Then we put all the protective packaging back on the bike and re-box it, making sure it will get to you in the same condition. We have never offered complete component kits for sale but we are beginning to add the components a la carte so you can get everything you need for your complete bike. And soon we hope to offer complete kits- which will do a couple things;
1) Make it easier and less expensive for the customer
2) Ensure compatibility of all the parts. 
So we’ll have that going for us.

Chasing the threads in the fork eyelets

Facing and reaming the head tube

Chasing the bottom bracket shell threads

Phil equipped

If you have ever had a bicycle stolen you can relate to the flood of emotions and confusion that comes when you discover your bike is gone. First is confusion…”I thought I left it here”…. then disbelief, then rage- at yourself partly, but mostly at the low-life scumbag who felt entitled to your bike. If that person walked up to you and slapped you in the face or punched you in the stomach or spit on you I can’t imagine it would be more surprising.

When my bike was taken several years ago from in front of the local food coop- a.k.a. “the hippie store”- I was mostly mad at myself. I left it unlocked because I only needed one thing in the store and figured I would only be a few minutes. But that was all it took. I’ve always assumed that the thief was waiting that day for the sucker who would be stupid enough to do what I did. I also figured this sub-human was a drug addict who either immediately stripped the bike for sale or fenced it to someone who stripped it and/or took it far away. I never thought I would see it again.

By now, Dear Reader, you are guessing where this is going. And you are right. I saw my bike the other night and I talked to the current owner. I believed him when he told me he recently purchased the bike from a third party (for almost half of what I paid for it new nearly 20 years ago) for a couple of reasons. You need to understand a few things first. While not exactly a collector’s item, the bike and the brand have gained a cult following over the last two decades. They have not been made or sold since 1994. This bike, my bike, has a few distinguishing features which the weasel who took it didn’t even attempt to disguise. I have kept the serial number even though I didn’t check it for a match. Didn’t need to.

Imagine my surprise.....

This is partly a story about branding and how objects, i.e. “social objects” can take on lives of their own.

The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the rea­son two peo­ple are tal­king to each other, as oppo­sed to tal­king to some­body else. Human beings are social ani­mals. We like to socia­lize. But if you think about it, there needs to be a rea­son for it to hap­pen in the first place. That rea­son, that “node” in the social net­work, is what we call the Social Object. -Hugh Macleod

These bicycles have become social objects. They bring people together on the interwebs and in person. Well made enough to be ridden hard, then stolen and re-sold untold times and then to turn up at a meeting of two generations of bicycle geeks gathering to see and listen to the originator of the phenomenon (who was here on a book tour stop), the bikes were too quirky to conform to the mainstream market which was and still is created by advertising money, and they never really sold that well. Originally one of the social gestures of the company was a catalog that had tons of general information about bicycles along with drawings and pictures. The catalog is now shared and re-published many places, such as Sheldon Brown’s site. and they are sold, by themselves, on eBay. Reading Hugh Macleod always makes me re-examine our business ideas with the Bike Touring News store. If we can’t create a social object with lots of social gestures then there is no reason for us to be in business.

The day after finding my bike I called the police. I filed a police report originally and I still have the serial number. Here is what I learned:

-first of all, there is a five year statute of limitations for grand theft so I have no legal recourse, and

-second, since I did claim the stolen bike on my insurance policy and was compensated for it, I no longer had any claim to it at that time.    

I could follow up with the current owner and try to unwind events and maybe possibly even locate the insect who stole it from me. But what would I do then? All sorts of things come to mind, all of them being criminal on my part at this time. And I don’t have the time or the energy to work up that much bitterness anymore. The guy who has the bike would have been too young 10 years ago to have stolen it and anyway, someone who realized what it was is probably not the type of person who would have stolen it. So, I’m just going to let it go and realize that the bike is with somebody who appreciates it. But I can still dream about what I would have done to that s.o.b. had I caught him in the act.

