New Shirt: Éclaté

Exam period... not much time to update these days. It's gonna slow down though... hopefully enough so that I can manage to ride my bike and write stuff while working enough to afford a fixie. 

Speaking of being able to afford a fixie: I have a new shirt up for sale! 

Based off of the éclat logo and font face, this shirt is pretty self explanatory for anybody who speaks French. If not, then éclaté means high. There, you get it.

Get your own printed on demand from my Zazzle store! Just like my other shirt, this comes printed on an American Apparel body-hugging (yet not overly tight) tee. It comes in white for the base price, but add 2 bucks and you can choose from any light color Zazzle offers on this style of shirt! Light blue and pastel green look really nice! 

Already ordered one for myself and one for a buddy. I'll update once I get those. If you order, please do post a link to a photo of you in the shirt on either the comments to this entry, the Zazzle page, or email 'em directly to me! max302@gmail.com!

Product page is here, base price is a meagre 18.95! You can even customize the shirt to your liking with additional graphics or text or whatever else you feel like!

Trials Ain't Cool?

Just in case you don't read Bike Snob on a regular basis, have a look at this. 

After such a mind-blowing video, I dare anyone to make fun of trials. I too have always wondered how urban trials rider got kicks from jumping on stuff all day long, but you gotta admit, it's pretty darn impressive. This video isn't your average trials vid either... the dude has some sick street moves, and actually rolls around instead while doing tricks instead of solely going from a low place to a higher one. I've never seen anybody do a 180 to ababuca to 180 on something as thin as a handrail with a BMX (2:19), let alone that incredibly sick flair from a tree to flat which would have made Scotty Cramner jealous (3:07).

Trials haters, you've been served.  

6 Months Later: My Commuter

I've posted something about my Kona Explosif rebuild at the beginning of the winter, right after I had posted a check on what I used to ride as a commuter. Back then, the bike I was building didn't look like much: the frame looked like shit, which can be understood considering the fact that it's about as old as I am, but all aesthetics aside, the bike as a whole was pretty much all ass-backwards too; I nearly killed myself about 3 times thanks to my craptasticly inefficient chain tensioner and ridiculously crooked chainline. 

Over the winter, I've sanded, hacked, spent loads at the bike shop and today, I am ready to present to you the monster that I have created. Lady's and gents: my commuter.

It used to be a Kona Explosif, an almost legendary XC bike from what the bike shop boys and the internet tells me, but now, it's a really fast single speed mutant. Here is the parts listing:

Frame: Kona Explosif '92

Fork: DMR Trailblade 9mm

Headset: FSA Orbit 

Crank: Stock Shimano ripped from the Explosif

Sprocket: Blackspire Epic 42t

Chain: KMC 710SL

Tensioner: DMR STS

Pedals: Animal Hamiltons

Stem: 4Rox (generic?)

Bars: Stock Straight Kona's with Animal Edwin Grips

Brakes: Shimano lever with an almost uncut WTP slick cable and stock Explosif brakes. Back only. 

Seatpost/Seat: Stock seat from Explosif

Rear Wheel: 36h Profile MTB cassette laced with DT Swiss spokes to a Sun CR18

Front Wheel: Proper Magnalite 32h (not picture, being built as I write) laced to an Alex DM18

Tires: Serfas Vermin Front, front and back

First thing people see on the bike is the enormous BMX style brake cable. I went on a bit of a frenzy when grinding the derailleur cable stoppers, and without the traditional stoppers to put my cables in, I had to rip the cable off my BMX (which had me running with HUGE bars and no brakes from then to today) and install it on their as best as I could. I cut the cable a bit... but wanting to keep the BMX style brake cable loop, I left lots of it on there. I think it gives it loads of panache. 

Otherwise, obviously the paint was redone, the frame in John Deere green and other components in white. All the prep work on the parts really helped: the paint looks awesome and doesn't chip like other can paint jobs I've seen. Take my word for it, the secret for a nice paint job is great attention to prep work, and spraying on several light coats. I  got some custom stickers done too, based on the original Kona artwork of the time. Kinda expensive for some totally non-functional decoration, but it gives it a clean look, so whatever. 

