Masterworks Wood & Design Salvages Condemned City Trees to Make Beautiful Wooden Bicycles |

Proof that sporting a woodie in public can be okay...

Masterworks Wood & Design Salvages Condemned City Trees to Make Beautiful Wooden Bicycles |:

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What's Your Bike of Choice for Early Season Riding?

Finally after months of inactivity (for the most part) there's no more snow on the trails and the weather is finally warm enough to ride comfortably. So the question is what bike do you ride? I know not everyone has more than one bike, but the true addicts like myself do. So which do you choose? Do you take the roadie out first and try to get your legs and lungs back in shape before hitting the trails? Or do you choose the XC hardtail with a shitload of gears so that you can ease into the riding season? Maybe the freeride bike with 6 inches of travel?Yeah it only had a crapload of gears because you removed the big ring for the sexy RF bash guard, but man isn't that ride plush with all that travel? Or maybe the singlespeed? That's right I said the singlespeed. "Why the singlespeed?" you ask..."Isn't riding this so early in the season basically the equivalent of kicking yourself in the nuts?" "Why yes...yes it is." I answer. But it's good and I'll tell you why.

My Soul Cycles Hooligan

There's been alot of debate over the years about gears vs no gears, the 29'er crowd is going through the same thing right now. Before I tried it I was like how is this better than gears? IMHO it's not better...just different. Look, I love all my bikes the same and they all have a specific use or they do one thing better than the others. The bottom line is the singlespeed bike is a fitness and skills building machine! Nothing else will get you in shape quicker than a singlespeed. Momentum is the key, if you don't want to walk up the hills you have to ride faster. Because you have to keep up your momentum, you become better at choosing good lines. This is crucial if you ride rigid. Up until this year thats what I've been riding, a rigid singlespeed, which is basically a bike with one gear and no suspension. Unfortunately, the tendinitis (tennis elbow) that plagued me last year will not allow me to ride the rigid fork...at least not for a while. No huge benefits to riding rigid anyway other than a lighter bike, slightly improved steering response, and no fork maintenance. Well, maybe to some those are huge benefits. Personally I like a little cush up front when riding some of the rocky and rooty terrain we have here in the NE. It's actually amazing how such a low tech piece of equipment can make you a better rider. No pain no gain I guess. So that's what I am riding right now, how about you?

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: The Lawn Mower...It's ALIVE!!!

So I stand here looking at the lawn mower that I've owned for the past decade. Six years of which it sat dormant and unused since we had a service take care of the lawn at our last home. The four years before that it was used and abused at our first home. I got this used from Tasha's uncle, I guess he didn't want it because the self-propelled part of it no longer worked. I was happy to take it since I didn't really mind pushing. I swear never once in the first four years of ownership did I change the oil, the spark plug, the filter or even sharpen the blade. If it ain't broke don't fix it...or maybe I was just too fucking lazy to do it. Whatever the case I never did, then we moved to a big house in an association where the grounds were taken care of. So I  brought along the old mower fully expecting to get rid of it but never did. I always wanted to tear it down just to see how it works and maybe fix the self-propelled issue, you know as a hobby, but with work, family and biking it just took a back seat.

We recently moved and so it came with us because it is once again my responsibility to keep the yard neat and tidy. In a sick and twisted sort of way I am looking forward to this. Guess I like working outside and gardening. Now with Tasha in school full time, she's working less so we have to keep an eye on expenses. We could have certainly afforded a new mover at $300 to $400, but I just could not bring myself to spending that money if I could get this old one running which brings me back to me looking at the mower thinking "there's no fucking way this is gonna start." Of course I said the same thing about the laptop I now use. But this thing looked like hell, caked with dust, dirt, and grass clippings it really looked like one of those old cars that's been sitting in a field for 20 years. I am surprised I didn't find mice living in it.

My Dad was up visiting and helping me out with some of our home projects, the mower being one of them. He certainly has had more experience with them than me so we got started. Pulled the spark plug and cleaned it, pulled the air filter and cleaned it, removed what was left of the gas, drained and refilled the oil, and fixed the self-propelled drive. Turns out the belt had slipped off and the drive was just loaded with grass cuttings, dirt, etc. The blade was also replaced since it had huge chunks missing from it...guess I shouldn't have hit all those rocks huh. Moment of truth...we take it outside, fill the gas tank, prime the carb and a few pulls later the thing roars to life! Unbelievable that after sittings for six years that it would start up so easily. Thank you Briggs and Straton...and of course to my Dad for helping me out. So basically for the cost of some gas ($3), a quart of oil ($2), a new blade ($19), and some elbow grease ($0) we have ourselves a working mower and saved a few hundred bucks. Now for the snowblower...

