Classic Parts

No, not ancient Campagnolo, Simplex or Bluemels, something a bit newer. James in his bicycle design blogspot talks about the Powergrip, the lowly foot retention device that (very) briefly bridged the gap between clips & strap and SPD. The modern cycle enthusiast appears to think little of spending a few hundred of their combination of shoes, cleats and pedals, because ...? Well, that's just the way it is, innit. I mean, why would you spend <$100 on pedals and straps, when there are more modern options. Kent Peterson also speaks of their virtues over SPD’s.

Exquisitly Animated Short Film

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdxap1wuMEk

Classic Kiwiana - Cycling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfcIS2GBAig

NAHBS

The third annual North American Handbuilt Bike Show was held at the beginning of March in San Jose. Between Alex Wetmore, Cyclofiend and Flickr, it's pretty well documented.

Warwick Gresswell, owner of Thylacine Cycles had some interesting and sharp comments about what he saw there.

and the 650b conversion begat the 650a conversion

The hard-to-find (but worth the effort) Schwalbe Marathon Plus in 650a (ERTRO 590-40) is a beaut. For those wanting to give to 26 x 1-3/8" shod Raleigh Sports Bikes greater rough-road capability, or for those wanting to effect a 700c conversion al a 650b, be sure to check it out.

Schwalbe even boast: "the SmartGuard® layer made from a flexible, special rubber offers particular resistance to shards of glass and flints. Even a thumbtack cannot penetrate this protective layer. The SmartGuard® belt does not increase rolling resistance."
I don't know about that yet, but I like Schwalbe, as who else offers a fat 650a tyre?

Fork Crowns

Bob Brown appears to have multiple lifetimes worth of talent, as this fork crown evidences. Not to mention the bicycle that it's attached to!

And now Kirk Paencti is bringing the world a ready-made twin-plate fork crown! (pic's courtesy of frameforum.net

And if you can't get enough of this sort of thing, then there's this blog: http://platedforkcrown.blogspot.com/

big ride

The Rainbow ride (Hanmer Springs to St. Arnaud)
Brother Simon and I had been wanting to make this happen for a few years, but events (weather, health, etc.) interfered each year, resulting in mutiple frustrated postponement.
But this year, two weeks ago, it happened. To make it happen, we knew we had to get there before the days got much shorter. It's about 125km each way and we're tortoises, not hares, so we needed all the daylight available.

in praise of 8-speed hubs

About the middle of '06, I fitted a Shimano Nexus Red-band 8-speed hub to my 2-speed (dingle) dirt-bike. I'd given up on derailleurs for my regular rides. My town bike was a fixie, my dirt bike was a dinglespeed. The Puglsey had a dual-chainring with a three-speed cassette rear derailleur set-up. Several years ago I fitted a Rohloff 14 geared hub to my 29"er, but I didn't need 14 ratio's and I wasn't sufficiently patient for the lower seven gear ratio's to get smoother, as more experienced users promised. But the lure of hub gears never disappeared. When I read about the ball-raced efficiencies on Shimano's Nexus Red-band 8-speed hub, well, I had to try it, didn't I. Plus it offers lower gearing that any other hub gear (other than the Rohloff).

After six months of use, it's still going strong, and the recent additon of the Alfine trigger shifter has worked wonders on the smoothness of shifting.