Fixootr

Work had me ridiculously busy and rather stressed from late November until the end of the year. While I didn't have adequate time to begin or resume any full-fledged bike builds or other major projects, I did find that I could wind down and relax a bit at the end of my hectic days with a few minutes of wheel building. I had accumulated a few low-to-medium priority wheels to build, so this was a good way to avoid falling too far behind.

Wheel #1 was a composite affair. El Prez had a 700c flip-flop wheel on a Motobecane setup as a fixed-gear and a new 20" Weinmann BMX rim laced to a faulty coaster brake hub. Both wheels had 36 spokes, so I was tasked with mating the Quando flip-flop hub from the big rim to the the 20" rim by any means necessary. The resulting Frankenwheel would be destined for his Xootr Swift folding bike.

There were a couple of issues with the Quando hub. Firstly, the bearings were kind of shot. Secondly, it was meant for a frame with 120mm rear spacing-- fine on the old Motobecane, not fine for the 135mm rear spacing of the Xootr. The Xootr has an aluminum frame, so cold-setting is out of the question. A new set of bearings made the hub much happier about spinning. A round of spare parts scrounging at Maison D'Interstatement turned up a longer axle and a spacer/locknut combo that added up to 135mm.

The hub was ready to go, with a caveat: since most of the extra spacing had to go on the left side of the hub to maintain a straight chainline, the wheel is no longer symmetrically dished and effectively can't be flipped around for use with a freewheel. Neither of these things are deal-breakers in this case. I think the inherent overbuilt strength of a 36-spoke 20" wheel should more than compensate for the weakening effect of an off-center dish. Prez was only interested in the fixed-gear function of the hub, so he wasn't bothered by the loss of freewheeling capability. The best way to see how it holds up is some vigorous real-world riding of the sort that its owner is both qualified and inclined to dish out.

The spokes are Wheelsmith 2.0 mm, with DT Swiss brass spoke head washers making for a snug fit in the hub flange. I used UBI's online spoke calculator for the lengths. As of this writing, the wheel has been in use for several weeks and El Prez is pleased with its performance. This was my first time building a 20" wheel and I liked it for it's compact, manageable "laptop" size. There are a lot of neat hubs besides fixed (internally-geared, dynamo, drum or disc brake) that are rarely built into this configuration, and I'd like to see more. There's a lot of potential for folding bikes to become more useful and fun for more people. Read more!

Above the fold

I had a nice ride today. The sun was shining and I was happy to see a fair amount of bikes out and about in spite of the cold. Stoplight conversation with other cyclists is a rare pleasantry come mid-December, so a brief chat in West Hartford brightened my mood even more. I rode Route 4 west past the reservoir to Route 10 south into Plainville. This is a good route to ride, especially if you stray from Farmington Ave. and take Talcott Notch Road to bypass the less scenic part of Route 4 where traffic bottlenecks coming off of I-84. This detour, while hilly, is a great way to go to the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival in the summertime without choking on exhaust fumes. This is also an especially fine way to meander into Collinsville, if you hang a right off Route 10 after you pass Miss Porter's School. As nice as all of those diversions could be, I took the more prosaic and direct 4-10 line, as I was on a recovery mission.

I had to pick up my scooter at the scooter shop in Plainville. El Prez was kind enough to loan me his Xooter Swift for this purpose. This particular Swift has been personalized quite a bit. It has seen some handlebar swaps, custom fit modifications, field improvisations and so-called Yankee ingenuity (or Met ingenuity, as I believe El Prez's sympathies are with New York's N.L. franchise [which is as it should be]). Aside from the uncomfortable-to-me seat, which is one of the most subjective pieces of any bike, I was impressed. El Prez has been hammering on this thing for some time now, and it has proved quite sturdy through daily use and at least one Eel race. I feel like I've seen it everywhere for years, but this is the first time I ever actually rode it.

I loaded the front rack with my motorcycle helmet and my ginormous cargo bag (folded and nearly empty at first) and brought some extra clothes. It made for less-than-optimal weight distribution, but the bike rode just fine (it was nigh-impossible to lean it upright on anything, though). With my combined schlepping I put about 20 miles on the bike, which easily quintupled my lifetime total miles ridden on folding bicycles. I liked it. I have been wanting a folding bike for a while and have been thinking more about them lately. Between the approaching holidays and some potential educational pursuits, I will be spending some time in the New York City metro area and possibly visiting Boston at some point. I'd prefer to make these trips without driving, and folding bikes are the best bet for toting along on a bus or a train without a hassle. Today's little trip has reinforced my folding bike aspirations.


At my destination in Plainville, I set about readying for the return trip to Hartford. With the front wheel removed, the folded Xooter fit most of the way into the cargo bag, at least enough for the straps to fasten. I hoisted it clumsily into place and plied it with tie-down straps until it seemed unlikely to budge. I slung my crappy freebie messenger bag over the protruding bits of Swift frame and garnished this increasingly ridiculous-looking assemblage with a stretch-net.


I had to sit awkwardly close to the front of the seat to accommodate the ungainly bundle, but other than that, the return trip went well. I have seen the folding-bike light, so you haven't heard the last of me going on about them. I have a potential folding bike project in the works. More on that soon.
Read more!