Photo from the Adventure Cycling website

From Adventure Cycling we received this email today:
Dear Member Club or Shop-

I’m writing today to invite you to help Adventure Cycling Association spread the word about our 3rd annual Build It. Bike It. Be a Part of It. fundraising campaign for the U.S. Bicycle Route System (USBRS). The campaign kicked off May 1, 2012 and runs through May 31. May is also National Bike Month, and what better way to celebrate than by supporting the creation of a national system of cycling routes?

Last year, we raised more than $32,000 for the project. This year, we’ve upped our fundraising goal significantly, hoping to raise $50,000 as well as spark excitement about the progress so far.

Here are the details:
The U.S. Bicycle Route System is a visionary project similar to the national and international cycling systems blossoming across the globe. Adventure Cycling is working with dozens of state agencies, national organizations, nonprofits, volunteers, and the U.S. Congress to realize this vision.

Here is what you can do right now: (If you do share this project, let me know and we will add a linked listing listing to your club or shop on our project page!)

I’m hoping that today and tomorrow you can help us get the word out about some cool offers for people who donate to our campaign in the next few days — these donations will also help us meet our matching challenge from TeamEstrogen.com, so donors will double their impact. Here’s the skinny:

We’ve raised over $4700 in 10 days, but we have a long way to go to make our $50,000 goal by the end of May.

Can you help us get the word out today about two special offers for anyone wishing to donate? Basically, anyone who donates $25 or more before Saturday, May 12 at 11:59 EST will be entered to win a Brooks B-17 Saddle. And, if they donate at least $50, they will receive a Walz cycling cap designed specifically for the campaign, while supplies last. If you would be willing to share this message on your blog or Facebook page today or tomorrow, that would be great!

Here’s sample text for you to use — feel free to edit to fit your style and voice:

Support the U.S. Bicycle Route System & Win
Here’s a chance to help the future of cycling in America and an opportunity to win some great prizes.

For the month of May, Adventure Cycling Association is conducting its 3rd annual Build It. Bike It. Be a Part of It. fundraiser to raise money and support for the implementation of the U.S. Bicycle Route System (USBRS). This national network of bicycle routes will help people travel short and long distances by bike.

Donate $25 or more before Saturday, May 12 at 11:59 EST, and you will be entered to win a Brooks B-17 Saddle. And, if you donate at least $50, you will receive a Walz cycling cap designed specifically for the campaign, while supplies last. Better yet, you’ll also be directly impacting the future of bicycling in America.

Adventure Cycling still has $2,230 to go before they meet this week’s fundraising challenge from TeamEstrogen.com. So, when you donate you’ll double your impact!

Please donate today.

Adventure Cycling is offering many more prizes and fundraising challenges throughout the campaign. To keep track of these offers and to support the project: like the U.S. Bicycle Route System on Facebook or follow it on Twitter, or learn about other ways to get involved.

Adventure Cycling is a great organization – they promote and facilitate riding and using bicycles. And they do it in many ways. Their maps are indispensable to anybody considering an extended tour in the US. Check out the Adventure Cycling site and, if you can, donate to this worthy cause.

Dear Bike Hermit,
You’re the coolest and this blog is the best. I want to be just like you so I want to get a super-cool King Cage Behold Tool Pouch. But I want to know what you carry in yours.
Thanks, and keep up the good work
Les in Tuscaloosa

Les in Tuscaloosa,
There are many people cooler than I am, and there are probably better blogs but thanks for your comments. I agree that the King Cage Behold Tool Pouch is super-cool, in fact I think it is one of the best ideas I have seen in a long time. In case you missed it I did this blog post about it a while back. But now that you mention it I realize I never talked about what can be carried in it. So here’s a list of what I carry in mine:
-A chain tool
-A cassette lock ring tool
-A spoke wrench
-A few links of chain and a quick connect coupler
-Spare bolts for seat post, racks and shoe cleats
-Spare bulbs and parts for my bike headlamps

Nothing I carry in the tool pouch will ever need to be accessed in a hurry, in fact those parts and tools may never need to be used at all, but if I ever need them they could be life savers. I did a blog post about the cassette lock ring tool that you might want to look at. If you don’t know what the other tools are for or how to use them… Google it, that’s what YouTube’s for brah. I read about a lot of people who go for extended tours and write proudly of barely knowing how to fix a flat tire. Don’t be that guy. Take your bike apart and put it back together. At least loosen the brake cables and the brake shoes and try to get them adjusted again. Do the same thing with the shift cables. Take a class at REI. Take the tires off the rims and put them back on. You can thank me later.

