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Ride or pie -- the eternal question. Bike tech, ride reports, and other stuff few people care about.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
New dynamo front wheel
As a Christmas present for my accomplice, I wanted to build up a generator front wheel for her Fuji Touring. I bought the Shimano LX generator hub from Germany for a pretty good price and got a Mavic A319 front wheel and DT Swiss Champion 2.0 290 mm spokes from my LBS. Last night I finally built up the wheel and it went pretty well. It's definitely easier the second time, and my tensiometer helped a lot, too. Once I find a cheap Ultegra hub on ebay, I'll build a new front wheel for Gunnar...
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Gunnar's weight
I ain't no weight weenie but I nonetheless wanted to add the weight the previous post about Gunnar. With the addition of Shimano PD-M520 pedals, two bottle cages, and changing the tires to 23mm Michelin Krylions I ended up at about 10.3 kg (measured with bathroom scale). I had hoped to reach the 10 kg mark, but I suppose with a 62cm steel frame that's not easy.
Snow, cold
Surprise, surprise! It's still friggin' cold here. Nonetheless, I decided to ride out to Glenn's in order to get the spokes for my accomplice's generator front wheel and some parts for Gunnar. As usual on Monday, Glenn had invited people for a snowshoe outing and I thought I'd give it a try. Usually it takes me about 30 minutes to ride out there, and I estimated that the bad weather would maybe slow me down by 10 minutes max. Well, not so much. While in downtown all roads were cleared, up on the hill the roads got more and more snowy. Mt. Pleasant Road, low traffic and very steep, was completely covered in fresh snow and I had to walk a good deal of it. Just not enough traction with my Ritchey 'cross tires. In the end it took me 50 minutes to ascend to the heights of Mt. Pleasant, and I arrived half an hour late for snowshoeing.
The ride back was a bit faster, but actually much less pleasant. On the way up, my body had produced copious amounts of heat but on the way back I was freezing. My new MEC lobster gloves did not really cut it, probably exacerbated by the fact that I had to brake hard constantly while going down Mt. Pleasant.
Purchased items:
Odo Wolfgang:2956 km
The ride back was a bit faster, but actually much less pleasant. On the way up, my body had produced copious amounts of heat but on the way back I was freezing. My new MEC lobster gloves did not really cut it, probably exacerbated by the fact that I had to brake hard constantly while going down Mt. Pleasant.
Purchased items:
- DT Champion 2.0 spokes and nipples
- 2 Velocity VeloCage bottle cages
- Shimano PD-M424 pedals (to allow both clipless and normal riding for the winter)
- 2 700cx23 tubes
Odo Wolfgang:2956 km
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Gunnar is ready for a ride
Okay, I've finally finished building up Gunnar and have had a chance to take some pictures for your (and my) enjoyment. Isn't he a beauty? Due to poor weather and salty roads I haven't had a chance to take him for a ride but hopefully it'll get better soon.
Now the nerd facts:
Gunnar Roadie 2002 62 cm frame
Shimano 105 ST-5600 brifters
Shimano Dura-Ace BR-7700 brakes
Shimano 105 RD-5600 rear derailleur
Shimano Ultegra FD-6500 front derailleur, clamp-on
SRAM PG-1070 12-27 10 speed cassette
SRAM 1050 chain
Selle Italia Flite Gel Flow saddle
Bontrager Select 27.2mm seat post
Powerdrive BC1.37x24t 68mm shell bottom bracket
FSA Gossamer 50/34 compact cranks
3T Forgie stem, aluminum, 120mm
3T Forgie bar, aluminum, 44cm
Cane Creek S2 headset
Mavic Cosmos 28 spoke rear wheel
Alex DA-16/Shimano Deore front wheel
Some of the components, like the front wheel will probably be replaced in the near future and I still need pedals, but my main goal was to get to a functional and affordable quality build ASAP. And in that I've certainly succeeded.
Now the nerd facts:
Gunnar Roadie 2002 62 cm frame
Shimano 105 ST-5600 brifters
Shimano Dura-Ace BR-7700 brakes
Shimano 105 RD-5600 rear derailleur
Shimano Ultegra FD-6500 front derailleur, clamp-on
SRAM PG-1070 12-27 10 speed cassette
SRAM 1050 chain
Selle Italia Flite Gel Flow saddle
Bontrager Select 27.2mm seat post
Powerdrive BC1.37x24t 68mm shell bottom bracket
FSA Gossamer 50/34 compact cranks
3T Forgie stem, aluminum, 120mm
3T Forgie bar, aluminum, 44cm
Cane Creek S2 headset
Mavic Cosmos 28 spoke rear wheel
Alex DA-16/Shimano Deore front wheel
Some of the components, like the front wheel will probably be replaced in the near future and I still need pedals, but my main goal was to get to a functional and affordable quality build ASAP. And in that I've certainly succeeded.
Ideas for 2010
New Year's resolutions are silly, ideas for the new year aren't. So here they are:
Odo Gunnar: 10 m on the trainer (more details will follow shortly)
- a 200k
- a metric century a month
- 2-day tour Ithaca-Lake Ontario-Ithaca (could also be done as a 200k)
- 7 or more day bike tour, location to be determined (Pacific coast? around Lake Ontario? Italian Alps?)
- higher annual kilometrage than last year (i.e. >3500 km)
- make into the second round at the 2010 Cascadilla Hill Climb (no, I'm not competitive at all!!)
- go on Sunday Rides with the FLCC
- find a way to prevent my numbness problems
Odo Gunnar: 10 m on the trainer (more details will follow shortly)
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