May 23, 2005
One Less Fixie
Seeing as how, as part of my "one front wheel" scheme, I have sold the stock Bianchi Pista wheels, I needed to sort out the replacement wheels. Birthday-boy jimg supplied two washers to accomodate the thin fork ends of the Pista (he compared them to the substantially-thicker Sub-11 fork-ends on one of the frames hanging in the workshop, and I realised that the Pista is a poseur bicycle indeed): these washers enabled the 120mm Phil flip/flop rear wheel to fit securely on the Pista. The front wheel, however, posed another problem entirely: the tyre, stiff as an leather saddle, refused to seat on the rim. One vise, two tyre-irons, and several sore hands later, it was in place, but we managed to puncture the inner-tube in the process. I suggested shelving the works until daylight: I'll ride either the Reparto Corse or the Kogswell tomorrow. I did sell the wheelset for a fistful of dollars and a nice "One Less Fixie" sticker, which I suppose would look perfect on a car (ah, yes: the web site advises "these really look best on your h2").
If I had this bike, I would eat more pizza from Arinell:
P.S. I love chain-guards.
Miscellany about bicycles
Yesterday I took stock of the bits and pieces of bicycle scattered through the house, workshop, and storage rooms. I wonder whether my "one front wheel to ride them all" approach will work: a low-flange Phil Wood hub, laced 4x to a box-section MA-3 rim. Beautiful, simple, and strong. I couldn't fit the tyre onto the rim, though, so I was happy to unearth the old pair of Suntour Sprint road hubs laced to older Mavic rims. I threw one of those onto the Kogswell and rode off this morning, only to see, by morning's light, that the tyre on the front was agèd to the point of rot. Nevertheless, with good fortune I made it all the way to work without incident.
At Mahayana (aka Salon des Biciclettes, a proper bike shop), where I picked up a length of Velox rim tape yesterday, I always get a chuckle out of the sticker on the side of the cash register: I park in bike lanes, like a dumb-ass. We always joke that we should print up a batch and slap 'em on cars parked in bike lanes. I'd run out just on the way to Civic Center, I swear: there are always so many dumb-asses idling in the bicycle lanes on Market between Van Ness and Eighth.