Mine isn’t going to look anything like this, but still a great video:
Ross update
March 17th, 2009 by geoff ( no comments)
I took the frame into harris Cyclery and they managed to fix the fork. When I got it back, it was much better than before. The next day, I rode it (with jerry-rigged shifters and one rear brake) with the kids in the trailer and was confident that it’ll make a good ride now.
Future plans might still involve another frame or at least a powder coat. But now, it’s just time to piece this bike together. Before that, I decided to strip it down completely, clean it all up, repack the bottom bracket and get it ready. I took the opportunity to weigh the frame and it’s a whopping 9 pounds! Good thing this will be a cargo bike.
I think the Xtracycle comes on Friday and I can finally get to work!
The Ross frame
March 2nd, 2009 by geoff ( no comments)
I put on my new Nitto Technomic stem and Albatross bars and rode over to Bikes Not Bombs this weekend (before the massive snowstorm) to ask some questions. This was really the first time I had ridden the bike at all. The first time I discovered the cassette needed to be replaced. The second time hardly counted, and this time i discovered that the toe-overlap is really tight. As in, I will not be able to put fenders on the front wheel, and I’m not at all happy about that. If I were to take a tight turn, my toe would most definitely hit the wheel. I also noticed that I can’t get the seat back far enough to get comfortable and seeing as it’s an older bike, it has a 26.0 seatpost with minimal offset.
At BnB, they noticed the fork has issues, which would explain the toe-overlap, as well as the squirrely way it rode. Check it out:
the red line is the head-tube angle. the yellow-line is the fork angle.
So, these two problems lead me to believe that this frame might not work out, which is disappointing, as I really don’t want to be spending any more money. That said, I’m already brainstorming on a potential frameset replacement: Soma Double Cross or the Surly LHT or Cross-Check or even the Kogswell P/R.
My workshop
March 2nd, 2009 by geoff ( no comments)
Last weekend, after putting the kids to bed, I went down to the basement to finally put up some pegboard and get my cramped bike workshop are cleaned up and usable. Here’s a picture (you can see my Panasonic 66cm frame to the right):
And tonight I was able to get my money’s worth (on both the cleanup and the new tools) by repalcing the chain and freewheel on my wife’s bike. A few more things in the work for her too.
Got it!
February 27th, 2009 by geoff ( no comments)
I just saw that biketrailershop.com is having a great deal on xtracycles and so I went ahead and got the “Family Van” option, which includes “Magic Carpet, Footsies, and a Stoker Kit” — all things I wasn’t planning on buying for a while, but when they are included for free? I can’t pass that up! My kids aren’t quite ready to ride on the back, so for now we’ll keep using the trailer.
I’ve got the other build-up gear for the new ride, but now I’ll just wait until the xtracycle comes to do a full build.
Yeah!
Sheldon Brown interview
February 26th, 2009 by geoff ( no comments)
I was searching around online for some back issues of the Rivendell Reader (since I’m not willing to buy them at Rivendell, nor get the 4-CD pack on ebay). I found an old interview with Sheldon Brown here:
http://www.rivbike.com/images/static/upload/RR25.pdf
It’s quite long and is a nice rambling conversation with the man himself.
biking in Albuquerque
February 23rd, 2009 by geoff ( no comments)
Geoff and Jason mountain biking
I just got back from Albuquerque where I was visiting a very good friend form high school. It’s been ages since I’ve seen him (well, a couple years) and it’s funny how our biking hobbies have progressed in the same direction. One of the priorities of our visit was for me to go on a few rides with him. It’s winter in Boston, and it’s such a pain to go on a nice ride. ABQ has, in addition to some nicer drier weather, lots of bike paths, both of the mountain and road variety.
The first trip was mountain biking in the northern Sandia foothills — here’s a similar route that jason does. I had never been mountain biking, and Jason was kind enough to lend me his Paragon 29er, while he borrowed a friend’s bike. I was amazed at the low gearing, but once we were moving, it seemed so natural. We did a pretty challenging course and I had to get off the bike a few times, but it was a blast. I have no idea if New England is a good place for mountain biking, but i think for now, I’m going to choose ignorance, because I certainly don’t need to get into a new sport. Plus, I can’t imagine it comparing to the high desert climate!
