It's ok man .... I LOVE cars, I love driving them, racing em, all of it. You are correct in the way we are supposed to worship the car, it's sick.

definitely.. I too love driving, working on em, racing em, etc. But damn why can't we be more like cities like Copenhagen/Amsterdam/etc?

I heard something the other day on Metro Morning talking about what's projected to happen as China's economy continues to improve.. ie. if the Chinese had as many cars per capita as we do (not sure what the "we" they were referring to is.. but it's 3 cars for every 4 people, they have roughly 1.3B, so around 975,000,000 cars), what sort of calamaties that would cause.. how much landmass would have to be devoted to car-related infrastructure (parking/roads/etc). Pretty crazy!

speaking about china, the "china rises" documentary series that's been running on cbc the past few weeks has been really good. one gov't official they interviewed stated that when given the choice of a "mercedes or the environment", the chinese would always go for the mercedes. in the west, it's been-there-done-that, now we're reapin' what we've sown. but damn, they've still got a lot of bikes over there.

well.... I wrote a piece on street racing last year for the editor of Wheels ... never got published .... but Toronto has more Car dealerships per capita than any other city in North America. As for the China rising... the reason for all the bikes is simply they could never afford a car until recently, the chinese are certainly just as easy victims of excessive consumption. Looking at their recent upper class and what's being done there for them is shocking. The old guard would spin in their graves.

I don't think you'll have to worry too much about the car problem. A bike there is almost a months salary.

i ride old school single speed but i'm always working old bikes to fixed but never achive it. any advice for el cheepo?

Wow, this weather blows.

So tonight I'm bringing home ... hubs / rims / spokes / nipples / truing stand / tension meter / etc. Gonna have me a nice weekend of wheelbuilding fun at the homestead.

sss,

IRO / Formula is a decent option for a an inexpensive but good hub. You could pick one of those up and build yourself a nice rear wheel. Failing that, I believe Keith over at Cavern Cycles is the resident fixed gear expert and could build you up something nice. Have you run into any specific problems w/ your previous attempts that have you stumped? Maybe if you're more specific we can help you make some progress.

- eyefloater

PS. I say we all head to Moonbean again this weekend. I've had an exhausting week (speaking of which, I've gotta get to work). It'd be good to sit around on my ass for a couple hours and listen to you jokers talk **** for awhile. ;)

I'm good for Saturday or Sunday moonbeam.

yeah, I'm good for some moonbeam action as well I think.. assuming I'm feeling alright. stuipd flu.

Topeak makes some good ones; i have a "road morph" which is like a mini floor pump with a hose, foot support and all, but it's small enough for a bag and goes to 120 psi no problemo. i also have a "pocket rocket" (insert joke here) that is much smaller (like jersey pocket small) and will go do 120 psi but only with some muscle. it's a bit bigger than a magic marker. about $25 at curbside cycle. the road morph was a MEC special, $30 or so.

[QUOTE=cavernmech]As for wheels there are a few choices. The aformentioned Bicycle Specialties....Nestor is really good but he isn't working at a shop at the moment. Malcolm at Biseagal builds solid wheels.....and of course, yours truly.QUOTE]

when nestor was still working at urbane i bought a set of his hand-built wheels; it bought them in 2003 and haven't had them trued yet. i ride them every day in the city and i'm what a flyweight cyclist would call a big guy so that should say something. does anyone know if he's still building wheels or what?
i would say that so long as the wheels are hand built by a mechanic who has a good reputation and lots of practice, you'll be pleased. try to avoid machine built wheels. i've never had problems with wheels from urbane...

working at noon on sunday..arrrghh.. but i'll be at moonbeam before that. all y'all ladies are probably still getting your beauty sleep at that time though.

