Monthly Archives: October 2008

Snuck out after lunch yesterday to go for a ride with Zi. Zi’s already ridden Loftus on his brand new Giant Trance X so I thought I’d bring him to Manly Dam.

Weather was cool, we went a little late though (3pm) and we were caught in peak hour traffic on the way out. The ride was great though, Zi’s definitely got some natural skills on the bike, great considering he’s never owned a mountain bike before. His legs ‘turn to jelly’ as he puts it, pretty quickly. A few more rides will sort that out I’m sure.

Zi’s renting out a garage in his apartment and this was in there. Check the shifter! It’s awesome.

What a horse. Zi’s Trance X – it’s so massive.

Zi.

Fox 15 QR.

Sexy red spoke nipples.

Bath time.

I also rode the Paino last night, damn it’s a fast bike! I definitely feel a bit cramped up on it, mainly because the riser bars bring the cockpit a whole lot closer to me than the drop bars do. I’ll try putting the saddle a bit further back on the rails. Zi stole my Fizik Aliante gel saddle and gave me his Fizik Nisene one instead. It’s not as comfy as the Aliant XM was but it looks more like a race saddle so I’m happy with it for now (I’d like a white saddle!). I also put on a few weenie parts I had in my spares box, she’s now at 8.5kg’s!

She’s a fast bike. She’s ultra quiet and there’s zero rolling resistance. She pretty much makes the little hill I live on non-existant!

I spent a fair amount of time late yesterday afternoon and night tuning the Paino. The first thing I did was take off the drop bars and whack on some flat bars I had lying around. The flat bars cramped up the position quite a lot in comparisson to riding on drop bars (and holding on to the brake hooks). The flat bars are about 130mm closer to the saddle and my knees come pretty close to the bars when taking off from a standstill. Still… the bike is instantly more familiar and playful with the flat bars. They’re 580mm wide though and they looked stupid (my research tells me most people who use flat/rider bars on roadies cut them down to 500mm). I moved the grips in to where 500mm is and found it fine.

I then tried some riser bars (the damaged carbon ones off my Reign). I cut these down to 500mm and I’m liking them a lot more both in feel (and looks!). I also took the massive front chainring off as it was so damn huge it looked like a 3rd wheel. Having done that I also took off the front derailleur and shifter too. I also put the massive heavy retro plastic Selle saddle back on as it’s a lot comfier than the Selle SLR.

The bike’s in the 8kg’s now. Once the exchange rate goes up I’ll hopefully track down a few goodies. My wishlist goes something like this:

– Nitto annodised (green?) risers.
– Velocity Deep-V wheelset (something bright and in your face!).
– Saddle (thinking BMX saddle for something bright, not sure).
– Some whack track pedals with sexy toe clips and leather strappage.
– Paul love levers + sexy cables (I’m making do with only a front brake off my old Specialized Hardrock at the moment).

My new 80’s Frank Paino road bike.

I’d been eyeing off this road bike on eBay for a week now, the asking price was $600 (starting bid). A few hours before the auction ended I mailed the seller and offered $400, and explained that I was just after a junker to do the Sydney to Wollongong ride with. He suggested that I take a look at the bike in person which I did on Sunday.

Daryll was a nice guy, his house had a huge sold sign on it outside, he was basically having to move out because the new buyers are moving in to the house he’s been renting (with his wife and kids). He was moving, and a bit tight on cash, that was the only reason why he was selling the bike. He was more concerned about selling the bike to someone who was going to treasure it than the money and he liked the idea of me riding it to Wollongon (ie: actually using the bike). He also had another sprint bike (Daryll’s a sprint racer) and he was saying how the Paino was much better at cornering than his sprint bike (which was a bit of blang: carbon + aero wheelset etc).

I mentioned that there was a Jim Bundy bike going on eBay for $350 (like Frank Paino, also a very respected Australian frame builder from the 80’s) and Daryll mentioned that Jim Bundy actually wanted to buy his bike, inspected it in real life and said to eBay it for $900, which Daryll did a while ago but got no bites, thus he re-listed it at $600. I ended up walking out of there with the bike at $475 which is an absolute steal.

Now for a bit of history on the Paino:
– In the 80’s Frank Paino had a shop in Sydney (Miranda Cycles) and he built cutom road bike frames. Gary Sutton (who is currently the NSW Institute of Sport’s head cycling coach) won a world championship on a Paino in the early 80’s and that gave Frank Paino the right to use the world cup colours on his frames.

World Cup colours.

3TTT Tecno Tubo Torino stem.

3TTT Tecno Tubo Torino Olympic Competition bars.

The frame’s got some lovely details on it. The geometry is pretty aggressive for a bike from the 80’s.

The bike features a complete Campagnolo groupset. Headset, bottom bracket, everything.

Fantastic old skool friction shifters on the downtube. Funny how my old Europa road bike when I was 16 had the same gear (shifters don’t “click” into gear, you feel your way instead).

Campy baby.

Crankset.

