…at the very least.

http://theartofanimation.tumblr.com/pos … -g-fajardo

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. a moment of appreciation for the spank 1/2 link chain
2. Best Graphic Ever Involving Impossible Gearing
3. Phone HALO?

Combining three of my favorite things:

- Cephalopods
- Travel
- Old timey bikery!

Well done, Akua.
http://peepingbird.tumblr.com/post/1411 … enkel-dika

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. Team Lope Bike Grrl – Leader
2. Team Lope Bike Grrl – Lorene
3. Sick Fixie Extrusion Ani

I’m generally an organized dude. I LOVE to have my stuff segregated and in compartmentalized groupings, none more than my riding stuff. I have ‘kit’ modules I use based on the ride at hand, in a shelf in Ye Olde Bike Shoppe: the base tool kit that goes with any bike, plus add ons for individual bikes based on their own configurations and tool needs. Basic riding equipment (helmet, gloves, earbuds, sunglasses) plus one of the caps, plus a winter module (warmers, heavier cap over the ears, longfinger gloves) or a night module (lights, arm warmers) and so on.

It’s great to be so organized and prepared!

Unless you aren’t. No one is immune, but since I had kids it’s gotten out of hand. i have everything ready to go, organized, Shoppe clean and tidy, and then a temporary bomb goes off (moving, re-org of furniture, staged basement cleansing, landlord construction, gremlins) and THAT is when I need something and can’t get to it. OF COURSE.

Take this morning: 36 degrees when I left. And my winter kit was buried, as they were doing heater repair and blew my basement org apart to get to this and that infrastructure. Couldn’t find my longfinger gloves to save my life. I swear my hands were red and then blue on the ride to work.

Anyway, you have to laugh. As long as you don’t SHATTER doing so.

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. Pryme Good-Day Gloves
2. Ode to my Castelli Winter Jacket
3. The WInter Riding Safety Kit

You know anyone riding for any length of time ends up with periodic chain tattoos, in other words bike grease stamps on the calves or shins from striking the chain on the bike while riding…? Why not help that process along, and stamp them with the business end of one of these.

Except, you know, not on a cyclist, but an ant-cyclist. Or, if you HAVE to strike a cyclist, make it one of the three-riders-wide wannabe roadies on the bike path.

http://chicagobikelife.com/post/11955407042/knuckles

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. a moment of appreciation for the spank 1/2 link chain
2. most brilliant chain tensioning system EVER
3. Chain line

This site comes to us from Lung, who was I think unconscious when he forwarded it to me and therefore unable to post it here. A project outlining different work environments internationally, and the relationship between staffer, their bikes, and the workspace ie. not just bikes in a garage, but in the space as part of the visual character. AWESOME. My favorite, above, since it’s a mixti, from a company that makes bar grips.

http://www.theworkcycle.com/

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. Re-Cycle in San Rafael
2. Mission Bikes’ Cream-Cycle
3. Polish Bikers Cycle Chic Collage

A pic so nice I post it twice.
Thusly.

Watch for snipers!

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. Sour Patch Kids Commercial
2. walking bike brings the wierd
3. prolly picks up the esurance car/cycling harmony blog post

Wifebot(tm) picked up a Bike Glow kit for me through a groupon or similar deal, sometime in mid-summer, and I’ve been finally getting the chance to use it as part of my winter riding fun and safety super kit. It’s a great system: The battery module uses two AA batteries, and has a button for solid, slow blink, or fast blink operation. The entire length of tubing is illuminated and has a terminal end. You get a huge velcro strap for the battery module and then some zipties for the strand, as well as a screwdriver for the module (great customer service idea there)… but of course, I was most impressed by the included black electritole tape.

The system is designed to coil around your bike frame, which is really smart, as it would give you that rare lateral visibility at night. Since I ride a different bike each day I wanted to use it on my body instead. I coiled the strand in long whips up and down my bag and capped it with one of my rear blinkies, creating what I call my Wild Loose Safety Manowar… which is somewhat ironic I guess, if one knows Man-o-Wars.

These two shots represent how it looks at night to drivers, depending on proximity and if they’re looking right at it. Wifebot(tm) saw me coming up the hill with it on, so the visibility is good. Along with the flexibility in application and low price point, I highly recommend it. Also, local northern california business too…

http://bikeglow.com/

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. Bike Glow
2. The Proper Way to Hang
3. Whither the Bike Light, Woodsy Edition

Yesterday I took a day trip for business down to Los Angeles to survey a building. That’s dawn patrol, up at 4am etc and home again by about 8pm. And yeah, I’m already up with the baby so that’s fine. But here’s the thing: normally on these, I bring my laptop and sketchbook, fly in, rent a convertible of some nature, get in and out of the job, and then hit a cafe and work on TRDL stuff until it’s time to get back to the airport. THIS time, I brought a bike.

You’ve seen Lung’s ride reports of his use of his coupler bike on the Vegas trip. We got our frames coupled, so to speak, at the same time, but my last two trips fell apart due to illness or injury (Vegas and Chicago) so I had yet to actually use Carpetbagger AS a travel bike. It was completely overkill for a day trip where I’d have at BEST 3 hours to ride. But it was a test of the process, and frankly, it was because I could.

Onward for details!

I’m using a S&S soft backpack for transport. You can use hardshell cases, with more protection, but this is a sweet setup because you can compress it and wear the bag. It’s all about the ride away, or to, the airport thing.

So up top, there’s Carpetbagger, my coupler bike. It’s a mid-gearing fixie (I think it’s 72) and a custom finish and graphic set by self. You’ve seen pics before. I’d SAY this is the virgin shot before it gets beat to shit in transit, but realistically, my Wee Z beat it to shit before I even had it finished, thanks to ‘I FIX it, daddee.’ moments. So it had a few frame dents and some paint chipping. First step, as seen in that pic, is pulling these hard sidewalls out of the bag and bracing them against all sides, velcroing them together to make a losse square. Actually more like the shape of a gold tooth cap. It doesn’t get square proper, but enough to frame the frame.

First, I layed this giant painting tarp up in there, used to fold and weave between major components. Great tip, among others, from One Lung. Here’s the front half of the coupler, dropped in first.

The tarp is folded over, then the rear wheel, cog down, fits in that void of the triangle. I put a top tube protector on one tube for science, since I didn’t bring any of my pipe insulation this time out. Other than that it’s just the tarp as protection. Remember that detail. Then rear triangle fits on top of the rear wheel.

Here’s the front wheel on top of the sandwich of tarp and parts and such below it. The backpack has rigidized panels where things make contact, such as the wheel axles.You don’t use other compression members in this situation. The saddle and seatpost fit into one of the extra spaces. I rolled up other parts like pedals and tools and such into microfiber towels and shirt rags and stuff, and put them here and there.

Here, possibly the most delicate part: placement of the handlebars. If using proper drops it’s even more of a hassle, threading them through the wheel, but I have Sparrows on this bike. But I still had to wrap it first, test the pressure on the spokes when you push on it, and wrap the brake caliper and stow that as well. I brought a ton of extra clothing and shoved them into all spaces and into the front and rear outer compartments, including a pair of Dickies and a long sleeve shirt and cardigan for the job site. Suave.

Boom! Packed! My first time, and from the point the first photo was taken, to the point the bag was zipped up, was about 45 minutes, including a call to Lung to check something and a few references to the S&S website (which actually has virtually no directions for the backpack.)

My cab came at 4:45 and I was off. When I checked the bag (Virgin America Main Cabin Select seating is a great deal: you get priority security line access, priority boarding, free food and drinks, and one checked bag.) the guy working the counter looked at it and lifted it and said ‘Hey, is this a bike?’

Now this is kind of a trick question. The whole point of this coupler system is to eliminate barriers to flying with the bike. If you bring an oversized bag, such as a bike box, it can run you up to $200 each way. If you bring a heavy bag, you get his with $50 fees each way. This system allows you to hand them a bag that is exactly within the 62" combined dimension for normal luggage (which you’d still pay for if you were in Main Cabin)… but also, there are ‘oversize’ cargo fees associated with BIKES. So, I merely said:

‘It’s actually a bag of bike parts’ Which is a true statement.

He laughed and said it was the coolest fucking thing he’d seen.

On the other side, a few delicious champagnes later, my baby rolled onto the carousel in LAX.
In one piece, so to speak. Well, point being, no crazy holes or ripped straps or zippers, and equally as nice, no obvious evidence of TSA searching, since that would lead to a) a mangled repacking job, and 2) confiscation of CO2 cartridges and probably all the tools. But I wouldn’t know for sure until I unpacked it. But no time! The plane was a bit delayed, and I had to basically haul ass in a taxi to Downtown LA, and would have to wait to see later. I wanted to ride FROM the airport, but I couldn’t risk being late.

Some girls I was talking to in SF found me at the taxi line, some designers heading to a big client meeting. ‘Hey, wait. Is there a BIKE in there?’ one said, mouth agape. I guess my helmet gave it away. You can see it in backpack mode, above. It’s heavy but manageable.

OK, so I didn’t want to break this down AT my project building for professional reasons, so I headed out into the fashion district (read ghetto downtown) to get over toa cafe I went to last time I visited this building, and do the build at the outdoor seating. But then I realized it was lunch hour. It would be packed. One of the fashion houses was upstairs. I finally decided, you know what, all the homeless and shifty hustlers have camped out on the street, I’m doing it. This marks the second time in 30 days I was doing bike assembly on a rough street.
That is how I ____O

The damage was minimal. A major gash on the downtube (so yeah, THATS the one to protect, since the shifting of the parcel obviously pushed the cog through the tarp into the frame) and a few other scratches. But that’s what this is for. Scars are sexy. Building it on the street was funny. Just like in Oakland, I got a lot of attention from streetfolk and otherwise sketchy folks that came to observe and yack at me, which kind of slows you down as you are watching your shit but at the same time, it’s cool that people are curious. Best part was a cholo painter crew walking past me when I was first unpacking, and then on their way back from the taco truck were like ‘Orale! What is that mang!’ I said it was a bike broken in half to travel with. ‘Its a fixie BRO!! TSCH!’ one said to another. ‘Ey, got that new Yanni cassette?’ Wait no, wrong story. ‘Ey, where can I get one?’ and I said ‘It’s custom. You’d have to be me.’ and they laughed and gave me a hand slap and they were off. Pretty good. Oh, also, no TSA tag.

I actually left a few of the rags in a nearby trash can, and even abandoned my Adidas. I have more, and it was a lot of weight I could shed, now that I was in my Vittorias. So someone scored some sweet Sammies.

My buddy Raul was stuck in a meeting, but I was able to hook up with my high school pal Christine, who works at KCRW and is into competitive roller derby ie. HOT. She’s in Culver City, so I basically made a beeline for her down Venice Blvd, because I didn’t want to dilly-dally. It was maybe a 20 minute reassembly and repacking, much faster, but I was still racing the clock now at 1:15pm or so with a 5:30pm flight meaning I’d need to be checked in at 4:45pm. So, this sent me down some nassssty business to get to where she lives, like the back side of Koreatown and the ‘Byzantine Latino Quarter’ and another section where the side streets are actually GATED. It was pretty awesome doing it by bike, though. I was rolling next to some rough types in cars and some dodgy types on the sidewalks, all that sort of thing: shopping carts in the street and such, and here I am on a white and chrome fixed gear with old timey bars and leather and elkhide, in proper Team Lope kit, with a big ass backpack on. Pretty rad. Got to Culver City in about 45 minutes, and here I am, waiting for her to come out.

Side note: remember that Kickstarter project about a rubber bracelet that you can wind your earbuds into? OK, how about skipping the bracelet altogether? Works GREAT.

I missed some great photo ops in my speed ride to her house, including a toothless guy in the lane in front of me projectile vomiting like the cartoons, where the total diameter of the vomit spray is exactly equal to the diameter of his mouth. Also, a 35mph street sign hanging upside down and with a bullet hole in it. Also some cool business offering transmission repair AND greymarket stereos. One thing I DID manage to capture, near her place, was a random display of motorcycle cops and what not going off. I thought it was some bad business, but she gleefully exclaimed ‘yay! Santa.’ and lo, it was. Only in LA.

