Help me raise funds for MS Research

Hey readers, if you are in the giving mood- I have signed up for the MS150 and would really appreciate you donating money to help fund research to fight MS.

Please visit http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/boulderjoe and make a donation if you can.

Thanks!
-Joe

Silly Smooth

Look closely...


And then you see it . It makes me think of Zohan and the Silky Smooth. I would like to make my bike have silky smooth shifting. And soon I will.

Review: Princeton Tec Eos Light

After I got the Lumotech IQ Fly light I sold my Light and Motion Vega. And man the Lumotec IQ Fly did not disappoint. It is a very bright light, and it gets bright at a much lower speed than the shimano nexus light that came on the Castro Valley.
But I thought it would be a good idea to use a helmet mounted blinky light to be more visible when I am in traffic, you know, look left,right so cars see you.

The light has High-Med-Low and blink settings. It is very light and has a small helmet and bar mount.

I had a problem with the handlebar mount as you can see in the picture below.
The clip on the light is supposed to clip in to the handlebar mount, but the notch does not line up and I have to make sure the light does not fall off.


The light is pretty bright, it blinks at a slower rate than most. It seems well built, the on off button has a solid click to it, which is nice. It is relatively inexpensive.

But I just don't think it works very well on my helmet. I keep checking for the light in store windows and in the reflection of cars but it just doesn't seem that bright.

Bottom line, I think I'd have to say skip this light. I'd like to try out the Planet Bike Blaze or the new Light and Motion Vega 200.

Bikes From My Past Part V: Crossers

Continuing with my posts about all the bikes I have owned over the years I will now cover the cross bikes. Roughly from the newest to oldest. Sort of.

Seven Mudhoney Ti with Discs.

I know you are not supposed to have a favorite child, but this is it. The discs, so worth it.
I think the drop out's look pretty cool.
I am runnig Ritchey WCS compact cranks with 36/42 chain rings.
The parts build is:
Seven Mudhoney Ti Frame
XTR Centerlock hubs to open pros
Avid BB7 Road calipers
Ultegra 9speed sti
XTR Rear der
WCS Cranks
WCS Bars
WCS Stem
WCS Post
Flite Gel Saddle
30T Cassette
TRP Carbon levers
Crank Brothers Candy Ti pedals


Specialized Tricross Singlecross

My weakness in a cross race is my horrible sprints. I thought riding the single speed would be my answer to this. Plus its just fun.
I'm rocking the 2:1 ratio with a 44/22 combo. IT has v-brakes and v-brake drop levers. Really nice. So much better than canti's.

Bianchi San Jose
I bought this the first winter I was in PGH. I thought it would be good to commute on. I actually really like the way it rode. At the same time I was commuting on a Planet X Kaffenback that would not fit studded cross tires. So I sold both bikes and bought the Bianchi Casto Valley since it had the same frame as the san jose but had gears. I missed having a single speed and bought the tricross above 2 years later to replace it.

Cannodale Optimo Cross

When I decided to start racing cross again I purchased this bike from Boulder Cyclse Sport and rode the crap out of it. I replaced the deraileurs, sti, wheels, tires and seat over time. It was pretty much perfect and I replaced it solely so I could get a cross bike with discs.

Serrota Cross
I worked at a bike shop in college where we all were in to cross. One of the customers brought this frame in to sell, he had picked it up off of rec.bicycles.marketplace for a song. I bought it from him and it roade amazingly. It had a short top tube that did not fit me right. I went over the bars a lot on that bike... it was too nice a bike for me to race on, so I sold it after like 1 month of owning it.

Bianchi Touring bike


This was my first dedicated commuter bike and also my first cross bike . Simplicity works. It was a touring bike with tons of front tire clearance. But it did not fit these amazing continental cross tires I used at the time in the rear. So I dremeled off the brake bridge. Hey I was young...

That brrings to a close the bikes from my past posts.

Perfect cold riding

This weekend was perfect for mountain biking.



I headed out of the house early before the ground thawed. My buddy somehow wore knickers and summer shoes on a 15°F day. But the trails were frozen, no ice but frozen mud which has the perfect amount of traction.

Then on Sunday we had a dusting of snow in town. But just 10 miles outside town at Hartwood Acres there was 2-3" of snow. The trails were great, no one was out there. The tires were getting traction in the snow and there was enough snow to keep you out of the soft soil beneath.

Sure its still really cold out, but its somehow easier to deal with when you know spring is not too far away.

