Jay, thank you for not agreeing with that man! Lol. Why zero energy? Was it windy? The windy rides at the start of the season kill me. But you’ll get out there tomorrow and I bet you’ll be even better than you were today. And yes, if we move backwards in our weather, I …..don’t even know. Who do we call? L That is a great looking bike, I love the colour. You don't look homeless to me lol
We had a similar temp today here in SW Ontario. I was out in shorts, L/S jersey, thin mtb gloves, what a treat! I had zero energy though. Hoping tomorrow's ride is better, as the temp will be a notch higher. Hopefully this is the start of nice weather and we don't go backwards ;-)
On Saturday, April 12, 2025 at 1:43:10 PM UTC-4 Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote:
In recent Bike Life Lately…
I am in the midst of Handlebar Adjustment Crisis.
Welcome to Handlebar Adjustment Crisis where: Nothing is right. Everything is wrong.
Everything HAD been Handlebar Nirvana but then I decided 4 bolt stems must be more secure so I got FacePlaters on 3/4 of my bikes. And then the angles were wrong and the heights were wrong and I’ve been paying way too much attention to these things ever since. I raised the bars and today will tell me if I got it right.
Today it is sunny and will eventually be 57 degrees, so like, a heat wave in SW Michigan. I decided to hedge my bets that I wouldn’t be called in to work, and cycle deep into the city in search of coffee and a good pastry. I hand wrung in the garage about which bike. I settled on the raspberry because I love it and the rackless, bagless Charlie is just better suited to road riding. Here is my beautiful, happy, berry bike in sunshine as we cross the Kalamazoo River.
Google lied and said the place was open but I arrived 30 min before the real opening time. I had time to kill. There would be no other bikes here, so I just took up the whole rack.
While I waited, I eyed the obnoxious QUILL stickers on my wheels and decided now would be a great time to peel them off. I sat down on the ground and began to pick at the stickers. A man emerged from the building, looked at me, and said kindly, “Hi, can I buy you something?” It hit me that he believed I was in some sort of distress. Biker = homeless, poor. You guys. I was ready to get called in to work and had gotten ready this morning. I took this right after, checking to see if I really did look homeless. I don’t think his assessment of me was fair. I got the stickers off.
I finally got coffee and a blueberry muffin and then headed home a different route. I was treated to more river views and bridge crossings.
I stopped by the grocery store to pick up asparagus and blackberries to serve alongside the entree I’ll make for tonight’s dinner. It is weird to see this bike parked as a shopper outside the store when it has been a club rider for so long. It’s plenty secure with locking skewers and Hexlox protecting the saddle and seatpost. It makes me happy.
I am happy to report that I am back in Handlebar Nirvana and my bars are now completely perfect and I am not even tired and could have ridden for several more hours. Also, I did not get called into work! I am back at the house, being assaulted by headbanging music wafting up from the basement, courtesy of three teenage boys lifting weights down there.
Hope everyone else is out there, getting sun and miles done. Leah
Hey John,
So jealous. I'm out in the Fontainebleau forest most weekends for bouldering (and biking).
It's one of the ways I justified buying the Hillbourne- I neeed a bike that could handle the GRs!
Cormac,
Francilien, actually, yes! I live out near Fontainebleau.
cheers,
John
Nice whip @Nathan and cool to see a fellow Parisian (or Francilien) on the forum!
Mighty 900 for the win!
BL in EC
On Monday, April 7, 2025 at 5:00:03 AM UTC-7 John Johnson wrote:
So, I've been meaning to respond to this thread since Leah started it. It's just starting to get nice outside here in the Île-de-France and we've had lots of sunny days and not very much rain (which is uncommon, actually). Other than getting out and riding, I've been working on 3 projects to keep myself occupied.The first is building up a Black Mountain La Cabra, which I bought while they were on sale earlier this year. I'm not too far along in the project, but I'll probably post it on the IBOB forum once it's up and running.
The second is changing my single-speeded 1994 MB-1 to a 3x1 drivetrain, inspired by all the "reverse 1x" drivetrains built around Roadunos. I picked up a Sugino Mighty 900 triple (Bill Lindsay-approved!) on the French version of Craigslist. I'm not convinced the chainline is good yet (the middle ring is around 47-48mm and I might have to swap out for another bottom bracket). And I'm also futsing with the front derailleur (a Suntour XC-pro), which isn't staying in place. I'm using a gen 1 Silver shifter, and I'm not sure if it's the ratchet that's tired, or if I need to work on the limit screws of the derailleur, or something else.
The third is my cheap bike build to leave at the train station in Paris. I ride the train in to Paris from the countryside for work, and wanted a bike that I can lock up at night and over the weekend and not worry too much about it getting stolen (which it probably will, on a long enough timeline). I also wanted a good drivetrain for city riding and minimal maintenance, so I settled on a fixed gear based around a weird rear wheel I had (26" rim with a 120mm rear fixed hub). I found an old orbea mountain bike with 126mm rear spacing and horizontal dropouts for the reasonable price of €23. I spray painted it rust brown and left the fork as was (a weird spray painted purple). A pair of 130BCD sugino cranks, an old turbo saddle, soma oxford bars, a wald basket, and some SKS fenders, and I've got a really fun, comfy bike for riding from the train station up the canal to where I work. All-in-all, I'm pretty satisfied with the bike-that-I'm-okay-if-it-gets-stolen project.
cheers,
John (outside fontainebleau) ![bastille.jpg]() Hey Nathan,I agree, having a bike with everything you want can be nice but a bike with only want you need is so much fun too. Thanks for the link to Hobo Hub Works, if the Instagram is any anything to go by it seems like a fantastic space.
On Saturday, April 5, 2025 at 10:09:03 PM UTC+2 Nathan Mattia wrote:
![IMG_0653.jpeg]() Life in the Lou has been WET and pretty miserable for the last week. Thank the Good Lord I finally just had #BofurBike (the Appaloosa)and #FaramirBike (the Miyata) fendered. I finally made it to our local Coffee Outside ride this last weekend, which is hosted by Matt @HoboHubWorks here in St. Louis.
Matt’s shop has become a bright spot and a hangout for many here in the Lou this past year. He has put it together inside some warehouse space in the old Lemp Brewery, and it is a bohemian biker’s paradise. Matt has made a business out of resurrecting and Rivefying old steel-framed bikes and keeping everyone’s rigs chugging along, for reasonable prices. But what he has excelled at, and what will keep me coming back, is creating community.
Here’s what else is new: turns out I like to go fast sometimes. I stripped the racks from #Striderbike, laying his 94 Bridgestone RB-T bones bare. Only a small Sackville Saddlesack remains for cargo. Replacing the cranks and BB with a 105 setup last year, and installing new brake pads already made it the most pleasurably-mechanically “tight” of my bikes. BUT NOW This whip now feels as sporty, tight, and nimble as I care to be on a bike.
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