I’m doing a sell-off of some stuff from the shop.

Item 1: Saris Thelma 3 hitch bike rack: best design I’ve ever used, clamshell clamps the front wheel, so unusual frames are no problem. Fits a 1-1/4" hitch, carries up to three bikes, and I have extra parts. $250

Item 2: H+Son Track Wheelset: custom made by 718c in Brooklyn; black SL42 H+Son rims black laced (double butted) to Soma hubs (black front, gold rear) though note the fixed side of the hub has some damage, so you run this as a freewheel on the other side or replace the hub. Basically throwing the wheel in with the front. $140

Item 3: Origin 8 Track Wheelset, all white: white on white on white. Unmachined front so you can see some brake smear but very lightly used all around. $75

Pick up if local to the SF Bay Area, otherwise shippable.
Contact me however you can, via comments, PM email etc

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Related posts:

1. Review: Saris Thelma 3 Rear Bike Rack
2. Tyre Day and thus the Thickslicks

As we posted about last week, Friend of Lope Krys Blakemore, Shop Employee 001 at 718 Cyclery, was creamed by a card (but helpfully hammerheaded an ambulance) and is now laid up at the hospital undergoing surgery and therapy from the leg injury that resulted. She’s very lucky to be alive. And now, without the ability to work, she is in dire straights. You can donate to her fund here:

http://www.gofundme.com/i0zqc

And take note, you can enter for a chance to win a free wheelset from eighthinch in the process!
http://eighthinch.wordpress.com/2012/03 … very-fund/

Let’s help her out!

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1. 718c’s Krys Interviewed on EighthInch
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3. Krys Rides with EighthInch

Readers not suffering from short-term memory lost (and now traveling the streets of their unfamiliar neighborhood with tattoos of their grocery lists ont hem looking for payback for a murder they aren’t sure even happened) will recall that in preparation for the Levi Leipheimer Gran Fondo, I cobbled together a road bike the night before, and then had it explode on the ride.

You can read that ride report here. I called it the Gran Fondo Fireball.

After locking up the rear derailleur on the way down from the biggest climb of the ride, I was left with this:

And this:

Now, SRAM was a sponsor of the ride, and the local rep actually pulled up and gave me a new used rear derailleur, so I was at least not re-buying that part. With a baby imminent, my shoppe time is next to zero, so in order to get the bike going again, I dropped it off at Performance for a derailleur tune and more importantly a safety check. Right out of the gate, I forgot my new 10-speed chain i had purchased, so I was going to be picking that up there. They noted that the derailleur hanger that I had acquired from derailleurhanger.com was not correct. My frame seller was able to work with BTI and figure out the required part, and I had that shipped from the always sweet-as universalcycles.com. So, back to the shop for a second time, to replace the wrong hanger with the right hanger (this brings the famous ‘no wirrre hangerrrrs!’ to mind)… anyway, they thought they’d be able to finish the bike that day.

Late in the day report: not going to make it, some issue needing more time the next day, a Saturday. That wasn’t promising.

Late Saturday, same call. Even less promising. Understand, when I brought it in, I hadn’t done a THOROUGH inspection due to my family situation. But it looked like there wasn’t significant frame damage, and since the only substantial damage I saw was the hanger, I was hoping they’d be able to do a quick review for safety issues (one drawback to aluminum: when it cracks, it’s over) string the rear derailleur back up, and call it a day.

Then I got a call Monday that things were ‘very bad’. Fortunately, I feared this meant the frame was a loss, but in fact, not THAT bad. But the cassette was trashed, the spokes were jacked, the rim was creased, and some other smaller issues. I was kind of disappointed, because it was not my plan, when I built the new bike, to be frankensteining it with a bunch of new parts. However, it was what it was. I did a little price-checking, then authorized them to swap out a new SRAM 10-speed cassette (this time 12-27, so i lost the range of the old one at the bottom (in other words, the old one was a custom set-up from 11 to 27, giving me a great big AND little cog, with less steps between the two) and went in on new wheels. I could have had the old rear wheel respoked, but it was a cheapie from several years ago, and not really worth the labor and materials. Plus, the bearings on the front were getting choppy. So what the hell.

Picked it up, and it was as good as new. Better than before, actually, thanks to the much, much lighter new wheelset.

I was actually kind of overwhelmed with it last night after I picked up the bike. I was frustrated. I’m no regretter, as you may know from my posts, but I was starting to think, you know, had I listened to to my wife’s bad feeling that I shouldn’t build the bike for the ride etc, that this wouldn’t have happened. I’d have taken Crook Type 3, bombed that ride on a fixie (except for walking up that 16% gradient) and had a great ride, instead of sitting in the rain waiting for SAG for hours, damaging a new frame, destroying pretty much everything that wasn’t already new… at a time when I needed to manage costs.