Oh, and carry the things you most likely will need at some point, such as spare tubes, tire levers, a multi-tool that has 4, 5 and 6mm hex wrenches and both kinds of screwdrivers, and a y-shaped socket wrench with 8, 9 and 10 mm sockets on it in an outer pocket of one of your bags where you can get to them quickly.

To make it easier for you there are now a couple of new package options on the Bike Touring News store. One option (Tool Kit #1) is for the tool pouch with all the tools I carry in mine…. minus the spare bolts and light bits and chain pieces. You’re on your own for those. The other option (Tool Kit #2) is to buy the whole caboodle which includes Tool Kit #1 plus the y-shaped socket tool, a multi tool with hex wrenches and screwdrivers, and a set of tire levers.

Hope this answers your question Les and remember the 7 P’s; Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

Best Regards,
Bike Hermit

Photo from the BLM website

I stare at the 22 oz. Rogue Dead Guy Ale for about five minutes before deciding not to buy it because I don’t want to carry it the rest of the way to Celebration Park, and surely there will be be at least a convenience store in Melba where I can get a decent beer to drink as I set up camp. There is indeed a market in Melba but it looks pretty homemade and, no you can’t buy singles but there are tallboy cans so I buy one of the least offensive…24 ounces of PBR. I often wonder why out of the way places don’t stock flavorful beer, since the distributors are the same ones that deliver the Bud Lite. And, is it just me or do real men not drink micro-brews? Bike touring forces one to face the weighty, existential questions.

Boulders deposited by the Bonneville Flood

I scout out what appears to be the best place to hang the hammock and get after it because the clouds are turning blacker and more menacing and I can see lightning to the north. I am ecstatic that the parking lot is empty and I will have the whole place to myself. Then a car comes fishtailing down the gravel road from the “east campground” and out the entrance road and after the dust settles I hear sounds of a beer blast coming from the same direction. Oh well, that’s what they make I-pods for.

Various Boy Scouts have made Eagle projects out of building structures at Celebration Park and so there is a network of boardwalks and decks and even an atlatl range. There are bathrooms and a visitor center and the place starts humming in the morning with park staff getting ready for the busloads of fifth and sixth graders coming that day. That entertains me for a while but, with peace and quite my main objectives for the trip, I decide to push off (quite literally as will soon become apparent)

The rain is coming, but I think we are ready.

Day Two Wednesday, April 18
Celebration Park to Swan Falls Dam – Total Distance; 16 miles
Google Maps shows what looks like a road along the Snake River between Celebration Park and Swan Falls Dam. After maybe a mile or maybe two, motor vehicles are restricted and the road becomes double track and then single track and in places almost non-existent. I spend some time pushing the bike through loose sand encouraged by Wendell’s report after riding here last week that the loose sandy section is not too extensive. But with a loaded bike weighing probably close to 70 pounds and relatively skinny 700cx32 tires I end up pushing quite a bit. But there is no rush and the scenery is on par with that of southern Utah, so I push along and ride when the ground is firm enough.
Other sections of the path are interspersed with melon sized rocks which means I ride (scoot) with one foot clipped in and the other pushing. Even further on, where the trail occupies a narrow shelf between the river and the canyon walls, and is hemmed in by willow bushes, tumbleweeds have collected in the path. They are impossible to miss and every time I ride over one it attaches to fenders/chainrings/derailer/chain/wheels….so I am stopping every twenty or thirty feet to pull them out.
Motor vehicles are restricted over about eight of the twelve miles between Celebration Park and Swan Falls Dam. The last four miles to the dam are on gravel road. Swan Falls Dam is owned by Idaho Power and there is a day use area with boat ramps and picnic tables and bathrooms, but no camping. There is too much activity and noise around here anyway so I cook some lunch, refill the water bottles and head back down the gravel road and about half a mile down the car-less path and find a spot to pitch shelter just before the rain comes again.

