BikeSnobNYC's Blog, page 32

Just Breezing Through

Sorry I'm late!  What a morning!  First I had to drop off urine at the doctor's office, then I had to pick up a receptacle for my compost (yes, New York City is composting now, eat that Portland), and by the time I was done I hardly had any time left to fork off for a ride.

But I did anyway:


While I usually head north and beyond the city limits today I felt like a plainclothes, flat-pedal spin through the Bronx, so that's what I did.  Pictured above is the bike repair stand on the Randall's Island Connector, and next time someone sends me a bike to test I'm totally bringing it here to assemble.  As for how I'll get it there, maybe I'll finally get myself a trailer.  Then I'll get a kayak and start boating on the Bronx River.
Now that's the life.
Anyway, with like half the day gone now I won't keep you, but I would like to share this:
At one point in the video, an officer on a bicycle comes close to an ATV and jumps off as he tries to reach for the rider, but he misses and falls to the ground. A police cruiser following him and the ATV stops. D.C. police said the officer on the bike suffered minor injuries.
I'd also like to point out that as the officer leaps from his bike his helmet appears to fall of his head:

And then he appears to trip over it:

Okay, maybe that's not exactly what happened, but it kind of looks like it.
So while we can debate the importance of helmets all day long, I think we can all agree that wearing an unfastened one is worse than not wearing one at all.
See you tomorrow.

Titles Are Like Valve Caps: Who Needs 'Em?

All right, that's it, I'm moving to Carmel:

Do I know which Carmel?  No, it was not immediately clear from the article which state this is.  But when I see an opportunity to mold an entire city in my image--and get paid for it--you'd better believe I take it:

The Carmel City Council is considering whether to add a new paid city employee as a bicycle program administrator. The position could be paid up to $69,000 a year.

City Councilor Bruce Kimball introduced the ordinance at the Nov. 20 meeting as a late add-on to the agenda. Some city councilors said they would feel more comfortable taking time to examine what the position would do before approving it, especially since it was added to the agenda just hours before the meeting.

Oh sure, $69,000 a year isn't much to uproot my entire family and leave the city of my birth, but just think of the opportunities for graft!  Remember the David Byrne bike racks?


(Times sure have changed, he'd have been pilloried for that sexist mud flap girl rack today.)
Well just wait until I commission a series of racks from celebrated minimalist designer Olle Nilsson:


Is there a celebrated minimalist designer named Olle Nilsson?  Not to the best of my knowledge.  However, you'd better believe he's going to present Carmel with some staggering invoices.

Then maybe I'll commission a series of special bikes, like these from Specialized, which were curated from an incredibly diverse group of six (6) bros and one (1) she-bro:



After ten (10) years of bike blogging, during which I witnessed the dawn and subsequent demise of the age of the fixie collabo, this sort of thing hardly registers with me anymore and I found it mostly whimsical and charming--though I did get a little bit of a douchechill from the "Madmen" bike:


Complete with beer taps:


And a crabon mini bar:


Hey, what can I say, that whole whiskey-quaffing Richard Spencer haircut-wearing retro-bro aesthetic just doesn't do it for me.

Speaking of bikes and intoxicants, you will now be able to deliver marijuana in California, but not by bicycle:


Delivery operations will be legal, but, interestingly, only with certain vehicles. Car and truck deliveries are legal; bicycles are not.

Hey, you wouldn't want to do something progressive without putting more cards on the roads, would you?

Of course not.

And in exciting foam hat-related product news, a press release informs me that Coros is flogging a new helmet:



Featuring their bone conduction technology:


Which I described thusly in my Outside column on the subject of headphones:

I once tested a helmet that incorporated bone-conduction speakers in the straps and basically pumped the music from your phone via Bluetooth into your cheekbones, and while I don’t see how this setup kept me any safer than those ubiquitous white earbuds, I can assure you it sounded terrible.

