Doors Close, Doors Open

Break out the hammer and WD-40. Time to chip away the rust on this frozen blog and portion of my brain that allegedly enjoys writing. Listen closely and you can hear the cracking and groaning across the Internet, last post nearly a year ago. Life is busy, morphs and moves on.

After a series of misadventures, I find myself unemployed after 15 years with same company. Considering I wasn't exactly digging the last year or so, probably a good thing in the long run. Interviews and poking at possible jobs in progress, looking forward to something new. Having a few weeks off to clear the brain also not a bad result of this opportunity, though loss of income certainly a concern. Hopefully, something cool on the horizon.

On the bike front, been getting out sporadically on the 29er. At times solo, other times with my 16 year old son, the former semi-serious racer. Me on the now 5 year old bargain Sette hardtail that still works for old school me. With 80mm of fork travel and 72 degree head angle, outdated compared to modern trail oriented bikes currently on the market. Feel free to snicker at the 120mm stem and bar ends while you're at it. Son Ian piloting the Santa Cruz Bronson we picked up last summer, great bike and worth considering if you're so inclined.

To finish off this post on a cool note, pictured is a friend of my son with the vintage '97 Specialized FSR he purchased off us a few months ago. I picked it up from coworker pal quite awhile ago, thinking someone on my former junior high mountain bike team would be interested. That never happened and the bike collected dust in the garage.

After loaning the bike a few times to my son's pal to share rides, his dad came over and bought it for him. It's since been used almost daily, with occasional visits to the Stevens Pass mountain bike park. The kid is digging riding and that's all that really matters.

It doesn't matter what you ride, just ride.

The Chase - Specialized Ad

First caught this ad during the Tour coverage on Outdoor Life - oops - I mean Versus - uh - make that NBC Sports.  Whatever it's called now. I'm just glad the Tour is still televised here in the good ol' USA, even with the Lance era now officially over.

Back to the ad - cool little film.  And who hasn't had Phil and Paul announce your ride (in your head), no matter what your age.  Being the dad of a cyclist about the same age as this kid hitting the cobbles, puts a smile on my face.

Occasionally, advertisements are actually cool and this would be one of those rare cases.  Nice job Specialized.

Baseball = Mountain Biking. Huh?

Attention please: Ignore my whiny comments about mainstream stick and ball sports kids and parents not digging bikes. During Ian's little league baseball game on Saturday, I wound up talking bikes with two parents - nice dads of kids on Ian's team.

One of the dads mentioned really digging riding years ago and even entered a few mountain bike races. He's been off the bike for awhile though. They live right in our neighborhood and when I mentioned hitting the local trails for a tour, he said why not tomorrow? Otherwise we'll just talk about it and never actually do it. Perfect! Father and son both planned to ride.

Another dad offered to join in as well, with son and daughter along for the fun. Wow, this should be cool. I goofed around with Ian, since he seems to be embarrassed that I talk bikes at baseball games. Now he thought it was pretty cool some of his team mates planned to ride with us. See, dad's not so weird after all.

Ride was planned for 9:30 AM on Sunday - today. Woke up to 47 degree temp and rain - not bad, but wet. One dad called at 8:30 AM to cancel, due to the weather. No problem, riding in the rain is not for everyone. Ian and I suited up and rode over to the local woods to check if the other family showed up. Sure enough, they did. Dad riding a clean older Klein, 10 year old son Jack on a new GT. They rode over to the park as well. Sweet!

Ian and I played tour guide and showed 'em the local trails. They've only seen a few of the trails and didn't realize the other areas linked together with singletrack. The rain stopped and the boys enjoyed the muddy trails - only really muddy in a few areas. The dad, John, mentioned they've been meaning to ride and explore the area, but this was the first time they checked it all out. I'm glad I gave them a little incentive to get the wheels rolling.

I think they had a blast, John said it's the most fun he's had in awhile. Jack seemed to really have a great time and did fantastic as a beginner. I showed him how to roll over some small log drops, lean back on downhills, and a few other pointers. He seemed to dig it all. Dad and son had a few falls, but no big deal and they laughed it off. Ian also seemed to enjoy riding with someone his own age for once.

In the end, they did a great ride - about 10 miles of singletrack - much more then I expected young Jack to pull off. We had a fun morning and I'm sure we'll ride with them again. I'd also bet we see the family that canceled out there eventually as well. Good stuff.

Jack on left. Check out that smile - think he had fun? Ian on right, nice job as tour guide.