Day Three, Thursday, April 19
Total Distance; 47 miles

I am in the heart of Morley Nelson Snake River Birds Of Prey National Conservation Area. Laying under my improvised shelter this morning, waiting for the rain to stop, I can hear many species. Crows (mostly), mourning doves, geese, ducks and loons? Sometimes I am sure I hear people but it is just the birds laughing at the old guy hiding under a tarp. Climbing up the switchbacks out of the canyon this morning I stop to watch a golden eagle floating overhead and he is soon joined by three others. The steepness of the terrain means that they are very close when they pass over and I watch them for several minutes. The whole time I spend watching, none of them flap their wings. Must be nice. Last night I startled a pair of pheasants before they startled me with their drum beat winged escape. I didn’t encounter any vampires but I did observe a couple of George Romero-esque zombies disguised as sight-seeing tourists.

The eight miles of trail along the river was definitely the highlight of the trip and made the jaunt more than worthwhile. When I do it again I will have a bike with fatter tires. A fat bike like the Surly Pugsley would be perfect and I think the whole trail would be rideable even with a loaded bike. 700×40 or 26″x2″ tires would be the minimum cross sections for tires through here I would think. Any bike capable of the whole trip without driving would necessarily be a compromise; one that can handle the off road sections while still being able to cruise on the pavement.

The Bike Hermit’s alter-ego has been alive to witness April 17 fifty eight times as of today. In recognition a ceremonial excursion into the high desert has been planned. He will be taking Chief on a ride to Celebration Park south of Kuna tonight and then on to Swan Falls Dam on the Snake River before returning on Thursday. The chance of rain tonight and tomorrow is ever increasing and so the plan will have contingencies. There are less than 20 miles to cover between the two stopovers and so it should be workable even with the rain, although the preferred route along the Snake River to Swan Falls may not be passable if it rains too much, in which case an alternate route is available (at least I’m pretty sure there has to be a pub nearby).

Chief is chompin' at the bit.

Earlier, Travis came in to pick up his new Bob Yak trailer. His Surly Ogre frame is spaced for 135mm hubs, the ‘dropouts’ are just like Troll’s…rear load horizontals with a derailleur hanger, slotted disc brake mounts, M10 x 1mm threaded holes for mounting Surly Bill & Ted trailer-connecting hardware (or B.O.B. Nutz), and a dedicated anchoring point for a Rohloff OEM2 axle plate.

The right rear dropout on the Surly Ogre with a cut off section of solid steel axle inserted into the threaded trailer attachment hole

The Bob Nutz attached to the threaded axle bit.

Here is the Bob trailer attached to the Bob Nutz

The GB Decaleur arms keep the flap from completely closing, resulting in a permanent curl in the top flap.

This is the shorter version of the decaleur. For a bag topping out at close to handlebar height it pushes the bag too far away from the bar.

For a bag topping out below the handlebars this decaleur, the GB H-91, works fine. The back side of the bag is still close to the handlebar.

I know someone with access to a machine shop who likes to tinker with bike parts so we imagined a part that would work to replace the stock arms. He did a rough sketch and gave it to his c.a.d. guy who put it into language a machine could understand and out came these:

One of these pieces will bolt to either side of the short piece of tubing bolted to the stem and replace the bent arms of the original decaleur. The holes allow for adjustability plus they make it look rad. The U-shape will bring the outer arm up in under the top flap of the bag without interference.

