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Lemi Shine Disappointment

Published December 26, 2012

Over time and likely due to the dishwasher many of the glasses in the kitchen have developed a residue on them. I’m not completely sure of the cause, and despite the streaking and fingerprint-ish look I can’t seem to wash it off. Thus, I thought it to be a mineral deposit likely caused by a combination of dish detergent and water chemistry. A bit of online research pointed me to a product called Lemi Shine (very detailed chemical info on the product here), so this morning I purchased a container and gave it a try.

Following directions on the container I first ran the dishwasher empty with just a helping of Lemi Shine to remove hard water deposits from the washer, and I then ran a load with just glasses and the product. Per the promises on the container and reviews I’d read online I expected this to clean the residue from the glasses, but it didn’t. I then ran one more cycle with more Lemi Shine and dishwasher detergent, which is the prescribed use, and this too seemed to do nothing†.

I’m going to have to try some other options and see what works. I may try some CLR, but being another acid-based cleaner I don’t have a ton of hope for it. There’s also BLC Beer Line Cleaner which is a base and might do something.

I guess I could just leave it be, but the glasses are starting to look unpleasantly grungy. The photo above shows the problem quite well, but it’s a little more exaggerated due to the glass sitting on a black background, being somewhat side lit, and a polarizing filter being used. It does a pretty good job of showing the unexpectedly streaked nature of the deposits, though. I hope I can figure out what will remove this.

† It did do one thing: remove paint from some glasses and mugs. I’d thought that all of my glasses and mugs had their logos glazed on, but after the Lemi Shine treatment I found that many of them were missing some or all of their logos. Whoops. This makes me feel really bad because I don’t like it when I unintentionally ruin things.

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Fat vs. 29er Tires

Published December 25, 2012

When out for a ride this afternoon I grabbed this photo which fairly clearly shows fat bike tire prints vs. 29er tire prints. The top fat print is the Big Fat Larry that I mounted up a few days ago, and the lower one is the Larry pointed backward for increased traction while pedaling. Crossing this is some of my friend Jeremy’s tire tracks, a Specialized The Captain followed almost exactly by a WTB Nano Raptor.

This was taken in the parking lot of Shelby Township’s Whispering Woods Park while en route to meet Jeremy to ride at River Bends. Even though I was turning it still does a fair job of showing that a fatbike’s contact patch is twice as wide (or greater) than that of a typical 29er tire. From beach riding to snow, exploring soft floodplanes to checking out trail conditions in known-soft areas, it’s pretty nifty to see how many riding opportunities tires this wide open up. Sure, they is a big increase in rolling resistance, and most fatbikes are still very much rigid (read: pneumatic dampening with no suspension), but they sure are fun.

There’s a fair bit of snow in the forecast for the next couple of days. I’m really looking forward to some late afternoon (and hopefully evening, via the usual Wednesday Night Ride) excursions in the snow. Maybe this winter won’t be quite as sparse as the last, either. While I didn’t mind all the days of dirt road riding, Michigan is a great state for multiple outdoor activities. I’d rather enjoy having a nice winter for doing winter-y things.

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Grimm Brothers Brewhouse’s Magic Mirror

Published December 25, 2012

In the autumn of 2011 when returning from a trip out west Erik and Kristi brought me a bottle of beer from a brewery I’d previously never heard of, Grimm Brothers Brewhouse in Loveland, Colorado. This beer is a limited, imperial version of their Snow Drop ale (a Köttbusser, made with honey and molasses) that’s been aged in oak, and apparently only 1200 bottles were produced. Erik had told me that it’d be good aged, so I put it on a shelf in the basement and let it sit for a year.

Earlier this week I figured that Christmas would be a good time to open it, so after family doings were over and dishes were done I opened it up. You can see it here, poured into a Poto MBA glass that I acquired at the Triple Trail Challenge. Refrigerator temperature was a bit too cold for this beer at first, but as it warmes up I’m really enjoying it.

I think that this beer is quite good, but reading various reviews online there don’t seem to be many people who share my like of it. All of the reviews that I’m finding are 2011, though, so I suspect the recommended aging did the trick.

Earlier this year Erik and Kristi went on another trip out west and were kind enough to bring me another tasty looking bottle of beer from the same brewery; a smoked smoked wheat ale (Grätzer) called Sooty Brother. I love smoked beers and I’m really looking forward to this, but it’ll wait for another day…

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Big Fat Larry

Published December 22, 2012

This afternoon I picked up a new tire for my fatbike from Trails Edge: an ultralight version of the Surly Big Fat Larry (BFL). While this tire can have chain clearance issues on the rear of some bikes, it’s right at home up front in the Enabler Fork that comes stock on my 2012 Salsa Mukluk 2.

