What’s in the garage?

September 4, 2009November 16, 2010 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 3 Comments

This bike should have a Steelman fork, but Brent is holding onto it as some sort of voodoo juju, trying to ensure that I write only good things about him. It seems to be working.

One good thing about having a dozen or so bicycles in the garage, if you’re a lazy bastard, is that maintenance is deferred. The downside is, it eventually comes home with a vengeance. So lately I’ve been trying to impose a little discipline on myself by selecting for the day’s ride that bike which is in most dire need of a bath, a lube job, some minor mechanical work or simply a little lovin’.

On Wednesday it was the Jamis Supernova, which got a bath and a lube and will not be ridden again until I solve its fork-chatter issue, which is frankly scary under heavy braking. Yesterday it was the DBR Prevail TT, which only needed grease and some air but hadn’t been ridden in months and was feeling neglected. Tomorrow it will probably be the mango Steelman Eurocross, which needs a fresh set of Kool-Stop Thinline brake pads the way Michelle Bachmann needs round-the-clock psychiatric care.

And today it was the red Steelman Eurocross, which got a long-overdue tire change along with its wash and grease. This was one of a run of Team Clif Bar bikes built by Brent Steelman, who has built five bikes for me, four of which I have loved unreservedly. Lately I’ve been finding some affection for the fifth.

This Eurocross used to ride a bit weird for me back in the day. It has a downtube of True Temper S3, originally sported an Alpha Q carbon fork, and handled like an aluminum bike on my bumpy, rattlesnake-infested Weirdcliffe cyclo-cross course. I don’t like aluminum bikes, especially aluminum ‘cross bikes. So I slapped a steel fork on the sumbitch and now it’s pretty much the ideal Bibleburg bike-path bike, handling pavement and dirt alike with nary a whimper.

Like a lot of the machinery in the garage, it’s an oddball blend of top shelf and gack box. The rear derailleur is an ancient eight-speed Shimano 600 that, like Amarante Córdova from “The Milagro Beanfield War,” simply will not die. The front is a much newer Ultegra.

The cassette is an XT, I think (13-28), while the crankset and bottom bracket are FSA (48/38). Shifting and braking are courtesy of a pair of aftermarket Tiagra-level STI levers (the original Ultegra brifters croaked, as they will).

Other bits include a Chris King headset, Ritchey stem, Deda 215 bars wrapped with some abso-fuckin’-lutely indestructible Off the Front cyclo-cross handlebar tape (Hi, Bruce and Jodie!), Empella Frogglegs top-mounted brake levers, Paul’s brakes (Neo-Retro front, Touring rear), Kool-Stop Thinline pads, Time pedals, Cane Creek Crono Cross wheels with Michelin Jets, and a Selle Italia Flite saddle (accept no substitutes) atop a RockShox suspension seat post.

I took ‘er out for a quick ride into the AFA and back, jumping off the New Santa Fe Trail just south of the sewage-treatment plant for a bit of road riding (can’t beat that federal asphalt) and then rejoining the trail just short of the south gate.

Tomorrow it’s fun with brake pads. If you hear a high-pitched keening noise followed by some very bad language, it’s probably me.

Speaking of downs

September 4, 2009 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 3 Comments

The guy who sold me the bike pictured below, John Crandall, has had a setback in his recovery from a bicycle-auto collision. Wife Kathy reports that he took a digger in the bathroom and dinged up his left knee. He’s had surgery to repair a torn patellar tendon and will be sporting a cast for two months.

That’s the bad news. The worse news is, that’s the same leg with the broken femur, so John’s rehab obviously will be extended. It must be maddening — he was making good progress, out of the wheelchair and using crutches occasionally, and spending a couple days at the shop each week.

Kathy says John’s not quite ready for visitors, if you’re so inclined. Meantime, think good thoughts in their direction.

Ups and downs

September 3, 2009 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 24 Comments

My DBR Prevail TT, which dates to 1993-94, if memory serves. The Ultegra brakeset is the sole OE on this beast. Scope out the geezer rise on that stem. It looks like a howitzer.

Just for laughs, I broke out my old DBR Prevail TT road bike, greased the chain, aired up the tires and took it for a spin this morning on a hilly street/bike-path combo ride.

Man, 110 psi in 700×25 road tires sure feels different than 45 psi in 700×32 ‘cross rubber, especially on these lousy Bibleburg streets. Ditto a low end of 39×25 versus 34×28 when gravity becomes more involved. And finally, where the hell were my top-mounted ‘cross-bike brake levers? Why, on the ‘cross bikes, of course. Eejit.

I got my first flat in months — something truly evil that solved my high-pressure problem in a nanosecond as I was climbing west on Woodmen. Happily, there’s a trailhead there, and I had a bench to sit on as I swapped tubes and reinflated with the cursed minipump (about 300 strokes’ worth and still well short of 110 psi).

The grind past the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration reminded me that casual ‘cross-bike rides do not a climber make (bless me, sister, for I have sinned, and as soon as I get off this goddamned bicycle I’m going to get right back after it). The 40-mph descent reminded me that I am a sissy, especially when some dude in a ‘Vette roared up to a cross-street stop sign as if he planned to treat it as a yield).

But I made it home alive, and it was lots more fun than working, so I must have been doing something right.

Dummy of the Day

September 1, 2009November 16, 2010 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 16 Comments

Showing His displeasure with psychos in minivans, God turns off the sun.

We’ve missed an installment or two of this special report, so here’s a Tuesday edition for you. According to the local gendarmes via the Gaslight, a Bibleburger who thought he saw someone he didn’t know riding his son’s bike intentionally hit the cyclist with his minivan.

The cops say Timothy Hombs got something of a surprise when he stepped out of the minivan and approached the cyclist. First, he got punched; second, the bike wasn’t his son’s. Hombs was subsequently arrested on charges of second-degree assault.

If convicted, this pootbutt should lose both his driver’s license and his TV, as he has clearly been watching too many vigilante movies. Yo, Timbo, a Trek is a Trek is a Trek — there are only about a jillion of them on the road, and they don’t belong under the wheels of your soccer-mom shitbox, no matter what you thought you saw.

Jesus. And people wonder why I stick to ‘cross bikes and trails.

• Late update: I haven’t seen any minivan maniacs in Holland or Belgium today, but the Vuelta a España peloton is spending an inordinate amount of time on the rain-soaked deck anyway. More crashes than a Cat. 5 crit, including a Saxo Banker who rode straight into the back of a parked tanker truck. Owie.

• Dummy of the Day (Honorable Mention): As Freedumb Communications announces that it will indeed file for reorganization under Chapter 11, cutting its debt to a mere $325 million from more than $770 million, chief financial officer Mark McEachen proclaims, “This gives us a green light to operate the business as usual.” Oh, that’s reassuring. And what constitutes “business as usual” at Freedumb, where our Christmas bonuses once were $15 checks with the tax taken out? Why, stiffing 5,000 current and former news carriers, who were owed $28.9 million as part of the settlement of a class-action lawsuit. Notes The New York Times: “By filing for bankruptcy before a Sept. 14 deadline that would have finalized the lawsuit’s settlement, Freedom retains the right to reclaim those funds in the interest of all its creditors.” Lovely.