NYC Journal

I believe Phil is correct that modern rims are superior, but then again rim-brake rims are being phase out because of disc brakes.

I speculate that it might be wise to stockpile some of these modern rim-brake rims before they become scarce and more expensive.

Cal
 
Rim brakes will be around as long as cycling is. Disc brakes may seem like they are taking over but they are the recent exception to the century old rule. Rim brakes are holding steady and not going anywhere. Mavic may not be producing many, nor other big manufacturers, but they still offer plenty for us mere mortals. Disc brakes have only been allowed in CX and road racing for a few years. Most pro riders on the Tour switched either last year or are still riding rim brakes. Don’t listen to the chicken littles out there. The manufacturers know that there is too much existing stock on the ground which will need replacement rims. Cutting them out is losing most of their market.
Plenty of options out there.
In local news, my LBS can’t find their fork thread cutting dies so I continue to wait to finish the Raleigh Mtn Trials. But there is also a Breezer fork out in Colorado waiting to get into a postal vehicle and begin the trip here. Now I need to find a headset…
Phil
 
I decided to keep the Chris King threadless headset in the Breezer and I’ll preload the bearings using a locking nut and a top nut. The King threadless/threaded conversion kit is way too expensive when I can simply use two headset nuts to do the exact same thing. The fork is coming with a stem that I’m 99% sure is a Suntour XC Pro or XC Expert, as it’s a cold-forged two bolt unit with a very nice finish.
Man, I can’t wait to really ride this bike as a full rigid with the proper fork, even down to the Breezer dropouts.

Phil
 
Just got back from Captree State Park. We took a charter on the Fishfinder at 10:00 AM and were fishing by Kismet for 5 hours.

In the early morning was a severe thunderstorm in Westchester, but down on the Great South Bay it was suppose to not rain between 10:00 AM-noon. Ended up being sunny for the most part with a rain squall around 3:00 PM.

Glad I bought my rain gear. Dave out fished me. He even hooked a small Bluefish, but he did not boat it. The size limit is 18 1/2 inches and the bag limit is 4 fish. We caught many shorts, some Sea Robins, and Sea Bass. We ended up having a completion between us for the smallest fish.

Not a crowded boat due to the sketchy weather. Had a great day on the water. I learned a lot from the two sharpie’s that jigged using two hooks with dressy hooks that sported skirts.

I love my new Fenwick World Class rod paired with the Accurate Tern reel. What a sweet combo. I need to strip a bit of line off the reel as it is kinda over spooled with line.

On our way there we stopped at a deli and had egg sandwiches and had hero’s made for lunch. Broke in the new Yeti cooler also.

Cal
 
Cal,
Try going down the rabbit hole of British Commonwealth utility and sports bikes. I think I have 8 or 9 bicycles right now, all used before I owned them, and 5 of them are Commonwealth bikes, Raleighs and Rudges. They tend to be relatively inexpensive, very comfortable, and supremely durable. Before the end of 2023, I’ll have at least 2 more Raleighs in the stable.
Phil
 
Great news is that “Maggie” is now hooked on biking. We went on her first ride in 40 years, nice and slow.

Took a while for her to get familiar with the bike, but eventually things got somewhat intuitive. For me it was a gentile spin in an easy gear to get limber and work on leg speed pushing an easy gear just to pump blood. Know that I tend to push gears and exploit strength rather than spin gears. I’m good at stretching chains, and I’m know to climb hills standing and using my meter body weight to work a bike like a stair master.

The takeaway is I wanted Maggie to feel safe and know her limits, so there was no pressure from me to get speedy or exploit gravity on downhills. She learned to be sensible and to be responsible for being in control. On descents she rode the brakes, but eventually I told her to allow some acceleration and then modulate and control her speed by using judgement as a skill.

I did not beat her up, but she eventually pushed herself. One good takeawy is she seemed to have a good cadence of 90-100 RPM on the cranks and learned not to push big gears. She did experience anaerobic threshold a few times, and we had to stop for her to recover. This was on her and was not me pushing her.

I think she needs to have a bit more upright position, and this might be just about rotating the bars a bit. He rode the hoods to have her hands near the brakes and shifters. She also learned that gears are your friend. She has a 2x9 for 18 speeds.

