Cool things on RAGBRAI:

You baggers. You guys rock.  Thanks for the water, whoever that bagger who had the house that was on Old Highway 92. I'm bad with names and insecure at times.  I was off the course and out of water and was worrying I was going to have to go to a muddy stream, when your little oasis popped up. 

Those so utterly physically conditioned baggers hauling rigs that had to be much heavier than what I was carrying, and passing me effortlessly.   The smiles and nods, that I got from you baggers on the days I rode.  

You definitely give me something to look up and aspire to. 

Down Trails and shaded glens

I've been riding, just kind of low key instead of outright hyper on the bike culture-thing like I was last year.

Zwartehond, my Workcycles / Azor   Kruisframe/Pastoorfietsen has some updates, after correspondence and business with Henry Cutler.  Gone is the ridiculously heavy and complex Nexus 8.  Instead mounted is a SRAM automatix, a 2 speed hub that jumps from 100% direct drive to 131% or so, once the rear wheel is spinning around 11mph.  The Automatix also features a coaster brake, and is not particularly heavier or larger than the stock standard Shimano CB110 coaster hub.  Supposedly the Automatix is based on the older Fichtel and Sachs, and is generally designed to last forever.  I'm liking the simplicity.

The crank went down to 38T and I upped the rear sprocket to 23, so everything is nice and easy to pedal at in the 100%.  Front nexus rollerbrake is retained.  I added a Travel Agent to use more classy looking Velo-Orange levers.  Grips changed for coke-bottle. Crane bell added.

Gotta be about 10lbs lighter at least. Also removed the cafe-lock, as I don't operate in a particularly high crime area. I can use the cable, or U-lock or even still attach the cafe lock, depending on circumstance required.

I took the trail north for 40 miles last Sunday, to check my endurance. Of this only 1/3rd of the total 83 miles was paved.  Gravel, or even just grassed double-track got old pretty quickly.   Lots of food, lots of fluid.  My butt was sore, by the end of the ride, and I courted bonk at one point.  My Garmin GPS said I burnt 3311 calories.  Yow!

I originally intended on taking my new bike, a Virtue "Ortho" on Ragbrai, based on the assumption I'd lose lots of weight this summer, getting back down to a trim 135-140.   Yeah, didn't happen.  Still 190ish.  So Zwartehond it is, self-supported.  To increase cargo carrying, I purchased a Carradice Nelson Long Flap, and moved it to the aft position, moving the Carradice College up front.

This bridge could probably still carry a model-T, which was the car en vogue when it was built. Nowadays...

Carrying the bare minumums, Tent, Amana 6pt wool blanket, waxed chore coat, camera, film, tool kit, 2 pairs Wool knickers and Linen shirts, stockings. few toiletries, lights, a book and a sketch book, opinel, some soft canteens, powdered lemon, sugar, a good book, and whatever ad-hoc snacks I score en route.

'Was initially planning on doing the whole week of Ragbrai, but driving all the way out to Council Bluffs, and then suffering an 85 mile 4000ft climb day in the sun-blasted west prairie seems more like an exercise in masochism.   So I'm just going to pick it up in much closer Des Moines, and ride the remaining 4ish days.

 Hopefully I won't get completely zoned out, while being surrounded  in the sea of lyrca.

One of the things that bugs me about Ragbrai, is that the course hours are generally 6am to 6pm. 6am is fine-  but in July, in the midwest, it is essentially still light to 9:00pm and typically cooler in the evening.  Seems like they should be encouraging mid-day siestas and evening riding.  Oh-well.

Tweed Ride?

2nd annual Iowa City Tweed Ride.  Okay, basic summary:

Enjoyable meet and greet with old bicycles at the beginning, dissolves rapidly into biking 2 miles to a bar, then to a park (for more alcohol), to another bar etc.  So actually not much of a ride.  I bailed out right at the point that intoxicated riders began to find it funny to walk around in their undergarments.

I mean I don't have a problem with a pint or two of a stout, I mean liquid carbs? Yes. But decorum and excess and all that.

Rode to a nice used book store. Riding in Iowa City is so fun. Traffic is calm and always neat places to ride.

I eventually finagled the pigeon back into the car and drove the hour or so back home. Having to basically re-tweak the front rod brakes every time the front wheel is removed to fit the thing in the car, that's a real hassle. If it wasn't 50 miles down and back on shoulderless 55mph byways I would've just rode it.

Then the next day I took the Pigeon and rode 40 miles out into the country. Much more enjoyable. I need to start packing actual nutrition, as I got a little ragged at the end.

met an otter at his creek. 

Still around

I kind of switched over to using film cameras again, and the downside of that is, that I barely managed to use up a single roll of film in three months- and then because I want to bundle development and scan to CD costs together... etc.  

