Breaking in

I put on my Nokian Hakapeliitta W240's on Tuesday (thanks to Peter White). I'm working on breaking them in before winter hits. We could get ice or snow anytime in the next few weeks.
The rolling resistance is much greater than the smoother, road-friendly tires I use during warm weather. Guess I'll be in even better shape soon!

Tow Away Zone

As usual on Mondays, Benjamin and I rode our bikes to Grandma's place after picking up Alta at pre-school. What was unusual was leaving Grandma's early to go to a bike advocacy meeting. This meant leaving both kids at Grandma's with Carol to finish up the evening. But how to get Benjamin's bike home while pulling the trailer? I collapsed the trailer and put the front wheel and fork into the left hand sling/bag of the Xtracycle and secured it with the straps from the FreeRadical and one bungee cord. The rear wheel sat in the middle of the trailer. It worked out quite well!

Definitely a bike geek

Just read about the new Kickback stand from Xtracycle on Commute by Bike. It's great news for Xtracycle owners. I've been so frustrated with the X falling over when parked with heavy loads. This should make things much easier. Nonetheless, it was a bit of a surprise to find myself shouting with glee when I saw the photo and read about it.

Went through bike withdrawal today. I overslept and had to drive to work. My routines are all out of sorts - I'm a creature of habit. My son even said, "Dad, don't drive up to the bike racks, okay?" on our way home to pick up his sister.

Last, just heard that the Bianchi frame and fork were delivered for sandblasting and painting this afternoon. The choice of color? "Safety Yellow." Gee! :-)

Another slight modification

I "built" a mount for a Planet Bike Superflash for the back end of the FreeRadical Snapdeck tonight. This will finally give me a light mount that won't get bashed around on the back end. I took a small chunk of hard wood, about 1" x 1" x 3", and drilled out two screw holes for mounting to the underside of the Snapdeck, then countersank them. I drilled out a hole on the right hand side (port?) and attached the plastic mount/fitting to the butt end of the wood through the machine screw pivot/hole of the mount. Next, I located center of the Snapdeck and pre-drilled the Snapdeck once. After snugly, but not tightly, screwing it into place, I attached the light to the plastic fitting, then sighted along the top of the Snapdeck for focus of the beam. When satisfied, I then pre-drilled the second hole. All is now snugly in place. The light is still removable and the mount is out of the way, so there's no fear of smashing the light or the mount. The light is not very visible directly from the sides, but is clearly visible from at least 140 degrees to the rear.

Calculate this

From the folks at Commute by Bike. The Gas Savings calculator

BUI? and more Wrenching

So, I stopped by a backyard music festival this evening to catch a couple of tunes and talk to some friends. Really, I went there to talk to musician friends about playing mandolin with them for a wedding in mid-October. After that all happened, I walked back to my X to find a couple of mildly inebriated friends (fathers of kids who attend same school/grade as my son) checking it out. It was rather amusing to tell them about it while they admired it and the Dinotte lights. I offered to let one of them take it for a spin, but he politely declined, inferring he might not the be safest rider in his state of, well, bliss.

Forgot to mention my thanks to Eric for all the help with the Bianchi. I took the frame over to his home shop to try and get the supposedly adjustable (not at all, actually) cup out of the bottom bracket. We banged on it with hammers and chisels, hung on it with wrenches, and attempted to cut through it - all with no progress. He then had the brilliant idea of using a bench vise to clamp down on what little area was available for a purchase, then both of us pulled and pushed on the frame. It worked! The cup finally came out and the frame (and fork) are now ready for sandblasting and painting. The color is yet to be determined.

If we can come close to the bike pictured below, I think we'll be very happy. 

Wrenching

Did some "wrenching" this evening and swapped out the quill stems and handlebars on the Trek Singletrack 930 and the Specialized Ground Control. Also swapped out the skewers on so we can us the Singletrack to haul the trailer. The whole purpose is to get the Specialized out of use and eventually strip the main components and use them on the Bianchi after it's painted. I'm hoping most/all the parts will fit. Guess we'll find out soon enough.