The only thing that I'm less stoke about on this bike is the gear ratio, at least for now. I'm running 42/14 as of right now. The mathematically inclined will have guess by now that it's a 3:1 ratio... for someone who just got off the regular urban MTB 36/16 (2.25) gearing, it's pretty big, so I'm having a bit of trouble torquing my cranks over hills and in strong winds. Otherwise, on level ground and when the weather is optimal, it's almost scary fast, fast enough to be able to play through moving traffic, which I find is incredibly fun. 

Anyways, I'm pretty happy to have been able to recycle my old man's bike. It cut the costs big time, and I feel that it's quite special to be riding on something that already has stories of sick rides at local mountain resorts attached to it. Maybe one day I can even pass it on to my youngsters too!

You can check out more artsy photos of my commuter on it's very own Flickr page. 

Subrosa Intro's a Fixie Complete!

I've been contemplating buying a fixie for a while now. After reading tons of articles on Bike Snob about them, and after seeing such beautiful images as those seen in Macaframa trailers and some Vimeo videos by Charge bikes, I decided that I wasn't going to miss out on the fixed fun for very long. While deciding to add a bike to my current arsenal of two-wheelers was quite easy, finding an actual fixed gear was not. The fixed scene here in Quebec is anywhere between under-developed and inexistent, and the few who do own fixed gears are true track racers who for the most part never even considered taking their track animals out in the streets, so whatever they had for sale was either too expensive/carbon fibre laden or just inappropriate for what I wanted. I did have a deal going on for an aluminum Marinoni (local bike manufacturer) complete, but after thinking over it a couple of times, I really didn't think that that a used aluminum frame could do the job... specially considering the previous rider's weight, the state of Quebec's roads, and aluminum's nasty habit of suffering from stress fatigue. Besides, he called his frame very stiff... which according to what I read is a proof that the guy didn't know half of what he was talking about. My plans of purchasing the bicycle fell through. 

And then, right when I'm considering a build from scratch (again) based on either a Surly or whatever else I can find on ebay, Subrosa totally throws me and the rest of the cycling/BMX world off with this:

Granted, this picture doesn't tell much, but the post that it accompagnies does much more: Subrosa is imminently releasing a fixed gear complete! The article too is quite vague, but there is the mention of this bike being more of a commuter than a track-legal machine, in addition to the confirmation that frameset is going to be all chromoly, most likely 4130. Thanks to Twitter, I also got word from Subrosa themselves that the MSRP was going to be set at 650$... which if you ask me is pretty decent for a complete 29er. 

So yeah, basically, I've decided to forget about fixies right until this sucker can be ordered.  Totally hyped on getting a fixed now. Hurry up Subrosa, I want one of these!

See the official Subrosa article here. Tweet confirming the MSRP is here. Tell you bike shop dude about it, order one as soon as you can! Apparently pre-orders are through the roof. 

Big Bad Bars: An Experiment in Bicycle Geometry

After exploring the web on the search for Canadian BMX companies and distros, I came across Seshin's site. The Nova-Scotia based company apparently was having a big sale on all their '08 overstock, and amongst their product selection(which features a thong... I mean even Animal hasn't done a thong yet!), I found some pretty inexpensive bars, the Chilkos. At 29.99$CAD (roughly 24$USD at current exchange rates)... they were pretty cheap, and with some money just dormant in my Paypal account, I couldn't resist, I snagged a pair.



There's only one problem: the damned things are ENORMOUS! At 28.5 inches wide and with 8.125 inches of rise, this is the total opposite of what I am used to. I can't recall if I have explained this in a previous post, but we have kind of a counter-culture going on here in Trois-Rivieres. While the rest of the trend-whores of the globe are turning to bars that can't fit in a doorway, we trifluvians are obsessed with running our bars as short as is possible. We aren't immune to the brakeless trend though, as kids have been known to rip their brakes off their bikes in order to grind their bars the additional half inch that the brake lever takes up. The brave few who decide to run brakes anyways go to extreme lengths to run their bars as short as their brakeless comrads: flanges are always cut, sometimes even with a part of the grip, and brake levers are seldom seen not mounted on the bar bend. Enventually, frustrated with not being able to run their handles 21 inchers like everybody else, most of the brake-bearers give up and go brakeless, making their purchase of ultra-lite brakes a total waste within a few short weeks.

