Greetings from Busy Town

I've been stupid busy this week at home and work - no time for blogging at all - writing to my own or checking out other people's blogs for updates. At work I'm involved with a side project editing a corporate video, which has been a blast - not stuffy at all, lots of goofy humor involved. I've edited lots of home movies for fun, so getting paid to edit - in a sense - good change of pace.

On a sobering note, one of my son's 10 year old pals - schoolmate and teammate on his basketball and baseball teams - is in the hospital. Super athletic little kid woke up with a headache one day last week, then later at school carted off to the hospital unconscious with some sort of brain aneurism issue. He's been in a coma for days and from what I hear is facing brain surgery. I don't have all the details, but wow - as a parent, that would the worst thing ever to go through. I've talked to his dad a few times at sport practices - nice guy. I hope everything works out and the kid pulls though.

On a much less important note, my car search continues. Two schools of thought - something big enough to serve as the bike hauler/camper mobile. Maybe a VW camper, wagon or mini van. I'd really dig a VW camper, 'cept the resale values on those - from ancient to modern - is pretty nuts. When you think of it, a pretty big surcharge for a pop up top, mini stove and ice box. The other thought would be something small and fun to drive - my usual style.

After spending way too many hours cruising the Internet for car deals, something in the $3000 - $6000 range, I've bumped the budget up to $9000 or so. Plenty of cars in the lower range, but obviously with plenty of miles on 'em - like 125,000+, which easily turns the $5000 used car into the $6500 car after the head gasket or CV joints explode. Being the recovering gear head guy, I understand that's the risk you take. I really don't have the time or motivation to deal with that.

That also throws out another option I've been considering, the old school Volkswagen Bug. I was into the VW scene many years ago - owned a '68 Bug and '73 Thing. You can score a pretty clean Bug for $4000 - $5000 and that kind of stuff is always sellable down the road. The wife ain't too hip with a 40 year Bug being the second car however. Oh well. What's wrong with no heat or defrosters, suspect safety issues, and the number 3 cylinder exhaust valve meeting Mr. Piston at 60 mph? Women, they just don't know how to have fun.

I'd usually go with something like a VW GTI, Subaru WRX, Mini Cooper S - small and performance oriented - as was my Sentra SE-R before it blew up. For the most part, that's out of the budget. Thought now is to go bargain but with a factory warranty. I'm thinking Toyota Yaris, the cheapest model from Toyota, now available used for under $9000, many with low miles and full factory warranty. Almost 40 miles per gallon and small and goofy enough to be fun.

I drove a Yaris today and it was much better then I anticipated. It's more fun to go fast in slow car, then slow in fast car - my current motto. The used one I checked out had 57,000 miles on it, but a little banged up for a 2007 model, so I passed. I'm hoping to look at this one tomorrow, with only 22,000 miles on the clock......

Add bike rack, stir gently, enjoy for many trouble free miles. I hope so anyway. If I don't pick up this one, will find something similar.

To continue my car theme, my old Mackie Designs pal Dave stopped by to check out my dead SE-R. Dave is big into vintage Datsuns, owning two '60s pick up trucks - one of which he drove over (complete with optional hand crank start motor) - and five '60s Roadsters. He thinks one of the rod bearings is toast (I agree) and is running my car past his fellow Datsun/Nissan freaks for possible sale. He later sent me an eBay listing for new long block. $1200 and many hours later, car could run again. I'm not going there, but maybe one of his pals will and I'll unload the SE-R.

That's enough car nonsense for one night. Let's move to something more fun - like bikes.....

During one of my Garage Sale posts, I mentioned getting a free bike from a neighbor, then shipping it off to my old pal John in Virgina, for a utility bike project. Sure enough, project completed with actual photographic proof. John sent me the pic today. It came out great, perfect donor bike for the Xtracycle kit.....

What every garage needs.

My eBay Garage Sale continued last week with a few items re-listed - with much success. I'm gonna dig up even more bike history in the garage and list 'em as well. What sold this week.....

Funky old Campy crankset - now sold. These were originally on my old Raleigh back in the '80s. Been laying in box ever since and went for $67 on eBay.