Good stuff:   Another new bike, details soon.  The weather is now warm enough to ride in, without worrying about sweating then freezing to death. Layer management is such a pain.  My commuting was hurt by the excessively snowy winter and lethargy, but in the past month, I've managed lots of bike commuting and two 40 mile rides.  Both of which were informative in the 'what did we learn' sort of way.  

More regular type updates and some reviews soon!

New Years Resolutions...

PIGEONWOBBLE.GIF

And then the sun came out and melted all the snow away, long enough to turn the trails into a muddy morass,  before the temperatures dropped back down into the single digits, freezing ruts, footprints, and what snow-ice remained into hard ugly stuff.  But dry ugly stuff, and that's conditions enough for the Pigeon to come out of  hibernation and get me to work.  Single speed still feels achingly more efficient and connected than any of  my hub gear bikes.

I was gifted a Garmin Edge 200 GPS bike computer for the holidays, and I love it. No wires or anything, just turn it on, and it picks up the satellites in 10 seconds, and provides climb, average speed, speed, odometer, all of that stuff. It came with two mounts, so I can just stick it on whichever bike, or even just keep it in my pocket, as I ride, so the miles add up.  I really just care about the odometer...

So my resolution is try and do 1000 miles before RAGBRAI.  And hopefully if conditions permit, to attend that ride, and bike across the merry land of Iowa, self supported. (excepting water and food of course)  This shouldn't be too hard.

Last year, my resolution was to do 500 miles.  I picked 500 because it seemed big and impressive but not unobtainable. I honestly had no idea just how much riding I would be doing, I had only gotten a simple wired cateye computer on the Felt, and had put 124 miles on it before January 2012.   I rode 2012 with the Cateye only on the Felt, and missed counting any of my Flying Pigeon or Kruisframe miles.  I made 624 miles on the Felt alone by August or so.  On the Pigeon and Kruisframe, I made five or six 50+ mile trips, and lots more regular commuting.  So I'm thinking I probably ended up towards 1500 miles, casually.

I just want to make sure I can string 80 mile days back to back and enjoy myself.  Pack light and just go. 

Snow Studded Commute

Thursday morning I was greeted with the fact that my car wasn't starting, probably ice in the fuel lines or similar.  I dashed back into the house, and changed my clothing entirely to wool, pulled out the Felt and rode into work, braving the ice and snow again.

This really got me interested in studded bicycle tires, particularly since some of the commute had me going down streets that consisted of nothing but compacted sheet ice, two inches thick. Scary.

I checked my LBSs prices on studded tires, then checked Amazon's. There was a not discountable difference, I could get them for half the price from Niagra Cycles. (before shipping).  But my LBS is 200 yards from my workplace, and I could get the tires and have them put on the bike over lunch.  That was just too convenient.

Local Bike Shop for the win. I rode up, and of course being the middle of winter, they had no shop backlog, had the tires, and were able to put them on in about 20 minutes -  the time it took for me to eat lunch at the McDonalds across the street.  (yech)

The 45North Polara tires immediately turned even the worst offending sheet ice into entirely manageable surfaces, and improved purchase in snow and mush additionally. When I would skid or break one of the wheels loose, the rate of slipping was consistent and easy to counter. It made a hilarious difference. So much so that rather than carpool on Friday, I biked to work again.  The rolling resistance is maybe 15-20% higher, but heck that's just exercise.

All of this also has me extremely enamored of my Felt Cafe 3 again.  Light, simple and versatile. What a great catch-all bike.

Cable-tie snow chains.

... somewhere on the web I saw this technique of banding bicycle tires with cable ties / zip ties, to provide extra friction and control-ability in snow and ice.   I believe the practice started in the Pacific Northwest, but I'm not positive.  

I decided to try this out on the rear wheel of my Felt3, starting Christmas Eve. When I got back home after a short 5 mile circuit, I noticed I was short a few cable ties.   Well today I commuted by bike, and ended up picking up most of the cable-ties I shed on Christmas Eve.  Don't want to litter, and all that.   By the time I was at work, I had shed all but three or four out of 30 something.

Upon examination of the broken cable ties, they had failed not at the zip-locking mechanism, but had snapped clean in the center of their bands, where they were being overridden by the tire itself.

Seems that while cable ties might stand up to the somewhat warmer winters of the PacNW,  the plastic becomes embrittled quickly in the 10F and below temperatures of the north-central midwest.  Ping!

I haven't really noticed a degradation in performance without the ties. The bike handles about as well as you'd expect on stretches of compressed snow or compacted ice sheet. Which is to say, marginal. :)

Snow Bike Lantern

snowy woods

This was actually my first time riding in the snow, but it was quite fine. I've been a little lazy in getting up early enough to commute by bike into work. I decided to course the trails on Christmas Eve. Temperatures was around 11F or so.  Merino thermals, denim overalls,  key shirt, wool sweater, amana wool scarf, wool earflap cap, wool gloves, and the waxed pointer chore coat.  Hiking boots, wool socks.  Stayed plenty warm.   

