Winter Storage

I hate to do this to you, but even though it's a beautiful sunny fall day today- winter is going to be here in no time.

Let’s face it, we don’t all want to ride our bikes through the winter, and not all of us have a secure place to store them.  Most bikes have to spend the winter on a porch (if they’re lucky) or locked up with a bunch of other forgotten friends at an overcrowded rack.  Instead of letting your sweet ride collect rust under a foot of snow while you’re riding the T, why not leave it with us?  We’ll give it a warm, safe home, and make sure that it’s ready for action once the snow melts.

Here’s the deal:

Basic Winter Storage, $50:

-Secure, dry, warm indoor storage from November to April 15

-Bike frame cleaned/polished, chain lubed, and tires aired up before spring pickup

-Save yourself the cost of replacing rusty parts, and have your bike ready to roll when it counts

Winter Storage Tune $95 (plus parts, if needed):

-Secure, dry, warm indoor storage from November to April 15

-Bike will receive a full tune during the course of the winter

-Bike frame cleaned/polished, chain lubed, and tires aired up before spring pickup
-Your bike gets a tune, and we get to keep busy when the days are dark and cold. 

-Save yourself the cost of replacing rusty parts, and have your bike ready to roll when it counts

Bring your bike in anytime during the month of November and we'll keep it safe until April. Need to grab your bike before April? No problem- we're here from 11am-7pm M-F and 12-5pm Saturday. Or we can arrange some other time by appointment. We're also happy to hold onto your helmet and lock so you can keep all of your bike goods in the same place.

For Sale: Fat Bike

It's true. It's time to find a new home for the Moonlander. I've got another fat bike project in the works and I have to make room.

The deal is- it's a bit of a frankenbike. All good parts, but none of it stock.

Here is the full parts list:

Surly Moonlander frame and fork- Small (16)
Crank Bros. Colbalt Directset Headset
Truvativ Hussafelt stem
Salsa Bend 2 handlebar
Alloy seatpost w/ old school style
Avid SD 7 brake levers
Avid BB7 brakes, with compressionless housing 
Surly OD Crank 36/22, 170mm 
Front wheel- Weinmann double wall, 100mm rim/Surly disc hub
Surly Larry 3.8 front tire
Surly Endomorph 3.7 rear tire
Rear wheel- Surly Rolling Darryl/Shimano Deore disc hub
Gripshift Rocket 9spd shifter
SLX rear derailleur

includes Evo Two Faces Pedal, and a basic saddle

It does not include a front derailleur, but it does have two chain rings and the adapter to install a direct mount derailleur. Just so you know.

If you or anyone you know has an insatiable need for a snow bike, it can be yours for $1150 or best offer. Give a call to the shop or shoot me an email if you're interested/want a test ride/have questions.

Salty

Ahh, winter. This winter has been cold and snowy, as expected, but also extra salty. I do appreciate that the extra attention paid to roads has made them safer to ride and drive, but it takes a toll on the machines that ride and drive on them.

Bicycles don't require a ton of regular maintenance. I didn't say they require NO maintenance, just a little bit. If you've been riding through this winter, there are two things you should do.

One- LUBE YOUR CHAIN.

I've gone over this before, but to review:

                   1. Coat the entire length of the chain with a bicycle-specific chain lube. We're using Pedro's in the shop these days.
                   2. Back pedal a bit to let the lube work itself into the chain. Or let it sit for a while (15min- 1hr). Or both.
                   3. Wipe off the extra with a rag.

Two- WIPE DOWN THE FRAME.

Bikes made of all types of materials are subject to corrosion. The chemicals used to treat winter roads speeds up that corrosion. You want to get that stuff off your bike.

A bike specific cleaner would be best- something that's going to be safe on all of the parts of the bike (we use Green Fizz in the shop). If you don't have that handy, a couple drops of mild dish soap in warm water will work. Either way- be careful around brakes and braking surfaces. No bike cleaner, and you don't like soap? At the very least, brush the salt off when it dries with a dry rag.

  

Just doing those two things, should take 10-15 minutes, tops, and will make your ride last longer, and pedal smoother.

Cool Weather

Fall! The favorite season of New Englanders means perfectly comfortable days and cool nights and mornings. It won't be too long before we sink into full-on cold weather (sorry to bum you out). We've brought in a new option for gloves this season that'll protect your mitts from frost bite but will still let you use that smart cellular telephone of yours.

That little 'on button' symbol on the index finger means you can still interact with touch screens. I tried it out- it actually works. In stock now- $30 and they're yours.

Spring is Tomorrow

Remember when riding bikes in the snow was new and novel and fun? Those days are long gone. I'm really looking forward to getting three full seasons between me and winter, so I can fully appreciate how fun it can be. Today's commute in was particularly unpleasant- if you ride, be careful out there!