Yes, you may recall I wasn't impressed with that earlier iteration of the Coros, not least of which because I could never get the "Your loved one just crashed and is probably dead" feature to work:



In fact between the crappy audio, the random disconnections from my phone, and the seemingly bogus safety feature I ultimately consigned the thing to my helmet pile (come on, who doesn't have a helmet pile?) and forgot about it.

Glad to see they're back with something that does nothing you can't already do with Strava and a smart watch.

By the way, that's totally the Rickenbacker Causeway on Key Biscayne, I have Fredded there on multiple occasions:



I'm pretty sure it's the biggest climb in Florida.

Finally, Lucas Brunelle has important places to be:

Had to take the tunnel, bus tries to block #fuckitA post shared by Lucas Brunelle (@lucasbrunelle) on Oct 17, 2017 at 10:57am PDT

His entire oeuvre is a cry for help.

Sorry I'm Late, All My Cyber Monday Packages Arrived At Once And I Couldn't Open My Front Door

Uh-oh, I'm worried, nobody on Outside's Facebook page has said they're going to stop reading forever because of my column about how driving kids to school sucks:


You also have to wonder that if even that crowd agrees we shouldn't drive our kids to school then why the hell do we keep driving our kids to school?

Well, obviously it's a rhetorical question, and the answer is that we're all massive hypocrites.

I did, however, open the door to the ol' Minnesota Humblebrag:

Fantastic article. Honest question though, at what age can you put your kids on icy roads? I commute year round in Saint Paul, MN (thanks to studded tires). I am the choir. However, I don't know if I would trust my 2nd grader to ride in the winter, even w/studs. Thoughts?— Dale Gentry (@picoides) November 30, 2017

They never let you forget their winters are colder than yours:


Hey, my second grader takes the school bus, screw that--though we did have a pretty knarly shred sesh yesterday:


Of course we didn't actually ride, I just sat him down on that rock and lectured him on the importance of proper tire pressure for three hours, but that didn't make it any less exciting.

And with the holidays coming he's going to love his present:

If you're wondering why it's for kids, take a closer look at the scoop:


It's his only present this year and I don't think he's going to be disappointed at all.

Speaking of holiday gift ideas, do you like caps?  Well how about numbers?  Well, now you can order a custom cap from Walz with your very own number on it!


Not only that, but you get $5 off your order if you use the following discount code:

BSNYCCB
And...and...if you show up at my next Fondon't ride with a 46 on your cap I'll waive the entry fee:*


*[I don't charge an entry fee anyway but don't you worry about any of that.]
Wow, between the sealant kit and the cap I may have to curate a holiday gift guide.

In other news, at the risk of repeating myself (though isn't that what I've been doing here for the past ten years anyway?), I'd like to share with you a couple things I mentioned in the Bike Forecast this morning.  First is this Canadian editorial about why riding bikes causes pollution:


As a consequence of the idling traffic, pollution levels have risen, contributing to what is now deemed a toxic stew. Ironically, cyclists are especially harmed, and not just because the bike lanes they speed upon are adjacent to tailpipes. According to a study by the London School of Medicine, cyclists have 2.3 times more inhaled soot than walkers because “cyclists breathe more deeply and at a quicker rate than pedestrians while in closer proximity to exhaust fumes … Our data strongly suggest that personal exposure to black carbon should be considered when planning cycling routes.” Cyclists have begun wearing facemasks as a consequence. A recent headline in The Independent helpfully featured “5 best anti-pollution masks for cycling.” Neighbourhoods endure extra pollution, too, with frustrated autos cutting through residential districts to avoid bike-bred congestion.

Anyway, I mention it again here, because not only is the writer an oil lobbyist, but it also turns out he's an anti-vaxxer a "vaccine safety" advocate.  I suppose there is a certain logic to his worldview though, since if people spend their entire lives inside of single-occupancy vehicles then maybe we won't need vaccines after all:


I have a bad feeling that mentioning vaccines is going to do the same thing for my comments section that mentioning vehicular cycling did, though now that I've switched on the "moderation" feature my blog is essentially inoculated, so there you go.

