Cleaning House

This outlandish load was extricated from the Lab and disposed of.

I spent a good chunk of my day off clearing out another corner of the Lab at Guitar Ted Productions headquarters yesterday. This was a big load of crusty, old, worn out tires, for the most part. During the process I learned several things.

The first is that it feels incredibly good, (for me anyway) to clean up and clear out stuff. There is some fancy word or this. Feng shui, or something. If you Google the term you find all sorts of nuttiness. I just mean it to say that I felt liberated by clearing out that old junk. Nuff said......

The next thing was that when you fold up old, dry rotted tires, they crack like bones. That's kind of creepy, but that felt good to do as well. Definitely nuff said there!

Then I really learned that the Big Dummy is so vastly superior to my old cargo rig that it was laughable. Old tires weigh a lot, in case you didn't know. Add in a few steel wheels and you get a potentially unruly load which could twist a typical Xtracycle rig into a wet noodle of death to ride. Not the Big Dummy! Stiff and secure to ride. Not a problem. Those brakes too..... Marvelous. I actually had fun riding it loaded down.

Finally, when you ride against a stiff, cold wind, loads that stick up in the air can be a bit unsettling. I should have tied those wheels down lower! But I got there 5 miles later to the place where I could dispose of this stuff. Then I felt like Superman when all the weight was off the bike and the wind was at my back, That was really fun.

More cleaning and arranging to come. I've made excellent progress so far, but I am only maybe half the way done.

Cleaning House

This outlandish load was extricated from the Lab and disposed of.

I spent a good chunk of my day off clearing out another corner of the Lab at Guitar Ted Productions headquarters yesterday. This was a big load of crusty, old, worn out tires, for the most part. During the process I learned several things.

The first is that it feels incredibly good, (for me anyway) to clean up and clear out stuff. There is some fancy word or this. Feng shui, or something. If you Google the term you find all sorts of nuttiness. I just mean it to say that I felt liberated by clearing out that old junk. Nuff said......

The next thing was that when you fold up old, dry rotted tires, they crack like bones. That's kind of creepy, but that felt good to do as well. Definitely nuff said there!

Then I really learned that the Big Dummy is so vastly superior to my old cargo rig that it was laughable. Old tires weigh a lot, in case you didn't know. Add in a few steel wheels and you get a potentially unruly load which could twist a typical Xtracycle rig into a wet noodle of death to ride. Not the Big Dummy! Stiff and secure to ride. Not a problem. Those brakes too..... Marvelous. I actually had fun riding it loaded down.

Finally, when you ride against a stiff, cold wind, loads that stick up in the air can be a bit unsettling. I should have tied those wheels down lower! But I got there 5 miles later to the place where I could dispose of this stuff. Then I felt like Superman when all the weight was off the bike and the wind was at my back, That was really fun.

More cleaning and arranging to come. I've made excellent progress so far, but I am only maybe half the way done.

Non-Standard Modifications

Those dratted SRAM bits have been removed.

I spent Wednesday doing two things, mainly. One was dealing with the wet, sloppy return of Winter here. Shoveling snow which is the perfect consistency for snowman making is.......heavy work! Once in the morning, once in the evening. So, my day was sandwiched with that.

In between, I did some work down in the Lab. Not cleaning this time, although that is ongoing. No, this time I did actual work on bicycles. Yesterday's menu was all about documentation and swapping parts. Mainly that was focused on my Twin Six Standard Rando.

When I got the bike, initially as a review bike for RidingGravel.com, I liked the fizik handle bar just fine, even though it was based on a traditional road racing bar with no sweep or flare to the drops. However, after last Winter's shoulder injury, that bar was not comfortable for me at all anymore. I couldn't ride the Standard Rando for much more than a half an hour before my shoulder would get so painful I was in great discomfort. Flared and swept drop bars on my other bikes seemed to relieve me of this issue to a great enough degree that I considered swapping out the fizik bar to something else. First, I wanted to give my shoulder some time to recover. It did get better, but the fizik handle bar never did agree with me after the injury.

It had to go.

It doesn't take much flare and sweep to make my shoulder feel better, the Cowchipper has plenty of both.