We had lunch at a mexican place near her house. Al Pastor tacos and margaritas, yes.

The waiter was a rider so he was geeking out on the bike, and it was a nice mellow lunch.
When done, I checked the clock and it was about 3:15pm, so that put me into a bit of pressure, as I’d have to gear up and get on the road to LAX. Not too far as the crow flies, but we’re talking LA traffic. Sure I don’t get stuck in the traffic jams but I do have to wait for the megalights on these big boulevards, and also, lots of big vehicles i and out of the side businesses and freeway onramps etc so you have to be vigilant.

I wonder WHY in LA. To live and DIE in LA.

At 4:10pm, I rolled up into LAX and dismounted at my terminal. Tole you what, I’ve ridden in many sketchy traffic conditions of somewhat surreal natures, like critical mass and bad ballgame traffic and so on… but riding the lanes around the terminals at rush hour is a video game with ONE LIFE LEFT AND NO EFFING TOKENS. Exhilarating though. And no deaths or ticket punchings.

While I was breaking the bike down again to re-pack it, I had even more spectators than on the street. It started with an inquisitive airline guy, and then three homeland security cops came up, but not to give me trouble, just to oggle at the process. Two stewardesses (and I’ve been watching Pan Am so I got thirsty for a scotch at that point) and a few tourists. Again, I’m working fast as nails, but having to narrate and answer questions. Crazy. I thought girls in line at bars and coffee shops who grab at your sleeves or poke at your arms to see your ink were invasive, but these people are like lifting bike parts and checking out the couplers and so on. You have to laugh. Any time regular folks have a non-violent interest in a bike or a rider, I consider it a win.

The bag was unmolested on the return flight (visibly anyway I haven’t actually opened it yet) and I was home after dark, exhausted, sore from the heavy bag, but super charged for getting to take my bike with me and ride in yet another city.*

And of course, what cab did I take?

*Note I grew up in LA, and we rode up through the beach and Brentwood and Westwood on Aids Lifecycle, but I’m talking general transportation and exploration.

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. Team Lope Ride Report: The Napa Ride Weekend of Destiny 07
2. Team Lope Ride Report: The Napa Ride Weekend of Destiny 09
3. Team Lope Ride Report: Fixie Comute SF/MV Mar 2009

we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again – hot models on gleaming bikes in a photo studio are fun to look at, but there’s NOTHING like a badass cyclist chick in jean shorts on a grimy, chipped, sticker-bombed work bike. i think i just fell in love.

BRIE is a member of SF’s TCB COURIER. if you don’t know about TCB, here’s the quick skinny – they’re a full-service courier company started and run by OG MASHSF courier and hill crusher chas christiansen. when TCB first started, they were only in the mission, and they were only in the evenings. but they blew up hard and now they’re 7×7, 9AM-midnight. their rates are based on zones radiating out from their HQ in the mission. so in other words, russian hill is more expensive to get a delivery to than the dogpatch. as i understand it, they’ll deliver anything. if you were to call and say "i need more ice for my party, a pack of lucky filters, 6 rubbers, and a giordano bros all-in-one," that’s what would show up at your door. you’d be charged the cost of your shit, the cost of delivery to your zone, and a $1 per stop fee. however, they have deals with certain restaurants, so if you want some, oh i dunno, let’s say BABY BLUES BBQ, that would be less expensive. GREAT company. i intend to use them at some point, i just haven’t had the need yet.

(also, you gotta love a company advert that showcases one of it’s employees sucking down a joint.)

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. team lope bike grrls — brie
2. Team lope Bike Grrls- South Beach Charmers
3. Team Lope Bike Grrls – Rode T-Shirt Model Series

This story about Jenny Makgill bombing the Homer Tunnel just reminds me how disappointed I was not to get a chance to ride in the South Island in NZ. Over in Fjorlands National Prk, it was just breathtaking. They don’t call them the Southern Alps for nothing…

http://www.redbull.co.nz/cs/Satellite/e … 3129186914

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. Missed Ride Crew of the Week
2. Missed Opportunity, Lung
3. wrongrobot’s right shirts : don’t slow down

« More Current — Less Current »