…of course, it’s going to be by bike.

In previous years, my annual game trip was done entirely by bike. I’d ride in from Mill Valley, where I work, usually head to the loft (about a quarter mile from the ballpark) and then change and switch bikes, then ride back and check in to valet. Easy cheesy. This year, I live AND work in Mill Valley, and had wee Z pick-up responsibilities later, so i was forced to drive. However, only as far as the Marina. It was a great plan.

I drove in and got over the bridge, where traffic was starting to collect. I pulled off into the Marina by Crissy Field and parked on a side street. Time check: 3:33pm.

The wrongTank LAUNCHED wrongBike(tm) as if by repulsor, and I was soon on my way, by bike, through the Marina (for some lookie-looing) and then back to the waterfront, over the hop, down through Fisherman’s Wharf, and around the bend.

Quick stop by the offices of Lung’s Torture, out of principle more than anything.

Ding ding ding! He didn’t hear me, and I was off.

The SFBC runs a bike valet in the belly of the ballpark, so it’s easy enough to roll up, quick-snap, and drop the ride off. I talked with another fixie guy that was bombing through traffic. He didn’t know what inchgear he had, but given the spread, i’d wager high 70s to my 71.2 on this bike. And with that, up to the suite where the party is that i go to each year.

The way back was awesome. On the way over, traffic was blocked up all the way to the Marina, some of the worst ballpark traffic I’d seen yet. Ont he way back, it was still pretty brutal, so I was able to weave through the Embarcadero, having a great ride and not being in that traffic. Nasty headwind on the approach to, and through, Crissy, but then I got back to wrongTank, hopped in, and got into traffic, only to sit behind an accident on the bridge for an hour. But overall, how could I complain?

It was a nice, refreshing, nostalgic reminder of my usual city riding. Same route, same sights, girls and sun and tourists and other bikes. Far better than the game itself. Anyway, so, that’s how you take in a Giants game.

Bonus, the SFBC folks liked my bike so much they tried to offer me some of their dessert. HA! Awesome.

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As you have seen from previous posts, Crook was my Cinelli Mash fixie build, which had an expressed purpose: it was my ride for Aids Lifecycle. When I bought and built it, my vision was just to build the fixie I could do the MOST on… the longest days, the best climbs, the most agility, etc. So, it was done up with road drops, ridden for a few months before the ride (about 400 miles) and then on ALC 9 from SF to LA (another 570 miles)…

But something changed, along that preparation period before ALC. I found my initial rejection of the green limited edition version of this frame turning from dislike to interest. I couldn’t shake it. And then I had the idea: ride the gray ghost to LA, then have a metamorphosis to the green. So I took a risk on the green frame, site unseen, and ordered it before I left.

My initial plan was to come home, strip the bike, assemble the new one, then ride up to the city and meet Lung later that week with the surprise build. I had kept my plan a secret. The frame was shipped to my office while we were on the ride. All was well.

Until I got it home the day after we returned. The frame itself was gorgeous. The color is indescribable, and no pics do it justice. But the fork had carbon damage at the crown, painted over by the factory. Unacceptable! So I had to wait several weeks to get this resolved through my guys at City Grounds (zack is awesome, I say) and an understaffed Cinelli US crew. Ultimately, I got the replacement fork, and discovered the crown race was missing. We got that sorted, and I received the race in the mail last Friday, just in time to finish the build before Lung would arrive that Sunday for a birthday ride. The build was done from the back forward, but the front end was waiting on that race.

The ride is a dream, and you can see the Bio of the bike here.

Below are my process pics from the conversion, which involved using the original Crook bottom end, and a new top end.

:::

Unfortunately, the photos of the frame unboxing and the back end assembly were largely lost to a bad SD card. However, imagine me pulling a brilliant frame from the box and squeeing. The green is this iridescent color… not quite flaked, but shimmery. And more importantly, it’s a warm green, not a cold green. It’s paired with a creamy opaque white, a look I’ve always loved, going back to my one-time plans to white-paint-dip a stained-wood raw coffee table top for a project years ago. I love that look.

First, the original Crook was stripped to the bones, for sale to a fellow who was heading to San Diego fixed in a pursuit of folly similar to our fixed-gear Aids Lifecycle endeavors. How’s THAT for synchronicity! Last shot of Crook 1.0′s frame.

