Homie

"But it only happens once a year." Famous last words, or a precursor to a great time... you decide.

Yesterday was the (roughly) 13th installment of Homie Fall Fest here in Mpls. The day began with 100+ people on knobby tires meeting up in NE Mpls...

The roll out was an impressive site... we even had a police escort.

"Gears will be met with sneers."

Homie Fall Fest is a bunch of (mostly) singlespeed mountain bikers cruising around Minneapolis and St. Paul with the common goal of riding (and sometimes hiking) our bikes on the dirt trails of Mpls...

derby...

feats of strength...

and spectacular, unsuccessful attempts at feats of strength - (the guy went OTB and landed in the rocky creek)...

general monkey business...

and of course a lot of drinking and hanging out in the woods with like-minded folks...

It's appropriate that the pics got more and more blurry as the day went on...

A huge thanks to everybody (and nobody) for such a bitchin' time!

All-Rounder Road Bike

I'm still looking for my ideal mix of utility, durability, comfort and efficiency in a road bike... but I'm getting close. The most recent changes to the Trek include switching back to the straight bar/Ergon grip combo and the addition of a 1x9 drivetrain from random parts I had sitting around. I did end up buying an inexpensive 9-speed chain, but that was the only money spent on this set-up.

The Ergon grips are comfortable, and the small bar-ends provide a hand position that's (somewhat) similar to riding in the hoods of a drop bar. It's a good thing I like the flat bar set-up, since the shifter I'm using is a Shimano trigger shifter that only fits mountain bike diameter bars. Even my road bike looks kind of like a mountain bike...

It was a beautiful day, so after the changes were complete I explored the trails on the St. Paul side of the Mississippi. Once again I was pleased with the ride of the 37mm Conti Travel Contact tires (you can see their reflective stripes glowing from the camera's flash):

One of the biggest drawbacks of the 80's Trek frame is the nearly complete lack of braze-ons... it has fender eyelets front and back, and that's about it. The absence of water bottle mounts is the biggest issue; which is one of the reasons I made the frame pack pictured above. It doubles as a shoulder bag when off the bike, and fits most everything I may want on a ride - extra jacket, a large water bottle, a few tools, a pump, and the air reservoir for the obnoxiously loud Air Zounds horn.

A couple days ago I came across a cool little thing made by Paul Components... a light mount that attaches to a frame eyelet. Cool idea, but not worth $23.99! I made my own from a long Allen bolt, a few washers and a 1" section of handlebar, and mounted it on the left fork eyelet (the large washer on the end prevents the light from sliding off to the outside):

On a road bike I like the handlebars narrower than a typical mountain bar, which makes things a bit tight on the handlebar... wide grips, brake levers, shifter, a light and a horn take up most of the available space. I used cross levers instead of mtb levers - the cross levers have a 24.0 diameter clamp - so I can run them further to the inside (where the bar starts to bulge out to the 25.4 clamp area). I also installed the computer mount around the headset locknuts:

The advantage of all this clutter is that everything is at my fingertips (except the computer). Who knows... maybe the Titec H-Bars will make their way over to this bike someday. I could see a pair of Titec H-Bars (or J-Bars) that were cut a bit narrower being a good fit for this bike.

Someday I might be able to afford a new frame, or even a custom frame (maybe even custom handlebars!?)... but until then I'll keep trying to piece together something good on the cheap.

Gravel Trails and On-One Midge Bars

I got out on my road bike a fair amount this year... and I really enjoyed it. It's an 80's Trek that was handed down from my oldest brother. I gave it a rattlcan paintjob, a 700c wheelset and a singlespeed drivetrain.

Over the years I've toyed around with this bike and I've tried a lot of different set-ups... fixed and freewheel (and even a coaster brake for a while), straight bars and drops, fat tires and skinny tires. Based on how I ride this bike, I've settled on a freewheel and wide (37mm) tires.

