Spring is Here, Bike Touring, Velo Orange, Soma Stanyan Frameset

Your hours have been cut. You are out are out of work. Four-hundred people are competing for one really boring, poorly paying job. My cats, don't despair. It's time to go bike touring! Go fill yourselves up with happy cycling chemicals for a few weeks. We just got Velo Orange as a vendor, so take a look at their site  or their blog. If you fancy yourself as a randonneur or cyclo-tourist, this is the fun place to browse for gear. (Or if you do have a job and are chewing up your work trousers in your single-speed chain ring teeth, check out the single-speed chain guards.) If we can help you choose and order components and accessories, let us know. We've got quite a bit of collective bike touring experience at Wheelgirl as well as many great stories of how we and our customers have irreparably damaged expensive work clothing and shoes via our bikes.(Snapped derailleur hanger caused by the sleeve of a lady's cardigan sweater? O yes we've seen it.)

The Velo Orange site is filled with shiny, pretty, classic bicycle bits and bobs. But you can also bike tour on a chipped-paint commuter with a pocket knife, a tarp, and a garbage bag filled with cans of baked beans bungeed to your rear rack. Remember: It's all about attitude and the stories you live to tell.

Cyclist and employee Daniel just built up his custom all-around bike for commuting and touring. We carry the Soma Stanyan frame, a nice steel platform designed for his hand-picked reliable components and comfortable bike touring. (I'm a sucker for chromed lugs.)

 

Photo by Daniel of his custom Soma Stanyan all-around commuter/touring bike.

VO Alloy Polished Chain Guard lifted from the Velo Orange website.

Foot Straps from R.E.Load, A Twist on Power Grips, All-In-One Toe Clips & Staps

For you cats who break toe straps and like to ride wider BMX pedals on your fixies R.E.Load has come up with a toe strap design that is going to please your destructive selves. They're called "Lockdown Foot Straps" and work along the lines of Power Grips straps. But you have more flexibility in your choice of pedal manufacturers, and you don't need any hardware. You don't need pedal toe clip drillings or cages that are perpendicular to the pedal axel. The Lockdown Foot Straps look bombproof and come in a ton of colors, just like Reload messenger bags. Check out  Reload's site for more info. and material specifications. Yes, they are pricey. But add up how many cheap toe straps you've ripped and clips you've snapped to see if they make welcomed sense to your purse or wallet.

The photo shows them on an Odyssey Twisted pedal. I ride these Odyssey pedals on my fixie commuter. They are really very good for the money, and you can get them in safety glow-in-the dark and colors. They're inexpensive and wide enough for your fat sneaker feet. They are loose bearing and not smooth like butter. The axles are made of steel fitting for a thrift store hammer. But for a commuter they are dependable. I have yet to bust, crack, or mash the resin cages. (I've tried.) My feet never slip, due to the platform molded grip nubs. So no perforated shin skin as of yet either.

If you're riding with the Reload toe straps, put up a post to let us
know what you think.

(Lifted from the R.E.Load site.)

Spokeless Bike Wheel Star-Trek Style

An engineering class at Yale decided to prototype a spokeless bike wheel as a class project. They prototyped  the rear wheel only, given the one-semester time constraint and the rim manufacturing costs. How cool does this look! Now, I wonder if it might be quieter and lighter with a direct drive belt? See the Wheelgirl post on the chainless bikes of now and yesteryear. Cat on two wheels:Time stays still; we're the ones that move. Read
about the Yale makers and see all the photos

Photos lifted from the Readit Site  for the Yale tech post. Yes, I like the implicit visual of bike building as a creative outlet.

Saw it on --Readit--> -DesignBoom --> PedalMafia
Scroll down on PedalMafia and check out the Mayer Hawthorne video Maybe So Maybe No. Take out one earbud and sing a little bit today on your commute.

Tool of Angel or Devil, U-Lock with 15mm Fixie Axle Nut Wrench Built In

Maybe I am just a bit too urban in my initial ponderings. When I saw this u-lock my first thought was some wicked cat is going to use his/her u-lock to take off my back fixed wheel; do a switch with their spent rotten hoop, and then lock my stolen rear wheel to the their bad and wrong fixed gear with the convenient satanic 15mm device. However, I do really like it, and the idea of carrying 1 item which can address safety and repair scenarios.  So, well done for the streamlining of accessories. My gifted engineering cats, please build on this good general idea, and figure out how to add to the design a discreet set of tire levers and a perhaps a red flashing LED light. What about a bottle opener?! (O that constant question!) Look at your bike, young cats thirsty for bottled root beer on the road, and figure out how to do that without an unnecessary dedicated device. Suggestion: Always wear your thinking caps on under your helmets.

Photo lifted by MonkeyLikesShiny --> CorpusFixie  --> Trackosaurus Rex --> Wired  It' gorgeous out. When you are not riding in the glorious weather, go click around on these sites, and gets some new ideas to address your two-wheeled aesthetic desires.