The Felt Cafe3 makes a pretty good snow bike. Nexus 3 IGH with coaster brake, keeps the drivetrain closed up and simple, no packing snow into derailleurs.  The other plus, is the aluminum frame sidesteps corrosion concerns.    One nice thing about living on the frigid plains, is that when we do get snow, it is dry and powdery, while you do get thick drifts, it generally is only lightly covering regular flat surfaces, and consequently does not get too deep.  With close fitting fenders, V brakes, and tight fits at the seat and chain-stays, this bike would not well tolerate a thick wet lake-effect snow.   Aluminum also makes it easy to portage over deep drifts. Cyclo-cross style.   This would be awkward with the Flying Pigeon, or all but impossible with the Kruisframe. 

Once I got off the streets and onto the trail, I turned off all the blinkies, Cygolight, and lit my dietz kerosine lantern. This is one of the cold-blast models and produces a suprising amount of light. It is easy to grip both the lamp and the handlebars with enough 'give' to prevent the lamp from being overly-jostled. 

I then cycled the upper length of the trail, making the rounds, lighting the snowy woods, and the crunch of snow underneath the tires.  Very fun!   Hopefully everyone is having a good holiday season! 

Persistence of Pigeon

Just sort of touching base, but I continue to ride my PA-02 Flying Pigeon more than my other bicycles, and the more I do, the more I am aware of  how oddly "right" it feels.  I was considering putting on a three speed IGH hub in the back, but now I'm not so sure. According to Sheldon Brown's Gear inch calculator, I'm running around 56" and basically I climb on the bike and go.  My daily commute features a few gradual hills, and one steep 20% grade climb 50 feet up onto a former railroad embankment.   I'm not out of the seat for this.

Sunflowers from the backyard - back in September. Actually this is kind of neat:   They were last planted three years ago.  Now the chipmunks have them coming up all over the place. 

Admittedly I top out at a pokey 13mph, at a comfortable spin, but on the miles of crushed limestone trails, and suburban back streets this speed feels entirely fine.  The responsiveness of the single speed drive train is terrific. Or, maybe it just feels natural?   In comparison, the Nexus Inter 3 on my Felt Cafe, and Nexus 8 on my Workcycles/Azor Kruisframe feel lethargic, disconnected and full of friction.

When I got the Pigeon, I repacked the wheel bearings out of curiosity of the process when I was assembling, it, and waiting for other parts to arrive. I also later upgraded to the 20 tooth 3 pawl BMX freewheel.  Now the wheel is tight in the stays and on the bearings, no slop - but I can spin it with one stroke by hand, and it keeps going for almost a minute Neither of my IGH bikes can do this.

There is some sort of mystic British Raleigh Perfection here even when executed as a Chinese knockoff.

Not that the Pigeon is entirely trouble free - Yesterday evening, before my ride home I checked the crank tightness, and found that the cotter on one was  a bit loose and notchy. (I had dismissed it as the slightly crummy MKS 3000 pedals)   I rode it home carefully and then hammered the cotter in with a few good whacks, seating it further and tightened the cotter nut. Problem solved.  Also, I finally found 5mm hex head screws to replace the nearly stripped originals for the rod-brake clips at the local hardware store.

So I'm thinking about simplifying the Kruisframe a good bit, maybe try the very efficient SRAM automatix 2 speed hub on it, strip the bike down a little bit.

It is interesting, how perceptions change with experience.  I was thinking about getting a 10 speed-ish road bike next year, possibly to do Ragbrai with, and then a few months later, I was thinking about just 3 speeding it with a front derailleur and Paul Melvin tensioner...     now I'm realizing that I can just go all day on a single speed.

Cheap and made in America Shell Coat

I've mentioned this in a few other postings, and with the weather finally getting down into the 30s, I figure it is time to address my DIY shell coat.  

This is pretty simple really.  

Take one Pointer Brand Chore Coat.  Which is a made in the USA simple single layer cotton denim coat, with some pockets. You could probably substitute with any other similar cotton garment. 

Then take one bar of Otter Wax, waterproofing wax. 

Apply wax to the coat liberally, on a concrete patio, on a warm summer day.  Maybe when you're done just toss it in a old pillow-case and run it around in the dryer on low. Or let it be warmed by the sun some more. 

The result is an impressively smelly, waxy cotton chore coat. It also outright blocks wind from penetrating, and it is not overly bulky. The water resistance isn't spectacular. It keeps light stuff at bay. Having a wool layer on underneath will limit soak-through. 

