Wood

We’ve all seen bicycles made of wood, but I haven’t seen anything like those made by Sueshiro Sano.  First boats.  That’s where he started (following a family tradition going back seven generations).  Amazing mahogany boats.  Then mahogany bicycles!

All the bicycles are here (but don’t skip the boats).  Click through them to see the evolution.  

One in English (from a car manufacturer).

Also an interview here.  I can’t add a thing, so I won’t.

Take care.

Another

Of course we still make bicycles in the US, but no longer on the scale shown in the video.  I wonder which US maker produces the most bicycle frames?  Waterford was my first guess, but Trek claims they make more here than anyone.  I had assumed Trek was making everything overseas, but they must make their high-end carbon bikes here.  Cannondale would have been in the mix, but we know they stopped making frames here in 2010 (moving all production to Taiwan).  Let’s not forget Worksman!  I don’t think of them every day, but I was glad to come across this.  Four generations of manufacturing bicycles (and other wonderful things) in NY!

I wonder if we will ever see another huge factory churning out bicycles by the thousands here?

Vintage Goodness

Outside

Today we accepted a friend’s invitation to ski with him at Lapland Lake Nordic Vacation Center.  What a place!  The Center is in Northville, New York.  North from many places, but it is at the southern edge of the Adirondack Park.  An hour and a half drive for us.

Tough winter for ski centers in New York.  Mid-January and this place has been open this season for only nine days!  The snow wasn’t deep, but it was very nice.  They groom the trails so once there is enough snow, more doesn’t really make things better.  We started with an easy loop in the direction of Woods Lake.  Not Lapland Lake.  Near as I can tell, there isn’t a Lapland Lake in the vicinity.  Maybe in Finland?  Here’s the lake.  Sign said not to ski on it, so we didn’t.  I saw ice fishing huts on Sacandaga, though, so I am guessing the makers of the few tracks on Woods Lake weren’t risking much.

We had lunch at the lodge.   Bowls of their excellent vegetable chili treated us well.  Sated, we headed up into the hills for some proper work (and proper downhill rewards).  Lacey has spent the least time on skis but had no problem putting together a solid day of fun.

While we were out there, an auction ended for a Bridgestone RB-T.  Not the year I want, but it is the only Bridgestone that I admire that I don’t have.  Proud to report I didn’t even think about it.  Just enjoyed the skiing!

I should try to stay busy.

That’s that.  Be well!

Sweet

Yesterday Lacey gave me a surprise.  MUSA knickers from Rivendell!  Isn’t she the best?  I like the colors in mine better than those on the site now.

The fit is baggy.  I have a couple of pairs of tight fashion knickers which I also enjoy, but it is nice to have a choice.  Do I want to look cool or be comfortable?  Like everyone’s preferences, mine are ever-changing.  I see no reason to save these for pedaling.  Disc golf, climbing at the gym and drinking beer seem to be other good uses for these britches (the elastic belt will register no protest when I order a second pint).    

Very well thought out details, too.  Grant makes sure you know by including a card.  Remember you can click on images to make them bigger.

Gave the house a vigorous cleaning this morning.  Apparently my lawyering hands were not up the task.

Manna baked tofu is in the oven now.  Oops.  Now it is (that’s a twenty minute delay on a lunch I am already wanting to be eating–sadness).  Should be worth the wait, though, as I added onion powder, thyme and black pepper to the sauce which has in the past included oil, water, garlic powder, mushroom soy sauce and hot sauce.  I also tossed in a little corn meal with the nutritional yeast as I turned and dusted the baking tofu.  Update:  It rocked!

Missing the tent in the living room.  Might need to pitch it again.  Here is a nice reminiscence shot (for my benefit as much as anyones).  Tea, pear, Magnus Mills and a phone (who knows when a client will call).  Add Lacey and Frida and I’d have no reason to leave.

Stumbled upon Velo Cult’s site yesterday.  Looks like this shop would do a fine job of draining my wallet.  Not sure if this site is directly related to Velo Cult, but that’s the sense I got as I was surfing and assuming and such.  Not that you’ve helped me in the past, but please consider buying that Rivendell All-Rounder before I lose control (again).