Columbus tubing. When only the best will do.

She’s crafty!

The only non-original parts are the saddle (my own Selle, replacing a brick of a Selle Italia that came with the bike) and the wheelset. Daryll replaced the original wheelset as 27inch tyres were getting hard to find. He kept it in period though and got Cheeky Transport in Newtown to build up a classy Campagnolo 700c wheelset with Campagnolo hubs, Campagnolo Montreal rims and stainless steel spokes.

Seatpost has a fantastic tilt design.

She’s super light for a steely.

More pics here. I forgot to mention, when I checked my email this morning there was a mail from MWG who suggested I take a look at this bike. LOL! I took her for a ride today. Love the gear shifts, hate the narrow bars. I’m just more used to wide mountain bike bars but I’ll try my best to get used to riding road bikes again. Next update: Autosol and serious elbow grease!!!

Friday night Nanami organised a dinner at Wagaya. You have to book by SMS and you order through a touch screen at your booth. I’ve heard from a few mates that the food wasn’t crap, or great, but just good. What they didn’t mention though was how fun the whole experience was. The place is LOUD and the food came out so damn fast and the screen makes you buy more food than you can eat and more booze than you should drink. It’s like going to Sushi Train for the very 1st time. I love it and will be back for more.

This shop sign in Chinatown always cracks me up.

Wagaya’s touch screen order system rocks out. Deadly for buying the booze.

Shaun, Nanami, Jamie and Richie.

Kellie and Christian.

Salmon skin + Lotus chips.

SATURDAY – Suga and I attended her cousin’s wedding. Weddings are strange events. I’ve been to more than a few now and each and every one of them has been a different experience. This one was perhaps one of the strangest ones I’ve ever been to (more traditional Chinese). The wedding started at 10am and went through to midnight (albeit with a break in between).

Why do all celebrants look the same?

Smack!

Nyaw.

Extra. Suga was thirsty.

Cool haircut around glasses arms.

Suga and I.

Hello Kitty?!

So my long time car buddy Zi finally decided to buy a bike. Yes buying a $2k bicycle initially seems like a ridiculous amount of cash, but it’s an investment! I hope he lives longer for it. It feels good to inspire people to get into riding, that means more riding buddies for me too which is a great thing. My recruitment skills are getting stronger!

Grant at MC Cycles looked after us and Zi walked out with a 2009 Trance X3. It’s got 5 inches of travel and some very sexy bits on it: Fox Float fork with the new 15mm axles and a Fox rear shock too, a Formula front hub, red spoke nipples, shadow SLX rear derailleur, Italian Fizik saddle and the exact same tyre set-up as my Reign (2.1 Nevegal Stick-e and DTC on the rear).

I missed the opportunity to get the new bike owner with bike photo but will take pics of Zi’s new beasty ASAP. In the meantime you can check the specs out here.

I’ve been doing a bit of research on road bikes (I’ve been here before, many times…) and I still can’t bring myself to buying a new racer. I’m not keen on the swoopy crazy hydroformed tubing that all the new race bikes feature. Sure I have NO doubt that these bikes would be super fast, light and rigid, but I’m still a massive fan of old school frames that are made of steel tubing. They’re just so much more elegant to me.

I started looking at flat bar road bikes today, and the Cannondale Bad Boy Ultra came up, it’s basically a mountain bike with roadbike wheels. The thought entertained me for a few hours but after checking out a whole lot of fixed gear bikes I’m 100% for a road bike, perhaps with a riser bar and gears. I’m definitely NOT going to go fixed gear and would prefer gears over a single speed, but I might dabble with some fixed gear/BMX culture and see what I come up with (hopefully something colourful as all my bikes are looking rather black!).

In case I fail to get a road bike for the Sydney to Wollongong ride I’ve decided to prepare the old single speed. I’m bidding on some slicks on eBay and I’ve whacked the Mary bars and Fizik saddle on for a bit of comfort. She’s looking lovely!

Mary’s back.

Vintage metal presta caps inspired by old man Willis.

Gold Alligator brake cable.

Jing wanted to do a lap of the Dam before work this morning so we met up at 8am for a quick burl. Clifton and Timmy (the lads?) came along too, it was Timmy’s 1st time at the Dam and he just mashed the last part (the most fun part and the kid led the way too!). Awesome considering he’s never ridden the Dam before.

I got up the techy rocky bit again, getting better at it every time. I had a go at Jing’s Cannondale which has no granny ring and a road cassette on the back and made it up too first go, in fact I thought it was easier to ride his Cannondale up it than my bike, not because of the gearing but more because the bike’s so damn light and rigid. I also finally got up a section just after the techy climb where a wooden path leads to some nasty rocks. I was pretty much smiling after that until the carpark.

Sealant was in the air as Clifton’s tubeless set-up gave way when he landed a bunny hop a little sideways.

Traffic on Military Road on the way back home.

How’s that for fuel efficiency?!

E10 FTMFW!

$60 for 600km’s.

