blargh.. i think my rear hub just died. It's all rattly/wobbly all of a sudden.. Let's just say it rhymes with "Duando". :/

Exhibition street car stops at Dundas / Bathurst, which is like a 5 minute walk (tops) from the Moonbeam.

yeah, guys, don't forget there's construction on Bathurst, so the exhibition streetcar is running a different route. My wheel seems somewhat borked, so I may wind up walking down to kensington in the morning and then taking the street car from moonbeam.

Well, it's about 3.5km to the CNE so I'm going to be streetcaring after moonbeam.

i am currently in my second year of living in japan...home to the "gokiburi". while i am enjoying my small-town living in 'inaka' (the 'countryside'), it does not provide the wealth of gastronomical opportunities that toronto did. but, at least i am surrounded by the ocean on one side, and mountains on the other...and no snow for beautiful year-round riding.

not long ago, some japanese friends organized a great bike messenger race, kyotoLOCO2005, that i attended. it was a lot fun and i met some excellent people from around the world, particularly NYC. i was the only non-japanese who qualified for the final race and placed 8th overall -- toronto represent, eh!

if anyone comes to japan (kansai region, specifically), feel free to gimme a holler! otherwise, i will back in t.o. for a short vacation during the xmas holidays...i am deciding whether to bring my bike, since i think i will feel a bit lonely without it.

p.s. i added some pics from life in japan...the quality is kinda cruddy, but i had to re-size them.

Yo yo yo guys!!
i bought my first fixie... WHHHHAAAAAA!
it is probably the most exciting thing in the universe.
did y'all score anything? by the way, who was it that I ran into (other than operator)?

skye

Hey I didn't get jack from the show :| What fixie did you buy? Pics?
You met sonambulant and darkmother... not sure if you saw shiznaz but he was there too.
Check out that vid in the messenger dvd thread.

hey, sorry i couldn't meet you guys at the moonbeam. i had a late night and slept in. :D
how was the coffee?!
i got down to the show at 3pm and was a bit disappointed. i did manage to pick up a helmet and some grips. almost bought some shoes but held off.

well, you guys definitely scored more than us! :)

I got a red FUJI TRACK!
Mom says I can't ride it until I get a front break... HAH!

what time did you guys get there?
I met up with a roadie friend at about 9:30 and there was a huge line because the doors hadn't opened yet.

I took $200 and spent most of it:
jersey $10
Louis Garneau mesh back vest $20
Chris King headset $75 (was installed then removed from a previous bike, but not used)
SDG saddle $15
Specialized 26" MTB racing slicks $30
classy looking curved no-name stem $15

the best deals were at the Bike Swap booth in the far back south east corner. There was a mob there everytime I walked past it. They had ton of slightly used demo bikes too that were going for like half price. The best deal (not fixed) were these blue Kline road bikes, carbon/aluminum frames, about 4 different sizes all going for $900... about $2000 bike normally

my score was:

bell furio helmet $69 (not that cheap but necessary after cracking my old one..it's a 2004 model)
oury grips $10 (for my winter beater..whenever i get around to getting one)

almost:
sidi dominator 4: $189

yeah, i saw a lot of carbon bling there.. not my taste. i think i spotted some of the klein deals..cheap. i did see one motobecane ss conversion in the duke's area but i think that was someone's ride. were there crazy deals to be had for showing up early??
did anyone else wander into the ski/snowboard building by mistake?! that'll learn me for following the big crowd that got off the streetcar.
oh well..$5 bought me 2 hours of amusement.

yeah there was a line up but sonambulant and us walked to the very far end where the line was very short for some reason. We lined up for a total of like 4 minutes at around 10:15ish.

Karbon bling is an understatement, I rember a steel frame with carbon rear seat stays. That was funny.

yeah I did the same thing gokiburi, I went to the wrong side of the building first.

