Wednesday Evening Ride Report
Recently dubbed the wednesday evening ride by Mr. Guzzld, it was an earlier start than it's been for a few years because frankly start times have been getting later and later, so late that the resolve to actually go for a ride, as opposed to the bar, was low by the time people started pedalling. Leaving at 8:30 instead of 10:30 equals more ride time and less headache the next day. Expect more of same for at least a while.
Anyhow, last night I didn't meet up at the usual starting point. Instead, I worked on my creaky BB for a while, then had a beer, then headed straight west to meet up with them at a time I figured most likely to coincide with their arrival at the trail. I got there, rode a lap, then waited for them to show, and show they did, racing past me at a fair clip before I realized they had arrived (me swatting mosquitoes around the corner behind some trees so as not to draw the attention of any passing po-lice cars. I was a lurker).
So the group cruised by about 50 yards away and I had to haul ass to catch them, then jumped on the back of the train and we completed about half of the main Wirth circuit before stopping to collect stragglers, at which point the skies, which had been flashing and grumbly for some time, opened up and dumped rain on us. And dumped. And then dumped some more. We cracked cans of hoppy goodness hoping to wait it out, but finally jumped back on the trail, finished the section we were on, and bailed when we crossed a road, taking it down to the entrance and riding back downtown, by which time the rain had let up.
Once back in the familiar alleyways of our fair city, derby ensued, claiming no injuries, though Nick's brilliant chess move brought down four riders in one go, including yours truly, by the simple method of waiting until the tangle got tight and then pulling away in a couple quick pedal strokes. Without him as lynchpin, we imploded on each other in a shouting tangle of bikes and limbs. At one point a bit later, feeling juiced and peppy, I wheelied while clipped in, forgetting my race brake set up. With the brake lever pulled all the way back to the bar, my brakes drag rather than lock up, and so did no good at all when I tipped back too far. I landed, still clipped in, on my elbow (ouch) and back (double ouch), specifically on my water pack, which likely saved me from a lot more pain but also popped and drained approximately 60 oz. of water down my backside upon impact. It refreshed the clammy feeling that had just begun to subside.
Special recognition to Nate who I found out today does not normally ever ride offroad, so he learned to ride trail on twisty tight singletrack at night in the rain. True, he had a special talent for riding straight when the trail curved, and for hitting trees, and perhaps this wasn't the ideal training ground, but he didn't whine at all.

P/S/ An unrelated, unpaid, & unrequested endorsement: I like this stuff more than Lindt hazelnut chocolate bars. However I can't afford this stuff. Hold on, lemme check my wallet.... nope, not even close. If I could afford it, though, I'd already have one of these being sent first class to my mailbox.

Dear Mr. Guy in the Black Lexus license plate number JMB 999,

I appreciate your 15 second horn blast while rolling up behind me and my three mates riding on Poplar Bridge Road last night. It's especially nice of you to warn us of your plan to try and kill us.

I know that you were in a great hurry to get home and I deeply apologize for being the agent who caused your 30 seconds of tardiness. It was just plain rude of us to be riding in the street.

I also appreciate that you were unable to notice that the street is currently under construction - must be the tinted windows. We should have certainly sucked it up and been riding through the gaping holes in the concrete to our right.

I wish I could have apologized to you in person last night, but you drove away so quickly after missing me by inches. Your destination must've been of utmost importance because I almost died at your hands.

Here's to hoping it was worth it.

Hugs,
Sov, Luby, BRose, and Horkey.

take that!