I got a package from the USA today. Dan’s comp is an online BMX store which, even after shipping, slaughters local business prices. I couldn’t resist and I bought some parts which replace the few non-branded parts on the Kink.

Box of lovin.

This new Odyssey Elementary stem is kinda like a jigsaw puzzle. I uses only one bolt (in place of 6) to hold everything, including the bars, together.

Dropped a kilo.

I also dropped into some shops to check out road bikes (I’ve always wanted a roadie and hey the Gong is coming up!) but I didn’t find anything, so on the way home I dropped in to visit the boys at Maroubra Cycles.

Wow surprise surprise Grant has his new signage up! New shop name and orange is the new shop colour.

Great retro logo + 1975, that’s when I was born :)

Grant then surprised me with his latest creation. A Santa Cruz Heckler with 09 Saint throughout in shop colours of-course. What a BEAST!

On another note: All Giant Bicycles world wide are going up by 20% in price! If you want to buy a Giant bicycle you better get to it this week as next week all bikes go up in price.

Well here’s the long weekend wrap.

Things I loved this weekend:
– Hanging out at Newtown
– Badass truckie’s breakfast
– My new skate deck
– Daylight savings kicked in
– Fishing session out at the Hawkesbury River

Things I hated:
– Shitty weather
– Didn’t go for a ride
– Missed the MotoGP on TV
– My bike threads on Farkin Forum have gone to shit

Christina my Mum and I spent a day looking at Kitchen Appliances and bathroom fittings on Saturday. Damn my mum’s a trooper. Christina and I would have been out of there in 10 minutes flat if she wasn’t there, she just forced us to soldier on and at the end of the day we got a pretty good idea of what we need/want/might be getting for the new house rennovations (which start soon… I hope). The amount of money that’s going to be needed in order to get everything we want is scaring me a fair bit but I’m trying my best to be positive.

Saturday night we went to a house party in Newtown and mid way we ended up going for a stroll down to King St. Newtown was buzzing, shops were open and I was just loving the vibe. I’m just so glad Newtown’s still cool.

Clockwise from left to right: Christina, Blake, Christine, Shaun and myself.

Haha. The thing’s you do when you’re drunk.

Guzman Y Gomez at Newtown – I’d been meaning to try out this joint since I did a talk at Raffles College where one of the other speakers that night had designed this shop’s ID. After reading a good review on Mark’s blog I was determinded to get some in at the very next opportunity. What better a way to absorb some of that piss with a burrito?! It was damn awesome especially with some of their special sauce.

Kuletos are known for their cocktails and was an old happy hour haunt of mine years ago. Suga had a legless cocktail, we recommend!

Sunday was a bit of a nothing day, sleep in, brekkie, shopping and a movie (The Dutchess – slow, but surprisingly AOK.).

Seedy morning truckie’s breakfast.

My new deck which I’ll be building up and skating on (IE: this one’s not for the wall), the kids at SDS Bondi looked after me.

Awesome!

Domo-kun.

Random bike geek shot.

And today we spent the day out at the Hawkesbury River, fishing was attempted, but nothing was caught. I didn’t expect anything in any case as the weather was pretty strange (sunny one minute pissing down the next). We had a feast and a nice walk along the coast. The place reminds me of Sandon, in that it’s so remote and so fishing oriented. I loved the run down little shack of a house. I’m definitely the kind of person who can settle down in a place like this.

The house. A short boat ride to get there.

Cool wall hanging #1.

Cool wall hanging #2.

Christina fishing.

Storm coming.

hehe

Dior the local labrador accompanied us on our coastal walk.

Sign in Eastwood.

Bimbimbab!

I’ve been trying to get my mate Zi out for a trail ride for ages now (yes spreading the good word of the mountain bike of-course!). He finally had a day off in his busy schedule and he happened to choose one of the hottest days of the year so far to do it. HEAT WAVE!

I met Zi at the workshop as he was getting work done to his MX-5 (see below), we had some lunch, then we headed to Loftus Oval.

I brought Suga’s Talon and the Scale and got to ride both of them during the 20km ride. It’s black and white, clear as day how different both these hardtails are. The Talon’s a fun bike to ride both up, down and in technical sections. The Scale however is so unrelentless. It’s too light, the fork is too stiff and you just get bounced around everywhere. Technical downhill stuff feels sketchy, fast downhill stuff is just as bad but climbing is fantastic. It basically feels like riding a road bike off road. The bars are not wide enough and they were also way too low. I raised the stem up on the steerer mid ride and it was a little better, but it could even do with a low riser bar. The Selle SLR saddle is a world of pain. It looks hot but it’s got to go.

Agreed the Scale is a race bike, it’s not made to be comfortable on a trail, but I’ve ridden it at Manly Dam, Lady Carrington and now Loftus and I didn’t have fun on it at either trail. Letting it go is on the cards.

Zi’s NA MX-5.

Weekend racer!

Zi on the Scale – he was in so much pain. Jelly legs and his ass was fucked hard by the Selle saddle lol.