In case you care what I was wearing for my rides:

• Castelli Ares Jacket (a softshell)
  
• Pearl Izumi thin long sleeve fleece
  
• Showers Pass Elite Roadie Pants
  
• Defeet Wool-e-ator socks
  
• REI Primaloft Mitts
  
• Shimano Winter Shoes (mw-02)
  
• Patagonia Neck Gator
  
• Nike winter cycling cap
  
• iPod Shuffle
  

Review: Showers Pass Elite Roadie Pants

Here in the Burgh' we get our share of rain and snow. Mix that in with cold weather and my aversion to riding the trainer in the basement means I spend a lot of time riding in bad weather.

I have tried a lot of different tights, the Pearl Izumi AmPhib is nice, but for me when its below 40 those are not warm enough, and do nothing for me in the rain.

I like the Sugoi Sub Zero tights, they are good to around 30, but if it is snowing or raining they can't keep me warm.

I have tried a cheap pair of Bellwether Windfront tights, which are fleece with plastic on the front. They can keep you warm, but your legs will get incredibly sweaty in them. Talk about no breathability... Plus the wind breaker front makes them fit weird.

Now when its below 25 I had worn Gore Tex PacLite pants which work pretty good but are too big/loose for cycling, but they do keep the moisture out! Not a bad solution but you can't really go on a long ride with them on as they can hold in too much moisture. Clammy legs are better than numb legs I guess.

As I mentioned before, I like Showers Pass gear. I have been really happy with their elite 2.0 jacket. When looking at their products I saw they had a nice looking pair of winter tights called the elite roadie pants.

I figured I would try a pair of their tights. I purchased the Showers Pass Elite Roadie Pants from Boure. First Boure is a great on-line retailer. They accidentally sent me the wrong item, actually the more expensive eVent rain pants, but after contacting them they sent me the new pants with a prepaid/addressed envelope to return the wrong pair in. I mean no one does that! They are A+ in my book.

You know the drill, usually a company sends the wrong product, makes you pay to send it back, then ships the right one out. So it takes 2-3 weeks to get what you bought... But Boure immediately sent out the right pair and included postage and pre addressed envelope. Great company.

The pants have a combination of their eVent fabric, softshell and stretch fabric making a very comfortable pair of tights, considerably more comfortable than the Bellwether tights.
They are not lose fitting rain pants, they are tights. Well since they have eVent fabric in the front they aren't lycra tight, just a tiny bit lose. These are mediums here, I am 5'10" 145pds and they fit spot on.

I have used them on rides in the teens for a few hours and they have kept me warm without over heating. I have also worn them in temps up to 40 degrees (hey it hasn't gotten warmer than that here!) and not gotten too hot.

I have used these in rain and snow and stayed dry, even in a freezing rain snow combo.


And here you can see the reflective trim on the ankle zip and the gator on the bottom which can velcro up out of the way.

I also purchased the suspenders, which are so nice. I buy tights without a chamois so I wear bike shorts underneath. Well with regular tights over top of shorts the tights tend to slip down as you ride and you end up showing off your ass like a college girls thong... So the suspenders on these tights keep that from happening.

I have the my answer to winter cycling tights question. These things are great. The perfect combo of water resistance, wind resistance, warmth and breathability.

Check em' out at Boure: http://www.boure.com/8256.html

This is what Boure has to say:
Showers Pass Roadie Pants are a Technical 3-Season tight for serious training that has more bells and whistles than the crowd at the Tour de France. Pants feature eVent shell fabric on the thigh and lower leg to protect you from wind and rain, a waterproof-breathable softshell seat and articulated stretch knee panels with overtaped seams for waterproof performance where you need it, fully breathable, heat-balancing stretch side panels and a drop down ankle gaiter. Reflective logos and ankle zips for low-light visibility and are suspender compatible

Mystery Bike Tool

UPDATE - Mystery solved, I believe it is a Shimano 5 Speed Freewheel tool. Thanks for all the help.


WTF tool is this? It has been in my tool box since the early 90s. It is smaller than a shimano cassette tool.




Bicycle Research has a web site that shows it's cassette tools:
http://www.bicycleresearchtools.com/wheelt.html#anchor270825

Maybe it is the CT-4 Normandy tool? Or is the CT-3?

Harness the power of the internets and let me know if you have the answer.

Thanks,
-Joe

Review: WrapPack

The WrapPack is a handy little zippered pouch that can hold some cash, id, and your phone in your jersey pocket on a road ride. It is water resistant and cheap.

