Climbtrees » Commuting

Now That is a Set of Fenders

Dan Corbett — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 04:01:53 +0000

Admire the new fenders

Last winter the rear fender on Katie‘s commuter bike broke. It was a sad day; she came home with a stain up her back. For her birthday I ordered a set of replacement fenders from Woody’s Custom Bicycle Fenders. When the fenders showed up we were both awed by how amazing they looked. Unfortunately I did not realize that we needed custom sizing to fit Katie’s Specialized Langster Seattle (the bike came with crappy wood colored plastic fenders). Cody, from Woody’s Fenders, was extremely accommodating and exchanged them back for a set built just for the bike. When Katie and I go back from Oregon last night the fenders were sitting on the doorstep, absolutely begging to be installed. And finally, this evening, Katie’s bike has a set of beautiful wood fenders.

Fender Close-Up

The John Twa Project (or Making a Spare Parts Bike)

Dan Corbett — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 01:58:14 +0000

For the past few years I have been harassing one of my coworkers, Christian, to get a bike and commute to work. Commuting by bike would undoubtedly be safer and potentially faster for Christian than his ancient Kia that shakes at speeds over 3 mph. Recently another of my coworkers, John (a far more active cyclist than I am), announced he was going to move and had a large stock of bike parts to get rid of. Thus was born, the John Twa Project.

Step 1: Fork (Carbon Something), Frame (2001 GT ZR 5.0), and Miscellaneous Stuff

Fork and Frame

Step 2: More Miscellaneous Components

Included Miscellaneous Components

Step 3: Mount Chain Rings

Mounted Chain Rings

Step 4: Mount Shifters

Dual Control Shift Levers

Step 5: Install Brakes

Front 105 Brakes

Step 6: Mount Seat and Seat Post

Mounted Seat and Seatpost

Step 7: Mount Front Derailleur

Mounted Front Derailleur

Step 8: Go to Community Cycles

Spend some cash, add things like wheels, cables, pedals, nuts, bolts…

Step 9: Fly to East Coast, Return, Add Chain, Adjust Shifters

Chicopee, MA is always an exciting place

Step 10: Wash Hands and Test Ride

The John Twa Project

Tomorrow John and I will present Christian with his new method of transportation. And then next week we will actually make him ride it. If nothing else, the bike is definately better looking Christian’s aged Kia…

The Ideal City Bike

Dan Corbett — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 15:27:58 +0000

Origin8 Cykel 3

Recently I have been wanting to trade in my fixed gear (the knees are starting to hate it but if you want to buy it I’ll accept a reasonable offer) for a city bike. This, of course, leads to the discussion of what I want and need in a city bike. I say city bike, not a cruiser, because I do actually like to get places in a respectable amount of time.

Frame: Light and upright. Katie rides a Specialized Langster Seattle that she loves dearly; it is light, durable, and responsive. I would prefer a frame that is light, ideally lighter than the well painted Origin8 Cykel 3 (though this bike does have a nice upright position). I do love the comfort of steel but at the price I am willing to pay I suspect light, high end steel is out of my reach. Does it need to be carbon light as the Trek District Carbon? No, not at all. While titanium is a wonderful material, I am not likely to drop the $8,000 I would need for a Moots Comooter That does leave me with the likely frame material being aluminum. Additionally I like my frames to be traditional; bikes like the Ellsworth The Ride are a bit too much for me (something just a little off, like the Civia Loring I-Motion, would be acceptable.

Trek Soho DLX

Drivetrain: One, three, or maybe an eight speed. Many manufacturers offer the same bike as a single speed or internal rear hub, such as Mongoose with the Sabrosa SS and Ocho Most important here is the lack of an external derailleur; this bike needs to be designed for bike rack parking and being hauled up/down stairs. An external derailleur is just another part that can break. In Boulder, for all intense purposes, a single speed is all that I would need. That said, when I lived on The Hill, I desperately wished for a few more gears when riding home. While a belt drive (as on the Trek Soho DLX) would be nice, as with a titanium frame it is probably an unnecessary expense.

Handlebars: Wide mustachio or or flat bars with a decent back sweep (like on the Globe Daily 3). I intend to ride this bike upright and want my handlebars to reflect this style.

Wheels: 700 or 29er. I need something that can run slicks most of the year and hand knobby CX tires in the winter (though this is more related to clearance with the frame). As for sizing, well, big rolls better.

Swobo Baxter

Brakes: Disc. I love the stopping power with disc brakes, no matter the weather conditions. Bikes like the Felt Verza City 2, and the Swobo Baxter, they know. Caliper brakes would be acceptable, but most of them do not have the clearance to run knobby CX tires. The easy alternative, cantilever brakes, just do not have the stopping power I would like for hills and erratic automobiles. While I can understand that some riders prefer the coaster brakes from their youth, but I hate them. Really really hate them. They take a beautiful bike, like the Gary Fisher Simple City 3, and ruin it for me.

Fenders: Simple. It does actually rain and snow in Boulder. Simple, but significant enough to keep the spray. While I would not complain if they covered as much as on the Raleigh Alley Way, they do not need to be that intense. The fenders on the Jamis Commuter 3 are more than sufficient.

