Randomonium

Okay folks, get ready for a disjointed jumble of thoughts! I have no real direction for this boat today, so let's drift.....

Beard = Bike Knowledge?

Monday's With Mark: Yesterday the classes at the shop for consumers started up again, after a six year hiatus!  I had no idea it had been that long ago, but a search of this very blog showed me that the last time the courses were offered was March 2006. This blog was not even a year old yet! Ancient days.....

So, I didn't quite know what to expect for attendance.I do recall that the classes generally were not all that big back then, but last night blew me away as 25 folks came by to hear me yak about this, that, and the other thing.

I even garnered some compliments on my presentation. Cool! Must be the beard, ya know. Yeah......I've seen this thing on the social networks lately that shows a bicycle mechanics knowledge is proportional to the length of his beard. While I can not verify that this is entirely true, (because, ya know- there are some pretty smart, capable female bicycle mechanics that do not have beards- at least I hope not!), but it works for me!

So, it was a success last night, anyway, and we'll see how the next two Mondays go. We may have to jettison the ski tuner and make some more room back there if we keep drawing a crowd the size of this past Monday. Next week; Trail side bike repair! There should be some info with times and what not on the shop's website if you happen to be reading this and are local to me.

Big Fat Larry is good, but...

What I Want To See In Fat: Okay, I've had enough time on Big Fat Larrys to know that I want......nay- need more lateral traction than these tires have. I'm not sure how to get there, but maybe lower the center tread blocks and raise the outer ones? Kind of like the old Dart SC tires.

I'm definitely not a tire designer, but I know that getting these BFL's to not do the slippy-slide sideways sometimes is annoying. And no.....don't even say "Nate". Too much knob on that one. I'm not looking for extreme lugs like that, just a little help here with the Larry. Something in between the Nate and Larry perhaps? I pretty much really like where the Big Fat Larry, (and Larry, for that matter), are taking me, but they don't grip laterally all that well in looser, softer stuff. That's where the Larry shines otherwise.

Other than that, I can't really think of much, but I'm sure that Surly and 45NRTH are way ahead of me in terms of tires for fat bikes. Maybe we'll see something come this weekend.

Salsa Cycles Vaya from Frostbike 2011

Speaking Of This Weekend....

It is Frostbike weekend again coming up, and at least I shouldn't get snowed out of town, if I can believe the forecast for the weekend's weather.  Last year I got chased out of town on Saturday night by an oncoming blizzard that had folks socked into Minneapolis for a couple days.

This time should be a bit more exciting, I think. Last year was a bit "ho-hum" as far as new stuff was concerned. Now I think we'll see more new stuff with the economy not looking quite so dreadful. I know some new tires and some new components should be popping up at Frostbike, and I bet some new bikes will too.

Of course, the whole deal will start with going up to Mike's Bikes again, which is always a good time. That will be Friday evening. Look for some updates to pop up all throughout the weekend on the goings on.

Happy Valentine's Day, ya'all!