Summer of Bike Churn (Fleet Update)

This has been an extremely strange and awful summer, in the big picture, and in my little bike universe, it's been odd in its own way. With the bike shops cleaned out of inventory, I did my own inventory clear out, buying a few frames and quickly selling them as bikes. Mostly just because I could. Here's what went down during the Covid era:

February: we mostly had no idea Covid was here, and I sold my Trek Fuel to a coworker in a fit of full suspension simplifying:

Backpacking (Wild Cat Hollow)

 I've never been much of a backpacker, but I'm getting out quite a bit this year. Three trips! So far!

The third trip was just me and twins--Henry stayed at home with a claimed sore leg. Wildcat Hollow is a loop in SE Ohio with many, non reserved campsites. I like having this flexibility of where to camp.

We walked the 16 mile loop clockwise, passing this old school house (now a vulture's nest) on the first day:

New Bike: Rivendell Roadini

Just after I impulse bought my 2nd Cross Check frame, I impulse bought a complete Rivendell Roadini road bike.  I've been doing a little more road riding this summer, getting out of my usual Dublin loops. My thought was a real road bike would be more appropriate for this.

At least in these crazy times, I could sell me CC at a slight profit... if I close my eyes and ignore the parts that I used to build the frame. I'm cleaning out my parts bin, at least.

Here's the Roadini on my initial ride up north:

Cross Check Again

My bike fleet has had a lot of churn this spring and summer. I sold the Jones, the Mercier fixed gear, bought and sold a full suspension bike, and bought the Marin frame. All of those transactions left me with a pretty flush bike fund, so when I found many online stores were out 62cm Surly Cross Checks in the new mustard yellow color, I knew it was a sign that I should order the last one I found.

This is almost a repeat for me. I had a Cross Check from around 2007 for about six years. That old black bike carried me through many miles of rides and many different builds. I had a spare rim brake 700c wheelset hanging around, waiting for another frame--which turned out to be another CC. I knew the wheels would fit, as they were the same ones from my old CC!

I received the frame on Tuesday and quickly got to work:

Hammock S24O

I've been eager to try hammock camping. I have a cheap leisure hammock, but it doesn't have any bug protection. Nice camping hammocks quickly add up to $300+, but I'm just dipping my toe in the water with the Wal Mart cheapie, $40. Possibly this is as bad as trying mountain biking with a $100 Wal Mart bike, but if I do like hammock camping, I really don't want to fork out for multiple $300 setups for the kids as well. 

Last Friday, I quickly threw together a quick S24O. Henry and Kate were on board, but oddly Sam decided to stay home and watch a movie with Jodi.

We had to stop for dessert on the way to camp:

New Bikes In and Out

I've had some churn recently in my bike fleet. I sold my Jones (again) to a fellow iBOB, which caused my bike fund to spike up. I had the desire (again) to buy a full suspension bike. I surfed around for quite a while before coming across a NOS 2015 GT Sensor Carbon Team at the Pro's Closet. Nicely priced, and I wanted 27.5" wheels to give the bike a more fun feeling. Bigger wheeled full sus bikes I've had in the past have mostly just felt dull. The only boingy bikes from my history that I look back fondly are my '97 Pro Flex 857 and my '03 Specialized Epic, both short travel 26" wheels XC machines. Then again, there's likely also a lot of nostalgia going on here. Anyway, flush from the Jones sale, I jumped on the Sensor frame and got to building it up:

Backpacking (Zaleski and TVT)

Sam got a new, actual backpacking backpack for Christmas, so we finally gave it a try last month. I had a Monday off, so the boys and I headed to Zaleski for an overnighter on a Sunday afternoon. I hoped it would go better than my last trip to Zaleski, which was Henry's first (and last) backpacking experience, where we got lost and walked several extra miles on the road. Henry still hasn't let me forget about that one.

The weather was cloudy and cool, perfect backpacking weather, until it started to rain as we pulled into the trailhead parking lot. We cooled our heels in the car for about 20 minutes to let the rain pass, and the weather was fine after that. The only other rain we got was overnight, where we could enjoy the gentle sound of the rain on the tent's nylon.

We were hiking the south loop of Zaleski, which I have never hiked before. It starts off with a steep climb from the parking lot, and the trail rolls quite a bit after that.

Another Bike Friday: Tandem Traveler XL

I've been keeping my eye out for a Bike Friday tandem for some time. One recently came up on the BF Yak email list. The price was great, but the seller didn't really know much about bikes to answer my questions. I took a chance and bought it. He shipped it from the west coast, some assembly required:

The BF tandems are meant to be taken apart, but the previous owner clearly didn't understand how. Every cable quick connector that was meant to be unscrewed was still together, while the cables were unbolted at random points. Small parts were wrapped in sticky duct tape, difficult to open. But even with his inflated shipping cost and poor packing job, I'm still happy with the deal I got.

To reverse this karma, when I sold my Jones, I used this same box to send it out to the west coast, packed very carefully. The buyer was happy to get it.

Scooting (Razor A5 vs. A6), and Folding Bikes

We got Henry a larger Razor scooter (the A6) for Christmas last year. He wasn't immediately taken with it, but Kate was very happy, since Henry would no longer be stealing her old Razor A5. But with the shutdown, he's using it more. During the early part of the shutdown, Henry and I took both scooters out for a ride around our neighborhood. It was fun, and a new form of exercise, even if there isn't a lot of dignity in an adult riding a kid's scooter. But as a guy who rides a bike with 20" wheels while wearing knickers, clearly I'm not too concerned about dignity.

