Team Lope Tyre Clubbe » Crook

I’m OK, You’re OK, Villain’s Very OK

wrongrobot — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 04:46:50 +0000

So today I finally had the opportunity to do what I’ve been wanting to do for a few weeks now: get Villain back into rotation. Ghostal is now for sale, so I’m not riding it, lest it explodes in irony, and my riding time has been split between Crook and Ye Blacke Death. But I built up the new Villain 3.0 in anticipation of the Tour de Lung road ride Team lope is hosting, now hopefully set for October. But I need some saddle time to iron out any kinks in what was my first road bike build.

So far so good! MAYBE seat comes down a hair. Shifting and braking are solid. Feels great.

Tell you what I forget about road bikes after a lot of continuous fixie riding: they’re FAST. I was flying today, both directions of m commute. Just flying.

Anyway, that is all. Just good times, with gears=gasp!=I=said=gears!

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Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Over the Moon

wrongrobot — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:54:19 +0000

So, Ye Blacke Death has been ride-able for 24 hours now. I mean, it goes and it stops, both reliably.

So, while it’s not yet complete, I do have thoughts.

Test Ride 1 was the coffee run last weekend that saw most of my coffee land in and over the front rack, being unsecured, plus was the ride I learned I had both a high-gearing issue AND a baby seat clearance issue. Subsequently, I swapped out the Nitto moustache bars for big-ass moon bars. This provides the necessary clearance to ride with the baby up ON there. I also swapped out the vintage hood lever for a BMX lever and restrung the brake cable 33 more times.

Test Ride 2: Wraps Run

So the bars are on, the brake strung, seemed to be in order, so i headed out. First thing I noticed was that despite cinchin’ it, the bars still moved in the stem clamp. So I was carrying all my tools in me pockets as I do on test rides, so I was able to really muscle it more and get it tighter. Good. Second thing I noticed was that the brakes were still just a bit too soft. It’s hard to finesse center-pulls like this. You under-do it and they slip, and over-do it and the cable get s smashed and frayed. So I stopped and adjusted again. Little better, not perfect.

I also noticed that riding with moon bars is kind of awkward. It’s fun, but when you’re used to the drops or the bulls, pitched forward, this position is kind of strange. You’re pushing pedals differently too, with your body geometry changing in that position. But as far as the first real RAHHHDE of any distance, it worked. It’s smooth, cushy. LAID BACK.

I brought back some wraps and a salad using the front basket, and used my webbing to hold it down. Worked AWESOME.

Test Ride 3: Commute

So after the ride last night, this morning I was able to do some more brake adjustment (still not perfect) and a few other things, and I was good to go.

Lung warned that my gearing was still likely too high. He’s right. I came down from my accidental 300 inchgear or whatever, but my chain was broken too small now, so i couldn’t get it back up to the bigger ‘pie plate cogs’ because I don’t have enough chain. So I installed the biggest I could fit, which was an 18. That’s still a 78 inchgear. Not terribly comfortable int he upright. Doable certainly in drops, but this is different. Add the short hills to get to my house. Add 20+ pounds of Wee Z! So yep, need a new chain.

I also found that man, it’s hard to adjust to those wide hand-positions. I kept instinctively slipping down to the stem to ride more comfortably as I do on Crook, but of course with a baby seat installed that wouldn’t be possible, so I tried to force myself to stay in position. Overall, fun ride, but need to do more adjustments. Possibly a drainpipe post, as I’m feeling a little forward from where I want to be, just like with Fix-e back in the day. I just happen to have Fix-e’s old one, so we’ll see.

I headed over to the stoe to get some groceries, and to Peet’s to get my coffee. Again with the webbing, this time pushing more of the limits of the reach of the net. Worked great. My bag was about 20 pounds too, and the bike handled well. That’s a good sign. Coffee in there too, nice and snug.

Test Ride 4: Afternoon Coffee Run

Yes, that’s a lot of coffee, i know.
Anyway, this time I webbed the coffee cup vertically close to the stem-side of the basket, and it worked like a dream. Even better than my modified gimbal on wrongBike. Narry a drip spilled.
Little more used to the bars now.

Please note the sweet, sweet sticker I through on here, courtesy of TRDL R3 Lieutenant Akua!

All in all, good rides. I’m heading over to get yet another chain tonight and replacement grips. Don’t be fooled by that red wrap. That’s just the under-wrap to the cork grips. I had to break one off to get the moustache bars off, which was crumbling from some cracks anyway. So more to come.