The second ride we did was around the city. The afternoons in ABQ were pretty windy, but didn’t really pose much of a problem. We rode on bike paths the entire time! It was absolutely wonderful. The first part went along a raised canal for the flooding that occurs when it rains. After that, we were riding along the river in the bosque for quite a bit. No cars whatsoever. Also a first was that I was riding his fixed gear Bianchi San Jose the whole time. Depending on how the Xtracycle build goes, maybe I’ll convert my panasonic to fixed gear, or at least single speed. Then again, there’s enough hills around here that I sort of like the gears.
As I’m waiting for the Boston snow to melt and for the bike paths to magically materialize, I’ll be missing the riding I did there. And obviously I’ll need to come back soon.
me coming up the path
Connecting a Kids’ Trailer to an Xtracycle
February 20th, 2009 by geoff ( 2 comments)
I just got a link from roots radical about some tips on connecting the chariot trailer to the xtracycle.
Anyway, I just went to the hardware store, got a long threaded rod (I think mine was about 8″ long). The diameter of the rod should be the largest that will still fit through the hole on the hitch receiver. I also picked up 2 self-locking nuts and 2 rod collars (this was the only tricky part but I just brought my X into the store so I could make sure the collar fit inside the back/bottom tube of the X), and lastly some large washers (larger than the X’s tubing). Slide the rod through the back tube, put the collars on (I kept mine as far apart as possible), slide the washers on, then slide the hitch
receiver on the left side, then the nuts on both sides. Tighten nuts until everything is snug but loose enough that the hitch can still rotate a little.
I wonder what the Xtracycle people think of this? It looks great to me and is probably what I’ll do. I did read that there is a 50 lb weight limit for the tail end of the Free Radical, so I’ll probably put my kids in the trailer, then use a small hanging scale to see how much veritcal downward weight is on the connector.
UPDATE:Here’s the Xtracycle guy’s response
Posted by: “Rick Pickett” rick.pickett@mac.com rickpickett3
Fri Feb 20, 2009 8:38 pm (PST)
As long as the torque and stress on the frame doesn’t exceed the
called out weight limitations on your FreeRadical sticker/handbook,
then you should be fine. We notice cracking near the dropout when
people overload cargo on the tail, but that’s usually on day-in/day-
out trekkers who are touring non-stop and/or are generally hard on
their equipment.
called out weight limitations on your FreeRadical sticker/handbook,
then you should be fine. We notice cracking near the dropout when
people overload cargo on the tail, but that’s usually on day-in/day-
out trekkers who are touring non-stop and/or are generally hard on
their equipment.
Rick
SECOND UPDATE: a couple more pictures
On the hitch side, I only use the nylok nut to keep it on. no washers on this side of the xtracycle.
On the right side of the xtracycle, i have a large washer with another nylok nut.
On the inside, i coudln’t find any of wes’s aforementioned “2 self-locking nuts and 2 rod collars”, so I used some regular nuts and smaller washers that fit the inside diameter of the rear-tube. Hope this helps!
phasing out the 700c Xtracycle
February 12th, 2009 by geoff ( 1 comment)
I just read here that the 700c size of the Free Radical will be phased out. They’ll probably just start including a brake mount adapter or something. Still, this means I ought to get mine soon!
Moustache Bars
February 12th, 2009 by geoff ( no comments)
My buddy Mike had an extra pair of Nitto Moustache bars hanging around and so I thought I’d try them. The first thing I noticed is that there are actually a few different shapes of moustache bars:
These are the high quality Nitto made of heat-treated 2014 T6 aluminum. They’re nice and light and have a shorter handlegrip area. These won’t fit cork grips, and are better made to be taped. They also work better with bar-end brakes or drop brakes mounted on the front.
These are the different shaped Dimension version — this is more like the style I have on my city bike, since I can’t actually find a link, having bought it from a bicycle discounter. The hand grips are longer and work well with MTB brake levers, which is how I have my city bike.
I mounted these on, sort of like the first image, and while i loved the feeling of the brakes and the bars, they were not high enough. The Ross is a bit too small for me, but perfect for my xtracycle conversion, so I think the moustache is out. and so, I just ordered the Albatross bars that I had mentioned before, to set up with MTB levers and bar end shifters. If those bars don’t work, I’ll just set ‘em up on Karen’s bike.