pverdone My friend Donald Reni has a problem. He owns a Bridgestone bicycle. Other than that, he’s got another problem. This is supposed to be a shit bike. A shit bike is what I call a bicycle that you can ride and lock up around the city worry free. It’s not fancy, it’s not worth much, … Read more
Thanks to Sean Walling at Soulcraft and Una Pizza Napoletana, San Francisco has it’s own custom bicycle show. For the second year, I figured that I would spend my time looking at the people. Those photos are posted on my Facebook page so folks can share more easily. Two bikes stood out from the … Read more
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
To manage all the gear that goes to the range when I’m shooting, I finally broke down and bought a proper range bag. I searched around and found that one of the most recommended bags is in fact one of the cheapest. The MidwayUSA Competition Range Bag ($44.99, #259680). I got one. It’s a fantastic … 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
When I talk about a long skateboard, I’m usually talking about something very different from what most people are talking about these days. Let me first make a clarification. There is a longboard that is used in real skateboard racing, downhill and slalom. I’m not talking about competitive skateboards used in these specific racing … Read more
Here’s something fun. Looking into making this little project. An odd form of bling. What is it? The guessing will begin!
Not really, just some fine tuning. This is my first real “cuttin’ metal” modification to my AR-15 platform. I’m playing with the stock trigger mechanism trying to make it work well. Similar to my work with motorcycles, I’m trying to focus on modifications and cash outlays that actually make a difference and return on the … Read more
The 2012 Rock Shox SID RLT on my new 29″ mountain bike needs tuning. Because of my injured hand, I’m really not hitting the front end as hard as usual and it’s resulting in a ride that is too harsh and not using all of the travel. I’m going to change the oil in it to a … Read more
The goal of putting this gun together was to ease my way into the AR-15 system while having a rifle that would be cheap to shoot a lot and usable at the local indoor range. A 22LR system is obviously the way to go here. I also wanted to keep the gun light as I … Read more
Blitzschnell means “very quick” or “like lightning” in German. That’s a perfect descriptor for this modification that I’m making to my Ruger 77/22 22LR bolt action rifle. I’m replacing the stock striker spring with a Wolff Blitzschnell Striker Spring (23lbs vs 19lb stock). It’s part of the #30375 Rifle Performance Pack. The goal in replacing … 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
I got down to finally replacing the Heavy Buffers Modified AR10 Buffer Spring on my AR-10. I’ve been having some cycling issues that have outlasted the break in period on the gun and I want to get that resolved. I had initially wanted to put a DPMS LR-308 Rifle Buffer Spring (#308-BS-10B) into the gun … 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
I finished working on the forks from my GSX-R750 K8 this Sunday. I was able to take a short ride on the bike that afternoon and a longer ride on the way to work this morning. The results are simply awesome. Not just in the functioning of the forks themselves but completing the whole bike … Read more
I’ve got an amazing motorcycle. A 2008 GSX-R750! It’s pretty well modded and specifically put together for my needs and goals. I’ve done everything to it that I’ve wanted to except for one last detail, the fork. Typically, tuning the fork of a motorcycle is one of the first things that I do, not the … 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
Ask anybody that has studied physics about springs. They’ll tell you about Hooke’s Law, the linearity of coil springs, and brush them off as the most simple topic. They probably got great grades. Some of them probably got masters degrees or PhDs. The problem is is that they don’t know what they are talking about … 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
Hey folks. Here are my pictures from the 2012 North American Handmade Bicycle Show in Sacramento California. Enjoy! [nggallery id=1]
***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
I just made a few of these little dandys. They are shims that are placed within the split bolt of the Ruger 77/22 to adjust the chamber headspace. A 22LR firearm should be headspaced to the absolute minimum to get the most accuracy possible from the gun. Many guns will come with far too much … Read more