Does anyone know about the ice race in Feb.??
I went to this years was fun and I'm totally getting myself prepared for it again...everyone should build a set of studded tires using old wornout knobbies or something and about a 1000 sheet metal screws.

I do not know where to find info about the race, but I assume it will be on again this coming valentines day weekend... anyone know for sure?

What city's this ice race in?

The Ice race is indeed once again on St. Valentines weekend. It will be in the same place as the last 2 years....Dufferin Grove Park rink. Ahhh the days when there was enuf ice to do it on the island....those were the days. There ae also 2 other ice races on the sked for this year. Montreal is doing one the weekend before the one in Toronto. Ottawa is also having one I think bet no firm details from them yet. I only have 700 screws in my 700 cross tires and they grip like stink....no slippage at all.

I don't have frame saver in the house but I believe Jay down at Winterbourne Cycles in Guelph has a few cans...I will get ahold of him and see if he can send me a can....not that framesaver excuses riding that sweet a$$ bike in the nasty Toronto winter...SHAME. Do yourself a favour and get yerself on a winter beater before it's too late!

The framesaver goes into the frame, right, not on top of it? Silly question, I know, but I wondered if I have to take my bike apart to apply it. Thanks.

Oh yeah...if you are gonna make tires do yourselves a favour and use new tires. I can't count the number of people I know that spent 4-10 hours studding tires only to have the old sidewalls blow out. You can find suitable cheap tires to stud. I have had my mtn studdeds for almost 10 years and they are still winning and going strong. Its well worth the $40. The sweet hook-up for screws is H. Paulin...55 Milner at Danforth Road and Warden. They sell screws in bulk....wayyy cheaper than the Home Despot or Can Tire.

It does indeed go inside. You need to remove the forks and B.B. to apply it.

so were you the guy on the NORCO mtb last feb.?

would love to check out the Montreal race..... not many opportunites to ride on glare ice.
I have snuck onto the rink at nathan philips square late [rather early] in the morning, but security shows up pretty fast once they see some clown out fooling around on the ice with his bike...

clip from last feb in toronto my buddy in his down hill armour

I can get myself a loaner set of Nokian Hakkapal-whatever 700c studded tires ... what's the call: enough studs or not?

probably fine for icey streets, snow, etc....

for racing though... custom built is the way to go, every tire lug needs a stud/staple. Off the shelf studded tires usually have a stud every other lug and don't protrude far enough to really grip the ice under hard acceleration (racing conditions vs commuting contitions I guess)

That was my bike and tires...but the rider was my buddy who races for our team. He came in second and those tires....my old set...have 700 heat treated drywall screws in each. They grip like crazy but are a little bit hard to keep spinning. He being a road racer type, had the legs to contend on em.

awww man.. that'd be sweet. can you PM me some details, $, etc.?? i can swap out my wheels, pedals, brake, saddle.. i've got stem+drops but i'm curious about getting a riser.. cam, you're my santa.

*sorry to break the flow*
but yea, I took my parent's credit card to set up an ebay and paypal account and then I linked paypal to my bank account.
Thus, I can still pay all my ebay auctions through by bank account without my parents knowing. yay. (as long as I have enough money in my bank the credit card won't be charged)
Anyways, I think i'm going to figure out how to build up a wheel this christmas break thanks guys.

Did you heat treat the screws yourself, or can you get them like that? I'd like to make a set of studded MTB tires for my fixed gear MTB. Should be fun when the weather is too bad for my road tires. Aren't drywall screws too long?

Be careful dude...Ebay is an addiction:)

it is... :'(
I've spent all my xbox360 money already.
Time to go out and get another job.

Anyways, why isn't Toronto's Craiglist as robust or interesting as Nyc's or Chicago's?
Man, those guys have people posting up sweet bikes every day!
but for Toronto's Craiglist, the coolest bike I've seen is an Urbanite.... and it was Single Speed...
at least we have our redflagdeals.

Getting the right length is pretty crucial for a good riding tire. I like to have just the very tip of the screw protruding from the tire. This is the tricky part. That is why I got my screws from Paulin....they were the only ones that had them short enuf. The last set I made were Vittoria Cross tires. I used 3/16 or 1/8 screws and they were perfect. The mtn tires were made with 5/16 drywall channel screws....super sharp.

This is too late already but ebay will let you setup an account if you are a student in university/college. (At most of them anyways). My utoronto.ca email let me sign up for an ebay account.

BTW someone's selling there UTW mess bag on craigslist bike section for $50. Looks like the messential or the heavy gear.

rob, i thought you picked one up already.... that's a really good price, and you're buying local. oh snap, it's probably not samhouston....

I'm going to contact that guy about the bag.. not sure if I really need another big one, but the price is right. :)

WOO HOO.. my insurance cheque finally came in for a fender bender (in this case, front wheel) that happened in early october. 250bucks that i'll probably end up spending on a bike. a hundred of that was to replace my old helmet that got cracked. deals.

Yeah I did haha. Can't pass up a good deal though.

Hey all. 2 things for your consideration

Jay at Winterbourne has frame saver in stock. However it is EXTREMElY toxic so he is reluctant to sell it. He has a ventilator in his shop and has offered to apply it for anyone who might be interested. I will be heading down there sometime before christmas so anyone who would like to take him up on his offercan contact me and I will lug (pun intended) the frames down there for the application. Cost will be around $30.

Also Jay told me of a guy down in Guelph who has a buttload of old road frames he is selling. He collects old bikes from the dump, garbage collection and donations from the public. He donates all the proceeds to M.S. research. I have e-mailed him today asking if its o.k. to forward his contact info to any interested parties. I will post as soon as I hear from him. He sells em all for $20 so the price is right.

Nice! Keep us posted. Man, I remember the days when I could pick up a late 70's or early 80's lugged steel road frame for peanuts-even nice columbus SL, and silver brazed frames. I should have gotten myself bigger stash, but I broke them all over the years-never got more than 2-3 years out of one. Now everything has vertical dropouts. I cry myself to sleep at night.

oh wow... keith, thanks for the hook ups. that's sweet. speaking of sweet, i'm going to be steering some more bbq pork buns your way.
i scored a frame from cavit8 but if there happens to be something in my size with track dropouts...........
and i swore i'd never have more than 1 frame at a time??!!!

Re: Framesaver...I wonder if that stuff is really required. If it is that toxic, why bother? I used to just squirt some chainsaw oil in the tubes and let it run around inside. The stuff is so viscous it coats the inside of the tubes pretty well. Honestly, in all my years riding steel in the winter, as daily transportation, I never had a rust problem with any frame I have owned. I've even disected them after the frame failed, to see if there was any rust on the inside, and I never saw anything more than surface oxidation.