Enter the Cowchipper Bar from Salsa Cycles. The Cowchipper is basically a "more of", the Cowbell Bar,  in terms of features. More flare and more sweep. I get along with my Cowbell Bar just fine with my shoulder, but I wanted to try a Cowchipper Bar on something other than a Fargo. I know I get along with a Cowchipper Bar since I use one on my Gen 2 Fargo.

So, that change was precipitated now since I had to get a bar to replace my aging Cowbell on my Black Mountain Cycles rig. (Another Cowbell Bar there, of course.) That and the Gevenalle stuff going on the Tamland made switching drive train parts and handle bars at the same time a good idea. It all came together and I made the swap of bars and bits on the drive train yesterday.

I replaced the shifters and derailleurs and also replaced the cables while I was at it. Once I get my hands on a new 11 speed chain that will be installed. Then I should be good to go on gravel rides. Well......once I get clear roads to ride on, that is. That may take a while.

In the meantime I decided to cruise up and down the snowy sidewalks yesterday afternoon to check how the Cowchipper would feel. And ya know what? I think we'll be getting along just fine.

Non-Standard Modifications

Those dratted SRAM bits have been removed.

I spent Wednesday doing two things, mainly. One was dealing with the wet, sloppy return of Winter here. Shoveling snow which is the perfect consistency for snowman making is.......heavy work! Once in the morning, once in the evening. So, my day was sandwiched with that.

In between, I did some work down in the Lab. Not cleaning this time, although that is ongoing. No, this time I did actual work on bicycles. Yesterday's menu was all about documentation and swapping parts. Mainly that was focused on my Twin Six Standard Rando.

When I got the bike, initially as a review bike for RidingGravel.com, I liked the fizik handle bar just fine, even though it was based on a traditional road racing bar with no sweep or flare to the drops. However, after last Winter's shoulder injury, that bar was not comfortable for me at all anymore. I couldn't ride the Standard Rando for much more than a half an hour before my shoulder would get so painful I was in great discomfort. Flared and swept drop bars on my other bikes seemed to relieve me of this issue to a great enough degree that I considered swapping out the fizik bar to something else. First, I wanted to give my shoulder some time to recover. It did get better, but the fizik handle bar never did agree with me after the injury.

It had to go.

It doesn't take much flare and sweep to make my shoulder feel better, the Cowchipper has plenty of both.

Enter the Cowchipper Bar from Salsa Cycles. The Cowchipper is basically a "more of", the Cowbell Bar,  in terms of features. More flare and more sweep. I get along with my Cowbell Bar just fine with my shoulder, but I wanted to try a Cowchipper Bar on something other than a Fargo. I know I get along with a Cowchipper Bar since I use one on my Gen 2 Fargo.

So, that change was precipitated now since I had to get a bar to replace my aging Cowbell on my Black Mountain Cycles rig. (Another Cowbell Bar there, of course.) That and the Gevenalle stuff going on the Tamland made switching drive train parts and handle bars at the same time a good idea. It all came together and I made the swap of bars and bits on the drive train yesterday.

I replaced the shifters and derailleurs and also replaced the cables while I was at it. Once I get my hands on a new 11 speed chain that will be installed. Then I should be good to go on gravel rides. Well......once I get clear roads to ride on, that is. That may take a while.

In the meantime I decided to cruise up and down the snowy sidewalks yesterday afternoon to check how the Cowchipper would feel. And ya know what? I think we'll be getting along just fine.

Randomonium

A Stroopwafel sample. Stroopwafel......riiiiiight.

Okay, if you are having trouble with the title today, let me take a moment to explain. The days where I have no direction or theme for the post I write get tagged as "randomonium" posts. Yes......the word does not exist.

Officially.

 Big deal. That never stopped me from making up words before. In fact, when I was a jeweler, my boss and I had so many made up words in our vocabulary, (that no one else understood), that my former boss' wife recently told me that it was like listening to a married couple speak a foreign language.

But I digress......

Anyway, as I have already said somewhere, I have been sick of late. The annual January sickness, or so it would seem. I have noted that since I have been going back through the old blog posts for the "Minus Ten Review" posts I usually put up on Saturdays. This time it seems to be a double whammy of flu and head cold. Thankfully I seem to be on the upswing, and I have been very careful to get plenty of rest. Lots of fluids too, and the good kinds even! Water, apple cider vinegar, orange juice, and a bit of coffee here and there.

