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Over the years I’ve had at least four Surly hubsets in service on various bikes—I’ve always been a fan of the forged hubshell, and the wide variety of configurations available. The fact that the hubs used a “standard,” as in widely available, threaded axle and track nuts made them some of the more field serviceable hubs out there, though if for nothing more than tradition required a 15 mm wrench to change a flat. I’ve always found them hard if not impossible to keep in perfect adjustment and eventually resigned myself to run each and every hub I’ve had a bit loose. With new guts that should hold their adjustment better to 6 mm hex axle ends, the Surly Ultra New Hubs are a small step forward from previous designs. 
All of the same spacing, threading and disc/non disc hubshells will be available sporting a new axle, new bearings and a cleaner overall design. While I’ve never minded carrying a 15 mm wrench, there are certain dropout and frame designs that preclude the use of a track nut, let alone once racks or trailer mounts are figured in. What is given up in the convenience of readily available threaded axles may be made up for with the cleaner axle end holding it all together—to each their own. Axle kits will also be available to swap out your old-New Hub guts to the Ultra New hub if you so desire. I’d expect retail to be a couple of dollars more than the current generation of Surly hubs, check the Surly blog for availability.
I came across these videos on Prolly and even though he points out they are a little dated, I’m soooo glad he still shared them. These videos are so well done that it was hard to stop watching them at work and wait until I got home.
The videos document a bike tour by a group of professional skateboarders who ride their bikes down New Zealand, hitting skate spots along the way. There has been a recent trend in skateboard culture that pairs skateboarding with Easy Rider-like motorcycles, but I had yet to come across skateboarders holding any interest in bikes, let alone bike touring. The melding is a little awkward, but the outcome fascinating.
As an ex-skater, I’ve always been floored by the courage and ability professional skaters have to huck themselves off crazy high ledges, while executing a dizzying skateboard trick in the process. Maybe I’ve been a touch envious and jealous too. So it was somewhat amusing to watch these professional skaters get completely humbled by the simple process of bike touring for a couple weeks straight. The videos show them struggling to overcome the physical demands of bike touring, sometimes at the expense of their skating abilities, but keeping an overall positive demeanor the whole way.
If you like(d) skateboarding or bike touring, you won’t be able to watch these and not feel like you’re smiling the entire time. Enjoy.
Get your mind out of the gutter…. And put your wheels in it. Airside design has called it quits as a firm, but they are still offering their amazing The Joy of Cycling poster, which is a visual play off the infamous The Joy of Sex book. Finely crafted in that straightforward pen and ink style of the 70’s, coupled with painfully produced halftone photos, the seedy porn-esque feel comes dripping out like your panniers on a rainy day. It’s gross and awesome all in one. Here’s the kicker though, since Airside shut down shop, their site lists them as only having 15 left. These are monochrome screen prints in “cool blue” and sell for $47 (30 pounds) before postage.
12PM Februrary 10th, UC Santa Cruz (At the beginning of the Great Meadow pathway, near recital hall). Adrian Burgueño’s bicycle advocacy and legacy will continue to live through us and we will be his voice to raise awareness on bicycle safety. Heading home from school after his evening class about one year from today, taking all the safety measures a cyclist can take, riding on an extremely dangerous bike path on campus, his beautiful young life was cut short. He would be 22.
There will be a peaceful rally to commemorate Adrian’s passing this week. Let’s all gather to raise awareness and speak upon the dangers of this bicycle path. As an activist he was, he would be among the first to organize and participate for such event.
This will take place on the UCSC campus At the beginning of the Great Meadow pathway, near the recital hall, this Friday, February 10th at noon. If you or someone you know in the Santa Cruz area has experienced the dangers of this path, message this page directly. Pass the word, share this event’s info and please join us for this rally.
Last week we visited Trash Bags for a shop tour. Here’s a testimonial about their mittens from Cycle Twin Cities:
For those of us who choose to keep riding throughout the seasons the challenge of staying warm is a battle that we fight every winter, constantly trying new things to get a leg up on cold weather. This year, local company Trash Bags, has given us a new weapon for our arsenal, the Trash Picker Mitten.
Minneapolis has become a favorite cycling destination of mine—over the years I’ve made a number of friends in town that manage to get me in just enough trouble to keep it interesting, and out of jail. In town for Stupor Bowl XV and whatever I could get myself into, a few emails later and I found myself having dinner at Haute Dish, witnessing beer willing poured all over Gene Oberpriller’s pants while we discussed nanosphere technology and what kind of underwear each preferred. And while this did truly occur and isn’t surprising given the company, there was grown up business at hand, namely the launch of the Levi’s Commuter Series in the Minneapolis area and the limited Car-r-Coffins, One on One Bicycle Studio, and ARTCRANK trucker jackets to match along the same lines as the first batch created last September. Tech was talked, designs discussed. Custom altered jackets of some of the more prominent Minneapolis cycling culture brands will exist soon enough. The Levi’s fabric purports to be the first natural fiber to incorporate this particular Nanosphere waterproofing technology, maintaining its water repellency longer than ever without any sort of plastic bag feeling—50+ full wash/dry cycles under relatively harsh test conditions. The beer testing on Gene’s well worn Levis pants beaded up and ran right off onto the floor. Being Stupor Bowl weekend, we ended up out too late.
