Wheelgirl

Dragon, Broom, Golden Gate Bridge & Chupacabra Bikes

Maybe you change the color of your grips or throw on a new set of bars when you want to give your bike a new look. Jay Broemmel of Cyclecide does quite a bit more to distinguish his ride for the other rides in the bike rack. Check out the photos of the bikes Jay has designed and built. Make sure to watch the YouTube and the dragon's eyes. Also, note that when you squeeze the brake lever, the dragon's mouth shuts.

According to the statement on its site, "Heavy Pedal Cyclecide Bike Rodeo is a club of alter-bike mechanics, mariachi-punk musicians and psychotic clowns who love bikes, beer and building stuff. Together we form a traveling pedal-powered carnival that is fun for people of all ages." 

Go click around on the Cyclecide site, as well as two other sites that feature Jay's bikes, Laughing Squid and Rock the Bike. All three Bay Area bicycle sites have lots of bike-related posts, images, video clips, and creative projects that will make you grin.

Chinese New Year is February 7th. And 2008 is the Year of the Rat. So, bring it on, Bay Area bike artists. Make sure to post links to photos of your transportational creations.

   

Photos lifted from Laughing Squid for the Dragon bike and BikeRodNCustom3 for the Broom bike. Click on the Read about the rare Schwinn bike built for a Wizard of Oz cast member.) Cyclecide for photos of the Golden Gate bike and the Chupacabra bike. (Yes, that is a flame thrower.)

laughing squid to rockthebike
to gizmodo

Salsa Stem Size-O-Matic Helps to Answer Stem Questions

At Interbike, I spoke with Mark in the Salsa booth, since we sell Salsa bikes and components at the shop. And we started talking about the Salsa Size-O-Matic II stem measuring tool kit. The Size-O-Matic II is an adjustable stem tool that you can use for determining a stem length and angle that feels most comfortable for your specific riding position.

To use the Size-O-Matic II, you attach it to your 1 1/8-inch steerer tube on your fork or to a provided 1-inch adapter, which fits in your traditional 1-inch head tube. It comes with shims (inserts of varying widths), so you can attach your current handle bars of 25.4, or 26.0, or 31.8 clamping diameter. By moving the stem fore and aft (back and forth) and incrementally tilting it up and down, you can better determine the length and angle of a handle bar stem that works for you.

For example, some customers with new race bikes are transitioning their older steel race bikes into commuter bikes. For that riding application, they want their handlebars raised higher, and they want to sit up a bit more, so they don't have their heads down in traffic. Other customers feel crunched up in the cockpits of their bikes, and they want a longer stem with a steeper angle, so they can effectively reduce their drag and comfortably stretch out while riding. The Size-O-Matic can give you a better idea of what a change to your current stem's length and angle might mean in terms of performance and comfort.

(FYI: Do not put the Size-O-Matic II on your bike and take a ride; let me say that again, in case I wasn't clear. Don't ride with it. The tool is marked in white print clearly to this effect for those who can't help but think, "Sweet. I am going to put this baby on my bike; take a ride, and really dial in my stem measurements." Remember: It is measuring tool only, not a proper and safe stem.)

First photo by Wheelgirl at Interbike, Vegas 2007. Second photo lifted from the web.

Head Tracking with Wii Remote & Track Bike Racing Game

I've been thinking about Johnny Chung Lee and his presentation, "Head Tracking for Desktop Virtual Reality Displays Using the Wii Remote." I watched Johnny clearly explain the concepts and demonstrate head-tracking with the Wii remote a few days ago. 

Watch the YouTube, and after the concise explanation, at about  2:45 into the video, you'll see what all of the excitement is about. Someday, if the Nintendo Wii game developers start seriously downing some kegs of Red Bull, weekend warriors will be able to sprint the last 200 meters of a Grand Tour flat stage at 45 mph with three dozen pro cyclists trying to box them out. Or you might chose to tear it up in a Six Day track bike race on a track banked to your liking. For those who have no desire to ride Paris Roubaix, it will become more challenging to blow up, burn, shoot, kill, and drive the nouns in your games.

