The Most Important Tool I Own...

This is it, the most important tool I own. It's a fully adjustable bicycle "mannequin" that allows me to mimic pretty much any conventional bike on the market and a good number of unconventional ones. I've said it before, I'll say it again, fit is paramount in getting a bike that makes you happy. This is the biggest reason why I've chosen to sell bikes that get built from a frameset up, because everyone is different. If you go to the shop's web page (www.bicyclesvancouver.com) and read the part on "custom fitting" you'll get an idea of what I'm alluding to here.

This fit bike is not like most in that when combined with the Salsa Size-o-matic stem and the Purely Custom cranks I can truly fine tune a fit to suit most every rider. The Salsa stem will adjust from 55 to 155mm and can simulate any stem rise from -20 to +40 degrees. This stem will also quickly come off the bicycle mannequin and mount up to your own bike should you want to quickly adjust your own front end to find an optimum position without buying half a dozen stems to try and figure it out the hard way.

The cranks adjust from 155 to 185mm which is pretty much beyond what's readily available anyway. It makes sense that when pedaling a mocked up position that the cranks are the same length as what you're used to or plan to use.




Both the seat tube and the top tube are fully adjustable, as is the head tube, but most importantly the seat tube angle is adjustable as well. As the seat tube angle changes it will affect the effective top tube by up to a cm for every degree of seat tube angle change. It's not an insignificant feature of this bike that the seat tube angle is adjustable.

All this and you can sit on the bike and pedal it too to get an idea of how a bike may or may not fit you. Even if you don't buy a bike from me I will happily help you figure out what size of bike you might want. The fee for a professional fitting is pretty small relative to buying a bike that doesn't fit properly and there is no charge for a fitting if you buy a bike from bicycles. In fact, if you want to invest in a fitting but not purchase a bicycle right away I will credit you the full cost of the fitting towards any frame or bicycle you buy from bicycles within 6 months.

This is truly the most important tool in the shop.

ABUS

You may or may not have heard of ABUS locks before. They are to the European bike market what Kryptonite is to North American bike market. One difference though is that all the ABUS locks are made in their own factory in Germany where Kryptonite locks are farmed out to a factory in China. There's probably nothing wrong with farming out your product but I have a greater respect for a company that has made a living producing the products they sell. While ABUS makes the usual compliment or U-locks at various price points and security levels the one lock that stands out is the one pictured above called a Bordo. In the first two pictures you'll see that it is both bigger than the popular Kryptonite mini-U and smaller than it. What's nice about that is it will still fit in your back pocket if you want to travel light but there's enough of a loop to secure more than just your frame once you get where you're going. The rubber holder can either strap on to your frame with the provided straps or you can bolt it on to a water bottle mount through the metal insert that is also included but if you go this route you will displace a bottle cage as it's an "either/or" mount, not a "both" mount. Overall it's a pretty smart design.

Some of you would be correct in remembering a lock made by Specialized called the WedLock that looked a lot like this one. I had one of those too back in the day but it got lost in a move and I'd always wished I could get another. Now I can.

Can You Keep Up With Me

CAN YOU KEEP UP WITH ME? take the test

Yeah, that's right, I'm reviewing tire levers...

Tire levers, not very exciting, eh? Well, as someone who has changed literally hundreds of tires, possibly thousands, I beg to differ. I've tried them all, angular, with special little hooks to hang on to your spokes, made of recycled milk jugs, expanding ones that latch on to the hub axle, metal core, metal, name brand, knock-off, heck I even used a couple of spoons for a while, and nothing is as good as these Michelin tire levers.

I've never broken a Michelin tire lever. It's true. Using them exclusively in the shop for eight or nine years now I've never broken one. I won't lie, I've seen them broken, but only twice, and I was shocked both times. But still, having used them to install countless tires myself I'm more than impressed that they've lasted so long. Also, you should notice the broad but flat hook part of the lever, that low profile and stunted piece makes it exceptional at avoiding pinching the tube when installing particularly tight tires. There's little that is as frustrating as wresting a difficult tire onto a tight rim and then going to put air in that tire only to find you've punctured the tube installing it and have to start all over again.

The levers come with no guarantees, you might break one, you might pinch a tube with one, but you'll have to try real hard to do either of those things.

I'm not a critic but...

