Bates Crates And Updates. 8.October.2009

First I’d like to give my congratulations to Cole of 1 Less Car (www.1lesscar.com) for his success in creating a great porter crate and having it published in Trek’s new catalog! They’re great and I might have to get myself one with my wooden Cetma rack .

I feel like someone trying to follow a fad but I don’t care. That stuff is useful and I find them to look pretty cool. Call me a hipster, I don’t care.

Anyway, I also have some pretty good news for myself. I received an email today from Eric B. of Bike Pittsburgh (www.bike-pgh.org) asking me if I wanted to help out with a new bike program called PA Walks and Bikes. I would be able to help be a sort of correspondent from here in State College. This is great because it helps me get even deeper into this lovely bike scene I have opened the door to, as well as helping me get good contacts to help me along the way. More information is hopefully coming soon. I’ll keep you posted with everything as it happens.

How’s that for getting back online? Chea. This is fun.

So yeah, check everything out. I need to get back in the know and read up on my bicycling news.

Take care!

New Build Update 8.July.2009

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:

• New wheel set I put a newer front wheel on the bike but a matching pair would be better especially with matching tires…
• New chain Though the existing chain is in pretty decent condition, I don’t want to have to trust it when I’m riding around town, especially with idiot drivers who hate bikers.
• New brake and shifter cables I might even get new break levers and try to go for bar end shifters but the old school look and feel of the respective systems now are keeping me from doing so as of yet.

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!

Random Ramblings 31.August.2008

Really, I don’t believe in gender specific bicycles. Personally, I see it as rider preference. Either you want to “step through” your bike to get on it (hince “step through” bicycles”) or you want a straight bar bicycle if you don’t care about swinging your leg up to get onto the bicycle. I’ve been hearing people talk about this topic lately and I’ve thought the whole conversation to just be stupid and I wanted to express my feelings on the topic since no one likes to listen to me when I talk…

I think I am going to start writing travel log entries as well. These entries are going to provide fun routes around State College, PA, as well as my own mile marker, just for my own curiousity’s sake. Now all I need is a day off so I can actually go on the trips I want to log…but that’s another subject for some other day.

Take care and keep an eye out for Urban Velo’s next magazine issue. I’m excited for it!

Stephen Got A New Bicycle 20.August.2008

So while I was at work one day, my co-worker called to tell me about a cool bicycle he saw. “It has the handlebars you want” which is why he called. He described it as a “Murray” bicycle that apparently sponsored the ‘84 Olympics. Pretty sweet bike I thought…especially for $25.

I told my friend, who told her boyfriend (my bicycle buddy Steve), who bought it.

…and I thought I was the only one to think of this… 19.August.2008

Check out this video: Blindfolded Cyclist Skips Rope

Bicycle Update! 17.August.2008

So here are the pictures I promised of my new bicycle. I can’t wait to finish all of the customization I have planned for it! Right now it’s a Frankenstein with parts from a local bike shop called Freeze Thaw Cycles (www.freezethaw.com). I found this really cool Bianchi bike seat that has an integrated light! It’s bright and has a cool flash pattern. Glad I bought it. Anyway, here are the pictures:

Can’t wait!

Can’t wait!

Can’t wait!

If you don’t visit the Urban Velo website… 26.July.2008

…you’re an idiot; but I digress. This is truly amazing and brings back memories of me doing this kind of stuff when I was younger:

Just thought I’d share the latest news from the Velo.

Go to Urban Velo.org for more news, incites, and fun!

Hello. 20.July.2008

I swear, I won’t create another blog on another site. This place looks like a good steady home.