While waiting for the fork situation to be resolved, I dragged everything up to the deck for the extrusion shot (using the damaged fork, because hey.) and then decided to do the back end build work up there, while simultaneously BBQing and hanging out with wee Z. Here’s proof.

Here’s a close-up of that damage to the fork. Not a MASSIVE deal, but the concern I had was two-fold: one, the top surface of the crown is unpainted, so it’s visible in the gap between the frame and fork. This would be more obvious as a result. And two, it’s not like it was a sealed defect. That’s the EDGE of the paint. It’ll fray.

That was never fully resolved at the time of this writing. My boys at City Grounds took up the effort in dealing with Cinelli on that front, as weeks had gone by without any fruitful response from the manufacturer. It will be an argument over manufacturing damage vs shop damage. I believe manufacturing. In the meantime, as these weeks went by, my Crook parts hanging on the bikeBasement pegboards like those trophy skulls int he Predator ship, Lung was fast at acquiring and gleefully riding his new Cinelli cockpit. I was dying. I prayed he wouldn’t have a similar issue, like opening the box and finding his bars twisted into the shape of a rhombus or something. They weren’t. Gorgeous bars!

So as I mentioned, the bottom end was remaining from Crook 1.0. These were all new parts before ALC, right, so this transformation was to swap out frames, and the top end changes were largely cosmetic, except for the bars. So I kept my wheels, tyres, cranks, pedals, cog, brake… well, new chain, but other than that, same same. For the new stuff, the idea was to have chrome up top, black down below. I could have done all black, but the few green builds I see on the supernet go all black in the components or in one case all silver. So, in keeping with the ‘dipped’ theme of the white on the frame, the top end was dipped silver. Conceptually. Here wee Z is carefully scrutinizing some small gifts for manufacturing errors. That’s a shim set for the Nitto bars (unfortunately a necessity), a star nut and a special awesome Thomson solver stem cap. I used Nitto RB-021 compact bulls on this build, since the road drop necessity of ALC was over. I sourced a sweet silver cross lever directly from Paul Comp, too. Awesome. Same stem and seatpost, both Thomson, just now in silver. I used a shorty stem this time, feeling like going compact would get me into the bulls’ drop position easier. This is still pending final approval, as on the road it may be too close to me in this configuration, putting too much pressure on my arms. The saddle is one of my Brooks, already broken in, and the wrap is elkhide.

Here’s one Lung will like. Once I finally got my crown, I built my own crown race setter. And by built, I mean I had the hardware stoe cut me a big section of 1 1/2" black PVC. Tappity tap tap!
Look at that, saved $100 right there!

To me, the scariest step is cutting the steerer. On Crook 1.0, I left about 5mm extra, ringed with a final spacer above the stem, anticipating needing some height adjustment on ALC as I went. Didn’t end up needing it. Plus, this time, the bars are compact, so the taller the stem, the closer they are. Anyway, measure TWICE cut once, here at chez Wrongrobot.

Setting the star nut is actually kind of fun. Whamma bamma.

Here the bike is ready for wrapping. The Paul lever is installed on the thicker portion of the bars, as far over as possible to minimize cable housing scrape on the sharp curve of the X2 front end. This would be the slowest step, wrapping the bike up (literally) taking me from Friday night after getting back from Lung’s birthday party, through Saturday and into the next evening.

The elkhide is really interesting. It’s stretchier than calf hide, and is more porous, shows more defects. It’s really rad though. I had started with a lighter color that purported to match the Brooks honey color saddle, but was too tan, so i sent that back and got the darker brown, which matched perfectly. I used something close to a baseball glove stitch. I had no experience with this. You use one thick waxed cord with two stubby needles, and work from the stem outward. I’d get three good stitches and then a fail, distracted by my baby hurtling herself off of something or Anne Hathaway on film or whatever. But it wasn’t arduous. Just required time to get right. Go slowly, etc. In practice, on the road the wrap slips a bit as it’s stretchy and you apply so much force with your hands, so it pulled away a bit from the edges where they started, but still good. Will take some miles to settle in. Easily the most gorgeous bar covering I’ve ever had.

