Not all H2O bottle cages are created equal

In an endless attempt to break my 50 mile route record, I'm getting the TT Bike prepared. I've been doing longer rides, nothing fast or competitive.


For 50 miles on a 50-60 degree day I'll take 4 bottles (3 on my bike, and 1 in the jersey pocket). and then I out them in . . . . Oppppps!

What's that about? They don't fit. How can this be? They used to fit at one time. It think . . . Maybe it was a dream.

Ahhhhhh Ha! . . . Not all H2O bottle cages are created equal.

These must be the cages I used. I would have thought if one set of cages fit, then they all would. I would have thought the standards would have been put on the cage manufactures since they also have a standard for the holes. This is evidence that there is not standard from the bottom bolt, and the bottom of the bottle.

A night for a ride

Monster 1 is in the history book. The UnAbashed Cyclist and I had a nice night ride around Raytown. I expected a few more, but they were either sick, someone made plans for them, or they had to work.

George road delivered as expected. Pitch Black and Zero visability, and a BONUS . . . an invisible dog . . . "Do you see him"? Using or brains to complete the mathmatics of Dog Volume and bike speed we were able to determine we were always at a safe distance.

WestRidge had a little better visibility . . . but not much . . . No invisible dog. We did encounter a Hay ride though. and that reminds me as soon as we got of George Rd. there was a Monster Maze. . . . It's Halloween you know.

We made the 18 mile trip in about 1hr, 15min. enough time for a fun ride.

He is Drank? . . no?

The Bee

. . . now with parts!

If your Old School, and your thinking that's a Pete's Precision 44t, Your right.

When you say Can't, do you really mean Won't

One of my inspirations in life has been Wim Hof. He's a no excuses kind'a guy. Wim Hof commonly nicknamed "Iceman". He holds the world record for longest ice bath. Wim broke his previous world record by staying for 1 hour 13 minutes and 48 seconds immersed in ice at Guinness World Records 2008.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wim_Hof

His Home Page.

http://www.innerfire.nl/en/

In short most people would get frost bite, but Wim doesn't. Wim can withstand extreme cold temperatures because he can turn his own thermostat up by using his brain.

What is possible? What skills and talents do we all have that have yet to be realized.

See nothing but possibilitys.

Monster . . . The October Ride

As some of you know know the ride was originaly going to be 235 miles . . . Yea a Monster . . . At this time of the year I would run out of sun light . . . maybe even during the summer. So I changed it to 144 miles . . . why 144 . . . 144 is a gross . . . It's a gross amount of miles. In reality I don't have time to do a long ride like that. So it just going to be a little friendly ride around Raytown again.

I might have to make the 235 mile ride a little longer and make it a 2 day ride. We'll have to pull Henry Meyer. If you don't know who Henry was, he was a kansas city resident, and world class cyclist from the Late 1920's-1930's. Back when he used to race they had 600 mile races where if they got tired they would just take a nap in a ditch to the side of the road. The problem with this was you risked getting your bike stolen, while you were asleep, so they would chain it to their legs . . . no joke.

Not what you think

It's not the SuperBee. It's been raining and I'm tired of getting wet. So I finished building up the Raleigh because it has fenders. This frame measures 23" center to center or 58.5cm. Yea it's to big for me by conventional standards. But the frame was the right price . . . free. Thanks Bruce!


The frame was designed for 27 inch wheels, not 700c. Normal brakes won't reach, so I found some long reach Dia Compes and they do the trick very well. The even have a little room left.


So what is the difference between 27" and 700c? . . . 27"= 630mm dia., and 700=622mm dia. so 8mm or it lowers the bike and adds 4mm to the brake reach. The Bottom bracket height is with 700x25c tires is 265mm so it's on par with a lot of frames designed for 700c. I have a Fuji the measures 263mm. I'm going to put a set of Jack Browns on it so it will raise it up a little more. Not that it needs to be raised up to compensate for the difference. I'm just pointing out the change can be done.


I found this old seat a long time ago. and what luck it's a Brooks. The quintessential old school saddle. It's a little tattered and worn. I'm told these are the most confortable seats ever made. They have been around for over 100 years. So I gave it a shot, and it looks good on the bike. Yep about as hard as it looks. They say you have to break them in. Basically they form to "your" butt after a while. So this begs the question . . . Who butt is this seat formed to since it's at least 30+ years old. I say that because I've had it for at least 15 years sitting in an old cabinet.


Oh yea that short stem. 6.5cm. Normally I would use a 12cm with a 55cm top tube (67cm roughly). This top tube measures 22-1/2" according to Raleigh, and that matchs my measurement of 57.2cm. So basiaclly I need a 10cm and I would agree,only this is all I had. Notice I don't have any tape in anticipation of the switch. But it's a nice old 3TTT though. Wish it was 10cm.

Over all I like the ride. As far as the frame being to big it's debatable. I'm using it as a commuter.
The seat tube is longer than I'd like, but I can still adjust the seat up and down, So I'm good to go. Also a consideration is whether or not I can get the bars low enough. When you have a frame and it has a horizontal toptube, the longer the seat tube, the longer the head tube, the longer the head tube, the higher the bars come up. and the answer is yes. I want them about 1 to 2 inchs below my seat on this rig, and I can go even lower.

The top tube is longer than I'd like, but I can adjust the reach by getting the right size stem, Ironically even with a long toptube I still need a longer stem.

Some people worry about Standover height. I can't figure out why people worry so much about it this. I have about 1/2" clearance, maybe more on a cold day when "The Boys" are retracted, but it's been hot lately so "The Boys" are relaxed and I got about 1/2". Anyway some people say they need 2". Look if your out riding, and you find yourself straddling the toptube, with both fleet flat footed . . . you not riding your bike . . . and if your not riding your bike, then what's this got to do with riding your bike? . . . Mountain bikes are another issue so I'm just sticking to city commuting . . . even when I stop I have one foot on one peddle, and I lean the bike. You have to lean the bike to get on and off anyway. To me standover height is the most usless dimension manufactures publish for frames that have horizontal toptubes. The only use I've really had for it is to determine other dimensions. say they don't give bottom bracket height, or drop, I can determine that by using the seat tube length, seat tube angle angle, and standover height assuming it's a horizontal top tube . . . yep that was a little rant.