Over the mountain
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: fixed gearing
11-20-05: After my mundane morning ride, I latched onto a fellow cyclist riding a hybrid at a decent road clip. He was headed for the Rez.

I've ridden the Watchung Reservation several time, but not on a fixed gear, and my last trip was a fun, memorable jaunt on an old geared roadbike. So, I was not aware of the ease with which I would make it up the hills on my fix.

Conversing with my fellow cyclist about general bike stuff, I wasn't aware he didn't know I didn't have gears. Somewhere right before one of the bike climbs, it came up. "You have no gears? You must be some kind of maniac!"

I have heard of people on fixed gears arousing this sort of reaction from geared cyclists but never really heard it myself. Now I have.

Climbing was a cakewalk until the last few dozen yards, when my lungs had a mite of difficulty keeping up with my legs. But I made it with no complaining. The pain in my legs turned into a nice warm fuzzy buzz. I was high on something. What? Sun streamed through the leaveless branches and I realized what. Life.

The view was great -- falling leaves covered the woods but also cleared the trees, leaving a wide view on each side of the road through their claw-like naked branches. I turned around right outside of mountainside and then headed down the mountain, watching my speed on the winding curves but totally enjoying myself. It was peaceful, and refreshing, and awesome. It was Bicycling!

So, does 44x18 make for good hill climbing? I won't ride anything else in those winding ascents and fun downhills. With the cantis up front to control speed, the fuji fix handled admirably, even if I didn't -- several times while rounding curves I took a hand off the bars, and I am probably very lucky to be alive. I only saw two cars, but one was leaning over the center line and she was on a cellular phone.

With a smile I got home, the "immortal" themesong from highlander playing in my head as I unclipped my helmet and enjoyed a toasted tuna sandwich. What a way to start yer morning!

-- Elvis

New old seat -- the joys of fall
Mood:  caffeinated
11-18-05: Working on my fujifix I decided, on a whim, to modify a Wright leather bike seat. IT was intended for a road bike but ended up going on my fixed gear.
The result is mad cool; pics are coming.

-- Elvis

The Trackbike Cometh -- one gear for all streets?
Mood:  caffeinated
11-09-05: Temporarily borrowed the rear wheel from my fujifixed to get my Orero? track bike operational. 42x18 gearing for easy resistance braking, platform pedals (for now -- may add clips/straps) and nitto alu stem with steel bars and original cloth tape on the top half.

First time riding brakeless in a while and I end up gettign stopped by a cop. I'm thinking, crud, he's g0nna gimme a ticket for not having brakes. Turns out he just wanted to say "cool bike"(!). Who would've thunk it, a cop who likes bikes!

In the meantime, gonna clearcoat the frame to prevent rust ont he chrome lugs, etc. and tiny paint chips, as it's impossible to find matching touchup paint...

-- Elvis

A tale of two bikes - fix vs. fix
Mood:  caffeinated
1-2-05: This afternoon finished putting my Fujifix back together; after using the 16t cog for the Foldingfix, I took the 18'er off and put it on the fuji's wheel. However... The 18 with the 42 gearing was a bit spinny. So I swapped out the Fuji's 42 steel ring for a 43t aluminum one -- a ring that in a cool aesthetic touch I had driled out a while ago. Then finding this still not quite up there, I swapped it for a 44t Salsa chainring.

So far so good, but now the question remains: When I want to ride a fixed gear, which fix do I ride? The foldingfix admittenly is a perfect bad weather bike if one takes care to clean it and prevent rust around the joint; it had fenders, a more upright riding position, and the wheels are small so even w/out the fenders road spray is further away. On the other hand, the fuji's cantis make it a good all around bike... and the 2.444 is easier than the 2.625 of the 42x16. But the bigger front ring feels smoother...

But for now, both bikes are good to go...

-- Elvis

Strangebike (or how I learned to stop worrying and love the fix)
11/01/05 - Modified my fixedgear Dahon folder some more yesrerday. Removed the half link from the chain and swapped out the 18t cog for a 16t, to give it 53x16 gearing. That's a 3.312 gear ratio which would be insanely hard on a normal bike but, with the reduction effect of the tiny 20" wheels it works out perfect aven for short steep hills.

Two days ago some folks at my work felt compelled to test ride the 'fix around the parking lot. "I like this bike" one guy said afterwards.

Today, stopping for my morning coffee, the guy behind the counter came outside and tried the bike.