Here’s a comparison of the original bracket arms bolted side by side with the new ones:

New U-shaped brackets provide more adjustability and clearance for the bag lid.

Here are the new brackets in use with a GB25 bag on Sky King’s Bleriot:

And here are the new brackets on Chief with a GB28 bag:

The original arms are a little bit wider than the new brackets at the bag attachment point, so some spacers take up the slack. Here, we see the upgraded leather spacers in use.

Here are the two bags with the new brackets. The bags top out at roughly handlebar height and they sit close to the bar, minimizing any adverse influence on the steering.

Notice how neatly the brackets tuck under the top cover flap of the bag.

Pelicans In Flight

Lisa, Julie and I spent hours exploring the Snake river along Hwy 30 just south of Hagerman, Idaho and then more hours at Bruneau Sand Dunes. Our only goals were to have fun and enjoy the abundance of waterfowl. Spinning along we never passed up the opportunity to stop, grab the binoculars and take in the views. We took advantage of soaking in the pool at Miracle Hot Springs – even admired the alligator.

Waking up to the sound of Thousand Spring’s waterfalls made for a delightful start to our ride.

Thousand Springs

Fashionably dressed bird watchers

Being open to meandering lead to sweet surprises. One of my favorites was observing the Heron’s working on the nests in the rookery. There were at least two dozen birds nesting in a compact group of trees. Would be fun to come back and watch “hatchling” flying lessons.

Heron Rookery

Riding anywhere in Southern Idaho in early spring, means laughing at the yellow bellied marmots and their insatiable curiosity.

soaking up some sun

checking us out

Finally no birdwatching trip would be complete without the harrier hawk in the sky, a few ducks in the pond and the beautiful wax wings.

Marsh Hawk at Bruneau Sand Dunes

Hold still so we can take a picture

Five Wheels, Four Legs, No Fear

Okay, I must confess that when Kurt stopped in the Cave in January to fill us in on the planned adventure we both thought he was nuts.  Of course some people think we are nuts as well so that is fair.  Kurt and his 9 year old daughter are traveling cross country riding a Recumbent Trike and a recumbent tag-a-long.   Check in with them on their blog.  Send them best wishes and encouragement as the weather gods have been blessing them with quite a bit of rain

If it looks like they will be passing through your neighborhood, consider offering them a place to stay or good ideas on things to see.

Busted

The old, broken lever is on the left. In the foreground is the clamp which slips over the handlebar and is held in place with the bolt through the lever shown on the right

I decided to replace both brake levers with Tektro’s new TRP levers. Aesthetically, these might not be everybody’s cup of tea, especially this drilled out version. The levers themselves have a somewhat tortured looking shape and the hoods have the almost obscene protrusion of STI style brake hoods. But using these levers, it quickly becomes clear that this is a case of form following function. The long, flat hoods provide a comfortable platform for the hands and the shape of the levers fits the fingers naturally. Somehow the design even manages to provide more mechanical advantage – my side-pull brakes seem smoother, more responsive and more powerful. The flared out lower part of the levers are easy to grab either from the hoods or the drops.

The silver button is a cable quick release.

This optional plastic shim rotates the top of the lever for a flatter hood position. (I used it)

While I was at it, I decided to try to clean up the Brooks leather bar tape which had turned almost black from accrued hours of contact with my grubby mitts. I filled the sink with warm water and a little bit of dish detergent and lightly scrubbed the tape with a dish washing brush, rinsed it off and immediately installed it. Wrapping the bars with wet Brooks tape does a couple of things: it lets the tape stretch so that it wraps smoothly and when it dries out it conforms like a skin to the handlebars. A light coating of Brooks Proofide after the tape has dried completely adds back moisture and effulgence. This is the second or third time I have removed and re-applied this wrap, wetting it each time first, so, even though the Brooks leather tape is more expensive than other materials it is extremely durable.

This tape started life as "honey" colored. This is after washing the tape and re-applying it.

Washed and treated - Lustrous!