The Perpetual Upgrade

I'm sick on holiday vacation, and can't go out beer drinking in Portland like I normally would.  After reading about health, nutrition, environmentalism, and the dairy and meat industries' corrupt hold on the national discourse on diet, naturally I have turned my attention to researching expensive and pointless upgrades to my shitty 4130 track frame (that I love, I might add).

Ben Hur wingnuts.  British thread.  Balls.

Velo Orange stainless steel wingnuts.  Nice work, VO, as always.  I prefer the three-pronged Ben Hur's above, but these are pretty sweet. Question is,  can one reasonably replace wrenched axle nuts with wingnuts? Is there enough leverage? Also, these do not appear to come with the free floating attached washer, may want to add?

"Italian" wingnuts (not talking about my mother)

Sturmey Archer S3X internally geared fixed hub. Hard to find in 120mm spacing with 32 holes (vs. 36).  And I will be running this free with a 17 tooth ACS cog.  That is, if I can find this hub in the right specs, which is looking like an increasingly dubious feat.

SRAM Omnium crankset, 144 bcd.  According to the talking heads on Velospace and Bike Forums, one would be led to believe that this is a reasonable upgrade for a non-track racer.  It's the lightest, stiffest, most reliable for the money, despite some reports of "drag" due to external bearings on the bottom bracket (though I am not convinced that 96% of us could ever tell).  Plus they come with the bottom bracket.  It all can be yours for $150...

Just be aware that Omniums are going onto THESE bikes, they have no BUSINESS on anything that isn't used on a track.    Please.  This is why Bike Forums and Velospace is a horrible place to research:  it's a bunch of dudes that pull out the proverbial ruler over every single component you could possibly consider upgrading on your bike.

FSA Gimondi 130 BCD 48t.  170mm.  Now here's the rub on these:  for about $40 more, you can get the Omniums WITH a bottom bracket.  So in the end it may be actually more practical to be the douche with over-legit cranks on your townie vs. picking up something more "appropriate."  But these definitely have the right look for certain builds.

Paul Racer Mediums.  What a hot piece of hardware.

Nice build *Affinity Cycles Metropolitan* (photo by Blue Lug).  Diggin the FSA Gimondi cranks, Soma Porteur rack, straight blade fork.

1979 Raleigh Competition Porteur build (by Fumningator from Velospace.org).  Nice utilitarian use of the porteur rack.

In Tow

Courtesy of Cardiff Cycle Chic

from RatRods Rule

From Dornob.com

Picked up a rickshaw at the Alameda Flea Market and made a BART taxi.

From onourowntwowheels.com

Life By Bicycle

On my bicycle I am not just traveling through space as I would in a car, I actually become a part of my surroundings.  I am a part of the things that I witness, not just a spectator in the glass encased box seats of a motor vehicle.  The pace of the bicycle is fast enough to provide a constant flow of new, stimulating information, but slow enough that I can take it all in.  The range of speeds commonly experienced on bicycle are perfectly matched to the human perception of time and ability to perceive, process, and integrate new information.  

Bay Bridge from the outside deck of the SF Bay Ferry.

 On my bicycle I ride closer to the sidewalk when I travel surface streets.  So when I stop at a stoplight, I am all of a sudden standing next to people in my community, instantaneously transformed from vehicle to fellow human.  On my bicycle I move slowly enough for people to smile or wave or stare.  I move slowly enough to see the camaraderie among the cis-gendered and transgendered women who are walking home in the morning after a night working MLK Blvd.

Foggy morning commute down MLK to Jack London Square ferry terminal.

 On my bicycle I can feel the weather change.  I know from which direction a storm approaches, I can feel the air thicken and cool with an impending rain storm.  I know if a morning is unusually warm and what that will mean for the afternoon that follows.  I can gauge the duration and intensity of a rainstorm by the depth of the familiar puddles I part with my front tire on my daily route to work.  I know how big a hill really is and I know what a mile really means by the experience of my muscle fibers in my legs.

