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Most of the time, for the last 6 years, I ride bicycles with only 1 gear to choose from. My favorite thing about single/fixed riding is that there is very little chain noise. No chain slap. No caught between gears grinding. No derailleur rub. And if I run 1/8" chains (and remember to lubricate them), there is VERY little noise. So when I first saw the Sturmey Archer SX-3 two years ago now(?), I thought I better try one.
A while back now, I had to do some ordering at the bike shop which is not my normal job. This always gets me into trouble because it forces me to look through catalogs and browse distributors web sites. Sure enough, the SX-3 was on special so of course it went right onto the order. Over the next few weeks I collected the rest of the parts for the wheel build and now have a multi-geared fixed gear.
I wanted to keep my Cross Check clean, so I mounted the shifter on the rear rack. It takes a little getting used to, but ended up being very easy to reach back for shifting. I don't plan on shifting a bunch anyways, so the overall outcome is very much to my liking. My first impression is that there is waaaaaay too much play in the hub. I don't have a digital angle finder (I should look for an app), but I estimate my cranks can move back and forth nearly 4 degrees. Doesn't seem like much, but that is 12mm of travel. And it's weird travel too. I am used to having a bit of runout, but there is always tension on the chain. This is free play. A little different and weird.
I also feel like there is a lot of drag in the lowest gear. I spin at a pretty high rate, and I chose a cog that was in stock and it is too high of a gear. This means that I have been riding in the lowest gear most of the time. I feel a lot less drag in the second and third gear. There is very little rolling resistance, but some drag as the gears churn. I am looking to order a larger cog to lower everything down. I think the gearing steps are spaced appropriately, I just hope I can make everything work out to my liking. I am more than likely going to have to change my chainring as well.
So I am playing around with gearing and am going to ride it until the weather turns foul and I have to break out the winter bike. I am fairly certain I can get used to the hub resistance, but I have a feeling the play is what is going to be what keeps it from going back on the bike next year.
This time of year is when I am able to take a little time off from work. We try to celebrate our wedding anniversary by taking various trips often including camping expeditions. This year was our 10th year as an official couple so we stepped it up a touch and went to a Bed & Breakfast near Grand Marais. It was a nice little place, probably not exactly our style of vacation, but a great experience.
One of the most exciting things is that I borrowed my cousin's Nikon D90. I haven't used that nice of a camera, ever, and it was a real treat to shoot. I was amazed how easy it was to operate, but most of my photos show my lack of experience with it. I did manage to come up with this sunset photo right on the bay.
The fall colors were great, but as a rainstorm had blown through a couple days before, a number of leaves were knocked onto the ground. We also had a fair amount of cloud cover and rain. But a great place to get in touch with nature and remind me of how lucky I really am.
I love fall.
We had a quick trip up north to attend my company picnic. We had a super nice cabin on Namekogan Lake. Carrie and I headed up on Sunday to make it to dinner out with most of our staff. Afterwords, there was cribbage until fairly late. As we were "camping", I was up before the sun and wandered down to the water to see the sun start to show.
After some breakfast, Dan and I shot round of golf. Really nice course. A little tricky, as I haven't played much, but beautiful golfing. And with that, it was about time to pack up and come home. Not a single minute on the bicycle. It was a little strange, and I did have a small tang in my brain, telling me to get on the bike, but I don't have any regrets. I am liking the small distance away from the bike.
We have an anniversary weekend planned and I am borrowing a new camera from my cousin. I can hardly wait to try it out and evaluate it for what will hopefully be an upcoming purchase for me.
This morning Dan and I went on a ride with some other industry folk. It was a small group (5 this morning) that do some urban off road riding at various places around the cities. There was a nice mix of a couple cyclocross, couple mountain (one being my 3 speed XO-2), and a 29r. As we had to work at 10, we rode the somewhat off road trails along river road, to Ft Snelling, and then Dan and I turned north while the others sought further adventure.