Reasons to abandon single speed riding (in no particular order):
-30 gear drivetrains. I'm sorry, they cost how much? Whatever, your knees will cost more to replace than that, and at any rate the maintenance can't be all that bad. Can it? 50 miles of variable winds make gears seem almost necessary.
-The whole SS thing was a fad.
-As a cyclist, you profess to like all types of riding, but on your SS you're not at the crest of the wave anymore; its glory has passed. To those who are cyclists, it is now obvious that you are completely ex-post-fashion and definitely the wanker they suspected you of being all along, only moreso. To non-cyclists you always looked like a wanker anyway. Better to cut your losses.
-Gears on mountain bikes let you get up and over more stuff because you have leverage. It's nice to know that 28 tooth is there when you need it. And as for road, well who wants to ride a century on a SS? Remember how often when riding your SS you bitched under your breath (or maybe not so under your breath) that you needed something just a bit easier?
-Every hipster riding around town has 3 main accoutrements to show off his/her uber-hipster stylings:
1) at least one visible tattoo, likely on the theme of mis-interpretted chinese characters ("someone told me this means 'strength'". It doesn't.); 2) excitingly retro glasses, more than likely bought at a fancy shop specializing in rummaging through relatives' basements for old junk then selling this junk at high mark-up in same shop; 3) a single speed bike, often times a fixed gear.
-What were you thinking? Single speeds aren't easier. They weigh almost the same as your geared bike, and cost almost as much to set up.
-You just want to ride, man. It's too much to think about.

Reasons to abandon riding geared bikes:
-30 gears? What's the point? Geared right, and properly fitted to your bike, you're not going to blow out your knees. Geared bikes have tons of weight-adding, pointless gear overlap, and anyway who has the patience for fiddling with that stuff every 100 miles?
-Sick of all this trend-heavy technology. Geared bikes are based on trickle-down race technology and therefore are far more faddish than SSs ever were. Simplicity, man.
-As a cyclist, you profess to like all types of riding, but at least on a SS you are not a slave to the fancies of fast changing technologies and non-standardized component compatibility (um...). On a single speed you look to 'cyclists' like a 'cyclist' ...until they get close to you, and to non-cyclists you look (at least you think) like a normal person just out riding your bike. Except for your shoes. Not much you can do about that.
-Everyone rode fixed gears once, even in The Tour. You need something you can take downtown and not worry about getting ripped off, and that you can crash more than once before being denied warranty. Offroad, you can rip the rollers faster on a SS because they teach you how to pick a line better and how to maintain momentum. Remember how often when riding your geared bike you bitched under your breath (insert clever rejoinder here) because your derailleur couldn't find the gear you needed when you needed it?
-You'd rather get lumped in with the hipsters than look like one of those fools who think that if they dress like Lance they'll ride like him too. Overpriced retro glasses still look better than one of those logo-festooned 'kits'.
-What were you thinking? Geared bikes aren't easier! They weigh almost the same thing as your SS and cost a bit more to set up.
-You just want to ride, man. It's too much to think about.

Our limited edition purple front/rear hubsets are all gone (see blog from Monday, June 20th). We sold the last pair today, making the total time they were in stock 51 hours.

We still have rear disc hubs only in purple, for those of you who want to buy two rear hubs for their Pugsley bike.

Pugsley updates:

Our Pugsley project is still moving along swimmingly. We expect framesets to be ready mid/end of July. Endomorph 3.7" tires, full sized tubes, and offset drilled Large Marge rims should also be here near the end of July. We'll supply a special tool to build your wheels 17.5mm offset with each Pug frameset along with instructions on how to build them up.

Availability dates on a couple items could spill into August, but for the most part, things are on schedule.

On a side note, I pedalled my Pug through some sand dunes in northern Wisconsin last week and freaked myself out with how much float and traction there was. The streamcrossing was also made effortless. Fat is fun.

MORE STUFF IN STOCK!

I just inspected and OK'd 16 more singlespeed and track cogs. They should go into stock tomorrow. So we now have almost all the 30 different sizes of cogs in stock. Whatever is not in stock, will be so within the next few weeks.

These cogs are looking very good, the tolerances are exact, the finish is nice, the machine work is very good, chain engagement is perfect, they spin onto a track hub or slide over a freehub body smoothly. Makes me happy all over.

We just got a bunch of hubs in stock today, probably everything that we've been out of stock on should be available now.

Rear Nice Racks are also in stock for the first time. Black or silver. They look very nice, the small parts fit nice and tight. Seeing these today all built up for the first time made all that waiting worthwhile. We hope you feel the same. We'll have a bunch more technical specifications and close up photos of these racks on the website soon.

Front Nice Racks should be available around the second week of July.

