"Bike Builders" via BikeBlogCollection in Google Reader

Fun with Eddy

2012-05-23T10:15:00Z

A recent MAX build...

Honda Element Speed Camper Conversion

2012-05-23T11:05:00Z

I've been going back and forth about taking the Element into have an E-Camper pop-up installed, or to find a lightweight camper trailer, or even to have one of the rooftop tents. Costs for those run from $2,500 to $6,000 and it brings up a whole host of issues from storage, gas mileage, driving ease, etc.

So I decided to try a quick interior conversion using engineered materials and eventually designed one that weighs ~12-lbs total, and is held in place with zip-ties. It installs and is removed in less than 10-minutes or 5-mins if you are trying hard enough. It also replaces the Element "rear seat folded down" issue of being uncomfortable and limiting storage space in the vehicle. Finally, it eliminates the safety issue the element has when the rear seats are hanging along the windows as this blocks the side views.

The materials purchased at the local Home Depot are a 5-shelf unit (36"x24"), rigid compressed particle board, 2" rigid polystyrene sheeting, thin carpeting, duct tape and some heavy duty zip-ties. I had Home Depot cut everything to size: the bed size I need is 43" W x 52" L. At 52", it abuts both the driver and passenger seats folded down (less head rest).

The head rest is removed on the passenger side in the photo below from my last camping trip - which I slept on the uncomfortable Element rear seats folded down. Prior to clean-out too - debris left over from moving trees. But this is where my bed needs to go.

I cut down the shelf risers to give the opening ~10", and it will align the bed to the front seats folded down as shown. This should fit my 6-ft body perfectly. I zip-tied the frame together, and then lashed it to the many Element cargo hooks using more heavy duty ties.

This should allow me to remove it in a few minutes - the spare tire is located below the floorboard of the Element - so that is one other reason why I wanted lightweight material. If this was built out of wood, I would have had to made a new hatch to access the tire.

The rigid board overlaps the shelving units now turned structural system as the board is 43" x 52" and the dual shelving platform forms a 36" x 48" base. Not perfect, but the overlap in the width direction is ~3.5" each side, and ~3" front and back. I'm running one rigid board, but may add the second one to double up the overlap rigidity.

From there I added the carpet - with ends just folded under. The rigid board just has two small screws in the bed center to keep it from floating on the structural shelf platform. It doesn't need much, just a slight "pinning" to keep it from floating.

With the seats folded up, there is plenty of space to shove in a cooler, Rubbermaid storage unit, etc. I'm going to look for a special "under-bed" storage container to roll in and out of the shelf unit below. That should give a more organized approach to this small area.

The rigid polystyrene board fits right on top of this. If Durango was a larger town, I could have found a furniture maker and bought a ~4-6" thick polyurethane pad cut to size (I did that about 20-years ago in Kansas City for our first Cherokee). Overtime this polystyrene will get dented and compressed, but it should provide a more comfortable base padding - and I do have a thinner polyurethane bedding I plan to carry along and put on top of the polystyrene to protect it somewhat. I used the duct tape to add protection to the board perimeter - no one wants little polystyrene beads all over the place.

Total cost was $139 and installation took less than an hour. Complain about plastics all you want, but they make a great lightweight structural material. I can pop this thing out and put the seats back in less than 10-minutes - and it won't cause a major back injury in the process - or add to gas costs.

The downside is that I did this for the full width of the Element, so I can't store my bike inside like I prefer. I do have a Thule 2" bumper carrier I can add - and also a rooftop Rocky Mount carrier. I like the Rocky Mount carrier for security - it takes some work to get up on the roof and defeat the locks, but it covers the bike in dead bugs, costs additional gas to drive, and the front wheel then needs to be stored inside. The Thule bumper mount just limits (not restricts) access to the rear of the vehicle and makes it easy for a person with a lock cutter to remove the bike. It's not perfect, but it will do.

