"no mud, no lotus"

I was so excited today to field a call from Campus Wheelworks that my flat pedals and shoes had arrived. A few weeks ago, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience mountain biking with the Campus group at Sprague Brook, but something just bugged me. I couldn't seem to get comfortable clipped on while tackling some of them more sketchy terrain. I kept having anxious moments and experienced what I learned are called "hesitation falls" where one's indecisiveness causes a tumble. Even t

Well, this build is not slowing down even though brakes are today's component. These are the Tektro 359 medium reach brakes. They will allow the frame to accommodate bigger tires, so I am excited to give them a shot. I have had the Tektro brand on my CAAD, and they seem just fine. There are many pricier alternatives, but brakes are an upgrade that I can make down the road if need be. If this frame works out like I am hoping, I can see some chicken boutique brake going on the

When I started thinking about this bike build, I was excited to have many of the parts already on hand. A long time ago I had bought a few Ritchey components and never used them. This seatpost is one of those items, and in some awesome serendipitous way... wouldn't you know, the headset that came with the frame is also a Ritchey item. I have been a Tom Ritchey fan for a long time, so I am glad that this build will have a little of his genius on it. This post is a Ritchey Comp

One of the things the former owner of the frame did was to install a bottom bracket adaptor to convert the BB30 into a threaded English style bottom bracket. Having had BB30 on all my Cannondale bikes, I am almost glad that he did it. So, today I received a brand new Shimano Ultegra BB and installing it was a snap. I have had the tools for BB30 and BB90 for a while, but using the torque wrench and BB tool was a snap and honestly took a quarter of the time the press fit bearin

See this great article from the All-City website: The Story of the Mr. Pink

Nixfrixshun has been making the chain lube that I so enjoy for a few years now. It can be put on very sparingly and lasts a long time. I became aware of it through the Velocipede Salon forum, a bike forum that I read almost daily. It is filled with great info on modern boutique bikes and builders. It is frequented by some of the best builders in the US and the world like Richard Sachs and Mike Zancanato among others. I digress...Josh Simmonds who runs the page has been puttin

10-speed or 11-speed seems to be the most pressing decision with this build. I have a bunch of great old Dura-Ace 10 speed stuff, and I run 10 speed on my smart trainer. I have a Sram Rival 11-speed FD and RD that I just removed from my CX bike when I went 1x on it, but I have no shifters. So, I have elected to stick with 10-speed, as the cost of Sram shifters and a new cassette for the smart trainer is just too much right now. Using the Dura-Ace stuff means I need to spend $

I have always wanted a good steel bike, and in the past I admit to have struggled with bad decision making. Like the time I bought a Colnago steel frame and with down tube shifters and sold it off for half what I paid for it because I was too dumb to convert it over to a more ride-able bike. I found myself with four bikes: two road, my cyclocross rig, and a new mountain bike. I also had a ton of old groupos and miscellaneous parts that were lying around making my porch look l