One last time

Ok, I'm listing these here one last time, otherwise they're going on the 'bay in a week! I need to raise some cash, everything is negotiable!


BBC custom 29'er with matching S & S couplers and matching Marathon SL fork!

This bike isn't actually new, it just looks that way. I refurbed and repainted it to have as a demo bike.

It's a 21" frame with a 23.75" effective top tube, so it's a big-person bike. I like that it's proportioned basically the same as an 18" 26" wheeled bike, in the pic it's tough to know it's a 29'er.

It's designed to do it all. Currently set up as a singlespeed, but it has a derailleur hanger and full provisions for running gears. Fits nice fat tires, the tires on there are 2.3" Panaracer Rampages!

Pretty sweet build kit on there too, if I do say so myself. Paul's brake and levers, XT spiderless singlespeed cranksetup (with spot ring), super-trick nuke-proof singelspeed wheelset with Velocity Dyad rims, Truvative Team bar and stem, Cane Creek S-6 headset, Raceface post. All the good stuff... If you're one of those folks that like those gear-changing thingy's, I can set it up with gears for you, no problem.

And the paint... It just jumps out at you in the sun light. It's a house of color green pearl over black, looks like a British racing green, but with tons of metalflake to make it pop! Chrome painted in logos and of course a stainless steel headbadge to finish it off. $2600 complete as is! or I'll set it up however you like, or sell as just a frame and fork. That's a complete bike for less than the frame along would cost if you ordered it today! The wheels are for sale too, $350.



This stainless lugged bike is still available too:
It's a 60cm seat-tube x 58 top tube. Sport-touring geometry. 2 degree upslope on top-tube, 43cm chainstays, clearance for huge tires and fenders (currently has 32c tires). Campy Centaur triple build kit with Record wheels and Ultegra long reach brakes. matching lugged stem, all polished stainless lugs, truly stunning. This bike is New, the only riding it's seen are three rides by myself, less than 100 miles total. S & S couplers are polished to match the lugs. If you ordered this bike today, it would cost you about $5000 and have an 18 month wait. I'll do the complete bike for $3300, or the frame, fork, and stem for $2200. Email for more details or pics.

I'm also selling my personal 953 road bike:



This one is a 58cm top-tube, 6 degree sloping top-tube, actual seat-tube length is 55cm due to the sloping top tube. Chainstays are 40.5cm, 73 degree parallel angles. It's pretty much a full-on road racer geometry-wise. It's built up with a full Campy Record 10 carbon kit, Reynolds fork, post, stem and wheels. All top-notch, anyone local is welcome to take it for a spin. Email for more pictures and details. $2500 for the frame, or $4700 complete bike or $4000 without the wheels. It's like new. This is truly a rocket on the road. weighs 16 lbs w/o pedals!


I'm also willing to sell my fully lugged S & S road tandem if anyone is interested:

It's a 58cm x 50cm bike, 30" boom tube, fits a large variety of stoker. Captain's compartment is 58 x 58. Campy Record 9 group with Record wheels, Deep-v rims, TA Zephyr tandem cranks. This bike is as good as a tandem gets. It will be sold with a fresh repaint, in your choice of colors. Great road tandem, good for light touring too. $4000 frame and fork with your choice of paint, or $6000 for the complete bike with your choice of paint! Email for more details and pics if you're serious.

Bob

back to the grind

Well, I'm back in St. Paul and trying to get into the swing of life again. Getting back up to speed in the shop, got 2 frames prepped for paint this week and hope to shoot 'em this weekend.

Spent a while last night rebuilding the rear wheel on the tandem from the plane ride home. I'm amazed, Northwest managed to break spokes in that wheel on both flights. They've been pretty much indestructable on the bike for years, even with 100lbs of gear on it, but give them to Northwest for a few hours and presto....

Got in a nice ride with Billy tonight down at Leb. did a couple laps of the new trails, it's pretty nice. It felt really good to get back out on a bike, it had been almost 2 months since I was on a mtb. sigh... I'm not sure if I'll really do much 'cross racing this year at all, which is remarkable for me. It's my favorite season, but I just haven't had the time to train. Maybe I'll shoot for trying to do the state champs at least.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite images from ireland. Such a bike dork...



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no pics

It was wet today. I don't have time to upload pics at the internet cafe before it closes, so you'll just have to take my word. We rode quite a ways today, back to Kilarney in time to catch a bus. I did a little magic in the bus depot parking lot, packing the tandem up for the ride, got lots of looks as I put the whole thing in it's case.

The 2 hour bus ride up to Limerick ended up being 3:15 minutes! The traffic here at night is horrible.

Found some dinner at a little cellar restaurant. Food was just ok but the music was killer, Bon Jovi greatest hits played all through dinner! I don't know what it is, but it's been really consistent that they love 80's and 90's US pop rock music. everywhere.

They're kicking me out of the internet cafe, write at you later

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finally on a bike

Well, the bike made it and we're out riding the ring of Kerry. This will be a short update as I'm at the local "internet shop" which is the back room of the information center that happened to have a computer... Welcome to Caherciveen Ireland!

The first day of riding was great, sunny and warm. Surprizingly warm! So far the second day has been much more irish. We arrived at our destination soaked to the core. Still not too cold though, so that's nice.

The bike took a beating on the trip over with lots of paint damage and a couple of tubes damaged enough that I'll have to replace them when I get back. But it's still quite functional and seems to be doing alright lugging all our crap around. It feels a bit slower than I thought, but that's mostly due to my lack of riding before we left. I think we have a bit more gear than I figured too, but we're making progress!

That's all for now, but Kate uploaded more pics at her site here

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Well, day 2 in Ireland. We made it safely here, I just wish I could say the same for my luggage (which includes the bike!) Missed our flight in Newark, so somehow in switching to a later flight, my bags didn't get on the plane. As of today, the S & S case with the tandem showed up, but my other bag which has all my clothes (including raingear) and racks, bags, handlebars, etc... is still MIA.

So we're staying in Dublin until that shows, which is fine. We had planned on hanging out in Dublin for a few days, just at the end of the trip instead of the beginning...

So here are a few pics from walking the streets. Pretty overwhelming how many really neat buildings and churches there are here.

Yesterday was pretty typical weather, overcast and rainy. Not great for walking all day without any rain gear, but we managed. Today was spectacular, clear blue skies all day and nice temps in the upper 50's.
Here's a shot over the river Liffey, just looking at the typical buildings.

There are quite a few really impressive churches. Neat to tour, but kind of odd to walk into a church only to find a cash register set-up in the foyer and a full gift shop out in the sanctuary. Everything costs money in Dublin, lots of it!

Today we toured the Guiness Storehouse. The original brewery of Guiness. It was funny walking there because it's a line of people heading there, constantly. Almost all from Europe on "city break". It's a pretty neat tour and grounds, I highly recommend it. It's €15, but you do get a free pint at the end!


Sorry for the bad formatting, my text may not line up with the pics, blogger is terrible for that!


Kate enjoying her pint at the end of the tour, up in the gravity lounge atop the brewery. It's an all glass bar with a 360 view of dublin that spectacular.




A few random pictures from around town below. Lots of colourful (irish spelling) doors to brighten up the otherwise dreary landscape.





The city street has really nice colored glass hatch covers in all the sidewalks. I had to take a couple pics, they're that nice!

change of venue

I need a change. Life has really been stressful this year and I'm long overdue for a vacation. So I'm off. destination: Ireland, Vehicle: bicycle.

I won't be answering emails or phone calls during this time. This is the first time since I started this business that I'm doing that, and I need it! So don't expect calls to be returned for a while, or emails to be answered.

That's an entire tandem minus the handlbars in a single S & S case! Bars, racks, clothes and bags are all in the other duffle. Primed for touring, won't have to stow any hardcases or luggage, it all fits on the bike!

Packing was interesting, but I think it's all there. I'm just under the weight limit on both bags, so hopefully there won't be any issues with checking them.

Anyways, it's late, I've been packing for a long time and I'm ready for bed. write at you later.

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big pink too

Billy, it's time. Big pink 2 is waiting for you, just need to add some tires.

For those that don't know Billy, he only rides pink bikes. He's weird that way. This one has been a long time in the making, mostly waiting for belt drive parts from Spot (which I still don't have). So we just built it up with a chain for now, till I can procure the belt parts.

Pretty darn cool little bike if you ask me, despite the paint! I did a lot of lug shaping to make the sloping top tube work with these long-shen lugs. Had to add about 10 degrees of to each upper lug in order to get the standover he needed.

anyways, I've got a lot more I'd like to get done this weekend, so write at you later.

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post down and out.

Deanwood, I got your seatpost out of your frame, but it's in a couple more pieces than when you brought it to me.
Good news is the frame is fine and ready for a new one.

Next time don't stick a long mtb post in a road frame and leave it there for years!

Good luck to all the kenwoodies and BKB folks up at Chequomegon this weekend. Wish I was up there with you.

If you're like me and stuck in town this weekend you ought to at least come check out the Derailleur show Friday night at the Bedlam Theater. We'll go on about 8:30, and it's a fundraiser, so you can spend guilt-free!

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another day in the right

Made it downtown again today after work, this time just to sight see a little and check out what might be going on the RNC land. Overall, it was pretty quiet. There was a small protest by the Code Pink ladies early on, it looked like a couple of them were arrested (or at least carried away by police) peacefully. I mainly was there to take people pictures, here's some of what I saw (note, there's even a tiny bit of bike content here! click on any picture for big):

Code-pink folks exercising their first amendment rights

This is a typical scene of the protests down there, not riots and tear gas

But the police were ready for riots and tear gas, quite a presence for a few odd protesters

Obvious anarchists here, I ran into Tom and Jen Fitch down there, these two look like trouble to me, check out how Tom's hiding something in his pockets. I'm pretty sure that guy on the bmx bike is part of the scheme too.

There seemed to be a much larger fanatical religious presence today too. They were hanging out by the MSNBC broadcast, I'm sure hoping to get this sign on national TV.

I love the all-encompassing theme of this banner, I wonder if the guy carrying it is included in the "all"?

Code Pink, they sure are everywhere, spreading their message. Props for perseverance.

Don't know what to say about this one, but how can you resist taking a picture

Bike content: saw this sweet recumbent pedicab parked out by Rice park. Didn't get to see it in action though.

Not sure who this is, or who the reporter is, but it was an interesting scene

I had to make sure to ride back home via the river path so that I could get some shots of the fleet that the coast guard brought in to patrol the river. I feel so safe now.

This one is my favorite. I saw these boats running the river Monday but didn't have a camera. I had to chase one down while on my bike to get a good shot of the front and rear guns. Watch out terrorists, we got guys with machine guns on the might Mississippi!

Just walking around downtown you feel a bit unsure of what you're "allowed" to do. There's three cops on every corner all the way across downtown. There's even parked state patrol cars at the freeway exit ramp by my place, which is about 2 miles outside of downtown. Not sure what they're all supposed to be doing though.
The gun boats on the river really do you feel a bit uneasy, especially when your on a bike and trying to photograph them. I could see the crew on one of the boats looking at me through the binoculars, trying to decide if they should wave or shoot me (fortunately they waved).

anyways, next post should have far more bike content. write at you later.

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pinstripe suit convention

So as you may or may not know the Republican National Convention is right here in St. Paul this week. Between Gustav and the RNC you'll be hard pressed to find any other news. Naturally in a very left-leaning twin cities metro area, there are quite a few large protest marches. The first major one being today from the state capitol down the Xcel center. While I'm not a big protester kind of guy, this sort of thing just doesn't happen very often in MN. So when my friend Kate asked if I wanted to go check out the march, I jumped at the chance. It's really sad that pretty much all the news converage focused on the couple of idiots who went out early to break things and make havoc. There were ten's of thousands of people making a great peaceful protest and the few idoits get all the press and make it look like everyone was trying to break windows and damage cars. Sad because that just wasn't the case.

Not a whole lot of bike content here, but I suspect most of my readers tend to lean left and will appreciate some pictures. Thanks to Kate for all the photos! They're roughly in chronological order from the pre-march ralley, then through the march. Click on images to make 'em big.

Nice shirt, there were a lot of good ones.

Homeland security levels finally explained

Iraq. vets for peace

Some dude riding a sweet elephant bike

Gotta love these ladies slogan

Lots of creative costumes

Elephant gittin' it.

Dancing Bush and McCain, hard to beat 'em

protestors of all ages

Bike Builder looking uncomfortable, but rockin' the look.

The march starts, it's truly a sea of people

We though we were in about the middle of the crowd, but later realized we were probably in the front 1/4, there were just a ton of people behind us.

More bike cops than I imagines MN coupld possibly have. All on pretty lame bikes, but all treated us well and with respect. Thanks guys and gals in blue.

The riot cops and "MN peace team" working together. The riot gear really does make these guys look imtimadating.

lots and lots of riot cops. I found it ironic that they were all lined up in front of the Children's Museum main entrance. Watch out kids! I feel sorry for all these people having to be out in all that gear all day in the 90 degree heat.

Click on this one to enlarge and look for all the guys up on the roof of the Xcel

Appearently CNN took over the Eagle St. Grill and literally made it there own. New signage, bus and lots o neon in the windows. odd.

Only tandem I saw, had to lock 'er up to the freedom fence. They put up all this steel fencing to keep people out of the area of the convention.

And finally one really great sign.

I hope to get out more this week just to do some people watching. Hanging out at the Liffey after the march we saw some "unique" people. Can't wait to see more. I'll bring the camera. I'd like to get some shots of the ridiculous coast-guard patrols out on the Mississippi, literally machine guns mounted front and back ready to kill the terrorists! seems like overkill to me, but what do I know.

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