Future Ideas: I could perhaps have not cut the risers and gone with a taller platform height - I would then have to add something to the front folded down seats, like a soft duffle bag to even out the sleep space. Head space would be limited. If I cut the center of bottom shelf units out - but leave a narrow base in which the risers could rest, I could perhaps slide the bike under here - without the front wheel, pedals, and perhaps seat/seat post. It then should slide right in, with the handle bars turned. That would be ideal. I do have some spare risers, and I suppose a circular saw could be used to cut the bottom shelf units, but structural stability would be compromised.

However, I can always store the bike in side of the Element without the front wheel just laying down on the bed I built - I just need somewhere to put it when I am sleeping. Thule and Rocky Mounts. address that - choose your weapon. So this slide-in technique should address the security issues when in areas that need theft concerns to be highly addressed.

The dreaded price increase

2012-05-22T11:38:00Z

Yep, as of June 1st, the base frame price is going up to $1400. This is for *new* orders, not folks already in line. If you want to get in at the $1300 price, you've got about a week to get me your deposit.

Pricing for the Waltworks "framebuilding/vacation experience" package has yet to be firmed up, but if you're interested in that for 2013 (I will not be offering it in 2012) the price will be about $2000 for the frame, and you'll probably be required to get most or all of your build kit through me (so complete bikes will range from about $3500 up). That price will not include airfare or lodging but it will include 20 hours of shop time with me, spread over the course of one 5-day week, complete assembly and tuning of your new bike (and subsequent disassembly/powdercoating when you're ready to leave) and plenty of free time to ride the excellent trails on your bike or any of mine that will fit you. If you are interested, whether because you just want to see how I build a frame, or because you are thinking of building frames yourself, or you just want a cool vacation, please contact me well in advance, as I am only planning to accept 2-4 customers the first year.

More details on that will be forthcoming after we've made the transition to Salt Lake City in August.

The Climb

2012-05-21T09:54:00Z

Skyline Trail around noon on Saturday is apparently the new "it" spot. I have been using this climb as my warm up for riding (and by default, my running) and the last few Saturdays I have noticed a lot of traffic on the trail. Mostly people I know it seems and it has become the social spot in town.

It was slightly chilly, so I dropped back home and picked up a jacket before heading out to the Pioneer Trail and then the climb up the full Missionary. I tried to ride the Ridge Trail, but it needs lots of love as the downed trees are abundant to the North. Not so bad on the short South End, but the dead fall at the start of Haflin Creek Trail certainly provides a nice warning to stay away from that trail right now.

From there it was over to Animas and I climbed up the East Rim, which is a lot of fun. When I first moved here I always went up the West Side so I could have the chunky, but scenic descent along the rim. But with the wrist still swollen up from last weekends 12 hrs. of MV, I didn't really want that kind of abuse.

I ended up running for the 3rd time in 5 days on Sunday due to the wrist. I did a tape up to limit mobility, and will probably have to do the same when riding.

Jeni and Jia Li went to the Taste of Durango, and if I had planned better I could have ended my run in downtown and gorged on good food and beer. But that big ol' bowl of Raisin Bran for breakfast weighed heavy in my belly and I had a hard time getting out the door....and it made running pretty bad too.

A big congrats goes out to our Big Wheel Racing Teammate, Ausilia Vistarini, who just won the 24-hr World Championships - Solo Female SingleSpeed. She is a hard core Iditarod Vet as well. Cool stuff!

Some light housecleaning

2012-05-19T18:55:00Z

A few tweaks:

Gran Paradiso Titanio is now butted tubing as standard - as I feel that really brings out the best in this frame - but straight-gauge tubing is available to them what asks nicely. Look for a new GPTi shoot soon showing the D-11 head tube on that frame, along with whatever else we can throw at it. New blue pix are up on the site...

Strada Bianca is now straight gauge titanium OR Pegorichie steel in either welded or lugged formats.

The MAX page, however, now gets a MiniMAX sibling. And both are available for short-reach or medium-reach calipers. This will make sense to some, I hope.

Team Pro - our lugged "race" frame - is short-reach calipers only in OS or UOS tube sizes. And look for a new TP frame coming soon sans brakes.

I think that's all...

Daddy needs to get a baby monitor...

2012-05-18T13:36:00Z

...so he can go out to the shop and get work done while the Bean sleeps. The transition to taking care of the Bean by myself (Sarah is working half time now, until we move to UT) has been rough, but we're figuring out a system to keep the Bean happy, finally.

In order to not make this post completely pointless, here are some pictures of Reven's bike. Geometry details in a previous post if you're interested.

FYI, Reven, I have found that leaning your bike on a cactus by the grips is a bad idea, but not as bad as a tire or your saddle.

Buenisimo!

2012-05-17T17:09:00Z

Our teammate, Gabee got his picture in the NY Times while riding in Eschborn, Germany. Youu can see his picture and read the article here. He's wearing the 2nd generation Big Wheel Racing - Europe kit. Dead european concert for theme music here.

So for today's ride I took off in my first generation BWR - Euro kit. All of our European, and now USA kits are made by an Italian Company called Biciclista. In fact they have a lot of generic kits that you can order for yourself, and the designs are amazing! I am probably going to order the Biancaneve and the matching bibs. If you scroll to the bottom of the Biacaneve Jersey page, you can see another teammate of ours, Ed (formerly in Europe and now back in the USA) wearing this jersey, but with our USA Team (Pactimo Brand) bib shorts from 2008 or 2009.

I did not know what Biancaneve meant, but found out later it is an Italian erotic comic book.

Google it some more and this is what you get - sort of a Snow White acts like a Khardashian thing.

I rode out in full Italian regalia, complete with my Sidi shoes, and my Rudy Project sunglasses and helmet - in addition to this prima fina Italian made kit. And I have been a huge fan of Ferrino Gear for years - our sleeping bags and test are 15+ old and better still than most stuff in the american Market.

I don't speak much Italian, but like most Americans I know the names of various pasta dishes. Italians may have invented spaghetti and pizza, but only an American could come up with a spaghetti pizza. I've heard that Italians always say 'bigotry' when they go to California and stand next to a Sequoia or Redwood. All Maseratis do 185 and I believe Berlusconi means "sugar daddy" in Italian.

Other than that, I know Biciclista means "cool threads."

2012 kit to arrive in a few weeks and I'm looking forward to it.

B.O.R.I.N.G.

2012-05-17T14:24:00Z

You asked for it, Jonathan, you got it. This is officially the most boring frame I've ever built (I kid, I kid...)

Consider:
73/73 angles. Just like the homeless guy on the 1974 Schwinn at the park.
41cm chainstays. Just like the packfill lycra bandit who just ran a red light in front of you on his $15k Cervelo.
Built for standard road caliper brakes. Ok, I pushed the rear mount up a tad to make room for slightly bigger tires if Jonathan ever wants... but still, just like, um every road bike on the planet.
Takes a 27.2 seatpost. If you want to be cool these days, you need a 30.9 Reverb dropper, baby! WAY better for confidence descending those twisty roads!
1 1/8 head tube. Everyone knows tapered is where it's at, duh. Jonathan probably won't even be able to steer with a flexy 1 1/8" steerer. Sheesh. I bet if you sent me back in time with a tapered steerer I could beat Cipo AND Pantani on their noodle-bikes.
68mm English BB shell. See comments above about tapered steerers, just substitute your choice of BB30/90/92/etc.

The cool thing, as usual, is hopefully the fit and handling for Jonathan, who is all legs. 62cm seat tube and... 57cm toptube? Whoa! That's what I'm talking about. Plus, thanks to a shortage at Paragon, he's got cool stainless dropouts.

Hopefully I have not offended him too much...

I got one back

2012-05-17T09:49:00Z

I ran the Ridge Loop yesterday, but took Powerline for the return. You can actually see the Powerline Trail below in the photo, but the trail up on the Ridge is obscured by trees. I've been running the Powerline return more lately and skipping the College Loop - both routes make the trip ~10-miles, but this one climbs a bit more.

As I was returning on Powerline, I ran into a mountain biker coming from the other distance. He gave me a little yield, and said "I got one back."

I've heard variations of this so many times, but it make no difference to me whether I hear it or not. I run, I ride, I see people - it is expected. If I had the trails to myself around town, that would actually be more surprising. This time, I decided to have some fun, so I replied "So do I!"

