Friday WTF: Awesome T-Shirt Day

   Check this awesome shirt out:

That's what I'm talking about!

   Need an explanation? Start here. And here's an image for you to make your icon / profile picture / get a tattoo from:

Tire Balls (You Read That Right)

   This little piece of tech comes from a few years back at Interbike: Tire Balls.

Tire balls in action

   The idea comes from ATV use and is supposed to help against pinch flats as well as lose less air over the life of the tire. You fill them with a needs like a basketball. On some forums you can read about guys putting tennis balls in dirt bike front tires before the balls were purpose built.

Couple outstanding questions:

• How does the tire pressure relate to a regular tube (is 20psi in all balls the same as 20psi in a tube?)
• Are they heavier than a regular tube?
• When one goes flat, do the rest move around?

    It seems like an application for enduro or downhill riders who are experiencing harder impacts. I guess it's a sign that the article os from 2007 and they haven't taken over the industry.

NSA Edition: Privacy Fence Around the Hot Tub

   Been a while since we had a house project! With the addition of our new hot tub (we got a hot tub), it was also time for some privacy. Can't have all the neighbors looking in on our bubbly fun. Here's the privacy fence I built:

Step 1 - Select your your lattice. I went with the more closely spaced lattice (left), for more privacy.

Wide  -  narrow

Step 2 - Setting up the posts. I buried pressure treated 4"x4" posts 18" in the ground at 8' apart. I also bought a post hole digger for this project so if you need one let me know. 

1/2 way done

Step 3 - Hang the lattice. I stuck some 1"x1" onto the 4"x4" posts to make a place to hold the lattice and look nice, like this:

Lattice attachment

   This way it was firmly attached and didn't look like lattice screwed to a board. Here's the final product:

 
All done!

   The lattice provides a nice bit of privacy from the neighbors, and as you can see, we have quite a growing collection of lattice in our yard. 

Friday WTF: Bike + Stage = This?

   We've seen bikes combined with a lot of things...

Bicycle shopping cart

Bicycle helicopter

Bicycle Raft

Bicycle Lay Z Boy

   Well check this out: The Bicycle Pole dancing stage!

Sexy lady not included

   What better way to combine cycling with the ever growing in popularity of pole dancing for 'fitness'. and by popularity I mean obscurity. and by fitness I mean tuition.

Cycling World Championship Colors: What do they mean?

   When you look around the world of cycling, it's hard to look far without seeing the familiar 5 stripes of the world championship.

UCI World Champion colors

   But what do these colors mean? The UCI World Championships are cycling events held in most cycling events:

• Road racing
• Track Cycling
• Mountain Bike (cross country)
• Observed trials
• Mountain Bike Marathon (37 mile min)
• Cyclo-cross
• BMX
• Indoor Cycling (indoor track)
• Para-cycling Road
• Para-cycling Track

   When a rider wins the world championship in a discipline, they get to wear the World Champion Jersey, which is the above colors (same as the olympic rings) on a white jersey:

2012 Swiss National Champion Nino Schurter

   Believe it or not, a rider is required to wear the rainbow on white throughout their reign as world champion, which lasts 1 year. And get this - not sporting your world championship jersey in a race carries a $3000 - $5000 fine!

    After a year of being champion is up, a rider is eligible to wear the world champion striping as an accent on their regular team jersey:

World champion piping

   There are all kinds of apparel and accessories that capitalizes on the popularity of the World Champion jersey colors:

Knit dress

Affinity Bicycle Co. Kissina

LEGO key rings

   And what write up would be complete without some superstitious conspiracy theories! Behold the CURSE OF THE RAINBOW JERSEY! Outlined in the book 'The Curse of the Rainbow Jersey: Cycling's Most Infamous Superstition', the curse is the suspicion that bad luck befalls the cyclist awarded the world championship jersey. There are instances of riders getting injured, having health problems, getting busted for doping, even season ending saddle sores. All this in addition to being forced to wear a big, green, yellow, black, red, and white target all season.

   So beware! The rainbow jersey is a coveted victory banner, but comes at a heavy price.

Bike Spotlight: Tonic Bikes

  Check out this cool 26" dirt jumping/street/urban bike from Tonic Bikes:

Tonic Helms

Looptail (kind of) rear triangle

Wedge seat post clamp

It's got a couple cool features:

- Looptail rear end
- A wedge seatpost clamp
- Head tube and fork match perfectly
- Beefy-ass fork
- 3D yoke
- Loads of anodization
- Internal cable routing
- general sexyness

 All the bikes on their site are cool, give 'em a look!

Friday WTF: Valentines Day Edition

   It's Valentines day, what better way to say you love your sweetie than get her some gold components? Check out this 18-carat gold saddle with diamonds around the edge from Selle Italia:

Bling shot #1

Bling shot #2

   This saddle is worth just under $50,000 and weighs in at 1,250g (2.75 pounds). Who said looking good was going to be cheap? or light? Perfect for this bike, which has everything BUT the seat in gold already.

The POC Tempor Time Trial Helmet

   I recently got a POC Trabec helmet for mountain biking, and I like it a lot. It is a little goofy looking, but has good coverage on the back of your head and is real comfortable. 

Poc Trabec

   Here's a bonus shot of me and Calvin and I at a helmet party:

Like father..

   So POC has a little bit of trend bucking going on in their design department, eh? Well check out their time trial helmet: 

POC Tempor

   This think looks familiar to me...

Knew I'd seen it somewhere...

   This helmet looks even more goofy in action:

   POC: Pushing the envelope!

Derailleur Cage Tool Set

   Check out this cool tool set made from a rear derailleur: 

Derailleur cage tool set

   Let me drop some knowledge on you - the cage is the lowest part on the rear derailleur and holds the derailleur wheels. It is responsible for chain tension:

Derailleur cage

   Here's what a normal boring tool looks like:

Bike tool

   I don't know if it's actually a recycled cage or built to look like one - but it's super cool in any case!

Friday WTF: Now With more Nutrition

   Seems like the internet has been gracing with us with a lot of WTF as of late, and today is no different. Put your fears of hunger in the saddle to sleep with this nutrition delivery system:

Needs moar fuel

   I'm counting 11 Hammer brand gels. And since the general consensus is to take one every 45 min - 60 minutes, this guy must be headed out for one long ride. Then one long visit to the bathroom. 

Barricade Bike

   When I say 'barricade bike' what do you think? Well, look at this:

I'd be afraid I'd lock it up and other people would lock their bikes to it.

Keeping Jackets off the Floor!

   Until we fill the extra bedroom with kids, I have been using it as a big closet. If only it had more hanging space. I have a simple set up in the garage that holds all my biking stuff and helps it dry easily:

Clothes, tubes, helmets, etc

   It's just a bunch of dowel pieces stuck in a 2 x 2. It's quite efficient, and so I thought I'd stick one in my big closet. First, I chopped up a long dowel into 6" pieces and sanded them smooth.

After - Before

  Next I set up a little jig on my drill press so that they would all be at the same angle. This was with some paint stir sticks.

Ready for drilling

Assembly line

   After that I just found a couple studs and screwed it to the wall:

In action

   It was simple, cheap, not too invasive and really helps with hanging up pants and jackets. I think in the future we'll all have hanging racks on every wall in the house.