The other thing I wanted to mention was this video, in which a cyclist takes an NYPD officer to task for blocking the bike lane:



On one hand I think he's kind of out of his mind for talking to them that way, but on the other hand I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment behind it, and when you see the police blocking the bike lane to get their coffee day after day it's only a matter of time before you snap.

Finally, here's someone looking to raise a bunch of money for oversized stem caps:


Yes, we've all been tormented by ordinary stem caps for far too long, and it's good to know that the end of their reign of terror is a mere $15,500 away.

BSNYC Friday No Quiz!

Wait a minute--could it be?  Why yes!  It's another Outside column!


They should just let me write the whole damn magazine already.

Moving on, I'm pleased to announce I treated myself to a bicycle ride this morning.  No wood, no crabon, just a metal bike with metal wheels:


(Milwaukee)
I am extremely fond of this bicycle--it's my favorite bendy-bar bike--and really when it comes down to it is there anything you can't do on a road bike with mountain bike pedals and medium reach brakes?  Well, sure, but it's pretty goddamn versatile, and it fits 35mm tires with plenty of room to spare:


I picked these tires up awhile back in the spirit of trying something new, and so far they've been great, but the venerable Panaracer Pasela remains my favorite.

As for my ride, you'll no doubt be thrilled to learn I enjoyed it very much, because there's nothing better than knowing other people are out riding while you're working.  I even treated myself to a fancy farm-to-table lunch at the Stone Barns Center For Food And Agriculture:


I spent $15 because that's just the sort of decadent lifestyle I lead.

Anyway, Stone Barns is a lovely place, though they have a patently absurd policy with regard to bicycles:


Keep in mind this rack is like half a mile from the café, which would require like 15 minutes of cleated clomping each way.  Also keep in mind that while they don't allow bikes you're perfectly welcome to drive around the place in your car, and there are multiple parking lots on the grounds:


Yes, welcome to America, a topsy-turvy place where bikes are more dangerous than cars and guns keep you safe.

I should say though that any time I've stopped here I've ignored the sign and so far I haven't had any trouble.  There was this one time when the woman in the booth balked a bit, but I laid it on thick about how I'd ridden all the way up from the city and how I promised to ride really slowly.  She acquiesced, and incredibly I managed not to kill anybody with my 20lb pedal-powered death machine.

And with that, I leave you to your weekends.  Enjoy, ride safe, and thanks for reading.  Your bill is in the mail.


--Wildcat Rock Machine

Exotic Road Bike Shootout!!!

Firstly, would you look at that, it's another Outside column!


I certainly put the "pro" in prolific.

Secondly, on Monday I talked about the wood bike and since then I've performed some scientific experimentation.  Specifically, I took the fancy crabon wheels off of it and put them on my Ritte:


Which in turn made the Renovo the recipient of a pair of cheap pre-built Shimanos:


The idea here was two-fold:

1) See how much the Renovo owed its ride quality to the crabon;
2) Determine if said crabon is the source of the creaking I've been experiencing, since it had all the hallmarks of a rear hub issue scenario.

Let's address the simpler issue first: did swapping wheels eliminate the creak?  No, it did not.  The wooden bike still creaks.  So clearly something else is going on, and you can rest assured I'll be conducting a thorough investigation.

Putting that aside for the time being, let's go back to the wheels.  Here's what came on the Renovo:


And here's what I swapped them with:


As for how this Shimano technology trickled down to me, they're the wheels that came on my Milwaukee, and they generally sell for about $200.  Since then they've bounced around between my bendy-bar bikes, and they've been perfectly serviceable.

Of course I also had to swap the cassettes, since the wooden bike is 11-speed and the Ritte is 10-speed.  And yes, I remembered to swap the brake pads, since naturally you've got to use special pads with the crabon, which is the second-most annoying thing crabon wheel enthusiasts like to point out, just after reminding you to toe in the brakes.

