Longer Rides

Well, it looks like my commute is going to get a lot longer! We are moving to Rockyford Alberta. A little village that has 375 people in it! I’m pretty stoked. The thing is, it’s about 24 miles from where I work. Right now, our house is 3 miles from where I work. One great thing I can see coming from this: I think it’s going to be a lot easier to justify spending even more money on bike!! So long as I actually do ride. I’ve already got a few items I am seriously thinking about purchasing. One being a Nitto stem from Rivendell that allows you to position your drop bars higher up, making it a little easier on your back. I’d love a whole new Rivendell bike, but $2,500.00US for a steel bike isn’t going to happen any time soon. Another upgrade I’m thinking of for the Bianchi is a Brooks B-17 leather saddle. While checking out the fully loaded touring bike gallery I noticed that many, many of the bikes are running with Brooks leather saddles on them and I’ve heard it said to many times to ignore it that a Brooks leather saddle is one of the most comfortable seats for long rides, and they’re almost indestructible.

On the bike note, I built up a single speed commuter for Jon this weekend. It’s an old and cheap steal road frame that I put a mountain bike stem and handle bars on. I remove the free wheel cluster and installed a Dicta 18 tooth single speed free wheal I got off Ebay of $2.00. Some old cottered cranks (just for some old school flair) and removed the 0 from the decal that called this beast out as a 10 speed. Now it correctly states 1 speed. We’ll see how he likes it after the first few rides and see what need to be adjusted and all the rest. I’d love to keep this bike, except for the fact that I’ve got 9 bikes already and on a day when I pull out this stead, I be overcome by the addiction to fixed gear travel, and other than the free wheel option, these bike are purpose-wise the same bike. I hope Jon enjoy his ride.