Check out the quick links to Johnny's other projects like the Wii remote whiteboard on johnnylee.net. Click on procrastineering.com to read about more "productive distractions" from the guy with 3 patents, 4 patent applications, a Ph.D from Carnegie Mellon University, and the panache to wear a Krispie Kreme doughnut hat in the photo on his curriculum vitae.

Holiday Music & Light Video Occupies Loved Ones, Gives You Time to Think About Your Next Bike Ride

We all know what happens when families get together for the holidays. You are not allowed to disappear for five hours on a bike ride, and someone gets put in charge of keeping an eye on all of the cousins until it is time to eat. The cousins who are school age are pretty easy to handle. They usually design some sort of game that includes running around the house and yard happily screaming at the top of their lung until it is time to eat or someone gets hurt. The little kids need more attention. They can't really sit still for a whole movie; they don't understand football; the bigger kids don't want them around; and momma is busy catching up with her sisters. All the tiny kids want to do is rewind, at least forty-six times, a short video that fills them with wonder.We at Wheelgirl are here to help. This short video clip will make your holiday babysitting job a piece of pumpkin pie.

My favorite part is between 1:09 and 1:39, where a bit of Christmas mystery really makes itself seen and heard. Click on the YouTube to watch with amazement. The little ones will screech with happiness. And I am pretty sure your great aunts and great uncles will proudly adjust their Santa hats and shake their snow globes to the beat once this video begins to play. The seniors have been listening to Jingle Bells for seventy-to-eighty years, but never have they seen and heard the December song set to a 4th of July fireworks display. Auntie, wearing the reindeer antler headband and the Christmas wreath pin on her sweater might have to wipe a tear of joy away from her eye with one of her candy-cane-themed dish towel.

Best wishes for the holiday season from everyone at Wheelgirl. (More about the guy who made this dazzling display and the song he used after the jump.)

via gizmodo

Grandparents Want You to Buy a $120 EAI Gold Medal Track Cog With Your Christmas Money

OK, a few people have been coming into the shop asking about the Gold Medal track cog by Euro Asia Imports (EAI). I just got off the phone with Steve at EAI, and got the skinny on this world-class cog that is made in Southern California and has been out on the market for about a year. Dave at EAI organized the effort to get these cogs to market. (A bit about the history of EAI after the jump.)

The EAI Gold Medal cog goes one step further than the EAI Super Star cog. This is why national track teams from all over the world are buying the Gold Medal cog from EAI, and you may even see the best track racers in the world riding this cog in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China . The cog is polished; the teeth are refined (by machine), and some hand finishing is done to ensure all is perfect. Then, the Gold Medal cog is coated with titanium nitride (TiN). This TiN coating, which gives the cog its lovely gold color, is used in Formula 1 race car transmissions. The TiN coating is so tough, it doubles the life of the cog and markedly reduces chain friction. (Yes, doubles the life of the cog.) The well-engineered tooth-shape of the cog is designed to be run with a high-quality 1/8th-inch track chain.

The Gold Medal cogs come in 1/8th inch only, with teeth from 13T to 18T. The cog comes in a black pouch, and the msrp is approx $120.  EAI offers a quality black steel EAI cog (msrp approx $36) and the excellent silver steel Super Star cog. The Super Star comes in an orange pouch, and it is a cog on which track riders have won international kieran races. It is polished and has a refined tooth shape. The refined shape of the teeth help to make the chain roll with less resistance. (msrp approx. $60 )

I have the Deluxe and Super Star EAI cogs in the shop, in 1/8th-inch and 3/32nd-inch sizes. Christmas week, I will have some Gold Medal cogs.  So if Granny gives you a holiday card with Frosty the Snowman on it and a big-headed Ben Franklin inside, it may be because she really wants you to have this special cog. Make sure to give her a big hug, and be a good grandchild and let her ride your fixed gear whenever she wants.

 

The EAI Gold Medal, and the EAI Super Star photos taken by Wheelgirl. The EAI Deluxe steel cog photo lifted from the EAI site.

Speedplay Pedals & The Museum of Pedal History at Interbike

I visited the Speedplay booth at Interbike, where I talked with Leo, and he gave me the skinny on Speedplay's line up of pedals. One of my favorite visual treats at Interbike was Speedplay's Museum of Pedal History. (Check out the photos.) If you are new to road biking, Speedplay pedals are the ones that look like lollypops. The double-entry pedal part attached to the crank arm is a small, round disk. The pedal platform and cleat attaches to your cycling shoe.