I've now had two very close calls with cars while riding my bike to work in the last two weeks. Each time was at a familiar intersection, where cars just roll through the stop sign and ignore my right of way. Each time I rolled through cautiously with fingers on my brake levers. Each time the driver seemed completely unaware of me because they failed to look. Each time I was within a few feet of the bumper because I was prepared to stop. Each time I had the right of way. This morning, the driver of the Notorious S.U.V. was lucky his little girl in the backseat was strapped in or she would've gotten a faceful of windshield because he didn't look both ways. Maybe you folks driving cars in the morning should wake the F**K up before you get in your vehicles. My point in this blog is not to create more tension between cyclists and motorists, but for cyclists to keep your fingers on those brake levers, be aware of your surroundings and don't assume motorists are going to obey the rules of the road. Let's be careful out there.

Need some color in your life? Fond of the purple horseshoe in Lucky Charms cereal? We thought we'd address these issues with a limited edition run of hubs, not horseshoes. This is our loving way of remembering back to the early 1990's when most bike parts came in a rainbow of fruit flavors. We did a very small one-time-only run of these hubs, so once they are gone, they are gone. We will not make any more and we haven't stashed any away for those of you that didn't get this message soon enough.

Part numbers are:

-HU0230
front and rear MTB hubset, disc compatible, solid axle, 32 hole

-HU0229
rear MTB hub, disc compatible, solid axle, 32 hole

Fronts are NOT sold separately.

Wheel Repair 101:


Many of us have had to make use of this technique this at one time or another. Sov, pictured here, uses it fairly regularly, but that is due in part to his choice of riding style and companions.
In my life as a shop rat, lo these many moons ago, my co-rats and I saw many bad wheels, as shop rats do (not to mention lots of other things...have you ever tried to track down a Positron shift cable?). One guy brought in a wheel best descibed as 'undead.' It was far to badly taco'd to save. The customer insisted that he wanted it repaired. After 10 minutes of careful explanation, each attempt more dumbed down than the previous, my co-worker finally realized he was not going to get through to the guy. He said, "Ok, hold on, I'll see if I can fix it," and proceeded to raise the wheel high above his head and smack it down with full force on the floor. The resulting noise made everybody in the store jump (no one admitted to piddling in their drawers but the noise was loud enough to give a squirrel a heart attack). The wheel, still wobbly but remarkably better than moments before, was handed back to the customer without a word. He left.

Our friend T got mugged this weekend, knocked off her bike after a show and the dillhole took her ride. That is so uncool. Luckily she's o.k. Shook up of course, and a cut on her leg, but essentially in tact. Let's be careful out there people, and have your u-lock ready for action. There's a special hell for bike thieves, but that doesn't mean you can't clock them with the business end of a u-lock if things get heated.

The Twin Cities Dead Brewery tour happened saturday. A tour of defunct brew houses, Brauer took us all over MPLS/St Paul, to places even TC vets have never ridden, and it was super fun. It started with some rain, but turned absolutely beautiful. We even picked up one guy who was just out riding around! One flat, no major mechanicals, and nobody got dropped, because that is how you do that. Brauer even gave history lessons at every stop about each brewery. The guy with the GPS 'unit' said at the end that we averaged 4.02 mph. Yeah, but how many miles to the gallon?

And a great big happy anniversary to my mom and pop. 41 years today! Special congrats to mom for getting back on her bike this weekend after some physical ailments almost took away the possibilty of riding at all. I love you both.

This is pretty darn cool.
Sov has been riding at the local track, along with Cravens and Ped, but I'm guessing that Squid and the Puma team are riding at a slightly different level. Anybody who can give Nothstein a run for his money is tuff stuff.

Also in the news: more reports of bicyclists getting killed by cars. Maybe I'm just websurfing more than I used to, but it seems like there's a particularly nasty rash of sad news stories about this sort of thing this year. Keep your eyes open and your head up. We like you better alive.

More ETAs for upcoming products:

- 24" Large Marge rims, 32 or 36 hole, early July

- Many, many more hubs will be ready throughout the next 2 weeks

- The remainder of the new cogs that haven't already been in stock will be ready for the first time, probably next week

- Tuggnuts, about 2 weeks

- Singleator Scrap tool/bottle opener (part#CH8896) is now in stock for the first time

- Rear Nice Racks, probably next week for the first time

- Front Nice Racks, hopefully 4-5 weeks

- Pugsley framsets, Endomorph 3.7" tires, tubes and offset drilled Large Marge rims are still close to schedule for July. At this point, it's probably late July. Can't wait for these!