I’d never really cared for the Endomorph tire that came as the stock rear tire on the bike. While it was fine on sand and hard pack, on even marginally slick surfaces it’d unexpectedly jet sideways if even the slightest bit of power was applied, so I wanted to do away with it. As a possible solution to this I decided to try a BFL up front, and move the original Larry tire from the front of the bike to the rear, fitting it backwards for increased traction while pedaling. With this tire acquisition I was able to do so (photo).

One common trick on fatbikes is to put a very knobby rear tire on the bike to ensure that it doesn’t lose traction in the rear. This would be appealing for pure snow and trail riding but I frequently ride this bike on paved and hard pack surfaces, so I’m not sure this would be good for me. The super-grippy Nate would work well for this, but I can only imagine how quickly paved surfaces would wear on it, not to mention the tremendously increased rolling resistance. The Larry tread seems to be good for all around use, so I went with it.

When moving tires around to fit the BFL I was surprised to find that the original tires from the bike were both wire bead. At ~1370g the BFL isn’t a light tire, but the ultralight 120 TPI version with a folding bead ends up being a bit lighter than the narrower wire bead 120 TPI Larry’s ~1430g that had been on the front of the bike. The Endomorph which ended up getting removed from the bike is ~1420g, which makes the overall loss from the bike a whopping 50g, with 10g being transfered from the front to the rear. While it isn’t much (0.3% of the overall mass of the bike), I’m not going to complain about losing mass when going to a much larger tire.

Fitted to the Mukluk’s Rolling Darryl rims I measured the BFL at 4-3/16″ when inflated to 20 PSI just after installation. The BFLs are known to stretch quite a bit as they sit at higher pressures (in three hours it was up to 4-5/16″) so I’m not sure what the final size will be, but this is already quite a bit more than the original Larry’s 3-5/8″. It’ll be interesting to see how much it stretches overnight.

Here’s a few more photos of the bike and Big Fat Larry tire taken today:

· Surly Big Fat Larry tire, ultralight version (folding bead), as shipped from QBP.
· Surly Big Fat Larry on a Rolling Darryl rim at 20psi in a Salsa Enabler fork. There is plenty of room to spare.
· With the Big Fat Larry on the front of the Mukluk I moved the regular Larry to the rear, and reversed it hoping for greater traction in the snow.
· Current state of my Mukluk, with a Big Fat Larry front tire, reversed Larry in the rear, bash guard, trigger shifters, and lights. Weight is 35.38 pounds as shown.

Since I had the scale out I decided to weigh a few parts of the bike and see how it adds up. Here’s what I came up with:

Front Wheel w/ ultralight (folding bead) Big Fat Larry Tire: 7.62 pounds
Rear Wheel w/ wire bead 120 TPI Larry : 9.2 pounds
Tube: ~450g
Larry Tire (120 TPI, wire bead): ~1430g
Big Fat Larry Tire (120 TPI, folding bead): ~1370g
Endomorph Tire (120 TPI, wire bead): ~1420g
Complete bike as seen here with front and rear lights: 35.38 pounds

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Damaged Craftsman Hex Wrench

Published December 19, 2012

When working on Danielle’s old bike a couple days ago I ended up damaging my 6mm Craftsman ball-end hex wrench. I was attempting to remove her old pedals and the wrench simply spun, then was pushed out of the fastener. After this the ends of the wrench were damaged.

Hopefully Craftsman’s lifetime warranty will apply to this and I’ll be able to get a new one, since this is now pretty useless.

UPDATE: Turns out that Sears’ replaced the entire set. I was missing a 3mm too, so this is a nice benefit.

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Motobecane Fantom 29er For Sale

Published December 16, 2012

Up for sale is Danielle’s old bike, built around a 15″ Motobecane Fantom 29er frame. (Geometry can be found here.)

I’ve listed it over here on the MMBA forum, but for those interested the highlights are a Shimano 9-speed drivetrain, Rock Shox Tora air spring fork, and BB7 brakes. This is quite a nice bike, but it didn’t fit her so we want to be rid of it.

Asking price is US$400 and more photos can be found here.

Please email c0nsumer@nuxx.net if you are interested.

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Beer Filtering: First Attempt

Published December 16, 2012

Ever since I began brewing beer I’d heard about filtering my beer to remove haze. While I know that filtering is not necessary as with sufficient skill one can produce quite clear beer without it, it held some appeal to me. After learning that a number of local breweries filter their beer to remove haze and produce sparkling, shiny, clear beers that still have quite a bit of flavor I became even more interested, so after cleaning the beer lines and getting some more stuff kegged I decided to order the parts to give it a go.

To get started I tried filtering a rye pale ale that I brewed a few months ago and kegged just after cleaning the lines. It was already partially carbonated so it foamed a bit during the process (nucleation in the filter and due to pressure drop), but there it wasn’t nearly as much of a problem as I’d expected. I used a 5 micron filter for this batch (the 1 micron filters hadn’t come in yet), and this left the beer a every so slightly hazy, but it looks way better than it had with just aging and letting settle in the keg and it still tastes great.