Pair of vintage Ringle water bottle cages fetched $51 - amazing. Plus $38 to ship to England. Dude must have really wanted 'em.

The old Scott cantilevers even went - for a whopping $10. Still better then collecting dust in my garage.

Bigger news is the completion of Project Access - bike I've been building up for son Ian. I was up until 2:00 AM last night putting the finishing touches on it. It came out great - super light and looks good. Ian took for a little spin on the street today, we'll hit the woods soon.

My mail order Sette Razzo 29er has landed as well. Pulled from the box, assembled and quick street ride to test. It's pretty cool. I'm looking forward to getting it dirty.

I'll devote full blog posts for both bikes soon, maybe even tomorrow if time allows. We have some family Easter festivities planned including dinner guests - busy day.

Enjoy your Easter. Give the kids a extra hug. Ride your bike.

Spring Cleaning and Riding

Spring is in the air and a young man's fancy turns to, uh - riding. Yeah, that's the ticket. Took a day off work last Friday and squeezed in a 2 hour mountain bike - nice. Commuted to work today, usual 34 mile round trip - all good. Time to break out of the winter slump and get some real miles in. Oh yes.

Budding trees and runny noses also means spring cleaning, and my eBay garage sale continues - all proceeds to build up Ian's new bike, code named Project Access - which also may require dad (that be me) scoring a new bike to hand some parts down. An even trade of dough, old stuff for new stuff, is always cool for the family budget and allows guilt free upgrades - no?

This week's selling action......

Like new vintage wheelset. Performance hubs (appear to Sansin), Araya RM20 rims, 36 spoke, 130mm spacing, freewheel compatible - complete with Shimano 6 speed freewheel. Six speeds - count 'em. Sold !!

1999 Ellsworth Truth frame, Fox shock and Chris King headset. Bit of a bidding war on this one. Sold !!

Vintage Scott SE cantilever. SE stood for "Self Energizing" - as in some widget buried in that black Cylinder-O-Mystery drove the pads deeper into the rim - kind of sucked in by the wheel rotating. Anyway, a few watchers on eBay, a few questions - no sale. Listed once again, will see what happens.

Shoe covers for toe strap pedals. Total old school in new condition. Sold !!

Vintage "Deer Head" logo Shimano Deore derailleur. Sold !!

Vintage Ringle bottle cages from the '90s - remember these? 27 watchers on the item, a few questions about shipping - then no sale. Weird. Listed once again.

Funky vintage Campy crank. A few watchers, questions about shipping - then nada sale. I relisted for another week.

Very cool old school Suntour XC Pro pedals. My Craiglist sale from the other week fell through. Listed 'em on eBay. Sold !!

This week's eBay update now officially over. I'll pull a few other vintage goodies from the garage on list 'em on eBay in the next few days. It's been fun digging this stuff out and watching the online action.

I made a little progress on Project Access over the weekend. Cane Creek headset cups pressed into headtube, Shimano LX crankset and BB now in place. Ibis seatpost now installed, providing a safe clamping area. New chain and SRAM cassette await something to be attached to.....

Still a few parts missing, but not for long.

I've reached critical mass and want to get this project done. Final decision time, been dragging my feet - finish purchasing parts for Project Access - or pick up a bike for me and move my old XTR, Fox fork and Mavic ceramic rims to Ian's frame. Will decide by the end of week.

Being Family Guy is crimping my usual XTR level of fun - and I can live with that, since there are more important things screaming for dough. I've been looking at mid-priced level 29er hardtails, including a Scott Scale 29er today at REI. Not a bad deal for $1500, though the graphics are bit garish for my taste. XT rear derailleur, Rockshox Reba SL fork, mixed in with some lower level parts. It also felt a bit heavy.....

I've also been watching this on eBay. Used, cool Trek 69er built up with XT - nice bike. I've demo'd this when available from Trek - since discontinued. 26" rear wheel and 29" front wheel....

I've also spec'd out a Niner off the Colorado Cyclist site. Not a bad deal, though still well over $2000. I'd dig one of these, but don't think I can swing that at the moment....