Look for the Levi’s Commuters to make their Minneapolis retail premier in the coming months, with the custom art jackets showing up on the backs of a lucky few associated with the Minneapolis legends behind the brands. No matter what you may personally think about the skinny jeans and denim jacket style, the fact that a company the size of Levi’s is taking urban cycling style and tech seriously bodes well for all involved, from the business side to the everyday rider all benefitting from the further mainstreaming and legitimization of cycling as more than quaint sport.
Infographics are all the rage right now. They are, if you don’t know, appealing ways to present gobs of information that are often so complex that you would think it impossible to arrange them in an artistic manner. Pop Chart Lab out of Brooklyn specializes in creating infographics posters, all of which can be found here, and they do so to amazing effect. In a more artistic-than-flowchart creation they have showcased the bike lanes of New York City in a print titled The Beauteous Bike Lanes of New York City.
The minimalism of detailing only the bike lanes creates a uniquely scattered smattering of lines and curves. The varying types of bike amenities are subtly color coded as Paths, Routes and Lanes. I’m sure all various avenues of bike travel have grown since the image was finished, which could allow you to take some creative license and update them yourselves. It’s a great concept with a quality finish.
The 18 x 24 prints can be purchased through their site for $25, of which the first 500 are signed and numbered by the artists.
Fat bikes are becoming more and more popular—a recent Minneapolis trip showed a number of them being ridden on city streets, not just confined to winter trails and Iditabike adventures. Up until now the only suspension available has been in the tires, which seems to be more than enough for most people, but no doubt this old Cannondale Lefty conversion as seen on Drunkcyclist.com is of interest to some. As a lover of custom and over the top bike tech I just had to share it. Contact Mendon Cyclesmith if you want your very own.
The Volpe is undoubtedly the most versatile bike in Bianchi’s lineup. It has lots of tire clearance, plus rack and fender mounts, giving it the potential to be a commuter, a touring bike or even a cyclocross racing bike. It comes standard with all terrain tires and a triple crankset, so you can literally take it just about anywhere. And that’s what makes the Volpe so much fun.
When the Volpe arrived back in October, my first inclination was to cruise across town to Frick Park and hit the dirt and gravel. This became a recurring theme all winter long. While it’s not terribly fast on the road with the aforementioned WTB 700 x 32 All Terrainasaurus tires, it’s not unbearably slow, either. And all that extra rubber is certain stave off a few pinch flats and punctures, too. Even if you were to install some bona-fide slicks, you might want to hang on to the stock tires for winter riding, as they’ve performed quite well in the snow and ice.
I’m constantly impressed by the latest entry-level drivetrain components. The 10-speed Shimano Tiagra shifters and derailleurs are nothing if not smooth and crisp. Ride after ride, the drivetrain has performed with little maintenance. Having the FSA Vero Triple (50/39/30) really encouraged me to find new routes, secure in the knowledge that I can crawl back up out of any valley.
Continue reading ‘Bianchi Volpe Review’
It feels like this sometimes doesn’t it?
This is actually very touching, but also fun to watch. Well done sir, well done.
Retronaut has a cool little collection of photos depicting early attempts at rocket powered bicycles.
Trash Bags is a small messenger bag manufacturer out of Minneapolis, run by local courier Andy Larson. Started in 2008, Trash Bags has a few years of bag making under their belt and many miles of testing in some of the harshest winters around. I’m in town for the Stupor Bowl alleycat, and figured a visit to the shop the created this year’s prize bags was in order. By tomorrow afternoon we’ll know who will be rolling around town with the pictured prize bags on their backs.
Trash Bags is a small shop, housed on the fourth floor of a downtown building, you enter through the first floor hardware store and make your way up to the roughly single car garage sized space housing a few sewing machines and lots of fabric and thread. Besides their messenger bags and backpacks Trash Bags has started to develop winter riding gear for the all-day, sub-zero riding that courier work in Minneapolis entails throughout the winter. Their wind and waterproof cordura Trash Picker Mittens are out there now, keeping hands warm with their removable Polartec fleece liner. Potentially too warm for anything but the coldest of days, when you need them you need them. Same with the as yet nameless winter hat—cordura outside, insulated inside, with a buckle to keep the ear flaps tight against your head. While it looks thick, the hat is remarkably thin, enough so to fit under your normal helmet. Overkill on all but the coldest of days, and potentially a recipe for a cold sweaty head if it’s not cold enough outside, but this hat should help you to continue riding even when you’d otherwise just not be able to. The mittens retail for around $70, the hat is expected to go for roughly $50. See more or inquire about ordering your own at www.trashmessengerbags.com
Have you ever considered reupholstering your bike seat with multiple images of bike seats?! Me neither, but apparently this isn’t such an absurd idea thanks to the custom fabric print site Spoonflower. Aspiring cyclist textile artists are now able to easily design their own patterns and have them printed and sold through Spoonflower, who use a digital inkjet printer configured to print onto fabrics, offering greater detail and color options than screenprinting.
As evidenced by this page of their site, bicycle prints aren’t lacking. So for us two-wheel oglers, we have one more opportunity to sit and stare at various bike images more than we normally do. Make a pillowcase, reupholster your lazy boy, hang some curtains, sew yourself a tie, decorate your panniers, etc. Whatever you do, never be able to turn 90 degrees without seeing bikes!!!!
Prices vary by the yard and types of materials to be printed.
This article from BBC Magazine isn’t really about bikes, but it does feature a sweet photo of a 1920’s stroller bike:
You were born into the most dramatic population change in UK history. At every age throughout your life, you stood out for sheer numbers.
But you were not born in the 1960s, or the years immediately after World War II, the groups usually thought of as the “baby boom” generations.
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