It’s product review time. I don’t know if it’s reasonable to discuss something after using it only once but, well, I’ve done lots of unreasonable things so why stop now? I managed a cross ride through the Pacific Spirit park near UBC last night. It’s been a long time since I’ve done a night ride and though I’m sure there are more glamorous places to ride a cross bike the train tracks run close to the shop and provide a decent alternative to bike paths and streets for a good chunk of the way to the forests of Point Grey. There are three requirements for a night cross ride, one being a cross bike, two being the sun should ideally be below the horizon, the third being a light. The first two are easy, this review is about the third.

The last time I did a night ride I was using a BLT Firefly helmet mount light and a battery that weighed as much as a small child strapped to my back. The light was incredible at the time and had people marvelling at how bright such a small unit could be but the downfall of that and other systems at the time was the size of the battery needed to run it and how quickly that battery would die (usually linked directly to how far into the forest you are, the further in, the more likely the battery to fade).

This night my eyes would be aided by a NiteRider MiNewt.X2. The MiNewt.X2 is an LED light powered by a Lithium Ion battery pack and the package is small, small, small. The package claims it weighs only 232grams. My digital scale shows 239grams for the complete unit with the middle sized mounting rubber band (it comes with three sizes of mounting band) I suppose I could have shaved a gram or two cutting down the battery mounting strap and removing the warning label from the power chord. The light’s demure size mounted easily onto an already crowed handlebar occupied by a Knog commuter light and cross interlevers and it stayed put during the whole ride. The battery straps to the stem and also didn’t budge for the entire ride. This is a far superior system to the old NiteRider mounts with cumbersome articulating brackets with wider clamps and heavier, larger batteries.

The light turns on quickly and is bright from start up unlike HID lights which need to warm up, and it stays cool during use where HID lights warn you to not stand still with the light on for too long because it will overheat without air flowing over it. There are three light modes, high, low, and flashing. On high it has a claimed burn time of 3.5 hours. I only rode for 2 hours so I can’t substantiate this claim. On low power, which by many standards is still quite bright, it’s supposed to burn for 7 hours. I tried it in both modes and in the complete darkness of a rainy BC forest the lower setting was plenty bright enough to negotiate the trails at a reasonable speed. I think I’d have a hard time riding in circles in the dark for more than three hours so I ran it at the brighter setting. How bright is bright? 92 Lumens on low and 150 Lumens on high. In laymen’s terms, bright on low, f’en bright on high.

Beefs? None really, or at least none that can be blamed on the light. I like the idea of helmet mounted lights for trail riding so that the light goes where your eyes do. There were a few twisty bits where I had to bleed off speed because the bar mounted light wasn’t going where I was about to and, well, trees hurt when you run into them. But that’s okay because for a few bucks ($45 to be exact) you can get a helmet mount and a power source extension cable so you can put the light on your head and the battery in your jacket or jersey pocket. For riding on the streets the bar mount is pretty much perfect

Overall it's a good light. Actually it's better than good, it's an excellent light. Lighting technology has advanced so much over the past few years but it's hard to imagine it getting any better than this. Light, small, bright, and cool. Unless they can come out with a hydrogen cell powered version (check David Scott's Smelling Land, it's not as far away as you might think) this is about as good as it gets.

Dekerf and Cinelli

This bike defies description but I'm going to try. It's a handbuilt, fillet brazed, cross bike that just happens to fit me. These pictures don't do it justice, it needs to be seen up close to really appreciate the details. There are reinforcing plates delicately placed under the brake posts (I knew I forgot to take at least one particular picture) and the monostay brake hanger is such an elegant touch that gracefully expresses its function with an understated eloquence. The fillets are so perfectly articulated that the tubes seem molten, an effect that is enhanced by the metallic base paint. It's currently perched deservedly so upon a pedestal with a spotlight trained upon it. I have all the parts here to build it up but am reluctant to do so too soon because the parts will simply get in the way of the frame. Soon though. Soon it will be a bike.



And here are a few more of the Cinelli Super Corsa Pista. I think the simple "c" stamped into the lug and the jewel like inlay of a second "c" into the seat cluster are perfect touches on an already brilliant frame. When you hear it said, "they don't make them like they used to" you can counter, "sorry, but when it comes to bikes they do, and very well, thank you."