A bit more progress in cleaning up has been accomplished since I can't be out riding.

That means I have not been riding at all. Oh..... I sneak in a bit of a ride at work when I am there by riding around the showroom floor. But mainly, it has been a dry spell, and I have not liked that one bit.

That said, there are two things that I can point to as sort of silver linings in the black cloud of no riding, as it were. One is that I have been able to make a lot of headway in clearing up the shop in the basement that I typical refer to here as "The Lab".

I saw a recent post by some hot shot blogger, (Hi Dicky!), that said he had a box of stuff he needed to get rid of.

One box! pffffft!

I bet I have a pick-up load, easy. I do not mean to brag, and I am not exaggerating the pile I have. In fact, it is a downright shameful thing to have been sitting on all this junk all these years, but I have declared war on boxes of "stuff", and even cans of stuff, and tool boxes of stuff, and...well......you get the idea. I won't even get into the four foot high pile of tires I moved out to the garage for now. Oh......I should say that there are actually two piles that high! 

When warmer weather finally occurs and I can manage to plan the 26 missions my Big Dummy will have to fly to carry out its part in this war, then I will be moving this stuff down to the local bike collective. Some of it is metal scrap, some is just getting the boot outta here. But anyway..... Point is that progress is being made and I have a plan to get free from the piles of stuff that has collected over 20 odd years.

The snow is almost gone, what we have is rotten, and it is covered in ice anyway.

The other silver lining I spoke of earlier is that since I have not been able to ride the weather has gone to crap. The Winter snow has been rotted by rains, higher temperatures, and ice. Even the two Iowa fat bike races scheduled for this weekend are cancelled, and last weekend's event was a scary, sketchy ice rutted affair, or so I've heard.

So, I couldn't ride, I wouldn't ride, even if I could ride, which I cannot. Too sick still. Getting better by the day, but I am not wanting to prolong this so I am doggedly sticking to my guns. I feel like a complete slug and way out of shape, but what are ya gonna do? Besides, as I have said, it seems every January starts out this way, why shouldn't this one. 

Huzzah!

So, in better news I have a ride to, and a room for, the Dirty Kanza 200. If nothing else, I will be doing a long, tour-ish ride of the surrounding gravel roads near Emporia with an eye to not going anywhere close to the DK200 course. That will all get determined later. Of course, there still is the outlier of my having an obligation to RidingGravel.com, so that ride may be different than I envision now, or it may not happen at all. Stay tuned.......

Randomonium

A Stroopwafel sample. Stroopwafel......riiiiiight.

Okay, if you are having trouble with the title today, let me take a moment to explain. The days where I have no direction or theme for the post I write get tagged as "randomonium" posts. Yes......the word does not exist.

Officially.

 Big deal. That never stopped me from making up words before. In fact, when I was a jeweler, my boss and I had so many made up words in our vocabulary, (that no one else understood), that my former boss' wife recently told me that it was like listening to a married couple speak a foreign language.

But I digress......

Anyway, as I have already said somewhere, I have been sick of late. The annual January sickness, or so it would seem. I have noted that since I have been going back through the old blog posts for the "Minus Ten Review" posts I usually put up on Saturdays. This time it seems to be a double whammy of flu and head cold. Thankfully I seem to be on the upswing, and I have been very careful to get plenty of rest. Lots of fluids too, and the good kinds even! Water, apple cider vinegar, orange juice, and a bit of coffee here and there.

A bit more progress in cleaning up has been accomplished since I can't be out riding.

That means I have not been riding at all. Oh..... I sneak in a bit of a ride at work when I am there by riding around the showroom floor. But mainly, it has been a dry spell, and I have not liked that one bit.

That said, there are two things that I can point to as sort of silver linings in the black cloud of no riding, as it were. One is that I have been able to make a lot of headway in clearing up the shop in the basement that I typical refer to here as "The Lab".

I saw a recent post by some hot shot blogger, (Hi Dicky!), that said he had a box of stuff he needed to get rid of.

One box! pffffft!

I bet I have a pick-up load, easy. I do not mean to brag, and I am not exaggerating the pile I have. In fact, it is a downright shameful thing to have been sitting on all this junk all these years, but I have declared war on boxes of "stuff", and even cans of stuff, and tool boxes of stuff, and...well......you get the idea. I won't even get into the four foot high pile of tires I moved out to the garage for now. Oh......I should say that there are actually two piles that high! 