Is Nestor the dude with the thick glasses? I talked to him once for a little while about wheel-building and he impressed me with his knowledge. I haven't seen him there in awhile but it is the winter so maybe their hours are a bit less, I dunno. I had my fixed wheel-set built at Urbane and I don't know who worked on it but it is fine so far. I am a bit worried though as I am running on 28-holes and sometimes the back feels a bit squishy. I asked the guys at Urbane if I should be extra cautious but they said it would be fine since I have deep-Vs, but I think I should have gotten double-butted spokes, maybe even triple-butted as I am 6'1 and about 190lbs. What do you guys think? Am I playing with fire?

yeah nestors the dude with the thick glasses and the long beard. last i head he wasn't working there anymore, don't know why though...
FWIW i'm still riding a 28h wheelset i got at urbane in 2002 that has never needed truing. 105 hub on a older deep-walled mavic rim (cxp14 i think). so no, don't sweat it, i'd say it'd be fine, especially since it's handbuilt by experts, all the spokes will have even tension, etc. is it dishless? as for double butted spokes that will only make it margianally lighter. if you're using straight-gauged spokes, those will be the stongest. i'm about the same build as you and i'd be comfortable riding it. if you're weary about it, you can always give the wheel to me!

^^^^
I am running with Miche Primatas on Velocity Deep-Vs, so I guess I a-okay. How can I tell if they are dishless?

a dishless wheel will have spokes of the same length used on both sides of the hub. front wheels are dishless for example. i was refering to a hub that has threading for a cog on either side. a symetrical wheel... sounds like you have a set of quality wheels there.

Are you sure you're not working Saturday? :D

Let's set a day/time folks. I'm good for either day or both

*spins hub of fate*

... all signs point to Saturday at noon ...

k i'm good for noon, Saturday as in tomorrow. Not Sunday, which would be the day before Monday.

... Eastern Standard Time.

nestor is the BESTORZ - well... in trivial knowledge.
anyways, he's still around, will be in on monday if you want to challenge him to a bike trivia duel. haha
he's only trues/tension wheels now. that guy is the BIGGEST perfectionist ever, measures every spoke and rim.

and holy crud, I saw some Mavic CXP 14's today and they are the DEEPEST shiznit EVER!
sooo sooo deep, glad they have eyelets or I'd loose all my nipples inside the rim.

I was just taking a look at Google Maps in an attempt to start planning some training rides for this summer. After a few minutes I realized that riding to Guelph and back probably isn't the most fun I could have on a bike.

Anyone have any good routes for long distance rides? I'm looking to scale up from like 50km to 150km over the course of the spring / summer. It'll also be good to have some distance options available depending on my schedule and whether or not the gf is joining me (I asked her about doing a 6hr ride and she growled at me, so I'm guessing I'll be riding those ones solo).

PS. No, I don't want to go on the Donut ride. Those people have gears, which frightens and intimidates me.

lake simcoe! up north.
once you get past 16th, it feels SOO nice cause everything is just farm land.
It doesn't even feel like I live in a city anymore.
+ you can actually tell that the air is nicer, crisper, cleaner.

btw, is there anyway to fix a stripped thread?
I found some sugino 75's but the *edit* crudders, I meant left crank arm was stripped, where you would normally thread on your pedals, (what is that part called?) One of the main mech's said that they could try to do a helix... something. I forget what the term was. Anyways, I was wondering if anyone of you guys would know what to do :)
oh and I found it with a suntour superbe chainring which is also NJS stamped HUZZAH! But its pretty much worn out, oh well.

he prolly referred to a helicoil (or similar device).

http://www.caswellplating.com/aids/images/permacoil.jpg
http://www.dansmc.com/helicoil1.jpg

oh true.
Helicoil. Thanks, yea, he said it was hard to put in to perfectly.
I'll still give it a try.
anyways, Here's a mapquested map to get to Lake Simcoe from Downtown.
Its about 85km one way.

http://www.mapquest.com/directions/m...A&2s=ON&2z=L0E

Ummm ... ;)

eyefloater: check this: http://www.bikerally.org/maps.html

yea... people do that all the time. ....
Well, I live Finch and Warden, so I just take warden all the way down to the lake.

haha I wish there was a mapquest for bikes.
and eyefloater, you still looking for 144BCD chainrings for your cranks?
There a few the Superbe Pro chainrings on the 'bay rite now.
only sizes 44, 52, and 51 though
and if you don't want the one that came with your cranks, want to make a deal with me?
I'm looking for some as well, but tight with my budget.

btw, sweet find somnambulant, I might want to do some that start from finch subway for fun.

good link. thanks.

I was so confused for a second there ... I thought you were quoting me.

Ya, good link - thanks very much.