And with that, Crook Type 3 was born. We rode Paradise Loop under windy conditions, and it was a dream. I have some adjustments to make, reducing the inchgear down to the more universal 72 from 75, and some messing around with seat and stem position, but overall, love it. LOVE iot.

So that’s the story of how Crook became Crook Type 3 in a post-ALC transformation!

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Friends of Team Lope, here’s some news. Crook, my grey/grey Cinelli Mash, is no more.
Or rather, it no longer is as it was. These photos were taken 24 hours before Crook ceased to be in my possession. Not from theft or malady, but by design.

I thought this was a nice swan song for Crook 1.0… the frame and fork were sold the next morning. But what of Crook’s majestic legacy? That bike made it to LA from SF, almost 600 miles of brutal fixie fire. This cannot be the end…

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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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This one’s new…
Jenaye, an Australian contributor to Candycranks, suffered a chain drop on her fixie as she approached a huge truck turning in front of her. While she averted greater harm, her foot was run over by the truck’s rearmost wheel. To her surprise, while she DID suffer tissue damage etc, the bones were not crushed and after three weeks of crutches, she’s back on the bike.

Now, what saved her digits from doom? The hard sole of her clip-in shoe.

AWESOME!

Get well, Jenaye. Get clip-ins, the rest of you.

More pics here:
http://www.candycranks.com/archives/9575

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So, I originally thought I would just post some pics of my new bar/stem monocoque setup and pedals but I think an explanation and history of my mechanical issues I have been dealing with should be included.

Wrong can attest to the fact that I am extremely lucky and very anal when it comes to upkeep on my bike which has resulted in that I have had very few mechanical issues, knock on wood, but I guess 2 years seems about right. Anyway, everything pretty much started in the past month and a half with an annoying clicking in my right standard carbon/ti look keo pedal that was probably just because the pedal needed a little tlc (actually I know that it just needed some lube). The thing is that I had just read an article about the Keo blades and knew that I had to have them, PERFECT TIMING! I saw the American price of 500 bucks and scoffed but luckily the Europeans have a much more normal pricing structure of more than half that so… here’s the pic of my sweet ass blades.

Next couple things didn’t result in any new purchases but were really annoying. I found that every time I climbed there would be a pinging in my rear Ksyrium ES wheel which I couldn’t figure out what it was for 2 rides (wheel was perfectly true) but I eventually found it was a couple of loose spokes. Fixed. Then I went on nice casual ride with the intention of doing an Alpine until a fellow rider was right aside me when her chain fell off, she swerved, and banged my rear dérailleur. It folded and went banging against my spokes and made some mild scratches… not as bad as I thought it was going to be… but I managed to barely bend the metal hanger back in place. You know when you bend aluminum to the brink of collapse, well that’s where it was. I made it home okay without changing any rear gears, not that big a deal for you fixie folks but difficult when you have muscle memory and the gear shifter right there taunting you to be used. No shops had replacements but I found 1 online and had it shipped to me. This was a weekend I really wanted to ride so I decided to take out my 19 year old race bike, Tesch.

Can I just tell you that it was an awesome ride! I loved it. The fit was perfect and aggressive and made me realize that my Look wasn’t set up right at all. That’s where new bars and stem came into play. I already had carbon bars and stem so I knew I wanted to stick with that and after doing a ton of research I found these FSA integrated bars and knew I had to have them. So here they are…

I didn’t put the tape on the top portion and they are still super comfy and they are incredibly stiff…. LOVE IT! 2nd ride out and I am descending from an Alpine run (again with the Alpine, I gotta stop doing this ride) and my rear wheel squeels and seizes. This is not a particularly good feeling when going as fast as you can down a hill, in fact it was down right terrifying. I thought at first it was the brakes… nope… then I realized it was the freehub and it only did this when not pedaling. So, again I had to descend without stopping pedaling. Anyway, I came home and found out that it is the easiest piece in the world to repair, go Mavic, and my bike is again ready for the road.

So, there you go… More than you would ever want to know. You guys ready for a ride?

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Saw my first pair of ThickSlicks in the wild.

These are on my buddy Robert’s fixie. Sourced from the distributor, in his case, but now available at Tam Bikes.

