Between steeper trails, shorter cranks, and an older body I've been looking for bigger single speed cogs. With 160mm cranks I'm already at a 30-22 gear. I wouldn't mind running bigger rings and cogs on both ends to get less tension on the chain and therefore a longer life and better efficiency. Many moons ago I...

Here's how the bike looks folded up. I haven't done too much experimenting to optimize it. To fold the bike: Open the V-brakes Take off the wheels Loosen the hinge bolt Loosen both seat post clamps Remove post Pull rear brake housing segment out of the cable stop Fold rear triangle shift into lower gear to move...

This is part 2 about FF1, covering the build. Some of the choices were made before the frame was started, others were made "in situ".Here's how it looked on its first real ride: And folded on the side of the road: Wheels and tires I already had 650b Velo Orange rims from some kind of retro rando/camping bike concept...

I recently finished frame number 28. This one was designated as FF1. FF for "Fast Fold". Its mission statement was: A travel bike for day touring that can convenientily pack to a convenient size. Lets go deeper into the two requirements. A Travel Bike This bike would be for vacations centered around travel by...

I was at a local trialhead and under the trail map kiosk I spotted a lime green anodized metal cube. I figured it was another vaping device so I picked it up with the intention of either extracting a nice rechargeable battery, or throwing it in the trash. But it wasn't a vape thing. On the side it said Goal Zero and...

Not-so-fat Bike Winter was a total bust. We barely had any snow down in town. So little that I questioned whether I should bother with a fat bike any more, if winters were going to be like this. But we also have plenty of sand here. I love riding the shoreline of Washoe Lake in the winter so a bike that can traverse...

A few months ago, I took my gravel bike apart and put the frame up in the attic. I liked riding it, but I rode it less and less. Earlier in the year I'd been thinking a lot about handlebars, mostly as an aerodynamics thing. My gravel bike was about going fast(er) or at least far(ther) and we all know aero is...

Dang. Still lagging on getting things written. So here's a flurry of updates that I cranked out in one sitting. It got a little long, so some sections got split out to post separately, and those will get posted as I finish editing them and get the images ready. Housekeeping Skip if you don't care about computers!...

I've messed around with alcohol stoves for years since they're fun to mess with. There's no end to new designs. Some have amazing craftsmanship while others are mindboggling simple. The classic Fancy Feast stove is no more than a cat food tin with holes punched around the perimeter. It also serves as its own pot...

I got seriously into bikes back in high school (Class of 1991, if you're wondering). Or maybe bikes found me - they were the perfect match of not mainstream, yet sort of tough athletically. There was lots of engineering stuff to think about, but also adrenaline and excitement. I also was into photography in high...

Blog meta I have not fussed with the blog, so we're still on Zola. As site generators go, Zola seems to be gaining popularity for its stability, which is another way to say the developers haven't broken things in the name of "upgrades". The little Chromebook must have a tired battery because it doesn't seem to hold...

With SC-3 and the Ruby Roubaix behind me, it was time to build a new trail bike to take over from the fat bike's temporary role filling the need. I had really liked the first fat bike as a rigid 29+ trail bike, so I thought I'd use that as a basis but with short crank tweaks. I had also been getting back into...