On last Friday's morning commute, it was 34, and I wore a wool guide shirt, and wool sweater, and the wind was just coming right through.  I warmed up after the first mile, but it was kind of unpleasant all the way to work. That evening, I rode home after dark, and it was back down to 34, with a gusty breeze.  This time I wore the chore coat out. The wind did not get through the coat at all, and I quickly became nice and toasty, and had a tremendously great ride home.

 I think, as long as I'm actively biking, with two wool layers on underneath, I should be good down into the tens or so. 

When this coat isn't in use, it is strapped to the top of  my Carradice or Zimbale bags. It does make a nice impromptu ground cloth, for maintenance, or napping on, etc. 

Near miss venting.

Maybe I should've gone after her, yelled at her or something. Stupid lady in her minivan turning oncoming in front of me, just so she could get to her freaking parking spot at Target.  

I was fine, no contact was made, but it was disconcerting. I was commuting home on the Flying Pigeon when it happened. I had a light on.  I was doing everything right, yet still nearly got hit because of a stupid self important driver.

The rod brakes on the Pigeon aren't bad, but they're still  less effective than a coaster or good caliper brakes, I nailed them hard as I decelerated and though they're fine when I'm using them to modulate my speed, they seem to lack a little bit for panic stopping because of stupid drivers.   Might be time to rebuild the rear wheel around a coaster brake.

Carry and Portage / 3 Saddle Bags Poorly and Subjectively Reviewed

from left to right,  Sackville Saddlesack Small,  Carradice College, Zimbale 7 Liter

During my first few months as a new bike commuter, I carried my junk in a backpack, which while admittedly was a nice backpack (Osprey Halo) left alot to be desired as far as back-ventilation goes. Riding on warm summer days equaled sweaty results. Picking up some groceries on the way home? Plastic bags dangling from the handlebars or  haphazardly tied to the rear rack.

This continued on for half a year, until I had changed my Felt Cafe's stock saddle out for an easier-riding Selle An Atomica- and I noticed that it had bag loops. "Bag loops. Hmm. You can attatch a saddle bag to those,"  went my very slow mental process.  "Oh, maybe I should get a bag..."

First up, the Rivendell Sackville SaddleSack (Small)

It is hard to find anything wrong with this bag- out of the three of them, it is the easiest to open, load and close. The bag hangs on the level from  the saddle loops which are located halfway along its length, unlike the 'British' style bags, which lean and tip backwards.  The bag flap is secured by a single strap, that is routed through a integral wooden dowel, this applies closing pressure over the entire flap. There is also an inner cargo flap that further secures your contents. 

SaddleSack open, cargo cover flap pulled back, exposing corroplast load floor. 

The single main compartment is big enough for some carry-out food, cable lock, and my tool kit which is in a klein pouch. The overall volume is enough and no more.  

 The strap leather seems a little raggy, but it after a spring and summer of use, they aren't any worse for wear and holding fast.  The construction of the bag itself is fantastic-superb- the flap's reflective strip adds extra visibility, while looking integrated into the design, which is more than I can say for the diamond and triangle reflective patches on the other two bags.  Metal hardware is brass, the buckles are finished with smooth edges. 

The Sackville is my favorite bag to deal with on a commuting basis.  It gets compliments from the LBS folks, from Lycra-types, from recumbent tricycle riders, - pretty much everyone.  

  

Carradice College

Next up, Carradice College. 

The Carradice is paired with my Azor/Workcycles Kruisframe bike.  I had been reading up on Brit-Dutch cycling before I made the order,  and a Carradice seemed to be the way to go, as far as keeping the theme rolling. I snagged this College bag from VeloFred.com for a modestly discounted price. (particularly compared to the cost of the Carradice Camper)  The College is simply the Camper, without the Long-flap or the side-pouches.  The interior of this bag is huge. I did bring home a complete rotissere chicken dinner for two in it at one point, and this maybe half filled the bag. On a single day of Ragbrai-  It held 6 liters of bottled water and assorted sundries.  Other riders kept offering me water, (no visible bottle cages) but I'd point at the bag and said that I had all I needed.   

Construction is waterproof cotton duck, hangs from the saddle  bag loops with chrome-white leather straps that are in turn secured to a dowell.  There is a cargo drawstring, and a nylon rain-cover.  The flap has slotted leather points for securing a rain-tarp or poncho. (Additional straps sold separately)  I use this as intended for keeping my waxed-cotton chore coat. Build quality is described as serviceable. I felt a little let down actually, many of the straps had incompletely punched buckle holes, requiring further reaming, some of the leather rivets were only half-engaged and the stitching wandered in spots (but always secure). Buckle hardware is stamped metal, rough-edged. The chromed leather itself is good.    The flap has an attachment loop for securing a bicycle tail-lamp but it sits so high, that I am finding it pretty much useless.  There is also an extraneous metal and leather Carradice name-plate which I removed. Too gaudy. 