Felt Cafe 3

Rack: I do not specifically need a rack, but it would be great to throw a 12 pack of beer on the bike. The included rack on the Specialized Globe Live series and the Trek Belleville (though I would only want one rack) look ideal for hauling small loads, such as beer.

Chainguard: No matter what you do, rolling your pant leg up, using a Velcro strap, or pulling your sock over your pants, you look silly. Just get rid of the need by adding a full chain guard like on the Gary Fisher Waubesa (named after one of my favorite lakes). Even a ring mounted guard, like on the Torker Graduate, would probably be sufficient. As with fenders, it does not need to be as intense as the guard on the Felt Cafe 3, it just needs to work.

All of these options – should I spend the cash and get a Globe Live 3, should I settle for a bargain Schwinn Coffee, get almost everything with the Raleigh Superbe Roadster or the Novara Transfer, or build something from scratch on a NYC CrossSpeed II frame?

Raleigh Superbe Roadster

Pit Stains and Competitiveness

Dan Corbett — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 01:33:22 +0000

If you know me, you probably understand that I am an extremely competitive person. To the point where I can be overly competitive. Perhaps today was such a day…

Evil RTD Bus

There are some days that I really just do not want to ride my bike home from work. Today was such a day. I rode my Jamis Supernova into work (and experienced a slew of smells including a dead skunk, burning rubber, cinnamon rolls, a slaughter house, and sweat) and ran a few miles at lunch. The afternoon consisted largely of a coworker trying to dump his grunt work on me. When the day finally concluded, I really did not want to ride home so I road my bike over to the RTD bus stop. And then it happened – I saw that the bus had already passed and was a few minutes down the road. Now I wanted to blame myself, but both my watch and cell phone confirmed that the bus was two minutes early. That was all I needed; I said I was going to beat the bus home on my bike while still wearing my dress clothes (though I did have on bike shoes). I put the hammer down and at the first light I had almost caught the bus – the light was really long and the bus had to make a few stops. Unfortunately the bus made the light and I did not. Waiting at the light, the desire to win just grew; there was no way I was going to let that bus defeat me. I took off the second the light changed and never looked back. When I turned on to my street, I looked at the coming bus and threw out some obscenities regarding meeting a schedule and how pathetic it was getting beat by my cyclocross bike. Score another win for Dan. Now I just need to deal with the pit stains on my undershirt…

Pit Stains After Bike Commute Home

The Cure For A Bike Crash

Dan Corbett — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:43:12 +0000

On my ride home from work today, I crashed my Jamis Supernova bike on an empty, icy road. Seriously, there was no one around, which probably explains why the road was still covered with ice. Thankfully it was an “easy” crash; my rear wheel slide out from under me and I went down on my elbow. A wonderful benefit of windproof winter jackets is that they resist tearing really well, though I was not sure about my elbow remaining in one piece.

When I got home and stripped down I was pleased to see that my skin was still in one piece, particularly since I could see the crash marks directly on an old scar (from the first time I use clipless pedals on a mountain bike and subsequently spent three hours getting gravel picked out of my arm at the hospital; you know it happened you too).

Icing My Elbow with Dale's Pale Ale

Anyways, after years of athletic injuries I know the proper recovery method involves putting something very cold on the wound; I improvised with a can of Dale’s Pale Ale.

A Better Use of Dale's Pale Ale

After about 8.7 seconds, I got bored and decided on a better use of my cold object. Sucks to be my elbow.

The Remnants of My Cooling Device

Now I just need to find someone else to blame for my crash on an empty, icy road while going 25 km/hour; suggestions?

A Lost Month; Fly Fishing, Mountain Biking, Cyclocross, and Gaining Weight

Dan Corbett — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:52:04 +0000

Where did October go?

I have been fairly lazy, at least with my lunchtime workouts and bike commuting. I probably averaged less than one ride to work a week. I ran at lunch once. I have been only mildly active on the weekends. I put on 5 lbs in the month. Bad news. Seriously bad news. I will have to do something to get in shape for speed skating season.

So what all did I do? I went fly fishing with the snow falling and the wind biting at my face. It was like steelhead fishing back in Wisconsin and Michigan, except I only caught one 8 inch rainbow instead of a 15 lbs silver bullet steelhead.

I only took my Trek Fuel EX 8 mountain bike out once. Katie and I went out to Marshall Mesa for an easy ride. Except we were battling 20 mile winds. Which was awesome… I will write more about that tomorrow.

I rode in three cyclocross races. Technically only one of them was in October, but that is acceptable as I collectively performed miserably at all of them. The first, at the Louisville Rec center as part of the Boulder Cyclocross series, I was actually doing fairly well (probably somewhere in the top 15-20) before I crashed on the downhill immediately following the sandpit. I went down hard on the turn and bent my derailleur hanger, of course I didn’t notice until my chain sucked behind my cassette and refused to be freed. Alas. The next race was the Valmont Bike Park Fest race where I continued my trend of falling. Not only did I fall, but I fell three times. And by falling I do not mean poor mounts, though I had plenty of those as well. I went down twice in the loose dirt after the run-up and then once again when some guy bumped me into the tape. I think I somehow managed to be the last person not to be lapped. Finally I competed in the Boulder Cup. I did not manage to avoid getting lapped; apparently I have a lot to learn about cyclocross, like that it helps to train… At least my Jamis Supernova is performing well.