But that reminds me, when I was tooling around before the show started [taking the long way around to get to hall F through the main parking area], I see this car with a pretty nice road bike (a lightspeed or something expensive looking) on its roof. A guy get's out of the car all dressed in his spandex racer outfit like he's going for a 100km ride or something I thought... maybe he was after the show or something. Anyways I thought nothing of it 'till about 4 minutes later when I was locking my bike up to the fence near the entrance and the same guy comes riding up behind me to lock up as well.
I look over at him and smile, "nice morning for a ride huh?"
him: "oh yeah, I love this stuff ...long hard rides in the morning....." pauses then he looks at my beater bike and kind of gives a bit of a sarcastic laugh then danced off to get his ticket...

I didn't know what to think of that really... but it was funny at the time .

Hahahhahahahahahahhahaaha

Bwahaha - that's frigging gold. Too bad you didn't catch him with the spritz bottle adding fake sweat to his forehead. ;)

I never made it down to the show but i hear it was very busy like crazy. quick story went down to M.E.C. today met a guy riding a fixed no brakes 48-16 got talking about bikes let me ride it, wow not as easy as it looks i ride ATB turned S.S. 44-16 witch i love a lot, thought i would take it to the next level after riding that i don’t know. There is always the flip flop when confidant flip?
Cheers

I'm not sure if I'm regretting not getting those yet.. :)

i'm wearing shimano road shoes and i've worn the heel down to a nub almost. they're almost like reverse-heels! i figure i'm going to wear the snot out of them before getting a better walking shoe. i'm worried about the cleats though. did you see the same sidis? the size (8.25) was dead on except i've got narrow feet and the fit around my arch was not 100% snug. salesdude was almost begging me not to buy them since my foot would slide around too much (it wasn't.) ...hmm, i'm almost regretting not buying em too.....

nice story weasal.. you should've looked him in the eye and laughed maniacally. ;)

Priceless. Guys like that are justification for carrying tools wherever you go. You should have peeled his dura ace brifters and carbon bar....he deserved it.


[QUOTE=wasted weasel]But that reminds me, when I was tooling around before the show started [taking the long way around to get to hall F through the main parking area], I see this car with a pretty nice road bike (a lightspeed or something expensive looking) on its roof. A guy get's out of the car all dressed in his spandex racer outfit like he's going for a 100km ride or something I thought... maybe he was after the show or something. Anyways I thought nothing of it 'till about 4 minutes later when I was locking my bike up to the fence near the entrance and the same guy comes riding up behind me to lock up as well.
I look over at him and smile, "nice morning for a ride huh?"
him: "oh yeah, I love this stuff ...long hard rides in the morning....." pauses then he looks at my beater bike and kind of gives a bit of a sarcastic laugh then danced off to get his ticket...

QUOTE]

I'm riding with 10+ year old shimano mntn bike shoes.. so fugly. :P

And on another note, I was at Urbane today and picked up a flyer for "Helloween 2005". See here for more!

Any of you guys interested in any of that? I think I'm gonna show up with my camera at the very least. Also, I think I might head out to next weeks CM in hopes that people will dress up and be all SPOOKY! ;)

they were handing out flyers for helloween at the cavern/sneakydees thing.. i picked up one and totally forgot about it. i definitely want to do the next CM in a costume.. maybe that'll get my butt in gear to make a costume and cut out of work early to one of the rides. i'm thinking of a vampire.. the chinese ones.. you know, the ones that hop. don't ask.
how's the lock situation at urbane?

lock situation?

some guy is selling his bike shop inventory on the tbn message boards.

i need a winter beater... i wonder if i can buy just one frame??

i've been trying to buy a mini u-lock to compliment my krypto chain since the spring with no luck. urbane asked me to put my name on a waiting list but i didn't. every other store has a "come check next week" kinda answer... rei and nashbar have some good prices but shipping/duty/handling are exorbitant... i'd rather buy local too. oh, looking for an onguard bulldog mini.. the krpytonite minis are about twice the price.