I'd call my interaction with this bag 'unremarkable' . I'll frequently only deal with one of the buckles, reaching in under the flap and pulling out what I need, based on touch.  It gets the job done. 

Zimbale 7 Liter

Finally, Zimbale 7 liter.
Zimbale is a South Korean shop that has come up with a line of traditional bicycle bags on the English pattern, and a competitor to Carradice.  Seeing as I already had a Carradice, I decided to try the Zimbale. I ordered the 7 liter, which would complement my Raleigh-Roadster-Ripoff Flying Pigeon PA-02.

Wow. The build and material quality should be called "Luxury". Straight stitching, great leather, loops for a shoulder strap, metal poncho/tarp lashdown loops, and a nice plaid flap liner, not a single loose thread anywhere. The buckle hardware is either bronze or antiqued-brass, and smoothly finished.

I've spent the least time using this bag. Unlike the other two bags, it uses quick-release slot and post tabs, which are further adjusted by conventional buckles. These are holding securely, although it is a little bit of a pain in the rear to separately adjust these buckles if your cargo is a little larger than normal. Just adds another step to what would be a normal strap and buckle workflow. I might replace these closures with some curb-strap derived belt and buckle- when I can work up the energy.   There is a tail-light attachment loop that works well with a Blackburn Flea blinkie.

Side pockets hold spare tubes, and the inside can accommodate a modest amount of supplies, probably not a rotisserie chicken, but two cans of lager, tool kit, a bag lunch, cable lock, extra socks, etc.  I can lash my chore coat on top.  It lacks the broad uninterrupted shelf of the Sackville, or the super-capacity of the Carradice,  but for a light day-outing - Good Enough.



In Review:
As a light commuter:  Sackville SaddleSack all the way- it is just so dang effortless.   Supplies for a 60 mile day? Carradice College.   Zimbale? A few essentials, somewhat difficult.  

Grand Weekend, Planes, Pigeons.

 

PA-02 Pigeon and Travel-Air 6000

Wow, the Pigeon received overwhelming attention at the antique airplane fly-in.  More attention than say, the more deserving airplanes. I was accosted four or five times on friendly terms "I've been looking for you, I want to ask you about..."    or "Does the light come with it?"    I pedaled about, and it was a great way to get up and down the rows of planes or to and from my campsite.  The schwalbe delta cruisers made easy work of the grass turf.  I probably should've stayed a little longer, but was somewhat quickly home-sick and: bugs.
Previously I've camped in a KampRite Tent-Cot, which I can't recommend enough.  This time, with the Pigeon filling up most of my hatchback, I decided to use my MountainSmith 2 person tent.   Well, it seemingly attracted ants and bugs like there was no tommorrow. I would turn on the light and look up, and see 300 ants crawling between the tent proper and the rain fly. A proverbial and psychologically damaging sword of formicidae hanging over my head. Even when I applied citronella to the tie-downs.   Between that and the weather, I went home early.  I'm going to have nightmares about that.

A day later after getting home, I followed up  Friday and Saturday's riding with the annual ride of the local Trail Sponsorship Committee, and then back up the CVNT trail to home, making for 20 more miles, and the longest single ride for the Pigeon.

The Pigeon held up strongly with it's British roadster heritage. Single speed and 53 or so gear inches, it has an easy going Pepe-le-Pew sort of pacing that has me covering plenty of ground with even effort.  I did get a little nervous during the group ride, as I was hemmed in, and the rod brakes don't quite stop as fast as everyone else.  Also, with such a thick crowd of varying skill levels, I had no problem wearing a helmet. As much to protect myself from accidents caused by my fellow bikers.

Dagnabit Dangit Nabit.

About two miles before I reached home, I got my first bicycle flat. Well, I pulled off in a shady spot, flipped the bike, and practiced what I've only seen instructed. Located the hole, rather an almost knife like slit in the tube with no visible penetration in the tire, or anything stuck in the tire.   I used one of the Park Super Patches,  but it let go, or  the slit-cut expanded after half a mile or so further. I noticed that the new rim-tape I purchased from the LBS was not covering the entire inside of the rim, also that there were a few sharp-seeming machining spots. Probably the issue.  Well I'll pull the wheel again and tape the rim with some 24mm tape, and throw on a new tube.

All in all a good labor-day weekend.

Postretrogression

I've been further at work on the Flying Pigeon, I finally got around to having the still pretty wobbly wheels trued up at my LBS. The shop mechanic looked at my wheels for about thirty seconds, spinning them on the truing rig, then he said to me "How do you stop on these things?" I explained to him how Westwood Rims are designed for rod brakes, and the brake pads make contact up against the inner surface of the rim.