The section of the Mahopac Empire Trailway was actually some rolling hills which came as a surprise considering early experience on other sections further south that had more of a steady grade. Realize that this is a rails to trail. Many streets were bypassed via underpasses. Not many intersections where you had to cross roads.

I believe a guy like Snarky Joe would motor though in high gear at a high speed. Not many bikers and pedestrians so you have the opportunity to really honk if you want to get mucho speedy.

Kinda funny how now Maggie thinks a mountain bike with lower gears is in the future. Her first real bike is a gravel like bike, and already she is thinking she needs another bike. Her new bike is less than a week old. LOL

Anyways she is in love with her Trek AL-3. The AL-5 has Ultegra drivetrain and is a 2x10. Maybe would have been worth the extra $500.00, but I think the AL-3 is a nice bike and is a great value. A keeper.

Know that to go fast it is best to go slow. Long slow distance vascularizes the body and allows for higher outputs to be sustained. I did not mind just pumping blood and building out my base. I was deeply impressed on how Maggie caught on, but she beat herself up. She basically depleted all the glycogen stored in her muscles and had to walk up some hills. Her granny gear was not low enough to save her.

It was a 2 hour ride…

I rode my Newsboy. Did not want to abuse the old/new IBIS SS Avion because it needs some maintenance (oil the chain, and repack all the bearings). Also have to raise the stem a bit for a more upright position. The bike still is getting dialed in.

I’m tying up some two hook Fluke rigs. I expect going out again on a charter boat again. A totally relaxing day except for having to drive through the Bronx to get to Long Island. Yesterday’s trip was 165 miles round trip in the Audi. I could avoid NYC and actually get a charter boat in Connecticut that would be EX-PZ’er.

I kinda hooked the step-son-in-law into charter boat fishing by taking him out on a boat for his birthday present. We had such a great day dispite some late afternoon rain.

Hmmm. I have a line on an IBIS frame in Maggie’s size, but I don’t like the price for the condition its in. If they price was lower…

I’m considering getting a slow pitch jigging rod. Basically I have two great reels already, but another rod would add versatility by adding in a very specialized rod that could use either reel.

I’m already making up some teaser rigs and I already have some 80 gram SPJ jigs I bought on sale. I need to get some 120 gram jigs for stronger tides. Of course I bought these jigs on sale.

Cal
 
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I have a rabbit who likes to visit our herb garden near out pergola. I happen to see another rabbit today that was kinda big, but he had these oversized ears. He was a bit of a monster. To me he is the old man rabbit.

Did you know that there are 5 parts of the body that continue to grow throughout one’s life? They are your hair, your nails, your ear lobes, your chin, and your nose.

This rabbit has the ears of an old man, meaning oversized. Anyways he is a bit of a freak, and perhaps that is what I will name him.

Also know that I have taken notice of how a hard body is emerging from our fitness routine and the prison work I am doing. My chest and butt are bigger; and my waist is getting smaller as my neighbor’s cheesecake is disappearing. Pleased with the results, but it is slow and steady.

”Maggie” is seeing a transformation in herself. At age 70 she is doing great, but at our age slow and steady is the way to go. No going gonzo.

Cal
 
Last night after working a 6 day week, I got to do a little of mechanical problem solving brain dump.

When I got the Raleigh Mtn Trials, I knew it had a fork bent at the crown race. This only happens in serious sideswipe accidents, so I knew to check the rest of the frame. The head tube and seat tube are in-plane so thats good, but the rear triangle was out of alignment. A month or so ago, I did a cursory alignment and spacing to true my new rear wheel with the Eno eccentric hub. Wheel was centered and dishes according to the chainstays but off to the left at the seatstays. So I put that knowledge in my back pocket and moved on to other things.

Fast forward to last night and I had about an hour of free time to do some serious measurements, string tests and bending of metal. I love telling people that “cold setting” is simply bending metal, but using some tools to measure the amount of deflection. Love it.

I knew that I needed to move the rear triangle to the right at the upper stay bridge, so I stuck an axle spaced to 130mm in the dropouts then set the right rear dropout (right side of the frame) down on a 2x4 and the head tube on a wooden raised portion of the floor in the basement.
I hit the left seat stay a few times with a heavy rubber mallet and measured again; a few more whacks, measure, whack, measure. Back in the stand, a new string test showed the rear triangle was out to the left, and a straightedge showed the stays were almost perfectly aligned in-plane and extremely close to isosceles when using the seat tube as an apex reference point.