Then I did some course correction: I suspect I might have had a calamity anyway, at some point. My chain was one link short, based on the discrepancy between SRAM tech notes and the install guides (the difference between one link being one outer and one inner, or just one outer OR one inner, as I thought it was) so there was going to be trouble when it chained big to big, which would happen eventually, despite my efforts. There’s some question about what failed when in the damage… the cassette may have already been bent in the biggest cog, from my previous problems having strung Villain together and riding that for a year. Anyway, it was sub optimal, and when it collap, it collap BIG. At the time, I fixie skided to a stop on a descent. But had it been the crabon frame, I’d very likely have lost the rear triangle, judging by the marks all over the back of the Cinelli and the damage to the wheel. I’d have gone down AND lost the frame. So, while the escalating repairs were unexpected and unfortunate, and the fact that I felt it better to let them keep whacking at it rather than sit on it in the shop for a few months and then start messing with it later, at least it was throughly vetted. And now it’s very rideable. In fact, better than ever.

But it was just hard in that way it’s always hard when you can point to a decision and think, had I not done that, I wouldn’t be in this mess. Even if that isn’t really true. With my first Look theft, and even with Lung’s lock-the wheel-without-the rear-triangle thing, sure they were errors but we had false expectations of security in each case. No sense in regretting that. Each led to newer, bigger, better builds.
So, in the end, this calamity COULD have ended in serious injury and worse damage, instead of ending in a sweet, sweet bike.

PS Zoe tried to pick out yet another wrongrobot-approved ride for herself. I said ‘now you have 3 bikes already. Only Daddy needs a stable of 8 bikes. It’s excessive.’ to which she broke into a toddler wail. Pretty funny, being commentary both on her bike denial AND on my excessive rides.

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log- Rogue: Framed!
2. Bike Build Process Log: Fix-e 3.0
3. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Strippery!

Ghostal for sale. This was my first bike build on a brand new track frame rather than a conversion. It’s up for $595 obo (Price reduced by a hundy)

This is a complete build, assembled from scratch. The build is tight and true, and the bike rides very smooth.

Current Build:
- Origin 8 Del Pasado Frame/Fork with custom vinyl
- white on white pre-built Fixed wheelset
- white track tyres
- Cardiff leather saddle, white (brand new, already Proofide treated)
- Velo Orange stem and headset
- Nitto Bullhorns with Keirin grips
- Paul Comp cross lever (hard to find, brand new, aluminum)
- Shimano Ultegra brake
- Sugino cranks
- Shimano A530 pedals

The saddle that comes with the bike is the white Cardiff saddle, not the Brooks. The brake lever pictured has been replaced with a streamlined Paul Comp lever as noted. Bike is very clean; Will be sold with brake but you may sell the brake back to me for $20 if you don’t want to use one. That’s your call!

Make sure to contact me early if you want this bike. I will be in and out all weekend, so use phone: four one 5 4 six 5 272 four or email ( wrongrobot at thirdraildesignlab dot com) ASAP to set something up…

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Related posts:

1. Fixie For Sale: Ghostal $695
2. Ghostal: The First Ride
3. Ghostal: Notes from the Underworld

Ghostal for sale. This was my first bike build on a brand new track frame rather than a conversion. It’s up for $695 obo

This is a complete build, assembled from scratch. The build is tight and true, and the bike rides very smooth. You have the option of Nitto bullhorn bars or Soma Walker drops, which I will mount for you while you wait.

Current Build:
- Origin 8 Del Pasado Frame/Fork with custom vinyl
- white on white pre-built Fixed wheelset
- white track tyres
- Cardiff leather saddle, white (brand new, already Proofide treated)
- Velo Orange stem and headset
- Nitto Bullhorns with Keirin grips; or Soma Walker drops with same grips
- Paul Comp cross lever (hard to find, brand new, aluminum)
- Shimano Ultegra brake
- Sugino cranks
- Shimano A530 pedals

The saddle that comes with the bike is the white Cardiff saddle, not the Brooks. The brake lever pictured has been replaced with a streamlined Paul Comp lever as noted. Bike is very clean; Will be sold with brake but you may sell the brake back to me for $20 if you don’t want to use one. That’s your call!

Make sure to contact me early if you want this bike. I will be in and out all weekend, so use phone: four one 5 4 six 5 272 four or email ( wrongrobot at thirdraildesignlab dot com) ASAP to set something up…

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum here!

Related posts:

1. Fixed-Gear Sale: Ghostal $595
2. Ghostal: The First Ride
3. Re: Fixie For Sale: Ghostal $695

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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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Crook Type 3 Conversion
2. The Original Crook Type 1 Reports In
3. Crook Type 3: On the Road

Our man Raully Raul, my college roomie and one of my bestest pals, came to visit us this weekend. Raul is an active, crafty fellow: he climbs mountains, he climbs effing ICE, he surfs, etc and he works with his hands, from woodworking to photography. It all makes him a better architect, and an interesting guy, in my opinion. And he loves to try new things. So, on his arrival, I showed him and a few other friends the bikeBasement and my stable of excessive velocipedes. Later in the evening, he noted to me ‘hey, I’d love to try and ride one of your fixed-gears…’

Now, from someone else, that might have been the Akavit talking, but not Raul.
I was stoked. So, we made plans to check them out in the morning. The next day, I brought out wrongBike for him to try. I figured it was the most upright positioned build, with an easy posture, a light gearing, and was a good first try for fixie business. We headed down the hill and across the street to some flat area, went over the basics about fixed-gears: fixed drivetrain, no coasting, brake location, back pedaling, don’t lose concentration and try to stop pedaling, and so on. Soon, he was ready to go. And man, he took to it faster than I did by a MILE. Soon, we were up in the Scotts Valley side of MV, and off to the bike path. We took the bike path end to end a couple of times, and he grew stronger and more confident. We tried different pacing, so he could observe the relationship between pace and effort: too slow and it’s muscle work, too fast and it’s heart work, but 80rpm and it’s the perfect balance. Anyway, it was a colllle and windy day, so after awhile we headed back to the house. We saw a LOT of ALC training riders on the path as well, and I believe Cyclomania may have passed us or just missed us.

Once home, I gave him each of the other bikes in turn, so he could compare. Now that he had a sense of fixed riding in general, time to try different morphologies of the builds: different gearing, different bars, different ride positions. He liked the drops on Ghostal a lot, and got really jazzed by Crook.

In fact, he was the first person to ride Crook other than me, and thankfully, no deaths.

Anyway, I thought this was a GREAT spiritual mission for Fix-e. This was once my first single-speed and later fixed-gear and also my first build. Lung walked me through the entire bike. So the bike was decommissioned late last year when I gave Lung the wheels, and I had shelved it for a time, deciding what it wanted to be, now that I had more bikes to ride on a regular basis. But Raully Raul was now committed. He enjoys a car-free lifestyle in LA, living near the beach and walking or bussing everywhere. So he was pretty excited about getting a bike again for the first time in years. So, I thought, here’s Fix-e’s new home.

There were several things I loved about that night’s build:
- We got to work on it together, mirroring what Lung and I did on this same bike
- I was able to build a functional fixie entirely out of parts in the bikeBasement (a point of pride for lung and I both)
- Raul was stoked to do it, and man, he is crafty as I mentioned, so we were tearing apart the brake and effing with the wheels and so on like as if he’d been wrenching bikes for a year.

It was a great time!

Fix-e 3.0 consists of the original frame and cranks, which were still intact. In fact, that’s how we were able to assemble the bike in one late evening: the cranks and headset were still together and good to go. I used a Dimension arc bar, which Raul liked the position of, being a longer version of what he rode on wrongBike (though he may go old school drops eventually) and one of the Vista’s breaks I mean brakes, from before the wrongBike build, but with new modern rubber. We strung it to a chrome Odyssey lever, and this is perfect Raul right here: he solved Fix-e’s annoying cable hanger problem in like 3 seconds.

The cable hanger is OEM and has an open slot in the front so that the cable can be removed from the hanger, right, but it is designed for conventional 10-speed brakes and cable housing arrangement: with a BMX lever, the cable and it’s little cable stop still want to jump forward and out of the hanger if you really slam on the brake. This was a safety problem I struggled with throughout my riding this bike. I tried all sorts of things in the past: mangling a cable stop, adding a washer to the hanger, changing cable and brake lever positioning, etc. Raul? He proposed bending the shit out of the hanger at an upward angle. BOOOOOM. SOLVED. I was stupified. I never considered taking pliers to the damn thing.

I used my IRO wheelset from the rapidly bone-picked Villain build on Fix-e 3.0. Those are awesome wheels, and a large part of why this new build came out so well, I think. They’re smooth, clean and black. We used a 15t cog to compensate for the chainring’s relatively small size, trying to get close to wrongBike’s inchgear. The chain I had on hand JUST fit, but that was with the back axle just entering the dropouts, which are the old lateral kind that you enter from the BB side of the wheelstays. So I recommended he probably would want to get a longer chain and rechain it at home. I mean, I always like a fresh chain on a bike regardless.
Clip/platform spikey pedals (my ole AnkleBiters, in fact) and my trusty yellow seat that used to go with Toro, and the bike was ready to go. A final safety check, and we were done, at 12:03am. Not kidding.

Raul was excited.

Next day, we waited for the rain to break, and wifebot(tm), who was pretty into the new build and wanted to see Raul ride it, kept watching for optimum weather, which never really came. So in the afternoon, we headed out and Raul took his inaugural ride. Here you can see he represents the Team lope and TRDL brands, and enjoyed TLTC SAG support.

Raul FLEW up the street. Wifebot(tm) even exclaimed ‘whoa he’s flying up that hill!’
I think the foot was good and everything worked out. It was so awesome to see Raul, who 24 hours prior had never ridden a fixed gear, now was riding around on his OWN fixie. SOLID.

We took the wheels off, crammed it into the trunk of his rental car, and they were off to LA.
He’s already changed out the chain, and next step?
SURF BOARD rack.

3 gets you 6 he learns to skid stop before I do.
In fact, he may already know how by the time of this writing.

Welcome to the Team Lope family, dude!

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Strippery!
2. Bike Build Process Log: Rapscallion – Live Load Test Ride
3. Bike Build Process Log: Crook Type 3 Conversion

So, this phase of the project is called ‘Rapid Acquisition’.

I’ve identified, located, and ordered almost everything I need. All that remains is field collection of small gifts, such as cabling, shims and the like. And they’re starting to roll in. Literally!

Here we have this week’s arrivals so far.

These wheels were hand built by IRO in NYC. The cost of this fully custom wheelset was significantly less that I could get by collecting all the parts and having them built, or even building them myself if i were that bold. It’s insane! And that’s a 130mm rear hub, so it’s not like these are just pre-built stock. The rims are a v-shape from velocity, not the Deep V, but a good compromise section that balances depth and weight of material. I got them machined, because I want to run a front brake, and I’ve braked on non-machined rims, and it’s not a good feeling, for a reason. However, I had to do machined in the rear too, because being kind of anal, I wanted them to match. So less none more than they could be. But light and beautiful, they are!

Additionally, we have another set of Look Keo pedals. These are the same classics that i use on my road bike. I thought about getting carbon pedals with titanium spindles and the like, but I couldn’t justify the cost vs the weight savings. Anyway, a steal on ebay at about 40% off of new.

Lastly, my slightly controversial purchase.
I knew I wanted to use a Thomson X2 stem because:
a. The name
2. The awesome manufacturing
d. The two -bolt bar connection.

You can see in this image below, how the cap that bolts to the stem to hold the bars on is carved from a single piece of aluminum into two bladed arches, and held by two bolts, and has been tested to be rigid enough for road stresses. It’s pretty awesome. The whole stem is carved from a single piece of aluminum as well, with the center bored out on either side, and the steerer tube clamp an integrated part of the stem. Not atypical. But need to look at up close.

This was mildly controversial, only in that I chose to get a 130mm stem. My current road stem is 110mm. I tried a number of morphologies on my road bike, trying to simulate longer stem, different angles, and I *think* this will work. Lung cautioned me to wait and use a cheapie adjustable stem first to test. But here’s the rub: I found this stem on ebay for the same price as the cheapie adjustable. And it normally runs $100. So I HAD to do it. For science. We’ll see if it works as intended.

But stoked!
It’s an awesome stem.

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Villain- Stems and Stokers
2. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Strippery!
3. Bike Build Process Log: Villain 3.0 – Completeds

We’ve noted her nice leg used in a wheelset ad previously, but now that IminusD out of San Jose has their site up, we can also admire how she trues a wheel and how she examines available stock for Quality Control purposes.

Nice work!

http://iminusd.com/

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1. Team Lope Bike Grrls: TinaBalls Tricky
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I thought long and hard about the wheels for the YBD project. Mostly, this involved hub choices. I was hot for the concept of a Sturmey Archer 3-speed internally-geared hub, but their FIXED model is still a displayed prototype and has been in development for 3 years, still unreleased. I knew I wanted the bike to be fixed. But I wanted it to be different. I looked at old 3 speed coaster hubs, and a few other things, but then it hit me. Using the tried and true Team Lope Cycling Clubbe motto [ New Tmey Bikery in an Old Timey Way ]… I realized I could capture some of the old timey flavor of this build in the wheel selection, not just through hubbery, but through essential technology. And, frankly, I wanted to try something new. And by new, I mean old.

So, I am now in possession of a wheelset for YBD that excites me. Formula fixed/fixed, laced to Mavic Reflex… TUBULARS.

Not a big deal to traditionalists or Euro racers, but a big deal to me. So, we’ll see if I can avoid killing myself by gluing these tyres up in a wrongish way! I just like the concept of lacing up the tyres in an old-fashioned manner for this build…

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Related posts:

1. Bike Build Process Log: Ye Blacke Death – Wheels On!
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