Post work detour through the Presidio, San Francisco.

On my bicycle I can smell the tree blossom harbingers of spring, the weekend jasmine, and the summer chapparal and sage.  

Little ride out to the water in Berkeley amidst the chapparal.

But I also see the darker side of life.  I see the trash in the streets, the flotsam that pollutes Lake Merritt after a big storm.  I smell the smoke from dirty tailpipes, I watch cars tyrannically lay claim to the roads like bullies simply because they are bigger.  I see the hungry and homeless slumped against the walls, the addicts frenetically scavenge for anything that will get them closer to their next score.  I see the gang graffiti, human feces, and used hypodermic needles.  I see roadkill and ferrel cats and stray dogs and the general human neglect of the domesticated creatures we created.

24th and MLK.

More connected, more in touch with my community and geography.  More happiness, more sadness.  More alive on a bicycle.

Ratrods

1955 Huffy.  www.ratrodbikes.com

Knobby tires, black rims, rusted out fenders, flat bars, nice chainring.  Love this build.

from www.justacarguy.com.

Thinking some DIY bike lights outta these bad boys.

from www.ratrodrules.com

Black Friday Consumer Lust

Chrome Truk.

Dromarti cycling gloves.  

Chrome Victor mini pack. Either perfectly small or sorta pointless- not sure yet.

Dromarti cycling shoes.

Mission Waxed Canvas Rucksacks.

Remi Gaillard

Bar Worthy Raincoats For Cyclists

I am in my sixth year as a full time bicycle commuter, my car going increasingly dormant as I steadily wear down the tread on my bike tires.  In previous years, a rain shower would drive me into my Subaru to fight through the gridlock over the Bay Bridge.  My reasoning:  I didn't want to buy rain gear.  Affordable rain gear is usually ugly and not-as-waterproof-as-advertised.  And I really haven't wanted to drop a chunk of change on the gear that I didn't really want to have to be using anyway.

I now proudly live as a morally superior bicycle commuter that is undeterred by weather, often times one of the select few sitting on the outside deck of the San Francisco Bay Ferry in the driving rain.  Over the past couple of years, I have slowly collected rain worthy equipment.  First the fenders, which I would couple with old rain jackets and polyester sweatpants that I would change once I got to work.  It was a less than an ideal situation.  Then I sprung for the $50 full rain suit from Costco- seems waterproof, but definitely not breathable and I look like the abominable snowman dressed in black. 

Just getting off of my bike in my raingear.  No big whup.

But I'm finally beginning to cave and lust for the wallet-busting fashion-meets-function cycling specific rain gear that is proliferating in the marketplace.  I stumbled into a little shop in Temescal Alley where upon I fell in love with the Mission Workshop Orion rain jacket.  For $415.  Sigh.  But it may just be the perfect rain jacket.  It has a perfect slim fit with a slightly lower cut in the back to cover the cyclists' ubiquitous credit card slot. The sleeves are long enough to cover your wrists when you are down in the drops, and somehow the waist does not rise when you lift your hands over your head.  In fact, you swing your arms all around like a crazy person and your belly button will never see the light of day because it is constructed using Swiss designed 4-way stretch Schoeller c_change fabric.  This stretchable fabric allows the jacket to meet the demands of the cyclist posture on the bike without forgoing an attractive slim fit.  Essentially, it is perfect.

Mission Workshop Orion.

However if I am going to ever be able to swallow dropping $415 on a rain jacket, then I am going to have to do my research.  One of the pioneers of functional urban outer wear is Nau, a company that packs form, function, and sustainability into their products.  Nau's Urbane II jacket is waterproof and breathable (both non-negotiable features in my quest) with a recycled shell that also incorporates organic cotton.  In my search, this is probably the most visually appealing coat, but also offers probably the least cycling specific cut.  The sleeves are a little looser than the Orion, and does not offer quite the same rear and wrist coverage.  But at $345, it comes at a price that is more palatable. 