Here is what it looks like with a few bills, some benadryl, id and a blackberry pearl in it.
And here it is next to a pack of 4 AA batteries.

I am curious as to why its not 100% waterproof, but it will keep everything dry on a couple hour ride in the mist.
You can pick it up at Excel Sports for $7.

Review: Metrinch Tools

My friend turned me on to the Metrinch tools many years ago. These things are handy! Not the ratchet wrench there, but the other one above is a Metrinch. Metrinch's shtick is that One wrench can do both standard and metric. It grabs bolts with the round bumps, so on the flat parts of the nut, not the edges. They are also better at getting out stripped nuts and bolts as a result.

I can't recommend these enough. Go vist Metrinch and pick up a set. I have both the wrenches and the socket set.

Oddly enough, my set of crescent wrenches came with two 10mm wrenches and no 12mm wrench. So I emailed Metrinch US (mitools.com) and they said they would send me a new one if I sent the old one back. Which is ok, since they have no idea where I bought them from and I could have been lying.

But then I noticed the 9mm was not a metrinch design but a regular wrench. Now I got these off ebay years ago and used to keep it in my scooter, and never noticed. I guess I'll send that back too. So lesson, if you buy the set off of ebay, make sure it comes with all the right parts.


So check yours when you first get it in the mail.

My set of sockets and wrenches had no problems at all, so just the set of crescent wrenches had problems.

Oh what a let down

Having come to the realization that I ride my commuter bike the most out of all my bikes, I slowly upgrade it as parts wear out. I picked up a WTB grease guard headset off of ebay for pennies. Back in the day these things were the jam. In fact all grease guard stuff was/is just cool. If you are not familiar grease guard was the name for bike parts with grease fittings on the outside. And so you could repack your hubs/bb/headset without taking the part apart.

You can repack your headset and flush out all the old bad grease with just a grease gun without removing anything.
Well I installed it, using the Pricepoint headset press, which is really moderately better than just using a bolt and a washer... Everything went in ok. The race was a real P.I.T.A. to install though.

Well the headset was a let down... The "zertz" where you put the new grease in were frozen, the rubber seals which keep the grease in were dry rotted and falling off and most importantly was the the race had rusted.

I took the headset back out, chalked up the $4 ebay purchase as experience and put a cheap cane creek cartridge bearing headset in.

Update Review: Showers Pass eVent Elite 2.0 Jacket

I reviewed the Showers Pass eVent Elite 2.0 Jacket last year and thought it would be time for an update.

I have had this coat over a year now and worn it a good bit on my commutes, road rides and even hiking. It is a great coat, the ability to vent from the bottom, arm pits, neck or sleeves can help you regulate your temp really well. You can be comfy in this jacket from 20F to 60F. The jacket it made really well and has shown no signs of wearing out a ton wearing and a moderate amount of washing it in the washing machine.

I have been so impressed with the coat that I picked up two pairs of pants from them as well. Full review to come, but I have used their "roadie pants" on a 2 hour 20F ride and been warm in them.

Bikes From My Past Part IV

Following up on bikes from past posts. This one covers my one and only beach cruiser. The Nirve Kilroy. I picked this up in Boulder used on craigslist from a highschool kid for $100. It needed a little TLC, but that was easy. I added the fenders, headlight and a rear blinky light made out of an army surplus lamp. It weighs a ton, it has one gear. I don't really ride it often. I can't sell it though... I will live at the beach one day, and it will be worth it then,

Cross my Heart / Super Bowl of Singlespeed CX

all pics from schiek

Yesterday I went down to College Park MD and met up with my buddy Jon to race the Cross my Heart race put on by Proteus Bikes in College Park. The race was awesome. The course was great, cold icy mud was everywhere, but the weather was warm in the 50s making it really fun.

A nice mix of grass, super fun singletrack, short road section and a "mulch pit". I guess they had an ice storm earlier in the week and busted their asses to get the course ice free. There was one insanely icy corner in the mulch section. Actually I am suprised they did not just reroute the course around it, cause people were going down. But whatever it made it more epic. I did go down really hard on the first lap in that corner when the guy in front of me wrecked and I couldn't get around him.

Plus the music on the PA was great, lifetime, kid dynamite, braid, boy sets fire, grade...

Props to them for putting on a cross race in February.

Plus they gave me a pint glass and a pin, very cool .