Two days later, I had my wheels, put some rim tape on them, and then went about trying to mount the new Schwalbe cream colored Delta Cruiser tyres onto the
wheels. I seemed to have great difficulty with this, after half an hour, I went and consulted with the bicycle oracle (Sheldon Brown's website)- and that is when dear friends, I learned that there was a difference between 700C and 700B, which classic roadsters use. About 10mm worth of difference. Well that had me waiting another week for a special order of Schwalbes to ship direct from Schwalbe USA. That said, I can save the 700Cs for either the Felt Cafe, or for a future bicycle. (I'm considering a Surly Cross-Check). The new Schwalbes roll great, tremendously improving how the bicycle handles. I highly reccomend them.

The new tyres came, and I put them on with ease. New tubes, then did some paint work, as I really did not care all that much for the extensive decaling the bicycle came with. Some of it was even horribly applied, such as on the chaincase- "Made in TiaSQUIGGLE" So I scuffed up the clear coat over the offending decals with a sanding block, masked what I wanted to protect from overspray, and used some Krylon Appliance Epoxy-Black spraypaint. This stuff seems almost indistinguishable from the stock paint in tone and gloss, and has made me quite happy with the toned down looks.

I then spent an extra night or two adding some twine and shellack, tapering the handlebars in front of the grips, and adding a protective wrapping along the top-tube, where it had a habit of getting nicked from collision with the brake-levers.

The final touch, was adding some retro-lighting, in this case a reproduction oil-lamp from Rideable Bicycle Replicas. This is the only current production oil lamp I can find, and for the price is a pretty good deal if you're just dying for a light. The build-quality is so/so, and I had to reverse the side-glass, as it had red on the right, and green on the left, which might have been okay if it was a tail light, but standard position lights for ships, planes, traines have green on the right and red on the left. It does work though, although seems to seal poorly between the kero/oil tank and the burner. I might gasket this with some innertube rubber. A further improvement might be to add a sheet metal reflector internally. But oh my gosh, when it is lit, it is so cool. I got lots of attention on the dusk ride home I made with it tonight. Drivers smiling and such. It stayed lit in some pretty strong winds, with moderate speeds. I have it mounted to the fork-light mount via an old bracket adapter. It does some with a headset bracket as an option.




These little box-style lights seem to be thin on the ground- original items that is. I'm not too suprised though, given the light stamped construction and the high heat gradients, they appear to corrode/warp into unserviceability. A check on Ebay will show a dozen or two good looking carbide lamps, and just a handfull of the black box lamps all ragged looking, and going for more than the ornate carbides! Looking over the construction, it gets me wondering about how hard it would be to make my own. A Niche market to be sure!

Heated Miscellaneous Days

The past few weeks have been more about trying to survive the opressive uncharacteristic heat than much else. Although I did manage to get out on a group ride, this one starting in Iowa City, and held as a benefit ride for an all-ability sports organization. I had expected a quiet trail ride, but at some point a shortcut was taken that had us biking along an extremely busy 55mph road. Yikes. Well we managed to survive that, and made good progress the rest of the way on the trail to North Liberty and suprise, a drinking establishment. There was conversation, beer, and fried food. On the way back I took a detour that avoided the same stretch of dangerous road and stayed on the trail. And that was the last I saw of my fellow riders, who continued on. My detour led through a nice natural preserve and then through an adjoining subdivision with some absolutely fearsome hills to climb.


On the plus side, I confirmed my general fitness and hot weather tolerance, also I just got to ride around in Iowa City, which at least compared to The rest of urban Iowa, is a bicyling paradise. Sharrows, slowish traffic, half a dozen separate bike paths, and an extremely vibrant down-town and campus, filled with things to do. I'll definitely be heading down again. In another year or two, they should have an all but uninterupted trail stretching the 100 some miles of the north-south corridor.

I spent some time fussing with the flying Pigeon, decided to lower the gearing, by putting on a new freewheel sprocket. Wikipedia says the PA02 Pigeon has a 20 tooth rear sprocket. After a protracted session of advanced cursing and manipulations with a pipe wrench- and getting ball bearings scattered over the livingroom floor, I suceeded in removing the stock freewheel... and counting the teeth... It was an 18 tooth! I replaced it with a quality 22 tooth BMX freewheel, then spent the next two evening sessions learning how to join and dejoin chain. Eventually I got everything back together, and suprisingly the case's chain rub was gone! And the 22 tooth sprocket fit fine in the chain case! I managed to fully enclose the case with a few new screws that replaced loose, poorly fitting stock screws. Dropping the gearing about 12 inches makes it so much easier to pedal along. More soon!