Onward! Next ride, lower gear, proper grips, bell and BABY! If all goes well…

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Crooks in the Wild

wrongrobot — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:15:10 +0000

A beautiful day in the neighborhood…

Wish I could stay in the saddle all day…

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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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Bike Build Process Log: Crook Type 3 Pin-Up Action

wrongrobot — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:19:15 +0000

As you may recall from Crook 1.0, prepared for Aids Lifecycle 9, I finished off the build with a custom vinyl pin-up girl nose art, as is my style, with the help of the gang at Buzzy’s. They donated these, and much of our Team Lope vinyl graphics, in advance of the ride, and also did Ghostal’s custom skull stickers too.

When I built up Crook Type 3, after the ride, I knew I needed another pin-up girl, so i did a variant color scheme on Three-Pin Maria, which had been one of the two choices for the original application. I think with the color tweaks it worked out very well, despite what wifebot(tm) calls gacho-boots. She feels very strongly about footwear.

This time, to ease the labor burden on Buzzy’s I did the sticker trimming myself. It took awhile, but as an architect, i’m good with an XACTO so it got done. This is white background not clear applique so I had to be pretty precise.

One difference this time around is that I had the image done in mirror-images to better fit the bike, and I think it looks better than it did on Crook 1.0.

Gorgeous I says!

Thanks again to MJ at Buzzy’s Surf Shop!
http://www.californiasurfstickers.com

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A Bike Braking Crooked Can Never Stop Straight

wrongrobot — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 21:59:46 +0000

So I’m finessing little things about Crook, week by week, as I rahhhhde. The current objective has been improved braking. On Crook 1.0 I had the advantage of proper brake hood leverage, so even in the mid-20s on some of those gnarly descents (which was HARD to keep it that slow, witness Lung going 35mph past me) I could really get some good clampage as needed. Wth Crook Type 3, I started with a sweet, sweet aluminum cross lever from Paul Comp, but I’m not getting enough brake torque for my preference. It mostly has to do with the angle of the cable routing, I think, as the caliper’s side-pull assembly is on the same side as my lever, being right-handed. So I’ve been playing around.

My current experiment utilizes Ghostal’s shot lever, this time mounted a little differently. I’m making good use of that flex housing as well… I played with this a bit this morning, trying a few things, and I now at least have a lot more leverage. We’ll see how this works…

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The SnobSum Index – Crook Type 3 Top End

wrongrobot — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 20:00:24 +0000

So wifebot(tm) has been reading Bikesnob’s book, and is getting an education in both bike technology/style/rider types, and Snob’s humor, at the same time. SO this morning, as I was preparing to roll out, she pointed at Crook Type 3 and asked ‘would Bikesnob make fun of you for that bike?’

Now, the immediate answer was of course YES. But I had to laugh and explain that well, on some levels he would mock the bike, and on others he might give it a pass, as, like most of my bikes, there’s too much functional junk going on to be ‘cool’ and too much cool junk going on to be purely functional.

This gave me the idea for a new segment we’ll call the Snobsum Index. Based on what’s in view, would it be thrown to the wolves or given credit for not being completely trendy douchy?

Exhibit A: Crook’s top front end.
Like I pointed out to her, I’d probably get some credit for actually having a ‘dont hit me/ please stop riding three abreast’ device, ie my brass bell. I also might get credit for having a brake (spelled properly). But I’d get docked, I wager, for the elkhide wrap as being too polished or hip in some sort of imagined Portland-tweed-style manner. And I’d get a big fat demierit for the track frame in the first place.

Snobsum= 0

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Archive Bag Review

wrongrobot — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 17:05:26 +0000

While I’m currently on a bike-stuff acquisition hiatus (or guh, trying to be) after completion or near completion of my summer bike projects, I recently received a product in the mail that was custom made and has been anticipated as being awesome, but with these things, you never really know. I’m happy to report success.

Archive Bags produces hip and tool sacks/wallets on a custom or small-batch basis using certain material selections. Each is hand-made and made to order. The bag is smaller than some of the competing hip sacks, especially the larger one I used over the last few years, now as a camera lens carrier. My goal was to find a nice lean, compact sack to carry vitals, attached to my own belt I’m already wearing rather than it’s own belt like my last one, and to be able to carry a lock if I want in lieu f my jeans pocket or a separate lock holster, as Lung uses. The key was compact efficiency. When I started carrying less small gifts in order to lighten the belt load, I was annoyed the the bag I used was bigger and still physically difficult to ignore: it tended to be in the way. My hope, with the Archive Bag, based on Flickr photos, was that it would be small enough to be less noticeable, and big enough to be functional.