OPEN today

Hope everyone had a safe and cozy weekend. I rode through the obstacle course that are the Camberville roads today to open up the shop. It's gross out there. Just to echo everybody else- don't drive if you don't have to today. And if you do (or if you're riding bikes, or walking, or public transporting)- take a deep breath, be patient, and think about how awesome it's going to be when spring gets here.

Your Bike is Cold

It's really, really cold out. If you've ridden your bike today give yourself a pat on the back. Really, you can talk up being a hard core, year-round cyclist all you want, but you can't say that riding a bike into -6 deg. headwinds doesn't suck. You may have also noticed that your bike isn't working to it's fullest potential.

There are a number of things that can freeze on your bike. Grease, lube and water all freeze. Biking in Heels has a nice post about her adventures in frozen shift cables.

I've talked to a number of folks today (that number is 4) who described a problem as "I'm pedaling and then all of the sudden the bike stops moving forward. Like it's not 'catching'." What's happening there is that the pawls inside either the freewheel or freehub body are getting stuck in frozen grease, and not able to catch, they can't help push the wheel forward. Here's the inside guts from an old freewheel:

 

 That little guy is stuck down because of grime, not frozen grease, but it's the same idea.

Ok. So what do you do about stuck pawls? The easiest thing to do is warm it up a little. Just bring it inside for a bit. It won't take long, and it doesn't need to be in the warmest room in your house. Just wheel it in to an entryway for a couple of minutes before you roll out. It'll really help.

Snow Machine

I almost forgot that winter was a thing you have to deal with. Last year I missed the very small bit of snow we had, because I was out punching SUVs. This year I didn't get out in time, so I've had a chance to take the Surly Moonlander for some proper winter fatbiking.

Obese Patricia, but her friends call her... wait for it... Fatty Patty

Parts of the trails I hit up yesterday were packed down by snowshoers, and the fatties (4" wide tires) did great hugging the trails. Even better were the places I had to break trail- it felt like I was floating up and over the snow. I was expecting the steering to be squirrely, but it felt stable for the most part. That could also be due to the fact I was going very slow. Very, very slow. If I needed to make one or two changes (and I do) the first is that the bike is geared very high for snow travel. Since this is a bit of a frankenbike build, I'll have to see what kind of granny gear situation I can work up. The other thing I'm going to have to change up is the pedal choice. I prefer clipless pedals for all types of riding (except for commuting, usually), but both the pedals and the bottoms of my shoes were getting clogged up with snow making them super frustrating to get into. Next ride I'm going platform, fo sho.

I like that the rear tire, the venerable Endomorph,  leaves recognizable tracks, reminiscent of another snow machine. I did a nice little loop, with a quick out-n-back section. There I saw the tracks and thought "Somebody else is out here on a bike!", before I realized that it was me. Heh.

Winter Plans

The shop will be closed for a month this winter- from December 23rd until reopening January 24th . Like last year, I'm planning to go on a bike trip. Unlike last year, I'm going to focus on off-road travel. I've started loosely making plans. Here they are so far: I have a new bike coming my way, any day now. It's going to be a 650b Get Rad Machine, in a mystery color (when given the choice I chose 'builder's choice'), built with theses parts:

I'm very, very excited about this bike. So, I'm going to pack up the mystery (get rad) machine, along with my riding buddy, and we're going to hit the road. We're going to look for single track here(ish):

I haven't forgiven you yet, Florida.

Just a girl in a truck with her dog and a locally designed and fabricated mountain bike, driving through the countryside looking for adventure. Sounds like the start to the greatest country song never written.

Old Dog, New Bike

If you don't mind being a little chilled, the past couple of weeks have been great for riding. I've been fitting in a little singletrack time in the mornings when the trails are nice 'n frozen.  I coaxed my riding partner out into the cold Actually, I didn't have to do anything. She was born ready for winter riding.

Look at that face.

I got a new single speed MTB frame recently (don't worry- one in, one out- enjoy your new home, Frankenbike). Maybe I'll write more about it later. Or maybe not. We'll see. I will say it's pretty sweet. Not that I'm overly concerned with weight- but I'm pretty excited that this bike built up more than 2lbs lighter than my last setup.  It makes me feel fast.  Like awesome bike racer fast. It's really a feeling more than an actual improvement in performance, though. I'm pretty sure I look like this when I ride (oh, or this- thanks, Jody).

It comes with operating instructions right on the top tube and it's sporting this years hottest fashion accessory- the NEMBA Headcap. Don't be jealous. Get yours here.

Three Things

One- I got around to downloading pictures from my trip adventure (that I will stop posting about soon. Hopefully before you get wicked, wicked sick of hearing about it.). Check out this one:

 Don't make me punch you.

Two- I love it here. I love that even though it's the dead of winter (albeit, a strangely mild winter), I saw nine other cyclists on my commute home last night. I love how genuinely excited everyone is to still be bike commuting this time of year. Warms my bikey heart.

Three- Hub is two years old today. My deepest thanks for the support that have made these two great years possible.