As for tires, the crabon wheels have (or "wear," as the bike reviewers like to say, barf) 23mm Continental Grand Prix 4000s, and the Shimanos have (or "are shod in," which is even worse than "wear") 25mm Continental Gatorskins.

If you're wondering #whatpressureyourunning, I'll never tell.

NEVER!!!

Anyway, after putting everything together I first headed out on the wooden bike.  As much as I tend to be skeptical about fancy equipment, I figured I'd notice the $1,500 wheel downgrade immediately.  Not so.  Indeed, the bike felt more or less the same (and that includes the creaking, unfortunately), though I thought I detected maybe a bit less shock absorption on rough pavement--and when I say rough pavement, I mean it:


There are some fucked-up streets around here.

Then again, I couldn't be sure the bike felt a tiny bit harsher with the metal wheels, and even if it did maybe the real difference was the tires.  (I'm assuming the Grand Prix 4000s have a higher TPI than the Gatorskins, but I'm too lazy to look them up.)  Regardless, when you find yourself thinking that way it means whatever tiny differences may or may not exist don't mean shit.

What I did notice right away though was how much better the braking was with the metal wheels.  This isn't to say braking with the crabon wheels is bad; not at all.  It's perfectly predictable.  At the same time though it's loud--scraping, with some occasional howling.  It sounds like cantis in a muddy cyclocross race, but all the time.  I'm sure some people like that because they associate it with the raw performance of crabon, but to me it's at odds with the air of ostensible refinement the wooden bike seems to want to convey.  (And YES I'M USING THE GODDAMN CRABON-SPECIFIC PADS AND EVERYTHING'S TOED IN.)

In any case, I'd gotten used to this when riding the wood bike, so the first time I grabbed a couple handfuls of brake on a steep descent my immediate reaction was "Wow!"  Smooth!  Quiet!  And while I'd never accuse the crabon wheels of being grabby, the metal ones are noticeably more stable, or progressive, or linear, or whatever term you're supposed to use as a bike reviewer.  (I'm just gonna stick with "more good.")  In fact, it was so much more good that if anything I'd consider them an upgrade--especially when paired with those Ultegra Di2 levers.  Because while I could take push-button shifting or leave it, the shape of the levers happens to be fantastic.

Of course, there's a ready-made Fred response to all of this:


I absolutely agree that disc brakes are a solution to the issues carbon presents as a braking surface, but I'll also point out that IF YOU USE METAL WHEELS YOU DON'T NEED THE FUCKING DISCS.  Also, I enjoy the weight savings of my integrated rim/700c brake rotor, thankyouverymuch.

So in short, the ride quality was pretty much the same with the cheap wheels, and the braking was noticeably better.

Next, this morning, I did the exact same ride, only on the Ritte with the crabon wheels.  But before I address that, a few words about the Ritte, which looked like this when I took delivery of it in August 2011:


And which looks like this now:


Which is just a tiny bit ironic given the description on their website:


Other than that though it's been great, and maybe mine just looks that way because it's a prototype.

Regardless, once again it was the same experience: bike felt mostly the same, wheels might have been smoother but I could easily have been imagining it, and the brakes were loud.  Somehow though the loud braking kind of fit better with the Ritte, probably because it's all rusted to hell.  In fact between the corroded frame and the flashy wheels the bike took on sort of a rat rod street racer aesthetic that, quite frankly, I was enjoying. Was I enjoying it so much that I'd spend almost $1,800 on those wheels?  Not a fucking chance.  Still, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention it.

Oh, fun fact: according to Strava I climbed slightly faster on the wooden bike, so there you go.

So basically there are two lessons here: be wary of exotic frame materials, and don't bother with crabon wheels.

But you probably knew that already.