As you can see above, I’m using my compartmentalization method as I generally do. It allows me to keep part groups separate from each other for easy access, minimizing tangling and mess, and making it easier to utilize my system of modular parcels for different ride conditions (light, tools, different bikes, etc)… here I have a rolled tube rubber-banded to one side, and a parcel to the other containing my Crook Type 3 field kit, including multiple CO2, tyre levers, valve extender, minitool, extra allens, air driver, spare key, Heat Bullet, etc. It fits just so, and doesn’t prevent the flap from completing the Velcro fastening, and the load is light and tight. (I’ll show you light and tight. Well maybe not). It also has a small utility strap on the front for keys, valve bullet, knife or whatever you might want on the outside, or even a little belt strap like from a pedal, if you are doing your crazy youthful tricks and are afraid of losing small gifts in all that inertia.

The fit and finish is of the best I’ve seen on hand-made bags. The stitching is tight and the waxed fabric is comfortable and not greazy, which is a pet peeve of mine for water resistant sacks. The belt strapping is solidly sewn and allows me to use my regular belt. It can carry a lock.

The side profile shows just how lean this sack is. Olive drab with a Go Fasta Red interior vinyl.

Here’s a shot against my saddle to show size comparison. Very compact.

Overall, it’s a great product. They aren’t cheap, at about $40US but well worth it if you are into optimizing your ride bag with a top quality item for small gift transport and utility. I know I am!

http://archivebags.wordpress.com/

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Crook Type 3: On the Road

wrongrobot — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:03:44 +0000

Usually, if one of my rides is going to get attention, it’s either wrongBike(tm) thanks to it’s old-timey nature and glowing nukulurre trigger yellow-orange melon colorway, or it’s in traffic, with me ON it, as I’m getting run down by an irate SUV driver. But Crook Type 3 is getting some attention. Last week, two folks stopped me on the street while I was riding to ask about it. This weekend, on errands, when I went out to unlock it from the drug store, one inked up SF-type guy and his wife were checking it out and commented, and then as I got it unlocked and was preparing to mount the bike (and unmount the curb)… another guy pulled up in a car and said he’d never seen the green Mash frame. Pretty cool.

Also stolable! I’m being more cautious than usual…

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Team Lope Bike Bio: Crook Type 3

wrongrobot — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:03:35 +0000

Crook Type 3 is a transformed version of Crook, the Cinelli Mash I built up and rode on Aids Lifecycle 9, from SF to LA. The concept was simple, and absurd: after completing the 570 mile ride (if successful, which it was) I would swap out the gray frame that made that journey for the limited edition green/ white variant, celebrating the achievement. You can read about the build process for Crook Type 3 here. Suffice to say, I kept the bottom end from the original Crook, and replaced the top end, going with a silver dip theme above the frame line.

Cinelli Mash 09 Limited Edition Green/White Adidas-inspired variant
SRAM Courier 300 Cranks (48/165)
Shimano A520 pedals
Custom wheelset: Soma hubs laced to H+Son 43s
Sugino Track Cog system (17) (Currently 75 inchgear)
SRAM single chain
Dia Compe brake/ carbon fiber cable housing
Paul Comp cross lever, silver
Titanium spacers
Columbus headset and seatpost clamp
Thomson Elite post, silver
Thomson X2 stem, silver
Nitto RB-021 compact bullhorns
VO elkhide wrap
crankbolt wrap caps (!)
Brooks Swallow saddle, honey
Thomson stem cap
Continental Gatorskin Hardshells 25c
Awesomeness

Here’s the build in the wild…

Note the Paul Comp cross lever. That was a hard find, with a deceptively simple solution: Order direct from Paul Comp…
The elkhide is still stretching and getting comfy but it’s gorgeous. I miss gel padding, though. Crank bolts for bar ends. HA!

The gold hub works nicely with the color scheme, which was fortuitous. I’ll eventually have a brass bell on the front end too.

Sneaky inclusion of my Three-Pin rider logo under the chainring, for science.

On Crook 1.0 there was a quote here: ‘by hook or by crook’ which was my inspirational mantra for getting through ALC on a fixed-gear. Now that that was done, I elected to retire it, moving the bike name from the head tube to the usual position here. The cog decal moved from seatpost to seat stay. Oh, and there will be a pinup girl on the nose, it’s just not done. The other missing decals are a Type 3 lettering piece for the name, and a vinyl of our ALC logo used on our ride shirts.

Some adjustments will follow, in seat height and stem. But so far, it’s a greeeaaaaat rahde!

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