Frida got four-paw salt-paw on our walk morning.  She lifted one and made it shake, but as soon as I cleaned it she lifted the next and another and then the last.  So sad.  Her pads must absorb the chemicals (how would she feel it otherwise).  I wonder if there is a long-term health impact?  She hates her boots, but they might have to come out again.  Makes me want to live in the country so we could walk without crossing salted roads.  I’d do anything for this little girl.

The dryer is hollering at me so I should go.  Happy Friday to you all.  Hope to see you this weekend!

Home

The amp is back!  Joseph Levy of Tempo Electric delivered it on Sunday.  Nice to see the amp and Joe, but the amp had to sit at room temperature for two hours before we could power it up (condensation from warming could cause a short).  Sadly, Joe left before we had our first listen.  The waiting was made easier when we were invited to watch football with our neighbors.    

After the game (go Giants!), I rushed home and fired it up.  It made lovely sounds for five minutes.  Then the right channel dropped.  Left was fine, but  no sound from the right.  The amp had been away four and a half months.  Joe is a pro and had thoroughly tested his work.  To imagine it could misbehave within minutes of turning it on was so far from cool that I couldn’t make sense of it.  I wasn’t angry or panicked.  I was numb.

Luckily my friend was visiting from Portland.  Joe thought the amp would be done months earlier, but delays cropped up and accrued until the thing showed up in the middle of a three day visit from one of the few people in my life that would really appreciate it (and be able to sort out the crisis).  Spooky and wonderful coincidence.

Not only is my friend wicked smart, but his father was a hifi nut.  He and his father spent weekends listening to hifis all over town.  In addition to the music, they listened to dudes rapping about their systems and discussing mods and repairs.  As an adult, my friend has modded tube hifis and poked around guitar amps.  Before I had time to get upset, he launched into troubleshooting.  He had me swap the speaker wires left to right to make sure the right speaker wasn’t the problem.  After the swap the right speaker was working and the left speaker was quiet, so the speakers were fine.    Next, I got him a heavy leather glove so he could swap a few power tubes in the right channel.  No improvements.  Finally, he turned the knobs on the preamp.  Hosannah!  The problem disappeared!  It was a  dirty potentiometer (“pot”) on the preamp.  At first I didn’t want to believe it–the preamp had been serviced less than a year ago.  I learned pots can get dirty quickly and inactivity doesn’t help.  Turning the pot a couple of times was enough to get it working again, but I should get some cleaner and give it a treatment.

My friend didn’t need to fix this problem to earn my respect.  This was just one of many super-hero moves I have had the pleasure to witness.   This particular display, though, really meant a lot to me.   I would never have suspected the pre amp.  It would have sucked to call Joe.  Embarrassing, really.  I would have taken the amp to him to have him tell me a week later it was fine.  Would have left me a little uneasy about the whole project.  Thanks to my friend, though, I know the amp is fine.

He didn’t stop there.  He also convinced me to try my old speakers with the amp.  I am really glad he did.  I had bought refurbished Acoustic Research AR-5s thinking they would work well with my vintage tube preamp and amp.  They sounded nice (good enough that I would never have bothered to try my original speakers), but my original speakers (which are a decade or so newer than the AR-5s) really allow the amp to show more of itself.  Jeesh!  How can I repay him?

I obviously owe a huge thank you to Joe Levy, too.  He really transformed the amp.  It was good when I gave it to him, but this amp had a reputation for serious reliability issues.  Big, fire starting failures are not out of the question.  Joe researched and addressed those.  Just a matter of replacing a few under specced resistors and/or capacitors.  While not a true test of his abilities, it was something that really ate at me and I wasn’t comfortable undertaking the mods myself.  He also made a bunch of changes to help the amp sound better.  He swapped 91 parts in all.  He suggested I change the tubes, too.  Also something I know nothing about, so he acquired and tested eight NOS USA tubes from the 1950s.  They have a big impact on the quality of the sound and are often more durable than tubes made today.