This Just In: There's A New Outside Column On The Internet And I Wrote It!

Good morning!  Hey, would you look at that, it's a new Outside column!


Basically, it's all about how the importance of making eye contact with drivers is yet another in the endless series of myths to which cyclists are subjected.

Also, I'd like to address this comment from yesterday's post:

Anonymous said...

Why is the suspension-correction bugging you? Sheesh, you are really pin-holing yourself as a real bike-... idk... downer, not a snob. Get on a bmx for a day and have some fun! Do a f*#!n wheelie already.

November 29, 2017 at 1:32 AM

Oh please, I was popping wheelies on BMX bikes before you were even born:


Unless you're older than me, in which case I probably wasn't.

Anyway I rode a skateboard to Petco last night so who's embracing their inner child now?

And with that I'm off to do some wheel-swapping and product-testing, and I'll report back in due course.

I love you,


--Wildcat Rock Machine

No Holds Barred

Okay, so further to yesterday's post, let's talk about handlebars now:


Back in November 2015--so two years ago now, time sure does fly like a motorized Cancellara, doesn't it?--I took delivery of a Marin Pine Mountain 1 (now just the "Pine Mountan"):

I wanted to try the Renovo because it isn't often you get to ride a $10,000 wooden bike with push-button shifting, but I jumped at the opportunity to test the Marin because it was very much in line with my sensibilities.  Specifically:
--It was metal;--It was cheap;--It was rigid (or, in Craigslist speak, "ridged");--It had "standard" dropout spacing and quick release hubs;
Moreover, it had those plus-sized tires I'd been curious about, as well as a single-ring, wide-range drivetrain.  (I'd been riding a self-curated artisanal 1x9 on my geared mountain bike for quite awhile, but doing away with jump-stops and chainstays wrapped in inner tubes seemed like an attractive proposition.)
Unsurprisingly, the Marin won me over in short order, and not only did I proceed to purchase it with actual money but I also retired my geared mountain bike.  In fact I liked it so much I became inclined towards using it for longer rides, because there's just something about those chubby tires that makes you want to ramble.  However, this revealed one shortcoming, which was a lack of hand positions.
See, picking your way through rocky terrain is one thing, but when you're putting in miles getting to and from that terrain you want to be able to move your hands around.  Also, it's much more comfortable to keep your hands and wrists at an angle, which is why you spend a lot of time on your hoods when you ride a road bike, and also why bars like this are awesome:

So, thinking about where I wished I could rest my hands on these longer rides, it became increasingly clear that what I needed was this:

I must have mentioned this in a post at some point, then I wrote my controversial (and of course correct) Outside column about suspension, and as a result of both Jones reached out to me and now Ol' Piney looks like this:

I've still got some work to do on these bars.  For example, Jones recommends going even shorter on the stem in order to attain the upright position he espouses:


So I've got a stubby stem on order and as soon as it arrives I'll give it a try.  I also intend to tape the lower inner portion of the bars, since I really do find myself using all those hand positions.

Speaking of hand positions, those pending tweaks notwithstanding, the bars immediately did what I hoped they would.  Specifically, they turned the Marin from a mountain bike that was also okay to ride to and from the trails into--well, into an actual bike.  You know, something you'd want to ride even if you weren't planning on doing any "technical" riding that day.  In fact, if I wasn't a total bike weenie I could probably use Ol' Piney for pretty much all of my riding and not miss a thing, especially if I set up some 29er wheels with narrower, slick tires for more pavement-oriented rides.  (However, I am a total bike weenie, so obviously only having one is never going to happen.)

Indeed, the worst thing I can say about the Jones bars is that they're clearly a gateway drug to getting a Jones bicycle.  Sure, the Marin is quite capable, but somehow with the Jones bar on there the pointlessness of that jacked-up suspension-corrected fork really bugs me in a way it didn't before.  Certainly as someone who prefers rigid bicycles I can't help wanting a go-anywhere bike that's designed to be rigid.  I mean as far as riding goes this is pretty much where I'm at right now:



Then again, I should probably come to terms with the fact that as busy as I am parenting and running a one-Fred media empire the Marin serves my current sub-epic approach to cycling just fine.  Speaking of which, a reader had this to say yesterday:

Anonymous said...

