Adventures From The Saddle
The bicycle iPod holder…
Click the picture to check out his site.
I was thinking about making this myself. My plan was to mount something onto my bike so I can play music through speakers on by bike and to use the bike computer applications I downloaded for my iPhone. On his site he asks for feedback so if you are interested in this it is definitely worth it to check out his site to read more about it and give him some ideas or what have you.
Raleigh status: rideable.
To my surprise, this bike is in pretty decent condition. My hypothesis seems to be right in how I figured that this bike was ridden often enough, it just sat for a while and whomever had it just threw it out once their lease was up.
Sucks for them, awesome for me.
Basically all that needs to be done are a full tune up and new components. The rear wheel needs to be trued badly because it rubs on the brakes a whole heck of a lot and when walking the bike, the back wheel tends to lock up and just skid. Riding the bike however allows it to run as it’s supposed to but you can feel it hitting the brakes which is annoying and inhibiting me from seeing the true speed of this bike 
My plans for this bike as of now are to just tune it and ride it as is until I can get the parts I need to fix it up properly. Here’s a quick list of what I need so far:
One of the reasons why I’m just going to ride the bike as is for a while is so I can become more comfortable using friction shifters, seeing as how I’ve never ridden a bike with them before. Overall, I can tell this bike is going to be a lot of fun and definitely a great commuter bike. I’ve decided to just use my ‘cross bike for joy rides, adventures, and other bicycle shenanigans
Total bike build cost: $0.00
Until next time,
Have fun riding!
So, since my ‘cross bike decides to have something wrong with it at least once a week, I’ve decided to retire it for the time being and build myself a new commuter.
I’m going to build this dumpster find up
Raleigh Sportif Road Bike
It will also help me to get on good terms with the guys over at Freeze Thaw because I know they will LOVE this bike . Plus I still want to try to get a job there…forever my goal I suppose. Anyway, keep riding and I hope you had a happy 4th! This year was my best year ever!
By charity!
I got an email the other day from the Centre Region Bike Coalition (CRBC) mailing list that requested donations of food and supplies for this group of people crossing the country. They are part of this organization called Bike and Build (www.bikeandbuild.org) that helps to raise money for housing across the country! They hold rides throughout the summer every year so I would be able to catch a ride or 2 or 3 . This may just be the ride I do and just stay out West. I would be able to go on an assisted tour, do some good deeds along the way, and have a cool bike to keep afterwards hehe!
So check them out, sign up, and go ride!
For anyone who hasn’t heard of it, here’s the recruitment poster:
If I didn’t already have plans this summer I would have done it in a heart beat. If it happens again before I make my trip over I’m doing it. Best idea ever. Great job BFF.
For anyone interested, I have created a bicycling group called Ready? Go! Bicycling. The name comes from a commonly used phrase between my friends and I and works quite well for our crazy love for biking. The group is based in State College, PA but with some help from my friends, we hope to expand the group to every corner of the planet. This is not another bike facebook, this is a common ground for people to join together and do what they love the most: bicycle.
For more information, visit the blog at http://readygobikes.wordpress.com.
Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the bike I have now. It’s light and fast and it handles like a dream. I’m getting a new bike for a couple of reasons
Which bike did I find? This stack of beauty:
It is the Vassago Fisticuff and it is amazing. I have come to the conclusion that my style of biking is definitely only suited with ‘cross bikes and this sex machine will suffice all of my adventures. Here is the description from it’s site:
“Jack of all trades, master of none. Like all things Vassago, (except maybe our beer glasses) the Fisticuff is not for everybody.Think of it as a ‘cross bike with a bit of a ‘roid problem. In this case, that’s a very good thing. We beefed up the frame and fork in all the same places where a 29er trail bike experiences torsional forces. The result is a ‘cross style bike that responds like a mountain bike in the rough stuff.
More than simply adding tire clearance to a ‘cross frame, the Fisticuff fits the monstercross nomenclature by way of it’s trail-bike tubeset, drop bar geometry, straight blade fork and all around badassness. Yes, it is a word.
So build it up to fit your needs. 650b or 700c wheels. singlespeed, fixed, geared, skinny tires, fat tires, disc, V-brakes, cantis, drop bars, flat bars… Whatever toots your whistle.
Whether you’re looking for a drop-bar trail bike, a burly commuter, or a touring rig, the Fisticuff is your huckleberry.” http://vassagocycles.com/fisty.html
Basically, whatever I want on this bike or whatever I want to do with this bike is possible, more so than my bike now. Vassago also has a rack specifically made for the Fisticuff that has a max load of 60 pounds, more than I’ve seen for a rack, which is perfect for my trip. I cannot wait to have this bike! Getting this bike also gives me the opportunity to have a bike fitted for me for the first time ever. I was saving up for a Macbook Pro but, bikes are better. This bicycle company is also available from 2 of my local bike shops so I can get this bike sooner than later and have great recommendations for what I should put on it. And since I found it on Freeze Thaw’s site I’m going to them. Plus they have the rest of the things I want like Chrome bags and hopefully they will have the new Warsaw bag so I can get it .
On a side note, I’m going to go see if I can get a summer internship/job/learning type thing through them. I doubt they’ll let some kid that is just starting bike mechanics to work there but, it’s worth a try and I can deal with the answer ‘no’.
Well that’s enough from me. I just went on a bit of a “bicycle/internet/research” kick because it’s raining and cold outside. That and chores are so boring haha!
Last night was another great ride especially since my friends came along for this one. I still have to see how many miles we went (I will put a map up as soon as I can make one on bikely) but, it was a great ride no matter how far it was. We had a really fun drag race which was the best warm up ever. After that we had a nice relaxing ride through some woods that met up with a highway that lead to a bike path. This bike path is connected with a good bit of places in and around State College and I am going to explore all summer long. I’m glad my friends came along with me this time because that just helped me go farther and faster than I normally do alone. Great training ride. Hands down. Well anyway here are the training lists which are pretty much the same:
Things To Do:
Things I Need:
Hopefully another bike ride like this tonight. We shall see. Anyone local who wants to go on a ride with us email me at theaquanator@gmail.com and have the subject “Ready? Go! Bicycling sign-up”. Otherwise it’s trash, sorry.
http://readygobikes.wordpress.com
Here’s what I found out so far, especially after the great ride I had tonight:
Things To Do:
Things I Need:
I also found that I love going really, really fast and I’m glad my bike has low enough gears to feed my addiction!
On a side note, this marks my second day of no smoking…I think I’m going to make a pact with myself and only smoke when I drink which, due to recent money troubles (I spend to damn much of it), that won’t happen often. Yay.
My next task is to find a bike mechanics job. I applied for one, got turned down, will try again in person because online applications are BS in my opinion. I guess I’ll just have to keep trying…
K BYE! SEE YOU LATER!
- The Nator
Read the article HERE
We’re moving on the up and up !
I love how you can tell that the person who left the second comment isn’t a local. If he was, he would be riding a bike.