Meanwhile, motorists still give me dirty looks. The other day on the way to work I was behind a truck at the light. After turning left at the traffic light, the truck got bogged down behind people making left hand turns into stores. I passed the line of stopped cars and zoomed over to where I get my coffee. The guy with the truck pulled in about the time I was walking thru the door. I got my coffee and paid as he was almost to the counter. Moral? The bike *is* faster, at least in traffic. And guess what the motorists don't always like that. They feel slighted. The fact that my folding bike looks particularly odd, causes many of them to shout remarks or beep horns. Like the guy in the truck who said "@sshole" under his breath as he walked past me into the store.

This sort of thing used to bother me. So did the odd looks from other cyclists riding full size bikes. I don't "need" to ride the folder any longer as I no longer take the train daily, but it handles nice due to the tiny wheels, and it has fenders. It's a practical bike for around town -- more so than ever now that it's fixed.

Then it dawned on me -- this morning -- when I was pulling around a turn getting as close to drafting as you can get to a dump truck in the process of jackknifing a turn -- this bike is fun! Who cares what folks think?
-- Elvis

The Dahon -- reborn (or, tales of a fixed folder 2)

10-27-05: After riding my fixed folder I found in the junk and built up, I realized it needed improvements I could not then afford. Specifically, the left crank kept working loose. Being a cottered crank there was only so much I could do to tighten it -- and, being cottered cranks, the chainring was impossible for me to swap out. This is important because tho for the first few days of around town riding the 48x18 gear worked okay the last few I felt it spinning like mad. Also, the bike didn't really fold up as well as I would have liked.

But my trusty Dahon folding bicycle, which I carried on the train, and which carried me through the worst parts of Newark for nearly a year -- as well as through scenic New England on a memorable trip were I was attacked by wild turkeys -- folded well, had proven itself in daily use both folded and riding, rack and fenders, and already had a modern bottom bracket with cotterless cranks.

The choice was clear: put the old folder in storage and convert the Dahon.

So the Dahon is fixed; 53x18 gearing, with the GT bmx r. wheel and stock front wheel; some tweaking was needed to get the larger rear tire to fit under the fender without rubbing but I made it.

The ride is better, the cranks are new and tight, and the 53t 'ring is easy enuff with the 20" rims and 18t cog -- but takes the edge off the mad spin. The cockpit fits better than the crowded reach of the old folder, although it still has the limitation of not being able to adjust handlebar height. But it works okay with the gearing;
i don't have to crank it out of the saddle so the upright bar position isn't an issue. By contrast the old folder could adjust bar position horizontally, but the frame was shorter so it was more cramped. Plus, I have the added bonus of knowing from experience that it can fold anywhere, anytime -- train, stowing in the car, work, etc.

The 53x18 is the "magic gear" for this frame; with vertical dropouts gear selection serves the dual purpose of both gearing, and chain tension; in conjunction with the half-link in the chain it is just tight. A little too tight maybe but it will work a tad loose over time and minor fiddling with the rear wheel's position gives it slack enough to spin freely tho' it is still quite tight.

Now fitted with a large seat pack, I have removed the rear carrier from the rack. Tho I may still strap things to the rack I do not want to carry a large container of stuff until I lose some weight as I weigh about 195 and the bike is only rated, per manufacturer specs, to 210 lbs!


Result: A perfect folding fix.

-- Elvis

folding fixed gear -- a new insanity
Mood:  caffeinated
10-26-05 -- On 10-24 I found a discarded folding bicycle today, what resembled a imitation of the Raleigh 20. Coaster brake r. wheel was shot as was the front, so I spun an 18t fixed cog onto a double spoked GT bmx rear wheel. Junk find front rim for now.

I cleaned it up, sanded the few rust spots, and painted them over in (closely) matchign white paint. Gloss black bmx front brake caliper, then flipped the handlebars and added bar ends extending the cockpit...


...I then replaced the cheapo seat I had on there with a somewhat nicer junk find, and added a pouch under the seart and a light (need the pouch to clip the light to as there is no way I can get a light mount big enuff fer the seatpost. Then I modified the bars with bar ends.

Later I intend to upgrade from the cheepo cottered cranks... we'll see if the bike lasts. But now I having a folding fix!!!! ;)

-- Elvis

Successful frame repair
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: tales from the garage
10-13-05: It's thurday. Modified my Fujifixed frame successfully! Some ultraweld liquid metal, sandpaper, and primer, plus silver spray, did a ton of good. The brake bridge had a hole in it which kept getting filled with road grime and spray fromt he rear tire. Concerned about rust over the long hual even with regular post-ride cleaning, I decided to fill it in.

Went off without a hitch and I am so looking forward to riding this thing!
-- Elvis

(pic below shows the bike except for the patched rear brake bridge which was dine right after I took this photo)

The Cops Stole My Bike (and other tales from the street)
Mood:  don't ask
Topic: RANTING&RAVING
10-11-05:

Imagine you lock your bike, go into a store, and come out. As you emerge you find someone using a powersaw to cut the lock off your two-wheeled ride. Chances are it's a bicycle thief, right?
Not in New York. According to a page 4 article in the New York Sun, NYC police had nothing better to do this past week then drive around Brooklyn stealing bikes.
Said the paper: "Police confiscated more than two dozen locked-up bicycles ...after local businesses complained that large lcusters of bikes around the Bedford Avenue subway station were impeding sidewalk traffic".

According to the Sun, police used everything including circular saws (!) to destroy bike locks and remove the parked bikes. And though some bikes were locked to MTA property near the station entrence -- which is appparently illegal -- the vast majority of the bikes taken "did not appear to be impeding traffic".
The absurdity of this act is surpassed only by the stupidity and outrageousness of it. Even if the structural integrity of the bike is not rendered useless -- a dented cut or cracked frame -- or the bike otherwise destroyed, the damage -- and potential damage -- is astounding. The police who cut the bike locks with power saws and threw the bikes into a van are unlikely to care about any damage they do to the bikes. And the bicycles' owners are unlikely to be reimbursed for any damage.

This sort of thing would make sense if the bikes had been left abandaned for weeks. Maybe even days. But we are talking about bicycles that are simply locked up. Imagine coming out of the store and finding that your car's windows had been smashed and it hauled away because someone thought parking it there might obstruct traffic? At least when they tow automobiles they don't damage them deliberately -- and they don't tow them unless they are illegally parked. Many of the seized bicycles were locked to posts -- a practice the NYC government claims is illegal, but which is actually advocated by the Police Department, in a brochure urging citizens to "lock your bike" to reduce theft.

This comes on the heals of a court ruling in which Manhattan Judge William Pauley III ruled just a month past, that seizing bikes at the monthly "critical mass" rides through NYC were illegal seizures.

Thankfully, not everyone is cheering this nonsense. Someone ont he city council introduced a bil this past summer which would require the city to give 36 hours notice before confiscating "unattended bicycles", according to the New york Sun.

Even here, though, the wording is a blatant attempt to make the cyclist look culpable. Parked bikes are not abandoned bikes -- locking a bicycle is not leaving it "unattended". The word conjurs up images of careless cyclists ditching their bikes. Clearly the outrageous seizures wouldn't be a big deal if the bikes were abandoned. So why use such wording?

Well, is a locked bike "unattended"? If so, does that mean that when you park your $50,000 car and lock the doors, it is sitting "unattended", fair game for anyone who wants to damage it or haul it off?

Meanwhile, here's one cyclist hoping this nonsense does not spread to New Jersey.

-- Elvis

Bad Roads and Bad Cops
Mood:  don't ask
Topic: RANTING&RAVING
10-05-05: Riding home last night was another near death experience. The idiot PSE&G people have been tearing up the street with a criss-cross maze of patchwork, laying pipes and doing a crappy -- downright dangerous -- job of patching the road. But they usually didn't leave two foot trenches in the middle of the street.

Well, turns out they did.

Coming down the dark hill -- the streetlight doesn't work -- the rear tire of my Fuji Fix made a sound like a bomb going off somewhere under the rear axle. Pissed off and worried about damage, I kept control of the bike and slowed, preparing to stop when I got to the bottom and check for damage -- a broken rim, spoke, or flattened tire.

Just as I got done cursing the idiot that left a two-foot wide and nearly six inch deep trench across the road, unmarked with cones or anything, where there were no lights, the bike launched itself over the second tranch. It was all I could do to keep control of the bike.

For now, there's no damage. But the Mavic Open Pro rims, though sturdy, were not intended for dukes-of-hazzard style riding more suited to a BMX bike!
It is only a matter of time under these circumstances till something goes.

Here's the big joke: Someone suggested I report the unmarked bomb craters to the police who could issue tickets for not marking them with cones, etc. The joke is, there were two policemen there during the day when the construction was ongoing. Woulda' been nice if they did their job...

-- Elvis