Cutting the Fin from a UDH Hanger

I use a wildcat spec for the UDH dropouts on my bicycles. I remove the fin from the hanger as it isn’t required and gets in the way of what I’m looking to do. While this modification could easily be done using a basic belt sander, I have an easy setup for doing it on … Read more

James and the Giant Black Sheep

I cry at weddings. I do. I’m pretty sure that I’ve cried at every wedding that I’ve ever attended. Windy and I were in Colorado last week. It began with an annual family reunion (her’s) in Crested Butte that included a wedding ceremony of one of Windy’s brothers that required a 4×4 offroad trek to … Read more

2024 PVD Gulfstream G650

♫ Fly…like a G6 ♫ I chose  ‘Gulfstream G650’ as the namesake for this bike as that plane is a sleek and fast corporate/wealth jet that is designed for fabulous people to move about the world quickly and without any hassle. It’s the benchmark private jet for the most elite of us equals. This bike … Read more

2024 PVD Bar-ins

In the world of flat bar all-road bikes, it’s certain. Bar-ins are REQIRED for performance riding. I wouldn’t have been this absolute a few years ago but it’s now become the primary hand hold on my bike. Facts are facts. When covering ground that isn’t extreme, this is the more relaxed and efficient position for … Read more

The failure of the titanium bar end

On Wednesday (06/19), I was doing a ride around the Tamarancho loop. Simple stuff for an end of the day ride. I was a bit frantic, though, as I was working hard trying to keep ahead of a group that I had passed earlier. I was on my 2023 M2-F2. I love this bike. It’s … Read more

Drop bar dropper levers 2024

When I first put Windy’s new road+ bike (the Electra) together, a lot was going on. Finishing a bike project is a messy undertaking. Several details had to be left in an early state of development for expediency, just to move on. One of those that was left for later was the dropper lever. Using … Read more

The shaft

Last week, I had a tool fail in the shop. A shaft. A flexy one. A moment of carelessness combined with over a decade of use snapped the end of the shaft where it connects to the motor of my  Foredom SR flexible shaft tool. This can happen as it is the consumable part of the … Read more

The Correct TH47 Wrench

I had a problem a couple of weeks ago. I was coming off of a ride on the M2-F2. What developed through the ride was a feel coming from the cranks that was horrific. It was grinding and feeling lumpy as I pedaled. I was lost as to what it was. I put the bike … Read more

Bar-in shapes for all-road

I finally got a chance to dive deeper into the all-road bar-in concept. In December, I got the bar-ins installed on the all-road bike and the value (again) was instantly obvious. It’s grown to be one of my preferred positions on the bike. This is strange because you’d think that the wide grip position would … Read more

2024 PVD Electra Road+

This is a new Road+ bike for Windy. Her last new bicycle frame was the 2023 Vega MTB. That bike was named after Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed 5B Vega. In my mind, it’s one of the nicest looking bikes I’ve ever produced. It’s really an eye catcher! Staying on theme, this road+ bike is named after … Read more

2024 PVD Samantha Frame Fixture

2024-10-26 update is HERE It started as a quick upgrade to the Cyberdyne System frame fixture, back in November 2023. Snowballs snowball and the ‘quick upgrade’ became the fully re-designed fixture shown here. This project has been moving forward in plain sight, with some interim posts and videos for the last six months, and the … Read more

Presta Valve Dice

This is a golden oldie. About a billion years ago, I’d make special valve caps for presta valves from small dice, either six or 10 sided. Dice on tire valves is an old hot rod trick. It then got adopted by the BMX kids. It never quite made it from Vg8 to Vg5,2 Shrader threads. … Read more

Calvin Norstad and the new Paragon

It was time to interview Calvin Norstad. This January, Calvin took over from Mark (Calvin’s father) in running the whole show at Paragon Machine Works. This is some of the biggest news effecting custom bicycle framebuilding in a long time. One of the most influential and important companies has a new captain. This is important. … Read more

Accountability Mechanisms

I have a concept that I call ‘accountability mechanisms’. It’s not too different from what others talk about. These are tools that keep me working hard and in good ways without having to ‘pay’ someone to do that. An extrinsic motivator; a teacher, trainer, or editor, would (hopefully) do the same thing but those come … Read more

The FN M1900

This is a fun little toy. So slim and delicate. It’s an FN M1900. This would have been produced between 1900 and 1911. One of the first slide pistols and the intro for the 32 ACP round. (7.65×17mm Browning SR). It was given to a friend of mine. Her father had gotten it from her … Read more

Sticky Pedals

I’ve been working with the HT AE05 pedals lately. I just upgraded the pins. Now I’m looking at the spin. Out of the box, these pedals are very bound up. They have an insane amount of resistance to them. I wanted to figure out how to improve that. These are simple bushing pedals with a … Read more

Downgrading the shifter

I’ve made it clear that I’m not a fan of the new SRAM Transmission system. I’ve found that it shifts very poorly. It’s painfully slow. The shifter ergonomics are terrible. There’s no clearance under the new stealth master cylinder reservoirs for a better clamp. And the shifter pod perch is very weak. That’s a lot … Read more

Finders Keepers

finders, keepers; losers, weepers I have a several general rules that I follow when I’m riding trail. One of them (and the topic today) is that I stop to pick up any small parts that I see on the ground. Even if they are fairly beat or weathered. I do that. Why? The logic is … Read more

HT AE05 Pins

I said in the last post that I was going to be making some nicer pins for my new HT AE05 pedals. These were made from stainless steel M4x8 set screws. A basic 4mm x 34.7 degree taper. Sets up for a nice 1.5mm tip. The performance gain here is that it is now a … Read more

All-Road Upgrades

Yesterday, I made a couple of changes to my all-road bike, the 2023 PVD M2-F2. I figure that both of them were worthy of comment as this is always a work in progress. The all-road platform is fairly exciting for me to work with. The ‘answer’ to the puzzle is relatively undefined in the bike … Read more

Trannies

Back on November 2, 2023, Transition bikes dropped their new hardtail bike, the TransAM. This is a bike carrying a name that they’ve used for hardtail models many times in the past. While I try to keep up with comments on some of the more interesting products that come onto the market, I just didn’t … Read more

Numerical Suspension Modeling

I’m probably known best these days for my hardtail mountain and all-road bikes. What some may not know is that I have a long history riding and tuning suspension bikes and sport motorcycle. I’ve had big enduro bikes and downhill bikes. I’ve changed shims, fluid, and springs to alter the performance of these systems. This … Read more