Bicycle

Shimano has recently issued the new Zee line of parts. Essentially, Zee is just SLX for downhill and gravity bikes. Zee is a very nice line of parts and essentially makes up for the problems with the Saint line of parts – cost and weight. Don’t get me wrong. Saint is awesome. I use many … Read more

This post was inspired by a conversation that I had the other day when I bumped into my friend Cameron Falconer at Java Hut in Fairfax prior to the each of us leaving on a ride. I was on my neat Firefly 29″ bike and he was on his road bike. Somehow the discussion of gearing … Read more

Here’s a cool thing. I was having a discussion with Chris Ioakimedes this past Sunday. He had a tube in his pocket, still in the box. It turned out that we both usually leave them in the box so that they don’t get damaged. It seemed like such a bulky awkward way of dealing with this issue. … Read more

This is true for a number of reasons but here is one that you probably haven’t heard of. THEY LISTEN. I deal with lot’s of technology and meticulous setups on bicycles. I find problems and issues with bicycles and components often (but not in this case) long before others even know it is the case. … Read more

The Firefly/PVD Serenity. After designing the new titanium road and mountain bike dropouts for they guys at Firefly Bicycles in Boston, it was time for my payback. A nice titanium mountain bike. Of course, the design of the bike would be as specific as the dropout designs. I had a vision of exactly what I … Read more

My new bike is going together. More on that later… Working on PF30 for the first time is not going well. I’m a known BB92 guy. I know it’s the best way of doing things. The world, it seems, doesn’t agree with me. Thus, PF30 is taking over. Grrr… The new bike has a PF30 … Read more

This is an apology to Lorri Lee Lown. I was wrong about something and insisted that I was right. I argued that the increased friction caused by heavier riders and the increased drag due to their larger size overcame the increased downward forces generated from gravitational pull compared to smaller lighter riders making the heavier slower. Doubts … Read more

It’s happened again… I joined up with the guys at Firefly Bicycles to get another dropout done. This time it’s for road bikes. Firefly makes a lot of extremely elegent and fast road bikes. The craftsmanship put into them is borderline obscene. The pride the owners of these bikes take is about the same. Any … Read more

I was at the Fontana City Nationals this weekend. A great venue and a great event. Aaron Gwin was in the house during Saturday’s DH practice. I got to meet him and take some pictures. He’s a pretty low key guy. He didn’t race on Sunday. The bike was essentially stock other than the obvious … Read more

This showed up on the interwebs. I can’t possibly imagine what’s coming…

Chips are flying this week. Lot’s of stuff to do. Crazy computer cutting robots! 2012 PVD Chainguides for Santa Cruz V-10. More bomber. Stealth layout. 2X compatable (for TR, Butcher & Nomad).

The mountain biking season is entering it’s second phase, summer. The first rains in the late fall mark the first phase, the racing season marks the second. The Sea Otter Classic is just around the corner and the 1st National Series Race is even closer than that and the Pietermaritzburg UCI WC is this weekend. … Read more

You never know anything unless it’s been measured. That’s the rule any engineer lives by. Most people think of suspension systems and tuning them as some sort of voodoo or black art. The #1 problem with these folks is that they really never understood the role that springs play in the system or how springs work in a … Read more

When a spring in a shock is compressed two things happen; the spring twists and the spring cocks. When this happens, the spring needs the freedom to do this otherwise the restriction results in mechanical friction in the shock, slowing it down in an uncontrolled and unpredictable way. In motorsport, you would use a hydraulic … Read more

***THIS ISSUE HAS BEEN RESOLVED – SEE THIS POST*** I like my Santa Cruz Butcher. It’s a fun, solid, no-frills trailbike. I got it for that reason. I didn’t want to mess with it and I wanted solid.A creak had developed in the main pivot. I hate that. I hadn’t taken it apart when I … Read more

Today I stumbled on the proverbial pot of gold for bike folks, an early Wicked Fat Chance at a local pawn shop.  The bike apears to be a late 80’s or very early 90’s frame. It’s still got the pressed in BB bearings that were phased out in 1991. Honestly, I don’t need it but … Read more

Mary was re-gearing her Nomad this morning. Putting a 26 tooth ring up front to give here knees a break climbing on the, now heavy, bike. We were checking the ring spacing when we found something off. I really hope that this is the only one that slipped through QC. #Y1LR26000, Chainring 26T-AH, FC-M980 It’s as if … Read more

This is a pretty special bike. A juvenile DH race bike for my friend Bryan Harrell’s son Jake. Jake has been racing ABA BMX (ranked 4th district CA04) for the past two seasons and is absolutely killing it. As mountain bikers and living in the best place you can for riding trail, it is only natural … Read more

I’m getting a 29er type bike built for me this winter. All I needed to do was design it. I’m looking for it to be a nice tight fire roadie/crosser that can still ride real singletrack quickly with tires maxing out at 1.9″. Special attention is going to be put into getting the largest chainrings possible … Read more

A long, long time ago (1998?) I designed the disc brake dropouts for Independent Fabrications. I knew the whole crew there as we had all worked at Fat City Cycles together. The reason for the design was simple, I needed a new bike and I use Shimano parts. That was the moment that Shimano had … Read more

Things went pretty wrong at the Tara Llanes Classic. I’m bummed. Not just because of getting injured but because I really thought I had a shot at 2nd place in Cat 1, 40+. Grrr. I even had a cool bike for MegaDH. I got kicked off a big jump really bad on my warm up … Read more

This weekend is the Tara LLanes Classic. http://www.tarallanesclassic.org/. It’s what is called a Mega DH. Mega DH is essentially Super D’s wicked brother. A very long DH race with no emphasis on real climbing but a bunch of pedalling at high speeds could be involved. The key is that the course will involve true downhill trails … Read more

Jake Harrell is the son of my friend and business partner, Bryan. Fairfax Cyclery!!! Jake and Bryan have been racing a ton of BMX lately and Jake is proving to be a seriously fast kid. He can’t wait to get out with dad and the bros for the downhill rides. Problem: There is really nothing … Read more

Simple leverage. Didn’t anybody else do the math? BB30/PF30 has proven to be a complete mechanical failure. It was obvious from the outset and I had made good arguments against it when it was first being rolled out. The Shimano system is clearly superior but for some reason cyclists thing that everything has to be … Read more

The proper setup of Downhill and long travel suspension bikes often requires the frequent removal of the shock as well as having the system in a topped out AND bottomed out state. These little dummy shocks allow the rear end to be easily fastend in place to adjust things like chain length, cable routing, chain … Read more

Ashland Super D, Cat 1 40-55 Men, 42:26, 14th. Super fun race. A poor showing for me. Ran with full fixed high post. I was a bit out of shape for the climbing and could have saved some time with a dropper post. Can’t wait until next year. I would expect at least a 39 … Read more