Yeah, I remember that you had a frame done by them and they did a pretty crappy job. I've had good luck with them so far; I built up a mountain bike for a friend and they did a good job on a simple black job.

I gave them my Razesa last week, hopefully it comes out okay. There are some fine embossed details in the lugs and I would hate to lose them if the powdercoat goes on too thick. They assured me that it wouldn't be a problem, we shall see....

Hopefully they'll leave your fork and bb threads intact as well. And don't leave any bare patches. And don't make the finish so lumpy it looks like a grapefruit. Ugh. I seem to be the only one with these complaints though so who knows.

I talked to a guy at curbside and he said that they ****ed up his paintjob as well, so you aren't alone Dan. I don't know if it made a difference or not, but I went over what was supposed to be done/what was not supposed to be sprayed on my frame directly with the guy on the factory floor and he seemed really receptive and experienced with doing bike frames.

It's too bad there aren't anymore companies that will powder/spray a bicycle frame around here for that price. You get what you pay for I guess.

Good place for recipes online is allrecipes.com.

I spoke with a guy at Queens Plate & Hwy 27 that said he would powder coat a single colour for $50, but no prep. I can only imagine what a $50 paint job would look like...

If you want a real, custom wet paint job done there is now a guy in Toronto. He will be operating out of Bicycle Specialties old shop. I have seen some of his work and it is top notch. I will be getting his contact info next week and will post it up when I get it.

That is some good news. I am going to do my Ciocc up proper in the spring, decals and everything, I think paint is the way to go.

Decals o_o

hahah.. too many words? ;)

ps. does anyone know if recent Bianchi frames tend to have the logos above or below the clearcoat? Or does it vary from model to model?

All the ones in the shop and the pista have decals under clear. And also we're dropping Bianchi because the distributer is doing something funky and replacing it with Jamis.

I use my breadmaker, generally, for pizza dough. Not as good as by hand, but nice for a hands off quick and dirty though.

The only caution I've heard about using autobody painters is that they generally do panels rather than narrow tubes. I'd want to know they've got some experience before getting it done there. You might have more luck with someone who does motorcycles. Good news about the painter, I'd like to get my Ciocc done too. Did he do that orange Motobecane at Cycle therapy?

Canice, an awesome bread book is Country Breads of the World by Linda Collister. Unfortunately not in the Toronto Public Library system but a better all round book than some I've seen out there. You can get a few good ones through the TPL system like The Bread Bakers apprentice, but I preferred the County Breads books. A little more practical for the stuff I usually bake. I will never, ever, bake brioche for example... One look at the author of Bread Bakers apprentice and you'll see why (although it does have a good pizza dough section).

Donald Byrd is doing something funky in this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF0NpcclvqM

:bday: Happy Birthday Rob!

And Foo, I have a B17 you can borrow if you like. It's racing green and I may be up for selling it. Noto bene, the dye does bleed a bit, even though it's many years old. So dark pants are a must.

I think I've heard that the Bread Bible is good, also.

You may have noticed that there is an eBay store with a set of Ciocc decals, white ones with a black outline, I think they are in the neighbourhood of 50 bucks or so. I bought mine a little while ago, they are yellow with a black outline so I am going to go with a black or red paint scheme, I just haven't decided yet.

I've checked out ebay a few times. Apart from the seat stays, the only other decal of import on mine is the headtube. There's nothing on the downtube or top tube to speak of. That's the biggest challenge I've found -- most packs include way to many decals for what I need. I think I'd like to get it redone to the Merckx orange it is now.

-12°C
* Feels Like: -23
* Wind: W 37km/h
* Wind gusts: 46km/h

Yeah, it's pretty chilly out there right now having just got back in... brr.

Real :bday:, or is it a facebook "trap"?
;)

I liked that one, Reinhart's book (Bread Baker's Apprentice) and also Hamelman (Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes) which I think the TPL has all of.

For the advanced student, look for the Gisslen book I mentioned, and for the truly obsessed, search for Raymond Calvel.

In case you couldn't tell, I've spent a bit of time looking for these books.. Baking bread = cheap & rewarding procrastination for the budding grad student :)

Anyone up for an adventure in the don in a bit?

If it was 10 degrees warmer, then yes. I don't have anything that would keep my feet warm enough to go out for a ride longer than about 20 mins in this sort of temperature.

Hey Wes, My solution:

Drive to the trailhead and use chemical toe warmers. I have room in the van and an extra set of warmers if you want to join me. I'm leaving shortly, let me know if you're in!

nah man, thanks for the offer. I got a crap ton of other stuff that I decided I'd try to get done today on account of the cold. I definitely want to get in there sometime soon though. Perhaps even an evening run if you have a lighting system. I can't remember if you do or not on account of your DIY HID lighting system talk. :)

ps. does anyone know of a good source for gaffer's tape? I'm looking for some white tape to mask something on a frame. Otherwise perhaps I can use Matt's method.

http://multimedia.thestar.com/images...ed55c2da0.jpeg

<- oh and it's not a trap

you want to mask a frame with gaffers tape? That sounds like to much tape for masking. Use masking tape. It'll come off much easier, and it's easier to cut if your doing shapes.