Salsa Front Rack

Still no sign on the Salsa web page of the sweet front cargo rack that I saw way back at Sea Otter. I'm waiting and watching because I'd like to buy one. Not only should it be a little less expensive than similar racks from Nitto through Velo Orange and Rivendell, but it looks like it also might be aluminum or "alloy1" in bike industry parlance, making it lighter. Still burly enough for me. I've never had an aluminum rear rack fail on my after miles of commuting and touring (although no MTB or 'round the world type stuff).

1 I think that bike companies call aluminum parts "alloy" or "scandium" even though they're mostly aluminum because aluminum reminds people of soda cans and alloy reminds people of science.

Schwinn Montague = Ritchey Breakaway - 20 years - lots of class

Saw this locked to a lamp post near the train station today. Apparently the Schwinn Montague had a two joint seat tube based break-apart mechanism which was functionally the same as the modern Ritchey BreakAway but, from the looks of it, less secure. I say less secure because the seat post joint uses more or less a bathroom stall hasp which can probably rotate and creak and contributes little to frame strength or stiffness. Anyway, someone still makes the Montague, albeit with a different, novel break-apart mechanism.

Floppy chopper got no stopper

Ok, so it can wrap around a pole (not terribly useful) and can fold (pretty useful) and goes from flaccid to rigid with a ratchet system hanging from the tube (has he taken out a patent on that?) but what interests me is that he has absolutely no brakes. No rim brakes front or back and a single speed conversion kit out back that eliminates the possibility of a coaster brake or fixed gear. Easily resolved with a front caliper or a fixed rear hub, but I suppose he was so intent on making his bike floppy that he's forgotten the one component that will keep him from wrapping it around a pole on accident.

Photo swiped from http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/kevin_scotts_bike_design_gets_around_the_theft_problem_16903.asp

New Specialized Anti Chatter CX Bike

Further vindication of my cyclocross engineering treatise. The only reason I don't design bikes is because it's too easy :-)

Life in the fast and wobbly lane

This is the sort of thing you see when you commute on the bike path that goes past Google headquarters. Way to go man. It's probably easier and faster to walk, but then, where's the adventure in that?

Hard workin' panniers

So I had these panniers. For several years. Commuted with them all the time, took them on at least one overnight trip. Rain, sun, wind (no snow), all sorts of wacky loads. Worked pretty fine. Cheap too. I wrote them up almost a year ago now.

Well, last week, they started to give up the ghost. The stitching is coming apart at the point of the greatest loads (where they hang over the rack). I stitched the snot out of them by hand but they're still unraveling. Besides my best suturing skills, I'm afraid the patient can't be saved. Hopefully they hold out until my new JANDD panniers arrive in the mail. I'll let you know how the new ones work after a little riding.

Crazy mountain people

And their crazy welded bicycle fences with headsets for hinges...