities soon discovered the whereabouts of the fugitive and a gun battle ensued in the backyard of Faber's Cyclery in San Jose amongst a large pile of bicycles. The police apprehended the escapee, leaving the escape bike abandoned in the pile. The history of this bicycle is still under investigation.

Blue suede shoes.

When I see bicycles that have belonged to their owners a while, that have been modified to fit in with particular needs, have had fashion pecadillos thrust upon them, then it becomes easier to see that "that" bike must belong to "that" person.
Well, in this case, I am not sure if this was Elvis' personal steed, but at least it was inspired by him. And when you look at it, it really couldn't have belonged to anyone else, could it? "Course, in his latter years, I don't think Elvis did much biking.

Such a simple machine....

One of the main reasons I love bicycles so much, is that they "can" be such pure, simple devices. No redundant systems, no extraneous weight. Then you see this. Was the builder tripping when it was built, and if so, on what?

Old Goat, new coat...

Click on the pics for very high resolution images.
Decided to let a local powdercoater blast and finish my '85 Goat Candy-apple 2-stage finish. VERY happy with the results of the paint, also with all the work I put into buffing, cleaning and polishing all the parts. I just completed the rebuild, you know how it is when you can't wait to get something finished because it promises to be SO good.
So, the frame and forks are Candy-apple translucent, the bar, stem, barends, bottle cages are "Chrome" translucent. I hand polished the cranks and did my business on the thumbies (Wood and copper piping!!). All pics taken in our back yard immediately after finishing the build. Decals are repro's that I had a sign shop make for me. Wheels are a pair of WTB's that I scored on Ebay a few years ago, never used them till this build. All in all it's been a supremely satisfying experience.

Get outta there, before the mud sets hard!!

I just hope he didn't bend that top-tube with a delicate body part before the crash.