Category: Projects

** Stolen Bike ** Dove bars, originally uploaded by BikeTinker.

This bike was stolen out of my back yard near the end of last week March 4 or 5, near downtown Santa Rosa CA.

Luckily, they left much nicer bikes behind, but unluckily, this is a friend’s bike!

I’d JUST finished the new bar setup for her, with new shifters (courtesy of super nice internet friends), new Dove bars from the Rivendell Garage Sale, and new cables bought at retail from the Bike Peddler.

Bleah.

Santa Rosa makes it super-easy to file a report online, and I encouraged my neighbor to report the bike he’d had stolen the week before.

Quick release basket, originally uploaded by treefire_1.

Total genius! A tongue on the front of the basket slips under the front of the rack, and… A snapping toolbox latch attached to the rear of the basket hooks onto the back of the rack.

Snap the latch down, and the basket is firmly attached to the rack. The tongue in the front provides the tension in the system, since it doesn’t let the basket sit flat by itself. You have to use the latch to pull everything tight.

*ALL CITY* space horse complete bike, originally uploaded by Blue Lug.

sweeeeet shifter setup. Pretty picture, too. Alex brought this to my attention.

View from this side, originally uploaded by Hillbubba.

Platrack on a mini rack, with a hub area rack prototype attached.

Thanks Eagle Scouts of Troop 73, originally uploaded by MannyAcosta.

From Manny. Totally cool bike repair box on Mt Tam. Stash caches like this would be pretty great all over.

Hey Tink, originally uploaded by Uncle Bicycle.

It’s a decaleur of sorts… In that you could mount a bag on there with a couple problem solvers handlebar cage mounts.

meeting of the minds, originally uploaded by cyclotourist.

That’s me in blue, talking to Gino at the West Point Inn. I’d never met him in person before. Photo taken by Cyclotourist, who was visiting from Redlands.

Riding my Bontrager for the first time in 8 months, and the first time back in California in 7 years made me realize that compared to the Privateer, my Gravel Roadster is a waste of time to ride.

Mt Tam with Cyclotourist and Gino, originally uploaded by BikeTinker.

I went for a ride on Mt Tam today with my friends David and Gino. I’d met David twice, and Gino never, in real life.
I grew up in Mill Valley, but lived in Santa Rosa for years before moving to Oregon, so it’s been a long time since I rode up Railroad Grade. The Bontrager was an Annadel machine – I’m not sure it’s ever been up Tam.
I loved it. David seemed to enjoy it, and we rode Hoo Koo E Koo simply because there’s a bike named for it. “A great bike,” said David. His wife had one.
I had started out with a “yeah this town used to be nice,” attitude after a dog walker gave us a dirty look after we gave him a friendly greeting. Later, though, EVERYONE was nice! Man do people like an ‘on your left’ or a friendly bell-ring.
At Avatar’s Punjabi Burrito (no photo, but this phone takes terrible pictures anyway), a woman stopped, and said, “are either of you from here?” Expecting a request for directions, I said, “I grew up here, but I haven’t lived here for years.” Deniability, right? In case she asks after some boutique that’s cropped up in the last 15 years.
She said, “you two are having the Perfect Mill Valley Experience, with the bikes, and this kind of food.”
We were like, “we just rode up Mt Tam, so I think you’re totally right.”

Light Rack in Action, originally uploaded by Uncle Bicycle.

That… Is a cool idea.

Gryphon w Dugasts, originally uploaded by Singular Cycles.

Fantastic looking setup from Singular’s Flickr stream.

kung fu panda, originally uploaded by BikeTinker.

I miss Kung Fu. I wish I had a fresh pair of these shoes, too. On the other hand, I can see the stars most nights, and I don’t need-need fenders on this bike, even in winter.

Put a 25.4 mountain-diameter bar in an old road-diameter stem. Tighten it enough to keep the bars from rotating, and SNAP! oops. Leave the bike in your garage for years.

I’m pleased – my friend moved from Portland to Petaluma, and now I can fix the bike I fixed up for her before. I turned her road bike into a city bike, broke the stem, bought a new stem and kept it in a box for YEARS. Jeeez. So now the new stem holds new drop bars, and the city bike is turning back into a road bike,  but with fenders.

Hillbubba Grip King Mod, originally uploaded by Snug Harborman.

I’m addicted to pedal hacks, and even though I don’t have the Rivendell Grip King pedals, Hillbubba’s side plate mod for them is right up my alley.
They provide side support for wide feet, and a little extrao gription.

You can hunt him down on Flickr, Etsy, or the Rivendell Google Group.

Finally trimmed off that spare cm of steertube. Kind of like a Bris for my MAP rando bike., originally uploaded by theoelliot.

“Finally trimmed off that spare cm of steertube. Kind of like a Bris for my MAP rando bike.”

Not mine. I wish. Both the fork setup and the photo.