Month: December 2010

The Voodoo that I do

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 16 Comments
My Voodoo Nakisi, before its maiden voyage
It's my third Voodoo, and perhaps the oddest one yet.

It goes without saying that I need another bike the way America needs a fresh horde of Republican dipshits in the Senate. So, naturally I got one anyway. The bike, not the horde of dipshits. The bike is mine. The dipshits we share.

The bike is a Voodoo Nakisi and like me, it is a real weirdo. Steel frameset, tabs for discs plus bosses for cantis, horizonal dropouts suitable for single-speeding or a geared drivetrain, and room for some rather serious rubber, as in 29×2.3. Yes, it’s a 29er — but it’s intended to be used with drop bars. Plus it has eyelets aplenty for racks and fenders front and rear.

Like I said, a real weirdo.

Voodoo Nakisi - front view
Did I mention it takes big rubber ... as in even bigger than 700x45?

Mine is built cyclo-cross style — Ultegra rear derailleur and XT front, nine-speed bar-cons, 11-26 SRAM cassette and chain, XT cranks (including the little ring for a change, a 22-toother), Cane Creek cantis and top-mounted brake levers, Salsa bars, some no-name stem, Shimano 600 aero brake levers, Crank Brothers Candy pedals, Thomson seat post and a Selle San Marco Ponza Island saddle that I hate (but it was unattached to a bike and thus could be had free of charge).

In fact, most of the parts came from the official Mad Dog Media Service Course Garage, Tool Shed & Covered Vespa Parking Facility, with the biggest (and priciest) exception being a handbuilt set of wheels — Mavic Open Pros laced with Revolution spokes to an old set of Hügi MTB hubs by my friend Brian Gravestock of Old Town Bike Shop. The wheels wear a pair of 700×45 Panaracer Fire Crosses. Yes, I said 700×45. They look like something you might see at a motocross race.

I didn’t put it on the scale because frankly, I didn’t want to know. This thing is a tank, like a two-wheeled tractor.  I took it over to Palmer Park for its maiden voyage and the Nakisi rolled over its rocks like the Panzers did Poland.

I have a soft spot for Voodoo. One of my favorite bikes was a ti’ Loa ’cross bike that had a one-off, drilled-for-weight Marzocchi suspension fork, a Ritchey 110BCD crank and an XT rear derailleur that let me run a low gear of 34×32. It could take 700×40 tires. Another tank, but man, was it ever fun to ride on the Crusty County BLM roads.

Stick it out

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 5 Comments

Independent Bernie Sanders is on a tear on the Senate floor, filibustering the prez’s tax-cut bargain old-school style — by speaking at length. And I do mean at length. He’s been at it since this morning, railing against the capitalists and for the working stiffs, and shows no signs of running down.

“It is a proposal which gives much too much to people who don’t need it,” he says, and more than once, too. “I think we can do a lot better.”

From your voice to God’s ears, Bernie. Let’s just hope He’s not hanging around with the Appliantologists down at Joe’s Garage.

• Late update: Aw, too bad — Bernie finally yielded the floor … after more than nine hours. Chapeau to the man from the great state of Vermont.

Who you jivin’ with that Cosmik Debris?

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ Leave a comment

Every now and then, when it seems like the entire country is trying to piss on his wingtips all at once, you just know the prez thinks to himself, “Y’know? I could make more money as a butcher.”

Incidentally, to all you Senate Repugs who keep wiping your bloated behinds with gay troops, the unemployed and 9/11 workers — 9/11 workers! — you’d better pray there is a Rapture, and that it’s coming soon. *

Jeebus may own your black, shrunken soul, but while you’re down here among the plebes, your ass belongs to us, if there are any of “us” left. It’s a helluva note when Americans have to look to the Limeys for lessons on how to kick ass.

* And yes, I’m saving the “Jesus Thinks You’re a Jerk” link for later.