They are born of experience.
Lost Coast Trailer from Eric Parsons on Vimeo.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Garda
So we were talking about Lake Garda the other night. I'm not sure this vid shows the best riding there, but it aint bad...
5 speed.
I've been playing around trying to get a system sorted to remove material from the non drive side end of the alloy carrier in shimano cassettes. A lathe would do it, but i dont have access to a lathe - yet!
It struck me that using commonly available and cheap facing tools may work. After all the material is soft aluminium.
After messing about today trying to centre and keep the cassette level, i think i have a system sorted.
The end results are not perfect, but WAy better than using the end mill in a pillar drill and a dremel with a grinding head.
It would have been neater but my first iteration (see flickr for more) didnt keep the cassette level. Oh well.
Unfortunately the alloy carrier design for the slx and ultegra 9 speed (cs6500 series) cassettes has the spokes that actually carry the cogs protrude from the inboard end of the alloy carrier, which limits the amount of material you can remove. The xt (m770) have an alloy carrier that allows a lot more material to be removed from the back, meaning it can be snugged much further inboard, and allowing 6 (maybe 7? see walt works...) speeds to be fitted with 9 speed spacing.
However, with a bit more work i would have a very passable 5 speed with a good range, say: 15-18-21-24-27 as an alternative to the 17 - 34 of the 6 speed xt or perhaps i could use the M770 18-21-24-28-32 with a 15 or 16 king cog.
Why all the fuss? options! The jones may very well go 5 or 6 speed at some point and i am limited to a 34 tooth middle ring maximum unless i use a double front set up, or am willing to put up with a rubbish chainline. It also gives me options for the Vertigo.
Also its fun...there we go.
It struck me that using commonly available and cheap facing tools may work. After all the material is soft aluminium.
After messing about today trying to centre and keep the cassette level, i think i have a system sorted.
The end results are not perfect, but WAy better than using the end mill in a pillar drill and a dremel with a grinding head.
It would have been neater but my first iteration (see flickr for more) didnt keep the cassette level. Oh well.
Unfortunately the alloy carrier design for the slx and ultegra 9 speed (cs6500 series) cassettes has the spokes that actually carry the cogs protrude from the inboard end of the alloy carrier, which limits the amount of material you can remove. The xt (m770) have an alloy carrier that allows a lot more material to be removed from the back, meaning it can be snugged much further inboard, and allowing 6 (maybe 7? see walt works...) speeds to be fitted with 9 speed spacing.
However, with a bit more work i would have a very passable 5 speed with a good range, say: 15-18-21-24-27 as an alternative to the 17 - 34 of the 6 speed xt or perhaps i could use the M770 18-21-24-28-32 with a 15 or 16 king cog.
Why all the fuss? options! The jones may very well go 5 or 6 speed at some point and i am limited to a 34 tooth middle ring maximum unless i use a double front set up, or am willing to put up with a rubbish chainline. It also gives me options for the Vertigo.
Also its fun...there we go.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Genuine Innovations.
Jimbo had mentioned this pump while we were over at the end of last year. I am counting the days...GI stuff works so well...
[video from mtbr.]
[video from mtbr.]
See Otter?
Not a typo...see?
Heh! ...anyway...what have i been liking at Sea Otter? Apart from Team Giant's kelli and carl taking the wins in the super D, the edge stuff is sweet. Tubular 29er rims at 290g each. Road wheelsets at just under a kg and a few wheels laced to industry nine hubs/spokes.
All good stuff. I want them to make a fork with a tapered steerer, though DT's new offering at mid 500g looks to join the niner fork in being hard to beat for the rigid/xc dream build.
Shimano's 10 speed - dyna sys: well it makes sense. The video below from pinkbike is worth a watch.
IF's lefty/bb30 bike is beautiful - as you might imagine.
Rock shox not only have a rumoured 140mm 29er fork, but a neat guide for hydro cables to route through the head tube. You know, for when you bust out a tail whip off that gap jump.
Remarkably simple...
Updated: rockshox 140mm reba for 29" wheels. [pic from 2TurnersNotEnough.]
Things ive scratched my chin over have included Crank Bros who continue to confound conventional wisdom by producing a stem that has not one but two wedges - one for bar, one for steerer. It will be interesting to see if it gets the ok to use on carbon steerers, and if the tolerances are up to scratch. My guess is they wont be and we're going to see the same story as with the pedals and droppable seat posts: frequent breakages and rebuilds.
[pic from bikerumor.]
Talking of which Kind shocks have some new droppable seat posts - even one in 27.2mm diameter - which as singletrack world point out, is achieved by moving the gubbins out of the post itself.
Though the larger diameter looks better.
Rumours abound of a Rockshox and an x-fusion seat post dropper....
More as it strikes me....
Heh! ...anyway...what have i been liking at Sea Otter? Apart from Team Giant's kelli and carl taking the wins in the super D, the edge stuff is sweet. Tubular 29er rims at 290g each. Road wheelsets at just under a kg and a few wheels laced to industry nine hubs/spokes.
All good stuff. I want them to make a fork with a tapered steerer, though DT's new offering at mid 500g looks to join the niner fork in being hard to beat for the rigid/xc dream build.
Shimano's 10 speed - dyna sys: well it makes sense. The video below from pinkbike is worth a watch.
IF's lefty/bb30 bike is beautiful - as you might imagine.
Rock shox not only have a rumoured 140mm 29er fork, but a neat guide for hydro cables to route through the head tube. You know, for when you bust out a tail whip off that gap jump.
Remarkably simple...
Updated: rockshox 140mm reba for 29" wheels. [pic from 2TurnersNotEnough.]
Things ive scratched my chin over have included Crank Bros who continue to confound conventional wisdom by producing a stem that has not one but two wedges - one for bar, one for steerer. It will be interesting to see if it gets the ok to use on carbon steerers, and if the tolerances are up to scratch. My guess is they wont be and we're going to see the same story as with the pedals and droppable seat posts: frequent breakages and rebuilds.
[pic from bikerumor.]
Talking of which Kind shocks have some new droppable seat posts - even one in 27.2mm diameter - which as singletrack world point out, is achieved by moving the gubbins out of the post itself.
Though the larger diameter looks better.
Rumours abound of a Rockshox and an x-fusion seat post dropper....
More as it strikes me....
Saturday, April 17, 2010
F.B.R.O.T.Y
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Logically not-awesome.
Vulcan (Latin: Vulcanus), aka Mulciber, is the god of beneficial and hindering fire. A damn great big volcano in Iceland erupted. This sent a plume of 'stuff' into the atmosphere, which headed south easterly, towards the UK. Problem for me was that at about this time i was supposed to be on my way to Sea Otter, aboard a metal tube that doesnt like to navigate in glass, ash and sulphur particles.
Not so fast, boyo.
Despite the fact that communication between BA and me has been, well, sketchy, i now know that all planes due to leave Heathrow until 1pm are borked. Mine was due to leave at 11.30 (ignoring the fact that the flight from Scotland at quarter past oatcake in the morning was long gone, forcing me into a 6 hour 35 minimum drive overnight).
Its a bummer. I'm still getting up in 3 and a half hours to see if the flight i was on is being delayed, rather than cancelled. If so, i need to hot foot it to London and get on that flight. But something tells me this race is run. Which is a crying shame.
Anyway...it ain't over until the fat lady sings, or the Vulcan spins...
Not so fast, boyo.
Despite the fact that communication between BA and me has been, well, sketchy, i now know that all planes due to leave Heathrow until 1pm are borked. Mine was due to leave at 11.30 (ignoring the fact that the flight from Scotland at quarter past oatcake in the morning was long gone, forcing me into a 6 hour 35 minimum drive overnight).
Its a bummer. I'm still getting up in 3 and a half hours to see if the flight i was on is being delayed, rather than cancelled. If so, i need to hot foot it to London and get on that flight. But something tells me this race is run. Which is a crying shame.
Anyway...it ain't over until the fat lady sings, or the Vulcan spins...
Friday, April 09, 2010
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Friday, April 02, 2010
Phil Wood.
There are certain things that will live with you forever. If you have a Phil Wood product, especially a hub, *that* is one of those things.
Pulled from Bicycle Retailer.
Phil Wood, the man responsible for sealed hubs and bottom brackets, died on March 14 at his daughter's home in Roseville, California. He was 83.
He started the Phil Wood Company in 1971 as primarily a hub maker, though he offered other components. He sold the business to Peter Enright and a group of investors in 1991.
“I feel so lucky to have talked with him about a week before he passed away, and he mentioned again that he was so lucky to sell the business when he did,” said Enright, Phil Wood Company’s president.
“We talked off and on over the years, usually to catch up on news about his friends in the bike business. But he was quite happy to return to the farm after selling the business to help raise his granddaughter,” Enright added.
Wood was a problem-solver working at Food Machinery Corporation. Had he not been bothered chasing bearings for a hub he was rebuilding for his daughter, sealed-bearing hubs might have taken years to hit the bike market, Enright noted.
“He was complaining to Spence Wolf about why no one offered a sealed bearing hub and Wolf told him to make his own hub. A little while later he asked Spence how many he should make. It took Spence a bit to remember what he was talking about. He said make 50 hubs and the business was launched,” Enright said.
Wood’s family is deciding on funeral arrangements at this time.
“I’m glad he and I were able to have that last chat. He was a little bothered he wasn’t as ambulatory as he once was but he was content to move on,” Enright said.
A memorial service for Phil and his wife, Vada, who passed away December 18, 2009, will be held on April 17, at the Calgary Baptist Church in Los Gatos, California, at 11:00 a.m. Phil is survived by his six children.
Phil Wood: rest in peace.
Pulled from Bicycle Retailer.
Phil Wood, the man responsible for sealed hubs and bottom brackets, died on March 14 at his daughter's home in Roseville, California. He was 83.
He started the Phil Wood Company in 1971 as primarily a hub maker, though he offered other components. He sold the business to Peter Enright and a group of investors in 1991.
“I feel so lucky to have talked with him about a week before he passed away, and he mentioned again that he was so lucky to sell the business when he did,” said Enright, Phil Wood Company’s president.
“We talked off and on over the years, usually to catch up on news about his friends in the bike business. But he was quite happy to return to the farm after selling the business to help raise his granddaughter,” Enright added.
Wood was a problem-solver working at Food Machinery Corporation. Had he not been bothered chasing bearings for a hub he was rebuilding for his daughter, sealed-bearing hubs might have taken years to hit the bike market, Enright noted.
“He was complaining to Spence Wolf about why no one offered a sealed bearing hub and Wolf told him to make his own hub. A little while later he asked Spence how many he should make. It took Spence a bit to remember what he was talking about. He said make 50 hubs and the business was launched,” Enright said.
Wood’s family is deciding on funeral arrangements at this time.
“I’m glad he and I were able to have that last chat. He was a little bothered he wasn’t as ambulatory as he once was but he was content to move on,” Enright said.
A memorial service for Phil and his wife, Vada, who passed away December 18, 2009, will be held on April 17, at the Calgary Baptist Church in Los Gatos, California, at 11:00 a.m. Phil is survived by his six children.
Phil Wood: rest in peace.
Thursday, April 01, 2010
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