"...there are people in this world who like to buy expensive bicycles and that's ultimately a good thing for the rest of us so long may they spend."

I disagree. The fact that there are people out there willing to drop a shit ton of money on bicycles is why we're sold all sorts of pointless new upgrades and component standards, and why people think they need hydraulic disc brakes and carbon frames, etc.

Also, being self-aware and self-deprecating about the fact that you're riding and reviewing a $10,000 wooden road bike doesn't change the fact that you're riding and reviewing a $10,000 wooden road bike.

November 27, 2017 at 10:58 AM

Firstly, I have no compunctions about leveraging my status as a world-renowned bike blogger to play around with bits of cycling exotica.  Secondly, for all my carping about the excesses of the bike industry the fact is we live in an age of unprecedented accessibility when it comes to cycling equipment, and I think Ol' Piney is rolling proof.  It's a cheap bike that will accept pretty much any part in my antiquated parts bin, and all it takes is a handlebar or tire swap to make it your own.  And it's by no means an isolated example: the current Surly lineup alone probably represents more versatility and bang for your buck than the entire retail bicycle landscape did 20 years ago.  But yes, my funky Marin with the kooky bars is objectively a better bike than the Renovo, that's for sure.

In any case, the point of all this is that I really like this handlebar, so there you go.

This Title Is 100% Free Of Wood Puns

...aaand we're back.


When last we met I'd been getting acquainted with two (2) pieces of bicycling equipment.  One was the Jones H-Bar, with which I equipped my 27.5+ all-terrain bicycle:


And the other was the Renovo Aerowood, a complete bicycle featuring the latest in Fredware such as crabon wheels and electronical shifting, as well as plenty of, you know, wood:


So did I get a chance to spend more time with this stuff over the American Thanksgiving Reese's?  Yes.  Was it as much time as I would have liked?  No.  Do I ask too many rhetorical questions?  Absolutely.  In fact I feel another one coming on as I type this.  So let's start with the Aerowood, shall we?


Now keep in mind this is in no way meant to be a comprehensive review, or really any kind of a review.  Indeed, I don't believe you can even begin to review a bicycle until you've worn through a set of tires and at least one (1) chain.  So consider everything that follows sort of an "advanced first impression."  (My actual first impressions are here in this Outside column.)

Appearance
Appearance is of course subjective, and to be perfectly honest if you gave me a big pile of cash on the condition that I had to spend it on the coolest-looking (to me) bicycle I could find or else you'd burn it all, this would not be the bicycle I'd choose.  As far as velocipedes go, swoopy and woody is not my thing, and I prefer round tubes made of metal.  A matte finish is even better, and silver drivetrain components better still, which is why as far as road bikes go I've always been pleased with the look of my Milwaukee:


Nevertheless, when face-to-face with the Aerowood there's no denying this is an impressive piece of work, and while it may not suit my almost pathologically modest and stodgy aesthetic sensibility it's quite obvious why plenty of people would find it highly desirable, especially since it's so unusual.  Indeed, I'd even go so far as to say it's exquisite:


I also fully admit I feel like hot shit while I'm riding it, despite the fact I've let my leg hairs grow back and only have like two pairs of bib shorts left that don't have holes in them.

Ride Quality
Here's how VeloNews ranks bicycles:


Just stop it.

As far as the Aerowood, it fits me well so I'm very comfortable on it.  It also feels very fast and smooth, and I could happily spend all day on it.  Could that be because of the frame material?  Sure.  Do the ostensible aero properties of the bike and wheels contribute to this sensation?  Quite possibly.  Is this rhetorical question thing becoming a serious problem that may require some sort of aversion therapy, perhaps a small electrical shock administered whenever I depress the "?" key?  Almost certainly.

Keep in mind however I still haven't swapped the wheels with my other bikes or done any of the other stuff you need to do to properly evaluate a bicycle.  Indeed I'm fairly confident that if you bolted some crabon wheels and push-button shifting onto a BikesDirect special then that would feel like a $10,000 bike too.  I should also point out that when I hop back onto my metal road bikes those also continue to feel awesome, despite the fact that they all utilize primitive alloy rims and require me pull my derailleurs across my gears by means of levers and cables.

In short, the bike feels great, but I'll soon put some cheap-ass wheels on it to see if it still feels great.  I'll also see if one of my other bikes feels differently great with the crabon wheels from the Aerowood.  (The only reason I haven't yet is because I've been too lazy to swap cassettes and brake pads.)

Quirks and Quibbles

1. The bike only has mounts for one water bottle.  I have mixed feelings about this.  On one hand, as a recovering Fred still trying to divest myself of my lingering Fredly tendencies, I happen to believe in riding with only one water bottle because it encourages me to stop.  On the other hand...come on now.  Only one water bottle, really? 

2. The bike I'm testing has 23mm tires, which are like sooo out of style, and due to the aero fairing-type situation out back it can't clear much more than that.  Of course this isn't a problem in practice since the bike rides great with 23s (contrary to current tire fashion sensibilities 23s are still perfectly fine for most road riding), but you still want to be able to go wider for the same reason you want to be able to use more than one water bottle--and to that end Renovo have since updated the clearance, rendering everything I've just typed moot:

The Aerowood sports a shrouded rear wheel (newly updated with clearance for 28mm tires) and aero downtube with a carbon-fiber layer inside to enhance ride quality as well as an updated seat mast fairing to reduce wind resistance.

They've also got all sorts of other all-terrain bikes so the arborphile who requires additional clearance is more than covered.  Presumably if your road bikes involve lots of dirt then this isn't the model you'd pick anyway. 

3. I am currently experiencing loud creaking when climbing, and while I'm sure it's the bike and not my body I haven't yet determined its exact source.  My suspicion is that it's the rear wheel, though I'll find out for sure when I finally swap wheels, and I promise to keep you posted.  On a related note, there's also a tiny bit of play in the headset I haven't been able to adjust out, and I'll have to pop another spacer on top of the stem to see if maybe it's just a steer tube length issue.  Finally, while toeing in the brakes did mitigate the ungodly shrieking I was getting when braking, it's not gone altogether. 

So as you can see I've got some work to do before I can consider this thing "dialed in."  That's fairly typical of any new bike, though it would be nice not to have to deal with it at all.

Price
The bike I'm testing is expensive:


Is it more than I would pay for this bike?  Yes.  Is it more than I would pay for any bike?  Yes.  Am I starting to kind of enjoy the electrical shock administered every time I depress the "?" key?  Sorta. 

But how expensive is it really in the exotic Fred bike universe?  Well, here's what you get in a high-end plastic racing bike for approximately the same price:


On one hand, the plastic race bike is lighter has Dura Ace instead of Ultegra, which I suppose means something to the anal retentive set but doesn't mean shit to me.  On the other hand, if you're paying $10,000 for a road bike you probably crave attention from strangers, and you'll get a lot more of that when you roll up at the group ride straddling a maple tree that was hand-hewn in Portland.  And perhaps most crucially, Renovo is having a sale:


So yes, obviously you can buy a top-notch metal bicycle and have lots of money left over for what you'd spend on a Renovo, but as I pointed out in the Outside column it's really no more expensive than any other performance status symbol, and at least you're paying for the crafstmanship and not the pro racing team the company sponsors like you are when you're buying a Pinarello or whatever.

I'd rather keep some Potlanders in after-work craft beers than keep some Euro-pros in Ferarris.