What else?  Joe is very detail oriented (that speaks to me).  He gave me a full parts list and a beautiful schematic.  That will be important if someone other than Joe ever works on the amp.  Finally, he replaced the fuse with a circuit breaker.  A little thing, but much appreciated as it will be easier to reset a circuit breaker than replace a fuse.  Very thoughtful!

All in, he spent more than twice as long as he estimated getting the amp done.  Still, he honored his estimate.  In fact he would have come in under budget if I hadn’t asked for the NOS tubes.  I should also mention that he is easy to talk to (even if, like me, you don’t know shit about hifis) and he really did a great job of keeping me in the loop as things moved along.  I can recommend Joe’s work without reservation.

I am just starting to learn the language used to describe hifi performance and sound.  I could toss a few phrases around, but to be honest I have so little experience against which to compare my system that my remarks wouldn’t mean much.  I will say I love the sound.  Still warm (as a tube amp should be), but after the mods I get a lot more treble (fun, for instance, with 80s synth music).  Before it was a little dark.  I have no controls for treble or bass, so I get what I get.  It says something that I want to listen to it for hours.  At the end of each record, instead of powering down the amp I reach for something else to put on the platter.  That is the best measure of an amps performance as far as I am concerned.

Can’t forget my uncle Larry!  He gave me the amp, the preamp and the turntable. All that remains of my original system is the cd player and the speakers!  So again, huge thanks to you, Larry!  Your components are in caring hands and you’ve made me very happy!

Very sad to report that on Saturday, the day before my friend was helping me with the amp, he was helping his wife, their cat sitter and their veterinarian decide what to do with a very ill cat.  A cat they had lived with for sixteen years.  They were up until 3:00 am (Sunday morning then) and it didn’t turn out well.  On Sunday, we were all sick with sadness.  Our friends advanced their return flight from Tuesday to Monday so they could snuggle for an extra day with three critters still at home.  Most of us have had companion animals in our lives and know how hard it is to lose them.  Harder still to be on the other side of the continent when it happens.  Know that we are thinking of you, friends.    

Hifis are wonderful, but they fall pretty far down the list when friends are hurting.  So much to think about, but I should move into the kitchen.  Lacey will be home soon and we’ll need dinner.

I hope you and yours have many wonderful days together.

Making Stuff Up

Art!  Always appreciated, but once in awhile something really special shows up.  This time the artist with something special is Sam White.  I made (am making) his acquaintance after he commented on this blog.  Sam White’s profile took me here.  I think his pictures are beautiful and his videos are inventive and playful and I told him so.  He steered me to another project which involved bicycles, touring and photography. Also very imaginative and fun.  Wish I could be there to see the project (he is across the right pond).  Luckily, we can get a sense of it from this:

Cool, huh?  More can be seen here.  Thanks for sharing your work and making the world a better place to inhabit, Sam.  Good luck with everything you do.

Nothing

I’ve decided white bar tape is the shit.  Especially on bikes with white cables and accent graphics.  There is not enough sun here to make a proper picture, but you get the idea.

Again with the matching hemp twine finished bar tape ends (this time reused from the bars that were on the Bridgestone Grand Velo 3000).  I (say myself that I) am on a roll of excellence.

In the next few hours, as our friends try (for the second time in two days) to fly here for a visit, a big, slow-moving weather front will move in.  The temperature will drop ten degrees and precipitation will start in earnest.  They are scheduled to land at 4:00 (just like they were yesterday when a weather cancellation stranded them at home).  That’s when the driving is supposed to get tricky (with rain turning to ice).  What?  The?  Fudge?

Let’s pretend it isn’t January in upstate New York.

Instead, let’s pretend it’s August in Provincetown.

After an ocean romp, it is time for a nap in the brightest sun ever recorded in ones and zeros.

I don’t want to believe our friends are visiting here, now, as some mind bendingly epic effort to keep it real.  You could toss a dart at a spinning globe and have a very low chance of finding a place to visit with conditions worse than those we are currently “enjoying.”  Maybe it has something to do with how much they love us.  That’s the only thing that makes sense.  Good thing, too, or we’d be left here with two hearts over-full with unrequited love for them!  Safe travels, friends!