When warmer weather finally occurs and I can manage to plan the 26 missions my Big Dummy will have to fly to carry out its part in this war, then I will be moving this stuff down to the local bike collective. Some of it is metal scrap, some is just getting the boot outta here. But anyway..... Point is that progress is being made and I have a plan to get free from the piles of stuff that has collected over 20 odd years.

The snow is almost gone, what we have is rotten, and it is covered in ice anyway.

The other silver lining I spoke of earlier is that since I have not been able to ride the weather has gone to crap. The Winter snow has been rotted by rains, higher temperatures, and ice. Even the two Iowa fat bike races scheduled for this weekend are cancelled, and last weekend's event was a scary, sketchy ice rutted affair, or so I've heard.

So, I couldn't ride, I wouldn't ride, even if I could ride, which I cannot. Too sick still. Getting better by the day, but I am not wanting to prolong this so I am doggedly sticking to my guns. I feel like a complete slug and way out of shape, but what are ya gonna do? Besides, as I have said, it seems every January starts out this way, why shouldn't this one. 

Huzzah!

So, in better news I have a ride to, and a room for, the Dirty Kanza 200. If nothing else, I will be doing a long, tour-ish ride of the surrounding gravel roads near Emporia with an eye to not going anywhere close to the DK200 course. That will all get determined later. Of course, there still is the outlier of my having an obligation to RidingGravel.com, so that ride may be different than I envision now, or it may not happen at all. Stay tuned.......

Housekeeping

I found this little wonder of CNC machining and anodizing from the 90's

I cannot say that I am real big on New Year's Resolutions at all. I found out a long time ago that making them was setting yourself up for disappointment down the road. Likely in a few days to maybe a couple of weeks. I decided to just quit trying that route. So, don't take this post as anything other than my decision to start cleaning up around here.

"Here" being my basement shop area which I jokingly refer to here on the blog as "The Lab". Only a few fortunate souls have ever seen it, and it is likely better that way. Well, from the standpoint of the past, it is. Now I am hoping to change that a little bit.

Cleaning up this vortex of bicycle paraphernalia has often been an exercise in futility not unlike making New Year's Resolutions. I would start in earnest, make a little headway, then something would distract me from my task and the next thing you know, I am adding to the piles instead of removing them. In this sense, I am my own worst enemy. Not unlike trying to diet, when you just cannot let that last doughnut be  left to dry out because that would be such a waste, and what's just one more doughnut today? No big deal. Except that you do that every week, and you sit on the couch and watch the 150 channels of doom on your dish TV because, you'll get around to exercising soon. Then your pants don't fit.

How did that happen!

So, how am I like that? Well, I have this terrible habit of bringing home stuff folks don't want at the shop which I still see value in. Tubes for instance. Customers want tubes swapped out in this magical thought that new tubes will help prevent a flat tire. I guess that is why many customers want perfectly good tubes swapped out. Anyway, I bring them home, because, ya know, they are still good tubes, right? Well, after almost 15 years of  adopting "misfit toys", the island has reached critical mass. It was time for an intervention.

No- that is not a "badge" from the recently released "Rogue One"

I started by carting out three huge storage tubs of foldable tires, and then I tossed out two huge garbage bags of unusable junk, making some organizational changes along the way. The effects have been dramatic and positive. Now I am encouraged to keep it up. I actually go down there every day and arrange stuff, throw out more junk, and store more stuff in bins and whatnot. It has become therapeutic and I actually find it relaxing to do.

Besides the obvious mental benefits I have also found that I have been getting things done as far as repairs and changes to some of the bicycles I have down there. I recently got the Snow Dog back up and running, as a for instance. I have rediscovered bits and pieces I had forgotten I had. I even found a cool pocket knife I barely remember getting but is really quite nice and useful.

One thing I ended up digging out was a frame I had custom made back ten years ago. I figured I would get that back up and running again, since it really is basically a Fargo knock-off, but it was made pre-Fargo. So, a drop bar specific 29"er. I'll be posting more about that in the coming months. Since it is orange in color, I think it might actually end up being a "matchy-match" for the new RidingGravel.com jerseys we'll have coming out soon. (Stay tuned for the pre-order linkage if you are interested.)

