Catching Up Here....

Ah....this bike rack is too small!

Well, I have a few tidbits I wanted to catch up on before time got too far down the road on me. So, here are a couple of things that have happened recently around here....

Father's Day: Best Dad's Day I've had in awhile. I got to do a little grillin' ahead of the day, and on the holiday proper, it was a gloriously sunshiny day which I enjoyed by going for a ride with my Son. I rode By-Tor the Titanium Mukluk and boy! Does it ever need a cleaning! Oh well- I didn't let that stop me from enjoying a good time with my Son, and I even got in some slow speed grinding when we stopped at an abandoned school yard. Jacob played on the playground equipment while I made laps in some of the deepest pea gravel I've seen in a while. Just about mimics going through deep, fresh snow. Only it sounds a lot differently!

Mrs. Guitar Ted even got me a new tool chest! How about that? Yeah, it was a really great day. Thanks to all my family for making it a memorable one.

Speaking Of The Mukluk: 

I had a few e-mail exchanges with a fellow from Oz recently. He's a bag maker, and I have made arrangements to have a bit of a frame bag sent out for some upcoming adventures. 

Australian frame bag goodness.

In fact, this bag maker, called Bike Bag Dude, already has the frame bag done. I have an image he forwarded to me here. This bag is custom fit to my Mukluk and has a two zipper opening with a "false floor" that can be removed to make the interior a cavernous hold area for satellites and  transportation of small furry critters. (Well- no, not really! ) But the bag does have the false floor and can be made to be one big bag, or a two compartment affair.

This is the "Standard" bag and weighs 445 grams fully lined in an orange, which I figured would make it easier for my dim eyes to find stuff inside of it. Colors are chosen by the clients, and this one is a light grey to match the titanium Muk. Bike Bag Dude can also do an ultra-light version which is unlined, if you are super-freakish about weight.

There will be a couple of accessory items to go along with this, but I'll leave that for later. This frame bag will be doing duty at an upcoming long distance gravel event, and of course, lots of Winter time shenanigans as well. Triple D again, perhaps? We'll see.....I am excited to give this stuff a whirl and find out how I can utilize it for my adventures.

Project Two Six

Project Two Six Update:

It has been a while since I have talked about Project Two Six here. That is the Schwinn High Sierra that I refurrbed into a "townie". It has been a great little utility bike around the town here.

It has the rare roller cam style brakes on it, which you either know all about, or you think they are "weird U brakes". I have a boss on the front fork that is slightly mushroomed, and I do not have the proper milling tool for that repair, so the front brake is a little weird, but the back brake works like butter. One of these days I'll address that front brake and get it operating correctly.

The 1 X 5 drive train is simple, effective, quiet, near maintenance free, and has never given me a problem. Friction shifter, of course! Brooks Professional by way of Captain Bob is not really the "right" saddle for this bike, ( a B-67 would be better, or a Flyer), but doesn't it look "right" on there? It works well enough for me, so I am in no hurry to replace it just yet. I stuck a pretty upright Tioga stem on this with a Salsa 17° bar and Ergon grips with old Deore DX levers doing the brake duties. There used to be some nutcase that sold crazy cheap deals at QBP's open house back in the day. That's where the levers came from. I think I paid a buck for them and they came out of a bucket! This was waaaaay before Frostbike days. What was that guys name? Anyway....

I did a lot of detail filing on this crown

The biggest surprise for me about the bike is the Continental Winter Contact tires. These things are Winter specific with a special softer compound and all these grippy edges. I figured I would burn them up and swap out to other tires in a big hurry, but they have lasted. They show no appreciable signs of wear after three years of errands on pavement.

The rack and panniers are the self same set that I used for two overland self contained tours in the mid-90's. The wheels are off an 84 Mongoose Mountain Pro and have drilled out rims, just like the newer fat bikes. (What's old is new again!) Everything here is bolt on. No QR levers in sight, so the theft issues are less with this ike. Not to mention I had it powder coated in a textured military green color, which really makes it drab and  not noteworthy.

Anyway, it has been a great bike and really, really useful. The geometry is a knock off of the early Marin style mtb's. I figure this is my "poor man's Ritchey Timber Comp". I'll likely never get to ride one of those!

Well, that should about do it. Thanks for reading!