So I ordered a Razor A6 for myself, then Kate wanted a new scooter as well, and suddenly the garage is a awash in scooters. A few weeks back, I had an idea for a "big scoot." I drove my car down to the Dublin rec center one Saturday morning (~7 miles away), and unfolded my Xootr to ride home:

Fleet Update X

My bike stable is in a bit of an odd state right now. My bikes are in good form, but many of them aren't really quite right for me right now. Let's take them one by one, as usual in my rough order of preference at this point in time:

1. Ragley Marley.

It's a bit odd to put this cheap, generic aluminum hardtail mtb on the top. I'm not mountain biking much these days, except for the pond loop behind our house. Certainly nothing that will challenge this long and slack hardtail with 120mm of travel up front.

But... I like cheap bikes that punch above their weight, and the Ragley is that. The bargain $80 Suntour fork works well, and the overall bike ride well, even though it's aluminum. Big tires help. I've been practicing my cornering technique (and my manuals) on our flat pond loop, learning my way around the new school geo on a trail that might work better with an older, 72 degree HA 29er.

I didn't have any major complaints with the Advent nine speed drivetrain I had on the bike, but a closeout special led me to upgrade to Box 11 speed:

COVID travels

It's a bit odd, but I find myself riding less than I thought I would during this coronavirus pandemic. Being home all the time, I thought I would be itching to get out. But the weather has been lousy, and a lot of my local riding is motivated by riding errands: returning books to the library, Kroger runs, stops for ice cream.

Much of that is gone, so I'm trying to find other reasons to ride. A few weekends back, Sam and I rode around town looking for little free libraries. I had some books to unload.

Our first stop was the nearby Tartan Ridge park near GRE. Nothing but kids' books there, so we kept on rolling.

New Folding Bike: Xootr Swift (and vs. Bike Friday Crusoe)

Often I get the urge to buy bike X. Usually, the intersection of this desire, my bike fund balance, and the availability of a deal on "X" don't coincide, so nothing happens. But sometimes, these three stars align, and a new bike rolls into my fleet. Recently, I decided I really wanted to try a Xootr Swift folder, to compare how its simpler fold stacks up against my Bike Friday (just in case anyone else is comparison shopping these two out of production models). Since Xootr stopped making bikes about three years ago, they're pretty thin on the ground. In this case, I pushed the celestial alignment a bit by putting a "wanted to buy" up on one of my bike email lists. Ryan from Seattle quickly responded with a nice price on a Swift, and I've had it about a month now.

Yep, I bought a new travel bike just as travel everywhere is stopped. Great timing again.

Ryan's Swift was basically stock. A better blogger than I would have taken pictures of the stock condition, but I had a rainy afternoon off when I got it, so I immediately set to business to changing out parts from my stash. New tires, saddle, pedals, fenders, and five or six handlebar and stem combinations later, I ended up here:

Jones Update

At one point this late winter, my bike fleet was effectively* down to just three bikes: my Bike Friday Crusoe, my Jones LWB, and my Ragley Marley (I say effectively because I'm not counting bikes for sale, or the tandem). The Crusoe fills the role of a road bike for me, and the Marley as the mountain bike, so I decided to turn the Jones into an all rounder. Again. This turned out to be a little prescient, as now with the coronavirus going on, I'm not sure I'll be doing all that much mountain biking in the near future. I've never had a serious crash off road, but it's probably my activity with the greatest potential. Now is not the time I want to visit a hospital.

Anyway, you can probably imagine the minor changes needs to turn the Jones from a capable mountain bike to a capable all around machine: gearing, tires, and a way to carry stuff. This is what I ended up with:

Bike Friday Crusoe

Late last year, I picked up a Bike Friday Silk from Craigslist up near Toledo. I was really impressed with the fold, but not so much with the ride. I didn't care for the complexity of the internally geared hub or the disc brakes. I offered it up for sale or trade on my various bike email lists, and ended up making a deal with Dan from Chicago. Over Christmas break, we met one Saturday in Indianapolis, about half way between us. The boys and I turned it into a road trip to visit Indy, though we ended up mostly just walking around downtown when we found out the 16 bit arcade is 21 and over only in Indiana. Dang. This is us at the downtown library:

Anyway, it was still an excuse to listen to our Trojan War podcast and go out for a steak dinner. And to get my new bike, a Bike Friday Crusoe from the same generation as my Silk:

Tandem Update

I've been tracking my mileage for a work challenge this winter. Since December, I've put on around three hundred miles on my various bikes. That's pretty good mileage, for me. What's interesting is my most ridden bike is the Trek tandem, with almost half those miles. This is because whenever I want to go for a ride, Sam is right there with me, and he always wants to take the tandem:

I've made some key changes that really helped turn this tandem from a painfully slow bike to one that's almost enjoyable to ride (considering it as a bike only, not commenting on my riding company!)

Bike Friday Silk

I've previously mentioned about upgrading my Dahon into a Bike Friday. Bike Fridays are supposed to ride a bit more like a "real" bike than a center hinged Dahon, and they can take normal components, and they are made in Eugene, Oregon, land of my birth. I almost ordered a new BF frame this fall, but I resolved to wait and hold out for something used. Resale value on folding bikes--of just about any brand--seems pretty terrible. That's helpful for us secondary market shoppers.

I finally did stumble across a Bike Friday in my size. I almost passed it, because the Craigslist ad didn't mention the size, and it looked short. But it turns out it was a custom for someone with short legs but a long torso, with a 60cm ETT. Just right for me. Driving home from Detroit one afternoon, I made a detour east of Toledo to pick it up.

It was a Bike Friday Silk: