A. Homer Hilsen

As the result of an epic act of generosity, I am now the owner of a Rivendell A. Homer Hilsen. The previous owner is a fantastic guy who I believe would be embarrassed if I mentioned him by name, so I won't, but I again want to relay my appreciation.

Unfortunately this beautiful frame is too big for me. Its a 65cm with a 35 inch standover height. I normally ride a 56-58cm. I tried to persuade myself that I could deal with a frame this size but eventually reality took hold after many minutes spent standing on my toes to straddle the top tube. Rivendell advocates going with a larger size frame than most companies but this frame is outside of their guidlines. I stripped the parts from the frame and cleaned it up. My plan is to sell it and replace it with another Rivendell frameset in my size. I kind of like the Sam Hillborne despite the sloping top tube. I've always liked Rivendell frames but never thought that I would actually own one.

Random Stuff 05-04-09

Here's a few random things I've run across over the last few days:

Mike Giant: Thanks to Inside the Rock Poster Frame (IRPF) for posting this incredible design by artist Mike Giant. Giant draws his stuff by hand with a Sharpie. According to IRPF this is going to be released as a limited edition poster by Cinelli. 

Violet Crown Cycles: There's a new bike builder in Austin, it's Violet Crown Cycles. They are building cutom fit city bikes built up with some very nice stuff from Velo-Orange.

Betty Foy: I've got a soft spot for mixtes. This is a Betty Foy by Rivendell. You can take a look at this one over at Velo Fellow.

Another Betty Foy at Let's Go Ride a Bike.

Asbestos Press: This is my latest Etsy purchase. It's a screenprinted poster by Asbestos Press. Laura, the artist, told me that the poster was made from a photo of her 59 Hawthorne cruiser. Pretty cool! Most of her posters are very affordable at around $10 each. 

Saturday Evening Ride 03-07-09

Another nice ride for me and my son this evening. We rode to the new southern terminus of the Trinity Trails system in Benbrook. The Trucker seems to have developed a ticking sound near the crankset. I'm not sure what it is, it could be the pedals. It only happens when there is force applied to the drivetrain. It's not there when I spin the pedals while the bike is on the stand. Whatever it is it's driving me crazy!

I've decided to go back to using a Wald basket up front. I really like the look of the Ostrich bag but for me a basket is the best all around setup. The biggest drawback to the Ostrich bag becomes apparent when I'm off the bike. The bag comes with a narrow matching shoulder strap but it's a little awkward carrying something that boxy around with you in a store. I prefer to carry a shoulder bag (it's a very manly shoulder bag) in the basket. It's quicker to just remove the shoulder bag from the basket when I stop and the wide shoulder strap is much more comfortable. I will be selling my Ostrich bag and decaleur if anybody is interested.

The end of the line. It looks like trail construction will continue across the street sometime in the future. 

Here's my 12 year old standing near a newly constructed bridge. Whoever did the construction on this section of the trail did an excellent job.

This is the smaller of the two Wald baskets that Rivendell sells. It's just right for my needs.

Another sign of spring. I don't know what these trees are but they are everywhere.

Taking a few flowers home for mom.

What A Pain!

I couldn't stand it any longer, I had to install my Albatross bars. It seemed like a fairly straightforward job, remove the brakes and bar end shifters from my drop bars and re-install them on my new bars. Nothing too difficult and by doing the work myself I figured I would save some money. A few minutes later I had snapped the bolt that expands the mechanism in the bar end and I had damaged some of the soft metal on the shifter when I struggled to remove the remaining portion from inside the handlebar. After a little work with the Dremmel tool I may have salvaged the shifter. Of course now I wished I had waited till Monday and taken my bike to the shop.

Heres where the part snapped.

If the shifter is still workable I may buy a pair of Paul's Thumbies. If the shifters no good I'll either go with downtube shifters or buy a pair of these cheap ($13) thumb shifters from Rivendell. Now I remember why I pay people to work on my bikes.

Evening Ride 10-28-08

I enjoyed the cool weather yesterday evening as I took a quick ride to one of the nicer shopping centers in town on University Drive just north of the river. I rolled up to Starbucks for a cup of coffee and relaxed for a while. Unfortunately there really aren't many decent coffeehouses in Fort Worth so the choice is usually limited to Starbucks or Panera.

I've been living with the Ostrich bag for several weeks. It is a well constructed bag and I load it full of extra gear on every ride. It is a little awkward to carry the bag off the bike. The large square shape and short shoulder strap are the culprits. I've been meaning to search the local military surplass stores for a matching replacement strap, something wider and much longer would help greatly. I am considering buying a Wald basket from Rivendell and zip tying it to my Nitto rack. I would still use the Ostrich bag but for everyday riding, but I think a basket and my old canvas military shoulder bag would be more practical. Plus I could carry my SLR camera along with my usual load of junk. I've been limited to using my compact camera and it runs through batteries at an amazing rate.

Speaking of baskets, I read in this month's Bicycling magazine that the basket on the Gary Fisher Simple City bikes will be available as an aftermarket item. I think they are good looking baskets and with five attachment points they should be nice and sturdy. I haven't found a price for them yet.

Clipless or Platform

I ditched my Time mountain bike pedals a while back after developing some knee pain. I haven't missed them at all and I really don't know if I'll ever go back. I've been reading a discussion about this topic in the Surly LHT (Long Haul Trucker) Group. Apparently this discussion was started because of an article called "The Shoes Ruse" on the Rivendell web site. If you're familiar with Rivendell, I don't think you'll have to read the article to know which way they lean.