The Speedplay Zero titanium pedals allow you to either set a zero float, so your foot is in a fixed pedaling position, or you can set a 15-degree micro-adjustable float. The Zero titanium pedals are 82 grams each and the cleats are 52.5 grams each. So a set of pedals weights in at 269 grams or 9.48 ounces. These pedals let you adjust your pedaling position fore and aft (back and forth), side to side, and rotationally. Speedplay has a Road Pedal Comparison tool and Mountain Pedal Comparison chart on their site. You can put in your road pedal and compare it to a Speedplay model or you can compare two Speedplay models. (More info and photos after the jump.)

 

 

Photos of Speedplay pedals lifted from the Speedplay site. Photos of the Speedplay Museum of Pedal History taken by Wheelgirl at Interbike in Vegas 2007.

Protect Your Fixed Gear Frame with Black Tape, Kashimax 5 Gold, or Frame Pads by Reload, Bici Concept, Ugly Pads

Road and mountain bikes have derailleur and brake cables. And these various cables shorten the arc of the handle bars, so the bars can't swing around; smack your top tube; leave a dent, and make you really sad. If you are new to fixed gear riding, you may scratch your top tube from locking up you bike, and that might be fine with you. You might be a messy cat. But not even the messiest of cats wants knowingly to destroy most of the resale value of a track frame by wrecking the paint on purpose and denting the top tube.

So, if you ride a fixed gear bike, one suggestion is to perform a variation of one of these actions: (1) Wrap some scraps of bar tape, cloth tape, or black electrical tape around the top tube right where the bars will make a dent if they make contact, and you can lean the bike on this taped part when you lock it to avoid scratching the paint; (2) Sew your own frame pad; (3) Buy a pricey, minimal, Japanese-made Kashimax Five Gold rubber track frame top tube protector; (4) Have a custom frame pad company make you the frame pad of your skidding and style-filled dreams.

At the shop, we sell the Kashimax top tube protectors, Reload frame pads, and Bici Concept frame pads. The other day, rider Casey came in with an Ugly Pad, which I noticed, since I hadn't seen the Tat fabric pattern before. Frame pads are not super expensive, and make great holiday gifts, but I would recommend giving a friend or family member a gift certificate or accompanying them to the bike shop. It is really hard to know what pattern or color someone is going to like. I am constantly amazed by the color or pattern I think someone will like and the color or pattern they actually buy. You may not want to give an urban  rider the equivalent of a Santa decorating the Christmas tree winter sweater. They may not let their bike wear it. Suggestion: Unless you are psychic, ask or give a gift certificate.

In the following photos, Nic demonstrates the perfectly fine and inexpensive black tape option. Next is the minimal but expensive Kashimax option, and lastly are some frame pad photos lifted from the Reload, Bici Concept, and Ugly Pad sites.

 

Solar Table Let's You Run Laptop Outside

The Sun Table, by Sudia Designs,  is designed to power your laptop and mobile devices while you hang out on your urban balcony or on the patio at your off-the-grid home. Of course, the cost of the solar table versus the cost of running an extension cord carrying electricity from a wall outlet is a consideration. But if you don't have a wall outlet in your off-the-grid home, you can quickly create the option of working remotely via your laptop.

For bike touring, there is not of yet an easy, inexpensive, light, portable solar solution for powering a laptop, so you can work remotely and get paid while you are away from your office building. I know that this does not make sense to people trying to get away from civilization on a bike. But computers never sleep. So, if you work on a project basis in high-tech, you can tour on your bike during the day, do your computer work via stored solar energy at night, and thus, get paid while you bike tour.

I like the idea of the solar table, because it doesn't require me to change my behavior. So, maybe the market for these solar tables are places that already have outdoor tables for working and socializing, like Starbucks, Peets, coffee shops, and outdoor cafes. If this solar table inspires you to come up with a good design which lends itself to bike touring applications, put up a post. Here is the info. on the solar table.