The process I put together (based on lots of info I’d read) uses a Pentek 158116 filter housing with two liquid-out ball lock keg fittings connected to each side. The housing is sanitized then fitted with a filter that has been dipped in sanitizer, the filter is fitted between two kegs (full keg on the in side, empty on the out), the empty keg’s safety valve is opened, and CO2 is applied to the full keg to push the beer through. I started out with 2-3 psi, but near the end I had to increase this to around 10 psi as the filter became clogged. Periodically throughout the process I’d open the top of the output keg to check the level and foamyness, closing it back up to keep the system relatively closed.

This worked out very well, and I only had a bit of foam blow out through the safety valve right near the end of the process. This lost foam likely resulted in a loss of only a couple ounces of beer, and the filter housing itself probably lost half a pint.

Next time I try this I’ll chill (but not carbonate) the beer in a keg, then force it through the filter to another. I expect that there’ll be no foaming then resulting in even less hassle and mess. The next time I try this will be with the two beers I’ve got brewing now (a golden ale and a red ale), perhaps with 1 micron filters if they arrive in time. My desire is to get crystal clear, sparkling beers that still have good flavor in a relatively short period of time, just by filtering it.

Here’s a few photos taken during this filtering experiment:

· Two kegs, Pentek 158116 filter housing, 5 micron water filter, and connections necessary to filter beer.
· Mostly-carbonated rye pale ale being filtered.
· Since the beer was already carbonated it foamed a little out of the pressure release, but not enough to cause problems. There was very little loss overall.
· Side view of the filter after processing five gallons of beer.
· End view of the filter, from the top, after processing five gallons of beer.

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45NRTH Wölvhammer Winter Cycling Shoes

Published December 16, 2012

These shoes may just be overkill, but since I love riding in the winter I wasn’t able to pass them up. This afternoon while stopping by the Northville Trail’s Edge shop to pick up Danielle’s new bike I saw that the 45NRTH Wölvhammer boots were in stock and I decided to try them on. For the last year or two I’ve been using a pair of Pearl Izumi Barrier GTX shoes that I bought used from my friend Bob for a very good price. They work okay, but aren’t quite as nice as I’d like, and after an hour or so without chemical warmers my toes still end up cold.

I wasn’t intending to purchase some of these boots, but after trying them on and looking them over I was sold. Retailing for $325 they aren’t cheap, but I think they’ll be worth it. I haven’t had a chance to try them on the bike, they seemed quite comfortable and rather warm while trying them on, very much like heavier normal cycling shoes. They are heavily insulated and even have an aerogel insole to cut down on heat transfer through the metal cleat. (Much more tech detail here.) So, if everything goes as I expect they’ll be perfect for longer cold weather rides this year. Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll be able to wear then on a cold weather ride to my parents house for the holidays, just as with last year.

To cut down on sole wear I fit all of my shoes with Crank Brothers Shoe Shields beneath the cleats. For these boots I had to file one corner down on each shield (photo), but this wasn’t hard to do and allowed everything to fit nicely. This was a bit of a surprise, but it’s a much better option than trimming the soles themselves.

Now that I might still hang on to the PI shoes for not-that-cold-of-weather rides, but that remains to be seen. If they don’t get worn it wouldn’t be terrible if I were to sell both these old PIs and my old Sidis. There’s no point in keeping functional (albeit worn) bike shoes around the house when someone else can make good use of them.

Here’s a few photos that I took of these shoes:

· 45NRTH Wölvhammer winter cycling shoes, side view.
· 45NRTH Wölvhammer winter cycling shoes, bottom view.
· Crank Brothers Race Cleats along with Shoe Shields on the bottom of the 45NRTH Wölvhammer shoes. The Shoe Shields needed some filing to make them fit.

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Finally, a Daylight Ride

Published December 14, 2012

Being so close to the solstice the days are getting mighty short, and finding the magic combination of daylight, decent weather, decent trail conditions, and available time has been quite difficult lately. Everything worked out right this afternoon and I was able to head out to Stony Creek for a daylight ride. The El Mariachi felt like a rocket after a few weeks of riding only the Mukluk or trainer, and it was really good to get out.

I rode one lap of the 6/12 Hour Route, then rode the paved path over to the Fitness Trails, through there, then back to the trailhead. Most of the trails were in great shape, with only a few greasy corners and uphills. Some of the two track had its normal wet spots, but it was all quite acceptable for a 50°F day in mid-December. I was able to ride comfortably wearing only summer time gloves, normal shoes and socks, a short sleeve jersey, and knickers. It wasn’t bothersomely cold until I spent ~20 minutes standing around in the parking lot talking with someone.

The photo above was taken while moving, looking southwest along Stony Creek Lake from along the gravel path which comprises the Fitness Trail route. While it’s just basic, flat, wide gravel trail I think it’s one of the most scenic parts of Stony Creek and wonderful looking year round.

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