Knowing that I had an isolated but aligned rear triangle that was 5mm off to the left, I set the frame back on the floor, this time on the left side, then simply stepped on the seat tube to apply some even downward pressure on the whole frame to move the triangle towards the right.

After a few repeats and measurements, I got the rear triangle aligned within 2mm, which is not enough for me. It’s close enough to ride the bike hands-free but not enough for my perfectionism.

So it hangs in the stand now with 2 strings on it which don’t have the precision I need. I’ll be ordering some 5lb test fishing line to really get this done precisely this week.

Everyone would be surprised how much crude bending goes into the alignment of their bike frames, even from right out of the jig after welding. Heat deforms the tubes and final set needs to be done with rulers, calipers, and “gentle persuasion “.

The fork is ready to be threaded then installed into a Tioga MTB sealed headset (alloy version of the BMX Beartrap).
I don’t yet have the 26 tooth granny ring drilled for 56BCD but that will happen soon enough. I have the original SR FX crankset with 26/36 rings that I may run using a chain tensioner but the whole reason to be crazy about the 4-tooth difference is to avoid a chain tensioner. I need to clean up the roller cam brake and bottle brush out the seat tube again. I’ll patch the paint chips and clean up the burned patch, then blast frame saver throughout and put the whole thing together.

Phil
 
Phil,

Don’t buy fishing line: save your money.

I can send you some 30 pound braid. This line does not stretch like mono, and 30 pound braid is mucho thin.

A stamp is cheap. I also have a reel that is overspooled with 30 pound braid.

Evidently someone pole vaulted on that bike to bend the fork like that. An ugly crash…

Cal
 
Many thanks Cal,
I’ve always used a monofilament line for frame alignment but I’m certainly willing to try some braided.
Last night Bethanne and I were talking about various vacation ideas and one of them is possibly a “working vacation” during which I would attend a frame building school. There are a few in the eastern region and a bunch out west, but the one I’m particularly interested in is located in New Paltz.
This is a fun idea to kick around and save up for. We’ll see.
Phil
 
“Maggie” and I did a day/overnight trip 90 miles away in the Catskills. The overnight part was a bit of a field test of our newly acquired camping gear.

The campsite reservation was performed on Saturday on a day’s notice for our Sunday arrival. To me it was a bit like glamping because we had real bathrooms that were clean, hot running water, and hot showers. Pretty much drive to eat, and the camp was just for sleeping.

The site price was only $22.00 and with tax and fees about $30.00 total. Cheap-cheap-cheap…

We had dinner at the Phoenicia Dinner which is an attraction of sorts. Originally this dinner dates from the 1950’s and was located at Roosevelt Field in Long Island, but in the 1960’s was moved to upstate New York not very far from Woodstock. The food is kinda farm to dinner. I had a Piss-tram-E sandwich with fries.

The coffee is a mild roast that is mucho smooth and is some small roaster that blends coffee in Hudson New York. I mostly drink decaf but on occasion now drink regular coffee on the road. The goal was to explore for further hiking and biking, and the point of interest was to check out this gravel road rails to trails that at one end begins in Woodstock.

I also wanted to visit a fly fishing shop to buy materials, tools and supplies to make my own form of “Bucktail” hooks that will utilize Gamakatsu Octopus hooks that are deadly sharp. In the end this will save me money, and also provide some skill that leads to tying flies and streamers.

Seems like either a number 4 or number 5 fly rod is all I need to fish for Trout in about 90-95% of fisheries in the U.S. I have a number 5 so I am set.

The tent I bought for $39.83 and repaired the tent poles proved to be water tight and mucho easy to set up. The cost of the 3/32 bungee cord was $14.95 for 100 feet, but I have mucho extra for creative projects. At one point it rained hard upstate and we remained high and dry.

The rail-to trail was along part of NYC’s water supply. Nearby the Esopus Creek ran not far away that feeds into the Hudson. This is one of the major confluences where Striped Bass come to spawn chasing Herring up the Hudson that also migrate way up the Hudson to spawn.

Had a hike yesterday, and then another today. Saw the trailhead for the Empire State Trailway also for another day to explore. This morning we had breakfast at the Phoenician Dinner.

Anyways a one-day overnight adventure… Seems like these micro-vacations will be a big part of our lifestyle. The Catskills are only about 90 miles away.

In Woodstock we grabbed some bagels and coffee, and discovered a flea market. I ended up finding a brand new vintage T-shirt of a Rolling Stones tour in Berlin from June 10th 2014. $19.00 cash for a small in my size that I think is a lucky find.

Cheap thrills, but this is a nice retirement. Maggie’s butt hurts from biking Friday. I see a transformation in our skin and our muscle tone. Today is day 24 of our fit lifestyle.

Now we have some travel/adventure possible opportunity. In less than two weeks will be Maggie’s book cover “reveal.” She was sent a mocked up hard cover book with the actual cover. There will be an imprint of the book also with a different cover for England.

How cool would it be to be paid to travel, hike, and bike? We are spreading the seeds for this to happen.

Cal
 
Phil,

My friend Brian, who I know from when I worked in NYC, now lives in Cortlandt Manner. He is a welder who knows MIG and TIG. Not a bad skill to learn. Also I have a 100 amp service in my two car garage. Anyways would be easy for me to learn a new skill, but I already have so much going on.

Mono stretches. For some forms of fishing this stretch is good, but braid provides sensitivity and is so thin that it can cut you pretty badly.

You should dig into the IBIS site. Their history provides great insights. Feed those dreams…

Cal
 
I recently got a book called Adventure Sports: Mountain Biking, By John Olsen, the designer of the Raleigh Mtn Trials and a big proponent of mountain bike design for slower technical riding. Olsen was always the ne pushing the “strange bike” with a big wheel in front for rolling over obstacles, very high bottom bracket, and a small wheel in back to allow the most power in climbing as well as ability to scooth one’s backside right over the rear wheel. In this book are a few Ibis bikes, mostly doing trials work. It’s a fun collection of pictures of old bikes that are now dumpster dives or highly prized trophies. It’s also a manual about mounting biking and a fun read.

I really do want to learn to do fine welding of bike frames as well as brazing, fillet and lugged. Just to say I can.
Phil
 
Phil,

There is a craft that requires time and skill. Realistically a hard way to make a living, but has huge rewards and satisfaction especially when elevated into art. The line between art and craft gets blurry at a certain level.

I find it interesting how modern bikes have evolved, yet I am avoiding disc brakes and 29’ers, although “Maggie’s” Trek AL-3 has disc brakes.

The relationship between Olsen and Scot Nicol I was not aware of, but do you know who was the guy who really started the Mutton Chop building. Could it be likely concurrent development?

If you read how Nicol was just a wild punk kid who hung out with the big boys, then somehow became discovered by the media, then kinda made it big. Then at one point IBIS was sold, run into the ground, and then reclaimed/rebought back.

Rocket Morgage enjoys the same story/history: sold; went bankrupt under new ownership; and than was reclaimed by original owner. Currently I think IBIS is now privately owned by the 5 investors, one being Nicol, who bought back the destroyed company.

Today they make the IBIS XC a carbon fiber cross country race bike (29’er) where the carbon fiber frame is made in the U.S. They are also known for building the best carbon fiber wheel sets for 29’ers. All mucho expensive.

I have to really ask myself do I need a full suspension 29’er for racing? Pretty much I have what I need. Nothing wrong with my old antique bikes. Even my Ti IBIS Mountain Trials is a 1994 pre-V-brake Is almost 30 years old.

When you dig into the IBIS story, unfortunately there is no mention of John Olsen. It is evident that IBIS got it’s lucky break by a trials rider who was very young that was featured on the Johnny Carson Show. BTW it is not uncommon for people like John Olsen to remain under the radar and to be obscure…