According to Sudia, located in Brooklyn, NY, the Sun Table is made in the USA, weighs 45 lbs, and costs $3600.00. The panel is a 64-watt multicrystalline with triple-junction solar cells. Its construction is unbreakable; it has a polymer encapsulation, and there is no glass. The Sun Table stores "13 amp hours, at 12 volts. That equals 156 Watt/hours in total. Enough to run a laptop for over 3 hours, or a TV for 4 hours." It is not designed to run big kitchen appliances. It takes 3 hours to charge in direct sunlight, and there is a battery meter for the Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) battery, so you can tell when the table needs to be recharged. It is not designed to be used in a rainstorm or submerged. The batteries can be replaced, and almost all of the table can be recycled after its 25-year life expectancy comes to an end.

Sudia Designs Sun Table
Treehugger to
to gizmodo

Make a Holiday Reindeer from Worn Bike Parts and Donate Decent Bike Parts to Trips for Kids

It is time to get your holiday art groove on by taking the broken and worn out bike parts you are holding on to for no reason that anyone but you can understand and making a reindeer.

All you need are some zip ties, a few mugs of hot chocolate, and a sense of humor. If you don't have a sense of humor, ask your friends who do have senses of humor to help you. We don't want the little children having holiday nightmares about one of Santa's troubled and savage attack reindeer. (Post a link to photos of your worn bike part reindeer.)

*Suggestion: While sorting through your old bike parts to make your worn bike part reindeer, you can box up and donate the dated and working bikes parts that you know you are never going to use again to Trips for Kids (TfK). You will help to give a kid the gift of riding a bike.

Photos and Worn Bike Part Reindeer by Wheelgirl.
Parts include black zip ties, rusty bent toe clip, ripped and rusty toe strap, those horrible canti brakes with broken springs that bike mechanics love to hate, seat with bent rail, worn rim, worn and/or broken chain rings, bar tape wrap excess from garbage, black tape excess from aforementioned bar wrap, broken seat clamp for reindeer tail, old exercise bike that was scavenged from a pile of refuse three blocks away and abandoned by the scavenger in front of my home for no known reason. Oh, lucky me!)

First 100-Percent Solar Bus in Australia Can You Take Your Bike?

Adelaide, Australia launched the first totally solar-powered bus yesterday. The bus is named, "Tindo," which is "Sun" in the language of the indigenous Kaurna people. I couldn't tell if there was a bicycle carrying rack on the bus. Combining bus and bike transportation works pretty in the Bay Area. (Adelaide cyclists, post a thought on this.)

The bus was manufactured by Design Line, head-quartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a principal manufacturing facility in Ashbury, New Zealand.  For you gearheads, here is the tech info from the Design Line press release:

"Using solar PV panels supplied by BP Solar, the solar PV system at the new Adelaide Central Bus Station will generate almost 70,000 kilowatt hours of zero carbon emissions electricity each year, making it currently the largest grid-connected system in Adelaide. Much of the funding for the $550,000 solar PV system has been provided by the Adelaide Solar City program, with the Adelaide City Council also committing significant funding. [My note: The city is ponying up over $8 million dollars toward achieving initiatives.]

With an operational range of 200 kilometres between charges under typical urban conditions, the air-conditioned solar electric bus is able to carry 27 passengers, with 25 seated and two wheelchair spaces. The bus uses 11 Swiss-made Zebra sodium/nickel battery modules which give it unprecedented energy storage and operational range."  [My note: Read more about Zebra batteries here and here.]

"The Lord Mayor says the solar PV recharging system and resulting carbon neutrality sets Tindo apart from other electric buses used around the world. 'There are few pure battery electric buses around the world, and most are characterised by being significantly smaller in size than Tindo, and they have a shorter operational range,' he says. 'The Adelaide City Council’s solar electric bus is the only one recharged using 100% solar PV electricity.''"

Photos lifted from the Adelaide City Council site.

adelaidecitycouncil.com to a-new-life-downunder
to autobloggreen.com to ubergizmo.com

Jagwire Ripcord New Colors for 2008 and Swatchalator

At Interbike, I talked with Ketty and Jason at the Jagwire booth. I was on a search for the thick woven BMX compressionless brake housing that I had received from a Jagwire at Sea Otter a few years ago. I didn't find that specific housing, but I did get the scoop on the new 2008 Jagwire Mountain bike Ripcord colors.

