Team Lope Tyre Clubbe » bicycle

Moto Tent?

wrongrobot — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:43:43 +0000

See, camping in a tent with the bike you’ve ridden all day, white hot and oily and smelly and whatever, no, not my idea of comfort.

However.

Tents that can contain your sweet, sweet bicycle on those multi-day ride expeditions? Why YES please. If I had one of those on ALC, my seat and lug nuts wouldn’t be so jacked up. HA

http://gizmodo.com/5623607/a-tent-for-y … motorcycle

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Crook Type 3: Self-Moving Vehicle

wrongrobot — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:13:38 +0000

Crook is, according to my sweet, sweet kanji, a ‘self-moving vehicle’…

…but not THIS kind. Ha. Thomas Motors.

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Redfish Speedo Concept

wrongrobot — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:22:49 +0000

This, from Cyclomania currently on a road trip with his lady love, is a pretty trick concept. I, for one, enjoy the simplicity.

http://www.core77.com/blog/featured_ite … gn+blog%29

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Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Rubber Hits Road

wrongrobot — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:38:58 +0000

Well, Ye Blacke Death is finally finished! Finished in the since, of course, that it rolls and pedals and steers and mostly stops, not that there’s not much more to do. But this was the day that I was able to get it rolling and do some tests. Any build, I’m secretly relieved when it doesn’t explode on it’s maiden voyage. Weirder frames and pieces parts and I wonder a little more about that result. I wasn’t going to throw wee Z on here and hurtle down the hill, but I did want to get out and see what needed adjustment and how it held up.

As you can see, it came together pretty nicely. The bobike fits on a a bracket that seats on the quill, and is removable in under 7 seconds. You can pull the clamp off as well and it’s like it was never there, or leave the clamp on and use the cotter pin to remove the seat. Even on the bike, there’s no interference with the front rack.

The combination of matte black, laquered wood, leather and chrome work well together. It has an old timey vibe, but some new school details. More interestingly to me, it’s the most frankenbike build I’ve done, even more than Fix-e was, and it doesn’t LOOK like it. I think it looks like it rolled new off the assembly line of one of your vintagy commuter bike shops.
Most importantly, it came together how I envisioned it, with the black rims and knobbies, the little gleams on the chrome, the general geometry…

Wee Z even helped with spoke tension inspection. Not at speed.

So, what’s left: well, a lot. Some adjustments are required before it can really do what it was intended to do. See, I tried to hop on it and almost became a eunuch. The Bobike is low and back, so you cradle your precious cargo in your arms as you ride. But for most bikes, that means interference with your riding position. I could get between the seat and the Bobike, but I couldn’t get UP onto my seat. Absolutely no-go if there was a child up in there.

I was sort of resigned to the idea that maybe the seat wouldn’t work out (it was designed for upright commuters in Denmark with adjustable stems and that vertical clearance) and that I’d be putting the rear rack on. But I did some research last night and was reminded, thanks to www.longleafbicycles.com why i got my long quill stem in the first place. I was going about this the wrong way: I thought the clearance problem would be the seat being too much in my face, so I was pushing it farther and farther down the stem, to no avail. As it turns out, it needs to be HIGHER, which is counter-intuitive, I have to admit. That’s where the ginormous stem came in. So this morning, I raised the seat high on the stem (didn’t yet actually increase stem height) and equally-as-important, lowered the SEAT. It made all the difference, and it worked. AWESOME.

Another issue is the brake. I’m a mile from where I started: I have sticky salmon pads, a new center-pull caliper, and I spent a LOT of time stringing and restringing it, which is made more aggravating with this vintage of equipment because of having to use double- wrenches on the hanger nuts. I was too weak in stopping power on my test ride, which was after about three stringings already… and then I adjusted it and am now too tight, so i need to let out about 3mm of cable. But I’m close.

The cork handles, which were kind of an experiment anyway, were 50/50. One went on great, and one shredded like you’d expect thin, true cork to do. Wifebot(tm) suggested glue but i don’t think it’ll hold together very long, so if I keep using these, I’ll be replacing one.

The bars, which LOOK rad, once again may not work, just as has happened on my other rides.

The sweep brings you too far forward, and I think I’ll interfere with comfortable positioning when Z is on there. So i may have to switch to sway, or boulevard, bars. I’ll be looking at that tonight.

Lastly, when I set out on the test ride, I was like DAMN this is a bitch. What is UP. The gearing was higher than I anticipated. I discovered the culprit. Remember how I was messing around with different combinations of cranks and chainrings? I ended up going with a 53, not the 39 I started with. Makes a teeeny bit of difference.

I calculated the inchgear at a gruesome 101. GAH.

I’m putting a 20 on the back tonight, getting it back down to my comfortable low-70s.

All in all though, very exciting and satisfying day.

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Trek District Carbon

wrongrobot — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 16:26:34 +0000

I often joke that I don’t count grams, I count pizzas… but everyone loves a light bike (until they shatter). This is the Trek District Carbon, a bike recently shown at Trek’s big convention. It’s a $3,000 fixie with a belt drive. 12 pounds. That’s TWELVE.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/08/ … rld2011_18

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people for bikes’ brand elements are RAD

ironlung — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:15:22 +0000

PEOPLE FOR BIKES is "…a movement initiated by the Bikes Belong Foundation, the national nonprofit focusing on bicycling safety and working to put more people on bicycles more often." pretty simple concept — they’re a group of regular people who want better and more bicycling. i’ve joined them, and many of my peers have as well.

but that’s not the point today. today i want to make note of their brand. which is fucking awesome.

let’s start with their logo. i’m sorry, their SIX logos, differentiated by bicycle type…

BMX

COMMUTER

CRUISER

MOUNTAIN

RACING

ROAD

"so tight" as cameron the terminatoress would say.

then they use the concept of that logo as the basis for the photo backdrop they take around to different events…

MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR RT RYBAK

so every person who gets up there with their different bikes solidifies the concept in a real-world execution. that’s pretty well genius, from a conceptual standpoint.

next is their site (link above) — beautiful, simple, elegant, easy to navigate, and highly illustrative…

i’m just really, REALLY digging on everything they do with their look. nothing feels convoluted or exclusionary — two unfortunate staples of cycling. but if all of the above isn’t enough for you, i offer my final argument — their bike-to-work day desktop…

yeah, i thought that might do it.

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Bike Share via iPhone App

wrongrobot — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 17:07:51 +0000

Well, to be fair, since the beta is happening in NYC, it’s more of a bike DONATION, but still, I appreciate the social sharing concept of the scheme. All for the price of free for these participants.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/11/soci … pp-to-hit/

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Trek Broadsider

wrongrobot — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 22:45:36 +0000

Remember this guy? Trek’s finally unveiling the concept bike at their upcoming convention show.
Look at the details within!

http://www.bikerumor.com/2010/08/07/tre … outta-gas/

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Team Lope Bike Grrls – Melburn

wrongrobot — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:38:08 +0000

Fyx has such great ad pics for his stuffs.

http://www.fyxomatosis.com/index.php?op … &Itemid=93

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Bicycle Muse

wrongrobot — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 16:54:54 +0000

This e-shop, a companion to a London shop, offers fashionable cycling accessories, from bags to helmets to bike lights, targeting the fashion conscious rider. That sounds diminutive in these ‘hardcore urban fixie freestyle’ days… I mean, casual city riders, the exact people we WANT on bikes. Cute girls in their sunday dresses, guys on the way to a BBQ, whatever. Not bar spin people.

http://www.thebicyclemuse.com/content/i … e=about-us

Also, love it: Ankle spats in an old timey way. But reflective!

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