Sunday, May 08, 2011

A Sunny May Morning

Just a couple of photos of the bike as I head to the grocery store on a beautiful Sunday morning in May.
A better shot of the handlebars and grips

Insulated Earth Tote bags from resueit.com hold a ton of groceries

I wasn't able to get a picture that really showed the fact that the bike is brown.

Saturday, May 07, 2011

Cork Grips - Update

The cork grips have been shellacked (and 3 cm cut off of the right grip to accommodate the twist shifter.) I've installed them on the bike, and they look fantastic. They match the Brooks Honey saddle really well. Here are some quick photos:


Right Grip

Left Grip

Also, I finally got a chance to take a bit of a longer ride on the bike today. Not a really long one, but I went up to Capitol Hill to A Pet's Paradise to get dog food, and over to Queen Sooper's for groceries. This ride entails riding up a long mild grade, followed by a one-block hill, and then a shorter, milder grade. Generally, I find the long mild grade much worse than the one block hill.

I still do. I will say that the uphill portions of the trip were no worse with the Nuvinci, and the more upright position, and may actually have been a bit better. I would attribute this to the ability to micro-adjust the gear ratio. All and all, I am very impressed, and am feeling like I made a good choice.

To-morrow I am going to try to get some pictures of the bike outside in the sun, including my grocery hauling set-up. Maybe in the sun I can capture the brown as well.





Sunday, May 01, 2011

Breezer Uptown Infinity Unboxing and Progress


The Breezer arrived this week, and it is all built up - except I haven't put the cork grips on yet (I still need to get some Shellac) and I ran into some issues with the Porteur Rack. Want to see?

Look!
It's a box!
With a bike in it!

Let's peek inside, shall we?


Here is is pulled out of the box. The rear wheel, chaincase, stem, rack, wiring, lights and brakes are all installed. I needed to install the seat post, saddle, handlebars, pedal, front fender, and front wheel. Since I was planning on changing a lot of things out, that is okay.


The VO porteur rack (which was beautiful) didn't really fit the bike well. This could very well be my fault, as I make no claim to handiness. I am returning it, which makes me sad, but saves me money. For now I have a Wald 137 on it.


I have a Gamoh King Carrier on my Allant, and I think that it will fit on the Breezer, even though it is designed for 700c wheels. I will give this a try at some point, but not right now. Here is a picture of it on the Allant

The most difficult and annoying thing that I have found with getting the bike put together has been the stupid brake pads. I swapped out the stock Tektro pads for some Kool Stop Salmons. I HATE adjusting V-brakes. It is a pain in the ass. I'm still tweaking them.

I think that I have the handlebars and saddle set at the right spots. The bike is comfortable. I'm still adjusting to the slightly more upright position, and to the new hub.

The Nuvinci is quite slick, and minute adjustments make a big difference, I have a tendency to turn the shifter too far, and change it too much at once. Little nudges are key, at least in my neighborhood. It is cool though, small changes in terrain, where you normally wouldn't bother to shift can be adjusted to easily. I find myself almost constantly adjusting the shifter as I hit small changes in grade or wind speed. No sudden changes in resistance, no shifts that suddenly make it harder to pedal (or too easy) it is just smooth transitions.

One final note that I would add. I thought that this bike was black with orange accents. All the pictures that I saw looked black and orange, and when I pulled the bike from the box I thought it was black. When I took it out in the sun I saw that it is actually dark brown. It is an iridescent flake paint that has hints of green and orange in the brown paint. It actually makes the orange more palatable, as orange and black are a little too Halloween for my taste.

My preference for bikes is still classic solid black, with cream tires (I wish Schwalbe made cream Delta Cruisers in the right size for this bike) but with the orange accents on the bike, I don't mind it being brown.

I am no photographer, and I wasn't able to truly capture the color, but here is a photo of the top bar. You can see that it isn't black