If you've been reading this blog and/or waiting for a frame that we've been out of stock on, you may be painfully aware that our productions have been severely delayed this year. Our normal and predictable 90 day production times have unexpectedly gone to 120 days, then to 150 days. It totally sucks are we're not happy about it. We expect to get whatever sizes/models/colors of the following frames that we're currently out of stock around the end of July/early August:

- Cross-Check framesets, Cross-Check complete bikes, Karate Monkeys, 1x1s and Steamrollers.

- Long Haul Truckers, Pacers and Instigators ready near the end of August.

For all of you who have been saving their hard earned cash for one of the new framesets only to be disappointed to find out that you have to wait to get it, we feel your pain and hear from you daily. It's a sore spot with us right now and it's our livelihood on the line here when we don't have stuff to sell you. We're taking it seriously and putting some things in place to hopefully keep this from happening beyond fall 2005. So for now, we sincerely thank you for being patient and hope you still have another bike to ride until then. Thank you thank you thank you.

Jon Rizzo teetering on his chopped Instigator....

Free is a good price for a bike.

So, as you may imagine, I've got a Surly or two in the basement... and the garage... and the living room. There are, however a couple of other bikes in my herd that are not Surlys - and that's ok.

Recently I stumbled upon a 1969 (the year of my birth) Schwinn Suburban with a Sturmey Archer 3-speed hub, a Union generator light set (of course it still works - was there any question), and a Pletcher rear rack (you know, the one with the snappy spring deal - perfect for holding a spicy Gyro in it's enviromentally hostile styrofoam box). I got it for the reasonable price of no dollars. That, plus $10 in 27 x 1 1/4 tires, and I'm good to rock.

After a few hours in the basement with a Scotchbrite pad and some metal polish (and a wicked buzz from said fumes) she looks brand spankin' new. And I finally have a bike worthy of my Wald "30 pack" front basket (tip 'o the hat to Stroh's for inventing the 30.)

This past weekend I took my new Brown Clown on a few excursions - to the Rainbow for groceries, to BRose's place for meat cooked over fire, and around Lake Calhoun for... well... riding around Lake Calhoun.

The moral, if there is one, is to not discount a bike because it's old and heavy and even a little rusty. In that heap, with a little love and some elbow grease, there might be hiding a new friend. Free bikes rock.

The best thing about $2 tap PBRs is you can afford alot of them. "Just one more" becomes, just five more. Then you're on your cruiser going home in the middle of the street with your pals, getting home, eating leftover pie, starting some basement project, almost slipping in the shower, telling your lady all these stories about what happened that night, and happily plunging your face into the pillow. Then you wake up and realize the only way to get those $2 PBRs out of your system is to ride to work with a cookie from the bakery in your gut. If I believed in God, I'd thank him/her for making bike riding the best damned hangover cure ever invented.

A couple pics of Brauer Power at the First Annual Fruita 18 Road Parking Lot Skid Contest.

Going......



Downnnn!!!!

Sov likes a snug fit.

SSWC05
registration starts today

Lynn (my wife) and Noah the Buttonpusher (my 2-year-old son) went to Illinois for a couple of days to attend a high school graduation. Though I relished the thought of travelling in an RV with my in-laws for a good portion of the holiday weekend, I opted not to go to Illinois with the family unit. Instead, I packed up the Instigator/Xtracycle and rode 30 miles to a stealth, off-the-map campsite out in the western ‘burbs.

Minneapolis has a great trail system. Of the 30-mile route to my site, only 2 miles are on roadways. The rest is paved bike/hike trails or crushed limestone bike/hike trails. Most of it follows abandoned railway corridors; a small portion of trail exists inside one of the Three Rivers regional parks. I can cruise along at 15mph without worrying about a self-absorbed, distracted dumbass running me over with his/her highway vehicle. And, the trail moves me through some beautiful areas that most people never get to see. The ride to and from the campsite is a major component of the whole camping experience. Car camping kinda sucks ass in comparison.

