The road bike was finally completed. A nice comfortable road bike. Solid. A note on seat tube angle. Some will instantly comment on the 71 degree seat tube angle on this frame. This frame was designed for use with a 0mm offset seatpost. Using a traditional 25mm offset post would have resulted in a 73 … Read more
On my holiday Europe trip and skating around Paris on Christmas Day, I ended up at the base of the Eiffel Tower with it a bit too crowded to hike up the stairs to the top as I had planned. I was chilling out on the Pont d’lena Bridge across from the tower watching people … Read more
While in Paris, France recently (xmas eve, 2012) and skating up the Avenue des Champs-Élysées toward the Arc de Triomphe, I came across the Toyota concept store. This is one of the most important retail locations on earth so this store is selling the brand ‘Toyota’, not specific cars. They set up their own little museum culminating with their hybrid technology ala Prius and … Read more
“I can make a streetfighter out of anything!” That was the title of a post made by some internet clown in the BARF-Garage forum a few years a go. It really stuck out as the whole “streetfighter” thing was in full bloom around then. Essentially, this guy had ‘invested’ in a $3.60 hack saw and figured … Read more
I found someone’s old Nikon Coolpix P2 while cleaning up the other day. It was missing a battery and charger that would have been far to expensive to replace on an old camera that I didn’t even need. What to do……? HACK! Hacking into something for fun is a great way to learn. You learn how to … Read more
I’m not a great photographer. I don’t really claim to be. I use photos to document what I see. This means I need to keep a camera close by. Camera phones are a nice tool for folks, but a real camera high resolution (18MP APS-C) and interchangable lenses is irreplaceable. The help with this I’ve … Read more
Daniel needed a nice adapter for his fancy new bike. He’s running fixed LSD with Profile type cranks. Needed adapters to the PF30 we built into his frame. Simple stuff and problem solved. On most bikes these adapters could have been made of delrin. The issue is that Daniel does a bit of crank and … Read more
Over the years, I’ve had the luck of being able to meet, know, and work with some of the best people in the hand-built bicycle industry. It’s very cool being able to talk with peers about how they see the bicycle and what they want to do with it. I hope to be able to … Read more
Daniel came by the shop today with a nice little job. He’s starting to build up the fixxie freestyle frame he built in the shop. He needed a left side drive 135mm spaced fixed hub with 14mm axle for pegs. Not the easiest thing to find. It would be even nicer if it had a … Read more
I’ve been putting off a new camera purchase for a few years. When my last ‘point and shoot’ died, I was left with my Canon 40D DSLR and a camera phone. I love the 40D but it’s really not fun to have with me all the time. Also, it’s pretty dated compared to even the … Read more
I made this handy tool a while back. A Spreader Bar. It works very well. This bar was intended for hanging from the ceiling and suspending from or in-line on the ground connecting hands and feet. It’s a little long for some uses but will cover a very many. It’s 5 feet long, only weighs … Read more
This month, I’ve broken two Shimano XT cassettes (11-32, CS-M771-10-bL). The smaller cog carrier, #Y1YR98040 (18,20,22), has failed in exactly the same way both times. This is something that is very rarely seen and even rarer to see it the same way so soon for one person. This is certain to be an engineering or manufacturing … Read more
Geeking out on camera stuff lately. An interesting project is the quality Canon EOS pinhole lens. I’ve got it completely engineered and the hard parts solved. I just need to get up off my butt and make it. It’s funny how some simple projects sit. Maybe posting this will spike some interest. Designed around 34mm EF-S … Read more
Healing up from my wrist injury last September has been quite a journey. It’s been very discouraging but giving the situation I’m glad that I got out the way I did. Things could have been much worse and I am grateful. Still, I miss cycling well. The past month has seen a bit of improvement … Read more
The other day, I was having a conversation via Facebook with an old friend, Dave. We were talking about something having to do with his new bicycle. This and that. At some point, he flashes a picture on the message saying “Hey! look.” I was blown away. A world from so long ago… It was … Read more