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Door Stop

So since we moved we no longer have the garbage can built into the cabinets so we had to buy a new one. The one we bought has a lever at the base which opens and closes the lid. Works fine but eventually the can gets pushed into the wall and has started to scratch the paint. I have enough things to fix here already and I hate painting so I've been thinking of a way to keep it from hitting the wall. While looking for some hardware for another project I came across a door stop and thought...perfect. So I drilled a small hole at the base taking care not to disturb the mechanism and threaded it in. Simple and yet so effective, problem solving at its finest. I was pretty proud of this one.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: My New Old Laptop

I have been on this kick about not throwing stuff out unless it's absolutely necessary and reusing or fixing whatever I can. I have this old laptop that used to be my wife's. It worked fine in the beginning but then we started having problems with the hard drive and then the battery went and then she spilled a cup of coffee into it. After that the keyboard would no longer work. So we eventually bought her a new one which she needed for school but this one just sat. I hear everyone say "just through it out and get a new one...they're so cheap." It's not that I don't want to spend the money, it's just I have a hard time throwing away an almost perfectly good laptop. This thing is actually in good shape, except for a couple of minor cracks in the case. So I decided I was going to fix it, I could at least use it as a training exercise if I ever needed to work on a laptop again.

I knew it needed at least two things, a new keyboard and a new battery. One of the guys in the IS dept. at work hooked me up with a couple of websites that had parts pretty cheap. I got both the battery and new keyboard for $85 shipped to my door. All of the service documentation I got from Dell's website so replacing the parts were easy. I know I needed a hard drive too but didn't want to spring the $$$ until I knew the laptop was working well so I threw in a 10GB one I had lying around for file transfers. I was also able to get all the required updated drivers I needed and I had the original Windows XP disk the reinstall the OS. So far it's running good, I obviously need to get a bigger hard drive and I'd like to upgrade the memory from the 512MB to 2GB. A Bluetooth card would be nice too and will probably invest in something soon. So for maybe another couple hundred bucks I could have a decent machine. I would like to upgrade the video card from the 32MB to the 64MB version but that would require a motherboard change which is about $250. So unless I find another Dell Inspiron 600m on eBay or Craigslist with a busted LCD I'll just live with it for now. If anyone reading this has parts for this machine that they'd like to unload, please let me know.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Plastic Coffee Container

Keeping things organized in your home with two small kids is a tough job. Something is always getting lost or misplaced. I started using some of the plastic coffee containers we were recycling as a mini paint or crayon caddy. The ones with the handles offer a great place for a few paint brushes or pencils and you can store the paint inside. The tops also make a great place for placing and mixing paint.

The ones without handles are great for keeping track of crayons or markers. You could also label them and put your kids names on them if they are possessive like mine are. :)

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: 35mm Film Container

I know probably very few of you if any still use film cameras. With the advent of digital cameras they are a lot easier and less expensive to use. But I know most if not all of you still have some of those film containers lying around. These containers are great for keeping track of small parts in your work area. Typically they are opaque so knowing which one to look in is always a pain in the ass. I took pictures of what was being stored inside and printed them out on small labels. I then affixed the label to the proper container and used a few pieces of clear tape over them so as not to ruin them with my greasy fingers when working on my bikes.

You can use any small container, even glass ones like baby food jars. I like these because they are small and durable. I also use these to carry small parts in my hydration pack like SRAM power links, misc. nuts or bolts, Marzocchi fork air fitting adapter, etc. In pack with fewer compartments these work great for keeping things organized.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Plastic Lanyard

`Typically when you bring your bike or wheel to a bike shop for them to fix they tag it. One of the local bike shops I go to use an adjustable plastic clip which they usually leave on when you pick up you item. I started saving these realizing their usefulness but not really knowing what I would use them for. This past winter I have been cleaning up my bike work area. Trying to organize all sorts of bike parts and hardware that I had scattered throughout the garage. I finally found a use for these clips.

These are perfect for retaining small round parts (spacers, cogs, lock rings, even small washers), they're adjustable, and they were free! These can also be used to retain headset parts and even cassettes. Now whenever I need these parts I know exactly where to look.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Dont lose it...reuse it!

So for a while now I've been thinking about how much stuff we throw away. And by "we" I mean everyone. My family has been doing what we can to control what we recycle and what we throw away. I am sure there are uses for most of the glass, plastics and metal things we all through away. I thought I would share some ideas that I've come up with for things that commonly get thrown away. Most of these will be bike related but I do have some suggestions for other hobbies. If you've got an idea, please send it to me and I'll add it to the list.