The decent bits, but still stuff I'll never use, is being carted out temporarily to my "garage of little use", a run down two stall affair that we cannot get the doors open to. The only way in is through the walk in door, so it is a safe place to temporarily store these bits for now until I can transport them to our local bike collective so they can make use of the stuff.

It's been a good thing to get started and I intend to keep going until I have the place stripped back quite a bit. I don't need to be a hoarder, and the simpler I can make the shop, the cleaner I can make it and keep it, the better it will be in the end.

Housekeeping

I found this little wonder of CNC machining and anodizing from the 90's

I cannot say that I am real big on New Year's Resolutions at all. I found out a long time ago that making them was setting yourself up for disappointment down the road. Likely in a few days to maybe a couple of weeks. I decided to just quit trying that route. So, don't take this post as anything other than my decision to start cleaning up around here.

"Here" being my basement shop area which I jokingly refer to here on the blog as "The Lab". Only a few fortunate souls have ever seen it, and it is likely better that way. Well, from the standpoint of the past, it is. Now I am hoping to change that a little bit.

Cleaning up this vortex of bicycle paraphernalia has often been an exercise in futility not unlike making New Year's Resolutions. I would start in earnest, make a little headway, then something would distract me from my task and the next thing you know, I am adding to the piles instead of removing them. In this sense, I am my own worst enemy. Not unlike trying to diet, when you just cannot let that last doughnut be  left to dry out because that would be such a waste, and what's just one more doughnut today? No big deal. Except that you do that every week, and you sit on the couch and watch the 150 channels of doom on your dish TV because, you'll get around to exercising soon. Then your pants don't fit.

How did that happen!

So, how am I like that? Well, I have this terrible habit of bringing home stuff folks don't want at the shop which I still see value in. Tubes for instance. Customers want tubes swapped out in this magical thought that new tubes will help prevent a flat tire. I guess that is why many customers want perfectly good tubes swapped out. Anyway, I bring them home, because, ya know, they are still good tubes, right? Well, after almost 15 years of  adopting "misfit toys", the island has reached critical mass. It was time for an intervention.

No- that is not a "badge" from the recently released "Rogue One"

I started by carting out three huge storage tubs of foldable tires, and then I tossed out two huge garbage bags of unusable junk, making some organizational changes along the way. The effects have been dramatic and positive. Now I am encouraged to keep it up. I actually go down there every day and arrange stuff, throw out more junk, and store more stuff in bins and whatnot. It has become therapeutic and I actually find it relaxing to do.

Besides the obvious mental benefits I have also found that I have been getting things done as far as repairs and changes to some of the bicycles I have down there. I recently got the Snow Dog back up and running, as a for instance. I have rediscovered bits and pieces I had forgotten I had. I even found a cool pocket knife I barely remember getting but is really quite nice and useful.

One thing I ended up digging out was a frame I had custom made back ten years ago. I figured I would get that back up and running again, since it really is basically a Fargo knock-off, but it was made pre-Fargo. So, a drop bar specific 29"er. I'll be posting more about that in the coming months. Since it is orange in color, I think it might actually end up being a "matchy-match" for the new RidingGravel.com jerseys we'll have coming out soon. (Stay tuned for the pre-order linkage if you are interested.)

The decent bits, but still stuff I'll never use, is being carted out temporarily to my "garage of little use", a run down two stall affair that we cannot get the doors open to. The only way in is through the walk in door, so it is a safe place to temporarily store these bits for now until I can transport them to our local bike collective so they can make use of the stuff.

It's been a good thing to get started and I intend to keep going until I have the place stripped back quite a bit. I don't need to be a hoarder, and the simpler I can make the shop, the cleaner I can make it and keep it, the better it will be in the end.

Luxy Bar, Bike Update, And More

Another Day, Another Drop Bar! The Ragley Bikes "Luxy Bar", which started out almost a couple years ago now with some inspiration provided by me, (Really!...and others as well), is now here in my hot little hands.

The Luxy Bar is the creation of Brant Richards, who once wrought component mayhem over at On One. Yes, the very same fellow who penned the designs for the Mary, Midge, and the oft forgotten Mungo Bars. Now he's doing his own thing called Shed Fire Designs and by using his brand, Ragley Bikes, he is marketing this off road drop bar. So, what do we have here?

Well, imagine the love child of a Woodchipper and a Midge Bar, and you would have what this Luxy Bar is. Like the Midge, the Luxy has a shallow drop, and a middle of the road slope, or flare to the drops as seen from head on. Like the Woodchipper, the drop extensions have a fair amount of sweep, and are quite long. One more thing: like the Woodchipper, this bar is wide!!

If the length of the extensions turns you off, might I introduce you to a hacksaw? Easy-peasey. Shorter extensions await you if you desire. One other oddity here that bears mentioning is that the Luxy Bar is 31.8mm from where the stem clamps on all the way across to each drop, where it then tapers down to accept the brake/shift levers. Oh yeah....bar end compatible as well. Check!

I'll be seeking out one more off road drop, but in the mean time, I will start measuring and comparing for a new series of posts which will likely be over on The Cyclistsite.com. Look for the Luxy Bar, Origin 8 Gary Bar II, the original Midge Bar, the Woodchipper, and the aforementioned, as yet to be named bar, (if I can get it), to be included in this comparo.

Update On The Black Mountain Cycles Cross Rig: I received word that the frame and fork I have coming from Black Mountain Cycles is possibly going to ship sometime next week. Seems that customs thought it necessary to "inspect the shipment more closely", so I will have to wait for a bit to receive it here.

No worries though, as I will have to get a few odds and ends scraped together before I can properly build the rig.

Since I first posted about the Black Mountain Cycles frames, (go here to see the road and cross frames), I've heard from several of you that also were considering one of these steel beauties. Actually, I hear a couple of you also have a frame and fork coming as well. That's pretty cool. I can't wait to see how those get built up, and maybe someday we can all get together for a Black Mountain Cycles only ride. That'd be fun.

By the way, is it just me, or are orange bikes really popular?

So that 26"er vs 29"er shootout, that'll never get done now, eh? A long time ago, James Huang was undertaking a 26"er vs 29"er comparative test and boy howdy! Did the readers ever go nuts on that one. Such that Mr. Huang actually modified the test to better compare and contrast the bikes. However; it never was finished, and the findings were never published, to my knowledge. (If I am wrong, perhaps someone can put up a link in the comments). Well, anyway, Mr. Huang has now published a piece on tires, which I happen to agree with, and some of what is written has something to do with 29"ers. There are a few finer details, however, that are not quite right, or are misleading, that I want to point out here.

First off, Mr. Huang is writing about an independent lab that has all sorts of whiz-bang instruments that are run by some "smart folks". This is impressive, and no doubt, convincing for many readers. However; these folks are not the first to do studies in a scientific manner on these things, so a lot of what is given as "new" here is really "old", if you care to dig into it. But that's beside the point....

I want to talk about the 29"er stuff here. First off, the lab finds that 29"er tires/wheels are "faster". Hmm.....okay, that's a touchy one, but along with this, it is stated that "29" tyres don't have a bigger footprint than otherwise identical 26" ones. While the total area is the same, the shape of the patch is longer and narrower on 29ers, though."  Well, that has been something that, if you had been paying attention in about 2003-2004 on mtbr.com, was proven by several "independent riders" that conducted their own tire contact patch studies. It was concluded way back then that tire contact patch shape was the defining factor in 29"er tire performance, not the size, which was agreed upon then as being the same as 26"ers. I have written several times since then on that subject based upon those, admittedly low-brow, not-done-in-a-lab findings.

Secondly, it is touted in the piece that Mr. Huang wrote that 29"er wheels have a"lower angle of attack", something the Gary Fisher Bike company has touted for years based upon a scientific paper written at a university. Which, again, isn't an independent lab, but, ya know........

Finally, the "wider tires roll better than skinny" idea, which leads off the piece has been validated by at least two tire companies and one periodical long before this. But again.......not an independent laboratory, so....

I guess it's all in who you want to believe in. Ya know, independent labs, or not. Just like doping controls. Those "independent labs" always get things right......... right?

 

Luxy Bar, Bike Update, And More

Another Day, Another Drop Bar! The Ragley Bikes "Luxy Bar", which started out almost a couple years ago now with some inspiration provided by me, (Really!...and others as well), is now here in my hot little hands.

