2313 Days Later...

After some much needed time off, I'm back with a refreshed creative sense and a new purpose to the posting. Recap: In the last 5 years we moved to Niwot, the kids grew up, I got a new job, Natalie got a new job, we did 2 more paver projects, and got a couple more dogs. Also, lots of new bikes. 

Redwood National Forest

I've entered a race series this summer and I'll be using this blog to keep track of how things go.

I've done a lot of kinds of bike racing - BMX, Cross Country, SuperD (when that was a thing), Dual Slalom, Gravel, Short Track, etc.

Top of Escape Route

The BOD in Louisville

Dacono BMX

I always thought racing Enduro would be fun. I've never had the bike or the time - until now. I've got to a new bike that is more Enduro ready and I've started training with a focus on downhill. 

For the next few months, I am going to post about race preparation, race results, and overall feedback  on Enduro racing. 

As a kick-off, I spend the last weekend riding in Colorado Springs. One thing I was really looking forward to was riding aggressively on unfamiliar trails. One trail in particular I was able to ride once at a reasonable pace, then ride again faster, simulating what it will be like in a race. 

First ride down:

Second Ride Down:

This really emphasizes how important it is to pre-ride a course. Knowing where the obstacles are, and how to ride them, is going to be critical to be competitive. Next up: bike choice!

Friday WTF: Quiet Ginger.

   Yes, the posts have been spotty lately. I have been slacking. My New Year's resolution is to... not care about it as much. Here are a couple fun videos from CX season.

Shhhh Be Quiet Ginger

Joey's OK!

Chain Stay Mounted Derailleurs

   I came across these wild looking derailleurs over on the bicycling Sub Reddit, and it just asked more questions than it answered. These are derailleurs mounted not below the dropout, but on the chainstay:

   These models are from the 40's and 50's, before a standard emerged on derailleur workings. There are a couple differences in these designs - some are mounted on a tab on the frame, others are clamped on the chainstay; some work on a parallelogram, some work on a pivot, some on a plunger; some have 3 speeds, some have up to 6. A common feature seems to be that there are very few common features.  

Clamped on the chainstay

   Once of the shared features of most of these is that they were made by Suntour. the target audience for these bikes meant that the decision for this kind of derailleur was more likely to keep cost down, not for performance. While these systems worked fine, they had limitations with gears and maintenance. There were some advantages however; it was more protected from damage away from the rear of the bike. 

   The two below examples show how the same idea can be executed in such different ways, the only thing similar about these two is that they shift gears.

Plunger driven

Parallelogram driven

   These styles were common surprisingly recently, with this example from the early 90's. This Schwinn could almost be mistaken for a normal derailleur:

Schwinn Criscross

   This model took advantage of the parallelogram shifting to get a wider range of gears. It is not hard to see how this could have developed from or to a standard derailleur (the bike even has a standard derailleur hanger on it, for back up I guess).

   More comments on the thread from equally interested and confused cyclists.

Trio Cargo Bike

   I stumbled across this cargo bike from a post from the Larry Vs Harry Facebook page. One user was complaining that Bullitt owners were like Apple fan boys, and no other product could compare. Nonsense! Like all cyclists, cargo bike owners are a caring, loving bunch...

One cyclist giving another a neck massage

   Anyway, the cargo bike was the Denmark Based Triobike. It is, unsurprisingly, marketed to families and city dwellers looking to make short trips without a car. The bike is very sharp looking:

   There were several reasons that I got the Bullitt - aluminum frame, hydraulic brakes, internal shifting, no weird features. All these are true for the Trio as well. From their site:

"The alloy frame is shaped in one piece, without any welding points, providing a super strong, stiff, and lightweight (less than 50-lb.) cargo bike. It comes fully spec'd, including a Shimano Alfine 11 speed internal hub, Gates belt-drive, a roller brake, hydraulic disc brakes."
   There are some other neat things about it - tapered head tube and 15mm axles - that are nice features.
   You can see the similarities between the two bike styles here:

Bullitt

Trio

   I kind of like the swoopy lines and bends. They seem to have gone with larger, thinner tubing to gain strength and save weight. reviews on various sites are positive, especially the weight, which comes in just under the LvH. One thing I really like is that they are also making some bike specific accessories. Here is the cover for carrying kids:

Cover with color options

   I like the cover I've made, but there is some wasted space and additional weight in there. It would be great to have a purpose built cover for your cargo bike.

   So there you have it - another highly competitive cargo bike in the market (very little complaining!). 

Bold Cycles Linkin Trail and Internal Suspension

   I have been casually looking around for a medium to long travel 29er as a replacement for the Scalpel, and have come across some interesting bikes along the way. One of them is from Bold Cycles, and is immediately noticeable as different.

Bolt Cycles Linkin

   The Swiss designers over Bold Cycles Linkin are definitely going for the sleek look! What they have done is hidden the shock in the bottom of the downtube. It hosts a DT Swiss shock, which have been coming onto the scene and trying to make a name for themselves in a market flooded with Rock Shox and Fox shocks. Let's get the obvious out of the way - the hidden shock:

Cutaway shot

   The shock is actuated by an arm that works off the seat stay, and can be adjusted through a port under the bottom bracket. What else can be adjusted is the amount of travel, through switching out the linkage bars at the seat stays (where 'LT' is written below).

Linkage details

   With a bike this clean looking, anything other than exceptional cable management would have been a shame. They have a bog port near the head tube for gobbling up cables, and according to the site, air to cool the shock.

Cable entry

   The price tag for the base model is not for the faint of heart at $5400 US. Like many things Swiss, the form is great, and the function is probably also excellent.

   Translating the site to english results in some less than awesome sounding features, but we can chalk that up to the language barrier:

"A brand-new R414 damper, which was developed in close collaboration with DT Swiss and optimized and adapted for the «LT», operates within the frame. This means that the bike is equipped with extra-performance to keep even the most demanding trails downhill - thanks to the drive-neutral kinematics and the driving modes, which can be switched by the driver in three steps, for every Uphill. Coupled with a 150mm or 160mm fork, a flatter steering angle and chassis tuning, the «Linkin Trail LT» frightens nothing."

   We will have to assume "three steps" means you have three climbing settings.

Friday WTF: Awesome Cornering Edition

   CX may be over but there's plenty of cool footage still going around...

Thanks to gfycay user InformalBrightHuemul for the clip, I guess, although it had to be converted from WebM to a gif to be shared, so thanks for nothing.

Upside Rack

   The "Fast - Cheap - Good" triangle has eluded designers forever.

"Pick Two"

  When it comes to roof racks, you can usually get two of them easily. Bike racks are either expensive, shitty, or take forever to use. The guys over at Upside Rack are trying to build a rack that will close this gap. The Upside Rack is eye catching from the start: Your bike is mounted by the seat and handlebars, not the wheels or frame.

Upside Rack in use

   The rack is designed to work with any car with roof bars - something many cars come with from the factory. It is easily removable, and packs down so it can be carried around.

Diagram from Kickstarter site

   Surprisingly, the rack goes on the bike first, then you put both on the car. The first 30 seconds of this video answer a lot of questions about how it works. I like that the clamp for the handlebars and the hook for the roof bars are one part, that is a clever design.

   The rack looks to be very straightforward to use, and the Kickstarter costs are around $100 for one rack, so that just leaves it's quality in question. With so few moving parts, it seems like it would be pretty easy to keep costs down. Maybe this is the unicorn of bike racks?

Unmounted shot

   One last video from their FaceBook page that shows mounting in more detail. I am impressed with the whole system works - the clamp, the torque limiter, the whole thing is well designed. I kind of want one.