(Actually I'd rather keep the money for myself, but there are people in this world who like to buy expensive bicycles and that's ultimately a good thing for the rest of us so long may they spend.)

Anyway, I don't want to overwhelm you so soon after the holidays so I'll leave it at that, but I'll report back tomorrow with my take on the Jones bars.

This Just In: New Outside Column!

Remember how I said I'd pop back in if there's a new Outside column?  There's a new outside column:


It's all a part of my mission to normalize cycling, or my blithe disregard for bicycle safety, whichever you prefer.
(And in case you missed it you should read my motördoping column too.)
Okay, now time to lube up the ol' blunderbuss and bag me a turkey.  See you on Monday (unless there's some more extracurricular prose to share before then), and if you need me in the meantime I'm over at the Bike Forecast.
Warmrest Regrads,


--Wildcat Rock Machine

BSNYC Invisible Friday Fun Quiz and Thanksgiving Announcement

***UPDATE***
Hey, look at that, it's the latest Outside column!


Now back to our regularly scheduled post about scheduling.
Okay, let's get right down to business: American Thanksgiving!


Apologies for the graphic, I had to repurpose one because American Thanksgiving is so obscure.
So yeah, next Thursday is American Thanksgiving, which means two things:
1) Our president will pardon a turkey, even though technically he already did;2) I'll be taking my leave of this blog until Monday, November 27th, at which point I will resume regular updates.  (Though of course if an Outside column should appear before that I'll pop in here to let you know.)
As for the Bike Forecast, I'll continue to update that through Wednesday November 22nd for the poor commuter schmucks.

Suckers.
Speaking of being absent, I'd like to address a comment I received yesterday because it raises an important point:
Anonymous said...

How many of these lately start with you apologizing for being late, forgetting the day, or some other excuse... followed by a plug for something else you’re doing that’s obviously more important? Why not just stick a fork in it and move on?

November 16, 2017 at 11:18 PM

Firstly, in regard to the second question, the answer to that is obviously "Go fuck yourself."  And I don't mean that in a nasty way, I mean it in a totally matter-of-fact that's-a-stupid-question-so-go-right-ahead-and-fuck-yourself way.  No offense intended.  By the way, blogging is a compulsion for me at this point, so like it or not I'll probably be blogging until the moment I die--in fact, I'll probably die blogging once I set up my dedicated blogging bike:


Secondly, yes, being a one-person operation who manages to do the work of at least .75 people there are times when I must type fewer words into this blog than I'd like.  And while I'm honored that my absence bothers you, I'd argue that on balance it's a good thing, since there's too goddamn much of of me as it is.  Indeed, if I'm not typing words into this blog I'm probably typing them someplace else.  Seriously, I have what, like fourteen blogs already?  Also, I'm my own tech department, which means I have to prepare and ride wooden bicycles and Jones bars and Brooks Cambium All Weather Saddles and all the rest of it.  Do you think I like receiving all this exotica and then on top of everything having to take mid-week rides on them while the rest of you are working?  Of course not!

It's a hard life is all I'm saying, and hardly a day goes by where you can't find some fresh bullshit from me somewhere online, so cut me some slack.

Speaking of the indignities of product testing, I've got the Jones bars and the Cambium All Weather saddle on Ol' Piney now:


And this morning I finally managed to take the whole package out for a decent ride, i.e. my usual all-terrain loop:


And yes, I do feel like a gigantic douchebag for embedding my Strava data in this blog, but I'm way too old and over it to care.

Anyway, rest assured a thorough accounting of these bars will follow in the not-too-distant future, but for now I'll just say that so far I really like them and I think they'll succeed in turning Ol' Piney into the all-day bike it really wants to be.

And with that I bid you a-duh.  Enjoy your Thanksgiving if applicable, ride safe, and I'll see you back here on Monday, November 27th if not almost certainly before.

I Love You,


--Wildcat Rock Machine