Category Archives: Bike

High res.

The day after bike night I cleaned up every single component and put the Reign back together (had to otherwise it would have just stayed in bits!). The day after that I tuned it all up and today I took a shot of it. Out of all the bikes I own, this has to be my fave bike. I’ve learnt so much through it and I’ve got it set up just how I like it.

Whilst cleaning it and putting it back together I realised that he’s (it’s a he, see, not a she) pretty beat up. There’s scratches on every single component and the frame’s a mess (powdercoat finish has cracked and it’s really flaking off under the bottom bracket). The rear wheel isn’t rolling like it used too, maybe the rear hub needs a service.

Whilst I’m not ready to sell up I do know what I’d be looking out for in a new bike to replace the Reign:

– Unlike the reign it’ll have to have full jacket cables all the way through from shifters to derailleurs so that cables will last longer and operate smoother.

– I don’t want to see cables touching the frame at all, anywhere. Over the years the cable rubbing from turning the handlebars as well as suspension movement has really damaged the paint on the frame.

– I want the frame to be a LOT lighter than the Reign.

Initially I was the only one working on a bike, at the end of the night it seemed like everyone was working on their bikes!

Ryan, Jarod with nerf gun and Alex.

Alex and I stripping cranks off my Reign. Sometimes a helping hand goes a long way.

Jing taking a shot.

Matt took some rad shots last night, more on his blog.

In attendance: Matt, Jing, Kevin, Trieu, Norman, Clifton, Timmy, Ryan, Felix, Alex, and Jarod.

My Reign, stripped.

Pizza time!

We stayed true to the tradition of riding to the beach, this time around we hit the skate park. That’s Norman who’s stacked it on the right haha.

Kevin on his 6.5kg roadie (ridiculously light!). I doubt this skate park has ever seen so many road bikes!

Matt on his 29’er.

Since Christina’s no longer living with me (she’s back at her parent’s place) I thought it was time to re-introduce BMU bike nights. I had 11 guys over, tinkering with bikes, eating pizza, drinking beers, we made a mess, good times!

Not that I ever watch the Today Show, nor have I heard of Mia Freedman, but yesterday morning I was made aware of someone on national television bashing on Cadel’s victory at the Tour de France.

Immediately after the video (in rage) I commented on the YouTube page. Unfortunately I resorted to calling her names (an idiot) and over the course of the day, despite the thousands of hate messages Mia has received over twitter, on her blog and on YouTube, my comment was given the thumbs up by others and it’s now “stickied” and highlighted at the top of the video page.

I spent a lot of yesterday spreading the video footage as much as I could through my network (facebook, twitter, blogs and forums). I’m still mad, maybe I’m looking for an apology? Whilst her opinion is valid and worthy of discussion the timing of it is awful and the way she delivered her opinion stinks. Either way I think she’s stuffed up, hit a lot of nerves and made more enemies than fans and I doubt that all the advertising revenue she’s gotten from the traffic to her banner filled web site would suffice for all the abuse that’s been directed directly at her.

I’ve failed to read all the responses on her blog, and various other media but this morning Bridie O’Donnell, a professional cyclist and doctor responded with a well thought out open letter worth reading.

Jarod‘s Casserole.

Nat’s Chumba. Skillzors, he was popping some mads tricks on this thing.

Nick’s bike.

Andy‘s Cinelli Mash.

Andy.

Felix was my checkpoint partner and we were in charge of giving out these riddles to riders when they rocked up to our checkpoint (which was the Opera House).

My 1st spoke card!

BMU sponsored the event (I gave 5 x T’s and sticker packs), so too Cycling Express (a $100 voucher).

Andy. After us checkpointers got our briefing we snuck in a pie face session.

When we got back to the starting point the serious dude were ready to rock.

My Reign and Felix’s CAAD. Felix and I headed straight for the Opera House, and played the waiting game.

In what seemed like no time at all a horde of riders came blasting down the hill, all lights blazing, zipping through the Opera House show goers and all of a sudden we didn’t have enough hands to hand out the riddles. 3 guys went down in all the excitement, these guys were so competitive we didn’t even get as much as a “hi” from most of them!

Security hammered Felix and I after they all left, we decided to move the checkpoint closer to the road so that show goers and tourists weren’t in harms way from psycho cyclists!

At 9PM we called it a night and headed to the finish point. With almost 60 riders, it was a great sight to see.

Wasted people in cabs on the way to the cross were yelling all sorts of foul crap, typical Sydney weekend!

Another rare Paino! A bit older than my one.

The guy who owned the Paino came first!

The Cycling Express voucher was given to dead last!

First girl winner won some great gear (candy cranks chainring drew some envy!).

Alex (aka Lorday) had some extra prizes to give away to the first 2 people who jumped in and rode across the fountain haha.

For the past 2 weeks I’ve been working on launching Cycling Express, a new Australian owned and run online cycling shop which price matches the 2 largest cycling online shops in the world. Chain Reaction Cycles and Wiggle.

I’ve managed to get the industry talking and I’ve heard some crazy rumours through the grape vine (one mob are spreading rumours that the company is owned by the latter day saints?!). The Cycling Express Facebook page almost hit 1000 likes, the page itself has had over 42,000 impressions. The blog is geting over 600 unique vistors a day. All in all I’m really happy with my performance, the guys at Cycling Express are too.

The shop has just gone live 10 minutes ago. If you’re after a bicycle, or bike parts, then there’s nowhere in Australia cheaper, not to mention you get local warranty and fast delivery too.

Visit: http://www.cyclingexpress.com