Here in California it's been sunny and warm for like 2 weeks. It's been so warm in fact, that I've started researching ways to stay cool. You see there's nice weather, the kind that doesn't require you to unzip your jersey, then there's half-unzipped jersey weather, and finally there's totally unzipped, flapping in the wind jersey weather. That's basically all the types of weather I know, but now I've learned there's a new kind of weather that requires you to pay $250 for a device that basically pisses on you.
Meet the KoldRush. A device that you've never needed, until NOW!
My favorite thing about this video is that neither of them ever acknowledge that they could just use a water bottle to do the exact same thing. Perhaps carrying an extra 5 pounds of water and AA batteries makes more sense. Especially since you can cool yourself off while you wait for your wife to pick you up when you get a flat tire. A flat tire that you can't fix because you've ditched your saddle bag for a water dispenser.
Save yourself some money and just do this:
In my last post I mentioned that a friend of mine found a bike in the trash. The bike was a Raleigh mixte and it looked like this:
It fit his wife so he asked me to get it set up for her to ride. Her only requirement was that she couldn't ride the bike with its current handle-bars. Her idea of a nice bike is just a beach cruiser so "roadie bars" were too weird for her. So I grabbed my tools and started working.
I started by hacking off the bars with a grinder. I know I should have pried the stem open but I couldn't find my good screwdriver so I ended up with this:
I lack finesse, apparently.
The new bars!
Then I tried to true the rear wheel which was so badly bent that I ended up cracking the nipples from over-tightening. When I learned the rim had a flat spot on it I ditched the wheels altogether and ordered some new ones.
The new wheels are rounder, true-er, and shiny-er than the old ones. I think that's an improvement.
Busted nipple. Did I mention I lack finesse?
The new wheels.
For a bike that was found in the trash it wasn't in bad shape. No obvious signs of rust, bearings were in good shape and the chain has plenty of life left in it. It needed brake pads, wheels and some serious derailler adjustments but it's more bike than what you can get at Wal-Mart or Target. You also get the satisfaction of knowing that someone put a lot of time into building this bike in the first place.
It's brown, I know but brown was cool at one point in history.
Here's some detail shots for the bike dorks:
Awesome details at the head tube.
Back in the day bike manufacturers branded the components even though they were made by someone else.
This bike was sold originally in Deerfield IL at "The Pony Shop".
The head tube is split into two narrow tubes with the rear brake cable in the middle.
SunTour downtube shifters.
Yes it's a Brooks but it's made of vinyl not leather, so don't get all excited.
In Southern California we don't get much rain. When it does rain though, our toughness gets washed away like Robert Smith's awful make-up after a long night of crying.
So you can imagine the gigantic suitcase of courage I needed when I manned up and decided to ride in the rain during our epic storm this weekend. The "storm" dropped about 3 inches of rain and totally eclipsed anything seen on the Eastern seaboard. I decided to go out anyway since I put fenders on the Surly. For a while I wondered if I would ever use them considering we had 85 degree weather like 2 weeks ago but they finally saw action.
H.M.S. Surly at full sail.
The SKS Longboard fenders do what they're supposed to. The only downside to having fenders, is that it doesn't rain enough in SoCal to justify having them mounted all the time unless you're constantly riding through puddles or bum urine. Usually they just catch the wind and push the bike sideways but I'm so lazy I probably won't bother taking them off unless they start rattling or something. If you live where it rains and don't have fenders you need a set of these. Unless you want to look super badass while riding in your own wheel spray:
I'm also proud to say that after their first dousing my lights and dynamo proved to be sufficently water-resistant. Riding around in the rain will be a breeze from now on. I can't wait to do it next year when it rains again. Awesome!
That hub is so wet.
In other news, a good friend of mine recently found a bike in a garbage dumpster. I think it's a 1974 Raleigh, what I don't get is why someone just threw it away. It was quickly rescued and I've fixed it. I'll provide better coverage and photos when I get around to it.
A 17 year old kid named Matthew Cutrone wrote a letter to his local legislator in Suffolk County because his mom was hit by a car while riding her bike. This was the fifth incident where someone he knew had been struck by a car. Prior to his mother's accident, four classmates were struck by cars; two did not survive. He asked his legislator, Thomas F. Barraga, about what the county was doing to make roads safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. What he got was this. Because I drink 3 gallons of carrot juice daily, my eyes can overcome the blurriness of that photocopy. For those of you with less-than-Superman vision I've transcribed the body of the letter below: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ January 29, 2014 Dear Mr. Cutrone, Thank you for your recent letter concerning bicycle safety and bicycle lanes. Let me at the outset express the hope that your mother will have a complete recovery from her accident in September while riding a bicycle in West Islip. I have lived in West Islip most of my life and my personal feeling is that no one who lives in our hamlet or for that matter in Suffolk County should ever ride a motorcycle or a motorcycle. I cannot tell you how many constituents over the years have told me that they are taking up bicycling for pleasure and exercise. I have told them not to do so but they usually do not listen - 90 percent of those people eventually were hit by an automobile many like your mother with serious physical injuries. I have heard the suggestion of bicycle lanes and additional signage but unfortunately this would do little to solve the problem. Suffolk County is a suburban automobile community - drivers expect to see other drivers on the road not bicyclists and motorcyclists. Even in those areas outside of Suffolk County where a portion of the road is for bicyclists - they still get hit by motorists. Signage has limited effects - there are currently 135 signs between Montauk Highway and Sunrise Highway on Higbie Lane and Udall Road - most of them are ignored by drivers. Reality at time can be difficult for some to come to grips with but giving false hope would be inappropriate. Very Truly yours, Thomas F. Barraga County Legislator ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ You can arrive at your own opinion but I had just 3 thoughts I wanted to share: 1. Thomas Fartface Barraga (I think that's what the "F." in his middle name stands for) is not doing his job. His job isn't to share his opinions (I'm a blogger, that's MY job, actually it's not a real job, but still). His job is to create legislation to solve problems and ensure the safety and well-being of ALL his constituents. If he feels so strongly that bike lanes and signage would do little to reduce accidents then he should take his own advice and remove all the traffic signals at every intersection in Suffolk County. By his logic, people will get into car accidents at intersections anyway so there's no point in having traffic lights since drivers will probably ignore them. 2. Travelling freely is a right. You can ride a bike, walk, take the bus or moonwalk without anyone stopping you. Driving is a revocable privilege. If motorists cannot drive safely or heed road signage without hitting other road users with their cars, they should lose that privilege. Thomas Fartface Barraga seems to think that bicycling is just something people do for "pleasure and exercise." I suppose he can't imagine that some people may have no other choice but to ride their bikes to work, despite living in a "suburban automobile community". 3. Thomas Fartface Barraga recently sponsored a bill requiring all cyclists to wear helmets in Suffolk County. Unfortunately, his noble gesture won't be much help when you consider a helmet will do nothing to protect you from a 4500 lb vehicle being driven by a negligent driver. The only way to truly reduce accidents is to enforce existing laws requiring drivers to act responsibly and install cross-walks and bike lanes wherever feasible. If improving bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure isn't effective why would cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York spend millions of dollars on new projects? There are independent studies here, here, and here showing that bike lanes decrease the frequency and severity of accidents. Best of luck to anyone riding in Suffolk County. The only reality that needs to be confronted is that Suffolk residents bear the responsibility of making sure Thomas Fartface Barraga is not re-elected. Best of luck...
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