In pre-winter news, we had three different ski houses fall through. If you know of anyone who needs two more (and a bulldog), let us know!

Oh, and it snowed 23 inches in two days; forty-eight later it was all but melted. We’ll see what November brings.

My Bikes: 2001 Lemond Buenos Aires Triple Road Bike

Dan Corbett — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 02:56:21 +0000

I love bikes. If you read this regularly the fact if fairly apparent; if you know me personally it is blatantly obvious. I will be going over my fleet in the next few weeks.

Road Bike: 2001 Lemond Buenos Aires Triple

2001 Lemond Buenos Aires Road Bike

Ah, steel. I used to get a lot of fun looks when I told people that I had a steel bike; these days more and more are saying they wish they had one. The ride, especially when coupled with the carbon fork, is extremely compliant. The bike was definitely designed for a more casual rider who wanted an excellent mix of performance and comfort. My number one complaint is that when I do a hard acceleration I frequently pull the rear wheel free of the horizontal dropouts. Unsurprisingly the handling is a bit slow and the bike cannot climb as well as present day replacements (though I am sure most of that is me, the bikes I have demoed show that the bike is playing a part). All of which is fine – I don’t race. Overall the bike has been really good to me (I put a complete new Shimano 105 groupset on the bike last year – the cable adjuster on the front tube is helpful given the touchy new 10 speed rear derailleur ) and a wonderful introduction to cycling. The more relaxed position and smooth ride surely played a major part in my present obsession with cycling. While I cannot promise to buy another steel bike, I will certainly give a custom steel frame strong consideration.

—————

My first “real” bike in years; my father was on a huge bike kick at the time and was more excited about his new bike and the prospect of me getting a road bike. Lance was winning the tour, Trek was getting awesome coverage in Wisconsin, and I was not overly sold on bicycles. My dad bought me the bike anyways. It was one of the best things to ever happen to me.

Now an avid rider, I cannot thank my father enough for giving me the push into cycling. I have taken the bike everywhere I have lived and have many memories from each state. While some are better than others, I have really enjoyed my bike. I have ridden all over the Madison area – the western hills are particularly enjoyable. The bike traveled with me to Lehigh University in Pennsylvania where I enjoyed countless scenic rides in farm county. When I did an internship in Colorado Springs I learned that Pennsylvania does not really have mountains and that I am not a very good climber. My first job out of school took me to Salem, OR with its challenging rolling hills, coastal range mountains, and occasional vineyards. While I rode in college, it was not until I graduated and moved to Salem that I started riding consistently. Occasionally I would even venture up to Portland and see lots of other cyclists.

I was transferred for work to Memphis, TN where I discovered that whereas some parts of the country do not have many cyclists this part was downright hostile to them; guys in pickups threw half empty beer cans at me on almost every ride. Continuing the trend of fear, I had two individuals, on separate occasions, follow me for a distance until a large open area appeared (I thought an unpleasant altercation was about to occur) but said they were inspired to see someone riding (again, no one rides in Memphis). My favorite quote from my time in the south was when I asked the HR manager if there was shower so I could ride my 17 mile commute into work. His response: “There’s a hose out back”.

I was again transferred, this time to Albert Lea, MN headed into winter. Similar to Memphis, I never saw another rider. Unlike the heat of Memphis, I froze my butt off on almost every ride. My rides always concluded with a cup of tea at the Starbucks where the high school aged baristas all thought I was on crack; perhaps if they took up cycling it would decrease the horrendously high teenage pregnancy rates in the town. Or not.

Finally I quit that job and moved to Boulder, a town that truly loves cyclists. The only time I have not seen anyone else on the road was the day I accidentally commuted in with the temperature at negative 15 F (I missed the negative sign on the temperature when I checked in the morning; I know, I am an idiot). I still am not much of a climber, but I put in plenty of rides in a place where my Buenos Aires and I are fully accepted.

Bicyclist Versus Stoned Skateboarders

Dan Corbett — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 03:09:04 +0000

I had some poor timing on my bike ride home from work today; the downtown creek path was packed with revelers from the University of Colorado 4 – 20 smoke out. With a large pack of skateboarders was headed towards me, I pressed tight against the edge of the trail. Unfortunately this was not enough as the last member of the pack, carving the entire width of the trail, caught my handlebars. I somewhat spilled onto the grass whereas the skateboarder crashed all over the pavement. As the grass was soft, I (and my bike) came away unscathed; such was not the case for the guy in shorts and a t-shirt who crashed into me. The entire pack quickly rejoined their fallen comrade and initially blamed me for the incident. Drastically outnumbered I tried to reason with them. This did not work. One pulled out his cell phone and started to call the cops; I asked if they really wanted the cops to come while in their current 4 – 20 induced state. This did work. They left.

Apparently I am having trouble with people on boards these days.