You can check out how your bike looks with different colored Jagwire housing by using the Jagwire Swatch-a-lator. It has a photo of a BMC mountain bike, and when you rollover the different colored housing, it superimposes the housing color over the cable housing on the bike photo.

If you want to trick out your mountain bike with some color accents in 2008, the new housing colors are as following:

- Dirt Rag brown (a translucent red brown)
- Red (kind of a cherry red)
- White
- Merida Green (like a bright lime green)
- Other colors available include Black, Ripcord, Expressway, Titanium, XTR Gray, Hi-Tech Gray, Sterling Silver, Pearl Silver, Blue, Hot Pink, Yellow, Maxxis Orange, Gold Medal.

Head Mechanic, Daniel, really likes Jagwire products. The company has been around for over 20 years, and the products, in his experience, are high-quality and mechanic friendly. Since we are a shop, we buy Jagwire cables and housing in bulk. But Jagwire makes do-it-yourself brake and derailleur cable and housing kits for different bicycles and cycling needs.  (Actual contents of the Ripcord kit, other cable and housing kits, and more photos after the jump.)

Photo of the Jagwire Swatch-a-lator lifted from their site, photo of the Ripcord pack taken by Wheelgirl at Interbike in Vegas 2007

Solar LED Christmas Lights Thanks Altoids, IKEA & China

It is getting dark at 5:00 pm, and I have a bike shop signs that needs to be lighted at night during the winter holiday shopping season. So I repositioned a solar garden light ($5) in an Altoids box, cut off and took some pieces from some battery-operated IKEA Glansa LED Christmas lights ($1.98), and made some solar LED Christmas lights that don't require a wall outlet for their power. It was less expensive to modify stuff that had already been manufactured than to start from scratch.

When it is dark, the photo sensor in the solar panel of the solar LED Christmas lights tells the circuit to use stored battery power to turn on the lights. When the sun is shining brightly, the sensor tells the circuit to not turn on the lights, but rather to take the electricity made by the solar panel and store it to a rechargeable battery, so the battery has the powers to run the lights during darkness.

I am sure that others will be able to enhance this design. But for now, I can concentrate on building two sets of Chris King BMX and road bike wheels and avoid dealing with plugs, ladders, hooks, wires, and holiday electrical fires.

The next thing is to make solar window lighting for the Wheelgirl large, store-front windows. You can always make some solar LED Christmas lights to joy up an ugly window in your home. Jump for the instructions and more photos.

Photos taken by Wheelgirl. (The little lights around the Wheelgirl sign are two short strings of solar LED Christmas lights.)

CST Cheng Shin Tires for Fixed Gear and Urban Riding

Many people think of Chen Shin Tire (CST) as a company that makes low-priced budget tires for cyclists who don't require or want to pay for performance tires for their recreational and commuter bicycles. But CST also manufactures tires for Maxxis. And as you probably know, Maxxis is about performance and ride quality.

CST manufactured tires, and other tire companies brand these CST tires with their own logos. But after talking with Trey in the CST booth at Interbike, it is clear that CST is making an effort to promote their own CST brand of bicycle tires.

Trey showed me the CST Czars when I asked about a decent tire at a decent price for the fixed gear riders who are constantly needing to replace their rear tires. According to Trey, he had decent reviews of the tire features from Faster Mustache, who describe themselves on their site as "a diverse group of Atlanta residents with one thing in common: riding bicycles," gave away CST Czar tires as prize items in their annual 24-hour, 13,050-mile urban bike relay, "FM.24.07". And Trey said that they really liked the price and quality of the CST tires.

At the Wheelgirl shop, we sell a bunch of tires.  And I, as well as many customers, have had good experiences with the various models of urban / training / racing tires that CST has manufactured and branded with their own name, as well as the tires that CST manufactures for Maxxis. I like expensive road tires, but you can't spend $100 or more for a set of tires for your urban ride. So, CST (and Maxxis) offer good alternatives for the urban rider who needs a reasonable price point and a decent set of tires. (Jump for post edit details.)

 

First photo of CST tires taken by Wheelgirl at Interbike Vegas 2007.  Faster Mustache FM.24.07 poster

Get Your Holiday Lights On Japanese Bike Decoration Style

You think you've got some Christmas light show going on this holiday season? Think again, my friends.

