Category: Gear

  • Almost Satisfied

    Almost Satisfied

    The plan next Saturday is to have a guest join for a ride on a completely new route. I’ve had some outstanding maintenance issues for Dionysus, and since that’s what the guest will be riding, today was the chance to address those. The cogs have been a bit noisy since I replaced the original chain…

  • Bike of Theseus

    Bike of Theseus

    I’ve taken some good-natured ribbing about how often I’m replacing perfectly functional parts on my bike, and at what point it would have been easier to have simply gone out and purchased a new bike. My friends are right that — in addition to required maintenance — a lot of the upgrades I’ve done are…

  • Saddle No. 5

    Saddle No. 5

    I wanted to install the new saddle and seatpost before today’s ride. I set the bits out on the table last night, and then got started this morning before 8, when it was just 6C in the Workshop in the Sky. Replacing the saddle and seatpost was straightforward. Of course I weighed the old and…

  • Bling photo dump

    Bling photo dump

    Nana is complaining that the intercom is ringing every day with a new delivery. I’m sure this is exaggeration. I mentioned when the Brooks broke for the second time in six months that I was getting something new, and it arrived just after I’d swapped in my other Brooks saddle. I also got a totally…

  • Through with Brooks*

    Through with Brooks*

    I mentioned at the end of the Koedo Matsuri post that there was a mechanical I wasn’t ready to talk about. I’ve just sorted that out in anticipation that tomorrow’s weather might allow a ride. My Brooks saddle had been squeaking ever since it came back from the repair, when I had the broken shackle…

  • Anticlimactic

    Anticlimactic

    My jaunt up Takaosan earlier this week confirmed that Kuroko’s spiffy dynamo lights are working, so it’s time to bring the Forking Dynamite project to a close. I’ve had a couple of finishing touches waiting in the wings — for more than a year in at least one case — and today was the perfect…

  • Date with a Mountain

    Date with a Mountain

    Today is Sports Day, a national holiday, and anyway I have the entire week off. I told Nana I’d be leaving at 7 a.m., but I let her sleep in until nearly 7, and then departed just after 8. It was a beautiful day with blue skies and mild weather. The only clouds were those…

  • Fighting water with … water

    Fighting water with … water

    Following last weekend’s very wet but ultimately enjoyable Tour de Chiba, Kuroko was overdue for a washing. And I needed to deal with the mildew on the saddle, which I’ve left languishing in the bike parking garage for a week now. The first order of business was simply to give the entire bike a good…

  • Rideable

    Rideable

    Nearly two weeks have gone by since my last attempt to get the slack out of Kuroko’s new headset. At last today it’s a bit cooler, and too rainy and windy to ride. Taken together, it made the perfect opportunity to take my time and get it right, without constantly wiping sweat out of my…