I don't ride with very many different people and I was reminded of why this morning. Although I didn't have any problems with how these folks rode (a common issue with me), it was the talk of some that bugged me. I have a hard time competing with people as I don't really care how I stack up to others. So it ends up that I listen to a lot of what other people speak at me. And a lot of time, it isn't anything that they should be sharing.
But the riding was great. It was the second time in a couple of weeks that the XO-2 was out and I even received a very nice complement; "I like your bike". No drooling over this or that, just a simple "nice ride" is music to my ears. Thanks Dave.
As I stayed a little late to work on a repair after work, I left the shop around 7 PM. Not moving too fast, after a full days worth of work and a little longer morning commute, I realized that the sun was setting around the time I would be crossing the Hamline pedestrian bridge. I picked up the pace, but was a little late. I was still able to capture some images, and I think this one is the best. I like the way the amazing color is offset by all the industry of cables, towers, and buildings. A little ironic.
Have a great Labor Day. Labor away!! Wait, I guess don't labor. Think about labor. But don't labor over it.
I just ran across this wonderful new product this morning. While I appreciate the use of the White Industries hubs, this is one of the stupidest marketing launches I have seen yet. I suppose for those who want to show off their bike and make it look "cool", this would work. But for a bicycle to be locked up and not worried about, missed. For a bike you can maybe true the wheel without taking the tire tube and rim strip off, missed. Or for general abuse and neglect, missed. They say they are to be strong because they are used for "pro athlete race wheels", which are never a true test for a product. They get ridden hard, but not in real world conditions. Good for selling race wheels, not everyday, round town wheels. True I haven't ridden these wheels, but I guarantee my 32h wheels will last longer.
Just couldn't help myself.
I rarely buy stuff without a little research. But last week I saw a blurb about a new product from Dahon and I decided I should try it right away. Enter the ReeCharge. Peter White has had a product similar to this for a while, but it costs quite a bit more and needed a secondary caching battery to use with a phone and such.
This battery unit is very much self contained. There is a regulator that hooks up to a hub dynamo, and then the battery unit itself. Plug your phone, or mp3 player, or GPS unit, or laptop, or whatever else you wish to charge, and you are good to go. I haven't actually hooked it up to my hub yet, but right away it seems like it is going to be a nice accessory for uber long bike rides.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the ReeCharge came with adapters for a bunch of different electronic devices; Nokia, Samsung, Apple, and then more generic mini USB. Even an EU plug in! The device is super easy with a plug in to charge the battery and a plug to charge your devices. There are some decent covers to keep it somewhat water resistant and the strapping should make it mountable almost anywhere. I'll probably write some more about this after I have used it for a while.
Now I am starting to crave my new Droid I ordered. My current phone is not nearly as power hungry as the new one will be, so it will be interesting to see how this keeps it going. In the meantime, I will use it for as many different devices I have. Not being super into electronic stuff, I am a little limited. But I think I can get the gist.
All of last week was spent working the MS TRAM. It is a ton of fun, getting me out of the shop but still working on bikes, and raises money for a great cause. The days are VERY long and it takes a lot out of me after 5 days of it. This year I came back on Friday and then had to work on Saturday. No time to settle and ease back into normal life.
I then followed that up with riding the Tour de Loren on Sunday. This is an urban century ride 
that one of my customers has put on for the past 7 years. He goes waaaaay over the top, using 2 cars for support vehicles, hosting 3 rest stops, q sheets, t-shirts, and a party after. All just to gather up people he knows to go riding. It is an amazing time. The ride was really stepped up with the addition of a Mavic neutral support car. One of our normal riders couldn't ride due to a broken bone, so he was willing to follow us around all day. I'm not bragging, but I know some very neat people.
So now it is the start of a new week. Back to work and time to start settling down a touch. My basement is overwhelmed with piles everywhere from last week, and there is a lot of work to be done beyond just cleaning.