Cal
 
Cal,
Olsen was a writer who went by the pen name “Uncle Knobby”. He supposedly started building his own custom bikes in the 60s the way the klunkers were made, but he concentrated on the technical slow finesse over bombing down hills. He took aspects of BMX bikes (notably Monty) and adapted them to geared mountain bikes. I read he was instrumental in assisting on the design of the Cannondale SM500 “mullet” Beast From The East and was building “strange” bikes years before anyone else used them for offroad. He built a crazy technical bike called the Montagna, which was sold out of RE Cycles in Oregon. This bike had the bottom bracket about 3 inches up the down tube to increase clearance. There were supposedly only a hundred or so of those made because another larger company used the Montagna name. This is not to be confused with the KHS Montana which were just respectable normal MTBs.
Did you know that the early REI Novarra Ponderosas are actually designed by Scot Nicol and basically Ibis frames?
Later on, Olsen said that he liked the longer top tubes of the Bridgestone MB-0 and MB-1, then incorporated them into his designs, though kept putting the smaller wheel in the back for strength, power and better control.
As for my “strange” Raleigh, I’m on the fence about keeping the old salmon color. The frame is quite rough but no rust, just awful looking paint chips and a band where the paint burned during extraction of the old seatpost. I may strip it and paint it, even though the idea of a tricked out trash bike is very tempting. The new fork may need to be color matched then distressed to match the trashed frame. Right now the new red paint and F. logo (Fuji maybe?) are distracting and completely out of place.
I can see myself getting that $900 Ibis Mt. Trials which is in my ebay watch list, in the future. If I make it to a frame building school, the first bike I’d weld would be a mullet, probably a steel reproduction of the Cannondale SM500 with some updates and different rear dropouts. Then I’d also want to take a second course in brazing and build a lugged touring frame. If I had all the money in the world, I’d take classes from every frame builder who offers them. Koichi Yamaguchi of 3Rensho offers a class out in Colorado, which would be a dream to complete, along with Doug Fattic’s course up in middle of nowhere Michigan.
It’s a long term goal which I would never intend to make money off of, I dont want to monetize my hobbies, I already ruined photography for myself by doing it for the Navy then for years after. I’m only now wanting to really get back into it only for the love of making the image. Money is just a source of stress and I don’t want stress associated with things that I dive into to relieve stress.
Phil
 
Phil,

A rich life is not about money, but about Freedom and experience.

Scot Nicole did things to survive like for two years he exported frame production to Japan. My steel IBIS comes from that era. I’m happy-happy though that my SS Avion is Made In USA.

Another site for lugged touring bikes is Rene Herse. They also sell frame building supplies, make there own derailleurs and other components. They concentrate on gravel bikes. Credit to Snarky Joe for turning me onto Rene Herse.

The Rene Herse tires are manufactured by Panaracer and made in Japan. I love these tires because the have mucho low rolling resistance and provide Cush because they offer wide widths. I’m so glad they offer tires in 26 inch diameter.

Cal
 
“Maggie” had to organize the photo credits. Pretty soon another part of her advance is expected. She pretty much now/already has GAS for a mountain bike. Now she is a bike bitch. LOL.

Did some prison work shoveling crushed bluestone gravel and dump carting it into the gravel pad I’m building between the two cedar sheds. I perhaps have about a half yard of gravel in my driveway, but that means I already moved 5 1/2 cubic yards of gravel, plus about 6 cubic yards of clay.

Pretty much a long strength workout before the rain started at 3:00 PM. Enough for today.

Mike the Skinny Hipster will be coming up for a visit Friday or Saturday. This guy is a wack-job on a track bike. All kinds of stories like clipped into the pedals on a fixed gear with no freewheel coming down a long descent doing over 50 MPH and the bike starting to resonate and becoming unglued. Luckily no crash, but almost.

Although he makes a living as a fashion photographer, he is like a surfer in that he lives to ride his bike.

I am a bit hammered from the prison work. Time for a shower…

Cal
 
Cal, send the seller with that XS Ibis Avion SS an offer. Maybe mention that you got a low mileage, excellent condition Avion SS 17” (desirable size) for a low price (of course you got the whole bike too, all original). Maybe $250 for a starting offer or $300 if you think it’s worth it.
You might also look at some of the 24” wheeled options out there, especially by Terry.

The Breezer fork, headset top nut, and stem arrived and the fork is VERY light. Tange Prestige tubing with Breezer dropouts. This is going to be a nice ride.
The NOS Avocet titanium rail saddle arrived today and it is going to be a nice set off to the pink and red frameset. I have some matching yellow compression-less brake housing on the way, which will match how the bike originally looked. I’m thinking of stripping the frame and painting it Ferrari red to match the fork, but I’d use high temp epoxy paint, like engine enamel. That stuff is designed to go straight on bare metal and is tough as a coffin nail. We’ll see how impatient I get. It will definitely be easier, and possibly cooler riding a “dumpster bike”.
Phil
 
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