Enjoyed a fifth infusion of Oolong tea yesterday as I was beaten by Lacey at Scrabble (good game, sweetness!).   When will this tea give out?  How do Oolong farmers make any money?  Today I’ll try a third infusion of Pu-Ehr tea.  I’ll say again how much this officially sanctioned reusing of tea thing speaks to my frugal side (to refer to a frugal side is disingenuous as it suggests I have another side).

The long-lost amp may return tomorrow.  Stay tuned!

Be well.

Plastic Bearings

Shudder!  Didn’t know they existed.  Just read a review of Ergon PC2 pedals here.    The plastic pedal bodies caught my attention first, but it was the plastic bearings that really woke me up.  Is this good?

From the KMS site (a manufacturer of plastic bearings), we are told plastic bearings run smoother, quieter, more efficiently and with less maintenance than conventional bearings.  No lubrication necessary (but special lubricants are made which can result in near silent operation)!  Interesting.  All good stuff if plastic bearings hold up.  KMS doesn’t mention it, but with steel prices rising, plastic bearings may be cheaper.  That will get any manufacturer’s attention.  My guess is cost played a part in Ergon’s choice when specifying plastic bearings.

I am not looking forward to opening my first hub and finding plastic bearings.  Want to take bets on how long it will be before you find plastic bearings in Phil Wood hubs?  Aftermarket ceramic (which are very expensive), maybe, but plastic?  Really?  I have too many friends working at GE to doubt that plastics can do amazing things, but this old dog isn’t biting.  Just yet anyway.  You know any other uses of plastic bearings in the world of bicycling?   I found this and this.  If you know of others, especially specific parts, please share.

You know, I may eat my words sooner than later with respect to the pedals.  The more I read about them, I find myself kind of intrigued.  I am a fan of platforms, these look fine (that said I’d put them on a contemporary bike or an older bike which I am not trying to keep period correct) and seem to be well designed.  Check out the video here (or as they say, “find some infos”).  Watch it all the way through to see the bearings (which aren’t what I expected–plastic sleeves instead of ball bearings in races–which don’t seem as sketchy as plastic ball bearings sound).   There are some pretty positive reviews in the comments here.  We’ll see!

Take care.

Pixie Dust

Today I pedaled the Rivendell Road for the second time.  Just a bit but longer than the first go.  I rode to a local government campus encircled by a two mile ring road and then to the community garden.  Maybe four miles all in.  Maybe not that much.  The seller of the frame had left just enough pixie dust on the frame so that my first ride was beyond effortless.  Not like the bicycle was pedaling itself.  More like it was being pulled urgently forward by the hand of Dog herself.  Sad to report that the pixie dust seems to be gone.  Used up or maybe I polished it away.  Either way, today I had to pedal.  It is, after all, just a bicycle.  A mighty fine bicycle, but once the thrill of rolling on a dream ride exits the room, you are left with tires, cogs, chain, bearings, legs and lungs.

The sun baked outdoor thermometer may read forty-five, but the air temp is thirty-five.  Luxuriously warm for walking on a January day in upstate New York, sure, but chilling as you move through it at any pace faster than that of a scent obsessed ten-year-old dog.  Still, the lap around the campus was fun.  Loooks flat, but the true pitch of any road is revealed when you pedal it.  Half up and half down, it is.  Not a big change.   A couple of teeth more on the rear cluster are enough to keep my breath in check on the up part.

One lap was plenty so I headed to the garden.  Hadn’t been for a month.  Only kale is still in the ground and I had low expectations for finding any I’d want to eat.  I was happy to find all the plants in decent shape.  Not growing in these temps, but the leaves were neither wilted nor ashen from cold.  I picked enough to make it worth taking out the pot, but had no way to carry it.  I could pedal one handed carrying a kale bouquet, but road bikes are better enjoyed at speed.  Speed demands (for me anyway) quick access to both brakes.  I rolled the kale in my scarf, a vegetal and woolen burrito, tucked the fattie in my hoodie and pedaled home.  

My kale stuffed hoodie suggested a comically huge super-hero chest, growing larger still each time I filled my lungs with air on the long flat straight road between the garden and my home.  Gosh I love pedaling.

Don’t forget to have fun today.