I was not incorrect with that reply, because indeed I do have one back, along with one front. It only gets confusing when discussing sides because I'm not sure if I have two or four.....or is it six if you consider the top of the head and the bottom of the feet?

My buddy Jim Werkmeister would never miss the opportunity to question me when we would bike some remote epic in the backwoods of New Mexico. I would tell him to keep an eye out for "the cairn" and he would always reply "who the hell is Karen?" Jim would occasionally tell me that he had a bad back, and I of course would reply with "I was unaware that it had been so naughty."

So when I got back home, Jeni asked me how far I ran, to which I told her "all the way back to here."

Bean photo dump!

2012-05-16T18:15:00Z

What have I been doing for the last few weeks? Well, not that much building (or riding) of bikes, but I took about 10 zillion pictures of the Bean. Here are some of the highlights...

And yes, Jonathan, tomorrow I will post a picture of your *boring* road frame.

Mark's 29er

2012-05-16T11:18:00Z

Mark was worried that nothing about his frame was cool enough for the blog, but never fear, there are all kinds of cool features here!

Geometry:
-HT at 71 degrees, ready for a tapered steerer fork
-ST at 73 degrees (offset on the BB shell for tire clearance)
-BB at 12.8" for lots of ground clearance in Pisgah
-Effective 62.5cm/24.6" toptube
-42.5cm/16.75" chainstays (42cm/16.5" effective)
-Paragon sliders, s-bends, all the usual fun stuff, plenty of room for a 2.3 or so with the wheel slammed

In other words, a bike for handling the twisties, roots, and rocks, which will hopefully fit and ride just the way Mark wants - IMO those are the things that make a bike "cool", not gimmicky junk or weirdness just for the sake of being weird.

12 Hrs. of Mesa Verde, 2012 Edition

2012-05-13T11:25:00Z

It was time to get back on the mountain bike race wagon and hit up the 12 Hrs. of Mesa Verde on Saturday. The venue was one I know very well as I had raced here in 2007, 2008, and 2009 with some good results two years and a bad injury in the last showing. Evolving into a single track, high country snob, I had sworn off repeated loop racing - but since this was less than 35-minutes from the home it was hard to stay away from. Especially this year, with the birth of our daughter and a desire to stay close to home. My race radius for 2012 is indeed very short.

I pitted with Steve next to Lenny who secured us a spot and we both worked out of coolers with bottles pre-mixed and no support. I ended up finishing a bit slower than I would have liked as I expected to get 8 laps but only managed 7 - the loop here is almost 17 miles, so the lap count is always low. I did 7 laps in 2007 because there was no need to go out for the 8th lap, and in 2008 I did 8 laps. I should have gotten 8 laps in 2009, but crashed hard and broke my back ~15-mins before finishing my 8th lap. If only the med-evac team had carted my body over the finish line on the way to the hospital. This time I came in after the 6pm cutoff for the "right" to go out for another lap. No one likes documented proof of getting slower, but this does give me motivation for next year now to get that 8th lap again. Shoot I thought I was done with these types of races! Regardless, the day I put in still resulted in 118 miles with a 10.2-mph average on rocky singletrack, so it's hard to call it a bad day in any way.

The single speed class was deep - there were 43 entrants, and I finished in 5th place, with Steve getting 4rth place. Since the field was so deep, they placed 1-5 on the podium and we both ended up getting small trophies. Not as big previous ones I got out there before, but I'll take it. In fact, the winner of the Single Speed class, Shawn Gregory took the overall win, as this is the type of course that is more popular with the one gear crowd.

It is a very rough course and I'm pretty sore today. The wrist did swell up, and hurts today but it was not an issue. The wrist was saved by my Ergon Grips. The only thing that bothered me was my back, which locked up a few times and I had some early season cramping. Both legs, different spots with a few lock-ups. I crashed hard on the first loop, but no scars, cuts, or bike damage - and I didn't even lose my place in the conga line. 34x21 gearing was spot on, but I really should have taken the Ikon off the bike and gone with the Cross Mark up front. Ikon was sketchy in the loose dirt as I had imagined prior. Other than that, it was just another day on the bike, as it was relatively uneventful.

The White Brothers Loop 100-mm fork was perfect for the course, and it chewed up the bumps. I ran my trusty Stan's NoTubes race wheelset, and I chuckled when another rider mentioned to me that anyone out there not running tubeless would certainly change after this race. The Maxxis Ignitor in the rear allowed me to stand and climb on the loose dirt without hesitation.

Saw a lot of good friends and got caught up, and the little one came out with Jeni to watch the race. It was really good to see her smile between laps. She did well until the awards presentation, but since it is in an all-metal-building it was just too loud for her to be there so they left early.

So there it is, I have motivation to attempt this next year. Oh man, back on the circle race circuit?

LDV on Cycle EXIF

2012-05-12T08:41:00Z

Right here

Ty ups the ante

2012-05-10T20:11:00Z

Ok, I'm an admittedly terrible photographer, but I think that Ty may have outdone me. I'm not sure if it's the oddly nauseating angle (did Ty stand on his head on a chair?) or the front wheel flopping like a gazelle in the jaws of a lion, but this raises the bar for odd pictures of cool bikes, IMO.

Don't worry, Ty, this is an honor. Sort of. :P

Ty chimes in: "Your frame looks beautiful from any angle. That is why I chose to use it in this piece. The bike represents me as a child laying confused and naked on a grass ceiling. I thought you of all people would understand my artwork."

Support your local web shop

2012-05-10T11:08:00Z

We've all seen and heard the arguments about supporting local business, right? Those big, bad internet companies - soulless, faceless conglomerates hell bent on closing down locally owned shops right in your quaint downtown area. But you go to the local shop and they don't have the product that you want, and they tell you that "we can always order it for you" or "you should try this other product we have right here." And then you either buy the product that you don't want from the local store - or if they do order it for you, you had to go to their store twice, just to get the product (sometimes 3 or 4 times if the order is taking forever and you have to check in on them...).

The other option of course, is that you go online and order a product you do not have to pay taxes on, and it comes to you in a few days, right to your front door. But you now feel like the bad person, because you did not support you local store, right?

Well, the good news is that there are indeed several "mom and pop" internet shops, and I recently found one via a helpful little tool called Google (ever hear of it?). OK, Ok yes you have heard of Google, but let me tell you about the Heart Rate Watch Company run by legendary US skier Rusty Squire up in Bozeman, MT.

I have been using the Garmin Edge 305 GPS since ~2005 and am on unit # 7. I've made some exchanges with Garmin through the years, but the product suits me well, I like the basic information I get and that is really all I want out of a GPS - mostly post-ride data. However, I've been running more of late and the heart rate monitor strap with this device is a big old clunky rubber mess, and it slides down my abdomen.

So naturally, I've been thinking of getting a running specific GPS. To solve this problem, I got on the internet yesterday, and searched for just Garmin products. Overwhelm alert here....that alone will take me about half a day just to figure out what the heck I want, what I need and what I can afford. I'm frustrated, to say the least - I just don't want to become a GPS product expert as I have other things to do.

One of the websites that Google takes me to is the Heart Rate Watch Company, and this company actually provided a phone number to call with questions. I dial up the number and get Rusty himself on his cell and I tell him that I'm just plain old sick of heart rate monitors and I'm ready to drop big coin on a new Garmin wristwatch - hopefully one with a better way of monitoring heart rate.

At this point you would expect Rusty to lead me to the most expensive device he carries, etc - but nope, no such animal! Rusty tells me that I can buy a nicer fabric type heart monitor chest strap for a fraction of the price of a new GPS...and still use my 305! Just upgrade the strap? Awesome service and of course ironic - because we are continually told the internet companies don't provide this type of service, only local shops do. Rusty later upgraded my shipping to make sure I get it by the end of the week so I can use it at the 12hrs of Mesa Verde this weekend. DOUBLE AWESOME!

Jeni and I regularly shop at some other "mom and pop" internet shops - Coffee and Tea Warehouse being something regular, and more recently the Bike Kid Shop. The former GeoMan in Sante Fe was well known as a small, customer friendly shop as well. Hammer Nutrition, which is still a family type shop, and we know the people there by first name. I'm sure readers here know others. Really cool to know that you can get the service you need, the products that you want and still support a "local business" even if that business is in another town. Thanks Rusty!