I'm still experimenting with the handlebars though.

Until recently I had a flat mtb bar and Ergon grips with built in bar ends. I like this set-up... I like the support and feel of the Ergon grips, and the bar ends provide a couple different hand positions:

A couple weeks ago I decided to switch back to some On-One Midge bars. They had been on this bike a year or two ago, and didn't end up sticking with 'em... but I figured they were worth another try.

It was a gorgeous fall day and I ended up heading out to the western 'burbs and back via some local paved and gravel bike trails... a 40 mile round trip. The fat tires made for a comfortable ride and easily handled loose gravel.

The Midge bars weren't quite right though... the tops and the drops were comfortable on my hands, but I was either too upright or too low. And if I am going to ride on the tops, I might as well run the straight bars and Ergon grips. The hoods were the most comfortable for my overall riding position, but the curve of the bars and the position of the brake levers made for a lot of pressure on my hands.

Later (after these pics were taken) I adjusted the position of the bars in the stem by rotating the bars back toward me - this flattened out the top bend of the bar and made the hoods much more comfortable on my hands. Unfortunately, now the bars are so angled that the drops feel too sloped... and the brakes aren't very easy to reach either. Oh well.

Like I said, they just aren't quite right... I'll put some more miles on them, but I may end up putting the flat bars back on... or maybe further down the road I'll try a different bar (like the Salsa Woodchipper?).

Cool Stuff - Interbike 2009

My favorites from the web coverage of Interbike 2009...

New fat tire from Surly:

Link 1 Link 2 Link 3

Redesigned Pugsley frame from Surly (lower top tube):

Link 1 Link 2

Belt-driven 8-speed city bike from Civia:

Link

Another fat tire option from TommiSea:

Link 1 Link 2

Salsa's new dirt drop bar... the "Woodchipper" (to go with the Fargo):

Link

New Bars and a Trip to the Beer Store...

I bought a pair of used Titec H-Bars the other day and installed them this afternoon...

I figured the 1xWonder was the right bike for these bars; it's an oddball machine already so the H-Bars looked right at home. A quick switch of the bars and it was ready for a spin. I like the H-Bars - they are comfortable, put me in a good riding position, and I didn't get any hand numbness on my 2 hour ride (hand numbness has been an issue for me from time to time). My elbow was kind of bothering me near the end of the ride, but I'll have to wait and see if it had anything to do with the bars. The rear brake cable was a little too short too, but I made it work. During my ride I swung by The Hub and picked up a new cable.

Earlier in the week I made a trip to the beer store, and it seemed only appropriate that I pick up a 6 pack of this...

Cheers!

Fatty Ride

I got out for a ride to Wirth and back today... it was a beautiful day (80 degrees and clear, no wind) with surprisingly uncrowded trails. My route to Wirth and back makes for an awesome ride around town - down the creek... around Harriet, Calhoun, Cedar and Brownie lakes... all while hitting small sections of singletrack along the way.

[I love this town.]

They've been replacing the 35W bridge over the creek, and with half the new bridge complete they started demolishing the other half... the road is closed, but the bike path is still open. The construction debris made for a pretty cool landscape under there... tons of crushed concrete and rebar covering the whole area.

Wirth was in pretty good shape - it was dry and dusty, but I expected it to be that way. Only saw two riders while I was there. The 2.5 Hookworms did well in the dirt; the rear wheel only lost traction once when I was braking a bit too hard, and the front never slid out. Although after spinning 32:16 all the way there, I wasn't pushing it very hard.

I love the fat Hookworms on the Large Marges... sure they weigh a lot, but they smooth out the trail and roll over rocks/logs nicely, and they roll nicely on the pavement. Leaning this bike in fast corners on the road is really fun!

More pics in my Flickr gallery.

The more I ride the SS Fatty, the more I like it. That said, I can't wait 'til the snow flies and I can put the Endo/Nevegal combo on and get some fresh tracks...