Foul weather was predicted for most of the weekend. I’m really glad I ignored the overpaid TV weather clowns. It only rained briefly in the early morning hours while I was still tucked in my sleeping bag. Most of the time, it was sunny, warm, and dry.

I’ve done one-day and two-day overnight tours on the Pacer, Cross-check, Long Haul Trucker, and Pugsley, but never on the Instigator...even though it is one of the most capable touring vehicles in my fleet. It will hold anything I’m willing to haul. And, I usually like to camp in some degree of comfort, especially if it’s for more than a day. So, I packed my 4-man Kifaru tipi and collapsible wood stove , small bag of charcoal, solid–fuel cooking stove and pot, food for 3 days, 20-degree sleeping bag and sleeping pad, an array of clothing good for almost anything Mother Nature could throw at me, 3 tea light lanterns w/ 6 tea light candles, bike tools,. toiletries and first aid, hatchet, saw, pruning sheers, 4’ x 8’ ground cloth, 5-gallon collapsible water jug, bottle of cabernet and ½ pint of Jagermeister, camera, 3 magazines and sketch pad, headlamp, misc camping gadgets….and the Xtracycle accepted it all happily. I put everything in stuff sacks or pockets of the Xtracycle Freeloaders. Once the Freeloader cinch straps were lashed tight, I was headed down the road with a well-balanced, stable load that rivals the most carefully packed rack/pannier systems I’ve used. Instigator_X.jpg

The tipi and wood stove combo are really sweet, especially when temps drop below freezing. I have plenty of room for all of my gear, including my bike, and as much wood as I could burn in 2-3 days. The tipi is a single-pole unit, so it’s easy to pitch; it takes me less than 10 minutes. The tipi and stove weigh less than 10 pounds combined. That’s certainly not ultralight, but I’m more than willing to carry that weight in order to benefit from the comfort provided by this shelter system. The stove cooks my food, dries my clothes, casts some light into the tent, keeps me warm, and satisfies my desire to burn stuff. It’s efficient, and it doesn’t leave a stanky plot of scorched earth behind. Outside.jpg Inside.jpg

I spent my days cutting and gathering wood for the stove, hauling water, hiking deer paths through the woods, napping, reading, designing, sketching, pondering, cooking, eating, and just surviving outside the of the normal routine. Nothing else has proven itself more therapeutic, for me, than getting away from humans for a while. Many of you know what I’m talking about. To all you touring virgins...Dare to explore. Dare to get dirty. Dare to move outside of your comfort zone for a while. Dare to not read your e-mail or surf the web for a day or two. You don’t have to go far. Just go.

It has been suggested that since we've been short stocked on some frames and parts for a good part of this spring, we are purposely keeping inventory low on many of our frame models and that some monkey must be running the show here. Most of the problems with getting products in stock is multilayered and laden with details most of you don't care about or would not understand without a background in manufacturing.

What we can say is that we apologize for not having shit in stock. It sucks for you, it sucks for us. We're not happy about it. We're doing everything we can to aleviate the problems leading to delays. While these changes may not affect the short term (summer 2005) supply, we expect to have a much better handle on things and will be able to give much better ETAs when stuff is out of stock. If you're a dealer reading this, consult our supplier for some simple low maintenance tips on how to be notified when product arrives into stock.

The purpose of this blog is part info, part entertainment. We're doing what we can to let you know when things are in stock and when things are coming. How many other companies do that? When you have a question, come to the source, we'll do what we can to inform you. When you have a rant, doing it on some forum only alienates you from us because we don't have time to read all that stuff.

With that said, we expect to be out of Karate Monkeys until August sometime. Cross-Checks will be lean as well, but we'll have more Complete Cross-Check bike in about 5-6 weeks. More hubs in about 2 weeks, rear Nice Racks for the 1st time in about 2 weeks, front Nice Racks for the 1st time in about 4-6 weeks, the rest of the new cogs for the 1st time in about 2 weeks, plus more stuff as well.

Trust us, alot of our job isn't screwing around with cool bike stuff and drinking beer on our bikes, it's dealing with manufacturing and supply issues that the end user, you, never hear about. We can't thank you enough for being patient.