I keep coming back to this, the Sette Razzo 29er. A killer deal for $1200. You could swap the frame out and still be ahead - though all good online reviews. Cheap enough to swap some of the stock parts out and still have a killer deal. Hundreds of dollars cheaper then similar spec'd bikes. Frame specs are slightly off for me though. I'd need a medium frame and run a long stem......

Enough bike pondering and wondering for today. I need to hit the sack - thanks for reading....

The Garage Sale Continues

Not much blogging or riding action over the last week or so. I haven't ridden in 11 days now, due to various reasons - from allergies (spring comes early to the Pacific Northwest), to work, to family related reasons - just too busy.

As usual though, bike related tomfoolery continues. My garage sale to score some dough for Project Access is going well. I've sold off some items and will list more stuff on Craigslist or eBay soon.

What's been sold.......



Clean Burley solo trailer sold quickly on Craigslist. These are always in demand, built well and hold their value. This trailer is headed to family number 4 to use - pretty cool. Having scored a killer deal when purchased off a neighbor a few years ago, I actually sold it for a profit. I did give the same neighbor a like new Trek Jet 16 bike for their son for free, just to keep the good karma rolling.

I've been saving these for years - but why? I never plan to use toe straps again. If you were to use toe straps, can't do much better then old school Suntour XC Pro pedals. Go ahead, try - I double dog dare you. Sold quickly on Craigslist for a pretty penny.

Items not pictured include...

Ibis Trials Comp featured in last blog post. Only had one bidder, but that's all you need on eBay. Bike is boxed and will be headed to Nebraska tomorrow. I hope the new owner digs it.

My cool neighbor Kim who I've known for 20+ years, has been threatening to give me the two bikes hanging in his garage collecting dust. And he did just that two weeks ago. Both bikes early '90s vintage. Pre-suspension, steel frame and forks, 1" quill stems, old school stuff - not worth a whole lot, but still decent bikes. One was a lower end GT with Suntour parts. The other a Giant with all XT - not bad at all. The Giant truly was giant being a 22" frame however.

I've been emailing recently with my old bike shop pal and ex-Greenpeace head honcho John about his utility bike project. He's been looking for a suitable donor bike to rig up a Xtracycle - maybe with electric assist. Him being a tall dude, the Giant would be perfect for this project, so off it goes to Virginia after we worked out a deal. If we were corporate types, would call this a "win win" situation.

Future items to sell are a '99 Ellsworth Truth frame and a pair of old school wheels in new condition - Sansin hubs, RM20 rims, 130mm spacing. If anyone out there in Blog Land is interested, let me know. There may be other goodies as well.

Along with selling off bike related stuff, I purchased a few items to build up Ian's bike. The shipping damaged frame was replaced by Performance - new one looks great. I then scored a new Cane Creek headset, Shimano LX crank (with BB), and chain off eBay. Followed by a new SRAM 9 speed cassette off Craigslist. It's mind boggling how much bike stuff - new stuff - that's on eBay.

At the moment, plan is to score myself a new 29er hardtail, then move my old XTR, Fox fork and wheels, currently on my Cannondale, to Ian's frame. The new parts I scored would still be needed - since I want Ian to run a 170mm crank and my chain, cassette and chain rings are toast.

While cruising the local bike shops for empty bike boxes needed for shipping - and checking out 29ers and other bikes - came across a 2007 Gary Fisher X Caliber leftover at Kirkland Cycle....

I took it for a fairly long test ride. Medium size frame, 17.5" seat tube and 24" top tube. With the stock 80mm stem, felt way too short. The nice bike shop girl swapped a 120mm for me to try. I also flipped it over to lower the bars. Ah, much better. Technically I should fit a large frame and run a normal sized stem. At almost 5' 11", I always seem to fall between medium and large for most production bikes. I also like a stretched out position, with the bars a little low - what I'm used to. With the 120mm stem this bike could work for me. It also gets me on smaller frame to compensate for the monster truck 29er wheels. Killer deal, since it's a leftover, but I passed. A little heavy with lower end SRAM X7 parts (2007 version) and the sparkle metal flake silver paint was a little too Ace Frehley for me.....

With that, I will end this ramble fest of a post and call it a night. If you made it this far - I thank you.

Adios for now.