Official stand by sign photo - required by state law. Say good bye to the Cannondale and Specialized - last rides for both.

Official sign photo number 2 - with me standing as stupid as possible. Thank you.

This ride spells the end of the line for my Cannondale and Ian's Specialized. Ian has outgrown his bike and makes it look like BMX bike now. The 24" wheel Specialized has been awesome over the last two years, will now be mothballed for future use by daughter Amy. My Cannondale as of tonight as been stripped to the frame, as per Project Access. Cannondale parts now being transferred over to Ian's new frame.....

Almost finished. This will be one sweet bike for a 10 year old. Ian is psyched - me too. Should be ready to hit the woods by the weekend. Oh yes.

With my Cannondale now a bare frame, what will I ride? After much debate, obsessive research and counting pennies, I pulled the trigger on the Sette Razzo 29er. Should be here in a few days. For the dough, a nice parts spec and a cheap way to enter the big wheel world of 29ers. I've read all positive reviews online and even if you tossed the frame and replaced it with a Niner EMD - still a great deal. Should provide some interesting blog posts down the road anyway. So more to follow.

On its way via UPS - please hurry, oh brown truck.

I'm still without a car, as mentioned previously. Did a little looking around this weekend, but not much. I'll need to get something eventually. Hitting the spring stride with 100+ commuting miles last week and the mountain bike ride today. Who needs cars?

Project Access - Performance Access XCL Comp

Let the festivities begin - bike building festivities that is. As mentioned in a previous post, Boy Racer Ian is ready for a 26" wheel mountain bike. After spending way too much time on Craigslist and eBay searching for something nice enough to race, yet cheap enough for a 10 year old to outgrow - I've formulated my plan. Well, a semi-plan open to change anyway. Even so, plan has been officially named Project Access. Set your decoder rings to stun and follow along...

I noticed this Access frame on the Performance site months ago. Yeah, being semi-bike snob - well, not really - but certainly liking higher end stuff, I thought the mail order "no name" frames were junk. Still, when I looked at the specs for this frame - seemed perfect for Ian. The right size, under 4 pounds, disk and v-brake mounts, and sells for $115 or so. I don't remember the exact price, 'cause it just went on sale for $99. How can you beat that? For a 10 year old kid, could build this up into a nice race hardtail. I took a chance and ordered one up.

Ordering this frame also falls inline with a mental health vacation/project I've messing with and researching for a few months now - starting my own bike company. Without capital, a pipe dream for sure, but interesting to research exactly where frames are made. Not to blow away the smoke and mirrors, but when you look into this - some interesting finds. In any case, that's another story to post about. Having said that, was curious to see what this frame would look like.

Well, the frame arrived yesterday in a slightly battered box. Looked like it had been opened, since only about 2 staples were left holding the box closed. Frame was also poorly packed and kind of bouncing around inside - as was the box of parts - seat clamp, derailleur hanger and headset. I pulled it from the alleged cardboard protection and unwrapped the frame to check it out.

First of all, pretty stinking light - no scale to officially weigh it, would guess 3.5 pounds or so. I've held a fair amount of bare frames in my hands (still illegal in certain states I'm told) and this qualifies as light. The small size is a factor in this for sure. There's something really cool checking out a bare frame, free of parts - bike geek I am. Sue me.

Enough describing already, let's just look at the damn thing...



In all it's flat black glory, still clean enough for quickie living room rug photo session. Seat tube measures 14.5" with a center to center of 12" or so. Should fit almost 5 foot Ian well, with some room to grow. Curved downtube should avoid any fork clearance hassles. Frame is designed for 80mm - 100mm forks.

Weld quality won't impress anyone at Moots, but not bad at all. The build quality, paint and graphics are shockingly good for a $99 frame. I have a very expensive older Ellsworth Truth hanging in the garage with welds not much better looking then this. Of course I have no idea if this frame is aligned as well, and it uses cheaper tubing. For the money though, I'm amazed how decent it looks.

Curved seat and chain stays, v-brake and disk brake mounts included. Where the seat stays join at the top looks a little bargain like, but still not bad for $99.

Bottom bracket area detail. Welds still look pretty well done, certainly on par with bikes costing a few hundred bucks sitting on the bike shop floor. Makes you ponder the actual frame cost of most production bikes - most now welded in China or Taiwan. This frame is from China. Hopefully not welded by small children with excess toxic waste dumped into nearby stream. I'm half joking here, but do wonder about such things.