These tricked-out Dekochari bikes ("decoration" + "bicycle" in Japanese) are pretty much the closest thing to a human-powered Christmas tree light festival on wheels.

Check out the YouTube and the accompanying soundtrack, described on the Pink Tentacle site, as " 'Ichiban-boshi Blues' (sung by Bunta Sugawara and Kinya Aikawa), the theme song from the Torakku Yarou movie series that sparked Japan’s dekotora craze in the ’70s."

 

pink tentacle to gizmodo

Sapim Strong Spoke for Bike Trekkers & Wheel Thrashers

At Interbike this year, Erica in the Sapim booth had a new spoke to show off to the wheel builders. The Strong is a a 2.3 / 2.0 stainless steel spoke that is butted around the "J" bend of the spoke. ("Butting" means it is thicker in certain places.) The Strong spoke primarily intended for people who thrash their wheelsets on downhill, trekking, crazy city riding antics, and mountain biking escapades.

Sapim is a Belgian-based company. Many pro teams ride on their spokes. They have a number of different types of spokes, and you basically look at the weight of the spoke and the fatigue rate of the spoke when deciding which spoke to use in a wheelset dedicated to a certain riding application.

We do a ton of wheel builds with the Sapim Race spokes that we cut and roll with a Phil Wood spoke cutting machine. The Phil Wood spoke cutting machine cold rolls the threads. This means it doesn't cut into the spoke. No shaving come out of the machine. Instead the machine compresses and redistributes the metal. Like if you are rolling our a pie crust. But the pie crust is really a spoke thread.

Sapim makes these special blank spokes especially for the Phil Wood spoke machine. I am looking forward to building a set of bomb-proof wheels with the new Sapim Strong spokes. (More about why the Sapim Phil Wood spokes are special after the jump.)

Diagrams lifted from the Sapim site.

Google's Holiday Gift 2GB USB Drive Better Than Tiny Calendar or Weak Magnet

You will not be receiving a Google-branded teeny tiny calendar that you can't read and/or write on or a refrigerator magnet that is too weak to hold a sheet of paper.

If you are a chosen-on-some-unknown-criteria Google Adsense publisher, this season Google is giving you the holiday gift of portable data, a 2GB USB flash credit card drive. The drive is made by Walltex, which makes water-friendly USB flat credit card drives designed to be stored in wallets. (Photos from Google gifts from 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 after the jump.)

Photo lifted from everythingusb site.

Remember the Pedal Lamborghini? Here is the Buick Bike Car Version

Artist, Michel de Brion, gutted a 1986 Buick Regal, filled it with independent bicycle drivetrains, and got friends to pedal around until the police in Toronto had them towed for posing a danger on the road while what looks to be the Toronto Police bicycle officers look on. (Remember the Lamborghini pedal car post?)

Check it out the slow going video

via gizmodo

But Can Chimp Remember Where Your Cycling Gloves Are?

Check out the videos of the 5-year-old chimp winning a speed number recognition memory test while pitted against college students. The college students and the chimp had the same accuracy scores. But the chimp also won the speed number placement memory test.

The chimp is obviously chewing while kicking butt. I want to know if the co-eds got fed treats for their efforts? And what is that little chimp eating capsule filled with Red Bull and Sports Beans?

Evidently, young chimps and human children have higher recognition abilities, which decline with age in both chimps and humans. So, the chimp is going to compete against some real players soon, other single-digit-aged creatures.

National Geographic to
AP
to gizmodo

Campagnolo Red? Harder Shifting Requested By Pro Cyclists

As Claypole, who posted a comment on the bikeradar.com site, wrote: "Campy Red?".

Evidently, cycling pros requested a different shifting experience from Campagnolo. And Campagnolo answered with the red-labeled QS Ultra 10-speed Record Ergopower levers. Most weekend warriors want lighter shifting. Pro riders wanted stronger springs in the Ergopower levers, so while racing at high speeds, they could immediate feel the chain clunk into the their selected gear.

Um...maybe pick any other color than red next time? I checked out the Record Ergopower levers, and I couldn't find these red-labeled levers on the Campy site (English). Googling around, an post by VeloNews says that the levers will be available to professional cyclists only.