Bring Your Rubbers alleycat roundup

Holy Shit that 1st band was loud! The hood was scared!

The alleycat popped off very well indeed. The police only came twice and the fire department once...not too shabby. We had three super loud bands and a super unloud stereo for the afterparty as well as a keg and other libations. Many thanks to Krash, El Presidente de China, all the bands (Fruit Punch, Dirty South Revolution and Own Life), the peeps who held down the checkpoints and all the racers. And the sponsors! Manhattan Portage, for the 1st prize messenger bag, Play in Traffic Productions, for the Monster Track DVDs, 5-Boro Generals, for the t-shirts, and CCBA for the stainless steel, non-carcinogenic water bottles and Brendan for the whiskey.


TJ proudly wearing his medal of fastness. He shoulda paid attention and worn some rubbers as he found himself thigh deep in the flooded Connecticut River carrying his bike to the bonus checkpoint. That’s core dude!


manifests and maps

Here’s the list full of misspellings:
1 TJ (dreads)
2 Shanesaw
3 Valdez
4 Sean
5 Aaron
6 Jeremy
7 Tony C
8 Mourad
9 TJ (no dreads)
10 Steve
11 Rich's eyeglass case
12 Robin
11, 12 or 12,11. Who knows!?!?
Opton missed a checkpoint and got a flat, but won a 40 for the breakdown
Rick and AmyZ never left my checkpoint!
Two others?…Orion and Matt didn’t finish? Got swept away? Traded to the Mets?

the checkpoints:
pope park pond, keney park pond, elizabeth park pond, lincoln's horse EH riverfront, park river @ asylum and woodland, constitution plaza fountain, chillwill's backyard, and prove you went to wendy's on airport road. bonus spot: hock river ped bridge in EH


The band, the crowd, the keg, a MP lanyard...i dunno, its freakin dark!

there's prolly another dozen photos after the jump.
click on "read more" fool!


pay up!


robin and jeremy enjoying the park


lauren and that dude whose name i got wrong at the park...help!?


15 minutes til "GO!"


Tony C, an army of one.


where's that sculpture of Lincoln's Horse!?!


that's right suckas, you gotta climb two sets of sketchy fire escape stairs to get yer shit signed.


jeremy and aaron navigating the Stairs of Death


this dude was flying down Cap Ave


steve trying not to eat metal steps


once they pulled out the buds...there was no leaving!


dirty south revolutionaries


steve, bianca, ozzy and more manhattan portage schwag


own life


tony makin' all the right moves


krash, chris, and that dude from the dirty dirty. he was mad cool.


i am not sure i improved much from the 40 i had the night before


ken demands the 'stache is back


bicycles, bicycles, bicycles, bicycles, bicycles, bicycles


el prez lookin' el serious


eva chulita and meeeyoo! i don't sleep anymore cuz of these chicas, but its all good. (be nice when you tell me how to spell yo name)


watching the van back out and in and out and in to get out was funny. i have a cargo van and feel thier pain in that parking lot.


wow! the pope park checkpoint and friends. eva, wizzzzzzy, laura, meeeyooo and leslie who also won the pullup competition!



rich is proud of his DFL prize, an acryllic block with a CT quarter that says, "you belong in connecticut."



el prez on his Xootr just seconds before bailing on going to the diner at 3am






Read more!

Pesky Kids (an update concerning my recent absence from two wheels)

I've been off the bike for the past few days, unfortunately, because my dear wife is away doing research in Nicaragua until Monday the 23rd, leaving me in sole control of my two young terrorists. Usually, the whole family can travel by bike, because Anna has a seat on the back of her rig for the little one and I tow the bigger one in the trailer, but with two kids and one adult, the equation gets complicated. Also, their preschool is in Middletown (near Anna's work), and even if I did have a two-kid trailer, I couldn't get them to school then get me to work in a timely fashion if I had to ride all the way there.

All of which is to say, I am going crazy because I have a great new bike but I'm not getting to ride it. I can say that before the wife went away, I got to ride from Middletown to New Haven and back on my Swift folder, and the hype is true: The thing really does hold up nicely on long rides, with many of the favorable long-distance attributes of full-sized road bikes. Unfortunately, it also suffers from some of the same deficits of full-sized bikes, namely, if you make the stupid mistake of riding 50 miles on a 100-degree day, it will not help you to feel less overheated. Also, if you ride it to Kenny's for PHH on a Tuesday night and it has a slow leak in the back tire and you are stupid enough not to carry a spare tube, it will not save you from having to walk home.

In other sponsor news, the Manhattan Portage businessy commuter bag is performing admirably. Before I was de-bike-ified by my wife's departure, I took it on a mid-sized grocery run, filled it to the brim, and switched from shoulder strap to backpack straps for carrying comfort. That was great. And since then, I've been lugging my laptop and lunch and voluminous court filings around the state in it and it has been everything I'd ever hoped for in a bag. Also, the "waterproof fabric treatment," about which I was skeptical, did pretty well in one of the recent torrential downpours (which I rode through to go get beers at Kenny's): Everything in the bag actually stayed dry! Thanks, Manhattan Portage, you champion of companies! Read more!