As a result of this trend, every single "freestyle" rider, wether his wheels are 20, 24, or 26 inch in diameter (we don't have freestyle fixies here yet so no 29), regardless of the said riders ages, stature or riding experience, has short bars and no brakes. This produces some interesting (and sometimes hazardeous) combinations which I will try to document in the future. While I am sorry to admit that I have been brainwashed into sporting some pretty short bars (my current ones are 23 inches), I have been kind of resilient at going brakeless.

With the Chilko's ordered, I had two choices: either cut them down to get a pair of reasonably sized bars on which I could mount some brakes and use everyday, or make my purchase an experiment on the behalf of all the big bar skeptics. Having nothing else to do, I decided that the time was ripe for testing out the excuse that giant-handlebar lovers always give when one critiques his bars. As soon as I had the bars in my possession, I immediately stuck on some fresh grips with some hairspray (hairspray being a brake deterrent, making impossible to mount a lever without cutting a new pair of 15$ grips), and made them my dedicated brakeless bars, for those moments where I really feel like being a trend whore.

After minimal testing on flat ground (parks are still frozen solid), turns out that big bars DO give you an increased sense of control. This is specially true in rotations: I quickly found myself grossly over-rotating my 180's when using the technique I had with my smaller bars. It must be a leverage thing. Sadly, with my bike geometry (20.75 TT) and relatively long legs, bar movements are greatly restricted, making x-ups, barspins and tabletops close to impossible. But hey, it's not like I'm used to barspinning all the time.

What I really did like with having bigger handles is the increased height of the bars. Being a tall, lanky person, it did my back wonders to have my hands an inch and a half higher. Less back fatigue means less downtime and more riding, which makes me pretty happy. Now if they could only make a pair of 8x23 with a small enough crossbar to run some brakes...

All that said, I really don't think that big bar enthousiasts need to be condemned for liking their handles wider. Sure, extreme cases look ridiculous and deserve a laugh, but in the end, who gives a flying crap if you're running some uncut Lumberjacks? I sure as hell don't. Not that I don't like debates... the techie part of me likes discussing numbers and their effects on things, and I'm sure I'm not the only rider who enjoys arguments on such things, I'd even go as far as to say that it's a part of what makes our sport interesting. Such controversy happens in any discipline anyways. Hey, if the buzz the arguments generate can help keep the interest for BMX alive, then I'm all for.

Discount Lotek Shoes! Get Em While They're Hot!

Do you live in Canada? Do you ride BMX? Do you need some shoes? If you answered yes to any of the previous, then get the heck off this blog and go buy some shoes from 3ride!

Most of the lastest series of Loteks are on sale, most probably to make some room for the hopefully upcoming summer 09 lineup. Amongst the discounted are my very own Nightwolf slims, which are now just 49$ instead of the 69$ I paid for them. 

If you're not really into the low cut shoe thing, then 3ride also has you covered and offers the Delta2 for a measly 45$. At that price, you can afford riding brakeless and going through 2 pairs of shoes in a single summer! 

I ordered two pairs, one black for a buddy of mine, and the kinda jeansy ones for my self. With the shipping as well as COD fee, it came out at a pretty reasonble 120$ for both pairs, or 60$ taxes included for a single pair, which in my book is pretty good. Just be aware that even the full size shoes aren't as padded as what you would get in a skate shoe, so double-check your shoe size at a store before ordering. 

There are also a couple of Orchids on sale too if I recall correctly. Check out the discount page for all discounted items. 

Can't wait to receive the damned shoes. Nightwolves just don't cut it in 8 inches of snow. 

New Shirt: AYHSMB

I started messing around with shirt designs since I notice all the retakes of the Fit "Stay Fit" shirt, and since last summer, my shirt designs have just been stagnating on my flickr account, because I had no clue as to where to go to get some prints done. 

Thanks to a flickr member who commented on my designs, I found a pretty cool site, not unsimilar to Cafepress, where I can upload my designs and get them printed for pretty cheap, and also expose them to the world. I have uploaded my first shirt today:

AYHSMB by max302
Shop for t shirts online at zazzle.com
Browse Sports Teams T-Shirts

Those who read Bike Snob NYC regularly will get the gag in no time. If you don't get it, here is an explanation for you, and another one if you still don't get it. With the current brakeless supremacy going on and with most of the brakeless riders starting to pick on those of us who still use stopping devices other than our shoes (Pandora clothing has a shirt out doing just that), I thought that this shirt had a good timing.  Get yours now, they are customizable and come in many colors!

I'll try to get my other designs on the site soon!