If you are new to the groupset conversation, SRAM came out with its SRAM Red elite racing groupset this year. Red has a big association with another pro cycling groupset supplier. Read the wheelgirl SRAM Red post.)

Photo lifted from the bikeradar site.

Wheels Manufacturing Hates Vegas Loves Colorado

At Interbike, I talked with Dave and Daryl at the Wheels Manufacturing booth. Wheels Manufacturing is pretty clear when it comes to communicating their feelings about the location of the bike show.

I really like Wheels Manufacturing products, as does Daniel, the head mechanic at the shop. We've used lots of their fastener, ferrules, bolts, hub replacement parts, replacement axels. Lots of bearings, spacers, valve extenders. Their stuff is made in the USA and in my experience, always has been well-made and reliable. They make smart, useful bike parts. They are all about the details.

So, the first thing I saw in the booth was a single-speed spacing kit that has a chain guide. Nice. Next, they had a new bearing cartridge measuring guide. So you can pop a bearing cartridge out of a hub or bottom bracket cup, and you can match it to the template to figure out the inner and outer diameters. (Instead of trying to read the teeny tiny numbers on the cartridge. "Does that look like a "5" or a "6" to you?")

Then everyone was looking at the multi-tool with the spare derailleur hanger. Say, you are out in the woods with your WheelsMfg multi-tool and you snap your derailleur hanger. Other mountain bikers might be worried and cry for their mammas. But you would have no worries. Because as you can see in the photos, the side of the multi-tool is actually a cleverly integrated spare derailleur hanger.

I asked if they had a bit, bob, or bracket that we could attach to the brake bolt hole in a steel fork, so we could drop a front brake caliper to allow it to work with 27-inch-wheeled Raleigh, Centurion, and Peugeot fixie conversions. No, was their reply, but they did promise to think about it. (Jump for more on this.)

   

Photos taken by wheelgirl in Vegas at Interbike 2007

Cyclists Who Love to Fall Head Over Heals

I saw this CrimethInc Safety Bike video clip, and it made me smile. You can see the adrenaline of the upside-down unknown turn to joy in the faces of the guys who finally get their bodies to spin with the bike.

via Boing Boing

Bike Frames with Holes: Calfee Spiderweb & Arantix Isotruss

I talked with Steve in the Calfee Design booth at Interbike. I have ridden on a Calfee black bamboo bike. The ride quality is cool. I have not had a chance to ride the Calfee Spiderweb, the one with the frame that looks like, well, spiderwebs made out of carbon fiber strands that have been magically frozen into the form of a road bike frame. The Spiderweb bike frame has lots of holes, and it showcases the unique and unexpected possibility of using carbon fibers to create organic looking bike frames.

Photos by wheelgirl taken in Vegas at Interbike 2007

The new Arantix bike frame is another bike frame with lots of little holes in it. But this bike frame is about repeatable design. Made by Delta 7 Sports, the frame uses carbon fiber and Kevlar, and it joined by carbon lugs. The isotruss design determines the strength-to-weight ratio. (Sorry, but "truss" is a word my brain associated with medical wear for hernia patients.) The big picture of the manufacturing process is that bundles of carbon fiber strands woven and wrapped with Kevlar strings, then the whole thing is baked in an oven. According to the Delta 7 Sport website, the frame uses 1,672 linear feet of carbon, which is roughly about five and a half football fields of fiber. The frame is hand-made by Delta Sport 7 in what appears, from the website, to be Payson, Utah. The frame weight is listed as about 2.7 lbs, which makes it approximately the same weight as titanium frame.

I have no idea how the frame rides. The Arantix Isotruss frames are priced at $6995.00 each. Delta 7 Sport expects to ship frames to dealers in 2008. (Post something if you have taken a demo ride.) My immediate thought is that it will be a nightmare to clean after a day in the mud or on the battlefield. And you better hope you don't fall into anything that smells foul. Because if you think that cleaning the sole of a shoe is difficult, my guess is that you will be the lucky one if the only thing molding inside your frame tubes is the residue from your sports drinks and power candy. (More after the jump about the video and the mention of the Arantix and shrapnel.)

 

Photo lifted from the Delta 7 Sports site.