Nau Urbane II

Lastly on my short list of jackets I will gift myself this holiday season, the Storm Cobra by Chrome.  Retailing for $200, it is by far the best value of the three options.  It features a cycling specific cut, including longer sleeves and bum-coverage, waterproof with sealed seems and and pit zips (which they all have).  The hood is permanently fixed onto the garment, unlike the other two.  The Storm Cobra has the fewest features but the most reasonable price, and looks the most like a typical raincoat.  Some reviewers have reported that the sleeves and wrists are extremely tight and that there is no flex whatsoever.  But, at $200 for a waterproof breathable shell, I think you can expect some tradeoffs.

Chrome Storm Cobra

If I wasn't busy collecting bike parts, buying food, and paying bills, I'd probably grab the Orion.  But I think the Chrome Storm Cobra is a reasonable option for me that won't forgo me feeding my pets.  And myself.

The Great Porteur Rack Contemplation

Living in West Oakland and commuting to San Francisco, a single speed is kind of an ideal form of transportation: not so nice that I'm freaked out it will get stolen, not so expensive that if it does get stolen I'll be plunged into depression and financial crisis, but fast and fun and easy to tinker with.  As such, it is my most frequented steed, and like many other irrational cyclists, I have decided to defy logic and attempt to transform the one bicycle I own with only one speed into the one bicycle I own that hauls stuff.

As a beer loving, pizza getting, petfood lugging, car averse person, naturally I want to be able to haul more crap on my bike.  And the porteur seems like a perfect option- easy, light, and not horrendous on the eyes.  My first crush was on the Cetma 5-rail when I saw people zipping around town with those industrial, bomb proof looking racks made of coolness.  Really.  They are pretty hot, plus they seem to imply on their website that the rack is strong enough for you to haul your drunk friends around.  Which is obviously crazy appealing.

The Cetma porteur (from bikecommuters.com)

The Cetma rack:  bomb proof design, carries drunk friends, back support rails that attach to the handlebars via slightly wonky looking Wald brackets, 2.6 pounds, made by a dude in Eugene/now Venice Beach.  $140.

But the more I got thinking, the more I was wondering if I was overestimating my true needs for hauling on my single speed.  Will I really be regularly hauling around 60 pounds of dried cement or my drunk friends, or do I just need to be able to carry some unwieldy cases of beer groceries around  and pick up a pizza?  Would there be an advantage to the Soma/Velo Orange porteur in weight, aesthetics, or value as opposed to the Cetma?

So, enter the Soma Porteur.  Doesn't have the back rails that attach to the handlebars like the Cetma.  But pretty with a more cohesive look, less expensive, and totally ready to haul pizza and beer. A huge advantage is the ability to hang panniers on the horizontal bar on the side supports.  And I would imagine (although I don't know for sure), much lighter.  MSRP $115 (but seems to be easily procured for under $90 on the Interwebs).

Soma Porteur with Soma Torpedo light (Image by somaflickrations).

Also in the running is the Velo Orange Porteur.  The most expensive at $160, and even so it is always sold out.  Very well designed, which is typical of Velo Orange products.  Seems like it has a more simple design on the support structure that attaches to the front axle than does the Soma Porteur.

(from the Boston Retro Wheelmen)

My conclusion after reading extensively about all of these (and many others) but actually having tried exactly none of them is that the Soma Porteur is probably the best value for people with a front brake hole drilled in their fork and who meet at least two of the following criteria:

1.  Work for money
2.  Don't have to work hauling heavy objects on their bicycles to earn that money
3. Want a chrome rack
4.  Are rational

For the rest of us that insist on overbuilding bicycles to meet physical needs that they will rarely fulfill, or who manage to surround themselves with a pack of miscreants whose drunk asses they anticipate having to drape over their bicycles, the only way to roll is the CETMA.

Vintage Chainrings

Beautiful.  From BikeCult.