The Luxy Bar is the creation of Brant Richards, who once wrought component mayhem over at On One. Yes, the very same fellow who penned the designs for the Mary, Midge, and the oft forgotten Mungo Bars. Now he's doing his own thing called Shed Fire Designs and by using his brand, Ragley Bikes, he is marketing this off road drop bar. So, what do we have here?

Well, imagine the love child of a Woodchipper and a Midge Bar, and you would have what this Luxy Bar is. Like the Midge, the Luxy has a shallow drop, and a middle of the road slope, or flare to the drops as seen from head on. Like the Woodchipper, the drop extensions have a fair amount of sweep, and are quite long. One more thing: like the Woodchipper, this bar is wide!!

If the length of the extensions turns you off, might I introduce you to a hacksaw? Easy-peasey. Shorter extensions await you if you desire. One other oddity here that bears mentioning is that the Luxy Bar is 31.8mm from where the stem clamps on all the way across to each drop, where it then tapers down to accept the brake/shift levers. Oh yeah....bar end compatible as well. Check!

I'll be seeking out one more off road drop, but in the mean time, I will start measuring and comparing for a new series of posts which will likely be over on The Cyclistsite.com. Look for the Luxy Bar, Origin 8 Gary Bar II, the original Midge Bar, the Woodchipper, and the aforementioned, as yet to be named bar, (if I can get it), to be included in this comparo.

Update On The Black Mountain Cycles Cross Rig: I received word that the frame and fork I have coming from Black Mountain Cycles is possibly going to ship sometime next week. Seems that customs thought it necessary to "inspect the shipment more closely", so I will have to wait for a bit to receive it here.

No worries though, as I will have to get a few odds and ends scraped together before I can properly build the rig.

Since I first posted about the Black Mountain Cycles frames, (go here to see the road and cross frames), I've heard from several of you that also were considering one of these steel beauties. Actually, I hear a couple of you also have a frame and fork coming as well. That's pretty cool. I can't wait to see how those get built up, and maybe someday we can all get together for a Black Mountain Cycles only ride. That'd be fun.

By the way, is it just me, or are orange bikes really popular?

So that 26"er vs 29"er shootout, that'll never get done now, eh? A long time ago, James Huang was undertaking a 26"er vs 29"er comparative test and boy howdy! Did the readers ever go nuts on that one. Such that Mr. Huang actually modified the test to better compare and contrast the bikes. However; it never was finished, and the findings were never published, to my knowledge. (If I am wrong, perhaps someone can put up a link in the comments). Well, anyway, Mr. Huang has now published a piece on tires, which I happen to agree with, and some of what is written has something to do with 29"ers. There are a few finer details, however, that are not quite right, or are misleading, that I want to point out here.

First off, Mr. Huang is writing about an independent lab that has all sorts of whiz-bang instruments that are run by some "smart folks". This is impressive, and no doubt, convincing for many readers. However; these folks are not the first to do studies in a scientific manner on these things, so a lot of what is given as "new" here is really "old", if you care to dig into it. But that's beside the point....

I want to talk about the 29"er stuff here. First off, the lab finds that 29"er tires/wheels are "faster". Hmm.....okay, that's a touchy one, but along with this, it is stated that "29" tyres don't have a bigger footprint than otherwise identical 26" ones. While the total area is the same, the shape of the patch is longer and narrower on 29ers, though."  Well, that has been something that, if you had been paying attention in about 2003-2004 on mtbr.com, was proven by several "independent riders" that conducted their own tire contact patch studies. It was concluded way back then that tire contact patch shape was the defining factor in 29"er tire performance, not the size, which was agreed upon then as being the same as 26"ers. I have written several times since then on that subject based upon those, admittedly low-brow, not-done-in-a-lab findings.

Secondly, it is touted in the piece that Mr. Huang wrote that 29"er wheels have a"lower angle of attack", something the Gary Fisher Bike company has touted for years based upon a scientific paper written at a university. Which, again, isn't an independent lab, but, ya know........

Finally, the "wider tires roll better than skinny" idea, which leads off the piece has been validated by at least two tire companies and one periodical long before this. But again.......not an independent laboratory, so....

I guess it's all in who you want to believe in. Ya know, independent labs, or not. Just like doping controls. Those "independent labs" always get things right......... right?