Here's where the story takes a turn for the worse. Notice the out of round head tube - caused by a whack to the front of it - complete with dinged up aluminum. You can tell someone dropped it onto something hard, like a concrete floor. I don't know if it was shipped this way or occurred during shipping itself. In any case, I'm not attempting to press a headset into that. Game over.

I called Performance today and they're sending a new frame. Well, technically I had to buy another frame, and will be reimbursed when I send this one back. I'm cool with that - it's quicker then sending this one back first and waiting for a replacement. I could have just bagged this whole idea and returned the frame for a refund as well. I'm impressed with the frame enough to continue with this project - especially for $99.

When the replacement frame arrives, will build it up with parts from the garage - wheelset from my Fat Chance, spare seat post and trick seat I already have, and mostly everything else pulled off Ian's 24" Specialized - drivetrain, bars, etc. Need to buy a headset as well - one that comes with the new frame is total junk. Oh yeah - and a fork. I emailed my mountain bike club list and have some leads on a few used forks. Fox and Manitou. This Option 1 build would be the cheapest route to get this rolling.

Option 2 build is to find a good donor bike on Craiglist or eBay and transfer parts to Ian's new frame. I've seen some good deals float through there, but none with a small enough frame - now that doesn't matter. Modified Option 2 is for me to score a used bike, then transfer parts off my Cannondale frame to him - old XTR and Fox fork.

Option 3 is to score me a new bike, then transfer my Cannondale build to him as well. Daddy likes that option, but tough to swing at the moment - though I'm working on it. Being Family Guy, can't justify throwing down $4000 for a new bike (I want something nice. Sue me). Something in the $2000 range - maybe. I've also been hardtail 29er curious for awhile (also illegal in some states I'm told) and have been looking into that. That also happens to be much more affordable as well.

On that note, today I was going to bum a ride on a friends Niner EMD to check it out - but needed to reschedule. I did take a drive over to Veloce Velo in Issaquah to check out some Niner bikes, but all the hardtails (demos included) were sold. I did test ride a Specialized Stumpjumper 29 with a decent build kit and RockShox Reba SL fork. Pretty nice bike for $1850....

The Niner frame geometry would be fit me better however, will check that out ASAP. Speedgoat also has some killer deals on Niners at the moment - with free shipping and no sales tax. I'd rather support a local shop, but the savings difference may dictate if I can pull this off at all. I'd probably go for the Air 9 model....

I've also been looking at the Sette 29er available online. Yeah, an "off brand" but a killer deal with a 3.2 pound frame, SRAM X7/X9, decent wheels, and RockShox Reba SL fork for $1200. That I could swing and it's half the price of a similar Niner. I've also Googled a bunch of favorable reviews on it. Interesting. The geometry appears to work for me as well. Very similar build kit to the Specialized I rode today for $600+ less. Frame also appears to a copy of the Niner. Makes you wonder....

More pictures and various rambling to follow as this story unfolds. Feel free to comment, ridicule, or ignore as needed. Thanks for your patronage. Drive safely. Good night.

Up on Two Wheels - Success !!

After many on/off attempts at learning to ride, six year old daughter Amy is up on two wheels - unassisted. We dragged the very pink little Specialized out today, after she asked to try once again. Me running along side, holding her up, she was starting to get it. I could let go for a few seconds at a time, until she veered off into the bushes or started to fall.

She asked me to "pull the pedals off", like we did a few weeks ago - where I removed the pedals, crank and chain to create a coaster bike. Instead, I just removed the pedals, leaving everything in place. Quick and easy.

After a few coasting feet up runs on her own, the balance was there. Reinstalled the pedals and we gave it another go. Finally, she started pedaling on her own. Awesome to see. Watching and helping with this process is pretty amazing. As soon as they "get it", its there for life - you can't forget how to ride a bike. It becomes ingrained into your brain forever.

She can now ride up and down our street, but is still working on turning around to continue each lap. I bet she gets that down tomorrow. Just one fall during today's festivities. I'll break out the knee and elbow pads for the next event.

It's very cool to see your kids ride a bike on their own for the first time. In a way, it symbolizes what's coming down the road a few years from now, when they leave to live on their own. You teach them, run along side a bit, cover any wobbles - then watch 'em cruise off into the sunset.

Now that she's finally riding on her own, the very pink little Specialized is approaching the end of use for us - being a bit too small. I'll let her ride it for a few weeks to get more comfortable, then start Project Schwinn - a '70s Sting Ray bike my wife rode as a child - and has been sitting in a box for decades now. I'll remove it from it's cardboard cocoon and see what kind of shape it's in.

Pictures and posts to follow....