Commuting by Pigeon

Me to my Flying Pigeon: Feige, can you take me to work today?
Feige: Sure.
Me: Oh hey, there is a deer, let's stop and take a photo of it.




Really, it wasn't too bad of a ride. Perhaps the only fault of the stock Pigeon, is the extremely high gearing, which makes it a bit hard to get going, or to get up the one steep 30% grade hill, that is on my route. Once you get going though, up to 10 or so mph, it is nice and easy. I'm researching various gearing options. That and some new tyres and tubes. Otherwise the Pigeon is fine, I had to go back down that grade at a walking pace, to make sure the rod brakes could keep up. That's when I saw the deer. Full stop and take out the camera.
It's tremendously fun to have a "project" bike. Every little thing that needs a fix, or dissasembly for examination or upgrade - leaves me more saavy.

Pigeon pedal.

This is suprising, but I took the Feige out yesterday for a brief hour or two of plein-air painting. I picked a forested spot, and fussed with my watercolours, then rode home.  About half way home I started to note a shifting or notching sensation that occurred on my right crank, when it reached the apex of the pedalling, just before the downstroke.  

"Oh great." I thought, probably the cotter on the crank backing out or something un-wonderful with the bottom bracket.  It got me home, and I poked and prodded at the Pigeon, seeing if I could force in my hands, the same sensation. Eventually I took the pedal off (MKS 3000) and replaced it with the Union Platforms that came on Zwartehond.  I had to leave riding it for today. And when I did, the 'notching' sensation wasn't there.  Go fig, the problem is with the MKS pedal.

Pigeon across amber fields

Flying Pigeon PA-02

The Pigeon's new cotters arrived, although I was able to use the original cotter with a little more hammering, assisted with a new nylon lock nut that seems to hold quite fast.
Like the Raleigh DL-1s, the Flying Pigeon has 'loose' seatstays that are joined to the rear dropouts and then are secured to the seat-tube top/cluster with the seatpost binding bolt. One of the problems I had with the build was an inability to really secure the seat. It would always sink in or twist, no matter how tight I got the seatpost binding bolt.  Eventually I stripped its threads.   I took it down and looked at it... the bolt had an anti-rotation shoulder.. and one would suspect the rack adjustments and the seat-stays to have appropriate notches to accommodate the shoulder. (The seatpost lug flanges had the notches)  But nope, inexplicably none of these had notches for the shoulder. Indeed the shoulder had been gouging the rack about considerably as I attempted to tighten it down.

Pigeon of the Proletariat

This was solved by tossing the rack. I was kind of dour on it anyways. Yes, tossing the rack, and more importantly getting an unshouldered 8mm bolt from the hardware store, along with some better nuts and washers for replacing various existing bits. It is funny, how much a single quality fastener can improve something. I barely had to tighten it on the new seatpost, and everything held was held fast like iron. The  B.72 Brooks that I had leftover from trialing various saddles, clamps and seatposts on Zwartehond replaces the somewhat oversprung stock seat.  (Which just goes to show, a quality saddle such as a Brooks is a good thing to have an extra of) With everything tightened up, I decided to take Feige for a sunset ride.

I have many things to be thankful for, one of them is the sudden explosion in my area of bicycle trails. Just in the past 4 months a new rail-to-trail has been constructed and opened, a portion of the route which I can now take, that reduces by 3 or 4 minutes my work-commute, and gets me off the exceedingly bicycle unfriendly streets and into nature.  When completed the total new trail, will allow me to bicycle from my small bedroom community town, down to the city proper, faster than by using a car.  As it stands, the trail meanders through a wooded floodplain of one of the major creeks, crushed limestone pathing with gentle rolling rises, before ending for lack of additional construction by a larger river.   I bicycled through the evening air to the end of the trail, took photos, then leaned back on the bike, watching the sun set and turn the long prairie grasses green to gold, and the clouds purple, orange and blue-white.

the spread of the heavens reflected round in a bell

Every bicycle ride is a journey, although the wheels stop for awhile, they will soon roll again, forward. I have found something extremely spiritual about bicycling, in that bicycles are always of a good nature. They are the amongst the best machines we as humans, as a race have ever created. You do not cheat on a bicycle, it takes you as far as the energy you put into it. You're not borrowing petrol or electricity, it merely re-expresses your energy through a series of cleverly arranged wheels. And so we all roll.

Introspection aside, the Pigeon isn't a perfect bicycle, but for me, I find it a great bicycle.