Aside from the issue of font style and size as we talked about before, I can confirm that it IS curving down onto the tread surface (if there WERE tread)… meaning the lettering shaves away a little bit around that periphery depending on how much pressure is in the tyre…. I assume this was intentional. Interesting, you have to give it that…

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I originally wanted to post about Mick’s ascent up Mt. Ventoux on his fixed-gear bike. Because wow.

Then I got into his blog. You have to explore it, below. He’s been riding all over Europe, South America, his native Australia, and it’s such a love letter to the kind of bike tourism I love and fantasize about: not the drag-your-tent-with-you randonneur type, but the bring-your-track-bike-and-spin kind. I LOVE it. And I want to go to there.

This does remind me of my ongoing SS Coupler project, as well… hm.

Ventoux:
http://ifeellikealittlekid.wordpress.co … t-ventoux/ via Trackasaurus!

The whole blog:
http://ifeellikealittlekid.wordpress.com/

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My conversion of my previously-converted fixed-gear Look to a road bike is well underway. In fact, thanks to some late night enthusiasms, it’s almost done!

I’ve never built up a road bike before. I’ve done simple maintenance, but frankly, the majority of my road bike riding time I was focused on riding, letting the LBS do the annual tuning, and that was that. As you have seen, I most recently have been riding a KG 381 Jalabert-Edition Look road bike, circa 2003, but got a second frame, the KG 381 Team, a spare from the 2003 season. I converted the latter into a big gear fixed-gear bike, which was awesome. But now I’ve decided to condense a bit. I’m attempting to strip the Dura Ace groupo off of the Ja-Ja build-up and put it on the Team bike, then sell off the former. I love them both, but purgery compels me.

I assembled everything additional I would need, which frankly isn’t much. The one stand-out change was new tyres. The Ja-Ja Look was running bright red tyres, which was cool and all, but the Team bike is a low-key affair. It isn’t murdered out, per se, like Lung’s Tumbler, but it’s mellow. If his bike is the absence of light in the shape of a fixie, mine’s the shadow. From the light that isn’t there. Or something. Anyway, since the Conti Gator Hardshells did so well down to LA, I went for them again here.

I was going pretty slow and being methodical, not only not being particularly familiar with the componentry and their adjustment from the mechanic side, but also because it was late, I had to be quiet, and really, you don’t want to eff up Dura Ace parts by being overzealous. I actually had very few issues. My biggest stalls were pulling the self-extracting cranks and then the BB behind them, and ultimately there was nothing wrong, I’m just gunshy about putting muscle into it, given the propensity of stripped-threads and tweaked parts being a part of muscly-mechanic behavior when you don’t know what to expect and how it should behave. Ultimately no problems. Everything was stripped, degreased, regreased, and reassembled. By the time I was done for the night I had the entire groupo swapped, front and rear brakes strung and set, rear derailleur strung and set, and the bars taken care of. All that remained was stuff that I needed to research or replace.

For one thing, the Ja-Ja had a braze-on front derailleur hanger, and the team bike doesn’t, so I needed to source a derailleur frame clamp. I picked one up yesterday in the city on a ride-around with Lung, but it was the wrong size (of course, the one time I don’t get more than one just to be safe) but I ordered a shim, so that’s fine. I wanted to use a fresh chain, had to pick that up and did. I don’t think I swapped the previous chain in 4 years of riding (shudder) though two of them were almost exclusively dedicated to fixed-gear stuff so it didn’t see many miles.

I’m almost there! Yesterday afternoon I swapped out the tyres, set the wheels, readjusted the brakes, adjusted the wild cable housings in front (I’m so used to Campy from my Bianchis that with Shimano my instinct is to let them fly out, even though they usually get wrapped tight to the bars) and a few other things, and I’m pretty close to completion. I’m going to re-use some bar tape from another ride, swap another saddle on here, and then I can start trying to fine tune the shifting system.

Kind of exciting, working on a road bike for the first time. No major explosions in the pipeline yet!

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I love these little whip generators. Simple, easy to use, easy to visualize. Plus, maybe some of the kids who would normally be out killing themselves with no breaks I mean brakes might save themselves the deaths if they stuck to the virtual…

http://www.fixiestudio.com/

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