The box. People talk about it. They talk about being outside it. It seems that they often fail to even understand the box or it’s bounds. Usually, those claiming to be outside of it are firmly planted deep in the darkest depths of the box. I try to always keep my work inside the box. … Read more
I had a little sewing party in my kitchen on Friday night. I had two things to do; fix the strap on my messenger bag and make a neat dog leash thing. I was derailed from completing the strap as my ‘unsticher’ tool broke. So I put more energy into the leash. It was to … Read more
I just changed out my insanly worn out tire from my 2001 Honda Reflex 250 scooter. It’s such an amazing commuting machine. I had to get it back up and running asap. Nothing can really match this thing for the job it does. I could live without my motorcycle but not my scooter. I decided … Read more
My friend Donald Reni has a problem. He owns a Bridgestone bicycle. Other than that, he’s got another problem. This is supposed to be a shit bike. A shit bike is what I call a bicycle that you can ride and lock up around the city worry free. It’s not fancy, it’s not worth much, … Read more
Thanks to Sean Walling at Soulcraft and Una Pizza Napoletana, San Francisco has it’s own custom bicycle show. For the second year, I figured that I would spend my time looking at the people. Those photos are posted on my Facebook page so folks can share more easily. Two bikes stood out from the … Read more
Shimano has recently issued the new Zee line of parts. Essentially, Zee is just SLX for downhill and gravity bikes. Zee is a very nice line of parts and essentially makes up for the problems with the Saint line of parts – cost and weight. Don’t get me wrong. Saint is awesome. I use many … Read more
This post was inspired by a conversation that I had the other day when I bumped into my friend Cameron Falconer at Java Hut in Fairfax prior to the each of us leaving on a ride. I was on my neat Firefly 29″ bike and he was on his road bike. Somehow the discussion of gearing … Read more
To manage all the gear that goes to the range when I’m shooting, I finally broke down and bought a proper range bag. I searched around and found that one of the most recommended bags is in fact one of the cheapest. The MidwayUSA Competition Range Bag ($44.99, #259680). I got one. It’s a fantastic … Read more
Here’s a cool thing. I was having a discussion with Chris Ioakimedes this past Sunday. He had a tube in his pocket, still in the box. It turned out that we both usually leave them in the box so that they don’t get damaged. It seemed like such a bulky awkward way of dealing with this issue. … Read more
When I talk about a long skateboard, I’m usually talking about something very different from what most people are talking about these days. Let me first make a clarification. There is a longboard that is used in real skateboard racing, downhill and slalom. I’m not talking about competitive skateboards used in these specific racing … Read more
Here’s something fun. Looking into making this little project. An odd form of bling. What is it? The guessing will begin!
Not really, just some fine tuning. This is my first real “cuttin’ metal” modification to my AR-15 platform. I’m playing with the stock trigger mechanism trying to make it work well. Similar to my work with motorcycles, I’m trying to focus on modifications and cash outlays that actually make a difference and return on the … Read more
The 2012 Rock Shox SID RLT on my new 29″ mountain bike needs tuning. Because of my injured hand, I’m really not hitting the front end as hard as usual and it’s resulting in a ride that is too harsh and not using all of the travel. I’m going to change the oil in it to a … Read more
The goal of putting this gun together was to ease my way into the AR-15 system while having a rifle that would be cheap to shoot a lot and usable at the local indoor range. A 22LR system is obviously the way to go here. I also wanted to keep the gun light as I … Read more
Blitzschnell means “very quick” or “like lightning” in German. That’s a perfect descriptor for this modification that I’m making to my Ruger 77/22 22LR bolt action rifle. I’m replacing the stock striker spring with a Wolff Blitzschnell Striker Spring (23lbs vs 19lb stock). It’s part of the #30375 Rifle Performance Pack. The goal in replacing … Read more