Elvis Lives!

2012-05-10T08:52:00Z

All photos courtesy of Elvis Merckx

Sleep, Bean, Sleep!

2012-05-09T13:56:00Z

The Bean wakes up when any of the following conditions is present:
-Wet diaper
-Hungry
-Having trouble breathing due to allergies

Unfortunately at least one of these things tends to happen every 90 minutes (if not more often) or so. So bike work has slowed to a crawl this week. We spent almost 14 hours trying to sleep last "night" and actually slept for maybe 4. My apologies to everyone waiting!

Nervex for Denis

2012-05-08T16:08:00Z

So much nicer than the Motobecane I never had...

Mr. Blue

2012-05-08T06:20:00Z

Two Trees

2012-05-07T13:07:00Z

I planted two trees in the back yard last night. That brings the total to 8 new trees planted around the yard this season alone, and it got me thinking about a few things.

The earth itself is 4.5 billion years old, and for roughly the next ~3.5 billion years no not much representing life existed on the planet beyond simple cell organisms, but we did have a few epic ice ages. Overtime there eventually evolved a planet with a large land mass and a huge ocean with water levels much higher than we have now, and in those seas small cells started to form.

Thus began the earliest form of life as we know it. Eventually life evolved where the planet was covered in tall trees and later some insects that could star in a Hollywood terror movie today.

In that last half billion years or so, life developed and ~~became nearly extinct~~ faced mass extinctions at least 5 different times, wiping out dinosaurs in two of those events, and the last major one being roughly 65-million years ago. Most of the oil we consume today came from these life forms that existed roughly a quarter billion years ago.

We get apes on the planet roughly 10-million years ago, and depending on your definition, we get some sort of evolved human like form 125,000 years ago.

Over the next ~122,000 years we evolved all around the globe as the land masses have since separated and moved eons earlier.

The Judeo-Christian religion starts ~2000 years ago, close to the time when Julius Caesar forms the basic form of the calendar we follow today. However, a bristle-cone pine in California had already lived on this planet at that time for ~2,500 years - and now is roughly 4,900 years old! The oldest tree here in Colorado is another bristle cone pine, and it is ~2,500-years old and located in South Park.

The maple trees that I planted last night will last for around 100-years.

But I wanted to understand this a bit further, because the concept of a billion years is really hard to understand. So I thought I would tie it in context to population of humans and the Grateful Dead.

Today on this plant it is estimated that we have roughly 7-billion people living here around the globe.

However, as recently as the 1970s, we had roughly 4-billion people living at one single instant, which if each year represented one living person on say any given day between 1970 and 1980 - that would be roughly equal to the number of years this planet has lived - one year here equals one person on a given day in that decade. Get it?

So let's pick one representative day in the 1970s, and one specific event during that decade for further representation.

December 31, 1978 - The Closing of Winterland. Epic concert, one of the best GD concerts ever recorded (you have to listen to this you tube link before you read on).

Of the ~5,000 people who attended The Grateful Dead concert there that night - if each one represented a year of the earth life, then everyone else who lived that day and did NOT attend this concert would represent the "other" years the earth had lived.

If the people in attendance at the concert were divided by gender lines, one could assume that roughly half were women, so each of those women would represent the years roughly that Mr. Caesars calendar (and the Christian religion as well) has existed.

Picture in your mind some Birkenstock wearing hippie chicks dancing to Fire on the Mountain that day. Just those women jamming at this specific Grateful Dead concert in 1978 would then represent only the years this planet had existed since our yearly calendar was formed, and the rest of the population alive that day represented the years prior.

Dancing hippie chicks, representing the Christian religion and the calendar system we follow.

Heavy dude, heavy.

But now, just 35 years later, the population outside that concert has almost doubled before the song ends and those chicks are still dancing to Fire on the Mountain.

Forget your stance on global warming, just population increase alone makes one wonder. Like the song says, "almost ablaze, but you don't feel the heat."