When the sun touched the horizon, I set off for home, back through the now blue-shadowed woods. I lifted my foot and hit the release for the dynamo-light, letting it press against the tyre with a 'Whzzt!-rrrr' and it started producing a warm illumination, casting over the cool white of the limestone trail. Along up a ways I passed a gentleman walking with his young daughter who was cavorting in childish delight at a magic summer's eve.  He was carrying a pheasant feather.  I doubtlessly looked like an apparition from the 1920s in my clothing, and with the pigeon clanking, whirring and bobbling along. We greeted each other.  I rode through the little valleys and crested the small hills of the all but deserted park.

I can't help but like the Feige. I feel very perched upon it. Very little of the bike comes into my field of view when I'm riding it.  The single speed is set quite high, making for, slow starts, but it cruises nicely. You need to build up some speed for hills, but I find that I can 'drop' forward well and start putting some power down. The B.72 with its only very minimal suspension doubtless helps me feel the bike.  The rod brakes work, not outstanding, but not bad either.  Stay at a reasonable speed, and they'll suffice.  It is less 'twitchy' in the steering than my Felt, or the huge Azor/Workcycles Kruisframe.   It is very likeable, and has me curious about other English style bicycles- all of which are sadly non-existant out here on the prairie.   I'll keep riding about on it though, just ordered a zimbale 7 litre bag for it.

Pigeon Placeholder

notepad watercolour

I learned a few things building the PA-02 Flying Pigeon, one, that I probably need to take a camera with me on maiden voyages,  two: don't attempt to tighten cotters by tightening their nut. You'll just strip the threads.  - Verbatim from the wise Sheldon Brown, but I unfortunately read these words... after I stripped the threads.   I finished up the Pigeon Sunday, tentatively tightened everything up, positioned the rear wheel to what I thought was a good chain tension, got the rod brakes working, put the bike out on the driveway, mounted it-

  And promptly rode the bike I had assembled for four miles.  The bum cotter fell out right as I got back into the driveway.  So the Pigeon is convalescing while some new cotters, and a somewhat better seatpost arrive by post.  It is a bike!  I didn't reduce it to scrap! I learned things!  Rod brakes actually work well when set up correctly!   I just pre-tensioned them a little bit, no problem. They pull at least 70% of regular cable and caliper-rim brakes.

I'll get a proper review done up shortly.

Pigeon Parts, Cafe Flowers

Flying Pigeon in its box

I really can't say that I was in a bit of a lull- nearly every day for the past two weeks I have commuted by bicycle, probably averaging 13 miles or so a day. Nothing special, but isn't that what we strive for? Incorporating cycling as a basic part of our lives?   Hey hardware, that is always easy to write about!

My Flying Pigeon PA-02 arrived on Monday after its trip from Flying Pigeon LA. Thankfully double boxed- well packed.  The box did however exude that un-wonderful eau de 'Guangdong Industrial' also known to people as 'That Harbor Freight' smell. Seems to be a mixture of vinyl plasticizers and some sort of anti-corrosion solvent.  The bike was quickly unpacked and the stinky packing materials were banished to the garage.

pigeon strewn about

I purchased this bicycle for a few reasons, one of which was to have a cheap project bike, preferably something with very basic or old technology. Something that I could assemble, disassemble, and basically not freak about if I scattered parts across the floor and had to spend an hour or two at Sheldon Brown's website, learning how to put said parts back together. Tonight I learned about adjusting the bearing cones on a rear hub. What? I could've done that with the rear wheel mounted?   I've always had reasonable amount of mechanical aptitude, but no in-depth experience with bicycles. Basically, this is my erstwhile tutor.

Actually on review, the wheels don't seem particularly warped. The only thing that slightly bothers me about the construction are the rear drop-outs, basically they're just the chainstay tubing, stamped flat, and with I think another sheet of steel in there, and tacked with a few spot welds, then the slot is milled out.  Forged dropouts would've been nice, particularly when the rest of the bike's structure seems otherwise competent.  That being said, I know from other engineering examples, that formed sheet steel can be stunningly resilient, and I see photos of Pigeons being used day in and day out in China. 

- Update: Upon further examination, I can't find any visual evidence that classic Raleighs were any different in the construction of the rear drop-outs. Indeed on photographic inspection, several vintage bikes seemed to use a system where the chainstay tubes were flattened, and welded, potentially with another piece of thick sheet or thin billet to hold things fast.  I think with the additional reinforcement of the heavy kick-stand attachment plates, that the rear-dropouts are absolutely fine for intended use.

I'm going to build the Pigeon up to stock specs, and ride it around a little. It can be a bike for the low-traffic trail, and for biking up to the Dairy-Queen. All nice and flat routes.  Then maybe I can experiment some. The Sturmey Archer S2C kickshift hub seems like it might be a nice upgrade.

Closing out with a photo of my Felt Cafe3 pausing amidst some flowers.  Having more than one bike is great. The big WorkCycles Kruisframe is smooth and leisurely, but when I'm on the Felt, I approach something that might be called swift and speedy!